Còmo estan mis amados amigos y mi querida familia? Ojalà que todo estè muy bien. Things are still going great in good ole Honduras! I have a lot of news for this week. So...enough of the lame pricy jokes. Let’s get going!
We had a baptism this week. She is a 9 year old girl named Daniela. We were contacting one day and came across the house of a lady who is less active. So we began to work with her and she is now activated, and we also began teaching her granddaughter. She is incredibly smart for a 9 year old, and was even counting down the days to her baptism! If I had been as excited as she was for the day of her baptism, I would have been lucky. She is very proactive, and has already invited all of her neighbors to come to church with her next Sunday!
This week we had another training session on the new program called Fundamentals of PMG that came out around 8 months ago. It was quite interesting because President always seems to show us yet another way that we can improve our work, even though we think that we are bored from the basics. It just comes to show you that as we continue to study the basics, we become Master Teachers. We also talked about a talk that Richard G. Scott gave in the most recent General Conference about the transforming power of faith and character (one of my favorites). We applied the things that he said to our own missions, and how we can have a continual progression, and always be improving. I recommend that talk to all who read this.
On Friday, I attended a meeting that I would say changed the rest of my mission. I thought that it was just going to be normal. We attended the zone leader monthly meeting where we present our report of February, and our plan for March, and then we receive a little bit of training from President. Well...president had a couple of surprises for us this week. He explained that due to the fact that almost all of the Zone Leaders are leaving within 3 months, that at the end of these changes there will be a drastic change in leadership. The Lord has revealed to him that new leaders need to be trained, and given the opportunity to serve. So he told us that 6 of the zone leaders are going to be put as trainers for the last 3 months of the mission. I’m not exactly sure if I’m going to be one of them, but it’s highly probable. While being in that meeting, a strong feeling of responsibility came over me, and it remained with me throughout the entire day. What was hitting me is that I am about to approach the final chapter of my mission. I decided to pray, and have a long conversation with my Father. I put several goals with myself and with Him that I plan on accomplishing before finishing the mission. Whether I stay in my area of Guaimaca, or whether I am sent to train the future leaders of the mission, I do not know yet. But all I know is that I am going to give it all I got. This is my last opportunity, and I’m not going to waste this one. Not that I have wasted the other opportunities, but this time I’m not holding anything back. It was a wonderful experience for me.
I’m not sure if I told you guys about Johnny last week, but he is a new investigator that we found last week who is very positive. We have been reading the Book of Mormon with him, and it has been changing his life. He is 17 years old, and has been in a different church since he was 6. He told us that he feels the spirit very strongly when we teach him, but his challenge is fear. All of his friends are in the other church, including the majority of his family. So, it’s something very difficult for him to overcome. He wants to come to church because he knows he is going to feel the Spirit there, I think it’s just a matter of time. He has already accepted a baptismal date and everything, the only thing he needs to do now is overcome adversity, and break through his trial of faith. I pray that he will be able to do so.
We had a GREAT Sunday yesterday. The attendance in our little branch reached 113, far passing the old record, which has never even reached 100. We barely even fit the people in the chapel. I was able to bear my testimony, and listening to the rest of the testimonies was really edifying for me. There were 19 investigators at church! It was my turn to teach the Investigators class of Principles of the Gospel this week, and so I decided to teach about Prophets. I especially felt the Spirit strongly testify to the people in the room when I recounted the First Vision of Joseph Smith. The simplicity of the Gospel never ceases to amaze me. Afterwards, my companion and I went on divisions with 2 future missionaries. I went with Huri, a recent convert who is 21. He was baptized not even 2 months ago, and let me tell you, I don’t think he can wait a whole year to be able to go on his mission! We went out and started contacting. I loved the brief time that we were together. We were able to get to know each other a lot more, and even though our lives are completely different, we were united in Spirit that day. We went and located the house of his father, whom he got to know just 2 weeks ago, and began to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Huri expressed his love for his father and sister, and testified with all of his heart that he knew what we were teaching was true. I remembered something that Uncle Billy wrote in the Journal he gave me. He told me that as missionaries, we must teach our investigators as if they were our own family. If we could develop the same love for our investigators as we have for our own families, we will teach by love. Being there with Huri was an exact testimony of that. I hope to one day be like him.
I love you all. Please take care.
Vaya Pues!
Elder Tinkham
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