Hola! 08.03.2009 (Email)

Hola mi familia! How are you all doing? I hope that you´re all doing wonderful. First off, Shari and Orrin, congrats on buying a house! I forgot to write that last week, but I´m very excited for you. You´ll have to send pictures. :D And Lisa, congrats on getting a job in the NICU! Small world that Elder Shelman´s mom is the one who hired you. Fun.

Well, good news! We have two baptismal dates! Yay! Ester and Belen. They are Eduardo´s sisters. We actually met Belen first and she has gone to church one time. We just started teaching Ester like a week and a half ago, but she´s progressing really well. She is already in like 1 Nephi 19, and she´s totally understanding everything that she reads. It makes me very happy.

Also, last Sunday, we had a lesson with Ester and Mariahelem. We talked about the importance of praying to know if the things we are true. Specifically to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if this is the true church of Jesus Christ. So the next lesson, we asked what happened. They both said that they felt at peace, and that they should continue learning. :D Those are the best moments of the mission.

Last night we talked about Belen too, to ask if she had prayed. She also said she felt good about it, and Ester shared more about her experience. She said that after praying that night, she woke up more excited to work and do what she needed to do. She just felt really good! I´m so happy for them and that they´re praying to know for themselves if everything is true. We set baptismal dates for September 12th, and we´re going to talk tonight about what they need to know and do to prepare themselves, and to be 100% sure that they´re ready to make the commitment. Yay!

I talked a little bit about Mariana last week I believe. She turned 16 yesterday. Anyway, she lived with her aunt, Hna. Medina, about six or seven months ago, and started going to church. She is very invovled with the youth, in all of their activities. Even though she doesn´t live with her aunt anymore, she continues going to church. Oh, her uncle who lives in another ward, is the stake president here. Anyway, we had our first lesson with her this last week. We had it with the young women´s president in the church, Mariana, and Mariana´s little brother, Thomas. It went super well. We talked about the Restoration, and she basically already new all the answers. Oh, have I mentioned she doesn´t live in our area? So this is the tricky part. But anyway, yesterday in church, during fast and testimony meeting, she got up and bore her testimony that she knows that this is the true church, and that she knews that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. Amazing. Then her aunt got up and bore her testimony after her, and said that she hopes the next time Mariana shares her testimony, that it´s after her baptism. Yay! So now it´s talking to her, making sure she´s positive, and setting a baptismal date.

We had already gotten permission from the Bishop, but last night we called Presidente Peterson to make sure it´s okay that we teach Mariana. He said it´s okay, so now we just need to make sure it´s okay with her parents, her aunt, etc... But anyway, yesterday was a good day in church. She brought her little brother to church as well. :D

So here´s an interesting story... a while back we did a contact with a lady, and she informed us that she´s a member of the church. But she has been in-active for a long time. Hna. Porter and I hadn´t gone, but the other night as we were planning, she came to the mind. So we decided to go visit her the next morning.

We got to her house, and she immediately invited us in, and informed us that Heavenly Father had sent us to her house, because she had been very upset that morning. They were having family problems. It was amazing, because that morning Hna. Porter and I had studied about marriage and family relationships because we were planning for Eduardo and Mariahelem, so we could share just what she needed to hear.

Only two of her kids are still at home, but they haven´t really learned about the church. We´re eager to go back and teach some more. That experience has strengthened my testimony of the importance of planning with the Spirit. I think the Spirit helped us in planning before the family problems had even begun. But Heavenly Father knew that she would need help the next morning. Amazing.

Another good story. The other day we were walking, and our appt. failed I believe. And a less-active memer came to mind. I couldn´t even remember her name, or exactly where she lives, but we decided to find the house. So we found the house basically without problems, and she immediately invited us in. She expressed to us how she was having doubts, about the church, Joseph Smith, etc... And we got there when she needed some help.

This experience as well just made me realize how Heavenly Father is really watching over us as His children, and He knows our needs. He often uses other people to help us. I so want to live worthy to be ¨an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

So I told you all about Marcos last week. We went to teach him this last week, with another ward member, because he lives alone. It was quite the experience. We tried to talk, but we didn´t do much talking! He has A LOT to say. He is very smart, and has a lot of good things to say, but he has a hard time believing in things that he can´t scientifically prove. We asked him if he believes in God. We asked if God knows everything. We asked if he, as a person knows everything. No! It made me think of the scripture, that to be learned is good, if we hearken unto the counsels of God. We need to be really careful not to trust in man´s wisdom or knowledge. We need to trust in God´s wisdom and knowledge.

