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