What I Know

Dear Everyone!

I can't even believe this will be the last email I send as a missionary! It's kinda freaking me out. 

The last eighteen months have been quite the journey for me. It's kinda impossible to explain, as it goes with extremely significant and personal events in our lives, so I'm not going to attempt to explain by listing all the many lessons I've learned, or the things that have changed me, or the things I'm going to miss most, or what I've learned about loving. I'd rather just tell you about what I know. 

I know that Heavenly Father loves every single one of us. I don't quite know how he does that, because I can be a frustrating being sometimes, but he does it. And that means it's possible for us to love every single person we meet. It's not easy, but knowing it's possible changes my perspective quite a bit. It's made me realize that the judgements I pass with my human eyes are not what God sees, not even close! But, because of Jesus Christ, it's possible to see with spiritual eyes, and love others as God loves them. And when we can do that, we realize just how much God loves us. 

That's the next thing I know. I know that Jesus Christ is my Redeemer, and that he voluntarily felt  the pain and sorrow and regret and failure and grief and shame I experience in my life, for me. All so that I could know there was a way to overcome all those feelings, and so that when I realized my own imperfections and weaknesses, I didn't have to be forever distraught and immobilized by them, but that I instead could become something so much greater. I know Jesus Christ came not only to allow me and all of us to live with God and our families after this life, but he also came to show us that we could become so much, if we follow His example, and keep God's commandments. 

I know that God has given us commandments, so that we can find happiness in our lives, regardless of the state of humanity around us. There are absolute, eternal truths that do not change.

I know that when I pray, my Heavenly Father hears me, and responds to me. He knows my name, and my problems, and my successes. And He cares about each of those things, simply because I care about them. 

I know there is a prophet of God on the earth today, and that he gives us the guidance we need for our lives and families, so that we can navigate the stormy waters of the world. I know without this guidance, I would be lost and confused. I know that Thomas S. Monson is called by God and is the prophet on the earth today, giving us direction for our lives. 

I know there are only certain treasures we can hold fast to in heaven, and the family is one of them. There are always competing voices for our attention, time, and energy, but it's simply because there is power in a spiritually strong family. And wherever there is truth, power or joy, opposition will be found also. The family is the most important part of our entire lives.

I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God because it brings me closer to understanding his will for me every single day. And I know without a doubt that any one who reads it and asks God with sincerity will know for themselves if it's true. I know that it matters we have the Book of Mormon, especially because it is the proof that God's authority, the priesthood, is on the earth today. And that means our families can be eternal, and we can be baptized the way Jesus Christ taught us to be baptized, and showed us by his example. 

I know there is strength that comes from reading the scriptures, gods word to us, every day of our lives. I did not know that before my mission. I had been told that, but I did not know for myself! And now I do. Anytime we desire more from God, we need to give more of ourselves. In the case of scriptures, that means putting the time into it will give us a great reward!

I know that we are so loved by God that he will give us challenges that have been handcrafted by him for each of us individually. I have had those challenges in my life, and I know they are gifts from God. He gave me them so that I could become more like the person he knows I can become. I didn't know it during the challenges, but I know it now!

I know that faith, is hard. But, I know faith for me means believing in God's will, even when it might not logically add up. It means believing something can happen, even when all the odds add up against it. And, it means having the patience and trust in God to be willing to see it His way if things don't work out. 

I know that Heavenly Father intentionally sent me to Tennessee for 18 months, so that I could be changed and shaped, and become more of the person he wants me to be. And I know I have a long way to go, but I know Jesus Christ is with me every step of the way. 

Thanks for being such faithful writers and readers! I hope you know how much I love each of you, and how grateful I am for this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father. I hope my offering of a mission was enough for Him. 

Love,

Sister Penrod

Moving:(

Dear Everyone,

What a whirlwind of a week! So many people to talk to, and things to do, and still so much to get done! I don't know if it ever stops.  But, I am so glad. I love my life!

Where to start... the people!

Virginia is on her third week of quitting tea, and next week she is quitting coffee! it's pretty incredible, because she understands that if she doesn't know if it's a commandment from God, she's just going to have to try it out, and see if the promised blessings come. And already, she's seen blessings from quitting her tea. It's awesome, because sometimes, we don't understand why. I mean, how many times have we felt an urge to do something or talk to someone that makes no sense to us? But when we do it, we see why. I guess that's why we need faith!

