I Love You!

Sister Halbeisen, my daughter, and Hermana Dansie, my goddaughter, are
both STLs!!!
This dog was sleeping on her, and I was telling her to push it off of
her. Sister Theriault said, 'But, he has arthritis!' I was just
laughing :)
This is a Book of Mormon from the 70s i think? One of our members gave
us both a copy! It's so cool! He found them at Goodwill, hahah!



 Dear Everyone!

It has been a GREAT week, making progress with lots of people, and finding new people, and just absolutely loving Tennessee and the crazy people that live here! :) Does weather make people crazy? Cause it went from 100+ to 75 in one day, with some awesome thunderstorms in between!  I love it!

So, a quick update on some people:

Diamond- still moving forward. Really, the only problem about teaching Diamond is simply that she has SO many questions, we never actually have time to answer them all!!!! She jumps ahead and think through things really deep, so we can hardly make it through teaching her the basic principles of the gospel before she gets into the intricate details! it's like trying to do calculus before you know how to do addition and subtraction, ya know? But it's a good thing, because it means she wants to know. it's really fun to teach her :)

Jeff and Maleah:  I don't know what  I have told y'all about them before, but they were married a few months ago, so they could be baptized, but, the baptism never happened. We had a lesson with the Gilday family, and it went so well! We think they needed to hear it from a member, not from the missionaries. So hopefully, we can keep making some good progress with them. They are in a tight situation, so we really hope it all works out and they can keep getting things straight in their life.

Speaking of the Gildays, they have become our new best friends! they live near a lot of our investigators, and they are such awesome missionaries, so we have been able to teach people in their home, and it's been great. They are a young couple with four kids, two boys and two girls. Bro Gilday is this burly guy, but he loves his little kids! We love their family, they help us out all the time! Really, all the members here do, they all want to do whatever they can forever, mostly that means they feed us. We had three pizzas this week :) And they gave us the left overs, so we had two different kinds of pizza in our fridge at one time, living the high life right? It always just made me feel so loved when  I saw it, haha!

We found a lot of people who were willing to talk with us this week, so hopefully we will be able to follow up with them in the coming week. One is a 16 year old named Ally who really wants to know more about God, and how he can help her in her life. It's always neat to teach younger people, they seem so open to the Spirit! We know she could really change her life if she could learn about the gospel!

Virginia: so the miracle of Virginia this week was that we had a lesson with her and Sister Lee, the quietest and strongest member  I know! We had been planning to have them meet for a long time, but it just hadn't worked out until this week, and it was meant to be! Virginia had a lot of questions about why she would need to be baptized again in order to receive the Holy Ghost, because she had already been baptized. Sis Lee had also been baptized once before she joined the church, and she was able to really testify of the difference she felt from the first and the second time, and how she knew it was because of the priesthood, or the authority from God. It was a really spiritual lesson, and a neat thing to experience for all of us!

Oh there is just too many people to write about, I'll stop there so  I can tell you a few of the other really amazing and hilarious things that happened this week!

So we were driving back into town, and we pulled up to a red light.  I saw the girl in the car next to us was dancing, and  I was just laughing and smiling about it, and then  I realized it was Jana, a member of our ward! So, we pulled up next to her and waved and started talking and laughing about it! Now, Jana is taking care of her mom who is very ill with cancer, and she works third shift, so we hardly ever get to see her! So, we are talking, both knowing the light is about to turn green, but also knowing that we never get to actually meet up! And guess what happens? A police man pulls out into the intersection, and stop s traffic for a funeral procession! So we had an extra five minutes to talk, while the procession drove through town! it was such a blessing and tender mercy, because we never get to catch up with her. She was able to fill us in on what's going on with her mom, and we were able to get her in contact with a few people who could help! it was a great reminder to me that God is SO in control of every detail.

