Miracles Week + Merry Christmas

There was no updates for last week. I am sorry.

It was really wonderful to read this week's email update, and it was about miracles.
The subject title of the email was "A week of miracle. Eine Woche der Wunder"

I would like to share with you all the whole email of this week's update and you will love it.
"Guten Tag liebe Familie und Freunde,

Was für eine Woche. Sie war wunderbar und wir haben sehr viel Spaß gehabt.

On the weekend, we had our Christmas street display and it was a lot of fun. We had about 6 members come and help us. It was such a great success. We met 4 new friends of the church. The blessings of the Lord are wonderful.

Two nights before, we were at the bishops house and we decorated a few candles so we could use them as gifts for people on the street. A picture will be attached afterwards. We had so much fun with the bishop. He is really a great guy and is always willing to help the missionaries.

So onto the miracles for the week. On Friday, we had 5 miracles throughout the day.

#1 it was raining and we needed to go by on a few people. As we were in the bus, I said a pray, that God would protect us from getting sick. As soon as we hopped off the bus, Elder Green pulled out an
umbrella (I didn't know he had one with him), we didn't become sick from the rain/cold.

#2 while visiting a family, Elder Green spoke a word of prayer in his heart, that it'd stop raining. As soon as we walked out the door, it stopped raining and it started one hour later as soon as we hopped in the bus and went home.

#3 we visited an elderly man, and sang Christmas songs to him. As we were on our way home, we had to take a bus, but the bus was late, about 7-10 Minutes late. Because the bus was late, we would most likely miss our train to our next appointment. As we approached Hauptbahnhof, we said a prayer that we could make the train. We ran and ran until we got there. We opened the doors, sat down and the train left immediately.

#4 the train ride took us to another city, called Plauen. There, we got to sing Christmas Carols to all the Elderly. We went to an elderly peoples home and got to sing to about 100 elderly people. They were crying and singing along. The spirit was AMAZING!!

#5 almost at day's end, while waiting for our train to come to go home, a man approaches us and has a question if we could pray for him.We spoke with him for a bit and found out that his best friends dad is a member of our faith and wanted a prayer from faithful men. We said a prayer and sent him away with a smile on his face.

I know the Lord blesses His people, not just the missionaries. We must live in such a way, that the scripture in Ether can be fulfilled. For it says in Ether 12:12, For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.

We need to have faith that God will bless us and give unto us miracles, this I know with my whole entire heart. I love him and I love His son. His Son was born 2000 years ago, Christ did walk the
Earth, He did perform miracles and He was resurrected, so we could become like Him.

As some may know, the fourth advent is now gone. This week is Christmas. I am so excited. I love German Christmas. 3 days of non stop eating!!! Haha. Also everyone loves us in Zwickau, we are so
blessed to be here. I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I hope that you all have a blessed week.

Love you all,

Elder Pinyon"

A friendly reminder that the photos are posted on "Mission Photos" section and Facebook under "MTC & Mission Photos."

Stay Tuned.

3 Step Plan for The Members

A friendly reminder; some preparation days, I don't always share the whole email.

Here's this week's email update.

"This week was wonderful. We were able to go to Berlin again this week for a missionary meeting. It was a trainer/trainee meeting and I really did learn a lot from President and Sister Fingerle. The highlight of the meeting was after it was finished, I had the opportunity to have a temple recommend interview with President Fingerle. It was really spiritual and I learnt a lot.

During the meeting, we talked about a lot of things, like morning exercise, our purpose as missionaries, role plays, stress and had a Q&A session. We spoke about a lot of good things and the spirit was really strong. I'm truly grateful for my grandparents accepting the gospel, so I can now be in this gospel and serve this mission for my Saviour Jesus Christ.

On the weekend, all 4 Elders from Zwickau had the chance to have dinner with one of the older single women in the ward, it was really nice and really tasty. We got to meet her daughter that is not yet a member, we hope that we can make this family eternal :)

We have an awesome area presidency here in Europe and they have made a plan for their members, I want to share a little bit about it, so if you'd like to also take part, you can. They made this card at the
bottom and it is a 3 step plan.

Step 1: Bring a Friend
Really easy, write down the friends that you want to invite to church and church activities throughout the year of 2016. Make a goal to invite everyone, but write down your closest friends

Step 2: Become Spiritually and Temporally Self-Reliant
Make goals on how you will improve yourself spiritually and temporally. Establish habits of daily prayer and scripture study, also for all you that have families, have a weekly family home evening.
Understand the meaning of the Sabbath and follow the counsel giving by prophets and apostles. Teach the blessings of tithing, fasting, fast offerings and more. Promote appropriate education, employment and career development.

Step 3: Find an Ancestor
First of all, just find an ancestor that has passed away. Secondly, complete the "My Family" booklet, every ward/branch should have enough copies for you. Thirdly, take this/these name(s) to the Temple with you and make your family eternal.

These three steps are simple and wonderful. It has helped Europe. It can help you. Here is a picture of the card, it is in German, so I do apologise, but please enjoy. Through this plan, you can bring yourself closer to Jesus Christ and also others that need you."

Stay Tuned.

The Christmas Season is Coming Up

Hey Readers, this post is about Christmas Season.

Christmas Season is coming up as we already know, it is not long until Christmas.
Why do we celebrate Christmas? and what should we be thinking about during this Christmas season?

We celebrate Christmas for the Birth of Jesus Christ, we should be thinking about Jesus Christ during the Christmas Season. We all celebrate Christmas with loved ones and sometimes with friends too.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I would like to share with you a video that is about Christmas and it is find on www.mormon.org/christmas

I encourage you to watch the video and think about what it means to you. I also encourage you to share the video if you like the video.

During the weeks as Christmas coming up, I encourage you to collect some pass on cards from the Missionaries as what Elder Pinyon has mentioned for this week's email "Make sure you get some cards from the missionaries this week and give them to your friends. Explain to them how much Christmas means to you and what sorta joy it brings you. Take care, Elder Pinyon. P.s. this is what the cards looks like."

Think about the true meaning of Christmas. Spend Christmas with loved ones.

Stay Tuned.

Everyone Got to See a Special Someone Yesterday!!!

Here's this week's update. I do apologise that I didn't share last week's update on Facebook last week. 

"Hey my dear friends and family, 

This last week was crazy, I just love it. The work is awesome and everything is going great. We got a text on Friday morning that we'd have a conference call for the whole mission. I didn't know what to expect, we got it and we found out a big surprise for everyone. Everyone had to go to Berlin on Sunday to meet a special someone.

We got all our trains together and got hair cuts and polished our shoes. It was fun. Unfortunately along the way on Saturday we found out about the tragedy that happened in Paris. My love goes out to those, also I am grateful the Lord protected all the missionaries and members.

So on Sunday we drove up to Berlin and it was a lot of fun getting there. Our trains were late and we missed a few because of it, but we got there on time, so happy to get there. So the special someone was Elder M. Russell Ballard of the quorum of the 12 Apostles. He came with President and Sister Kearon of the Europe Area Presidency and Elder and Sister Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventies. They all spoke to us the words of the Lord. The spirit was amazing!!!

Before the meeting we got to shake their hands, it was a pleasure to meet Elder Ballard. Some things that I learnt were that we MUST be GREAT TEACHERS. We have great competition (aka Satan). How to become a great teacher. Prayer is essential to missionary work. Help the ward. The members NEED to pick up their slack. (Elder Ballard turned around to the Stake President and said and I quote "you need to start a fire in the members pants. Get them excited." Please members, get that fire into you, we need your help to be able to help OUR brothers and SISTERS, God NEEDS you!

The greatest teachers are those that:
Understand the doctrine of chapter 3 of PMG
Know that they are a servant of the Lord
ALWAYS SMILE!!!
Ask the people who they think God is
Being bold

Elder Ballards invitation to us is to read 3 Nephi 11. I invite you to do that too. Learn what the Saviours first words to the Nephites are. He loves you.

I love you, I hope you'll have a great week.

Talk care,

Elder Pinyon"

If you have any questions, please email me directly at megangreen20131@gmail.com

Stay Tuned.

The Title of Liberty

A long subject title, "In memory of our GOD, our RELIGION, and FREEDOM and our PEACE, our WIVES, and our CHILDREN. - the title of Liberty"

Here's this week's update.

"Hello my friends and family,

This week was crazy, awesome, exciting and short. I love my companion, Elder Green is the best, we love each other and we work really well together. He is always looking for opportunities to serve and loves the people. He's just great.

So on Thursday night I left Elder Green in Zwickau with another Distrikt Frau (the DL's companion is called a Distrikt Frau in our mission). One of my favourite missionary mates, Elder Schofield and I
drove up to Leipzig and slept the night with 7 other Elders. We had 9 Elders in the apartment that night.

Friday morning we went to Berlin and had a great Leadership Training Meeting. Seeing President again is always great. I learnt a lot. Look out this month for the new Christmas initiative "a Saviour is born". It's going to be great. After LTM, we drove home and stopped in at Leipzig on the way and got a Döner. I love Döner, that'll be something I'm going to miss a lot when I go home. We finally got home on Friday night. Elder Green was very happy that I was home, for a few good reasons :) I love him.

Saturday we taught 2 awesome friends of ours. One of them is a German that lived in America for 10 years. She is really cool and said, "if there is one church I would join, it'd be yours". So we just are
working with what we got now :)

Saturday afternoon, Elder Schofield, Elder Green, Elder Bridge and I drove up to Leipzig for Stake
conference. We had a really great time there. Also my good friend, Elder Timothy J Dykes was there, didn't get a photo this time though. Also in Leipzig, we stayed over night, was again a good night :)
Sunday morning we had stake conference and it was amazing. I sang in the choir and the spirit was amazing. The best stake conference that I've had on my mission. So happy it was my last one on the mission.

There was a lot of great talks, my 2 favourite were probably number 1. Elder Dykes talk about the Sacrament. My 2nd favourite was a talk given by a couple about ewige Ehe, wow that one was good :D Elder Dykes spoke of how important it is to think about Christ during the sacrament. That we don't need to read our scriptures during sacrament meeting to remember him, neither do we need to read in the Liahona during sacrament meeting, but that we need to better understand the symbols of the sacrament and take Christ more into our lives through the Sacrament. I loved it. Please do it.

Well another great week in Zwickau, I love this place, it is wonderful to be here. I love you all so very much and I wish you all the best!!

Take care,

Elder Jacob Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.

New Area. New Companion and District Leader again

This week's email sounds like a very great and busy week.

This week's email says
"Hey friends and family.

Wow what a week we have had here in Germany. So as some of you know, I got transferred to Zwickau, a little city of about 100,000 people. There I will train and white wash the area. So on Tuesday I went down to the train station and half of the branch came to say good bye to me. It was such a humbling moment. Just to have the members there and to cry with them. It was nice.

So for the next 7 hours I sat on a train until I got down to Zwickau. My new flat is the nicest flat I've had in my whole entire mission. So during this time I stayed with other missionaries, because my trainee wasn't in Germany yet. I stayed with one of my good mission friends, Elder Schofield. Love that kid.

On Wednesday I had District Meeting with Elder Schofield's district and it was lots of fun. After DM we went and did some service for a member and I love doing service it is so much fun. We did some garden work. At the end I'll send you some pics :)

Wednesday night I took a train down to Freiberg all by myself. I'll tell you something, being by yourself as a missionary on a train is so weird haha. That night I got to be with the other trainers and also the AP's and the Mission President. It was a lot of fun. We had pizza for dinner and ice cream for dessert. Wednesday evening we had a trainers conference and it was really good.

Thursday morning started off with a 40 minute jog through the country side. Was really pretty, but it was freezing cold. Having a nice hot shower was the most desirable amount missionaries this day. We had an hour long meeting inside the under construction temple and it was so beautiful to be in the baptismal room. Evening though it's not consecrated, it is still a holy place and the spirit is amazing.

We then had a temple tour by our Temple square sister Missionaries. That was really informational. Then afterwards, we found out who would be our new companion for the next 12 weeks. I was the first one to be called up, and my new companion is ...............................……Elder Green from American Fork, Utah. He is a super cool guy.

We have had so much fun already. Especially getting lost in our city sorta fun. After we arrived home, we went straight out and did some solid work and then had correlation meeting with our WML (ward mission leader), who is the man!!! He is so cool.

Friday and Saturday were awesome work days. We had District Meeting. Being my second time as District Leader, I got to change a few things I didn't like from what I did the first time. Also just being a zone leader, I got to see what they expect from district leaders. So it was nice. It was really great. We have a huge district. It's 8 Elders. So I'm going to be having about 7 exchanges per transfer. So I'm pretty excited.

Being at church on Sunday was amazing. I loved it so much. The ward here is great. It's really big and the people are really friendly. They love us already, I think it's the Aussie charm :P thank goodness I'm an Aussie. Life is great tho, I'm excited for the next few weeks.

I love you all so much and wish you all a great week. Take care and until next week.
Elder Pinyon"

A reminder the photos will be uploaded onto Facebook and posted on the "Mission Photos" section of this blog.

Stay Tuned.

The Relativity of Time

I really liked what Elder Pinyon's email for this week.

Here's the email:

"Several scriptures suggest that the way we perceive time on earth may not be the way time really is throughout the universe. Alma 40:8 suggests that only men measure time and that to God all time is as one day. Other scriptures suggest that all things are present before the Lord (see D&C 38:2; Moses 1:6). Verses 4–7 in section 130 suggest a similar concept, namely that past, present, and future are continually before the Lord and that time is relative to the planet on which one resides.


In the twentieth century, the field of physics began to speak about time and space in a way that may help explain these revelatory statements. Albert Einstein, in the early part of this century, developed what is known as the theory of relativity. Einstein postulated that what men had assumed were absolutes in the physical world--space, gravity, speed, motion, time--were not absolutes at all but were interrelated with each other. That is why the theory was called the theory of relativity. Physicists now agree that a person’s time reference will vary depending on his relative position in space.


According to Einstein’s theory, if a body moves at very fast speeds (those approaching the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second), that body’s time slows down in relation to the time of a body that is on earth; and for the body in motion, space contracts or shrinks. In other words, time and space are not two separate things but are interrelated. Physicists refer to this as the space-time continuum. If an astronaut were to journey out into space at speeds approaching the speed of light, though to himself all would seem perfectly normal, to someone on earth it would appear as though
his clock were ticking slower, his heart were beating slower, his metabolism operating slower, and so on.

He would actually age more slowly than would a person who remained on the earth. Though the
finite mind tends to reject such concepts, Einstein’s theory suggests that reality to us is a product of our relative position in the space-time continuum.


According to this theory, if a being achieved the speed of light, to that being all space would contract to the point that it would be “here” for him, and all time would slow down until it became “now” for him. The theory of relativity thus may suggest how, for a being of light and glory like God, all space and all time could be present. As difficult as such a concept is to understand, increasingly sophisticated experiments continue to substantiate Einstein’s theoretical description of the realities of
the universe.

Lael Woodbury, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University, talked about man’s perception of time and God’s perception of time in an address
sponsored by the Church Educational System:

“The evidence suggests that God perceives time as we perceive space. That’s why ‘all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things’ [D&C 88:41]. Time, like space, is ‘continually before the Lord.’

“… Right now we perceive music in time as a blind man perceives form in space--sequentially. He explores with his fingers, noting form, texture, contours, rhythms. He holds each perception in his mind, one by one, carefully adding one to the other, until he synthesizes his concept of what that space object must be like. You and I don’t do that. We perceive a space object immediately.

We simply look at it, and to a certain degree we ‘know it. We do [not] go through a one-by-one, sequential, additive process. We perceive that it is, and we are able to distinguish it from any other object.

“I’m suggesting that God perceives time as instantaneously as we perceive space. For us, time is difficult. Lacking higher facility, we are as blind about time as a sightless man is about space. We perceive time in the same way that we perceive music--sequentially. We explore rhythm, pitch, amplitude, texture, theme, harmonies, parallels, and contrasts. And from our perceptions we synthesize our concept of the object or event--the musical artwork--that existed in its entirety before we began our examination of it.

“Equally complete now is each of our lives before the Lord. We explore them sequentially because we are time-blind. But the Lord, perceiving time as space, sees us as we are, not as we are becoming. We are, for him, beings without time. We are continually before him--the totality of our psyches, personalities, bodies, choices, and behaviors.”

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.

It is Better to Look Up

This week's email is powerful and great!!

Elder Pinyon said "Moin moin (that's the greeting in north Germany),

How y'all doing? I hope life is always looking up for you. Just like President Thomas S. Monson said to a brand new Seventy that was called in 2011, "what are you doing looking down there" as this seventy had going through his mind, "how can I possibly do this?" President Monson then smiled and lovingly suggested, while pointing heavenward, “It is better to look up!”

My dear friends and family, it's always better to look up. If we are only looking downwards, how can we possibly see the Lord's love that He sends to us from above? Always look up, don't be afraid to receive God's love. He will always love you.

Take care friends and family,

Elder (Jacob) Pinyon"

A friendly reminder that the photos is on the section "Mission Photos"

Stay Tuned.

Marius was Baptised! Tattoos and Piercings

Elder Pinyon emailed me and this is what he said.

"Marius wurde getauft!!! Marius was baptised!!! Our little 8 year old friend got baptised by his daddy on Sunday after church! We got to teach him all the lessons and the family brought about 6 of their non member friends to his baptism. It was lots of fun :)

Also today, I was studying in the Book of Mormon and I came across an interesting scripture and I just wanted to share it with you all. It is found in Alma 3:4. It says: "4 And the Amlicites were distinguished from the Nephites, for they had marked themselves with red in their foreheads after the manner of the Lamanites; nevertheless they had not shorn their heads like unto the Lamanites."

As I studied about this, something came to mind, I wonder how this relates to the latter days. Or how can I apply this to today? I then went into the student institute manual and found something. Now this
is quote from President Gordon B. Hinkley (1910-2008), one of our dearly beloved prophets. He said:
“Now comes the craze of tattooing one’s body. I cannot understand why any young man--or young woman, for that matter--would wish to undergo the painful process of disfiguring the skin with various multicolored representations of people, animals, and various symbols. With tattoos, the process is permanent unless there is another painful and costly undertaking to remove it. Fathers, caution your sons against having their bodies tattooed. They may resist your talk now, but the time
will come when they will thank you. A tattoo is graffiti on the temple of the body.

“Likewise the piercing of the body for multiple rings in the ears, in the nose, even in the tongue. Can they possibly think that is beautiful? … The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have
declared that we discourage tattoos and also ‘the piercing of the body for other than medical purposes.’ We do not, however, take any position ‘on the minimal piercing of the ears by women for one pair of earrings’--one pair”

My dear friends, families and guests, I stand with this Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinkley, tattoos and to many piercings are not for the body. I love you all!!!

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.

Weekly miracles/stories

This is what Elder Pinyon said through emails for this week. A friendly reminder that I am Megan Green who is a friend of Elder Pinyon's, has been updating this Blog and Elder Pinyon's Facebook account during his mission.

"Hey hey everyone!!!

So on Thursday we teach English class and one of the students is a less active member (not by choice, she needs dialysis) and she brought her friend along that isn't a member yet. So we taught English and we invited her to come to district conference this weekend and also an eating appointment. She came!!! At the eating appointment I sat with her and I got to know her (H2BT) and her father died about 7 months ago. So we asked her if she would be interested in finding out where
her father went and how she can be reunited with him. She said yes!!! So we are now meeting with her on Thursday before English class and she will be taken part of the relief society activity on Saturday.It's really good finding through the members. I'm super excited for Thursday to teach the Plan of Salvation.

Another cool story, is that we did service for a family on Friday and their oldest daughter is inactive. She has a boyfriend that is Muslim and they don't really attend church. During our service project we
invited the other children to invite the boyfriend to conference so he could experience something nice. They were super scared, but I promised them, if they invited them, they would come. The only fear they had was the older sister getting angry about inviting her boyfriend to church because he isn't Christian. On Sunday while waiting outside the auditorium, we see the whole family including the
inactive sister and her boyfriend coming to conference!!! I was so proud of those kids that they invited them to come to church. We are doing service again on Friday and hopefully they will be there so we can teach them!!!

Missionary work through children and youth is the way to do it. It is really the best way and the most effective way. Because they are not afraid of sharing the Gospel!!!!! I love the youth and primary in our branch. One of the little boys we have been teaching is getting baptised by his dad on Sunday, so we are super excited :) just love missionary work, especially when members are involved!!!!

Have a good one :)

Elder Pinyon

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.

Fasting and Word of Wisdom

Elder Pinyon emailed me with 2 emails. Here's the second email that he said,

"Hello my dear friends and family,

I am really so pleased for you all that read my blog and follow my mission. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I do. As Christmas approaches under 4 months away, I'd love to turn back to an example
that our Lord and Saviour gave us. This was as He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. What a great example He is for us.

I really love this part of His ministry, because it is actually right before it starts. Why does He fast for this cause? The Saviour wanted to be the most effective that He could as He could be, so by doing
this, He gave up something earthly, such as food and water. As He did this, He received the spiritual strength. But fasting is not just giving up food and water.

Here are 5 tips on how to have an effective fast next time you decide to fast.

5 Fasting Facts
Who: Anyone old enough and healthy enough to go without food and water (ask your parents)
What: Skip eating and drinking for two meals
When: The first Sunday of each month
How: Pray before, during, and after fasting; go to church; give a fast offering
Why: To strengthen your faith and help people who need help If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please try it. If you are not, please also try it. I can promise you that fasting can really change your life, it did for me and I know it will for you.

The next point I'd love to discuss today is something which we call the Word of Wisdom. Now what could this Word of Wisdom be about? Is it about wisdom? Is it about how to use words? Well, actually, it's a health code that we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some of you may never of heard it, but it's always been around. It was there in the time of Adam and Eve and as we know, God never changes, it is also here today. In the time of Adam and Eve, they were commanded by God, not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

In the time of Daniel, him and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Aben-nego would not bow to other Gods and would not indulge of food. This was also a health code that God had given unto them. Instead of indulging in food, they ate grains and foods that God had revealed unto them that they could eat. Just like in the time of Daniel, how he received this marvellous revelation, we also as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have received this revelation through a prophet named Joseph Smith Jr.

On February 27 1833, President Joseph Smith Jr. received a health code called the Word of Wisdom. This health code included revelation about smoking tobacco, drinking any type of alcohol and hot drinks (such as black/green tea and coffee). Later revelation from another Prophet was received that illegal drugs are also included. These things are not for the belly nor the body.

As my friends and family, I invite you to try and live this health code. Whether you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or not. If you have an addiction, give it up. You are stronger than this addiction. I really love you all and I want you all to know that.

Stay tuned for next weeks edition.

Elder (Jacob) Pinyon

Sent from Elder Pinyon."

Stay Tuned.

What a Wonderful Week!

Elder Pinyon emailed me with 2 emails. Here's the first email that he said,

"Hello my dear friends and family,

Wow, what a week. I'm going to share a miracle with you, one that just happened straight in front of me. On Thursday evening, we had an appointment with one of our friends and his brother and his wife. We decided to teach them the restoration of the Gospel again, because we felt like there was something missing last time we taught them it. So we taught the points of the lesson. In one of the points, we mentioned that God, our eternal and Heavenly Father, that He has a body of Flesh and Bones and is perfect.

What interesting is, is that the brother (Mario) believed us when we told him, but our friend (Renè) was not believing it. He couldn't believe it, because of the things that the world has told him thus
far. We tried to teach every principle possible. We even used Doctrine and Covenant 130, but still he didn't want to believe. Now this was a very big tangent, we had already taught everything up until the
principle of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

We were running out of time, so we gave our testimonies of prayer and we promised Renè and Mario that if they prayed about it, God would tell them. They showed real intent wanting to find this out. So what we invited them to do, was to pray about it. It came to getting ready to go, but before we left, we asked Renè to pray for us and asked him to ask God if everything we had taught tonight is true. He was a little confused on why we would want him to ask it right now, but he did it.

I don't know what he said, because he prayed in his own language (Dutch). But at the end of his prayer I thought he said Amen, but he wasn't even at the end of his prayer and he said OH MAN! We asked him what he felt and he said, my heart just started racing and I have this warm feeling inside. His brother Mario said, I have the same feeling come to me too when he asked that question. God had answered not only our prayers, but their prayers and now they KNOW that God has a body and that the restored Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth!!!

I also now understand the principle of we don't teach, but the spirit teaches men. We tried to convince them over and over again, but it didn't work, once they prayed, the Holy Ghost entered their hearts and gave them the answer they needed and he taught them. I am so very grateful for prayer, it is really something that is super amazing!!! You all should try it.

Sent from Elder Pinyon."

Stay tuned.

The merciful obtain Mercy

This week's update was short, however it was powerful!!

He said, "Don't judge others, because they sin differently than you!

This is such a great quote from Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I know we need to apply this more in our life. We don't do good enough at this, we need to be better. When our hearts are filled with the love of God, we become "kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving." My dear friends, brothers and sisters. God loves us all. I invite you to find this out, he really does. Look up on YouTube a video called "the ugly duckling - Uchtdorf". Please watch this video and know the worth of how much God loves you.

This week was great, we had a general authority, Elder Paul V. Johnson came and visited our mission and I had the opportunity to be apart of 2 different meetings with him. I learnt a lot.

