September 28th E-mail

Whats going on?!?! Its good to hear from you guys! I'm glad highland kicked some trash! and BYU as well. That is a tough loss for my 9ers though... Oh well at least they are playing well. How to you let an old bag of dirt beat you though... anyways.. Mom I'm very proud of you for keeping up on your reading! You are awesome! And dad way to go on conducting eh? that a boy! :D Getting into book clubs and prepping for the trek and so on and so forth my goodness when i get home i will never see you guys... :D lol! that's ok though I will probably be spending a fair amount of time with Shannon :D So we had a way cool experience this week. There is this recent convert family of about 9 months or so and apparently when they joined they were absolutely on fire. He got called to be the young men's secretary and she got a pretty cool calling as well. Well they got a little overwhelmed and stopped coming and for a while they even said that people could come by just don't bring up the gospel. Well I had met them a few times and just kind of tried to break the ice again. Well we were trying to meet with him all last week and this week but we have just had the worst timing when we go over. So Saturday we go over and sure enough they are running out the door but he says to us you know what lets set up an appointment for tomorrow at 2:00 and I have some questions for you guys... And so we set the appointment and we went and had just an awesome lesson! They had went to the bookstore and bought a book from the LDS section and it is titled "Why would anyone join the LDS church?" and it is a fabulous book. I cant remember who wrote it but its written by a guy who joined the church himself and he goes into a lot of detail about certain questions a things that people have that are sincerely investigating the church and he answers them in a way that is in great detail but is simple and easy to understand. So they just randomly picked that book and it happens to be one of the best books that they could have bought at that time. But as they read it they just had a few questions so they asked away and with the Spirit of the Lord we were able to address all of their concerns in a way that they were able to understand! In fact the wife asked us about "don't add to or take away out of revelations" and her husband said oh honey they answered that a long time ago and started to share the answer to it and she goes ya i know but i just like hearing how they explain things! :D so it was just a very positive experience and one that the ward has been waiting for for a long time. We are meeting with them again on Tuesday and they are excited to watch conference with us this weekend! and also tonight we are going to be putting Brian Abbott on-date for baptism! woot! We also had zone conference this week and found out that in October ELDER BEDNAR is coming to speak to us as a mission!!!!! INSANE! I am so freaking excited! and President Palmer said that he likes to do a Q and A. So what in the heck would you ask an Apostle of the Lord if you had the opportunity? Yep i don't have a clue either! But i am excited to sit at his feet and feel the spirit! I seriously cant wait! Its going to be a once in a lifetime deal for me! :D and conference is coming up! Man its going to be a very spiritual October this year! One i will probably never forget! (until i get Alzheimer's) But hey mom no worries I don't need anything.. I am on the down stretch and everything that i have is just going to have to make it work :D No use having more stuff to pack around.. :D But i appreciate you always asking. I mean if you feel like you just absolutely need to get me something then just take 20 bucks and go put it in the marriage fund at the bank :D (aka my bank account) But only if it will make you feel better :D lol! I love you guys! Thank you for all that you do! You are awesome! I love you guys so much! Take care!

Elder Penman

September 21st E-mail

Whats happening?!?! Well this week was ok. We found an awesome new investigator. His name is Gary and he had met with missionaries in the past and at one time he even had a date to be baptized.. But then he ended up falling and breaking his ribs and messing up his shoulder and well everything got off track from there... But he has no longer slipped through the cracks! we found him and he is wanting to get his life back on track! So we will see how that goes. Other than that this week was ok. We had a really good district meeting. Elder Allred I (<-- that means the 1st) gave a really good training that was nice to see. I'm very glad that he has grown up a little bit... not much but a little bit... You know i really haven't got sick that much on my mission... I have been blessed. But yesterday I woke up at like 4 in the morning and it was on! I puked my guts out all morning until about noon and i was white as a sheet and i just layed there the rest of the day. My back was killing me and i couldn't get comfy and finally last night i took a super hot bath with some epsom salts and oh boy did it feel good! The Ashtons have a pretty big bathtub but it is upstairs.. So i got up the stairs.. I barely had enough energy to get that far.. And then after the bath it drained all the rest of the energy that i had and so when i stepped out of the bath tub i just about fell flat on my face lol! and i had to sit on the toilet just to regain enough to put my clothes on... so i was pretty dang bad but i got back downstairs and well i crashed... and i slept great.. Elder Allred took numbers for me last night and everything.. So i am glad that is over! I still feel a little weak and no i wont be playing ball today... But I feel SO much better today than i did yesterday! I have no idea what it was! but i did get a blessing from my comp and Brother Ashton and so i will be fine :D! It was nuts though.. The second time i woke up to puke at like 4:30 Elder Allred woke up too and he came and opened the bathroom door and my face in burried in the toilet and he was just standing there watching me and he goes are you alright? :D It was kinda funny.. But I'm all better now. We are still working our little butts off. I'm glad that you got to spend some time with Shannon! That sucks that the power was out though... lol! I cant believe that BYU lost too... that sucks.. That's good that Highland won though! I hope they keep it up! Take care of yourselves! Thanks for all you do and for all your prayers! I love ya! Elder Penman

September 14th E-mail

What is happening?!?! Well its great to hear from both of you! I'm glad highland hung in there with the Idaho team.. They will do alright this year. So Shannon really is going with us huh?!? Is that awesome or what! I would absolutely love to room with Carl again! This time i will pack some air fresheners though :D Wow that is awesome! I'm seriously smiling pretty big right now! I hear though that those resorts are supposed to be pretty dang cool! Are they going to have golfing and what not? I am way excited to go scuba diving too! Really it just sounds nice to be able to get in the water! :D I got a pretty cool story from an exchange that we went on this week. I went to CDA to be with Elder Killpack (who i came out with) He is one of my Zone Leaders. But anyways we were driving to the church to make some copies of some paperwork to go over with his Ward mission leader and on the way i told him ya know we really ought to just hang out at the church today and let the people come to us... and we both laughed and then we pulled up at the church and there was a guy walking through the parking lot and so we drove around by him and parked and got out and started talking to him.. Well at first he told us he didn't really believe in anything and then we taught him about Jesus Christ and what he did for us and then we went right into the Plan of Salvation and what the purpose of this life is. Well anyways he told us that he would be at church on Sunday and that we could meet with him again on Monday.. So it was a very neat experience but afterwards we were walking inside and i told Elder killpack see what did i tell ya? lol... It was pretty funny. We ended up talking to 2 more people before we left the church but neither of them were interested.. :D This week went a little slow for us though.. Juanita and Kim (who were on-date) fell off the face of the earth... We cant get a hold of them to save our lives.. It was pretty funny though one night we went over to their house at like 8:30 at night so it was dark and their kitchen light was on and their basement light was on and so we knocked and they have a big window right by the door but is for the living room and their blinds were cracked a bit and i looked in there and i could tell that the t.v. was on and i kept looking in well someone came crawling out from in front of the couch to see who was at the door and then they noticed me staring at them and so they turned around and crawled back behind the couch lol! and then like 2 seconds later all the lights shut off! lol! so it was kind of funny even though it sucks that we cant get a hold of them... But what do ya do! The Lord has something awesome in store for us! And we are looking forward to whatever it might be! I love you guys! Thanks for all that you do for me! For your prayers and your support and love! Take care! And good luck in everything! Take it easy!

Elder Penman

September 9th E-mail

Whats happenin?!?! well i bet you are wondering why no email until today?!? well mom i didn't forget about ya :D We changed our p-day to Wednesday because of Monday being a holiday and Tuesday was transfers. But we both stayed so we got another 6 weeks together :D. The mission had a lot of changes though we got a new ap and 5 new Zone leaders and they opened up a new zone in Wanatchee.. So that's pretty cool eh! Oh and Elder Allred the first got transferred to here in post falls and so i got both my allred boys here in my district! lol! So now i can treat him like a grand kid.. I can play with him all i want and when he gets fussy i can hand him back off to his companion lol! But ya Allred the first hasn't changed a bit.. He is still a goofball.. But that's pretty cool.. Last week was a little slow.. But no worries it will pick back up.. We have both been sick though these last few days.. Yesterday i woke up and showered and then i just went right back to bed.. Then i woke up and we went out for a few hours and then we came back and i went back to bed again.. for like 4 hours each time.. :) I pretty much slept all day.. But sister Ashton made us some soup and what not so we are taken care of... And today i am feeling much better.. Its just a cold and well the last of it is settled in my chest but my head feels a lot better.. So no worries i am fine mom :D But right now i am emailing at the family history center at the church while the other missionaries are playing ball... doh! But that's ok i will bounce back.. But really not much has happened lately. I did hear about BYU and Oklahoma! Is that insane or what! woot! Its too bad though that Skyline whooped up on Highland.. Good luck with that team from Idaho... The Ashton's were pretty excited that we were staying so that we can help them finish their cement work... :D We are building a rock wall and a few little patios... That is pretty dang fun! Everyone around here is hunting and football is starting and well i have to tell ya... last year it didn't bother me much but this year i want to go hunting! lol! But ya know this is a fun time in the mission... President Palmer is really mixing things up and making things happen.. Its pretty cool! But hey its good to hear from you guys! That's good that Eva like her aunt Shanni too! :D I love you guys! Take care of yourselves! Woot!

