no puedo pensar en un titulo. lo que quieras aqui (I can not think of a title. whatever you want here)

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Rebekah

I would like to start out by thanking McKay, Taylor, and Logan for all your inspiring words. I feel ready to take on the world, and I owe it all to you three. Have you thought much about going into inspirational speaking? I would totally buy your books. Actually, I would mooch and ask for a free copy because I´m your sister. But still, I´d read them. So I¨m counting on some being in print by the time I come home.
Okay, I hope you´re ready for this. Don´t think less of me because of what I´m about to tell you. The other day, for the first time in my life, I voluntarily, out of my own free will, put mayonnaise on my sandwich…… and liked it. I know! I´m a monster! Paraguay is doing weird things to me.. I´m eating fish, mayonnaise, and apple juice has been demoted to second place. I´ve got this crush on pear juice lately… Is it incredibly delicious? Yes. Yes it is. Speaking of juice, the juice down here is fantastic. They don´t use concentrate and hardly ever use the powder stuff. It´s basically all just directly from the fruit. Ohhhhh maannnn. So good.
Gah! Wedding! Super exciting! Is everything coming together okay? I expect lots of pictures. And if you´d like to send me some cake, that´d be cool. I´m sending lots of excited hugs to Spencer and Randee!
Okay, funny story. We had a district conference yesterday, and it was pretty awesome. President Madariaga spoke for 15 minutes at the end about keeping the Sabbath day holy. When we all finished and went outside, there was a man waiting outside the gate selling chipa, hoping that we´d all be hungry after our meetings. Haha, it was super funny. I wanted to go tell the poor guy that he wasn´t going to have much success after the talk we just listened to. Haha love it.
Speaking of chipa, I just realized that I haven´t said anything about it. Which is weird because it´s become an obsession of mine lately. It´s a kind of cheesy bread in the shape of an O and it´s the best thing in the world. The semana santa is coming up (the week of Easter) and word is that chipa is everywhere during that week, so I´m fairly stoked.
Quick question- I don´t know if you´re planning on sending out any packages any time soon. But when you do, could you find my Jenga game and send me 5 blocks? Just 5- for teaching purposes. 🙂
Haha, no I didn´t really buy a monkey. Maybe I should though. I´ve only seen one monkey, and it was the cutest thing ever.
Super awesome- yesterday we went on splits with some of the youth, which is a super great help for me because I´m suddenly in charge and have to carry the lessons. Anyway, we spent the day contacting because we need to find more people to teach. We fasted yesterday to be able to find people that have really been prepared, and we got to work. The first house we went to, we were able to talk to a man a little bit about our message and set up an appointment for another day. Before we left, I explained a little about prayer and asked the young woman with me to offer the prayer. When she asked him if there was anything in specific he wanted her to ask for in the prayer, he started to pray himself. Haha, I didn´t realize he was praying at first. It hit me halfway through that he was talking to God, and definitely not me… Anyway, in his prayer, he thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to him because he knew that we were sent to help him with a problem that he is facing right now. It totally caught me offguard and was very humbling. And I just thought about how amazing it is that Heavenly Father trusts me, 21 Hermana Pingel from Idaho that doesn´t speak Spanish, to come and find His children that are searching for the way home. It made me want to work harder, serve more fully, love more sincerely, and represent better my Savior Jesus Christ. President Heber J. Grant said, ¨We carry upon our shoulders the reputation of the Church- each and every one of us.¨ All of us have made covenants with the Lord and have promised to represent Him in all that we do. Everything we do should be in accordance with what the Church teaches and with what the Lord himself would do/did on the earth. As we do so, we can show the Lord that we are ready to be instruments in His hands. Because there are people everywhere that want to have a better relationship with their Father. And if we´re living worthily and seeking His help and guidance, we can have the incredible opportunity of helping somebody acheive that. What an incredible blessing. Basically, I´m a big fan of missionary work.
I love you all lots! Have a great week! Help the missionaries find somebody that needs the Gospel! (Ha. Everybody needs the Gospel. You have no excuses.)
Beeg hug, leetle hug,
Hermana Pingel

P.S. That reminds me- I learned this week that ´chancho´ means pig. Now your homework is to go watch Nacho Libre and see how much funnier that makes the movie.
P.P.S. Hahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahaahahahahahhahaha Mom, I miss your cheesy scripture jokes…. If I had one, I´d share it with you too. But I do have this- I was reading this morning about Kishkumen in the beginning chapters of Helaman. And there´s a scripture that says that so speedy was the flight of Kishkumen that no man could catch him. Did I think of the Gingerbread Man? Yes. Yes I did.
P.P.P.S I´M EXCITED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE TOO!!! Christmas in March! April? When is it….? YAY!!!!


