February 13, 2012 - Espanol--Good thing there's Google to translate & DAD!

así es la vida! ya entonces, pienso que escribiré todo mi mensaje en
español hoy. muy bien, voy empezar de principio. esta semana fue muy
difícil, estábamos enseñando alguien que habíamos encontrado durante
EL EXPO S.U.D. él se llama David. tiene 18 años e esta estudiando para
ser abogado. Es una persona muy inteligente y vi un poco de mi miso en
él. él esta siempre preguntando porque algo es así o porque tenemos
que creer en esta forma. pudimos hablar con el como intelectuales. le
gusta bastante a leer filosofía,  y tiene una mente muy abierta. ya
entonces, él pareció a entender todo lo que estábamos hablando. le
enseñamos todo la semana, y el sábado pasado tuvo su entrevista con el
líder del districto. Él pasó y estaba muy animado para su bautismo. yo
también estaba animado porque él quería que yo le bautizo. ya entonces
pasó la noche todo tranquilo, mañana vino y la iglesia empezó a las 9
en punto. cada vez antes él fue muy puntual, sentimos que algo fue
incorrecto. fuimos a su casa media hora lejos de la iglesia y tocamos
su puerta. el abrió la puerta y apareció un poco desanimado. nos dijo
que no creó nada y que no había encontrado una respuesta. este es
cuando mi corazón empezó dolor. Entonces, no tuvimos el bautismo que
estábamos pensando y fuimos al cuarto un poco triste. Esto fue mi
semana, pero espero éxito esta semana y tengo un sonriso en mi cara
porque sé que ay mas, y buscaremos los demás personas que estén
esperándonos

finalmente, les amo con todo mi corazón. cada día oro para vosotros ;)


That's life!  I will write my letter in Spanish today. Well, first off,  this week was very difficult. We're teaching someone who we had found during THE EXPO S.U.D.  David is 18 and is studying to be a lawyer. He is a very intelligent person and I saw some of my myself in him. He is always asking why something is so or why we believe this way. He likes to read philosophy and has an open mind. He seemed to understand everything we were talking about. We taught all week and on Saturday had his baptismal interview with the district leader. He was very excited for his baptism. I was also encouraged that he wanted me to baptize him.  It was a quiet night, morning came and church began at 9 o'clock. Each time before he was very punctual. We could feel that something wasn't right. We went to his house a half an hour away from the church and knocked on his door. He opened the door and was a little discouraged. He told us he did not believe anything and had not found an answer. This is when my heart began to ache. We were sad for him and didn't have the baptism we had been planning. 

 That was my week. We hope to have success during the coming week. I have a smile on my face and I know there are other people that are waiting for the message we have to offer.

I did splits with a North American this week and worked hard. 

Finally, I love you with all my heart. I pray for you every day.

Love Elder Pinegar
(Alex's pensionista family communicated with us this past week. They said he was kind, sweet, nice and very helpful.  It was a surprise to us to have them call Jared's skype through gmail. They are very happy to have the Elders living with them.)  

February 6, 2012 - EXPO S.U.D. & Out of His Comfort Zone

Remember this picture from Jan, 2012? The explanation is below!

Preaching on the streets at the EXPO S.U.D. - Feb 2012 La Union

Teaching about Mormonism at the EXPO S.U.D. - Feb 2012 La Union

Dear Familia,

So the reason I was dressed up like a Bible is because we had something called the EXPO S.U.D. (santos de los ultimos días). So we have been planning this for months with the ward, something to draw attention to the church here in The Union.  Basically what it was was that we had leccions in the street with people that were passing by. I never ever thought I would be the person to absolutely cut someone's walkway off and talk to them about God....Yeah I did that several times during this event. So we had a giant Bible and Book of Mormon, we walked around with this and told people what we believe. I thought that no one was going to show up to help us, but a lot of women members showed up.  So I sent some pics and what not about this. It turned out to be a huge success!

