Elder Kenneth Dallin Tinkham

After countless times of sitting here and writing, I can honestly say that I cannot believe that this is happening. I don’t want to say goodbye to my belovedly hot home. Just like Kolipoki said, I feel more like I am leaving my home than am going home. It is just too crazy.

This week was a special little blessing to me. I felt the hand of the Lord and His special little ways of getting to each of His children.

On Thursday we had the privilege of hearing from Elder Ochoa of the 70. It was also special for him because he used to be the mission president of the Honduras, San Pedro Sula mission! Wow, what a coincidence! But, to me it was just super special to be able to hear from him, his words of counsel and advice, and even though he spoke mainly about the missionary work, I was able to apply many things to myself personally and what I should do when I find myself back "home." I really appreciated it greatly, and feel like (based upon the things that I have learned) that perhaps that meeting was one of the big reasons why I "stuck around."

It was a really short week full of finding people inspired and prepared by God to receive the gospel. I have met so many amazing people here in Trujillo that I can’t even begin to thank my Father in Heaven for all the blessings received in these last moments.

We had an incredible Sunday. A record-breaking 157 people showed up to our not-so-little branch! This is due in large part to the fact that the members are visiting the less-actives, and the 2 sets of missionaries are bringing more and more people to church. And, the delightful and big-hearted Garifuna people of Trujillo are the secret. To be honest, I have not seen such great love amongst all the people until now. It is something to be praised!

And of course, I had to enjoy the last P-day with a zip-line beach tour. I don’t know if it can get much more incredible!

But yes, I know that this work is the work of the Lord. I don’t know where the last 2 years of my life have gone, but I know that they have been the best. I love being a missionary, and it will certainly be different not walking around with a placita all day every day, but I know that the Lord now has other things in store for me.

For the very last time,

Vaya Pues!

Elder Tinkham

"For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

Well hello there to all my family and friends! Discarding all the comments from my fellow family members, I am just loving it out here in the heat of Honduras!

So, this last week we had changes. I have been changed one last time. I am now opening an area in a trio with Elder Blaisdell from Idaho and Elder Waylan from San Pedro Sula, Honduras! I am in a city called Trujillo, waaaaaaaaaaaay far out on the east coast. We live in probably one of the nicest houses in the mission and have now divided our area...seeing how it is one HUGE city! At last I have a chance to breathe and relax a little bit while we struggle to help these people out here to come closer to Christ! My companions both have very little time, so I am here to help out as much as I can! After about a 7 hour bus ride we made it, but we had a zone meeting and had to stay overnight in our district leader’s house. What an adventure!

So, also, on Tuesday my old zone decided to give me a little gift for my birthday. Well...you know...you can tell what they want when they brake down the box and stand behind me telling me to take a bite of the cake. But to humor them, I bent down, and they SMASHED my face into the cake! It was hilarious, and very much enjoyed! I was cleaning it out of my hair for a little bit.

Trujillo is really pretty! I work in an area where only Garifuna people live, which are native "black" people that speak Spanish as a second language! It is awesome! They are all priceless gems and make me so very happy. I always wanted to die in the Zona Colon, and here I am. So I am just super happy! These people just make me realize that every day! Especially because on Sunday we had a sacrament attendance of 135, something I think our little branch has achieved very few times! I am so stoked for working with them!

But yes, I am very excited for all of this! Gotta keep on going strong until the end! Don´t expect slacking off on this side!

Until next time, one last

Vaya Pues!

Elder Tinkham

Well howdy ya´ll! I hope that you have all had quite the amazing week! I am very grateful for the birthday wishes, but I have come to realize that what many people have told me is true; that when you start getting older you stop wanting people to tell you happy birthday and remind you that you are getting older! Because 21 is getting up there! What made the birthday all the better was the package that came from home full of Beef Jerky! YES!

So this week made me appreciate all you hard-working primary ladies! My respect! On Saturday we had a "Mini-CCM" where we had to teach all the primary kids of the stake between 8-12 years how to be a missionary! To be honest, the activity was really poorly planned...but it was fun for awhile! We were given a "district" to teach with sisters and elders. They all had companions and everything. We taught about the Book of Mormon, about the restoration...lots of stuff! My favorite part was taking the kids outside and having them "contact" people. These would be fellow missionaries or members, and they were always really nice to the kids. But I loved how blunt they would be about telling people they have to get baptized and come to church. It was a great experience...for awhile!