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First Baptism!

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Rebekah

 

A big, fat HOLA your way!
It´s been a wonderful week, and an even better weekend! On Wednesday, we were at the church for ward choir practice (where I found out, by the way, that Pablo was in the choir. At first I thought he was golden. But he got bumped up to platinum.), and we found out that Pablo couldn´t be baptized on the 17th because we have district conference that weekend. But the Elders said that he could be baptized that Saturday even though he had only gone to church two times instead of 3. So he got baptized on Saturday!!!! Yay!! It was a super awesome night, and I just kept thanking Heavenly Father for letting me be a part of this awesome experience. So fantastic. =) The only part I didn´t like was that the other missionaries kept saying stuff about it being my first baptism. And all I could think was, ¨No, I was baptized when I was 8. This is Pablo´s!´ Haha I´m so excited for him and for the change that he´s making to follow Christ. What an awesome kid. And to McKay, Taylor, and Logan- There´s a picture I attached of a bunch of the youth that fellowshipped him and really made this happen. Your homework? If the missionaries are teaching somebody, befriend them! It makes a world of a difference when it´s the youth that are inviting to church and to activities and such instead of the missionaries over and over. Pablo was with the youth at least 3 or 4 times a week because they kept inviting him and became friends. By the time he was baptized, he was already more active than many of the members!

McKay!! Way to go! Wanna be friends? What song did you sing? Did people throw roses at you after you sang? I totally would have. But congrats! That really is awesome! Also, funny story, I was turning on some music on my iPod the other day and came across an app that I didn´t realize was there… Brostache…? Oh man. I haven´t laughed that hard in a loooong time. So thank you very much for the laugh.
Funny story again. You know the scene in Little Rascals where Alfalfa and his friend (I don´t remember his name) dress up as girls in ballerina get-up? Okay, good. There was this three or four year old girl yesterday in sacrament that kept walking in and out of the chapel. The parents here don´t really contain their children during church. They´re everywhere. Anyway, we were sitting in the back, so she walked past us every time. And every time she did, I almost died because she walked EXACTLY like Alfalfa´s friend in that scene. Oh man…. The end.
We went contacting yesterday for a few hours and met some really interesting people. We ended up talking with a lady for over an hour- scratch that. We ended up sitting there while a lady talked for over an hour. We were just going to go in, share a blip of our message, get to know her a little, and then set up an appointment for another day, but she just went off and we couldn´t cut in and say anything. Man, it was rough. I was 98% asleep for the first half hour, and then spent the rest of the time trying to figure out how we could get out so we could get to work. I don´t even know what she was talking about… One minute she was talking about a dream she had where she lost her body or something and the next minute she was talking about Santa Claus… ….what? Haha, after an hour I was just praying for an opportunity to tell her we had to go. And then her phone rang! Haha, I´m learning here more than ever that Heavenly Father answers prayers. Haha.. We contacted another young man, and it turned out that he knows quite a lot about the Bible and all he really wanted to do was Bible bash. He kept asking questions that we couldn´t answer. He asked if we even had our Bibles with us, implying that we didn´t really care about the Bible when we didn´t have them. Basically, it was a rough situation. And we couldn´t really talk because he´d cut us off. Hna. Estigarribia just kept saying that she didn´t want to argue and started to bear her testimony before he started on something else. There were a few moments where I though about how I could answer a question or explain something, but I couldn´t. Because I knew it would really do nobody any good. Answering questions won´t help anything if someone just wants to prove you´re wrong. I don´t know how many times I´ve read Alma 29, but his words never felt so applicable and true in my life. ¨O that I were an angel and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God.´ I wanted so bad to just stand up and express the feelings of my heart. I wanted to make it known that I know these things are true. But I couldn´t. So I just sat there, and, in my broken Spanish, told hime that I knew the book in my hands was true and that he could know it too. I just told him what I know, in a way this message really doesn´t deserve, until he cut me off again. We left shortly after that, and when we did, I was a little frustrated and worried that he would connect the contentious spirit that was there with the church. I replayed what had happened over and over in my mind, trying to figure out what I could do differently in that kind of situation. Most of all, I was worried that I didn´t carry the name of my Savior very well. But I came to the realization thatit´s okay. Sometimes there are people that just carry that Spirit with them. The question is whether or not I let that affect me. I did what I know how to do- bear testimony, no matter how simple or unqualified I may seem. It´s what I have and it´s why I´m here. And sometimes all I can do is share it and that´s okay. So it was a really intense discussion at the time, but now I´m glad that we were able to be a part of it. Because I keep learning with every little thing that happens. So basically life´s good. ´For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content´. (Philippians 4:11, another ´theme scripture´of my life.=)) I hope the same goes for all of you this week. =) Love you lots!
Con amor,
Hermana PingelP.s. I got like 5 dear elders yesterday that were sent a couple weeks back. From mom, Bri, Katie, Ethan, and Sister Pollock. Thanks! Bri- Wanna shoot me an email so I have your address and can respond? That would be lovely. Thank you beeg greel!
P.s. again- We went to the mall today so Hna. Estigarribia could get some shoes. It was like a completely different world! And then we went to Burger King for lunch. Have I ever enjoyed a hamburger and a Hershey´s chocolate sundae pie before? I submit to you that I have not. The end.
P.s. again- The picture of the eggs… I realized that there was one white egg among a bunch of brown ones and said in my head, ´I know how you feel, little egg.´ So that´s how that started. We´re teaching a lovely family, and one of them is drinking tereré, a drink that EVERYBODY is drinking all the time over here. Kinda funny.

