Aloha from Oahu (Mililani), District Leader

March 19, 2012 (Oahu… Mililani, District Leader)

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

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 

Merry Christmas!!

Hello Everyone,  I can't believe there is still no snow over there... that's a bummer.  Well, I would think it was if it were me living there, haha.  There is still no snow here either.  I'm still hoping Heavenly Father will humor me and give us a white Christmas but it's not looking good haha.  Oh and Ty I totally feel for ya, I hated working mules in the winter.  0 degrees though?! That's crazy! 

I haven't got the packages you sent yet.  I might get them today.  We haven't checked mail.  I'm glad you guys enjoyed my package and the coconut, haha.  I will be sending a Christmas package too today.  Hopefully it gets there in time.

That's crazy about Isaac being home.  I don't know how I would handle coming home...  I can't even imagine that right now.  That's cool that he talked at Jareds farewell.  I hope I talk that confident when I get back, and sounds like he will probably giving his homecoming talk about the same time as me now, haha.

This week has been alright.  It's been kind of crazy with transfers and such.  Elder Maybon is gone and Elder Tripp is now here, he is so happy all the time and probably has the most energy I have ever seen!  He's cool.  He started in Ka'u like me so we had a lot to talk about.  It seems like everything is going pretty good. 

Elder Davis is doing good as the District leader.  He was kind of nervous about taking on the job. He is awesome though so he will do great.  We have been trying to find some new investigators lately.  Our teaching pool seems to be slowing down.   Our investigator that was going to be baptized on Christmas Eve didnt come to church again.  Man, I don't know what is going on, he was feeling so good before when he was coming and being active.  We are just trying to help him understand that again. 

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday.  It was awesome.  They had dinner (of course) and then a talent show.  There are a lot of talented people here.  Most of them were kids too.  They have this thing here called "school of rock" which is pretty much the same as the movie.  One of the members teaches a bunch of kids how to play the all the instruments and they played at the talent show.  It was pretty cool.

Yesterday we had a ward fireside.  We watch 17 miracles.  I have seen it twice now and both times I had to stop my eyes from draining and to swallow the lump in my throat a million times, haha.  That movie is hard to get through.  It's amazing what people went through because they knew that this was the only true church.  They would die for it.  I know people say that all the time but that movie just helped it click in my mind.  I'm so grateful for those people and there example of selfless service and diligence in the gospel.

Well I love you guys and look forward to talking to you on Sunday!  

WHOOOOOAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I will be calling about 3 or 4 utah time, I think.

Elder Justin Pincock 

Transfers! I am Staying on Molokai!!

Hey everyone!  I get at least one more transfer in Molokai!  I get to stay and I'm stoked!  Elder Maybon is the only one who is going, which is a bummer because he is the coolest and best district leader ever!  So now guess who is going to be the district leader… Elder Davis!  He doesn't know it yet but Elder Maybon told me, and he will be so good at it.

 

I'm going to be at one year officially this week!  That's still crazy to me.  I am half way already?  Although I found out something that I was kind of bummed about.  I won’t be able to be home for next Christmas because my last transfer won't end until December 27...  Lame right!  I will be out for 3 Christmas!  That's ok, I will have plenty more.  Hey sorry I haven't sent my memory card of pictures.  Every time I would go to send it something would distract me and I wouldn't be able to.  Now I let it go too long because now I am out of memory on both of them... whoops.  I will send them today (along with some b-day gifts for mom and Bronson) but please hurry and send one back ASAP.  I'm so bummed I missed out on the festivities for your birthdays, sounded pretty good though.  That Christmas party with the Mule friends sounded pretty wild! haha Man I miss Mel and Dona.  Tell them I said hello and thanks again for their huge contribution to my LIFE! That was a funny picture of Dona on the saddle!

That's good that you are still reading Jesus the Christ, mom.  Keep it up.  I did get that poem that Lisa sent.  It is really good, I hope I have a good dash.

