Hi! 03.30.2009 (Email)

My Family,

Hi! How are you? I hope that you´re all doing wonderful. Things here are going well. I am actually in Roca. We came here for a zone activity before transfers next Monday. It should be good. We´re going to eat and everything, so we´re waiting for now.

Well... We have a baptismal date! Yay!!! We went and visited Cecilia and Antonela yesterday. Cecilia said she would like to prepare herself to be baptized May 2nd. Yay! She´s 28.

So we were able to talk to Antonela as well this last week. She is doing well, but it´s a little more complicated because she doesn´t know how to read. Cecilia is reading the Book of Mormon to her so that helps A LOT. We´re going to keep helping them progress. We haven´t really had the chance to meet with the rest of the family.

We have had a couple of appointments with Valeria, and her friend who lives with her, Laura. Laura is a member. She was baptized when she was like 12 or 13, and has been less-active since she was like 15. She´s 33 now, so it has been a while. As we taught them yesterday we talked more about the importance of praying and reading the scriptures. They both committed to read, so it made me happy. After so many years that Laura hasn´t been reading or praying, I´m happy that she´s starting up again. It´s funny how people have the same worries here as they do at home. People seem to think that they just don´t have time to read the scriptures! I assure them that although we as missionaries have a little different life right now, we were ¨normal¨before the mission and we had busy lives as well. We have to make time to read the scriptures. Even if it´s not for much time, it needs to be a daily thing. Then we can think about what we read all day. We just have to do it, no matter how much time we think we have. Anyway, It´s fun to take part in it all.

I have a favor to ask. Hno. Espinoza in my ward collects money from different countries, and I said that I could send a $2 bill from home. Is that at all possible? I do believe that there are several in my file at home. I´m thinking that you can just send it to the mission office normal in a letter like AK always sends letters. If it´s more complicated, don´t worry about it. :D

This last week in English was fun. Remember Clara and her daughters Cecilia, Marina, and Camila? It´s okay if not, it has been a while. Anyway, we have tried and tried to get them to church, and it hasn´t happened yet. So we were very excited when Marina and Cecilia came to english class! Even if they didn´t come for church yet, it was a good step that they entered the church. We gave them a tour afterwards, and they seemed to enjoy it.

It turns out that seminary is at the same time as english, so I think we´ll be changing the time of english here pretty soon. Both are good things, but seminary is definitely MUCH more important. We´ll see what happens. It is a little tricky teaching english, because I think there´s a pretty fair range of ability in the group. They´re all learning though, so I think it´s okay. Hna. Wilches helps me out too. She speaks english pretty well and understands the majority of what I say. :D

We found a lady this last week that had met with elders for quite a while, a while back. She actually read the entire Book of Mormon. Wow. We have another appointment with her this week so we´re praying that it goes well.

Have I talked much about Miriam and Lilen? It´s tricky because they´re 14 and 9, and their families really don´t have any interest. I don´t know for sure what to do a lot of times. I know that everyone needs to be baptized, but I want to be sure that they ¨endure to the end¨. They need to have a STRONG testimony if they´re young and are joining the church without their parents. We´ll see what happens.

Things are going well with Hna. Wilches. She´s a very good missionary. I told her that I think she has no fear. It´s great to be her companion. I love hearing her pray. Anyway, I think she´s getting a little nervous about going home in a week, but she´s trying not to think about it.

Did I mention that we´re having FHE as a ward every Saturday night now? We have only had two so far, but they have gone well. We as missionaries have been in charge so far, but we´re going to pass lessons and games onto members here before too long. We have had pretty good participation, so it´s great. Here´s a funny story. We played ¨Do you love your neighbor?¨the other day at FHE. They said that everyone with light colored eyes had to move seats.They assured me that I have ¨ojos claros¨. It made me giggle, because I have never considered my eyes to be light colored. Funny how perspective can change depending on where you live.

Mom, I liked what you write a while back about scripture study, and how we should be studying to get to know Jesus Christ better instead of studying just to put a check mark next to our ¨To Do¨list. Hna. Wilches and I were talking this last week about the importance of faith in Jesus Christ. We talk about commandments and blessings every day, that we receive from a loving Heavenly Father and His Son. We ask people if they would like to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. It all makes me think. It makes me think of the people that I trust in my life. I trust my family for example. I know I can trust you because I know you, I´ve been with you in many situations, how you handled the situations, and what you´ll do in the same situation in the future. I feel like I know you pretty well, and so I put my trust in you. Can we do the same with Jesus Christ? Do we know Him so well that we put our trust in Him without reservation? I have decided that this is part of the reason that the scriptures are so important. We need the scriptures to get to know Jesus Christ. We can learn about how He helped other people in the past, how He handled different situations, in order to trust in him 100%. It´s pretty incredible. We can all increase our faith in Jesus Christ, and do what He asks us to do. And we can help others do the same.

Thanks so much for your love and support. Thanks for your examples. I love you and pray for you. Read the scriptures and pray always. ¨Be of good cheer. Make it a happy day¨.

Love always and forever,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock