June 16, 2014

Dear Everyone,

     I have to tell you. I think missionary time is way different than reality time. I LOVED the emails I just got this past week. It's so fun to hear how everyone is doing. Graduation, marriage, family, vacation! I could tear up only because I LOVE YOU SO DANG MUCH! Don't worry, I'll just stay here and keep getting a sweet sister missionary shoe tan. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacation. I sure am ;) This week has been pretty crazy. This will be my 2nd transfer in the Overland Park 2nd ward and I'm so glad I stayed! The members are still getting to know me, but a couple of them voiced on Sunday that they were glad I was still here, which definitely made me feel welcome. Sister Beard was transferred to the Kansas City 1st ward and her companion is Hermana Pita! I heard there has been alot of success up there so I'm really excited for her to get to work! My new companion is Sister Champagne! She is a total sweetheart. She is very different than me, for instance, I love to play sports all P-day and she likes to write letters, however, it doesn't keep us from being tight haha. We get along really great. The funny thing is, normally you don't know your companion, but Sister Champagne was in my last zone. She served in Warrensburg for a transfer while I was there! We also both went to Utah State and Studied Speech Pathology and we had a class together my freshman year! All we remember is saying hi to each other, but Sister C said she was really shy haha. So it's really fun to be with someone you already know. I know great things are coming!

     Unfortunately, Dan wasn't able to come to church this last week which was a huge bummer, and he was out with friends when we had an appointment, but he hasn't said that he still doesn't want to be baptized... so thats good haha. We should be seeing him this Wednesday. We have been visiting this less active family, the Mitchell's, for a while now. They live in our building so it's really convenient! they are recent converts, but they have been having a hard time coming to church. Shaia has told during one lesson that she feels sad when she is there sometimes because she doesn't have a perfect family. She is divorced and has 3 girls (Salliyah, Tania, Zandra). But we testified about how nobody's family is perfect, we are all striving for that goal, but Heavenly Father knows that we need to continue to follow His commandments by coming to church so that we can receive all the blessings that he wants to give us! D&C 130:21 Yesterday Shaia, Tania, and Zandra came to church!! And after Tania sang for the Dad's in Sacrament she ran to us and sat right next to me. We visited them that night and Salliyah (16) stayed up til 4am watching Vampire Diaries... I feel like I'm teaching myself. But I asked her about the chapter in the Book of Mormon I invited her to read and after she told me she hadn't read it yet, I told her that it was about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and as we discussed it a little she said that she doesn't remember it! So we finally have an appointment to sit down with their family and to teach the Gospel. I'm so excited!

      Some other random things this week. Last P-day we had a BBQ for Memorial Day and we played sports at the park. It rained on us all day, We played kick ball, soccer, volleyball, and flag football in the rain. It was awesome. I have received my first chigger bite... it itches alot, but I definitely miss my soccer battle marks so this will do. And the Bishop called all of the 4 missionaries in our ward to introduce themselves and bear their testimony during sacrament. Brother Lenz said it was priceless to see my face. I guess I still get nervous haha. I said the Bishopric was rotten on the pulpit.... hopefully they still like me haha I was just kidding though. I am always so grateful to share my testimony. I'm excited for the week we have ahead of us. Thank you all for your love and example. 

      I know this is the Church of Jesus Christ restored on this earth. I know that because I have read the Book of Mormon and I have prayed about it. The peace the Gospel brings to my heart out-reached anything the world can teach.  I know this is the Savior's divine work. To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. I'm so grateful to be able to strive for that every day. Have a great week ya'll! Love you!

Love,

Sister Penman

June 9, 2014
Hey Family and Friends!

     How are things going on your guys' neck of the woods? It's going really good over here. We were on foot all week so we really could enjoy the woods. Did you know it's actually green here? They have all 2 seasons. It's so beautiful. The only trouble is it gets humid here and I'm not too fond of it haha. Last week we had P-day at the stake center again and played sports with the other missionaries. That's always fun. Tuesday we went to Farmstead and this time all we did was pack snacks into little dixie cups and make the other missionaries lunches... yeah. But then we visited with the Brackett's who were a less active couple, but now are fully active. We visit them every once in a while to keep encouraging them. They are going to Temple Prep classes starting next week! Yay! Wednesday was Mission Leadership Council meeting. President Keyes counseled us on transitioning with the new Mission President. It was pretty sad, but I'm excited for the Vests! I'll help train on it in a couple of weeks. We were also able to teach our investigator Dan this week too! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation. It was really awesome to see him open up. He has this thing where he doesn't like to look at people when they are talking because he says he can't focus, but this week he talked a lot and made eye contact! We were talking about the Book of Mormon and he he was like "Yeah, I don't like the Bible too much... it has been changed a lot. I think I'll stick more to the Book of Mormon." umm OK sweet!!!! He texted us later on in the week tellingus he had a question about Ether 3:6 about the brother of Jared. And he said he got work off and all he had to do was buy a new tie and new shoes! Sadly, he didn't make it to church this week. We were really excited, but we will see what happened this Wednesday at our next appointment!

