Get Back

I guess President wanted to help me follow the advice that the Beatles gave
so long ago, to "get back to where you once belonged" So here I am back on
the wonderful island of Mindelo! I can't begin to tell you how stoked I am
to be here! This time I'm in Fernando Pó. I'm serving with Elder Bowman,

who's now on his 5th here! He's still going strong, and I think we're going
to do a lot of good here! Of course I'm gonna miss Congresso and all the
people there, though. I put a lot of work into that area, and I've come to
be really good friends with a lot of members there. I'm excited for what's
coming up, though.

One of the first things that I'm going to have to get used to is the number
of people that there are here! And the number of people that are willing to
sit down for a few minutes to talk. When I arrived, Elder Bowman told me
that they didn't have a lot of investigators here, so we're currently
working on finding a lot of new people to teach, to share our wonderful
message with. So far, it's going swimmingly! There are just so many people
here that need the gospel in their lives, I mean just like everywhere but
still it's incredible!

One person who we started really teaching this week is named Yannick. He's
the older brother of a family of recent converts. Elder Bowman said he
didn't show interest when they first taught the family, but now he's
progressing well! He said that he got an answer that the Book of Mormon's
true, and he really wants to read more. Also, when we first invited him to
church, he was hesitant at first because he worked 11 pm Saturday to 8 am
Sunday. Well, I told him about a member in 5th ward here that did pretty
much the same thing but never missed church, and that gave him the reserve
to go! It was awesome! He seemed a little tired, but he really liked it.
Last night we gave him a baptismal date for the 8th of next month, and he
enthusiastically accepted! He shows a real desire to come unto Christ!
We're excited to work even more with him!

We've also worked with their nearby neighbor, Jessica, who also shows a
strong desire to progress and come unto Christ. She lives with a super
strict mom, so it was a miracle that she came to church and didn't get
ordered to do chores instead! We hope to work a lot more with her as well.

I think best of all by far I got to see Tetone and Maria again! Ever since
Elder Figueiredo and I met them, they'd been pretty strong in the church,
but they didn't get married and baptized until last May! Well, now they're
strong and active members of the church. It was such a blessing to see how
much the gospel has changed their lives. I'm so happy for them, and hope to
see some other recent converts at a stake activity or something. Maybe
General Conference.

The work is great! Hope you all are doing well! Have a good one!

Abraço,
Elder Penner

Transatlanticism

"The Atlantic  was born today, and I'll tell you how:

The clouds above opened up at let it out."

Boy oh boy do I love the rain. And rain it has! Maybe not as drastic as the Death Cab for Cutie song here makes it out to be, but still pretty impressive. On Wednesday we were about to leave when it just started to pour, and that's when my comp said, "I left my poncho in Praia!" Well, without an extra coat to be found, and not wanting to just throw my comp under the bus, I decided that I wouldn't put on my rain jacket either. We got drenched, to put it lightly, but it was all good fun!

I think my highlights of the week can all be described through one event: earlier this week, we had the pleasure of going out teaching with none other than President Mathews. The big man. The head honcho. The eye in the sky. Anyways, it was a super cool experience. Here's what happened:

First, we went and talked to an investigator we have named Suzana. She's super cool, has a strong desire to follow Christ. Her marido, Osvaldo, has no interest in talking with us, though. We talked with Suzana about if she asked God whether the Book of Mormon's true. She said that she did, and we talked to her about how she felt when she did it. When we asked if she thought she got an answer, she said yes! It was super cool, and President testified about how he started reading the Book of Mormon every day 30 years ago and how it blessed him. Yesterday Suzana came to church! She said it was actually Osvaldo that convinced her to get ready. She was super excited, and said that she wants to bring some friends next time, especially Osvaldo.

Then, we talked to a returned missionary of a few months. Knowing that one or two of you may know him, and feeling that he may not want people to know where he's at right now, I'll call him Djony. For the past couple of months, Djony has really been struggling with the church. President came and just took over the lesson. He shared  cool message on Lehi's dream. He talked about how when you grab hold of the Iron Rod, it's like the day of your baptism. He then pointed out that it says after people got a hold of the rod, THEN the mists of darkness came, and some were lost. But those who hold true always find their way. Djony interjected, saying that he hadn't seen the blessings that were promised him for serving an honorable mission. President said plainly that he had to trust in the Atonement of Christ, and he had to trust that the blessings would come. He also made it to church!

Lastly, we talked with a couple named Pina and Ana. They are members of the church for almost 20 years now, Pina having been a District President in the past. Now they're pretty weak in activity. President also talked a lot with them, first exhorting them to wear their garments right (it was a little obvious to see that they weren't) and then shared a story told by Elder Bednar. Elder Bednar, as a stake president, visited a lot of less-active members, and almost all of them said that they left the Church because of some meager offense. He would then list off all the blessings, including the Sacrament, the blessings of the temple, the Spirit of the Lord, and the responsibility they had to help their children (and ancestors) to salvation, and asked "and you're saying that you're going to lose all of that because you once got offended by another member?" Almost all responded, "I didn't think of it that way." Then President simply said that the Church needs them, and they need the Church. Guess who showed up to church yesterday? They did!

It was incredible, and I'm astounded by how all of them showed up at church after that. President Mathews is a powerful man, and taught me a lot about the power that comes with my calling as a missionary. I'm really going to apply it by making sure people know that I represent noone else than Jesus Christ. That's a powerful statement.

Oh yeah, today I saw Weston Adams, my old comp! He came back to visit the country with his dad. It was cool to meet up and bug each other one more time. Super weird though, he's like normal and everything. That's weird. I don't like that.

Well, that was my main highlight of the week, and the rest of the week wasn't bad either! Hope that you all have a good one! Transfers will be happening on Wednesday, so we'll figure out what that means for Elder Jhangiani and I!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

Singin' in the Rain

"What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again!" The rain finally came, guys! We woke up one morning and we weren't sweating and the ground was wet and we were like waaaaaaaaaat it raaaaaiiinnnnned??? Anyways the temperature was bearable for a couple of days, but now it's back to hot beyond all belief. Hopefully the rain can stay for a bit!

Anyways, this week was a pretty solid one, to be honest. Not the greatest that I've had here, but one real blessing that we had was consistency. We managed 2 lessons everyday, except for 2 days. Knowing to have had 8 lessons in one day here, it seems a little discouraging, but I'm actually really happy to know that it worked out that way. It means that there is at least some degree of steadiness happening. My goal is to keep steady and rise higher.

I want to share two experiences in particular this week. The first is a lesson with our investigator Katy. She's in her young 20's with children, but single. She has a desire to follow her Father in Heaven, but sometimes feels that she isn't prepared to give it all yet. Earlier in the week we had talked to her with Irmao Filinto, who's in the High Council here. He's a boss, basically. He told us that she didn't seem to be taking things seriously, so we decided to take him and his wife Zinha on Saturday. Just before the lesson, we went to confirm with her, and Katy was acting weird, like she didn't want to talk to us anymore. Then she said she was just kidding. We were a little confused, but we taught her with Filinto and Zinha anyways. It was such a good experience to have Zinha testify to Katy about the blessings in her life. She shared how she went to church for 11 years as an investigator, because Filinto didn't want to marry her yet. Then all of a sudden, he changed, and now they're married and sealed in the temple! What a cool story! She said it was hard to not be a member of the chruch she went to for so long, but her faith kept her going. It was a really neat experience. The only sad thing is that Katy didn't go to chruch again, after promising on Saturday. Filinto passed by, but she just wasn't up for it.

The other neat experience happened yesterday. We taught a really big family, so there was a lot of noise. The mother, Vera, wasn't quite understanding what we were saying, so our homeboy Socrates (yes, you pronounce it like the philosopher too) starts explaining in Creole for us. I think that after all the Elders she's met, that was the first time that she understood that the Book of Mormon wasn't just our version of the Bible. That was neat, but then she had to run off to break up a kids fight. Her daughter Solette was with us for the first time. She really lives just outside of Sao Filipe in a different zone, but has talked to a lot of Elders. She had a lot of doubts about how she would know that the Church is true just by reading a book, so we went over the whole Moroni-Joseph Smith story again. The Spirit just felt so strong as we explained, nd we could tell that she was learning too. We ended up spending an hour and a half there, twice as long as a normal lesson should last, but we feel that it was well worth our time. I like working with this family.

