Out of the mouth of 3 or... 2 witnesses

Well, this week was a pretty eventful one, so it flew by pretty quickly! I can't believe it's P-Day, and I can't believe that we only have 2 more weeks until next transfer! The missionary lifestyle is such a fast one. I recommend it if you need to pass a couple of years as quickly as possible.

I guess I'll get the bad news out of the way first: Jovana (Giovana?) is even less sure about being baptized on the 14th, and we think that a lot of it has to do with the influence of her mother. She just doesn't think that she's prepared enough to be baptized so soon. I want to talk to her more about the decisions that she makes and how the Lord can help her to follow through with these decisions. Especially when we are baptized and recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost, the Lord can and will help us through any rough patches in life, as long as we choose to follow His will. Well, I'll give you the update next week on whether or not the 14th will happen, I guess. We're praying for her.

Well, we had Stake Conference this week, which was a really neat experience. President Mathews gave a talk about the Europe Area Plan, which is to:1. Invite a friend to church, 2. Become temporally and spiritually self-sufficient, and 3. Find an ancestor. I really like this plan, and I think if every member applied it to their lives, then we'd have a stronger, more steadily increasing pool of members in every stake. We only had one investigator there, but she's progressing much better than we had previously thought, and we realized that we need to spend some more time with her! Her name is Isabelle, and she's the cousin of Junior, who's our go-to ward missionary, so it works out very well! She's very shy, but she's fascinated by the Book of Mormon and really likes what we teach her, and has some very good questions, which shows that she's learning well! Her only problem is that she lives with her boyfriend (we're teaching him too, and he's cool too) in the same house, but I think that he may have his own place to live in? We'll have to make sure, but if he does, it will make it much easier for them to start living the Law of Chastity.

In other news, we had our first division of the transfer, so we had Elder Farnsworth come over to our area and take Elder Andrade's place for a day. Elder Farnsworth is a really good missionary. He's very bold about everything he says, and even though he didn't know anybody that we talked with, he spoke the most out of the three of us! It's also pretty funny, because he was Elder Adams' companion before me, so we got to talk a bit of the funny things that Elder Adams did. We miss that guy.

And last but not least, we got the news that Elder Andrade would be starting a new area with a mini-missionary, since his visa for Brazil still hasn't come. Elder Andrade is an awesome missionary, and he taught me a lot about really getting to know our investigators, and helping them to feel welcome to speak freely when we talk to them. He left earlier today, and the house just seems a little bit empty without him. I mean, being in a threesome of Elders isn't the most fun, because things just naturally tend to happen a little more slowly and you seem to talk a lot less, but this threesome was a great one, and I hope to be able to continue doing well in this area as a twosome again.

Well, that's it for this week, stay tuned for a stunning week filled with: A surprise division with the Zone Leaders of Sal in our area, a Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Dyches (of the Seventy!) and possibly the start of some marriages in this area...

I hope all of you are well! Have a good week!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

New Person, Same Old Mistakes

Soo I don't really know exactly why I chose this title for my email. It's a Tame Impala song. I guess I just like the concept about how even though we can change something about ourselves, it doesn't necessarily mean that we're magically going to stop making our old mistakes. I like to think of myself as a brand new person, a newly reinvigorated missionary, but at the same time I can see the parts that were holding me back last time start to show. I guess I just really need to work at it, one thing at a time, to mold myself into the kind of missionary that I aspire to be now.

I really want to talk about my area and the cool things about it. Varzea's a pretty big area, it encompasses all of Praia 3rd Ward. There are a solid 80 active members, and from the looks of it at least 50 inactive members, so there's a lot to do in that area. We also have a lot of investigators here, especially families, which is awesome. The only problem is that none of them are married, so we have that as a big focus in our work right now. It almost seems that we mark more dates for marriages than we mark dates for people to be baptized! 

I think one of the coolest things about our area is that there's a big old cemetery right in the middle, and we always walk in a little path right above it and it just gives us the greatest view. It also means that a lot of funerals pass by, which means that the streets can get absolutely crowded at times. When someone dies in Cape Verde, everyone who ever knew them comes to the funeral, even if they only met in Kindergarden. The other day there were 3 funerals coming in at the same time, and we almost couldn't get through!

As for people, they couldn't be any better. We finally met Elton John the other day, and he just seems fascinated with just about everything we believe him. We started talking about the Atonement and he was like "you guys always have the biggest smiles when you talk about Jesus Christ" and we were like "well, yeah! He means so much to us that we can't help but smile!" and it was just a really neat experience. We also met an Adventist who agreed to talk with us, her name's Leila. She's talked with the missionaries before and really enjoys our message, but she's also very hooked on the idea that Saturday should be the Sabbath, because that's what the Bible says. It doesn't help that the word for Saturday and Sabbath are the same, Sábado. I think that as she reads the Book of Mormon and as we talk to her, the Holy Ghost can begin to work with her.

