Hola! 02.23.2009 (Email)

Hola mi familia! How are you all doing? Things here are going well, and here we are with transfers again! Hermana Ramirez is leaving tonight to Caleta Olivia. From what I hear it´s pretty down south in the Santa Cruz province. So that should be fun for her. My new companion will be Hermana Wilches. She is from Columbia, and if you can believe it, she also came to the mission with Hna. Celis, Riquelme, and Ramirez. So of the four that came together to the mission, I will have been companions with every one of them! Interesting huh? So she´ll be ending the mission in April. Hermana Celis actually goes home tomorrow. She´s leaving a transfer early so she can start school. Pretty crazy if you ask me. Hna. Ramirez leaves tonight at 10:00, but Hna. Wilches doesn´t get her until tomorrow morning, so a sister from the ward, Gaby Acosta, is going to have a sleep over in the apartment with me. :D So anyway, next week I´ll write all about Hna. Wilches, but from what I hear she´s great.

Other interesting news, our new Mission President has been called. I actually don´t know exactly when President and Sister Cook finish the mission, but I think in like 3 months. Their names are Brother Darwin F. Peterson and his wife, Sister Nola K. Peterson. They´re from Bountiful, so maybe Aunt Julene knows them! Sister Peterson was born in Pocatello to Edward and Calpurnia Dabel Knutti. I don´t recognize the names at all, but maybe one of you do! So it should be fun. :o)

I got wedding pictures from Becky this week, so that was fun. Gorgeous! She seems really happy, and she´s back in Logan now, while Nate studies. She´s back to her cake decorating.

Thanks for the letters AK. I enjoyed Heather´s blog about everything that happened with Uncle Richard. Uncle Richard really is an amazing person. The whole situation really does make you think. Last night as we were teaching a lesson I talked a little about what happened, and the importance of families. It was good.

Yesterday I really wasn´t feeling very good at all. We went to church and everything, ate lunch, and were in the apt. studying afterward and wasn´t so sure how I felt about leaving again. But, we had finally put another appt. with Carla, the lady I talked about last week, and I didn´t want to miss it. So we prayed and headed on our way. And Heavenly Father took care of it, and I felt just fine while we were there. And we had a great lesson. Her husband was working again so he wasn´t there, but I really think she and her daughter felt the Spirit. Her husband had heard of Joseph Smith so she had some questions about him, but I think we resolved her doubts. It was great.

Did I write last week about Pilar Montesino? Alright, here´s the story. Hna. Panero, and her kids were taught by the missionaries like 6 or 7 years ago. Some of her kids were baptized, but she wasn´t, because her husband doesn´t want to get married. So we spend a good amount of time working with them, and re-activating some of the kids. Pilar is Hna. Panero´s mom. She is about 85. She pretty much can´t see, and you need to speak loud so she can understand, but she has the desire to be baptized. So the task now is, that she can understand that this isn´t just a baptism, but that she actually understands, and has a testimony that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of the B of M, and of Joseph Smith. I think we´re going to buy the B of M on tape so she can listen since she can´t read. I´ll keep you updated on her.

Hna. Panero has a son that was baptized like four years ago I believe, but has been in-active for a long time. His girl friend, Carla, also lives there. She went to church yesterday! They have two little kids. Back to the excitement of having kids and church! It makes me think of Nyah, Hallie, and Andrea and Andres in Plottier as well. Always exciting. Anyway, we´re hoping she continues to progress.

Did I write about Clara and her daughters Marina and Camila last week! We have had some good lessons with them. They were going to go to church yesterday, but Clara was in bed because her teeth were killing her, and I believe the other two had to work. I hope next week they´ll be able to go. Have I mentioned that Sunday mornings are much more complicated without a bus that takes you to all the houses of the members and investigators? I definitely took the bus for granted in Plottier. It was a huge blessing.

We had our first Ward Council meeting this last week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We´re working on making a mission plan. We don´t have a Bishop in the ward right now, but there´s a brother who comes from Roca, a city nearby, every week to preside and basically be in charge of the ward. He had been gone on vacation, but he´s back now so that´s nice.

