Vinimos Juntos, y saldramos Juntos

So... I getting transferred.  No!!!!  Goodbye Olanchito... I have no idea where I´m going or who will be my companion.  I am really going to miss this area.  Olanchito is awesome.  And, according to pattern, once I really start to become friends with my companion, I get changed.  I learned a ton from Elder Gomez, and he´ll always be my great friend.


Well, this Friday we married the family Bienvenida Acosta.  Saturday they were baptized, and Sunday they were confirmed.  They almost weren´t confirmed because of how late they came to church...  They live like 3-4 miles walking from the church and she is due for surgery in a few weeks.  Incredible, the faith of this family.


This whole week we´ve been finding really good new families.  I swear, there are going to be like 30 baptisms here next change and I won´t be here.  Haha.  Honestly, it doesn´t matter to me.  I really hope that there is a lot of success after I leave.  I know that I helped prepare a lot of these people for baptism, even if I can´t see them enter the waters thereof.  What an incredible first 12 weeks.  Speaking of which, I´m officially not a greenie!  Haha. 


So Cristi gave me the most offensive compliment I´ve ever received.  "Se ve usted un poco más gordito."  Thanks Cristi...  So I think that due to the fact that she is my cook, this is a compliment, but I need to loose weight.  I´m definitely gaining weight lately.  My next area is going to be a cruel answer to my prayers.  God´s gonna send me to a wasteland with a cook who gives me meager servings of rice and sardines.  Haha.  I love Honduras.  I´m going to miss Cristi I´m sure!


Otherwise, things are normal.  We just got 5 ward missionaries (I guess they are more like branch missionaries).  A super huge help to the work here... and now I´m leaving.  But this will really help, I´m sure.  Elder Gomez will keep things rolling here.  Olanchito won´t be known as an area where there aren´t baptisms anymore!  There´s a reputation now, and I know that Elder Gomez will continue the legacy.  :P


I love and miss you all.  Please keep me in your prayers.  Thank you for the ones you´ve already offered in my behalf.  I feel them, and know that God is directing this work.  Jesus Christ is leading this church, and no one can stop this work from progressing.  There are literally miracles everywhere.  I´ve seen the power of God work mighty changes in the hearts of men whom never have looked to anyone for help before.  We asked a young family to start praying together before anything.  They couldn´t be baptized because they weren´t married.  They wouldn´t get married because they were fighting too much.
In one of week praying together, they told us that they had completely stopped fighting.  We could literally see how God totally changed this family.  Now they´re preparing for marriage and baptism.  Amazing.


I know my Father in Heaven lives and loves.  He loves me.  He loves you.  More than either of us even can understand.  It´s my goal to live worthy to feel this love that He has for me more and more every day.  Feeling this love more in my life has been the greatest blessing I have ever experienced.  All those who live His gospel will also feel this joy.  It´s a promise and an invitation.


Les Quiero mucho!


Elder Kent Thalman

A Compiled History of The Week of Elder Thalman

So this week was... intense.  That´s really the best words I can find for it.  And there were lots of cool things that happened, so read on!


On Sunday we heard the story update on Adolfo.  He´s the guy who sold us the pens and taught us lessons 1, 3 and 4.  Remember?  He´s mentioned a few blogs back.  Anyway, he has absolutely no money to go to church, and he can´t be baptized because he´s married to someone, but his family and wife right now are totally different.  Divorce is impossible and super expensive in Honduras, and he has no money.  But, that didn´t stop him from going to church on Sunday.  He lives very far from any church house.  He in fact does not have one in his area.  So he got up at 5am and started biking for the church house closest to him.  He arrived at church at 10am!  Holy cow!  So I really pray that he can eventually figure out the baptism thing, because his faith is really inspiring.