We feel like Marcos has a lot of potential, but he needs to learn to FEEL. That´s where the conversion comes from. We need to teach him to feel, and he´ll be able to progress. We´ll see. :D

We had another interesting appointment with a man named Pepe. We also went with a lady from the ward, because he lives alone. He is also full of information, and reads a lot, but doesn´t really read the Bible as the word of God. More just like a book of information. I came about to the same conclusion as I did with Marcos. They need to read the scriptures, and trust in God´s wisdom and knowledge. Not man´s knowledge.

Well, I think I need to be going. I´m so grateful to be a missionary. Hna. Porter and I had a wonderful week. We had a week of miracles, and we have faith that we´ll continue seeing miracles. The church is true. Jesus is the Christ. Heavenly Father loves you. I love you!

Love always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Fotos! 08.03.2009

Alright, three of the pictures are of Cerro Campanario, and one is of zone conference. I hope you´ll be able to see the one of zone conference. It ended up pretty dark. But anyway, I hope you like them!


Love,
Hermana Jana Pincock

Hermanas Pincock and Porter

Hola! (Email)

Hi Family! How are you all doing? I´m doing well. Well, I´m writing this later today beause I went to Villa La Angostura. It´s about an hour away from here. Last night the leaders there invitied us over to see all the pretty views so we decided to go. Very pretty. But you know... I´m always stressed out about the time and getting everything done! So sorry if this letter is a little shorter than normal. :o( I´ll just have to type fast. :D

First off, Hna. Porter cut my hair last Monday. That´s fun. It´s a little longer than shoulder length still, but I have bangs. Kind of fun.

Tuesday we had zone conference and we met President and Hna. Peterson! They´re very good people. He´s especially very loving. Had a short little interview with him and it was good to talk to him. I think they´ll be wonderful ¨mission parents¨.

During the conference Hna. Porter and an Elder sang a song, and I played the piano. They sang ¨I Know that My Redeemer Lives¨. They did very well. Pretty pretty voices. Anyway, after conference Hna. Varela, who I had been in El Bolson with, stayed with us for the night. Her companion was transfered to Puerto Madryn to be companions with Hna. Schwab, and Hna. Varela will be companions with a ¨mini-missionary¨. She was a little nervous about being senior companion since she has been in the mission for a transfer and a half, but I have no doubt that she´ll be just fine. She´s already a great missionary.

So anyway, Hna. Varela stayed with us the night and then we took her to the bus terminal early Wednesday morning. Good times.

Lets see, good things that happened this week... one night we were walking in a neighborhood and we heard, ¨Where are you from?¨ I must admit, I usually just ignore english when I hear it, but we decided to turn around and see who had said it. Marcos (or Mark as he introduced himself :D ) actually speaks very good english. We talked for a long time in the street (perhaps too long...) but it was really good. He is a scientist, and has some interesting ideas, but we can tell he has a really good heart. A good person. Anyway, we have his information and everything, so we´re going to teach him, and hopefully his two kids.

Also, there is a family here, named the Anfuso family. We were eating lunch with them on Thursday, and Hno. Anfuso was talking Argetina politics, etc... But anyway, the idea occurred to me that we should teach Marcos with Hno. Anfuso because they´re both very educated, and I think it´d be good for Marcos to hear a grown man´s testimony. We mentioned it to Hno. Anfuso and he´s up for it. So I´ll keep you updated. :D

We had a good lesson with Eduardo and Mariahelem. We taught ¨The Gospel of Jesus Christ¨ and talked to them about baptism. And what´s impeding them from being baptized. They know they need to get married. But they´re super hesitant. So their assignment is to make a list of pros and cons, after praying and reading the scriptures together, and then they need to make a decision. They have been putting it off for a long time from what I hear. So it should be good.

Sunday we had another lesson wtih Mariahelem. Eduardo was sleeping. But we also taught two of Eduardo´s sisters, Nelida and Ester. It went well. We taught The Restoration again because it was the first time that Ester had learned about it. It went well. They said they´ll read and pray. Mariahelem said she has never prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. I was surprised. I told Hna. Porter, ¨No wonder she doesn´t want to commit to be married. She still hasn´t obtained a testimony of the first part of our message¨. So that should be good.