Yesterday in Gospel Principles the lesson was on the millenium, and I realized that there´s a lot I don´t know about the second coming and the millenium. I think I´m going to work on increasing my knowledge in that area here for a while.

Something interesting about Argentina. It turns out that it´s pretty normal here, that people refuse to keep working until they receive an increase in their wage. It happened with all the fruit, that people weren´t working for like one or two weeks. Now, school for all the kids supposedly starts today, but a bunch of the teachers refuse to work, so some have school, and some don´t. Pretty tricky huh? Oh something else that happens, is that the people who want a change go to ¨the ruta¨which is basically the road that everyone needs to get anywhere, and block it, so people have to go another way, which is much more complicated. And they stay there until they accomplish their purpose. I think it´s interesting. And everyone here knows more about the US government than I do. I´m not sure how to feel about it. :D

Alright, about you all. AK, I didn´t realize that you had hired someone. How´s she doing? Catching onto things? Starting new things is always a little tricky.

Work for everyone? I still love hearing about Hallie and Nyah. Hopefully you´re surviving at Gateway without Uncle Richard for a while. Church?

I love you all so much. I´m grateful that I´m a missionary. It´s a great opportunity to serve, and learn. I´m grateful for the opportunity I have had to be Hna. Ramirez´companion. I´ve learned a lot the past six weeks. Thank you so much for your continued love and support. You´re the best family in the world!

Love always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! 02.16.2009 (Email)

Hello my family! How are you doing? I hope you´re all doing great. First off, Orrin! Two weeks late, happy birthday! I feel so guilty. I even wrote on February second, Orrin´s birthday! And then I read all about Uncle Richard and totally forgot. But I really was thinking of you on your b-day. I hope you did something fun to celebrate. 25 right?

Also, happy valentine´s day everyone! It´s funny, because it turns out that valentine´s day doesn´t really exist here. It´s a holiday, but I didn´t hear one thing about it. We actually reminded one of the couples in our ward here. Funny.

Good news! Hermana Riquelme sent me a picture of Marí and Miguel´s baptism! They were baptized the 31st I believe. Miguel cut his hair, and it appears as though he stopped smoking! Yay! Miracles. Also, Hna. Riquelme wrote on the picture that John and Judith, parents of Gabriela, had a wedding AND BAPTISMAL date for February 13th! This also means that John has quit drinking. Wow. Miracles. I´m so happy!

More good news. I FINALLY sent a CD with all the mission pictures I have taken just now. The CD should get there in 15 days or so they said. I hope it gets there safely. :D

So things here in Allen are going well. I think I mentioned about making the changes of where we are eating lunch. That now we will only be eating in our area. So it has been a fairly hard hit for some of the members, but they´re handling it well. We taught the doctrine, of why we´re doing it. We compared our area to the ward, and how we don´t have ¨the keys¨to work in other areas.

Therefore, when we were in the elders area, we couldn´t feel prompted to knock on someone´s door, etc... and thus weren´t using the Lord´s time wisely. Obedience. I think they all understand.

We laughed because a couple of the families aren´t attending church, and we said that now if they want to see us, than they´ll have to go to church! ¨Nos vemos en la capilla!¨

So yesterday we went to eat with one of the families for the last time. We got there before the food was ready, and met one of their family members - a cousin? - who isn´t a member of the church. They live a good ways out in the fields, so we couldn´t really leave to do contacts, etc... So we asked if we could watch ¨The Restoration¨while we were waiting. So we watched it. Then afterwards we talked to her for a good while about our beliefs, the need for a prophet, a little about the plan of salvation, etc. I have found here the common belief that we don´t need to go to a church, because churches are of men, and that God is with us - within our hearts. It´s true, that God is with us, but we need the ordinances that are found only in the church of Jesus Christ. It was a good talk. The mission is really very interesting. I really don´t see people as a mechanic, lawyer...I just see people as children of God who need the ordinances of the Gospel.
It was all very interesting because it turns out that she hasn´t been to their house in years, and she decided to go the last time we ate lunch with their family. We ended up giving her a Book of Mormon, and we´re praying that she´ll read it. I wish she lived in our area!

