Jun 29th E-mail

What is going on?!?! Well i am jealous of you being in Key west thats for sure! But thats ok if i dont get a chance to go there cause Shelly and Tyler told me that they were going to be living in Utah by the time i got home... ;) So i would rather have that anyways :D (mom im just kidding they didnt really tell me that although i keep trying to talk them into it) Well this week was ok for us.. It wasnt too eventful but it was still good.. We are just in the rebuilding stage. But its all good cause we still got to earn it ya know? So no biggy.. Although last night one of our recent converts got with her neighbor who is a real idiot and he got her on this anti mormon website and she called us at 12:45 last night and i didnt even hear the phone but anyways we called her back this morning and she was balling and what not and very angry and then later on this afternoon we both talked to her and she felt a lot better after that... and of course all the anti stuff is silly... it really is but she had missed 2 weeks of church and i mean satan kicks you when your down.. and so she is better now but its so interesting to see the trials that RC's go through after they are baptized.. But she will be ok.. oh and for her neighbor well i would like to go beat the crap out of that twig boy.. but i will try to hold off on that as well.. But the church is so stinkin true! NO QUESTION! its true! move on! But ya so anyways this week. Elder Steinbeigle fell on his bike twice lol! the first time we were at this appartment complex right next to where all these kids were playing and he was just riding like .0003 mph and just went right over his handle bars.... i know its a pretty crappy description of what happened but to tell you the truth i am still trying to figure out what happened myself :D and then he gets up with the panic you know and starts going WOW DID YOU SEE THAT>?!! and of course all the kids saw it and started laughing it was great! and then we were riding next to this busy street and of course it was traffic hour and he went to turn around and went off the sidewalk into this grass and i guess he turned too sharp or hit the cement or something but face planted again and this time i watched the whole thing along with 50 cars full of people and i was laughing really hard and so were they.. lol! Its been a rough week for the little guy :D You know i have learned a lot of cool things since i have been out here.. but ultimately it has made my testimony grow of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He truly did die for all of us.. And suffer in the Garden of Gethsemane for our sins. He truly loves us perfectly and no matter what we go through in life he is there not just to hear us out but to show us what we need to do and to build us up so that one day we can stand on our own 2 feet! I am grateful for the patience that the Lord has with me! I have had the opportunity and the blessing to see this wonderful gospel change peoples lives! It is amazing! Jeremy Turrell for instance.. He, for a long time, was with the (i don't know how to spell it) Arean Nation.. and he batched dope and sold it for guns and then sold the guns to Mexican and black gangs in cali (with the knowledge that they would kill each other off) for more chemicals to batch more dope to go round and round again! and he was in it for years! He has flags from it still ones that are stained with blood and everything! trust me when i say i have learned a lot :D but even though he did all that.. 2 Saturday's ago he baptized his daughter! He holds the priesthood of God! now you tell me that something that isn't true could do that to a man...? I love this gospel! It is the only way to happiness! Live it! and don't just live it 60 or 70 or 80 percent! you HAVE to live the gospel 100 percent or you are wasting your time! Live it! Love it! and most of all share it! I love you guys! Thank you for the great example that you are to me! As i look back over my childhood and the way i was raised by my wonderful parents i wouldn't change a thing! You guys are the best! Take care of yourselves! Thank you for your prayers! I love you!

Elder Penman

June 22nd E-mail

So What is going on?!?! How have you guys been? so you are about to go out and see Shel and Tyler eh? That is going to be way fun! I am jealous! :D Well mom good luck with that job that would be nice to have an extra $10,000 coming in for my college fund? LOL I'm just messing.. i heard from thorny and he said it was way good to see you guys! He is cool. I wonder if he will be married by the time i get home? hmm. mom i think I am missing out on the Stan joke cause i have no idea who the heck that is.. but it sounds like he is gay maybe? hmm. Well this week was fabulous for me! We had a baptism on Saturday which was for Koreena Elaine Grant! she is 9 years old and Saturday night she asked me to confirm her on Sunday and so i did! It was awesome! I am very glad that she asked me to do that.. The work is picking up again though.. We have one investigator in particular that i would ask you guys to pray for and her name is Tina Greensfield.. She is about 35 with 2 kids and she is single.. her kids are 15 and 13 and we are teaching the mom and the 13 year old daughter right now.. When we taught Tina the restoration and invited her to read 3 Nephi 11 she said she would and then when we went back to check up on her she said that she read the whole thing and we were like good (thinking she read the whole chapter) what did you think of the chapter? and she said no i read the whole thing... We were like the whole book? and she said ya the whole book... and we were like WHOA! It took her 2 evenings.. a total of like 8 hours.. and then she asked us for another one to give to her friend! and in the process her boyfriend moved out because they got in a fight over something (I think it was our fault.. but that's ok cause i would love to take the credit) So the Lord is preparing her and she doesn't even know it.. but we already invited her to prepare herself for baptism and she accepted! woot! and so please pray for her and her daughter Sam... well and her rebellious son who is 15 and i don't know his name.. :D but this week they are going to come to church so we are way excited! so it has been a pretty good week so far.. We played some mad basketball today and i am way sore! We had transfers and some good ballers came up here so it was pretty dang competitive... I love it! I just don't do it enough.. and i swear the mission ruins you physically.. but oh well I can still throw down so its not too bad :D Well I love you guys a ton! thanks for everything that you do for me! Its good to hear that you guys are doing good! I pray for ya! I love you! take care!

