WORKING IN THE CLINIC

The dental clinic is in full swing and we are busy from early morning till late night. The registration team begins at about 6:30 am (I am part of that team). The medical group comes with us and starts the lab work and the medical exams first. The dentists start to arrive about 8:00 am and get started soon after that.....the oral surgeons are the last to start....thus they are the last to leave..sometimes between 10 and 11pm. It is a busy busy and long day!!

Here are some random photos of the clinic:

This is a photo of the cultural hall just before we start in the morning.
Each of the tables represents a "dental office". There were 3 hygienists,
3 areas for diagnosis and 25 dentists in the cultural hall.
It was amazing....

Dr Elder Wayne getting ready for his morning to start.
We opted to wear our "missionary" clothes...and wore lab coats
over them. It worked out great...everywhere we went people
stopped us and asked us about our mission.

Two mornings during the week I got to teach the hygiene class.
My Spanish really got better as I had to do the class in Spanish!!
I didn't know the word for dental floss until this week.

Here are some of the future missionaries waiting for their
diagnosis. We had portable x-ray units that worked digitally with
computers. It made it so easy not to have to develop the x-rays.

Wayne and one of the dental students working on a patient.
It was great for the pre-dental and dental students and they were
a great help to all of us.

Working in regustration. When I told President and Hermana
Gomez that I was the official translator for registration...they
had a big laugh.

The dental clinic in full swing....it literally went from 8am
until 9pm at night. We were exhausted every day.

TEMPLE VISIT

View of Angel Moroni

One of the fun things about visiting Guatemala is that there is a temple there. We were able to attend the temple Thursday morning with our good friends Elder and Sister Tilley. The Tilleys serve as the area Security specialists for Central America. They were gracious enough to pick us up at our hotel, take us to the temple and wait for them to call President Gomez because Wayne forgot his recommend.

Elder and Sister Tomkinson, Elder and Sister Tilley

We really enjoyed the session in Spanish. Wayne and I served as the witness couple...and did the ENTIRE thing in Spanish. It was a humbling thing to do and we got through it. After the temple we went to the area offices here in Guatemala City and were able to see the offices for the people that we work with all the time.

Guatemalan sisters in their native dress

Elder and Sister Tilley in their office

48 HOUR EXTREME CHAPEL MAKEOVER

The cultural hall as we started setting up

We spent Wednesday and Thursday setting up the dental clinic in a chapel in the Mixco area of Guatemala City. It is a beautiful building. They use the entire building for the dental clinic...the only area that isn't used for medical purposes is the chapel...and they show videos there and do hygiene instructions.

Missionaries from Guatemala who unloaded the truck

When we arrived at the chapel it was bare. It was unbelievable and exciting to see the transformation. The technicians were unbelievable. They wired over 30 dental stations...including a complete oral surgery center with 4 chairs for the surgeons. They even had their own recovery area. There were areas for medical exams along with a lab for the basic tests needed to fill out the missionary application forms. There was an area for diagnosis complete with digital x-rays so that they didn't need to develop the x-rays. It was absolutely amazing.

Great minds at work

Air compressors for all the units

It took two full days to get things ready for the dentists to arrive. We worked all day Wednesday and Thursday until about 7pm. But things were ready for the dentists to start work on Friday morning.

Wayne putting together a portable unit

GUATEMALA

Hard working missionaries from Honduras Comayaguela mission!!

This past Tuesday evening we flew to Guatemala City, Guatemala for one of the dental brigadas on future missionaries. They are hoping to give treatment and finish papers for over 800 future missionaries from throughout Guatemala in six days. There are over 30 dentists coming from the United States...along with assistants, technicians, physicians...even a massage therapist. We have well over 115 people in our group. It is quite a humbling experience. We are going to do treatments on Friday and Saturday and then Monday-Thursday the next week. Wayne and I flew out on Tuesday evening so that we could help with the set up for the brigada.

Our APs Elder Galindo and Elder Ayau moving chairs

Monday morning we had about 18 missionaries from our mission show up at the dental school to move equipment into the truck for transportation to Guatemala. The equipment is portable...everything is able to be transported and you have a complete dental set-up to use for the dental clinic.

SAN PEDRO SULA

Can you believe these trees???

Last week we needed to drive to San Pedro Sula, Honduras on an errand for President Gomez. Sula is about 5-6 hours from Tegucigalpa...and so it was a full 12 hour day for us to drive up and back. As we were driving along, I saw these bright yellow trees on the side of the mountain...just couldn't resist a photo op of them.

While we were going through Comayagua on the way home we saw two of our missionaries. We turned around and gave them and the member that they were walking with candy bars....we have learned to be prepared while we are traveling in the car. It was a long day but a fun trip.