P.s. again- There´s also a picture of us with two chicos. Se llaman Pablo and Tomás. They´re super awesome and want so badly to be baptized. All we´re waiting on is permission from their mom in Argentina! Hoping it comes soon!
 

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A pen? 25cents. A Machete? 25 bucks. Being incarcerated in your own yard with only a pen and a machete? Priceless!

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Rebekah

A big fat HOLA to all you people in the states, and a big fat FELIZ CUMPLEANOS to Taylor! Happy Birthday!!! You know, down here, 15 is a big deal. When you turn 15 you have this big huge fiesta called… wait for it… a Quince… and you dress up and have cake and music and lots and lots of presents. So felicidades on your big 1-5! I hope you have a super fantastic day! =)

Super awesome that Asunción was on that show! When was it shot? Now I´m curious. Yes, the river is fairly gross. We drove by it the other day when we were in the Elder´s zone, and I got all sorts of excited to see Argentina. It was fun. I have yet to go downtown Asunción though. But it´ll happen eventually.
The work is going great. This last week was a little rough with finding new people to teach, but that´s okay. Why? Because Pablo commited to baptism next Saturday!!! GAH!! Haha we´re a little excited. He´s super awesome and at church yesterday, it was like he was already a member. He was all dressed up and answering questions in class and it was super great. There was also a borracho that walked in for Sacrament meeting, and while that was a new experience too, it wasn´t quite the same as my excitement over Pablo coming… I´ve never sat through a meeting in church with somebody over the age of 3 talking and singing the whole time… Welcome to Paraguay..?
We don´t have a car or bikes so we just walk everywhere. Haha but I feel it´s safer that way. I´d rather not drive here….
We have lunch appointments every day and always go to members´ houses. You´ll be proud to hear that I ate fish twice in the last week. Actually, it was really funny. On Wednesday, we were at this sister´s house for lunch. We sat down and she put a full plate of rice and fish in front of each of us. But don´t worry, that´s not all. I turned my head, and there was this huge, monstrous, man-eating moth on the wall just behind us and to the side. Like, huge. No joke, it was bigger than my hand. Haha, so I´m sitting there, eating my white rice and fish with this giant moth in my periferal vision, trying to pay attention and participate at least a little in the conversation. Haha I had to make sure I knew where that thing was at all times. When we finally left the house, I just broke down laughing. Oh man. It was something else… And then last night we went to a sister´s house for dinner. We don´t typically go places for dinner, but there was some confusion and we´re good friends with this sister. So we´re sitting there and she came out with two pans of fish. But not ´pans of fish´. She came out with two pans, each one carrying a fish. A whole fish. With head and eye and tail and all. Haha thankfully I knew what was coming or I would have… Okay, I don´t actually know what I would have done! Haha I may or may not have been praying the whole way there… ´Heavenly Father, please help me to not throw up. Please help me to not make weird faces as I eat. Please help me like it. I´ve come all the way here to do thy work. PLEASE help me to like it.’ Haha she gave us some forks and the the four of us just dug in. And it wasn´t half bad! Haha she had stuffed them with some sort of salsa before cooking them, so it had some pretty good flavor. Haha Heavenly Father answers prayers, no matter how ridiculous they sound!
I did get one Dear Elder the other day. It says you wrote it Feb. 5th. Whew! Haha, so yeah, it takes a little while…. But I loved the poem! Why has it taken me over ten years to read it…?
