Be Still My Soul

Tuesday morning I received "the phone call".  Not only did I find out that I was leaving La Serena, I found out that I was going to be training! I can definitely see a difference in myself and know that there is a lot about Kath that is "changing." I thought quite a bit about my life during my 7-hour bus ride from La Serena to Viña. I have always said how much I don´t like change but hi....look at my life....In the past five years, I´ve visited 5 different countries, been enrolled in 5 different colleges, lived in 6 different houses and my resume is 13 pages long because of the 18 jobs I´ve had in my life.....Throughout all these "changes", I´ve dealt with many different emotions (most of them difficult to control)....But right now, being in the mission, where every hour, day, week, month is filled with thousands of changes, the only emotion I feel is simply like I am floating down Lazy River at Cherry Hill, my eyes closed, the warm sun on my face with dark side of the moon soothing my summer afternoon. I´m just goin' with the flow and all is groovy.

This change is quite the experience. I am in Villa Alemana which is about an hour inland from Viña. I feel like I am in a different country compared to La Serena. Villa Alemana has a California neighborhood feel to it. It´s weird to be in a place that has "houses" and yards and grass and gardens. Honestly, it feels like America here...only everyone speaks Spanish. Clean, clear, easy to understand Spanish. It is such a blessing and I am here to testify that the gift of tongues is REAL. Heavenly Father knows what you need to know and when you need to know it. I am not evening kidding you, it´s as if I learned Spanish overnight. I am talking like Spanish was my first language AND my first night here.....guess what happened.......MY TONGUE STARTED TO ROLL!!! I am having no problems with rolling my tongue when I talk. I can´t consistently roll my tongue like a Mexican when he yells ARRRRRIBA pero, I`m not tripping over my words or stuttering my way through the lessons. It is absolutely incredible. I cry and feel so blessed when I think about the perfect timing of it all.

And in reality, it definitely was perfect timing for my situation. I have found myself in a TRIO!!! Wahoo! And it is quite the special experience for me. I am with Hermana Beu and Hermana Etchegaray. If you have seen the movie Adam before, Hermana Beu is the actor Adam to a T!!! (if you haven´t seen the movie, go rent it this weekend. Actually, I own it...so go look through all my movies and find it...It´s one of my favorites). She doesn´t have Aspergers, but she has Turrets. She is extremely intelligent (knows the lessons and does well with the Español) but has a nervous tic where when she is in a lesson or talking to other people, she hiccups really loud (it sounds like a sheep...don`t laugh....because it´s who she is and I love her tic) and the hiccup is followed with an extremely loud burp. She also has a stuttering problem and gets really confused when teaching the lessons. So I´ve been working with her on learning the lessons and being able to teach them really slow and simple.

This is Hermana Etchegaray first change in the mission so I´ve also been doing my best to teach her the lessons and simply how the mission works. She says she is from Argentina but I swear she is talking in Mandarin half the time. The Argentinian accent is so hard for me to understand... Hermana Beu was here before us, but doesn´t remember where anything is and has a really hard time with directions. Luckily, thanks to Daddy Scott, I have a great memory with directions and have been trying to find unique, creative ways to help Hermana Beu remember her way around. All in all, I feel like the parent of two and it´s totally awesome. I am constantly telling Hermana Beu how much I love her tic :) I have all the patience and love in the world for these two girls and know Heavenly Father is going to bless us.

As you know, in the mission when you are training, you are called "The Mom" and the person being trained is "The Daughter"...I made a joke to Hermana Beu the other day by saying "Lesbi-honest, we are the best mom´s in the world"...Either she never saw Pitch Perfect or has a pure, innocent mind because she didn´t find my lesbian joke too funny.... :/

Right now, we have two investigators with baptismal dates! Luckily, they were new when we got here so we were able to teach them from the start! We asked them to get baptized on Saturday and their fecha is for 16 Junio! Pray for them...Camila and Valeria. We are also teaching Camila English. She has an interview this week in English and if she passes, she gets to go to New Zealand! Wahoo. They are absolutely perfect. 

I love the ward. I love where I am. It really does feel like a totally different mission but the change is good. There are two things in my life that will never change and that is the love I have for my friends and family and 3 Nephi 24:6

"For I am the Lord, I change not..."

Love that. I love this gospel.

