Feliz Navidad! Just in Case...

Family,

Hola! How are you all doing? Okay, first for the phone call business. We´re going to the church and we´re going to use the phone there. The number to the church is 493 4833. The number for Plottier is (0)299. (Hna. Riquelme said she does´t know whether or not you need the 0 when calling). And if understood correctly, the number for argentina is 54. So, I believe the whole number is 54-0299-493-4833. Hna. Riquelme said that the internet has information if you have questions. Also, I´ll be at the church at 1:00 Argentina time, 9:00 am Idaho time, anxiously awaiting your phone call. I hope that it works okay for everyone! Oh also, when you found out the time difference, did you take into account that not all of Argentina changed time when we had the time change? For example, Buenos Aires and the other places more north changed the time, but Neuquén chose not to. Bueno, so I´ll be at the church at 1:00 pm according to Argentina (Neuquén) time.

Alright, now for everything else! I hope that you´re all doing wonderful! Merry Christmas! I can´t believe that it´s December 22nd. It really doesn´t seem like it to me. December has gone by so fast. Yesterday we were at Rita Riquelme´s house and she asked me what I wanted for Sunday. I thought... why? What´s Sunday? It took me a minute and then it occurred to me that it´s my birthday on Sunday! Funny.

The baptism went great. Enzo was baptized by Fernando Acuña, Kevin was baptized by Julio Beltran, and Bruno was baptized by Lautaro Acuña. And there was also a member baptized. Lautaro Rojas was baptized by his dad, Hno. Rojas, who is a member of the bishopric. It all went very well. Alicia Higuera gave the opening prayer. Andrea Beroiza gave the talk on baptism, and Gabriela Jara gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. They all did so well! We had someone else planned for the talk on the Holy Ghost, but then he couldn´t give it. So we asked Gabriela in the spur of the moment (15-30 minutes before) and she hurried and prepared. We handed her a pamphlet that talks about the Holy Ghost, the index in the Book of Mormon, some paper and a pen, and she just got right on it. Three very recent converts, and they all did wonderful! They were all very nervous, but did great. We knew they could do it. :D

While they were all changing in between we sang Christmas songs. Mom, I always think of you when we sing Christmas songs at church. I really don´t feel comfortable at all playing Christmas songs because I have played them very little, especially when people are singing, but I have done my best for the cause. :D It just doesn´t seem right to not sing Christmas songs.

It turns out that today really isn´t our preparation day because all day Wednesday we are going to have a missionary activity for Christmas. We are just doing internet and buying groceries today because everything will be closed on Wednesday. Thursday (Christmas) will be a normal day with the exception of talking to you all!

Clara´s baptism has been moved back to January 10th. We don´t feel like she´s quite ready yet. She´s super shy so we weren´t sure how much she was understanding, but she´s doing wonderful now. We were teaching the 10 commandments to her yesterday, as well as others who are there now and then, and she did great. She´s talking much more now!

Something else interesting... we stopped by to see Andrea Saturday to see how she was feeling about her talk, and Andres ended up coming over to talk to us. We had kind of ended with the thought that he´s not going to be baptized because he can´t be baptized in a river now. But he came over, and he said that he wants to be baptized in the church now - even though he doesn´t agree with it - but salvation is on the line. That was a surprise! So we talked about the baptism requirements and what he really needs to do, and he decided to set a baptismal date for January 17th. He went to church yesterday, so that was a good step. He really needs to read the Book of Mormon and pray every day.

We also set a baptismal date with a lady named Cecilia the other day. She said she has been looking for the church of Jesus Christ, and we invited her to pray and to set a baptismal date. We set a date, but it will need to be changed now because she didn´t go to church yesterday. We tried to go to her house yesterday to find out why she didn´t go, but she wasn´t there. We have an appointment tonight so we can figure out what to do.

Something funny... we didn´t have water for like two days in our apartment. Good times. I was very happy to wake up and have water this morning. It makes washing my hair much much easier. :D

The missionary work is going well. It´s interesting, because I can tell that I´m changing in a couple of ways. In the beginning I was hestitant to say things, not knowing if people would be offended... but I have come a long ways in this way I think. Yesterday we were teaching someone who has decided not to go to church anymore. As Jana, I wanted to be quiet, and say that it was her decision, and that church is hard, etc... but then I told her, that as a representative of Jesus Christ, we had the responsibility to teach her the responsibility that she has as a mother to teach her children the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had to teach her the consequences that her decision may have. I am coming to learn that me being timid is not going to help anyone. They need to know the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ - declared boldy and nobly- whether it´s hard to be heard or not. Ammon and Moroni declared the Gospel of Jesus Christ without hesitation. I want to do the same. I recognize that different people need to be taught in different manners. I´m working on having the courage to be bold when it is needed.

Well, I need to go. I love you all so much. Thanks so much for your examples and love. I imagine that several of you will be traveling this week. Be safe! Drive slow, especially if there´s snow. I´ll be praying for you all.Talk to you in two/three days!

Love Forever,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! 12.15.2008 (Email)

Family,

Hola! How are you all doing? I hope that you´re all doing great. First off, yes Dad, I do have my old debit card. It´s just sitting in my apartment. From what it sounds like, I should get my new card next week, because we get our mail every Monday/Tuesday. I almost want to say that you should go ahead and activate it, but yet I don´t know if that would be very smart. Maybe next week I´ll just be able to tell you in the email. I don´t know. This whole long distance communication thing is a little complicated.

About the Christmas phone call. What time is it there compared to here? It´s a little tricky here because some parts of Argentina changed the time, but Neuquen (the province) didn´t, so our time stayed the same. But you changed in Idaho already right? So right now it´s 1:05 here. But anyway, we still don´t know when we are going to call. We need to talk to the Bishop to see if we can use the church phone, or what. We can´t use member´s phones. And if we need to find somewhere else, we need to find out when they´ll be open, etc... But Lisa, I´ll be sure to make sure it's before 6:30 before you go to work. If it´s 6:30 there is it 9:30 here? I just can´t remember. Let me know in the next email the time difference, and we´ll work to let you know what time we´ll call. In the next email! Sorry it´s getting so close to Christmas and I still don´t have many answers. But the mission president did just write to us telling us again that it can´t be longer than 40 minutes. :D

Alright, now for the regular things. How are you all doing? Things here are going well. It was a good and busy week this week. We´re still struggling a little bit trying to find time with the buses and everything to teach everyone that we need and want to. A little tricky. But ít´s okay. It´ll work out in some way or another.

Things are still going well with the Vasquez family. They´re going to have their interviews tomorrow I believe. I think they´re all good to go. I am thoroughly enjoying teaching them. Four boys. What a crack up. I´m used to a houseful of girls! Bueno, and boys too now that we´re older, but it´s a little different when my dad, brother and brothers-in-law are big boys. :D Very fun. Enzo is so excited to get the Priesthood and everything. He wants to go to the temple so bad. I believe that the ward (or stake???) are going here pretty soon, but they have to save money for quite some time to go I believe. I don´t know if he´ll be able to go. It makes me feel so guilty to think of how close temples are to all of us at home. It´s so much easier to go frequently. What a blessing! We just need to take advantage of it.

So we´re still teaching Clara, Julia, Velintin, and others of their family and friends. Clara is planning on being baptized the 27th, but I believe she´ll be the only one for now. I believe the Elders in Plottier have a baptism or two on the 27th so they can be baptized together. It should be really good.

We had another choir thing yesterday. There were different religions-choirs there this week, other than just the choirs from the stake. I think it went really well. We sang as a ward the same songs as last week. I didn´t realize I was playing the piano again until I got to the church. Surprise! It all worked out fine though. It´s amazing the extra help I get as a missionary. :o)

Also, at the very end, the six of us missionaries in our district sang Silent night. We sang the first two verses, then Elder Arana (not Araña :D) read verses about Christ´s birth while Elder Boudreaux kept playing the piano, and then everyone sang the third verse. It was pretty. I think it touched some people. Sometimes I forget that I´m really a missionary. I still see the Elders, or pictures of other missionaries, and I think ¨Oh! The missionaries! I love the missionaries!¨. Sometimes I wonder if the younger kids in the ward see Hna. Riquelme and I the way that I saw the missionaries when I was younger - and still do. Anyway, that´s what I was thinking yesterday as the six of us were up front singing in front of everyone. I hope I´m living up to the title.

I heard that Elder Wirthlin passed away. I wasn´t sure if it was a rumor or what, but our Stake President told us yesterday during lunch. He was so amazing. I loved reading his talks.
Something interesting. I was reading the talk the other day by Elder Dallin H. Oaks ¨Good, Better, Best¨. I had read it in the morning, and decided to carry it in my scriptures. Didn´t know why, but just decided to. So later that day we were teaching a lady, Lilian, who we had talked to several times. We had passed by her house, but we had never been able to go in and actually teach. So we hadn´t planned on visiting her, but as we were passing her house, we decided to drop by. We were surprised when she said ¨pasen!¨. So we were actually able to teach! It was interesting because several of the questions she had were addressed in Elder Oaks´talk about finding balance with the family and work and everything. Very interesting. We left the talk for her to read. I hope she read it and that it helped. I love when things like that happen. Just little miracles.

I was reading the other day, and I think it was in ¨Our Search for Happiness¨ by Elder M. Russell Ballard. I liked the quote, ¨Your life must be the expression of your faith¨. I thought that was so good.

So Andres isn´t progressing for now. It about breaks my heart. I don´t really know what else to do to help him gain a testimony. The Book of Mormon is so key.

Hermana Riquelme taught someone the other day that we need to do three key things to increase our faith. We need to say our prayers, read the scriptures every day, and go to church every Sunday. Three fairly simple things, but very important. I hope you´re all doing these things, because we all need faith in Jesus Christ in order to overcome the trials that we have, but we can´t have faith in Jesus Christ if we don´t know Him.

Hermana Riquelme is amazed by how much I love Christmas! I thought to myself that if she thinks I´m crazy about Christmas, it´s just because she hasn´t met Lisa! haha. I really do love the Christmas season though. It´s the best.

The church is true. I love you all so much. Thanks for your love and support here in the mission. Thank you thank you! Keep up the hard work, but don´t work too hard! Enjoy the Christmas season!