Also, isn't it the strangest but greatest thing that they stop traffic for funeral processions?
Ok, so then another great thing this week: we had met this sweet lady who had stopped coming to church a while ago when things got crazy, and we were able to have a member pick her up, and met with us at her house! it turned out to be so exactly perfect, down to a t! They both had so many similar experiences in life, and so much to talk about. It was really incredible to see how Heavenly Father helped this sweet sister who was struggling meet someone who was on the other side, and could help her! It was just such a good moment :) Alright, last thing. this was just hilarious! Sister Theriault was talking to our district leader about something, and as they were ending the phone call, he said, 'have a good night!' and she responded, 'Thanks,  I love you!" But thankfully, she stopped herself before she got too far!!! it had me cracking up,  I couldn't contain myself. Maybe you have to understand sister Theriault a little bit more. She is totally reserved, and everyone we met calls her quiet, shy, or bashful. She blushes when she doesn't know what to say, and she is just the cutest little thing ever! She barely even says love ya to me, so the fact that she almost said it to the elders was just too much to handle!!! it was hilarious, and a good way for her to get a little more out of her shell! laughing always helps!

Well,  I know this was way too long and probably very few of you actually made it through, but  I hope you can see how happy  I am to be serving the Lord, and how grateful  I am to be working with theses amazing people.  I wouldn't trade this experience for anything! Everyday,  I get to see how God works in people's lives, and that's a real blessing.

Love you all!

Sister Penrod

Transfers

Our District!
and this was when we painted, and then got wet. fun stuff!

Dear Everyone!

So I got a brand new missionary, and I will be finishing out my mission with her, here in Shelbyville. She is really sweet, her name is Sister Theriault (pronounced tarry-o), and she is from Bakersfield, CA! That's the fifth missionary in a row that has come to this area, and is from Ca! She went to BYU for a year, so she is just barely 19! I keep getting younger and younger companions, and it just makes me feel older and older.... but it's been a good week, and Sister Theriault definitely likes to work hard, and for that I am super grateful!

So we had transfer meeting on Tuesday, at which I dropped Sister Linsangan off with Sister CobianPonce, from LIVINGSTON! And I picked up Sister Theriault! She was crying a LOT at transfer meeting, since she had to say goodbye to all of her companions from the MTC, so I was a little worried about her, but she's doing good now! She was apparently just really close to them. So, the other best part of transfer day was that we got.....CHIPOTLE on the way home!!! I seriously wanted to cry. Our awesome member who was driving us suggested it, and I had just totally given up all hope that I would ever get CHIPOTLE on my mission. There are I think two in all of Tennessee, and now I've been to one. I know, such a silly thing, but it's kinda like my comfort food. It really was a tender mercy from the Lord.

Then we had the craziest night ever, I hardly even remember it because I know it was just all over the place. But we survived. I do remember that we had dinner with some sweet ol southerners, and they had to show us their entire garden. Every single plant! But it was a good introduction to the South for Sister T. I think. :)

We enjoyed knocking on a few doors this week, met some interesting people, but a few that are sincerely interested! One of the people we talked to was out mowing his lawn. Now, it's never comfortable to approach someone who is mowing their lawn, especially because out here everyone uses riding mowers, and they are a lot louder, and more awkward to approach. So, we walked past this one, and then on our way back, went over and talked to the man mowing and his wife. They were really nice, but were asking some pretty interesting questions. What it eventually boiled down to was this: he had been kicked out of church for wearing his work clothes to church, since he came straight from work, and he was asking us if we would kick him out of church! Of course, we told him no! And explained why we dress nicely, as a sign of respect to God, but that God cared more about us being there than what we were wearing. As we were resolving a few more concerns, his wife then walks over to him and hand him a bottle of whiskey, and a cigarette. He then asks if he can come to our church if he smokes and drinks. We told him of course you can come, but we do believe in treating our bodies as temples, and a creation of God deserves respect. He kept on pushing it, but eventually, we won him over. He said, 'Well, you might just see me in your church one Sunday. You aren't gonna kick me out for my work clothes, are ya?' It was really an interesting conversation, one that Sister T had no idea how to handle, but she was doing her best! It was just such a hilarious, totally Tennessee, moment! People are so funny.

We also met a sweet woman with two kids who just moved here, and is looking for a church! She told us to come back when her husband is home, so we can talk to all of them together! Hope it goes well :)

One of the most exciting people we found this week was a boy named Noah. He has met the missionaries a few times before, but they had stopped for some reason. Sister Theriault was taking the lead on talking on this one, and she was so funny! She didnt' know what to say, so she ended up just asking if he was Noah and if he would be interested in learning more about our church. It was sorta awkward, but it came out alright, and he was quick to say, 'yes!'. it was a great moment, even though there was so much awkwardness!

