It's so hot!!! Trips to other areas and looking forward to Multizone conference...

Hey Everyone,

         I am feeling better this week after being so sick to my stomach last week, and I have been working hard despite the ridiculously hot weather we are having here. We actually got 3 investigators to come to church on Sunday! One of them is this 19-year-old girl named E. She is super smart and she reads the little pamphlets that we give her and she wants to get baptized soon. She asks really good questions. She is so ready! We get to the lesson and she is like, “Hey, I read the whole “Plan of Salvation” pamphlet and she is like, “I thought it was interesting that it was part of God`s plan that Adam ate the fruit, and that it was because we needed to come here to earth and we needed free agency to make choices to progress.”   We were like, “Holy cow, you already know everything!” She is a golden investigator!  She understands so well! We are for sure going to have a baptism!  She came to church along with our other two other investigators, so things are looking up for us. We only had Friday and Saturday to work this week because we were traveling, but the lord blessed us with lessons and with people that came out to church.

         This week we have to travel again to Formosa and Elder Smith has to go to Tucuman again, because the paperwork failed last week, so I am not going to be in Clorinda for almost the entire week, I will be in Puerto again. So in Puerto, Elder Pérez is serving there and is also training a new missionary. I worked there with them and got to see some old members that I hadn`t seen in a while! I also went to A’s house but she wasn’t there, but I talked with her on the phone, and this week I might be able to go and see her. It was fun to go to Puerto this week. I even got to see the dog that bit me, ha-ha.

         It has been super hot here and our pension is just like a brick oven!

         Gilda Lopez (The girl that just got her mission call to Brazil) helped our investigator out in church because she is also the same age as E. We didn`t even ask her to do that, she is a great member and she will be a great missionary!

         The multizone this week is going to be sweet! I always have fun with Elder Smith joking about things here like the dogs and the cars and I really do enjoy a lot of the environment but the food here is killing me ha-ha. There is always some funny thing that happens and it is fun to have these experiences. Last night we got attacked by killer mosquitos and we literally had to run to get away from them, ha-ha!

         That is awesome that Colton and Amanda are having a baby! And that you got a raise! Just enough to get me an exhaust system, ha-ha, just kidding. That is fun that you got to see Zane. I am glad they are going to Disneyland! That is cool that there are fun things that you are getting to do. I can`t wait for nice winter clothes and no sweat ha-ha.

         Anyway, there really isn`t much more to say but I love you and miss you all and thank you for all the support. I can`t wait to see you all again!

Chau!

Elder Nate Pendleton

The Pizza we eat here...

 It's so hot!!!

Our cool hats! Summer is officially here!

  

   

 Out walking in the Campo...

A lightening storm in Puerto!!!

Service, getting sick, serving in Formosa, and getting excited for General Conference...

So we taught a girl this week and she accepted baptism and she was almost crying when we mentioned our belief about eternal families because the Jehovah`s Witnesses told her that there is no life after death and her dad had died about four years back. I feel like she will probably get baptized, so that is awesome!

 It felt good this week to try and serve my companion. He doesn’t have his mud boots yet and it had rained a lot and so his shoes were covered in mud, so I took a sponge and wiped them off and cleaned them up for him. It felt good serving him. I really want to make this time for him nice. It’s hard being a new missionary but he is doing great!

I am not going to lie, this week was really, really, hard on us. We had eaten something last Monday that made us sick so we had diarrhea the whole week! Like, I have never been so sick to my stomach before! Haha. My companion had it a little less than I did, but I think it is just because he is just not used to the food here. But the blessings were high this week! Tuesday was the day that I felt the worst, but I decided to go out even though I didn`t want to and we taught soooo many lessons that day, our numbers were really good this week even though we were both sick. My companion gave me an awesome blessing of health and I sure am grateful to him for that. I also bought some Powerades to keep me hydrated and I am feeling a lot better now.  

This week I will be serving in Puerto 1 and my companion, Elder Smith is going to Tucuman, Argentina to do his paperwork to get his identification, so for four days I will be in Formosa.  

