Joseph and Nettie Linton in the West Indies Mission: 2014

Thursday, August 7, 2014

LETTERS FROM HOME

plus

Three birds identified on a recent guided tour of the Tobago rain forest

Collard Trogon

Sister Sarah Pinnock in Argentina

Hey family how the liver are you guys? How is life? I love you all so much. This week was a great one.. lots of preaching, lots of spirit bringing, lots of. Today I thought I would tell you a little bit about the culture of Argentina. I feel like coming here has opened my eyes to a lot of things. As missionaries we ask lots and lots of questions.... "Do you believe in God?" or "What is important for you in your life?" or "What do you feel is your purpose?" or "What are you plans?"... and I have been shocked at answers that I have received. Usually the adults work and have some sort of plan but 99% of the youth have no idea and don´t care. Typical conversation:

“What do you believe in?”

“I don´t know.... haha.”

“What do you want to do when you are older?”

“Who knows?” or “I don’t know” or “Nothing.”

"What is important to you?"

"I don´t know..... friends, family"

"Why do you think you are here?"

"No idea"

"What are you going to do tonight?"

Shoulders shrug but they are thinking "Buy a beer and get drunk."

"Do you believe in God?"

"Ya I guess."

Oh my heavens I want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them until they understand. It legit makes me want to cry holy tears sometimes. When you see so many people suffering it is shocking to see so many youth that don´t care about their lives or their future.... and I don´t blame them for a lot of it... they´ve seen what I’ve seen... they are living it. Argentina is a dead-end street for most people. But still it frustrates me. In the US the good are still rewarded for their hard work. If you work you get paid. If you go to school you get a good job. If you are good the world treats you good. Here it is not like that. I see so many people confused and sad and I can see how the gospel legit would help everything. I have learned what it means to keep a perspective. People here only look past their toes.... it´s sad. When we forget our Heavenly Father things fall apart. We need to have an eternal vision. The other night we passed a member family´s home and it got me thinking. We could see them in the window... they are a big family, they are poor even though they all work harder than 90% of the humans here, they go to church every Sunday and they read and pray every night, they will probably never get rewarded in this life for their hard work but as I looked in I saw a family laughing and united, a family with a vision bigger than this world, a family that doesn’t care what the world thinks, a family that knows exactly where they came from, what they are doing and where they are going.... and in that brief moment I understood. I am so grateful that I know who I am and where I am going... and I´m grateful that my Father in Heaven knows exactly where I plan to direct my agency for the rest of my life.

Investigators... Nestor and Julieta are doing really well!!! They went to church on Sunday and are getting super excited for their baptism. They talked to the bishop and we call them like crazy to make sure we have a lot of contact with them... como se dice killing them with love. Hahaha! But they are our firmest investigators right now. Florencia and Sonia are doing great!!!!! The grandma who didn´t get baptized made me a hat.... I love it! I really love these people so much! I´m a little nervous for translados because who knows what´s going to happen but the truth is I think that I’m staying here in Terrada.... we will see but for this week we are going to work real hard. I´m loving it out here! Have the best week! I love you guys sooooo much!!!!

Hermana Sarah PInnock

White-tailed sabrewing hummingbird

*
Elder Joshua Pinnock in Italy

Ok so this is what happened this week with transfers. Anziano Shepard is staying here in Livorno and a Anziano Erikson is coming in to

replace me. I am coming home...in a year...tee hee. Tomorrow I am going to be transferred to a city called Lecco and I am going to be District Leader. So that also means that I am going to need a lot of

help so feel free to pray for me all you want. So ya I’m so ready to go. I've said goodbye to all my 'favorites' here (everyone) and it was good but really hard. I made great friends with so many of the members and our investigators. Saying goodbye to them was really hard. It was hard in Verona as well but it is different here because the entire time that I’ve been here I’ve been able to speak Italian have gotten to know people so it was really hard to say goodbye to everyone. So my new companion is a Anziano Robinson if any of you

happen to know him. He’s a complete mystery to me. Last night we ate dinner with the Kennedy family

