December 30, 2013

Dear Everyone,

     Well the holidays are almost over. I love this time of year to remember our Savior and the miracle of his birth. Presents are cool too. I was so blessed this week with letters from friends and family! And to talk to my family on the phone. I'm so grateful!! This week was really awesome. We were able to carol a whole lot and to share the Book of Mormon Christmas story and to help people remember why Christmas is such a special time of the year. It was a little different because of the holidays, but I know missionaries are encouraged to have a great Christmas Eve and Christmas and I definitely did! Now it's back to the rountine and so glad! I'm ready for a new year, resolutions, goals, and doing my best to become a great servant of the Lord!

     This week we were able to go to Windsor because one of the families in our ward was feeding us dinner out there. Let me describe to you what Windsor is. A small town with a pretty cute Main Street, in which most of the stores are closed down, a Sonic, old homes that are getting decreped, nice homes that are built there because it's cheaper to live there and commute to Kansas City, Poultry mini barns (smells sooo bad as you drive by, debating whether I want to eat chicken nuggets anymore) Amish buggies driving on the roads, some interesting people, and really nice people!! I love Windsor haha. That's how most of the towns are surrounding Clinton. However, while we went finding people on our ward list that were "Uknowns" and we found the Smith family! We were a little nervous because their house was out in the boonyies and we walked up to the front door and knocked on it and this at least 6'5 teenage boy answers the door and opens it all the way open for us to come in and about 3 other kids come running over to see who it was and the mom was fixing the fire in front of us. They were the sweetest family! The mom was baptized when she was 8, but she hardly remembers even primary. This is the crazy part. Mid conversation, one of their beagles starts yelping and they take the dog inside to see what the matter was and they looked inside his mouth and there was a huge stick lodged across the roof of his mouth!!! The teenage boy went and got plyers and they basically had an operation right there in the front room. She went on to thank us for holding the dog down. Man. The things that bring people together :) haha. We're really excited to go back!

     We unfortunaly didn't get to meet with alot of our investigators this week because they were sick, out of town, or were hanging out with family, but we called an texted them to make sure they were having a great week. Dan is sick. Megan K had family in town.

     Jessica is doing awesome! We gave her the checklist to baptism we made her and she loved it. We came back through the week to follow-up and she's been reading and really noticing a difference. She went on to thank us for our prayers because she's been feeling really safe and comforted. And she even said that she hasn't even smoked all day and she hasn't even wanted to. FYI Sister Call and I have been praying like crazy for all of those things! We let her know that and invited her to continue to pray to overcome her addiction and that we will do the same. Prayer is so real!!

     We also went to the Kansas City Temple on Saturday with Sister Vernon who is super awesome. Her and her husband both went to Utah State. We did a session and while Sister Call went to her old missionary friend's sealing, Sister Vernon and I went to the Liberty Jail! It was an amazing day. I'm so grateful for temples. I have such a testimony in them. Every time I get to go to the temple, I am reminded of how much our Heavenly Father loves us. The covenants I make are nothing compared to the blessings that He gives us and has promised to give us. I know this letter is a little jumbled, but I just want all of you to know that I'm so grateful to be out here and share the Gospel. I love my Savior. I love my Father in Heaven. The message we share is one of hope and peace. Every day is a day I get to show my Heavenly Father my gratitude for giving us a Savior and a Plan of Salvation. I invite you to make a New year's resolution not only to lose 15 pounds or to get toned legs ha, but to make a spiritual goal to become closer to Him. I know it will make a difference throughout the upcoming year and throughout the rest of your life. I love you all so much! Thank you for being such great examples to me! Have a great new years, and have an amazing week!

Love, 

Sister Penman