Aud Lang Sign

I have no idea what that means, but it seems like an appropriate title for a blog written in between Christmas and New Year.  I love this time of year, and I wouldn't be anywhere else.  I am unrepentant for having extended the mission.

Elder Lopez and I found a man with his little girl walking as we were on the way to the house to end the day.  we just talked to him quick and put a return visit.  On Sunday he said that he read the whole pamphlet of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and everything seemed really positive.  He doesn´t live with his wife, but with his mom, sister, and little girl.  We walked in and the first thing I saw was a giant Maria with a candle lit, with many other Catholic ornaments.  But we challenged him to be baptized anyway.  And he accepted.  and he accepted a date!  He seemed to really understand what we explained, and we´re excited to continue teaching him.

This week, we worked like normal on Christmas, and found a great bunch of investigators.  23 to be exact.  the spirit of the season is the Spirit of Salvation.  the Spirit of Christ.  I testify that He lives.  That means more to me than it sounds like, for we hear those words so often that at times they loose their meaning for us.  But in these last short weeks, I have tried to focus all of my study and attention to the direct teachings of Christ Himself.  I´m deeply impressed by my feelings as I contemplate His clear and simple declaration of divine Sonship.  So many accept that claim today, but so few are willing to follow His teachings, both modern and ancient.

I invite all to newly read, ponder and pray upon all of His teachings, determining to repent and live all of them.  That is the covenant that we make in baptism.  Many of us have made higher covenants.  Let us consecrate ourselves and our hearts and our whole will to Him.  I love Him, and I know that He is conscious of me, my actions, and my desires.  He is aware of my discipleship and is infinitely patient as I work my way closer to Him.

Please remember Him, His sacrifice, and His love this new year.  Forget all the extra stuff.

Love,

Elder Thalman

Just Beginning

This week I lost my son! Noooo!  But now he´s finishing the training of another elder.  He´s so great, and

 I´m going to miss Elder Limatu.   And... I´m finally a grandpa!!!  Elder Dean is training in the other mission.  so happy!

My new companion is my step son because I have to finish his training... and he has to finish mine.  get it?  He´s going to kill me.

The sister are in and settled.  I know that they´re going to do great.  One is a gringa who´s training he comp from the Dominican Republic.  They´re cool.

Our investigators are having plenty of problems, but We´ve got lots to do.  While we help the principle ones progress, we will be finding a lot of news this week.

I can´t go into too many details about the investigators, but hopefully there is good news next week...

I love the mission.  Things are hard, but I love the people here.  I love the members, and I truly just want to help these people.  My heart has never ached so much until now for someone else, but at least I know I´m not heartless.  Or maybe it´s the same heart.  God´s just changed it.  I testify that He can do just that.  Not just in me, but in every man and woman´s heart, He can change it.  We cannot afford to be so faithless in His ability to transform others.  If we don´t believe that someone can or will change, then we cannot say we have faith in Christ.  So let us love, and let us be kind.  Let us help someone, and may God help us do it.

Love,

Elder Thalman

Major Changes Ahead

This week we divide the area again to make room for the sister missionaries coming to Morazán.  My companion and I already set up a sweet set of investigators and families to teach when they get here on Wednesday.  So they basically aren't even opening area.  They're going to have progressing investigators and baptismal dates right off the bat, and the teaching records are all updated for them and everything.  Your welcome sisters.

 

Moraza'n

But this next one is ours!  haha.

Elmer is a young adult who has three girls with his girl friend, Mari. He was just a contact, but I consider investigators like this references of the Spirit. He met the missionaries in the states, but didn't seem to learn much. But he has good impression of the church. He missed to Sundays in church, but he's reading the Book of Mormon and seems really interested in progressing, so we didn't leave him. His wife is also really interested, but shy. She didn't come out to listen the first several visits, but later confessed that she's been listening from the widow to our conversations with her husband. Haha. She has a lot of Catholic family pressures, but doesn't attend a church herself. Elmer was dead asleep yesterday when we passed by, and we had to really push to get Mari to wake him up. Sleep is really sacred here... He said he would show up on his own, which is something I've heard a lot. But, this time it was true! He came with his two older daughters and stayed all three hours. Afterwards in his home he just kept saying how much he loves the church and how he's visited so many churches that he doesn't like. He apparently had already talked it up so much to his wife that she decided to come out and we had our first lesson with the both of them together. We already love them so much. I know that they're going to progress and get baptized. The Lord is merciful!

So the mission is the best.  There's a lot of work to get done here, and many changes that I want to see here in Morazán before I go.  I pray that the Lord in His mercy grants me to stay and to see these things happen.  But if not, then He's in charge, and I'll do what He wants me to do.  He'll take care of the rest.

Love you all.

Elder Thalman

Fight the Good Fight

This week I got sick, but now I am better and ready to work harder.  We got our couple, Juan and Bessy, over their little speed bumps, and it would appear that God has provided us with their partidas miraculously.  If all goes well, we are getting them on Saturday!  Thats a huge relief.

Our two young people, Carlos and Neydi, were looking bad because their mom was interfering.  We started reading the Book of Mormon with her, and God did a miracle.  She fell in love with the book!  We started teaching her the restoration and now she is a progressing investigator.  She even went on her own to her neighbors house (a member) and asked to read with her and help her understand.

Elmer and his family are progressing too.  That is a family of five.  Their oldest is 12 and she is also reading and praying!  He is reading and praying as well, and is pretty convinced already that the Book of Mormon is true.  The wife had never prayed vocally before, and we helped her do so in the first visit.  They all seem very humble, and God was truly merciful by leading us to them.  I am excited for their progress.

Sunday was fun.  We got up early and took one of our recently ordained elders to take us up to nowhere.  Got out of the car and found the house of Santos.  She is invalid and cant walk.  We took her down and rainy and muddy hill in a wheel chair, and it took all three of us.  Then we went back up that hill.  Got her in the car, and got her to church.  Afterwards, Ana Rosa gave her lunch and talked with her for a while after church.  We took her back the four of us, and it was just one of things that you cant walk away from without feeling good inside.  We blessed her a few weeks ago, and i felt impressed that she has the faith sufficient to be healed.  I blessed her to fully recover.  I think that God is letting us serve her before He gives her what He has promised her.  She is awesome.

I love you all, and love Gods children here in Honduras.

Elder Thalman

Prison

Alright, so the reason I couldn't write Monday was because of election this weekend.  We weren't aloud to leave the house, but in the end it was a useless precaution because nothing happened at all.  But that's a relief.  We were in the house for three days!  ugh... almost went crazy.

I achieved some personal goals this week, finishing the New Testament and Doctrine and Covenants.  Now I'm sprinting the finish on the Old Testament so that I will have read all the canonized scripture in my mission.  I didn't think I was going to meet that goal, but things recently changed with three days of free time...