     Want to know something funny? Sister Beard and I were walking home one night and there was a car that drove past us and yelled, 'Sisters!' We walked a little farther and they ended up turning around and pulling off to the side and parked. Inside the car were 2 ridiculously good looking returned missionaries, one from Florida and the other from Tennessee. They asked a little about ourselves and the ward that we served in and then basically asked if we wanted to go get ice cream. After a couple seconds of laughing I said that had better start walking home because we were going to be late. They left soon after... I just want to testify of how much I have changed hahaha Sister Beard and I were cracking up the rest of the walk home. 

      Later on in the week we were walking and we got caught in a rainstorm. I looked like a rag doll and my mascara was on my cheeks. So we had to make a pit stop before visiting a less active's home to CVS to pat ourselves dry. It didn't really work haha. On Sunday night we were having a hard day finding people home, but we decided to visit Chris (the romanian guy we met about a month ago) he was talking about how he has been working so much and hasn't had time to read the Book of Mormon we gave him, but he said he wanted us to meet his wife and his kids and that he would make us Romanian food! It was a miracle! I'm so glad the Lord softens hearts. 

       I'm so grateful to be a missionary and to serve here. I love my Heavenly Father for the plan that he has lovingly given us. A path to guide our lives. I love you guys. The church is true! Talk to you later!

Love, 

Sister Penman

June 2, 2014
Dear Everyone,

     Good afternoon! Hope all is well wherever ya'll are at. It was a good week here in Overland Park. Not too much has happened this week so this email will a little shorter than normal. It's starting to get really warm here in Kansas! I'm starting to be really grateful that I'll have 2 winters here and not 2 summers. Halelujah! Tonight we have to give up the car to the other sisters. This week we won't have one. Which is really inconvenient because our area is decently big so we won't be able to visit as many people as we would like, but we'll be doing a lot of finding, I can tell you that much! Which is what we need at this point. Our teaching pool is more like a puddle, like the ones that form in the grass every once in a while. However, I don't let myself become too discouraged because I know the Lord needs me in this area! I just have to find my purpose and continue to be diligent and obedient. 

     Last week we received a text referral (which are like european candy; super sweet and quite rare) for a man name Dan Errler. Which means he referred himself on mormon.org! So we tried to visit him that day. He lives in a gated apartment home community so we snuck in to that and then found out it didn't have his apartment number! Lame! However, a couple days later we tried to call again and a few minutes later, he texted us and we set up a time to teach him that night! He is quite scientific and a little awkward, but a really nice guy and had really genuine questions. As we taught about the Restoration he talked a lot about Laman, Lemuel, and Nephi! I guess he has read in the Book of Mormon on trips when he stayed in Marriott hotels. Thank you Marriott. We are going to teach him again this Wednesday. We're really excited! 

      On Sunday, we had more people come to church this Sunday than normal. The deacons were passing the sacrament, however, the bishopric was informed that they needed to bless more so they did... About a second later the counselor that was presiding, came up and said, they were 'one cup short'. It was a really powerful experience to see of the importance of the Sacrament. I'm so grateful to serve in this area and to be a missionary. It is the best feeling in the world to wake up in the morning and know my purpose! Thank goodness I still have a while to go! I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior. I'm grateful for their guidance through the Holy Ghost and the knowledge I am gaining throughout my mission. Love you guys! Talk to you later. Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Penman

May 27, 2014
Hey Family, Friends, and (Fellow & Future Missionaries)

     I thought I would throw that one in there considering I've been getting tons of notifications (on my email in the library) about people from home getting their mission calls! I am so excited for all of you. Please keep telling me. It's like Christmas every P-day. This week has been crazy for us here in Overland Park, Last week we had Sister Fuenzalida and now we don't. She was with us about a week and a half and then she had an emergency transfer to Gardner where she replaced Sister Adams (whom I love). Sister Adams was transferred to Independence to be closer to the mission office and home because she's been having kidney stones. I've been seeing so many missionaries having health issues lately. I'm so grateful I've been healthy besides a few extra pounds brought to you by the members of the Clinton and Overland Park wards. Whatevs though. It's all good. I've been so blessed. 

