Jardim do Sol- Week Two

This week, I have decided to freshen up on my French, but I will write more about that later.

This past week has been very cold and wet here in Jardim do Sol. It has made our work I little bit more complicated and faith-testing. If there are really people waiting to here the Gospel, not even the rain will keep us in our house (But remember to bring an umbrella... yeah you, Elder Pinkney). Sadly, I did forgot the umbrella and I took a very cold shower in the rain.

On Wednesday, we had our Easter Zone Conference. We left early in the morning arrived all seated to start the conference. We sang the opening hymn, said a prayer, and then Sister Cuvelier got up and surprised us all when she said that she hid chocolate on the first floor of the chapel we were in. It was up to us to find. There was a mad rush of Elders searching for chocolate all around the chapel. I lucked out and was about to secure my fair share of chocolate. It was a good reminder of childhood Easter memories of the past. 

The rest of the conference was incredible. We received several trainings but the flag ship of them all was a three hour, day-by-day study of the last week of the life of the Savior, Jesus Christ, given by President Cuvelier. Following the theme of Easter, we, as a zone, went day-by-day, event-by-event, studied the week before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  It was incredible and I can honestly say that I learned a lot. (I have been continued this study for the past couple days following the conference). There was an incredible Spirit that was with us during that training. President Cuvelier also borne a powerful testimony of Christ at the of his training that touch the heart of every missionary in the room.

I had the chance on Thursday had a chance to go on splits with the zone leaders. Elder A and Elder P. It was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, the young women performed a special music number during sacrament meeting that they asked me to play the piano. It went pretty well. It was a song called, "Jesus is the Lord of Miracle." All in all, it went pretty well. 

Glad to say that I survived another week. Shout out to my sister how turned 15. Yes,...15!!!! 

Love you all and miss you all, com amor,

Elder Pinkney

Jardim do Sol- Week One

My new area is a lot like the first. Everything is a little bit more spread out. I have already done a lot more walking than what I was use to in my other area. There are two companionships of missionaries here in the ward and the other set is a trio, which means there are five missionaries in the ward. The five of us all life together, eat with the members together, go to church together, etc. It is super crazy/fun. 

I am living in a house that has three Brazilians and two Americans. (What makes it more crazy is that the house is super super small and we don´t have enough bed so one Elder is sleeping on a mattress on the floor.) The Brazilians have been really vocal about trying to learn English. They study a lot actually and every moment of the day they are practicing with us to get better. We set a goal in our house that after 10:00 you can only speak English. It is been super productive but also really fun. 

This story was shared with me and I loved it a lot, so I am passing it to you all.

There once was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Saviour appeared to him.

The Lord told him He had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock explaining that he was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, and for many days he toiled from sunup to sundown; his shoulder set squarely against the cold massive surface of the rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man showed signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture - placing thoughts in the man's mind, such as ``Why kill yourself over this?, you're never going to move it!'' or ``Boy, you've been at it a long time and you haven't even scratched the surface!'' etc. giving the man the impression the task was impossible and the man was an unworthy servant because he wasn't moving the massive stone.

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man and he started to ease up in his efforts. ``Why kill myself?'' he thought. ``I'll just put in my time putting forth just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough.'' And this he did or at least planned on doing until, one day, he decided to take his troubles to the Lord.

``Lord,'' he said, ``I have labored hard and long in Your service, putting forth all my strength to do that which You have asked of me. Yet after all this time, I have not even budged that rock even half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?''

To this the Lord responded compassionately, ``My friend, when long ago I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you to push against the rock with all your strength and that you have done. But never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. At least not by yourself. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed, ready to quit. But is this really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled; your back sinewed and brown. Your hands are calloused from constant pressure and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have. Yet still, you haven't succeeded in moving the rock; and you come to Me now with a heavy heart and your strength spent. I, my friend will move the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and push, and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom, and this you have dpne."

Let us all remember our purpose and the work that Heavenly Father has for us. It is really easy to be frustrated with the weight of the rock that each of us push, but our goal is not to move the rock. Our goal is to push with all our might, become strong in Christ and have faith in the plan that Heavenly Father has for each of us.

May we remember to never stop pushing the rock.

Some photos from Oswaldo Cruz (last area)...

Love you all and miss you lots.

com amor,

Elder Pinkney

Osvaldo Cruz- Week 12 Transfer to Jardim do Sol

I got transferred!!! After a solid 3 months in Osvaldo Cruz, I was transferred back to the Jardim do Sol Stake in the Jardim do Sol Ward. My new companion is Elder S . He is from the state of São Paulo. He has only three months in the mission field.  I am going to be the senior companion for this transfer.

I will recap a little bit of what happened this week. 

The highlight of my week was I got to take our investigator, D  to the temple for a visit. We took him at night and show him around the grounds. We went inside the waiting room so he could feel the Spirit really strong there. We went inside the mini visitor center where we taught a lesson with him, which ended up being an amazing lesson. He felt the Spirit super strong while he was there. We have been working with him for a long time now. He is the gentlemen we started teaching the first week I arrived in Osvaldo Cruz. During our lesson, he accepted our baptism challenge for this month. I am really excited for him because he has really changed a lot in his life as he has learned more about the church. He will change even more once he becomes a member. 

We had a little bit of rain this week, but that did not stop us from walking and working a lot. 

On Saturday night, we had a special Ward Mission Family Home Evening. The Bishop, ward mission leader, ward missionaries and we had a little meeting to taught about the missionary work in the ward. We had a spiritual thought, a training, and testimonies of the ward missionaries. It went super well and everyone was a little bit more excited to share the gospel. 

Sunday was a pretty stressful and sad day. We worked a lot but knowing that night, I could possible leave the area left me pretty sad. We took a lot of photos and said our temporary goodbyes to all the friends we made in the ward. In the end, I did end up being transferred. 

This week, I saw a lot of how Heavenly Father uses us to do his work. There were many moments I was really confused and unsure on who would be able to accomplish the things that needed to happen. In every moment, Heavenly Father showed us a way. In every moment, we had to show a little faith and then Heavenly Father made everything possible. I know that every day He is helping us be able to accomplish his missionary work. I know that He has a great love for each of us and that He will always help us do what is right.

Thank you everyone for your love and support. I am having an awesome time and I am learning lots. 

P.S. Sorry that there won´t be any photos. I left my camera in the house but next week I will have tons to show. 

-- 

Elder Pinkney

Osvaldo Cruz- Week Eleven

Hello World,

This past week, the weather played a large part of my week. Saturday night, we had a super big rain storm that caused a lot of flooding in our area. It was pretty extreme. My neighbors, only a few blocks away, lost everything they own in the flood. We gratefully, live on the third floor of a apartment building and suffered no damage. We used a good part of Sunday coordiniting with the members of the ward to help the people in the community and then Elder J and I went out to help some of the people we are teaching. It was a very sad and humbling scene. Everyone in the street cleaning and throwing out their ruined furniture. Many people also simple sat in the street as the waited for the sun to dry things out. It was very grateful that we suffered no damage and we worked hard to help the people and give meaningful service. 

Thank you to everyone back home for your support. I am praying for you all.

Photos include one night when I made sandwhichs and felt proud to take a photo.