Hola, familia!

Hello, hello!

Another week has come and gone, and time is going way too fast for my taste. But it´s been a good week. Lots of ups, lots of downs, lots of ´I love being a missionary´ moments, and lots of ´I´m frustrated with myself for not being who I need to be moments. Haha so it´s been good.

We found a family this week! The familia Flores Resquin. They’ve got 5 kids, the oldest being 15 and the youngest 3. They´re super awesome. Two of the girls came to church with us yesterday (48 people in church yesterday- yoohoo!) and the 4 older kids came with us to the branch activity on Friday. They all made friends with some of the other young women and primary kids. Awesome! The only downside is that we haven´t had the chance to sit and visit with the dad and he´s leaving on Wednesday to go work in the Chaco and doesn´t get back until July. Blast. But the mom and the 4 older kids all have a baptismal dae for the 16th of June. They´re my happy thought these days. 🙂

Speaking of happy thoughts and baptisms- remember the lady I told you about last week with the horrible, horrible spider story? She´s getting baptized this Saturday! Yay! I´m super excited for her. She´s going to be a rock in the branch- she already is!

Last week in our district meeting, we talked about  The Book of Mormon and how we should use it more when we teach. So this last week, we implemented what we learned and presented The Book of Mormon in every first visit. It was really cool! Before, we would just leave them with a folleto if we had just met them, but we tried to focus more on getting copies of The Book of Mormon into people´s hands. We´ve been able to go in, get to know someone a bit, and then answer doubts and questions with passages from The Book of Mormon. We´ve been able to see a lot of people get really excited about the fact that the answers to their questions can be found in one book. And my testimony of the Book of Mormon is growing too as we focus on using it more and more. It really is the most powerful tool we have!

Well, I love you all a ton. I hope all goes well this week! Hurrah for Israel!

Con amor,

Hermana Pingel

P.s. I forgot to explain the picture from last week. We read 2 Nephi 27:11 and decided to fulfil some prophecy. Good day. 🙂 Also- I got my scripture cases! They´re super cool! Life´s good. 🙂

Hello from Villa Hayes!

Buen día! Fun to hear from y´all. I loved your little analogy of the trees. It made me think of President Hinckley. 🙂 And I must confess, when you said, ¨I guess that makes me a tree¨, I heard dad in my head singing/yelling, ¨I am a tree, I am a treeeee!¨ I had a little ´laugh to yourself´ kind of moment. 🙂
Things are going pretty well down here. I can´t lie though, it was a bit of a rough week. It rained a TON, so it was a little hard to work. We had appointments falling through on every side every day. But that´s okay. Still good.

We have transfers coming up on Wednesday, and it´s a sure bet that Hermana Estigarribia is gonna go. She´s been in the area for almost 9 months! Sheesh! Haha she knows this place like the back of her hand. We find out tonight where she´s going and who comes with me in her place. I´m excited to find out who will be my next companion. I´m sad to see Hna. Estigarribia go, though- we´ve become super great friends! I´ve learned a lot from her over the past 3 months, and I´m excited to see all the things she´s gonna do after she heads out to a different area.
I had to go in to downtown Asunción today with the three other missionaries that came down at the same time as me. We had to go in to sign some papers for our visas. Haha I was like a little kid as we drove through downtown. I just wanted to look at everything and explore! It was super cool. Unfortunately, I didn´t take pictures. Next time though. 🙂
How cool that everybody´s been finishing up the Book of Mormon. I just finished last week, and it was super cool. I was doing the study that Elder Bednar suggested at the MTC. I don´t remember if I told  you or not- the one where you get a fresh copy and study with a question or a theme in mind and mark like crazy according to that topic. Then when you finish, you write a 2 paragraph summary of  what you learned, choose another topic, get another copy of the Book of Mormon, and start again. So I just finished my study of the character of Christ, and it was really good. Unfortunately, I didn´t bring my copy with me- otherwise, I´d share my summary. But basically, my conclusion was that the character of Christ is basically summed up in the word ´love´. That´s really what He is. And we can put that character upon ourselves when we learn to turn outward in every situation we come across. My next copy is on the topic of deliverance. It´s cool- I´m only in 2 Nephi and I´m already finding that it´s full of the Lord delivering His people. Cool stuff. 🙂
Well, I´ve gotta scoot. Sorry it´s so short- I had to email the nurse and send some fun pictures… I´ve got some ingrown toenail action going on.. yay! Haha life is fun.. Anywho, I hope that you all have the best week ever! Happy almost May! Love you!
Hermanita Pingel
Ps. Nephi who?