We found a new family whose head is named Elmer.  He met the missionaries in the states, and didn't remember much of the message.  But now he's very receptive and is progressing very well.  He read more than we assigned him, and he seems like a young father with an unusually high maturity level.  He seems very excited about the gospel, and is very easy to teach.  We contacted him while avoiding a drunk of the street (giving him time to pass by).  God works in mysterious ways!

Juan and Bessy are running into some serious Satan problems, because Satan knows that they're going to be killer members.  I expect that this is normal.  They'll beat it.  

Pedro and Guillermina are also having some issues (not with each other or anything).  It just looks like their progression toward baptism is going to take longer than we thought.

Carlos and Neydi are on the brink of baptism, but the problem was that the mom was being super attacked by a pastor (that happens to be a seek and destroy missile that attacks almost all of our investigators!).  He doesn't like us.  So we read the Book of Mormon with her one day then taught her the restoration yesterday.  She loves it!  haha.  She was constantly working in the school, so she never listened to us before.  Now she's on board and committed to go to church this week!  haha.  I love the gospel!  The Spirit changes hearts!!!

I also had time this week to write a great talk on the power of the Spirit in conversion, so I may send that to you all.  But I may just use it for my homecoming... haha.

Love,

Elder Thalman

People

I love these people!  This week was so full of cool stuff.

This week was full of miracles. Yesterday after church we, my comp. and I, were both just full of the Spirit. We found ten newbies and all of them accepted baptism in the first visit. I don´t know what the difference was, but for some reason just asking God for charity seems to be finally working. I felt a great love for these people yesterday, and they all seemed to understand the simple concept of pray to know, then act on the response. If the answer is yes, get baptized. It was awesome.

We found three jovenes a couple days ago. We explained to them the Book of Mormon and put an appointment. Yesterday we found the three in the same place, and then their friends all started showing up. Everyone seemed at least a little interested in the message. We started to get to know them, and soon we had ourselves a formidable crowd. I felt really impressed to take advantage of the fact that we had them all really focused and explain the Restoration. We started like normal, but they were all sitting on a wall, and we were standing, basically preaching to them. It was really cool, and the Spirit was strong. We challenged them to baptism and put return visits with them all.  I felt like Dan Jones!

Juan and Bessy are going to get there.  We´re just being patient, but they are so ready.  They both went to church, and loved it.  They are so cool.  Their little boy is the best too!  He´s so funny.

Pedro and Guillermina still don´t get the need to be baptized, but they´re going to church and asking if it´s all true.  But she can´t read and he´s just not doing it.  But we´re going to have the members assigned this week to do that with them.  It´s the really lack honestly. (?)

Our recent convert Iris got kicked out of her house for being baptized.  Tragic.  She lives with a totally bi-polar mom, so she´s going to live with her grandparents I think.  It´s a little in the air still, but she went to church and her little boy (2) was a stud in his shirt and tie.  haha.  He seemed better behaved dressed that way.  Note to self for when I have kids...

I really can´t write everything, but things are moving forward here, and the members feel it. I love and thank you all for letters and love.

Elder Thalman

Growth Unabated

This week we had some great success. Mostly, our baptism that we thought had fallen through came through in the end, and she was baptized after the conference on Sunday.  Iris.  She was very excited, and there were so many people at the baptism, that not everyone fit. In total, 13 investigators were present as well, which I think will help all of them progress. All the members were impressed with her testimony that she gave after the baptism.

We have two really good couples that we´re preparing for marriage and baptism. Pedro and Guillermina went to church together this last week, and exercised a lot of faith to do so. They are just beyond happy with us as missionaries, and we´re trying to redirect that enthusiasm towards the gospel itself. We´re receiving great help from the members, and there are several great possibilities for the coming weeks ahead.

Bessy and Juan have begun praying together every night and have decided to get married. This is the fourth time in my mission that I have seen a couple with "marriage problems" (in quotes because they´re not really married) resolve them lighting quick through family prayer. I have never seen a single case where a couple actually prayed together for more than a week and didn´t immediately chose to get married. It´s a miracle! This gospel really does work!

As a missionary I feel like I have been growing so much, and I can´t explain.  This prayer thing really really works.  This Tuesday in district meeting I think I had one of the most powerful experiences that I´ve ever had.  That feels like three weeks ago!

But words just don´t do it.  The Spirit was there, there were major tears shed, and humility was made manifest in people I never expected to see it from.  I testify that the power of Godliness truly is manifest in the gospel, and that the Spirit is that power that makes us God-like.  That third member of the Godhead truly is one of the greatest gifts.

Love,

Elder Thalman

My go home date has changed

Although a lot of people used their agency poorly this Sunday, we have a lot of great investigators.  I´m learning the difference between recognizing bad choices and separating those from the people themselves.  Their faith is tender, and we just have to help them grow it. 
Most of the young men (majority of our investigators) have exams and study groups taking over their lives.  We´re still going to work hard this week, find news, and advance with those that keep progressing. 
Our baptism this week fell through because she got sick and didn´t go to church.  Sometimes I ask myself why these things happen.  My expectations I think are unrealistic at times while working with imperfect people.  It´s a good thing that God doesn´t expect me to be...

The big news this week is that my go home date has changed.  It´s not Dec 10th, but now is January 23rd.  I´m sorry for the disappointment that may cause some of you, but please know that this is God´s will, and all these things will work out in the end.  I will enroll in BYU later.

We had several miracles this week!  I think that some gospel principles this week have penetrated my heart this last week like never before.  One is the miracle of the Gospel in changing the hearts of men.  I don´t know why, but I´m really starting to understand that (more for personal experiences than with investigators).  Change can happen, and that´s incredibly humbling to me. 

Prayer has truly become a real communication for me, and I think that´s why God waited to tell me to extend the mission until know. 

Yesterday I was feeling a lot of human weaknesses in my heart (mostly impatience), and once again I could feel direct and specific answers in the form of inspiration come to my mind as I prayed to God for help.  It´s something that´s never been quite so real before.  It´s almost instantaneous sometimes.  On that subject, I think that extending the mission (the decision) has been one of the greatest growing experiences of my life.  After finalizing the decision, I could recognize the confirming peace of the Spirit.  Looking back, I´m not sure why it was such a hard decision, but I´m glad God took the time to teach me the lesson.

Our couple that we´re teaching is great.  They are getting their partida from Colón themselves, and taking care of all the paper work themselves as well.  They even are trying to see if they can pull some strings to meet their Nov 16th date for baptism. 

Carlos and his sister received Spiritual witnesses this week that the Book of Mormon is true.  A miraculous experience for a boy who said, "I don´t have the faith to receive an answer."  The Gospel changes hearts!

