Monday, September 22, 2014

Update for Sept 8th, 15th and 22nd.

Sept. 8th, 2014

We had another awesome week here in Junin. Everyday just keeps going by faster and faster which is just crazy to me.. 

We went on a hike today just my companion and I for P-day, and had a blast! 

 





We had a good successfull week, and our little branch here in Junin is growing little by little. We're still working with Franklin y Jubita to get all their paperwork done for their wedding so hopefully that all goes through this month. 






This week I had a good spiritual experience while testing Moroni's promise at the end of The Book of Mormon for myself to try and strengthen my testimony even more, and be able to testify with more power while teaching. I found my answer in Alma 5:26-29 where it talks about the humility and he asks us a question that if we were to die in this moment would we be prepared to meet God. 

I just received a renovation of my testimony while reading that passage, and I just know The Book of Mormon really is the word of God. What I read made me think a lot, and I'm trying to prepare myself more to meet God, to be more humble in all things, and depend even more on God in my life all the way down to the littlest of things. 

I invite all of you to ask yourselves the same thing. If we were to die in this moment, would we be prepared to meet God? Have we been humble enough? and if not, What can we change to fix that? I hope all is well this week. I love and miss all of you, and pray for you individually more than you all know. 

Love Elder Pincock




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Sept 15th, 2014

We had such a spiritually filled amazing week. Elder Uceda from the first quorum of the seventy came to our mission to talk to all the missionaries and the members. Friday we went to Tarma and heard him speak that night to all the members, and Saturday morning we went back to La Merced to have our own special conference with Elder Uceda. We were there from 12:30 until like 8:00 so we got to hear him a lot and we all learned so much. 

There's just no doubt he's a man of God, and speaks with so much power but love at the same time. He talked a lot about our purpose, or objective, as missionaries. It's not just baptizing which a lot of people think. We "Invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored Gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end." 

We started from the bottom up, because there's a big problem with people getting baptized, and then not coming to church as much and not enduring to the end. He talked about a missionary that focuses on numbers of baptisms is an old missionary, but we need to be new missionaries and focus on converts. 



Baptizing is super important and critical for salvation, but it's not a game or something you just do for an experience. We as missionaries are supposed to just be the guides to their conversion process, and really help them to come unto Christ. We have to make sure they really have a testimony, and want to make the steps towards salvation in their lives. 

Every member of the church has that responsibility to lift up others, and rescue those members that have lost their way and help bring them back unto Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is perfect, but it's run by imperfect people. 



The church is like a hospital. We're all spiritually sick and need some treatment, and even though none of us are perfect, that's exactly why we go to church to try and be better people. Little by little, day by day. That is God's plan for us, and I invite all of you to try and live more fully in accordance with his plan, and do a self evaluation. What am I doing to follow Christ in my life? Am I just going throught the motions, or do I really want to be a better person? 

I love and miss all of you, and hope this week is a good one!

Love Elder Pincock,

More Pics of my hike last week..

A Teepee in the middle of nowhere




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Sept. 22nd, 2014
Another good, but cold and rainy, week here in Junin! We're in Tarma right now for a zone conference, so I won't be able to send recent pictures until next week.

It looks like Franklin and Jubita our investigators will be getting married and baptized the 3rd of August which is a Friday so we're pretty pumped and excited about that!

Something cool I studied this week was a talk from last conference called Your Four Minutes by the Presiding Bishop Gary Stevenson. He used the example of the olympics how the athletes train for years, and all of their preparation and hard work comes down to only 4 minutes in the specific event he was talking about.

He then compared how we all prepared for an eternity before we were even born, and our liftetime is our "4 minutes" and our time to perform. I really liked the way he put everything into perspective for me, and I thought how if our life is our 4 minutes, how hard should I try and perform just as an athlete gives it their all just for a short time, and has an eternity to look back on it.

I also thought about how if life is our 4 minutes, serving a mission is only about 15 seconds of the 4 minutes. 2 years is so short, and after reading that talk I wanted to try and give even more of myself to the mission. I can't believe this week is already 1 year, it doesn't even feel like it to me.

I love and miss you all so much and hope yall have a great week!

Love Elder Pincock

Being a good Alpaca shepherd…..

Me with my shephard stick 

 An intruder trying to get my Alpacas...  

I'll scare him away with my shepherd stick

My Alpaca Herd

 

Counting my Alpacas

You there!...Don't even think about running away!….

I mean it, stay put!

Oh no! he's getting away!

 



Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Update for August 18th, 25th and Sept 1st.

August 18th, 2014

Hola Amigos,

I didn't have time to do an updated today because I spent all of my time uploading the following pictures.

Chacamarca:

The Historical Sanctuary of Chacamarca was stablished on August 7, 1974. It is located in the province of Junin and has a surface of 2,500 acres on the Pampas de Chacamarca where the battle of Junin took place. This was one of the most import ant battles because it is when the Peruvians got their independence.







Our District: 


A llama Sign: 



A Lesson I Taught: 


My experience eating "cabeza de cuy"  (guinea pig head).











P-Day- La Merced






Conferencia (Conference)












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August 25th, 2014


Well this week was colder than normal, but now it's a little warmer which is good. Barely anybody came to church yesterday because there was a mandatory parade for a lot of the students, so we were a little bummed, but other than that we had another good week.

A couple that we are teaching are most likely going to be getting married and baptized this next month in September so we're working as hard as we can for them. Franklin and Jubita are their names, and they are so awesome! 

This week are the transfers, and most likely my companion will be leaving because he has a lot of time here in Junin, so I'm probably getting a new companion this Wednesday. 

Something I was studying this week, was the promise at the end of the Book of Mormon in Moroni 10:3-5, because sometimes our investigators have trouble receiving an answer to their prayers. The key is to have a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ. If somebody lacks even just one of the 3, the promise doesn't work. A sincere heart could mean a broken heart and a contrite spirit after having repented. Real intent means to intend to act on an answer, and follow what you know to be true. Having faith seems like the easiest part, but faith is a principle of power, and of accion. If they don't ever get on their knees and pray, they are lacking action, or faith.

Learning this has helped me to help people progress, and has helped me to find the needs of the people that we are teaching. Learning to depend on the Spirit is key in missionary work, and without the Spirit we can do nothing regardless of our talent, knowledge, or ability. 

I love and miss each and every one of you back home, and hope you all have a great week!

Love Elder Pincock

More pics….

They didn't think I could do it...











TACOS!!!!











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September 1, 2014

Well this week was pretty big. President Henderson called me Monday night because he wanted me to train again! I had to go to Huancayo and pick up my new companion.

His name is Elder Bartschi from Montana. 



I'm really excited to be training again, and it's kinda weird having my first companion that knows very little Spanish... I'm trying to help him learn a lot, and it just reminds me a lot of when I first started and barely knew anything. We get along well, and we had a good week for his first week here in the mission field. 

Two of our investigators Franklin and Jubita picked a date to have their wedding and baptism during this month in September. We're really excited about it, and having two baptisms here in Junin is like a miracle in our mission. 

Other than the transfers, not too much has been going on here in Junin, but it's definitely getting colder and it snowed again just for a little bit the other day. Today we're in Marcavalle where I started for our P Day so I'm pretty excited it should be a lot of fun! 

Well I sure miss you all a ton, and hope you have a good week this week!

Love, Elder Pincock

Picture Time:

P-Day in Junin….