NURSERY

Today I happened to be in the NURSERY at church for a few minutes. The choir was using that room to run through our special musical number....anyway...after the choir left I was there with the Primary President, Counselor, Nursery Leader and THREE adorable little girls. They decided that they wanted to have singing time. So we sang nursery songs. They have a great way to do "If you Chance to Meet a Frown"....the girls are back to back and one is the frowny face and the other the smiley face. It was adorable. I wanted to get a picture of my three little nursery girls....and then we got a video of their song...

PS. They are all being potty trained...and had to show me their "big girl panties"....it it the same everywhere...

SANTA BIBLIA EN ESPANOL

Any student who has ever had me in Seminary...(you know who you are)....knows how much I LOVE my LDS Bible. It is just packed full of information that I cannot imagine living without.

WELL.....

Today in Sacrament Meeting a letter was read from the First Presidency....they have set a date for the release of the NEW LDS Edition of the Santa Biblia in Espanol...September of this year. We are sooo excited for this to happen. Imagine...having a Bible without the cross-references and all of the other things that we take for granted. Spanish speaking Saints have waited for this edition for awhile...and we thought it was going to be a year or more still.

I was almost moved to tears as they read the letter. This will be such a blessing to the Spanish speaking Saints throughout the world.

THANKS GORDON CHRISTENSEN

Anyone in the dental field knows the name Gordon Christensen. Wayne explains it like this:

"When I say the name Elvis..you know exactly who I am talking about. Well...in dentistry when I say the name Gordon....you know exactly who I am talking about."

Dr. Christensen was kind enough to send some of his instructional tapes on dentistry with us to Honduras. Wayne was able to do some teaching this past week with the students in our Clinic using one of these tapes. The students LOVED it...and so did Maestro Tomkinson. We are hoping to make this a regular segment during the week.


THANKS DR. CHRISTENSEN!!!

Texting 101

Four Future Missionaries from Juticalpa

Friday we had 4 future missionaries come in from Juticalpa to have all their treatment done for their missions. Three of them needed fillings, all needed cleanings, and 2 needed wisdom teeth out. It was a long morning.

We were doing two lower wisdom teeth on one of the future Elders when I realized that he was texting through the entire procedure. Now, I know that texting is important and that you need to stay in contact with those people that are important to you. My own children can do it with their eyes closed. But I wasn't sure that during third molar extractions was the time to do it. He was even taking pictures of his procedure.....keeping everyone posted on how it was going.

Texting 101

I asked Wayne about it...and he said that it didn't bother him.....as long as it was distracting the missionary from the procedure...Now I think that we have seen it all!!!

The four of them were wonderful Young Adults. We enjoyed our visit with them...and their Spirit. Can't wait to hear where they will be serving....

DIA DEL PADRE

Father of the Day at the Dental Clinic
With Christy, Anna, Ivi, Michelle, Nadia and Sonia

This last Thursday was Dia Del Padre (Father's Day) here in Honduras. The students at the clinic decided to surprise Elder Tomkinson and throw him a Dia Del Padre fiesta. They brought unbelievable food, gifts and just sweet smiles. We spent the first hour of the day feasting and endulging in chocolate cake.

It is so wonderful to be able to work with such great people. These students (and Dra Michelle) have made our welcome here in Honduras so easy and smooth. They brighten up each and every day that we have in the clinic.

Opening a gift from Sonia
It says SOY CUTRAGNO (the slang name for Hondurean)

Here are a few pictures from Wayne's unexpected Father's Day:

With Vicki (she was gone when the group picture was taken)

Amazing food for breakfast

A POOR WAYFARING MAN OF GRIEF

Elders Tomkinson, Quej, Medrano, Perez and Roca

Have you ever had something happen that was just soooo funny at the time? Today we were really busy in the dental clinic. We had about 6 missionaries come for different things...which with their companions can get pretty crowded and busy throughout the morning.

Near the end of the day we were down to the last two missionaries. Elder Quej was having his going home exam and Elder Roca was getting ready to have a wisdom tooth removed. Wayne was working on Elder Quej cleaning his teeth and doing a restoration. Elder Roca was in the next chair getting numb and talking to the other two missionaries..preparing for his extraction. I was doing paper work, etc....

