WEEK 23: ANOTHER BAPTISM BUT NO SNAIL MAIL

Cheyenne's baptism day

So we had a really great week this week.  Cheyenne got baptized, and it was an awesome experience! The spirit was so strong, and it was awesome to see how happy she was afterwards.  It was an awesome experience to be a part of. And, by teaching her and helping her, she was also helping me. She has an awesome testimony of the gospel and is being a great example to the rest of her family.

This week was good for Elder Smith and myself.  We picked up a new teaching pool and are doing very well at helping our investigators progress to the waters of baptism.  Being in an apartment is going well.  The water out here in California is terrible so I got a Brita water filter so that is working well.  I am slowly purchasing things that are making being in an apartment a lot better.

This week is going to be short, but it consisted of a lot of rain, us pushing three different people’s cars into the garage for them from down the street, and even more rain.  My bike got another flat tire, but I got a super duty heavy tube so hopefully that will get the job done.  That is all for this week.  I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Elder Pennington

No snail mail.  Snif snif. Please write us!!!

 

Elder Pennington wanted to remind us that he is
"Bayless" for 2 years... he's OK with it.

A little pre-baptism selfie in the mirror with Elder Smith

Zone meeting pile up

 

 

WEEK 22: "BEAT TO TEACH" IN MOVAL (MORENO VALLEY)

Elder Pennington and his new companion Elder Smith
feasting on some In & Out Burger.

Looks like he managed to pack his life-sized
Michael Jordan cut out for the trip to Moval.

This week was my first week in my new area that’s called Moreno Valley.   My new companion, Elder Smith, is awesome, and I am enjoying this new area.  I feel like there are a lot more people outside and so probably a couple times a day we do what we call “Beat to Teach.”  So if there are people out playing ball, we challenge them to a game of “two on two” and when we win, we show them the new Easter video about Jesus Christ and try and get a follow up appointment.  Now, every time we are in certain areas they are like “Hey Elders,  are ya’ll gonna ball with us?”  It is pretty funny.

I was able to help finish up teaching the missionary discussions to a young woman named Cheyenne.  She is getting baptized this next Sunday.  She is super solid and has a strong testimony.  We have a lot more potential in this area, and I am looking forward to return to my last area in a few weeks for two baptisms.  Other than that, things are going well out here.  It is hard to believe that I have been out five months today.  It feels like I have only been out for like a month!

Well, I hope all is well and I miss you all.  Thank you for all of my true friends.  Thank you for the love and support ya’ll give me.  If anyone ever needs me, let me know!

Love,

Elder Pennington

Our son the barber...

...the sacrifices these guys make to
live within their budget.

Elder Pennington and "The Canadian" Elder

 

WEEK 21: TRANSFERRED TO MORENO VALLEY

Packed up for first transfer.

Hello everyone,

Got some news, I have been transferred to Moreno Valley, and I will be serving in the Canyon Springs Ward.  I am looking forward to be able to serve all of the many wonderful people that I will meet there, even though I am sad that I will be leaving so many wonderful people that I have met while serving here in Jurupa Valley.

My new companion’s name is Elder Smith and he is from Arizona and has been out about 7 or 8 months. I’m looking forward to being able to serve with him.  Packing sucksss.  But I feel accomplished because everything is organized.   I learned from my dad!

Palm trees in Jurupa



 

 

My last Sunday (Easter Sunday) in the Jurupa Ward was great.  We are teaching, well I was teaching a LAPD Motor cop and he came to church in a nice suit...his baptism is April 10th so I will be back for that for sure!  We have a brother and sister on baptismal date for the 17th of April so hopefully I will come back for that as well. 

Sorry this week is relatively short, well it probably is the same length as all the other ones haha sorry if it is boring keeping up with the life of Nathan Pennington.  I hope all is well, and I wish everyone the best! 

Elder Pennington

Look at my Easter bunny glasses my momma sent me.

Waking up Bryce to say goodbye.



The transfer of the key to the house to Olsen.

Basketball selfie on P-day.

Money Team #1

Money Team #2

Money Team #3

 

 



WEEK 20: WILL HE SAY GOODBYE TO JURUPA?

Better week this week.  We did really good in every area except for getting our investigators to church. They were either sick, had family in town, or out of town so that was a bummer, but oh well nothing you can do about it. This week is a 7 week transfer so this upcoming week will be the last one, and we will receive transfer calls this Saturday.

Everything is going well, and we meet more and more new ward members every week that are just so sweet to us.  No pictures this week.  I am sorry.  I usually do not bring my camera a lot, and I will just have other “misioneros” send them to me but they didn't send them to me yet so I will get those out as soon as I can.  Hope everyone has an amazing week and you stay classy Memphis.

Elder Pennington

(Elder Pennington didn't have any pictures to send, but a church member had him over to eat and made him a special treat - Puppy Chow!!!  They didn't even know this was his favorite treat.  Then they snapped some pictures and texted them to us.  As well as a video!  Enjoy!!)
 



That's a big bowl of puppy chow!

 



Carrying left overs home on their heads...
Why is Nathan's bag so much bigger?!

 

WEEK 19: SERVICE - TEACHING ENGLISH TO THE CHINESE



Elder Dyer - a Chinese speaking Elder.

So this week was a little bit better for Elder Olsen and myself.  It rained a couple of times this week, and luckily I got my rain pants and my Columbia rain jacket.  This El Niño comes and goes like every few weeks, and the reason why they took our car away is because of the rain.  There has only been like 4 days since they have, but it is all good.  I don't mind biking.  It could be much worst.




Twinkies - matching suits and ties.

Thank you all for all the packages and letters that I kept getting this past week.  It means a lot to me that everyone has me in mind.  I hope all is well with everyone and I am trying to get thank you letters around to everyone, but if I don't get to it right away, I’m sorry!  My addiction to mango juice is going against an addiction that I now have for strawberry banana juice from Kern’s Nectar.  It is SO good.  But other than that, it was a pretty boring week – OH! except I went on exchanges this week with Elder Dyer into Chinese land.  We taught an English class to Chinese people that are trying to learn English and these people are hilarious.  Elder Dyer is a super cool guy and I learned a lot from him.  I think that is pretty much it....We dropped a few people that we were teaching and got dropped by one other person, so we are in a building progress right now.  I love you all and have a great week!

Elder Pennington

How do you like my crazy trick?

P-Day at the tennis court with the zone.

Just a little warm up jump!













Having fun with da boys

Yeah, that's right! We bad!

WEEK 18: THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A MISSION

This week was the worst week of the mission.  Were there still good things that happened and blessings?  Yes of course!  Was I still happy?  Yes of course!   Did we hit “Standard of Excellence”?  No! Haha!!  It was rough with us trying to get in with our people.  Everyone seemed like life was kicking their butts and didn’t have time for us, but I guess you have to have those kind of weeks to appreciate the good ones.

I forgot to send a special thank you for all my birthday wishes everyone sent me.  Thank you all so much! I'll try to get a thank you out there specifically to everyone, but if I don't get around to it, it's because life is getting hectic so that can be either good or bad, but thank you all for taking time out of your day to wish me a happy birthday and check up on how I am doing.  It is greatly appreciated.

One of the tender mercy blessings in my life this week is that I have found a lover.  Her name is Kern's Nectar Mango Juice.  This stuff is so addicting and amazingly good.  I think I went through three cartons in just one week. Other than that I’m looking forward to taking on this next week.  Hope all is well!

Love,
Elder Pennington

WEEK 17: LASSO COURT OR LASSO CULT?

Elder Pennington loves to bike! He found a
pest control business bearing his last name.  Thumbs up!

So this week was pretty good.  Elder Olsen and myself hit Standard of Excellence again.  I think we are working super hard, and we are being blessed by our diligence. (Insert by Dad: I asked Nathan what exactly was the "Standard of Excellence".  He explained it is a goal that they strive for weekly which includes talking to 65 new people every week, begin teaching 3 new individuals/families each week, have 2 of those being taught attend church on Sunday, as well as 2 or 3 other things.  It's not an easy goal to attain each week, but he and his companion did so 3 weeks in a row which means they have been working very hard and been diligent.)

Quite a surprise for Elder Pennington !

Have I said lately how much I love being on bike?  I am going on my third time for having a flat so that is just great. The dirt roads out here are terrible and are not the best for biking but I guess I can't complain. Luckily Elder Olsen has a hand pump and I have a presta valve tube and so it needs a special pump but thank goodness he had one.  So 400,000 pumps later my tube was full enough for us to bike home!  Also, we talked to a guy that was high because everyone has a medical card out here and he randomly pulls up his shirt and has the goonies tatted on his chest so that is something that I wasn’t expecting hahaha!!

In the area where he works, domesticated animals include
cows and chickens, not cats and dogs.

So this past week I asked a guy how to get to a street named Lasso Court,  and he said, “I can tell you how to get to heaven, you go to Calvary and keep going straight.”   He then went on to say that the cult I'm in or whatever is gonna mess me up so I told him, “Thank you so much for your thoughts.  They will be noted, but for now I'm gonna put a pin in it and I'll get back to that later.  In the mean time, I need to know where Lasso Court is.”  He then said, “Do you mean Lasso cult?” I then told him that the definition of a cult is a small group or organization and that our religion is frankly quite large so it would be quite presumptuous to call our faith a cult.  Then, I extended my hand and held it there for about 5 minutes so that was pretty interesting, but he wouldn't shake my hand :) so I gave him a smile told him to have a blessed day and then continued down to turn right on Calvary and keep going straight :)

Elder Pennington

Anyone who knows Nathan knows of his love
of ice cream.  Luckily there's no shortage in CALI!

On preparation day, played a little putt putt golf with the District

Elder Dyer - they were Bros in the Pre-Earth Life!

Elder Dyer - he is one of the Chinese-speaking Elders.

Oh, so the sister missionaries played too!

Loving sunny southern California!