So on Sunday we had Eduardo, Mariahelem, and a girl named Mariana in church. Mariana is the niece of the stake president. The stake president´s sister, Mariana´s other aunt, lives in our ward. So it turns out she started going to our ward a while back, but she actually lives in other ward boundaries. From what I understand, it´s okay with everyone if she keeps going to this ward, and if we teach her. She´s 15. We have our first appt. with her this week and we´re going to teach with the young women´s president. Lucia is the young women´s president. She´s only 21, but she´s great.

The youth in the ward are trying to earn money to go to the temple in October. Therefore, Hna. Porter and I have bought noodles, treats, etc... that they´re selling to save money.

Oh, have I mentioned that Hna. Porter really shouldn´t eat flour or sugar? She can, but really doesn´t feel well. So we talked with the members, and they´re trying to feed us food without flour. How? You might ask... but it turns out that there is a lot of food without flour. It´ll probably be good for me to eat a little less flour as well.

Well, I think that´s about everything. I hope that you are all doing well, and that you´re all happy. The church is true. I´m so grateful that I was born where I was. I am SO grateful for temples. Do you all have goals set about how many times you would like to go to the temple throughout the year? If not, I invite you to set goals. :D The temple, and worshiping there, protects us from danger. Bothiritual and physical. I have been surprised to realize how many talks in the last conference talked about temple worship. One talk talked about the temple in Logan. Good memories. :D

I love you all. Choose the right and do what Jesus would do.

Love always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

:0)

Hola Mi Familia! ¿Cómo están? Espero que estén bien. Well, lots has happened this week! First off, last Monday, I believe I said we were going to go to a mountain. So we went to Cerro Campanario, and it was BEAUTIFUL. We rode up on a chair lift (like we were skiing), and it is beautiful up there. I actually have pictures, and I´ll send them very soon. But anyway, that was fun.

Then Monday night HermanasTejerina (from Salta Argentina) and Varela (from Cordoba Argentina) got to our apt. I hurried and packed, and Hna. Varela and I headed to El Bolson together bright and early in the morning. Hna. Tejerina is actually training Hna. Varela, so it was fun to work with Hna. Varela. They were having a little bit of a hard time, so they needed to see new places and have different experiences for a day or two. But they´re good to go now! We worked Tuesday and Wednesday just like normal, and we were blessed to find some new investigators, etc... It was a good time. And Hna. Celis and Hna. Schafer (MTC Companion) had served there so it was fun to hear a couple of things about them. 

And, El Bolson is very pretty as well. A lot of very close up mountains. The city is basically just in a little hole between all the mountains. Fun.

Thursday Hna. Tejerina and Hna. Porter rode to El Bolson, and then Hna. Porter got on the next available bus to head back to Bariloche. So it was a good little trip. But talk about luxurious traveling! I´m not sure if we have these kinds of buses in the United States, but if so, I´m going to seriously consider forgetting driving, and I´m going to ride buses when I go long distances. They´re huge buses, and they´re two floors. The chairs are basically beds -- footstoles, pillows, blankets... very luxurious. 

So we got to work here in Bariloche on Thursday. Saturday we had a lesson with Eduardo, Mariahelem (Magdalena/Marilena... a little confusion with her name haha), Eduardo´s sister´s, Nelida and Ester, and Nelida´s boyfriend, Mario. We watched ¨Together Forever¨ and it was good. Eduardo´s mom passed away a while back, and it was good to watch it with them. So anyway, they assured us that they would all be in church the next day.

So Sunday, we had SIX investigators in church! It was so great! We had Eduardo, Marahelem, Nelida, Mario, Belen (another sister) and another girl, Mariana, who has family members that are church members. It was so great. They got there late, so we were getting worried that they wouldn´t make it for sacrament meeting, but they made it. :D And the Bishop came in for Gospel Principles so that was nice.

While I was gone, Hna. Porter and Hna. Tejerina, and a member, had a good lesson with Sebastian and Cecilia. They basically taught the Law of Chastity. It sounds like it went well. We haven´t had the chance to talk with them sense. So we´re hoping. :D

Lets see, what else? We had a good lesson with the Beltran family last night. We did ¨La Lista de los conocidos¨with them. It´s good that they´re thinking a little bit about sharing the Gospel.

Tomorrow we have zone conference, so I´ll get to meet my new mission president. That should be good.

Hna. Porter and I were talking the other day about how whenever we have a hard time, we always look forward to something good that´ll happen in the future. For example, we think, ¨things will be better in my next area¨. Or, ¨it´ll be easier with my next companion¨, etc... I was thinking about how I have done this my whole life, and ít´s not a good thing! I really want to learn to enjoy the moment, and just enjoy life. We should look forward to good things that´ll happen in the future, but be happy with what´s happening right now. 