Okay, one more story. I hope you´re ready with your popcorn because it´s more awesome if you can watch it in your head like a movie. The door to our house can only be opened with a key from the outside. There´s only a doorknob on the inside, so you have to have the key if you want to go back in. Outside, there´s a little patio deal with a good 8-10 foot tall metal fence around it. Every night when we come home, we padlock the gate. So the other morning, we went outside to go to our meeting with the ward mission leader, and the second Hna. Estigarribia shut the door, she realized she forgot the keys inside. But we couldn´t go inside and get them without the keys! A problem, right? Yeah, but we could deal with it. We figured we´d just go find somebody to help us or something. Until I wakled over to the padlocked gate… And realized that the keys for the padlock were with the house key…. We were stuck! Trapped in our own patio! Hahaha we had used the spare key recently and didn´t get around to replacing it, so we had nothing. The windows are barred for the most part. I sent a picture of our house a while back, I don´t know if you can see the windows really well. But the window on the far left is our bedroom window. That window doesn´t have any bars, but has the regular window that opens and closes along with some shutters on the outside. The shutters are deadbolted on the bottom, but not the top. The top part of one of the shutters was sticking out a little, so we decided we´d work there. We started pulling on the top to try to get to the dead bolt, but it was so tight and we couldn´t get a good grip without some sort of lever. But we basically only had our bags with us. And al we have in our bags is our proselyting materials, not levers. But I did have a pen, and decided ´Hey, it´s worth a shot, right?´ But as trusty as a Bic pen is, it got us nothing. So I started looking around for something stronger that we could use as a lever to pry the shutter open, and lo and behold, my eyes fel upon our machete that we use to maintain the plants around the columns. Golden. So I shoved the machet in betwen the shutters and we started trying to get it open. We´re going to stop for just a second ad take a look at the situation if that´s okay with you. We´re a couple of sister missionaries dressed in our Sunday best, standing at our own bedroom window at ten in the morning- me holding a machete in the shuters while Hna. Estigarribia is pulling on the shutter. Pretty awesome, right? Well, what´s even more awesome is that our neighbor chose that precise, priceless moment to be walking past. Haha, he´s walking by, ses us, and says, ´Good morning! What are you doing?´ Haha, so while we´ve got our hands/machete wedged in betwen the shutters, we look back to see our neighbor standing at the gate, and I just couldn´t help but laugh. Hahaha man, what an awesome sight we must have be. Haha we were talking to him about our situation with the padlocked fence betwen us and I felt like a prisoner that was receiving a visit from somebody. Slightly awkward.. ´Hi, we´re stuck in our yard and realy can´t do anything about it.. By the way, we´re missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ….´ Haha he grabbed his fiend and some tools and they busted the padlock, took apart the doorknob, and got us in. OH MAN. it was way too funny. When I die, I´m definitely asking Heavenly Father to let me wathc that moment over and over and over again.
Well, I´ve gotta go have some more crazy awkward spanish moments, but I love you all tons! Have a great weeeek!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel
P.s. Katie- you´d be proud. I finally learned how to successfully french braid my hair. Someday, I plan on being as awesome as you. =)
P.S. again- Bri and Nick- Yay for having a little boy named Carson! I´m super excited for you =)
P.s again again- Ben- Gracias for all the pictures! I was just sitting here smiling like a maniac as I looked at them. Congrats! She´s super cute! =)
P.s again again again- Mommy- could you let me know how much I have in my bank account? I´d like to pull out a little personal money. I wanna buy a monkey. Also, could you look up how many Guarani´s one dollar is worth? Thanks a million! Love you!
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This rain’s as thick as peanut butter…or pea soup…