Love always,

Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! :0) 12.08.2008 (Email)

My Amazing Family,

Hola! ¿Cómo están? ¿Todo bien? I hope that you´re all doing great. Things here are going well. Sorry I´m writing this a little later than usual. We did the other things of preparation day first this time. We just ate lunch with the elders in the district in the plaza. It was good. It´s funny because we were like the only ones in the plaza. People in Argentina (in the city anyway) really
do sleep the Siesta from what I can see. :o)

Well, it was a good week! Did some of you end up going to the Christmas devotional in Salt Lake? If so, how was it? Oh how I love Christmas music. Last night our stake had a choir concert of Christmas music. Our ward sang ¨La Primera Navidad¨I can´t remember the title in English. But it´s in the hymn book. And we sang an Argentine Folklore song. It was very fun. It was fun to listen to different Christmas music as well. However, a couple sang ¨I´m dreaming of a white Christmas¨and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It´s funny how you sometimes don´t recognize how much you love things until you go for a while without it. Christmas music in English for the month before Christmas definitely doesn´t exist here. haha Very enjoyable last night. I played the piano for ¨La Primera Navidad¨ and it went pretty well. I was nervous before hand but it worked out just fine.

Dad, in response to your question, it is interesting to think that Christmas is only a couple of weeks away when it´s so warm outside. My mind and body tells me we´re in July. Not December! It´s great though. I have been talking to Hna. Riquelme and the members about Christmas in South America and Argentina specifically, and it´s very different from what I can tell. For example, they open all the gifts on Christmas Eve - at midnight on the dot. Interesting huh? I´ll write more details later.

Mom, Hna. Riquelme did open the package and got out the Christmas tree. It´s just like the one at home! Thank you thank you! We´re enjoying adding an ornament every night. I think we´re one behind though... :D

I got the soccer pictures you sent! Thanks! I´ve showed them to a few different people and they think it´s great. They´re all surprised. And they´re all impressed with the fields.

How interesting to read the article about the LA Temple. Wow. It´s amazing how the work will go forward no matter what the world tries to do. Also, an Elder just told me that Elder Wirthlin passed away. What an amazing person.

This week in our lunch appointments, etc... we were trying to teach the people about the 5 things important for a testimony, and then inviting them to share their testimonies yesterday in testimony meeting.
1- That God is our Heavenly Father and loves us
2- Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world
3- Joseph Smith was called by God to be a Prophet and that he translated the Book of Mormon
4- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Church of Jesus Christ today. It is guided and directed by Him.
5- Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet today.

We had an amazing sacrament meeting. I really enjoyed it. The spirit was very strong. It´s amazing what happens when people really testify of these five things.

So yesterday when we were in the bus ¨cole¨getting the people before church it occurred to me that we had several countries on the bus! Hna Riquelme- Chile. Me - U.S. Several from Argentina, and several from Bolivia. I don´t remember how much I have said about Julia and Clara. That went to church that first Sunday without us even teaching them first? They always invite others they live by to go to church. And it seems like every time we go to teach there´s someone new - a neighbor, co-worker, or friend. Anyway, a couple of them went to church yesterday. Anyway, it´s amazing to me. Maybe we look different, speak different languages, have different accents and different cultures, but we´re all children of God, and we all need the exact same message. A message of hope and love. A message about Jesus Christ - that He is the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

So we´re still teaching Familia Vasquez. Franco (14) hasn´t gone to church yet, but Enzo (12), Kevin (9) and Bruno (8) are doing wonderful and have gone to church the last three weeks. Yay! They´re still scheduled for December 20th. We just need to get everything taught! We really want to teach her two older sons as well. There are actually seven in total but the oldest already lives in Chile. Anyway, that´s alot of Priesthood! The ward is going to have an activity tonight by the river and have a barbecue, play soccer etc... and we´re really hoping that their whole family goes. It would be great.

Dad, I think investigators need to go to church 4 times before being baptized. Preferably (sp???) in a row.

Lets see, what else is happening... we´re struggling a little bit with retention. There aren´t enough hours in the day! We want to visit everyone 1-3 times every week, but we´re finding that it´s pretty tricky. We´re trying to use our time wisely. It makes me so sad when peole are baptized but then don´t continue going to church.

So I´ve been reading about the birth of Jesus Christ this last week. And sometimes we listen to Christmas music in the morning too. Lisa, I think of you :D. Anyway, it has been really enjoyable. I love the story in the Bible and Book of Mormon, and I have been reading a little in ¨Jesus the Christ¨ as well. It´s so amazing to me. I read this morning that if in that time, the people really
had a king of the Jews (a descendant of King David) Joseph would be the crowned king. And then of course, the heir of the throne would be Jesus Christ. I don´t know if that made sense. It´s the end of the chapter that talks about the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ by the angel Gabriel. Very interesting.

Dad, about FHE. We have only had one so far in a members home, and I think there were like 15 or so people. Most young men/ young women / young single adults. But a few adults as well.
Hopefully that will continue to go well.

We had 76 people at sacrament meeting yesterday. Yay!
Raimundo Beltan left on the mission to Buenos Aires this week so we no longer have a ward mission leader. :o( Hopefully someone else will be called before too long.

Jordan, I got your email from you and Lisa. Gracias! AK, I got the letter from you, Ryan, and Nyah as well. Thanks for the pictures of Nyah! Very cute. I hope that you find a good replacement for Jamee if you haven´t already.

I hope the rest of you are all doing wonderful. Time really goes by so quickly here. I hope you´re all enjoying the Christmas season. Listen to lots of music for me and sing lots of songs. And most importantly, remember the true meaning of Christmas! I love you all very much!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock :D

A scripture I love: John 8:12.

Seis semanas más en Plottier!‏ (Email) and foto 12.01.2008

Family,

Hola! How are you? I hope you´re all doing great. I´m afraid this is going to be a little shorter than usual because it took quite a while for the one picture to load up. Hopefully you got it okay. :D

So, how was Thanksgiving? I hope it was wonderful.

Lisa, in answer to your question, I just got your letter through dear elder today that you sent on November 16. AK, I got yours today that you sent on November 12. So there you have it!

AK, congrats on your promotion! You definitely deserve it. Nope, I´ve never read the Hobbit. Maybe one day. It is a classic! Also, I got your package! I have a confession... I wasn´t sure if it was for Christmas, and opened it, but then the first thing I picked up said ¨Feliz Navidad¨so I hurried and closed it! It´s waiting for Christmas now. :D Sorry!

Also, there is no debit card to be found. So could you send another one? I did get the soccer pictures you sent though! Gracias!

So, transfers are today, and I´m staying in Plottier for six more weeks! I´m excited that I´ll get to spend Christmas here. It will be good. I can´t believe that I´ll be in my first area for 6 months! I´m great with it though.

So, actual Thanksgiving was good! It was actually really funny because we ALWAYS have lunch with members, but we didn´t end up having lunch on Thursday so we ate in the apartment. I wasn´t really hungry so I decided to eat a banana and yogurt for lunch. I decided it was really ironic that that was what I was eating for ¨Thanksgiving¨ so I decided to take a picture. hahaha. Good times.

However, Friday we had district meeting, and since 4 of the 6 of us are from the US, we celebrated Thanksgiving! It turns out that Turkey is really expensive here so we had Chicken instead. But we had mashed potatoes and GRAVY! it was so good. It had been way to long since I had eaten gravy, and the first time that Hermana Riquelme or Elder Arana had eaten it. Very good. :o)

So, the baptism was wonderful! Alicia and Hector were both baptized on Saturday. Dad, in response to your question, the bishop has actually asked that we always have priests from the ward baptize. Julio Beltran (17 yrs old) baptized Yennifer, and this week Fernando and Lautero (17 and 16 yrs old) Acuña baptized Hector and Alicia. It was the first time that Fernando and Lautero had baptized, and I think they both had a good experience.

Our building isn´t the stake building, but that´s where the baptisms are. Nice and close. The building the investigators are used to.

Hector was an ¨investigator¨missionary, and now is a member missionary! He really let his kids know that he wanted them at his baptism! His daughter, daughter-in-law, and 3 of his granddaughters were all there. It was great.

Alicia is doing really well. She is completely involved in the ward and the activities. Her daughter is a member of the other ward in our building so she is very excited that her mom was just baptized. It was neat to see.

How great that Marcia and Eldon are going on a mission to Oregon - and that they speak his language and eat his food! That´s great.

Lisa, I laughed at your story of Hallie and church. I´m going to try to give Andrea all the advice that you all sent. I just need to figure out how to say it all in Spanish!

One thing that´s funny is that every once in a while people ask me to talk to them in English. It´s great. I remember asking Michaela Stegeby to say things in Swedish, and now I have to try to think of something to say in English! It´s funny to be on the other end of it for a while.

Oh, I don´t know Becky´s email address for sure right now. I think I have it in my apartment... It could be beck-12@hotmail.com but I´m not sure.

Scriptures I really enjoyed this week were in Alma 37, Alma 39:10. And also Proverbs 16:20.

Also, we had light and water on and off this week. I don´t really understand why.... but that´s how it was. Anyway, one night we were planning for the next day and the lights went out! So we lighted some candles, planned, and then didn´t really know what to do with ourselves for the next little while before 10:30!! Anyway, this morning I read John 8:12 and it made me think.

I´m not sure when you´ll all get Christmas because of my debit card situation. Hum... sorry!

So, I love you all. Thanks so much for your love and suppport. I´ll write again next week! Oh also, good news! I got some stamps! Hopefully in 2-3 weeks you´ll get some mail again. :)

I Love you!
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Well, heres one picture. It should be of the baptism this last week. It took forever to load, so Im going to just send one. I think I'll print hard copies somewhere and send those. It stresses me out to wait for them to load here! Okay. Love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving (Email) 11.24.2008

Hola mi familia! Como estan? I hope you´re all doing great. Well, what a week again! I just realized I forgot my agenda in the apartment in the bag that I usually use, so hopefully I´ll be able to remember most of what I was going to say.

First off, Dad and AK, I hope you had great birthdays. Fun times! Unfortunately I still don´t have stamps, so your birthday letters will be VERY late. Sorry!

