Hello to all of my family and friends! Once again another week has passed by, and once again it has been a good one.

First and foremost, I received my travel plans in the mail on Thursday! It was totally awesome. I report to the MTC travel office on Mon. August 3rd at 8:30 PM, and my flight leaves Salt Lake at 12:50 AM! Then I have a three hour layover in Georgia from 6:30-9:30 (Georgia Time), and then my flight from Georgia to Honduras will put me landing in Honduras around noon-ish. So after about 13-16 hours of travel, I'm sure I'll be able to put in a whole day's worth of work when I get there right? Of course! I'll miss the MTC, but I am definitely ready to get out of here and enter the real world. I'm sure I won't understand anyone once I get down there, I have pretty much accepted that fact, but all in all, I am ready!

The Lord has definitely blessed me since I have been gone, I would like to say that I have been changed in almost every aspect of my life. A mission will do that to people, and I am so grateful for that. The spiritual experiences are just coming more and more often, the more I listen for it and the more I invite it.

Well, last Tuesday (6 days ago) we had the devotional and it was with John H. Groberg. Most of you know him as Kolikpoki from the movie "The Other Side of Heaven." If you haven't seen that movie, I really recommend it. He talked to us about the importance of temple work for investigators, and making sure that they endure to the end, and don't just give up after baptism. It is important to keep your investigator involved in the church. Keeping it on the topic of devotionals, the Sunday fireside was by a man named Stephen B. Allen, a bigwig in the missionary department somewhere. He based his talk around the hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints" and why that hymn is so applicable to missionary work. I have never thought of it that way before, but it gave me a real power boost and desire to get out into the field as soon as possible. I am ready to "Gird up my loins, fresh courage take" because I know that "Our God will never, us forsake." There is going to be hard times on my mission, I know that. There already has been, and I know that they'll never get worse. But the real question to ask yourself is, Why does it matter? Jesus Christ suffered all for us, and how can we come to know him more closely, and strive to become like him if we don't suffer at least a tiny bit? Which doesn't even come close to the amount he suffered. It only makes sense to have to go through trials, because I know we will be blessed for it. I'm only there for 2 years, it is such a short period of time, that the trials will only be that short.

Thank you again for all of your support of me out here on my mission. I will write one last email in the MTC next week. And then the rest of my wonderful newsletters will be awesome experiences of me in the jungles of Honduras! God be with you till we meet again!

Love,
Elder Tinkham