5th Week Update: Oct. 31st, 2013

My Last Week in the M.T.C.

Well this week has been one of the best but hardest weeks of my life. I absolutely love my new Latino district.  My new compañero is Elder Mendoza from Mexico. 

They called us to be the ZONE LEADERS of the Latinos. It is so scary being in charge of so many Latinos and we have so many extra meetings every single day and so many more responsibilities.  We have to organize every meeting and we have to speak on Sunday and it´s just a lot to take in but it's definitely an awesome experience having a leadership position so early.

The Latino District

Elder Mendoza speaks just a little English, but he is very patient with me and helps my learning so much. I now speak more Spanish in the day than English and my brain feels fried at the end of every day, but it definitely has been a beneficial experience for me. 

Elder Pincock and Elder Mendoza

The harderst part of being a zone leader is the meetings with the branch presidents and mission president because they use so many hard spanish words that I'm not used to hearing and they always ask me questions since I'm the only gringo in the leadership meetings but like I said it's been a great experience and an awesome way to advance my service to The Lord. 

I've made so many friends with all The Latinos and they love all the stupid Spanish songs that I make up. I made one about ¨Castidad´´ (punishment) which always makes them laugh and now they all sing it! 

I leave for Huancayo this Saturday instead of this upcoming Tuesday and I'm excited to get out in the field.  I can't believe it's finally here! I'm going to miss all my friends here so much. They have made me do my hyenna laugh a couple times and all the Latinos think it's so funny. 

I love the culture of The Latinos and they have so much love for everybody. We took all our group pictures so hopefully I'll be able to send those soon! Thanks so much for all the support and love from everybody. I'm not exactly sure what day my P-Day will be but I'll find out next week in Huancayo!

 

 

Love, Elder Pincock

 

Tenga Fe

4th Week Update- Oct. 22nd

THIS WAS A BIG WEEK!

First off,  WRECK EM TECH! I'm so pumped that we're in the top 10 now that's awesome! 

This past week has been incredible here at the C.C.M. Presidente Cardon is trying something new because he sees a lot of potential in our group and has given us the option for us to switch to a Latino district and have a Latino compañero for the last two weeks. At first, about 20 out of our 38 planned on switching to the Latino district, but for some reason they only allowed 4 of us to move up and I made the cut! So, I will be switching rooms, compañeros, y districtos mañana. It's been a huge blessing feeling like I'm still progressing so fast and all of my teachers were happy for me that I'm switching to the advanced class! 

This is the Lima Missionary Training Center

This past Saturday we went out proselyting for the first time as a practice for about 6 hours. I was with Elder Flores from Argentina and we went with a local member of the church in the Canto Grande district in northern Lima. It was an amazing and humbling experience. I saw at least 100 stray dogs that just lived on the street, so many kids playing futbol with a ball that's probably older than I am, and every person had a smile on their face. We talked to about 6 people. It was kinda hard for me to understand Elder Flores perfectly but I got the majority of what he was saying and we talked for over an hour. 

Caleb sent me this picture but I don't know who this elder is

We did have a really funny experience, though,  but it still makes me cringe even just thinking about it... We stopped by a local members house and he was completely deaf in one ear and his other ear he could hear about 3% of what a normal person does, so we literally had to take turns cupping our hand around his ear and yelling the entire time. I mean literally yelling it was so awkward! The first time I got closer to introduce myself. I felt weird getting too close and still didn't yell as loud as I need to so he leaned closer and some of his disgusting ear hairs touched my lips and I almost threw up.... his ear had so much hair and earwax in it I wasn't surprised he couldn't hear anything! After brushing my teeth with hand sanitizer, I felt fine though. 

Today during P Day while getting on the bus to go to Metro it was the most packed it had ever been. There was probably room for 5 more people, but we fit all 13 of us inside. Plus, there was a lady breastfeeding like it was no big deal so it was the most awkward bus ride of my life. 

