La persona más bendecida en todo el mundo :)

Bekah was true to her word, and her last email was in Spanish.  I ran it through Google translate and this is what it popped out.  It’s not a perfect translation, as you can tell she talks about cigars and I don’t think she meant to!  But we’re close!  Here it is….

Che family

In honor of my dear Paraguay and all the wonderful people I’ve met in this time, I write today in Castilian and I hope everything goes well with Google Translate. Maybe use a little Guarani well. A michimi. 😉
First, thank you all for your testimony cigars. If there’s anything I’ve learned, is that a witness actually has a lot of power in our lives. It’s wonderful to share a testimony with others. In truth, it is a testimony to share. So my testimony has grown incredibly in the year and a half. So thank you for sharing what is of more value in their lives. It gave me much encouragement to keep working strong in these last days.
How quickly time passes! Like it was yesterday, I remember when my plane arrived at the airport. I was so nervous, but with much encouragement to serve the people here in Paraguay. During my time here, God has commanded me to many places where I have learned a lot from those who are our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. In each area, I learned more about them and the things that bring us closer to our goal of eternal life.
In Mariano Roque Alonso, learned of prayer-of how we actually talk to God and He really listens.
In Villa Hayes, experienced the ennobling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
In Loma Pyta, I realized that faith in Christ is a process of trust, act, and strengthen.
In Piribebuy, felt more strongly that God is our Heavenly Father literally and as their children, each has great potential.
In Streams and Estuaries, I saw literally every day that God is a God of Miracles.
In fact, it amazes me that a person can learn so much in such a short time. I feel like a different person, and I will be forever grateful for the moments we’ve been through, the people I’ve met, and the change that has taken place in my heart. My time here has changed me. As I prepare to leave here, I feel my heart is staying here. I’ll never be the same person. As I reflect on this year and a half I’ve spent, comes to mind my version of Mosiah 18:30.
¨ And now it came to pass that all this was done in Paraguay, yes, by the river Paraguay, on the Paraguay river immediately Chaco, yes, the Cordillera de Paraguay, the river Paraguay, the Chaco of Paraguay, how beautiful are to my eyes because here I come to the knowledge of my Redeemer, yea, and will sing praises forever. ¨
I testify with all the security of my heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer. He is the only way. We have to stand firm because it made Him And give us the strength we need each day. This is His work. Do not leave us alone if we are working on it with all we are. May we continue to be true and faithful for ever is my earnest prayer.
I leave an invitation, which let in English because I want to be very clear.

Here´s the invitation: testify. You have all testified to me with all your heart. Now find someone else who is seeking the truth and strength. Maybe it´s a less active member. Maybe it´s a friend that has questions. Maybe it´s somebody that you just met in the street. But find someone. And let your testimony have an effect in their lives. As they taught us in conference, even one simple line of heartfelt testimony can set into motion the conversion process for someone. You all have such powerful testimonies. And I know that as you share it with someone this week, you will feel your own being strengthened. I´ve been a witness to that time and time again. So… will you do it? I´m gonna ask how it went on Thursday, so I hope and pray that you are all blessed with an opportunity to testify before then. If you´re looking, you´ll find it. 🙂

Los quiero muchísimo. Gracias por todo su apoyo y amor durante este tiempo. Que pasen bien estos días hasta vernos. Vayanse a bendecir una vida hoy. 🙂

Pohayhu!

Hermana Pingel

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Oh what a wonderful life!!

Bekah 5-26-13 6

Hello after another fabulous week!

It´s been another one loaded with awesome moments, investigators,
miracles, and delicious food. 🙂 But first things first… Richard got baptized on Saturday! Awesome, awesome little kid. He is 11 years old and his whole family are all members. They´ve tried to get him baptized a few times, but every time that they started preparations, something happened (a brother got in a moto accident, another brother went to jail… lots of stuff. Satan doesn´t like baptisms..) So really, it was a miracle that nothing crazy happened this week in their family! His parents have been pretty less active for a while,  but it´s been really cool to meet with his dad so much this week. He bore his testimony at his son´s baptism, and it was super powerful. He told everybody that he had been tried in his faith a whole lot and has started to falter in the faith but that he wants to start up again. He really does have a powerful testimony, it´s just that with all the trials, he´s lost sight of things. Richard is super solid and loves everything and has shown that he really wants to follow Christ. The last two Sundays, he walked to church all by himself when everybody else slept in. He was so happy to finally walk into the baptismal font. And he was just beaming when he came out. 🙂

We had an investigator go the the baptism yesterday and to church
yesterday and she absolutely loved it. Her name is Faustina and I love
her with all my heart. We actually found her on our first day here in
Arroyos. Right off the start, I knew that there was something special
about here. She said that she had always wanted to be baptized but for
some reason or another, she never has. She also told us  that ever since she moved here, she´s wanted to visit the Church of Jesus Christ, but didn´t know if she could just go in. We´ve just had a few complications in getting her to church over the past few weeks, but she finally went yesterday and absolutely loved it. We weren´t in there for Sociedad de Socorro (the jovencitas didn´t have a teacher, so they volunteered us… 🙂 so she went in on her own and she told us afterward that she helped out with the lesson- reading and explaining things- and she just had the time of her life. She wants to teach  Relief Society some day. 🙂 She´s super super awesome. A couple weeks ago, we had a family night with some member s and left the invitation to each write down on a piece of paper a goal for something that they wanted to change so they could come more unto Christ. A few days later, she showed us her paper with her goal- ¨I am going to be baptized so I can follow Jesus Christ and be cleaned.¨ So cool. She has really strong desires to make changes in her life. I had a good conversation with her over the phone last night (she was reminding me to talk to President Madariaga.. she wants permission to get baptized with 2 times going to church instead of 3 so I can be at her baptism) and she just expressed her desires to do what the Lord wants. ¨If he says no, I´ll just have to be patient. The thing is… I don´t want to have to wait!¨ I love her so much!!

On Wednesday, we had zone conference in Asunción which was absolutely wonderful. I feel like I always learn so much whenever we have conferences. There was a focus on using the Book of Mormon better and putting more of a focus on teaching better(and more often) repentance and baptism. We talked about how we shouldn´t teach the lessons with baptism as an appendage, rather, we should constantly teach baptism for the remission of our sins while teaching the lessons as kind of means to get there.That´s how the Savior taught. He focused on the steps that the people had to take. So this week, we tried to really put into practice all that we had learned and really put a focus on teaching, in every lesson, about baptism, directly from the Book of Mormon. And it was sooooooooo cool! Man, I love the Book of Mormon so much! It just teaches everything so clearly and powerfully. There truly is a power in that book. But by focusing on baptism with the Book of Mormon, there was a greater power felt by the Spirit. I truly felt guided by the Lord in the lessons as I was able to testify of the need of a Savior and of the simple steps that we can take to be able to be cleansed through Him. We were able to find some really cool people. We were also able to distinguish a lot quicker if people aren´t prepared to accept the Gospel right now…

(¨Whoa, whoa, whoa,

I´m catolico. I like to listen to the Palabra de Dios, but hasta ahí
no más…….¨) Basically, we got to know a great variedad of people
this week. (Funny story- there´s an old man in the cyber right now
trying to talk to us in english… And acting like a cowboy in a
draw…. and saying that he´s basically a big fan of us. I love being
a missionary. ) Anyway, I´m pretty sure we´ve given away roughly 20
copies of the Book of Mormon since Wednesday and I love it. It gives
us animo and it really opens up doors and sparks interest in the eyes
of the people.
To answer your question.. I´m actually doing alright with it all. I
think it still hasn´t really hit me yet. There are moments when I
realize that I do go home really soon, but it just doesn´t seem real.

It seems like a different life, a far away world. Maybe a little more
along it will start to hit me, but for now, I´m content to just keep
working and doing all I can in the here and now. I love the work, I
love my Savior, and I love love love seeing people come to know Him
even more from day to day. Basically, I love my life a whole lot. 🙂
Whelp, I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful week. Be good.
Remember who you are. Brush up on your spanish (next week´s letter may
or may not be in English. No promises). And most of all, go bless a
life today. 🙂
Pohayhu con todo corazon!
Hermana Pingel
Bekah 5-26-13 1Bekah 5-26-13 2Bekah 5-26-13 3Bekah 5-26-13 4Bekah 5-26-13 5Bekah 5-26-13 7 Bekah 5-26-13 8

Categories: Uncategorized

I´ll make it up to you next time, I promise!

Bekah 5-20-13 2
Hola familia!
I hope you all had a simply wonderful week. Sounds like you´re all doing pretty well, which makes me happy. I hope all goes well with the chicks and the yaks. By the way, since when are there yaks in North Idaho…? Also, it´d be great if you could ask around for jobs. Just to find out what kind of options are open. Thanks a million.
It´s been a pretty good week over here. I´ve attached a few pictures that we took last Monday before we talked. We went to a neighboring city, Tobati, and explored a little with the other hermanas. Simply beautiful over there.
So… funny story… I don´t really have a whole lot to say today… I feel like it was all said last Monday! Also, I might be getting a little sick and I can´t focus very well… BUT a picture´s worth a million words, so here´s your 10 million word letter. 🙂 Try not to let your eyes get too tired…
Well, I´ve learned that when in doubt with what to say, testify. And so I leave with you all my testimony. I know without a doubt that this Gospel is truly that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the King of kings, the Teacher of teachers, the greatest Being that has ever walked on the earth. His greatness was crowned by His infinite atoning sacrifice. He is so great that He descends from His throne daily to help and strengthen small, ordinary people like me. With His help and His strength and His grace, we can become new people. I know that it´s true because that is what I experience each and every day. He reaches down to help me in the details of my life. He takes me as I am and molds me in His hands. He loves me even with all my flaws, all my weaknesses and rough edges. His greatest desire is that we simply trust in Him and follow His loving, perfect example. May we do so, for He is the only Way Home. I long for the day when I can kneel at His feet and thank Him for all that He did. And still I know that my words will never be enough. I honestly feel that as I come to know more of who my Savior, my words become more and more inadequate in testifying of Him. What can I say more than that I know He lives? What more can I say than that He is God´s Son. But I suppose words just really don´t even matter. My words don´t do justice to His majesty, but my heart is full. I love Him. And I love that I have the opportunity to wear His name over my heart and feel it being engraved into my heart.
I hope you all have a fantastic week and that you all can feel the power of the Atonement cleansing you, strengthening you, and making you daily into the people that God would have you be. Basically, go bless a life today. 🙂
Pohayhu!
Hermana Pingel 🙂

 

 Bekah 5-20-13 1Bekah 5-20-13 3 Bekah 5-20-13 4 Bekah 5-20-13 5 Bekah 5-20-13 6 Bekah 5-20-13 7 Bekah 5-20-13 8 Bekah 5-20-13 9 Bekah 5-20-13 10 Bekah 5-20-13 11 Bekah 5-20-13 12
Categories: Uncategorized

:)

Hello after another week of MIRACLES! I hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful week. We sure did! Actually…. I´m pretty sure every single week has been a wonderful week. 🙂

Because we have to go to cybers, Presidente gave us the option of talking with our families either Saturday or Sunday to avoid breaking the sabbath day. On Monday, we´ll go to the area next to ours to find a cyber with webcams so we can talk. Be ready for any time between 2 and 3 my time, so 11 and 12 yours. Google plus is just fine, just send the invitation to my missionary account. It´s weird that it´s already time to talk to you all again.. I feel like we just barely did! But it´ll be great anyway. 🙂 I just have one request if that´s okay… Just that it not be a super trunky call.. I´m trying hard to keep a good balance between being aware that it´s coming so it doesn´t freak me out when it does and not thinking about it excessively. There´s nothing I want more than to keep focused and keep giving my whole self to the people here while I can. Anyway, that´s my only request. 🙂

We´re working hard this week to get to know the area and find lots of people to teach. We´ve found a lot of people that have been super prepared to hear and accept the gospel in their lives. One man, Pedro, really likes it all and already knows all of the members because he lives a block away from the capilla. He went to church for the first time yesterday and seemed like he was just right at home. On Saturday, we talked with him about baptism and confirmed his baptismal date in a few weeks. He told us that from the very first time that we visited with him, he knew that everything was going to lead to that, and basically that he knew it was the path the Lord wants for him. He´s super solid. And he gave us a half a dozen of bananas the other day. 🙂 I love the Paraguayos so very much. 🙂

This last week, I´ve put a big focus on charity- seeking it and working for it. I want to have the same love that Christ has for all of these people here. I set goals and have started to really put to the test the invitation from Moroni to pray with all the energy of heart to receive this gift. Now, I´m not perfect, and I still have a loooong way to go, but I have felt a change in my heart. During Sacrament Meeting yesterday, I was just filled completely to the brim with love for all the people that were there. Almost all of them shared their testimonies, and it was one of the most powerful testimony meetings I´ve been in. True, almost all of it was in Guarani, so I didn´t quite catch everything that they said, but you don´t need words to bear testimony. You simply need a testimony, a sincere heart, and humble desire to share what you have with others. And the members here are without a doubt, the most humble, sincere, loving people I have ever met in my entire life. There was María Elena, a recent convert that´s been inactive for a while, who simply asked for help and support from the members and testified that God knows us because he sent us to her house just as she was questioning her faith. There was Hermana Delia Duarte, who just shared a pure, simple testimony of the change that she has experienced in her life since she was baptized. There was Presidente DeLos Santos Gonzalez, the branch president, who just humbly wants to do the will of the Lord and help those around him. There was Hermana Antonia Barreto, who is quickly becoming my favorite person in Paraguay, who just testified about how by living the gospel, we grow in the gospel, coming from someone who definitely lives it. And there was Hermano Francisco Dominguez, a man who has gone through SO much (sickness, a distant wife, the suicide of his son), who testified from the heart of the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, which can make us stronger than we are alone. I just sat and looked at every person in that room and just wanted to hug them all. They all talk about how excited they are to have hermanas in the branch and about all that we do for them, but I feel like it is just completely the opposite. When I got the call for changes, I had no idea that I was about to be so incredibly blessed with such an honor as to work with such wonderful people. The Lord truly does have everything planned out. And how grateful I am that He sent me to little Arroyos y Esteros. Maybe it´s good that the Lord chose to send me here for one change. Because if I had more time to grow closer to them, I don´t think I´d ever come home…

Bueno, I hope you all know that I love you lots and lots. Thanks for all that you do- for the prayers and the support. I can definitely feel it allllllllllll the way over here. 🙂 Until next week then……. Go bless a life today!
¡Abrazos!
Hermana Pingel

 

Categories: Uncategorized

¡Hola desde Arroyos y Esteros!

Bekah 4-29-13 2

Bekah 4-29-13 3

Bekah 4-29-13 1

 

Surprise change! We got caught totally off guard this last week with a big change… Hermana Petien is training in Piribebuy after just 10 weeks of being in the field! So cool! The first 19 year old in the mission, and she´s already training. Super cool to see how inspired President Monson was when he made the announcement last Octuber. I am now in Arroyos y Esteros, which is actually in the same zone as Piribebuy, and…. I´m training! Haha I was super super surprised because I only have one change left and the training program lasts two changes. But it looks like this last one is gonna be a blast… My companion is Hermana Whitmer from Toele, Utah, and she´s a fireball. She went to the MTC in Argentina and speaks really well already. She´s got a ton of animo to learn and to work and I´m excited to be working with her. Also, we´re like the same person…

We´re both fanatics of milk and cereal, she loves music, is studying to teach in elementary school, and she totally did pantomime in high school. Haha, we get along pretty well. We´re also opening an area for hermanas, which is super fun. It´s a massive challenge because the area has been on a bit of a down, so we´ve got six weeks to turn it all around. I do miss Piribebuy, but I absolutely love it here as well. The branch is really really little, but the members are great. One sister yesterday in her talk told everyone in Guarani that they all need to help us out and take good care of us. It´s funny- everybody is super worried about us all the time just because we´re the first hermanas after twenty or so years and they don´t want anything to happen to us. I think that their favorite topic to talk about is us… Haha I came across a group of three or four sisters in the hall yesterday talking in Guarani about who´s gonna show us around where and when and all that stuff. Basically, they have all made their way into my heart in a very, very short amount of time.

Don´t worry about the eyes, all´s well. It always just lasts a week and then we´re back to normal. Not a problem! Thanks for the prayers- you´re the best. 🙂
I´m pretty sure the time will be the same for Mother´s day- 40 minutes. I´ll let you know more about details when we get closer.
I love your insight on Ether 6. That´s actually a passage that has helped me a whole lot on the mission. The Lord´s promise is that He´s going to guide us to where we need to go and mold us to make us who He wants us to be. And to bring that about, there has to be some wind and waves. Sometimes we get swallowed up in the sea, but it´s only for a moment, and it´s all for a purpose. I´m hoping for lots of wind this change to help me become who the Lord would have me be. I´m also working to ´be the Lord´s wind´ as Elder Groberg taught. More times than not, we have to do our part before we get anywhere. That´s what grace is all about.
I´ve been thinking a lot about the story of the loaves and the fishes these days. First of all, it strikes me that Christ is so aware of the hunger of the 5,000 people that He chooses to feed them. He could have just sent them all home for a ´lunch break´, but instead, He looked for the way to serve them. I imagine the moment when Christ spoke with the ´lad´ that had but 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Surely, the little boy had complete faith and trust in Jesus as He told him, ¨Give me what you have, and I´ll do the rest.¨ Surely the little boy just felt like a king when Dhrist went to him to ask for his bread, how ever little he had. And I think of our own lives. How often does Christ come to us, in church callings or through whisperings of the Holy Ghost, to ask us to simply give what we have so that He can make it so much more? What a privilege it is to be called by the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Son of God, to give our own little portion in building up His kingdom. What doesn´t make sense is that sometimes we just don´t give it all because we´re so caught up in how little we have. But the promise is the same. ¨Give me what you have, and I´ll do the rest.¨ The grace of the Lord never ceases to amaze me. It is something so beautiful, so magnificent, that the Lord can take us in His hands and make us into so much more. How grateful I am for the Gospel and for the person that it´s making me. I look back on when I started the mission, and even a couple months ago, and I just feel like a completely different person. I don´t have a lot of fish to give, but I´m finding that if we give in faith, the Lord will paint a masterpiece in our lives.
Well, I best be off. The kid in the cyber is listening to pop in English and I can´t focus… I can´t wait to get home and listen to Hymns to get the Spirit back…..
I hope you all have a fantastic week and that you simply enjoy life in every moment. Don´t let a moment pass without seeing the Lord´s hand in it. It will add so much dimension to everything you do. Go bless a life today!
Hermana Pingel 🙂
P.s. I´ve attached a few pictures of my new co
mpanion and I along with one with all my mission ´posterity´. My 3 hijas, my 3 nietas, and my bisnieta… Totally putting that in a frame. 🙂
P.p.s. Katie- is there a hammock option?
Categories: Uncategorized

M-I-L-A-G-R-O-S

Mi-ra-cle: (Also see; tender mercy, grace, faith, signs) Extraordinary happenings caused by the power of God.

Who believes in miracles? This hermanita right here. Miracle Number 1: We put the goal this week to meet our daily goals each day. And up through Wednesday, we´d been able to do so.

Thursday morning, I woke up with my eyes hurting pretty bad. Well, we went out and got to work. We did come home after lunch so I could sleep and rest my eyes a bit. It´s kinda frustrating when I can´t even look at the people. Anyway, afterward, we went to work and decided that we´d work hard to meet all our goals early and then come home early.

At about 8 o´clock, all we needed was to find one new investigator- someone who accepts the baptismal invitation. We stopped by the house for something and then were gonna go back out again. But I sat down and just couldn´t bring myself to get back up again. As kind of a last resort, I said to Hna Petien, ¨Hey, let´s find a new investigator over the phone…¨ Haha desperate, right? But she took the idea and ran with it, looking in the Area Book for an old investigator that we could call up. She looked at one of the first registros that were there and asked, ¨Hey, who´s María Diaz?¨ And it was like a lightbulb went off in my head. María is a young single mother that I visited a couple of times with Hna. Quito. She´s super awesome and really likes everything. We stopped visiting her because she never did go to church. So I called her up to see how she was and to see if we could pass by sometime to visit her. She totally set up the appointment on her own and it kinda caught me off guard. So I asked her if she still has her Libro de Mormón and she said that she always reads it, especially when she has a rough day because it helps her a lot. So I asked her if she had thought much about the things we had taught her, particularly about baptism. She excitingly told me that she had and said, ¨Yeah, I really want to get baptized. I want to change.¨ Totally not what I was expecting. So I stammered out a ¨Not a problem. We can help you with that!¨ (Haha.. ´Ask the missionaries… they can help you!´) After I hung up, we just stared at each other, absolutely speechless.

Long story short, God sees every effort we make. He knows the desires of our hearts. And if we do all we can, He will make up the rest. That´s grace. That´s what I received all day long and it´s what we experienced that night. The Lord truly is in the detailes. It is His work. It´s not mine. I can´t do it on my own. I´m human. I have weaknesses. In fact, I could hardly function that day. But the Lord made up the rest. We just have to do all we can to meet Him half-way. And if we do all we can and can´t even make it that far, He´ll come to us. Every single time.

Miracle Number 2: For Saturday, we were planning 3 baptisms- Pedro(an hermana´s 14 year old grandson from Argentina), Blanquita (a 9 year old in the branch that, as it turns out, never got baptized), and Gabriel (an hermana´s little boy that just turned 8). Earlier in the week, we had talked with President Benitez about performing the baptisms because they all want him to do it. Todo tranquilo. But Friday night, Eligia(Gabriel´s mom) called us and told us that President said he wasn´t gonna be there on Saturday for the baptism. Uh-oh. We may have panicked a little. We simply didn´t know what to do. Especially because President hadn´t answered his phone all day. So we stopped by our house on the way to his house to pray. We quite literally just dropped to our knees and pleaded that the Lord would fix the situation we were in. We had done all we could. We had planned, prepared, prayed, made calls, done visits, and there was nothing else we could do but put it all in the Lord´s hands.

After praying, we went straight to President´s house and asked him if he was gonna be able to be there. And he told us that he had just barely sent a text message to Eligia saying that he´d be there and that he´d pass by to give them a ride in the morning. Wow. And just like that, my testimony of prayer was strengthened. God listens. He loves. He wants to help. All we have to do is humbly reach up.

Miracle Number 3: All week long, we had worked, stressed, prayed, and basically worn ourselves out to make things happen. Up until Sunday, we had reached all our goals, had talked with a ridiculous amount of people, and had learned to trust in the Lord more than ever.

In the very last lesson that we had on Sunday, we found a lady who was… super happy to see us clapping outside her house. Weird, but refreshing. Her name is Carmen, and as we talked with her, we learned a little about her story.. She lived in Argentina before, and her husband traveled a lot for work. He worked in a boat and went on long trips and so she never really knew when he´d get back. One day, she was pretty down because her husband had been gone for a long time and had recently advised her that they would delay even more.

She came across some missionaries that started to share with her about the Book of Mormon and the Restored Gospel. They asked why she was so sad, and she explained her situation. They promised her that in that week, her husband would return home. She said, ¨I remember well that not even three days passed before my husband returned home. Just like they said.¨ She loves the Book of Mormon. She said that it has helped her more than anything else. She went to church various times, but stopped when the missionaries suddenly stopped visiting her due to transfers or something. She was excited to accept a new Book of Mormon and to set up a time to visit again. And when we walked away, we walked on air. It was the last lesson.

After a week FULL of working hard to give everything we have, in the very last lesson, we found a person ridiculously ready to accept the Gospel in her life. And I got to thinking- isn´t that how God works? He tries our faith. He tests our obedience. He checks our diligence. And after we prove ourselves faithful, the blessings are showered down. I was in awe. We have truly been eyewitnesses to the goodness and the power of our God in this week.

These 3 miracles are only a portion of the hand of the Lord that we saw all throughout the week. It has been truly incredible. And I can now say that I know that when we do all that we can do, the grace of the Lord is sufficient for us. The question is simply if we will have the faith to see the miracles. That´s what I´ve learned about faith. It is, quite literally, the decision to see miracles in our daily lives.

I hope you all have a marvelous week, and that you all have the opportunity (and the faith) to see miracles every single day. It´s gonna be a good week! 🙂 I love you all! Go bless a life today! Hermana Pingel

bekah 4-22-13 4 bekah 4-22-13 3 bekah 4-22-13 2 Bekah 4-22-13 1P.s. Good news! We now have 2 hours to write to friends and family on p-days! Could you tell? I just wrote a novel… Now I don´t have to stress about time!

Categories: Uncategorized

Bone-chilling cold, ticklish monkeys, 136 buckets of water, and the worth of a soul.


bekah 4-15-13 1 bekah 4-15-13 2 bekah 4-15-13 3 bekah 4-15-13 4 bekah 4-15-13 5Hello, hello!
I feel like I have so much to write with so little time! So to save a little time, I´m gonna paste my letter to Presidente Madariaga. Suerte with Google Translate! I hope it comes out making sense!

Tuvimos una buena semana llena de milagros y bendiciones del Señor. Nos esforzamos cada día para lograr nuestras metas diarias, y tengo un testimonio de que Dios siempre tiene alguien preparada para escucharnos. Un día en la semana, estaba acercando la hora cuando tuvimos que estar en la casa, pero todavía nos faltó encontrar un nuevo investigador. Así que con una oración en el corazón, nos pusimos contactar. Entramos en una lección con algunas señoras que eran muy amables, pero no tenían ninguna intención de cambiar. Salimos de esta lección y yo no sabía que pensar. Me puso triste porque no querían aceptar el mensaje del Evangelio Restaurado, pero decidimos que Dios tenía otra persona preparada. Así que continuamos contactando. Golpeamos en una casa y salió una chica con quien hablamos un poco de la Restauración. Expresó sus deseos de saber cual de todas las iglesias es la verdadera, y aceptó la invitación bautismal con mucho animo. Salimos de ahí con testimonios más fuertes y firmes de que, verdaderamente, Dios nunca da mandamientos sin prepararnos la vía para que cumplamos lo que nos ha mandado. Es Su obra. Hemos sido llamados para trabajar en ella. Y si trabajamos mucho y confiamos más, Dios abre las puertas y vemos Su mano en cada momento.

Google translation:
We had a good week full of miracles and blessings from the Lord. We strive every day to achieve our daily goals, and I have a testimony that God is always someone ready to listen. One day in the week, was approaching the time when we had to be home, but we still failed to find a new investigator. So with a prayer in our heart, we got contact. We went into a lesson with some ladies who were very friendly, but they had no intention of changing. We leave this lesson and I do not know what to think. It made me sad because they would not accept the message of the restored gospel, but decided that God had prepared another person. So we continue contacting. We hit a house and came out with a girl who spoke a little of the Restoration. He expressed his desire to know which of all the churches is true, and accepted the invitation baptismal much encouragement. We left there with stronger and stronger evidence that, indeed, God giveth no commandments without preparing the way for us to fulfill what has commanded. It is His work. We are called to work on it. And if we work hard and trust more, God opens doors and see His hand at all times.
Okay, now first things first, Mauricio got baptized on Friday! It was a beautiful day- one that he´s been waiting for a long time. I told you a little about how we found him, which was back in January. And he´s been just waiting to be able to finally take this step. It was super crazy getting ready for the baptism though.. we got to the chapel that morning to find the worst thing that a pair of missionaries could find 5 hours before a baptism- a super dirty baptismal font, full of old water and lots of dead bugs. We started to drain the font but, knowing that it would take forever to empty sompletely, got out all the buckets we could find. I was just gratefkul that the door to dump the water was close. It was quite the task. We may have fallen into the font as well.. But we finally got it all emptied, cleaned away all the grime til it shined, and then left the water running while we went to a lunch appointement. When we got back, we found the second worst thing that a pair of missionaries could find 2 hours before a baptism- a still mostly empty font. So we got out the buckets again. But this time, we were sure to count- 136 buckets later, the font was filled and we had done our arm exercises for the next 2 weeks. But amazingly enough, 3:30 rolled around and the font was clean and full. I believe in grace. And I know for myself that we recieve it after we do all we can do.
On Thursday, we went to the temple, and it was wonderful. We got there a little early to be able to do baptisms and confirmations before the session. It was really nice. It´s been a while since I´ve done baptisms. I felt the spirit very strongly in the temple, and it filled me up with energy and animo to be able to work hard and trust harder. 
I´m sorry it´s so short, but know that I love you all very very much. Have a fantastic week! Go bless a life today!
Hermana Pingel
 
P.s. Winter is coming on… It´s starting to get ridiculously cold.. Haha, 63 degrees and I´m absolutely dying.. What is this?
P.s. again, this time for Taylor. I met a monkey this weekend and I think it was the cutest thing I´ve ever seen. Fun facts: Monkeys really do look for bugs in your hair, they have a super super strong grip they like cheese puffs, and they´re totally ticklish. I´ll be sure to sneak one home for you. 

 

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Oh, what a beautiful morning!

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Hello, hello! It has been a wonderful week full of a little bit of everything. But first things first… Sonia got baptizedon Saturday! It was a beautiful day. We´ve been working with her for quite a while now. She was actually going to get baptized in January, but she freaked out a little bit because she doesn´t have any support from her family. She basically has to sneak out to be able to go to church on Sundays. She´s 26, is married, and has two kids, but they live with her parents, who are super, super catholic. Anyway, it´s been a little tough. But we have definitely seen the Lord´s hand as she´s been filled little by little with the desires to do whatever it takes to follow her Savior, Jesus Christ. Super cool- she was worried last week because she didn´t know how she was going to manage to get baptized without her family going crazy on her. She said she couldn´t bring her kids to the baptism becaus
e they´re all over the place, and she couldn´t say, ¨Hey, mom, could you watch the kiddos? I´m gonna go get baptized in the church that you don´t like.¨ So she prayed to find a way, and what happened next has strengthened my testimony more than a little. Someone randomly invited her kids to a birthday party that would be Saturday afternoon. The party was at 4, so she dropped them off and headed over to get baptized at 4:30. Heavenly Father never ceases to amaze me. He is so perfectly wise, so perfectly organized, so perfectly attentive. Was it coincidence that the birthday party fell right on her baptismal date? Was it coincidence that the people that threw the party had never invited her kids over until Saturday? I´d even go as far to say that Heavenly Father chose the day that the kid was born because He knew that a few years later, Sonia would need Him to invite her kids to a birthday party. So many little details that we don´t think about. But God is aware of them all. Really, everything that happens is so intricately organized and designed from on high. It´s like a symphony. Heavenly Father organizes a little here, guides a little there, composes every little part so that every moment is a part of a beautiful masterpiece, with the sole purpose of helping us to be happy. Forever. And lately, I love to just sit and listen to God´s symphony. See His hand in the little things. Watch people change. See miracles take place. Notice the little blessings. Because every little moment really is a part of something so much bigger. It is part of the work of the Almighty God. And if we listen, we can have the grand privilege of being moved and stirred by the softest notes by the smallest instruments.

Well, my time is short. But I send my love and hope that you all have the best week of your lives. Go bless a life today! 🙂

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Pingel

P.s. A blip for Jamie Brittner. She wrote me today with a few questions, so if you could post this on the blog with the letter, that´d be great. I can only write letters to the immediate family. Piribebuy is fantastic! I love the members and we are trying to work together a lot. Lots of people talk about you. ¨Una aaaaalta, rubia…¨ Haha You´ve left good footprints here. Ninfa did have her baby and he is absolutely adorable. I think he´s one of the most tranquilo babies I´ve ever met. We´ve been about to been with her husband just one time, but it was a really cool lesson and the spirit was really strong. We´re working on figuring out when we can find him again with his crazy schedule. It´s been a couple of weeks since Ruben y Leyla have made it to churc

h, but we´re gonna go have a Noche de Hogar with them tonight. I´ll also ask the familia Velasques for their names so you can find them. And I´ll tell them to look you up too. I gave your name to Ninfa a while back so she could find you on there, but I´ll go do some follow-up. 🙂 Thanks a million for the letter and the postcard from a while back! It´s definitely fun to hear from you. I hope all´s going well. ¡Suerte en todo!

 

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¡Sorpresa!

bekah 2-19-2013 Bekah 2-19-2013 2 Bekah 2-19-2013 3 Bekah 2-19-2013 4 Bekah 2-19-2013 5 bekah 2-19-2013 6Okay, it´s been a week of locos… I´m training! On Monday, they called to tell us that we didn´t have changes and that we were together for another cambio. So we just kept working just like any other week, right? On Wednesday morning, I woke up like any other morning, exercised, showered, washed my clothes, etc. Todo tranquilo. After we had already started our personal study at 8, the Assistants called to tell me ¨Hey, hermana. There was a little bit of miscommunication…. you have changes today…. And you´re training. Your companion is here waiting for you…¨ Haha I´m pretty sure I spent a good 10 minutes trying to decide if he was joking or not.. The only problem was that for changes, we have to be in the offices at 7, 7:30… and we live a few hours away from Asunción… So I booked it to Asunción in a taxi and Hna. Quito stayed back with a young woman in the branch to pack. I got to the meeting for trainers and new missionaries super late and walked in while Presidente Madariaga was talking. Oops. Needless to say, I was pretty caught off guard. But I´m excited to be training again. The first time, I was a nervous wreck. But I learned a whole lot and I worked a lot harder when I trained. So I´m excited to kick it up and learn a whole lot more. My hija is Hermana Petien from Nicaragua. And…. she´s 19! How cool! She´s the first 19 year old hermana in the mission. Super cool to see how fast she was to respond to the prophet´s call. She´s a hardworker and we get along really well. I¨m excited to be able to work with her and serve together here in Piribebuy. We´ve already had some really wonderful experiences- I feel like so much has happened! From trying to teach Primary while a kid was acting like a dog to having Jehovah´s Witnesses contact our house.. haha… ¨You´re mormons, right?¨ ¨Si, Señor. We know it, we live it, and we love it!¨ It felt good to have a pamphlet to give him in exchange for his own. And to testify of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I never get tired of testifying of the Restoration and my Savior. Life´s good. 🙂
I thought long and hard about whether or not I´d answer Dad´s question.. Could you have left a trunkier p.s….? Don´t worry; that wasn´t a challenge. But my last change finishes June 18. My trainer left for home this week and it rocked me hard. But it feels like something has clicked t his week inside me and I realize that I can´t waste or misuse a single minute. There´s work to do and the Lord is trusting me to do it. So as much as I don´t like it, I suppose it helps me to realize that time is short so I recognize each day what a wonderful opportunity I´ve been given.
Mom, as for your trunky question… I left a manila folder with all the stuff that needs to be done for school and when. I don´t remember it all right now, but I believe the first thing would be fafsa. I already have a housing contract, so you don´t need to worry about that. I´d just take a look at the folder. Sorry I didn´t help much in answering the question… I don´t remember!

