Happy Independence Day in Argentina! 05.25.2009 (Email)

Hola! ¿Cómo andan? Todo está bien acá. So, it turns out that May 25th is Independence Day in Argentina! And, it´s also ¨Independence Day¨for Allen. Allen is 99 years old today. I was actually a little nervous that we wouldn´t be able to find a computer today, but a little kiosko (really mini grocery store) is open that has computers. Yay!

I´m trying to remember to write who I get letters from so you know. I got letters from Mom, Dad, and Shari. Gracias!

Oh, the new Elder here is Elder Taylor from Rigby, Idaho! Good old Idaho. :o)

So things here are going well. We had a good week. Dad, I read a little bit of your letter about how many lessons missionaries should teach. It´s true. The help of members helps a ton. There have been weeks that we haven´t taught as many lessons as we would have liked, but this week was better. We were able to find more less active/recent converts and more lessons with investigators as well. The thing we really lacked was lessons with members... I need to work on that.

So we were able to meet Sergio and Patricia this week. We usually go only Saturday or Sunday to their house, but we talked to Sergio in the street and said he would be leaving town. So we made an exception and went Friday night. They have lot of questions, and I need to be better at guiding the lesson / conversation! But I´m glad they have questions as well. They mentioned that they were going to go to church the week before, but something came up and they weren´t able to go. And when Patricia was praying, she asked for help to be able to go to church. I thought... hum.... great! A good step.

So Sunday morning we headed out to find investigators. We went to Adriano, and he wasn´t there. Then we went to Graciela and Mariana, and we woke Graciela up. I felt a little bad, but not really. It´s funny the things you do as a missionary. :D Then we went to Sergio and Patricia. To no avail. And we tried to find the house of an investigator, also named Patricia. We have been teaching her in the house where she works, and she couldn´t remember her address. So she said the neighborhood, and the color of her house, but I think she´s a little confused about what neighborhood she lives in. The house was not to be found... Anyway, none of them ended up going to church, but we made the effort, and they atleast know we want them in church!

Last night we stopped by really quickly at Patricia and Sergio´s house, and said, ¨So, did you hear us this morning?¨ And she said, ¨That was you?¨ We assured her that it was, and that we´ll be sure to say her name next time through the door so she knows it´s us. :D We´re going to go to church together!

We had a good lesson with Daiana. She´s 25. We had taught part of The Restoration the week before, but we finished up this week. She said that this is a really good time for her to learn more and that maybe it´s ¨her time¨. That made me happy. We´re excited to teach her again this week.

One thing I wish is that people didn´t have such busy schedules! It complicates things when people have to work like they do. jaja

Oh, I believe I wrote about Andrea, and how her husband, Carlos, had wanted to watch the DVD ¨The Restoration¨. So we went over yesterday, and we taught all L1 to them, and it went well. Yay! So it turns out that Carlos is the brother of Ricardo. I don´t know if you all remember Ricardo and Marisa. Ancient investigators... Small small world.

Do you remember Hermana Eloisa Panero? The lady who has been going to church for like 7 years, and still hasn´t been able to be baptized because she´s not married? So we went over to her house yesterday to see why she hadn´t gone to church, because she´s always at church, and we talked with her son. Hna. Panero´s husband, had a brain... something... and he´s in the hospital in Roca. I think it´s pretty serious. In a coma I believe. Wow. I hope everything turns out okay.

Nope, no luck finding Fernando and Fernanda. :o( Sad.

We had a sad lesson the other day. We found a less-active member who now goes to another church. It made me very sad as we talked with her. We were also teaching her daughter. It pretty much breaks my heart when people refuse to read the Book of Mormon. They have no idea what they´re rejecting and missing. So sad.

Lets see, what else. Oh, this is exciting. Adriano is a man that lives alone. As you all know we need another lady to go with us to teach him. So we thought of Hna. Ormeño. It´s her family that we found a while back, that we eat with every other Sunday. So we thought it would be good for her, and that we´d ask Hno. Ormeño as well, because I think Adriano needs a man to relate with. So we went and talked to Flia. Ormeño about it, and they said they´d do it! Yay! So I think ít´ll be a good opportunity for them as well, because they´ll be able to share their testimonies. So we´ll pray that it all turns out like we´d like.

