1Nephi 3:7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandements unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Pulehu Chapel, Maui!

Well I'm doing pretty good. Our week was awesome! We had 24 lessons (Goal=20) and ended up with 84 OYMs (Goal=70) it was awesome too!

My companion and I are doing pretty good. He likes to work and likes to teach. We are still striving to do our best to be obedient. A question for me is…am I being obedient because other people are or am I obedient because of my Savior. I can say that I have seen the blessings role in as I strive to do what I know I should regardless of what others may be doing. I am grateful.

We had zone conference this week! It was sweet, of course. We had a lot of good trainings. Most of which were on being a "Master planner" which is one of the things that we can improve on… is planning exactly what we want to do the next day. Elder Davies one of the Zone leaders also shared a poem that I have been trying to get a copy of and I will send it to you guys once I get it. I don't really know how to explain it so you will just have to wait. haha Anyways, the poem helped me a lot this week because it talked about how the savior went through the same things we do as missionaries and this week we, for some reason, had a lot of people that weren't exactly nice… haha and it was just kind of getting on my nerves. Like this one guy, we walked up to his house and knocked on the door and he got up and started yelling at us because we came to the back door not the front door... His house was sideways! That door was the first door you see when you walk to his house. His front door was around the corner behind some bushes. I had a lot of that kind of stuff so it helped me a lot not to worry about it.

As far as our investigators go, Kale was baptized last week but we couldn't confirm him. He was late to church because the people that bring him were late, but this week he got a ride with the bishop's wife so he was a half hour early! Haha… so we were able finally confirm him. Joe is still doing great! He loves church. He loves Scouts and He loves learning more about the Gospel. He even offers to do the prayers before we even mention anything. We now have a sweet hand shake too so I guess we are set when it comes to that. The 10 year old girl we are teaching is working through some things so, we have just been praying for her and her family.

Oh and Skye said you guys are going to 5k, I started running today for some exercise, just around our pad. We are on like a half acre and I went like 10 times around and was dying, haha, so we will be getting into shape together.

Hey you guys should look up the Pulehu Chapel because that is where I live and it is actually a pretty famous place for the church. George Q Cannon was the first missionary here in Hawaii and it started here on Maui :) look it up!

Well that is all for this week. I love my mission and I'm grateful for all of you and your support.

Elder Justin Pincock

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Maui Zone Upcountry Week 3!!

 It sounds like a busy week at home. Skye had a pretty crazy story of that pitbull next door!  Oh man, if you guys only knew how many pitbulls wanted to eat me here. haha But it's ok, I am on the Lord's errand so I think I am protected.  I wish I could have come to Moab with you guys, that would be and awesome place to ride, we will have to go there when I come home.  It is so nice here in Maui.  You guys would love it.  I am pretty sure I would live here if I didn't love snowboarding and Utah so much.  I will definitely be visiting this island when I come back. 

I'm okay so whenever on the package mom and ...I will be sending p90x and insanity home :(.  I think I am good on shirts for now but maybe soon because you know me...I'm not very good at keeping things white. Haha...  and as for my pants they are a bit snug but they are fine for now, besides it gives me a little more motivation to work out more. I admit I am feeling a little pudgy, haha and then there is Elder Allen who has only gained 7 pounds and still looks like a stick! Haha

That's weird to think that everyone is going to school and I'm not. Haha Who all has come to visit lately and how come they haven't written me??...Just kidding…  I did get Jennica's email and I wrote her back a couple of times.  Did she get them?

Our Baptism went really good!   He is solid.  He is actually haole (which means, white, haha) so his name was just Kale Islands, not one of those huge long names.  It was really funny because he came down into the font with me and I was telling him real quick how to bend his knees …so he go's "ok" … and then proceeded to baptize himself, haha, he only got about half way down before I caught him, it was so funny! I was trying so hard to stop laughing and then I forgot to say Amen at the end of the prayer so we had to do it again.  So he got dunked 2 ½ times! Haha.  The ward here is awesome.  They really know how to fellowship new people in.  They actually have active youth.  Ka'u was lacking some in that aspect but I still love that place too.  Kales mom also came who is not a member so hopefully she felt the spirit.  She is a little hard to contact though because she works a lot, she is a very nice lady.
We are still having great success.  We have 2 people who are set for baptism on the 25th this month.  The first one is young girl who is ten and the second is a boy.  They are both solid.  The boy came to Kale’s baptism this past week.  I overheard him talking to Kale saying that he better be at his baptism too. Haha, it's awesome to see the fellowship of the young men in this ward.  We ate dinner with all of them and Bro Mateake's house yesterday.  They are some funny kids.  There was a yearbook that Kale was looking at and I was teasing him that one of the girls in it was my wife, haha… come to think of it he may still think that! Haha. 

I love this area we are in… yes… it is prettier than Big Island… where I was anyways, haha. Although, it still is not what I thought Hawaii would look like, but still pretty.   I still have good memories of Ka’u though too!

Well, the church is true, I promise!  There is no way you can say that it is not true and not be lying, if you read the Book of Mormon sincerely to find truth, front to back.  I love the words of the prophets in the book as well as the Bible and also our Modern day prophets.  Thomas S. Monson is definitely a prophet of God.  If you really think about it…that guy is closer to our Heavenly Father than anyone else on this earth.  I just wonder what that must feel like...  Another thing that blows my mind is the level of humility that he has in every word he speaks.  All of the apostles do!  I really love listening to Elder Eyring, he is one of my favorites because he just has an awesome spirit that just projects through the screen right to you.  I could go on and on about apostles all day haha, and I'll be honest I never thought I would say that.  My advice to  all of you is to keep trying to progress in this gospel because just when you think you know everything you will be faced with personal revelation or experience of how you could do better, haha, but it is those mistakes that keep us humble.  One of the AP's the first day I got to Hawaii was talking to our district and he said to serve your mission with no regrets.  And I thought of that and went… oh crap...  I don't know if I can do that I make mistakes a ton haha, but I have been thinking of that lately and he didn't say serve with no mistakes he said serve with no regrets.  So mistakes are okay if you learn from them and grow from them. 
Well that is my little tidbit for you guys today. I love you and I love my mission and am so grateful to be here.  I am praying for you guys every day. 


Elder Pincock