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Rebekah

Hola, all!
It´s been a long, busy week, but at the same time, it feels like I just barely wrote home! It was super crazy- the other day, it rained all day long. But for real rain. Like a lot of rain. And I´m learning what the phrase ´rain or shine´ means. It was too fantastic. 🙂 I think I´m destined to just be wet all the time for the next year and then some… But the humidity is actually turning out to be a good thing. When I was in Provo, my knuckles and elbows were always dry and gross. But now they´re as smooth as a baby´s bottom. It´s a new sensation, and I´m enjoying it very much.
I went to my first zone conference on Thursday and it was super great. The focus was on charity and how we need to focus more on loving the people of Paraguay. So it´s something that I´m praying for every day and trying to put into practice with everybody that I talk to. President Madariaga also talked about the process of faith and how there are really four levels of faith, each with three different steps of hope, action, and confirmation. It was really cool, and someday I´ll show you the models and the things that they´re helping me learn.
We went and did splits for the first time on Friday, and it was a really good experience. I went with a young woman who is preparing to send in her mission papers in a few months and is really excited about sharing the gospel. It was a big help and a big teaching experience to suddenly have to be in charge. We taught some lessons, found some new investigators, and had a grand ole time.
Speaking of grand ole times, funny story- Yesterday at church, we totally didn´t have a pianist. We have a young woman that always plays on Sundays, but she wasn´t there. So we sang the hymns in Sacrament meeting acapella…. Barry Manilow style… Unfortunately, I didn´t count how many key changes we had.. Haha it was awesome.
Last weekend, we contacted a young man named Pablo and his grandpa. We were able to meet with them a few times this week and have some awesome lessons with them. We brought Noelia, the one preparing for a mission, with us, and she invited him to come play volleyball with the youth. They get together and play at the church every Thursday. And he went! While he was there, they showed him around the chapel and invited him to come to the baptism of the mother of one of the young women in the ward. And he went to that too! And then he came to church with us yesterday! He´s super awesome and we´re beyond excited for him.
Well, I´m short on time(and yes, Mckay, height too) but I love you all tons and tons! Thanks for all your support and love. Things are going well. I´m getting more and more used to the culture and I´m getting to know the area and the people more every day. And although they have a severe lack of gravy and peanut butter, I´m loving it. 🙂 I hope this week rocks and rolls!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel 🙂

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February 20, 2012

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Rebekah
It was great to hear about how everybody is doing back at home. And I started giggling like a school girl when I read that Bri´s baby is due on my birthday. Yaaaayyyy!!! ¡¡¡ Gemelas!!! I may or may not be super excited over here. =) What a wonderful day.
Spencer! No bueno! I  hope that all goes well and that you heal quickly and get to eat lots of ice cream as compensation. I admire your good attitude!
Okay, so I think the last thing I would have expected was to get a nasty cold when it´s in the high 90s all the time. I´m not entirely sure why the thought didn´t cross my mind, but I´m pretty sure it was the last thing I was counting on. For real? What is this? But I guess February is just telling me, ´Duh. It´s happening, sister.´ So that´s how that´s happening. Maybe it´s because the people here don´t have a problem with Christmas music right now…?
I´m learning lots of Guarani. All the essentials. I can say ´Lets go to church´, ´fire´, ´water´,´tired´, and ´I want´. All I need, really. Score.
The ward that we´re working in had a really cool youth activity on Saturday. They did a mini MTC slash mission field experience (excuse my spelled out ´slash´. I can´t figure out these keyboards…) Anyway, they came to the church at 6 in the morning, got put in companionships, got their nametags that the leaders printed out and such, and then had an hour of personal study and an hour of companionship study. Then Hermana Estigarribia and I came in and taught a class. We taught about how every person is a child of God and how we need to help every one of them return to live with their Father in Heaven again. Then the Elders taught a class complete with that super awesome talk by Elder Holland. Super fantastic. Hermana Estigarribia left with another girl for splits while I stayed behind and did some practice contacting with the youth. Then with handfuls of pamphlets, they hit the streets. I went out with a couple of the young women for an hour and just did some straight contacting. It was super awesome. Then after everybody came back, Hermana Madariaga (the mission president´s wife) came and shared some closing thoughts. Super cool activity. It was a good experience for the youth and they really loved it. I wish we had done something like that when I was in Young Womens!
Okay, here´s an experience that got me thinking. The other day, we were walking with a 17 year old member and her 7 year old sister. We were crossing a street and getting ready to step back up onto the curb, but there was a big puddle in the way. We all stepped easily over the puddle and onto the curb except for the 7 year old girl. She just stood there and looked at it, evaluating her options of how she could cross it. We kind of stood and waited for a while until I finally just reached my hand out. She immediately took it, and hopped across to join us. But it was interesting because she definitely could have made it across on her own. It may not have been easy, but she could have done it. But something kept her from trying. She waited until something came to show her it would be alright. All too often, we find ourselves in that same situation. I find myself in that same situation. We find ourselves waiting. Waiting for a problem to solve itself, waiting for another to take the lead, waiting for a sign that things wil work out. But as we wait, we don´t see that we can easily do whatever is in front of us, if our footing is correct and we act. What do we wait for? What holds us back from doing something we could do if we tried? That is definitely something that I need to work on a lot. I just need to act. Having faith isn´t having faith if you don´t act. But I know that as we do act, we receive all the help we need and we can get to where we need to be through the help of our Savior.
I love you all more than gravy! I hope this week is wonderful! Peace and Blessins!
Hermana Pingel
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February 13, 2012

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Rebekah

Hello, hello, hello!

 I´m sorry I forgot to give you those specifics… I´m glad you asked! I was totally gonna tell you all that stuff and then…. you know….. I didn´t….. But I´m in the Mariano Roque Alonso area. It´s a great area north of Asunción. I don´t know much of anything about the geography or what all we cover… They tell me these things in a language I don´t speak.. But I´ll let you know someday!
 Haha the food is great. Are you ready for this? Rice. All the time. White rice, even. You can count on it almost every time we go eat at a member´s house. Haha but it´s good. The first time I had a plate of rice set in front of me, I just made the decision that I like it. So it´s not so bad. If I have a choice, I´ll choose something else, but for the next year and a half, I´m a big, big fan of it. Let´s see… what else… fun fact- I thought I knew tacos were. And I thought I liked them. But that was before the thought ever ocurred to me that you can make tortillas with cheese in the middle. Whaaaat?? I have been converted. Heart, mind, and soul. It´s fantastic. The empanadas are super wonderful, so I might be really fat when I come home. But I´ll learn how to make them so I can make all of you fat with me. 🙂 But I think my favorite is all the fruit. It is soooo good. Guayavas, mangos, oranges, bananas, it´s great. Paraguay has made a big fan out of me.
Side note for Taylor- We sang ´In Our Lovely Deseret´ yesterday in church. It was almost more funny in Spanish. I just giggled as we sang it for our rest hymn. Also, we´re teaching a lady who totally has a pet monkey. I couldn´t focus on the lesson because I just kept looking at the stinkin´ monkey. So cute. The end.
Hermana Estigarribia is fantastic. She´s been out for 6 months and I´m super excited to learn more with her. She is very patient with me and my broken Spanish, and takes good care of me. Hahaha, remind me to tell you about that later….. But she´s really great. I look forward to knowing Spanish so we can just chat more.
We didn´t get to go through the temple, just took pictures. We get to go every 6 months, in April and again in October. I´m glad I have a few months until we go- I want to be able to understand what´s going on!
It´s funny- The people here love their music. They sit outside all the time with the music just blasting from the house to a point where you can seriously understand every word from 2 blocks away. It does make teaching a little harder though.. when you´re trying to tell a girl that she can be with her dad forever after he passed away and Shakira is blasting nextdoor… But sometimes it helps. The other day we were talking to an older couple about the importance of family, and from nextdoor, we could here ´I wanna know what love is. I want you to shooww meeeee…´ And then Forever Young started playing. They couldn´t understand what the songs were saying, but I could see how well they pertained to the situation. I think it really added to the Spirit of it all. I feel it went well. Haha people always listen to American songs. They have no idea what they are saying, but they love them. Haha it´s great. 🙂
It´s been a good week. I´ve had a couple of rough days, but that´s just to be expected when you can´t really converse with anybody fluidly. But it´s been good because I´m appreciating prayer so much more. Why? Because Heavenly Father speaks English too, and I know He understands. 🙂 So that´s becoming more special to me, along with my personal study in the morning. I´m learning so much about Jesus Christ- who He is, how He is, etc. The other day I read Elder McConkie´s talk ´The Purifying Power of Gethsemane´. And then I read Romans 5.8 that says ´But God commedeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ dies for us.´ That really got me thinking- If I were going to atone for someone´s sins, I would want some kind of evidence that they were going to appreciate my sacrifice and use it. But Christ didn´t have that. He didn´t even look for it. He died for us while we were yet sinners. He didn´t have a promise from us that we would use His sacrifice to help us come home. He just did it. He did it in hopes that we would use it. He suffered for the sins of everybody, including those who would not accept it. And when we choose not to accept it, He doesn´t regret doing what He did. He is just waiting for us to come to Him and use the gift He has so freely and so lovingly given. I´m appreciating more and more what He did for me. And I´m beginning to depend on that more. I´m excited to continue learning about my Savior, learning of Him, and learning how I can be more like Him.
Well, I love you all so very much, and I appreciate all that you do. Keep doin´ what you´re doin´! Unless you´re doing something bad, and if that´s the case, I´m calling you to repentance. Love you lots!
Con muchísimo amor,
Hermana Pingel
P.s. Banana Peel- you just take a certain number of tiles and just go crazy trying to set up your own little crossword puzzle type thing. When you run out of extras, you call ´peel´ and everybody takes another tile. Lather, rinse, repeat until all the extra tiles are out and a person uses all of his/hers. ¡Muy sencillo!
P.s.s. Attatched are many, many pictures.
 The first is Hna. Estigarribia and I at lunch today. We went to El Patio de Don Alfredo. Super awesome name for a super awesome place with a Buddha statue, a destroying angel statue, and many more!
Second is my class with my teachers. third is my zone after our last lunch where we ate all of the marshmallow mateys in the cafeteria…
And I don´t have time to go through them all, but among the others are Paraguay from the plane, first time washing clothes by hand, a few bug bites.., our living room, and our house. Enjoy!