Also I had some Trifle this week. It taste super yummy!!!

Have a great week.

Elder Pinyon

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

A friendly reminder that photos is shared both on Facebook and this blog under "Mission Photos" Section.

Stay Tuned.

News Article from Some Missionaries in Our Mission

I was heading my way home from a family outing when Elder Pinyon emailed me for this week's updates. He emailed me in German, and he mentioned at the beginning of the email, "If you want to google translate you can, but here is the news article from some missionaries in our mission. It can go on my blog." My first impression of the email was wow, that's powerful!! I will post the 2 versions.

German Version:

Artikel aus der Tageszeitung: Norddeutsche Rundschau 

GLÜCKSTADT | Wenn Michael Morley und Kailean O’Keefe in diesen Tagen durch die Straßen von Glückstadt laufen, drehen sich die Leute nach ihnen um. Die beiden jungen Männer fallen auf mit ihren dunklen Anzügen und ihren ordentlich gebundenen Krawatten. Morley und O’Keefe stammen aus dem Bundesstaat Utah in den USA und sind als Missionare der „Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage“ – oder kurz: der Mormonen – unterwegs.

Wenn sie die Menschen ansprechen, um mit ihnen über Gott und ihren Glauben zu sprechen, erleben sie die unterschiedlichsten Reaktionen: „Einige haben keine Zeit und wollen schnell weiter, andere lassen sich auf ein Gespräch ein“, erzählt O’Keefe. Der 19-Jährige spricht fließend deutsch. Er hatte schon in der Schule Unterricht und seit er vor einem Jahr nach Deutschland gekommen ist, hat er täglich Praxis. Er will vom Buch Mormon und der Liebe Gottes erzählen. „Wir wollen die Menschen nicht bekehren, sondern ihnen von unserem Glauben erzählen und ihn bekannter machen“, erklärt O’Keefe. Die Missionare versuchen dort zu helfen, wo sie können – sei es bei der Gartenarbeit oder bei einem Umzug. Dass sich wirklich jemand entscheide, Mormone zu werden, komme „leider zu selten“ vor.

Wenn junge Mormonen für zwei Jahre zum Missionieren ausgeschickt werden – einige in weit entfernte Länder, andere ins eigene Land – sollen sie sich ausschließlich auf ihre Aufgabe konzentrieren. Michael Morley und Kailean O’Keefe, die während dieser Zeit den Ehrentitel „Elder“ tragen, haben deshalb einen straffen Tagesablauf: Morgens stehen sie um 6.30 Uhr in ihrer Wohnung in Itzehoe auf, machen eine halbe Stunde Sport, dann betreiben sie religiöse Studien. Um 10 Uhr steht Deutschlernen auf dem Stundenplan, dann geht es auf die Straße, um die Menschen über den Glauben der Mormonen zu informieren. Fernsehen ist verboten, Flirten und Parties sowieso – und auch Ausflüge nach Hamburg oder ans Meer sind nicht drin.

Während der Missionszeit darf das jeweilige Gebiet, das bei Morley und O’Keefe neben Glückstadt auch Itzehoe und Herzhorn umfasst, nicht verlassen werden. Sonntags sind sie bei der Mormonen-Gemeinde in Glückstadt eingeladen, um sich auszutauschen.

Bei ihrer Mission stoßen die jungen Männer immer wieder auf Vorurteile. „Viele verwechseln uns mit den Zeugen Jehovas, einige denken, dass wir den Propheten Mormon anbeten würden und wieder andere glauben, dass bei uns immer noch die Vielehe betrieben würde“, erzählt O’Keefe. Dabei seien Mormonen Christen, die Jesus Christus in den Mittelpunkt ihres Glaubens stellen.

Sie glauben, dass sich die Menschen nach der Zeit der Apostel von den ursprünglichen Gedanken der Kirche abgewandt hätten. Mit dem Amerikaner Joseph Smith hätte Gott im 19. Jahrhundert deshalb einen neuen Propheten auf die Erde gesandt und ihm das Buch Mormon offenbart.

Die Vielehe, die häufig mit den Anhängern dieses Glaubens verbunden wird, sei bereits 1890 abgeschafft worden. Mormonen lehnten neben Alkohol und Drogen auch den Genuss von Kaffee, Tee und Zigaretten ab. Familie spiele eine große Rolle, denn die Mormonen glauben, dass sie nach dem Tod mit ihr wiedervereint werden. Wenn Morley und O’Keefe in die USA zurückkehren, steht neben der Ausbildung zum Tischler beziehungsweise Ingenieur die Suche nach einer passenden Ehefrau ganz oben auf ihrer Prioritätenliste.

Frauen dürften bei den Mormonen nicht alle religiösen Ämter bekleiden, würden aber als gleichberechtigt angesehen. „Nach Möglichkeit wünschen wir uns, dass unsere Frauen nach ihrer Ausbildung zuhause bleiben und für die Kinder sorgen. Das hilft, die Familienbande zu stärken. Mann und Frau bilden ein Team“, erklärt Morley. Mit ihrer Familie dürfen die beiden während ihrer Zeit in Deutschland nur zweimal im Jahr skypen, E-Mails schreiben sie jede Woche.

Ihren Einsatzort innerhalb Deutschlands wechseln sie regelmäßig. Michael Morley war unter anderem in Berlin, Hagen und Hamburg. Alle sechs Wochen erhält er einen Anruf, ob er an seinem aktuellen Standort bleiben kann oder wechseln muss. „Das ist immer ein bisschen aufregend“, sagt er. Vor einer Woche erst haben Morley und O’Kneefe ihren Anruf erhalten und wissen deshalb, dass sie weitere sechs Wochen in Glückstadt bleiben werden. O’Kneefe fühlt sich in der Elbestadt sehr wohl. „Es ist eine sehr schöne Stadt – mir gefallen die Backsteinhäuser und das gute Wetter.“

English Version:

Article from newspaper: North German Rundschau 

GLÜCKSTADT | When Michael Morley and Kailean O'Keefe these days run through the streets of Gluckstadt, people turn around after them. The two young men to fall with their dark suits and their neatly tied tie. Morley and O'Keefe are from the state of Utah in the US and are as missionaries of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" - or in short: the Mormons - go.

If they appeal to people to talk to them about God and their faith, they experience a wide variety of reactions: "Some do not have time and want to quickly continue, others can be a conversation," says O'Keefe. The 19-year-old speaks fluent German. He had been in school lessons and has come since he was a year ago to Germany, he has daily practice. He wants to talk about the Book of Mormon and the love of God. "We do not want people to repent, but tell them about our faith and make it known," said O'Keefe. The missionaries there trying to help where they can - be it when gardening or when moving. The fact that someone really decides to be a Mormon, "unfortunately rarely" come before.

If young Mormons are sent for two years for proselytizing - some in distant countries, different from their own country - they should concentrate on their task. Michael Morley and Kailean O'Keefe, who bear the honorary title of "Elder" during that time, have, therefore, a tight daily routine: morning they stand at 6.30 clock on at her home in Itzehoe, do half an hour of exercise, then they operate religious studies. At 10 clock is learning German on the timetable, then it goes on the road to inform people about the faith of the Mormons. Television has been banned, flirting and parties anyway - and also trips to Hamburg or the sea are not there.

During the mission period, the respective area, representing at Morley and O'Keefe next Glückstadt Itzehoe and also Herzhorn must not be abandoned. On Sundays they are invited to the Mormon community in Gluckstadt to exchange ideas.

In its mission, the young men repeatedly encounter prejudices. "Many people confuse us with the Jehovah's Witnesses, some think that we would worship the prophet Mormon and still others believe that with us still polygamy would be operated," says O'Keefe. Here are Mormon Christians who make Jesus Christ the center of their faith. They believe that people have turned away by the time of the Apostles of the original idea of ​​the Church. With the Americans Joseph Smith God had therefore sent a new prophet on the earth in the 19th century and revealed to him the Book of Mormon.
Polygamy, which is often associated with the followers of this belief, had been abolished in 1890. Mormons refused besides alcohol and drugs also enjoy coffee, tea and cigarettes. Family plays an important role because the Mormons believe that they will be reunited after death with her. If Morley and O'Keefe return to the US, in addition to training as a carpenter or engineer is searching for a suitable wife at the top of their priority list.

Women should not hold all the religious duties at the Mormons, but would considered on an equal footing. "If possible, we hope that our women to stay at home after their training and care for the children. This helps to strengthen family ties. Husband and wife form a team, "said Morley. With her family, the two may skype only twice a year in Germany during their time, they write e-mails every week.

Their destination within Germany they change regularly. Michael Morley was among others in Berlin, Hagen and Hamburg. Every six weeks he receives a call, whether he can remain at its current location or need to change. "That's always a bit exciting," he says. A week ago, only have Morley and O'Kneefe received her call and therefore know that they will stay for another six weeks at Gluckstadt. O'Kneefe feels in the same city very well. "It is a very beautiful city - I like the brick houses and the good weather."

Stay Tuned until next time.

Super Hectic Week

A long post with updates.

Elder Pinyon said for this week's email, "This week was super hectic, we had pday on Monday and we taught a part member family and they are just so wonderful. The mum was baptised about 2 years ago. She is not as active as she could be, but she is slowly coming back and her children want to get baptised. It is really amazing, we are just really praying and hoping that the father will lighten off so they can be baptised and go to the temple.

His heart has softened though, he said changed his mind and said if the children show real intent, then they can be baptised. Before that it was an absolute no. Fasting and prayer really does work. So we are giving them encouragement to show their dad that they want it. Hopefully focusing on the blessings of the temple with them will help them prepare better.

Tuesday was also hectic, we had transfer day. Even though we are not getting transferred, being ZL's made our day just nothing. We picked up an Elder on Sunday night (his companion went home on Sunday), he stayed with us until his new companion got here. Another companionship overnighted from Monday to Tuesday. We had to say good bye to our friends on the train stations :( always really sad and hard. We had appointments we had to try and make (we did, did lots of splits with different Elders). And one Elder is white washing and training, so the office decided to send him to us for Tuesday night, so he could go back to where he came from to pick up his trainee.

Oh well, the joys of life. Gotta love stress, but stress is healthy just not to much. So I am ready to be released. Being ZL for 6 transfers is long enough. I just want to white wash and train, it'd be so much fun.

Wednesday was super sweet, we dropped off Elder Burri to the train station so he could pick up his new missionary from Freiberg (Temple Square!!!). Did some doors in a little dorf, everyone was so nice to us and we met with our new converts, Ramona and Alex Jakobs. We read Alma 17 with them and invited them to read 18 & 19 together to know what happens with King Lamoni!!! Love the story. Then we went to another little dorf, I forgot the name of it, but we met with a less active member who are just so amazing.

First of all, they picked us up from the train station and we got to meet the husband and daughter, they are not yet members and we thought they weren't going to be to chill with the whole church thing, but they love us. We had such an amazing time, I really felt like I was at home with my own family. We ate on the patio and we checked out their massive garden, it was huge.

The daughter has pet tortoises and they are about 1-2 years old and they are so small and so cute. I got to play with them and they are called Big Foot, Cera, Petrie, Duckie and Spike after all the main characters from Land Before Time. I love this movie. Well movies. They were all so cute and we feed them little tiny flowers. The tortoises are smaller than my hands and to imagine that they will one day be bigger than my face is super scary.

Thursday was good, we had our district meeting and it was really cool. We spoke about how we can better help those that are not so active in the church and how we can help them come back closer to the teachings of the Saviour. Also we discussed how we can make church attendance more helpful for those that have the gospel and need the gospel. Also to see why it is a priority and how to make it a priority. Was a really good discussion.

Friday was super sweet. We taught a brother that is slowly coming back to the gospel. It was so nice to be able to share my testimony of the restored gospel and to help him see the blessings. He knew the doctrine and he knew the blessings, he is definitely back on the way to activity.

Afterwards we decided to go by on a young sister who was once active and she was at home!!! She was a little bit weirded out to see us, but she is ready to hear the lessons again and come to church. She has a little 5 month old son and he is just so cute and has lots of baby fat. We shared "because He lives" with her and she and us totally felt the spirit, it was so nice. Afterwards we had pizza with the youth, it is so much fun working with the youth. They brought along their brothers and sisters that are no longer interested in the church. It was good to build a relationship with them. I am really hoping we can bring them also back to the Gospel with the help of their families!!!

Saturday was sweet, we met with our new members and played table tennis with them, it was super fun.

Sunday was great too. I love going to church and renewing my covenants with my Heavenly Father. Also we had lunch with a great member family, I love this family, we had a BBQ with them. Afterwards we taught a lady that is wanting to come back to church. I love working with the members here. Also we met with Renè and he expressed his feelings about wanting to change his life and be baptised. We will be working really hard with him to working towards this goal he has.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and if you'd love to write me,
email me at jacob.pinyon@myldsmail.net

Tschüß

Sent from Elder Pinyon."

Stay Tuned until next time.

Interesting and Hard Doctrine to Live

Elder Pinyon sent me 2 emails. 1 email for the blog update and the other email was for photos. Here's this week's update.

"This week has been an amazing week. We had a baptism on Saturday, his name is Alex and he is 12 years old. I gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday at church and it was really amazing. I felt so good doing it.

I really miss everyone back at home, but I know that I am doing the Lords work and I am happy to be doing it, it's just hard at the moment. I learnt something really cool the other day about the scripture from Exodus 20:12. It says: Honour thy Father and thy Mother. What I learnt is that this also includes our Heavenly Parents, so when Heavenly Father asks us to do something then we need to do that and to put His desires first before anyone else's.

It's a really interesting and hard doctrine to live, because we as people don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, maybe because we are people pleasers instead of God pleasers. I am going to try and start living this doctrine I unlocked the other day and see if I can change :) Everything else is just great though. I love you all my dear friends and God bless you all, that you may find the truth one day.

All the way from Germany, your friend
Elder Jacob Pinyon :)

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

A few friendly reminders; the photos will be uploaded on Facebook under "MTC and Mission Photos" album and also the photos will be posted under "Mission Photos" Section on this blog.

Stay Tuned.

Lucky to be alive

I liked reading this week's email update and it was nice chatting back and forth with Elder Pinyon this week. I love how he sends me a new email under a new subject for the blog's update. He is very sneaky of doing that.

This is what Elder Pinyon said,
"Everything is going really great here in Oldenburg. The only problem is that it's stinking hot :( it's like 34C and 38C I really don't like it, but it shouldn't last long until winter comes again. Just hope it
comes fast, because it is super hot for the last few days. Luckily most of it is dry heat, but we also have no wind because I am in land. So it's a bit different. It reminds me of my first area when we had
42-45C one day. I just hope it doesn't hit that high. Bring back the snow I say!!!!

Oh on Tuesday we went out in the morning and ip the seat of my bike fell off as I was riding it, so we went home, I fixed it and my companion and I traded bikes. My companion forgot to tell me one
thing, that his bike has a loose chain on it. So we are riding to the church for Gemiko (ward missionary correlation( that's the German name)) and we are going to be late, so I crank my bike into top gear and pedal as fast as possible and it wouldn't change over, so I just tried going faster and faster, so it'd change over.

As I did that it finally changed over, but the chain came off jamming the chain between the gears and the wheel. My bike tyre started flying and my front wheel went crazy and my companion thought I was a goner (luckily I wasn't, because it was our new mission presidents first day, would've been a bad start for him).

I somehow got control of my bike after 5 seconds of it going crazy on me. I know God was protecting me, because in the oncoming traffic was a car about to hit me if I had of fallen off. Just like at the end of Doctrine and Covenants 84:88 "I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.". I like it better in German though, it says "Ich werde zu eurer rechten Hand sein und zu eurer linken, und mein Geist wird in eurem Herzen sein und meine Engel rings um euch, um euch zu stützen."  I was really protected by Gods angels for some reason 😊 I am just glad to be alive though.

I finally got to meet my new mission president and he is so great. He is a man definitely called of God. He doesn't want to focus on baptism, but he would rather focus on eternal life, which doesn't stop at baptism, it only starts there and never finishes, because it's eternal. When we look at the gates of eternal life and we see that is open, because we as members open the gate, they will see along the
path which leads to the tree of life, the temple. Because this part of progress is just as important as baptism!!! President and Sister Fingerle are really great and we get to see them next week at a zone
conference!!!

Sent from Elder Pinyon"

I suggest you to always remember to pray for friends and relatives who are on their missions to be protected.

Stay Tuned.

I Am Now 20

While Elder Pinyon and I was emailing each other back and forth, I refreshed my email. I saw that I received a new email from Elder Pinyon (very sneaky of him) and the subject was "blog stuff :D" I clicked on the email and saw the update.

Here's what he said;
"Life is going great over here in Germany. I woke up this morning feeling weird, knowing that I am now 20, but I am just enjoying myself and am loving my new area. Adjusting to my new area has been pretty easy this time, which is really nice. It has been the easiest out of all 4. So that is really great. Also that I have a super great companion that is just super awesome makes life so much easier. It is also weird because I knew my companion before I got transferred into here. So it made the whole getting to know each other part a little less awkwarder, haha.