So how are all your missionary experiences going? Are you still praying about your lists of people of who you can share the Gospel with? Have you picked someone?

You´re all reading the scriptures every day right? I know that scripture reading is so important. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves you. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. He is your personal Savior. Jesus Christ has restored His church through a living prophet. The church is true!

Always remember that I love you!

Love always,
Hermana Jamba Pincock

Hola Mi Familia! 05.18.2009 (Email)

Hola! ¿Cómo están? I hope that you´re all doing very well. Things here are going well. Transfers are today, but Hermana Hedquist and I are going to stick together here in Allen. Que bueno! Elder Argueta is headed to Comodoro in the south, and Elder Jensen is going to train again. So that should be good. So enough about that.

We had a good week this week. Where to start? First off, we found ten new investigators! Yay! After the week before we really wanted to find new investigators, so we were blessed in that way. The down side is that we weren´t able to meet with our other investigators much. It´s so hard to find them in their houses! What to do. Dad I read a little bit in your email that you want to focus on how many lessons the missionaries teach there. Help of the members will make a BIG difference. Have I mentioned that member missionary work is so important? :D

We weren´t able to meet with Sergio and Patricia this week because they had visitors. :o( Maybe we´ll be able to stop by during the week. I hope so.

We were finally able to talk to Fernando the other day. It turns out that Fernanda is still pretty sick, and is pretty much always in bed. The good news is... that the reason she´s sick is because she´s pregnant! ¿Que tal no? Anyway, I thought that was interesting. We´re hoping to be able to go to their house this coming week as well. I really feel like they´re ready for the Gospel. They just don´t recognize it yet. :D

Last night we had a good lesson with Sylvana, a member, and a new investigator. His name is Adriano. Since he lives alone we had planned on going to this lesson with a different member. We were going to meet in Sylvana´s house because she lives close to the investigator´s house. Unfortunately, the other member couldn´t go at a moments notice,so Sylvana was kind enough to go with us. It went well. He was very excited that we went to his house, and is eager to learn more. I´ll keep you updated with him.

We found various other new investigators that I feel really good about. We met a lady named Graciela a little while ago. We went to her house Wednesday morning I believe, and she wasn´t there at first, but her daughter, Mariana, was. She´s 21 or 22. I can´t remember. We ended up teaching to both of them and it went well. I really am finding that people are hesitant to listen here because there are so many missionaries from different religions. Poco a poco... I decided they just need to read the Book of Mormon with an open heart.

We also met Emeli. She´s 23. She is studying Radiology. We were only about to teach part of ¨The Restoration¨but it went well. I think she has a desire to learn as well. She mentioned that she doesn´t agree with a lot of the things that they teach in her church right now... so I think she´s open to learning new things. It´ll be good. :o)

We also met Marcela. She had been studying with missionaries from another religion for like a year, but decided to stop a while back. She said that that was the first time she had talked with ¨Mormones¨. I feel like it went well as well.

Oh, we also met with Monica Carrasco. It was a good lesson, but a little sad. We talked again about lesson one, because we didn´t feel like she was really understanding the importance and the doctrine of lesson one. For example, she likes reading the Book of Mormon, but I didn´t feel like she really gives it the importance it deserves. It´s much more that just a good book that teaches lessons.

It finally came out that she doesn´t believe that Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. So we started again from the beginning, read Joseph Smith´s history, and talked about how she needs to study and pray in order to know if he really was a prophet called of God. We talked about how there are a lot of things that she needs to learn, and can learn, but if she doesn´t accept Joseph Smith as a prophet, she´s not going to be able to progress and accept the other things. This is the church of Jesus Christ, that is lead by prophets and apostles, just like before. So we´re hoping she´s reading and praying.