On Saturday we baptized Olga.  She´s an awesome lady who has been going to church for two years, and hasn´t been able to get baptized because her husband is a drunk who refuses to get married.  But he doesn´t really spend time in the house any more and she told us that she is 100% living the law of chastity now, so she qualified.  We baptized her and I can already see how she has changed.  This Sunday I saw her receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  I also had the opportunity to visit with all my other converts.  I was surprised to notice that they all in fact looked different.  People´s countenances truly do change when the Spirit of God dwells with them.  Amazing!

After the baptism of Olga, we got some good news.  But let´s back up.  Early in the week, an investigator named Joselina told us that she would read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true.  This isn´t mind-blowing, because a lot of people say this.  Honestly, I believed her.  Then she said, ´´and tomorrow I´m going to fast as well.´´  Woah.  that´s one I´ve never heard.  She just decided she really really wants an answer.  So, we told her that we´d fast with her, and we did.  We followed up with her, and she said she felt good, but she wasn´t quite accepting the baptismal date.  So we tried to explain how she was going to recognize the answer.  Basically we explained the Spirit.  She said she was going to fast again (which in my opinion is too much fasting but I didn´t say anything...).  On Saturday she came to the baptism of Olga, and afterwards said that she wanted to talk to us.  She wants to be baptized!  So we´re going to baptize her the 2nd of June.  She´s awesome, and she showed a lot of faith.  Honestly, I´ve not seen such faith demonstrated in an investigator to obtain an answer.


Another really great experience yesterday after church.  We have a golden investigator who showed up at church two weeks ago.  She´s named Saida (sigh da) and she´s the niece of the district president.  She´s living with her aunt and uncle (the pres) ´til the end of the year, so we thought she´d be a good person to teach... duh.  She´s actually really really receptive!  And she understands way fast.  We explain stuff to her, and then ask her questions to verify if she understands.  She always gets it.  Really cool.

So we were trying to commit her to baptism and then realized that we had effective skipped lesson one...  Not that you can´t do that.  Sometimes you can.  But if they still have doubts, actually teaching the first lesson may be helpful... A tip for all you future missionaries out there.  We taught lesson one on Sunday.
One of the best lessons that Elder Gomez and I have taught together.  The Spirit was super strong.  By the time we got to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon (which she is already reading) I could just see it in her eyes.  She could feel the Spirit.  Her aunt was with us in the lesson.  To give you some context, this women is a little obnoxious... is that a bad thing to say?  Either way, usually she is a pretty boisterous person.  Kinda loud.  When we were teaching the end, she (the aunt) was in total silence.  Afterwards, I realized that she was just crying her eyes out.  We were saying goodbye, and all  she said to me, in very soft tones was, ´´gracias.´´  It was pretty cool.

Another story.  We contacted a guy on Saturday named Angel.  Cool name.
He was in his backyard, and couldn´t hear very well.  I wasn´t sure if he was all there, but the more we talked to him, the more I could tell that he was complete enough to continue with the lessons.  We started talking to him about who we are and our purposes as missionaries.  He told us that his wife recently died, so we started with lesson two.  Seemed pretty obvious.  I don´t remember what caused it, but eventually he started talking about how there are so many different churches in the world, and how they couldn´t all possibly be true.  Pull back.  Start lesson one: the restoration.  Then he made some comment about how he has the bible, and the Book of Mormon.  Pull back.  Have you talked to missionaries before?  I don´t think he remembers it, but he did in fact have a Book of Mormon.  He showed it to us... I´m not sure he got it in this century.  It was a 1980 print, and looked really cool.  The pictures were still in the book with the corresponding stories.  How Cool!!!

He´s honestly pretty golden, but the problem is he never leaves his house.  Hard to baptize if they never leave.  But he´s super funny.  We would say something like, "we testify that you can live with you wife again."  He´d respond, "Si, bueno, bueno, bueno, bueno... bueno."  Haha.  You just had to be there.  I hate to say it, but he is like a funny character in a movie.  I just love him.  We´ll keep working with him.