About the debit card, I hadn´t received it as of last week, but I still don´t know for this week if it is here. Don´t cancel it quite yet. If it still isn´t here this week I think I´ll call the office and see if they have it there. Maybe next week I´ll have you cancel it if it still hasn´t gotten here. We´ll see. Hopefully I´ll be able to ask you next week to activate it. :D

Becky, if you read this, I hope your wedding is WONDERFUL this week! Sorry you haven´t gotten a letter or anything yet. It´ll get there eventually. :D Wow, I can´t believe it´s already! Incredible! Tell your family hello for me as well. Nate too!

So things here are going well! Hector Hernandez and Alicia Higuera both had their baptismal interviews on Saturday so they´re set for this Saturday. Yay! Very exciting for them.

So we were able to go and teach Monica´s four boys this week. It was great. Franco (14) Enzo (12) Kevin (9) and Bruno (7 almost 8). Wow, what a crack up to teach four boys. It actually went really well though and we´re excited to keep teaching them. Enzo, Kevin, Bruno, and Monica all went to church the last two weeks. Yay!

We taught Julia and Clara, as well as some of their friends/neighbors on Saturday. It turns out that one of their neighbors, Magali, just moved here from Bolivia two weeks ago, and she´s a member! Clara went to church, but Julia wasn´t feeling well so she didn´t go.

We had a FHE with the ward on Friday night. We´re having one every two weeks on Friday night. Originally we were going to have them in the church, but everyone is so spread out that we didn´t have much of a turn out. So now we´re having them in members homes in different areas, and we´re really encouraging the people that live close by to go. So we had one this last Friday night in Hermana Higuera´s house. It went really well and we had a pretty good turn out!

Here´s a funny story. Earlier in the day Friday I looked at the date, and was thinking that Thanksgiving had been the day before, and couldn´t believe that I had totally forgotten! So in memory of Thanksgiving we had an FHE about gratitude and I told them a little bit about the Thanksgiving tradition. It went really well! Then we realized later that night that it´s THIS week! Funny. Oops! It´s okay, gratitude is good all the time. :0)

Paula Beltran, the girl in the ward who decided to go on a mission, sent in her papers the other day! Yay! It turns out that it usually takes six weeks or so to get your call here. At the earliest! We´re pretty spoiled back home. I only waited like 2 weeks if I do recall.

Dad, it was fun to read about the stuff with the Spanish branch. The temple dedication, the activity, etc... It´s fun to learn about other cultures and experience it a little bit.

Something interesting, is that I am always very suprising to hear how much the people here know about the United States. The people here know more about the new President in the US than I do! They´re all very involved and interested. Wow.

The other day I read in Alma 30, and I realized that it talks about many of the lies that ¨the enemy of righteousness¨tries to tell us. It was pretty eye opening. I don´t like it!

I´m trying to simplify my teaching. It turns out that a lot of things just make sense in my head, and it´s hard to find a way to explain what I know. Why is honesty important? It just is! It´s really good though because it makes me think about why things are important, and the consecuences of different actions. It´s one thing to understand principles, and it´s another thing to try to teach the principles. As you all well know. :)

Dad, gracias! Hna. Riquelme helped me translate the faith story! Now I just need to memorize it.

Mom, I´m sure your talk went great. You sound just busy, but hope you´re doing well. Thanks for all your letters, love and support.

AK, Ryan, and Nyah, how are things going? I can´t believe how much Nyah is talking. From letters it sounds like you´re all doing really well. Don´t work too hard.

Aaron, I got the letter from Lisa about your last water skiing experience for the season. What a crack up! We have the weather here in Argentina for water skiing! In my mind the month is June - not November!

Shari and Orrin, how are you doing? Shari, that´s nice that you´re not doing the interviewing anymore. One less responsibility so you can get other things done. How´s Brandy? Her kids? Do you still do a lot of things with them?

Lisa and Jordan, hola! Thanks for the update with Hallie. I loved the ¨folgers¨ / fold your arms story. I love it! I can´t believe she´s running around your house. I really can´t imagine. Jordan, good luck with finals. They´re coming up right? And Lisa, I´m glad your enjoying work more these days. I have noticed that people seem to be a little healthier here. Well, I don´t know. Maybe just different health problems. Also, I think the people in general have different ideas of the cause of health problems. Interesting.

Well, what else? Lots to do and not enough time to do it! During our weekly planning we try to think about all our investigators, where they live, and how we can meet with all of them. It´s tricky to meet with them two or three times every week when they live in ¨todos lados¨. It´s a good challenge though. It works out. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful day. Be strong. Thank you all for your testimonies, and remember that I have a testimony that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has a perfect plan, we just have to follow it. I have recently come to realize more, that this life is all about changing! We´re not perfect, but we can, and really should be, changing every day for the better. It´s all possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. However, if we don´t change, and really repent, asking for forgiveness, it´s like Jesus Christ suffered in vain. Like He never suffered for us. But He did! What an opportunity to become better. :D

Remember I love you all!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Milagros! (Email) 11.17.2008

Hola! First off, happy birthday Dad and AK this week! 32 and 56!! We´re all getting so old! I hope you both have wonderful birthdays.

Second, Yennifer was baptized on Friday! It was a great baptism, and she was confirmed/ baptized by fire :D on Sunday. It all went very well and we´re excited for her.

Where to begin? With answers to all your questions... :D I´m not sure which is faster out of DearElder or the regular mail. The regular mail seems to be more consistent, so it seems a little faster at times. For example, last week I got letters from AK from three different weeks. Funny. Really though, which ever is more convenient. I just love the letters. :) Shari, it was so good to get your letter last week! Gracias! And Lisa, I got one of your letters today where you mentioned that your letters don´t seem that organized. But I´ve never thought that! They always make me giggle. Letters from all.... gracias! I really am very grateful. Oh, and I do just get mail once a week.

Yes, the pizza here is very good. A lot of people make it all homemade - the crust. The cheese is different here too. I´m not sure how to explain it. More creamy maybe?

I´m yet to see a cucaracha, but Hermana Riquelme assures me that they´re here in Argentina. haha. However, we did see a frog the other day as we were leaving a house. I thought it was great, and Estela (Gabriela and Adrian´s mom) said there are a ton here in the summer. It turns out that Hna. Riquelme is not a fan of jumping things, and wasn´t that enthused by the frog. I think it´s funny. :D

Yes, I always need to wear nylons. It´s a little tricky with mosquito repelent, but I just spray it on on top of everything. It works great.

Mom, how did your talk go? I´m sure that you did a wonderful job. You always do.

No, there isn´t carpet in the houses. Or anywhere really. I don´t think I can remember the last time I saw carpet! Funny to think about. Hna. Riquelme said that there has been carpet in other places she has served though. I don´t know! Mostly tile I would say. Or cement.

How is it socioeconomically? It ranges quite a bit throughout my area. There are people who are pretty well off, who have a car, etc.. but I have come to realize much better how blessed we are at home. I hope I will always remember. Shari I liked your idea of giving my tennis shoes to someone else. I would like to do that. I don´t know why, but my debit card hasn´t gotten here so I still haven´t bought (???) new ones.

Dad, I laughed when you said that the Mexico City Temple dedication was in the ward and you were worried about the English translation. I can definitely relate! I hope it went well for you.

AK and Ryan, it brought tears to my eyes when you told me that Nyah shows empathy for other kids by bringing them their favorite toys. She has good teachers who have love and concern for other people. Thanks for teaching her!

And Lisa and Jordan, I just got your letter about ¨Folgers¨and Fold your arms. Wow, the Gospel really does bless our lives. I love that she knows how to fold her arms and pray.

I feel like Spanish is coming along. I still definitely need to concentrate to understand, but I´m understanding more and more all the time. In lessons, etc... I´m usually okay because I´m fairly familiar with the vocabulary. However, when people start talking about medical terms or something I´m pretty much at a loss. Study study! I´m still trying to figure out my language study - grammar, read the BOM in Spanish... which or what for how long... but it´s going well. Hna. Riquelme is working on English and I´m thoroughly enjoying it. It helps me appreciate english! She wants to learn how to pray in english, so every once in a while she asks me to pray in english. I just had to laugh the other day. I couldn´t pray without throwing in spanish words! Seriously very funny. I joked afterwards that I can´t speak english or spanish fluently! It´s good. I´m learning with the help of the Spirit.

We haven´t taught Monica Troncoso in quite a while. Her dad has been in the hospital, etc... We´re not really sure what to do. I´ll keep you all updated.

Andres - we still meet with him fairly regularly, and he had gone to church two times in a row! But he didn´t go this last week. He really needs to read the BoM but it turns out he´s not much of a reader. He´s doing well though.

There are few ¨gringo¨sisters I believe. I´m sure it has changed a little since I got here, but when I got here I think there were 5 of the 25 or so sisters from the United States. Not many!

We haven´t met with Gladys for a little while. She´s very nice, as well as her husband, but we´re not sure if they´re just curious, or if they really want to learn to change. We´ll see!

Flia. Ramos - we have taught them a time or two and invited them to church. It´s a little tricky with them because they work a lot too.

Most people here can read. I think there have been very few occasions where someone has told me that they don´t know how to read. The recent concern is that people can´t see very well. Hector needs new glasses so he can read. As well as Julia - someone I´ll talk more about in a minute!

I did see Hermana Schwab. She seems to be doing very well. :D

AK, Mice! Aahh!! Hopefully they´re all taken care of now!

Lisa, I definitely think you should try out the marathon with the person at work if you think you can make the time commitment. I definitely can´t deny that it´s a time commitment. But so great once you do it! You´ll have to let me know what you decide.

Becky, if you read this, you should definitely send my family a wedding invitation! And me too. hahaha :D

Hallie and writing tools. Sounds like good times!

Alright, now for some more miracles! We went to visit Marcela and Natalia Silveira (Natalia is 12). We met Natalia in the street one day, and her mom a day or so later, but when we went to see them they weren´t there. Anyway, we went to their neighborhood the other day, and they were there! We had a good lesson where we talked about the plan of salvation and why we have trials in our life. This was Saturday night. We invited them to church, and they went! We got there I think just at the right time on Saturday.

We talked to Monica Vasquez, a less active member that lives in 2 de abril - the name of the neighborhood. We have visited her several times. She has six sons, and she´s a convert, but she hasn´t gone to church for YEARS. So we went to visit her the other day ( she has a little store), and she said she was so glad that we were there because she had something to tell us! She wants that her kids learn about the bible and the church, and that her 4 youngest sons are baptized! Wow!!! So she and her 3 youngest sons went to church on sunday. The first time ever her sons had gone to church from what I understand. A miracle!