Our week was super busy tho and being a Zone Leader again just reminds me of my last area a little bit and I keep calling my new area my old area, but it will all become normal soon. The Zone is going great though, especially for Germany. We really want to build a stake of Zion in this zone. We are still living in a district, just like my home.

We just had a baptism before I got here and the son of the the new member will be getting baptised in a few weeks, so I am really excited for that. It will be so sweet to see him get baptised. He is a 12 year old and his mother and him live together and they love each other, they are such a cute family.

Also on my second day, I found out that my area is HUGE. We have bikes and I think we rode about 60-80km that day (According to the map). I was absolutely dead after that day, but so far being here, I have lost about 2-3 Kg, so I am excited to keep shredding them if I can. Also on Saturday we had our Kinder fest (childrens festival), what happens there is there is a lot of stations and there are about 20 Russian children that come over and they come and enjoy themselves with all the games that are available. So we were on the balloon station. We had a few investigators there and also our new convert. It was a lot of fun.

On Sunday I gave a talk for my first Sunday. I introduced myself and then I gave a talk about Jarom 1:11 and how we can become a bishops ward. They really loved it and they want to work with us a lot so they can bring their friends to the Gospel, so it is really great :D
I am loving the mision and everything"

Stay Tuned. 

Birthday Reminder

Hello to all readers, I have a reminder to remind you all. Elder Pinyon's Birthday is upcoming Monday and he has asked me as Megan Green to remind everyone that his Birthday is coming up. 

It is best to send your Birthday wishes to him directly through emails. If you would like to send a Birthday Card or Birthday letter or Birthday Package, please send it to the mission home. Both of his e-mail and the mission home address is under "Contact Details" on this blog. 

If you decide to write your Birthday wish to him on Facebook, I will pass it on to him on his Birthday and the week after. I hope you all are having a great week. 

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to email me and my email is megangreen20131@gmail.com

Stay Tuned.

Getting Transferred to Oldenburg

A little update from Elder Pinyon for this week.

"So on Friday last week, we got our transfer calls and I am being transferred tomorrow. I will go to Oldenburg and stay serving as a zone leader. I didn't expect to stay zone leader, but it's what the Lord needs at the time. Next week after my birthday we will also be getting a new mission president. So that'll be super interesting. I am not to sure what to think yet. We will see how everything goes. My new area is inside of a district, so it's going to be like home. I am hoping to help along with the working towards building a stake there. So they can have the blessings of one. Also I can learn how to do that, so when I move back to Mackay with my family, I can help turn the district into a stake."

You may ask what is transfers? Transfers lasts for 6 weeks. So on the Missionary's 5th week in the area, they normally receive a call to find out if they are staying in their current area for the next transfer or they are getting transferred to a new area within the Mission's boundaries.

Stay Tuned. 

Amuse are called batteries in German

I was laughing while reading Elder Pinyon's email of the update for this week. It was good to able to chat with Elder Pinyon. I was all ready for bed and I closed my eyes. I couldn't fall asleep so I looked at my phone and I saw an email from Elder Pinyon. I stayed up chatting with him until I told him that I better get some sleep.

Anyway, here's the update.

"Yesterday at church was so funny, we had 35 visitors from Salt Lake City and of course they couldn't speak any German, so we only have 20 translating devices. The bishop gave the last talk and he noticed 2 things. 1. There wasn't enough devices and 2. There was about 40 minutes and he had only prepared a 20 minute talk. So he asked the Sister in the ward that was translating to come up the front and translate from the pulpit. He asked her to translate things directly, so she did and a few of the sentences were super funny (also the fact that I could understand both languages). He said "auf Deutsch nennen wir sie Akkus" so she translated "in German we call these Batteries". It was so great to see the bishops face after she said that, it was priceless. And everyone had a little giggle. It was probably the most entertaining sacrament meeting and most learning and most spiritual. The bishop used batteries as an example in our lives, that we have spiritual batteries and that we need to
charge them. We can do that through going to church, prayer, scripture study and so forth. He gave a great example, he said his charging station for these batteries is on the table at home and the cord that is plugged in is actually going towards the ceiling. He said that we need to face our cords towards the sky/Heavens so we can also recharge our batteries.

Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.

Super Amazing Week!

I loved what Elder Pinyon mentioned for this week's email and he said the following; 

"Hey everyone, 

So this week was super amazing. I got some great news about someone at home, someone that I actually knew since a long time got baptized on Sunday, that was a super cool miracle. The Lord is always preparing His children so they can one day enter the gate into baptism. Baptism is something that is really amazing. But it is not fully complete without the receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost. All people who are baptized with correct authority can and will receive not only the gift of the Holy Ghost, but also a remission of sins. So what is a remission of sins? The word remission actually means "cancellation". So this means a cancellation of all of our past sins that we have committed. This is so amazing to think that we can have such a gift in our life to receive this in our lives. Always love God, He will always be there for you. He loves you. 

Have a great week,

Elder Jacob Pinyon"

Teaching the Gospel via Ipads

While emailing back and forth with Elder Pinyon, he mentioned the update. I would like to share with you the normal message and he said the following;

"Well after having the iPads for one week, I still don't exactly know what I will do with them, but it is really good for the app that I am using a lot for teaching. It is called LDS pamphlets, make sure you all check it out, it is super awesome and interactive. It's good for teaching children too. I have also been sick this week, so it has been a bit of a long and unsuccessful week, but that is ok, this new week is a new challenge and I feel better than last week. Other than that, things are going great here in Germany, I love being here and I love the people too!!!
Take care and have a great week"

Stay Tuned.

The Week Started Off Pretty Great

Here's the update for this week. This is what Elder Pinyon mentioned,

"Well the week started off pretty great. We played squash with a member and the sisters. The only problem was that I stretched my shoulder really badly and couldn't use it to its full use for about 5 days. But now it is a lot better and it feels really good. I love to play sport and just get out there, reminds me of the days when I used to play Rugby league. I hope that I can play it again when I get home, I just need to find a league that doesn't play on Sundays so I can still attend all my church meetings and fulfill my duty as a Priesthood Holder.

Have also been thinking a lot about my purpose this week and just focusing on what it really means to be a missionary and I really like the story of the Strippling Warriors. As I read through the Book of Mormon this week, I came upon this wonderful story and I love how these young men (maybe about 14-18 year olds) were not afraid to die. They had a desire to fulfill what God wanted them to do, they made preparations to everything, and they were obedient to the things that their Mothers taught them. These 14-18 year old men (2000 of them) were going up against an army of trained, blood thirsty men and they still didn't fear death. If we lived like that what would I life be like??

Now in Jarom 1:11 it says that the prophets and priest would teach and the Nephites would live their lives as though Christ had already come. What would your life be like if Christ had already come (2nd coming)?? Or lets apply this in a worldlyish way, what would your studies be like if you had already passed your first year exams at college?? How would you live your life if you had already graduated from your studies?? If we live in such a way, we will be successful and we will be righteous."

Stay Tuned.

Bowling Last Week

A little update but it is better than no updates right.

"So Bowling was fun last week. I really enjoyed myself a lot. Unfortunately the camera that we have right now with all the photos, doesnt have a piece to fit the computer, so we will have to go back and get it and maybe do it next week. Sorry everyone. We have a super great return missionary in our ward, well we actually have about 5 and they are all working with us. They all speak different languages that they learnt on their missions. One can speak Spanish, Korean, English and Switzerland German.

I love the mission it is super amazing and the members are amaying too."

Stay Tuned.

Super Crazy Week

Here's the update for this week's email. He mentioned the following;

"So this week was super crazy, on Tuesday I said good bye to my good friend Elder Carpenter, seeing him leave on the ICE was very sad, but that was ok, because there was Burger King just around the corner where I could eat my sadness away haha. I waited a while at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof for my new companion and he finally came. My new companion is Elder Blake. We have been working really hard together here in Kiel, we have been meeting new friends and helping them to find who Jesus Christ really is. We have seen so many miracles in the last week. So many people are prepared to learn more about the gospel, I am really excited for this work and really hope that I can continue it after my mission.

We have been working really hard at just trying to improve the area. It has been working too. I just love talking to people on the street. I think if I had to do it in English, I would struggle, but doing it in German is so much more easier. If I make a mistake then it is ok, because I dont know if I did. Also I feel more comfortable speaking in German sometimes. Maybe it will become my mother language before I come home. Who knows.

My new companion Elder Blake is from Provo Utah, but was born in Alaska. His dad is from Idaho and his mum is from the Philippines, so he is half American and half Filipino, which is super cool. I miss all my Asian and poly friends from home. It is really cool to have a new companion. I dont have any photos of him yet, because we havent had time for that, but today we will go bowling with a few members, so maybe after that I will.

The other day as we were street contacting, we were walking across the bridge of the Harbour and the gate went down and we got to watch the bridge open up and let a sail ship go through, so that was something that was really cool. I dont know how often I will see that, but I thought that it was cool. It is something my dad taught me.

Well my dear friends, I do miss you, but I know that you are still all there. I hope you have a wonderful week and take care.

Elder Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.

Grateful For The Resurrection

It was wonderful to able to email back and forth with Elder Pinyon again. I wasn't expecting him to email me earlier than normal. I will share with you what he mentioned for the update from last week through emails.

He said "It is this wonderful time of year again when we get to celebrate our Lord and Saviours death and resurrection. I am truly greatful for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I know that He is risen. That death will never conquer and that He truly does love me and you. Saturday and Sunday we had the opportunity to hear from our beloved Prophet, the Apostles and other General Authorities. I love the testimony that they all gave, that they KNOW the Jesus Christ Lives.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?

To me it means that I will also one day live with my Heavenly Father again, and that I will have a perfected, glorified body. I am so excited for the day that Jesus Christ comes to the Earth again. I know that He lives and I know that He loves us too. He is our SAVIOUR and REDEEMER.

What does that mean to you, that Jesus Christ is your SAVIOUR and REDEEMER?

I wont answer that one. But go an check it out at helives.mormon.org or if you want to check out the german version, check out erlebt.mormon.org

I give my special witness that I KNOW that Jesus Christ Lives. I know that He conquer the bands of death and that He will one day come unto us again. I am grateful that I have the Book of Mormon that goes hand in hand with the Bible, that it helps me and strengthens me and my testimony. I love this gospel with all my heart and I KNOW that it is true. I love you all so very much and I am so grateful for your friendship too.

Take special care in this holiday time and FIND HIM. He is there waiting for you!!

Love you all so much xx

Elder Pinyon"

A friendly reminder if you would like him to email you, you would have to email him first and his email is jacob.pinyon@myldsmail.net. He normally emails on Mondays and sometimes on Tuesdays depending on time zones when he gets on the computers.

Stay Tuned.

#Because He Lives

It has been great to receive updates from Elder Pinyon during his mission. I love reading emails from him during his mission. I also love how I could tell that he has been gaining a stronger testimony each time he gets to email me. Take a moment for this post to think about that Easter is coming up.

I will share with you all of what he has said for this week and I have been grateful to able to have conversations with Elder Pinyon on some Mondays.

Elder Pinyon said "Because He Lives"

The web address is www.mormon.org/easter and it has really inspired me. Something that we really forget is what the Atonement is, it isn't just the suffering in Gethsemane, or the suffering on the cross, but it is more than that, it is more than that all put together. It is every single drop of blood that dropped for you and for me, it is the moments on the cross as Christ, one of the most important moments to me now is the last hour on the cross. I never really understood why Christ said to His father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me?  But now after studying it and gaining a testimony, I truly understand that this last hour that Christ had to go through everything by himself, that He had no spirit with him and all the pains from Gethsemane came back to him in this last hour too.
The most amazing thing about the Atonement is that it doesnt stop there. It is also includes the resurrection. I am so greatful to know that I will one day have a perfect body. Just like it says in Alma 40:23 the body and the spirit will be restored.

Also this week, I learnt something really important from my mission president, which I have never really learnt before. Alma 32:23 "And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned." A parable that is confused and mixed up very often between members of the church is: when you begin or continue to experiment upon His words. The experiment is with the word and faith in different stages is the outcome. Too often we as members want to experiment upon our faith, then we "doubt our doubts first". Verse 29 in Alma 32 states clearly, "Now behold, would not this (the experiment upon the word - His scriptures) increase your faith?" With such a clarification and confirmation, let us understand His Atonement more and more, given to us in divine words in scriptures and by the words of living prophets.

I love the gospel so much and no one, absolutely no one can prove it wrong. I know that it is true, I give you testimony that I know these things for myself, just like Alma the prophet. In Alma 5:45-48 Alma testifies of these things to be true, because the Spirit of the Lord had come unto him to let him know that it was true. He did fast and prayer, but after time, he was able to receive the answer he needed. He didnt tell them about the experience that he had with the angel appearing to him, but just the power experience he had through the spirit!! I love the Book of Mormon with all my heart. Sorry that this is all over the place, but I am sure that it all makes sense haha. "

I sent an email to Elder Pinyon to mentioned that what he mentioned has made sense to me. I hope it makes sense to you all. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to instant email me on megangreen20131@gmail.com

Stay Tuned.

A Bombing Week

Elder Pinyon mentioned a lot for his second email. I will share with you what he says.

"This week was a bombing week, we did so much this week. I love the mission life, always on the run haha. On Tuesday, we were in hamburg for our Leadership conference and I learnt a lot there, I really learnt how to become a better missionary. Also that night we were able to do a baptismal interview with an investigator and now she is baptised :D On Wednesday, we had our district meeting and we also tried out a new finding idea and that is chalking :D It was so much fun, we actually did it twice this week. We drew the plan of salvation on the side walk and it was great, we had a lot of success through it. On Thursday we had another district meeting to visit, and that was super fun. After that we did an exchange and I came back to Kiel and we did some more chalking, I will add the photos into this email :D Also, we were able to have some contact with a few less actives, so that was really awesome :D Friday was a hectic day, we exchanged back and we got stuck in a city called Elmshorn, the trains were all delayed because of technical problems, naja, so ist das Leben. Saturday was super awesome, we visited with a lot of investigators and helped them all come closer to Christ, we had an eating appointment and we also played some soccer with the members and their friends. I always love Sundays, that is like a holiday for 3 hours, just sitting in paradise for 3 hours and really being able to focus on yourself :D I love the opportunity to be able to partake of the sacrament every week :D Also helped a young man in our ward start his mission papers, so he is on his way to becoming a missionary :D Today we went to the aquarium and saw some cool fish, unfortunately it is not like Australia, but naja, so ist das Leben. There was no sharks there, but we got to see some manta rays :D Also we walked down this street and it was really funny. It was an interesting street, but anways, it had a church and, I will probably stop there, but if any further questioning is wanted, just contact me haha.

Well I hope you all have a great St. Patricks day tomorrow :D WEAR GREEN

Elder Pinyon "

A friendly reminder the photos are posted on this blog under "Mission Photos" section and posted on Facebook under "MTC & Mission Photos" Album.

Stay Tuned.

Wunder Der Woche (Miracle of the Week)

Elder Pinyon emailed me. He mentioned a lot for this week's update. He said, "WUNDER DER WOCHE (Miracle of the Week) A few weeks ago we found him on the street and he told us that, he had prayed to speak with someone who would talk to him about God. We spoke to him about the Book of Mormon and made out an appointment with him for the coming few days. He is young, he is really excited about the gospel and he is German. Last night in our appointment with him, everything was amazing, but I need to start at the start of the day. Well actually Saturday night.

We called Daniel to ask him if he would come to church and he said no, but 10 minutes later he called us back and said, I have some free time, I would love to come to church and check it out. As soon as we found that out, we told the YSA about it so they could meet him and get to know him. He walked with us and we rode the bus to church, he was a little bit excited because he didn't really know what to expect, but when he came he loved it. He loved that everyone was sharing their

testimonies. He said he felt the spirit. He felt it so much that he felt that he should go an bare his testimony as well, but he didn't.

After church and in our appointment, we asked him how church was, he said after he left, he started fasting, he wanted to try it out. Also he wants to pay fast offering next week at church for his fast. During our lesson we discussed with him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And once we explained baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, we invited him to baptism and he said yes straight away. He

said that he wanted to be apart of this church. It was such a testimony builder for me, to see the desire that people have to change their lives, so they can come to know Christ and God. 

After we finished discussing our lesson, we asked him to pray about the date that we had set for him and he said in the most humblest way, I already know that it is the right date, but I will do it. He also

prayed at the end of the lesson, the spirit was so strong, it is something that I have only felt a few times on my mission, but I know that he is a chosen one. I know that this work is so true, I love the

opportunity that I have, to help Daniel towards making a covenant with God, I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is just the start, like is says in 2 Nephi 31:19 - And now my beloved brethern after ye have gotten into this straight and narrow path, I would ask you if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.