So I think this was a good week. We still need to find new investigators, and we can always improve with the way we teach. It turns out that you always have to keep learning as a missionary.

We had an interesting experience last night. About two weeks ago we were talking to a couple in the street. They invited us to their church. They said that we´re always inviting people to our church, but won´t go to their churches. I said we´d think about it, and try to go to their church. Then the next Sunday was Mother´s day, with lots of rain, so we didn´t go that night. We ran into them this last week in the street, and they brought it to our attention that we hadn´t gone to their church. So we said we´d go this week. So we went last night. I do believe that it was the first time that I ever attended another church. The couple was happy we went. We weren´t able to stay for much when the preacher was actually talking because we had to go back to the apt. to end the night. But I think I learned from the experience, and I think it surprised some people that we were there. For the better I hope. So anyway, I´ll write more on that in a letter I think.

Mom, I got your letter in the mail last week. Thanks! Had you put a $2 bill in that card? It didn´t make it if you did... I was trying to remember. But the stamps got here just fine. I got a letter from AK like 2 weeks ago as well, but I believe all the letters you had sent before getting the email news have gotten here already. We haven´t gotten the mail from this week yet.

I´m so grateful for my family, and I´m so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a blessing it is. I know that we have the doctrine of Christ available at our finger tips. We need to read and feast upon what we have! I love you all very much. Thanks for your continued love and support. I love you!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! 05.11.2009 (Email)

Hola! How are you all doing? Well, it was very fun to talk to all of you yesterday. Very fun to hear your voices. I felt bad about the mix up with Hna. Hedquist´s family and everything, and that the first things we had to say were about the time schedules, and who was calling when. Thanks for calling her family though. She was able to talk to them so it worked out just great.

It sounds like you are all doing well. I´m so happy to hear that things are going well. It was fun to think about the differences /culture of Argentina as well. Like I said, I´m forgetting what´s really different! Funny how that works.

So it rained A LOT yesterday. It never rains,and it really rained. It was great, and it made walking yesterday more exciting. In the center of town where there´s pavement it was pretty normal, but the dirt roads became mud roads. :D It was entertaining. I´m just happy that I managed to stay on my feet the whole day. jaja Isn´t ¨jaja¨funny? It´s how they write ¨haha¨ here. Or else they write ¨jeje¨. I like it.

Anyway, we had a GREAT lesson with Patricia and Sergio yesterday. We have been teaching them The Plan of Salvation for a good while now. It´s even longer because we can only meet with them once a week,and they have a lot of questions when we´re teaching. So we finally were able to teach the 2nd half. The spirit world, resurrection, judgement, and the 3 degrees of glory. We emphasized how THEY need to know for themselves if it´s true. They don´t need to know for Hna. Hedquist and I... we´re just here to help and guide them - to help them know for themselves. As we asked them if they are going to pray to know for themselves, Patricia was a little hesistant. So we asked again. She expressed her concerns that she can´t just change religions every time someone new passes by her house to teach. We agreed. And that´s why she needs to ask Heavenly Father if it´s true, with a determination to act on her answer. They need to be reading the Book of Mormon - investigating! Because their decision about this will have a consecuence for a long, long time. We think they understood. We´re eager to pass by again this next weekend to hear what has happened.

As for Carla Barría... she´s a wonderful person as well. It´s hard to help her realize that she needs something more in her life. She needs to be reading the Book of Mormon. We still haven´t even taught The Plan of Salvation to her. :o( We´re going to pass by atleast one more time to teach it, help her realize the significance of everything, and then let her decide what she wants to do.

Yes, we are trying to build the ward here. It´s tough work. But it´s good. Mostly it just makes me sad that people aren´t keeping their baptismal covenants. It´s a daily battle for everyone. Myself included.

Well, sorry this is short. It took a little bit to attach the pictures. I want you all to know that I love you A LOT and I hope that you´re happy. Remember the quote in ¨The Living Christ¨ : ¨His (Jesus Christ´s) way is the only path that guides to happiness in this life, and eternal life in the world to come.¨ I love you!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! so, I´m going to try to attach pictures really quick. We´ll see how it goes. The first one is of Hna. Hedquist and I - 30 minutes ago! So now you know exactly how we look in this instant.