Two days ago during dinner I embarrassed myself so bad... I walked up to our table and there was a single Latino sitting there. Elder Gonzalez from our district was talking about a sock that he was missing because we played flag football with our socks that day. So, I asked the Latino ''Es blanco?'' talking about the sock. Turns out I heard the conversation completely wrong and the Latino thought I was asking if he was white and he couldn't sit with us if he wasn't white so he got up and left... Then we went and tried to explain that I was talking about a sock and I put my foot on the table and pointed to my sock and tried so hard while speaking horrible spanish..then after about 5 minutes of me looking like and idiot he said ''It's ok I can speak English too, and I'm just messing with you'' in a perfect English accent. So Elder Gonzalez apparently planned it before I got there and made me look like an idiot but it was a pretty good joke I have to admit... 

Again I am not sure who this Elder is

Oh and one more thing, we convinced the new North Americans that they have to take their mattresses to the secretary office to ''register'' them and they believed us,  so about 20 North Americans carried their mattresses to the secretary office for no reason. It was so funny! 

Thanks to all who have continued writing me every week and I hope to keep hearing more and more from all of you!

 

Love, Elder Pincock

 

No se preocupe, se feliz.

3rd Week Update- Oct 15, 2013

Hello Everybody!

This was a short week since I was able to email last Thursday, but it will be Tuesday for the next few weeks! 

FUTBOL UPDATE...

The funniest thing that happened was that I broke Elder Couch's glasses again... We were playing Futbol and I was throwing the ball back into play from the sideline and for some reason he tried to do a header and his glasses broke and cut his face all over again.. Also, two new missionaries during Futbol yesterday both went up for a header and busted each other's heads open and both had to go get stitches. It was intense! 

We all bought jerseys today and those weird peruvian pants from some illegal lady that sells them under the table so that was exciting..

Our district sang in church this past Sunday and we made a Spanglish version of the EFY medley and everybody was very impressed because it actually sounded really good.

One of the Hermanas during lunch two days ago found a family of maggots in some of the broccli she had already been eating. It was really disgusting we counted at least 10 of them in there. 

I'm glad to hear that Tech is still winning and looking good. That's super exciting!  

My favorite thing that we have been studying this past week is Attributes of Christ and it's very interesting. My companions and I taught a lesson to our district during Sunday School, then afterwards everybody watched a video of David A. Bednar giving a talk about the character of Christ. It was amazing. He shared a story about a woman who called him in the middle of the night because a bad car wreck had happened. Two girls were severely injured and the other was pronounced dead. The woman was on the phone at the same time with a nurse and the nurse identified that the girl that passed away was the woman's only child that was on the phone with her. Elder Bednar could hear the nurse tell the woman that it was her daughter from the other phone, but the first thing the woman did was ask Elder Bednar to help her contact the other girl's mothers and inform them that their daughters were ok. 

Then, a couple days later while the mother was on the way to her only daughters funeral a lady called her complaining about how she was sick and nobody had brought her food, but the sick lady didn't know about the woman's daughter passing away. So on the way to her daughter's funeral, she brought the sick woman medicine and a meal. 

Elder Bednar described her character as similar to how Christ would be. Never thinking of himself first no matter what problems you might be going through. He talked about how Christ healed the guard's ear just after being betrayed and suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Anyway, everything is going great here, and I'll try and send more pictures!

Love, Elder Pincock

No se preocupe, se feliz!

2nd Week Update: Oct 10, 2013

Buenos Dias Amigos!

I have a very limited amount of time, but I'll try and write as much as possible! Thank you so much to everybody that emailed me it really means so much to me and I love hearing from everybody.  I'm really sorry if I don't have time to respond to everybody but I will try my very best!

