August 27, 2012 - ONE YEAR MARK

Aug 26, 2012 with a finger banana

Dear Familia,

Yeah, so this was great, just wanna give a shout out to my uncle who's now a grandpa and his son who's now a father.* What a change of lifestyle. Luckily I'm still young.....haha oh and to my cousins who got baptised**, doin work, keep it up!!!

So this week went well, and we finally put a date for the two children of Jesus (no, not the other Jesus) Jeremías y Mariana are going to be baptised this Saturday at 4pm. and the asitence at church was great this week, there were more people than chairs, which meant that I had to be standing, cause we were only missing one chair. The president of the mission visited the branch this week, and it was great. He gave his thoughts and what not, and I think it helped the area where we're at. After church. we took him on a tour of the area and showed him around our crib. He liked what we were doing with the area and what not.

So as for my year mark.....I don't feel any different. I didn't burn a shirt or anything (cause I forgot and was tired) but now I can say that I only have one year to go. It'll go fast too. As for me and my companion, we're doing great, putting in work and what not. He was sick for one day this week but that was alright cause I needed a little rest ;) haha We ended up finding another family, but they are only free on weekends cause the parents work a lot, but they are great. We'll find more, I know that!

So that's basically the lowdown on my week here; doing good here in Perú. Have fun at Lake Powell, that's something I wanna do when I get back! Good luck to the new parents, returned missionaries and the 2 baptisims!!! Love you guys tons, ohh and tell Bek I got her letter and I liked it. Anyways do work!!!!!

Love your son, Alex Pinegar

1st time we've seen him in a suit for a while 8/12 - Not sure who took this

Dining with Elder Yanez dining-- we think! 8/26/12

ps:this pic is legit

* Patrick & Lindsay Buchan (cousins) had a baby girl on Aug 22-named Mary Ann Buchan. His Uncle Steve is the uncle he is referring to.

** Macie Brown & Hyrum DeMille

August 20, 2012 - Searching for Light & Families

Dear Familia,

That's pretty cool about what's been going on at home!* Hope you guys have enjoyed your summer and that you're all ready to get back into the "do work" zone! Ha ha--anyway, this week was a little bit tougher. We couldn't find all the people that we needed, and the family of Jesus didn't come to church, but he had the opportunity to go and work in Tumbes, and he got back Saturday in the early morning. But everything seems like its going good. We didn't have light for the church this Sunday because no one paid the bill, and I'm thinking that this is going to affect the activity that we have planned this Thursday.....we'll see what happens. It's getting a little bit tougher to find new people to teach, and we were pretty dependent on the activity to pass out invitations, that way the people actually will want to talk to us haha.

 That's cool that there are so many familiar faces returning home**....but I still got a year to go haha We're getting along good here and hoping for more success this week. We're gonna think of some new ideas here to find new people. What we really would like is another family. not to mention that we are still working with the family of Jesus. The kids actually want us to come over and teach ahah....what can i say right?! At least the few people that want us here love us!!! 

Anyways, love you guys tons!! I forgot to bring my cord this week so no pics....sorry. Oh, and we cleaned the house chapel this week, it was really dirty, so don't worry, we did our act of service!!  Love you guys tons, and I'm glad to hear that everything went well with the deal and what not, and for the shower***.....that's a bummer, but that's life haha! 

Your son,

Alex, peace!!

* Great News--Our commercial tenant committed to a remodel & new contract--after going back and forth the past year.

** Jared Wootton & Zach Sundwall from our home ward and Alex's cousin, Oliver DeMille all came home 

***Our brand new shower STILL leaks!!!

August 13, 2012 Progress in the District

Pday in Negreiros  -- It's not as desolate as we thought--8/13/12

Dear Familia,

So this week was good. We're making progress with the family of Jesus. He's been out working to provide for his family this week in Tumbes....what memories haha. We got the rest of his family to go to church,and the mom of Matilde (wife of Jesus), who is  a member menus activo, said that she was going to come to church this Sunday with her daughter. I feel like we're finally making progress with this area.

We had cambios this week, and me and my comp are staying in the same place with the same company. We're content. We had the opportunity to talk with the person who had started the house chapel in Negritos. He is super inactive, but I can see his pain and sorrow. We've got his son active again. He and his friends really love basketball, and we had the chance to play with them one Saturday. This district is finally coming to life, but I think it will be years before they actually have a chapel here, at least I can say that I helped!