We finished our "tour" of training the leaders of the wards in our zone. It really ended strong with how we now knew what to say, what to look for, and what goals to set with the ward counsel leaders. I felt a strong spirit in them as we worked with the leaders to help them to better do their callings.

On Friday I got dozens of confirmations that the Lord answers prayers. We were getting back from doing divisions, and as we left in the afternoon we prayed and asked the Lord to help us to find a family that we could teach, that was smart and would progress quickly in the gospel to be baptized and help out this ward. Well, that night we went to a cita with a college girl, and in walk her parents 5 minutes later who then sit with us, listen to the message of how the gospel will change their families and make them happy, and they agreed to it all! They are all teachers and will be coming to church and have a baptismal date set for the first Saturday of September! Incredible, how the Lord works like that. They also invited us to a delicious dinner on the spot of Katrachitas! Delicious!

Also, on Saturday we had the baptism of Maycol! (I didn´t take pictures because my SD card wasn´t working, but his aunt took pictures and will be giving them to me!) He is a joven (youth) who has been coming to church for 3 months now. His uncle goes to a different ward and came with his family to the baptism. It was incredibly spiritual, and as Maycol had changed he stood up to bear his testimony and simply said, "I know the church is true. By being baptized I was able to communicate with God," and then sat down as he got teary-eyed. What a great kid. Unfortunately we had the headache that the primary kids used up all the water in the pump, so we had to hurry and rush to another chapel and fill up the font for the baptism! Yikes! But, luckily the members had cars and were able to come and support him anyway.

It is a strange feeling how one can be so physically tired (more so now that today isn't P-day for us as we have our change meeting on Wednesday) but so incredibly happy at the same time. How can this work not be true if it can take rebellious teenage boys who work all day and are exhausted all the time...yet they are never not happy? I know that this church is true and I know that any and all efforts of sharing this restored gospel is worth it. We are able to help others to receive the same blessings that we enjoy on a daily basis, and they thank us in return. And one is blessed in return.

I love you all! Have an enchanting week!

Vaya Pues!

Elder Tinkham

I tried to be creative and think of things that sound like shows that my mom used to watch. I know that House Hunters was one...but the rest, well, not so much. But basically explains how and what I did this week!

So once again I was out house hunting. The house for the sisters didn´t work out. Thus, I had to go and walk around in the hot beach-side sun looking for a relatively cheap and well-located house for the sisters to live. I really hope that they appreciate this place...because it really has taken a lot to find it. But I have gotten to know the touristic city of Tela SUPER well thanks to all these adventures, perhaps the best I could, not having it as my area! How interesting. Thus, I am now an official and expert house hunter and I’m very tough at haggling down prices and getting owners to fix things before moving in.

Also, we have been traveling all around the stake in which we serve. We are giving Ward Counsel Training to all the leaders based on the new videos that are out on the LDS website to train us. They are gems! I really have learned a lot and I am pretty excited to be able to work and serve in a Ward Counsel upon returning home. But I have gotten to know many people and places thanks to the journey!

Also, I had a meeting with President Klein and my companion in San Pedro Sula. Now, this was a great blessing! San Pedro is now outside of my mission, and so we were blessed to be able to leave and revel in the glories of San Pedro Sula! I bought myself a hammock and the what not to enjoy when I return! I have been wanting one awhile now! But it was a great meeting! I dunno if it is just having a new president, President Klein’s character, or being a leader...but we have been able to have many great spiritual and edifying meetings with him. I am really starting to realize just how inspired he really is! Sure, it is a lot different than having been with President Veirs, but hey! I am enjoying every moment of it!

We also brought about a stake service activity. But...sadly the stake didn´t support it so well. My companion and I worked hard on it and got the wards to announce and everything, but it just didn´t really happen. We had about 30 people there, which was quite sad for a whole stake. But, we accomplished the purpose which was an effort against Dengue, a virus transferred by mosquitoes. It was great! I was happy to work alongside many fellow members with our Manos Mormones que Ayudan.