Well, that´s quite enough stories for one blog I´d say.  I hope you´re all happy, and hungry to read more.  I really do hope people read this thing.  Please tell all your friends to read this blog!  Haha.

I left out some of the more personal stuff that was actually really hard this week.  But I´m growing more here on the mission than any other time in my life.  I love it here.  I love this mission.  I´m so blessed, and I know that these trials are shaping me.  The price I´m paying to know God.  I feel like I know Him.  He is my Father.  I know that He loves me.  And honestly, this is the first time in my life that I can say that, and really truly mean it.  Or at least it means more now than it did before.

I love and miss you all so much.  I feel bad on how much you´re all missing.  The mission´s the best.  All you kids out there who are busy studying, keep it up.  It´s hard stuff to go to school.  I prefer this. :)

Les quiero,


Elder Kent Thalman

Small Miracles

So this week was nuts.  So much happened, and I can understand why the prophets of the Book of Mormon said they couldn´t write a hundreth part.  I really don´t know what to include.


I´ll start with the first crazy, random miracle.  I think it was Tuesday, Elder Gomez and I are walking down the street, and we hear a voice shout from behind us, ´´Elderes de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias!´´  We turned to see who it was, and neither of us recognized him.  He started just talking to us like we were best pals.  I interjected as nicely as I could, ´´perdon, pero no creo que le hemos conocido.´´  ´´Sorry, but I don´t think we´ve met you.´´  ´´really, I´m Adolfo...bla bla´´


He proceeded to give us a run down of the Book of Mormon, the Restauración through Joe Smith, etc.  Then we eventually found out that he wasn´t a member.  At this point, I was just thinking... ´´what the?´´  By the time he started explaing tithing to us, I was figuring he had talked to the missionaries before...  He had.  Once.


As it turns out, he lives in Jocón, where there are no missionaries.  There is no ward either.  Previously, some time, somewhere, missionaries gave him a stack of all (and it would seem to have been ALL) of the missionary panflets.  He seemed to understand the doctrine great.  I have to admit, I didn´t think that he was that golden at first because I figured that someone who knew that much and wasn´t already baptized just thought that the church was interesting, and didn´t actually want to change.


But... then he went into a whole story of this fight he had with his pastor, about how he started defending the church and pretty much bearing his testimony.  CRAZY!!!  Why wasn´t this guy baptized.  That question isn´t as hard to answer as the other one I have.  Why were my companion and I the ones blessed to find him?  He found us in the street pretty far from his home.  That´s a miracle.  I don´t care who you are.


So by this time, HE gave us lessons 1, 3, and parts of four, shared a spiritual experience, and in a round about way, born his testimony.  The kicker at the end was that afterwards, HE asked us for our info so he could come to church on Sunday.  We gave him the info for the Elders in Bellavista (cuz they are closer to him) and we took his info as well.  AMAZING!


More amazing was that he called us the next day, and the elders from Bellavista.  Elder Dever just told me that he came to church yesterday with his whole family.  He paid for a taxi... with the last money had.  Turns out he has no job, but he´s trying to get one.  He makes cool little pens and sells them for a little more than a dollar (I bought one).  His plan was to sell pens at church to pay the way home, but the elders had to explain how he couldn´t do that.  Haha!  I love this guy.  He´s incredible.  So he wants to be baptized, and they are working out a way to teach him somehow.  I think for a while they were trying to explain the lessons through the phone... haha.