who are an American/Italian family. They are one of my favorite families here. Then on Sunday we met with Saverio for the first time in three months and it was amazing. After waiting for thirteen years

he finally received his house so we met him in his new house and had an amazing time. It was hard to say goodbye to him. He was in tears and I just didn’t know what to say. But I have one thing to tell y'all now. He is one of the greatest friends of the missionaries in Livorno and he wants me to come back to Livoro with all of you so that he can

feed the lovely family of Anziano Pinnock in his house. So get ready for when we come back to Italy because he will feed us and he will feed you with the best Italian food you will ever eat. He is an

amazing cook and he knows it. He cannot wait to feed the Jon and Laura Pinnock family so get ready, just a fair warning. So it was amazing to see him one last time and say goodbye to him but the best

part of the week was meeting with the referrals. I told you that there is a woman named Viviana Garcia in our ward who introduced her parents to us. So this last week we met with them twice and both times were amazing. They are so ready right now to hear the gospel and I am so sad that I won’t be able to stay here to teach them. They even had us over for lunch Sunday to feed us some Peruvian food and it was amazing. I want to go to Peru so bad now. Just get ready we might need to go there as well just to eat. So meeting with them was amazing. I loved getting to know them. Guess what? We even invited them to be baptized during our lesson on Sunday and they could totally feel the spirit but after a little bit he just said that he'll see

when his answer comes. So it’s still good. It was great and I can’t wait to hear from Anziano Shepard on what happens with them. So ya I have loved this week. Also last night we had a little party with some of our investigators. We bought a cake and ate it in the church. It was really fun. They are all great and I got pictures of all them. So tomorrow I leave Livorno for Lecco.

Anziano Josh Pinnock

Blue-backed manakin

Monday, July 14, 2014

WEST INDIES MISSION

SUCCESS TESTIMONIES

VERY ENTHUSED MISSIONARIES

MARACAS BAY, TRINIDAD

MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT MEHR:

Dear Elders and Sisters, I am already hearing wonderful and faith-building reports from our missionwide fast this weekend. Many members and investigators have joined us to fast for friends and family to accept the gospel. Some have fasted for the first time in their lives. Some branches organized a meal to break their fast together. Many areas had a record number of people attend church. Thank you for setting the example of fasting and teaching the Law of the Fast! The members in your areas will be more converted as they live this law. They will discover for themselves that the Lord richly blesses those who are obedient. I urge you to teach at least one family how to fast every month during your mission. I know that the Lord will help us achieve the mission goal we have set. As we work diligently, exercise faith, and are exactly obedient, I promise that you will experience many miracles. We will see miracles in reactivation, retention, youth attendance, Celebration 2015, stronger branches, greater love in our branches and wards, member participation in missionary work, and many other ways. Look for the Lord’s hand in your missionary work! Write down what He has done for you. This will help you to recognize His hand and many miracles in your lives. You are powerful and faithful missionaries!It is a privilege to serve with each one of you.
With love,
President Mehr

MISSIONARY TESTIMONIALS:

Siparia, Trinidad
Elder Grimm, Elder Scott
Asking Referrals for Referrals!

We found Cassidia on an interesting journey of referrals. We approached one man and asked him who was working on his home in the area so that we could offer service. We followed the lead to meet a man who happened to be home on a lunch break from work. He referred us to a nice older woman who liked to talk a lot. Somehow the conversation changed from accepting all neighbors regardless of their religion to single mothers and crime in the area. We asked for another referral for single mothers, which led us to Cassidia's home and later her baptism. Without the help of the Lord, we would never have found her

Rose Hall, Guyana
Elder Chapman, Elder Pollard
Finding through Recent Converts

Angalie was a young girl we baptized in March. After she was baptized, we went to teach her and her mom was there in a hammock. When we asked Angalie if she could get her Book of Mormon, her mom pulled it out of the hammock!She had been reading it on her own. We worked with her mom from there. Sister
Raghoo was married on June 12 and then baptized June 15!

