Aloha Everyone! Loved Zone Conference!

Aloha everyone!

It's been an awesome week.  To answer some of your questions, Valentines was good... I guess, haha, kind of just another day but thanks for that package.  I am a little more plump around the edges now but that's ok.  Those gym shoes are awesome! Sorry I forgot to say thanks last week.  I really like them.  Thank you so much.  It’s like they are already broken in.  That's cool that you talked to Sister Apuna.  She's the coolest.  You guys should probably be friends.  She reminds me of mom so much especially because she has a son on a mission so when she talks about him it makes me think of mom.  So the bedroom is coming around.  That's good news.  I still can't believe Andrew is coming home already! 

We had 5 investigators and sacrament on Sunday!  A few of them we thought were thinking had dropped off just randomly showed up!  It was crazy cool.  Except the sad part was only 2 of our 4 with a baptismal dates showed up.  That was a bummer.  Two of them were the ones we have been teaching for as long as I have been here and even longer than that and all of the sudden they decided to come to church and read the Book of Mormon.  It's awesome.  They are both excited to get baptized. 

So this last Tuesday was zone conference and it seems that there is always a story about zone conference in Molokai.  We had to wake up at 3:30am to catch the ferry on Tuesday morning.  We were dragging a little but we had a good zone conference.  Elder Gardner is an Assistant to the President now (or assistant president however you wanna look at it.) So he was at another one of my zone conferences, haha, he has been at most of my whole mission.  He gave an awesome training about commitments.  All of them were really good.  Well after zone conference was over (it went overtime of course) We had to book it down to the other side of Maui to Lahaina where the ferry was leaving.  We ended up missing it by minutes so we had to call the zone leaders to come get us because we took the Sister's car and they came and got it already so we were stranded.  It took The ZL's forever to get there so Elder Mafi spotted this tongan guy and went over there to talk to him and then he came back and the guy had given him 60 bucks!  Sweet, thank for our dinner! Then when the ZLs got there they only had room for 2 of us... So Elder Maughan and I had to stay.  We pretty much just cruised front street, the most touristy spot on the island, for like 2 hours.  It was fun though.  There were a lot of members there.  One of which bought us ice cream, haha.  It's a hard life.  Well long story short we didn't get picked up until like 9:45pm and didn't get to sleep until like 11:30... it was a long day.  Needless to say the next day we were dragging really bad. 

My companion is awesome.  We get along really well and work hard together.  I really want to stay another transfer because things are starting to pick up.  Plus the Elders here are awesome and I don't want to leave.  I think I may stay another because Elder Maughan has only been here for one transfer so President might keep me here one more.  I don't know though, but I hope. 

We started up basketball on Saturday nights.  This Saturday was awesome.  There was a bunch of people here.  Hawaii is cool because they bring their whole family to just come hang out and watch and cheer and such.  They call me the magic man. haha It makes me really wish I was tall though.  We tried to get one of our investigators to come but he didn't... hopefully next time.

Well that was my week.  It was good to hear from you.  I love you guys.  God is real.  Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. Joseph smith restored the power of God on the earth and established Christ's church once again.  I love this this knowledge.  I can’t wait to hear from you again. 

Elder Pincock

Aloha Everyone!

Hello everyone. 

Well this week was pretty good.  We were able to help one of our investigators to get another baptism date set up.  She is set for march 17.  It was funny because on Friday when we taught her we planned to give her the 25th of Feb. We even set it for that day but when i was telling her that day it just didn't feel right but i went ahead and said it anyway.  After she agreed (sort of haha) and we left i talked to elder Maughan and he felt the same way.  We talked about it and decided it should be the middle of March instead.  So we went back on Saturday and talked to her.  We just asked her when she felt comfortable getting baptized to see where she stood and she said the middle of March haha.  So set it for the 17 and she is going to talk to her husband.  She has to write him a letter though so it might take a little while. 

We have another investigator that has another date as well.  She is set for march 31.  She still has to get married but her boyfriend is now coming to church and reading the book of Mormon on his own!  Those extra shirts you gave me came in handy because he needed one so i gave him one and a couple ties as well.  He's not taking the lessons yet but we invited him to sit in on Friday. 

We have Zone Conference tomorrow so we are going to Maui today!  I'm stoked to go back there.  Every single person has left since I have been there though.  But I’m stoked for conference.  I can't believe it's already that time again.  I feel like I just went.  It was funny because the last zone conference we went to Mililani's in Oahu and Elder Maughan was in that zone so I met him there and then the next transfer he was my companion.  He’s way cool though.  We get along really good.  He really just someone I would hang out with at home.  We are having a lot of success too.  This area is picking up again.  I hope I don't leave in 3 weeks!  I probably will since I have been here almost 6 months!  I don't know what I would do if I left.  If they sent me to the city I might freak out a little.  

We didn't go to the leadership training thing but apparently neither did any of our leaders, haha.  So they are showing it again next Sunday so we will probably go to it.  

Well I think that's it for this week.  I love you guys.  This gospel is true and God has a plan for every one of us.  I'm reminded of that pretty much daily out here.  He knows what he is doing.  