Here´s a story. Someone had mentioned that there´s an older lady in the ward who knows English. I really didn´t think anything of it. So we recently got a ward directory, and we´re trying to tract down all the members in the ward in our area that we don´t know. So we tracted Irene down. We started talking to her and introduced ourselves, and she started talking to me in English! It caught me a little off guard. It turns out that she´s from Pennsylvania, but moved to Argentina when she was 15! I´m impressed she still knows english so well because she´s 95! Anyway, it was very enjoyable. There´s just something different about talking in your own language.

Dad, I´m just winging it with english. I like the idea of really teaching it like it should be done. I think I need to do much better about really teaching - with a plan. I don´t know how it would be better. To send everything here or what. I really have no idea how to print things here so I would have to ask around. Whatever you think is best, but it sounds good.

We found a lady named Carla about a week or so ago. She´s a teacher, and her husband a policeman. We talked to her for a good while in a park, and then went to her house one day. She has two kids. We shared a little about how the gospel blesses families, and read ¨The Family: A Proclamation to the World¨ and I think it went well. We´re going to go to her house again to teach and we´re really looking forward to it. We still haven´t met her husband, but she, and he sounds great. They seem really similar to our family. They´re always doing things outdoors - hiking mountains, etc... very fun. And she reminds me A LOT of Becky Stubbs (Houston now :D). We´re praying that things will go well with them.

The other day we were trying to find the house of a couple, in a neighborhood we weren´t familiar with, and it turns out they had given us the wrong address. But, we asked Clara, a lady who was outside, for help. We ended up asking if we could talk with her and share a message with her. She said we could go in. She has eight kids, and she and her husband were baptized in another church, but she seems interested. We´re excited to go back to their house and finish teaching The Restoration.

A while back we were doing contacts, and met a less active couple in the ward - in our area! So we went to their house, and talked a little bit. Went a second time but the husband wasn´t there. And then we went the third time last night. It was interesting, because they were telling us how they used to always feed the missionaries, but then they were transferred or something a while back, and the missionaries never went again. Crazy. They asked us if we always have somewhere to eat. We explained that we´re making changes, and so no, we don´t have lunch several days now. So they invited us to eat with them Sunday! So we´re excited. I really don´t have a doubt that meeting them, talking with them, and now going to their house more regularly is an accident. It all just fits too well together. We´re eager to help them back to church.

I love when new ideas come to my mind when I´m teaching. Yesterday we were teaching the Plan of Salvation to a member, Victor who´s 20 I believe. He´s basically in training/tryouts for soccer right now, and we compared his training and preparation before tryouts to our life here. His preparation before will have an affect on if he´s on the ¨A¨ or ¨B¨ team. Equally, our life here and our preparation, will have an affect on where we live for the eternities. It was fun. I think he understood better.

I love you all. The church is true. Families can live together forever. We need to do our part to be worthy of such amazing blessings. The Book of Mormon was written by God through His prophets. We need to share what we know! I hope you´re praying about how you can share the Gospel. :D

Love always,
Hermana Jamba Pincock

P.S. Elder Scott is coming to Neuquen the 25th and 26th so we get to listen to him! Yay!

Hola! 02.09.2009 (Email)

Hello! How are you all doing? Things here are going well. Well first off, I hope that Uncle Richard continues to improve. I´d love to hear about how he is doing. I hope all is well!

Well, I think I´ll just start off answering questions that I have gotten recently.

Size of the ward? I actually don´t know how many members there are in the ward, but around 45 usually attend. We´re working on increasing that number. :D

Food in general and when we eat with members? The food is great as always. Pretty much the same as in Plottier. Have I mentioned that they eat a large amount of tomatoes here in Argentina, and that I am now eating tomatoes without really even thinking twice about it? Pretty good huh? The eating with members thing is a little complicated, because we have been eating with members in the elders area. As I talked to President Cook this last week before zone conference, he said that we should be eating only in our area. So things will be changing here in the near future. I think we´re going to eat like normal this week, and tell them that we´re going to be making changes from here on out. So we may have a few less lunches now, but it´s okay. It´s worth it.

