Hello to all of my Family and Friends!

Another week has passed us by, and it is another week closer until I enter the fireball that is Honduras.

A lot of the same things happened this week that occurred last week, and all of the other weeks for that matter (since we do the same things every day haha). I am learning a lot about Spanish and I am trying to speak it as much as possible. And I am also learning a lot about the scriptures, more than I ever thought possible, seriously. I have begun taking on the huge challenge of reading "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmadge, it is about 900 pages long. But, I figured, if I want to learn more about Jesus Christ, where is a better place to look? Wish me luck on that one.

I usually find myself telling you all about my Referral Center experiences because I find that they are the best stories to tell. But this week's story is just crazy. I did NOT make this up, bear with me and pay attention: This last Thursday, I had the opportunity to chat with a man named Haakom Mangus. He is from Norway and was on business in the New York area. He asked me about prophetic revelation and Joseph Smith. He didn't know anything about our church, so I proceeded to tell him the entire Joseph Smith story along with the Book of Mormon. I asked him if he would be interested in hearing the missionaries in his native tongue in Norwegian (he asked me several times to speak Norwegian) and he said he would be very interested. The funny part is, as I began talking to Him I realized he was a man of some royalty in Norway. He told me that when the missionaries came to his "palace" he would greet them with the traditional etiquette and such. He spoke very formally and was quite sincere. At first none of us believed that this really was the prince of Norway (I'm not sure if that is his correct title, you can all look him up on the internet if you want), but after awhile, I realized that this was real. He even offered to transport myself and Elder Cardon to New York (In the Ritz hotel in Central Park, New York mind you) because he wanted to hear the message as soon as possible! I don't know how he heard of the LDS church, and what happened. But he gave me the number for the New York Consulate so that the mission president in Norway and the Consulate could arrange an appointment (I hope).

Wow, what a story huh? If I didn't actually experience it, I wouldn't believe it myself. But this experience also humbled me; it let me know that the gospel is applicable and necessary to each and every soul out there in the world. Whether it is the extremely rich prince of Norway, or the poorest of the poor people which I will grow to adore and love in Honduras. As far as I know, or should say - don't know, we are all still good to go in Honduras. I would seriously doubt that they would reassign any of us, because I think all of the political riots are beginning to slow down. All I know is that the airport is closed down, but I have three or four weeks to wait on that.

Thanks to everyone who sent me a letter or something of that sort this week. I appreciate it very much! The work continues for me out here in the MTC, and I look forward to my opportunity to get out into the field!

I love and miss you all!

Love,
Elder Tinkham