Oh what is in a name?

bekah cakeOkay, a warning before you look at the attached picture… I made a birthday cake for a young woman in the branch today.. Haha I don´t have your gift. And it didn´t help that the frosting was normal one second and melting the next due to the heat.. You might wanna sit down before you fall down laughing.. Haha it´s super crooked and looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. I wasn´t gonna send a picture, but I thought to myself, ´Hey self, Mom might need a laugh today.´ So there ya go. As long as it tastes good, we´re satisfied. 🙂

As for the piano thing, don´t get too excited.. it´s super rough… I found a ´Hymns made easy´ book in the house and only with lots of practice can I stumble through a song. When we don´t have lunch appointments, we go to the chapel to practice a bit. Anyway, it´s definitely nothing close to professional, but I´m doing what I can and praying for lots of grace as I sit down on the bench. Please make sure the boys keep practicing ever day..
I´m happy to hear about the solid examples that the boys are being. More often than not, we think of missionary work as proselyting and working with people that aren´t members of the Church. But even active members of the Church need to be invited to come more fully unto Christ, and that is somthing we can do through our words and our examples. Keep up the good work, boys! ¨Be not weary in well doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.¨(Doctrine and Covenants 64:33)
I´ve been thinking a lot this week about Jesus Christ and how He is the only way to be able to get Home. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. I´ve thought repeatedly on Mosiah 3:17, which says that ¨there shall be no other name given nor any other way or means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.¨ We had a lesson yesterday with a woman that insisted that she can pray to Jesus, Mary, and all of her Saints because they´re all basically the same. And until that lesson, I never really understood that scripture. That is, I never really felt it and believed it as much as I did as I testified that Jesus Christ is the only one that can get us to our Father in Heaven´s presence again. He is the only one that can save us from ourselves. And if we don´t go to Him with all our energy, all our heart, all our will, we cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God. Something I knew before, yes. But something that the Spirit recently wrote upon my heart. Something that I hope to continue writing upon my heart so that that name may then flow throughout my entire body. To my feet, that I may go wherever He may send me. To my knees, that they may readily bend in faith and humility. To my hands, that they may always be found in the service of others. To my shoulders, that they may bear the burdens of those that are heavy laden. To my mind, that my thoughs may be pure. To my eyes, that I may see all people as inheritors of the Kindgom of God. And to my mouth, that I may continually testify of Him and His infinite and saving Atonement. There truly is no other way. And if our focus isn´t completely on Him, where is it? Where are we? Before coming here, my focus wasn´t completely on Him. I was writing lots of things on my heart- Facebook, school, work, tv shows- but I wasn´t writing the name that really matters. And I hope and pray that the Lord will continue to engrave His name upon my heart, His countenance upon my own, so I may be recognized be Him as His own in the day that I stand before Him.
I hope you all have a wonderful week, and that you find and act on opportunities to share this name and this path with all those around you. Because there is really nothing more important. Go bless a life today! 🙂
I love you!
Hermana Pingel

 

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Que todo el mundo tenga (tuviera) un muy feliz cumpleanos!

Translation of subject line:  Everybody has (had) a very happy birthday!

Hola to you all!