I love you all, and hope you enjoyed Halloween.  I pray that the Gospel of Christ can be as real for you in your lives as it has become in mine.  Please make it the center.  The best way to do so is to share it.  No amount of study has been able to shape me as having to help others.  That´s the true Gospel.  Love in action.  Service and longsuffering for those we love.

Elder Thalman

Full Dam, Broken Dam (editors note; I think he means "overunning, not broken.)

It finally happened!  We made a plan to focus only on the investigators that were progressing and it worked.  We had many great investigators in church on Sunday.  I feel so happy that God led us to the ones who are truly searching for answers.  They are the ones that progress.  It hit me; we don´t really do anything.  There´s God´s work, which is the Spirit that prepares the hearts of men, and there are the people that receive that Spirit because of righteous use of agency.  In the end, we just work and try to be obedient so that God makes us tools in His hands.  I felt so blessed this week to see these people make steps towards repentance and baptism through faith.

Juan and Bessy are a young couple that are just ecstatic about the gospel.  They went to church, and what seemed like something difficult (getting them married) totally resolved itself.  After church, we taught them the Plan of Salvation and they mentioned marriage again.  She had already talked to her father, and he´s going to drive to Colón (really really really far) and back to take out the partida (marriage paper that you need here) so that they can get married!  What a miracle.  We love them so much, and the branch is excited to see a family come to church.

The futbol activity showed it´s fruits this week.  Three of the players went to church.  We taught two of them this week and one has a baptismal date with his mother and brother.  They are all very receptive.  The boy with the date is Mercado (not his real name, but we all call him by his last name).  He is 17 and played with us in Progreso.  It was way fun, and he seems like a very receptive cool teen.  I say that because he sort of acts cool and uninterested, but he´s really engaged in the lesson, and he went to church, which really means a lot.  He´s the most committed of his family.

The other is our magical goalie (portero, I don´t remember how it is in English)...  Richard.  He´s also 17 and really cool.  He and his younger brother live with two very catholic grandparents.  But they are receptive, and Richard went to church all on his own on Sunday.  We haven´t hardly taught him anything yet, but he´s great.

Our young Carlos is doing great, and went to church.  He said that he prayed to know, but didn´t get an answer. He said, "I just don´t have the faith."  I felt a little bad for him, but I know that he´ll get and recognize his answer soon.  We explained that reading, praying, and going to church (all three things that he´s doing) are great signs of faith, and that the Lord will respond if he keeps going forward.  He´s a really good kid.  I feel like all these young men are going to serve missions!

Iris is also great.  She went to church and is accepting the commandments.  She has been getting really hit by all sorts of trials (lost her job, brother got really ill), but she´s facing them valiantly and prays to be able to get baptized in every lesson.  It´s exciting.  She´s actually our next baptism, even though almost all the people I mentioned just now have dates.  There are a few more, but we´ll see if they make the blog next week.

The mission is pure insanity!  In a really good way...  My companion is awesome.  I often forget that I´m training.  We just work and work and work.  I love you all, and we´ll see what news there are in the next exciting chapter of Elder Thalman´s blog next week!

Elder Thalman

The Finals

We did a stake activity this week where we had to make a soccer team of young men investigators or in actives.

The fútbol activity was a success, and we brought a team of all investigators and inactives, about twelve. We got second place out of 14 teams if you wanted to know.  But they all seem like good kids, and this week we´re going to start teaching all of them and see which ones progress.  I loved rooting them on, and it was really intense when they got to the finals.  one of the funnest things I´ve done in a while.  I think that many will remember the church because of the experience (and we´ll see how many we baptize sooner rather than latter).

Mostly I feel like there are many great investigators that aren´t progressing as much as they should because we´re not focusing on them. This week we´re going to pull things back a bit, focus on the important ones, get them to church, and drop the ones that just won´t budge. Their are a lot of people here in Morazán that are ready for the gospel, so my idea is to leave the area book full of good recent converts and antiguos investigators.

I talked to Elder Ficklin and he let me know that Hogan and Vanessa got baptized!  And two of Moncha´s daughters this week are getting baptized.  Also, two other young women that we found are getting baptized next month.  I didn´t feel like I had much success there, so it´s such a blessing to see that it wasn´t at all a waist of time.  This is the Lord´s work.  He that sows and he that reaps are the same, and the blessings are eternal.  I won´t see the ends of all that I do, but the important this is to just keep doing it.  I love it here!  I love the mission, and the Gospel.  It´s a good thing that I don´t ever have to stop being a missionary.

Love you all.

Elder Thalman

There is Hope

This week had some major ups and some major downs.  Mostly, the down was that not one person came to our doctrine class, nor did any of our investigators come to church.  However, there is progress underneath.

Iris is a young lady who went to conference and loved it.  She told us ahead of time that she wasn´t going to make it Sunday.  But we´re very excited for here.  We asked if she had read and prayed, and due to her detailed responses we could discern that she was doing both.  She then shared with us that she had previously been in San Pedro and that she spent all of her money trying to find a job.  After giving up, two missionaries found her and gave a tour of the church randomly.  She was "prayed for" by a member (they may have given her a blessing), and then before leaving, the member tells her, "don´t you worry young lady.  You´re going to find a job very soon."  She hadn´t mentioned anything to him about her situation.  When she got to Morazan the next day, she got a call which was a job offer.  She told us that when our member invited her to meet with us and mentioned the name of the church, that she said, "send them here!"  She said that she´s known that this is the true church since before we were visiting here, and that she really wants to get baptized.

We found man on the street contacting.  His name is Juan, and we put an appointment to visit with him.  We miraculously found him in his house and he told us something amazing.  "Two days before you guys found me, I was experiencing great desires to visit a church.  I´ve never stepped foot in a church in my life!  Then you talked to me, and I thought that was incredible."  We taught them (he and his wife) the Restoration.  They understood great and committed to go to church next week and read and pray.  He prayed on his knees at the end of the lesson and asked directly if our message was true.  They have a baptismal date for the 16th of November.

I feel like if I write more, now one will read it.  I love you all, and know that I´m working hard and not thinking about home... so stop writing me about how little time I have left!  haha.

Elder Thalman

 

 

 

Conversion

I learned something about conversion this week.  I heard in conference, then tried it out, and I´m just a little more converted than I was before.