Elder Justin Pincock 

Molokai! Aloha!

January 3, 2012

Man it was awesome to talk to you guys on Christmas!  Sounds like you guys had a good time over the Holidays.  Thanks for the gifts!  Well the holidays were pretty good here.  I, of course, gained some weight.  Man that was a lot of food.  I am looking forward to Insanity and P90x haha, I haven't got it yet but I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival.  The work has kind of been slow.  Not many people want to talk to us during the holidays because they are all preparing for their parties and stuff.  New Years is big deal here.  People go all out for fireworks and spend like $2000 for just fireworks.  Plus they do make a few of their own, haha.  There were bombs going off until like 2 in the morning!  Elder Davis and I first went to the Angcos in our ward for dinner.  They are awesome and we did some fireworks!  We had quite an adventure today too.  Well, this week we will be working on our investigators to get baptismal dates.  I will let you know how it goes.  That’s about it for this week. Thank you all!

Elder Pincock

January 9, 2012

What's up everyone, it has been a pretty good week.  Although they are always good in Molokai! The work has just been a little slow.  We did have a new investigator come to church though.  So hopefully we will be able to teach her again soon.  We also invited another lady but I guess she had an accident and couldn't make it.  Hopefully she will be able to come next week.  She is pretty solid.  She has been to church before, she had come with her husband (that's right.  HUSBAND.  She's married.... NICE!) He is already a member and not been able to come for a while.  Maybe when he comes back and his wife will be baptized! We are still trying to get the work really moving again after the holidays.  We are trying to get the members really involved.  We are going to do a free car wash next month at the church to get people into the building.  I will probably tell you more about that later on. 

We met with President this week and guess what he told me?!! He is going to try to have me home before Christmas!  I didn't even ask him about it, he just said it.  So that's pretty cool.  Sister Dalton (his wife) also talked to us about the missions weight gain, haha.  She has now implemented mission wide biggest loser, haha.  She gave us like tips and stuff and we weighed in and next interview we will do it again.  I have been working hard the last couple days and I think I can win because it is by body fat percentage so a short guy like me can still win!  Insanity is in session!  The other elders are doing it with me too so that helps.

Well sorry this is short.  I kind of ran out of time but I love you guys and this Gospel.  I can't believe what it has done for me.

Elder Pincock

January 17, 2012

Hey how's it going, sounds like another good week for you guys.  Congrats on Skye getting closer to her new house haha.  That's pretty exciting.  Sorry I'm late with my email again.  It was another Monday holiday so the library was closed.  It's also good to hear that Isaac is doing alright.  So it finally snowed there.  Tyler G is probably stoked haha.  Glad he got his package.  I don't have his address so tha’ts why it went to our house. 

I'm so proud of you, mom, for accepting that calling and you are in my prayers.  I wonder if they call me to do something…  I have avoided leadership too long,  They are bound to find me haha.  Transfer calls are this Sunday so we will find out who is going where but seeming as how me and Elder Davis have been comps for 4 and a half months I think he may be going.  Man it's getting hard to keep track of time.

So one of our investigators came to church!  She should be baptized this Saturday!  I'm so excited!  She pretty much just fell out of the sky.  We just drove past her house and she was outside and Elder Davis saw her and stopped and pulled over.  We came back later that day and shared a lesson with her.  The next lesson she agreed to be baptized on the 28th!  We are going to try to catch her today and share the plan of salvation with her because she asked us about it last time.  She even has one of those signs in her house that says her family name with "forever" behind it.  Her husband is a and he is excited for her.

 

Life has been really good here in Molokai.  We really kind of have it made here.  Nice people and it is a beautiful place.  Yesterday we went to the beach that was in the end of Pirates of the Carribean 3!  It was really nice and of course, we stayed on the rocks.  The drive in was a little crazy though.  They let me drive the truck because nobody else wanted the liability.  But with my supreme Rock crawling skills acquired from Moab a few years back we were able to make it without a scratch, haha.  It wasn't really that bad and it was fun.  We fished off the rocks over there and it was funny because Elder Davis was casting his fishing pole out for like an hour and then we hear Elder Mafi yell from somewhere in the distance.  I came around a rock to find him with a fish in his hand.  He didn't even have a fishing pole, he just grabbed some line put bait on it and through it out and caught a fish! Haha,  man sometimes I wish I was Tongan...  He does a lot of cool things, haha.

Well that was my week.  I can't wait to hear from you again next week.  Love you guys.  I love this gospel, and the happiness it brings.

Aloha

Elder Pincock

January 23, 2012

I'm still staying in Molokai!  Elder Davis is leaving though.  I'm kind of bummed which is weird because usually when we have been with a companion for 3 months we are ready for a change, haha, but I think we could have gone another one.  We are not sure where he is going yet.  And also not sure who will be the next district leader...  wondering if it might be me...  I'm the oldest in our district right now.  We'll see how that goes.  Everyone else is staying. Elder Tripp and Elder Mafi are still going to be here so that's good. 

