October 13, 2014

Dear ya'll who are reading this,

 

     MY LITTLE BROTHER SHAUN GOT HIS MISSION CALL TO THE TEXAS MCALLEN MISSION, SPANSH SPEAKING! Yay! I'm so proud of him!!! He's going to kill it. Finally. That thing took forever! He leaves January 14th. 4 months before I come home... kind of lame, but worth it :) If you know him, give a him a shout-out. I know he's going to help so many people come closer to Christ.

     My week has pretty sweet. It feels like a blur, though. If I didn't have a journal, I'd probably be messed. I hardly remember what happened yesterday. Nevertheless, I know it's been a great week. I am so grateful for the amazing messages that have been shared last week at General Conference. On Sunday, the Burch's returned from their missions in North Carolina and gave their homecoming talk. Something Brother Burch said in his talk stood out to me. He said , 'Many of us, as I did before my mission, think that if we commit to becoming member missionaries, we are held responsible for them getting baptized, receiving the Holy Ghost, getting their Patriarchal Blessing, receiving the Priesthood, their Endowment, and getting sealed in the Temple... We do not have to hold ourselves accountable for all of these things. We are here to invite, love, and support." Never be scared to talk to someone about the Gospel. The Lord is preparing his children, and I know many of them are those we talk to all the time! Heavenly Father has promised to fill our mouths, but we must first open them.

     Sister K and I had an experience yesterday when we went to contact a potential named Michelle. We knocked on her door and she told us to wait outside for a second while she got her stuff together. Within a few minutes, her younger brother came to pick her up. They both sat talking to us for about thirty minutes. Michelle explained to us that she had read the Restoration pamphlet we gave her and that she wanted us to teach and talk to her younger brother Justin (35) because he is a really devoted Christian and is single... awk. But after a while, we were all sitting in the same table, but I was teaching Justin and testifying of the Book of Mormon while Sis. K was talking to Michelle. Justin was totally not interested, but Michelle was telling Sis. K she wanted to get baptized... haha It was awesome!   

     Also, we were able to teach Precious the Restoration last week. We watched the 20 min. Resto movie at the end and she asked sincerely, "so Joseph Smith is a prophet?"... You betchya!!! We invited her to be baptized, and she's on date for Nov. 15th. We are so excited to how the Lord is preparing people. I'm so grateful to be apart of 88,000 missionaries around the world, all serving for the same purpose. To hasten the work of salvation. Love you guys! Have a great week!

 

Love, Sister Penman

October 6, 2014
Dear Fam and Friends, 

    

     Is it just me, or is everyone is excited about the holidays already? People are probably getting so annoyed with me because I keep asking when is ok to start singing Christmas songs... but for now, I just sing them to myself :) It's been a really great week in Kansas City. I love this place! It was really hot during some days last week, but it's gotten down to the 60's the last few days and around 40 degrees in the night. I have to admit, it's pretty chilly. I know I'm in for it this winter though. I can't wait! Have I mentioned that Sister K and I have a full time car for the next 2 weeks? It's been heaven-sent. I wonder what's going to happen when it's 15 degrees and rainy and we don't have a car? WELP... I guess I'll worry about it later.

     We've had a lot of meetings this past week. Did I ever mention that I got demoted from Sister Training Leader last transfer? They didn't do it on purpose (I think). Only because there was already an assigned STL in the area when I got here. I think it really humbled me. Not that I aspired to have that calling, but that I missed taking care of the sisters I was over! However, this past week, the assistants called and invited me to come to the mission leadership council on Wednesday! I was so grateful. I love being able to hear what President and Sister Vest have instruct us on every month. There were two men from Mission Headquarters that came and taught us on how we can take our mission even farther. We received instruction on PMG, planning, teaching, and finding. After that meeting, on Friday we had a zone training to relay the message back to the rest of the mission. Something cool? We are going to be getting Ipads in December and January! I'm so excited to be able to use the technology we have to further our efforts! It's going to be a huge blessing.