Wow, what a birthday week! I hope everybody had a great day and that the great days keep coming!
It´s been a pretty crazy week over here. I love the area and I love the people. We´re working hard and learning to trust in the Lord and in His timing. We´re trying to put a big focus on working with the members. The branch here reminds me of Villa Hayes- iiiiitty bitty. We had 43 in church yesterday, which was awesome considering that last week there were 30. Although last week there was a dog too, but he didn´t count. We teach primary the first hour (which I love very much- we talked last week about how the Plan of Salvation is like our treasure map to be able to live with God again.. and I may have talked like a pirate.. in spanish..), gospel principles the second hour, and… I´m the pianist during sacrament meeting. I know, right? It´s a little rough…. Whenever we don´t have lunch appointments, we go to the chapel to practice a little. I´m praying a lot for grace… Anyway, I´ve never been so involved in church meetings before. It´s a little crazy, but I love it. I love being a part of our little branch and I get excited about any opportunity we have to serve our members. Funny how by serving, we have even more desires to serve more fully. It´s like a circle that never ends!
Okay, truth is, I don´t even know what to say today.. Haha the first time in weeks that I´ve had more time to be able to write, and I can´t think of what to tell you. I´ll make up next week, promise. But know that life is good and that the mission is the best thing that´s ever happened to me. I´ve grown so much and I´m doing things I never thought I´d do or never had the strength to do. I´m learning about what it means to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I´m learning about the Holy Ghost and how to follow it´s whisperings. I´m learning that God knows and loves each and every one of His children. And I´m coming to understand more of what that means for me. So life is just a joy. 🙂
I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week and that all goes well. But if not, I hope you all remember that eternal life is always worth the fight. 🙂 Go bless a life today!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel
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Hola from Pirib ebuy, Paraguay’s little garden…

 

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Our backyard!

 

Hola, hola! Great to hear from you- sounds like the gang is doing great! So weird that everybody´s getting married… I feel so old… Send them my felicidades!

Well, I´m here in my new area, Piribebuy, and it is BEAUTIFUL. Seriously. I finally left a little further than my first area and am now about 2 hours from Asuncion. It´s a lot more country over here, which is a nice breath of fresh air. Rolling hills, LOTS of trees, red red roads and green everything else. I think the drive here was the most beautiful thing I´ve ever experienced. And I got giddy when I saw mountains. Well, almost mountains. They´re not quite like the mountains back home, but more like baby mountains, jr. But I still love them. I feel like I need to take pictures every time I go outside. And we´re walking up a lot of hills, so Bri- my calves are gonna be nice and hard. I think the only downside about here is the cockroach I found under the bed today… But other than that, it´s great!
My new companion´s name is Hermana Quito, from Peru. She´s super awesome. She has 3 months in the mission and has tons of energy and animo to work hard. Things are going super well so far and I´m excited for this change.
This weekend was the Día de los Reyes, or Day of the Kings. Two weeks after Christmas, they celebrate the day that the 3 kings went to worship the Boy Jesus. And the Kings here are like Santa Claus. Apparently, the kids believe that the kings are gonna go to their house and leave toys and presents at midnight. After ten o clock, all the parents run to the store to buy presents for their kids as soon as they fall asleep. It marks the end of the Christmas season, which is sad, because I thoroughly enjoy all the lights and pesebres. But it´s okay, I can talk about Jesus Christ every day. 🙂
Hey, speaking of all three of your girls being in Rexburg in the fall… could you fill out my fafsa for me? Otherwise, that might not be happening… thanks!
Okay one other favor. A few weeks back, we were walking down the street and a lady in her car stopped to talk to me… in English. She said she lives in Manhatten, Kansas and that she was visiting her family for the holidays. Haha she gave me her number and wanted me to add her on Facebook. She also told me that she wanted to introduce me to lots of friends at home to share with them. And then totally invited me over for the Fourth of July to swim in their pool and stuff. Basically, we´re best friends now. She said she was gonna be back home after the holidays. Could you look her up and tell her I say hi? And maybe send the missionaries after her…? That´d be awesome. 🙂 Her name is Sonia Elcheverry(or Etcheverry, not entirely sure) Nelson and owns Nelson Poultry Farm. Her number is (718)216-4434 just in case she can´t be found. Anyway, she´s super cool and needs to come unto Christ. 🙂
Well, I´ve gotta go. Sorry so short, but my companion is having problems with her computer so I´m gonna pass this one on. I hope you all have a super fantastic week and that all your wildest dreams come true. Go bless a life today!
Love you all!
Hermana Pingel
Fotos- The drive here… Mountains! Kind of! And our back yard. It´s fantastic.
                                                              The drive to my new area
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Feliz Ano Nuevo!

bekah favorite pic

Happy New Year´s Eve!  Man, I´m sorry everybody´s been so sick… No fun! But I´m glad to hear that most everybody is doing better.

The news about Grandpa Durney definitely caught me off guard. But I´m glad that he´s resting now. I´ve been studying a lot about the Plan of Salvation this last week- it´s just been calling my attention a whole lot and I don´t know why. But it´s such a perfect plan and learning about it just makes everything make sense. The pain we suffer on the earth makes sense. The trials we pass through make sense. Even death makes sense. I´m glad that he´s been blessed to be able to move on to another phase of this great plan and leave behind all the pain he was suffering. I think often about what President Nicholes said when he set me apart- he said that I wouldn´t need to worry about going somewhere that seems scary because I´d have beings on the other side of the veil watching over me. I like to think that I´ve got all of my grandpas on my side wherever I go. 🙂
Here´s the latest news- we have changes this week.. And I´m heading out! I´m going to Piribuyi (something like that- I´m not entirely sure how it´s spelled yet) and Hna. Macahuachi is training! She´s definitely not excited. Haha it reminds me of when I found out I was gonna train… I was super nervous! But it was a really good experience and I learned a whole lot. I´m sad to leave the area- I´ve grown very fond of this place. The members are just starting to get enthused about the work.. and I leave… But it´ll be good for Hna Macahuachi´s new companion to come into the field while the ward is on fire. So while I´m sad to go, I know that the Lord sends us where we need to go. I´ve had many many experiences where I´ve just known that the Lord is guiding my footsteps. Maybe not during the fact, but after. But He´s always preparing something. He´s always setting up the next act for us to come on and watch the plot unfold as it changes us in the process. I´m excited to keep learning. It´s super weird to think though… I only have 4 changes left (more than 5 months, thank you very much…). Time is flying.
It´s crazy to realize that 2012 is coming to an end and we´re gonna welcome in 2013. So to welcome it in, I´m gonna share a few of my goals for 2013 (mostly things I can only do after the mission)
1. Serve honorably every day.
2. Never, never, never miss a Sunday in church.
3. Go to the temple once a week
4. Be a temple worker
5. Learn how to use a budget
6. Read the Book of Mormon in Guarani
7. Offer contributions and donations in different areas each month (mission fund, temple fund, etc.)
Sorry it´s such a random number… I still haven´t finished my list yet! Haha I love you all tons and hope that you have a wonderful week. Enjoy the beginning of a new year. I know I will… They´re lining the streets up again with firework stands..! 😉
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel
Bekah santa hat
Bekah jammies 2012Bekah foil nativityBekah cute with comp
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SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA

 

Hola a todos!
I´m warning you now that I´m not gonna write much today…. But next week we´ll just talk instead. 🙂 Good news! We found a cyber that´ll be open on Christmas, so we´ll be there about 3 o´clock, 10 in the morning your time.Google plus is just fine with me. Number one, because I wanna see Adam and Darcy too, and meet little Emma Lou. Number two, because I completely forgot my username and password for Skype. So Google plus it is! We´ll run by to double check with the cyber and let you know for sure for sure on Monday. But I´d plan on about that time.
Well, that´s all I´ve got for today. Lots of awesome stuff happened this week, as well as lots of tough stuff, but I´ve been able to feel the love of our Heavenly Father, so it´s all good. 🙂 Be sure to remind me to tell you about the Christmas service activity that we did. It was awesome. Well, I love you lots! I hope you have a wonderful week! Go bless a life today!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel

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Our Savior’s love is like the sun in Paraguay!

Hola a todos!