On the way home on the bus I got the feeling to stand up and present a message to everyone.  It took me nearly a half an hour to act on it.  I finally told my companion to get up, and did so very willingly.  When feeling the need to do it, I felt two things.  If you do, you´ll feel very happy afterward.  If you don´t, you will carry regret for it.  So after finally doing it, it really happened.  God fulfilled His promise, and I felt a peace confirm in my heart that I did the right thing.  That spiritual confirmation has converted me to believe that I need to do the things that only missionaries can do while I´m still a missionary.  I´m going to stand up on every bus from now until the end of my mission.  It´s better than waisting my time.

that´s how we become converted.  Every time we win a battle, and do the right thing, the Holy Ghost confirms in our hearts that we have chosen the right.  And God blesses us with love.  I have a hard time telling the difference between God´s love and happiness.  I think that it´s the same feeling when it´s true happiness.  This comes every time we read scriptures as a family, even if it´s too late, or the kids complain.  It´s what happens when we finally ask God if the Book of Mormon is true.  It´s what happens when we make that tough decision to go back to church even if it´s been a while.  Or perhaps when one of you who are not of our faith makes the leap of faith to visit us for the first time.  God wants you to be there, and He will let you know.

I´m converted to this Gospel.  It´s so much more than a testimony.  I´ve met inactive men with stronger testimonies than mine.  But that won´t save them.  It can´t save anyone.  Actually, all a testimony does to those who don´t live the gospel is condemn them unless they repent.  But I´m not the same as I was before.  I never will be.  I know what it takes to be happy.

Rosita is also converted.  She´s a recent convert who might be the best missionary I´ve ever met. 
She presented us to several of her friends this week.  She´s practically dragging the missionaries everywhere.  I think she walks more than we do, and I think she´s about 60 something.  Of all the investigators that went to general conference this weekend, she brought about 70% of them.  Amazing this woman!
I testify of the power of one converted member missionary!  It´s not necessary to have this badge to be a missionary.  I love this work, and if God ever said that I couldn´t participate, then this church wouldn´t be true!  I will share this gospel with every living soul to the day I die.

Love to you all.

Elder Thalman

Conference was a major boost for me this week.  We are working, but the inactive are a little tougher than I wanted to anticipate.  But we'll keep at it.

Sharpening the Blade for the Harvest

We worked tons this week with less actives.  We even got a few of those priesthood holders to go to church!  It was cool to see them there, and I really think that the little branch is going to grow a lot soon.  We have been finding a few of those people that are just too good to be true.  One is Martha, an investigator that used to go to the church actively but never got baptized.  She moved away, and they killed her husband.  Then she remarried and then she lost him a few months ago, so she´s pretty shaken up.  She didn´t know that the church even existed here anymore.  She accepted baptism with a date in the first visit.  Same with her daughter and grandson.

We´re teaching a young lady named Aby, a reference from her best friend (a member).  She seems really golden for baptism, but her grandma is pretty anti.  We went to teach her yesterday, and it was her aunt´s birthday.  I asked if it was that very day and she said yes.  I said, "me too!" ..... big mistake.  Note to missionaries around the world.  Don´t tell young latinas that are your age that it´s your birthday.  The typical response is a hug and kiss on the cheek! She was like, "congrats" and started in to hug me and I freaked out just ducked my head and stuck my hand out.  haha.  So rediculous.  She figured out that I really didn´t want her to hug me, and shook my hand.  I think I embarassed her.  But it was pretty funny.  There were two RMs with me; a couple; so they thought it was great.  What do they know?  They´re dating each other.  haha.

We feel like there are far too many men here to not have a couple dozen of them in the church, so we´re going to teach a doctrine class in the house (yard) of an inactive family.  We´re going to print off tons of invitations and then go old school and preach in the main center of town where there are always tons of men walking around.  Whoever shows up to the class will be a new investigator with, in my opinion, a high chance of progressing.

We are activating a young man who should be a preist named Roberto.  He went to church and brought his inactive mother.  They both seem really comitted to keep with it, so we´ll reteach the doctrine, and help the members love them into activity!

The mission is the best!  I love it here and I love Morazán.  Such a great place to serve, and pray that we´ll really be able make a huge difference here.  Love you all!!!!

Elder Thalman

 

P-day! (Preparation)

A very healthy meal!

Taken from under the water with Elders Stewart and Rodas.

Falls in Morazán

 

 

Morazán, Yoro

backstory... As of over a year ago, I was in Copan with Elder Young from Idaho.  We were talking about where I might end up in the mission.  He said that there was this place in Zona Progresso where the zone leaders worked every now and then.  They even baptized a young woman there.  There were apparently a bunch of super stalwart members down there that just were dying for missionaries.  I didn´t ever go there, but did open the area and sent two missionaries six months ago.

With Elder Young in Copan

View from Apartment in Morazán

 

Flash forward until this last Wednesday.  I packed my bags.  I am thinking, what zone am I going to go to?  I was looking at the zone leaders and not many had changes... they don´t normally drop you to lower position in this mission, but this mission president is a fireball, and has been throwing curves like crazy.  I love it!  Elder Limatu goes to Morazán 2 with Elder Thalman who is trainer and opening area...

The Morazán 2 District

 

It was like a blur.  I wasn´t expecting to hear my name.  Not expecting to train again.  But here I am!  In that same area that Elder Young predicted over a year ago, and I´m opening half the area and training!  It´s so awesome!!!!

Morazán chapel

Morazán is the coolest!  Honestly, who cares about being a zone leader!?  I´ve always wanted to train again, and Elder Limatu is the man.  He´s really really smart, and totally into working.  No complaints.  And thank goodness for him, because I´m horrible at direction, but he´s like a human computer, so he pretty much already memorized the area.  Amazing really.

The members here are golden.  I love them all already, and I feel like since Wednesday that I´ve developed a relationship with all of them.  They are giving references up the wazoo, and were just working with all inactives.  We went with a young man on Saturday to all the inactives and on Sunday they tell me that 53 is a record for this place!  That´s great!  We just have to double that before I´m gone.  My goal is honestly to leave the area with an attendance of over 100, 10 elders (or active future elders), and a more centralized church house just for meetings (not the home of a member).  I honestly feel that we can and will do it.  I feel very called to be here.  It´s something I´ve truly never felt before in my mission until now.  I love it here.

We found Emil, a less active man in his twenties.  We shared with him about how we were sent by Christ to him to invite back to full activity in the church.  We explained that the Sabbath day was a commandment from the beginning.  He accepted and was in church Sunday.  Our branch pres. interviewed him after so that he can know what to do to repent and get the Melchizedek Priesthood in November.  He is the first of many priesthood holders that the Lord is preparing here.  It´s a miracle!  No one even knew who he was.  The young man who told us about him said that he was a lost cause that he´s visited a million times.  haha.

Elder Limatu is really just a sponge.  He´s from Guatemala and a major in electronics.  He was teaching teenagers mathematics before the mission, and is only 18!  Just a baby.  haha.  But the best comp ever.

I love you all.  Happy birthday Grampa!!!  You´re the best and I love you.