Our two missionaries in Comayagua
They were so glad to see us

SEMANA SANTA....HOLY WEEK

Beautiful Catholic Church in
Tegucigalpa Centro

This year we were able to experience Semana Santa or Holy Week. This is the week before Easter which includes everything from Palm Sunday through Easter. It was the first time that we were able to view this from a Catholic based country. This is a very holy week for them....and we were warned that things begin to shut down on Wednesday at noon. Good Friday is the main event because it is the day that Christ died on the cross.

The road by our apartment
ALWAYS busy with traffic

The street next to the mission office
There are usually cars everywhere and vendors all over the street

It was amazing to see how the country literally shuts down. Beginning on Wednesday stores closed and did not open again until Saturday or Monday. Most of the people who could in Tegucigalpa left the city and went to the beach or to visit other family members. Thursday and Friday things were at a standstill....we even had to lift a chain to get into the parking lot for our Church offices.

Elder and Hermana Adams and Los Tomkinsons

The murals went for about 8 city blocks
They were spectacular!!

Friday we went with Elder and Hermana Adams from the Tegucigalpa mission to see the sawdust displays. These are murals that are made of sawdust that depict the life of Christ. They have beautiful scenes from His life, scriptures and beautiful flower displays all made out of sawdust. Many of the cities in Honduras do these. They line a street near the Catholic Church with them. After services in the Church, the people take the cross out in the street and then walk through the sawdust displays in procession down the street depicting Christ carrying His cross through the streets.

Getting ready for the cross reenactment
It is an honor to be involved in this

The mural done by the Institute

As we looked at the displays we stopped at one that was so familiar to us. It was the scene depicting Christ ordaining His Apostles. After a minute, we realized that it was the mural that the kids from the Institute did for the event. It was amazing. We had a great day at the event.

It was a different way to celebrate Easter....we are used to having the traditional day of celebration on Sunday. But when we went to Church on Sunday we felt the spirit of the resurrection and the celebration of Eternal Life.

MOMS.....THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!!!

Sister and Elder Christensen

This past week we have had a wonderful experience at our Zone Conferences. Elder Shirley and Sister Marlene Christensen from the Area Presidency have been here with us. What a wonderful opportunity to feel of their spirit and to feel them uplift the missionaries. We had three Zone Conferences, two firesides and many meals with them. We realized again how much the people here long for these leaders to visit them. One of our Stakes held a fireside where people traveled in a bus for over 2 hours to be able to see a General Authority. It was truly humbling when they asked to take our picture. Wayne and I told them that we weren't "anybody"....but they didn't care...they knew we were part of the group.

Instead of many pictures we have decided to publish the three Zone Conference pictures that were taken during the week. We have so many moms and relatives of missionaries here that follow the blog.....look for your favorite missionary!!!

Zones Toncontin and Torocagua

Zones Country, Talanga and Comayaguela

Zones Siguatapeque and Comayagua

We are especially excited that we will get to be with the Christensens again next week when we travel to Guatemala to help with the dental work for over 1,000 future missionaries!! More on that later.

A BAG OF CHIPS

One of the hardest things to get used to in Honduras is the begging that goes on. Every time we are stopped at a traffic light someone begs for money from us. We have started to keep all of our one denomination limpiras (about 5 cents) to hand out to them. Wayne even sets criteria for our donations...needs to be handicapped or obviously having a problem...not just handouts.

The other day we were stopped and watched this little boy talking to the car in front of us. He reached into the car and came out with an unfinished bag of chips that they had given to him. He immediately went to the tree next to us, sat down, and started his bag of chips. He was so excited...and showed them to his mom.

They are such beautiful children...it is hard not to help everyone of them.

PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

One of the laws of heaven is that your talents expand as you take new experiences that are given to you. We knew that we would face many challenges where we would need to stretch our skills and learn new ones. Little did we know that those skills and talents would include:

AUTO BODY REPAIRS

Last week one of the office missionaries had a "fender bender" with another vehicle. It ripped off the side paneling of the car that we drive. The molding was intact...so we knew that it could be repaired. This week all the shops are closed due to Semana Santa (Holy Week). No problem, except that next week we are having a visiting authority here and President Gomez wanted all the cars in tip-top shape. So today Elder Tomkinson expanded his talents and became the resident auto body repair expert.

The project before expanding talents

Getting ready to work

I have to admit that I am mighty impressed with the finished project. In fact, I don't know if the molding will EVER come off. At least we know that we won't lose it driving down the road.