San Fernando, Trinidad
Elder Christensen, Elder Rowley
Book of Mormon and the Spirit

Dale finally took the invitation to read the Book of Mormon at the beginning of this year. When he started digging into the book he couldn't stop reading! Just from reading the Book of Mormon and feeling the spirit as he read, he was able to change his life. When we started teaching him he already had a powerful testimony and knowledge of the Restoration and was excited to take the step of faith and be baptized. Dale is a great addition to the San Fernando ward and is excited about sharing the gospel with his friends and family.

San Juan, Trinidad
Elder Shariatmadari and Elder Evans
Contacting

While contacting through a neighborhood in San Juan, Trinidad, we came across an old lady with a few of her friends who allowed us to share a brief message of the Gospel. One of her friends who was inside came out to hear what we had to say. Next thing you know, she is jumping from topic to topic asking all the classic Bible doctrine questions to keep us on our feet. After an exhausting Q & A, we controlled the situation and shared the First Vision and invited her and the others to come to Church. To our surprise, the one with all the questions is the only one that came to Church! Sister Susan Warner made it very clear, however, that she had already been baptized 5 times and was positive she would never be baptized again. But as she continued to come to Church, she realized the truth of the Gospel, and decided to be baptized. She has not missed Church or activities since!

Abymes, Guadeloupe
Elder Laufatte and Elder Johnston
Member Work!

Théo has known church members since 1995. He had an experience last year that touched him deeply. He saw his brother, who had died several months before, in a dream telling him he was in the wrong place and to leave because there was something he needed to do. Théo told the Jomie brothers about this experience and they taught him the plan of salvation and a little bit about temple work. They worked with him over a couple months and then introduced him to us when he was ready to be baptized. Because of the preparation he received from the Jomies, all we had to do was review the lessons with him and make sure he understood and followed the commandments.

Morne A L’Eau, Guadeloupe
Elder Santos, Elder Harrison
Faith Despite Trials

A recent convert referred Slorane’s mom. About a month ago, Slorane’s boyfriend unexpectedly died, and about that same time, her mother called us and asked us to return to teach them. Since then, Slorane had a lot of questions and has been reading like crazy in her Book of Mormon. We set a baptismal date with her, she worked at it consistently, and she followed her baptismal plan all the way to the end.

Georgetown, St. Vincent
Elders Anderson,Malyon,Patetefa,Leany,Tillotson, and??
Service Projects

The Georgetown Group hosted a service project in the middle of town, cleaning up an open field. The following Saturday we had a sports day in the same field, with football, cricket, lime & spoon races and sack races. It was a great turnout--about 50, with a lot of youth!

Abymes, Guadeloupe
Sister Hawkes, Sister Riley
How to Begin Teaching (Preach My Gospel 176,177)

Olivier happened to be home for one of our lessons with his mom. The next time we went over, his mom was too busy, but he wanted to talk. We asked him what he expected out of the lessons and he said that he wanted to be baptized. After a lot of hard work and diligence, Olivier was finally prepared. He can be found at every single church activity. His mom, after experiencing Olivier's baptism, is now investigating the church more fervently and is preparing to be baptized as well.

Port of Spain, Trinidad
Elder Babb, Elder Dearing
Member Work and Senior Missionaries!

Adisa’s sister and nephew are members of the Church, and he was there for his nephew’s baptism. He has been an investigator on and off, but was dropped a couple times when he stopped progressing. Then in May, he called the missionaries to say that he missed talking with them and wanted to play basketball. The elders invited Elder and Sister Francom to their next lesson, and they were a huge help. In that lesson, Adisa decided he wanted to be baptized that Sunday.

Sangre Grande, Trinidad
Sister Tia, Sister Hendricks
Establishing the Church

The Andrew family was baptized in October 2013, with the exception of young Dave Andrews who was just a little too young. However, that did not put a stop to the excitement he had when the rest of his family was baptized and at long last it was his turn. Dave turned 8 about two weeks ago on June 19th and has waited for the weekend with growing excitement. It was a very sweet moment for his father, who now is a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood, to be able to baptize his son. It is not often that members are able to baptize their own children and Dave had the privilege of having his father be a worthy priesthood holder and baptize him. He was confirmed a member of the church on June 29th and is very excited to join his family in the church.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

SUCCESS TESTIMONIALS

WEST INDIES MISSION

NEWS LETTER

Elder Shariatmadari, Elder Evans

Working with Families

Sister Shia Glodon is 13 years old and had been coming to Church with her mom, who is one of our investigators. Even though her mom feels the Church is true and comes to Church, we were having a tough time helping her commit to baptism. Instead,we started putting a focus on her daughter. She quickly grew to love the Gospel and her Young Women's group. Her baptism has inspired her mother and now she is also getting things in order to be baptized! The Glodon's have been a blessing to work with!

