They´re Everywhere!

The title this week is to draw attention to this very fact: people who are ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ are everywhere!  Pretty amazing.  All the members of the church think, "yeah, they are probably in South America or something." But that´s not true.  They really are in all parts of the world.  How do I know?  Well first, I talk to people on the bus, street, etc, and all the time there are people who are interested.  If a member of the church were to help these people come to church and get to know this message on a "friends" level, they would progress much better.  My comp and I are focusing on this right now. 


So what are you doing right now to help your area progress??  Before the mission, I never thought about that stuff.  But guess what... one of my best friends just got baptized!  I knew him since like 7th grade and I don´t think I did much at all to really help him come to church or talk to the missionaries.  They are there.  Just help them.  Sometimes I think about myself before the mission and realize that I had so many friends that I really didn´t talk to much about the church.  I could have probably had a friend at church every other week if I wanted.


It´s hard.  Especially for the people out here, to talk to their friends about this stuff.  There is a sister in our ward name Rosa, and she´s awesome.  All the time, she talks to us and says, "hey, I´m going to go visit a friend right now.  Wanna come?"  Ummm... yes.  haha.  She is a true friend.  Why?  Well, the definition of a friend is, "someone who helps you live the gospel of Jesus Christ."  I forget which prophet said that... sorry.  But that´s so true.  What´s the greatest gift of God?  Eternal Life.  If we have a true hope in salvation through Jesus Christ, how can we stand blameless and not share that with others.


Maybe I´m getting too preachy.  Sorry.  But it´s really true; they´re everywhere!


We finally contacted a family the other day that was a reference from a member named Franklin.  This couple is preparing to get married.  This actually shows a high sensitivity for the Spirit on their part because most people here just don´t care about getting married.  We talked to them, and they were incredibly receptive.  Why did we find them?  Because a member told us where they live.  It was that easy.  Every person I´ve had the oportunity to see get baptized has been a reference of a member of the chruch.  Every single one.


I testify that there is more that we can be doing.  I know that this church is true.  More than that, I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.  He suffered and died for you, for me, and for your friends.  Help them accept this sacrifice which the Lamb of God gave for them.


I love and miss every one of who are reading this.   Yes, you!  :P  And I want Kyle to know that I´m so proud of him.  Reading about you baptism this week gave me so much motivation to keep moving forward this week.  Take care of yourself and send me a letter!  Haha.


Les Quiero mucho,


Elder Kent Thalman

Start From the Beginning and Don´t Skip Steps and Keep Moving Forward.

So the title is a personal thought that I had several weeks ago.  Sorry for the silence last week.  I literally had no time to write a blog... kinda stinks. 

Honestly, I have no idea what to write about this week that I can really share.  A lot of personal stuff this week, but not much else.  I´m going to start loosing readers if I keep this up.  Haha.

The other day I was on a bus, and I decided to talk to a lady who sat by me.  Contacting on the bus can be really nice because they can´t run away,  and you can really get to know them before sharing anything.  When you´re  on their porch, you kinda have to cut to the chase sometimes... haha.  But you know they´re not busy if they´re on the bus.   I was talking to this lady named Liliana, and she had a little boy named Owen.  I asked if she knew the actor Owen Wilson... you know me! 
She actually said that she did!  Haha, I was surprised.  And she knew the movie Midnight in Paris, which really made me happy........... okay, ADD moment sorry.


I started talking to her about her family, and how she felt about it.  Turns out she´s already legally married!  That´s really, really rare.  She seemed pretty receptive, so I talked to her about eternal families, and that God wants her and her family to stay together for time and all eternity.  Some people just think, "amen brotha, adios." but this lady really seemed to comprehend that this was something that only our church had to offer.  She called us later, and I couldn´t help but think of the scene from Best Two Years... "it´s him!"  Haha.  That was really cool, and I can tell this family is a great possibility.


I´m getting to the point where I can tell when people get our message and accept it, when they know it´s true but are too afraid to change, and when they just don´t get it.  Sometimes the last one is frustrating... we´ve got an old lady that we´re teaching; yesterday was her 70th birthday or something.  She gave us cake, which was awesome, but the lesson was pretty tough.  It´s really hard for her to understand, and she can´t see enough to read.  Bummer.


But some people just straight up know it´s true and refuse to change.  That´s hard to see, because you can just tell that they know.  But they just won´t accept it.  And the majority just don´t care. 
But God always seems to lead you to the people who really want to change.  From there, it´s  your job to be worthy of the Spirit, and to work hard so you can help them.  That´s the whole key.  There´s really not much more than that.


