Bom Pastor- Week Eleven (Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches)

Hello world!

This week went by super fast. Things here in Bom Pastor have been heating up. Literally heating up also. You can definitely tell that summer is approaching. These past few days have been killer hot. My companion, who is from the North of Brazil where it is super hot also, was having a hard time actually going back to heat after the past month of freezing temperatures. 

For one of our lunches this past week, we decided to make typical American school lunch. Elder Gordon, one of my house companions, received a package with 2 kg of Peanut butter. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They were pretty good. We should have bought a better quality of bread, but live and learn. 

 We had the baptism of Sueli this past week that was super special. She is a lady that we found knocking on doors, and it has been about a month that we have been teaching here. The baptism had a good amount of members and ended up being really special. 

On Sunday, we had a Family Home Evening with the ward. Everyone in the ward was invited to, basically, a family home evening. There was a spiritual thought, activity, and dessert. I and the other Elders were in charge of running the activity. We play Pictionary using stories of the scriptures. Everyone participated and it was a lot of fun. 

Next week is transfers. I am getting the feeling that I will probably leave Bom Pastor, but I never know. 

Love and miss you all lots. Until next week....

Com amor,

Elder Pinkney

Bom Pastor- Week Ten

Hello World,

This week went by super fast and wow did we work a ton. I think the highlights of the week were the following.

1. I went on splits with Elder Moreno who is from in São Marcos. It went super awesome.

2. I went on splits with Elder Santos who is from Bélem. I really liked getting to teach with him. 

3. Our ward had their primary program.  It was A+. I really felt the spirit and all the people we brought loved it a lot. The children invited a very powerful Spirit.  All of us felt something very special. 

Also, today on our P-Day, we decided to help a member who is re-tiling his house. We spent the whole morning tearing up old tile to throw away. It was a lot of fun to break the tiles, but it really knock us out.

Yeah, our week was super good. Not a lot happened out of the normal. The church is true.

Com amor,

Elder Pinkney

P.S. Sorry that there are not more photos. I will take more next week. 

Bom Pastor- Week Nine

Hello World,

This week went by incredible fast. We are at the half way point in the transfer and things are rocking out. 

This past week, we had zone conference. We had a lot of really great training from the zone leaders, assistants, and President. President share a lot of really inspiring  but one thing that stood out the most to me was a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt:  

"Great Minds Discuss Ideas; Average Minds Discuss Events; Small Minds Discuss People"

President made the comparison of the different types of minds and what missionaries normally talked about. He made a little bit of a burn to all the Elders who maybe could be marked as small minded. It made me thing about the things I say. It was good to really reflect on the way we use words and the power they have. We need to be careful about the things we say and about who or what we say. The Savior taught us to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength and they love our neighbor. Our words are a way that we can build others up and really show love. 

On Friday, I had to travel to São Marcos to do a baptism interview. What we did not remember was that September 7 (which was Friday) is the day of Brazil´s Independence. It was a holiday that everyone got off and the bus schedule was not running on the normal schedule. yikes... it ended up taking us a really really lone time to get the bus and make it in time for the interview. All in all, we should up super late, but the lady was super kind and waited for us. She passed the interview and was baptized on Saturday. It was super happy and made the super long bus ride worth it. 

On Saturday, we had the baptism of Amanda and Luciani. It was a combined Stake Baptism and it went super well. There was a good amount of members there (a good amount of support). I really felt the Spirit there and touched by the faith of these two amazing ladies.

A little shout out to the Sisters (who were teaching Luciani). They bought a cake and made cookies that was super sweet. 

On Sunday, we had fast and testimony meeting. There were so many who bore testimony.  The was coolest of all is that one of the ladies we are teaching got up and bore her testimony. She shared about the huge difference the Elders and the gospel is having in her life how her family is more together, they get along more, and she is happier in life. I was super touch and couldn't´t stop the tears swell up in my eyes. It was an amazing experience. 

Felt like I got smack but the Spirit so many times this week. I am so grateful to be a missionary. There is nothing that I want right now rather than to preach the gospel. It is incredible to see the hand of the Lord in the lives of so many people. 

Happy Birthday also to my amazing Mom and two of my amazing brothers. Next year we will really have to celebrate. 

Love and miss you all lots.

Elder Pinkney

Bom Pastor: Week Eight

Hello World,

This past week was a pretty standard missionary week. Good thing that being a missionary is awesome, so a standard week means a lot. 

On Monday night, we had a Family Home Evening with a family and friends that was super awesome. I gave the message about the Plan of Salvation and shared one of my camping experiences when we got lost in the woods without a map. I compared how the Plan of Salvation is like a map for our lives to find the way back to Heavenly Father. It went pretty well. 

On Thursday, I went on splits with my old friend, Elder B. Silva. For all of you to just know, I lived with B. Silva in my first area when I was not Portugusing really well. We talked about old times and I learned a lot from him, which was cool. 

We had BBQ for one of our lunches that was super good.

On Sunday, we had Stake Conference that was super super good. The was a Seventy that spoke about an experience that he had that I liked a lot. He told about a story about when he first got called to be Bishop in his ward, he felt a little prideful and that the he was called to be bishop because he was better than everyone else. At this same time, he received news that he needed to travel for work to Sâo Paulo were there is a temple. He arranged with his work for a little time that he could go work at the temple. Normally, the trip takes three days and was very expensive, so it was an amazing opportunity. When he arrived at the temple, he got there early to have some time to ponder and pray. He was there so early that the temple workers had not even arrived yet. As he was praying, a sister came up to him to ask for help with something. He accepted and the walked to the bottom floor of the temple were the have the kitchen. The Seventy was surprised to find a table full of potatoes. The Sister said, the temple workers have not arrived yet and we need someone to peel these potatoes for the lunch of the temple worked. The Seventy sat down and started peeling. One hour past and he realized that at the rate he was peeling he would miss his session. He started to be in panic and the number of potatoes. In this moment a voice came to him, "you may be Bishop but in my house, you peel potatoes." He was incredibly touch and recognized his mistake immediately.  What an amazing lesson of how we can never really think too much of ourselves. We always need to search to be humble in our words, thoughts, and actions. 

Love and miss you all lots. Have a great week.

Com amor,

Elder Pinkney