San Fernando, Trinidad
Elder Creech and Elder Ferrin
Working with Members

Kiezlon is a Melchizedek priesthood holder who hadn't been to church for a while. We started working with him in April to prepare to baptize his son, Jesse, who recently turned 9. He resisted at first, but soon felt it was his duty as a father and priesthood holder. Because of that goal, attending church was less of a chore and had purpose for him. He began to attend regularly and prepare his son for baptism. Jesse was baptized by his dad on May 10th, 2014. Now he wants to go to church, and we can definitely feel the change in their home.

Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe
Sister Tenney and Sister Eyre
Finding through Celebration 2015

We are so grateful for Celebration 2015! One of the members in the Capesterre Branch invited her best friend, Chloe, and we started teaching her. When she decided to be baptized, she wanted one of her best friends, Daniel Valmy, to baptize her. He needed to be made a priest in order for that to happen, which he had been working on for a while. Once he was made a priest, he was also able to baptize his little brother Daniel, who is 9. It was a great example of how working with members will truly bless their lives!

Christ Church, Barbados
Elder Beck and Elder Hopkins
Member Work

Elder Anderson introduced us to his former investigator Stella Thorpe. We quickly got our dynamic duo, Sister Wiggins and Brother Waldron, involved. The only lesson without a member present was the first one. I know that her baptism wouldn’t have worked out so well if it hadn’t been for the members and their fellowship!

Lamentin, Guadeloupe
Elder Belnap and Elder Porterfield
The Lord Puts Prepared People in our Path

Elder Porterfield and I went to an appointment and the investigator was not there. In that very moment, a
young man walked by and we began talking. We came back and taught him the Restoration. The Spirit was so strong and placed into our hearts the perfect questions to ask. He was awestruck with the First Vision and completely understood the restoration of the priesthood. By the end of the lesson, he said, "I will call my mom tonight and ask if I can be baptized"! I know the Lord truly will put us in the right places at the right
times if we are seeking to do His will.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten
Sister Hyde, Sister Hodge, and Sister Crompton
Pray for and Expect Miracles!

The power of praying for and expecting miracles is amazing! Alecia grew up knowing a lot about the church - she attended Young Women in high school, dated a member, and many of her friends have been members. We met her at an investigator's home. She emailed us one day asking what she needed to do in order to be baptized!! She mentioned that she had talked about it with her husband and they felt it was the right path for her. We met her the next day and set a baptism date for the following Saturday. Now that she is baptized she is preparing to go to the temple in July to do baptisms for the dead. She loves the gospel and knows without a doubt that this church is true!

Curepe, Trinidad
Sister Edmonds and Sister Giles
Working with Part-Member Families

Agostino Victor, 9, prepared for baptism all on his own! One time his mom thought he was up to something
mischievous, so she went up to his room to find him reading his scriptures. Also at night she would find him praying with his older brother, Akardy, who is 11. He worked so hard for this day and was thrilled to finally go under the water. He loves Jesus Christ so much.

Vieux-Fort, St. Lucia
Sister Shelton and Sister Kirton
Contacting!

Terry is awesome! We met Terry while contacting and he embraced the gospel from the beginning. He slowly got more understanding of the gospel and decided to be baptized. We found out afterwards that Terry had not been open to religion, church, or any religious books for many years. It amazed his mom to see how he changed and how open he was to us teaching him. He now has been sharing the gospel with his friends and family and comes faithfully to church each week.