 

As for our investigator with the Christmas Eve baptism date…he had a little bump in his life.  He didn't smoke or anything he is totally done with that.  But I guess he went and talked to the priest at another church to tell him he was going to get baptized (I don't know why people think that the priest is there dad or something)  but I guess the priest scared him a little bit and made him realize how big the decision was that he was making.  So he started questioning everything.  Well Sunday came and we hadn't seen him all week because we were at zone conference (a whole other story) but he didn't come to church which was weird because he hadn't missed a Sunday in months.  So both me and Elder Davis felt that we needed to go find him so we left church and went to his house.  He invited us in and told us this story and you could tell that he just didn't have the same spirit about him anymore.  He didn't have the glow, he wasn't smiling as much and it was because he was starting to second guess everything.  Well, me and Elder Davis started just talking.  We ended up teaching him about the Book of Mormon and helping him understand the importance of it and how it is the evidence of the truthfulness of this whole gospel.  He said he would read it and ponder and pray about it after we left.  We also reminded him of the cottage meeting we were having that night.  He said he would come.  He ended up being the only nonmember out of like the 10 that we invited to come.  It seemed that this meeting was for him only.  We started the meeting (by having dinner, of course) and then a lesson.  We went around and bore our testimonies and there were a few people who use to be his other religion so that helped a lot.  His baptism is sort of hanging on a limb right now, but we are still thinking he will be okay.

Now about zone conference…we were supposed to go on Wednesday but then our plane broke so we waited forever for them to fix it and then they couldn't even do it so they had to put us on a flight on Thursday night to Oahu to see a different zone conference there instead of Maui (our own zone)  It was kind of weird but it was fun to see other elders.

I'm out of time now, so… I love you guys.  Man it is always good to hear from you guys.  I love this Gospel and the way it can change people's lives and only for the better and all you have to do is try it out.

Elder Pincock

Wow! 10 More Days = 1 Year!

Hello family/friends who might read this...

Oh and Happy birthday Bronson! I am going to get you and Mom a present hopefully today so you have my permission to be excited!  Man, the Holidays here are super weird because it is not cold...  I don't really like that... haha, but people still have all there decorations up or are now putting them up and there is Christmas music playing.  It’s not very busy though with Christmas shopping because there's not much to shop for here on Molokai.  Most people take the ferry to Maui or shop online I think.  I loved those pictures of the tree festival.  I can't believe dad went, haha.  Good job dad!  I loved all of those packages.  I haven't watched all of the DVD’s yet but I watched a few of the Dad ones.  Those will probably kill me when I watch them all haha, so emotional.  The cd's are amazing.  Kenny G is my boy!  haha  I flipped out when I saw that.  The only thing though is that it reminds me of home a lot and then when I look outside and it's not blustery or snowy and I get kind of sad.  The other two cd’s are super awesome too.  I Got D-Archy's (David Archeletta) signature! haha I haven't watched that movie yet but I'm excited to. 

I was really stoked for this hike we were about to do because it is to the backside of Molokai to somebody’s house but there is no trail and there are cliffs and stuff and we went on google earth with our bishop so he could show us the way.  It felt like when we would find our trails for mule riding haha. We ended up not having enough time on pday to do it though but it would have been really cool.

Skye and Ty might move again?  That would be pretty cool if they had a place with some land of their own.  Good luck with that.  I might miss that little house though. 

Molokai is doing awesome.  One of our investigators is still super committed to being baptized.  We talked to him about it the other day and we asked him to get rid of anything that reminds him of smoking so he gathered up all his ash trays and things and he goes "You guys wanna go out and smash these with me?"  I instantly said yes, haha and we went out and he bashed them with some pliers.  Right now is crunch time for him because if he smokes from now until Christmas eve he has to start all over.  I think he can do it though.  He bore his testimony on Sunday!  He is awesome.  It was great, he was super nervous and when he went to thank me and Elder Davis he said our wrong names.  Man, I love that guy.  He also wasn't really sure how to end it so you could tell when he was done he was kind of wondering what to say because we never told him that you say in the name of Jesus Christ Amen and so he just goes... okay now.. bye bye... haha.  It's awesome that he even decide to go up!  Then I decided to bear my testimony after he did to make him feel a little better.  I hadn't done it in a really long time anyway and it was the last chance of the year.  It felt good. 

We also had the Christmas Devotional but there were some technical difficulties so we had to watch last years.  It was still really good and still made me really trunky, haha.  I miss the times when we would go to temple square on mom's birthday.  Are you guys gonna do that this year?  You definitely should.

Well that is all I can think of right now.  I love you guys and this gospel.  I love to see it change others lives as well as mine every day.  Every day on my mission I seem to get a little stronger and a little more knowledgeable about some part of the gospel and there are still endless things to learn.  Sometimes I just want to know everything.

That is all for this week.

Elder Pincock