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!