June 22nd 2015

Hey You Guys!

This week has gone by like that. We have been making many connections and wonderful findings. One man that we found was Patrick. He is awesome. Has a wife and two kids (17ish and 14). They are from Zimbabwe. We found him on Thursday. Shared the restoration. He loved it. Understood pretty good. We invited for Baptism but he said he was already baptized by Pope John Paul II. But we set up a time for Saturday. Came and checked up on Friday. Shared the Book of Mormon. Understood. Ready to read. Came on Saturday. His kids were there and enjoyed it. He had read the Intro and testimonies (more than most people around here, and he said he didn't read very much). Invited again. He wanted to know about the whole priesthood thing. Explained. Very good lesson. Wonderful. Also in each lesson he takes notes. Desires to learn more. A very good man. It has been fun teaching him. And he wants us to come back every day. Should be good.

Also another thing we had this week. We came upon a less-active man (also from Zim). As we were talking to him, we came to find out that his younger Sister is one of the people we are preparing for baptism. It is very much a small world. Especially in the Gospel. It will be nice for Brother and Sister to help support one another as they are both making those changes in their lives. With that the week was pretty good. Not too bad. Oh yeah. I also gave a talk in church. It was about families. Didn't do too bad considering I had three days to prepare. 

Dad, Happy Fathers Day. Sorry I couldn't send the picture right to your email, I had forgotten the change of email addresses. So I sent it to mom. Hope you liked it. Hope you enjoyed Fathers day. Yesterday they even gave me a cookie for fathers day.

It is pretty cool how the Lord is in the Details. He works in very mysterious ways. The Sister that we have been teaching has wanted to be baptized but she doesn't want to agree to a date. Still figuring things out kind of thing. But we can see that that is the step that she needs right now. Having her brother now involved will be nice. They are the ones that made the connection. She was visiting him and say the Book of Mormon that we handed him to read. He then told us when we went and visited him yesterday. He is like "You know that the Patricia you are teaching is actually my Baby sister." That was not what we expected, but it made our day. I think we have now found how we can keep moving on helping both Progress. That was a pretty special highlight. Couldn't have done it without Him.

That is exciting that you will be involved in the three-fold mission of the Church. That is pretty special. Thanks for all that you do. Your example of faithful service. Happy Fathers day. I love You Dad!

Mom, Thanks for your wonderful letter. I often feel the same way. We do the same thing everyday. And as different people are in this world. In missionary work they all seem to act the same in front of us. "Oh I can't turn away the word of God." "I can't turn away his missionaries." "oh it must be true, it talks about Jesus." "it's all the same God." The same story. That makes us very excited when some one actually truly wants to know. The desire more. Or they just tell us, not very interested. So I too am sorry when emails don't have a lot of details. That and my Journal entries. I seem to be writing the same thing every day. I hope that when my posterity read it they don't think that I served a boring mission. I had better spice it up now. :) Thanks Mom, I love you!

Bryant, I am happy to hear that you are doing well. I Love you Too!

Meagan,  we love you more than you know. You must be a master at volleyball. Happy you crushed them. Way to CRUSH them! Also congrats on not getting Sunburned. That is quite the accomplishment. And the Randolf House is pretty cool. It was great to serve there for a bit. I am happy you got to experience it. There is a pretty special spirit when one is serving. Enjoy your summer week. Love you more than you know!

Heidi, But wait there is more. If you buy one cumplento it is only one dollar, But if you buy two cumplento it is only two dollars. BUT if you buy 76778 cumplentos it is only $76778 Dollars. :) I am happy you had a good week. It is nice that you made dad a poster. You are great. Keep having a good summer. Are you reading any good books???? I love you Heidi (can't believe you are 16 (oh wait that is Meagan)) :) Love you!

Jera, 115 is crazy hot. Here it is about 59. But I get by. I just get so cold. 

Funny little Duke. Growing up. Mission has brought me to fall asleep in the shortest journeys. For example from one appointment to another. I have just been tired. Which is good, because it means I have been working. 

Those are some great pictures. I will have to get some more pictures for you. I really like the picture of the road and the clouds. nice shot. 

Thanks for the update. I love you Jera!

Love you all very much. Thanks for your wonderful emails. Your weekly adventures bring joy to my heart. Love you bunches!

Love, Elder Pennington

June 15th 2015

Hey You Guys!