Mom and AK, I loved reading your goals. Thanks for sharing. You both set great goals. Good luck!

My mattress is great. No problems.

Correlation with stake presidency if they´re in our area? I guess not, because we didn´t have it in Plottier, and the stake president met in our building. But he does live in the elders area. So I don´t know!?!

AK, thanks for the pictures of Christmas! So fun to see all of you. I caught a glimpse of the pictures on the wall in the living room, and how fun! I must admit, I was happy to see my smiling face up on the wall. Good to know you´re thinking of me. :D

There are four missionaries here in Allen. Us and two elders.

How to pronounce Allen? It´s just like you would think with the spanish vowels, but you have the ¨sh¨ thing for the ¨ll¨ instead of the ¨y¨ sound that is more common in spanish. I think I would say that the emphasis is on the first half of the word. I think. But much easier than Plottier. :o)

Companions with a sense of humor? Hna. Riquelme and I had some pretty good laughs from time to time. Funny story. We just mentioned to ward members, and a couple of contacts that I´m going to start teaching english. We´re still trying to get it going. But anyway this first week I just helped Hna. Valeria Moreno, who wanted help with english anyway because she needs to pass a test. Anyway, we were talking about how to pronounce different sounds in english, and it was pretty funny. I need to remember to try to keep it simple and to keep speech pathology out of the conversation! haha. It was very funny to listen to her and Hna. Ramirez say mountain. It turns out that it´s a pretty complicated word. :o)

Do I have ¨Jana time¨?? Hum... I try to write in my journal for 5-10 minutes when I find the time, and I must admit that sometimes I don´t get it done. Sometimes in the morning before personal study I have like 15 minutes to do whatever. I would say that it ends up being more ¨Hna. Pincock¨time than ¨Jana time¨ but ít´s great.

Lisa,I don´t remember what the person had suggested as far as vocabulary expanding when we talked to him at Jordan´s game. You should remind me so I can do it! I feel like my spanish is improving. I need to get back into the habit of writing down the words that I don´t know when I hear them. That´d help. It helps as well that Hna. Ramirez really does´t speak any english at all. Before if I really couldn´t say something, Hna. Celis and Hna. Riquelme could both understand english. Not now. I still read sometimes in english, but that´s about the extent of it. It´s actually kind of crazy to think about it.

AK, a stove that you can cook lots of cookies at once? Sounds good to me! Ryan, sounds like the fish tank is coming a long well. Good work!

How fun that Lisa, Aaron, Jordan and Hallie went to see Shari and Orrin. Very fun. I hope that you all enjoyed it.

About Hna. Ramirez... she´s from Peru as you all know. Eights brothers and sisters I believe. She´s somewhere in the middle, but I´m not sure where exactly. She and one of her brothers are the only members of the church. Her brother hasn´t been a member for very long. She has a good relationship with the members so that´s good. Lets see, what else? I´ll continue to write...

I love that Nyah says ¨happy¨to say that she´s happy. That´s the goal of this life right? To be happy? Heavenly Father did create ¨The Plan of Happiness¨we just have to follow and live His plan.

I read the talk by Elder Uchtdorf today from the last conference on hope. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It´s amazing how the spirit teaches you the things that you need in the moment that you need them.

The church is true. I´m grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Allen. I´m trying to be the missionary that Heavenly Father would want me to be. We had a good talk with one of the ward members yesterday and it was good to hear a more detailed version of the history of the ward. We really want to focus on strengthening the ward. We just do our best right? Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us, and they´re always ready and willing to help. I love you!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Miracles (Email) 02.02.2009

Hola mi familia!