Paramaribo, Suriname
Elder Romney and Elder DeMoya
Member Referrals

We set a baptismal date with a 23 year-old young man named Gino. About a year and a half ago, he decided to change his life and prayed for direction. He began to make gradual changes in his life. Recently
he was invited to learn more about the Church by a colleague at work. He attended their family home evening where he watched the Restoration and heard their testimonies. Gino felt like he had found the path he'd been looking for and decided to be baptized!

Georgetown, Guyana
Elder Kabongo and Elder Telga
Part-Member Families

Olivia and Crystal were baptized because of the example of Olivia's grandmother, who brings her to church
every Sunday. They even come to institute together, and little Olivia sits and listens for 2 hours!

Curepe, Trinidad
All the Missionaries
The Influence of Members and House Meetings

Maria McLaren has been hosting a House Meeting for a few weeks now. It started off with 10-15 people for the first couple weeks. But this last week it exploded and we estimate there were about 35 people there! Of those 35 there were at least ten nonmembers. We socialized for a bit and helped the investigators form
friendships with the members, then there was a short lesson. We watched a Mormon Message, and after that we ate food and played games! Everyone had a good time and Maria is planning on having the House Meeting each Tuesday night. It's really helped our investigators and given them opportunities to meet more members.

Curepe, Trinidad
Elder Shariatmadari and Elder Evans
Following the Spirit

Brother Earl Riley is a 78 year-old man who is living life like he is 28! The only thing slowing him down is his memory, but he ALWAYS remembers the feelings he gets when he comes to Church and reads the word of God. These feelings are what inspired him to be baptized.

Monday, June 30, 2014

LETTERS FROM HOME

Tobago Orchid

Our Grand Daughter Sarah Pinnock in Argentina

Family,

This week was really sick!!!! ... But really I was sick all week. Wednesday morning = me throwing up. Wednesday night = me not sleeping. Thursday morning = worst headache of my life. And by Saturday in the evening I had lost my voice and I still haven’t gotten it back. When it's just me and the comp we whisper so I can save my voice but whatever I need the boca to speak to the humans so what can you do?

Regardless of being sick I´m proud to say that we hit it hard! I am trying to work as hard as I can with my little child... I don't want her to be a liver missionary. We had some awesome lessons this week. We had a lesson with Marta on Tuesday that rocked. We had almost started teaching when her ex-husband knocked on the door. I could tell she was nervous for him to see us but he came in and we just started to ask them both questions. She hadn't done her scripture reading so we asked if we could read with them. It was in 3 Nephi chapter 17 one of my favorite chapters and the Spirit was strong.... Marta started to choke up.... Her ex stayed pretty quiet so I thought he was kind of bugged but then at the end he expressed how grateful he was to speak to us and asked a lot of questions he had. He asked questions like how can we be saved? And what do we think of all the bad things happening in the world? I loved every second. We gave him a lot of pamphlets and invited him to come back and offered to send the missionaries to his house but he declined because he said he’s always working and never at home but whatever. Anyway, we left that appointment real happy! My companion was a little lost in the Spanish but the truth is she is learning fast! I’m proud of her and love training. We also found a family of five to teach this last week.... holllllly great family!!!! I’m super excited to keep teaching them! Their names are the familia Silva.... good humans. Well I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Pinnock

Tobago Critter

Sister Linton refers to him as

Mr. Big Eyes

Our Grandson Joshua Pinnock in Italy

Family,

I got an email from David this week and it was amazing.

School is about to let out here as well and I am not

looking forward to that. We will be stopping high school kids who don’t
care at all but who knows we might be able to find a cool one. We
hope that we might be able to teach some families here soon because
that would be the coolest thing ever. The thing that I am not looking
forward to is Faraguosto. It is a holiday that Italians take in
August. So for about three weeks every Italian with money picks up
and leaves for the beach. So most Italian cities are left absolutely
vacant and any of the big beach cities have a never ending supply of
new people. So us being on the sea might make it better. The people
will either come to us or our entire city will just leave. I really
hope that our city is one of the cities that people go to. Besides
that not much happened this week. Yesterday we had to sit inside the
entire day waiting for a man to hook our stove up to the gas line...It
took him four hours. We were going to be able to teach at least five
lessons yesterday but because the man hooking up our line wasn’t
American we had to sit on chairs the entire day...AAAAHHHHHH!!! Its

ok because now our apartment is ready for gas and we should get
that on Friday. Then for the rest of the week nothing really
out of the ordinary happened. It scares me that I have already served for almost a year.
I felt like I just flew in but I’m already almost half way to sitting
in an airplane again...dang-it! Oh well that means that I still have
a year to work and preach the good word of God!