Our Multizona is on the 26^th  of this month and I am also getting so excited for General Conference.  So this p-day we played Dungeons and Dragons as a zone it was really fun! Haha! I can`t write a ton more because the computer is being weird. As always, I love you and miss you all!

Chau,

Elder Nate Pendleton 

My New Companion Elder Tyler Smith...

My new rain jacket...

Rainy days here in Argentina...

New Companion and a baptism...

Yeah mom, to answer your question, so a lot of the time we explain the same things to the people we teach but God puts in my head another way to explain it to them so that it makes more sense for that particular person that I’m teaching. It helps to have studied in the scriptures. There was this less active member that had a lot of doubts about the church because she went to another church and they told her some wrong things about our church. I had so many scriptures to show her the truth and then I remembered that I also had those “17 points of the true church” cards that you gave to me so I pulled it out and I showed it to her and I was able to answer all of her questions.  

The lady that wasn’t baptized last week was baptized this week. We found out that she didn't understand the question that we had asked her and she actually didn't have a problem with what we thought she did, so she was able to get baptized this week. I am still a District Leader.

I went to Resistencia and I stayed with all of the other trainers and we had p-day there and I had fun. Then on Wednesday I met up with my new companion Elder Tyler Smith. He is from Pocatello, Idaho. So we get along well and he is a nice guy. He is pretty shy and it is hard for him to speak the language yet, but I am doing my best to help him out. I was the same way when I first got here, too. I am sure he will get Spanish down I speak it a lot with him in the streets. It is a lot harder training this time for me than it was the first time that I trained. I am really going to do my best to train him well.  Elder Smith was so tired when he got here he fell asleep during daily planning and weekly planning and studies and even when I was talking to him face to face, that jet lag is tough! He is really quiet so I am doing my best to help him open up.  On our way back up to Clorinda we slept in Formosa in Puerto`s pension, and then we traveled the rest of the way back up to to Clorinda.

We have run into way too many drunks this week, Haha! Elder Smith is getting in some good stories to tell his family when he gets back home, Haha. Elder Afane’s family got me a soccer jersey it’s for the El Salvador soccer team and it is sweet! It has like Aztec designs on it. I will send a picture of me in it.

It has been really hot here this last week. I am really not ready for summer here! It is 90 degrees here today and on Wednesday it is going to be up to 94 and it’s not even technically summer yet.

Wish Isabella a Happy Birthday for me! I am glad that her party went well for her. That is cool that she is getting braces. I love you and miss you all. Things are going well here.

Chau,
Elder Nate Pendleton

My New Jersey...

The trainers of the new incoming missionaries...

 P-day in Resistencia...

We had another baptism, love reading scriptures and a new companion coming...

 So this week was really awesome! 

We had another baptism, C.B. got baptized! He told us that he knows it is all true and that some other missionaries had offended him earlier so he never got baptized, but he decided that it was time to finally do it, so he decided to get baptized!

          I don´t know yet, who my new companion is because they will arrive here in Argentina on a plane tonight and then tomorrow, I will get to meet him. Elder Hopkins is now my new zone leader up in Clorinda!!!! I am super glad! He will be one of my last zone leaders in the mission. I am excited for this transfer!

So, anyway, I am in reading in my scriptures in 2 Corinthians now in the New Testament. It is fun to read! (This, from a son who hated to read before he left for his mission! ~ mom )

So, Elder Pedernera and Elder Afane  are both staying where they are in the mission and not getting transferred. Elder Dial and my old companion, Elder Velasquez were called to serve in the office.

 I already have my package! Thanks so much for sending it! I love the Eddie Bauer jacket! I couldn't believe it when I pulled it out. It must have been a bit expensive, but thanks so much. It will be nice for when it rains,  I wore it all day today! I am glad that you got to go down to Southern Utah. I am jealous of all of the vacation you are taking!

So, these last few days I have just been hanging out with a bunch of elders, and it has been fun, waiting for the new elder is always fun! I will do my best to train him well.

As far as working this week it wasn’t that great and it also rained a lot. I could kind of see how much I work compared to others in the mission. I work so hard, but I just needed to learn how to really talk to the people well. My language skills have improved so much now. Well, now with me being diligent with a comp that is new and is ready to work, hopefully, and being able to speak full on Castellano Spanish, we are gonna get some work done!

I love you a ton. I have really felt like I have become accustomed to living in Argentina now. I have three transfers left, I can´t believe it!

I love you and miss you all.

Chau.

Elder Nate Pendleton

The Baptism...

Filling the font...

Bringing the light of the gospel to someone...literally! And a monkey comes to church...

So, this week was really good!

         Elder Perez was transferred early to my old area Puerto 1 because a new office elder was called. He went to take his place so I have been working with the zone leaders this week in two different areas and we have had a lot of success. We visited a lot of people this week and we have lots of people that have agreed to get baptized and so now we just gotta teach like crazy! We have a few that are real close. One of the experiences I had this week is we went to a lesson with F. and on the way to his house we found a light bulb in its box just laying there in the street and so we picked it up and took it with us as we went to F.’s house. We go in, and where we normally teach they were playing video games, so we say to F. "Can we go into the other room?" and he said "yeah, but there is no light bulb in there so it will be all dark" and so we were like, “That is alright because we found a lightbulb in the street”, so we put it in and we were able to teach him, haha. We literally brought the light to his house! Haha! We invited him to get married so he can get baptized. I hope he makes the right choice. We had three investigators in church this week and one of them for the second time! I am glad things are finally looking up with the work. I have learned a lot from the zone leaders and my teaching skills are improving and I can finally see my progress in the mission. It is really nice to work with the zone leaders and now I am living in the nicer pension with them but just until the end of this week. We cleaned my pension out really well so now it is ready for the new elder I will be training. Another cool thing is that I learned about a new car that is soooooooo freaking sweet! It is called a Chevrolet Chevron from 1978 and 79 they are like a Mustang and a Camaro mixed together. I like them a lot!  

Also, I have read a lot in the New Testament, the Book of Acts is so full of evidence that our church is true. I Love it! haha. Also Juan 14 is a really good chapter. Anyway,  So, C might get baptized this week but he is hard to find he works a lot. Also G. and E. came out to church and they liked it and so now we gotta see if we can get them baptized. There are some others that are really awesome but we still gotta teach them some more. Also this kid named P. might get baptized this week. Yeah, it was fun to see the other church. It helps me to see the effects of the Apostasy too, haha! 

Yeah, so I cant wait to talk with dad in Spanish. I am trying to work on my accent before I get home. It is hard to not sound like a gringo sometimes. I can`t believe Dylan got married so fast! I will probably wait a little longer than that after my mission Haha!    

So, cow tongue is well just like normal meat but kind of bland tasting, and the utter is like a white jelly that is full of oil and it almost has a milky flavor mixed with meat flavor and it is pretty weird, Haha. It didn`t taste bad but it was something that just a little goes a long way! Haha. Wish Butch a happy birthday for me! So I think I will be staying here in Clorinda. And also Elder Afane is in a trio with two elders also because his companion, Elder Moore   goes home a week before the end of transfers.

 So this week we saw a monkey on roof of the church! Haha! It was super funny to watch!

I also had to lead the hymns in church this week and in the baptism and in Elders Quorum and I gave a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost in the baptism.

I finally got my hands on some peanut butter so I have eaten a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this week! Haha. But yeah, it has been a really good week. I feel really good about my skills as a missionary and about my efforts.

Have a wonderful week! Love you all!

Chau,

Elder Nate Pendleton

Working with the Zone Leaders for this week...

My District...

Asado with President Rodas.....

"The First Vision" made out of wire by an investigator....

Me preaching the gospel to anyone who will listen...

Me making fried chicken...

And of course, the monkey who came to church...