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First P-Day email – with more pics!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Rebekah

¡Hola from Paraguay!

 

Oh man, I am super excited to finally be here! I loved it here before we even landed. I scored and got a window seat on the flight from Sau Paulo, so I got to get an ariel view of the country before landing. All I could see were red roofs, red dirt, and lots and lots of trees. It is BEAUTIFUL here. I love love love the trees and all the plants. How did I end up getting sent to such a beautiful place?

 

The people here are wonderful. They live in such humble circumstances that it seriously blows me away. They´re homes are so simple, and they don´t have a ton, but they´re happy. They´re all so open and kind. I´ve already met so many people and they´re all so great. I´m so excited to serve them for the next year and a half.

 

Okay, here´s my list of things that I´ve learned over this last week in Paraguay!

 

1. As I said in my last email, I truly didn´t know what ´hot´ was. Turns out, I´ve never been this hot in my life. Who knew, right? It´s incredible how fast you can start sweating. Actually, I guess that isn´t really valid. I´m pretty much just always sweating. The end.

 

2. Again, I had know idea what rain was. You know the phrase ´when it rains, it pours´? Here, that has never been so true. It was so crazy- the other day, we were in the middle of a lesson with a recent convert and it started to rain. Scratch that, it started to waterfall. It was INTENSE. Thunder was booming, lightening was cracking, a lake was forming outside the door, and I had never been so giddy in my life. It was incredible. It stopped raining after maybe a half hour, so we were able to head out so we could go home. Most of the roads here are some sort of makeshift cobblestone deal, so they´re basically dirt roads with a bunch of big rocks. They were filled with water, and in some places, it was a three or four inch river, complete with mini rapids where some of the bigger rocks were. Haha so awesome. Made my life.

 

3. Turns out, Utah drivers aren´t so bad. Traffic here is basically one big free for all. It´s crazy. The bus drivers count out change while they´re driving, people drive with babies on their laps, 4 people pile onto a motorcycle, and every road is a freeway. Super crazy. And everybody´s just so casual about it. I see a lady get off a motorcyle with her 1 year old and am mortified, while everybody else just shrugs it off. That´s just how they do things!

 

4. I´m really white. I got called a Blancita by a 7 year old the other day. Yeah, yeah, yeah….

 

5. I´m learning a whole new side to the term ´stray animal´. So far I´ve seen lots and lots of chickens, cows, dogs, and horses wandering down the street. Actually, I´m pretty sure the horse and the dog were racing, but other than that, they wander. I saw a guy the other day with a parrot on his arm. I guess the parrot wasn´t really a stray, but still fairly awesome.

 

So there we go. Just a few things that I´ve learned so far. A liiiiittle different from what I´m used to, but I love it. 🙂

 

My companion´s name is Hermana Estigarribia, and she´s from Argentina. She doesn´t speak any English, except for some phrases that the American missionaries have taught her. Needless to say, I haven´t had a fluent conversation with anybody in a while. It definitely has not been easy. My speaking isn´t super fantastic, but it´s the understanding that kills me. I can understand for the most part if they don´t talk too fast. Otherwise, when people talk, I can pick out words, but I can´t translate fast enough to understand the overall meaning of what they´re saying. So whenever we´re talking to somebody, I kind of zone a bit. I try to understand, but it makes my brain hurt and makes me almost fall asleep… I´ve come dangerously close a few times during a couple of lessons… Oops! I find myself getting a little frustrated with myself sometimes because all I want to be able to do is understand what the people are saying so I can know what I´m supposed to say back. And it doesn´t help when somebody says something and everyone starts to laugh.. except me… awkward… Or when I know that they´re talking about me. That´s fairly awkward too. So I just smile and keep chugging along. I´ve been praying  really hard to be able to understand the people, but I realized this morning that I´ve been praying for the wrong thing. I read a talk in January´s Ensign by Elder Carl Cook. In it, he shared an experience he had with learning the language for his mission. He said he got this answer after praying for help, “I did not call you to speak well in German. I simply called you to serve with all your heart, mind, and strength.” So that was my answer as well. The Lord didn´t send me here to speak well in Spanish. He sent me here to serve and love with all that I have. I can do that. So that´s what I´m going to do. I´m trying to turn myself around from praying for myself and worrying about myself to praying for opportunities to serve and looking out for the welfare of everyone around me. And I know that as I do so, I can do what I was sent here to do, regardless of how fluent of a speaker I am.