Great to hear from you! It sounds like all´s well at home. Trees, huh? That is way too fantastic. I hope there´s a reasonable space between some for a hammock. Because I´m totally planning on buying an hamaca paraguaya before I leave this place.  Big, big fan.
We had interviews with President Madariaga on Friday, which was super great. He´s so awesome. We didn´t talk a whole lot, but it was still good. He asked me what everybody calls me at home… Becky? I almost shouted ´No!´ and threw up. But I didn´t. So we´re good. He promised my companion and I that if we do more street contacts and contact 75 people each per week, we´ll find at least 1 golden investigator each week. So we´re going to put it in practice this week and get talking.
Friday night, a brother in the branch passed away. We´ve been working a lot with him and his wife because she´s inactive, so we go to their house every Tuesday night. One day, he remembered that we were coming that night, so he bought some empanadas and cupcakes for us. 🙂 They´re super awesome and take good care of us. We refer to them as our abuelos. Anyway, he got sick this last week and just couldn´t hold up anymore. He was 82 years old and worked harder than a lot of people I know. He worked in the Bishop´s storehouse and took his job very seriously. He worked up til Wednesday and still, on Thursday and Friday, was thinking about work and the people that he was serving. A super great example. It was a bit of a blow to the branch, but the funeral on Saturday was one full of hope and gratitude. It was a really cool service, and the spirit was definitely present. We´re going to be seeing a lot of his wife this week, making sure that she´s not too lonely.
Yesterday was super awesome. There´s a less active sister in the branch that hasn´t gone to church in a few years. We go to her house every Wednesday for lunch and she´s super awesome. She finally came to church yesterday with her daughter and it was SO good to see her there! She talked with the branch president about going through the temple, and, after an interview, he said that she can go through next month if she keeps coming to church! Gah! She was super excited and so am I. So we´re gonna start some temple prep with her every week when we go to her house. How awesome. 🙂
Cool experience- Here, soccer is huge. By the way, I didn´t know Brandon was playing soccer. Haha what a fantastic surprise. Pictures would be lovely. Wink, wink, nod, nod. 🙂 Anyway, there are 2 main teams, or clubs- Olympia and Cerro Portaña. There are others too, but they´re like Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and they´re not as big of a deal. Olympia and CP are rivals, and they played yesterday. BIG deal. Well, Olympia won the game, so some people were super cranky while others were on cloud 9. I was on splits with a young woman from the ward and we were basically just contacting. We contacted a woman and were just finishing an introductory lesson with her when a car full of her happy family came to celebrate the big win. So naturally, we retaught a good portion of what we had already shared. And it was awesome. It felt so cool to be sitting there teaching 7 family members as they all listened intently. That was a moment when I thought, ´Wow. I´m a missionary.´ Super fantastic. Anyway again, one of the women that had just come asked me if we could come to her house sometime. She told us that she had a son that´s handicapped and she would like us to visit them. Awesome. Basically, a  whole lot of wonderful in that house. None of which would have happened if Olympia hadn´t won the game. Miracle of the day!
I love you all lots and hope that you have the best week that you could ever have!

Con muchísimo amor,
Hermana Pingel

P.s. who´s there?

(Her subject line will make sense when you read the last ps at the end of her letter)

¡Hola Familia!
Great to hear from you! Haha it sounds like a little bit of chaos going on at home right now… But still super awesome. Funny story- we were at the house of a family in the ward the other day. They have nine kids, too, but they weren´t all there. While we were getting ready to eat, one of them came to visit with the nephews and it was suddenly very hectic and loud. Haha I loved it. So much. 🙂
That´s so awesome that you all went to the temple together! Logan in the temple? Already? Wow! We get to go to the temple here pretty soon, and I´m very much excited. ¡Va a ser purete!
Hey, remember how you were talking about buying a calling card and sending it my way or something? DON´T DO IT!! Haha we get to Skype for Mother´s Day if we want. Which is my favorite price of free. Score!
Not much to tell about this week, we´re just chugging along. It´s starting to cool down a bit. Yes, it´s in the high 70s right now and I´m wearing a jacket. Something is a little off……. It´s been raining all day today, so you can only guess how giddy I am. The roads are now Los Rios de Mariano Roque Alonso. No joke. I feel like I´m breaking the ´no swimming´ rule. There was some INCREDIBLE thunder going on this morning during study time. I couldn´t focus! It was too fantastic.
Good news! We met a modern day, Paraguayan Joseph Smith this last week! We started teaching a kid that is super awesome. He has gone to lots of different churches trying to figure out which one is right and has a lot of doubts about the Catholic church that he goes to now. When we were getting to know him, he told us he´s ´Catholic´, complete with little finger quotations. He´s really great, and I´m excited to continue working with him and to see where he goes.
You asked last week if I have eaten anything weird yet.. Does cow liver count…? I didn´t ask what it was when I was eating it but decided it would be best to wait until after. I finally found out that night what I had eaten… I just said, ¨hm¨, put the dictionary down, and walked away to find something to eat before bed. Haha, and then I thought about how Katie would have reacted…. 😉
We went and visited a recent convert the other day, and he said something super awesome that has stuck with me. He said, ¨How can I not be sincere? I´m in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!¨ How cool. And how true! We often lose sight of how grand and important this Gospel is. And we´re a part of it! How can I not give all my heart to this work? Someone that spoke in the MTC said that true disciples of Jesus Christ aren´t meciocre. And really we can´t be. How could we? We´ve been given too much, and we´ve really got to give it all to the Lord. All or nothin´!
Well, I love you all a ton more than I can say in this little email-ito. Good luck with final wedding preparations and all that Jazz! Spencer and Randee- congrats! I´m super excited for you two! And I´m expecting lots of pictures. 🙂
Paz y Bendiciones! (Bri, that´s for you)
Hermana Pingel
P.S. Happy late birthday to Jordin! Yay!
P.P.S. The first picture is for you, Mom. I found the snipe! And I named it Kevin!
P.P.P.S The next two: I got a little crafty in theft prevention…. I have yet to write ´Santa Biblia´ though. It´s a work in progress. But my camera is nice and snug inside the cover of the word of God.
P.P.P.P.S. We had a zone activity today so the last picture is of us with the other Hnas. from the zone. They´re super awesome!
P.P.P.P.P.S. Wow, I always add a lot at the end of the letters… Sorry! But I´m super excited for conference this weekend! Haha I´m like a little kid waiting for Christmas to come!