Happy Belated Birthday to Stuart and Chad!

Hey everyone!

 

So this past week has been a huge adventure! Seriously just an adventure. So Sister Folsom and I did 3 exchanges with other sisters and they were all good, I love getting to know the different Sisters. We had different experiences with all of them. The first one, we had the opportunity to go do service which cancelled on us, but we went around to different members and asked if they had service they all told us that they didn't have service for us, but the last member we came out of we met their neighbor and helped him clean his yard, and he referred us to a little old lady who we went and asked and she did need service it was awesome! It was the simplest thing ever. It was taking her recycling out to her bin but she is so frail and not able to get around very much at that it was a struggle for her. We had a great conversation with her and she was so appreciative of it. We will go back and see if she needs more help this week, she said she was moving soon though so we may miss her. But It was just the coolest feeling to do service for her. She said it was an answer to her prayers. The next exchange it was 8 at night and we met this lady who was unpacking her car, and we started talking with her. She expressed her desire to just change her life. It was just an awesome experience. I love talking with people and when they feel the spirit their hearts just soften and it opens up doors. The last exchange had the funnest experiences. Lots of spiritual experiences, but I am going to share with you the funniest experiences we had that day. So we were walking to a less active members house and we contacted these people who really didn't want to talk with us, but they did give us a referral. So we went and knocked on the door. There were two lady's who were inside and they invited us in saying how they were just talking about God and their love and need for Him in their life, how they need help overcoming their addictions. Both alcoholics. So they are just talking our ears off, and then the one lady finally asked where our church was at and we start doing some how to begin teaching, all about how our message can help them, testifying that this will help to change their life for the better, that they can overcome their personal challenges. Well, the lady then had it click in her head that we were Mormons. HAhahaha the lady went as cold as ice and said "you can leave now." It was so crazy! It was very interesting. So we basically left. We were able to leave a prayer with them though. That was nice of them. The husband did say that we could come back, but he only spake Spanish. We are referring them to the Spanish Elders. :)

Next funny story: We went to the church for just a few minutes. I am always with Sister Folsom so I completely forgot that there was an alarm after you use the code you have to turn off. So what happens??? I enter the church and the alarm is beeping I was like, Oh yeah I need to turn this off...I don't have the code...what is it...tried a few different codes...didn't work...so what happens the alarm bell on the outside of the church goes off!!!! IT was ridiculous so we had to call the bishopric and get the code to turn it off and luckily they gave it to us and no one went to jail. Thankfully!!!! It was ridiculous! The sister I was with was just like "Well, this is a new experience"Hahah, I loved the tactical way she said that too. It was funny. Well this is long enough I hope you enjoy it! Love you all!

 

Sister Pendleton

Mother's Day!

ello everyone!

 

SO I wasn't able to talk with everyone as individually as I would have liked. 45 minutes is not enought but just know everyone that I love you  very dearly and wish that I could have, but what is really nice is that I am able to email and write letters and all of that fun stuff!

 

So pretty much last week was an interesting week. Kinda really sad actually. We went and did service for a gentleman that I really enjoyed last time I was here in this area and walked away from it determined that we wouldn't go back. The spirit there is just evil. Never more apparent than that day. He isn't coming closer to Christ and Satan is using him as a distraction from our work. Then another family that was active last time I was here four months ago are now not active and have told us to never come back again. He was surprised to see me and his heart was softened just a little but then was still don't ever come back. He said that they are "okay" They don't need us worrying about them. It broke our hearts. It is such a sad thing. Their actions now isn't just effecting them but our ward and more importantly their small children. I think that is the hardest part for me is that if they don't realize the need for the gospel in their childrens lives that they will miss out on being with them for eternity! No offense, no inconvienence, pain, or sacrifice is too great to let your family escape your grasp for eternity. Sure it is hard to swallow pride, and forgive but not near as hard as not having your family for the rest of your exisitance! Please let go of offense or anything else. It isn't worth it!

 

Miracle: We were able to find a specific purpose to this area. Why we are in this companionship at this time in this area. WE are excited to find less active families to come back to our ward. It is such a small ward but has many members in the area. With God's guidance we will be so successful. It is Sister Folsom's last full transfer on her mission. She will go home the 1st of July. So we are making the most of it!

 

What's your miracle of the week?

 

Sister Pendleton

Haha Pictures :)

Transfers are Here!

Well, here we go moving again! This transfer I am leaving the Cerritos area. It is slightly sad. I am going to miss so many people. I have really come to love these people and am sad, but am excited that I will be in the same country as them all and that California is so close. Sister Tumurbaatar is staying here and she is slightly nervous but she is going to do awesome! 

I am going back to Whittier. To the exact same ward as I was in before! With the same exact companion! This was so unexpected that I am still in shock. But I am a-okay with it all! Got to go figure out what I didn't do...it will be an adventure! 

So my birthday was a birthday in the mission field. I was able to go to lunch with a member whom I love, and then I was able to go  to a Less active and well it really was a normal missionary day since well I am a missionary :) But here are some fun pictures from my birthday! 

Biggest miracle of the week was finding a new person to teach. He has always heard bad things about the church but hasn't ever believed them and has been praying about finding out more about the church. Well he now has the opportunity to learn more. We helped him recognize the Holy Spirit and I have decided that that is my most favorite thing in the world! Helping people recognize God's love for them. It always is so rewarding. When things just click and they become so happy when they feel the spirit. It really is like a piece of Heaven here on earth. well Mom I look forward to talking with you and the family this mothers day. 

Love you all

Sister Pendleton

You have Cows???

Wow! Pretty much I am so impressed that you got cows!!! So did I ever tell you my dream about milking a cow? I know it is similar to a goat but I really want to milk a cow. Will you keep her for the next year so that way I can come home and milk a cow???

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Mom I would love some music that are gospel, such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Mens voices, or Mercy River, or David Archaletta (how ever you spell his name) and really anything like that.

This past week we did mormon helping hands! Did any of you do that??? It was fun we did hygiene kits for the homeless. The rest of the ward built a ramp for someone on their house and did something else on the other house. I never heard of Mormon helping hands days when I was in Utah, so was I just out of the loop? 

Transfers are next week and my comp is a little scared about what is going to happen. Her language is coming along but oh boy, she wasn't feeling the best about speaking English when we went and met with a less active who is a little brash and honest up front like. Well, she got done talking and the less active looked at her and said "I couldn't understand a word of what you said" She was so surprised and frankly so was I, and I just thought well there is insult to injury right there. But fortunately we have awesome members who helped her feel much better about life! I am interested to know what will happen this upcoming transfer. I just feel like a lot of changes will be coming...and we are only getting 4 new sisters. One is from Haiti and the other 3 are Americans. It will be interesting. It was so funny though cause we made Mongolian food for a member and it didn't come out like it was suppose to and Sister T was so ashamed. You know how you try to tell people that the food is okay even when it isn't??? Well, the member took a bite and his face just gave it all away and I couldn't help but keep laughing the rest of the day because it was the funniest facial expression. And honestly the food wasn't bad at all. It just needed salt and ketchup to make it edible! Just kidding, it really was edible. She had made better before though. Part of the reason was that it was bulk instead of feeding just the two of us. But she learned the word persecute and she kept telling me that I was persecuting her. It was fun.  I like her a lot. 

Miracle for the week was that we were able to help one of our agnostic members recognize the spirit. It was amazing! The spirit was so strong and I just thank Our Father in Heaven for the tender mercies that he gives us on a daily basis! 

What miracles did you see this week?

Love you all!

Sister Pendleton

Easter

Hey Everyone,

So yesterday I kinda forgot that Easter back home consisted of more than going to church. Until a member brought us Easter baskets and then I remembered. Not for long though. It is funny that I forgot though seeing as that has been a huge tradition in our family for so long. Ah, well, it was nice because we were able to share an Easter based message with 3 different families who we came in contact with. I don't feel that I used Easter to it's fullest while proselyting.

We are so blessed out here. We had zone conference on Saturday. They focused on trying to get us to say more doctrine and cut out the "fluff". This is when I realize that I talk a lot, and most of the things I have to say are fluff. Haha, so as I practice this I will basically be learning how to stop talking. We also learned about how important the Book of Mormon is. It is always strengthening my testimony when we talk about the Book of Mormon. I love it. Sister T and I always try to find answers through praying over it and then just opening the book. Seriously, it has worked every time. It is amazing!

Well I have continued to study the Plan of Salvation and how Christ is Risen. What it means to me. I am coming to understand so much more about God's purpose for us, and what I can do to help Him. I would encourage everyone to study that more. It definitely has brought me more peace as I have studied it. 

I now can sing Happy Birthday in Samoan, French, Mongolian, and English. By the time I get back I will be quite a linguistic person! JK.

Love you all

Sister Pendleton

Sisters' P-day