Great to hear from ya- sounds like things are going well and that always makes me happy. 🙂 28 degrees, huh? Yikes! Haha Mom, you totally looked at the weather at night time here… 81 degrees would be nice and cool! Haha I´m getting nice and fried in the beautiful Paraguayan sun. Evenly roasted everywhere. Oh, what fun… Wanna send a snowball my way?
It has been an AWESOME week. Last Sunday, we started our 40 day purification fast. I don´t know if you remember it- they told us about it when I first started the mission. You fast one day, make a list of things that you do that keep the Spirit from being with you more fully, and then make a covenant with the Lord to abstain from doing those things for 40 days. The promise is that by doing so, the Spirit will be with you much more consistently and much stronger. I´ve done it 3 or 4 times, but I put things that were fairly general and non-specific on my list, and I wasn´t super diligent about it. But this time it´s super different. I feel like I really have the desire to change and come closer to being the person that God wants me to be. The desire to really have the companionship of the Holy Ghost in all that I do. And I´m trying to be more accountable for how well I do with it each day. I made a chart with all the things on my list (there are a ton…) and each day I have to mark off what I did and what I didn´t do. It´s helping me a lot to see my progress and to see the areas where I need to work a little harder. Anyway, we´ve definitely seen the fruits this week. Every day, we were able to find new investigators that seem to really have a desire to act. Really, it was something incredible. We had tons of lessons every day, and we finished the week with the highest number of new investigators that I´ve seen. And I´ve felt the Spirit in a way that I´ve never experienced. I can feel it testifying to the investigators and to me during lessons. Example: Yesterday, we contacted a lady in the street named Tomasa. She invited us in to her house to meet her daughter that´s in a wheel chair. We began to teach them about the Restoration, and while we read in James 1:5 about the experience of Joseph Smith, she said, ¨Hey, I know exactly how that is. I had an experience with asking in faith.¨ She then shared the story about her son who, when he was 5 months old, was diagnosed with some infection throughout his whole body. The doctors came out and told her that he was going to die- that his heart had already stopped but they revived his heart. She wouldn´t accept that answer and knelt down right there and asked Heavenly Father to spare her son´s life. She said that as she prayed, other people in the waiting room came over to join her and prayed for her son as well. Today he´s a teenager and he´s as healthy as can be. From there, we talked about how miracles happen if we ask in faith. And that that´s exactly what happened when Joseph asked his question in pure faith. As we shared his own words, the Spirit filled the room. I felt what Alma called a ´swelling in your breast´. It was an incredibly powerful moment that I don´t think I´ll be able to forget. I knew in that moment that everything is true. I´d known it before, but I knew it even more, with even more power and force. And she felt it too. How could she not? Afterward, she invited herself to church on Sunday. How grateful I am for the Holy Ghost. It changes everything. We can´t do anything without it. It is the power of missionary work. It is what drives us to learn, to act, to be. And I just pray that as we continue working to purify ourselves, the Lord will find us worty to be instruments in His holy hands to be able to allow others the opportunity to feel what we feel and to come where we are. I invite all of you to do the same. 1. Fast for 24 hours in the spirit of prayer. 2. Make a list of behaviors that drive the Spirit away 3. Covenant with the Lord to not do them for 40 days. And see the fruits and share them with others. I promise that you´ll see the blessings. You´ll feel the difference. You´ll be able to be molded a little more in the perfect hands of the Lord.
I hope that this week is the best one of your lives. Go bless a life today. 🙂
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel

 

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Welcome to the hottest December….OF MY LIFE!!!