Diamond is still doing great. We really made a break through with her last night, so hopefully, we will be able to help her put the pieces together some more, and help her feel comfortable to come to church. She is hilarious, I really wish I could explain, or video her or something. Last night she finally understood that she needed to be baptized by the authority, and receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands (by the way, I have studied a lot about that this week, there are TONS of references about that in the Bible, so cool! It's totally how the apostles gave people the Holy Ghost, through the authority Christ gave them to do so and by the laying on of hands!) So Diamond was just going on and on about how she gets it, but she doesn't want to call herself a Mormon. It's so funny when we teach her. She gets everything, but then she lets something totally irrelevant or unimportant get in her way, and then the next time we see her she is practically over it. It just cracks me up! She is getting there though, so it's ok :)

Robyn also is doing good. We moved her baptismal date back a ways because there was some stuff that came up with her family, but I think she will be able to make it! It's exciting, but we still have a lot to teach her :)

A few weeks ago I had mentioned to one of the less active members that I think old Book of Mormons are way cool! And this week when we saw him, he brought us both a copy of an old Book of Mormon! It's from the 70s I think? I just think the cover is awesome, and it's neat to see. It was so nice of him! He finds them at Goodwill, haha!

The only scary bug moment of the week (other than a wasp flying in our apartment from nowhere again, and me having to kill it, and crunch it. Eww, so gross, the crunch gets me) was when we were walking up the stairs for the night. Sister T was ahead of me, and she jumps back and yells (which is weird for her, she never makes a loud noise. she's extremely soft spoken!). I look, and see this humongous beetle!!! SO big. it's disgusting :/ See the picture. And that doesn't even do it justice. But it was right outside our apartment!!

Well, there were some moments from the week! I know I didn't even remember all of what went down. but I am sure grateful for this time to be serving! Hope you all had a good week, Thanks for the support!

 :) Love, Sister Penrod

A possum in the church?!!!

Dear Everyone!

Not much time today since it's the pday before transfers, and little Sister Linsangan will be leaving tomorrow, so we have spent half the day packing her. Trust me, it's a two person job. I guess one of my talents is now packing! I don't know how sisters don't know how to pack, but I am so grateful I learned how to stuff every last thing in there :)

It's been a good week, but I'll just give you the brief run down.

Oh yeah, and I am going to be training a new missionary, brand new from the MTC. AHH! poor sister, i feel so bad for her. I hope all goes well! It's funny, this is my third sister I will be training, but i never trained anyone longer than one transfer....hmm. what does that mean? :)

So we painted some more ceiling. that was fun. but hopefully the last of it :) The best part was when we needed to wash the brushes off outside, and what happens? It starts pouring rain! Of ocurse, right in that moment. so we got soaked, but it was fun! :) kept the bugs away, momentarily....

speaking of which- how in the world do I get bug bites ALL over? It's like insane to me. It's not just my exposed skin, its my stomach, my back, my legs. I don't know. But i'm starting to lose track of how many I have! Haha, oh Tennessee!

So Diamond, that awesome girl I told you about last week who is 19 and really interested? Well, she told us this week that she believes the Book of Mormon is true! She had some really incredible things happen this week that she totally recognizes as signs from God. it's really incredible how aware and present He is in our lives! But, she is struggling to work through some consequences of past choices, and that's really hard to see. Everyday, it makes me more and more grateful for the blessing of growing up in the gospel, and understanding that I have divine worth, and that Heavenly Father gave me a body as a gift, and that I should respect it, and treat it as a temple! Just like it says in the Bible, right? But really, I am so thankful to God for the blessing of knowing that I am a loved daughter, and He has a purpose for me, and wants me to become something incredible! I know I have a LONG way to go, but just having hope in that brings me through every day! It makes me want to share the gospel even more when I realize that there are so many people out there who don't know that, and don't understand that there is a way to overcome even the biggest mistakes.

Anyway, Diamond is amazing. It's slow going, but I know she will get there, eventually!!

So we were driving to an appt and we saw this ez up with a billion dream catchers all over it! So we stopped by on our way back, and talked to the man who made them :) His name was Gill, and when he asked us if we were ok with dream catchers, we just laughed and said of course! it's part of a culture! And then, we just happened to explain to him that the Book of Mormon was also part of his culture, and that he would probably be really interested in learning about it! So we gave him one, and he said we could come back next week to talk to him more about it, so we will see where it goes :)

There is a less active member named Brother Heywood here, who we see every week and we always invite to church!! Well this week, he FINALLY came! And it was the best thing ever, mostly because he slicked his normally curly, frizzy hair, down straight on his head. I honestly didn't recognize him at first! It was great to have him there though :)

So we have transfers Tuesday, and we aren't supposed to know but one of the Assisstants to the president accidentally told us where sister Linsangan is going.....and it's LIVINGSTON, TN!!! I am so so so so excited for her, and so grateful she gets to go there! It's going to be such a good thing for her, and I know the people there will just love her to death!! So that made me really happy. I screamed. a lot.

Funniest moment of the week: We were teaching a woman named Virginia at the church, and we were sitting in the fore, but sister linsangan was angled towards the open chapel door. So, she was quoting the first vision, typically the most spiritual moment in a lesson, and when she finishes, Virginia looks down for a minute, and Sister Linsangan's jaw just drops to the floor. I am so confused and trying to keep my composure, and just get through the lesson. So we do, and as soon as Virginia leaves, I turn around and ask her what is up?! And she says, "sister. I saw an animal, like a big animal, jump from the pew to the floor!!!!" So then we spent like five minutes trying to find it, but then I just kept thinking that there was a raccoon or possum or armadillo, and I did not want to catch it, or even see it!! And since we were there alone, we got slightly freaked out, and decided to leave. We also knew we would be the first ones there tomorrow morning, so we went home.

And the next morning, we couldn't find anything! So, it either left, or Sister L. was hallicunating. I don't know, but I am just grateful that we didn't see a possum in the church!!! :)

So that was the week. Lot's of good moments, many I can't write about right now. But I am grateful that I got to be companions with Sister Linsangan, and I am jsut so scared to train, but I know Heavenly Father still has plenty to teach me, and I hope that we can help the people we are supposed to help here.

I hope you all have a good week. I love you all! Remember to love on your missionaries!

Sister Penrod

Hello from Shelbyville

Dear Everyone!

This week has been incredible, minus the fact that today I lost my nametag. The nametag I have worn since January 15, 2014, every single day! It's kinda depressing me and my new companion definitely doesn't understand. So, I'll just move on to keep from crying in the public library computer lab. :)

We had quite a few miracles this week, which I can't even begin to describe! But there are a few people we met and are teaching that I just love so much, I'll try to explain them to you.

So first: Diamond. Yep, that's her name. She's 19, and the daughter of one of the nicest people ever, Quincy. he teaches primary at church! We met her, and she was cracking us up the whole time. She really reminds me of Monica Ukah a little bit. Her hair and all. Anyway, we got talking about God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost, you know as we normally do, and we were explaining how we believe they are three separate beings, but united in purpose. We explained that we call them the Godhead, and Diamond freaked out. She told us she had been reading the Bible yesterday, and that she came across that word, and she reread and reread it, trying to figure out what it meant. She was like, 'yall, im serious here, i was like stuck on it for like....days.' oh diamond :) anyway, so that really opened her up to it all. She was just super engaged, and told us to tell her everything. "i need information, just go for it, im super interested." it was amazing! but of course, it's never actually that easy right? her mom was there, but here mom was offended by some missionaries a while ago, so she was trying to shut the whole thing down, without coming off that way. it was awkward, but we aren't worried at all. Diamond knows what she was thinking and feeling about everything we shared. And I am pretty sure her mom knows too, that's why she was trying to get rid of us, cause she knows its true! In fact, she told us she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. she just never had the rest of the dots connected for her! But yea, we are super excited to teach Diamond!!

Robyn is still progressing, and coming to church. She is very excited about her baptism, and wanted to make sure everyone knew.... :) Ok! It should be the end of this month, but we will see how it all works out. it's tricky with the fourth of July being on a saturday too. But we will figure it out!

We met another sweet lady named Virginia this week, and she is looking for a church! She is familiar with ours, she's attended before, and she really wants to learn. She said to take it slow, but that's no problem with us. She is really sweet and seems very sincere, so we are excited to see where she goes with it! But she works all the time, so we hope thats not a problem.