Jovana, our date for the 14th, has been progressing very well, except for the fact that she didn't get to church this Sunday! She apparently partied too hard the night before, and couldn't get up. We were disappointed, but we explained why it was important to keep the Sabbath Day holy and she seems to understand now. We also ran into another problem: her mother doesn't think she's prepared enough to be baptized that early. She belongs to another Christian faith, and she strongly believes that you have to be certain that you're going to follow the path that you're on. We talked to her about how we can get a confirmation for ourselves that the church is true, and we show our committment to follow it through baptism, which opens the door to the true path, but she seemed to look at baptism as more of an end goal. We're going to talk with her more about it, because without her permission, Jovana can't be baptized because she's not 18 yet.

I've come to notice that Elder Wendt and Elder Andrade have somewhat clashing personalities, but it actually works towards our working more effectively. Elder Andrade is pretty laid back (at times to the point of laziness and wanting to just hang around), but he loves the work and especially loves to contact people and connect with them on a personal level. Elder Wendt is a little more conscious about the time and analyzing when we should be at our next appointment or what would be a most effective use of our time. When we started, there was a little shakiness, but now that we know each other fairly well, we're working pretty effectively and seeing good results on a numerical and spiritual level. There's always room to improve though, of course.

Wow, I've been writing a couple of long updates. There's just so much for me to tell. Don't expect every one to be so lengthy, though I'll try! Hope you all have a Fantasmic week!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

Back in Black (and white)!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hey all! It feels so great to be back on the mission! It's a little weird because I almost feel at home but it's just a little different so that I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing here.

Well, to recap if ya didn't know, I went home and hung out on the couch for a month for the surgery, and then had to slowly work out how to walk again. It was cool to see family and friends and everything, but at the same time it felt like life had kinda moved on without me and that I almost didn't belong at home anymore. Netflix just isn't as fulfilling as helping people to come unto Christ, it seems. Anyways, after a nice trip to Disneyland and a good amount of new movies watched to brag about, I started coming back last Monday.

Now I'm in the grand city of Praia! I'm in an area called Varzea, which really reminds me of my first area on the mission... a lot of hills, a lot of dirt, and I can't really understand what anybody's saying except for a few words here and there. The Creole here is so different that it almost feels like I'm starting the mission over again. Except this time I don't feel as lost haha. I'm in a trio right now with Elder Wendt, who's in his second transfer (which means I am now officially a stepfather) and Elder Andrade, an Elder from Fogo who's waiting for his visa so he can go to São Paulo Brazil. They're awesome companions, and this area has a whole lot of people prepared to recieve the gospel! Oh and I was also put as the District Leader here, which nobody told me about until they asked if I was coming to the District Leader training meeting on Wednesday. So it's been a bit of a crazy ride, but I'm happy to be back in business.

We apparently have an investigator whose name is literally Elton John. Elder Wendt and I laughed when we heard this, but Elder Andrade didn't get it. I guess his music's not all that well-known here. But as to other investigators, we marked a baptismal date for a girl named Jovanna on Saturday. We marked for the 14th of November, and she wanted to move it earlier, but we have Stake Conference on the 7th so that didn't work. It's wonderful to see just how prepared she is to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ into her life, and I look forward to working more with her. The only problem is that I can't really understand what she's saying half of the time...

For a spiritual thought today I thought I'd share a story about a man that I met in the airport in Lisbon. I started a conversation with him, and it turned out that he was from Germany, so we talked in English. He started by talking about how he went to Maio once every few months to make money selling the art that he makes there. He then proceeded to make some REALLY racist comments about the people of Cabo Verde, my immediate thought to which was to end the conversation as soon as possible. For some reason though, I felt as though I needed to introduce my religion to him, despite my doubts about his interest. He asked me "so how does one become a missionary for your church?" and I replied "Well, I guess you'd have to start by reading the Book of Mormon" and he became very interested in getting one. I didn't have a Book of Mormon on me, but I gave him the September copy of the Ensign that I was reading and told him to check out Mormon.org if he really wanted to know more about what we believe. It was a neat experience, and I a scripture came to my mind. It was the one where Jesus said "I came not to bring the righteous, but the sinners to repentance" and I just thought about how some people are just lost and don't know that what they do is wrong, and that just makes it all the more necessary to invite these people to investigate the Church.

Well, I hope all of you out there are doing as well as you were when I last talked to you. As said in Badiu (Praia Creole), "Nyos fica direto!"

Abraço,

Elder Penner

p.s. They haven't activated my card with money yet, so I've been living off of all of $15 for the last 5 days. I dare you all to achieve what I have.