Next story.  Luckily, this guy lives in OUR boundries. :)


My comp and I were contacting doors.  We hardly never do that because lately we´ve been blessed to have enough investigators to fill our day.  But as it turns out, God had someone prepared for us and used this tiny window to lead us to him.  Probably the third house we contacted was Pedro.  (So much for the one in a thousand statistic.)  We sat down, and the Spirit just got really bold.  He seemed really receptive.  We started off by just trying to break up the ice a bit, and finally he started to ask questions (which is what we wanted).  He had a little bit about Joseph Smith.  We explained it as fast as possible.  ´´Oh, okay.  They always told me he was your God, but I guess that´s not true.´´  Well that went well.  So then we just started going through a quick lesson three.  ´´Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?´´  ´´Claro que si.´´  ´´Well, then you need to repent of your sins and be baptized.´´  That is a condenced version of what took about 20 minutes from the contact to the closing prayer.  ´´We always offer the invitation to come to church on Sundays.´´


That´s the hardest part.  Getting them to church.  We set a date for baptism right then and there, and he said he would come to church.  CRAZY!  His  date is the 19th.


So we were fasting and working hard Sunday morning to try and get people to church.  When we finally got Josue to church (which was way too much work, but now we can baptize the kid this week, haha) we started looking to see which investigators were there.  We had a great turn out!


I was feeling great, thinking about those who were there.  Naturally I started thinking about the ones not there.  Pedro wasn´t there.  I started praying hard.  ´´Father, just give him the desire to come and to be able to get here.´´  Five minutes later, Pedro walked in.  We´re definitely going to baptize this guy.


I just want people to realize at this point in this update, you (like Aaron) might be thinking, ´´Wow, you really must think you´re one stellar missionary.´´  And while I risk the appearance of arogance by adopting the response of Ammon, I honestly am sharing these experiences to glorify God.  His hand is literally in everything!  We´ve seen it every day this week.  Miracles are following us around everywhere!!!


I really couldn´t be happier.  Things are great.  This church is true.  These weren´t even the most spiritual experiences I had this week, but the others are too personal.  In that vein however, I simply want to testify that God is our loving Heavenly Father.  He´s my Father.  He loves every one of us.  I know He loves me and that I am His Son.  Possibly, for the first time in my life I can truly say that without a single doubt in my mind.  I love Him, and I love this life that He has given me.  It´s really hard.  But He gives me peace, and all that I need to be happy.


I love you all, and pray for you all, all the time.  THANK YOU SO MUCH for the letters, support, and most of all the prayers.  I can feel them.  Know that God is answering them.  Thank you.


Les amo muchisimo!


Elder Kent Thalman

Srength In Porportion to the Work to be Done

So this week I´ve learning some pretty powerful lessons.  More than that, I feel like I´m really becoming someone that I might actually like to be.  I hope that doesn´t sound prideful.  Let me explain.


I was reading in the book, Our Heritage this morning about the early saints, who forged their faith in God as they forged through difficulties in the planes of America.  While their trials make mine pail in comparison, I felt so powerfully the ability to relate to those early saints, that I started to nearly cry.  Sometimes things are just so hard that the only thing that keeps you going is the powerful Spirit of God constantly reassuring you of what you are becoming.


Not to make you assume that this week was all blood, sweat, and tears.  Mostly just sweat and tears with a tiny bit of blood (got a bloody nose on Thurs for anyone who cares to know).  This week was actually the most successful week I have ever had on the mission.  I couldn´t really believe it.  While the trials were well enough that I can´t properly describe in this blog, our success was really quite miraculous.  Right up until the end.  Finally, when it comes down to seeing who finally comes to church in the end, no one did.  We passed for a whole bunch of people, and no one wanted to come, not withstanding the fact that they had all committed to do so.  Finally, we went to the house of Josué.  His mom is trying to reactivate, and he is only 11 years old, but he wants to be baptized.  He´s doing a great job showing that he´ll be active despite his lack of support at home, so I think we´ll do it.  We passed by his house, and although we were late, he came.