Hola mi querida familia! ¡Qué tal están? Buenas noticias- ¡vino el paquete de la navidad! Jaja Dios contesta las oraciones. 🙂 Muchísimas gracias por todo. I´m gonna have to ration out all the treats so I don´t eat them all in one week! Thanks a million! Y que pasa con Logan? Su mano es el mismo tamaño como la mia….
Sounds like things are going well up there. Do you have snow yet? I find it hard to imagine that you all have cold right now. Because it is ridiculously hot down here. Oh man… But with all the sweating and all the water, it´s a pretty good weight loss program!
It´s been a pretty good week. There have been lots of ups and lots of downs as well. But I really feel at the end of this week that my testimony of our Heavenly Father as a kind, loving, aware Being is much stronger. 2 examples: This last week I was having some eye issues again. And it´s a little frustrating when that happens. With any other problem, headache, stomach-ache, whatever-ache, I´d be able to still look people in the eye and talk to them. But when my eyes act up, I can´t. But there´s really nothing that helps, so we´ve just gotta keep chugging along. Well the other day, I got ready to have my personal scripture study and said a prayer, asking Heavenly Father to teach me what He wanted me to learn in my study that day. And I opened up in the Book of Mormon to continue with my reading in Ether. I read chapter 5 and when I read verses 5-8, I knew that I had found what He wanted me to know. In that chapter, it talks about the Jaredites´ journey to the Americas in their barges. They didn´t have sails, so they really relied wholly on the direction and the force of the waves to carry them. So the Lord send a furious wind to send them on their way. Because of the wind, they were tossed to and fro, they were buried in the depths of the sea, they were often enclosed without fresh air, and basically it just wasn´t a super comfortable trip, I´m sure. But with every wave, with every dive, they came a little closer to the Promised Land. And they recognized that, so they sang praises to the Lord every day for almost a year in their little barges. And isn´t that how it is with us? God doesn´t allow us to pass through trials because He´s forgotten about us. He doesn´t let us suffer a little because He doesn´t love us. Rather, He allows us to suffer a little because He sees the big picture. He sees were we´re going and how we´re going to get there. We don´t often see the goal or how to get there. But God does. And we just have to trust Him. Anyway, He gave me just what I needed to learn in the moment I needed it. Example #2: Yesterday, we didn´t have any investigators in church. And I was a little sad. I sat there in Sacrament Meeting and was very much distracted. Little kids in front of me and behind me were running around and screaming, and I couldn´t hear the members as they bore their testimonies. I thought about our investigators and wondered what we could do to help them. I thought about our weekly activities that we´re having and how nobody showed up last week. (we recently starting them so we expected a really low attendance for the first few, but it was still a little disheartening) Anyway, I was in the middle of thinking about all the stuff that was going on and stuff that wasn´t going on when an hermano tapped my shoulder. He handed me his opened copy of the Book of Mormon and pointed to a few scriptures. ¨This is a beautiful passage¨, he said, and he signaled that I should read it. I read in Alma 26:27-30.
27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.

29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.

30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.
And I realized again that God is truly aware of us. There is no way that the hermano could have known what I was thinking. Sure, he may have noticed that none of our investigators came, but he couldn´t have known that I was thinking that I had no idea what I was going to do to help these people. He had no idea that I was wondering how things were going to work out with the activities and such. But the Lord did. And how grateful I am for people that are in tune with the Spirit enough to be able to comfort the heart of another. To comfort my heart. Those scriptures were exactly what I needed in that moment. And so I say it again: God is truly our Heavenly Father. He knows us. He loves us. He wants us to feel of that love. And it is often through other people that He chooses to show us that love. I´m trying to be more obedient, more diligent, and more faithful so I can be able to do that for someone else. So I can be an instrument in the Lord´s hands. For me, there´s nothing more important.
Well, I must be off. I pray that all´s well up there and that you can all see tender mercies in every day. They´re always there. We just have to have the eyes to see them and the hearts to recognize them for what they are. I look forward to hearing about the Lord´s hand in your lives this week. 🙂 Have a good one! Go bless a life today!
Con mucho amor,
Hermanita Pingel 🙂


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Feliz dia de la accion de las gracias!

Hello all! Happy Monday!

It´s been a wonderful, wonderful Monday. It rained this morning, we hardcore cleaned the house hasta que brillara, we got to go to Pizza Hut for lunch (it´s our zone leader´s last p-day before he heads home on Wednesday- it was DELICIOUS), and we got to clean the temple. Does it get much better? I love love love love being in the temple. We got to clean the baptismal font and the oxen again this week. After cleaning, we got to go spend a little time in the Celestial Room. I love it there. You just feel good. It makes me excited to live with my Heavenly Father again. After feeling what it feels like to be there, I´m ready to do all that it takes to reach that goal. And to make sure the whole family´s there. 🙂
Speaking of family- Sounds like you´ve got quite the week ahead! I hope you have a great time and especially enjoy the temple trip. How cool! I love that temple so much. Saludos and hugs to everyone you see this week! I almost forgot that Thanksgiving was coming up. As you guessed, they don´t celebrate that down here( be sure to eat an apple pie for me). But that´s okay. Everybody´s got Christmas decorations up and it´s fantastic. I realize that I´ve said something about that the last few emails, but it just makes me so happy. 🙂 It´s a testimony builder to me that God knows me. He sent me down here with the Paraguayans who, turns out, are Christmas fanatics. Also, I found milk that tastes like milk from the states! All the other milk is mildly gross. I haven´t had a good glass of milk for a loooong time. Until now! Haha so come what may, I´m content. 🙂
Cool story- I told you about our investigator, Daniel, right? Well he´s super cool. We got him some white shirts and a tie and pants (from Hna. Madariaga) and he was looking forward to attending chuch yesterday. But we got to church… 8 o´clock came and went… and he still wasn´t there… So we left Relief Society to call him but realized we didn´t have his number. Just in that moment as I was wondering what in the world we could do, one of the brothers in the ward came up and asked if nuestro nuevo amigo had come yet (he had come with us to a lesson with Daniel and they seemed to click right away). I told him that he wasn´t there and that we weren´t sure what to do because we didn´t have his number. So he says, ¨Well, I´m free right now. I´ll go see if I can find him.¨ So he left right then and there and started walking to his house. Turns out that Daniel didn´t sleep well the night before so he hadn´t woken up on time. But Hermano Pablo went and clapped at his house, woke him up, and brought him to church. Afterward, Daniel told us that he really likes to attend church and that he´s learning a whole lot and feels really comfortable there. Oh how grateful I am for members that understand and live the Gospel and are ready and willing to help the missionaries and investigators! What a huge blessing. We need to make him brownies or something…
So, I´ve revamped my whole study system to make my personal study more effective. I´ve tried using study journals before, but I guess I haven´t really known how to use them. So I tried again and set up a system that´s already helping a TON. I got a notebook and assigned pages to different topics. So as I go through my study, and I find something interesting or have a thought about a certain scripture, I look up the topic, and write it there. Anyway, it helps me a lot to look for themes and relating ideas as I read, and it´s proven to be much more effective. Yesterday, I was reading in 3 Nephi 19 (this chapter is a gold mine. Hay que leerlo.) and it was super cool. I came across a scripture that said that the people were praying continually and that they didn´t repeat many words because they had the guidance of the Holy Ghost as they prayed. That got me thinking about prayer and the importance of the Holy Ghost in helping us to know what to pray for. I looked up lots of other scriptures and came to a conclusion. We´re taught that if we ask, we´ll receive. But God will only give us something that is according to His will. However, those blessings we can only receive if we ask. The Holy Ghost allows us to know the will of the Father. It helps us to know what blessings He is waiting to give us. So when the Spirit tells us what we should pray for, it´s not that it´s taking away our agency in our prayers. Rather, it enhances them. It opens up possibilities. It helps us to ask for the right things, and then receive them. We´re taught that we must pray in the name of Jesus Christ, which isn´t just a pretty way to end a prayer. Whatever we do in the name of Jesus Christ means that we are doing what He would do. When we really pray in the name of Jesus Christ, we are praying the way that He would pray. We are asking for the things that He would have us ask for. Which brings up the question: if we don´t pray with the guidance of the Spirit or with real intent or a sincere heart, are we taking the Lord´s name in vain? It´s gotten me thinking a lot about the way that I pray. I want it to be more than just a moment to ask for stuff, but to really grow closer to my Heavenly Father and come to understand Him more. Anyway, my thought for the day. 🙂
Well, I hope that you have a great week! Eat some turkey, play some football, and enjoy the company of family. And remember that somebody in Paraguay loves you. 🙂
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel 🙂

 

 
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♪♫ I’m mister heat miser…♪♫♫