     Last Tuesday we volunteered at Farmstead and Sister Beard and Fuenzalida and I greeted the guests. When I was counting the guests with this little clicker thing, 1100 people came in through the gate within the hour of 9-10am. It was crazy! Volunteering there is awesome. We do it every Tuesday morning. Look it up on the internet if you haven't already. This Tuesday (today) we were over the Dairy Barn. We helped prep the place for Martina's morning milking, swept and cleaned the room, moved the calves into another stall, fed the calves the milk that Martina had, cleaned water bins, and wait for it... took a couple of baby goats on a walk around the Farmstead. It was so great. They had leashes and everything. They loved it and obviously so did I. Yesterday was Memorial Day so the libraries were closed so we planned to email on Wednesday because we were packed with appointments after Farmstead today, but after we did some of out studies, we knocked on the Ehpel's door and they weren't there :/ I'm not too worried because they have been progressing so well recently and Sister Beard said they haven't ever done so well since they started teaching them in January. We were excited to meet their dad today because he had work off tonight (and he's the only thing holding them up for their baptism) but, another day soon. I'm so excited for Riann (11) and Simrick (8).

      Memorial Day was awesome! We studied, did laundry and shopped briefly. Then we went to the park where we had our ward BBQ. We invited a lot of our investigators and the less actives we've been seeing, but unfortunately they didn't come. After that, we went straight to the stake center where we played sports til 6pm with the other missionaries. I played basketball for about 3 hours or so. I actually was making some good shots! The Elders weren't worried about me at first, but then someone yelled out to get me marked! haha Now I'm making up for it. I tried to go running this morning, but it was a joke. My body is so sore haha. Oh well. It was sweet. 

      The rest of last week we hardly had any time in our area. It was really lame. We went to Independence to drop off Sister Fuenzalida and then Kansas City to go to the Temple. However, it was so great. President Keyes pretty much took two days to go through the temple with all the missionaries in the mission. And then we had lunch and a small meeting where he talked about Temple and Families. President Keyes said that the number one thing that President Monson said the age change had to do was.. to bless families. We went on to say that it wasn't a coincidence that boys are now going to be getting home around 20-20 1/2 and sisters are getting home around 20-20 1/2. Awkward. He pretty much made everyone get stoked to get married in the temple. Which I think was his job.. so it was a great conference. 

      We were also able to to visit a few more people this week. Like Sister Saltzmann. We had a great visit and we shared a scripture about how Heavenly Father makes weak things strong and she was really excited about coming to church and to the bbq, but she didn't come. And then we had dinner with a part member family, the Neuburgers, at this AMAZING mexican restaurant (Best enchiladas ever fyi) We shared a message afterwards about the Book of Mormon and found out he had read the Book of Mormon before, goes to Sacrament every week with his wife, and calls it 'his ward', but when the Spirit was there and I was prompted to invite him to take the lessons. He said no. Good ole agency once again getting in the way. Denial is kind of rough. And then we had dinner with this less-active lady named Sister Greenhaughl (50's) and she doesn't come to church and she is a returned missionary. And she doesn't seem very interested in coming back and we don't know why!

     Despite quite a bit of trouble this last week, I'm excited to work hard, do my best to help people come to church, progress towards baptism, or be baptized. No matter what, I will be planting seeds and working my tail off to do what the Lord wants me to do. Only a couple more weeks in the transfer. Let's do it. I'm so grateful to be here in Zion preparing the way for the Lord. I know this is where I was meant to go and I'm grateful for the many lessons I learn every day. One of them being Ether 12:27. Which is one of my favorite scriptures. If your not already doing so, I invite you to open up your scriptures and read at least a chapter a day. Obviously I was never good at that before my mission, but I have seen the blessings it gives as I see families commit to doing so. And I know that as we do, we will feel God's love more fully, see the Spirit's guidance more abundantly, and be able to receive all the blessings He has in store for us. It's the best feeling ever! I love you guys so much. Talk to you soon!

Love,

Sister Penman