Have a great week and stay awesome!

Elder Pinnock

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

A WEEK IN GEORGETOWN, GUYANA

We flew from Trinidad to Guyana on Tuesday May 20^th. It’s about an hour flight with nothing of particular note until we were over the South American continent. The tree cover was a vast forest carpet in shades of green with sprinklings of yellow.

Occasionally there was a ribbon of light brown that meandered through the carpet. We were still quite high but you could tell they were muddy rivers, some of them very large.

The Guyana airport was fairly well developed and it was easy to come into customs. The Francom's picked us up and drove us to the Pegasus Hotel.

The drive was very West Indies.

Drivers cutting in and out of their lane with abandon. With left lanes turning right, right lanes turning left and it was another defensive driving course. for the most part traffic lights, stop signs, direction signs and passing obstacles are just a suggestion - everything goes and passing on a blind corner, hill or major intersection is common.

Wares under left arm, in bucket and on her head

Street vendor in the open air market of Guyana

Many beautiful old buildings left over from the Dutch and English occupations

Crowded Streets of Georgetown

They also have horse and donkey drawn wagons on the main streets
hauling building products

and

Even the Mrs. under a parasol

Horses, cattle and sheep were wandering everywhere - even downtown

BLESSINGS

By the time we arrived at the hotel I was dripping wet and there was barely enough time to take a quick shower before heading over to the chapel for blessings. They have a very nice chapel. I was told that there were about 250 members in this branch.

We were a few minutes late but quickly started. There were two pronounced that afternoon and the Francom’s waited and then drove us to their home where we then met the Poulsons. The six of us enjoyed a nice dinner and visit. By 8:30 we were exhausted and the Francom's took us back to the hotel and we went to bed early.

On the 21^st we had three blessings from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm. Two of the young men were from a tribe that I haven’t previously seen. They were both of Indian extraction and I was happy to have had the opportunity to pronounce their blessing. The spirit was very strong and I felt that all three of the young men were the pioneers of the West Indies. I could see in all three of them the next generation of leadership. They each had a wonderful spirit of missionary work and a desire to do all in their service to Jesus Christ. They were all in their early twenties. It was an honor to have been with them and to see such devoted recent converts.

During the five days of our stay in Guyana we had thirteen blessings. The majority of the blessings were administered to missionaries, prospective missionaries or young couples. As said earlier, I was very impressed with the wonderful people here. They truly are a generation of future leaders. With several having received their lineage from a tribe I haven’t previously encountered, I was impressed that these youth were the predecessors of the next generation that would be an army in countries that are just beginning to have the gospel introduced to them.

In saying that, I make reference to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speaking about the “WONDERFUL TIME FOR THE CHURCH IN ASIA”. “We move steadily into the future. India will be one of our miracles, we will live to see a remarkable work unfold in India. The Spirit of the Lord is moving over this vast area,” he said. “It would be undeniable, it would be impossible not to grasp, not to feel that there is a great work unfolding here.”

One of the many unique mosques and temples in Guyana

West Indies forest flora and deadfall

Harpy Eagle of Guyana

A magnificent bird, with a six to seven foot wingspan, that

I've always wanted to see in the wild

When I saw it in the Guyana Aviary

I was saddened by its isolation in a wire cage

The city waterways were filled with a variety of water plants I have never seen before.

The plant leaves looked like lilies and the seed pods looked like poppies.

The flowers were very large and showy. It appeared that they only lasted for a day or two at most and then they turned to seedpods

One leaf nicely frames Sister Linton

Georgetown is several feet below sea level. It was occupied by the Dutch and they built a massive seawall that stretches for miles.