Elder Thalman

National Pride = no one in church

Hurrah for Independence... boo for iniquity.  Basically, because of the iniquity of this nation´s high schools, the whole zone died in church attendance.  They obligate the youth and children to march or they suspend them... I told them all to still go to church, but most of them didn´t listen.  But there were still lots there, and after church was cool.  The ward members all got together and split up to give our tons of invitations to ward conference next weekend to the in actives.  I was happy to see that.  Elder Ficklin and I both asked ourselves, "why don´t we do this every week?"

Hogan and Vanessa gave Elder Ficklin dinner (baleadas and cake) for his birthday.  I love being able to see the love of investigator families.  It gives me a lot of hope for their progression.  Hogan went to church with his dad who came into town from the Cayman Islands because he´s going to Tegucigalpa to visit the temple for the first time.  He´s a cool guy with a very strong testimony.  Hogan is really really tall, so it was funny to see him put his head on his short chubby dad´s shoulder during Sunday School.  

We had to move a ton of stuff into new houses for the areas in the zone that are being opened... it was horrible.  So hot.  From noon to 4pm carrying furniture and stuff up and down stairs.  I was so dead afterwards, and so sweaty and dirty.  We didn´t have time to eat lunch that day, and I got sick randomly in the stomach.  And yesterday and today, I´m super dooper sore!  I´m so old and out of shape!!!  I look it a little, but I feel it a lot.  I just want to eat a room full of vegetables and fruits.  haha.

President Klein called us last night and scared us to death.  He calls and says he wants to talk to both of us, so we put him on speaker.  He says, "well, I´m going to talk to you two about something that I don´t want to talk about... you two are going home."  I almost died when I heard that.  It freaked me out so bad.  My mind went racing, thinking, "what have I done!?"  Then he says, "you two are in the same group for December 10th, right?"  Wheww!!!!  We both thought he was sending us home like Wednesday!  haha.  He just talked to us about having a life plan ready and stuff.  What a guy.  He´s super funny even when he doesn´t want to be.  But that wasn´t funny... it was scary (until afterwards, then it was like nervous laughter).

Thanks for your love, and I´m looking forward to those missionary experiences that I know are coming my way soon! :)

Love,

Elder Thalman

Más... y más... y MÁS!

Please imagine a crazy scientist saying the title of this blog, and you´ve got a good idea of my mission president.  He cracks me up so bad.  He´s possibly the funnies man on the planet.  But basically that´s the goal.  The goal is more than last time.  Improvement.  I dig it.  So that´s what we did this week.

On Saturday, we went and visited pretty much everyone that we wanted to go to church on Sunday.  Some of them were like, "yeah, we´re going!"  So we shared something spiritual, reminded them that they were now committed with God to go, then left.  The ones that we like... "uh... we´ll see...." we just barged into their house and shared a quick run down of what it means to sanctify the sabbath day.  So that seemed to work well, because there we exactly 29 more people in church this week than last week, which is like dropping your 5k time a whole minute.  It was great!  And we have so many great investigators in church now!

Hogan and Vanessa are a couple that we´ve actually been looking for.  Hogan´s dad always calls us and tells us to go teach his son.  He´s a member from the USA, and really want´s his kid to get baptized.  I know that the missionaries had taught them before, but we lost them.  They moved, and we couldn´t find.  In the end, they landed right next door to where they were before.  haha, jokes on us.  But they pretty much were dying to hear the missionaries.  They expressed desires to get married and baptized and everything.  Alright!  That´s what I like to hear!  :P  And the best part was... they went to church!  Yipee church!  I love church!  Especially when people go!

Moncha´s whole family went as well.  They are progressing much better, and we found Franklin afterwards reading the Book of Mormon with his mom (who can´t see well enough to read), and explaining it to her verse by verse.  He seems to be wanting to get married a lot more now.  I think that he´s truly starting to repent in his heart.  I love that whole family so much!  We taught them in Salamaleco´s house after church, and Salamaleco really turned on his "most interesting man in the world mojo" on.  He´s so funny.  He´s like the only person in the galaxy who has seriously been involved in pretty much all religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, etc).  He was born Catholic, and never renounced it ever, even though he like experimenting with other religious beliefs.  He´s a big fan of Gandhi.  But he explained to them that through reading the Book of Mormon like a mad-man, he´s 100% convinced that this truly is the very church of Jesus Christ (who was also a "revolutionary pacifist" as he says).  And of course he slipped in the details that he knows Japanese and he´s reading the Book or Mormon in English as well.  haha.  I love all of these stinkin´ people!!!!  Why do I love them so much!?!?  I´m gonna explode!

Anyway... being a missionary is way cooler than whatever you´re doing.  Unless you´re being a member missionary!  Which is also awesome.  (I consider Mother and Father among the member missionary work that we do).

I want to hear personal missionary experiences from all of you for my birthday.  that´s it.  but good ones!  

I love you!  (you know who you are... yes you) 

Elder Thalman

Like 240 days of Summer

So, that title is a movie reference... don´t see it, but I thought it was cleaver.

Summer is now a member of the church!  

We realized on Thursday that we had no paperwork in the municipality building to get them married, so we had to go nuts to get it all in.  Our cook and her husband ran us around all over in their dying truck to get the papers in on time.  There were several miracles in that journey.

    Hermano Carias is a real example to me of someone who resorts to prayer quickly.  I realized that I really needed to follow his example and become more prayerful.  A small thing, that I´m sure will help me dramatically improve the Spirit of this work.  

    So we got that all done and they got married on Friday!  Then we got the interview done, and he got baptized yesterday (Sunday).  My favorite, favorite, favorite part of being a missionary is after the confirmation.  You can just see the difference in their eyes.  They truly are new people.  The Holy Ghost really does purify and sanctify us.  No doubt about it.

 

 

I´ll send lot of cool pics, because I don´t feel like there´s that much more to write.

 

Elder Thalman, Summer, Elder Ficklin

Summer and his beautiful family.

Elder Marin. 1st. Peruvian to

                                                                          serve in   Honduras.

I love you all!

Elder Kent Thalman

Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise... I might only qualify for one of those.

This week I´ve been healthy!  Yipppeee!  We started working... and the members too!  they seriously just kicked it into gear this week.  We had lessons in the homes of members, left with the young men all week, and there were even visits going on without us even assigning them.  A couple of relief society sisters visited a family of 6 and did a birthday party for her.  She said that pretty much no one would have done anything for her on her birthday had it not been for them.  I´m filled with love and gratitude for those two sisters!  We even had less active young men going out with us, and recently activated members ask to do lessons in their homes.  So great!  I think that this next Sunday we start to see the results here.

Friday, we´re going to start teaching a super dynamic doctrine class, and a member wants to teach it for us.  He never ever ever has worked with any of the missionaries before.  We´re the first.  He loves computer graphics, so I talked to him about all his projects on Blender, and all that just made him love me.  And he wants my companion to teach him piano too.  haha.  They all think that we´re going to end the mission together, but that´s pretty much impossible.  haha, but we´re trying to convince them still to let us train a newbie together.  We´ll see...