When all of a sudden I hear the song "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief"....and I realize that it is coming from Elder Perez who is singing to Elder Roca. I start to laugh, realizing that he is singing this to the missionary that is getting ready to have an extraction. I just could not stop laughing. Wayne had to stop his procedure and find out what was going on. He said that I needed to take a video of this experience. I explain to the missionaries that this is the song that John Taylor sang to the Prophet Joseph just before he was martyred. They realize it, and then we all start to laugh.

Elder Perez is the elder that we met during our first week here. We did a blog about him (see July 22, 2008) and his wonderful testimony. He continues to amaze us. If you listen to the video closely you can hear Wayne's drill in the background. It blends nicely with the music and the traffic from outside.

Here is the Honduras Dental Clinic rendition of "Un pobre forastero" sung by Elders Medrano and Perez. ENJOY!

ALMACEN DEL OBISPO....Bishop's Storehouse

The Bishop's Storehouse in Tegucigalpa

Today we had an experience that brought two blessings. We visited the Bishop's Storehouse here in Tegucigalpa. What a wonderful Spirit we felt. It is hard to put into words how we felt when we saw the Lord's plan in action. I felt I was at home in any of our storehouses throughout the world. There were beans, rice, flour, tomato sauce and all of the basics. My heart was so full as I looked at the blessings for the people of Honduras.

There were two couples that run the storehouse as full time missionaries. They are Elder and Sister Cueller and Elder and Sister Baca. This is the second mission for the Cuellers. They operate the storehouse on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They were adorable and we had a wonderful time visiting with them. Our Spanish was amazing. Each time we leave an experience like this, Wayne and I look at each other and say, "Did we just do that in Spanish?"

With the Bacas and the Cuellars

The second blessing was the main reason that we were at the Storehouse. Someone had donated keyboards to the people of Honduras and they are stored there. Elder Duarte told us about the keyboards a couple of months ago, and said that we could use them to help teach piano lessons. When we got there we were amazed to find that there were over 70 keyboards at the storehouse. We were requisitioned to use 15 of them. It was amazing to see the stacks and stacks of keyboards. I am so excited to be able to put a dent in these, and to have them used by the people of Honduras.

Boxes and boxes of keyboards

The couples were so great...helping us move the keyboards and load them into the car. As we tried to put 15 keyboards into our mid-size SUV one of the sisters had an idea about how we could do it. The brethren had it under control. I teased her that as sisters we have all learned just to keep our mouths shut in these situations. She and I just kept using the hand motions to zip our mouths and throw away the key. She was wonderful.

Loading the car
(How many keyboards can you fit in?)

Sister Baca and Sister Cuellar
With their "lips sealed"

Last night I started a young woman with her first piano lesson. I am so excited to begin these lessons. I think that I will have about 30 students. Things have come full circle. When we first got married I had the opportunity to teach group piano lessons in Dallas Texas. The elementary school system there had it as part of their curriculum. Who would have know how that job would prepare me for this mission. The Lord truly works in ways we don't understand....until even 35 years later!!

RESIDENCIA FOR THE TOMKINSONS

Immigration Building

Today we spent the better part of the day at MIGRATION for the Country of Honduras. This is a process that we need to go through so that we can be registered here as "residents" and not need to renew our visas every 60 days. Elder Sorensen spends much time at the office taking care of all of us and our passports and keeping track of who needs to go where when for our legal status in the country.

We first showed up at Migration about 9:30 this morning. One of the members that we have met, Gloria, works there and takes really good care of all the missionaries. Between the two missions here in Tegucigalpa this week alone they processed over 30 missionaries in person...not to mention all the ones that are processed without the missionary present. This was the first (and only) time that we need to actually be present. We were about the third people in line.

This place makes the DMV look like the fast track....and today their computer system was down. They processed Elder Tomkinson's information nine times and then would take his picture. Each time they took the picture...everything would erase. This went on for awhile and then they said to come back at 1:00 pm and things should be working. Elder Sorensen was smart enough to verify that we would be first in line at 1:00.

