Hola de las montanas! 06.29.2009 (Email)

Mi Familia,

Hola! How are you all doing? I´m doing great here in Bariloche. Talk about big changes in the last week! So I said some ¨goodbye´s¨there in Allen on Wednesday. Sister Contreras, a missionary visiting from her area for a couple of days while she waited for her new companion to arrive to the mission, got to Allen at six. We went to an appt. and then I left Allen at 8:00. I was in the airport for like 3 hours in Neuquen, and it was good to talk to other missionaries. I talked to a couple passing through who had been in Bariloche, so they gave me a ¨heads up¨on a couple of things. Then I got to Bariloche at six in the morning.

We were in the bus terminal for a couple of hours, and then the zone leaders took me to my new apt. The owner/landlord is a member, so I was with her for a couple of hours while I waited for Hna. Porter to get here. Then we went to the bus terminal.

So we basically ate, cleaned a tiny bit, and then started planning. It was interesting. We just read the area book about investigators, etc... to try to think what we could do. It was a completely different experience.Where to start?

We headed out that night to buy food, and it was funny because we just had to ask people where the store was. Because we had no idea! But we eventually found our way there. jaja

The next morning consisted of finding a map. We have one really big map in our apt. that we can´t carry around, and another that doesn´t have all our area. And so after going to lots of places, and asking lots of questions, we finally got ahold of a fairly good map. Yay! We found our way to our lunch appt, surprisingly without problems, and the family we ate with is wonderful. We took out our map and they spent a good amount of time explaining where our area starts and ends - more or less.

So it turns out, that our area is HUGE. We´re actually pretty excited about it. We called our zone leaders to ask where the limits are, and they basically said not to worry... they were pretty sure we wouldn´t be leaving our area. jaja

And it´s true... Bariloche is BEAUTIFUL. Bariloche is known for the mountains, snow, lakes, and... chocolate. Not too bad eh? :D It´s also fairly cold. Not colder than an Idaho winter though. Well, so far anyway. I think I am going to buy boots, to try to keep warm.

Oh, something funny is that we have a large amount of stairs in one part of our area. It´s like right next to our apt, and to get to the other half of our area, it´s fastest to go up and down these stairs. But I have no idea how many there are. Hundreds. We´ll get our exercise.

So these last couple of days we have been trying to meet the members. We want to get to know them, and to gain their confidence, because we want to work a lot with members. I think it´ll be the best thing. We want them to find people, and to teach them in the houses of the members.

Hna. Porter and I have actually enjoyed getting here, not knowing anything. We have no predispositions about who people are, how they are, if they´re willing to help, etc.... It´s wonderful. So far all the members we have met have been wonderful, and we´re excited.

We met our Bishop yesterday in church.Yay! A Bishop! It was the soonest he could meet with us. He´s young, and is recently married with two little kids. He reminds me of Brother Remington. :D His daughter actually reminds me A LOT of Nyah. It´s pretty crazy. She´s 2 I believe as well. Anyway, I think he´s like 26 yrs old. We ate lunch with him and his family yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We asked him for the names of 5 less-active families, and he gave the names to us on the spot. He´s ready to help us and to help us teach people in their house. :D

Hna. Porter is great. She already talks spanish really well. Much better than I did when I had been in the mission for 3 months. She has 4 brothers/sisters, and her brother is serving in Mexico. She´s 23, and taught dance before the mission, and graduated from cosmotology school. Her family lives in Spanish Fork, Utah. She´s a ¨people person¨and I´m loving it. I´m excited to serve with her, and Hna. Schwab trained her well. :D

I really feel like we have been guided these last couple of days. We have found houses, directions, and people, that we couldn´t have been able to find if Heavenly Father´s hand wasn´t in it. I know He has really been helping and guiding us, and that He´ll continue to do so. This is His work.

Yesterday in church three people went to Sacrament meeting that we didn´t know. The man is a member, but his mother-in-law and girlfriend aren´t. The brother of his girlfriend was living in Miami, and passed away. They went to the church, hoping a north american could help them. Unfortunately we have no idea how we can help them get to Miami, but yes, we can teach them about the Plan of Salvation. A miracle that they went to church yesterday. We have an appt. with them tomorrow.

Oh, I ran into the sister that´s in Allen with Hna. Hedquist in Allen, in the bus terminal in Neuquen. I told her to take care of Allen. :o) She´s from Nebraska, and seems great. I´m sure that great things will happen in Allen.

I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that He is the Savior of the world. If we use His atoning sacrifice in our lives, we can become like Him, and Heavenly Father. I love you, and I know that we have the authority to seal families forever. We should always have our eyes fixed on the holy temple.

I love you!

Love always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Baptism and Transfers! 06.24.2009 (Email)

Hola! How are you all doing? I hope great. I hope you got the pictures okay. I thought you´d like to see them. First off, transfers! I´m headed to Bariloche! I´m actually very surprised, because I have been told the whole mission that there isn´t an area for sisters in Bariloche, so that I would never go there. So from what I understand, I think my new companion and I may be opening an area. We´ll see. My new companion is going to be Hna. Porter, from Utah. She got here with Hna. Hedquist, and was trained by Hna. Schwab. :D Surprises! So I´m going to leave here at 7:30 tonight, and go to Neuquen. And then at 11:00 I´ll leave Neuquen to Bariloche, and I´ll get there about 5:00 in the morning. I´m headed to mountains and snow! I´m actually excited about that because I have missed the mountains and snow. We´ll see what adventures lay ahead. :0)

Hna. Legro is coming here. I´ve never met her, but she got here with Elder Jensen, and he assures me that she´s a great missionary. That should be good. I feel like Hna. Hedquist is ready to take over. She´s well prepared and knows the area well. I have no doubt that good things will continue to happen.

The baptism on Saturday was wonderful. Santiago was baptized by his dad, Hna. Angel Peñalver. Tamara Troncoso, an 18 year old was also baptized, as well as a man, Juan Carlos Flores - 45 ish years old I think. It was a wonderful baptism, and we had great ward support. I think there were atleast 50 people there so we were very pleased with the turn-out.

More good news! We had a lesson with Hna. Eloisa Panero and Hno. Mansilla, ¨the bishop¨. We talked about baptism, and temples, and what you have to do to prepare. He urged her not to put off her baptism for much time. It was so good for me to hear from someone else other than a missionary. Especially her leader! She said she wants to be baptized in July, and we put her date for July 11th! One of her granddaughters is actually living with her as well right now, who is 11, who would like to take the missionary lessons as well to prepare for baptism. Yay! So they should have some baptisms here this next transfer. :o) I would love to be here to see Hna. Panero, but being transfered is part of the mission. I´m just happy she´s going forward with it.

Lets see, what else? Ah, Sergio and Patricia. They were all dressed and ready to go to the baptism, and their car didn´t start. :o( Then they went to Plottier on Sunday so they didn´t go to church. But, we had some really good lessons with Patricia this week. Sergio wasn´t there, but on one side I think it was better. When Sergio is there, Patricia doesn´t say much about what she thinks about everything. But she really opened up to us last night and Hna. Hedquist knows how she can help her move forward. I just pray for them.

We actually didn´t find out until last night about transfers because everything is so crazy. So, I didn´t know if I should be saying ¨bye¨to people etc... However, as I was praying Monday night I really felt like I would be transfered, so I kind of said an unofficial goodbye to a couple of people. Do you all remember Irene? I must admit, that I wasn´t a real fan of saying bye to her. She has been the grandma that I don´t have here in Argentina. I just love her with all my heart. She has definitely made an impact on me.

Well, I have A LOT of packing to do in the next 3 hours, so I need to get busy. I hope you all know how much I love you. I know families can be eternal. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. He is the guide. We have a living Prophet and Apostles. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the path to happiness. Read the scriptures and pray always!

Love Always,

Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Jana in Allen with the Pear Statue

Second, Santiago´s baptism! Santiago is the little guy next to his dad, Hno. Peñalver.

Hola! 06.15.2009 (Email)

Hola! ¿Cómo están? Espero que todo esté bien. Todo está bien acá. First off, Lisa and Jordan, happy moving day! I hope all goes well as planned, and that no one seriously injures their back or anything while you´re moving things around. :D

Mom, Happy Birthday on Saturday! Have a wonderful birthday, and eat lots of yummy dessert.

Dad, Happy Father´s Day on Sunday! It´s actually Father´s Day here as well. I´m not exactly sure why Mother´s Day is different. Anyway, have a fantastic day!

Also, good luck everyone participating in the Ragnar Relay! Run hard, and be careful! Be careful traveling to the relay as well.