How are you all doing? I hope you´re all doing well. Well, I read parts of the letters that Mom and Dad sent me. I don´t know what to say about Uncle Richard. Wow. Our family is so blessed. I am so grateful that he went to the doctor, that they prevented the heart attack, and that he is recovering from the surgery. I´m grateful that mom could be with aunt Becky up at the hospital, and that Lisa had the opportunity to be his nurse part of the time. A lot of tender mercies. Know that I will be praying for him, and for all of the family. I´m grateful for a loving Heavenly Father, who has a plan for each of us. He takes care of us, and gives us the experiences that we need in order to become more like Him, and His Son, Jesus Christ. It´s amazing how Heavenly Father helps us remember what is most important.

Well, this has been a good week. Dad, you had written me several questions last week, but I´m afraid I forgot to write them down so I´ll have to respond next week. Sorry about that! The one I do remember is how much I see my mission president - or talk to him. I have an interview with him once every transfer, so about every six weeks. Every once in a while he calls to encourage us, etc... as well so that´s nice. We called him last night with some questions about our area, and I really enoyed talking to him. He talked about finding people, exercising our faith, having patience, and being diligent. And he promised me that there are people in my area who are ready to accept and live the Gospel. We just need to find them. I was very grateful for the opportunity to talk to him, and the encouragement he gave me. I needed it.

I am so excited that you made a list of people that you can share the truths of the gospel with! I know that Heavenly Father will answer your prayers and let you know who is prepared to learn about the Gospel. He wants us, His children, to return to live with Him!

How exciting that Nathan got his mission call! Yay! California, spanish speaking. That´s great. Do you know if he ever got the card I sent to him? I hope I used the right address... I was trying to remember from memory and I don´t know if I got it right. Anyway, tell him I´m excited for him, and that he should start studying Preach My Gospel and Spanish! That´ll help a lot in the field. :D

So we´re still getting every figured out. An interesting experience. The other missionaries had been visiting less-active members in the ward, but it turns out that several of them are actually in the Elders area. So we´re working on contacting and finding the less-active members in our area. 

My concern is that the less-active members and the recent converts in the other area aren´t going to understand why we suddenly can´t visit them anymore, unless we´re eating lunch with them. Change can be hard. However, we have to follow the rules. They´re for the good of everyone. If they understand that we´re doing it out of obedience, I pray that they´ll understand.

One man in our ward told us he had talked to the son of a less-active member in the ward, who is one of his relatives, and he said he would like to start going to a church. So he suggested that we stop by. Hermana Ramirez had gone by the house before, and the woman had ZERO interest in talking to the missionaries. But we decided to find the house and pass by again, with the hopes that her son would be there.

So we found the house, and clapped :D. She came out, and we introduced ourselves as normal, and asked what she knows about the church, etc... She said she had a story about the church, and we said that we had time to listen. :D So she let us go in her house, and she then poured her heart out to us with all her problems. As we sang ¨Where Can I Turn For Peace¨ she just cried. I know she felt the Spirit, and that we were supposed to be in her house and that moment. We´re going to go to her house and have FHE Wednesday, and we´re going to teach her and atleast one of her kids. She needs the gospel in her life again.

We eat with the members almost every day of the week. It´s still all getting worked out. But we should have about every day (lunch) from here on out. We´re pretty blessed. And I know that the members will be blessed as well.

I´m going to start teaching English once a week. In the mean time I´m trying to help Hna. Ramirez with English. Who knew that English is so complicated? :o)

We found a couple of new investigators this week. We´re praying that they´ll progress, and that we´ll be able to teach in such a way that they understand the importance of the Gospel, and what a treasure it is. I´m really trying to think about how I can improve my teaching so people can understand.

I love you all so much. I´m so grateful for eternal families. Thank you for your examples. Thank you for teaching me the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We can live with God, Jesus Christ, and our families forever. I don´t have any doubt. Everything depends on us, our decisions, and our own willingness to repent - to change the things in our lives that aren´t in line with Heavenly Father´s will and teachings. 

I love you!
Hermana Jana Pincock