Half way done

The finished project

Tomorrow: Paint Scratches

Hump Day Greeting

Hats off to a great family that totally supports us on the mission. Last night we received this greeting from little Emily:

Emily Tomkinson
almost ready for nursery....yea!!

Her mom says that when she told her they needed to send a sign to Grandpa and Grandma she pointed to the computer. I guess she thinks that we live in the computer because she talks to us on SKYPE.


Don't you love the leggins??

HUMP DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is April 7th...the official middle of our mission. It is hard to believe that we entered the MTC 9 months ago on July 7th. Time has gone by so fast and it is really unbelievable that we only have 9 months left!!

Today for a celebration we brought cinnamon rolls to the office. This was instead of the traditional burn a tie, or shirt, or pants thing. The office elders decided that this was okay. They benefited from the fruits of our labors.

Celebrating with Elders Leiter, Hendershot, Turcios and Sorensen

What growth we have experienced in the last 9 months....a new language, new country, new experiences. We are just as excited for the second half!!! What additional things are we going to be able to learn? We know it will be lots!!!

MISSION REUNION

The dignified pose
Elders Shumway, Waldron, Johnson and Nicolosi
(Dalin, Jeff and Robbie)

One of the things that we haven't been able to participate in yet is a Missionary Reunion. These usually happen around General Conference time and are a chance for the missionaries who served in a certain mission or with a mission President to get together and catch up on what they have been doing since they left the mission. We will be so excited to attend when we get back home!!

This past weekend a few of the missionaries that we knew here in Honduras got together in Provo for a reunion. Saturday night they called up Alissa to come over and visit with them....and thus the picture of our daughter with our favorite missionaries!! They even called us on SKYPE so that we could visit with all of them. Thanks Alissa for taking our place at the Reunion!!

(I don't think she minded taking our place...she said she had a great time!)

The way they really are!!!

It's a Small World....after all!

We often joke about how small a world it is when you have the Mormon Connection factored into it. The other day in the clinic was such a moment. We routinely ask returned missionaries where they served their mission. This missionary served in Salvador and returned home about two months ago. We asked him if he knew our Elder Jeremy Pearson from Casa Grande....He said YES....in fact Jeremy was his first Zone Leader!!

Elder Josue Mercado was further impressed when we told him the story about Jeremy coming home and marrying the mission president's daughter! So Jeremy....this blog is for you. And congrats on a beautiful little girl!!

PIANO TEACHER

I have started this new "season" of piano lessons about 3 weeks ago. I am teaching at two different buildings in our Toncontin Stake. This last week I had over 40 people show up wanting lessons. It is really overwhelming. I am going to have two lessons at each building...Tuesday and Thursday evenings are going to be long. The hardest part is keeping them all busy while I answer individual questions. It is a slow process...but we are having a great time. I am also doing several private lessons for those who have already had the basic course and need some encouragement.

One of the classes where 22 people showed up!!

These two are brothers....

I especially love teaching the teenagers. They catch on quickly and for the most part if they want to be there....they are ready to learn. It reminds me of those years of Seminary. The hardest thing is the lingo...I just don't know the Spanish music terms. BUT....I am learning them and hopefully will be fluent by the time we leave here. Enjoy the pictures. I look tired and hot because I AM!!

The following video was a group playing together....remember...they have only been taking lessons for about 3 weeks. (PS...I am NOT wearing white panty hose...my legs really are that white!!!)

CHANGES ARE ANNOUNCED

Elder Galindo and Elder Ayau calling changes to the Zone Leaders

This week was changes...and I decided to blog it from a different angle...the OFFICE. The week of changes brings much activity at the office..but the most exciting part is to see what is going to happen to the Office Elders who are due to be transferred out. The anticipation is comical...and of course we enjoy seeing them wiggle around and tease them just in case their "time isn't up". This week Elder Ingleby and Elder Orellana were up to leave. Elder Orellana already had his replacement in the office and was training him.....but Elder Ingleby was still waiting to see what would happen...

Searching the board for new assignments

Tuesday morning we got to the office and the APs were in the President's office making calls for all the official transfers. The office elders were allowed to go into the office and look at the assignment BOARD. Elder Orellana is going to go to Talanga and be a Zone Leader. Elder Ingleby is going to Siguatepeque as a District Leader. They will be great leaders for the mission.

Maria Emilia sleeping while mom and dad are working hard

We were able to see Elder Mautauma today again. He was in the office when we first got here and is going to be Training again. He is a delight to be around and it was like seeing one of our own children. He is going to help reopen an area of the mission that has been closed for awhile. We want his family from New Zealand to know what a great missionary he is and how proud of him we are...(they read the blog every week)!!

Elder Mautauma with President and Sister Gomez and his new companion