I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've had a chance to e-mail you! But my new p-day is Monday, but since yesterday was labor day, the library was closed and we had nowhere else to e-mail. No worries, though, I will be able to e-mail next Monday :)
I don't have my new address in front of me, but you send everything through the mission office. I'm sure you can look up the address of the Tennessee Knoxville Mission online (it's in the city of Farragut if that helps... [aside from Christie, it was extremely difficult to find but here it is:
11320 Station West Dr. Ste 101
Farragut, TN 37934
It is still easier to send her email, but if you need to send a letter use that- now back to Tessa]). And if you send any packages, you have to send them priority or first class so that the post office will forward it for free...otherwise, my stuff will be stuck in Farragut...Anyways, I'm absolutely loving Tennessee! The people here are so nice and I'm absolutely loving getting to know them! My area is Oak Ridge TN, in the Poplar Creek ward. Apparently Oaks ridge was the site of the Manhattan project, so the high school mascot is an atom, which is kind of fun :) Also, they have nuclear hazard drills occasionally, which is also kind of fun :)
I traveled from Salt Lake to Knoxville with a group of 28 missionaries! We had a full battalion of Heleman's army. I sat next to one of the Elders from my district at the MTC, and we ended up talking to a man across the isle from us, and we gave him a Book of Mormon. I bought a few and made a cute little scripture chain about the purpose of the Book of Mormon. He liked it and said that he'd read it. #plantingseeds
We got to the mission home, and we met the mission president and his wife, and they are so sweet! I like them a lot! We spent the night there, and the next day we went to transfer meeting, and I met my new companions!
I'm in a trio, by the way, so I get to have two trainers instead of one! Their names are Sister Jacobson and Sister Goates. They are both so sweet! They're both from central/ southern Utah and have been out for around 4 months. They compliment each other really well! Sister Goates is extremely loving and gentle, and Sister Jacobson is very bold! It is so interesting teaching with the two of them.
The members here are so sweet, and so excited to help us missionaries! My first night here, all of the missionaries in our ward went to dinner at a member's home. This family, the Reanos, has 8 kids. In our ward, we have both sisters and elders, and the elders are also a trio. So Sister Reano made dinner for her 8 kids, 6 missionaries and herself and her husband. It was so crazy pants! Her youngest (an 11 month old) was chillin' under the table for a while, and the kids were running around. I loved every second of it! It was so much fun!
Sister Dods is an 83 year old member in the ward here, and she is by far our best missionary! She is so excited about missionary work! She sends out weekly e-mails to ward members, and upon seeing that we didn't have enough dinner appointments, she wrote a very strongly worded e-mail to try and encourage members to have us over for dinner. It was adorable. She also texted us one night (yes, she texts) and said, "you have to get over here right now!" We thought she'd fallen, or something, so we rushed over there and when we got there and asked her what was wrong, she said that she had had a brilliant idea while she was on the toilet. (this is all a real conversation, keep in mind). Anyways, she said that she had the idea that she would go around to doctor's offices and "donate" a Book of Mormon to the reading table with the missionaries numbers in it and an address and time for Sunday church. She was so excited about it. I love sister Dods!
Tracting here is a little different here than it is in other places. We go around and do what's called "peace and blessings". We knock on people's doors and ask them if we can say a prayer with them, and in the prayer we say, "by virtue of our calling as missionaries, and as representatives of Jesus Christ, we ask for the Savior's peace and blessings on this home" and then we say a normal prayer. It's really cool, and invites the spirit. We did it to this one house and when the woman opened the door, she barely cracked it and was hesitant to let us pray with her. After the prayer, however, she opened right up and we talked with her for over an hour! She even accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon!
I don't really have more time, but next week I'll have half an hour longer so I'll talk more then!
love you loads!
Sister Pennington
Another picture sent by a member who had the missionaries over for dinner!
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