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