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