The 2nd one is of Hna. Wilches and I at general conference. We´re with Hna. Valería Moreno. She helps us a lot. She´s the ward mission leader´s wife.

The 3rd one is of Hna. Wilches with her hair down because I think her hair is fun down, and it was always up in a pony tail. So I took a picture to celebrate.

Alright, that´s all for now!

Love,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

05.04.2009

Hola! Cómo andan? Todo está bien acá. Alright, to start off... it turns out that the whole phone call thing may be a little complicated. It turns out that I forgot to talk to the man who is in charge of the ward yesterday, and he didn´t answer my phone call this morning, so I´m not completely sure if it´s okay if you call the church. But I´m thinking that it should be just fine. So the number to the church is (54)(0??)(2941)(451634). So I believe 54 means something with Argentina. I don´t remember how it worked last time with the other numbers beforehand. Hopefully you all remember!So anyway, we´re thinking we should call before you all go to church. So can you all call at 11:00 am? If I understand correctly, from what Hna. Hedquist´s family said, that means it will be 3:00 pm here with daylight savings time and everything. So I will be in the church at 3:00 pm, Argentina time, anxiously awaiting your phone call. Alright, so this is all supposing that it´s just fine with Hno. Mansilla that you call the church. If it´s not okay, I´m not going to be in the church, so I´m not going to answer your phone call. If I don´t answer, it means I´ll be in a phone call place, and I´ll call you at home! The same time and everything.

Wow, that took a long time to figure everything out with Hna. Hedquist, so I´m not sure this will be as good of an email as always. But we´ll be able to talk on Sunday so it´s okay!

Things here are going well. We actually weren´t able to talk with Fernanda and Fernando ALL week. I´m actually pretty worried about it myself. Everytime we pass by they´re not there - getting a shot, something or other. So we´re praying, and hoping that everything works out just fine.

We had a good lesson with Sergio and Patricia this last week. We talked about the Plan of Salvation, and they had a lot of questions. It´s really fun when they want to learn, and I think they´re really coming to understand better. They really need to read the Book of Mormon.

We had a good FHE on Saturday. Mostly recent converts go, but it´s good to teach and strengthen them. We would really like investigators to go... we´ll work on it.

We had a really good lesson with a lady named Eloisa yesterday. Hna. Moreno from the ward went with us, and it was actually the first time we taught her. We had jus talked to her on her doorstep before. But anyway, one of her daughters passed away a while back, and we talked to her about part of the plan of salvation. She had questions, about the plan of salvation and why there are so many churches - how you can know the truth. It was a good lesson. I´ll keep you updated with her.

Things are progressing with less-active members, and strengthening the ward. That´s nice. It makes me sad when people don´t want to go to church. We should all WANT and look forward to going to church. To partake of the sacrament most importantly than everything else. People need to understand the importance of the sacrament. I think I´m just starting to understand. We should be repenting all week, becoming better, and (asking) for forgiveness,and then we need to partake of the sacrament in order to (obtain) forgiveness from our Heavenly Father. Then we´re worthy of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost again. I am finding there are many reasons that people don´t want to go. However,whatever the reason, it isn´t good enough. Church attendance is SO important.

We watched ¨The Restoration¨with Carla Barria the other day and it went well. She said it answered a lot of her questions. We pointed out how it´s up to her to search for an answer, and to pray to know for herself. It depends on the individual person. We´re praying that she reads and prays. I want to meet with her again and actually read the Book of Mormon with her.

One of our investigators, Monica, went to English class the other day so that made me happy. It turns out that she has tricky questions! It´s good though. It made me think back to english grammar classes.

Alright, well, I´m afraid my time to write is all up. I want you all to know that I love you a lot, and that I´m looking forward to talking to you on Sunday! I love you!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock