Daniel Joseph Pentimone II - Our Danny Boy & Our Firstborn

Daniel Joseph II, or Danny as we called him, was a cute little guy. He was a fun baby with a lot of smiles. He was also rather strong-willed. We liked to make up songs and sing to him. Many of those songs, we still remember and sing occasionally. As Danny grew, he proved to be very diligent and also very creative.  When he set his mind to do something, he would always do it. When he was about 10 years old, the pastor mentioned how it would only take about 72 hours to read/listen to the entire Bible. Danny made that his goal. In about a three week period of time, he read/listened to the entire Bible! What a delight that was. Somewhere in his teen years, Danny wanted to be called Daniel. Also during his teenage years, Daniel made a profession of faith. I had the privilege of baptizing him in a pool at a local hotel.

Daniel was diligent in his school and graduated high school at 16 years old. He said he wanted to be a missionary, and we encouraged him to learn a skill that might be of help to assist him along the way. He chose nursing. When he graduated nursing school with his AA, he wanted to work in the Emergency Room. One of his teachers in Nursing School said he would be the most talented person in the unemployment line since hospitals don't generally hire 20-year-olds in the ER. Daniel proved them wrong! He was hired in the ER and has been there ever since! Daniel went on to get his Bachelors in Nursing and then his Masters in Nursing. He loved to study the Bible. Daniel decided to go on to get another degree, a Master of Divinity. Daniel likes Biblical languages and is very proficient in Greek. He also learned Hebrew along the way.

Daniel served as in intern in the church where I was pastoring. I was able to help him learn to preach, and I gave him ample opportunities to do so. He had a heart for evangelism and often went out to evangelize in various neighborhoods. He started a Bible study while in college, and I assisted him in that some. Daniel enjoyed home life and being the big brother to our growing family. He was very responsible and obedient as a young man. When Daniel was 21 years old, we purchased a home with Daniel and went 50/50 on the purchase price. The house was next door to us. Heather fixed up the home, and we rented it out for a few years. We split the rent, and it worked out well for all of us. Our desire was to help Daniel purchase his first home for cash before he was married.  Daniel lived rent free in our home until he was 23-1/2. We wanted him to save his money to accomplish that goal of purchasing a home for cash. After the renters moved out, we encouraged Daniel to buy out our portion of the house and go on his own. He did that and we enjoyed living next door to him for years!

Daniel was also our history expert. He developed a curriculum and taught his siblings history. They didn't always like his class because he was a fairly demanding teacher. But they all survived, and they learned a lot of history along the way. In about 2013, Daniel and I took a trip together to the Eastern part of the country. This was Daniel's American Revolution tour. I tagged along for one week of the three week adventure. We even added a little Civil War history along the way and visited Gettysburg. What delightful memories I have of that trip!

When we left the church where I served as a pastor in 2016 to plant a new church, Daniel joined the new church with us. Daniel served alongside me as a co-leader in the church. Daniel was in charge of leading the music, as well as heading up evangelism. Daniel was involved in the weekly leadership meeting and gained some very practical experience in this role. It was a pleasure to work side-by-side with Daniel and serve together in the same church, even until he was almost 27 years old. I'm thankful for those times as I look back on them.

Daniel lived next door to us for six years. Finally, at 29 years old, Daniel sold his house and moved in with a roommate. Home ownership really wasn't his interest. It was much easier to rent since he wasn't the fix-up sort of guy. Daniel paid to have some very nice improvement made to the house while he lived there. Heather also liked to help with repairs and projects on the house that needed to be done. David liked to do the mowing, and he helped Daniel and us keep our lawns looking sharp.

Daniel still lives in the Kansas City metro area and works in the ER. At 31 years old, we are not sure of his plans for being a missionary. Maybe he will pursue that one day. Daniel doesn't have much contact with us, but we love him and are praying daily that will change one day soon. God is in control!