Hola! (Email) 01.12.2009

Hola! How are you all doing? Things here are going well. Well, as for the moment, I´m in Plottier, but I´m headed to Allen in about 3 hours. So Allen is in the province, Rio Negro, and from what I understand it´s only like 1-2 hours away. It was actually Hermana Celis´first area. My new companion will be Hna. Ramirez and she´s from Peru. She came to the mission at the same time as Hna. Riquelme and Hna. Celis, so she´ll be ending the mission in two transfers if I understand correctly. Pretty crazy!

Hermana Riquelme is going to train. She´s a little nervous, but I ensured her that she´ll do wonderful.

So, back to Plottier. We had Clara´s baptism this Saturday! It went really well. Fernando Acuña baptized her. The young women sang a song during the baptism and they did well. Clara was a little nervous, but it went so well. She´s so happy that she´s baptized and that she received the Holy Ghost yesterday. She really is a different Clara than the Clara we met about two months ago. The gospel is so amazing. Now her family members just need to follow her example. :o)

Andres is super excited for his baptism this next Saturday. He went to Clara´s baptism because we told him we would like him to see another baptism before his own (he had seen Andrea´s baptism before). Anyway, we had asked him Saturday after his baptismal interview who he would like to baptize him. He decided Julio Beltran (16 yrs old) so he could practice, and Fernando Acuña to give him the Holy Ghost since Fernando just received the Melchezidek Priesthood. So he took it upon himself after Clara´s baptism to personally ask them. It was so good. I can hardly believe how different Andres is now. He is totally different. When I see He, Andrea, and their kids Omar and Clara in church, all in their church clothes, learning and participating, talking about going to the temple to be sealed for all time and eternity, it makes me so happy. The scripture in Doctrine and Covenants is true that says that sharing the gospel brings you joy.

Mari and Miguel went to church yesterday as well, and two of their 3 kids. We talked to them again this week about their baptismal goal, and they have decided to set the goal for January 31st. Two of their kids are ages 8 and 10. They told us they want them to make their own decisions about being baptized. So we need to talk to them as well. Yesterday in Gospel Principles we talked about being sealed together as a family, and how their kids can´t be sealed to them in their not members. So we talked about the responsibility of the parents in teaching their children. We think they understand better now.

They´re very excited, but Miguel is a little concerned because he needs to stop smoking. So this is the next big step for them. They´re reading the Book of Mormon consistently though, so it´ll give them a lot of strength. And The Valenzuela family is helping us a ton with them. Oh the difference of having the help of members...

Jon and Judith Meneses went to church yesterday as well! Yay! They were nervous but excited about going. Their little girl Graciela went as well. Graciela wanted to help me play the piano during the hymn so that was exciting for a minute. :D She learned in a minute that she could watch, but she couldn´t touch. haha Oh I love kids.

The Bishop asked me as I walked in the door if I could speak for five or ten minutes about missionary work and my time in Plottier. It was good. A little bit of a surprise, but good. I talked about the plan that Heavenly Father has for us, how we accepted His plan, and how we need to make this plan known to all the world. And thus the importance of missionary work. It´s so true!

So not all the investigators really understood that one of us would probably be changing cities, so they were a little surprised at church. It´s okay though. It makes me sad to leave Plottier. I love Plottier! I have been witness to a lot of Miracles here. The people are amazing, and I´m never going to forget them. I´m ending one part of the mission, and it´s so crazy. It makes me so sad to think that I might not see some of the people ever again. But there´s always email and letters! It okay. On to different people and different experiences.

So sorry I have been such a slacker with pictures. I think I´m going to put all my pictures on a CD and send the CD home. Cheaper then printing them, and faster then loading them onto emails. I hope that´s okay. :D

Oh, a sister in the other ward in Plottier received her mission call on Saturday night! She´ll be serving on temple square! Her name is Hermana Salinas, so if you ever see a Sister Salinas, it´s probably her! She leaves to Provo in March I believe. And, she already knows English, so you can all talk to her without a problem. She teaches english.

So, how are you all doing? What´s new at home? Mom and Dad, I love the picture of you two at temple square. You both look really good. You look happy.

Work? Church? I love that you have been playing Memory recently. Are you still playing Sudoku? Friends? The Minsons sent me a Christmas card so it was fun to hear from them. Oh, I got the Christmas card from the stake presidency a while back as well. Very fun.

I read the talk about Angels by President Holland in the last conference the other day and I really enjoyed it. I often forget that there are angels both seen and unseen who are always helping and protecting us - us missionaries out in the field, and all of you at home. Sometimes we recognize the angels as our friends and loved ones who help us continue forward and endure to the end. But sometimes we don´t recognize it. It makes me think of all the pioneers who crossed the plains, who had the help of angels. However, I have faith that it´s the same today. Angels are real and they help, guide, and protect us.

I love you all so much. I´m grateful to be a missionary. It´s an incredible experience, and I´m learning and trying to be better every day. Love and help the missionaries, and they´ll be so grateful. Take care of yourselves!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

I forgot.... I hear that Rio Negro has a ton of fruit, so that´s exciting! Yummy. I love fruit. Pears, peaches, apples... Yay! Alright, that´s all. Love you!

Hermana Jana Banana Pincock