The miracle this week was with Summer.  He´s been having problems getting his papers for marriage due to a divorce.  He´s been going to church and visiting with the missionaries for over 6 months.  This week we´ve been praying that he´ll be able to pay to get his partida de soltería, and then Friday he got paid!  No one was paying him even though he was working.  This was a major miracle because if it had come any later, costs for getting him married in September would have been more than double, and he´s pretty poor.  But now he´s really excited to get married and then baptized this Saturday.  I know that he´ll be a great member and that he´ll magnify his priesthood.  And soon he and his wife (reactivated member) will be able to get sealed with their little girl.  We really love him.

I love you all, and hope that you all share the gospel every single day!  I´m never going to stop being a missionary!

Love, 

Elder Thalman

Louis Armstrong

Elder Ficklin and I are really good neighbors.  We´re teaching almost all of the people who live near us!  :)  

 This Friday, we found a couple that is really young, but the wife is pregnant.  The husband said that he was already baptized in another church.  We taught the restoration focusing on authority, and at the end, he accepted baptism!  I was surprised, because it would appear that the whole restoration of priesthood authority actually made sense to him.  

 That´s not really normal here, so this guy is pretty smart.  They are also really easy to keep track of because they live right next door.  haha.

 We had our Musical Fireside on Wednesday and Sat.  Elder Adrian Ochoa was there on Wed with our mission president, and it was super cool.  The big problem was that I had two solos, and I was really sick on Wednesday.  

 Ugh.... I had a really bad throat, sounded like a frog.  Yikes.  But in the end, I think that it just came out sounding like Luis Armstrong.  haha.  But with a little more soul of course.  

 Thursday we had a zone conference with Elder Ochoa, and it was great.    In the leadership meeting afterwards, he said that missionaries wouldn´t get sick if they were working hard enough, so I felt super bad... cuz he knew i was really sick.  haha.  I´m trying my best, I promise!  But now I´m healthy, and we´re getting things going again.  I love being healthy!  I love being a missionary!

I think that of all the things, I learned a powerful leadership principle.  Some zone leaders were asking, how do we best influence the whole zone, because sometimes we just can´t focus on every single one?  He explained some things, and I felt like it hit me.  

You focus on the leadership.  that´s how you make lasting change.  

Focus on the district leaders, so that they can help the rest.

 Focus on working hard with your Bishop and ward mission leader, and they´ll do the rest.  That´s the real change.  Those are the guys that keep the work going forward after you leave.

 So that´s what we started doing, and yesterday we had a meeting with the ward mission leader and the auxiliary leaders.  then we went with him to the bishop´s house and proposed some ideas.  

He seems a lot more unified with us now, and I think that that´s going to make all the difference.  Now we have to teach it to the missionaries, so that the zone gets going in the same direction.  The mission plans haven´t been taking off because of the lack of unity between them and the bishops and ward mission leaders.

So, that´s that.  Just learning the basics still... you´d think that´d I´d have that down before now right?  

I love every single one of you who read this!

Elder Thalman

Cha Cha changes

This week was transfers... But Elder Ficklin and I are continuing the legacy!!!  yeah!  I love this guy.  But the rest of the zone got super messed up (in a really good way).  We love all of our new missionaries.  There are three newbies in the zone!!!  We love newbies so much.  One is this ridiculously trendy elder from Midway, UT.  The other is a Mexican sister, and the last is a PERUVIAN!  The first ever in this mission!  We´re so happy about it.  I love Peruvian people.  I taught one in the MTC, and their Spanish is super awesome sounding.  

We are preparing everything for this Musical Fireside that we´re doing this week.  My comp is playing piano, and I´m singing a couple of songs.  We also have a choir that´s a lot better than I´d thought.  In the end, the best part is that Elder Ochoa of the first quorum of the 70 is going to be there with the mission president!  I´m excited!

The new missionaries in the zone are all really positive (by new, I don´t mean they´re starting the mish, just new to the zone).  they are way excited, and I can already tell that the zone is going to improve a ton.  

Basically, being a missionary is the best things ever.  This week has been crazy just shaking things up, opening areas, finding new houses for missionaries, etc.  All nuts.  

 

But I´d thought that I´d share a super cool experience that I got from my dear friend Elder Matt Bradley who´s serving in Hong Kong.

"Every once in a while the Mandarin missionaries in Hong Kong have the privilege of teaching prepared souls who come down from mainland to hear all of the missionary lessons and get baptized in the same day. These experiences are usually really unique and refreshing to hear how the Lord blessed them with testimonies and provided them a way to first hear the gospel and then hear their usually pretty remarkable stories about how they were able to come to Hong Kong and meet us. Last Thursday's visitor baptism (picture included) was a special one.

 

So my companion and I are on the left of the picture then in the middle is the visitor's older sister, than it's the visitors husband Zhang dx, and then our visitor Chen Huan, and on the right is my former companion Elder Woods and his trainee Elder Dy. Elder Woods and Elder Dy taught and baptized the husband and the older sister two weeks ago (I actually didn't know that until Elder Woods came for the baptismal interview). Their story starts from last June and goes as follows:

 

In June her brother-in-law's older brother got back to Mainland having just lived in Canada. In Canada he got baptized and has a wonderful family. So when he moved back and met with his relatives there they were all impressed at his wonderful and unified family. They started asking him questions and learning about the Gospel from him. Then at the start of July their two year old daughter had a fever that wouldn't go away. It was really frightening for them and they didn't know what to do. Unlike previous fevers their daughter had it wasn't going away and so one particularly bad night they rushed her to the hospital and found out that she was actually in fatal condition. They prayed together as a family and Heavenly Father miraculously made her fever go away. After this experience they both knew that it was the right thing to be baptized and to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they determined to come down on July 27th and all get baptized  together as a family. When that day came though Chen Huan wasn't able to go with them and so the father and her older sister went without her. They took the lessons with Elder woods and got baptized that day. The Sunday after their baptism Chen Huan was really discouraged because she hadn't been baptized with them but she took courage when one of the sisters (who came and watched her get baptized) said that the Lord would let her get baptized at the most suitable moment for her. After she heard this then she took courage again and started to plan on coming to Hong Kong on August eighth. When the Branch President heard this he had the inspiration to have her husband baptize her on August eighth as well. They got everything prepared and while we were teaching her on Thursday she found out that her husband was actually going to come down and baptize her, and that he had all the things necessary (membership record, Aaronic priesthood ordination certificate, etc) that he needed to baptize her. While we were teaching her she also found out that a lot of the branch members would also, unexpectedly, be there to watch her get baptized. And another thing that just proves the Lord is in the detail of our lives is that Elder Woods was the only elder available that could help us with the baptismal interview. I had tried to schedule two other companionships to come and help us with the baptismal interview but he was the one that had time. During the baptismal service everyone was so happy, and I was elated to see a newly ordained Priesthood brethren baptize his wife. What an amazing experience it was! The Lord's spirit was definitely there with us, and I just felt so pleased and happy to be there.

