Week #43 - "I ain't ever wanna come down"

HOWDY!!! This week was such a blessing to be a missionary. I love being a missionary and helping others turn closer to Christ. I love the Christmas season and turning closer to our Savior. 

On Friday, we got to go to the Temple with Dylan to do baptisms for the first time. I love the temple so much and the spirit that is there. Dylan loves learning more and he told us he knows he isn't a typical member which is funny because there's no such thing as that. The church welcomes all and there is a place for everyone. I also got to see my two favorite people there, Jeston and Adrian. They will always be my boys. 

On Saturday night we got to participate in Journey through Bethlehem which is this huge walk-through town where they recreate Bethlehem. We played the publicans and got to greet people as they came in. We used all the biblical language and I must say we play the part very well. People from all over came to it and it was really good for the community to see that we are Christian (a common topic of discussion here).  It made me so thankful for my Savior and for the Christmas season. 

NOW for the amazing part of the week ... Jade and Elisia were baptized!!!! We have been teaching them for about 5 weeks. They are the sweetest people ever and we could see their eyes light up as we taught them. They are just two beams of light and love the gospel. The sweet spirit that was at the baptism will be something I will always take with me. I feel so incredibly happy for them. 

Jesus saves and the gospel brings joy. Look to Him especially during Christmas and you will find a new kind of happiness. I love this gospel and sharing it with others. God bless and love y'all. 

Elder Jarrett Pinster 

- Zone Conference 

- Temple 

- Baptisms 

- Journey through Bethlehem 

Week #42 - Imma Be Up There

Holy smokes was this week the best! I feel so incredibly thankful for everything that Heavenly Father has given. God is so good and his blessings are overwhelming. I love being a missionary and serving my Savior. 

This week was super fun for the people we are teaching. This week we taught our home girl named Deborah. Deborah just finished chemo and saw an ad on Facebook so she requested a Book of Mormon! We went and met with her and boy is she the best. We read from the Book of Mormon with her and talked about her life. Halfway through the lesson I just like paused and was like "Deborah, have you ever been baptized?" She responded that she had but thinks she needs a fresh start. She's now praying about a date and calls us her little Jesus boys.  I love being in the South.  Prayers please for Deborah! 

On Thanksgiving, we woke up and just knew it was a holiday. We shook that home feeling and just went out walking. We met someone named Suzanna. While we were walking, she just yelled out "Y'all Mormons???" We answered "Yes ma'am, can we pray with you?" We went and talked with her. Quickly realized that she was "home challenged" and lived a very wild life. We taught her the first lesson on the steps of a Catholic church and gave her a Book of Mormon. She told us she was going to come to church, but we didn't really believe her. Low and behold, guess who showed up to church yesterday!! Suzanna came!!! It was a blessing and she was very excited to see the break-the-fast meal. She's a sweetheart and we will see what happens with her. 

The rest of Thanksgiving was awesome as we went over to a member's house who made us feel like we were part of the family. I love the Southern hospitality and that everyone is family here. 

Friday was District Council and President came to mine! I then went on an exchange with Elder Dennis from New York. He's such a stud. He is being trained with Elder Karren. We went tracting and found a family! Then we taught a group of like 10 high school students that were playing ball outside their apartment. It was fun. We then had dinner at our branch president's house. He calls us his sons and we love him to death. Texas is the best!

I'm so incredibly thankful for this gospel and the light it brings to my life. This week I have just felt overwhelming joy as I've come closer to my Savior. There was a thought given to me by a member yesterday about missionary work. It was "It ain't so bad cause it's true." If that ain't true. I love the gospel. Love y'all and God Bless!!!

Elder Jarrett Pinster

Week #41 - Feeling Thankful

This past week was a great one. I'm on week 3 of dealing with the flu but it's alright because when we're down that's when we see the most miracles. I'm so thankful for my Savior and for him allowing me to be doing his work. 

