Hello family. Don't you even fret mother… I did find Costco and I did get protein drinks! There is even a GNC! I just bought some resistance bands too. It's time to get down to business, haha.
Oh man everybody is coming home from missions now, have to say it's making me slightly trunky. But that's ok.
Elder Kibaimoa and I are starting to get things moving. We have a few appts set up for next week. No one with a baptismal date yet but I think we might soon. We got 110 OYMs last week. That's the most I have ever done. The city is way different. It's actually just like suburbs but it feels like a city to me. I still really miss Molokai alot though. I just heard that one of the investigators there is getting married and baptized this Saturday! Sweet! But I'm sad I won't be there for it. One of the investigators from the Big Island emailed me and said she is going to get baptized too! I'm so excited for her.
Well, it sounds like mom has been pretty busy with her new calling. I kind of feel the same way. She talked a little about reading scriptures and how it helps with the calling. My personal study is like my favorite time of the day because you get the insight needed for what is going to happen in that specific day. It's pretty cool. I had my first District Leader training meeting (DLTM) It was really good. Our training was on leading like Christ leads. I will have to send you the talk that I received, it was awesome.
So Skye and Ty finally are making some progress on their new home. That's good! Dad seems pretty busy with our house too. I'm stoked to see it. I'm excited to talk to you guys again in like a month (Mother’s Day). That's always a good time!
That's a funny story about that Palomino mule falling in love with a dog.
Well, thanks everyone for your support. Love you.
Elder Pincock
March 12, 2012 (Oahu… Mililani, New Comp- Elder Kibaimoa)
Hello everyone. So it's been a crazy week here. Don't worry the tornado was on the other side of the island. The weather isn't so bad over here, it just sprinkles a little bit. I don't think I need a coat. Oahu is crazy though! I went to my first transfer meeting! Well besides the one when I got to Hawaii. It was crazy. I saw tons of my old companions and friends from the mission. I was freaking out though when I got to the city! There isn't even a traffic light in Molokai, haha. I was so sad to leave... It was almost like leaving home again. That was the saddest I have ever been leaving an area… but… it's all good though. I am still driving a car. I still don't need a bike yet. My new Companion is Elder Kibaimoa. He is from Kiribati. He's only been out like 3 months and he barely speaks English but he's the coolest! haha He is one of the humblest people I have ever met. We have been trying to get things rolling here. We are over 2 wards… Mililani 1st and Waipiolani. Neither of the wards have any investigators. Well, we have one in Waipiolani but he has had to reschedule a few times, so needless to say we have a lot of work to do.
I am the district leader here. Elder White and Elder Packer are the others in my district. They are pretty solid elders so I'm not too worried. I was a little bit stressed at first but not too bad. I gave my first training last Friday. It was a little rough and out of order but I think they got the message, haha.
These wards are funny though, it's not at all like Molokai. They are mostly white and I am not used to that. It feels so different and the members don't even want to shake my hand when they come in the door! That's like their favorite thing in Molokai is to shake the missionary hands when you enter the chapel, haha. Not much aloha but it's ok they are still nice just different. I really miss Molokai still. The Angcos sent me something to Utah and they didn't tell me what it is... so if you get a package for me. I kind of want to know what it is. I was thinking a lot about mom and her new calling these past few days. I have to say that it has been pretty cool because I have been praying for the gifts necessary to fulfill my calling as district leader and they seem to come quite quickly, or at least that's what it feels like. It's interesting because, really, anyone could do this calling… I really want to do it right and learn what I can from it.
Anyway that's about it for this week. I love you guys. Tell Andrew and Ryan I said “what’s up”.
Elder Pincock
March 5, 2012 (President called… Transferring to Oahu and now a District Leader)
Wow, thanks for the pictures, your new room looks awesome! I can't believe that. I really need to learn how to do that, haha. So… dad went on the Comb Wash trip? Once again, I am jealous, haha. He sent me some pictures of one of the trips a while ago. I miss my mules, who would have thought, haha.