My comp, hes from Lima and was born and raised in the church, basically grew up how I did. He's 20 years old and is great. we have exactly the same amount of time here.

Not a ton of stuff happened this week, other than the EXPO,  but I can say that we've had the best numbers Ive ever had in the mission before. So that means we're working, working and playing haha we do it both. And yes mother and father, I'm following the rules geez ;) haha We went exploring for p- day and made slingshots, so that's what were holding in these pictures.

Love,
Elder Pinegar

Homemade Slingshots on P-day- Feb 6, 2012 La Union

Looks like the Missionaries are the tourist attraction - Feb 6, 2012 La Union

Enjoying P-day with more missionaries - Feb 6, 2012 - La Union

Jan 30, 2012 - The work is slow but we will have Exito!

Dear Familia,

This week went good. It was kind of hard considering we had absolutely none of our investigators asistir to church,but it's all good. We did a ton of street contacting and of the whole week, we only found 10 that night....progress...slowly.  I'm doing good. Me and my comp are perfect, We think the same. We're gonna have ´exito (success) here. Yeah, the highlight of the week is that we had a baptism. We want to baptize people who will stay active in the Gospel.

I haven't gotten many letters yet, because they had to cancel the cars that we go in cause there's a strike! As for Cancun, I'm glad that you guys are doing good.....without me, but I'm doing alright. That's the week in a nutshell. Love you guys and you're always in my mind... and yes I'll be thinking if I need anything to communicate (on Mother's Day).

Much luv.yours truly
E Pinegar

*We just received Alex's memory card full of pics from Nov-Jan 2011-2012. You can view them on his web page under photos--on the flckr site.

Jan 23, 2012 - A New Companion & Teaching English

Elder Delgado & Elder Pinegar exploring in the Chacra outside of La Union Jan 23, 2012

 

 

Alex's P-day artwork - Jan 2012

To all the fam at home!!!

First off,  I would like to give a very belated thank you to all those who have sent me gifts through the mail carrier, especialmente grandpa for the marshmallow guns and granny for the spices. I have yet to have a guerra con las pistolas pero muy pronto voy hacerla. The spices are wonderful and the canlela (cinnamon) is awesome!

 As for this week, yeah, its been little bit crazy getting a new companion and saying goodbye to the ancient ones. So first off, I wanna say that my new companion is basically a perfect match! We have the same interests and like to talk about the same things. This 6 weeks is gonna fly, cause we push
each other to do better. Our teaching methods are a little bit different, but that's all good, we can work that out. He is from Lima and se llama Elder Delgado. I call him skinny haha but he is basically professional at beat box and we do little raps in Spanish and English haha yeah-- the kind of burra (noise) que mi papa no le gusta haha.

We're working hard and getting things done. Two days ago, we found a woman that has edad of 22 años. She seems really interested and attended the clases de ingles that -- yes -- I'm teaching haha. They call me maestro and what not!

Oh, one more thing, there was a death in the ward, and it was interesting to see a catholic and LDS mix because 80% of the people are catholic here. The chapel was the most llena (full) that I have ever seen,  and the bishop spoke about the life and how they needed to be baptised and humble themselves. Pretty direct but it's good, cause if you're not here,  you end up talking about the chakra (farm) or problems with other things that really aren't that important.  As for Elder Castillo, he went to Tumbes, basically hell on earth especially in el verano (summer) haha, but he kept saying that he wanted to go there.  So I guess that's good.  He was always good to me and was a good companion that I truly do respect.

As for the fam at home, I love ya! and Mom and Dad, enjoy yourselves in Cancun.......just know that when your walking in the sand, picture me without water, sweating, gasping for breath and speaking perfect Spanish ( I wish), but at least I understand and what not!

Love,
Elder Pinegar
** The pics posted are Elder Pinegar & Elder Delgado in their best "thug" poses...we'll be waiting for the ties and white shirt next :)

Jan 16, 2012 - He's staying in La Union--but with who???

The "Moto" - La Union's Taxi Cab

This week we were able to email back and forth live!! Pretty fun to get a couple questions answered, even if it was an English/Spanish mix.