Along with the good comes the not so good, right? Opposition in all things. So, we had some good ol awkward moments this week too! Like, pulling up to someone's house, and seeing them inside, and then them ignoring us knocking on the door? Or, setting an appointment for the next day, and them not being there for the second time! Or being told the wrong address for our dinner appointment, so we knocked on their next door neighbors' door! And THEN the members came outside and motioned us over. (thankfully, their neighbors weren't even home, so that was all ok, still embarrassing though! :).

Probably the moment that takes the Awkward cake of the week is this: we were tracting, trying to find a specific person without their address (long, complicated story. we do crazy things sometimes as missionaries, i know). So, it's getting dark and we decide to knock on one more door! We knock, and no one comes, but then we hear the window to the left slide open, and we see a head pop out. The guy asks 'can i help you?', to which I tell him we are sharing a message about Jesus Christ! Then he says, ' yea, i'm on the toilet right now...can yall come back tomorrow?' and a few other things. we tried to tell him we couldn't go back tomorrow, but between the window, the laughs, and the awkwardness, he just couldn't seem to get the message. maybe one day this week we will go knock on his door again. but we just walked away laughing and laughing....WHO DOES THAT?! oh, Tennessee with your strange folk. I love it!

It was all worth it though, because we met some really good people on that street. One man who had a lot of questions about what happens to us after we die. it was really neat to get to share some of the Plan of Salvation with him, and help him understand God has a plan.

We also painted a ceiling this week for one of our members. it was....interesting. Why? Well, the ceiling was paneled, so we had to cut all the corners of every single 6 inch square so it was basically like we hand painted the whole thing, and my companion is 4' 11" and terrified of heights i.e. stepping on a ladder. So.... it was interesting :) But Heavenly Father helps us through those moments too! And the days afterwards of neck pain.... I really did enjoy doing it, I just felt so bad for my companion the whole time! :)

One of our awesome newer members finally opened up to us about smoking this week, and how she wants to quit! We are really happy because we have known for a while that she smokes, but we had to wait for her to talk to us about so that we could help her with it! We will be hopefully helping her quit this week! She is so sweet, and really wants to go to the temple, but smoking is keeping her back! Addictions can really get ya.... its tough to see a lot of it here.

We  had one of the best lessons this week with a family who is returning to the church after a few months of inactivity. They asked us to teach them about how to study their scriptures! It was so cool for me, because it totally made me realize how much I have learned and grown from that on my mission. I had no idea before how to study the scriptures, with the expectation and faith that I would actually learn something from them. but now, it really is something I need to do every single day!! The scriptures have real power to them, and when you study with a question, the answer always comes!

Man, there was so much more I could write about, but I know this is probably already too long! I am so grateful to be a missionary, and I am grateful for the incredible people we have met here this week. It's been very clear to me how involved Heavenly Father is in my life, and in everyone single one of our lives. I love these people, and this place, but most especially, I love getting to share the gospel with all of them. There is absolutely nothing that brings more peace and happiness in this life than the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is so very real, and this week I had many experiences which helped me remember that. I am so grateful for my Savior. Whenever I can keep him as the center of my thoughts, nothing else matters. Even losing my nametag, or being ignored, or whatever happens. All that matters in this life is to understand and grow close to our Savior and Heavenly Father. The challenge is just to always remember and recognize how close they are to us!

Love,

Sister Penrod

Tender Mercies

Dear Everybody,

Another week, come and gone in Shelbyville, Tn: The Walking Horse capitol of the World, or something like that. Also, pencils and sharpies :) There are a lot of factories here. Your Tyson Chicken might come from this city, too! No one was sick, and we didn't get drenched, so this week has been relatively calm in comparison to previous ones! But of course, still wonderful adventures.

We saw quite a few tender mercies from Heavenly Father, and an awesome miracle or two as well! We are fed almost every night here, which is something new to me, but we love it! So, we have been talking with the families who feed us and asking them if there is anyone they know that might be interested in learning more about the gospel, since that's what we do! So one family told us to go knock on their sons door, since he used to come to church with them, and is a member. They tried explaining where he lived, but the best we got was his street (people here really fail at explaining directions, it's hilarious. They try three or four different ways, which confuses us more.)