Elder Penman

Finally Some More Pictures!

June 15th E-mail

What is going on?!?! How is the fam doing?! Well i am doing ok.. This week was meh.. But that's ok we are hoping for great things this next week. So we got transfer calls and we are both staying in the area.. Elder Allred is coming up to Rathtrum ID and he will be in my zone now :D so that will be fun.. His comp asked me today at basketball so did you have a good time with Elder Allred? and i looked at him and thought about it and said well it was interesting.. and that's all i said lol! and he was like oh great! lol! but oh well it will be good for him! So I got to go to lunch with Jimbob and Conniebob! that was way fun! they came to post falls and picked us up and we went and had some really good lunch! but it was funny cause Sunday evening i had to call the APs (assistants to the President) about something and I was talking to Elder Spainhower and he said hey I saw your neighbor at church today.. and I said really what was his name? and he said brother.... and i said Wilcox? and he said ya that's it and i said lol that's not my neighbor that's my girlfriends dad! LOL! and he was like huh? and i said ya they are up here visiting family.. :D lol and he just kinda laughed but you could tell he was like what the freak! :D lol! but he didn't see Shannon which is a good thing or he might have lost focus for a few weeks.. :D she can do that to people ;) So today we got done playing basketball and we went over to the other elders place to shower and we had just brought our clothes with us.. and i was showering and a thought came to mind... I don't have any G's... LOL! so for like 30 minutes i had to go commando in my proselyting clothes until we could drive to our place so i could get some G's... lol it was really weird.. but anyways I love you guys a lot! I am glad you guys are doing really well! Take care of yourselves!

Elder Penman

June 8th E-mail

Hey whats going on?!?! Its really good to hear from you guys! We had kind of a rough week. with a lot of opposition.. But that's ok its to be expected especially right before something great happens! But i will tell you one funny story.. As a missionary you become very bold with people and almost so much that it just catches them off guard.. anyways we were talking with this guy who was throwing out all this anti stuff that was just bogus.. and anyways he was trying to play the nice guy as well but i just wasn't buying into it.. So he says "you know i mean i really admire what you guys are doing but what if you guys are bringing all these people into something that is not true..?" and i had enough and i just told him "You know if we are bringing all these people to something that is false and you have the truth then why don't you get out and do what we do?" and then before he could say anything else I said "And I guarantee that you wouldn't last very long" and he said "Excuse me?" and i said " I said you wouldn't last very long!" and he just well blah blah blah what about this and that and just completely changed the subject lol! It was funny... I just don't know why things don't make sense to people... he started talking about how we think we will become equal to God one day blah blah blah... and so we answered his question.. 2 really cool scriptures for that is psalms 82:6 and John 10:34-35. I think those are the ones.. I don't have my scrips on me but i think those are the ones.. anyways he had nothing to say to that.. and then he said well I just cant believe that God was a man on this earth. and so i explained to him my opinion. which is that (well first i told him he was right it probably wasn't this earth :D) and then I said.. and now think about this.. If God has never experienced any of the things that i have and he is sending me down here for no other reason then to go through all this crap to try to get back to him all so that i can worship him for eternity then that would make God sound like a jerk.. and i said and why then if that was the case would i go to God for things before i would my earthly father because my earthly father has been through the things i have and according to you God has never experienced the things that i have.. (I know i was a complete jerk but i was sick of this guy and it makes sense to me) and he said well no God has seen how everything works from the beginning of the world and i said oh to when Adam went to him with a problem he was like well sorry Adam i don't know you will have to wait for a few generations before i can answer that.. and i also pointed out that we aren't the ones who gives God his knowledge.. lol I hope that some of that at least makes sense.. It sounds weird but if you try to argue their side of things then you will realize the truth.. lol God had to learn from somewhere/something.. anyways.. I hope that makes sense.. but something to ponder on anyways :D Not to sit here and tell you guys how well i have learned to bash.. cause i hate bashing! I really do but every once in a while you just get fed up with people and you have to make them realize.. or try anyways :D But anyways this week was fun! I love you guys so much! mom thanks for the cookies! they are so good! Take care of yourself! Thanks for getting Shannon's flowers! and thanks for having her over for dinner! she is so stinkin cute! I love her to death! I love you guys too tho no worries lol!

