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