The Spirit has Called Him to Another Place

So... I got tranfered.  But honestly, the worst part is that they closed my area.  Bishop Funes and the Stake Pres called my mission pres to ask him not to do it, but we simply don´t have enough missionaries to keep it open.  Nuevo San Juan will still be made a branch, and i know the Lord will watch over His flocks over there.


Now for the good part.  My new area is La Florida (Flor EE da) in Copan.  If you know anything about Copan, that´s where all the cool ruins in Honduras are.  We are really close to all of them, and for pday, we will visit them all before we go.  I´m so excited!!!  My dad will be jealous. ;)


We´re up high in the mountains and it is really cool.  We also have air conditioning in the room where we sleep.  I´m blown away.  I feel like I live in another country.  My last area was so small.  like walk all the way around it in 30min small.  Here, you can´t drive from one end to the other in less than 3 or 4 hours.  Crazy.  Our branch pres lives 2 hours away walking.  He lives in the mountains where it´s impossible to drive.  We´re going to his house next Sat.  with the climate in this area, my skin is feeling a lot better, and the problem should go away now permanantly in just a few more days.  Hurray!


We have a church house in this area!  Who´d have thought I´d be so excited.  haha.  The branch is pretty small, and like always, a lot of less actives, but I love it.  The members are really excited to work with us.  They all like me and my companion.  We´re teaching a bunch of people, and this area is really stellar.  We had 13 investigators in church....  yeah.  that´s a great change from the max of 4 in my last area. 


My companion is Elder Anderson, from Idaho.  He´s a real nerd, and we get along great!  He only has a little more than 2 months more than me which I like.  The younger missionaries always work harder I find. 


My zone leader is... my DAD!!!  haha.  Elder Polendo, who trained me is already a zone leader, and he only has 10 months in the mish.  We all keep telling him he´s gonna be Assistant.  He doesn´t want to be.  He´s an awesome missionary, and I´m so glad I´ll get to work with him a little bit once again.  I´ve really missed him.


Story time.


We´re preparing a woman and her four grandsons for baptism.  Norma is the most well prepared investigator we have ever found in our lives.  she has such a powerful testimony and read the BOM like crazy.  We went to teach her the word of wisdom a few nights ago. Knowing the people here, we thought for sure she´d have a coffee problem.  Turns out, we explained a little to her about the word of wisdom, and she cut us off before we could explain anything.


"In this house we don´t drink alcohol, and there´s no tobacco.  Never.  And we don´t like any other drugs.  Tea and Coffee are bad too, and we don´t drink those anymore!"


"umm.... where did you learn that?"


She explained that she didn´t learn it in church. she just always knew it was bad and that she shouldn´t have been doing it.  We asked her how long it had been since she drank coffee.  she said she always knew it was bad, but knowing that she was preparing to be baptized, she quit.  she´s not had any for over a week now!  How nuts!  She taught HERSELF the word of wisdom and started living it before we said anything!  haha.  The Lord really does prepare these people.


Something else to give you a culture idea.  After that appointment, we left her house to visit a young 17 year old kid who wants to be baptized named Manuel.  Norma´s house is huge.  Nicer than a lot of houses I´ve seen in the states.  Manuel lives in a mud shack smaller than my room.  He said he didn´t feel comfortable going to church because he doesn´t have shoes...


The Lord´s children are one.  He can touch the hearts of the rich and the poor.  The bond and the free.  This is not an American church, nor is it for the rich.  I know that God loves each and every one of His children.  I´ve seen him touch the hearts of so many different people and different sides of the world... but it´s the same message.  It´s true.


I love and miss you all, and will try and find a way to send mail to the states so that it doesn´t get lost.  Please forgive me if you haven´t gotten letters from me.  Chances are, I´ve written you.  Continue in patience.  I´m so grateful and humbled by those who have written me with no reply at all.  thank you so much!


Mitra, and John Ross.  I still need your addresses if you read this.  Thanks.


Love,


Elder Kent Thalman