Well, I think that´s about it for what´s happening here. Things are going well. I´m happy to be here and for everything that I´m learning. I know that Jesus Christ lives. He came, lived, died, and was resurrected, so we can live together forever as a happy family. Keep doing the little things!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! :D

Hola mi familia! ¿Cómo están? Well, I read a little of the emails, and it sounds like the family reunion went well. I´m so glad that you´re all home safe. An answer to prayers. And, fun Mom and Dad that you went and listened to Hna. and Presidente Cook! They were amazing leaders of the mission and are amazing people. It made me giggle to read some of the things that they commented on. Raising pulpits, etc... It´s the truth! And fun that you met Hna. Bladh and Hna. Beus. I don´t know the other Hna. fun fun.

I´m impressed that you all wrote when it was so late. From cell phones even... :D Well, things here are going well. We were blessed to find more new investigators this week so that´s a huge blessing.

Eduardo and Marilena: They work a lot and it´s hard to find them. When they are home it´s pretty late and we are usually not in their area at night so it´s a little tricky. However, it was Argentina´s independence day on Thursday so we were able to have a lesson. But Eduardo had left. Aahh! However, we were able to teach Marilena, and two of Eduardo´s sisters - Anahi and Belen. A good lesson. And our neighbor went with us to the lesson. She served about the time Anna Karina did in Cordoba, here in Argentina. She´s great. Her name is Sulma.

Sulma is amazing. She´s always bringing us over food at night. Empanadas, hamburgers, etc... I want to be more like her. She just does it to be nice. The other night our calefactor (heater) turned off, and we didn´t know how to do it so she came over to help us out. And our landlord who´s also a member. So we have good help around.

Anyway, we also went over to Eduardo and Marilena´s house on Saturday to invite them to church again. Marilena wasn´t there and so we couldn´t teach a lesson ( just three males were there in the house) but we invited them to church. We thought we were all good to go but they didn´t make it to church yesterday. :o( Next week.

We also had a great lesson with Piera and Natalia, and Natalia´s boyfriend. Have I talked about them? They showed up to church the first week Hna. Porter and I went to church here. He´s a member, but in-active. They went to church hoping that the church, or north americans, might be able to help them get to the US because Piera´s son ( and Natalia´s brother) recently passed away and he lived there. Anyway, we taught the Plan of Salvation the week before. They live really far away (like 45 minutes walking) but we went and watched the movie ¨Together Forever¨ ( I think). It´s called ¨Juntos Para Siempre¨in Castellano. Anyway, it was perfect. They definitely felt the Spirit. The tears flowed for about everyone. It was actually the first time Hna. Porter had seen it as well. Afterwards Hna. Porter and I sang ¨I know that My Redeemer Lives¨ and the Spirit was so strong. We talked about Heavenly Father´s plan, and what THEY need to do. It was good. They weren´t able to make it to church either... but it´s okay! We´ll get them there next week.

So things continue to go well here. I´m still thoroughly enjoying being here with Hna. Porter. She´s amazing. I´m actually going on a little field-trip this week. There are sisters in El Bolson, another city not too far away. Our leaders called and said that I´ll be heading to Bolson for like 3 or 4 days to be with one of the sisters, and the other companion will be here with Hna. Porter. We´re not exactly sure about all of the details, but I hope we´ll be able to help out.

Today with our zone we´re headed to hike a hill/mountain so that should be fun. I don´t remember what it´s called, but it´s supposed to be one of the prettiest views in the world. So that should be nice. And the sun is shining and it´s not too cold. yay!

Lets see... what else? I have been reading the conference talks. Today I read the talk by President Eyring about adversity. It really makes me think. He talked about a man who served as a bishop and the influence that he had on the people. Particularly the youth. Pres. Eyring made a simple statement: ¨He loved them, and they knew it¨. I thought that was really profound. It´s something I would really like to work on. I need to develop and focus on my love for the people, and then show it. From my companion, to investigators, members, to contacts. Love and charity. So important.

Oh, yesterday I had to opportunity to speak in church. The bishop called and asked earlier in the week if I could speak. He said I could choose one of the attributes of Christ that´s in ¨Preach My Gospel¨. I chose faith. I think it went well. Dad, I read your story on faith. The one that the man is hanging onto a branch when he has fallen off the cliff. The people thoroughly enjoyed it.

Well, I hope everything is going well. I love you all very much. I know that the church is true. I know that we have trials to test our faith and make us stronger. But we can always overcome our trials as we hold onto the iron rod and have faith in Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is my older brother, and if I follow His example, I´ll be happy. And I´ll help other people be happy as well.