Alright, so tio answer the first question, no I don't have a microwave, but my pensionista si tiene.

We drink juice and bottled water. My pensionista always whips up a mean glass of juice. It's probolemete 10x better than anything I've ever had in the states.

As for pics, I took the risk and sent home my memory card.  I'm hoping that you all will get it and that you can read the pics.  It has some virus or format or something, but Shark can fix it. I couldn't make
a copy of it either cause the computer couldn't read it. Yeah and for pics of Piura. I'm an hour and a half south of piura and yes, we had cambios (changes) this week. I don't know who will be my new companion, but I know that I'm in The Union. I'll let ya know more about this next coming week! Yeah, The Union is doing good. I'm going to finish up a piece of art this week of some Mexican that I've been painting that will be sweet! (a member has is an artist has been teaching him on p-days).

**More pics are on flckr so check that out--

January 9, 2012 - Last Week with Elder Castillo-1st Transfer Next Week

Showing off dinner - Jan 2012

Hey Fam,

This week was good. We worked hard and our numbers were up from last week. We are still having trouble finding people to baptise 'cause everyone that we had talked to is either not married and doesn't want to get married, or they don't want to come to church haha. Yeah, I guess that's life though. Anyway, we're doing good here in the good ol union. This is the last week that me and Elder Castillo have together...yeah, we're pretty tight. We're working hard and getting things done around here. He keeps saying that when transfers come, he's the one that's leaving, which is probably true 'cause he has been here 6 months. We don't know what's gonna go down, but we do know that we're not going to be companions after this week, so we're planning some fun things to do haha.
I like the pic of the office. It looks nice! And about the snow hahah sooooo sad, maybe you have just the slightest glimpse of how I am here. haha I got sunburned today playing fútbol, and we got our hands on a American football, but it was hard to play 'cause the others didn't know what they were doing haha.
I'm doing good! Tell the fam that I love them and yeah about Stevo (Elder Stephenson), we have almost 5 months together. Yeah, It's nice to have someone to talk to in English every once in a while, at least when I get a chance, but then again, we rarely talk in English, usually it's Español.I love you all so mucha!

much love
elder pinegar

January 2, 2012 A NEW YEAR

La Union December 2011

Dear Family,
 This week was kinda tough, with Christmas and  Año Nuevo and what not, but I'm doing all right. So we don't have any new baptisms this week and better yet, barley had church. This ward is struggling a little bit, but that's what we're here for. Now I understand why the Union was closed before haha. It's a hard area. We've had maybe one reference in the whole past month and maybe 2 or 3 from the months that have passed. I'm getting a little discouraged out here, so please pray for me. We spent 2 days straight knocking doors and only got 3 nuevo investigators. Yeah, that was kind of tough, but I looked at it as a chance to improve my Spanish a bit haha. Anyways, we're teaching a person se llama Tempora.  She's pretty open to what we're speaking and likes to hear that word of God. She doesn't know a ton, but that's fine, cause that's what were here for haha. Anyway, I'm hoping that she will be the next one to hop in the water and be baptised. Elder Castillo is still great, and he is doing his part. We help lift each other up. We're a good team, although we have a huge height difference....but I guess that's normal for me everywhere in the world.

I'm glad that everyone is doing good. Tell Bek that I hope that she gets a little bit better, and that I love her. Tell Nick that he's a champ and that he can do anything.  Tell Spencer thanks for his letter. It's kinda weird, right now they are playing musica americano en ingles pero its kinda hard to distinguish what they are saying cause usually its in Spanish....I like it haha love you guys sooooooo much. If the extended family is there, tell them hi for me. We're doing good here in La Union. Just sometimes, the mission is a little hard, so pray for me please......please.

Love,
Elder Pinegar
**New Pics on flickr - Go to website by clicking below on ElderAlexanderPinegar.blogspot.com  Then click on Photos of Elder Pinegar. From there you can click directly onto the flickr site.