Next week on Wednesday is when we have preparation day I believe. It´s when we have transfers because the new mission president will be coming soon. Everything is a little different. So anyway, I don´t know if I´ll be writing on Monday, Wednesday, or when... we´ll see.

Alright, so good news... Sergio, Patricia and their daughters Yosie and Micaela went to church yesterday! Yay! It was stake conference in Roca, and it was the satellite broadcast that they do now. Elder Perry, President Eyring, the Sunday School General President, and a member of the seventy spoke. It was a very good lesson, and Sergio and Patricia seemed to have enjoyed it. :D We also had a very good lesson Saturday night. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End). Or, the path to eternal life. It went well. In Elder Eyring´s talk he talked about the importance of baptism, and invited all those within the reach of his voice, who hadn´t been baptized in the church yet, to come and be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ. :D

Lets see, Santiago is progressing well towards his baptism this Saturday. We´re hoping and praying that all goes as planned. He has had a hard time going to primary, so last night we taught him with the primary teacher, and talked about the importance of going ( instead of running outside or going to priesthood meetings with his dad). He needs to drink milk before eating meat. :D It went well, and he assured us that this next week he will be in and participate in Primary.

Well, things haven´t gone like we would like with Hna. Panero and Victor. Yes, Victor is a member. He´s 21, but didn´t serve a mission. He hasn´t been active for very long. A while before I got here. So anyway, the elders talked to Victor, and the ward mission leader, but it hasn´t clicked yet. Hna. Hedquist and I were talking to a ward member, and she suggested that we have a lesson with the ¨bishop¨, teach all the doctrine and make sure they understand, and then let them make a decision and set goals. So we´ll see what happens. But for now, she doesn´t have a baptismal date.

Last preparation day we went to Roca for a zone activity. We really got together to practice singing a song for President and Hna. Cook since it was their last zone conference with us. So no one told us to bring preparation day clothes, but they were playing soccer. So Hna. Hedquist and I played in our skirts and church shoes. :D Pretty funny. I couldn´t be quite as aggressive as normal. jaja No really, it was just a funny experience because about all their elders were in their suits and church shoes as well. Good times. Chaos.

So Friday we had zone conference, and it was SO good. I loved it. We have a really good zone here in Roca. Lots of good things are happening. I think 11 baptisms are scheduled for this next Saturday. So 11 in one stake!

I have really been trying to focus more on using the scriptures in my teachings. Introducing, reading, and applying them. The usage of scriptures makes a really big difference. Very important.

Well, I think that this is pretty much what has happened this last week. I love you. I know that the church is true. I know we have a living prophet, and the the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, as well as the words of the living prophets all come from a loving Heavenly Father. We need to Feast upon them!

I love you all very much, have fun, and be safe!

Love always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

P.S. I read about Nephi in Helaman 10 this morning, and I want to be a missionary like him. Verses 4 and 5 I believe were the verses I especially like. A good read. :D

:D 06.08.2009 (Email)

Hola mi familia! How are you all doing? I hope that you´re all doing well. My hands are kind of cold so we´ll so how this typing thing goes. jaja First off, great news! Sergio, Patricia, and their two little girls went to church yesterday! YAY!!! So good. So now here´s the story.

The week before we hadn´t been able to meet with them. Then Wednesday, we were with a member, Lorena Villegas. As we were passing by Sergio and Patricia´s house I thought to myself, we should stop by. Then I talked myself out of if, reminding myself that we had an appt. in life 3 minutes about a block away. But then we got to the other appt. and they were´t there. So of course Sergio popped back into my mind. We went, and he was there with a friend. But since Lorena was with us, we could go in! Yay! The lesson went well, and he mentioned that he had seen us walk by, and was wishing to himself that we would stop by... but then we came back! The Spirit is amazing.

Anyway, Friday night I called Patricia to ask if we could stop by Saturday in the afternoon. She said great, no problem. So we went Saturday, and to our dismay, she had left. Leaving only Sergio there. So we couldn´t enter. We ended up talking for a good while outside, and we talked about the importance of acting, and how they need to go to church. So we said we were going to come in the morning and that we would go together to church. :D So we stopped by Sunday morning, and they were all getting ready! Yay! We didn´t do very well explaining before hand about church so I felt bad about that, but I think they enjoyed it. I´m sure they´ll have plenty of questions for us this week.