This week we also went to a little dorf called Plön, it was really small and not to successful haha. But we got some nice pics. After we got home, I found that my glass had broken AGAIN!! So my companion offered to fix it for me, so he glued it with some super glue and yea, he was rubbing the glue onto the glass and his finger couldn't move anymore and he was stuck to the glass. So he had to use his knife to get his finger off the glass. That involved a lot of time and pain haha. We always learn from our mistakes. :D

Have a great week.

Elder Pinyon"

Friendly reminder the photos are on this blog under "Mission Photos" and on Facebook under "MTC & Mission Photos." 

Stay Tuned.

1 Year Mark

Short and sweet email that I have received from Elder Pinyon today and he mentioned "This week was ok, went to Eckernförder, a nice little city of about 25,000 people. Really beautiful, right on the beach side, so I went for a little walk on the beach this week :D It was amazing :D Also we saw an amazing sunset this week too, it was super beautiful :D I am now 1 year old on the mission :D It is so cool, I look back and think that wow I have served 1 year already, the time is gone by so fast."

Friendly reminder the photos are on this blog under "Mission Photos" and on Facebook under "MTC & Mission Photos."

Stay Tuned.

Were Speechless

Today was my Birthday and Elder Pinyon wished me a Happy Birthday at the start of the email. Most importantly, he mentioned the highlight of this week. This is what he mentioned through the email.

"highlight of this week was when we we doing finding and we were street contacting. We love speaking with people, so it does make it a little bit more easier to speak with everyone. As we were walking down the street we had a few good conversations, but then we spoke with this young man about 27 years old, his name is Daniel.  We asked him if he knew what the Book of Mormon was about. He said no.  Luckily we had one in our hand and could introduce it to him. As the conversation
went on he said to us "I prayed yesterday that I would be able to speak to someone about God and how I can better direct my life so I can return to him".

We just were speachless....We had answered his prayer and we will be meeting with him tonight.  I am really excited for this. I know that there are prepared people here.  The Lord is not only preparing us as missionaries through Zone Training Meetings, but also the people that we invite to listen to His word.  I am greatful for this experience.

Also my companion and I lead our first Zone Training Meeting all in German this week, that was really top."

He then was explaining what the photos of that was attached. Reminder the photos are on this blog under "Mission Photos" and on Facebook under "MTC & Mission Photos."

"So in these photos, one is of the olypmics and they had a sailing competition in the olympics.
Another is me by the ocean :D the baltic sea Also a frozen lake :D

Also if everyone would JUST LOVE, the world would be a better place. My crazy companion
by the snow in a park"

Stay Tuned.

Lots of Fun This Week

It was interesting to what Elder Pinyon has mentioned during this week. A friendly reminder it's not my fault that he doesn't spell words correctly.

"This week has been a super busy week, the first 2 days were really fast, Pday and a working day. The next day (wednesday) we went to a district meeting, being a zone leader you get to visit every district meeting in your zone, which is heaps of fun, but than we went on exchanges with the elders. After exchanges finished, we went to our own district meeting, which was mean as. After DM we got on a train and travelled for 3 hours to berlin and stay there for the night. Than on Friday morning we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) and than we travelled home. Saturday we did about 5 hours of service and also planned our Zone Training Meeting for next week. Sunday I went to church. That was pretty much my week, I am super tired, haha, but not stressed. I had a lot of fun this week.

I have lots of photos, so there will be a few emails, I can only fit 3 photos per email, sorry. So I found this sign and it says JP-Australia and my initials are JP Jacob Pinyon and I come from Australia. My
companion made some cinemon rolls."

Stay Tuned.

Happy Australia Day

Elder Pinyon mentioned a lot through email.

"HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So today is actually australia day so my district got together and we just had a lot of fun, drinking Beer (Malzbeer) which has no alcohol in it. It is pretty much just a soda pop, I think that is what they
call it in america, or just a soft drink, like what they say in australia. Also today I made some good old aussie Sausage Rolls and also some good aussie Lamingtons. They were so amazing. So good to eat some aussie food again haha.

Also yesterday we had the chance to dig/shhovel all the snow from the church parking lot before all the members came, because we got there a little bit earlier, it was such a great opportunity of service, to show the love to the members that we really do care about them.


Also this week we had a really successful day, I love the missionary work that we have here in Germany. Also I gave a talk to my ward in Sacrament meeting about Laman and Lamuel, how they were always obedient, here are my notes: ....

- Laman and Lemuel [L&L] agreed to leave everything they possessed and journey into the wilderness to an unknown location at their father’s request, including hopes nad dreams of a future among people they knew. (see 1 Nephi 2:4).

- L&L agreed to travel a three-day journey back to Jerusalem to fulfill the request of their father and the Lord to bring back the plates (see 1 Nephi 3:9).

- L&L agreed to approach Laban and request the records, surely suspecting that the success of such a request was not likely (see 1 Nephi 3:11–14).

- L&L agreed once again, at Nephi’s suggestion, to sacrifice all their family wealth in an attempt to secure the scriptural record (see 1 Nephi 3:22).

- L&L returned in duty to the tent of their father after obtaining the plates (see 1 Nephi 4:38). Once there “they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord; and L&L gave thanks unto the God of Israel” (1 Nephi 5:9).

- L&L were then commanded to return to Jerusalem again to ask Ishmael’s family to join them on their journey.

- L&L returned once again to the tent of their father in the wilderness after succeeding in their mission.

- L&L inquired as to the meaning of the dream of their father Lehi (see 1 Nephi 15:2–3, 7).

- L&L were “pacified and did humble themselves before the Lord” as they began to understand the meaning of the dream (1 Nephi 15:20).

- L&L continued to inquire about the meaning of their father’s dreams (see 1 Nephi 15:21–26), and L&L did “humble themselves” again before the Lord (1 Nephi 16:5).

- L&L commenced building a ship that ultimately carried them beyond the hope of ever returning to their homeland again. After travailing in the wilderness for over a decade, they arrived in the promised land (see 1 Nephi 18:23).

- L&L received a blessing and were promised them the birthright blessing on conditions of righteousness (2 Nephi 1:2, 5).

How could this story of obedience and sacrifice possibly apply to L&L, who separated from their family and became wicked? (2 Nephi 5).

In general, the answer is that we need to discover and apply important principles and doctrines in our own lives, as Nephi and Jacob did. As shown, even righteous actions may not lead to becoming righteous if our faith is not centered in Jesus Christ. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “Laman and Lemuel became rebels instead of leaders, resentful instead of righteous- all because of their failure to understand either the character or the purpose of God.”

Have a Great AUSSIE DAY. Love you all

Elder Pinyon."

A friendly reminder that there are photos, it's shared on Facebook under "MTC and Mission Photos" album and under "Mission Photos" section of this blog.

Stay Tuned.

How Germans Celebrate Christmas

A friendly reminder, this is Megan Green who has been posting on this blog on behalf of Elder Pinyon for updates during this mission and I have been updating his Facebook account during his time as a Missionary too. Next month, he will be reaching 1 year since he left to go and serve the Lord for 2 years.

This is what he says for this week's email, I will share with you most of the email. I don't know if he wants it be posted on the blog but I will post it anyway.

"I would love to tell you about the germans and how they celebrate christmas :D So Christmas actually starts 4 Sundays before christmas actually starts. So the Germans have this thing called advents and they are so cool, so every advent you burn a big candle until its all gone on christmas day. So usually that is the start to Christmas here in Germany.

After the first advent the have weihnachtsmarkt which is christmas markets, where you can buy all sorts of stuff, it is really cool all the sweets and lollies and clothes and drinks and ornaments and everything that you want is there. There are also rides, so the christmas markets are opened everyday from the first advent until the day after christmas. During this christmas season the german people become more open to the gospel, so crazy it is.

So than on Christmas eve is when the FEASTS begin. So christmas eve is called heilige abend and that is when they think Christ was born and Santa (der Weihnachtsman) comes to the children at about 6pm. Also Christmas eve is their Christmas day. All the presents are put under the tree and the family will then have dinner and it is about a 5 course meal haha. So great, I love food. After the first feast they open the presents and enjoy themselves that night.

Than the next day, which is christmas day for us and for the germans it is (1. Weihnachtsfeiertag) 1st christmas public holiday. They have a massive lunch (another 5 course meal) and it is really great and
they do the same thing on the next day which for them is the 2. Weihnachtsfeiertag (2nd christmas public holiday). That is roughly how Germans celebrate Christmas from what I have seen haha.

Also I am being transfered to Kiel to go and be a zone leader there, so  we will see how that works out haha. I think that I will celebrate christmas like this when I get home.

Elder J. Michael Pinyon"

Stay Tuned.