I had a pretty sudden Spiritual experience randomly this week.  I´m not sure what it was, but I was listening to a cover of "I Stand All Amazed" and the words just hit me.  It just became very clear to me, and I was just filled up inside with love for my Savior. 
Directly after, it seemed to give me a clear mind to want to be obedient for that reason.  I feel like I´ve been really obedient so far my whole mission, but I´m starting to understand why God gave me that added witness.  Lately there seems to have been a total and complete attack on my resolve to be obedient.  And everytime, it seems ever so simple.  Because of the love I have for my Savior, and the gratitude I feel for His atonement, I simply can´t disobey.  Sometimes the last written words of Nephi will fill my head.  "I must obey, amen." 
It´s incredible, but I really feel that way sometimes.  I just keep having it made clear that if you truly love, you will obey.  Nothing is possible in this work without the Spirit.


I testify that Jesus is the Christ.  There really is no doubt in my mind anymore that He infact came to earth, suffered and died for all sins and all people.  He specifically did so for me.  I know it.  I can not deny it without calling upon myself the greatest of condemnations from God, reserved for those with a witness.  I really just can´t even imagine denying it.  It´s true, and my heart bursts with great joy and confidence before men because of it.  I feel no fear to be obedient.  No fear to try and be like Jesus Christ.


I love and miss every one of you!  Congrats on your call Brian!  You´ll do great out there.  and you´ll be able to teach me German in two years :P 


Until next week,


Elder Kent Thalman

180 degree shift. that´s not just the weather here...

So, new area.  New everything.  I´m in Nuevo San Juan, 1hr outside of San Pedro Sula.  My comp is named Elder Tavita from Hawaii.  But most recently he´s from St. George, UT.  Haha.  He´s pretty awesome, and totally nuts.  He´s a big Polenisian guy who loves football and rugby, and he´s got some pretty crazy stories.


Basically my life is now totally different.  He´s a lot more chill than my last comp.  We worked our tails off with Elder Gomez, and this elder is much more relaxed.  Honestly, I still feel like we have the potential to baptize, and we are working on reactivating a TON of inactives.  So I´m convinced that it´s just a matter of how well you work, not so much how hard.  But I sometimes feel like we could work a tiny bit harder, but there´s just got to be balance in all things.  We learning how to blend our two styles, and we´re pretty much already super good friends.  At least I think so.


There´s not even a branch in this area.  we´re an extension of a ward and we meet in a house, not a church.  We should have a building soon, and then we´ll be a branch.  Elder Tavita and I feel like the elders before in this area baptized a bunch, and then just left it.  It was only opened 6 weeks ago, and almost everyone has gone inactive.  Missionaries need to stay in contact with their converts!!!  Don´t just ditch ´em!  So a lot of damage control.  there haven´t been any baptisms here yet since it´s been opened, but I know that Elder Tavita and I will baptize.  It´s a good area and there are some great people.


In Olanchito (and in general thoughout Honduras) the problem is that no one is married... if you remember.  Well, here is Nuevo San Juan, the problem is that everyone is married to someone else, and then they have their real family and kids and stuff.... so that stinks cuz it´s like impossible to divorce people out here.  But we´re not going to give up because some of these people are just too amazing to just leave.  Progresing investigators who go to church and keep all their commitments and WANT to be baptized... but we can´t do it.  I pretty much hate the work that Satan has so effectively executed down here.  We are going to work with the ward to set up a fund for divorces for those with great desires to be married and baptized.  Obviously we´re trying to do this with all wisdom and direction from the Lord, because with stuff like this, you could really cause some problems.  So there´s that.


We have an awesome cook out here.  Her food is incredible, but we only pay her for lunch.  I eat less out here, and work out a lot more.  Being such an athletic nut, Elder Tavita is sort of a nut about it, so I´m very grateful for that.  I think that I have already reversed the damage done from Olanchito as far as getting fat.  Haha.  I feel great.


Honduras is as awesome as ever.  Next week I´m sure that I will have more stories about specific people.  It´s been slow going the first few days.  My comp was a little sick, but now we´re full throttle again.  This place truly is amazing, and I´ve never learned so much in my life.  I truly feel like I´m changing significantly, and I just feel better about myself to be honest.  Much more relaxed and effective.  The Lord truly can do anything.  He is guiding my life so closely, and I pray that through my obedience I can allow His hand to work more miracles in me and around me.  I love this mission more than anything.  And I love my Heavenly Father more than anyone.  I´m only now starting to understand faith and repentance this week, even though I´ve taught those "lessons" to a hundred people now (more like several hundreds, which is crazy to think about).  Funny how that works, huh?


I love and miss you all.


Les quiero mucho!


Elder Kent Thalman