We may have to move back our new investigators baptism a little bit.  It might be a little too fast for her.  She wasn't able to come to church because her new baby kept her up all night so she was really tired.  We were pretty bummed about that.  Oh, but the good news was that another investigators whole family came with her to church.  I don't know if you guys remember her but she has been our investigator for longer that I have been here and just needs to be married and her husband came for the first time in months too.  That was cool. 

Our young women just did that New Beginnings thing.  That is still so cool to me about your calling Mom, haha.  What is ward council like there?  Do you guys do the 15 names list?  How does it go?  It seems to be a really hard thing with the Hawaii wards.  We are working on that.  It's a pretty cool thing when it works out. 

So on Saturday we had a fishing contest.  It was pretty crazy because when we got there they were having a huge protest about the small cruise ship that comes in every now and again.  They even had like police there blocking off the wharf and they had like jet skis and stuff in the water.  All the protesters did was yell at the people coming off the boat as they drove by in the escort vans they had.  They didn't even do anything.  But after that we had our contest and guess who one... Elder Davis!  Guess how big his fish was...  6 1/4 inches!  Nice huh! haha  We were using the winning fish for live bait before they told us we had won, haha.  He won some tackle and a few gift certificates. 

Man, I can't believe there is not much snow.  I have been thinking about snowboarding all day!  It's killing me!  I MUST SHRED!  but i cannot haha.  I'm so stoked to stay here in Molokai, although a little bit nervous though because it has been so long that I have been Elder Davis' companion.  We even started like finishing each other sentences and saying the same thing at the same time and stuff.  It will be different having a new companion, haha. 

Well it is so good to hear from you.  I'll talk to you guys laters.  Love you and stuff

Elder Pincock 

January 30, 2012

Hey how's it going everyone!  I have a new companion.  His name is Elder Maughan (sounds like Mon)  He is super cool and he brought a guitar, haha.  He is from Monticello and he's the new district leader and he has only been out 6 months which is less than all of us, haha.  He is super cool.  I'm stoked to work with him here.  We have so much potential we just have to work super hard to get some baptisms. 

So one of our investigators canceled the last 2 lessons and didn't come to church again...  I'm so bummed.  She is so ready but I think her husband may not think so.  We might not even teach her this week because she is going to see her husband in Oahu.  I'm not quite sure what to do about it.  On the other hand I figured out that we have 6 different kids who easily could be baptized if we can help their parents to be active again...  6!  and we have been trying even when Elder Davis was here but hopefully Elder Maughan and I can help them out.  

Well today we are going to hulihuli a piglet that Elder Mafi got from some Tongan guy in their ward haha.  I'm pretty stoked for that. 

  

Elder Davis called the other night and told me he is in Waianai. (i think that's how you spell it)  which is in Oahu.  haha  He is probably freaking out over there.  I guess that is a little bit of a rough side of town.  I hope he does well there. 

So on Saturday we had the makahiki games which is kind of like Hawaii's end of the year games.  Everybody, kids and adults, compete in all of these Hawaiian games.  It was pretty cool.  They had like tug of war and like chicken fights and things like that.  Everyone in the whole island was there haha and of course they had a ton of food.  Man they make good food here.  I'm not a huge fan of some of the Hawaiian dishes but there are a few that are really good.  It was super cool.

Well that is it for this week.  I love you guys.  

Elder Pincock  

February 6, 2012

Hey what's up everyone?  Another good week.  I'm jealous of dad.  I miss the valley of fire.  Teltom's going to Korea! That's awesome.  If you see him tell him I said congrats.  I can't believe Andrew comes home next month...  Time flies by!  I remember when he was saying he only had 10 months left and now that's me!  Holy crap!

Well my companion is awesome!  We get along really good and he is an awesome missionary too.  He works hard and knows what he is doing.  We haven't been teaching a ton but we have found a new investigator and are still working with our other ones too.  We haven't been able to see one of them for a while.  That makes me kind of bummed but I think she was out of town this past week so we will try to get with her this week.  We have been trying to sort out the 15 names list for the ward and we think we have it straightened out a little bit better.  We got a new ward mission leader.  I stoked about it because he is an awesome member who knows how to get people back to church and wants to help us out a lot. 

I do kind of have a spiritual thought for you.  One of the scriptures I have been using a lot lately is Mosiah 2:41 about the happy state of those who keep the commandments.  It just talks about how if we are doing what God asks we are happy but if we are going against Him we are not.  It's one of my favorites. 

We went jeeping today!!!  in Brother Nakayama's (our landlord) jeep! It was way cool.  I took some good pics and videos for you guys.  I only have one card though, so I would like you to send the other one.  His jeep is pretty sick though.  It really made me want to get a jeep when I get home haha.  I miss ours so bad.  We went up into the forest above our house.  It's really funny because you get up to the mountains and it is like big pine trees and stuff.  It doesn't look like Hawaii at all.  We did go on a pretty sweet hike and I'm pretty sure there were some raptors stalking us.  It looked like it was straight out of Jurassic Park.  You have to walk on this little 2 by 6 because the ground is so boggy.  It was really pretty though.

 

The hulihuli was good, haha.  He just cooked it then threw it on a tray and we dug in.  It was so good.

Well that's all I got for this week.  Love you guys.  

Elder Pincock