September 21st 2015

Hey you guys!!!

Well this week was pretty simple. Just a four hour trip to PE. Had a nice zone conference. It was nice. Crazy to think that the zone events are becoming less and less. But i love those moments of instruction. Then we had a short exchanges with the zone leaders in PE, so that they don't have to travel to George. It was nice. Then stayed one more night. Then to the trip home. I only struggled with tiredness the last hour. I am proud of myself. I am so used to just sleeping in the car journeys. But i made it okay. 

The last couple of the days in the week were kind of slow, but we made the most of them. But it might be a little hard with the rugby world cup. I don't know if you remember the movie Invictus. But the Springboks are pretty good in rugby and people love them here, esp. The Afrikaaners. But we will get by. I might get a little caught up in the rugby fever and buy a Springboks Jersey. Maybe :) but yeah thing have been good here. Same old same old. Still excited to read your emails. They still make me smile big. Love you all. 

Dad, first, Joburg is an 11-12 hour drive from here. So most people fly. But tell Brother Glazier thanks for me too. That would be so cool. Part of me has looked around every corner to see if by chance there might be someone i know. Mission has made this world seem so much smaller. 

I am going to be talking this week, perks of a small branch in Africa, missionaries get to speak a lot. I will be talking about Elder Hales talk ... Preserving Agency and Protecting Religious Freedom. I hope it goes well. My studies have been pretty simple. One thing i want to do when i get home is take a study of the book of Mormon with the topic of Light. I read 1 Ne 17 and Nephi talked about how the Lord acted as there their. Something physical was given to them in their times of darkness. As so it can be with us. A physical source of light. A spiritual source of light to lead us in this ever darkening world. 

But the work is good here. I do like to the area alot. it is full of so much potential. I am excited to give my all here. A great place to have a final inning. To practice everything i have learned thus far. It should be fun. My comp and I are doing great. It is so much fun. 

But the family mission plan is what we are finding great strength in. It not only paves the way for people to join the church, but it also strengthens the members in their personal conversion. It will be great for this area. 

I am happy everyone is enjoying time with Grandma and Grandpa (here they call their grandparents Ouma and Oupa. I love the different cultures i find here.) . But i love you Dad. Have a great week.

Mom, i don't know who the girls remind me of?? :) but i think that we can tie it all back to our wonderful parents. Love you and thanks you for your great examples. You are the best Parents in the world. 

It is cool to hear the testimonies of those who are investigating the church. Those honest seekers of truth. They are truly looking and when they find the church you can tell, they can tell that they have been prepared for this gospel. Angels are preparing many for this great gospel, now we are in search for them. What a marvelous work and a wonder. 

No major stories this week. I have come to recognize that most of the time the Lord work many small and simple miracles in our lives. Tender mercies. Things that are almost unnoticeable. But His kind hand is there. Small little things happened this week. Like driving home with no problems. The simple lessons we had. It was just nice. I will try to get a good story for next week though.

Thanks Mom. Love you!!

Bryant, love you Elder. Keep working hard. Kia Kaha! Love ya!

Meagan, you are quite a busy girl. I am happy you enjoyed homecoming. I loved the school dances. They were great chances to hang with friends and have fun. I think if my memory serves me right, i went to my jr homecoming with Ashley Dearden. It was fun. But wow time flies. I know it flies even more when you are so involved in school just as you are. Keep working hard, but don't forget to sharpen your saw. You busy girl, you. You are growing up too fast. Slow down a little bit, will you?

I love you Megs!

Heidi, i hear you did great in the primary program. Way to go!! Also congrats on being Student of the month. You must be pretty brilliant. Keep working hard like your sister. She is a great example to me. You can learn a lot from her. And wow it is almost your birthday. Well happy early birthday. You are also growing up too fast. Love you Buddy!

Jera congrats on the triathlon. That must feel great. I did about 10-15 minutes of plyometrics from p90x it killed my legs. I really have to be doing more exercise. Especially with the little time left. 

I love the topic of grace. There are so many great talks about it. President Uchtdorfs was great. But Brad Wilcox had a great one called "his grace is sufficient" and Elder Bednar also had a great one, i think it was called " in the strength of the Lord." A great topic to study. 

And yes it is a crazy world we live in. There are too many funny characters out there. Oh politics. What a crazy world this is. 

We will have to talk sometime. But i love you Jera, have a great week.

Well thanks for the great emails. I love you all so very much. Hope you week is great, especially in the count down until Heidi's birthday. :)

Love, Elder Pennington

Sept 14th 2015

Hey you guys!!!!!

Another week has passed. Here on moment and gone the next. 

On my side the week was pretty slow. A normal mission week in George. On Friday we drove to Knysna, the closest two missionaries. The rest of my district, an hour away. Life is kind of nice here in exile. A chance to just buckle down and focus. A good chance to prove myself to myself. Other then that the week has been pretty slow. Pretty simple. Nothing too major. Next week will be the same. We will take to 4 hour drive again, to have zone conference in PE. That should be fun. Road trip :) 

Dad, covenants are pretty neat, they bind us closer to Heavenly Father, and they put us right next to Christ. Giving us the strength to do good. To become better. They refine us and mold us and make us.  The gospel is the best life insurance, it gives us the greatest peace in this life, a peace that comforts us through whatever might happen.

 

Sounds like a lot is going on over there. Thanks for your words of support and love. 

I have truly enjoyed learning more about and watching the Atonement at work. Seeing people change through Christ. Seeing my own change is a little harder, but i can see some of the growth. Mission has been quite to experience this far. I can't wait to see what else will happen. 

I love you Dad!

Mom, that is a funny meme. Mission will do that to you every now and again. It just wipes you out. 

But yeah Sundays are nice.  Sundays are our busiest days. Sounds like you had a great week. 