Thanks for the update! It sounds like things are normal at home. Mom and Dad, thank you SO much for your emails last week. They made for super great lessons with Ramon and Nibaldo...Continue to pray for them...I hope all went well with their family home evening. I have the best family in the world. I loved the updates! When do Jer and Tina find out about the baby?

Okay! I have to go asap.....LOVE YOU ALL! DYB!

Love,

Hermana Mama Pendleton

xoxo

Nibaldo got Baptized!

"Love your mother, yeah she´s a good one. 

She´ll build you armor, keep you warm as a hen. 

The stars may fall and the rains may pour, but I will love you evermore." 

-Cloud Cult

I´ve been on my mission for 4 months and 4 days....I swear I´ve only been here 2 weeks.

AAAh. This week. Holy crap. Dad, every week I realize more and more how tiring being the bishop can be. Thank you for your example.

This week was definitely a trial of my faith. It was good though--I need it. I swear, every single one of our appointments fell through. We had the hardest time contacting and I felt like everyday was full of walking and Spanish I couldn´t understand. On Tuesday, we had a lesson with Ramon about his baptism date, preparations, etc. After we had been talking for a good 20 minutes about everything, I realized we hadn´t given him any chance to talk or share how he was feeling. I asked him, "How has your experience been with the gospel so far?" He looked up at my and we just stared at each other for a good 20 seconds. He finally said, "Sincerely, Hermana Pendleton. I don´t feel anything when I read The Book of Mormon. I don´t have the same experiences as Nibaldo. I want to and that´s why I read and pray everyday. But sincerely, I feel nothing.....and I don´t want to get baptized anymore....."

GAHHHHH, NOOOOOOO! My heart was crushed. I wanted to help him more than ANYTHING. I felt like a parent with a troubled teenager. I tried many different ways to explain things he could to help him feel the spirit, but he was set that he didn´t want the gospel anymore. It broke my heart. As we helped Nibaldo throughout the week prepare for his baptism, Ramon would come down and say hello to us, but nothing more. Nibaldo said he wasn´t reading with him anymore and didn´t know what to do. I prayed and prayed and fasted and fasted. Things continued to go really well with Nibaldo, which is good. (Preparing for his baptism was CRAZY. It´s difficult to figure these things out without a trainer that's done this before.)  But in the end, I just had to put my faith in the Lord and his timing. I had a dream about Ramon on Saturday. I don´t remember much, but I remember he was happy with his family. Sunday morning, Nibaldo, Nicolas AND Ramon all showed up for church :)

Later that day, THEIR ENTIRE FAMILY CAME TO NIABLDO`S BAPTISM!!! Complete with food, drinks and treats. It was SO incredible. Best Feeling EVER.....jk.....the best feeling ever was when Nibaldo´s Dad thanked us for everything after the baptism and

ASKED US WHEN WE COULD COME AND TEACH HIM!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHH. Seriously. Wow. We are having a Family Home Evening in their house Wednesday night. You should have seen Nibaldo´s face when we told him that his dad wants us to teach him. It was perfect. I got to speak at the baptism about the gift of the Holy Ghost and it was all just really special.

I KNOW that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. We just have to trust him. Even though this week was tough, we pushed through it with all the faith in the world and whaddyaknow, Sunday was beautiful. I LOVE this gospel. I know that this church is true and I am so glad I have the opportunity to be "Nibaldo´s Missionary" :)

We still don`t know about changes this week. We will find out either tonight or tomorrow morning.

I got your package this week! Finally!! Music and chocolate :) Thank you so much, Mama. It was perfect. Becca, your letter was hilarious. I died laughing. and I died laughing at your fish joke that you said during family prayers. Hahahaha. You are 2 good 2 B true.

Mom, I LOVED your email this week. It was so happy and exactly what I needed to hear. I have the best family in the whole entire world. I think that it´ll be good for you to not be teaching and be home this fall, Mama. You and dad are so good at balancing out everything for the family. When is the last day of school? I am proud of all you for your sports, AP tests, smiles, happy spirits, everything.

I hope you all have the best week ever! I´ll be letting you know about changes next week! Pray that I get to spend (at least) one more change here in paradise! 

All my love,

KATH

And I miss you, even when you're around...

Our District in La Serena
 

Mom, 

I think we are connected. This morning during personal study, I read from D&C 11 and I loved how in verse 9 it says, "Say nothing but repentance unto this generation. Keep my commandments, and assist to bring forth my work, according to my commandments, and you shall be blessed". I loved this scripture because it´s the gospel in a nutshell. The plan is simple but at times, the things that we need to accomplish can be very difficult.