This week we're gonna try and put a date for the two chibolos (kids-slang) for the end of the month. I'm pretty sure that they will be content, and we're planning on having the dad baptise them. That will be good for him so that he feels responsibility. We're not suffering here too bad haah, but the sun sure is strong here,  I'm gettin on top of that with some sunglasses haha.  This week, I'll be lookin extra legit!

Enjoy the rest of the summer, and I hope y'all have a good time in school and work! Just know that I always pray for you guys and hope that all is going well, Life is fast, but I'm sure we can out run it! haha peace!!

Elder Pinegar

August 6, 2012 Baptisms & the Olympics

Dear Familia,

So this week was good. We had the baptism go well, and we ended up spending a whole morning cleaning the pool where we baptised the brother Jesus. He's a great person and even though he can't read, we're working on all the things that we can to help him. We've adapted our large vocabulary to fit the simple and plainness that is sounding us in this house. His wife is a great support for him, and she wants a change in her family. We're planning on having the father baptise his 2 kids at the end of the month, but his children don't know that yet ;) haha ya we do work!

Elder Yanez, & Elder Pinegar with Jesus and his family Aug 4, 2012

Elder Yanez & Elder Pinegar Pday Aug 6, 2012

You guys are right, this week went very fast, but that's OK cause that's how it should be! Yeah, it's been kinda tough to not see the Olympics, but I'm not gonna lie I saw a little glimpse here and there ;)  This time I'm grateful for the fact that every person has a TV, even if they don't have a house! -haha Sounds like Nick had a great week*, tell him to keep up the good work! ;) Just tell him to not die. Yeah, so I sent you guys letters too. I sent them off today, hopefully you get them by the end of Agosto.

Sight Seeing on Pday "Peruvian Air Force firing range Danger of death Forbidden to Enter"

That's cool with Bek.  She's got a big heart, and a lot of guy friends. haha She doesn't need a boyfriend right now, and I hope Rylee (Hill) had a good 18th birthday. Send her a shout out for me will ya?! and as for Spencer, he'll end up with a scholarship and fine women if he sticks to football. He's gonna be a beast! Tell him that lacrosse is for people that are not him haha! But he has to like what he does, cause if he doesn't like it, then he's not enjoying life and that's not why we're here on earth. As for the reading that I've been doing, I have read in Spanish since the first day of my mission. I'm currently reading Jesus El Cristo and the BoM in Spanish. I'm about halfway through with Jesus the Christ.

Yeah, that's about all that I have to say this week. Just know that I love you all, and that I always pray for you!

Elder Pinegar

*Nick started the week getting stitches near his eye and ended it getting stung by a bee (he's very allergic to them)

July 30, 2012 Congratulations to Nick & Arriving at the Right Time

Dear Familia,
Well I just gotta say that that's great what Nick has done. I couldn't help but to tear up just a little bit ;) But ya´ll know that I'm tough haha.  CONGRATS NICK!!!  You did it!!  Ohhh and about the Rosetta Stone.....no hay nada que pasa con aquella basura jaja. You'll learn the Spanish in the field, study the grammatica in the MTC. Don't worry about the words, only solid grammar, If you can do that, you ll be fine. Don't give up and quit. We're not those kinda people ya know that!

Yeah so a little bit of what happened this week. It was good, and we had 3 people go to the church, of those three were a family. The father is going to be baptised this Saturday. I talked about that with my comp, and we came to the conclusion that we arrived in the point of time, when the less active mother wanted to go back to the church and when the father wanted to make certain changes in his life. It's interesting. So other than that, not a lot happened. We cleaned the outside of the church cause it was full of weeds and what not haha.

So to answer your questions, the branch has 100 members, of those 100 there are 25 active, and of the active members there are about 5 that help haha. Every week we have an attendance of about 20. The pensión here is the best one that I have had to date haha, but I'm getting kinda sick of the Perúvian food. This week I didn't take any pics, but just know that I'm doing good. I'm happy and I really like the pic of nick, then of my friends. Thanks a lot!!!