Saturday also we were walking in a neighborhood, and we said ¨hola¨to a lady and her daughter. They told us they have just been here in Argentina for one month. They´re from Bolivia. Julia, and her daughter Clara (12 years old). We invited them to church, and about where the bus would go in the morning.

Sunday morning they weren´t where we had said so didn´t think they were going to go. But we got to the church, and there seated were Julia, Clara, her son Selso, and her neighbor Valentin! (22 years old). Wow!! Talk about a miracle! They really didn´t know anything about the church, and yet there they were! They all said they enjoyed church. We tried to get their address, but they didn´t know their address. Just the neighborhood, which is fairly large.

We decided after church that we needed to see them yesterday because they work in the fields (with strawberries) all week. So we said a prayer and headed out to try to find them! Heavenly Father literally put them in our path. They had gone to the store so we found them in the street. Blessings! We just taught Julia and Clara because the other two weren´t there. But it was a great lesson. They´re very humble. And they accepted a baptismal date for December 20th! Amazing! The only tricky thing is that they´re always working so we can only teach on Saturday and Sunday. How blessed we are for the jobs we have!

Hector was at church as well. He and Alicia are progressing nicely and are still set for the 29th to be baptized. Yay!

As far as trials, I will try to talk about them more. I would say the hardest thing is probably trying to forget myself. Often times I feel out of MY comfort zone. If I would just forget myself, I know that I would be a better missionary. I´m working on it! Spanish is still tricky, but it´s okay. I had heard before that you have the highs of highs and the lows of lows on the mission. It´s true! I feel like that every day. But I´m learning here in Argentina, and that´s what´s important. If I´m a better person when I come home, and help other people to come to Christ in the process, I think that´s what´s important.

Well, I think I need to go. Thanks for everything. I love you all, and thanks for your love and support! Families are Forever!

Love Forever,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! (Email) 11.10.2008

Hello everyone! ¿Comó están? Maybe I should take granted of being able to use accents and everything here with this keyboard. :D Well, quite the week it has been! Where to begin?

To answer questions. No, we don´t need to use mosquito nets. We pretty much escape from the mosquitos when we walk into our apartment. Everyone once in a while there will be something flying around, but that happens at home too. No big deal. :D

As far as scriptures we like to use when inviting people to church. I like Moroni 6 because it talks about why we go to church. I also like several in the New Testament (sorry I can´t remember the exact references right now) that Christ is inviting people to come to him. Christ is always inviting people to Him, to ¨Come and See¨and I think this alone is a great way to do it. People need to ¨Come and See¨what the church is like - to come unto Christ!

Also, Hermana Riquelme pointed out Luke 14 to me. It is when Jesus Christ gives the parable of the great supper when he invites all to the supper and only a few come. One doesn´t come because he has work, one doesn´t come because he has family things to do, and another doesn´t come because he needs to do something with his five oxen that he just bought (possessions). It´s interesting to think about. There are a lot of different reasons why we don´t go to church, or things that could prevent us from going, but we should still go!

Here´s an interesting story... we were eating lunch with one of the families of the ward on Saturday. She, the mom, is going to school right now. She told us that she wouldn´t be able to go to church on Sunday because she has two tests on Tuesday that she doesn´t feel prepared for. Her previous test last week didn´t go as well as she would have liked. It made me think. As I gave the thought after lunch, I shared the lessons I learned while I was in school before the mission. I always tried to put learning about the gospel before learning of the world. I read the scriptures first. I figured if I wanted Heavenly Father´s help with Speech Pathology, I should learn about His Gospel first. I also always prayed before tests for help, because the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance. However, we have to do all that is possible to prepare first. Í couldn´t just put in half my effort to study and then expect Him to bring things to my remembrance that I hadn´t studied.

It made me think also that when we partake of the sacrament, we become more worthy of the Spirit. Now especially she needs to have the Spirit for help in her schooling! It just made me think of the blessings of the Spirit. The Lord always promises to bless us with the things we stand in need of - temporal and spiritual - when we keep His commandments. It was a good reminder for me, and helped me realize ways I can improve as a missionary.

I got my Christmas package! Hermana Riquelme is pretty sure that I should open it up now, but I assured her that I would be in HUGE trouble if I opened it before Christmas. Gracias!

Also, here´s a question. I don´t know what to do for Christmas. I would like to send something from here for you all, but I would basically be buying you all Christmas with your own money. So, let me know what you think. Do you think I should send gifts back home?

Shari, I didn´t know that you had for sure started putting my letters on a blog! Gracias! I hope it´s not too much trouble.

Mom, I am writing in my journal. I have missed a day or two, but for the large majority I am writing. I finished my first one, and now I´m started on the other one. It´s good. Therapeutic I think. :D

Here´s a story. Last Monday night we were having FHE with the Beltran family. We were actually playing a game and then all of the sudden the lights went out. Someone walked outside, and to our dismay, there was a house on fire! We didn´t know who it was at first, but we soon realized that it was the house of one of our investigators, Cristina Alarcon. She´s 22 and has two little girls. It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. Luckily they got out of the house quickly and are all fine. I believe her boyfriend was at work when it all happened. There is NOTHING left. Literally no evidence that there was ever a house there. It´s interesting because we are also teaching her Mom (Cristina) and Hector (step-dad?) and her siblings, that live in the neighboring neighborhood. We went to Cristina´s (the mom) house the next day and I was amazed by her. She is strong. She said Cristina is living in Neuquen now so unfortunately we won´t be able to teach her.

Yennifer had her baptismal interview yesterday and she´s going to be baptized Friday night! Yay! We´re very excited for her. It has been quite the adventure, but we think everything is going to work out just fine.

Did I tell you about Hector? I think so. That Hermana Riquelme met him on the bus? He has now gone to church two times and has a baptismal date for November 29th! He´s 76 years old. A very nice man. I have no idea, but he reminds me of Morie (Tuesdays with Morie). Funny huh?

Also, we are teaching Alicia Higuera. I don´t know if you remember her, but Hermana Celis and I taught her a couple of times before. She is doing great. She´s reading the Book of Mormon, and really understanding! I think she can explain the first part of first Nephi better than I can! She went to church yesterday. Yay! She has a baptismal date for November 29th as well.

Someone in the stake got us a spot in the Plottier Book Fair that took place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Hermana Riquelme and I were only able to go part of Saturday and all of Sunday, but it was very enjoyable. We couldn´t ¨preach¨but it was very enjoyable. We could answer questions. We just gave away pamphlets about the church - the restoration, plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, Word of Wisdom, Book of Mormon, FHE book, etc... Just fun free things to give away! Elder Stephenson is quite the musician, and he actually brought his charango (mini guitar) and harmonica, and played and sang while we were there. Very fun. I hope people have a little better idea of what the church is all about now.

Thanks for the pictures! Nyah was dorothy! So cute! And for the pictures of soccer as well. Very very fun.

Shari, Hermana Riquelme loves oreos. I taught her that you can put the fork in the middle and it´s easier to eat them with milk. :D I informed her that you had taught me. And, the ¨Good night, don´t let the bed bugs bite...¨saying. She likes it.

Well, I hope all is well. I love you all very much. Los quiero! Talk to you again soon!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! 11.03.2008 (Email and Fotos)

Hola everyone! How are you doing? I love the picture of Hallie on Halloween. She´s so cute, and she´s so big! Wow! Very fun. I´m afraid they don´t celebrate Halloween here much... too bad. :D The kids are missing out on all the chocolate!

Oh, I have a request. Next time someone sends a letter, it´s not a big deal at all, will you send a picture or two of me playing soccer? I need evidence that I played. :D

So how are you all doing? I hope you got the pictures all right. This letter might be a little shorter than usual because it took some time to get the pictures sent. Also, I ran out of stamps a few weeks back, so when you don´t get mail from me, that´s why. Stamps are on the way though, so hopefully you´ll get the letters before too long. I´ll plan more in advance next time... :(

Shari and Orrin, I never said thanks for the money for new tennis shoes! Thank you thank you! I´ll let you know all about them when I get them.

Things here are going well! We had zone conference this last Monday and it went well. I have a new district leader - Elder Arana from Peru. He´s very nice. :D It´s fun to see a different way of doing things as well.

Mom, since you mentioned flossing, I have done much better this week! I´ll work on improving more, because I do want to keep my teeth.

The mosquitos are here! AK, I thought of you on your mission because if I recall, your apartment didn´t have windows. I´m grateful that I can walk into my apartment and escape from the mosquitos. It´s a luxury that you didn´t have! Good times. It makes me feel like a real missionary to have mosquitos around. haha.

Well, we changed Yenni´s baptismal date to the 14th, because we definitely feel like it´s more important that she has a testimony and understands everything, than that it´s done quickly. Hopefully we´ll be able to teach everything this week so that she can have her baptismal interview on Sunday and then be good to go for Friday the 14th. Usually baptisms are on Saturday, but there´s an enrichment activity in Neuquen that day.

Hermana Riquelme was talking to Yennifer about the importance of having a testimony of the Gospel before being baptized. She asked, ¨If someone walks up to you, says a thing or two about the church - for example Joseph Smith wasn´t a prophet or similar things - are you really going to be able to testify to them that the church is true? Do you have that conviction in your heart?¨ It really made me think. I hope that every convert to the church can have this conviction so that when trials come, they can withstand them.

Another story: We´re really trying to talk to people when we´re on the bus. It´s kind of hard, but we´re working on it. So the other day we were on the bus, and Hermana Riquelme started talking to an older man (70´s??) ,named Hector, whom she was sitting next to. He said he wants to be baptized in a church, and she hurried and gave him a pamphlet before he got off the bus. Later the same day we saw him again, and he said he really liked what he read, and that he wanted to know what he needed to do to be baptized! So we invited him to church. Sunday morning we got there, and he was waiting for us outside! Wow. He said he really enjoyed the meeting, and he wants us to come over and teach him so he can be baptized. Wow, quite the miracle huh? We´re excited to go and teach him and see what happens.

Remember Alicia Astente - the lady that I taught one day with Paula Beltran? We were passing be her house yesterday, and we talked to her Mom, Ursula. We haven´t been able to talk to Alicia since. But Ursula is very sincere, and she had a lot of questions about baptism. It was a neat lesson, and she said if she receives the answer from Heavenly Father that the church is true, she´ll prepare for her baptism the 29th of November.