Take 2

Yesterday Elder Penner flew back to the Cape Verde islands.

A quick summary.  He broke his ankle on July 6, 2015, flew home to have surgery on July 22, 2015, and on August 31st, he was released to Physical Therapy.  5 weeks later he was cleared back to full activity.  He had been working for a few weeks to get up to the 6 miles a day.  The first few weeks of PT seemed like returning would take a while, but after about 3 weeks...he improved by leaps and bounds every day.  Just 3 weeks later, he was walking 8-10 miles a day and doing great.  

When we returned home from the airport last night, I found a letter in his room that he had written to his grandma but didn't get a chance to mail.  It shows his frame of mind just before his injury.  While he was home, I never once heard him complain or ask why this trial was his.  He just did what he needed to do, and focused on what he could do.  

Here is a copy of that letter.  

Hey Grandma,

To be honest, it’s a little weird to me that you moved.  I keep hearing about new things changing with my family.  Here I am in Africa, thinking that everything is going to be different when I get back home.  Well, at least the people are going to be the same.  I’ve still got a bit of time until I go back, don’t I?

I think one important thing that I’ve been learning here recently is to not give up, especially when the going gets tough.  There’s a lot of things here that can really try to ruin your attitude at times.  People will say that they believe in your words, but don’t want to follow them.  Others will say they have faith, but not enough to stop working on Sundays.  And sometimes they’ll turn your water off for a few days.  The funny thing is, all of these things are trying to get me down, but in general my attitude is only getting better every day that I spend here.  It truly shows me that as long as I put my trust in the Lord, he won’t let my heart stay disheartened.  He has and will give me strength to carry on, even in my weakness.  If you don’t believe that He can help you, how are you going to convince others that He can help them?

Anyways, hope you are well and I hope this letter doesn’t take too long to get to your new house.  

Love,

Elder Penner

A brief Intermission

So for those of you wondering "where is Elder Penner? Why hasn't he given us a weekly update? Where could he be?" I have just the answer for you.

I'm a little sad to say that I'll be going home for a few months.

You see, I was on the top of a house getting a stray soccer ball this last P-day, and then all of a sudden I was on the ground and my foot wasn't in the spot that feet should normally be. It turns out, I managed to dislocate and completely shatter it to the point that I need some surgery to be done. They don't know exactly yet how long the recovery time will take, but they reckon at least 2 months.

So it looks like I'm kinda outta the ball game for now, but don't be discouraged, folks. This guy is going back to his rightful place in the Cape Verde Praia mission. And that's a fact.

A wise Terminator once said, "I'll be back." I'd like to follow that example.

But anyways, I didn't have much time, but just to let you all know that I'll be taking a breakizinho for a while. A breather, you know. Before I come back stronger than before.

Hope you all are well, for those of you on the mission still, good luck! Don't physically impair yourselves on purpose!

(Elder) Jordan Penner

Yes

Ayyy all

I feel like this area that I've been in has been improving since I got here. We haven't had a whole lot of luck with finding a lot of cool new people, but the cool new people that we find are usually COOL new people. So I feel like we still have a lot of cool experiences, they just seem a little fewer and farther in between. I get to appreciate every spiritual moment better.

So, I wanna talk a bit about an investigator that we have named Melanie. She's a really awesome investigator. She's really interested in the gospel, and has had a confirmation for herself about the truth of our words. She is following all the commandments that we've taught her about. In fact, she's had every single part of every lesson that we need to teach her before baptism. The problem is, Melanie and her mother (who we think may have seen a video on polygamy in the early church) both think that she isn't "ready" to be baptized as a member yet. They want to wait a YEAR. We've been working on helping her understand about how she doesn't have to be perfect before she gets baptized, as that's kind of the point of baptism. We haven't had way too much success with helping her understand this, so it's been like this for a little while.

HOWEVER

President Mathews sent a message to the Zone Leaders of Mindelo this last Friday morning, saying that there are 7 people here that are ready for baptism the NEXT DAY. The Zone Leaders called asking if we had anyone possible, and we both felt that it's Melanie, if anyone. We had a good companionship study on miracles and having the faith to make them happen, and we went to our appointment with Melanie (which just happened to be marked for that evening) with strong intentions. What proceeded was what may have been the most spiritual lesson that I have ever taught on the mission. We shared our testimonies of the truth of the church, and how we both knew that she was ready to become a member and start on the pathway the Lord had prepared for her. We talked to her about how the Lord has already provided a way for her to overcome any difficulty, any trial that may stand in her way after baptism. She still seemed pretty set on waiting, but it came to me to talk to her about what President Mathews told us. We shared the experience and told her that we both thought that she could be baptized the very next day. I think that that really struck her, because she sat there for at least 5 full minutes, thinking. She finally told us at the end of the lesson that she would ask God about it, and send us a message about the answer. We left that lesson feeling really happy, feeling that we had finally made a breakthrough.