We saw a lot of progress with our less active members this week too! Sister Parmely is going to start praying with her husband, because she wants to be in the temple with him again! And Bro Collins came to our Book of Mormon class, which was all about prayer, and having sincere prayers. It's always something I need to be reminded of. I have learned more and more that usually, I have already learned the lesson in it's simplest form, I just fail to remember and apply in every way I should! And then Bro Burgstrom. Man, we had a really spiritual lesson with him, and as we did, he realized on his own that there are some things he needs to work on, and that the Atonement lets us overcome our faults. That's something I have a strong testimony of- We can feel forgiven because of Christ's atoning sacrifice.

Oh, and Brother Hunt. What an incredible man, and a strong testimony. He too realized this week that there is something he needs to be changing. He had the coolest experience. He explained to us that when he was younger, he had a strong impression that he would never break a bone in his body. Well, he works in a factory, around a lot of heavy equipment. We had asked him to pray every single day, and even made him put a reminder in his lunch pail, where he looks every single day! He said that twice this week, he had very close calls with the machinery. Something broke, and dropped a weight on his hand, but it was just bruised. And then a slicer went haywire, and he barely pulled his thumb out in time. He said that he realized later , he had forgotten to pray on those days. He took it as a warning and a reminder from Heavenly Father of all the promised blessings he can have, but that he has things he needs to change. It was so neat to see that he was beginning to see more how involved Heavenly Father is in his life. He said he wasn't going to be missing any more days or prayer!

We also met an adorable couple with four kids, accidentally! we were looking for a member we hadn't met before, and knocked on the wrong house! but, I guess that's how the Lord works, in mysterious ways. So, we will teach them this week, more about the restoration! It's so sad, because they are just like so many people here: they don't believe in church because they have seen so many corrupt ones in their lives. Sometimes, I just want to yell to the world, "NO ONE IN OUR CHURCH IS PAID, IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY OR THE POLITICS! IN FACT, WE BELIEVE YOU CAN KNOW IF SOMETHING IS TRUE SIMPLY BY PRAYING AND ASKING GOD, YOU DON'T HAVE TO ASK YOUR MOM, PASTOR, BEST FRIEND, AND DOG!" but, im not sure how effective that would be, other than slightly cathartic for me :)

I also learned about a new past time this week: tractor mudding! basically, you take apart and build up a tractor with big wheels and a powerful motor, and then when it rains, you go ride in the mud. So like redneck four wheeling.... on a tractor :)

Yesterday we ate dinner with the Simmons family, who have two boys and four girls. Man, I am so glad that I only have one brother. Those poor girls! The boys are oldest, and are total jocks! The girls are too, but they just get picked on, haha! but they definitely all love each other, it's pretty neat. It was really fun to be with them. It was hard for me to keep the girls names straight though... definitely made me feel sorry for ever being mad that anyone couldn't get our names straight! But, it was so fun because I just felt like I was at home, with all the madness!

We also helped build a shed this week! It was fun, reminded me I have no idea about construction or building anything.... but it was good to learn. One of our members is a contractor, so he taught us a lot. Sister Theriault even used a HUGE nail gun! It was really hot though! I am just used to sweating now I guess. it took a lot of my energy for the rest of the day though!

The other adventure we had this week was trying to find a place to move to! We have been wanting to find a new home, but it's really hard in our town! And then, we found out that there are going to be another set of missionaries in Shelbyville starting in a few weeks! So our search to move became a search for a second apartment or house. After almost a day and a half, we found something that might work out. At least, we are praying it will!

Also this week, Sister Theriault reached her first month mark! And the day before, I reached my 18th month mark! So we celebrated with..... milkshakes!!!! :) of course.

Anyway, it's been a good week, full of fun and laughter. I can't believe I only have one more to go. I'll try to write a really good last email next week! I love you all, thanks for all the help you've given me! Remember to read your scriptures, they are the bread of life! President Andersen told me this week, "You head should NEVER hit the pillow at night if you haven't opened your scriptures!"

Love,

Sister Penrod

Tender Mercies!!