Andres and Andrea are doing well. The biggest struggle I think for them is to go to church with Omar and Carla because they aren´t as reverent as they would like. It´s a struggle in all the church, but unfortunately they don´t see that because there aren´t a lot of kids their age in the ward. We´re working on helping them. How hard! Mom, Ak, Lisa... anyone... have any advice?

Dad, the story you always tell about faith. The man on the edge of the mountain that is holding onto a branch. Can you write that down and send it to me? I don´t remember the details and I would love to learn it in spanish to teach people. Gracias!

AK, thanks for the reasons of why you go to church. It helps.

Mom and Dad, thanks for your answers about how missionaries gain your trust. I do try to be punctual and responsible. I hope the members know we´re trying our best. The mission has helped me to realize that no one is perfect. That´s why we can´t judge.

Mom, thanks for your thought about the dinner appoinment and the missionaries talking. I´m afraid I have been very guilty of being the quiet missionary, mainly out of insecurity. However, I know a lot more spanish now, and I really don´t have an excuse. I have tried very hard to talk more during lunch this week. It hit me pretty hard what you said, and I know if I follow your advice that I will be a better missionary and instrument in the Lord´s hands. If ever you doubt whether or not you are inspired, remember that I needed what you wrote. Thank you!

Well, I need to go. I love you all very very much. The church is true, and Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. How blessed we are!

Love Forever,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Okay, the first one is when our zone (most of the zone) went to the river. And the second one is Hermana Riquelme and I at the river. I might try to send more, but it takes a while for them to load. We´ll see...

Feliz Halloween :D 10.27.2008 (Email)

Mi Familia-

Hola! Como estan? Espero que todo este bien con todos. Well, what a week! To begin, after Hermana Celis left I spent the day with Hna. Valderrama and Hna. Diaz. Also spent some time with Hna. Laura Bignon (who was the companion of Hna. Celis just before me as a member/mini missioary) and another member, Isy. In the night the three of us taught and visited and did contacts just as normal. It was interesting to see the way that another companionship did things. Then we had a sleep over that night. :D

The next morning Hermana Riquelme got here at about 9:00. I´ll admit I was a little nervous about it all (getting back to the apartment without Hermana Celis for one thing haha) but I must say, that Hna. Riquelme is SO GREAT!! Before I met her everyone told me that she has a Chilean accent still, and it´s the truth! It makes me giggle. Often when we are talking to someone they ask, so... from what part of Chile are you from?

So she is from Santiago Chile. What a coincidence huh? Both she and Hermana Celis. They were in the MTC together. There are five kids in her family, and all are members. She has been a member for three years now. She said that they were all pretty much baptized at different times. She is the oldest, and the only girl. Her brother is serving in California, San Bernadino sp??? - english speaking!

First off, good news! Yennifer, the sister of Rocio and Oriana, and daughter of Rita, went to church for the 3rd time yesterday! She had told Hna. Celis that she wanted to be baptized, and she has recently been going to many church activities, but when we went to her house earlier in the week, she left when we started teaching. So we were a little unsure what she was thinking. However, we talked to her yesterday about what she wants, and what she would need to learn, do... in order to be baptized, and she has a baptismal date for November 8th! Yay! I´m so excited for her. Tamara, her sister, also went to church for the second time yesterday. Tamara is 17 and has a 1 1/2 year old daughter, Brisa, who is adorable. I hope she also continues to progress.

And, Andres went to church yesterday! Yay!!! He was only in Sacrament Meeting, and then the rest of the time he was pretty much in the hall trying to take care of their kids - Omar and Carla. Hum.... it turns out it´s a struggle with kids no matter where you live. :D

We are really emphasizing The Book of Mormon with the investigators and the members of the ward. It´s such a key. If people really read the Book of Mormon, and pray about it, I really am convinced that they´ll know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and they´ll have the strength to overcome whatever problems arise. I know that the Book of Mormon has been a huge strength to me since I have been here in the mission. I told Hna. Celis the other day, and others since, that I really don´t think that I could do the mission if we didn´t have personal and companion study every day. It´s just that simple.

We´re inviting everyone to read it cover to cover. I am loving it. The Book of Mormon is so powerful!

We´re trying to invite everyone to the church as well. Rather than nonchalantly invite them, make it a lesson, and give the blessings, commandments... with the scriptures and everything. What to expect, why we have the different meetings, etc... We would really like to increase the number of people that go to church on Sundays. The investigators can´t progress without it.

So we are starting to see more mosquitos. Not a big deal for me. Hermana Riquelme on the other hand, is allergic to mosquitos! Her legs/feet were bitten, and her feet are swollen like crazy! She said her feet feel like they´re going to pop or explode when she walks. I don´t think that´s a good thing... Hopefully they´ll get better soon. She´s a trooper though.

Here´s a funny story. On Thursday night we were trying to call Paula Beltran (who was just called as a ward missionary :D ) to see if she could go with us to some lessons to invite people to church. Apparently my tres and seis sound similar, and Hna. Riquelme called the wrong number. Once she figured out she wasn´t talking to Paula, she started a contact with the lady! By the end of the phone call she had the lady´s address and an appointment. It was so great. It turns out she lives in Neuquen, so hopefully those missionaries were able to go.

Another funny story. The other day were were walking past the Plaza in Barrio Esperanza, and a man (22 years old or so) came up to us and asked if one of us is from the United States. I of course said yes... He said, ¨oh great! I was hoping I would find one of the people from the church here. I need help with me English homework!¨ It was so funny. We helped him, talked to him a little bit, and then he was on his way.

Also, the other day we were talking to a lady named Gladys. Hna. Celis and I had taught her lesson one, and when we went the other day she had visitors. When I started talking one of the visitors asked where I was from. She thought I was Italian! Funny funny.

Mom and Dad, thanks always for your emails. I love reading them always. They´re great.

AK and Lisa, thanks for your letters always. AK, it was fun to see the pictures from Elitch Gardens. It made me sad to read about the man who has terminal cancer. It always makes me wonder how I would handle the situation if I were in his situation. I hope I could handle it as well as he is.

Lisa, I loved hearing about Hallie´s birthday party and cake and everything! Hopefully you took a picture of the cake so I can see it sometime. It sounds pretty impressive. Tell Rebekah hi for me when you see her next time.

Shari, Aaron, how are you? Ryan, Jordan, Orrin? I hope you are all doing really well with everything.

Hola Nyah and Hallie! Tell Scotty hi for me as well, and to be on his best behavior! :D

I read about Alma and Amulek this week in Alma 14 I believe. Wow, quite the story. First off, that Alma returned to Ammonihah after he had been rejected by the people. How hard that would be. But it said that he returned IMMEDIATELY when he was commanded. Amulek takes Alma into his house and feeds him. Then it talks about everything that they went through after preaching. The people were so mad. I was amazed by the strength of Alma and Amulen during this time of trial. Good food for thought.

Also, I read the talk by Elder Wirthlin from Oct 2007 conference on Charity. I love it! It says in one part that at the end of life, when we go to final judgment, Heavenly Father isn´t going to ask about what callings we held, or what worldly possessions we had. He´s going to ask if we fed the hungry, supported those who in need - served our fellow men! The talk mentioned that the when it comes down to it, the success of our life will come down to whether or not we have come to develop charity - a pure love for God and our fellow men. Our neighbor. It made me really think. If I learn nothing else during the mission, I would really like to learn to develop real Christ like love for other people. Not only my family, but for all people, and really see them as children of God.

I love you all very much. The church is true and Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Choose the Right!

Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola Otra Vez!! 10.20.2008 (Email)

Hola mi familia! Alright, so now I´m in the bus terminal. Hermana Celis just left. How sad! I´m excited for her though and I know that she´ll do great. I´m also excited for Hermana Schafer because I know that Hermana Celis will be able to help her. They´ll be wonderful.

Alright, so more about what is happening here. Yesterday was Mother´s Day here in Argentina. So Mom, Happy Mother´s Day! They gave me flowers in church to give to you. :D I´ll have to take a picture of them and send that. :D They´re pretty!

Yesterday was our ward conference as well. We had a good turn out. We laughed when we were having choir practice because we didn´t know if there would be anyone to actually listen to the choir because everyone would be singing. Haha. But really, there was a good turn out and I really enjoyed it. We sang ¨Families Can Be Together Forever¨and I played the piano for that one. Then we sang a mix of ¨My Heavenly Father Loves Me and I Feel My Savior´s Love¨. Raimundo the ward mission leader played for that one. Then I played, what´s it called? El Cristo Rey Jesus I think. I´m not sure what it´s called in English or the page number. But anyway, it was my first time playing for a choir so luckily it wasn´t too complicated. :o)

We found a neat family this week. Familia Ramos. They are from Bolivia and have three kids. They are catholic. We had the opportunity to teach lesson one on Saturday night and it was a really good lesson. Grover has some concerns I think because he doesn´t really understand why he needs something different. He is content with reading the Bible and thinks his family is fine. We tried to explain about the Priesthood, and that only through the restored priesthood can his family be together forever. I think they´re really sincere and I´m excited to teach them more.

We also started teaching a lady named Gladys. We went and taught her Lesson One as well. She is great. I think she´s like 55 or 60. Usually at the end of the lesson after explaining the BoM and everything we then ask them if they´re willing to read and pray about the things we taught. But Gladys, after we had explained the BoM, she was the one that said, ¨alright then, I´m going to read it!¨It was so great. I´m excited for her as well.

We haven´t been able to meet with Analia and her family. She works a ton, and we think that her boyfriend??? has just moved in with her. We were talking to the Beltran family, her neighbors (Raimundo and Paula and their family) and we´re going to pray for her and her family that they can continue to progress.

I really admire the Beltran family. They didn´t all join the church at the same time, and I have really enjoyed hearing more about their conversion stories. They´re so strong. Very amazing. I often wonder if I would have joined the church if missionaries showed up at my doorstep if I hadn´t been born in the church.

I´m reading more about Alma in the beginning of Alma in his missionary efforts. I love reading about the missionaries in the BoM.

Oh, Hermana Schwab is going to be in my zone now. Fun fun!

So how are you all doing? Mom, it made me laugh when you were thinking about the teeth of the people who lived for so many years. I´m fairly confident that they just didn´t have teeth. I´m grateful for modern day dentistry as well. How are your teeth doing by now?

It was fun to read about the parade and everything. Tell all the family hello for me! Happy Birthday to Uncle Wayne and Uncle Allen, congratulations to Camille on her baby. Where is Camille living?

Shari and Orrin, thanks for the money for my tennis shoes! Hopefully I´ll be able to buy them soon.

Dad, I didn´t get the attachment with the picture of Hallie on the treadmill. I´m not sure what happened!

I love hearing about all your lives. I´m so grateful for my family. I´m so grateful I was raised in such a happy home with the knowledge of the Gospel. I continue to recognize the blessings. The life we have, so many others don´t! I admire all of your service - in the church, and just among yourselves in the family.

There´s a taxi driver that drives us around quite a bit. His name is Simon. He told us a little while ago that his wife had a heart attack. Last night he gave us a ride back to the apartment and he said his wife passed away. It just broke my heart. It makes me so sad for the people that don´t have the knowledge that families really can be forever. We´re so blessed! We just need to keep the commandments and endure to the end now.

Well, I need to go. Thanks for all and I love you all!

Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola Mi Familia! 10.20.2008 (Email)

Hola! Well, I´m writing a little earlier today because today´s going to be a little different. I´m not sure how much I´ll be able to write right now, but I should be able to write more later.

So here´s the scoop: Hermana Celis is headed to El Bolson! It´s about eight hours south east, towards the mountains. And, she´s going to be companions with Hermana Schafer - my companion from the MTC! Pretty fun!

My new companion is going to be Hermana Riquelme. She arrived in the mission with Hermana Celis - they were in the MTC together. She is also from Santiago Chile. Funny huh? I guess I´m meant to be with a Chilena! Hermana Celis said that she´s a convert of about two years. Pretty neat. That´s about all I know about her right now.

Hermana Celis is leaving from the Bus Terminal at 11:00, and then I´m going to spend the day and night with the Hermanas from Progreso (Neuquen). Then Hermana Riquelme gets here Tuesday morning, and we´ll head back to Plottier!

Alright, my address that Dad asked for:
38 Buratovich
Plottier Argentina
And the zip code is 8316

I´m not sure how the address thing works. I don´t know if I can get mail in my apartment. But there it is!

Mom, I do have a pocket size spanish hymn book. It´s one of the things they gave us in the MTC.

So here´s a story... I went to get money off of my personal credit card, and surprise! My credit card is expired! I´m not sure why I didn´t think of that sooner, but what can you do. I´m not sure if you can just send me a new one, or what... Can you let me know? Thank you!

Yes, I do see kids out playing soccer. I think there are more now that it is warmer, but there have been people playing soccer in the streets and parks since I got here! Cold or not right? I love it because about all the parks here have a soccer field. Good times.

It turns out that soccer isn´t really a female sport here. When people hear that I played soccer before (was on teams that were in tournaments, etc...) they are always surprised! Bueno, one because I may not look like a soccer player :D, and second, there just aren´t girls teams here!

One of the recent converts in the ward, Liliana, has actually just recently started getting together with about 10 other girls to play on Monday afternoon. I would love to play one day with them.

Last Monday we did end up going to the river in Senillosa. So fun! It was weird to be in normal clothes, but very fun. We played soccer, volleyball, ate a barbecue, threw a frisbee - about all the missionaries from our zone. Playing soccer while wearing a missionary plaque. Does life get much better? ;D It was funny because I juggled the soccer ball a little bit, and some of the Elders were surprised. Especially the Elders who aren´t north american. It makes me laugh. Haha

We had a ward talent show that I feel like was very successful! I played the piano - the song that you sent me. I was nervous, but I think it went pretty well. You can just do your best right? President Cook gave Hermana Celis permission to dance a Chilena Folklore dance and she did very well. We had pretty good participation, and we had a good show! Quite a few from the ward, and we had some stake support as well. We had it so people could invite investigators, and so the ward in general could be more united. They hadn´t had an activity in quite some time from what I hear. Anyway, the great thing about the activity, is that there were 6 investigators there! Yay! Estela, Noelia and Tatiana Montiel (Family of Gabriela and Adrian). Yennifer (daughter of Rita), Elva, and Andres. Que Bueno!

Alright, well I need to go for now. I love you all. I´m going to try to write later. Thanks for everything!

Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

10.13.2008 (Email)

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? Well, what a great week of mail! I got pictures from AK and Ryan in the mail of when Mom and Dad were in Denver, a letter from AK and Lisa, and a letter from Becky and Lori Larson (Greene because she´s now married). And if you all would like to know, Becky´s engaged! Yay!!! She´s getting married November 28 in Manti. I´m very excited for her.

AK, I just got a letter from you as well - through the pouch. Gracias!

Lisa, Happy Birthday again! 25!!! I hope you had a great day celebrating. Know I was thinking about you.

Well, I had a good week. Rita and Oriana Martinez (mother and sister of Rocio) were baptized! Quite the experience! I think I told you that Rita wanted to be baptized in the river. We weren´t sure how it was going to work out, because naturally the river would be a little complicated. There are very few members that have cars, and there isn´t a bus that goes to the river, so we didn´t know how members would get to the baptism. Not ideal for support.

We ended up talking to the Bishop, and he wanted the baptism to be in the church. We talked to President Cook, and he also told us it would be much much better to have the baptism in the church, for many reasons. So we didn´t know what to do. Rita had her heart STUCK on the river. Everytime we talked to her she told us how much she wanted to be baptized like Christ was - in the river. She did not want to be baptized in the font.

So we headed to their house on Wednesday to try to talk to her. We talked and talked and talked about how it was better for her to baptized in the chapel. We talked about the different reasons. She didn´t want to change. I mentioned that many times I want to do things becase it´s my desire, not necessarily because it´s the desire of Heavenly Father. I´m trying to distinguish the difference in my life, and do the will of Heavenly Father. We finally asked if it was her desire to be baptized in the river or if it was Heavenly Father´s desire. We would all pray about it, and then make a decision the next time we talked. Us, the ward members, other missionaries, and President Cook were all praying for her.

We called her on Thursday night because we couldn´t go to her house, and she said that she had decided to be baptized in the church!!! It really was a miracle. The truth came out that a member of the ward, Hermana Valenzuela, who is also her neighbor and friend, also went over and talked to her after we did. She helped Rita recognize that it doesn´t matter if we´re baptized in the river - it matters that we´re baptized.

It just made me think of Elder Holland´s talk about angels. There are angels both seen and seen here on the earth. Hermana Valenzuela helped answer our prayers - she was an instrument in the hands of the Lord. It made me want to be that angel for other people. I want to help people like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ would if they were here in Plottier with the people - in person.

The baptism was wonderful. We had it Saturday morning instead of Saturday night because another of Rita´s daughters turned 15 on Saturday so they were having a big celebration that night. We usually have cake after the baptism, but upon Rita´s request, we had pizza instead. Mmmm... Mmmm... Good. :D

Sunday they received the Holy Ghost. What a wonderful blessing the Holy Ghost is.

Funny things... since a lot of my area is ¨country¨there are cows, pig farms, etc... But the other day we were walking and I glanced over at a yard, and then had to take a second look - like ¨what was that?¨ I looked over again and there was a huge pig (hog?) just grazing in someone´s front yard eating the grass. No fence or anything, just hanging out. I thought it was funny.

We´re heading to Senillosa today to go the river and have a zone preparation day. It is one elder´s b-day and another is headed home next week, so we´re doing something a little different. It should be fun. :D

Analia and family are doing well. We´re having a hard time meeting with them because Analia works so much. About the only time she is home is when we´re at lunch. We´re working at it.

We´re also working with Magali. She has been in the hospital so we haven´t been able to talk to her. We´re planning on going tonight.

Andres is doing well. He hasn´t been able to go to church, so that´s going to be our focus. We went to teach him on Friday but he wasn´t home. Have I told you he´s a boxer? He was out of town for a fight. Andrea tells us that he won.

Monica Troncoso. She had a baptismal date, but we´re having a hard time getting a hold of her as well. First her little boy was sick, and now her dad I believe is in the hospital. We´re hoping this next week we´ll be able to meet with her.

Gabriela and Adrian are doing great. Knowing Gabriela like she is now, I would think she has been a member her whole life. She is 100 percent involved in being a member. Institute, a calling, taking notes at conference... everything. She´s amazing.

Well, thanks for all. Dad, thank you for the pictures you sent through the email! I had seen a couple from Denver that AK sent, but others different as well. I love seeing the pictures, so thank you so much!

Thank you all for you love and support. Your always in my prayers. Thank you so much for praying for me. I gain a lot of comfort from the knowledge that I am in your prayers as well. The church is true. I love you all very much!

Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

P.S. I don´t think I¨ll be buying shoes today, but hopefully next week? If you
just want to put money in my account that would be great. Gracias!

10.06.2008 (Email)

Hello! How are you all doing? Things here are going really well. Dad, I got the email with the song. Thank you so much! I read in the bottom of Mom´s email that you were going to write... I don´t know if you had the chance to write but I didn´t get it if you sent it. It´s okay if you didn´t get the chance! :D

First off, to answer your questions I have gotten. The members are good with retention. The Bishop has just called couples in the ward as ward mission leaders that he wants to teach the retention lessons. We are planning on teaching the members the lessons so they can then teach, and have a relationship with the new converts. We hope this takes place shortly.

Also, Andrea and Gabriela just got callings! Andrea is a counselor in the RS, and Gabriela is the secretary in the RS. Yay!

As for washing clothes, there is a member in the ward, Hermana Lagos, who usually washes our clothes, with the exception of underclothes, which we wash in the apartment. If we don´t have time to take our clothes to her, we just wash what we need as we go. It works. :)

Yes, we have a cell phone. The sisters are allowed to carry it around with us during the day in case of emergency, but we´re not supposed to use it during the day otherwise. We can use it at night and in the morning if we need to call investigators or members, as well as our district or zone leaders. I think it works out to like 8 minutes a day to those who aren´t actually in the mission (missionaries).

We eat lunch with the members every day with the exception of Mondays, and every other Friday depends. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don´t. It´s the same schedule every week though (same members). The food is great... perhaps a little too great. Oh well, what can you do?? :D

Mom, you asked if I had accompanied Hermana Celis or done a solo on the piano. I had accompanied her in the talent show. No solos quite yet.