HOWEVER

She didn't text us that night. A little worried, we waited until 11 am the next day (if she said yes, then we had some stuff to do before the baptism at 4 that day) and then we visited her house. She told us to talk with her again at 3, but sent us a text message a little bit afterwards to explain to us what happened. She told us that she prayed and that the Lord had told her that she was ready, but that she still didn't feel ready herself. We sat there for a bit, very confused and disappointed. It had seemed so sure that she was going to tell us yes. What I think confused us the most is that the Lord had told her what to do, and for some reason she didn't believe that that was the right answer. We had another lesson with her yesterday, talking about why she got the answer that she did, and about how she can put her trust in the Lord more than to her own understanding.

I've thought long and hard about why the story here rolled out like it did. We definitely had the faith to see a miracle happen, and we were so excited when we thought it was going to happen. I don't pretend to know all the works of the Lord, but I think I was able to figure out a couple of reasons: Firstly, it helped Melanie to progress, a lot. I really don't believe that it will be long before she takes the decision for herself to be baptized. Secondly, it helped me learn that we can do everything that we can, and people still have their own personal agency, they're still free to make their own decisions. What we need to do is make sure that our part is done in the best way that it can be done, learning about the gospel and always trying to bring the Spirit as strong as possible to every lesson. I feel comfortable about what happened with her. It may not have been the result that we had desired, but the result still was a good one. As the scriptures say, all things that are good come from God. God had his hand in this situation, and maybe I'll learn more as I go along. I hope I do, learning about this stuff is cool.

I'm somehow reminded of the lyrics from the Coldplay song "Yes", which if you think about it really talks about the lesson that I learned today in these two lines:

"If you would only, if you'd only say Yes,

Whether you will's anybody's guess."

Wow, that was a long story, but I wanted to share all of it. So I guess that's it for today, I hope to be able to share some more cool experiences next week! Have a good week, all, and I hope you go wild this Independence Day!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

There were no pictures this week.  The computer he was on wasn't cooperating with his camera.  

Speed of Sound

Yooooooooooooo whaddup?

Well, another hard week, but I wouldn't really say that it was slow. The weeks here are just starting to zoom by, no matter what happens during them. You're there on Sunday, thinking about church and stuff and all of a sudden it's P-day, heck yeah, then District Meeting on Tuesday, a couple of full work days and then Weekly Planning on Friday and trying to bring an investigator to baptisms on Saturday, then what do you know it's Sunday all over again. It's just crazy fast.

This week's district meeting was fun, because we showed up and found some HEFY kids trying to teach Cabo Verdeanos English because the professor who was supposed to translate didn't show up. We helped out for a while before we started our meeting, because they looked like they had no idea what they were doing. The Counselor guy there was freaking out because he had no idea what he was doing and couldn't call anyone.

Do you want to know something annoying about this place? Cabo Verde has no such thing as unlimited text and calls. We have a special connection between other Elders where we don't have to pay, but that's it. We get 900 escudos (about the worth of a penny) for what they call "Saldo" here each month. Each second you talk to people costs 1 escudo. 900 seconds a month really isn't that much time when you have to make a dozen calls a week at least. The thing is, you only have to pay if you're the one that calls the recipient, so most people here will just send us a message telling us to call them. One of the Elder's favorite subjects here is about how nobody in this country has Saldo. Nobody.

One struggle that we seem to be having in this area is that we don't have a lot of investigators, and the ones we do have are never home. We always seem to have passed by every investigator's house twice by 6 pm, so we go around trying to contact people. The problem is, nobody's really in the street to contact, besides drunk people, and all the houses are apartment complexes, which makes it hard to get into if you don't know anyone inside the complex. Somehow we manage to find at least a few cool new people, for which we're grateful here.

We found an inactive member here the other day named Valdir, and the guy's freaking insane. I remember when I got to Mindelo, the other elders were teaching him and he even got to church again a few times. We started talking with him, and the second time we talked to him he just started talking to us in English for some reason. We were like okay... it's hard to understand him because his English isn't crazy good and he stutters like no other. What really got me though is that he told us that he saw a prophet on the way to work the other day... and he also saw a mountain crumble down and cover a city. We have absolutely no idea what he's talking about, so we're just trying to start with simple truths, and it goes along slowly. Elder Figueiredo once told me he met a guy who said he was destined to be the next prophet. You meet some crazy weird people here sometimes, but you have to remember that they're sons and daughters of God as well, so you at least give an effort.

Well, that's mostly what I had for this week. Just to let everyone know, I still miss Coldplay. And root beer. I can wait, I can do this. Pray for me.

Bizot fica drêt! Tê cool!

Elder Penner