Well the transfer week has happen. All is the same here. Just working hard. We had met some wonderful people this week. One sister that we met, she has brought someone into her home who happens to be a member. He had left Zimbabwe about 5 years ago. Had not come to church here. Was going to serve a mission just before but then his mom passed away and he struggled with everything. Soon came down here to South Africa. He is a good guy, just going through some things right now. The Gospel can help. We also spent some time with a sister in our ward making cookies. I got a little crazy with the decorations. I feel that was in my blood :) It was fun to spend some time with her. She and her family have been having some struggles. Most of her famiy have become less active. She and her daughters and grandson are the ones holding strong. A good Sister. 

We also had Ward Conference. It was great. The Stake Presidency came and gave some great talks about loving one another.  

Missionary work has been good. We have been working hard. Trying our hardest to help people prepare for baptism, but of recent, they just don't want to take some steps of faith. One sister is coming great to church, just does not want to put a date on baptism. We are getting there though. Then our age old trouble of getting people to church. But nevertheless as we keep working the work will move forward. It is a great work. 

Dad, I do like that story from President Eyring. The fruits of conversion. The gospel is a part of change. We change in this life in one way or another. To follow Christ or not. And that change does show in small things. We had a lesson with a Sister about the Law of Chasity. It took the direction of Modesty and what it is and why it is important. She was defending those who don't dress very modest but reassured us that the change will come as they strive to know more about and follow the Saviour. It is amazing work of change to prepare us to meet our Father in Heaven. Thanks.

Yesterday felt pretty good too. The week was pretty great. We had worked hard and had set goals to work even harder this transfer. Plans have been set and steps have been taken. It was a great lesson on follow the Prophet. I kept coming back to the quote from Elder Evans. "The Lord speaks to his Prophet until his very last breath." I love having a living True Prophet. 

For me the verse in Mosiah 16. I feel it talks about the Eternal Truths. really that whole 2 Ne 25:26. The things that effect us Yesterday, Today and Forever! Very nice insight. And what a nice little study buddy. 

No major birthday plans. I will probably try to teach at least 3 lessons that day. Maybe get someone baptized :) On a tuesday. We will see. Also Thanks for the funnies. I love you dad!

Mom, Sounds like quite the week. Plenty of fun little moments. It is crazy to think how far away I am, but how close everything is in the gospel. I love this. I have been doing good. I have been meaning to get more vitamin C, I will try for some vitamin D too. My body has probably be craving that. It is funny how many people are surprised that I don't come from England or Washington (I don't look too much like an Arizona boy.) But I have been keeping warm. It has been hard to get up in the morning, but i think we will be doing more physical exercise in the morning so I hope to stay warm that way. Should be fun. Thanks for being so great. I hope you have a wonderful week and stay cool. I love you Mom!

Bryant, We have 3 missions in South Africa. The Johannasberg Mission, Cape Town Mission, and Durban Mission. And right now Cape Town is the only one without a temple working in it or planned to be built within it. Hope that helps. I love You Bryant!

Meagan, I hear you are reading a Book. What Book? Sound like a good week. I can't wait to get caught up with the series yet. But until then I am happy you are making the most of your summer with Chick Flicks and Once! Lots going on. Some big things going on out there. Oh you are taking some great pictures with that camera of yours. Keep Well Meagan. I love You!

Heidi, You are making a sock monkey. That is awesome. what are you going to name your sock monkey? It should be a good name okay. Sounds like you are enjoying the summer. Keep up each day. make it the best like Phenias and Ferb. Okay? I love you Heidi. 

Jera. I love you Too!! I hope you are doing well. 

Love you all very much. Keep enjoying the Heat and I will enjoy the cold and we will balance out the weather felt by Penningtons. Love you all!

Love, Elder Pennington

June 8th 2015

Hey You Guys,

This was a pretty good week. We did not reach the same amount of lessons as we could have, but as we have kept on working we had several of our investigators at church, which brought so much joy. We had Patricia who we have been teaching for some time now. She is doing great, reading in Mosiah now and has been coming to church pretty consistantly now. But her thing is she does not feel like she wants to jump into making the baptismal conventant without knowing forsure it is something she wants. So we have been taking it nice and slow for her...but she has been progressing well. Also at church we had a couple from DRC. Gaultier and Oddette. They came a little late because they were walking some of the way and could not find the church. So we went searching for them. Eentually we found we were looking in the worng area because we got a call from them and they said they were saw the steeple and were heading toward it. We were worried they were maybe going to a different steeple. But soon we got to our building and found that they we already there waiting for us. They enjoyed the bit of church they were there for. We even had a little tour afterwards of the building. It was very nice. But it made a great end to a another great transfer. 