Elder Penman

August 31st E-mail

What is going on?!?! Well it is great to hear from you guys! I love hearing about little Eva! I am glad that she has joined the butter eating club! WOOT! I think that is awesome! I absolutely love butter! lol! Well this week went by super fast. I'm sitting here trying to remember what even happened... On Tuesday we started teaching a boyfriend of a returned missionary.. His name is Brian Abbott and he is super solid.. My only fear is that he would jump into this for her.. But he showed interest in the church before he hooked up with her so that is a good sign.. But we taught him 3 times and he came to a baptism on Saturday(not our baptism) and then came to church on Sunday.. So he is dedicated. That's for sure.. The mom and daughter that we have on-date for sept 26th , Juanita and Kim Reynolds, We are also teaching Juanita's dad and she told us that if we got him to go to church that she would never miss a Sunday... lol! So we are going to hold her to that.. Heck ill even tell Lyle that so that he gets her going :D lol! But she is pretty solid.. She was passing a kidney stone so they didn't come to church this week.. *ouch* but next week hopefully they will be there... But all in all it was a pretty good week.. Elder Allred and I are just having a blast.. This week though on Saturday we get our transfer calls.. so I'm hoping that we stay together.. but we will see what happens.. Last night we were praying for our comp study and I prayed for him to have an opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting and right after i said that he slugged me in the arm.. and then we started laughing but then i finished the prayer and i was like what the heck? and then he felt bad because it was during a prayer lol! i thought it was pretty funny... and then he asks me why did you pray for that? he says your might as well pray for me to get hit by a car.. lol! I just laughed.. I was just praying for it just to be a punk really.. but i thought it was funny :D But hey way to go Highland! i hope that you kick the crap out of Skyline.. I cannot believe that someone took roidtard for a coach.. But hey its great to see the t-ville turn around... lemon heads.. how pathetic.. Me and James should take that team when i get back.. We could turn that program around.. get a little Arkansas defense going there and no worries I will run the offense :D football is just starting up here and Bishop is coaching a team and well we might happen to tract into their practices a few times i dunno :D i tell you what though when i saw the high school team here practicing i just wanted to run over there and start hitting those kids myself.. I miss it! :D So i have no choice but to play or coach for well the rest of my life... :D But hey mom i don't really need anything.. If you really want to buy me something then just put some money in my bank account for when i get home :D all my stuff is holding up pretty nicely.. so I'm not too worried.. But anyways the work is going very well I am loving it! Thank you for your prayers and I love you guys so much! Oh and by the way was that a sweet cake or what! woot! And trust me we made it by ourselves.. We frosted it together and then we took tooth picks and made the deer and then spelled out john Deere.. :D it was sweet! But i love you guys! Take care!

Elder Penman

Enjoy!

August 24th E-mail

Whats happening?!?! I have to tell you that it is just fun to hear from you guys! You are filled with the spirit and with joy! and i absolutely love it! Sucks to hear that Highland lost.. just don't let Hunter stomp all over you.. That is never fun..(not that Ive ever been there before) :) But hey also if you can find out let me know how taylorsville is doing.

We had an absolutely amazing week this week! It has been so much fun! Ok so on Friday we taught this guy named Lyle and he is an older guy probably in his 60's but he had expressed how when his wife died he became bitter towards God and so on but he allowed us to teach him and i know that he felt the spirit! so we got a return appt. with him and then later that night we taught a new family and the parent names are Joe & Elaine. They seemed fairly interested as well and the lesson went really well and so we will continue to teach them as well and so we were very happy because that was 3 new gators! Well then we went on exchanges and i went to CDA (Coeur d' Alene) And elder Allred took over the area for a day. While i was in CDA we found 3 new investigators and i got to interview 3 people for baptism that are all getting baptized this next Saturday! so that was just awesome! But while Elder Killpack and Elder Allred were here in Post Falls they tracted like all day long. They did end up finding one new investigator but they feel that he isn't very solid.. but anyways they kept tracting and they were getting a lot of opposition and what not. They even ran into a guy who told them that he wanted to set up a public debate with our bishop. which by the way Bishop Rouse would own him... but that's beside the point. Fact is they were just getting hammered well it was getting late and so they decided to knock on 2 more doors. Well they knocked on the first one and it was a lady whose husband in a less-active member and she sounded like she was fairly interested... So they got into the house and started answering some of their questions and what not and the lady said oh and i have a 12 year old daughter that wants to be baptized.. And so they taught her and her daughter (Juanita and Kimberly) and put them on-date for the 26th of September! And so they held out until the very last door and they found 2 new investigators that the Lord had absolutely prepared for them when they could have easily given up and went home.. And now we have 2 awesome people on-date for baptism! So this week we ended up with 6 new investigators and 2 on-dates... Is that amazing or what! I really appreciate all of your prayers!

I cant believe how much the Lord is blessing us in all of our lives! I hope that we can all remain Humble and Prayerful and look to Him for guidance in our lives! I know that He is there and that He is watching over and blessing us! I love this work! There is nothing greater than missionary work! and it always helps to have a good companion! :D I love you guys! Thanks for everything that you do for me! and for all of your prayers! Take care! love ya!

Elder Penman