So Hna. Panero. An interesting week. We weren´t sure about whether or not we should wait to talk to her about baptism, with the fear of offending her or her family, by talking about baptism so soon. But I really thought about it, thought about the blessings of baptism ( peace of conscience, joy, basically all the feelings of the Holy Ghost) and we decided the sooner, the better. I tried to think the way that Jesus Christ thinks, and I don´t think that He would want her to wait to receive the blessings. So we talked about The Gospel of Jesus Christ Thursday night. Her son was there for part of the lesson, and I wasn´t so sure what he thought about it all. But she said she wanted to be baptized June 20th. So we left it at that.

So Friday night Elder Jensen called us, and told us that he had heart that Victor, the son, hadn´t taken it all very well. That it was too fast. I felt AWFUL. So then we were worried as well, that Hna. Panero felt pressured into it. I don´t know that I slept much that night. But after a lot of praying the next morning, reading the scriptures, talking to leaders, and I must admit a little crying, we headed to Hna. Panero´s house Saturday morning to talk to her.

We talked, and she assured us she doesn´t feel pressured. She wants to be baptized, and has been waiting a long time. The problem being, that Victor wants to be baptized for his dad in the temple, before his mom is baptized. I don´t really understand why, and that means she´ll have to wait a long time! So we´re going to see what we can do. I´m just praying that it all works out like Heavenly Father wants it to. But I´m confident that the ward members will help us as well.

Santiago Peñalver, the 10-year-old we have been teaching, has a baptismal date for June 20th! Yay! He´s really progressing, and he´s very excited to be baptized. He has a lot to learn and do in the next two weeks...

There were a lot of people in church on Sunday. So good. The elders had like 7 investigators, and we had five, and a couple of other less active members went as well. So good. And we had great meetings, especially sacrament meeting. So good.

Hna. Hedquist has been sick this last week. A pretty bad cold. I feel bad, and never know what to do. An adventure always.

We found some more new investigators this week. Yay!

Oh, remember Fernando and Fernanda? Yesterday we were with Sylvana, a member, and our appt. wasn´t there. :( We thought of Fernando and Fernanda. Why not give it another try? So we went, and to our surprise, Fernando was there, and he let us in! The lesson went really well, and we talked a little about the Plan of Salvation, and why we have trials in life. And how we can increase our faith. I love teaching with Sylvana. She went on a mission in Chile, and her Gospel knowledge is incredible. I can improve a lot.

I discovered something neat in the scriptures this morning. I am reading a little in the new testament. I read in Mark 8 about a blind man that Jesus heals. Jesus Christ lead him by the hand out of the city, placed His hands on him, and then asked the man what he could see. The man could see a little bit, but not very clearly. He then placed His hands on his eyes again, and then, the man could see every clearly and perfectly. I thought about the man, and how even though he couldn´t physicaly see, he trusted Christ to guide him by the hand, because he knew that Christ could see.

I compared this to me. I´m not physically blind, but I think I´m often spiritually blind. But, I need to let Christ take me by the hand, to guide me. He will then help me to see things more clearly, as I look with an ¨eye of faith¨. I may not see perfectly at first, just like the man, but He´ll help me see/understand, little by little. I can trust Christ, and let Him guide me, because I know that He has perfect vision, and perfect understanding, even though at this time, I don´t. It all made me really think. We need to have faith in Christ.

I know the church is true. I love you. I´m grateful that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have given us so much. Search the scriptures, and listen to the Spirit. If we do what They ask, we´ll be happy. I love you, and want to live with you forever.

Love Always,
Hermana Jamba Pincock :D

:D Feliz Junio! 06.01.2009 (Email)

Mi Familia,Hola! ¿Cómo están? Espero que estén bien. Todo está bien acá. What a week! Well, where to start off...

Monday was interesting because there were a large amount of people in the street for the 25th of May. We originally thought it would be perfect for contacts, but there was also lots of loud music. Not so effective when the people need to hear a still small voice.