Anyway, so a few days later, we had some time to go knock on doors, so we were going to try to find theirs! So, we find a place to park (remember, no sidewalks here, only ditches- so parking is rough.) We knock on the house right in front of us, and who do you think we meet? The son? NO, a less active member of the church! They let us
right in, and told us their whole story, and how they joined the church, but they haven't been back in a few months, etc. We share a message about the commandments, and obedience, and how we are so blessed when we follow God's laws, and how one of those is to keep the sabbath day holy. We ask them if they will come to church, and they say, 'well, yeah! of course we are!'. it was so funny, and amazing. the spirit was totally there, and we were so grateful we found them. Best news is that they actually did come! It was just the biggest tender mercy.

So then, we leave and try to go find the other members' son! We skip a door or two, and knock on one other house, and guess who we meet? The son! And he is super nice. It was awkward, because we didn't know it was him, but then he told us he grew up in our church, etc etc. Anyway, it was a great night, and we felt so led by the Spirit. We
were so grateful!

I don't remember if I mentioned Amber, but she is a 19 year old artist who is such a cool girl, and we are working to help her build her relationship with God again. She joined the church when she was younger, but she has since stopped coming. Well, a few days ago she sprained both of her ankles, and could hardly walk! We explained that a priesthood blessing could help, and she wanted to receive one to help her gain her strength again. So, we set up a time, and then didn't hear from her for a few days. We were really stressing that she wouldn't be there or something, since she was normally really good at responding to us but wasn't! the problem was that the priesthood holders who were coming to help lived almost an hour away, so we were worried that they would come all the way out, and she wouldn't be home! But we prayed really really hard, and everything worked out! It was such a tender mercy, for all of us involved!

We also got a new couch this week! The one we had was full of bugs, so we finally got a new one to replace it. The Assistants had to bring it up from Nashville for us, which was so nice of them! But as we were moving the old one out, our neighbor asked if he could find someone to take it. We told him there were bugs in it, but he didn't mind. So, all week we have had two couches, but hopefully by tonight, we should have just one, which we can actually sit on and not squirm! Blessings!

I went on my first exchange in a month this week too! It's been weird, not going on exchanges lately. I counted it up, I haven't gone this long without an exchange in a little over 9 months! So I was really grateful for the exchange this week. It was really fun for me, since I got to go to Buena Vista, with Hermana Torres! My spanish has definitely declined since living with Hermanas, but that's ok, it was still a good day. I learned a lot from Hermana Torres. But it was kinda weird to be on the other side again.

Ok, another tender mercy: so last week, Sister Linsangan was talking to me about how she knows ASL, and she really wanted to use it to help someone. I told her all she had to do was pray for some opportunity, and something would come up! I have seen it happen all the time for me on my mission! And, I told her that every now and then, we would get an email from President  asking around for missionaries who could sign. Well, guess what happened this week? We got an email from President about it! So, she was going to teach someone yesterday, but the appointment fell through :( So soon, she will get to skype, and sign a woman named Jackelynne! It's exciting, even though it didn't work out yesterday. It's been fun trying to learn some new words with her, like apostasy....who knows how to sign that? I at least know the alphabet!

Ok, last tender mercy, even though I haven't even gotten to tell you about like half of the incredible things going here: we were out to lunch today at a really good Mexican restaurant, and we ran into a member of the church from a different area! He said hi to us, and we got to know him a little. He was out to lunch with his wife. But, as we were walking out, he ended up paying for our meal! It was such a kind thing he did, and we were so grateful!

There are just so many things that help me remember and see how aware Heavenly Father is of us, and personally of me. I know they might seem like little things, like finding the right door, or a meal being payed for, but to me they are huge manifestations of love from God about things that are hard or scary or frustrating to me! And I know that sometimes we just have to have the right eyes to see all the Heavenly Father is trying to show us. It's hardly ever easy, but I know it's always possible. And I know He gives us tender mercies in the moments that are hardest for us.

I wish I could write more, but it's impossible to explain it all. Thanks for the prayers, keep them coming!!

Love,

Sister Penrod

this was our dinner last night, her name is Abby! She spent probably twenty minutes trying to put my hair (which is super thick and long) into a ponytail. When she was through, I think I had four or five bows all over my head!! So fun :) Made me think of Tori! exchanges with hma torres!
me wearing sister l's glasses :)