     A couple of really great miracles stuck out to me these last few days. We haven't been able to meet with one of our investigators Angela in a couple of weeks, (we met her while she was walking her dog) so we really wanted to see if we could catch her at home. We knocked on her door and she let us right in. She said she had been having a rough week and a lot of things had been crashing down on her. We talked about the purpose of trials, and how we can overcome them. We taught her the Restoration and invited her, if she found out these things were true, to be baptized. She said she would! She is on date forNov. 1! I'm so excited! I know she can make that date. But, I also know, Satan is going to make it difficult. But we will be there to help. Our other investigators, Precious and Jodeci have progressing so much as well! Precious is reading the Book of Mormon! I'll keep you updated.

     A lot of the week consisted in meetings, with MLC, zone training, and General Conference. I wouldn't have had it any other way. How amazing was General Conference? I loved Elder Bednar's last talk to investigators. The work is hastening ya'll. Jump on the train! I also loved Elder Jorg Klebingat's talk on 'What would you do if you were to see the Savior in 5 min from now? Would you be ready? Would you linger by the door? There are so many things that we can improve on. None of us are perfect! Joyfully repent of your sins. Voluntarily be obedient. I'd invite you guys to think of something you can improve on, whether it's a commandment or a Christ-like attribute like Patience, I know the Lord will help you to be better. After all, it's by His grace we are saved, after all we can do. Always rely on his Atonement, and let him heal you. Have a great week! Love you always!

 

Love,

Sister Penman

September 29, 2014

Good morning Friends and Fam,

 

     How is your day so far? I hope you've been starting it with small glass of orange juice. That's what I've been doing recently. I've missed that stuff! Sis. Alexander brought us over pumpkin flaxseed and nit muffins this morning too! The little things in life. Muffins are definitely one of my favorite foods. This week has been really good. It's surprising how fast it went! I'm really excited about a few things that have happened in the last seven days..

     We met with Danny a lot this week because he had fall break off from school! We were able to teach him almost all the rest of his new member lessons. On Saturday we felt prompted to teach him about missionary work and service. So after our lesson at the temple (we teach him on the temple grounds) we invited him to come with us on a team-up right after that! haha He said he would so we went over to Sis. Shippley's house (her husband is a member, but she is not). She speaks a lot of Spanglish so we thought it would be great for Danny to testify and talk to her in her native language, Spanish! However she wasn't there.. we were a little disappointed at first because it seemed so perfect, but then we noticed a man across the street just getting home. It was Keith! He's an inactive member that hasn't come to church in 30 years! We've visited him maybe once or twice in the past, but we could never catch him at home because he works over 70 hours a week!  We talked to him for awhile about General Conference and got to know him better. After our visit we talked to Danny before he left for work. We talked about how the Lord works in many ways and that we were meant to see Keith that afternoon, not Sis. Shippley. Danny said that that was really cool! haha  Well it is really cool! He is growing so much. Sister K and I are really proud of him. He is preparing to receive his patriarchal blessing here really soon :)

     We met with an investigator named Lori on Tuesday. She has been investigating for a long time. She pretty much believes in everything we teach her, but she has mental blocks from allowing herself to come to church. One of them being weight. I just want to shake her a little and say COME AS YOU ARE THE LORD WANTS YOU THERE, but I've decided that's not the best route. Sis. K and I planned on establishing expectations in a bold but loving manner on Tuesday, but we did nothing of the sort... after our meeting, S. K and I sat in the car together for a moment so confused on why we didn't do what we had planned. But then Sister K said the Spirit wouldn't let her. Every time she was going to establish anything, the Spirit told her 'be patient'. I guess we better listen. I'll keep you updated.

     A lot lot of other random things happened this week as well. President Vest surprised us by telling our zone to meet at the stake center on Thursday morning to find out that he was showing us Meet the Mormons! It was really good. Definitely go out and see it with your friends. It's a documentary type movie, but you won't be able to deny the Spirit in the things they say and share.

     Lastly, thank you for all the prayers that have been going out towards me and the people we are teaching. We have seen so many miracles recently and I know with out a doubt, it is from the prayers. Jenifer Lagana is progressing so much now and she finally opened up to us about what is keeping her from being baptized. She is going to meet with the Bishop this week to help her sort them out. I hope you guys have a great week and find joy in the journey. Every week is filled with blessings, we just have to be aware enough to notice them :) Don't forget about General Conference this week! If we prepare, we can receive personal revelation. What answers do you need? Love you! Talk to you later

 

Sister Penman

 

fireside at the VC, and me jumping for joy because: it's a great day to be a missionary!