Everything here has gotten better and better everyday! Elder Couch and I have had a really funny relationship forming the past week... Well the day after I emailed you guys last week, during physical activity our district was all warming up before playing Fútbol and somebody punted the ball from across the field so naturally I just ran for it and kicked it as hard as I could but I didn't see Elder Couch was about 5ft. in front of me a little to the right... So of course the ball flies STRAIGHT into his face and it broke his only pair of glasses into multiple pieces and his forehead started bleeding because it hit him so hard... 

I felt horrible because I just couldn't stop laughing right after it happened! It ended up being alright and we super glued his glasses together and luckily they were fixed but then everybody was scared to get close to me during the rest of the game.. ha ha.

Then that night a couple hours after we went to bed I heard a super loud scream and it woke me up, but I looked across the room and Elder Randolph didn't wake up, then I listened for the Latinos Sanchez and Santillan to say something but they never did. So, I leaned out and looked to the top bunk were Elder Couch was sleeping and he was sitting straight up frozen like he was freaking possessed or something. 

Then he quietly whispered "lo siento" and laid back down... I was so scared and the next day I asked him about it and he said that he had a nightmare that something hit him in the face and that's why he screamed!! ha ha ha. We've been laughing a lot about that the past few days. 

We taught 5 lessons to our first investigator Elisa Tejada completely in Spanish and it's been going great! The only problem is I always feel bad after we teach because Couch and Randolph almost never understand what she says so I almost teach the entire lesson by myself and I can do it in full confidence already! 

I became really good friends with some of the Latinos and it really helps my spanish to talk with them every night. They all like me because I'm the only "gringo" that understand when they say a cuss word in Spanish and I laugh so hard so they accept me into their conversations it's really awesome! 

Our roomates already left two days ago and we got two new Latinos in our room last night. Also, Elder Taysom and I made some raps to help us memorize some scriptures and I'm not sure if that's a good thing but now I can recite a lot more in Spanish. 

The best food we had this week was probably these beef fajita tacos with guacomole, rice, and black beans. The most disgusting thing was this seafood lasagna with squid inside... So somedays I only eat the rice and bread. 

Today we went to a new market called Tottus and it was nicer than Metro. I bought my first gatorade and it was amazing. I also bought two more llama ties and some other little hand made souvenirs because everything is so cheap here! 

I still can't believe how much I have learned here in such a short period of time and it is such an amazing blessing to be surrounded my so many awesome Elders and learn, pray, sing, and study together everyday.

Love, Elder Pincock

No se preocupe, se feliz!

1st Week Update : Oct 1, 2013

He Made It!

Caleb's First Letter to friends and family:

Buenos Dias mi amigos!

So just to let everybody know, my official day that I can email is every
Tuesday for the next 6 weeks except for next week is on a Thursday! Thank
you to everybody that emailed me it was great hearing from you. I've
already seen a llama farm and it was awesome! I am so amazed at how fast
time flies here, and it already feels like I've been here for a month
because I've learned so much.

You would all be so surprised at how fast I'm picking up Spanish it's ridiculous! I actually have two companions instead of one and their names are Elder Couch and Elder Randolph. Elder Couch is from California and Elder Randolph is from Spanish Fork, Utah. Elder
Couch is also our district leader and there are 13 of us in district 111. 

Left to Right: Elder Santillan, Elder Sanchez, Elder Couch, Elder Randolph, Elder Pincock

I love everybody in my district and they are so much fun to be around! Elder
Tayson is from Mesa, Arizona and is a 5 foot tall white boy, but competes
with all the Latinos in Futbol. he's the only gringo allowed to play with
them on the competitive field.  I've played Futbol every day and its so much fun, 
but all the North Americans can barely breathe and it looks like we're all out of shape while the Latinos can run circles around us.

There's only 5 of us in my room, my trio companionship and 2 Latinos one from Mexico and
one from Ecuador and I absolutely love speaking Spanish with them every night for almost an hour. I always have to be the translator for everybody in my room, and I can hold actual conversations for so long I can't even believe that it's possible, but the spirit is so strong here that's what makes it possible for me to learn so much in such short time. 