Awesome package from the Christensens!
KELSEY came and visited me! :) I LOVE HER:)


Dear Everyone!

So miracle of the day: normally, we email at the library and we only have a certain amount of time to use the computers before it shuts us out, which means we always end up going and asking for them to extend our time. Well, they told us they can only do that by 15 minutes, so I was thinking, man I guess I will just have to write a shorter letter today, since that's hardly enough time to write a letter about a whole week of amazingness!

So, we went and asked them to extend it, and I even said to Sister Theriault, "man, I wish they could give us more than fifteen minutes at a time!". So they extend our time, and what happens? They somehow gave us 35 minutes! It's just one of those tender mercies! :) So, now I will try not to give you a LONG email, since I know hardly any of you actually make it all the way through, haha!

We had an awesome Ward Family Night last Monday at the park. We had a few less active members come, and shared a good spiritual message all about how we are children of God! It was good to just be together, and to see so many happy families! It was pretty fun.

Funniest moment of the week: So there is this guy who is a cop, who happened to pull over some missionaries a few months ago, they were driving with a member, and they ended up teaching him the restoration lesson. So, we have been trying to get in contact with him for a while because he has just been really busy with things. So, we left him a voicemail, and when he called us back, we were able to set up a time to talk to him for a little longer! But then, an hour or two later, we get this voicemail from his wife, telling us that she heard our voicemail (the one he already responded to), and that she is DEFINITELY not interested in becoming a Jehovah's Witness, and would appreciate it if we could take their number off our list. Goodness, I am still busting up over it! People confuse us all the time, it's so funny! So, we are just gonna call him at the time we set up anyway, just to clarify with them all :)

We have been finding quite a few awesome people this week! 

Andrea is a mom with three kids, and she has been looking for the truth her whole life! We left her with a Family Proclamation pamphlet, and will follow up with her tonight :) We are really excited because she was telling us all about her faith and what she feels is right, and it's right in line with what we share with people!

There is a sweet older couple named the Bradley's who got off their mission a few weeks ago because Bro Bradley is sick. We went over to talk some about family history, and they ended up showing us their binder full of pictures from their mission! I'm talking a four or five inch binder :) It was hard for my companion to sit there, she is really anxious about time sometimes, but at the end, Sister Bradley said, "thank you for listening to us and going through this book, no one else has sat down and talked to us about it since we have been home!". That made it all worth it! It's always hard with time, because it's never enough for the people we see here, but if we aren't careful, than we don't use our time well. but i knew that's what we were supposed to do for them. :)

Virginia is doing well, sticking with no tea for now! She has seen a lot of blessings come her way as she is trying to keep the Word of Wisdom, so we are really excited for her to keep gaining a testimony!

We went on exchanges this week with the Hermanas, and I got to be with Hermana Dansie again! it was great, and she really helped us out with the Spanish people we have to work with here. It's really hard for us to meet new families because we never know who does or doesn't speak english, and I would feel so rude if we couldn't communicate with them! So we went to the Villanueva's home, and got to know them, and it turns out most of them speak pretty great English. I just love Hispanic culture, and how welcoming they are to everyone! Hermana Villanueva even sent us home with empanadas! It was a really spiritual lesson too, and God's hand was in the whole thing. We got lost getting there, and were late getting home, but it was the only time all week that their entire family had been home together at the same time. They decided on their own that they would start doing family home evening, and their son who doesn't attend church offered to say the prayer. Hermana Dansie said it best as we were driving home, 'There's just something special about the Spirit that comes when we are together as a family!' I completely agree.It always reminds me of God's plan for our families.

Ok, there's so many more people to write about, but I will stop myself. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and the letters, and the support. I am always so so grateful for the friends God has blessed me with. 

I love you all!

Sister Penrod

Dear Everyone!

it's so green, i love it! we were waiting to pull up this driveway
cause we were talking on the phone, and needed to hang up!! haha :)
isn't she cute?
also, look at all that CORN!!!
corn corn corn....all that grows here is corn!!!