Be happy, and as grandma would say, ¨Be of good cheer. Make it a happy day¨. I love you!

Love Always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock

Hola! 07.06.2009 (Email)

Hola! Cómo están? Espero que todo esté bien. Todo está bien acá. First off, I read Dad´s adventure. I´m so glad you´re okay! It sounds like it was quite the experience, but that you had lots of good help. An answer to prayers.

Yep, I bought boots last week. They were pretty expensive, and I didn´t look around much because we didn´t have time. So I was actually feeling pretty guilty about it. But today we have been looking because Hna. Porter needs boots as well, and I´m feeling much better about my purchase. They seem to be really good, just expensive... But they´re good. So gracias!

Well, starting off with last week´s preparation day. Hna. Porter and I were cleaning our apt. and I was wiping off the water heater. As I was scrubbing (but not hard!) the little knob, it broke off, and water starting SPRAYING EVERYWHERE!!! So, not knowing how to turn the water off, we got the help of our landlord, who also didn´t know to turn it off, so she was trying to call people. Have in mind that water is still spraying everywhere and I was trying to plug it with my hands basically. VERY WET! So she finally got a hold of someone, and we found the correct knob to turn to stop the water. Very exciting. So the blessing is that we don´t have carpet, just tile, and we just mopped all the water ( a good amount of water) out the door. So it all worked out just fine, and I don´t think I´ll forget soon.

Lets see, what else... oh, Happy 4th of July to everyone! I haven´t read much of the emails, but it sounds like you had a good time. It´s a good holiday. We ate a little to celebrate. :D

Oh, so we´ve been hearing a good deal about ¨la gripe ¨A¨ ¨. I don´t remember if it´s the flu or the fever in english. Flu I think. Anyway, it turns out that it has arrived here from the US and Mexico. The city seems to be concerned, and they don´t want big groups of people gathering together. However, there is absolutely no reason to worry. Hna. Porter and I have great health, all the members are telling us what we should do to avoid getting it, and we have actually been instructed by our leaders that we shouldn´t shake hands with ahyone, or ¨da besos¨(kiss anyone on the cheek) for the next little while. What a hard habit to break! So anyway, if you hear anything, don´t worry. We´re great.

We found some good investigators this week so we´re excited about that. We got a couple of ward references as well so we´re excited to get a hold of them.

There is a couple that had been going to church with the elders before we got here, that needs to get married. We had their phone number but not their address. When we called, he didn´t know the address, and we couldn´t find the house. But good news! They went to church yesterday, so now we have a much better idea of where they live and we have an appt. to teach them. I´m impressed with them and really feel like they´re going to progress. They´re named Eduardo and Marilena.

The youth here in the ward are selling food, trying to raise money to go to the temple in October. I think it´s neat.

Oh, I think I read some questions about the area, and why we´re here now. So it turns out that a while back, a year or two ago, there were elders and sisters. The area was split in two. They took the sisters out of the area, and so the elders area just became much bigger. They had their area, and the sisters area. Because of different circumstances, and we´re not a 100% sure, they took the elders out, and put us sisters back in. And Hna. Porter and I get to do it! We´re still having a good time.

Oh, this is funny. Hna. Porter and I were talking about the personality test, where you find out if you´re red, yellow, white, or blue. I couldn´t remember very well. I remembered that I had a little of all, but almost no yellow. I guess I´m not very exciting. jaja The funny thing is, is that she´s almost completely yellow. So I think we´re a good match. :D

I played the piano yesterday in church. Very enjoyable.

We have our new mission president here! I think we have zone conference July 21 so I´ll meet him then I believe. I think it sounds fun if you want to hear Pres. and Hermana Cook speak. If you can make it there it sounds great. If not,it´s just fine. I´m sure they´ll both do a wonderful job.

We have a lot of rain here. I like it. Snow in the mountains, but nothing down below yet.

We continue to try to meet the members and to work with them. We have started doing the ¨lista de los conocidos¨where you write everyone down you can think of that hasn´t heard about the gospel, and so far it seems to be going pretty well. We did it with the Bishop and his family the other day. It went well.

Well, I think I´m going to go now. I love you all a ton, and you´re always in my prayers. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer. If we live His teachings, we find peace and happiness in this life, and this happiness and joy will never end. Even in the eternities. Obedience as well is so important. It protects and guides us. I love you!

Love always,
Hermana Jana Banana Pincock