We taught some Seventh Day Adventists in our area this week, and our member help kinda turned it into a Bible bash... it was fun trying to gain control of the conversation. We really aren't trying to fight. That's why oru message is about the Book of Mormon. The Bible is interpreted so many ways, it just becomes a battleground. We'll be better prepared to focus on the Restoration next time.

WEll, outta time! Sorry for the spelling errors, this computer has no backspace. Have a wonderful week!

Abraco,

Elder Penner

p.s. just want to point out that if my timing's correct, the 19 years later scene in Harry Potter happened in real life just 4 days ago. What do I wait for now?

Hopeless Wanderer

Soooooooooo I don't have much time to talk, but I did just want to give a shoutout to all of you for being who you are n stuff. This week has had some really cool things happen, but not so much with progressing investigators. It seems like the very moment that we've been desperate for a member to leave with us, we found one on the street or just leaving their house, completely ready to leave with us! It's been strange and cool at the same time.

This week I felt just a little bit like a "Hopeless Wanderer" as Mumford puts it. We've really counted on the Lord to just "hold (us) fast" so we could see the blessings that our work has had on individual lives. One of the most important lessons that's sticking out to me here is the way I show my attitude towards this area. At times and for some missionaries it can be tempting to just sit around and hang out until something starts happening in the area, right? However, the more difficult but more self-satisfactory way is to make sure that you do what you can every day, every hour.

I was reminded last week of the BOM prophet Abinadi. As far as he knew in this life, he didn't have a single convert in the court of Noah, and he went as far as to lose his life just for the truth of it. However, we know that Alma was converted, and that through his works so were many many others. If Abinadi hadn't tried, none of that would have happened. Even if Alma wasn't converted at that time, at least Abinadi could say with true integrity that he had a clear conscience before God. That being said, I'm pretty sure that my situation isn't as near as bad as his. I'm pretty sure that we'll have a baptism this next month. But if not, then at least we can say we did what we could.

Now for the cool part: we found an awesome new person this week. Well, not really found, but more like finally had a chance to sit and talk with. We've known Manu since around I got here, but he's a barber and always working, so we just never found the time. A member here named Teixeira kept bugging us to talk to him, so we finally worked out to talk to him during his lunch hour. We've only talked once earlier this week, but in following up with him, he said he's read the Book of Mormon! We'll have more time to see him this next week. He really seems to show a true interest in following the message, even when his workmate keeps throwing doctrinal curveballs at us at times (not much, mostly the "Jesus drank wine, so why can't I?" argument.) I think he'll be baptized this next month. I really do.

I went on a division with Elder Valenzuela in my area this past Thursday. He's only on his 4th week here and he's just rolling along! I was super surprised at how well he handled teaching with me even though he didn't always know where exactly I was going. I think he's going to be a really good teacher.

Other than that, it's hotter than ever! Maybe somebody cursed this city to have a famine or something. We'll see if the curse is broken this week. Hope you all are well! Have a good one!

Abraco,

Elder Penner

Itching' On A Photograph

So uh, funny story: I lost my camera... yeah. So it seems like you will all be "Itchin' on a Photograph" as the Grouplove song puts it, haha. I have no idea how it happened honestly. I feel pretty dumb.

I think the coolest thing that happened this week is that we had an investigator in church!!! After about a month without a single one, it was a sure blessing. The best part about it is that it was Zeza! We had been working with her for the longest time, almost since I've arrived here, without her coming even once. A couple of weeks ago we had to let her go, but we invited her to come and she said she would. When she didn't come last week, we thought that that was the last we would see of her. How wrong were we! We were so excited that we found her to invite her for baptism, and that's when she told us... well, to put it short, she'll have to get married now before she can be baptized. She still has a strong desire, though, even to the point where she said that she really wants to be married and sealed to the guy she's with. We're excited for her.