Dear Everyone,

Another week, and such great weather! It was rainy, every single day!  It was crazy, but a really nice break from the usual heat around this  time of year. There were even a few days without any humidity!  Unfortunately, because of the rain, they cancelled the firework show in our town, but that's ok, since we probably wouldn't have seen it  anyway! I know last week was a great week, so I guess I could have seen it coming, but I felt like the adversary was really working on us this week! And on the people we are working with, unfortunately :(  

Our week started out with three of our investigators calling on Monday to tell us that they were moving out of our area. That same week! So, it's been a real bummer because they were all really making good  progress, and a lot of members were excited about them. It's kinda like you have to relive the blow of them leaving every time someone asks you how they are doing, and we have to tell them that they moved! But, other than that, and thousands of bug bites, and an allergic  reaction, and a broken car, and pouring rain, and a lot of other  things I may have been bummed out about-things are still really good  here. Like, amazing actually! So I'll tell you all about those things  :)  

So we met this family, and they are AWESOME! It was actually a miracle  the way we met them. So, we had the name and address of someone the missionaries used to teach, but when we knocked on the door, turns out they don't live there anymore. So we explained to the woman we met who we were and that we help people grow in their relationship with  God, and she told us she was really sick but that we could come back later. So a month later, we finally got to knock on her door again and meet her! She let us right in, and come to find out: she has seen the Hill Cumorah Pageant multiple times! Her brother lives with her too, and they are SUPER open to learning more about everything, because  they have some really good friends who are members and they have never been pushy or anything with them, but they have always shared it with them. They invited us to their family barbecue to meet their mom too, 'cause she loves the missionaries apparently. It was great! And such a  tender mercy, because we never would have found them except for that random name and address! We will see where they go this week, and if they remembered to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  

We talked to a lot of people this week, and I realized something. I am so thankful that the message I am sharing as a missionary speaks for itself. It's so funny how people often are closed off to hearing what we have to say, simply because they felt that religion was pushed on them in the past, or they think we are trying to convince them of  something. It's really the best thing ever to know that I literally  don't have to say anything in order for them to know if the Book of  Mormon is true. All that's required is for them to actually read it,  and pray. It says a lot that people think they can find answers from  men, or from people. If I had a nickel for every time I have heard,  'I'll ask my pastor what he thinks...' I would be rich! But I just wish more people understood they should be asking God! If we believe  in an omnipotent God, why would we not go to Him with our questions?

Ok, so Virginia! She quit tea this week, just as an experiment to see if she could understand why it was a commandment from God. As of  Sunday, she hadn't had any all week, which is awesome! She really  wants to understand, but reading is hard for her, so it's been a  challenge to help her realize that all her answers to questions come as she reads the Book of Mormon! But she is slowly getting there :)  

We also made a lot of progress with a few of our members who haven't  attended in a while. Sister Parmley told us she had been praying on  her knees, and reading everyday like we had asked her to. It was the  best moment when she told us that she actually had a desire to read  this scriptures, for the first time ever! The Spirit was so strong,  and she could tell that she was doing what God wanted her to be doing! We had a similar experience with Brother Hunt. He is an incredible man with a lot of hard things in his life. We see him every Sunday night,  and we never know if we will actually get to talk to him long or if he can't talk. We always pray with him, and usually ask him to pray, but he refuses. Well, this week, he sat down and talked with us, and listened what we had to share about the Atonement, and about how all  God asks from us is progress, not perfection! He knows so much about the scriptures, it's amazing to hear him talk. And yet, he still struggles with the small things, like prayer and reading the  scriptures! But last night, before we even asked, he offered to pray, and he said the most sincere, heartfelt prayer I have heard in a  long time. We could all feel the Spirit, and it was incredible to hear  the change that has come over him in just a few weeks. We really  wanted him to know that there is hope for him, no matter what he thinks might be keeping him from feeling forgiven. But in his prayer, it seemed like he understood, and believed that was true. It was a  great moment! I just love getting to see people change, and for the better. It's  such a blessing in my life.

Someone told me that my mission isn't a sacrifice, like most people see it as. Rather, my mission is an offering, to Heavenly Father. I thank Him every single day for the blessing it has been in my life to be in His service, and be touched by the people I have seen change, because of Jesus Christ. Every moment has been a blessing from Heavenly Father. It was never a sacrifice on my part.  

Love you all!

Sister Penrod