Now for my transfer news. Nothing is changing for me. I will be with Elder Vanfleet for a third transfer in Goodwood. It will be another great transfer together. There are small changes here and there like the new Assistant (who we are living with). I have a new member of my district (he is from Italy). And Elder Mei will now be in my Zone, but besides that my life is about the same :) 

Dad, Thanks for those very wonderful stories. I am trying day and night to learn as much as I can to become a better dicisple of Christ. These last couple of weeks have been those kind of learn experinces. For example the whole forget yourself and get to work kind of thing. In my  studies I have been trying so hard to think of my investigators and other we are teaching. To keep them in my thoughts. In my prayers. To ponder on how I can help them more. We have struggled for many weeks to get more than one to church. We invite. We follow up on Saturday. Then week after week we would have maybe one. I recognize the whole agency, but we know the boost of faith and testimony that comes as we go to church. So we have continued to work on it. And yesterday it worked. Now we are to learn and more forward. I had heard a quote during my seminary years "Adjust and Battle." That has been what we have been trying to do. Giving our all!

For me service has been a good thing to do. It has been a wonderful way to build trust and friendship. Brother Burger has been a good example of that. We have had a couple of little service projects with him and it has been great to see his spiritual growth. But service is one thing that Missionaries have used as a time filler. In those slow moments during the morning hours when people are not typically home or what. But I have tried to make it more of a building trust and finding tool. It has been very nice. 

The work is going well. we have been building and rebuilding our teaching pool alot lately. Trying to make it strong. And by the hopes of it we are hopeing to have some baptisms this transfer. It will be nice to see some of the fruits of our labors (especially since  this will be a 6 month area for Elder vanfleet and possibly a 6 month for me too). 

I am happy with the growth that has been happening. And am excited to see what else will happen. 

Happy to hear things are going well on your side. I very much enjoyed the stories. Thanks for everything. Love You!!

Mom, Sounds like summer is going well over there. Here we are entering winter time. Getting kind of cold for this Arizona boy :) I got some sweats this morning for about 70 rand. That way I can exercise in the morning with out freezing. We are trying to get running and beginning our day with that. Should be fun. 

Happy to hear of Nathan and Brandons time in the temple. That is such a special place. 

It has been kind of cool being here in Cape Town where some people actually have internet in their homes. There is one member family that has been watching Once upon a Time. There is so much happening to catch up on (later on in my life.) 

Meagan Has for sure been growing up. Too fast. Also Heidi. We had lunch yesterday with a family with a young 11 year old girl. and if Heidi is going to be 11 now now then she is getting too big. It is crazy how time works. 

It has been a pretty good week. Thanks Mom. I love You!!

Bryant, Thanks for the comforting words considering the ipad :) I guess you are right. I am happy not to have to be carrying around on eof those things. Too much. But  I hope you enjoy. Technologically advance missionary. Enjoy your week. Love You Brother!

Meagan, I hope you enjoyed your Bry day. I am happy you didn't crash. That is good. Keep practicing and you will get there. Then you can serve without fear in a driving mission :) Summer is here once again. Enjoy the break. there are not many more until you are done with school. Crazy thought huh? I had that thought not too long ago and look at where I am. South Africa. and I love it. My life here is good. We have been working are and having plenty of funny moments. We meet so many wonderful and interesting people each day. I love this work. 

Love you too Meagan. Keep resting hard!

Heidi, you are learning to ride a bike. Way to go. Have you been swimming too? You can do it! you are the best. Just keep trying. Just keep biking, and just keep swimming. And you are fine. I don't remember Jera and Dad's cousins name either. Enjoy your week. Have fun! I love You. Thanks for the pictures.

Jera. Thank you for the pictures from the girls. They are growing up too fast as well. And they look so happy. Duke is pretty big now. How old is he? Last I remember he was a little guy. Enjoy your trip. Love you Jera!

Well I hope every one has a wonderful week. Thanks for the great emails. Hope all have fun this week. I love you!!!

Love, Elder Pennington

Storm Clouds

It's rainy season in Cape Town

June 1st 2015

Hey You Guys!!!