We ended up trying to visit a family, who to our surprise, were actually home. We met them a while back - Calletano and Ana María. They have three grown kids. Anyway, they basically said that they are Catholic, and have no intentions of changing. Yet, we felt like we should give it another shot the other day. So we went, and they were home. So we decided to try and get their attention a little bit, that we´d watch ¨The Restoration¨to see what they would think. It was funny, because they admitted that they had no idea how to work the DVD player because their daughter always does it. That made me giggle. It turns out it´s the same in Argentina and the US in that regard. :o)

However, it turns out that Hna. Hedquist and I don´t know how to hook it up either. So we were going to do something else, when they offered to call their daughter to come over and hook it up. So she came over, and we all watched ¨The Restoration¨together. :D Interesting, because Gabriela, who´s 29, has interest. I guess after the first time we went over, she looked up info. about the church on the internet, even though we didn´t even talk to her. Just to her parents. So long story short, we have an appt. with them tomorrow night. The elder´s quorum leader is going to go with us to the appt. :D

To our dismay, I think a couple of our investigators are avoiding us. :0( We´re not so sure if Adriano has interest anymore, so we´ll see if we can visit him with the Ormeño family. We can hope so.

We continue meeting with Monica Carrasco. I think slow but sure progress. She really needs a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Tough.

Did I mention last week that we´re starting to teach Santiage Peñalver? He´s 10, and his whole family are member of the church, but he still hasn´t been baptized. We´re starting all the lessons with him, and hopefully we´ll have a baptismal date for him soon. I´m thinking the end of June or beginning of July would be a good time for him to get baptized.

We still love visiting Irene Lucek Sigampa, the lady from the US. Her testimony is so strong. We went with the ¨branch president¨Hno. Mansilla the other day so he could give her a temple recommend interview. Yay! I´m glad the ward is really helping her. They are taking her the sacrament and everything. So great.

We went and visited Carla Barría the other day with a member. We taught her and her husband, and the lesson went really well. Nilda, the member, really shared her testimony about all the blessings of the Gospel. Sadly, Carla really doesn´t feel the need to learn more for now. She thinks she´s fine the way she is. It´s hard when this happens, because you can´t force anyone to learn. So I don´t think we´ll be passing by for now...

Tuesday morning we went to visit Hna. Eloisa Panero to see how her ¨husband¨was doing. She filled us in with all the details. At this moment the doctors had said that if he lived, he wouldn´t live a normal life. Then on Wednesday morning we were ¨knocking¨and we talked to a lady who said she couldn´t talk, because her father-in-law had just passed away. We were shocked when she said the name... Hna. Panero´s husband.

So it turns out the culture is a little different here. We had a member fill us in on how it works. Almost immediately after the person passes away, they carry them to a funeral home. Basically it´s a funeral home. And the family of the person stays there for 24 hours straight so people can go by and support them. And when the 24 hours is up they go straight to the cemetary. There´s no waiting, or funeral as we know them at home. I thought it was all very interesting. It made me grateful for the LDS way at home.

Hna. Panero, Victor, and María (grand-daughter that lives with them) seem to be doing very well, considering everything. We´ll see how it goes from here.

We found a couple yesterday. Well, we met Paula about a week and a half ago as we were looking for another house. But we stopped by yesterday, and taught her and her husband, Luciano. It went really well. They have lots of questions, but are eager to learn. :D Luciano has a friend who served the mission in Chile, so he knows a little bit. Very interesting.

Oh, and we weren´t able to teach Sergio and Patricia this week. Sad.

So things here are going well. Hna. Hedquist has a cold and isn´t feeling so good. It´s hard to be sick in the mission.

Oh, we were able to teach Andrea and her husband Carlos yesterday as well. Very good. We taught part of the Plan of Salvation.

I read in an article the other day a quote by Joseph Smith. He said that he´s like a big rough bolder, and the only way he can become smooth and refined is by hitting off all the rough edges. It said that you need to hit off the rough edges by hitting with a strong force. I really feel like it´s true. Some days in the mission I feel like I´m ¨hitting hard¨against edges in order to break off my rough edges. Only in this way can I become more refined. A better representative of Jesus Christ. I hope that made sense. We all need to be refined, and sometimes we´re ¨refined by fire¨.

I´m very grateful to be a missionary for the true church of Jesus Christ. He guides one church, and He does it through His prophets and apostles. I´m so grateful for temples, and the knowledge that I can live with my family forever. What more can I ask for? I´m grateful for my older brother, Jesus Christ, and I know that He died for me. And He died for you. So that we can repent, and thus become more like Him. We can be happy.

I love you!
Love always,Hermana Jana Pincock