Lisa, Happy Birthday this Sunday! 25??? We´re getting so old! I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and know that I´ll be thinking of you. Here, you can pretend that I´m actually singing this: Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Lisa, Happy Birthday to you! ¡Feliz Cumpleanos!

Shari, how are you doing? I have really been thinking about you recently, and I hope you are doing well. You´re always in my prayers.

Rita and Oriana, mother and sister of Rocio, are scheduled to be baptized this Saturday. Yay!

Now for conference. Can I just say that I absolutely LOVED it! I really don´t even know where to begin. We had to go to Neuquen where there´s a satelite. We found out that they were broadcasting the RS broadcast Saturday morning before the saturday morning session, which actually started here at 1:00. President Cook not only allowed, but encouraged us to go. So that was great.

I watched/listened to the RS Broadcast in Spanish. Well, the songs of course were in English, but the rest in Spanish. I really enjoyed it. I was happy to realize how much I understood. Granted there were many words I didn´t catch, but I still got the message and feeling. Very good talks.

Then, for the rest of conference, they set up a room for all of us english speaking missionaries where we could watch it in our native language! It was SO wonderful! I honestly can´t express the joy of hearing conference, and just being able to enjoy the message and be spiritually uplifted. I don´t know if I have ever enjoyed conference so much.

After the saturday morning session Hna. Celis and I did divisions with the sisters in that area - Hna. Valderrama of Chile, and Hna. Diaz of Buenos Aires. I went with Hna. Valderrama, who is the senior companion. It was very enjoyable. We went and invited recent converts to conference. It was fun to see another side of Neuquen, the houses rather than just the city. It turns out that my area is very flat! It was fun to walk the hills in her area. Very fun.

Then we watched the Afternoon session from 5-7 at night. And that was the day! After conference on Saturday I just wanted to tell the world that we have a living prophet and apostles! What an amazing blessing to receive guidance for our day.

Sunday we went and picked up the members in the bus. I was excited because Rita, Rocio, Oriana, and Jennifer (another daughter) all came! Yay! Also, Liliana, a recent convert, brought her neighbor Maria (an ex-investigator) and her sister Maria. Yay for missionary work!

We ate lunch with all the ward. I´m always very amazed by their generosity. What is one person´s is everyones.

After both sessions we headed back in the Cole (bus), and we got back in time to do work for 30-45 minutes. It was such a wonderful conference! I am so so grateful that I had the opportunity to listen and learn. I feel like I have a new energy and desire to continue working. I hope that you all also received answers to your prayers.

Tonight we are going to have FHE with Gabriela and her family. Gabriela actually invited her friend and her mom as well. I´m grateful for her example, that she is already taking part in helping others learn about the Gospel.

Oh, I have a question. I brought my old tennis shoes, and I have recently started to notice that my knees are starting to feel it - like I´m training for a race or something! Do you think it would be smart for me to buy new shoes? Or would it be better for you to send me mine that are at home? Hna. Celis thinks they would cost me like 200 pesos here, so like 70 dollars? I don´t know. Let me know what you think. :o)

Well, I need to go. The church is true.Thanks for everything. I love you all tons!

Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Feliz Cumpleanos! and Fotos! (Email) 09.29.2008

Hola! How are you all doing? First of all, Happy Birthday yesterday Hallie! I was thinking of her and I hope that her party and everything went really well. I hope that the picture works that I sent... very fun.

And how is everyone else doing? I got letters from Lisa and AK last week. Gracias! Lisa, it made me giggle that you were praying for them not to catch a fish. I wasn´t surprised.

Mom, I read part of your email that you wrote while I was waiting for the pictures to download. You mentioned that you need Heavenly Father every minute. Me too. I have no doubt that you can pray to Heavenly Father about every little thing, including and especially Scotty, and He will help you to know what to do.

Well, what a week! It has been great. First off, before I forget, I have a favor to ask everyone. Will you tell me next time you write, the reasons that you go to church on Sunday? What are the blessings that you feel that you receive from doing so? Why do you go every week? I have been thinking about it recently as I have thought about teaching the importance of going to church and keeping the sabbath day holy.

Well, Hermana Celis hurt her knee this last week. We´re not sure what happened... if it was something with the exercises, or what. But, Tuesday it really started to bother her. We were eating lunch with Flia. Beltran (yes Mom we eat lunch with members every day, and I´ll write more about it later). We had stayed there for a little longer because her knee was bothering her. But then we left to an appointment, Monica Troncoso, who lives just close by. Monica wasn´t there.

Hermana Celis decided that her knee was bothering her too much, so she said she wanted to ask Paula (daugher of Flia. Beltran) if she could go on divisions with me the rest of the day. She basically told me that she was going to ask Paula, there really was no asking me if I was okay with it. :)

So we go, and Paula agrees to come with me, and Hermana Celis stays with Hermana Beltran (who reminds me a lot of Ann Lewis :D ). I at this point am feeling very nervous and inadequate to go out and teach as the senior companion without Hermana Celis. I feel okay about lesson 1 and 2 these days, but lesson 3... I´m still working on it. And we had several lesson threes planned. But, I carried my ¨Preach My Gospel¨along with me, we all said a prayer together, and we headed out.

Paula is also 21. She has been a member for one year and five months. She is great, and very nice. As we got to talking, she mentioned that her brother Raimundo, who is our ward mission leader that just got his call, wants her to go on a mission. She said that she didn´t want to, because she gets so nervous. She is very shy. She would be worried about learning the language, and she doesn´t feel like she knows the doctrine really well because she didn´t have seminary or anything.

She told me the story of her conversion, and it was really neat to hear.

Our first couple of appointments weren´t there. I just kept praying and praying that Heavenly Father would help me, especially in speaking and understanding the Spanish, and that He would help her to have a good experience because I wanted her to have a good impression of the mission field.

We talked to a couple people, and finally talked to one lady in her front yard and gave the first part of the Restoration lesson, and then we headed off. She asked what we were going to do next, and I had no idea. We didn´t have another appointment for like 1 1/2 to 2 hours, because the others hadn´t been home. So we started walking.

We walked past one house, and the door was open. We said ¨hola¨and kept walking. We got like 5 or 10 steps, I stopped, and asked if we could go back and talk to that lady. I felt like we needed to talk to her.We went back, and she told us how she doesn´t live there, but she´s watching her mom´s house for a couple of weeks. Her mom had met with missionaries in the past. She let us teach her lesson one. It was such a good lesson. She expressed some of her concerns, about Joseph Smith, but I could really testify to her that it was no accident that we were on her patio, that very minute, teaching her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I knew that Heavenly Father led us there. It was so amazing. And I gave my first baptismal invitation! Yay!

Paula was amazing. She had told me she was nervous, but I just told her to share her testimony. That it was the most important part. She taught, shared a little bit about how she came to know, and she helped me understand the spanish if I didn´t understand.

We had one other appointment, and then it was the night. We headed to choir. It was such a good experience. It just reminded me that this is not the work of men - it´s the work of our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. Even in our weakness we can serve.

We stopped by Flia Beltran´s house Saturday to check on Hermana Beltran because she had been sick. Paula drilled us with a million questions about the life of a missionary. It was very fun.
Last night we had choir practice again. We were getting ready to leave, and Paula told us that she is now preparing to serve a mission! Wow! Isn´t that amazing? She told us how she just felt something really special when she was out teaching on Tuesday. I told Hermana Celis last night, that it´s pretty amazing how Heavenly Father works. He gave Hermana Celis a hurt knee so Paula could decided to serve a mission. It reminded me how very often we don´t see the big picture, and that we don´t understand why things happen the way they do, but that Heavenly Father does. He knows all things, we just need to trust Him.

Scriptures for the week I love: King Benjamins address in the beginning of Mosiah. Especially Mosiah 2:34.

So I hope you´re all doing well. That was a really long story, but I wanted to share it. I need to go, but know I am always praying for all of you. I love you all so much, and am so grateful that you continue to share your lives with me through email. I´m always very interested in every detail. Thanks for all, and I love you tons!

Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Okay... The First we stuck a candle in a little dessert that Estela Montiel (Gabriela and Adrian´s mom) gave to us for a happy birthday to Hallie yesterday! The second is the baptism of Gabriela and Adrian

The third is the baptism of Andrea with Andres and kids Omar and Carla and the Bishop in white.

Feliz Primavera! 09.22.2008 (Email)

Hola mi familia!

Como estan? I hope all is well at home. Yesterday was the first official day of spring. We have had some great weather. Very fun!

I have some bad news… I just spent the last hour or so at another internet café, trying to get the computer to work. I wrote a good long letter, and it´s gone… and I couldn´t send anything for that matter. So I´m afraid this may be fairly short.

AK and Lisa, I got your letters through Dear Elder last week! Thank you so much! I love hearing all about your lives. Nyah and Hallie. Work. Tests. All of it.

Stake Conference was yesterday right? How did it go? Mom, the choir. And Dad, all your talks! I´m sure you did a wonderful job. I always love hearing your talks.

Things here are going well. Here´s a good story… Tuesday Hermana Celis and I were knocking (clapping) in the neighbourhood close to a member´s house. We met Analia and Elva. It is Analia´s house, but Elva is a friend and neighbour. They invited us in to teach the Restoration. It was really good. In know that they felt the Spirit.

We went back on Thursday and taught Analia and her daughter, (8 years old) Agustina. She also has two sons (ages 10 and 12) that live there. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and she shared some experiences with us – about her life. They accepted a baptismal date for October 18th! It was such a neat experience. And then they came to church on Sunday! Yay! It just humbles me to think about how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ really are preparing people to hear the Gospel – the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We´re going to really continue to work with them. I´m excited for them, and their willingness to learn and change.

Aaron, Shari and Orrin, how are you doing?

Ryan, I can´t believe you´re making a swing set for Nyah! Wow, what a project! I´m sure that you´re going to do a great job.

Hermana Celis is doing well. I feel like I´m catching more and more Spanish still every day. Yesterday we ate lunch with the family of Gabriela and Adrian, and I was reflecting on the first day that I met them, just a day or two after I got here. I understood hardly anything! Although I still have a very long ways to go, I´m very grateful to Heavenly Father for how much I have progressed.

Scriptures that I came across and really enjoy: Alma 22: 14 , Alma 31:5. Also Words of Mormon and how Mormon is talking about why he has written the scriptures, and the hopes that he has for the Book of Mormon.