 

Really cool experience- We went contacting yesterday after lunch. We had some appointments fall through, so we had some extra time. It was really hot and we were walking everywhere to no avail. Nobody was home and we weren´t finding anybody to teach. It was during siesta, which is never a very successful time for contacting. Pretty much everybody takes naps every day after lunch, and it´s near impossible to find anybody. We had run out of water and were hot and tired and unsure what to do or where to go. So I finally voiced the persisting thought that we should pray. We did, and the next people we talked to were three ladies that we chatted with for a little while about their beliefs. They got us some cold water and we gave them pamphlets. They said we could come back and teach them some more another time and we went on our way. The next house we clapped at was the house of Alder and Sandra. He welcomed us in and we taught him, his wife, and their two kids the first lesson. They were super receptive to what we had to say. I recounted the First Vision and the Spirit was so strong. Hermana Estigarribia gave them a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet, and Sandra started looking through and reading them before we even finished. It was so awesome. It´s incredible what can happen when we are sure to seek the Lord´s help when going about His work. He has prepared people. He knows where they are. We just have to ask and be willing to act. I love being a missionary. I love Paraguay. I love bringing people this sweet message. Life is just great. I´m tired. I´m sweaty. I´m covered in bug bites. I´m happy. 16 months? Go time. 🙂

 

I love you all!!!

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Pingel

 

 

Oh p.s.- Congrats to Ben and Michelle!! Lydia is beautiful!! 🙂

 

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Asuncion Temple -first pictures!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Rebekah

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1st news from Paraguay!

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Rebekah

Hola!

Just letting you know that I am here and that all is well! The flights went well. LONG, but great. We got in about an hour ago, and I love it so far. I’ll be staying at the mission home tonight and then get to work tomorrow! I’ll write you more later, but I will share a few quick things I’ve learned thus far.

1. I didn’t know what hot was.

2. Pretty sure there’s no speed limit.

3. My mission president and his wife are wonderful.

4. I’m so excited to be here!!

I love you lots! Talk to you soon!
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January 26, 2012

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Rebekah
Hello, hello! It was great to hear from home, as usual. It sounds like things are going well. And it’s just Birthday central up there! A very happy belated Birthday to Mckay and a happy early Birthday to Logan and another happy early Birthday to Baby Lydia! Birthday hugs all around! Except Lydia gets a Birthday cuddle. Aw heck. Give Mckay one of those too.
4 days ’til I head out! And 5 days ’til Paraguay!! Gah! I can’t really handle how excited I am right now. I already pretty much sent you my travel itinerary so you already know that my flight leaves at 12:45. I leave the MTC at 8, so you can expect a phone call any time probably after 10ish my time. Is that okay? Let me know! Also, if you could let me know what phone to call and maybe the phone number too… I might have *cough* forgotten your phone numbers… So if you could just let me know, that’d be awesome! You’d have to send a Dear Elder by noon tomorrow to get it to me though. They only deliver same day if they come in by then and we don’t get them Saturday or Sunday. Thanks!
Also, thanks a ton for the addresses. You’re the best! It’s so weird that all the friends I’ve made are just going to be scattered all over the world in less than a week. Kinda sad.. It’s crazy how close you’ll get to people when you spend 9 straight weeks with them! We’re going to try to keep in touch, which’ll be good. They’re all so awesome!
On Sunday, Sister Rosemary M. Wixom came and spoke to us for Relief Society. It was sooo good. Man, I wish I could just record all of the talks that we hear and just send them to you. So awesome. She basically spoke about our calls to serve and it was just perfect. Sometimes I find myself worrying that I don’t have what it takes and that I won’t be a good missionary. I find myself looking at my weaknesses and things that I don’t do very well- Spanish, teaching, general people skills, whatever. But she said something that stuck out to me. She said, “You’re not here because of anything you’ve done. You’re here because of what you have. And what you have qualifies you to be here.” I had never really thought of it like that before. I’m not here because I’m an eloquent speaker. I’m not here because I can communicate smoothly in Spanish. I am here because I have been so incredibly blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I am here because I have something to share with others. And I am qualified to be here because of that. I know that although the next year and a half, and especially the next week, will be hard. But that’s okay. I have something to share and I’m going to share it. And the Lord will help me do that. It’s His work. And He can do anything. He fed 5,000 people with just a few small fishes. I’m feeling like a small fish ready to jump into a big sea, but the Lord will help me become what He needs me to become. So why worry? Life’s good. 🙂
Well, I love you all so very very much. Sorry it’s so short, but I look forward to chatting on Monday! Have a wonderful weekend and a very lovely Sabbath!
Con mucho y mucho y mucho y mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel
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