We were kinda bummed, but happy that we at least had one.  Our goal was five.  Half way through the meeting, Josué wanted water, so I walked him out.  A sister came up to me; ´´¿ellos son sus investigatores?´´  ´´Are they your investigators?´´  I couldn´t believe it.  The one family that we forgot to go invite in the morning had come all on their own.  More than that, the wife brought a friend!  Haha.  It was great!  We walked them into the meeting, and they stayed for Gospel principles.  In gospel principles, there was another Family!!!  We hadn´t even recognized them in the Sacrament meeting.  We had received their information from the elders in our neighboring area.  Elder Gomez had contacted them while on splits, and I had never seen them before.  We couldn´t pass by their home because of how far away they live.  They paid for a taxi to get there.  Happy.


So there we seven in the end, and two families!  I was more than happy.  The Lord pretty much taught us two weeks in a row that he will pretty much send who He wants to church.  All we have to do is keep working.  We´ve decided to change the way we work to put more priority in those progressing (coming to church) and less on everyone else.  Kinda makes sense huh....?


Really, it was pretty humbling.  The Lord super effectively and basically showed us that no matter how effective we are as missionaries, it doesn´t matter.  The work is entirely in His hands.  So the only thing that you can really do is focus on how you can be worthy enough to receive the blessings.


I wish I could go into all the details of the week.  More specific histories were sent to individual friends and family, and any historian (that´s you Mom) wishing to chronicle the details of this week would benefit from compiling these records. :)


I just want everyone to know how much you are missed and loved.  Specifically, I am praying for my friends in the McIntire family, who are going through some tremendous challenges at the moment.  I hope they don´t mind my publicly expressing my love for my friend Michael and his family, and asking publicly that you all remember them in you prayers.  More importantly, those nearby, please remember them in your services.


For those of you who may miss me, please keep in mind that I miss you more.  I´m also happier than I´ve ever been.


I love you all.


Les quiero un montón,


Elder Kent Thalman

One down and who knows how many to go.

This week was pretty crazy.  All sorts of stuff.  Elder Polendo se fue and now I´ve got a newbie.  On Tues, we dropped the poor guy off, leaving Olanchito for good.  So sad, but we did hear that he is now District Leader.  Hahahaha!  He doesn´t want to climb the ladder, but he is like the youngest DL in the mission.  Everyone knows that he´s gonna be an assistant.  That´s my Dad!  :)


The rest of the day on Tues and all day Wed, my comp was... Elder Skousen!  Pretty fun for just a little bit.  We´re still in the same district, which is great.  Not so sure that we will every really be companions, but it was fun for at least a day.  He´s a great missionary, and I hope I´m making all of you who know him jealous that we hang out often.  Haha.  I actually think I see him here more frequently than before the mission.


My new comp whom I met on Wed is Elder Gomez.  He´s from Guatemala, and he´s crazy.  Haha.  He works hard, and is a great missionary.  The branch seems to really like him a lot, and I can already feel the increased support we´re going to receive.  I am confident that we are going to see some great success this transfer.


Side note:  I ate a ton of food yesterday.  Like a lot.  I really love the food here.  All that worrying before the mission.  I´m actually one of the only people I know of who hasn´t gotten sick yet at all on the mish.  Even some of the latinos get sick, but I´ve been just fine.  The MTC was actually way worse as far as being sick all the time.


Dont you all worry.  I don´t think that I will gain any weight out here.  We work too hard.  I´ll be as good looking as I was before.  Sorry for those of you holding out for an improvement...


So, we have a little quadrito where Elder Polendo and I liked to go and teach like 3 families at the same time.  It was fun once or twice, but we decided that we´d start teaching each one separate. 
Way better.  We started teaching a woman named Suyapa, and after she told us her husband died a few years back, we jumped right into the Plan of Salvation.  She was REALLY receptive.  We explained to her the spirit world, and how her husband will have a chance to accept the gospel and how her family can live together forever.  She was all lit up.  Totally changed.  Super cool.  So she accepted baptism, and we now need to set a date for sure.  I feel good about it. 