your son, friend, man,

Elder Pinegar

July 23, 2012 - Success in Teaching Families

Elder Pinegar & Elder Yanez - Looks like Pizza!! July 2012 Negrieros Peru

Elder Pinegar, Carlos (YM Pres) & Elder Yanez July 2012 Negrieros 

Hi Familia,

K--first thing that I gotta say is that these photos don't look the best, but it was the flash I swear! haha Anyways, so this week was good, and we had our little activity and what not. It was a success with 30 people and of those 30, five were investigators and they have potential. We have one family that we're teaching, and we got the dad to come to church, Tonight we have a ¨lesson¨ (were going there to eat some conchas negras y langostinos,....but I'm counting it as a leccción)) haha I am pretty sure that we are going to baptise the whole family. He's great and the mom is a menus activo hace 17 years, and she wants to go to the church this Sunday!  I was a little surprised in the beginning but God does work. haha then me.... ;)

Yeah so that was the highlight of the past week, We're doing good and the specks on my comp are the following:
age (edad): 23--that's Jordan's number--
height (talla): 180 cm or less (about 5'11")
likeability (amabilidad): on a scale of 1 to 10 hes the upper part of a 9. We get along really well and have come to some great conclusions.

He's from Salta and I gotta say where he lives is pretty chill. I saw some pics and vids. 
Yeah so this week were gonna do work and what not. by that i mean enjoy the mission.


Love you all like my own children,

Love,
Elder Pinegar

Got to love Alex and his mathematical mind (referring to statistics when I asked to hear more about his comp). We had great news in the Pinegar home-- Nick, Alex's older brother, just received his mission call. He's going to the Washington Spokane mission--Spanish speaking and leaves for the MTC Sept 26. He can't wait to tell Alex. Two missionaries and both Spanish speaking!

July 16, 2012 Negreiros, Peru-- Out in the middle of nowhere

Dear Familia,

These pics are from the internet--but give a good view of the terrain

Yeah, so just to clarificar some things, the place that I'm at is indeed called Negreiros (it's a small village and there is not anything here haha. We have a little bit of water every other day) Negritos is about 5 times bigger than the city that I'm in. Negreiros is basically a city that was abandoned when the oil company changed a few rules of regulation. To ¨paint the picture¨ think of journeys that we do every year to Lake Powell, passing the tribes of Indians, the hot sun scorching the skin, and the rays reflecting the clouds of dust that the never-ending wind kicks up. Now put yourself in the middle of that....that's negrieros haha ;)

Another internet pic-Looking South toward Negritos

There is absolutely nothing here. The only reason the people live here is because of the pertroleo. As for the algarrobo, it's a common commodity that in raw form has no function, but after boiling and grinding the useless algarrobo because a sweet extract, kind of like maple syrup. To answer the questions about the other comps are, you know more than me haha. I see them every three months or so for an hour and a half, but yes, there is an elder that is taller than me Elder Scolfield or something like that!

Elder Pinegar in Negreiros--July 2012  We think this is where he lives--not sure

About the area, I'm not sure of the reason that it was closed, but I believe it was because there was no progression, and that's not hard to believe, the evaghelicos are killin us, and the population is about 60% evanghelic. They hate us. (but i gotta admit, i like some of there songs haa they are pretty chill!)

So about this week, basically the same not much that has happened, We´ve be trying a tactic to give away little gift card dealios about the church, It's kinda working and at least the people have to put out their hand to snatch it from us and tell us that they believe in other things haha. It's all good. I've learned to accept the fact that religion is a really touchy subject, not just for one person but it really is at the root of the supposed salvation. The good thing is that God understands all that will happen, and one day every person will kneel and head bow. I've had some good study sessions about Jesus and I've been trying to apply his tactical teaching to my teaching, He real was the buen maestro.Every word that he said had significance, although some people thought that he was overly rough with the people and what not, he ruled with the truth and nothing short. Wow!

anyways, do work at home!!!! love you guys and hope for the best!!!!

Elder Pinegar

Elder Pinegar at Negritos July 2012

Elder Pinegar at the Punta Parinas Lighthouse in Negritos, Peru 7/12.This is the most western point in mainland South America.

PS. things that I would like / need

1. a really good toothbrush, my gums are getting a work out with the crappy one here.

2. a couple of mouth gaurds, or something similar to stop me from grinding my teeth, i think it's due to stress.

3. the memory card with photos of you guys in jpeg format that are no more than 4-5 megs, the camera cant read anything bigger.

thanks for all ya do. I love you guys tons, but ya already knew that!!!!

peace!!!!

pps: the light post and the sea pics are in NEGRITOS the place that you thought I was at haah ! ;)