 

In difficulties and outside of difficulties we sometimes make it so complicated and get so discouraged, but God is bigger than all our problems, He loves us and knows what's best for us, and will give us the best things according to His perfect timing. What a great comfort to me."

I love missionary work.  But I´m getting away from calling it that.  It´s all the same work of salvation!  We can and must all participate if we expect to gain our own.

Elder Thalman

Forming New Zones & a New Baptizm

 

On Monday, we went to visit Salamaleco, who had been reading the Book of Mormon a lot.  We felt impressed to read with him where he had gotten to at that point, and ended up read in 2Nephi, and Isaiah chapter.  The Spirit of the Lord was so strong and present, and all of us understood what it was saying (and I´ve never been good at reading Isaiah).  A lot had to do with the gathering of Irael (like normal in Isaiah).

Afterwards, we asked again how he felt about his baptism that Saturday (he had not yet ever given us a sure "yes").  He then solemnly explained in hushed tones that the Spirit and "light" that he received from the Book of Mormon had brought him to the personal decision of getting baptized on Saturday!  Then he said something super cool; "I had always wondered if I was a decendant of Israel, and now because of this book, I know that it´s true."  

 

That´s unlike anything that I had ever heard from an investigator before.  The Spirit was so strong, and Elder Ficklin and I were so filled with joy after, that we were on fire.  Anyone that talked to us after that that day was touched by the Spirit that we felt.  It was probably the happiest I´ve ever felt in the mission, if not in all my life.

For lack of time, that´s all for today.  Love you all!

Elder Thalman

Stand In Holy Places

This week was great. We just got done with a successful double zone unity activity, and things seem to be looking a lot better.  We just challenged a bunch of kids randomly to a game of soccer on the beach.  We played six on six, and just barely beat them.  Yeah!  It was super fun, and I almost died of heat stroke.  I actually had to dunk my head in the beach to not pass out.  I ran a bit too much, but so worth it.  And it was nice to get the exercise in.

This week we watched a movie in the church with Moncha´s family, that came to church! They really enjoyed it, and the Spirit was strong. (It was the Testaments). Afterwards, Franklin got up and said the closing prayer. He expressed feelings of joy for being in the church, and asked God to give them all signs so that they could know that the Book of Mormon was true. Then he said something a little interesting along the lines of, "and hopefully so that it is," then closed the prayer. I was filled with a sweet feeling of great, great joy afterwards. I´m really not sure why, but it was one of the happiest moments of my mission. I´m so excited for this family!

Salamaleco is still progressing great!  He hasn´t given us the good to go yet, but says that he very possibly he´ll get baptized this weekend.  But he´s getting along really well with the members, and is reading and praying like a machine.  We love him so much.  Something funny, but not too doctrinal...  We always start every lesson with him by getting his questions out of the way (because he always has super good ones).  One of his questions was, "do you believe there is life on other planets?"  My companion and I answered in unity with a sure, "yes."

"Salamaleco!" he said.  I hate to say you had to be there, but it was really really funny.  My companion and I just died laughing.  This guy is our best friend.  (one of many.  We get along way too well with our investigators).

We had to climb a mountain in the sisters´ area to do an interview of sorts... it was kinda of pointless, but I won´t bore you all with the details.  We climbed way up.  the neighbors sent us looking for the house way back down the mountain.  the land lord sent us back up the mountain!!! ugh... and it was really really hot... But yeah.  It was memorable.

Story time; The neck tie of salvation!

We were entering our house on Friday night at the end of the day.  A boy name Michael stopped us and asked if we had a pure black tie.  We both answered negative, but promised him after a few minutes of his explaining why he needed it, that we would get him one the next morning before 8am.  Without even inviting him, he asked, "what time is church Sunday?"  "uhhh... nine o´clock in the morning."  We answered.  "Okay, I´m going to go."  Awesome!  We were pretty happy.  We got him the tie the next morning, but before sleeping that night, we were already making plans for the movie titled, "The tie of Salvation."  haha.

Michael, his brother and his mother were at church the very next Sunday, and stayed all three hours!  So awesome.  We´re excited to see if they progress in the long run.

The ward mission plan seems to be taking hold, and members are visiting the investigators without us to offer friendship. It´s great and is bearing fruits already. I love the mission!

Keep it up out there with your own personal missionary efforts!  If anyone has missionary moments during the week, please please send them to me!  I´d love to hear about them!  And for those that always write me anyway, that´s your homework this week. haha.

Love,

Elder Thalman

Unity

 

This week we are doing things right for the first time.  Oh, we´re all so ignorant until we know that we are.  We had a mission coordination meeting with all of the leadership and put specific assignments for each auxiliary organization.  All the main investigators will have visits this week.  If someone doesn´t do their job, the stake pres. will know about it.  I´m pumped.  I really think that this is going to make a big difference in the work.  The sleeping giant is awakening!!!!

Missionary work is just so darn awesome.  

True success has less to do with personal acheivements, but rather in how you help others acomplish.  If we can help these members truly feel the joy of missionary work, not only will we have more success, but the success will last.  That´s all I want.  For whatever I do, that it´s permanent.

Salamaleco said something funny this week.  He was telling us about how he´s stuck in the house and doesn´t like not being able to go do stuff.  He said, "I like monkey in cage."  And I didn´t really get it at first.  why do you like the monkey? ... oh!  you are like a monkey in a cage.  That guy is so darn funny.  Really smart.  We gave him some English books to study from the mission, so he´ll learn lots of gospel vocab.  haha.  

We started asking him questions, and he was giving some cool answers.  He has afirmed that everyting that he has read from the Book of Mormon is true (he´s been praying), and that he that wrote it had to have been a prophet.  So cool!  I don´t know if I have ever seen the Spirit just work so directly with any investigator ever.

I love this mission and love you all!!!

Elder Thalman

Happiness

I think that the whole point of the gospel is that even if things aren´t perfect, or even if we´re not perfect yet, we can have peace.  And then there are lots of times where you can just be happy.  I´m just dandy right now.  Stupendous.  Is that right?  Anyway, things are good.  Not perfect, but I really am happy.

Today we went up to Pico Bonito, were there are some super sick waterfalls.  Way cool.  We went with the other zone, where my brother Elder Amendola is zone leader.  The whole thing was a blast.  I´ll send pics.

Story time!