This has been a good week. Nothing too major happened, just preaching the Gospel :) It has been a good week for that. We have been working hard as we are coming to the End of the transfer. Elder Vanfleet and I have been together for 12 weeks at the end of this one. It has been a lot of fun. We have done some great work and now we will finish it off strong. We had some great less active lessons. Brother Burger still tells us stories. This week we did service with him and he taught us about the Bonsai trees he has. It is so much fun hearing his wonderful stories. We also had Burger King. There is one or two here in Cape Town. That was tasty. 

Another thing that showed how small the world is. There was a man that we had stopped to talk to on the street. He was not a member nor had he heard of the church. But he had on an Eagle Mountain Utah West Stake sweatshirt on. He had picked it up in Congo. The world very much is small. 

But that is a small highlight from this week. It was nevertheless quite the week. 

Dad,  Sorry to hear about the email. I really liked eyes4ward that was fun to say. Ashley is going off to Washington. That will be a great experience for her. And I wish I was there to be able to have seen all of the old faces. Time really has flown since changes have happened. 

Did I get an Eagle Scout knife too? 

I can't believe the girls are out of school already. Weird to think That I have been out long enough for them to have finished a year and a half. time is not with us is it. There never is enough. :) But we make the most of what we got. 

Just keep giving the girls chores. It makes the time go slower and in theory they would have a longer summer. :) Plus I know that they would enjoy the sweat and hard work. 

As far as that part of the Donaldson papers, I don't know about the mission as a whole but my companion and I have been working a little on talking to people. Not only keeping it real but also short and simple. 

Our lines mostly start with a Howz It? or How are you doing? But we get to that point and the person looks at us funny and says, "what do you want?" and then old habits kick in and we say "We got a message that has blessed our lives and would love to share it with you and your family." So it is still  a working progress. On a good day we would say, "We're missionaries and we share a short message about Jesus Christ and how we can draw closer to Him." Still working on some good ideas. Let me know if you have any good ones. But aren't those papers great. A very interesting talk. 

I love that talk that Bry had sent over. I am printing it out and will read that too. 

Dad, thanks for your thoughts and advice. I am very happy to be involved in this great work. I am grateful for your example of faithful service. I love you Dad!

Mom, You have some very proud sons. I for one love the opportunities to talk about my wonderful family (especially my great parents :) 

Sounds like you had a pretty good week on that side. the work moves forward Bold Nobly and Independent. I can't wait for my chance to just sit in the Celestial Room and view the crystals myself. One day. But for now I found a nice picture of the gilbert Temple in a Liahona that I look at every now and then. Fun. Sounds like when I come back everyone else will be on mission. Crazy thought. 

I think about President Riggs every now and then. I feel he has been on mission forever. But good to hear he will be coming home soon. I miss that guy. It has been a while. every now and then I feel like having a President Riggs "finger food" moment :) 

My area is good. We are working hard. We were so excited for Sunday. We had 4 people say they were going to come to church. Very promising people. Then Church came around and they did not. :( This has been a struggle for us. But we followed up with them. reasonable excuses but still not that solid compared to the importance of church. I don't know. We will see what we can do with this. 

Transfers are next week. So by the next time I email I should have some info for you. It is okay not to keep track. I should not count day but make the days count. And it truly is amazing how fast that makes things move.  Then you add my office duties and we are booking it. :) 

Bishop is doing okay. Still in ICU this week, but the update yesterday is if he does not have and major bleedings as he has in the past little bit, then they will move him to a ward. And with that he will be able to come back home next week. We keep praying for him. Sustaining has brought on a whole different meaning lately. With President Monson and the Quorum of the Twelve aging and all something that Elder Evans told us when he was here. "God speaks through his Prophets until his very last breath." Our Heavenly Father is in charge. We need to listen, follow, trust and obey. He knows what He is doing. As D&C 107:22 "upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church." We sustain our leaders is such a manner. It has been a very tender experience. 

Mom thanks for all you do. I love You!!

Bryant. You have an Ipad, that is pretty cool that you are able to be involved in the technological missionary era. I wish I could but if we had Ipads here, lets just say we would not have them for long :) But keep working hard. Know that I love you Brother!

Meagan, The Party Girl. You had a lot of parties this week huh? Sounds like Fun. So who is Solomon. Sounds like a wise young man. Happy you had fun. I bet you are happy to be in Summer. Enjoy the Arizona Sun. We have been having cloudy days and some rain. But it hasn't been too bad. 

Now as far as long weeks go, wait until you are graduating and you just have a couple of days left. Those are "fun." Keep well Meagan. Enjoy the break. Love you!

