hello!!!!!!!!! (May 5)

So you remember that one time when I was really legitimately worried about being left alone in this area because I don't know my way around the city...well guess what? My new companion has already been here! She served here for 2 transfers 4 months ago! The church is true! Heavenly Father does answer prayers!!! She remembers a lot of where people live, and how to get to the different neighborhoods. It's been a while, so she doesn't remember everything, but I know somethings, and together, we make it work.

Anyways, my new companion is Sister A. Silva (Silva is a ridiculously common name here in Brazil, so she goes by A. Silva because there are so many other missionaries with the last name Silva) and she's from Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil. She's 19 and super cool. I'm excited for the transfer! It's going to be a good one!

Sister Pennington and her new companion, Sister A. Silva

We had a pretty awesome week. We found 11 new investigators! wahoo! One of my favorites, is João Batista (literally John the Baptist). He's 50 something, and so humble and willing to learn. He was a referral from a member, and he's already been to church and he loves it. He's trying to quit smoking, and so we're helping him with that. He's so appreciative and so awesome. On Saturday we taught the restoration, and it was interesting because his brother was there, who is a devout Jehovah's witness. His brother was very respectful, which was good. At the end of the lesson, we invited João to offer the closing prayer, and his brother started talking about how non-baptized people can't pray in front of baptized people. It was a bit awkward, but he ended up leaving and João said the prayer. It was so humble and simple, and because of this, was even more powerful. After the prayer, João told us that he really felt like Heavenly Father wanted to hear from him. It was so cool.

This ward is really starting to get in the spirit of missionary work. When I got here, the ward liked the missionaries, but wasn't excited really about being involved in the work. But yesterday, almost all of the people who bore their testimonies talked about missionary work. We've been talking sister Bia, the YW president, with us to visit Giovana. Bia bore her testimony yesterday about how she didn't know how to help with missionary work before, but now that she's going with the sisters, she feels really good about the work that she's doing, and that she feels a lot of joy in having the opportunity to share the gospel. If I had tear ducts I would've cried. I felt like I was really fulfilling my purpose as a missionary, because we're really here to help the members to do missionary work, and when they have opportunities to participate, they get to feel the joy of sharing the gospel that the prophet Lehi described. (1 Nephi 8:12). It was so awesome, and her testimony strengthened that of other members in the ward. I know that it will make a difference!

Always eating pizza ;)

I'm so excited for this transfer! It's going to be amazing! I love you all so much, and hope you have a wonderful week!
Sister Pennington