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.

Osvaldo Cruz- Week Ten

Hello World,

This past week was a solid week. We had lots of success with finding, teaching, and inviting all to come unto Christ. I sadly do not have much to report other than this. The weather has been what I imagine as Virginia Beach weather: a little warm but with a breeze that makes you fell like you are standing on the beach.  

However, we did have chance this past week to help a family in the ward that was doing some painting in their house. It was a good break to do some simple service. We were told that the color ended up being really good so we were happy for that. 

My companion, Elder J, made me a traditional Guatemalan style breakfast, which consisted of eggs, ham, and deep fried field bananas. It was super good. The best part was actually the deep fried field banana. I love it so much that I bought some and deep fried some more. This week I am going to try to make Breakfast burritos American style.  

Saturday night we did a Family Home Evening with one of our investigators named M . M is super awesome and has been progressing for a while now. He is super kind and has a big heart. We taught him about our Jesus Christ and the gospel that he taught for each of us to follow and receive blessing in our lives. The lesson went super well and you could tell that M felt the spirit. 

The Stake I am in now had a Missionary fireside yesterday. It was pretty similar to the ones we had back home where recent converts tell about their experiences accepting the gospel and joining the church. My companion and I were also invite to share our testimonies about Missionary work. I was pretty nervous, but I like a shared a pretty good testimony. In the end, I was glad for the chance to bear my testimony. Looking forward to this coming fast Sunday to share my testimony again. All the missionaries in the mission were challenged by President to share our testimonies this Fast Sunday. Can´t wait for this next opportunity. I know that a testimony is something that we should share with everyone. 

Thank you all for your love and support. Again, sorry that there are not a ton of photos. 

--

Elder Pinkney

Osvaldo Cruz-Week Nine

Hello everyone,

Please forgive me but I took exactly zero photos this week so I will do my best to make up for that with words. 

For all of you that might have forgotten, I had my birthday this past week. I am six months old now. The time has really gone by fast, but it has been awesome. 

This past week, the weather was my best friend. While my companion was styling sweaters and often time, heavy jacket, I stocked with the short leaves and a umbrella. I have not been a huge friend of the killer hot days we have had recently but this past week was chilly, cold, and fresh. It felt like a normal week in February. 

We have been working lots and I honestly can not say we did much other than that. I have been having some truly faith- testing experiences. Not everything has been going exactly as according to plan. Because of this, Elder J and I have been flexible and always searching for Heavenly Father´s purpose. I learned again this week to be patient and faithful and trusting in the plan that Heavenly Father has for us. 

On another note, Elder J said that my Portuguese has been getting a lot better. Elder J has been tons of help on getting my American accent more understandable. At this point, my accent is the biggest thing that gets in the way of people being able to understand me. But thanks to Heavenly Father, I am able to do all the missionary task in Portuguese. My only fear, language wise at this point, is when I have to buy strange Brazilian fruits, buy obscure items of clothing, or talk to someone how to fix their computer... also teach music. (I tried to help one of the young men this past week with a piece of piano music he was preparing and it did not go very feel. They read music differently here in Brazil so everything I said did not make sense.)

All and all, every day is an adventure. I am so grateful that I am having these experiences in Brazil. 

-- Best wishes to everyone back home. 

Com amor,

Elder Pinkney

Osvaldo Cruz-Week Eight

Hello everyone, 

My apologies that it has been along time since my last message. I encountered some problems with my email account but after lots of testing and phone calls to Salt Lake, everything is fix. Thank you to the mission secretaries that helped me get it fixed.

Lots of events have happened these past couple weeks so I will try to get the highlights. 

Elder J  and I are having many miracles here in Osvaldo Cruz. Before we arrived, the work was really going super slow, but Heavenly Father has been working His purpose for the people here. We have had the blessing of finding many people now that are ready to hear and accept the gospel. I am have been truly humbled to see how Heavenly Father puts us in the right place at the right time. I have been reminded on a daily basis that to listen to the Spirit and follow the impressions we receive.

This past Sunday, I taught for the first time the Gospel Principles class. I was super stressed out and did a lot of preparation to make sure everything would go well because it was my first time teaching the class and in Portuguese in front of lots of people. (I don´t know if I mentioned but I have also already spoken in Sacrament meeting two times now during the mission.) Anyway, I spent a lot of time preparing the lesson, practicing with Elder J , and praying that the Spirit would be there to testify for our investigators. In the hour of the lesson, everything went super well. We talked about Adam and Eve and the important blessing of The Fall. I also shared the video of Elder Uchtdorf about the man who went on a cruise and spent the whole trip in his room. I shared my testimony on how we can take advantage of all the blessing that Heavenly Father has for us in the gospel. Really, the gospel is a feast of blessings and we take advantage when we actively participate in what we know we should do.  We had three investigators in the class and you could tell they felt the Sprit.  I was able to speak Portuguese and they were able to understand me. It was a huge blessing. When I asked Elder J afterwards, how did it go?, he said that it went perfectly. I felt really grateful and humble for the simple answer to my prayers and hard work.

Below are some of the photos of the past couple weeks.

Also story about the cereal is that it was a gift from a member family. They are super awesome and are always thinking about the missionaries. I had cereal several times this past week for breakfast and I can testify that it is really good. 

Love and miss you all. Forgive me as I try to catch up with every one over the next couple weeks.

Elder Pinkney

Osvaldo Cruz-Week Seven

Note from Elder Pinkney's Mom:

We haven't received any blog updates from Elder Pinkney for Week Five and Week Six.  We heard from his briefly on Week Five and nothing on Week Six.  Today, we received this from him...

I am honored that Tyler wanted to follow the trend with a gray suit. So proud of him and wish him a Happy Birthday!! I hope he got my present I left with Rachel. 

This past couple weeks were complicated for my email. Last week during our emial time, I had just started to open my email and read when it kick me out. I don´t know why but I tried to log back in and it did not work. It said my account was disabled. It was a surpirsing event. However, after several phone calls this past week with the technology assistants in Salt Lake, my account is working again. The only thing they told me was to make sure no one back home is loggining to my account. I promise my lack of email was not because I didn´t want to write. 

I will send my blog and try to include all the many things that happened this past week. 


Sadly, he never sent the blog information today.  Perhaps he is having more computer trouble.  Yikes!