Well I'm out of here (Molokai). I am getting transferred to Mililani (Oahu). The reason I know where I am going already is because President called me and asked me to be the new District Leader there. I am excited because I am sure I will learn a lot more and because Oahu is so different from anywhere else I have been. I might freak out for the first couple weeks. I do have to say that I am super bummed at the same time because I don't want to leave Molokai of course. I have absolutely loved my time here. Elder Maughan and I get along so well that I am not ready to split that yet either. He is one my favorite companion. He is going to do awesome though. I really hope this place just keeps moving up. I feel like it will really take off in a couple of weeks. We have been having a lot of success lately. We are just trying to get the ball rolling on a few things.
The APs came today and guess who they were?? Elder Woodfield and Elder Gardner. Elder Gardner has pretty much been training me my whole mission, haha. He is a pretty amazing missionary. I can't believe the change in him. Not that he was at all bad. He was always a super good missionary but now he just skyrocketed. I bet that he will be giving a talk in conference someday, haha. Both Assistants came out with us for a day. They helped us out a lot with a few things. Planning was a big one. They helped us get a lot more organized. They also helped me to try to think outside of the box. This is something that is really hard for me because when I get into my way of doing things I just settle in and don't move but he helped me realize that not every situation can be solved the same way. And you can accomplish a lot by not being just a normal missionary.
It was really funny because when Elder Gardner was my companion we had Elder Biggs, the AP at the time, come out with us and he pretty much changed our mission. When Elder Gardner came out with us this time I was joking about it because it was funny that he was now in that place changing us for the better instead of Elder Biggs.
Well one of our investigator didn't come to church again. He said that he would come to basketball again too but never showed up. We haven't taught one of our other investigators in a while either because she goes to Oahu a lot. We are going to have to get them back on track... and by we… I mean Elder Maughan and his new comp. We have 2 other investigators that are doing really good. They are deciding on a marriage date for the middle of this month and then they will be baptized on April 7th. I'm so bummed I will miss it. I hope it really goes through this time. They seem really solid to me.
I love you guys. Thank you for all your support, it is much appreciated!
Elder Justin Pincock
February 27, 2012 (Molokai, When I apply the Gospel and It Makes Me Happy)
Hello everyone, it sounds like things are good at home. Cruiser…the sequel looks like a cool little dog. You guys should send some more pictures of the room, I want to see it. Well this week was pretty good, although, 2 of our investigators didn’t come to church on Sunday... I hope they can figure it out soon. Our other 2 investigators are still doing well. They are supposed to be married in the middle of March. Their baptism day was moved to the first week in April because of conference. Wow, I can't believe it's almost that time again.
Transfer calls are next week. I really hope to stay but I have been here for a while so I don't know if I will. I don't want to leave Molokai. I will probably be sent to the city after this, haha, although, that's exactly what I said the last couple of times, so you never know. I'm not really sure what to write about this week... it's mostly the same. hmmm...Well how about a story. So we were tracting yesterday and we came across this guy who I'm not sure if he is an atheist or just hates God but as soon as we got there he was like "If you guys have read the bible like I have then you know that it is stupid and why would God order thousands to die?" We then corrected him that we were holding the Book of Mormon not the Bible and when we started to tell him about it he interrupted us again told us the Book of Mormon was the silliest thing he had ever read in his life and that we should read it "really read it!" he said. Obviously I had already read it a few times but he didn't believe that for some reason two young boys were capable of knowing truth. We were too inexperienced to know anything to this guy so we just offered any service and he said no of course and we left. But this experience got me thinking about something that I have wondered about many times. That it didn't take years and years of experience for me to know that this Gospel is true. It is taking a lot of time to understand it but I already know that what I read out of the scriptures is true because I have applied the principles in my life and they have in turn made me happy. It is that simple. When I apply the Gospel of Jesus Christ it makes me happy. I'm so glad that I was able to have the foundation in place by Mom and Dad so that I could have something to fall back on. I just remember looking into that man's face and seeing emptiness and lack of clarity. He is looking for the Gospel he just doesn't know it. I think the biggest thing I have found on my mission is really just something simple and I have said it a few times in my emails and that is that God is real. He's not some untouchable entity that is out in space somewhere. Before, I believed in God but I didn't quite comprehend him. Now I'm sure I don't fully know how great He is but I know that He is my Father in Heaven, I know he cares, and that knowledge has helped me in many different ways. I say these things in the name of Heavenly Fathers only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
I love you guys and hope you have a good week. Sorry for the short email.
Elder Pincock
