WEEK 36: SLURPEES AND BURROS

We didn't receive a letter this week, but we did receive a ton of pictures with brief explanations.

With regards to the Lord's work, he did email his mom and say that everything is going great and that this was a really great week.  He has a baptism scheduled for this Sunday (July 17th) as well as baptisms scheduled for July 30th and July 31st so we will send pictures of those later.

Enjoy the pictures!!!



Taking advantage of the free slurpess at 7-11 on 7/11

Exchanges

Exchanges

Hostage Prank - I wonder who's idea this was.  Probably
the Elder who isn't tied up maybe?!

Hostage Prank

Elder Pennington bit his tongue

OUCH!  That's a big chunk of tongue missing!

Bishop Garcia was a bishop in the stake where Elder
Pennington served who liked to come out and
play basketball with the missionaries.

Bishop Garcia - he stopped by our house in Memphis on his
move to Atlanta and brought us a box of California
T-shirts from our missionary

POD2016 at the view



Elder Westenskow - one of his last trips to the
View before he goes home



The View of Moreno Valley

Hello Burro.  Are you a nice burro?



Look at me mom! I'm standing by a burro!



I'm so strong like a burro.



Take a picture of me walking by my pet burro



Yep, just me and my burro



Apparently, burros just run wild in the neighborhoods
in Moreno Valley.  "Hey, the Mormon missionaries
are in the neighborhood again playing with the burros!"

Elder Gulbranson picked out his favorite at the Petting Zoo

WEEK 35: MY GREENIE HAS GONE HOME TO HEAL

POD2016 - Gulbranson, Westenskow, Pennington

Denny's

So the past week has been an unsuccessful, uneventful week up until Friday morning.  Sadly I had to say goodbye to my greenie, because he broke his collarbone, but we got to say hello to the POD2016.  I am with Elder Westenskow and Gulbranson.

 

 

 

We are working hard, and so far it has been great.  On the fourth

of July, we did a lot of shopping, our mini fridges are full! Then we did the usual laundry, and then we went to the church for our zone activities where we played trash ball and basketball, and then watched some fireworks from our apartment!

 



Matching outfits - Team Unity!

It has been really good the past few days.  We had a baptism for the Hidden Springs ward that I am also in now and our investigator Patricia Cox came, she felt the spirit super strong, and she is going to be baptized July 30th! From being inside, I have had alot of time to reflect and study.  Listened to a ton of talks, and practiced the uke a ton. Also, cleaned our apartment and made it spotless hahaha dad would be very proud. Well hopefully I'll be able to check up on more, love you all and hope everyone had a great fourth!

 



Dinner with POD 2016

Love,
Elder Pennington

WEEK 34: MY GREENIE HAS ARRIVED

Last days with Elder Smith

So the past couple of weeks have been pretty good.  Sad to see Elder Smith go, but very excited to take over the area and for the opportunity to train a new missionary.






Elder Larson

So Monday I hung out with another missionary who is training, Elder Larson.  He's awesome.  I love that guy.

Elder Pennington & Elder Cousineau

Elder Cousineau was wiped out!

 

So we got our boys Tuesday and my new companion.


Elder Cousineau fell asleep in MY chair
while studying. Hahaha!

His name is Elder Cousineau, and he is from Wisconsin.  On Friday, we were riding our bikes from an appointment, and I hear a yell.  I turn around and Elder Cousineau had crashed his bike and landed on his shoulder.  Four hours later in the urgent care, and he has a broken collar bone.  He has to go to the ortho surgeon, but until then, we have to stay in the apartment, and he has to stay in bed.  The latest they will call is Wednesday so if you don't get an email, it's because we can't leave the apartment.  If the healing process takes longer than 10 days, he has to go home to heal.  So there goes my training experience.  Anyways, just keep my comp in your prayers.

Love,
Elder Pennington



Pennington, Cousineau & Westenskow

Elder Pennington & Elder Haggler

Elder Haggler

Elder Pennington & Elder Sy



WEEK 33: FISHING FOR MEN AND FISH THIS WEEK!

So we heard from Elder Pennington, but he still hasn't received his new "greenie" companion to train.  He will be arriving on Tuesday and so we should know more about that by next week.

We received quite a few pictures to share with you this week though which is always great:

Elder Pennington getting to do what he loves on a
Preparation Day - catching a big one it appears!

Reel it in Elder Pennington!

Fishing buddies

Elder Smith is going to be a daddy! Weird, but fun mission
tradition. A trainer becomes a Dad when the person he has
been training gets a new missionary to train.

More of the same for Elder Smith

Elder Smith and Elder Pennington had a car for 3 days.
They were very excited to be off their bikes for a few days.

Elder B burning a shirt to celebrate his 1 year mark.

Leave it up to Elder Pennington to fine the intersection of the
two streets - Elder & Cool.

Elder Cool intersection with Elder Pennington's name tag.

Found this little guy while out proselyting. Yikes!

Go home snake and don't come back.

WEEK 32.5: SPECIAL NEWS FROM NATHAN'S MISSION PRESIDENT

Jon was sitting in church today and a notification popped up on his phone that an email was just sent from Elder Pennington's mission president.  Those emails are few and far between.  The first one we ever received was to notify us that all missionaries were safe and accounted for immediately following the shooting in San Bernardino, California.  The second one was just a couple of weeks ago and was to notify us that all missionaries were safe and accounted for following the recent earthquake in California.

Jon quickly opened the email and below is what he read:

19 June 2016

Jonathan and Lisa Pennington
1485 Siskin Drive

Cordova, TN 38016

USA

Dear Brother and Sister Pennington,

Elder Nathan Charles Pennington has been given the new assignment to serve as Trainer of a newly arrived missionary. He has received this assignment because of his dedication and unselfish service and because of the confidence the Lord has in him. He is a fine missionary.

The position of Trainer is considered the most important assignment in the mission, for it is the Trainer who establishes the foundation for his companion's success and the ultimate success of the mission. We appreciate his willingness to be an exemplary missionary.

We thank you for your continued support and prayers for your missionary and the work in the California Riverside Mission.

Sincerely,

John H. Mullen, President

California Riverside Mission

Jon was so excited to receive this news on Father's Day - what a great present to receive such a wonderful compliment about one of your children.  We are so proud of Elder Pennington and his dedication to the Lord's work.  We wish him well in this new responsibility he has been given and are confident that he will fulfill it well and have much success.

We can't wait to hear from him tomorrow and find out who his "Greenie" companion is and where he is from.  Stay tuned for all this... Jon will update his blog tomorrow.

WEEK 32: FILIPINO DINNER & A UFC FIGHT AFTER SERVICE

Lisa asked Nathan to send a picture of his
missionary tag in a creative way, and he sent
us this picture with a California sunset.

You may have been wondering in the Crossfit pictures why the name on the back of my shirt is PATI.  It's my Samoan last name.  It means.... Well, you can look it up.  :)  My number is "23" of course. 

Our week is going well.  Last Monday, the other set of Elders that live in the same apartment got a mini missionary for a week.  Elder Smith and I met them that night and dressed up as normal people and acted like investigators.  It was so funny.  Our names were Zach and Cody.  We lived a "Suite Life!"

Anyways, we met with Pat, and she is being baptized later this month - date TBD.  Also, we were with a team up, and we were stopping by refs, and it was about 9-ish so it was time to head back.  And we were with our Elder's Quorum President.  And he goes, "Let's ding dong ditch Guillermo's house who is a cop and the 2nd counselor in Bishopric."  So I went and knocked and rang the bell and then ran to the car.  We just sat parked and watched him look around for like 15 minutes.  It was hilarious.

But, yeah things are going really well.  We have transfer calls this Saturday so Elder Smith will probably be getting the boot. 

I bought a belt that has a ton of USA flags so I'm pumped for the 4th of July.  The belt was $5 - sweet deal!  I'm in love with my Nike pants.  They are so comfy.

Love,
Elder Pennington

This Filipino member of the church treated Nathan
& his companion to a Filipino dinner.

P.1. Grill for dinner.

One happy missionary about to chow down on
some Filipino food.

Elder Smith is hungry

 

Nathan order pancit and eggroll just like his
Papa always made him.  He said it was good,
But not as good as Papa's.

 

For service hours, they helped a recent convert of
the church put up this pool in his backyard.  Then
Elder Pennington and Elder Glathar had a UFC
fight using the pool as the ring.

Writing emails on P-Day.

Writing emails on P-Day.

 

WEEK 31: CROSSFIT FUN AND ANOTHER BAPTISM

The Zone doing Crossfit.

We didn't receive a letter to share from Nathan this week because today was a special Preparation Day (P-Day).  The mission president allows the missionaries in each zone to get together periodically to do cross fit together and so that took up most of their P-Day time today. 


I think they love each other and Cross fit!

He even let them design and get their own Crossfit shirts for their Zone.  How cool is that?!  Luckily he did have time to send us some pictures and as they say, a picture says a thousand words.  It looks like a great bonding experience and a good physical activity to break up the rigor of missionary work

Crossfit Zone doing Money Team.

for a few hours.

Check out our cool shirts.

We love our Zone Crossfit shirts.

Elder Pennington & Bro. Schulmann
on his baptism day.

The other exciting news he reported to us was that he was asked to go back to his first assigned area and be the one who baptized a man that had been investigating the church. In fact, he is the first person that Nathan taught when he was fresh on off the plane from the

Bro. Schulmann and the missionaries
that taught him.

Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah.  Nathan was so excited to be able to go back and see Brother Schullman again, and it was an honor to perform his baptism.  He sent pictures also of this special experience.  Enjoy!





Always have to do a Money Team picture...



Silly silly Nathan and his fashion glasses.

Everybody sporting glasses.

A little BBall on P-Day.

Nathan was excited to find a truck with TN plates.