Okay onto a happier note … To save time, here’s an excerpt from my letter to the President ..I hope everything goes well with Google Translate!
This week, we strive to meet our daily goals every day, and saw many miracles in the process. When looking over the Spirit’s guidance in making plans and all day, we could see that the Lord really directs this work and help every step. With more effort to be more obedient, Spirit was with us is over. Each day, we had at least one lesson where the Spirit was very strong. We left those lessons and all we could say was after ‘…. wow … ‘I’m shocked much the parable found in Jacob 5. In the end ‘the servants were and trabajoaron with all his might, and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them and obeyed their mandates throughout the vineyard of the Lord’. This is something we saw this week. To do more to be more obedient, more humble, more diligent, we saw that the Lord really does work in this area with us. We are not alone. God prepares everything and if we work hard, we can see and work with him every step.

We found a few investigators this week that have been ridiculously prepared to accept the Gospel. One man, Mauricio, we have randomly found in the colectivo 5 or 6 times. I sat next to him about a month ago and we started to talk. I gave him a folleto about the Plan of Salvation, and the truth is that I didn´t think a whole lot of our little exchange. The following week, I found him there again and sat next to him once more. He told me he read the whole thing and loved it, so I gave him a folleto explaining the Restoration. We talked and he accepted the baptismal invitation and told us he wanted us to go to his house. Later that week, we found him again on the colectivo that passes his house. Which was a huge blessing because I didn´t understand the directions he gave us to get to his house. So I sat right behind him and he told me he, once again, loved the folleto. So I gave him a Book of Mormon and he showed us his house. We passed by later to visit with him and he had already started reading. We went again on Saturday and He told us that he called in sick for work because his head hurt… and told us that when he reads a whole lot, his head hurts.. oops. 😉 But he went on to tell us about how he had prayed and prayed that God would send somebody to help him find peace in his life and know how to help him follow Christ better. And then I sat next to him on the colectivo. As he told us about how he had been looking for someone to fill the gap in his life, I was completely humbled. I realized that the Lord had chosen to work through me with a simple act of sitting next to someone on the bus. I had no idea who the man was or what he was praying for. But Heavenly Father did. So He planned everything. He put him on the same bus as us repeatedly to make sure we found his house. He made it so the seat next to him was open just as I was getting on the bus. He did everything. And I had no idea. And it floors me to think about really just how involved God is in every little detail. I´m just incredibly grateful to be able to be an instrument in the hands of the Maker and I pray that He will find reason to continue using me to bless the lives of His children. Really, there is nothing better. There is no greater cause. There is no greater plan. And there is nothing better than to know that we can be a part of it. Go ahead. Ask me if I love my life.
Bueno, I must be off. There are people to serve and a wonderful Gospel message to teach. I hope you all have a fantastic week and know that I love you more than the Reese´s cups that I finally finished off! Go bless a life today!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel
P.s. pictures attached: a few from last week at the catholic church with Hna. Quito, with my new companion Hna. Petien, and our ´family photo (My trainer, me, the other sister that she trained with her hija, Hna Navas and her hija, and my new hija. That one´s going in a frame. 🙂

 

 

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¡Feliz Lunez!

Haha Mom… Google translate alllmost got it right. It ended up saying, ´we love each other and we miss our beautiful daughter.´ Haha I´m glad to hear you all love each other. 🙂
It´s been quite the P-day– We went to Caacupe and visited the Catholic church. Yep. Field trip! Haha it´s a massive building and from the top, you get quite the view. So we went to check it out. 🙂 I must admit, I felt super uncomfortable inside, but the view from the top was beautiful. Especially after it had rained last night and this morning. All green and just beautiful. Gah! I love it here! Anywho, I don´t have a whole lot of time because we went there and then came home and I had to wash all my clothes. I´m trying to attach a picture, but the computer´s being slow, so if it doesn´t load up, you´re gonna have to wait for pictures… Sorry!
We´ve seen lots of little miracles this week, and I know without a doubt that the Lord has been involved in His work. He truly does know everything and everyone. He is aware of every circumstance and every possibility. And if we seek His help and guidance, miracles will happen. We will notice more of His hand and His involvement in the littlest things. I love to look back and think on how God has worked in every day. We truly are so very blessed in every moment.
Well, my time is up and the picture still didn´t load.. We´ll pray for a faster computer next Monday! I hope this week is a great one- that you can all see the Lord´s hand in all the little things. If you do, it´ll be the best week you´ve ever had. 🙂 I love you! Go bless a life today!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel
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