I´m so sorry this isn´t as long as normal. I hope all is well at home. The church is true!

Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Jana Pincock

09.15.2008 (Email)

Hola Mi Familia! Como estan? I hope you´re all great. Well, another week has passed! The time goes pretty fast. :) I was going to send pictures this week, but it´s looking like it won´t happy today because at this internet cafe it isn´t quite as easy. Hopefully one of these first few weeks I´ll get them sent to you.

First off, it sounds like Denver was great for mom and dad, and I´m sure Ak, Ryan, and Nyah as well. So fun when we can get together as a family! Swimming, the zoo... all kinds of fun things. I don´t know that there are many things better than being together with family - a forever family!

As for my week, lets see...

The uncle of Gabriela and Adrian, who were just baptized, was in a terrible motorcycle accident and he wasn´t wearing a helmet. It happened last Sunday, so just over a week ago. As you can imagine, the family is struggling with it. Hermana Celis and I did go over there one night this week, and we were able to watch the video ¨together forever¨ with Adrian´s Dad and aunt (sister of the uncle who was in the accident) along with Gabriela and Adrian. I hope it brought some peace to their hearts. I did feel lucky to be there at their house talking about how families can be together forever. As of yesterday, they´re kindof just waiting... how sad.

We made peanut butter candy for their family, and I think it turned out pretty well! Not quite the same... but fairly close. Rice Krispies were nowhere to be found so we crushed up corn flakes. It works! I wasn´t sure what they´d think since peanut butter isn´t a common thing by any means, but I think they liked it.

I wasn´t able to send a letter home to the family this last week because I´m out of stamps, and the other ones I ordered through the mission office haven´t gotten here yet. So one week you won´t get one, and another week you´ll get two. Hopefully the stamps will be here in time for me to mail this weeks letter. We´ll see...

We´re working on teaching a woman named Monica Troncoso. She has accepted a baptismal date for October 11, so we just need to get her to church! Her husband isn´t interested in the church, so it´s hard when she has to do it on her own. However, she has a lot of faith, and I´m confident that she´ll do what she needs to.

Good news... Andres has a baptismal date for October 11th! He has said before that he has a desire to be baptized. But in a river! He said he wants to be baptized just like Jesus Christ was. We talked to him the other day how that´s great, but if he has a desire to be baptized, he shouldn´t be putting it off until the water is warmer! It talks a little bit about that in Mosiah 18 so we shared that. He agreed, so we´re working towards helping him to prepare for that date. Now we just need to find the right river . . . :D

I´m working on reading ¨Our Heritage¨ and I´m really enjoying that. It´s always very comforting and reassuring to me to read about what the early saints went through for the church - for us really, so we can have the Gospel today.

I read a quote the other day that I really like. It´s Edward Partridge talking, and it´s talking about when the saints were in Missouri. A mob had just seized him and another man, Charles Allen. They refused to renounce the Book of Mormon and leave county. Edward Partridge refused saying that saints had suffered persecution in all ages of the world and that he had done nothing to offend anyone. If they hurt him, they would hurt an innocent person. That he would suffer for Christ´s sake. With this, the mob covered him with tar and feathers.

Now for the quote... ¨I bore my abuse with so much resignation and meekness, that it appeared to astound the multitude, who permitted me to retire in silence, many looking very solemn, their sympathies having been touched as I thought; and as to myself, I was so filled with the Spirit and love of God, that I had no hatred towards my persecutors or anyone else.¨

I thought that was so amazing. Wow. I wondered if I would be able to do the same thing. I would like to be like that. What an amazing attitude and outlook - all for the cause of the work of the Lord.

I also read Jacob 4:10 this morning and really enjoyed that. It´s talking about how we shouldn´t counsel the Lord, but instead be willing to receive Counsel from Him. I think I´ve been guilty of this many times in my life - thinking I know best what I need in my life. However, I know that only Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ really know what I need in my life - the people I meet, the experiences I have in general - that will help me to become a better person. I´m working on it. :)

Oh, our ward mission leader, Remundo Beltran, just received his mission call! He is great - very enthusiastic about the work. Visits the people, meets with us every week... great. I think he´s like 20, 22ish or so. But, he has only been a member for 10 months! He got his mission call to the Buenos Aires South mission, and he leaves December 3rd! He has been waiting for his call for quite a while now. I was feeling a little guilty that I received my call in like 2 or 3 weeks for when I turned in my papers. Anyway, I´m very excited for him.

His whole family is amazing. His parents have been members for 2 years. They´re from Chile. His sister was just baptized like a year ago as well. But they already have such a knowledge of the Gospel, and are so involved in everything. Including missionary work! The Dad was just called as the Sunday School President in the ward yesterday. Wow, talk about responsibility fast! It made me think of the quote by President Monson, ¨He whom the Lord calls, He qualifies.¨

It sounds like you are all busy. I think the mail is a little backed up through Dear Elder or somewhere in between. But it´s okay! We´ll just appreciate our fast communication even more when we have it again. :D

AK, what words are Nyah saying now? Lisa and Jordan, is Hallie walking now? It´s almost her birthday! Wow!

Aaron, Shari and Orrin, how are you all doing? Thanks for your love, support, and prayers. I know I couldn´t do this work here in Argentina without the prayers of everyone. The church is true. I love you all so much, and your always in my prayers.

Con Muchisimo Amor :D
Hermana Pincock

09.08.2008 (E-Mail)

Hola! Como estan? I hope everything is great. Mom and Dad, I haven´t read your emails yet, but I know that you´re back from Denver safe! How was it? I´m sure that you had a wonderful time. AK and Ryan are always great hosts. :) And you got to see Nyah on her own turf as well. Que Bueno! Mom, did you end up learning a little bit of spanish with AK?

I have a favor to ask... I don´t know if it´s really even possible. The song in my big red piano book -LDS Favorites- that´s a combination of the songs: Amazing Grace, As Now We Take the Sacrament, and How Great Thou Art... it´s on page 19 I believe. Is there a way to scan that and then email it to me. I really don´t know if it can be done. If so, great. If not, it´s okay too. :D

First off, Gabriela and Adrian were baptized on Saturday! Yay! The baptism went really well. Both their parents were able to be there, and some other family as well. And we had great ward support as well. It was great.

Then on Sunday Gabriela, Adrian, and Andrea were all confirmed. And Juan Varela, a convert that was baptized a few months back, received the Aaronic and Melckizedek Priesthood on Sunday too. Have I talked about Juan and Enriqueta Varela? They´re great. They actually remind me a lot of Grandma and Grandpa Pincock. I like it. It´s very fun.

AK, I got your letter with the Touch of the Master´s Hand in Spanish. Thank you so much! Also, I believe that you can send pictures to the other address I left. The one that´s not the Pouch. I got a wedding announcement from Jenn Packer last week that way... so I guess so!

The missionaries of our zone, and two others, met with the area president of the seventy for our area. Elder Bowen. When we got there he wanted to shake all of our hands and meet us. It turns out that he´s from Idaho Falls, and that he knows Uncle David! Well, I´m guessing it´s Uncle David. He asked if I have any relatives in Rexburg... but what a small world!

Elder Bowen had some really good things to say. He was talking about references, and how we often ask members for references. This is a very important part of the work because it works best this way. He said how at times members don´t have references. But, every member knows someone who is inactive in the church. He talked about inviting those families to befriend an inactive family. To invite them over for FHE. What a difference this would make in a ward if every family did this! I would like to see this happening here, and I thought of our ward back at home too. Food for thought for the stake...

Elder Bowen also talked to us about the importance of goals. More specifically, goals for what we want to study throughout the mission. What books do I want to have studied, and how many times? How am I going to accomplish this? I am now in the process of making a goal/plan... something that´s reachable, but that will make me stretch.

I love making goals because we can be so much better with them. I was thinking about when I made the goal to run a marthon. Without that goal, I would have NEVER run 26.2 miles. It just wouldn´t have happened! I think this really applies to all aspects of our lives.

I was thinking about the heroes that we have in our lives the other day. I was thinking how I practiced soccer so much - I wanted to play like Mia Hamm! I think it was good, it gave me a goal. And I worked hard at it! But in reality, when it comes down to it, our heroes should be those in the scriptures. I read about Captain Moroni in Alma 48 - now there´s someone I want to be like! It was a good reminder. It´s the importance of good examples in our lives. I´m grateful for all the good examples and influences that I have in my life. Family members and friends who are striving to do the right, even when it´s hard. Especially when it´s hard.

I was thinking, are the Longs all moved in by now? How are they doing?

Oh yeah! Transfers are today! I wondered if Hermana Celis would get transfered today because she has now been here 6 months, but she gets to stay! I´m glad because it will give me more time to become more familiar with the area and the ward before a new companion. She has only been in two areas and she only has six months left. Pretty crazy!

Now about all of you... I´m excited because I think I´m going to get some letters from mis hermanas :D hoy. Yay! I´m excited to hear all about what has been happening with all of you. Work, Church, Nyah and Hallie and all the fun things they´re doing... everything!

Shari, how´s work going? Are you still meeting with Greg? How´s your ward? Orrin, how´s everything going?

Lisa and Jordan... Jordan, you´re started back in school right? But you´re almost done! Yay!!! Some fun PE classes right?

AK, everyonce in a while I´ll meet some named either Ana or Carina, and it makes me smile everytime. I think of you. :D Ryan, how are things with your boss? Are you still getting together with the people in your ward to watch-what is is? Boxing? Sounds like a party.

Aaron, what´s new? What´s the temperature like? Can you still go boating right now?

Mom and Dad, I love getting your emails everyweek. What dedication that you wrote so late last night! I love hearing everything. Thanks so much for the support. I love you all very much. The church is true!

Love Forever,
Hermana Pincock

Jami, Feliz cumpleanos if you read this! I hope you had a great 22 birthday. Wow, 22! We´re getting old. :) I was definitely thinking of you on the 5th.

P.S. I forgot to tell the Chocolate Chip Cookies story! Well, it was quite the experience! I´m afraid the ingredients are a little different, a ¨cup¨doesn´t exist, or ¨350 degrees¨ for that matter! It was an experiment - a bit of a guessing game- but they turned out suprisingly well. I thought you´d all enjoy the story. Love you all!

Hermana Pincock