We got back about 1:30 and only had to wait about an hour and we were all done. We were fingerprinted (a first) and even visited with the other people in line. I teased some of the other missionaries with us that we should hand out brochures and start discussions, and then maybe they would take care of us faster.

After a day at Migration with Elder Sorensen

Those of you who know me well will be surprised to know that I did pretty well with this. I am not known for waiting in line or things that don't run smoothly. I told Elder Sorensen that I probably would have used to stand up and say "Would you like me to run this for you?"....but I was calm, cool and collected. The mission is teaching me things that I never thought I would learn.

FEEDING THE 5000

Sunday night meeting with our office staff
Front: Elders Turcio, Santos, Ayau and Galindo
Back: Elders Orellana, Leiter, Sorensen and Ingleby

Well...not quite!! We have the privledge of meeting with all the office Elders once a week to generally plan the events for the week. We usually have a little dessert or sweet treat after the meeting. Last week one of the Elders asked if he could have a sandwich...which means of course that you don't just serve one sandwich...all of them need one.

BOYS AND REFRIGERATORS
Some things never change....

This last week we did hot dogs. It was so fun. We have eight missionaries serving in the office with us right now....not quite 5000.....but sometimes you wonder!!

Elders Turcio, Orellana, Ayau and Galindo

Elder Orellana working for his snack

And then there were....SIX

Elder and Hermana Tomkinson with six future missionaries
The one holding the papers and the one putting his arm around him are brothers

Anyone who has worked in a dental office knows that you can't fit too many extra people into a day's schedule. (Thanks, Tomi for all those years....I am just beginning to realize what you went through). This morning we got to the dental clinic not knowing if our first patient was going to show up or not. Luckily, he did not.

Our three missionaries working on their papers

As we got to the door we were greeted by three young men who informed us that they were there to get their mission papers done....No problem...usually we take appointments for this...and then we realized that one of them is leaving this next week. He already has his call!! Still...not too bad. About ten minutes later two more future Elders and one Hermana came in...and they are all leaving next week. All of them needed dental work...including one who needs 4 wisdom teeth removed.

These missionaries will be serving in Chile (2 of them), Guatemala and Salvador. They were so much fun and we had a great morning with them. We will get the work done this week...don't want them to go into the field with problems!!

Elder Tomkinson with the Lopez family

We also had another future missionary come in today...Melnor Lopez. His papers are in Salt Lake and he is awaiting his call. He has had three appointments to finish his work. Today his mom came with him and we had a wonderful talk. She was so thoughtful and brought us some lunch because they were a little late and she was worried that we would be hungry. As we talked, we realized what faith and a powerful yet simple testimony she was bearing to us.

Her spouse is not a member, and is refusing to help with any money for the mission. She told us that she knows that the mission is the right thing to do. Her family will be blessed for the service that Elder Lopez will give. I will never forget her beautiful testimony of the plainness of the gospel or the tears in our eyes as we talked.

We love this part of the mission....these future missionaries are such a light to the world!!

AS PROUD AS THE MOTHER

The Martinez Family

Today was another great Sacrament Meeting. We were so excited to see Hermano Martinez there. We visited his family the very first day that we were assigned to our La Vega Ward. One of their daughters lives in Utah with her husband. They have been members of the Church for a few years, but he has been less active for awhile. Hermana Martinez came up to us at the beginning of the year and said that her goal for the new year was to be at Church every week.

Her two boys started to come with her. One has been a little more active than the other....and they had both gotten out of the habit of coming to Church activities. About a month ago they started coming with their mother....at first they just came in their soccer shirts...but they were there. Then a couple of weeks ago they presented the boys for Priesthood advancement. One was advanced and the other received the Priesthood.

Today the oldest boy blessed the Sacrament for the first time. That is why his dad was there. I was so excited to see the fruits of this family. You would think that I was the mother...I was so proud. The boys are preparing to be missionaries. What a beautiful family they are!!

You forget how much the little things mean.