That cool about Nathan. I have a friend from Motherwell serving in Uganda. Elder Beja. Nathan is going to Africa Africa. Not south African tameness. Elder Beja this last week had a baptism planned and they had to cancel it because there was no water. His whole village had been without water for a week. Nathan is going to have a great African Mission adventure. He will love it. 

But the Ultimate Gift is a great movie, probably one of my favorites. 

With a mission branch there is not much more that i have to do. We just help out where we can. Which is nice. President wants us to strengthen the unit. Build the members, reactivate and such. So we focus on that, but we do have a couple of cool investigators. As well of some young investigator of people's kids. People who are making their way back and their kids are older than 8. So there is plenty to do. A nice small branch. About 60 people at church. Not too bad. It is just a mission branch because it is too far from a stake. So the mission supports it. 

But the area is nice a pretty. Nice people and everything. I will get some pictures soon. The weather is slowly getting hotter. Just slowly leaving behind the cold. But it isn't too bad right now. Today is a beautiful day. Nice warm breeze with a little cold. Just right. 

Mom, thanks for everything. I love you mom!!!

Bryant, love you too. I can't wait to share stories either. Someday soon. But it looks like we are on different side of the world yet having a similar time on mission. I hope you enjoy your branch with Elder George. It is pretty cool being in a small unit huh? I have been able to understand more how everything work in the church. Pretty cool to see more behind the scenes. Love you Brother

Meagan, i met a sisi (sister) the other day with your name. Even spelled the same way. Then she tried to convince us that it is pronounce meegan. Some people. I couldn't help but smile. 

But it looks like you are keeping busy. Working hard, playing hard at school. That is great. Just keep swimming. Love you Meegan :)

Bud, you are a very very busy busy little bee aren't you. Happy to hear you are enjoying things. Keep your head up and smile when those challenges come. There is a quote. "Don't tell God how big your mountain is, tell your mountain how big your God is" Heavenly Father loves you alot and wants to help you out. Trust Him. Keep up the great work. I love you Heidi!

Jera, love you too!!

Well sorry it is not jam packed with stories and jokes. But just another note. Last Saturday we got home and had no power. It wasn't load shedding or that we were out of units. But 🇿🇦 we just had no power. Slept without. Showered and got ready on Sunday without. Nothing for the whole. Day we tried getting a hold of the landlord, nothing from him. The senior couples didn't know what to do. Then our last visit yesterday was with a member family. We just mentioned to him. He took us to the electricity dept. Got a phone number. They came to the flat. Literally just flipped a switch and we had power again. There was a power box outside and something had just switched ours off. Small and simple things cause some great problems :) well i hope you enjoy your week. Love you all lots!

Love, Elder Pennington

Last week - Sept 7th 2015

Hey You Guys!

This has been quite the week. saying good-byes. Flying to PE. Driving 4 hours to George. Cleaning up the flat. So that it looks nice. But it has been a lot of fun getting to know this area. It seems like it will be a fun one. There are a lot of great members. I think I will enjoy my time here. But nothing too crazy has gone on this last week.

Dad, sounds like a lot of good things are going on over there. Lots of good. Just keep pushing hard.

i love you thoughts with Gideon. I have always enjoyed that story. Vigilant and ready for anything. I thought of this last week. The trust it takes to come to George. There has been some crazy stuff in the pass. It is far away from everyone and the like. Right now we don't even have a senior couple to help things run smooth. There is a little bit of fear in there. There is so much to do. Missionaries are a big part of the branch. But even their trust has been cut. But the last several elders have been building trust again and I get to mark it even stronger. It will be some good work. A chance to let faith grow a little more. 

For now I don.t need anything. I am doing good. Just learning my way around the area. Things are great. One of the priesthood holders in the branch is the branch president. And he reports right to president Merrill. President Moyo is a cool guy. He is a great one to lead the branch. 

Our focus is more reactivation. We will also be working on building the members so we will have the family mission plan provide some investigator along the way. George just needs to be strengthed. Big time.but that is about it for now. Lots of fun times ahead.

Love you Dad!

Mom, george is very nice. Very diverse as well. And it is quite crazy to think that this will be, more likely than not, my last area. It has a population of about 68,000. Then you have the surrounding areas as well. Thembulethu, 31,000. Pacltsdorp, 18,000. So there plenty of people to visit just here. Then our area expands and includes Wilderness, Mossellbaai, some ostrich place, and the little places inbetween . It is a big area. But it will be fun to get used to. Plus i will be able to visit Knysna. One of the most beautiful places in the mission. I drive along most of the garden route. One of the most beautiful drives in the world. I am one of the lucky ones. 

Thanks for the great picture. 

Oh and Happy Anniversary to you and Dad!

Love you Mom!!

Bryant, love you brother!

Meagan, thanks for keeping up with my facebook. You are the best. You can accept the friend requests. Or if you want you can tell me who is making the requests and i can approve. But whatever is easiest. I can always go through everyone when I get home. But thanks for doing that. 

I am sorry about the dance collision. It is all a part of the program :) just keep practicing and work hard and you will soon be dancing with the stars. :) 

But evrything is good one this side. Just loving the work. Good luck with the tests and homework. Your diligence will pay off soon. Love you sister!!

Heidi, sounds like you are having some fun as well. Camping and everything. 

And you are very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very good girl. Keep working hard in school. You are doing great. 

Also keep indexing. I won't be able to have a lot of time to do it here in George. Not like i was in the office. So now it is up to you and mom. Good luck! 

I love you Heidi!

Jera, i hope you are doing great. Have a wonderful week. Love you!

Well until next week. This is Elder Pennington the Elder signing out. I love and miss you all. 

Love, Elder Pennington