Other than that, it's been busy work for us! Just finding a bunch of cool new people to teach! I'd say more, but my comp just called for an emergency trip to the bathroom, so I guess that's it for this week! Having fun, working hard!

Abraco,

Elder Penner

I Gave You All

You know, I think that this was one of the absolute hardest weeks that I have passed through in my mission. I thought of the Mumford and Sons song because I really felt that I've been giving this area all that I've got, and I haven't really seen any results, in terms of key indicators, anyways.

This last week, and as I mentioned last week, we had Zone Conference. One of the focuses was what they called "3 Strikes and You're Out." One of the main problems that missionaries here face is the fact that you can have a large amount of investigators, but very few of them have what it takes to progress. This new system just helped us to know a little better when it's time to let go of a non-progressing investigator. Basically if we can't find them or they don't go to church for more than a few weeks, it's time to look for new people. Well, we took a look at our investigators, and almost all of them met those standards to let them go. So we put a big focus on not passing by people that won't progress and finding new people. It was tough! We got 9 lessons, the worst I've ever had on the mission. We just couldn't find the new people that we were looking for. I don't think I've ever met so many people that refused to hear us as I did this week. It gave me a lot more respect for missions that are more like that.

Well, as we were at home yesterday feeling sorry for ourselves, I called Elder Farnsworth our Zone Leader to do a nightly follow-up. He straight up congratulated me for my work! When I asked why, he said that it's easy to have a week full of lessons, but it takes a real missionary to look more for those that are actually prepared by the hand of the Lord. That made me feel a lot better. It's not easy, but I know that what we are doing is right, so what else matters?

Anyways, that's all I have time for today. My brother's going to Spain on his mission! So cool! We had a powerful message about marriage with Nelito and his mulher Ju the other day, which was cool as well! I'm happy to work! Now I just gotta figure out how to get rid of this blistering heat, haha.

Well, hope you all are well! Have a good one!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

Better Open The Door

Zone Conference was yesterday, so we were authorized to take some time today to write home. Sorry for the delay!

As the song by Motion City Sountrack states it, we were working hard this week to get people to actually open their doors to us! And what blessings did we find!

Our week started off pretty crazy, because of all the movement that was happening. On Monday, my comp was in Praia, so I hung out with Elder Schlichte for a while. Then on Tuesday we hung out with Elder Price, Elder Fernandes, Elder Wendt, Elder Call, Elder Firmo, and Elder Podzikowski at different moments. We even ended up all going to Ponta Verde on a rescue mission looking for Elder Arteaga, who was told to go there even though his new comp was here in Sao Filipe. Later in the week we hung out with Elder Jesus and his new son, Elder Canizares, along with Elder Schlichte's new son Elder Valenzuela. It was all fun. That's what happens when Transfers, Leadership Council, and Visa Renewals all happen in the same week.

Other than those instances, our week was a really good one! We saw a lot of miracles. I think that the biggest one was the fact that after a lessonless day on Wednesday, we were easily able to pull an 8 lesson day on Thursday! It was incredible, and we've seen greater things happen because of that day.

One of the coolest things that happened on Thursday was that we talked with Irmao Ze's older brother Nelito, and he said that he received an answer to his prayer about the Book of Mormon! It was really cool, because he said he couldn't understand it well but when he prayed he really felt that it was true. We're going to work with him for the month of September for baptism, because he needs to get married as well. His girlfriend Ju is actually a less-active member, so she's giving some good support too. Sadly, only Ju came to church yesterday, but at the same time it was cool to se her there for the first time! We're pretty stoked to help this family out.

Zone Conference was really good! We really focused on how to get our investigators with dates marked for baptism to really progress and to feel prepared so that everything can run well. President's son Mark gave a super good training on why we don't Bible Bash as well. I really felt inspired to show my love for my investigators and put in the extra mile. I want to apply a lot of what I learned yesterday.

That's about it for this week! Hope you all are well! Have a good one!

Abraco,

Elder Penner