Hello from my end of the world!
It´s been a pretty good week. We´re seeing miracles every day, and I´m learning more and more about just how involved God is in our lives. Really it´s something incredible. He answers prayers. He knows our needs. And He´s always there. What a blessing!
On Friday, our little investigator, Brayam got baptized. I was gonna send in pictures, but I ended up with a computer that doesn´t have anywhere to plug in my camara… Maybe next week! But it was great. Lots of miracles in making that happen.
Yesterday was the Primary Program and it was too fantastic. Haha little sunbeams dancing and doing the wave in front, another boy doing karate moves while singing… It made my day. 🙂 Actually, what made my day was that one of our new investigators showed up to church yesterday and LOVED it. His name is Daniel and he´s seriously golden. We contacted him outside of his house while he was smoking. He is trying to change his life and wants to know which church is true. He even had a Liahona that one of his friends gave him a long time ago that he loves to read. Anyway, he came to church yesterday to find that he had lots of friends and neighbors that are members. He said he realized in that moment why they seemed so happy and why they had seemed to change so much for the better. And the thought crosses my mind- ¨How many people watch us and wonder? How many people that surround us are really prepared to receive the gospel but are just waiting for the invitation?¨ I think about all the opportunities I missed before to share the gospel with those around me, and I´m filled with the desire to make it up by sharing what I have with everybody for the rest of my life. Anywho, we´re super excited for him. He´s making big changes and we can see the Gospel start to work in him. That´s my favorite part. 🙂
We went to an elderly home yesterday for a ward service project and sang hymns. And I must say… I have never in my life been standing in the sun sweating while singing Christmas carols. Haha I´m excited for the next few months… 🙂
Bueno, I don´t really have much of any time right now… Sorry! But I hope you all know that I love you lots. Thanks for all you do and all you are. Have a great week and a great trip next weekend! Go bless a life today!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel

P.s. thanks a million for the song lyrics!
P.s. Katie- you had the genius idea in my dream the other night to walk around on Halloween with your head tilted back, mouth wide open and full of milk and cereal to dress up as a bowl of cereal. We both thought it was simply brilliant. Just so you know. Love you! 🙂

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It’s the most wonderful time…of my life!!!

Oh, familia mia!
¿Qué tal están? Great to hear from  you- sounds like things are going well and that all are happy, which is wonderful. That´s super crazy about the number of people sending in mission papers! It seriously blew my mind. Our district leader told us that we´re gonna be having a lot of missionaries coming in the next few changes and that the mission is gonna be growing a lot. But I suppose it´s nothing compared to what it will be like when these 4,000 missionaries a week start getting their calls! So cool! Missionaries are gonna flood the world! That´s how it should be. 🙂
It´s been a pretty good week. We didn´t work a whole lot because my companion is sick. She has some kind of bacteria in her stomach so she´s on some pretty hardcore antibiotics this week. So we´ve had a lot of down time. But on the bright side, my shoes have never looked better and I´m a couple hundred pages closer to my goal of reading Jesus the Christ before the end of the year. Oh man. I am LOVING that book. It´s too fantastic. I feel like I´m starting to understand the littlest bit more of who Jesus Christ is and what He did for me. I´m finding all sorts of little treasures and it´s giving me lots of desires to really study the New Testament more thoroughly. To all within the sound of this email that haven´t read it….. READ IT. 🙂
We just got back from the temple and it was wonderful. We got to clean up the baptismal font again and as I cleaned, I just thought about Pablo, who recently went to the temple to do baptisms for the first time. It made me scrub that much harder so he can have a nice clean font the next time he goes. Afterward, we went into the celestial room for a moment and it was as beautiful as ever. What I wouldn´t give to just sit there all day long. Now I feel a little lighter on my feet, and everything looks a little brighter. Gah, I love the temple!
Sorry so short, but I´ve gotta run. So I´ll leave a little bit of homework for the week- to read pages 160-162 of Preach my Gospel as a family, pray about it, and see what you can do to apply it. Therein lies the secret of success in missionary work! I look forward to hearing about the fruits this week. 🙂 Have a good one! Go bless a life today!
Porohayhu!
Hermana Pingel 🙂
P.s…. the supermarket is LOADED with Christmas trees and decorations. Am I happy? ¡Claro que si! 🙂
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