 

I had a friend write me in the MTC and she asked, "Why does God let such terrible things happen in this life? Especially to people who don´t deserve to go through these hard things?" Everyday I am able to find another answer to this question. It´s all part of the plan. We all must go through hard things in this life...After reading in the D&C, I read from 1 Nephi 16 when Nephi breaks his bow...I LOVE THE BOOK OF 1 NEPHI... AND I LOVE NEPHI. His faith and courage never cease to amaze me. But anyway, I can´t remember the specific number, but I am pretty sure the word "humble" is used about 4 times in this particular chapter. The wicked take the truth to be hard, but when they humble themselves, they can see the truth. Laman and Lemuel murmur, but receive forgiveness when they humble themsleves. Nephi humbles himself when he is given yet another difficult task to accomplish. 

 

In your email, Mama, you said, "I have learned that humility is essential to acquiring this knowledge."   I loved that you shared that with me and I, too, am learning that, without humility, there is no way I could do this mission, learn this language, or ever face difficult challenges without humility, faith and obedience. THAT is how we make it through those hard times when we find ourselves asking the question, "Why does God give us trials and challenges?"

 

Okay, that is my spiritual thought for the day. Thank you so much for your short emails family :) Yesterday was absolutely incredible! I loved every second of it and wish I could see your beautiful faces more often. It was so weird....five minutes after we hung up, our skype conversation felt like a dream...like it never happened. The mission is weird, I tell ya. I wish I could have spent time with each of you individually...I hope all of you know that I love and care about you dearly. I am so grateful to have such an amazing family with loves and cares about me. Mom and Dad, THANK YOU for all that you have done for me and continue to do. Your example is beyond amazing and I hope to be as incredible as you two are someday when I have my own kids.

 

Hahaha. I keep laughing to myself every time I think about how hard it was for me to talk in English. My head hurt so bad after we hung up. It was hard to go back to talking in Español with Hermana Calderon. I've got to get back at it though, because this week we will be really focusing on Nibaldo and trying to get him ready for baptism! I can´t believe this is the last week of my second transfer. Time is flyyying. We need to find new investigators ASAP and really work hard on teaching the family of Nibaldo. 

 

Nibaldo and me after he passed his baptism interview!!
WAHOO, HAND HUGS!

 

It was so fun to see Grandma Pendleton, Uncle Bob, Nanny, Jerry and my new nephew. ;)

Becca, I am SO PROUD OF YOU FOR MAKING DANCE COMPANY AND DOING WELL ON YOUR AP TESTS!!! Tay Tay, I truly have missed your smile. Cam, THANK YOU for making me laugh. Hahaha. I miss your sense of humor and just laughing with you. Jer, you advice was perfect. I wish I could have spent an hour talking about your mission with you.  Tina, we didn´t get to talk much but you looked so beautiful. Keep being healthy for you and the baybay!!

 

Love you all!

 



Skyping with the family on Mother's Day!

 

Jerry, I forgot to tell you...
but last week we had a pool tournament for P-day. 

I totally killed it thanks to you and your teaching skillz.

 

Love and Some Verses...

Holy Family,

I love you so much. I am so happy to hear that dad's surgery was successful and he now has perfect eyes. Cam!!! I loved hearing about your rockets (and you are so freaking cute in the picture mom sent me. I have the hottest little brother evah - heartbreaker.) I remember when Daddy Scott used to take Jer and I to launch of rockets after church. Great memories. Always a good time. Becca, you are 100% in my prayers for your AP Tests. While I was praying for you and your AP tests the other night, I started laughing because I thought about the time I was helping you study for one of your tests. I was trying to figure out ways to help you memorize your vocabulary words and I couldn't pronounce ANY of the words right. Hahahaha. Good times. You are way smarter than me. DON'T STRESS. It's just a test. It's just a piece of paper. Do your best and carry on with life. TAY TAY. How we doin, little lady? I am always thinking about you and your sweet smile. Did you get my letter? JEREMY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am happy to hear my package got to you in time. I hope you have a beautiful day. Kiss Tina's tummy for me.

 

I was stoked to hear that Cub and Ashtyn came to visit! They are sweethearts. Tomorrow is Caleb's birthday....I am going to attach a picture of me with a birthday sign for Caleb, Gentrie, Jeremy, Sarah Hoer and Mckenna Peck...and Ali Malan.  Because I forgot her birthday in April :/ I have forgotten so many people's birthdays it's not even funny. You know me and how I love to celebrate and make birthday's special. It's difficult for me to not be able to make people feel special on their birthday's....and I feel even worse when I FORGET about birthday's. So...Forgive me everyone. I love you no matter what age you are.

This email is going to be a shorty because we have a zone activity in just a bit. I get to talk to you all in less than a week so I'll be able to give you the FULL update then.

 

We spent a lot of time with the obispo (bishop) this week. He is such a freaking stud. He has been the bishop for Y-E-A-R-S because he does such a great job with the members and are ALWAYS wanting to work closely with the missionaries. We had a couple amazing lessons with him and our investigators and on Saturday, we had a really fun Noche de Hogar (FHE) in his house with Nibaldo, Ramon and Nicolas. We watched a movie on the Salt Lake Temple and Hernmana Calderon taught us all how to make a whole bunch of different foods from Columbia. Working with the bishop lots makes me realize how much you do for our family dad. It's not easy being the bishop, but you do a great job at balancing being a dad, a bishop and supporting the family with work. THANK YOU! I love you.

We are teaching a couple, Mario and Elsa, and they are simply amazing. Elsa doesn't understand anything we teach and doesn't want to stop drinking coffee...so she simply listens and gives us chocolate. They have two sons, Fernando (18) and Jonathan (20) who aren't interested in the church but we thoroughly enjoy their friendship. They are amazing boys and are so respectful to their parents. Yesterday, Mario came to church for the first time AND bore his testimony!!! Hahah, It was incredible...The only thing keeping him from baptism is, he's not married to Elsa :/ 

WHY ARE NONE OF OUR INVESTIGATORS MARRIED!?

Bahhh, it's so frustrating!!! So, we are working on that.

 

Other than that, this week was full of emotion, bad lessons, good lessons, lots of walking and trying to learn this freaking language. I feel like I am progressing. Little by little.

 

Hermana Calderon is amazing. I love her and we are becoming good friends. We definitely have our differences but we are good at communicating. 

 

Thank you for your love and support! I am looking forward to Sunday! This church is true! I love the Book of Mormon. I want Nephi to be single in the next life.

 

All my love,
Hermana Pendleton

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord God Giveth Light Unto Their Understanding

I get up, and nothing gets me down. 

 You've got it tough, I've seen the toughest soul around....JUMP‏!

- Eddie Van Halen

Best of Van Halen is playing in the internet cafe today. WAHOOO! Mom, ALWAYS, forever and ever, Van Halen will remind me of you!

This week was incredible. Except Wednesday. I don´t know why, but every freaking week Wednesdays are so bloody hard for me. Which sucks because Wednesdays have always been my favorite day of the week. We had Interviews with the President on Friday. That was awesome. He helped me a lot and was able to give me a blessing. He is one strict dude but he knows what he´s doing. 

Mom! I am stoked about your foot and am jealous you get to run again. If you ever have a bad day, just think of your daughter. I get to run for a good 20 minutes around my house :/  It is suuuuper lame and I miss running more than anything. Pracila bailed on us and doesn´t run with us anymore. Hermana Calderon hates running so she just stands there and watches me every morning. It´s always a bit awkward but I refuse to not run. Even if I only get to run in circles for 20 minutes, I´ll take it.

This last week, I ran out of shampoo and had to buy a small bottle at a ghetto store here in La Serena. The Walmart of Chile, Lider, is in Central-about a half hour bus ride from our house. The only kind of shampoo they had in the ghetto store was the same scent I had when I was in Ghana. As you all know, I definitely have a head FULL of hair and always wake up with it tangled in my face. Well, every morning this week, when I would wake up, I thought I was in Ghana because of the scent of my hair.

I´ve always found our senses incredibly interesting and how quick our bodies are to responding to memory recall. It´s immediate. It got me thinking more about how our physical senses effect our spiritual senses.

Later this week, I recieved an incredible letter from Adam´s sister, Lexie West. She shared 2 Nephi 2-3. In her letter she says, "Specifically in verse 3: 'He giveth light unto the understanding'...our capability to see with our eyes would do us ZERO use if there were´t light...without sound waves, no hearing, etc...Chist is called The Light. Without his light, there is no way we could ever spiritually see."

I was stoked when I read that because this topic had already been on my mind with the scent of the shampoo. So, I decided to study more about it...Our spirits are the likeness of our physically bodies.  I thought about what Nephi said to the Spirit of the Lord after he saw the vision of the Tree of Life..."And I said unto him: To know the interpretation thereof-for I spake unto him as a man speaketh: for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another."

This was so cool to me that the spirit and the body are so similar. The spirit is matter just like our physical bodies...only spirit matter is more refined and pure than mortal element. As it says in D&C 131:7-8, "There is no such thing as immaterial matter.  All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; we cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is matter."  

HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Right after I studied all of this, we had a lesson with Nibaldo. I decided to share the things that I had learned and his response was, "I understand! I have a physical body to see, touch, hear, etc. But it´s my spiritual body that feels the spirit when I read and pray." Haha. I cried. The spirit was so strong. We had a beautiful lesson on the Holy Ghost. 

I made Nibaldo a countdown until his baptizm. Each link has a scripture on it. 

The next day, we had our district leaders come to our lesson with Nibaldo and we talked more about baptism, the answers to our prayers, etc. He decided he would go and ask his father one more time if he could be baptized because he was now aware that he had received an answer to his prayer....We all went with him and his dad said YES!!!! Nibaldo is getting baptized on May 19! His dad stayed and talked with us for a good 20 minutes and is now interested in the gospel. We are still teaching Ramon and their 2 younger brothers. It truly is a miracle because for weeks now Nibaldo has been saying, "There is NO WAY my dad will say yes or ever listen to the missionaries!" .....yeah, yeah. Okay Nibaldo. There was no way your dad would ever listen to the missionaries until KATHERINE PENDLETON CAME TO LA SERENA!!!!! I´m going to get his dad baptized.....just you wait.

All of this was a testimony to me that we literally are children of a loving Heavenly Father - having been born as a spirit to Heavenly Parents previous to being born to mortal parents.  We all have an individual plan. We all have physical bodies and senses to help our spiritual bodies grow and learn. As we strengthen our spiritual bodies, we become closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This plan is simple and beautiful. I love that. Keep the commandments, strengthen your testimony and the Lord will bless you.

Again, I refer to 2 Nephi 31:3..."For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God giveth LIGHT unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding."

My Spanish is not perfect...but I know that as I bear my testimony, the Lord will "speak unto men according to their language, unto their understanding." They will be able to SENSE the spirit of the Holy Ghost and have a desire to come unto Christ.

You are all wonderful. I can´t tell you enough how much I love being a missionary! This church is true! Have another busy, crazy week! Listen to all the music in the world for me...because I miss it like crazy. I can´t wait to get your package mother so that I can finally have an ipod. 

TWO WEEKS UNTIL I GET TO SEE YOUR BEAUTIFUL FACES ON SKYPE! 

HUGS....have a great semana (week)

Love, Hermana Kath

P.S. There is no spell check...so forgive my errors. The Lord does, so should you. : )

The first and last photos in this post are of Hermana Calderon and Katie in Central

Feelings

"Feelings are not right or wrong; they just are. 

It´s what we do with them that´s right or wrong."

For those of you who have ever been munched in a gnarly wave before--not knowing which way is up, which way is down, what your name is, finally accepting that this is your death, only to find the surface with seconds to spare--you understand how I felt this week.

And for those of you who have ever been munched in a gnarly wave--barely made it out alive, only to turn and find ANOTHER gigantic wave headed right for you--you understand how I feel as I look at this coming week.

Hermana Calderon and I only have each other, we don´t speak the same language, and (I don´t know if I will use this word, but I want to) we were "blessed" with 6 new investigators this week. Meaning we are now trying to juggle 13 investigators, 3 with baptismal dates, 3 couples that need to get married before we can set a baptismal date, and 3 who are trying to quit smoking and drinking.  AAHHHHHH. On Saturday, we were literally RUNNING to all of our appointments. I feel so blessed that the Lord is giving us these amazing people to teach but I´d more grateful if he could give us 8 days...

I feel bad for our recent converts and less active members. It´s very difficult trying to find time for everyone but we are doing the best we can with what we´ve got!

Nibaldo and Ramon were able to talk to their dad about baptism. He gave them another definite no. Nibaldo called us, upset and in tears, asking what he could do. While he was expressing his feelings, we ran out of minutes on our phone! We bailed on one of our appointments, sprinted to his house, only to find his dad out front with Nibaldo. I felt super calm and knew that we were supposed to come to his house so that we could talk to his dad. Nibaldo and Ramon were baptized Catholic so their dad thinks it´s a sin to be baptized twice. We had an extremely long (debate) conversation about church and the importance of baptism. Finally, he said, that he wanted to learn more and that if Nibaldo and Ramon continue to progress, he will let them get baptized. Well, they are ready, so I guess for now we continue teaching them and their dad see them reading, praying and going to church....It truly is a blessing because after our conversation, we are now teaching not only Nibaldo and Ramon, but their two younger brothers as well! ALL FOUR CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!

Nibaldo, Hermana Pendleton and Ramon "fighting".

I wish I had time to write about all of our investigators but I don´t....Just know we are working our hardest to help everyone progress...

As for Kathy Kath, well, this week was oober hard. But I can´t express how grateful I am, at the end of the week, for the trials I am facing here on my mission.

Mother, in your email last week you said,

"Feelings are not right or wrong; they just are. 
It´s what we do with them that´s right or wrong."

That phrase stuck with me every day and I know it´s what got me through the week.

Satan was a real butthead this week and worked hard on this girl. Just because I am a missionary and am here to teach and help others gain a testimony, it doesn´t mean that I won´t face trials or need to continue strengthening my testimony. On Wednesday night, I thought I was going to lose it. I was so stressed, the language wasn´t coming and I didn´t know where to start for the following day. As I was flipping through my scripture journal, I came across a quote by Elder Bednar that I heard in the MTC.

"When you think you can´t, you´re right. 
But in the strength of the Lord, you can."
(Mosiah 4:27) 

Between your quote, Mama, Elder Bednar´s quote and this scripture, I was able to regain my focus and "have the courage to say, I´ll try again tomorrow." (Pres. Monson).

 

 

Then again, on Saturday night, I started to lose my faith again.  It was a long, exhausting day, filled with many investigators who had many needs. Again, I found myself asking Heavenly Father to bring me comfort. Immediately after, I remembered a quote that Ry Guy shared with me that I try to read quite often.  I knew I had to read it one more time to regain my faith for the day.

"Just when everything seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion, which polish you for everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where he wants you to be, requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain."  

-Elder Richard G. Scott

I am definitely stretching and growing - and definitely feeling discomfort and pain at times - but I am grateful for it.

I know this church is true. I love The Book of Mormon. I have all the faith in the world right now that these investigators are capable of doing anything they need to in order to be baptized. Thank you for your prayers and support! They are always much needed and always appreciated.

Tay, you look BEAUTIFUL in your prom photo!!! Holy Crap, HAWT MAMA! I´m sure all the boys were droolin´over you.

Becca, good luck on your AP tests.

Cam, I love your cheeks. 

Dad....Thank you for your email as always!! I wish I had all the time in the world to fully reply to everything you all send me!!  Know I love you dearly.

Mama....Keep up the good work at being the best mom in the world! Our family is so blessed. I know it´s hard at times, but remember that your strength, testimony and example is what keeps this girl going! I have faith in you and love you more than you know! THREE WEEKS UNTIL I GET TO GIVE YOU AN AIR HUG ON SKYPE!!!

You are beautiful people. Kiss your cheeks twice from me.

Love,
Hermana Pendleton

La Serena sunset.

6 WEEKS AND TRAINING!

I always knew God had a sense of humor....

but I didn't think he was this funny.

In Zone Conference a couple weeks ago, President Kahnlein pulled me aside and asked me how things were going in La Serena. Of course, I wanted to respond by saying, "My companion is doing a great job in La Serena, but I am doing an even better job of following her everywhere she goes and making a fool out of myself every time I talk."

Instead I simply said, "President, things in La Serena are absolutely wonderful!" 

 He told me that I would be staying in La Serena and that I needed to make sure I knew the area really well. 
He then asked me, "Hermana, I know you have a lot of faith and work hard.....So just remember, I have lots of faith in you for the next change. Prepare yourself."  

Well, now I am TRAINING!  The Bros always told me I would shart my pants in the mission from the food....but that comment got me way before any burrito. 

[As Hermana Pendleton's mother, let me apologize right here and now for the crude comment my daughter just made.  : / Although, it is pretty funny, if I do say so myself.]

I am now 3 for 3 on amazing companions! My companion, Hermana Calderon, entered the MTC in March and has been here, in Chile, the same amount of time as I have. God bless her first Trainer´s heart, because she didn´t teach my companion ANYTHING. Hermana Calderon is from Columbia, speaks absolutely no English, wears a 1980´s retainer so you literally can´t understand ANYTHING she says and knows nothing about the carpeta (the area book/investigators history/etc.) 

To say the least, this has been one of the funniest weeks of my life. I am stoked for this opportunity to put ALL my faith in The Lord. Seriously, I´ve never had so much faith in my life....I asked you to pray for me before; now is the time to beg!

Even with our language barrier, we have become the best of friends in the last couple of days. She has a heart of gold. It´s impossible not to love this girl. She weighs 85 pounds and is about the same height as Tay Tay. I am pretty sure the only reason people are letting us in their homes is because they feel so bad for us. 

Wouldn´t you let a couple of girls into your home, one who looks like she´s 12 and a gringa who speaks horrible Español, and let them talk to you about Jesucristo? I know I sure would, out of pure pity. In a sense, I think our current situation is a total blessing. We make people smile and simply do our best to teach the lessons.

It has been good for me and my Español. I talked to one of the Assistants on the phone this morning and when I hung up, I realized that was the first time I´d spoken any English in the last couple of days. That was kind of a cool feeling. I can definitely see progress in the language and know this is what I need. 

The Zone Leaders called last night and told me they were proud of me for staying so strong. They said, in a meeting last week with the President and Zone Leaders, President Kahnlein specifically brought up Hermana Calderon and I and how he thinks our companionship is going to be very successful because of our faith and hard work in La Serena....That´s always gotta make you feel good about yourself :)  

Every time I stop and think about my situation, or start to feel bad for all the things that I don´t know. Then, I realize how absolutely blessed I am that Heavenly Father has this much trust in me....and instead of crying, I laugh. I have to laugh because as of right now, I have no time to feel bad for myself. And that is something I am happy to learn. 

I am so happy that I get to be in La Serena because of the ward. I bore my testimony in church yesterday.  As I stood up there and looked at everyone, I felt the same way that I did at my farewell. I wanted to go around and hug every single person and tell them how much I love them. They have been so good at helping me feel comfortable, having patience with my Español and are always willing to open their house to our investigators. Brillador Ward is the best! I could stay here for the next 15 months.

TOMORROW I HAVE BEEN ON MY MISSION FOR 3 MONTHS!

Where does the time go??

I am still sick (with stomach issues). I have never gotten better since the MTC. Then, this week, I had the worst cough of my life. I had to get an inhaler because my cough was so bad that I couldn't breath afterward. My companion and I hadn´t slept in almost 4 days because I would just cough and cough and cough all night. Kill me. My poor companion hates me. I know it.

Ramon and Nibaldo´s dad returns from work on Thursday. We are going to talk him into letting those two get baptized...AND THEN we are going to baptize HIM. Those boys say that is impossible...but I can´t wait to show them up. We have taught them everything so now we are meeting with them 3 times a week to read The  Book of Mormon with them and keep their spirits high!

We were finally able to teach Natali and Sebastian TOGETHER on Friday. It was the first lesson we had with Sebastian because he is always at work or school. We taught Lesson 1, The Restoration, and the whole time we were all thinking he was not into any of it. He showed no emotion and wasn´t asking any questions. When we finished we asked him if he had any questions, doubts, concerns....anything......he responded, 

"Don´t Mormons have family home evening once a week? I want to have a family home evening."

:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) hi. 

It was amazing! We then planned to have a big family home evening on Saturday night and of course, welcome to Chile, they weren´t at their house. We passed by yesterday to get mad at them and they apologized and asked to reschedule for tonight (Monday). So pray for our FHE with them. 

We have found a couple other amazing peoples this week that we´ve only taught once or twice; but we have lots of cita´s this week. This week is going to be lots and lots of hard work, finding and contacting. I know Hermana Calderon and I are going to rock it up here in La Serena this cambio. 

Can I just say how excited I am TO BE AN AUNT!?!  Seriously. In every prayer, I never forget to pray for my nephew! (I received personal revelation that it´s going to be a boy - hehe)....He will be the perfect age when I get home...8 months, right? So perfect!

Okay. I love you all.

Thanks for your support. Be Good. Be Happy. And remember how much this girl loves all of you!

xoxoxoxoxox  AUNT KATHY  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo