Transfers, New companion, and Elder Ashby's new assignment...

July 17, 2018                                             Still trying to catch up  ; )                                                         

So, my new companion is Elder Rene Perez Ibarra. He came to Argentina in my group when I first arrived in the country. He is from Santa Cruz Bolivia.   He is 26 years old and he is a super cool guy and he is pretty funny. He is a good dude and he seems to be pretty obedient so that is good. He liked to do graphic design and photography before the mission, so that is also cool because we have that in common. I get along with him well. I went to Formosa Capital to wait for him this week. I wont be training any new missionaries because only four new people came to the mission this transfer. Next transfer, there will be a ton of missionaries that will be coming in new.

Rio Negro is a good area but I don`t really like Resistencia the city. I like Formosa Capital the best out of all the cities that I’ve served in. I am

beginning to see some of the good that I have done here in the mission even if the people that I taught were not baptized while I was serving there in their areas. I am doing the best I can.  So, Elder Triana is from Colombia.

So Clorinda city is bigger that Curuzu Cautia and there is a lot more mud here than there is there. There is a lot of trade that goes on here. It is a nice city. The members here are awesome and there are like 90 people in church on Sundays, so I don`t have to prepare much of anything for meetings usually.

My (son), Elder Ashby was made the new Assistant to President of the mission. He is an amazing missionary! I am really happy for him.

I am glad that you take the time to fast for me, mom, I really need it. The mission can get rough sometimes. It is a hard experience but it is also so worth it. I am so glad that you all support me so much. You are the best fans I could ever ask for. I have the best parents in the world. I want you to know I will always be an active member of the church because I want to be with you guys forever. God guides me where I need to go, nothing will change my mind of that. I will always strive to be the best son and the most obedient person to you and to God that I can be.   

Love you and miss you all!

Chau,

Elder Nate Pendleton

Transfers, saying goodbye to Elder Valasquez...

Saying goodbye to Elder Wadsworth, a good friend who is leaving to go home after serving his full 2 year mission...

 Another cool mural...

Traveling back to Resistencia for some paperwork, divisions and soccer...

July 9, 2018                              Trying to catch the blog up, sorry the dates are off ; )

Well, Argentina’s Independence Day celebration is today. They celebrate it with soccer and empanadas. We ate a ton of empanadas and I have played soccer all day! haha. I freaking love soccer! We went to a place and paid a dollar each and we played soccer on a turf soccer field. We are allowed to kick the ball at the goal but we weren’t supposed to play against each other, but we ended up playing against each other.

 Next week is transfers. I think I will be staying here and our mission president has already said that Elder Velasquez is going to be leaving the area. Elder Velasquez knows elder Soza, he has been friends with him since childhood. That is funny that Dylan knows Elder Soza’s parents. That is awesome that you got to go to Dylan’s homecoming. That is cool that the missionaries that serve in your area came and shared their testimony’s in your Sunday School class, mom.

So, my week started on Sunday night, we traveled to Resistencia and we did Elder Valasquez paperwork there on Monday and Thursday. The whole week we stayed with the zone leaders there in Rio Negro and we did divisions with them. It was fun to see everyone in the office again. I miss the office but I am glad that I am not there anymore.I like being out in the field so much more. When we got back to Clorinda we got back to work, but as far as working in the area this week, not much happened. It rained a lot this week so no one was in church and it was really muddy everywhere. Here the dirt here turns into clay when it is wet, so it sticks to everything!

We are still working with those six kids we met and we are going to see if we can get one of them to progress. It was really cool to give my first baptismal interview, also a little stressful because you want to make sure they are ready for it, but it went well.

 I actually sent Elder Dial and Elder Wilde to A. in Formosa, we are going to see if she can get baptized.  

 Hey! Elder Afane and I started to teach that family in Esquina! I am glad that they were baptized! They had already been investigators a while back, but we picked them back up when we were there. That is awesome!

I was a little sick this week but it has passed now, our pension`s owner lives next door to us and when we went to pay our rent, he was watching the Russia vs. Croatia World Cup game and he offered to let us stay and watch. I wanted to so bad, but we can`t Haha. We just told him, no. I will tell C. that you are proud of her , mom.