She´s pretty much my best pal.  Last night we visited her, and she was asking about missions and missionaries, etc.  Normal stuff.  We explained it to her.  I was explaining how I have a sure testimony that while I´m away from my family just for a few years, I will have all eternity with them.  As a missionary, I´m helping other families attain the same blessing.  How great will it be to see those families after this life together with God!  She responded, ´´Que bonita su vida.´´  haha.  She´s like awesome.  Don´t know why, she just is.


So this is possibly a little shorter, but I´m sure that I´ll have tons to report next week once Elder Gomez and I have more of a chance to show Olanchito what we´re made of.  Stay tuned.


Love and miss you all greatly.  Thanks for all the letters.  I got a stack of dearelders this week from Anna, Mitra, John the Ross, and others.  I am eternally grateful.  I´ll confess that I haven´t sent a single written letter yet.  This will change.  I have already started responses, and they should start to travel the world soon.  Please don´t feel like I´m not responding.  I am.  And I love and appreciate the updates from each one of you.


Les Quiero bastante,


Elder Thalman

Sweet is The Work

Greetings Everyone from the greatest mission in the world! We are here, wishing that you all remember us, and continue to let us know, that we may labor with a brighter hope of having friends in two years. As for me, I´m just getting started here, so I´m not too worried about all that. I feel bad for the Elders registering for classes, etc. Chasta.

Saturday we baptized Familia Wilson!!!!! First ever for me, and it was a family. An incredible one! They are unbelievable. All three (and baby Wilson) are all so wonderful. They were not only super receptive, but ready beyond all belief. We found them, taught them, and baptized them in three weeks. They were confirmed yesterday, and they fit right in at church. Everyone seems to really like them, and Hermano Wilson is always participating in the classes. You´d think this family was born in the Gospel. They truly are a wonder to behold. And there truly is a love that penetrates their home. I am confident that of all the families I will have the opportunity to teach, this one will stand as one of if not the best. I love them so much.

This morning, we got the call. Elder Polendo is being transferred. It was pretty inevitable. However, we all have really mixed feelings. I´m honestly a little excited to work with someone new, but I have a lot of doubts that they will be as good as he was. And He´s worried because Olanchito was his first area, same as me, and this is his first change. He´s not sure what to expect, and will miss it here (as will I when I leave).

However, he´s also a little tired of the area, and excited for the change. Will keep everyone updated on all that happens!

So, speaking of mixed feelings, that seems to have been the theme of the week. We worked hard all week. We had some really stellar days. Others were really awful.

Wednesday morning, we were fasting from the day before as a zone. We were super tired. We went to an excellent family, and the father was still at work unexpectedly, so we just talked with the Mom. There was an elementary school recess behind the house that was super loud, and her own toddler was possessed by a demon, jk. It was the worst lesson we´ve ever taught.

In the end, she gave us back the Book of Mormon we gave her. I couldn´t believe it. That family was baptism ready for sure I thought. I will probably go back, but it was a horrible experience.

Then we were contacting a reference and we got yelled at by some pastor. It was the first time here I was directly persecuted for my religion. Eld. Polendo enjoyed the little 5 min. battle, but I just felt hungry, Spiritually drained, and miserable. We went home, ate, and then slept because we both felt really gross (sick). We did however finish the day, and I´m pretty sure that everything went fine Wednesday in the end.

However, the whole week was not doom and gloom obviously. We worked super, super hard on Friday, and we destroyed our goals. Things were looking awesome. I got to direct a few lessons working on splits with a joven here named Daniel Castro. He´s going to Columbia on his mission reporting on May 2. He´ll be incredible. However, he doesn´t talk much, so I had to take the lead.

We went to find an inactive woman, but instead found her daughter. I didn´t really want to spend much time with her (the last lesson with her wasn´t that great and I didn´t think she was going to progress), so we sat down to teach a quick lesson and split. I felt quickly that she needed lesson three, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Weird. Why would she ever accept baptism if she doesn´t understand authority? Everyone here is already baptized and needs to learn that. We started, and the lesson was really great. She was pretty receptive, and her 11 year old son was perfect.