The saddest part of the city was the rubbish that was thrown everywhere,

waterways were choked with styrofoam containers

A wonderful Guyanese brother

ready to serve a mission

More unidentified Guyanese water plants

We visited the ATM at our hotel to get some Guyanese Dollars

and

decided that $200 USD should be enough for the few days we were there

and

were shocked when we received $41,000 GYD

Our pizza that night cost about $4,000 GYD

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Tobago Southern Lapwing

LETTERS FROM OUR MISSIONARIES

Family,

So this week was a good one.... On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I think I blacked out a few times waiting for the new greenie companion. I was so stoked and so nervous.... haha and then she came! (Wow I just realized how scary having an actual baby must be... that´s terrifying) On Wednesday we went to the mission office aka Villa Mitre my first area.... P.S. I love visiting there because I get to see how all my converts are doing... Jorge is great! Orlando is even better! He found out that his long lost brother was my old ward mission leader.... SAY WHAT???? Anyways that made me super stoked! I’m super happy that was my first area. But anyways I get to the mission office and BAM new comp is right there waiting for me! AWWWWW!!!! She’s a good egg!!!!! Legit super cute! Her name is Hermana Eubanks from the ghettos of Georgia and she´s adorable! She's nineteen and super stoked on the work! The spanish is hard for her but she is learning fast... like a lot faster than I ever learned! But for reals this is going to be a great transfer.... I'm really going to work her hard and we are going to have a lot of fun!

We had Laura, Maria, and Camila in the church on Sunday and we were super stoked on that!!! Camila is nine years old and her mom and siblings are all less active so we are also doing reactivating action right now. I think working with less actives is harder but a lot of the time more satisfying! Dolly didn't go to church.... her brother said she couldn't get baptized.... como se dice "devil child". But we are going over to her house tonight to talk and see what we can do.

Well I love yal tons! The church is true.... see ya later!

Hermana Pinnock

Tobago Green Parrot

Family

That was the greatest letter you have ever sent me! Thank you so much for keeping me up on the fam and putting great thought into it. I love hearing about the family and I can smell the pies that were all eaten in a frantic mess in order to win...I love that game.

So it sounds like you are all doing great. David has started his big boy job and Jane is tearing it up with dance and violin. She has been working so hard on both of those I bet that she is really happy to see the fruits of her labor. I’m also really happy to hear about G & G Linton. No one could ever finish their mission in a better way than that. Going around giving blessings to everyone would be such an amazingly spiritually uplifting experience I don't know what could beat it.

Sorry that Dad pulled a muscle in his back. What was he doing? Oh well now he will just lay down and Ben will take over the yard. There are a lot of things that I look forward to when I get home but seeing and working in that yard is one of the things I want to do the most and if the Pinnock/Linton family happens to be there on the lawn I guess thats ok.

So me and my comp had a great week. We are having hard times with some of our investigators. Many of them have the same problem that they complain and say that they need help and they may even pray for help but they don't do anything else. God helps us to improve what we are doing. If we arent doing anything what can He improve? Its a simple principle that we try to teach our investigators but they never seem to understand it. But there were some great things that happened this week as well. One is Livorno got its brand new bishopric on Sunday. It was really cool to be there. Our new bishop is a great man and I know that he will do a great job for our new ward. He is also going to need a lot of help because he has four little children, two of which are small baby twins plus one of the twins is severely autistic so his wife is going to need everyone's help. But it was great on Sunday when he went up the members helped his wife take care of the children and even took them out and helped calm them when they cried.

So that was great plus yesterday we met with a new investigator and his Son-in-law and they were both great. They are both very Catholic but very kind and open. Plus they have a very strong family and that will help them because they will be able to support each other in the gospel.

So that was my favorite part of this last week. Oh and my birthday went on...kind of. We had weekly planning, and finding work. Me and my comp had a great time and at the end of the day we got pizza for the celebration. It was very low key but there shouldn't be a focus on me right now anyway. And what you said at the end of your letter is true. We have a strength of God going through us. I can work all day without feeling too tired but when I go to bed my body starts to shut down and as soon as I hit that pillow I am asleep.

I love my mission so much and thank you for helping and supporting me in this mission.

Elder Pinnock