 As far as for our country’s 4^th of July celebration, I wanted to tell you that I miss the ward breakfast that we always have there, it is soooo good!  I’m glad everything went well for your fourth of July celebrations!

Thank you for praying for me, always, I really appreciate it. I will send you some pics.  I love you so much. You are the best! 

Elder Triana and me, he is an elder that I have known since the first day of the mission. I stayed in a hotel the first day with him. I did divisions with him all week. My desk and study area, in my pension. Our pension, it is up on the top floor. 

So some Colombian dudes offered us Colombian empanadas this week. When he brought them out and I saw them, I was like that looks like an Arapa, which is something my dad ate on his mission in Venezuela. I asked them about it and he said that it is the same dough they use to make arapas and that they actually sell arapas also from their house. They were sooooo good! I know that dad ate a lot of arapas on his mission. These were Arapanadas, Haha.  And I loved and this “El Gringo” sign, Haha.  (Gringo means a person, especially an American, who is not Hispanic or Latino.)

 Pictures of soccer on p-day this week...

Multizona fun, and the work is going really well just gotta get organized!

 Okay, so for the main email, today I just want to say that C. is amazing! She is surrounded by people that smoke and drink, some of her friends didn’t like her decision to be baptized. Her own kids didn´t even come to watch it and yet she has maintained herself from cigarettes! She rejects them and has more power to say no. I am proud of her! She also got a new job that she was praying for, so that is good too!

Yeah, mom, the Reyes family is great! They help us out a lot with the work we have received a lot of good references from them like A. I also sent some Elders down to Puerto to reach out to A. this week to see how she is doing with the gospel. I am glad that the Reyes family thinks that I can speak Spanish well. That is so weird, that Eduardo, their son contacted you. I don´t even know him yet. I know that he is in Buenos Aires. Sonia, his sister just got back from there.

Elder Wadsworth is from Ogden, Utah I think. He is just a nice dude. He was Elder Slade’s companion before he went into the office. He’s become a good friend.

So, the zone conference was really fun! We went to Formosa capital to go to the multizona.  Elder Bowerbank was transferred to Pirané and Elder Pedernera is now a companion with Elder Wadsworth. Elder Wadsworth goes home in two weeks, though.  

To be honest, I am still feeling a little sick. Here in the mission, we sleep all over the place. I’ve had to sleep at the zone leaders pension a lot. I have been pretty wrecked sleeping this week. It is just that our pension is so far that if we go to the church for a baptism or for an activity we have to stay with them because there is no time after to walk back to our pension.

As far as the World Cup down here, the people here like it when the people from South America win. They just don´t want Brazil to win cause they always do, Haha! I am going to root for Sweden with Monte

So, this week we found 13 new people to teach and it is getting hard to manage all of them but finding one that will really progress is hard. This week I did a baptismal interview with this kid. My companion, Elder Velasquez has had paperwork to do in Resistencia, so I am actually in Resistencia right now. I have been hanging out with the office elders all day. It is weird to be back in the office. I went to Ricollini, today and we are also going to go shop the Paraguay markets. The whole morning today we were doing his paperwork, so I hope I can just take my p-day until 9pm tonight because I missed the whole morning with doing that. I tried mate celestial this week, which is coconut ground up or shredded with hot chocolate and you drink it out of a Bombilla. It is super good. I bought my mate thermos. Usually, on our p-days, we get lasagna in this restaurant and watch the World Cup while we are eating. We also play ping-pong and play board games and stuff for our p-days.

Anyway, I love you all and miss you! Happy Fourth-of-July.  Things are going well for me, I just gotta get organized with all of my investigators.

Chau!

Love,

Elder Nate Pendleton

These kids thought that I was German during all the World Cup soccer madness, they called me over to talk and I was able to teach them the gospel. Haha! xD!

 A family that I taught in Esquina was baptized this week... So happy for them!

Mutizona bus ride to Formosa Capital...

   Multizona fun!