Christmas is Coming! 12.05.2009 (Email)

Hola! ¿Cómo están? So fun to read that you´re all getting Christmas ready at home. So fun. I love Christmas. To tell the truth, I´m actually very excited to have a good old, U.S. (LDS) Christmas. I´m definitely getting forward to the music as well. I love the music! :D

I actually don´t know if I´ll be able to write next week or not. I´m guessing that I´ll be able to, but I´m not sure. But, I´ll for sure be talking to you all on Wednesday next week. :o) I´ll be there with bells on my toes as well. :D

Aaron, I´m going to try to get my hands on some good Argentine recipes. The food is delicious!

Well, the work here is going well. We had another really good week. We´re working really hard and it feels great. I broke my personal record for the number of contacts during this last week. Yay!

We did some divisions this last week as well so Hna. Johnson can get to know some of the investigators. It went really well. It´s fun to work with different missionaries. Everyone has their own style. I remember when I first got to the mission, and my style always changed with my companion. When I was with Hna. Celis, I taught like Hna. Celis. And when I was with Hna. Riquelme, I taught like Hna. Riquelme. Now I finally feel like I have my own style. The way I teach changes, but I like it. I love teaching. It´s one thing I´m really going to miss... to go from teaching several lessons every day, to teaching... I don´t know when or where... but it´s okay. Can I teach FHE every once in a while? I´ll try to prepare good lessons. :D

We were able to find new investigators this week as well. It´s really a miracle to find all the people who are willing to listen. I have decided again recently, that there is a great need for sister missionaries in the world. I really think that sister missionaries can get in some houses that Elders can´t enter in so easily. Both sisters and Elders I think are very important.

I´m really impressed with Hna. Schafer, Hna. Johnson, and Hna. Passas. They are super hard workers, and really good things are passing here. It´s exciting to see.

Marianela continues to progress. We taught her the plan of salvation the other day and she really liked it.

We did have a mini FHE with Verónica and her family the other day. Making ¨waffles¨ ( that are really pancakes) took longer than we thought. However, we were able to share with the whole family. Verónica and her 3 kids, and her sister, Lorena. And then we also met her brother and sister-in-law. Successful I think. We need to set another appt. now.

Oh, we had another lesson with Santa, the investigator from the DR. We had set the appt. but got there with a member, to find that they were celebrating her daughter´s birthday! However, we were still able to share a little bit with them. So we met her husband and friend, and talked about the importance of families, and that the Gospel strengthens families. I was impressed that Santa was totally willing to let us ¨crash¨ the birthday party, and still talk to all of them. She´s great. I feel like she has a great need to go to church.

We also found a man named Juan this week. As we went to the first appt. he had a ton of questions for us. He wanted to know how our church got started. What a great question, since we almost always start out by explaining the Restoration! Anyway, it was a really neat lesson. He has a lot of knowledge about history, and so we understand a lot. Usually, we spend a good amount of time explaining prophets, what an apostasy is, the fact that Jesus Christ organized a church, with apostles and the Priesthood, and the fact that we actually need a church, and to belong to a church through baptism. Anyway, he already understood the basics, so it was really fun to teach. He went to church yesterday, so that´s great. I hope he progresses.

Oh, Hna. Schafer and I are going on a field trip to Allen this week! We´re just going to be there on Wednesday I believe, but it should be fun. We don´t know a lot of details. The assistants just called and let us know that we´re going. Road trip! jaja

I have started writing down things that I have learned on the mission. I have had a lot of learning to do. How grateful I am that we have this life to learn and progress. I have often thought that the mission is like a mini ¨life on earth¨. I´ll tell you about more of my conclusions later on, but it really makes me think.

I love the mission. I love that I get to teach people about Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father, The Plan of Salvation, and the the Gospel of Jesus Christ every day. I have no doubt that I was supposed to come here on the mission. Even though I had a hard time deciding whether or not to come, I am so grateful I came. I definitely don´t regret coming (Shari, you were right!)

I really don´t know where to start or end as I think about the mission. I hope that I´m a better person than I was when I left, and that I have been able to help others come unto Christ. I love the missionary´s objective: ¨Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo a fin de que reciban el evangelio restaurado, mediante la fe en Jesucristo y Su Expiación, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, el don del Espíritu Santo, y el perserverar hasta el fin¨.

In English more or less: Invite others to come unto Christ through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end¨.

I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that as we follow His example, we become more like Him. We become better instruments in Heavenly Father´s hands. I love temples. Mom, I´m excited for your talk this next week. I feel like the temple helped me so much. I became much closer to my Heavenly Father through baptisms for the dead. And Jesus Christ. We are doing something for others that they can´t do for themselves. It´s like Jesus Christ. He suffered for us, because we couldn´t do it on our own. I am convinced that when every young adult, or member, is determined to be temple worthy, every day, their lives change. Our priorities change. Temple worship makes all the difference.

I love you all so much. I´m excited to see you all. Take care of yourselves. If I can´t write next week, remember to travel safe to Idaho. See you there! I love you!

Con Amor,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock