Hi, everyone!
I hope y'all had a great Christmas! I certainly did!
Our Christmas schedule got a little messed up because Sister Walser was sick, and we didn't want to cross contaminate by going over to the Smiths, where she was resting, and then get everyone else in the branch sick. So we ended up going over to the Kennedy's to Skype, and the were super sweet and fed us biscuits and chocolate gravy afterwards (yum!) and then a little later they fed us dinner. I didn't realize that we were going to get dinner at the Kennedy's at all, but we did and then had two other dinner appointments that night. Classic missionary life. After the Kennedy's we went to the Riggs for dinner #2, and I heard rumor that we were going to have squirrel dumplings, but they didn't end up making them. I was pretty excited to have a truly backwoods Tennessee experience, but they made other more normal things for Christmas. Boring! After the Riggs, we finished our day at the Smiths and luckily they already ate dinner, but we did have some banana pudding :) Sister Walser was feeling good enough to come home on Christmas night, so we took her back home with us. SHE IS SO CRAZY PANTS! I love her so much! She's being transferred on Wednesday, so unfortunately I'll only have the opportunity to serve with her for less than a week! Missionary life is pretty crazy sometimes :) I'm so grateful to have two wonderful companions, however! We get a new companion when we drop Sister Walser off as well, so that should be fun :)
The day after Christmas, one of the elder's investigators, Joel, was baptized. He is so awesome! He has this huge spike-y hair, and snake bites with hipster glasses! He's great! He had been searching for a church for about a year, and in his research, he kept coming across anti-Mormon stuff. He didn't find any church with more anti-material than the Mormon church, so he figured he would look into it. He went to mormon.org and requested a visit with the missionaries, and three weeks later he was baptized. He is so golden! He has such a strong testimony, and he's now preparing to serve a mission! He's the absolute best! I forgot to bring my camera to the library today, but I'll e-mail you a picture next week.
Alley, our investigator, is still preparing to be baptized on Saturday. She has some concerns, but hopefully we can help to resolve them. She is such a sweet girl and is so golden! President Smith's son, Fleet, and his wife, Kima, are really awesome fellow-shippers for her! They are such wonderful teachers, too! It's so great to have them with us when we teach her.
On Sunday morning at church, President Smith asked to talk with me, and he sat me down and talked about how he had called my Dad and spoken with him. He said that they had had a great conversation, and something my dad said really struck him, about how I had said that I really felt like I was called to be here in the South, even though my original assignment was Brazil. He then asked me to talk in Sacrament meeting. Thanks, Dad :) I think my talk went fairly well, even though I literally didn't prepare anything :) I talked about giving up our hearts to the Lord, and he will perfect them and make them better, and then give them back to us. I know it's really hard to accept the Lord's will, and I have also gained a testimony that as we give up everything to the Lord, that He will give us everything in return.
I love y'all so much! Have a great week!
Sister Pennington
Monday, December 30, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Feliz Natal! (December 23)
Merry Christmas! Thank you for all of the Christmas goodies I got! Side note, I haven't opened any of them, even though I started getting presents BEFORE THANKSGIVING! #selfcontrol
So this week has hands down been the CRAZIEST week of my entire life. Not that I've had a very crazy life, but this weeks was truly CRAZY PANTS!
Sister Pennington and her companions
Here's what he was really calling about. A sister in La Follette - a tiny town near the Kentucky border - needed to have her gall bladder removed, and someone needed to come and take her place while she recovered. The doctors said that the recovery time was about two weeks. Keep in mind, transfers are on January 1st - a little over two weeks from when President called me. He said that he had been planning on sending me to La Follette at transfers anyways. La Follette is in our zone, and we had zone conference this past Wednesday; the same day Sister Walser was scheduled for surgery. It worked out perfectly so that I could go to zone conference with my companions and bring all of my things, and then just exchange at zone conference. The Lord is in this work! President Irion is an inspired mission president, and I know that everything worked out exactly as it needed to to allow me to be transferred to La Follette this past week.
Sister Pennington and her companions
Saying goodbye to my companions was probably the hardest part. I know I e-mailed you just last week saying how much I love them and how much fun I've had this transfer. The last two nights I was in oak ridge, Sister Hatch, Sume and I slept in our living room under the Christmas tree (something we were planning to do on Christmas Eve). They are amazing missionaries and I miss them already!
Their Christmas Tree
Also, La Follette is the cutest sweetest little town in the whole world! It's so great! There aren't enough people for a ward here, so it's just a branch. And everyone's related! It's awesome! The branch President LITERALLY lives in a holler! It's awesome! When he's not at church, he's in overalls and barefoot. Everyone here is just a gun-loving redneck American, and they are proud of it! I love every single person here! They're fantastic!
That's about all I have time for today, but there's so much I didn't have time to tell you! I'm so excited for the chance I have to skype with you in a few days! Love you so much!
Sister Pennington
Hi there! (December 16)
Hi, there!
I hope y'all had a great week! It was a really weird week for me...
Our Relief Society president works at the Bishop's storehouse here in Knoxville, and because of the craziness around the holidays, she needed a lot of extra help, so we went and helped her out on Wednesday. It was good to help out, but it's always hard being away from our area, because we can't really do our regular missionary work. Then on Thursday, I started getting sick and then by Friday, I couldn't get out of bed! I was congested, and coughing up a lung and had a fever that kept going up. Fridays we usually do weekly planning, which takes about 3 or 4 hours, where we talk about all of the people we're working with and set goals and make plans as to how we can best help them feel the power of the atonement in their lives. I was determined to help the sisters plan for the week, and they knew how sick I was, so they humored me and said I could help plan as long as I was laying down. So they dragged my bed out of the bedroom and set it on the floor in the living room and had me lie down while they were planning. I was asleep in like 2 minutes and stayed out for the rest of the day. It worked out pretty well, however, because the people we were planning on seeing actually called us to cancel on us. I really don't think I could've functioned proselyting on Friday, but it was still really hard to not go out.
Rewind to Thursday, one of the sisters in Melton Lake, Sister Weight, got hit by a car. She was riding her bike, and she got clipped by a car. It's a miracle she didn't get hurt worse, but she did break her hand. She's an extremely diligent missionary, and even though she was in the emergency room until midnight on Thursday, she still went out on Friday to do missionary work! It kind of took it's toll on her though, and some other issues popped up, so by Saturday she was pretty incapacitated and couldn't go anywhere. An amazing member of the Melton Lake ward, Sister Valdez, volunteered to take care of Sister Weight for the day so Sister Merrell could go out. Sister Merrell asked if I could go with her, so Saturday I spend the whole day in Melton Lake. I was really glad I could help out at least in a small way. Sister Merrell, as you can imagine, was still pretty shaken up from her companion getting hit by a car, and so it was kind of a rough day. To put the cherry on top of the whole mess, she dropped her phone in a puddle, and it stopped working. It was really a tough day for those sisters! Please keep them in your prayers this week! Good news though, we put the phone in a bag of rice and by the end of the day it started working again. Sister Merrell was so happy :) Heavenly Father loves her :) Also, the sisters were able to go to Farragut and spend the night in the mission home with President and Sister Irion, and they are taking her to the doctor today. We have the best mission president in the world, by the way! He came down Thursday night and stayed with Sister Weight until she went home. He made sure that she was given blessings and it was really great.
Anyways, so that was my crazy week, and so I didn't end up spending much time in Poplar Creek working with the people here. We're going back to the bishops storehouse tomorrow and we have a big zone conference on Wednesday, and we'll be away all day. I just love Oak Ridge and I miss it! It's okay though, we'll do the best we can with the time we have :)
I just love my companions by the way! Being with these sisters has been the most fun that I've had on my mission! Even though missionary work is going kind of slow, these sisters are awesome, hard working, obedient missionaries, and I really love them! We're having so much fun this transfer, and I'm so grateful to spend Christmas with such wonderful companions!
I love you all so much! Hope you have a wonderful week!
Sister Pennington
I hope y'all had a great week! It was a really weird week for me...
Our Relief Society president works at the Bishop's storehouse here in Knoxville, and because of the craziness around the holidays, she needed a lot of extra help, so we went and helped her out on Wednesday. It was good to help out, but it's always hard being away from our area, because we can't really do our regular missionary work. Then on Thursday, I started getting sick and then by Friday, I couldn't get out of bed! I was congested, and coughing up a lung and had a fever that kept going up. Fridays we usually do weekly planning, which takes about 3 or 4 hours, where we talk about all of the people we're working with and set goals and make plans as to how we can best help them feel the power of the atonement in their lives. I was determined to help the sisters plan for the week, and they knew how sick I was, so they humored me and said I could help plan as long as I was laying down. So they dragged my bed out of the bedroom and set it on the floor in the living room and had me lie down while they were planning. I was asleep in like 2 minutes and stayed out for the rest of the day. It worked out pretty well, however, because the people we were planning on seeing actually called us to cancel on us. I really don't think I could've functioned proselyting on Friday, but it was still really hard to not go out.
Rewind to Thursday, one of the sisters in Melton Lake, Sister Weight, got hit by a car. She was riding her bike, and she got clipped by a car. It's a miracle she didn't get hurt worse, but she did break her hand. She's an extremely diligent missionary, and even though she was in the emergency room until midnight on Thursday, she still went out on Friday to do missionary work! It kind of took it's toll on her though, and some other issues popped up, so by Saturday she was pretty incapacitated and couldn't go anywhere. An amazing member of the Melton Lake ward, Sister Valdez, volunteered to take care of Sister Weight for the day so Sister Merrell could go out. Sister Merrell asked if I could go with her, so Saturday I spend the whole day in Melton Lake. I was really glad I could help out at least in a small way. Sister Merrell, as you can imagine, was still pretty shaken up from her companion getting hit by a car, and so it was kind of a rough day. To put the cherry on top of the whole mess, she dropped her phone in a puddle, and it stopped working. It was really a tough day for those sisters! Please keep them in your prayers this week! Good news though, we put the phone in a bag of rice and by the end of the day it started working again. Sister Merrell was so happy :) Heavenly Father loves her :) Also, the sisters were able to go to Farragut and spend the night in the mission home with President and Sister Irion, and they are taking her to the doctor today. We have the best mission president in the world, by the way! He came down Thursday night and stayed with Sister Weight until she went home. He made sure that she was given blessings and it was really great.
Anyways, so that was my crazy week, and so I didn't end up spending much time in Poplar Creek working with the people here. We're going back to the bishops storehouse tomorrow and we have a big zone conference on Wednesday, and we'll be away all day. I just love Oak Ridge and I miss it! It's okay though, we'll do the best we can with the time we have :)
I just love my companions by the way! Being with these sisters has been the most fun that I've had on my mission! Even though missionary work is going kind of slow, these sisters are awesome, hard working, obedient missionaries, and I really love them! We're having so much fun this transfer, and I'm so grateful to spend Christmas with such wonderful companions!
Sister Pennington and her companions
I love you all so much! Hope you have a wonderful week!
Sister Pennington
Another Week in Paradise (December 9)
Hello, family!
It's been a fun week :) This weekend was really special and fun because we had both the Christmas party and the Wartburg Christmas parade! (Wartburg is a town in our ward boundaries - it's in the elder's area) It was so much fun! We had some investigators and less active members attend the party, and it was so much fun!
The parade was also so much fun! The youth designed and built the float. We had elves in the front wrapping presents and the nativity in the back. It was way cute. Also, they made rubber bracelets that say #webelieveinchrist and mormon.org. The #webelieveinchrist is a twitter account that one of the youth made and will be updating things to it, so it was a great missionary effort. We just walked alongside the float and handed out candy and those bracelets. It was a great time!
We also got to watch the Christmas devotional last night! It was so nice! I hope you all had an opportunity to watch it! It was such a wonderful devotional! I would like to point out that Elder Nelson talked about the most important thing - that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and living the gospel, we're able to be cleansed from sin, endowed with God's power, and achieve eternal life. Nailed it, Elder Nelson!
I don't have a ton of other things to say, or a ton of time, but I love all of you so much and I hope that you have a wonderful wonderful week!
Sister Pennington
It's been a fun week :) This weekend was really special and fun because we had both the Christmas party and the Wartburg Christmas parade! (Wartburg is a town in our ward boundaries - it's in the elder's area) It was so much fun! We had some investigators and less active members attend the party, and it was so much fun!
Sister Pennington at the parade with a member of the ward
The parade was also so much fun! The youth designed and built the float. We had elves in the front wrapping presents and the nativity in the back. It was way cute. Also, they made rubber bracelets that say #webelieveinchrist and mormon.org. The #webelieveinchrist is a twitter account that one of the youth made and will be updating things to it, so it was a great missionary effort. We just walked alongside the float and handed out candy and those bracelets. It was a great time!
The float
Sister Pennington with her companions
Sister Pennington
Thanksgiving Week (December 2)
Hi, family and friends!
Thanksgiving as a missionary is so great! Even though I missed my family at home immensely, we got to spend Thanksgiving with my ward family here and it was so awesome! Sister Reano was in charge of the Thanksgiving dinner at the church (of course) with another member, Sister Newport. It was a great meal! We were so full! We got to be with such amazing people for Thanksgiving, and I was so blessed to be able to be with them! We also went to two other members homes, and I kind of felt like six - dinner - Sid...we were way full by the end of the day!
We started teaching SANTA CLAUS! Not really, his name is Billy Jones, but he is the most jolly man I've ever met! I'll have to get a picture with him next time we meet with him because he is the COOLEST! Plus, he's open to hearing how the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can cleanse him from sin, endow him with God's power and give him the opportunity for eternal life, so that's good :)
We've been struggling recently to find people to teach, and to help the people we are teaching to progress...In my personal study yesterday I turned to a random page in the Book of Mormon. I opened to Alma 16. Verses 13-14 say, "And Alma and Amulek [one of the greatest missionary companionship in the Book of Mormon] went forth preaching repentance to the people...and as many as would hear their words, unto them they did impart the word of God, without any respect of persons, continually". These verses called me to repentance a little bit, because it reminded me of the line from Preach My Gospel that says, "teach when you find, and find when you teach". I need to do a better job of teaching everyone we find, members, investigators and less-actives. We should teach every single person we talk with every day, no matter who they are. I think I need to do a better job of that. Verses 16-17 go on to tell the results of Alma and Amulek's dedicated service. It says, "the Lord did pout out his spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming - that they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord their God". God's doing His part. He's preparing the people to hear the message we have to share. I need to do my part more effectively and do everything I can to share this message with every single person the Lord puts in my path. I know that if I do these things, that I'll have success.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sister Pennington
Thanksgiving as a missionary is so great! Even though I missed my family at home immensely, we got to spend Thanksgiving with my ward family here and it was so awesome! Sister Reano was in charge of the Thanksgiving dinner at the church (of course) with another member, Sister Newport. It was a great meal! We were so full! We got to be with such amazing people for Thanksgiving, and I was so blessed to be able to be with them! We also went to two other members homes, and I kind of felt like six - dinner - Sid...we were way full by the end of the day!
Thanksgiving with Sister Dods
We started teaching SANTA CLAUS! Not really, his name is Billy Jones, but he is the most jolly man I've ever met! I'll have to get a picture with him next time we meet with him because he is the COOLEST! Plus, he's open to hearing how the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can cleanse him from sin, endow him with God's power and give him the opportunity for eternal life, so that's good :)
Bacon-wrapped turkey
We've been struggling recently to find people to teach, and to help the people we are teaching to progress...In my personal study yesterday I turned to a random page in the Book of Mormon. I opened to Alma 16. Verses 13-14 say, "And Alma and Amulek [one of the greatest missionary companionship in the Book of Mormon] went forth preaching repentance to the people...and as many as would hear their words, unto them they did impart the word of God, without any respect of persons, continually". These verses called me to repentance a little bit, because it reminded me of the line from Preach My Gospel that says, "teach when you find, and find when you teach". I need to do a better job of teaching everyone we find, members, investigators and less-actives. We should teach every single person we talk with every day, no matter who they are. I think I need to do a better job of that. Verses 16-17 go on to tell the results of Alma and Amulek's dedicated service. It says, "the Lord did pout out his spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming - that they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord their God". God's doing His part. He's preparing the people to hear the message we have to share. I need to do my part more effectively and do everything I can to share this message with every single person the Lord puts in my path. I know that if I do these things, that I'll have success.
Sister Pennington and her companions with Brother Fleming
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sister Pennington
Monday, November 25, 2013
Another hello from Tennessee! (November 25)
Oi, familia!
It's been a crazy pants week! Remember that one time when I told y'all that Sister Sume and I were going to be on our own this next transfer? Surprise! We got a new companion! We had absolutely no idea and it was such a fun surprise! Her name is Sister Hatch, and she was in our zone so we already know her and love her! She's 21, from Idaho Falls, and studying exercise physiology at BYU-I. She is so fun and is so passionate about the gospel! It's going to be a great transfer :)
We had a really successful week! We were able to teach some really great lessons to some really great people. We had one lesson with a really great lady and she kept her appointment with us (which alone is a miracle) and she invited a friend who was interested. They are so sweet and wonderful! We're teaching them next Wednesday, so I'll tell you how they're doing in a few weeks :)
Also, Loren is doing great! She loves coming to church, and she loves learning more about the gospel! In primary, they learned a song to help them know the names of all the apostles and she remembered it and taught it to her family! She is so sweet :) We're seeing if we can get her a picture Book of Mormon. Our primary president thinks she can get a copy, so it's great :) We taught Loren about the Plan of Salvation on Tuesday, and she loved it. She understood it and asked so many wonderful questions about it. While we were teaching her, I could see just how hungry she was to know more about her relationship with Heavenly Father, and I was honored and privileged to be the one who got to tell her that she is God's daughter. I love being a missionary!
Other cool things from the week...We taught a lesson to the best family in the world last night! Sister Jacobsen and Sister Goates found them before I got here in the middle of the summer. They were tracting, and they ran into Jim who let them come in and he gave them some cold water. He's very friendly and kind to us. We just taught him the restoration last night with his wife, and it was so great :) They are such kind and faithful people. I love them so much! They also had a fire going in the fireplace, and they let us roast marshmallows! It was pretty awesome!
Overall it was a pretty great week :) Oh, I almost forgot! We taught Seminary this morning! It was so much fun! I forgot how hard it was to wake up that early! It was a great lesson, and we get to teach tomorrow and Wednesday. They kids are so great! There's one girl, Tian who's 14, and she is so eager about the gospel! She loves church and loves the Lord and she is so excited to serve a mission! We're having her help us teach her family the first discussion next week. She's so sweet and so excited! When we told her we were teaching seminary she was like, "ah, my two favorite things! Seminary and the missionaries!" She's golden!
I love all of you so much and hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving!
Love,
Sister Pennington
It's been a crazy pants week! Remember that one time when I told y'all that Sister Sume and I were going to be on our own this next transfer? Surprise! We got a new companion! We had absolutely no idea and it was such a fun surprise! Her name is Sister Hatch, and she was in our zone so we already know her and love her! She's 21, from Idaho Falls, and studying exercise physiology at BYU-I. She is so fun and is so passionate about the gospel! It's going to be a great transfer :)
We had a really successful week! We were able to teach some really great lessons to some really great people. We had one lesson with a really great lady and she kept her appointment with us (which alone is a miracle) and she invited a friend who was interested. They are so sweet and wonderful! We're teaching them next Wednesday, so I'll tell you how they're doing in a few weeks :)
Also, Loren is doing great! She loves coming to church, and she loves learning more about the gospel! In primary, they learned a song to help them know the names of all the apostles and she remembered it and taught it to her family! She is so sweet :) We're seeing if we can get her a picture Book of Mormon. Our primary president thinks she can get a copy, so it's great :) We taught Loren about the Plan of Salvation on Tuesday, and she loved it. She understood it and asked so many wonderful questions about it. While we were teaching her, I could see just how hungry she was to know more about her relationship with Heavenly Father, and I was honored and privileged to be the one who got to tell her that she is God's daughter. I love being a missionary!
Other cool things from the week...We taught a lesson to the best family in the world last night! Sister Jacobsen and Sister Goates found them before I got here in the middle of the summer. They were tracting, and they ran into Jim who let them come in and he gave them some cold water. He's very friendly and kind to us. We just taught him the restoration last night with his wife, and it was so great :) They are such kind and faithful people. I love them so much! They also had a fire going in the fireplace, and they let us roast marshmallows! It was pretty awesome!
Overall it was a pretty great week :) Oh, I almost forgot! We taught Seminary this morning! It was so much fun! I forgot how hard it was to wake up that early! It was a great lesson, and we get to teach tomorrow and Wednesday. They kids are so great! There's one girl, Tian who's 14, and she is so eager about the gospel! She loves church and loves the Lord and she is so excited to serve a mission! We're having her help us teach her family the first discussion next week. She's so sweet and so excited! When we told her we were teaching seminary she was like, "ah, my two favorite things! Seminary and the missionaries!" She's golden!
I love all of you so much and hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving!
Love,
Sister Pennington
Oi, familia! (November 18)
Hello!
This week was pretty crazy pants!
First things first, Sister Goates is being transferred! And Sister Sume and I aren't getting a new companion! We're freaking out! She went into the MTC two weeks before I did! Neither of us know what we're doing! Neither of us know our way around Oak ridge! Ahhh! It's ok...It's all good...the Lord trusts us, so I guess we should trust ourselves too!
Anyways, we're sad to see Sister Goates leave, but the Lord needs her elsewhere, so we're excited to see where she's going :)
;)
Like, I said, it was a crazy week...let me tell you about it.
Let me tell you about last Tuesday. The day started off with us getting a call from the sisters in the town next to us, saying that one of their companions sprained her ankle and needed to stay home, and so because they're in a trio, they asked for one of us to go over with them so someone could stay home with the injured sister while the other two could do missionary work. So Sister Sume spent the day in Clinton, while Sister Goates and I stayed in Oak Ridge. Afterwards, Sister Goates and I stopped by the mailbox to send some letters, and there was a car parked in front of the mailbox, so we had to actually get out of the car to put the envelopes in the mailbox. As we're getting out of the car, we hear, "hey, sisters!" and see that it's William. I don't remember how much I wrote about William, but we were teaching him and his family, and he had a lot of promise, and really wanted to be baptized, but instead of reading the Book of Mormon, he listened to what his friends told him about the religion, (lies, like we think it's a sin to have Obama as a president). He is an alcoholic, and every time we go over, he is extremely drunk and not willing/ physically able to listen to what we have to say. Anyways, he flagged us down, and said that his car was broken down and that he needed us to give him a ride. We're not allowed to drive anyone, for insurance reasons, and so we explained that to him, and he wasn't entirely sober, and he got really angry and went off telling us how we weren't Christian and all of this other stuff. He wasn't listening to what we were saying, so we apologized that we weren't able to help him and we drove off. Our next lesson was with a girl named Rose at the library, and when we got there, we saw a member of our ward as well as the Elders. It was a little crazy pants, but we had the Elders teach Rose about the plan of salvation while we asked the member to follow us in his van to where William was. William's car was still there, but he wasn't. We wrote a note and left it on William's car explaining that we came back with a member to help him, so hopefully he will let missionaries come back in the future. We'll see! Also, we had an investigator call to feed us dinner and share a message! Investigators never do that! Meanwhile, back in Clinton, Sister Sume had to lasso some horses...it was an interesting day.
Secondly, let m tell you about yesterday. Loren, Misty's daughter, came to church and she loved it! It was so cool! She is such a sweet girl! After church, we went to go teach a lesson to a Mexican family we found last week. They don't speak any English. At one point, I probably could've communicated with them in Spanish fairly easily, but since I've been studying Portuguese, I can't speak Spanish. I can understand it, but I really can't speak it. So we took with us a member of our ward who served a Spanish-speaking mission. Before we got out of the car to teach this family, we prayed that we might have the gift of tongues to be able to understand and communicate with this family. It was such a miracle, because I was able to teach the lesson in Spanish, and they understood me! It was such a faith-building experience, and it got me excited to go to Brazil whenever I do get the chance!
Loren and the missionaries
I love being a missionary! It is the best job in the world, and it's already going by too fast!
I love you all so much and hope you have just wonderful weeks!
love,
Sister Pennington
This week was pretty crazy pants!
First things first, Sister Goates is being transferred! And Sister Sume and I aren't getting a new companion! We're freaking out! She went into the MTC two weeks before I did! Neither of us know what we're doing! Neither of us know our way around Oak ridge! Ahhh! It's ok...It's all good...the Lord trusts us, so I guess we should trust ourselves too!
Anyways, we're sad to see Sister Goates leave, but the Lord needs her elsewhere, so we're excited to see where she's going :)
Like, I said, it was a crazy week...let me tell you about it.
Let me tell you about last Tuesday. The day started off with us getting a call from the sisters in the town next to us, saying that one of their companions sprained her ankle and needed to stay home, and so because they're in a trio, they asked for one of us to go over with them so someone could stay home with the injured sister while the other two could do missionary work. So Sister Sume spent the day in Clinton, while Sister Goates and I stayed in Oak Ridge. Afterwards, Sister Goates and I stopped by the mailbox to send some letters, and there was a car parked in front of the mailbox, so we had to actually get out of the car to put the envelopes in the mailbox. As we're getting out of the car, we hear, "hey, sisters!" and see that it's William. I don't remember how much I wrote about William, but we were teaching him and his family, and he had a lot of promise, and really wanted to be baptized, but instead of reading the Book of Mormon, he listened to what his friends told him about the religion, (lies, like we think it's a sin to have Obama as a president). He is an alcoholic, and every time we go over, he is extremely drunk and not willing/ physically able to listen to what we have to say. Anyways, he flagged us down, and said that his car was broken down and that he needed us to give him a ride. We're not allowed to drive anyone, for insurance reasons, and so we explained that to him, and he wasn't entirely sober, and he got really angry and went off telling us how we weren't Christian and all of this other stuff. He wasn't listening to what we were saying, so we apologized that we weren't able to help him and we drove off. Our next lesson was with a girl named Rose at the library, and when we got there, we saw a member of our ward as well as the Elders. It was a little crazy pants, but we had the Elders teach Rose about the plan of salvation while we asked the member to follow us in his van to where William was. William's car was still there, but he wasn't. We wrote a note and left it on William's car explaining that we came back with a member to help him, so hopefully he will let missionaries come back in the future. We'll see! Also, we had an investigator call to feed us dinner and share a message! Investigators never do that! Meanwhile, back in Clinton, Sister Sume had to lasso some horses...it was an interesting day.
Secondly, let m tell you about yesterday. Loren, Misty's daughter, came to church and she loved it! It was so cool! She is such a sweet girl! After church, we went to go teach a lesson to a Mexican family we found last week. They don't speak any English. At one point, I probably could've communicated with them in Spanish fairly easily, but since I've been studying Portuguese, I can't speak Spanish. I can understand it, but I really can't speak it. So we took with us a member of our ward who served a Spanish-speaking mission. Before we got out of the car to teach this family, we prayed that we might have the gift of tongues to be able to understand and communicate with this family. It was such a miracle, because I was able to teach the lesson in Spanish, and they understood me! It was such a faith-building experience, and it got me excited to go to Brazil whenever I do get the chance!
I love being a missionary! It is the best job in the world, and it's already going by too fast!
I love you all so much and hope you have just wonderful weeks!
love,
Sister Pennington
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