We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Hey all, not much time to write this week because I spent some time talking to my family over skype, but I did want to let you all know that I love you all and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas day was spent mostly finding a lot of really cool new people, and also trying to set up a Skype session for a family trying to talk to their son who's serving a mission in Brazil. Sadly, they weren't able to talk, but now we just confirmed that they will be talking this Wednesday! So we'll probably have a lot of fun with that, because they'll need us to help out again. We got a lot of cake this last week, which is a blessing and a burden at the same time, because now I'll have to lose the few pounds I'll gain.

Shout out to my brother who's leaving on his mission tomorrow! The next time we skype, we'll be on the other end of the line. Hope you have a good one, Cam! Don't freak out because you don't understand anyone for a few months!

Anyways, hope everyone's Christmas was as wonderful as I felt this year. Remember the true meaning of Christmas, which is Christ of course. Keep him in your thoughts, as well as your words and actions this year! #SejaALuzDoMundo!!!

Boas Festas,

Elder Penner

Winter Wonderland

The weather is finally coming to the point where I feel at least a little bit of chill outside, which means that it's going to be a nice Cabo Verdeano winter once again! The biggest news out there is that snow fell on Fogo, up in Chã das Caldeiras, the little town on the volcano's crater. Probably nothing more than a few snowflakes, but I still think that's impressive. I guess there will be snow in Africa this Christmas. Eat your heart out, Bono.

I'm getting to know the area a lot better, and I was even able to handle a short division with a couple of other missionaries visiting for the Christmas Party. I've come to notice that Sal is like a great big melting pot of all of Cape Verde. There are very few people that are actually born here, most people come from Mindelo or Santo Antão, although I've met quite a few people from Santiago and even a few from Fogo. There isn't a set Creole here, so I hear every Creole from every island I've been on. It's the greatest thing ever, basically. Almost everyone here works in the big hotels that they have for the tourists, which is by far Sal's biggest export. There are so many tourists, all the time. People get confused here and think we're tourists, like today we were walking by some High School kids that were making fun of us in Creole, and Elder Teela just said "we understand you, you know" and they all freaked out so hard it was pretty funny.

Our biggest problem that we have right now is that we don't have any really progressing investigators. Like we are working with a lot of people, but we're also working to find a lot of new people because the ones we are working with are either not progressing, or are just following what we say without really doing these things for themselves. There's a really cool guy that were working with named Helton. He's married to an English woman who's living in England right now. He was on his way there with her, but somewhere on the way somebody lost an important document so he could stay in England, so he was sent back here and has been working on going out again ever since. He had no idea when things would happen, so we had a baptismal date marked with him, but he just received his passport and his wife said that she wants to be there for his baptism. We can't really argue with that, especially because he could be heading back in a few weeks. I like the guy anyways, although he has a ways to go before he could even be baptized here.

I almost forgot to mention that we had our Zone Christmas Party last week! It was the smallest party that I have ever seen here, with a grand total of 16 people. The Zone of Sal is small. I make more calls than my Zone Leaders do every night. Anyways, we did a little play on A Christmas Carol as a skit this year, where Elder Green acted like Ebeneezer Scrooge as he told us if we didn't have good enough numbers he would take away our Skyping privileges on Christmas. He was visited by 3 ghosts who showed him the error of his ways, and in the end he learned the importance of teaching people and not lessons. President and Sister Mathews gave their training on Obedience, which reminded me that there are always things that I can improve on. Sister Mathews really made a point when mentioning that every little thing that we do can have a bigger impact than we think. We saw a video that had tons of baptismal pictures that people had sent in, and I saw a lot of members and old investigators that I hadn't seen for a long time. It was really nice, and helped me to notice how much this country has touched me.

Well, other than the fact that the entire city of Espargos is pretty much out of water because they like the tourists over in Santa Maria more than us (probably because they have more money) not much else has been happening. The work is still the work, and it's still fun! Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas! I'm just giddy to talk to my family in a week!

Boas Festas,

Elder Penner

White Christmas

Boa Tarde from the wonderful city of Espargos (Asparagus) on the island of Sal (Salt)! What a weird country, naming places after food. Sal is the most deserty of all of the islands of Cape Verde, but it's also the most popular one for tourists to pass through, which you can probably see why with the picture I sent with me on the beach. That's why I called my update White Christmas. There are so many white people here that it freaks me out a bit. 

Everything here is twice as expensive as everywhere else in this country. Now that may seem ridiculous, but you have to understand at the same time, the difference is between paying 50 cents or a dollar for an entire kilo of flour. Also, the shwarma here is one of the most wonderful things that I've eaten in my life, without a doubt. Our Zone is probably the smallest in the world. It consists of my District which has 4 duplas of missionaries, and the island of Boa Vista, which has one dupla. 10 missionaries.

My companion is Elder Teela. I'm serving in the area of Achada Matias. What a wonderful area we have! Elder Teela had a baptism every single week of last transfer. I'm super stoked. We actually had a baptism this last week as well! It's a kid named David. He's 14 years old, and his mom and older sister are already members. I didn't really do much for it, but it was still pretty neat to see.

Other things are mostly a blur for me. We went to a bit of a Recent Convert's wedding. I spent most of my time standing in a corner or following my companion around. I guess the mission hasn't stopped my awkwardness completely. Still, I'm getting to know a lot of cool people. Also, super crazy: Jason Derulo came to Cape Verde apparently? A member went to his concert because she worked on this one really nice hotel in Santa Maria and he came to commemorate it or something. I don't know but we saw a little video of him singing "Trumpets" on a member's phone so we believe it. Crazy, huh?

Life is wonderful, and I'm super stoked to work here! Also stoked for Christmas #LightTheWorld #GitStoked

Have a wonderful week!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

With or Without You

It's official today. The 7 other missionaries who I arrived with will have their final dinner and interview with President, and then late late tonight they will board their flight. Home. Some may ask, how am I feeling about this, knowing I have another 4 months before going home? Missing Christmas with the family? Waiting another term of school to move on with my life?

The answer is: fine, actually. I always knew that I'd be alright, but a couple of days last week I was still feeling a bit sad about it. Last night I received a strong witness that the place I most needed to be was here. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be home with my family to pass the holidays, and I am in a way excited to see what life has next for me. However, these next 4 months are so important for me and I couldn't miss them for anything. I guess I actually can live with or without you.

This week has been filled with a whole lot of new people. Now that a fair portion of our area is no longer ours, we found a considerable gap in our investigator pool. We knocked doors this week like I've never knocked doors before on my mission. The progress has been gradual, but we've managed to find a lot of cool people, actually.

One couple that we've been working with for a little while, but I've never gotten around to mentioning them. Their names are Txida and Euritz (pronounced Cheetah and yoo-reets, I honestly have no idea how to write their names actually) and they're super cool. Txida is super estudious in religion and stuff. He doesn't follow a specific faith, but studies with all. He has a Bible that has books that are from the Apocrypha. Most people have touched the Bible once or twice in their lives. We had a really really cool conversation last night, and its one of the reasons I felt like I belong. I realized that the Lord wanted me there that time because it was me. I don't know if someone else could have done better than me at responding to his doubts, but I felt the Spirit so strong in me that it was wonderful. I hope that he can come to realize that this is the truth. It's just hard to find them both home at the same time, so we never know when we'll be able to talk to them. We'll get it, though.

Erineu and Ronice went with us to the Registro on last Tuesday. The people there told them that they were going to work for marriage on the 10th, which got us super stoked! However, they were supposed to get a call the next day to confirm the IDs of the godmother and godfather (it's necessary to have one here) but they never did. Also the ward council said that on no uncertain terms they wouldn't have enough time to throw a wedding reception. It'll probably happen at a later date, and at this point, the prospect might be for January. We're sad, but we're going to plan well so we don't have to push things forward any more. They've been ready for a while.

Life is good, and transfers are in a couple of days! Wherever I go (or not) I wish you all a great week and a wonderful Holiday Season!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

In the Cold, Cold Night

As the nights get darker and darker, I can't help but be reminded of the
White Stripes song with such a simple guitar riff. Although it never gets
cold enough here as it does back home, sometimes it would be nice to wear a
sweater.

As to more important things, Jusara (learned how to spell her name this
week) was baptized and confirmed this last weekend! The funny story for
this one is that we had the baptism scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday
Afternoon. We had seen Jusara just a half hour before the service, which
looked perfect. However, we waited until almost 4:30 for her to show up,
with everyone that came, including another ward who was doing a joint
service with us. She doesn't have a phone, so we decided to run over to her
house. We got there, worried that something had happened or she was having
second thoughts, and found her... still getting ready. The most obvious
statement of the week was, "I'm late, aren't I?" and we were like well
yeah!!! Now we're laughing about it, so it's all good! Such a great
experience in all! 

At the same time, some sad news to report. Our part of Ribeira da Craquinha
is now in possession of the Sisters on the other side of our ward. That
means that Yannick's family, Jusara, Marina and Elisio, and Mario will now
go to them, to name just a few. Both Recent Converts and some of our
coolest investigators. It's really sad. We were talking to this one family
Nady and David for the last time, and in his prayer, David said "also
please don't let the Elders leave" and we were like noooo you can't say
thaaaaaaat! It was sad, but it needed to happen at some point. Sister
McClellan met some people that she knew from when she did a Humanitarian
EFY trip here, so it also seemed to fit.

We met a new family in Craquinha yesterday that we're going to give to the
Sisters. They lived in a part waaaaay out that we didn't even know existed.
They walk up to Monte Verde every weekend to the plantations that they have
there. They had visited a lot of churches, but had found something they
didn't seem to be right with every one. They were just like "we're only
looking for the true Church of Jesus Christ, but can't seem to find it!"
Well, we had just the thing for them. What a good lesson. Now the Sisters
will be able to work with this family as well, the lucky things.

In happier news, we finally get to mark a date for Erineu and Ronisse's
wedding! We've been impatiently waiting for that for the past month, so
we're stoked that we can actually make some hard plans. Wish us luck! So
stoked to work as hard as ever! Loving life!

Hope you all are great! Our Thanksgiving was nothing special, just some
chicken and a ton of mashed potatoes (I insisted that we make 2kgs of
potatoes and I ate most of them) but it was really good, so we didn't mind.
Can't wait for the Christmas season to really start kicking in this
country! #SejaALuzDoMundo #LightTheWorld

Abraço,
Elder Penner

The House of the Rising Sun

I can't remember who sang this originally, actually. I mostly mention it because I've heard it at least 3 times in the past week when I never really expected to hear that song in this country. Also a couple of Michael Jackson songs I had never even heard. Nice.

Now that I don't have a weird line in front of my paragraph, let me tell you about the week. The main event of the week was a Zone Conference presided by Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy. He's the President of the Europe Area right now. With his funny English accent and his hilarious but also spiritual capabilities made it the best Zone Conference I've ever been to. My favorite part was when Elder Kearon was demonstrating the importance we should give in the invitation to be baptized. he pulled me up and asked me what's something I really, really wanted. Typical me said "a trip to space." He then looks me dead in the eyes, and says something like this: "Jordan, (he literally asked me my first name to do this,) now I have been talking for the past 6 years with Elon Musk just for you. And now, after all these years, I'm happy to announce that you will be accompanying Elon Musk..." and then he broke off laughing harder than ever. I was in tears in front of my entire Zone. I think in that moment I reached Nirvana. I even learned a lesson from it, that we should act like we're giving the greatest gift that there is to be given! Because we literally are! What a wonderful experience. The theme of the whole thing was "Just stop worrying," so that's what I plan to do.

Since that day, I've felt a true peace in my work, and in everything I do. We had 5 investigators in church yesterday, which was another wonderful feeling. Our investigator Mario is a really, really cool guy! He came with us to this thing called Integration Night, which is designed to help new people be more familiar with the members of the church, and the next day he came to church by himself! He's really excited about everything, and loves to talk with us. The only thing is that he's incredibly shy. He doesn't really want to respond to some questions that we give. It's not really a bad thing, but we'll need to find him a good friend. He knows a guy that we'll get involved this week.

Other than that, Juçara passed her baptismal interview, meaning she'll be baptized this next Saturday! We're really excited for her, and she's becoming good friends with Yannick and his whole family. Things are really looking up for December as well! I'm just loving life!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. My comp and I will probably be having a humble one on Thursday. Love you all!

Elder Penner

He included pictures from his district's trip to the tallest mountain on the island.  As you can see it was very foggy.  I hope the fog brought some relief from the heat for them.  

Be Above It

Disclaimer: As a missionary, I'm not allowed to discuss really my political opinion. However, I do want to mention that as I learned early Wednesday morning that Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, I realized just how disattached I really am from things that happen back home. I realized that I was so ingrained into what I'm doing here that these things just don't have any real importance to me. Even seeing the flash of the Fantastic Beasts trailers on local TVs doesn't really affect me too much. I just think of how I was almost literally set apart from these things of the world. That's why I chose the Tame Impala song, because "I know that I gotta be above it now."

We had an absolutely incredible week. Something about it just got us powering through with a lot of energy. One thing that was notable was that we found a lot of new people that seemed to show some real interest in hearing the Gospel. For example, we ran into this one woman named Carolina that really wanted us to help her 40 year old son Mario with his drinking problem. As we taught him he showed such a sincere desire to change for the better, that we really felt impressed to share the message of the Restoration. Yesterday when we visited he said that he had received an answer of the truth of these things! We felt that he needed a priesthood blessing, so we asked if he believed in Jesus Christ and that His authority was restored on the Earth again. He said yes, so we gave him a powerful blessing. It was really spiritual, so I think we'll hear a lot more from him.

In other great news, Elisio finally got to church!!! After missing him again last week, we asked Marina to show us his house. After finding his house, we just decided to show up on Sunday morning to knock on his door. We went up to his parents and they were like "he lives on the street behind us, but he's asleep right now." So we went back there and asked where his door was and they just said "but he's asleep right now!" so we insisted and they showed us. Sure enough, he was asleep, but he woke up and said he'd go with Marina. We go over to Marina's house and said that Elisio was coming, but she said "but he's asleep!" We were like we know we woke him up! People have this strange thing here that they think just because someone is asleep that they have absolutely no right to wake them up. Well, we woke him up and he ended up coming to Stake Conference, which just made our entire week! Moral of the story: this country needs to learn D&C 88:124.

Juçara is going absolutely great as well. She doesn't talk a whole lot and is a little shy, especially at Conference yesterday. However, she feels the Spirit, and Yannick's family has been so good at being there for her, especially the 13 year old daughter Lily. We think that she's going super well, so that means that we could be having 3 baptisms on the 26th of this month! Marina and Elisio are going strong for it as well! The Lord just seems to keep blessing us with these incredible people. I'm so blessed to be here.

One thing that was kinda lame, but not super lame: Erineu and Ronisse, that were supposed to be married on the 25th so Ronisse could be baptized on the 26th, can't be married on that day anymore. We went to the Registro (can't remember the name in English) with Erineu to mark a date for the marriage, but they said that they were super busy, so they now have to come back on the 29th just to mark a date! We were a little bummed out, but it'll still happen in December so we're still stoked for them. I just hope that both Elder Ronces and I can still be here! Transfers happens the first week of December.

Something unimaginable happened at Stake Conference yesterday. We met a native Cape Verdean who had actually been to Brentwood, California. It's a miracle that he's even heard of it, let alone been there! Most people know California, but think that California is a city that's relatively close to Boston, Massachusets. It blows their minds when we tell them how far it actually is, and how many cities are part of it. Apparently this guy used to live in Orange County. I feel like I've made one of the craziest connections that I'll ever make in my life.

Life is great! We'll have Zone Conference with Elder Kearon this week! He's the President of our Area, so it should be good! Hope you all are well, have a good week!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

p.s. Is Thanksgiving this week or next week? I can never remember how it works...

Disclaimer: As a missionary, I'm not allowed to discuss really my political opinion. However, I do want to mention that as I learned early Wednesday morning that Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, I realized just how disattached I really am from things that happen back home. I realized that I was so ingrained into what I'm doing here that these things just don't have any real importance to me. Even seeing the flash of the Fantastic Beasts trailers on local TVs doesn't really affect me too much. I just think of how I was almost literally set apart from these things of the world. That's why I chose the Tame Impala song, because "I know that I gotta be above it now."

We had an absolutely incredible week. Something about it just got us powering through with a lot of energy. One thing that was notable was that we found a lot of new people that seemed to show some real interest in hearing the Gospel. For example, we ran into this one woman named Carolina that really wanted us to help her 40 year old son Mario with his drinking problem. As we taught him he showed such a sincere desire to change for the better, that we really felt impressed to share the message of the Restoration. Yesterday when we visited he said that he had received an answer of the truth of these things! We felt that he needed a priesthood blessing, so we asked if he believed in Jesus Christ and that His authority was restored on the Earth again. He said yes, so we gave him a powerful blessing. It was really spiritual, so I think we'll hear a lot more from him.

In other great news, Elisio finally got to church!!! After missing him again last week, we asked Marina to show us his house. After finding his house, we just decided to show up on Sunday morning to knock on his door. We went up to his parents and they were like "he lives on the street behind us, but he's asleep right now." So we went back there and asked where his door was and they just said "but he's asleep right now!" so we insisted and they showed us. Sure enough, he was asleep, but he woke up and said he'd go with Marina. We go over to Marina's house and said that Elisio was coming, but she said "but he's asleep!" We were like we know we woke him up! People have this strange thing here that they think just because someone is asleep that they have absolutely no right to wake them up. Well, we woke him up and he ended up coming to Stake Conference, which just made our entire week! Moral of the story: this country needs to learn D&C 88:124.

Juçara is going absolutely great as well. She doesn't talk a whole lot and is a little shy, especially at Conference yesterday. However, she feels the Spirit, and Yannick's family has been so good at being there for her, especially the 13 year old daughter Lily. We think that she's going super well, so that means that we could be having 3 baptisms on the 26th of this month! Marina and Elisio are going strong for it as well! The Lord just seems to keep blessing us with these incredible people. I'm so blessed to be here.

One thing that was kinda lame, but not super lame: Erineu and Ronisse, that were supposed to be married on the 25th so Ronisse could be baptized on the 26th, can't be married on that day anymore. We went to the Registro (can't remember the name in English) with Erineu to mark a date for the marriage, but they said that they were super busy, so they now have to come back on the 29th just to mark a date! We were a little bummed out, but it'll still happen in December so we're still stoked for them. I just hope that both Elder Ronces and I can still be here! Transfers happens the first week of December.

Something unimaginable happened at Stake Conference yesterday. We met a native Cape Verdean who had actually been to Brentwood, California. It's a miracle that he's even heard of it, let alone been there! Most people know California, but think that California is a city that's relatively close to Boston, Massachusets. It blows their minds when we tell them how far it actually is, and how many cities are part of it. Apparently this guy used to live in Orange County. I feel like I've made one of the craziest connections that I'll ever make in my life.

Life is great! We'll have Zone Conference with Elder Kearon this week! He's the President of our Area, so it should be good! Hope you all are well, have a good week!

Abraço,

Elder Penner

p.s. Is Thanksgiving this week or next week? I can never remember how it works...