We had a great spiritual experience with an investigator named Salamaleco.  In the lesson, we answered some questions, then he asked about the gift of the Holy Ghost.  We explained how the sun is in one place, but we can feel it´s heat here.  Everyone can.  Some scriptures were shared, and he seemed to get it, but there was just something missing in his depth of understanding.  I knew that he wasn´t comprehending exactly how the Spirit feels like.  I told him that his questions were obviously inspired by the Spirit, and that it was him that illuminated his mind to ask them.  That seemed to really click with him.  Then as my companion was testifying, the room just lit on fire.  I stopped and said, "do you feel that.  I can feel the Spirit right now."  He confirmed that he felt really tranquilo, and we could then tell him that that´s exactly how God will answer his prayers.  It was one of the best lessons I´ve had on the mission.

We were teaching a kid named Coco (his real name is Paul) and he´s way cool.  Way pilas.  Went to church and everything.  His friend is the ward mission leader´s little brother Daniel.  So Daniel loves lifting weights, and everyone was trying to lift the weight.  So... I decided I would show them what I´m made of.  There are two type of people in this world.  Those who are humble, and those that are about to be.  I did some bicep curls with it, and then some tricep stuff.  No big deal.  Now they all know I can lift it.  Cool.  So I squat down to drop the weight... BOOM!  My pants totally make an explosion noise, and they rip from seem right below the groin up the back about five inches... so yeah.  Big rip.  And that was my last good pair of pants... so while those get fixed, I finally broke down and bought two more pair today.  Good times.

This is the Lord´s work.  It´s awesome!

Love, Elder Thalman

Small, but powerful!

My new companion is Elder Ficklin from Salem, UT.  He´s super awesome, and slightly taller than my mom.  Which is... short.  But he´s the best companion ever.  He plays the piano like a mad man, and is a kick butt missionary.  We´re pretty much best pals.  Super tight.

We finally had a baptism!  Ana got baptized after a year of investigation, and she´s doing great.  You just can´t compare anything with visiting a person right after baptism and confirmation.  There is truly a difference in their eyes, and in their home.  I love it.  It makes everything worth it.

The mission is the best.  We´re working and having a blast!

If you´re not a Mormon, you should be.  You´ll be happier.

If you´re not a missionary, you should be.  Same promise.

I love you all!

Elder Thalman

Changing Perspectives

I don´t know if you saw the world wide special broadcast.  It was so awesome!  My comp and I have been having a lot of thoughts about our purpose and what we do.  We have felt like we just work our butts off and nothing happens because the members don´t care at all.  In the end, we made a sick ward mission plan and got the members more involved, and it´s just starting to role.  

Then we saw this broadcast, and the general authorities basically confirmed everything that we had done.  So cool!!!  They were even using a ton of scriptures that we had used for our ward vision like Alma 31:34-35, and my mission scripture in Jacob 5:70-72.  That last one still gives me chills everytime that I read it.  It´s the best.  I´m really pumped.  I feel like I just got here from the mtc and I´m an excited young missionary.  It´s pretty awesome.

I really do feel totally different.  I feel great.

This is the last week for President Veirs.  I´m really going to miss him, but I´m sure that the next one will be great.  The good thing to remember is that in the end, it´s the same Master.  Jesus Christ is at the head of this mission, and of every mission.  Catch the wave!

 

So what have you done this week to share the Gospel?

So this week has been a week of changing perspectives.  I´m learning a lot, and seeing some incredible changes in the work.

For those of you who haven´t seen the special world wide broadcast of the quorum of the 12 and first pres, you all need to watch it now.  here´s a link.

http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/special-broadcast?lang=eng

I love this work.  There is something that everyone needs to understand.  

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CAUSE IN THE WORLD.  

It doesn´t matter what you´re doing, how busy you are, or how important the thing is that you´re doing.  It´s not more important than sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."  Thomas S. Monson

Being a missionary is the best thing that has ever happened in my life.  I honestly have never been happier.  Never more motivated to do something in my life.  

Even more than athletics, more than making movies, more than anything.  

This is the work of saving souls.  There is no greater cause.

This week we put all of our efforts into helping the members join us in this work.  They seem to be responding with enthusiasm, but this week is when the plan goes into full swing.  We already see results, but this is going to test everyone of us.  I Can´t Wait!  I think that we´re going to see a lot of miracles here in La Miramar.

I lovey you all, and hope that everyone this week can Catch the Wave!!!

Creativity

 

This week we had a leadership meeting and we learned a whole bunch about how we need to help the members and missionaries think outside the box.  A lot of times, you just spend two years doing the same old thing over and over.... you get bored.  And it really can be boring.  I don´t know why none of us enjoy it more, when all you have to do is be creative.  

The Watermelon.  So one thing we did (that wasn´t totally my idea) was use food.  We visited a member and shared a quick scripture; Alma 18:10.  You know, the one about how the worth of souls is great.  Then you just talk for about thirty seconds about how everyone is important.  "you´re important right.  And I´m important too!  And your neighbors... God loves them and values them too. Do you like pineapple?"

"Huh?"  The member wakes up a little bit...

"Yeah, ya know, those little cakes with pineapple in them?"

A little more interested in what we´re saying now... "yeah!  those are delicious.  Who doesn´t?"

"Yeah, well we have some that we´d like to share with you."

Very happy to receive them, and a little less confused, he enjoys his pineapple cake.  We also ate one each.  Then we ask, "Who doesn´t like pineapple cakes?  I bet that everyone on this street where you live likes pineapple cakes!"

"Yeah I bet your right," he responds.

At this point, I hope you know how close I was to just laughing.  This was just so funny to see this guy get so excited about those pineapple cakes.  It just makes me smile.

"Let´s go and give the rest of these to your neighbors!"

So we excitedly went and shared a pineapple flavored Gospel message with his neighbors, and found an innactive family out of it.  It was pretty hilariously effective, and we will be doing it again for sure.  But the great thing was just how stinkin´ fun it was.  I think that me and my companion were laughing about it for the whole day.  Sometimes Honduranians are just a hoot.

We also sharred an awesome new ward mission plan with the members.  We are going to have each of the six organizations of the ward visit investigators that pertain to them daily.  (relief society, elders, youth, etc...).  And we´re going to make a tree, and each branch represents an organization.  So let´s say that there´s a branch that is elders quorum.  And let´s say they have ten investigators.  That branch will have ten leaves.  Now if four of those go to church, those leaves become flowers, because going to church means they´re progressing towards baptism.  And when they get baptized, the flour becomes a fruit!  Awesome!  And the goal is to have at least one fruit for every organization every month.  And that means the ward (with help from the missionaries) will baptize six people minimum every month.  Best idea ever!

Missionary work is the bomb!!!!  And it should be fun.  It´s is easy!  I love it so much, and I especially love helping others do it.  I love this county, and I love these people.  The mission is the best thing that´s every ocurred in my life.

Love,

Elder Kent Thalman