In the end, we discovered that neither of them were baptized in any church, and they actually accepted in the end. The inactive Mom is also doing much better emotionally after loosing a son, and she seems willing to start coming back to church. We think we can get this whole family coming to church and baptized. How cool! :)We taught another wonderful lesson after that, and I felt great. I´m learning how to act around these people, and how to take the lead with the lessons.

It´s nice to feel a little less side-lines if you know what I mean. The Spanish has its good days and bad, but always improving.

On Sunday we went to pick up a bunch of investigators... and not one was willing or ready to go. Lots had excuses. Some were better than others. I was pretty bummed out. We went to church, and found three people that we didn´t even know at church. I was pretty shocked. One was an acquaintance of Hermano Justo from his work. In the middle of Gospel Doctrines class, she said something incredible. We were talking about the Fall of Adam, and she was talking with the instructor, ´´at the other church I didn´t learn any of this. I´m learning stuff that I´ve always wanted. Usually the pastor just talks and talks about the same stuff.´´

Elder Polendo leaned over and whispered to me, ´´baptismo.´´ Haha.

Afterwards, we were talking to Justo about her. She came to church because she wants a new one and thought ours was pretty. She came with Justo to feel more comfortable. She has a family, but isn´t married to the man (this is normal). She wants her and her family baptized! So this means we need to teach them, get the husband off of drinking, marry them, then baptize them!

Pretty wild. Sometimes you just work and work. It all goes down the drain, and then God just opens up the right door and says, ´´good work. Here it is.´´ I really hope this family follows through.So that´s pretty much the week.

I´m really learning to just love the work. We got all of the numbers this week again (I´m not sure how), but I´m learning that more important is the Spirit of Promise. The Spirit that tells you after you´ve done all you can and it seems like you´ve failed that your works have been consecrated unto God for your welfare, and they are acceptable before Him.

That feeling is what will keep me going til the day I die I think. Because there is nothing else like it.I know that this church is true. That means that I know that it is the kingdom of God on earth today. This gospel is the only thing capable of leading mankind unto salvation through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.

I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I´m learning that this mission is the longest prayer I´ve ever said in my life. haha. This mission is my prayer of repentance. And I feel the love He freely gives me.Let the ´´Amen!´´ sound all our praises again.´´

I bear witness of these truths in the Sanctified name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love and miss you all. Thank you for your love and prayers. I know they are not unanswered. Please know that I always need them.

¡Les amo mucho! Elder Kent Thalman

Oh; What Joy

So I am just beside myself with glee right now. I can´t even keep it in.

First, right now I just got pics from my sister Raeanne with her fiancee. So wonderful. I´m way excited.

More than that, let me tell you about the week. Monday was Pday, and we went to Trujillo. There is a beach there, and we went. You all know that missionaries can´t swim... don´t worry, we didn´t. We ate at a restaurant on the coast and just chilled as a zone. I´d had kinda been too wound up, so that was super nice. I actually can´t tell you how powerful that recharge was.

Elder Polendo (my comp) and I have been getting along super duper this week, and I feel like he´s becoming one of my best friends. We got WORK DONE. It was nuts. We got stuck in Trujillo late, and missed our appts. that night. Kind of a bummer. And then we were late getting in on Tues. We worked hard and made up for lost time. Wed we couldn´t work the morning bc of District meeting. We still worked hard and met all of our goal that day (more or less).

Thurs is weekly planning, so we couldn´t work the morning again. We honestly lost a ton of time this week. Some of it was normal, but a lot of it was just weird.

But Friday we smoked it. We really had great stats that day. Saturday too, dispite the complications. By Sat, it was obvious that we were going to meet every single goal for the week, and we were super happy. The biggest worry was if we would have investigators at church the next day. If they don´t come to church, they´re not progressing. To put things simply, we haven´t had any progressing investigators officially on the mission yet (he has obviously, but I haven´t). You can guess what we fasted for.