Today was the first day we got to go out of the MTC and I already bought 2 llama ties and
tried the Inca Cola that's famous. 

I arrived Wednesday night around 1 in the morning, and we didn't see the sun until Saturday because it was completely overcast, but not like in the states. You literally could not see a single piece of blue sky 3 days, but to me the temperature is perfect. 

The food here isn't too bad, except yesterday I got a little sick for the first time... But at least I haven't gotten the "double headed dragon" yet (throwing up and diarrhea at the same time). The most disgusting thing I ate were these cold potatoes with like a yellow sauce on them that looked like mustard, and the best thing was a steak called Milanesa. I think I've had it in Miami before. iIts kinda like chicken fried steak. The juices they have here are amazing and my favorite is called maracuya. It's like pineapple and orange or something like that. 
Brian would love this yogurt they serve at breakfast. It's just like David melted orange sherbet and it's really good. 

None of the Latinos can pronounce Elder Couch. So it sounds like they say its Elder CoAch, so I told them to just call him Elder Sofaas a joke, but know everybody does and I'm not sure how he feels about it... He's really nice.

Sorry this is all so long, I just had a lot to say since it's my first letter and I love all of you so much!

Love, Elder Pincock

No se preocupe, se feliz!

Mission Call

MISSION CALL:

Caleb read his mission call on May 10th, 2013 It was such an exciting day for all of us.  We were all anxious to hear where the Lord wanted him to serve.  

Huancayo, Peru Mission! Wow! Everyone was so excited, especially me cause my son finally gets to learn my native language of Spanish.  Caleb new it was the perfect place for him right from the start. September 25th 2013 is the day he reports to the Lima, Peru Missionary Training Center (MTC).  The wait of 4 months  begins.... but at least I get to have more time with him before he leaves..

  

Temple night was definitely a night to remember.  Special, spiritual and sentimental.  We all enjoyed the experience.  

FAREWELL TALK: 

The missionary farewell talks were a hit.  Both Caleb and Griff got to give their farewell talks.  The spirit was strong and the musical duet by my baby Marisa and Griff was amazing. The chapel was full of Caleb's and Griff's friends and lots of family members that came to Lubbock for the special occasion.

My sister Noelia, flew from Miami and spent countless hours working on one of her amazing cakes.  She is so creative! Love ya sis!

THE AMAZING CAKE!

Someone had to eat the cake.  Party anyone? Didn't take much convincing. 

Natty, Marisa and Mia

Caleb with the Grandma.. Grandma Pincock came all the way from Washington to be part of these special events.

Caleb with his other family: Vicky & Stan and his brother Brian

Caleb with his abuela

Almost the whole family... missing Natty and Uncle Johnny who had to leave early.

Caleb with the Tias: Noelia and Berta

Caleb and the "Gs"

Hanging out!

FAREWELL OPEN HOUSE Two weeks later... it was time for the last goodbye get together.
Wasn't sure if a lot of people would show up.  Boy was I wrong! Great turn out, great support from great friends.  

Caleb and Zach 

The Speed Family

The Boys: Cameron, Caleb, Brian and Seth

Caleb and his "besty"

The Youth Group and Natty!

David and his crew from Ambrosia Catering

Cutie #1

Cutie #2

Even Ryan got to say his last goodbyes!

The family!

Last Sunday lunch: Mom's special turkey sandwich

Goodbye to the beard!!!

It's official! Hello Elder!

THE DAY! 
It's been such an emotional week but nothing compares to the emotions felt as we all spent the last few minutes with Caleb before he left for his two year mission.

Goodbye Sis!

Adios Abuela!

Farewell Matthes Family!

Goodbye B-Nas (AKA: Brother, Brian)

See ya later Cracky! (AKA: Brock)

Later CamK Nas! (AKA: Cameron)

Goodbye Dain Train (AKA: Seth)

See you later, Madi and Megan

Our family will not be the same without you!

See you in two!