Jardim Ipe- Week Five

One more week...

Hello World,

This is the start of my last week in the mission. I have a lot of mixed feelings. I have felt really sad about the fact that soon I am not going to be able to be a missionary and represent Jesus Christ every single day. I am going to miss getting to see the lives of the people change. I believe change has been one of the biggest themes of my mission. I have a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for everything that I have seen and experienced during these two years. 

This past week, I got to meet our new President (President Oldham). We had a huge meeting with our whole zone. We sat in a huge circle and we got to introduce ourselves, ask question to the new President, and he left us with a spiritual thought. President and Sister Oldham are incredibly kind and I love them already.

On Tuesday, I got to go on division with Elder Santos (who is also from my group). I got to visit his area and it was a really great division. Elder Santos is really professional in everything that he does. I learned a lot from him. 

On Thursday, we had a ward activity where we were able to bring some investigators. We planned like an acting and guessing games. We made two teams and it got into a pretty heated competition. Some of the members started fighting and yelling a lot. However, it was all in good spirit and everything turned out fine. 

I am really sad that my mission is coming to an end. There has been nothing that as influenced my life more than my mission. I reflect about my mission every day and I remember the incredible experiences and feelings. I know without a doubt that this is Heavenly Father´s work. I know that He is constantly guiding our lives and that He works for eternal life. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and that it is guided by a modern prophet. I know that this church is only church that as divine authority to fulfill His work. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I love its words and its teaching. I know that through it a man can become closer to God than by following an other book. I love my family. I love this gospel. I love my Savior. 

Alma 29:9

9 Sei o que o Senhor me ordenou e nisso me glorio. Não me glorio de mim mesmo, mas glorio-me naquilo que o Senhor me ordenou; sim, e esta é a minha ^aglória, que talvez possa ser um instrumento nas mãos de Deus para trazer alguma alma ao arrependimento; e esta é a minha alegria.  

Alma 29:9

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do ^anot ^bglory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

Com amor,

Elder Pinkney

Jardim Ipe- Week Four

Hello World,

This week was really busy. We have a lot of people we are teaching and helping, so we are always running from one place to the other. I went on divisions with Elder Ball this week again to do some baptismal interviews. We went to Piraquara (which is a city right next to Curitiba)

Today, we went and had lunch at an investigators home who made BBQ for us. We flew kites with here grandchildren. It was a lot of fun. Flying kites here is a little bit different because they make it like a war here. They try to cut the lines on everyone else kite so that it flies away. It is a little sad actually, but that´s what they do.

Other crazy thing this week is that President Cuvelier went home. Our new President´s name is President Oldham. I have not meet him yet. I had the chance to talk to him on the phone. He seems like a great guy and I am really excited to get the chance to meet. Besides the fact that I am going home in two weeks, I am so glad for this new opportunity the mission will have to get a new insight on teaching technics and inspiration. 

I miss and love you all lots. Have a great week.

Com amor,
Elder Pinkney

Jardim Ipe- Week Three

Hello World!!!

Officially I have three more weeks until I get home. I am really sad that I am on my way home. I have had an incredibly experience here in the mission and I have learned so much. This past week I went to the leadership counsel on Thursday. It was really good and we took a lot of good pictures. 

I had my last interview with President Cuvelier on Wednesday. It was really sad because this Friday President Cuvelier is going home. It was the last time that I was going to see him and I had a great conversation about my plans for after the mission. It was a great moment that we had together to counsel. 

All in all, everything is going well. I am having a great experience and I am excited to see you all soon.

Elder Pinkney

Jardim Ipe- Week Two

Hello World,

This last week was really physically demanding. We had our zone conference this last week. It was the last zone conference of President and Sister Cuvelier. It was really sad to see them beare there lestimony and say how much they are going to miss being here with us. I am going to miss them so much. This zone conference, I boure my last testemony, which is a traditon we have in our mission. I had an incredebly experience and I felt the Holy Ghost really strong. I am so gratefull for my mission and everything that I have learned while I have been serving here in Brazil. 

All in all, everything is going well and I am working a ton. 

Com amor,

Elder Pinkney

Jardim Ipe- Week One

Hello World,

These week was crazy. The new area I am in is called Jardim Ipê in São José dos Pinhais. It is close to Bom Pastor and Afonso Pena which are booth areas I already served. The area is really good. The people that live here are really humble. However, we have been able to teach a lot this week because of this. The people are really open, loving, and receptive. In the short time I have been here, I have already made some friends. The members here are really hard working and actively help us. 

On Thursday, we had a ward mission activity, where we played Pictionary and ate hot dogs. There were over sixty people at the activity and 20 ish were not members of the church. It was really cool to see so many people come out. A big challenge we have here is that the chapel is about two hours walking from the neighborhood where everyone lives. It makes it hard for a lot of people to be at church because a lot of people do not have cars. On Sunday, it is harder because our sacrament meeting starts at 8:00 in the morning. It is a big sacrifice for a lot of people to get up that early to walk or get the bus to come to church. Despite that, the sacrament meeting was filled with people. 

On Saturday, I learned how to build a house. We had a service project where we were helping a single Mom with five kids to build her house. We spent the morning carrying brinks and mixing cement. It was really cool.

All in all, everything is going really well. Hope you all have a great week.

Com amor,

Elder Pinkney 

Jardim Ipe- Day One

Hello World,

I got transfered today to my last and final area. It is called Jardim Ipê. It is near Afonso Pena and Bom Pastor, which are two areas that I have already served before. I am pretty familar with the region and the missionaries that are serving in my zone, so it will be a good transfer. My companion´s name is Elder Capistrano. He is from Forteleza and he has six months left in the mission. I have enjoyed that last four hours that I have been with him. 

I am doing well and I am excited for these last couple weeks. Just to let everyone know, my P-day is going back to Monday so if anyone needs to get in contact, usually on Monday afternoon I will be here.

Love and miss you all lots,

Elder Pinkney

Mission Office- Week 33

Hello world,

This week was incredibly rainy. On Thursday, my companion and I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of thunder and hail knocking against our window. It was pretty scary. I got up and rain to the living room to make sure all the windows were closed. We usually leave the windows open a little at night to let the wind pass in the apartment. Lucky, all the windows were close. However, the next day we found out that there was a lot of flooding in the city and lots of homes were completely destroyed. Really sad. 

Basically, I got soaking wet every single day this week because of the rain. My shoe were extremely grateful....... With all the rain, the chapel also lost power three times this week. It was really horrible actually because we had a ton of things to do to get ready for the transfers tomorrow, but lucky we got it all done last night. 

To make the week a little bit better. I grabbed a pancake recipe from online and we made pancakes at night. A member in our ward also hand given us so homemade Maple syrup that went along perfectly with our pancakes (It was not really maple because they don´t have it here. It was made from maple extract).

On Tuesday, we had a special breakfast with all the missionaries that have district meeting at our chapel. It was really fun and ended out saving us because the Sister that was suppose to give lunch couldn't´t so we just went on gas from the big lunch we ate. 

Anyway, the week was good. Lots of good memories. I have lots of photos this week so I hope you all enjoy. 

Com amor,

Elder Pinkney