Heidi, Miss you too Bud. What was you teachers name? I don't think you ever told me. :( But I hope summer cheers you up. That will be fun. Cleaning the house every day. taking care of the garden (that is what they call the yard around here), giving tatum a bath every day. There is so much you can do during the summer. You might even want to try a tech free summer as we did so many years ago. That would be fun :) 

Hope you like my ideas. I love you Heidi!! 

Jera, it is kinda fun meeting people of different religions. For me I have come across alot of Christians, but there are alot of Muslims too. They are a very nice people. Also met some Hindus. The Indian people have some very nice food. It is very interesting the variety we have in this world. 

I can't believe Kora will be turning 4. Too much. She is a crazy little nut :) 

Love you Jera!

Well this has been quite the week. I can't wait to report on what will happen this week. Exciting times ahead!

Love You all Very Much!!

-Elder Pennington the Elder    

May 25th 2015

Hey You Guys!

This has been quite the week. We are been working hard and having a blast. Plus we have been fed very well. In a normal week we might have 2 dinner appiontments. For us this week. This is day three of a series of Dinner appointments. We had 3 people feed us on Saturday. We had 2 people feed us yesterday. And today we have two possibles. We didn't plan for any of this. But we will not complain. Full tummys are always nice :) 

But on a more serious note our ward has been doing some fasting for our Bishop. Bishop Parsons has been having some liver problems. During the last month he has been in the ICU. It is just up down up down for him right now. It has been had for his family. Then on the ward side there is no First counselor, so the Second Counselor has been carrying everything. He has been truly strengthened at this time too. So just as a note if you can keep Bishop Parsons in your prayers that would be great. Thanks

Despite all of that our week has been pretty good. We have had may wonderful lessons. Helped Brother Burger move some furniture. That took about 20 minutes, but than we took the next hour to look at pictures and he would tell us stories. It was pretty cool. He is a great man. Lived quite the life. Some times I wonder what kind of old person I am going to be :) 

But that is about it for now.

Dad, Things are going good on this side. Memorial day doesn't really change things around here. I don't know why :) I have written Mason. but it has been a couple of weeks. I am going to do it now. 

Sound like things are moving forward over there. That is cool. Brother Burger is a pretty good family history expert. He owns a series of Books that index the white familys here in South Africa. It is several Decades old. So he helps out some people in the Ward. Really fun to hear the stories. 

I am doing well. We are on our search for those families. We found this great couple, had a couple of good lessons with them. Powerful and great understanding. Then we invited them to church. They said they would come and insisted we set up an appointment at church. Then they didn't show :( but we are getting there. Like you say we just need to keep pushing forward. 

I can't wait for Bry day. Soon right :) I love you Dad!

Mom, It was a good week. Sadly if I do get a nap, it is during lunch for about 15 minutes. but they always feel so good :) I remember when Bry did that poem. I hope Heidi Enjoyed it. 

I hope the package gets here too. Can't wait. As far as birthday goes it probably is safer to just get stuff here. Crazy customs sometimes throws in some crazy tarriffs. Luckily our packages are just right and don't take much to get in this country. Thank you so much for them. They make me smile so much. 

Even after a year, my shoes are great, clothes are great. My suit needs to be cleaned so that is alright. Rain wise I think that my jacket is perfect. I got my umbrella is ready. Overall I think I am fine. Now that I got the camera all settled. I even got a funny case (it is a home sock. I sent a picture of it.) Thank you for taking care of me so well. I will give it some thought. 

The work is nice. Moving forward. I like that idea. We can't handle it alone. Nor was that the plan. This is about growing. And "nothing can make of us what He can." That is something that Brad Wilcox talked about in the book "the Continuous Atonement." I am very grateful for the Atonement. I am very grateful for my Savior. 

Mom Thanks for being so great. I love you and hope your week is fantastic.

Bry- Love YOU!

Meagan, Congrats on making class secretary. You will do great. That will be fun to serve with Courtney. Have fun! And you planned a date? thanks for the detail. I can;t believe you can plan dates now. Crazy. Good luck with finals though. You will do well. You can even ask for a blessing to help calm your nerves. No stress! Enjoy you week. Make the most of it. Beat the System! Love you!!

Heidi, O Sister, my Sister. I hear you did well. You are almost graduated. Wow!! I hope you have a fun final week. Summer is almost here. I am going into winter here. Weird how this world is huh? have a great week though. Love You Heidi!!

Jera, Love you too!

I love you all very much! Enjoy your week!

Love, Elder Pennington the Elder