This week we hit campus hard. Over the 4 weekdays we had up there we spent about 8 hours a day contacting. I felt so worn down and exhausted at the end of every day, but we were led to some amazing people that are prepared to hear the gospel. 

I have a funny miracle that happened this week. A couple weeks ago we met three girls on campus. One of them is from Sweden and comes to get a free lollipop from us everytime she sees us. We always give her one out of our bucket and over time we've gotten her to talk more and more with us. Another one of the girls is actually from Oregon and grew up about 15 minutes from where I'm from. This week we ran into the one from Sweden and told her that her friend and her needed to meet with us this next week. She agreed and said that she would talk to her friend. Almost an hour later her friend texted us and asked if we could meet this week. The funny part about all of this is that they hadn't yet talked to each other when the friend from Oregon texted us. It was awesome to see how the spirit works and guides those around us. 

We also had two people we are teaching walk to church because their ride fell through. They told us after that church is a priority to them and they needed to be there so they can grow closer to our Heavenly father. This is the Lords work. He qualifies and teaches those that are willing to listen to him. 

I have one scripture for y'all this week. It's in Mosiah 24:14 "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." Heavenly Father will bear our burdens and help ease them as we go throughout our lives. It may not happen all at once, but it will happen over time as we let Him take them from us. 

I love y'all so very much and wish everyone an amazing Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for my Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the opportunity I have to serve them. I'm so grateful to be on a mission and to serve the wonderful people of Texas. Love y'all and God bless. 

Elder Jarrett Pinster

Week #40 - TRAINING, DRIVING & FINDING

HOWDY Y'ALL!!!

Oh man, was this past week an adventure to say the very least. To start off, I received a call from President Peterson on Monday saying that I am now training a new missionary!! I was and still am completely overwhelmed, but it's all good because Heavenly Father always takes care of us. It's a blessed time in Texas. 

The new missionaries come in on Thursdays, so this week for Tuesday and Wednesday I was on an exchange with Elder Karren who is also training. Those were probably the most fun two days of my mission! Elder Karren covers an area about 30 miles from Huntsville so we had two days of constant driving. We both set up lessons before hand so we were bouncing back from area to area both days. It was so much fun. Drove many miles and learned many things! 

We set two dates this week!!! With two girls we are teaching named Jade and Elesia. We sat down to have a lesson with them and asked them what their goals were. They looked at us and said "our goal is to be baptized so we can reach salvation." Elder Karren's and my mouths dropped. We then asked them to get baptized and they more than readily agreed. It's the Lords work not mine absolutely. They even invited their families already!!! 

My new companion's name is Elder Potter!!! He is from a small Idaho town and man do I already love him. He loves rodeo and is a total Idahoan country boy. He is super smart in the gospel and I'm so thankful that I got an amazing trainee.  

One last cool miracle. On Saturday, we were out finding at an apartment complex that I felt super inspired to go to. We knocked and knocked but didn't really find anyone that was interested. We then knocked on a door and a man opened the door. He is from Ghana and told us he was baptized 10 years ago! He invited us in and told us he needed to come back and wants to. His wife and son are not members so he invited us back on Saturday. We are super excited to go see them!!! 

I'm so thankful to be in Texas. Heavenly Father is watching out for me every day and I'm so thankful for Him. The gospel brings hope and light to our lives especially when we are trying our best. Jesus is the Christ. God bless y'all and love y'all! 

Elder Jarrett Pinster

Elder Potter & Elder Pinster (Trainer)

Greenies & their Trainers - Day 1

MY DISTRICT!

Week #39 - Fill Up My Cup

Oh man.  This past week was one that filled my cup over. I absolutely love being a missionary and seeing the progression of those around me and myself. I am so extremely happy to have the opportunity to serve the great people here in Texas. 

I'll start with the part that was not so fun. I got the flu and it was badddd. From Tuesday to Friday I felt like I was gonna die. By Friday, I was ready to get out and work again so we did! The funny thing was that pretty much everyone in the district except my companion got sick and he is for sure not shy in telling me that. 

NOW ON TO THE GREAT NEWS!!! This weekend was full of baptisms and I feel so happy. First off, Adrian from College Station was baptized and man was my heart made full. I had been working with him pretty much my whole mission and he is now baptized!! He said something at the end of his service that made being a missionary so worth it. He said "never give up on an investigator because God never gave up on me." I love that guy so much and am so proud of him. 

We also had four baptisms in Huntsville this weekend!!! The first two are named Khory and Katana. They are the cutest little siblings. We had been contacted by their dad that he wanted his kids in a church so after going and teaching them they were baptized! They are the cutest little things. Children really are special. Teaching them and hearing the gospel from them really made me appreciate the truthfulness of the gospel. 

Lastly, Dylan and Fernando were baptized also!!! They are studs. I met Dylan my first day in Huntsville and he's just the man. He has grown so much from the first time we met him and it was so cool to see him take off. We always used the Peter stepping out of the boat to walk on water to Jesus with Dylan to help teach him. Yesterday after the baptism he said "look at me I'm outta the boat and His hand is in front of me." Heart is full. Seeing Fernando get baptized was so cool as he's been meeting with missionaries for 3 months. I absolutely love baptisms. The feeling of joy is almost overwhelming. My cup is so full. 

Elder Morgan is being transferred tomorrow so I will be getting a new companion! I'm sad to see him leave so soon. I've really come to love him and he's a great missionary. I will miss working with him. 

We also got to go to the temple this past week. Man, I love that place so much. So much peace and happiness comes from there. 

I love being a missionary so much. Texas is turning into home. Always remember to read and pray daily. Strength can come from coming closer to Jesus Christ. I know that as we come closer to him, He will come closer to us. Love y'all and God Bless!! 

Elder Jarrett Pinster

Week #38 - No, I'm not lucky, I'm blessed.

HELLO ALL!!! 

This week was so amazing!!! Another blessed week to be part of the Lord's work in Texas!!!

Here are some cool miracle stories from this week:

On campus we hand out dum dum suckers to students as they walk by. Every day there is always one girl that will get the dum dum but will always somehow manage to never stop and talk to us. Well, on Tuesday Elder Morgan and I were feeling sick, but we powered through and went up on campus to find people! We set a goal of three people to find that day and as soon as we sat down, sucker girl came over with two friends. We finally got to talk to her and her friends!! One of her friends is even from Portland and is playing soccer at Sam so we bonded over trees and clean water. The Lord blessed us and we are super excited to see where they head!

Another cool miracle story was yesterday we had 6 people come to church and three of them were able to be interviewed for baptism next week!  I felt so much relief as they all are now ready to take that next step! I also got to talk in church yesterday about the Book of Mormon and what it has done for me. As I talked, I just felt this overwhelming feeling of joy that comes from that great book. 

Lastly, a cool miracle we had was last night. We had a member refer his niece that goes to Sam to us to start teaching. She had been kind of stand-offish the first two lessons, but said she was feeling something different. Yesterday we had dinner with her and her family that is in the ward. It was so cool to see her family teach her gospel truths she had never heard and she even admitted to feeling the spirit. It's a blessed work out here y'all that is made for families. Also after teaching the plan of Salvation it really made me think about how much the plan is all about love. We come to earth to Find Joy and to Learn. Heavenly father has given us a plan to do so. 

One quote I heard this week that stood out to me is to "Be mindful even if your mind is full."  I love it. For me it really teaches what it means to be Christlike. To always be mindful of those around you and serve them. I love it. 

We are working with some absolutely stellar people. I love being a missionary in Huntsville. On Saturday we had the ward trunk or treat and I love the people here so much. I feel so blessed to be a missionary here. 

I read in Mosiah 4:20 which talks about the spirit bringing joy to our hearts and if that is ever so true. When we put ourselves in the places to feel the spirit, we can feel overwhelming joy.  I feel so much joy. Praying for y'all daily and love you all so much! God bless!!! 

Happy Halloween Week!

Elder Jarrett Pinster