Hello once again to all of my family and friends out there. I would like to start off by expressing my sadness of the Utes game, sounds like it was a little bit embarrassing, but at least I'm not there to worry about it. To start off with my usual weather report, I actually have a few surprises for you this week.....Its COLD here!!! This week a cold front moved on in that nobody was prepared for, and let me just tell you that this morning I saw my breath! Its not like its freezing, but the temperature got down to like 46 degrees, something seemingly impossible around here. I am zero prepared for this cold since the only type of jacket I have is my paper thin raincoat, so I had to borrow some clothes from a generous member that didn't want a poor Elder to freeze to death in his sleep. I feel like I'm camping at night all bundled up in a sweater and sweats, the only thing missing is the fire smell!
To start up the new month of November, Elder Ortiz and I held a zone meeting to give a little bit of excitement to all the Elders and Sisters. We're really excited about a new month and this time we are bound to have success. I love all of the missionaries in our zone, and am trying to look for new ways to get to know them better and serve them every week. We talked about a new action plan that we made, and gave a copy to every missionary so that they could have one in their homes. Hopefully it works!
Today we received the transfers, and as President predicted, there were very few changes in the mission this month. In the entire zone there were only changes in 2 of the areas. The interesting thing was that on Wednesday we will be opening up a new area in our zone called Pradera B. With the 3 changes (including the new area) that happened, all of the Elders or Sisters are going to be training, so there will be 3 brand spankin' newbies in our zone soon! I'm excited but it's also important that we have lots of training so that the new elders can learn the new style! We spent a bit of time as well looking for a house for the new Elders in Pradera, since they didn't tell us that they were going to be coming until about 2 weeks ago. We finally found one the other day, and so now we have to get all the paperwork done really quickly so that they can arrive smoothly!
On Friday we had our zone leaders conference, something that Elder Ortiz and I were not looking forward to haha. We presented our numbers for the month (that weren't too good) and then proceeded to explain what happened and what we are going to change this month. We had a great lesson from President Flores about how to make good decisions as leaders, and the process about how we should do it. But of course the best part was the lunch of Hna. Flores afterwards! MMMMMMM I can still taste it now.
With respect to our investigators, I am very content. I have a strong testimony that the Lord really does put us in the right place at the right time. Our 2 best groups of investigators, The Cerrato Family and Miriam, are still doing great. All I know is that I have a strong testimony that we really are instruments in the great plan of God. Elder Ortiz and I have had some serious problems contacting in our area, and almost no one has received us in the entire transfer when we have knocked on doors. I just remember the day that we found Miriam. We were walking by her house, and I felt a strong impression that I needed to knock on that door. Well we knocked on it, and she came out and invited us in, we got really excited but we could not go in because there wasn't a male present in the house. So we put an appointment for another day (something that almost never works out), and I left a little bit disappointed because I felt really good about knocking on the door. But eventually we did go back, and I now realize how true that spiritual influence really was! And with the Cerrato Family, if we wouldn't have gone over to an unknown street to contact, we would have never been run down by some random member from another ward so that he could take us to the house of some of his family. My testimony has really grown, and I know that God has a plan for every one of us. Being a missionary is an incredible way to know of that great plan.
Everything is going great for me here in Comayaguela, and thanks everyone for all of your prayers. I love you all and hope that you take care.
Vaya Pues!
Elder Tinkham
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