So hence were my adventures of this week! Thus I am not too far off nor too crazy with summing up the adventures of the week! And I hope that each and every one of you has had an equal week and will have an amazing week this week!

Vaya Pues!

Alright, as I was just talking to my companion in the morning that I honestly felt like P-day was 2 days ago. I think that this was the fastest, most hectic week of my mission! And thus ties in the story of HOW!

So after writing, an amazing family of recent converts invited us to Pizza Hut. Now, this isn’t your American-type “Eh, I feel lazy today. We will call up a pizza.” No, here in Central America, Pizza Hut is a super expensive, super HUGE 5 star restaurant with waiters, giant tables...etc. So they ordered 2 huge pizzas with starters of hot wings and bread, and they tell us elders to just go to town. So I probably drank 7 glasses of juice, ate 3 wings, 2 pieces of bread, and 5.5 pieces of pizza. It is just such a bizarre concept to me to go into a sit-down pizza hut and have a waiter catering to me as if I were in some fancy place!

On Tuesday I was on divisions in my area with Elder Lewis from Elko Nevada. Who knows where that is! It was a great day and we had a lot of great citas with our investigators, but we noticed an incoming need that loomed over us the whole time. So they are sending out missionaries to open up 3 new areas in my zone, thanks to the MASSIVE influx of missionaries! And thanks to the fact that my mission is now half the size. So, we have to find places for all of the missionaries to live upon their arrival! And, Elder Lewis’ area was a special case.

They are sending sisters.

Ay ay ay! So we had to head out super early in the morning to get a bus for the looooong bus ride out to Tela and look for a really nice, really safe and really pretty house for sisters. We were going to get there, find it, and I would get out with Elder Guadamuz from Nicaragua, because my companion had to stay and do damage control in a branch. We were going to get in and out. But, turns out...that we spent more than 5 hours looking for a house (and after dividing the areas, printing contracts and eating) and missed the last bus to Progreso! Great...so here I am without extra clothes, without a place to stay, and still without a house for the sisters. So, I stay in a sketchily-arranged hammock in a tiny hot house with the elders and slept "great." We wake up next morning, and head out to find a house again! Yaaaaay! But after meeting my companion, we actually found a pretty nice place, and exactly what the office wanted. So, we hurried and made an agreement with the owner and headed off. Hope the sisters are grateful!

Then, on Friday we had to do the same in another area, but lucky that was for elders. We found this pretty amazing house. Huge, pretty, clean, open space...amazing. But it was too cheap and too good to be true. We had the elders in that area investigate it that night, and turns out we almost agreed to a contract of a drug-dealer house! They said that the members are always talking about how they hear gun shots and see lots of shady action. So yeah...we are pretty dang happy we didn’t go with that house! Sheesh!

But yeah, this week was crazy and just full of surprises. I think I will be an expert at looking for houses when I get home.

So yes, I love you all! Hope that you have an amazing week! I know I most definitely will this week!

Vaya Pues!

Hello one and all! I honestly was just sitting here...how is this happening? I hope you are all doing well and that this week has just been amazing!

So I finally went to Tela this week on divisions. I hadn’t gone the whole time I have been here in the zone. It was very enjoyable, maybe even more so because I was with the famous Elder Larson from Idaho! It was pretty gorgeous, but it was also quite an interesting day because I was with missionaries that were assigned to work with less-active members to reactivate them and get references of family members that are not members and otherwise. Very interesting, and there is a ton of work ahead of them!

Also, we had our leadership council this week! The first one ever of the Honduras San Pedro Sula East Mission! It is really interesting, a part of church history is happening right in front of us. And wow, it is quite a big responsibility! I think it is very interesting, and there are many big changes happening in our mission and in the missionary work in general! It was great to see all the old friends, especially Elder Beaulieu from the MTC. He is going home on the 1st of August and getting married in October! Wow!

I also got a new temple recommend. I needed a new one, seeing as how my old one had expired. It was a great interview with my mission president!

But yes, this week was pretty darn interesting. We now have plans in motion for 2 stake activities! We have to wake up this stake. If they want to divide, they have to liven up! We need members reactivated, we need this whole stake to pick up. So, we got a new plan going to get all this happening!

But yes, it was a pretty cool week! I shall send pictures next week! I love you all! Don’t get baggy now!

Vaya Pues!