Take care!

Elder Penman

June 1st E-mail

Hey whats happenin?!?! well it sounds like you guys had fun! I could use some 4-wheelin right about now :D that sounds like a great time. So meat salad and oranges huh? what a unique diet :D lol well I think the key after the diet will be #1 don't sit around and #2 don't eat more than you need.. smaller portions.. if you do that I don't think you will gain it all back. But if you guys are feeling good than that's great. I wonder what crazy thing you guys are going to do next :D I guess that must be what you do when you have no kids at home is you sit there and think of crazy things to do :D lol! I'm just kidding! Well thank you so much for getting Shannon some big beautiful flowers! She needed those! She is so sweet! I mean seriously I know of no other missionaries girlfriend that hasn't missed 1 single week of writing since they have been out! Now that's awesome! So she deserved those flowers lol! Thank you again. We just got back from golfing this morning and it was wonderful! We just played a par 3 but it was so fun to get out and whack the ball around a little bit. I loved it. It was me and Elder Steinbeigle and Jeremy Turrell (a recent convert) and then a whole bunch of old ladies everywhere else.. lol! It was funny. I thought that Jeremy was going to kill one of the old ladies.. He hit from the tee box at like 160 with I think his 8 iron or something and these old ladies were on their box but that course crams them all together and anyways He hit it and yelled 4 and it landed literally right between 2 of the ladies.. and the way they moved we thought that he hit one of them.. but he didn't which was good. He was pretty worried. But overall it was way fun! We had an ok week this week. It could have been better but what do ya do? We are hanging in there though! Thanks for everything! I love you guys! Its good to hear from you! GO MAGIC! Oh and by the way I knew Lebron would choke.. that's just what he does.. :D but anyways I love you guys! Take care!

Elder Penman

May 26th E-mail

HELLO!!! Whats happening family! So you are probably wondering why I haven't written back yet but its because Memorial Day we decided to work so we could talk to more people.. and it was worth it I believe! So we took our p-day today. This week has been really good.. We found 3 more new investigators! I was watching conference today for personal study and you guys have to do something for me.. together (mom and dad) I want you to read (you could even throw James and Jen and Shel and Tyler in there too) but read Elder Bednar's talk and Elder Stevenson's talk and then set a date every week that you are going to go to the temple and go! We live 3 minutes away and there is no reason you shouldn't be going to the temple! If you already are going well then excuse my criticism (if that is how you spell it...) But seriously those talks blew me away this morning and the temple is where it is at! So those are the 2 things... I tell you what it is so crazy how fast time is flying, it seriously goes way too fast. So get this (funny story) Yesterday we are over at a recent converts house to give her baby a blessing and we are waiting for another guy from the church to get there and so I am outside playing with the kids and one of the neighbor kids was over as well and he was maybe like 5 or 6 I don't know somewhere in there and anyways he went and got this brand new skateboard that his mom just bought him and I was like hey let me see that and he handed it to me and I ollied (meaning jumped up and did a trick) on it and when I came down I broke it! and the kid was like... you just broke my skateboard... LOL! Don't worry though I felt really bad and I am going to buy him a new one today at Wal-Mart (that's where his mom got the first one...) but now its so funny! I mean I hate when I do things like that but I do them so often that now I just accept them and laugh :D lol! Oh and one more favor! Tell Shelly and James that neither of them had a good excuse not to write me! I gave them 1 more day and they still couldn't even write me... jeez.. I see what is going on here.. there is just no love.. :D lol! MOM DAD! I love you though! You are faithful and diligent in your writing! :D Tell everyone hello from me and that I love them (even if you think I don't love them) and no I'm not on drugs! Thank you for everything! Mom no rush on those cookies.. Ill just put them with my Easter package... LOL! I'm just kidding :D Well remember what it means to say that the church is true! There is a lot that happens with that sentence.. and not only do we say it but do we show it! I love you guys so much! Take care! and let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

Elder Penman