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