Sunday, we went for investigators. We already knew that Fam Wilson (Vallecillo) was going to make it. He went with them to find a dress for a recently activated sister. She wants her two sons to be baptized! Score.

I went with a brother from the ward. The first investigator didn´t show... her boyfriend answered the door... great....Then we went to the Banegas´ house. They are a bunch of Women who live together (a mom and her grown up daughters). Two of them finally came with three kids (two of which are baptism age) after we waited forever for them. We ended up missing the first 40min of Sacrament meeting. Haha. But is was worth it bc we had a total of 8 investigators in Sacrament meeting yesterday!!! It was so great.

And there were 145 total people in church. Our goal was 130 and the average is 120. Probably a Semana Santa thing (Easter), but it was a great testimony meeting. Familia Wilson is set for baptism this Sat. They are still great. They are accepting everything we throw at them, and Hrm. Wilson is answering questions in church like he´s already a member. His 8 year old daughter even said the prayer in primary and she already has a bunch of friends. They´re too perfect to be true. I described them to Elder Savage, and afterwards he told me, ´´yeah, they´re probably selling drugs.´´ Haha.

On Saturday night we celebrated a bit early and bought baleadas in the Centre. They were the best I´ve ever had in Honduras. So good. After counting the numbers on Sunday, we broke every single goal for the week! We were so giddy. After closing the longest fast I´ve ever done (or least what felt like it), I fell on the couch and couldn´t stop smiling. It was the best week of my life I think. I finally can say that I am truly enjoying the mission. It was always a Spiritual experience, but the field is hard. This week has made up for all of it. People who say that the MTC is the refiner´s fire haven´t been to The Honduras, San Pedro Sula mission. haha.

Yesterday we visited a family we found this week. Familia Posa Martinez. After talking for a bit, the Dad said, ´´yeah, I´ve been to church before. I was baptized at 12 or something like that.´´ We were pretty confused, and had to clarify it yesterday. He is infact a member. His four or five sons and one daughter have never been to church. He went inactive what seems to be two years after baptism when he was about 14 because of his parents. He is not married officially to his wife. We talked to him, and he was super receptive. I told him super straight forward, ´´we´re here to help you come back to church and unite your family. Is that something you want?´´ He responded surprisingly in the affirmative, and said, ´´yeah, I feel like I´ve spent enough time away.´´

His family was dressed surprisingly nice when we got there, and it turns out that they were ready for church, but were going to be late, and didn´t want to show up late. I was surprised, but very pleased. We can help this family. They have DESIRE. We are going to help them get married and then baptize the wife and 2 or 3 of the sons. Then get them the priesthood. I haven´t been able to stop thinking about this family for most of the morning. I´m very excited.

March, we had zero baptisms. April, It looks as if there will be about five. I think that May will have eight or more. I really do.

I´m afraid of what I will do when Eld. Polendo leaves (probably in two weeks). I hope my next companion will work, because this place is ready for the sickle. To give you an idea, this area was closed for a while. Then there were no baptisms for six months. My comp. had about 7 or so when I got here, and that was after 4.5 months. We´re going to have 5 together it looks like, and then it will only go up from there. I hope I´m not killing you all with the numbers. We´re excited, and trust me, we´re not just crunching numbers.

These are outward indicators of success, and we LOVE these people. I have never loved so many people so much before. It was hard at first becuase the culture here is so laid back. But Elder Polendo is teaching me how to work with them effectively. I love my companion. I love these people. I love these FAMILIES. and I LOVE my Savior Jesus Christ. It feels great knowing that we are helping Him place these families on the path to eternity. I can see these people changing this nation. I can see their daughters marrying in the temple. I can see their sons serving missions. I can see our reunions in the next life and the joy we will have together. One more full week ahead. Let´s work. ¡Les Amo! Elder Kent Thalman