Vallejo Zone

Hey Family how are you all doing? I am doing really good. I had another great week here in Vallejo. Elder Ratuwara and I are getting down to business and working really hard. We are having more success cause we are praying hard for success and we are doing our part and working hard. We found a few more people to teach this week which is really good. we are really working hard and doing everything that we are supposed to to. Vallejo is so ready for the gospel so that makes the work a lot more fun and a lot more rewarding.I would say easy but its not easy at all. Mission work is so tough but I love it. The days are really long but the weeks are just going by super fast! ha ha Elder Ratuwara and I were guided by the spirit to 5 more people preparing them selves to enter the waters of baptism. we are having a service on Saturday and 5 people are getting baptized! I am so excited for them! one of the guys asked me to baptize him because I am from Utah. I think that's pretty funny. we will see how it turns out though. this week was pretty eventful. it has been really crazy because we were on bike. we got honked at a lot and yelled at a lot. its kinda tough because most of the time the words that are being said are not nice words... some people just don't like the Mormons for some reason. ha ha but its OK I guess, I work hard and I love the lord and just in gore all the other stuff that happens and I just keep doing what the lord wants me to do :) but being on bike does have some positives, my leg muscles are huge now cause of how many steep hills are here ha ha and also I got to talk to some really cool people that I would have just passed by if i was in a car. so that's always a good thing. we picked up some new investigators from being out on bike. It was really nice. I loved it. Ratuwara and I decided that we are going to bike a lot more now cause we need to work out our legs and also so we can contact a lot of people. ha ha. our goal is to baptize 8 people this month, we have 5 with a date so we just gotta find 3 more people and I know that we will cause the lord will help us a ton. We are having zone conference this week. I have heard a lot of good things about zone conference here in the mission. President Bunker is super awesome and really throws it down. I am super stoked for it. I will let you know how it goes next week. I hate it when I had to so much to write than I start typing and my mind goes blank... ah this is not good. well I guess that I will just have to start writing stuff down that I want to say to you guys. I will take more pictures and put them on the computer every once in a while so you are not having to wait till I send a memory card ha ha. but anyway I don't know what else to say right now other than I love you very much and I can't wait to talk to you guys on Sunday. have a good week. pray always and read your scriptures. Its good for you :) love you all very much!

Elder Cody Penman

Elder T. Williams and Elder Mahrt - Vallejo Zone Leaders

Well as you know, this week was transfers, well I got the big news on Saturday and I am staying here in Vallejo. I am training though... just kidding I am still with Ratuwara. He is the district leader which is way cool! I am excited for him. This month we went over on miles so this week till the end of the month, we are biking... ha ha sucks to be me right now. But it will be good for my legs to gain some muscle :) We baptized a girl named Lecka on Saturday! It went really well! It was awesome! We have a goal to baptize every Saturday this transfer which can happen with some hard work and help from the Lord! I have faith that we can do it! Elder Ratuwara is a mission legend and the top baptizer in the mission so we can do it. The reason we don't have very many is because we got white washed so we had to start fresh. Which is okay by me.

Did you all have a good Easter? I hope you did. I know I did. I learned a lot about the importance of Easter a lot more about the Savior of the world. So yea it was good. how have you been this past week? I hope that you all had a good week. Can you believe that I have been gone for 2 months? Time sure flies by when you are having fun and I am having a blast here in Vallejo! I know that this is where the Lord wants me right now. I know that this mission is the one meant for me. as you all know, I was ticked I was going to Cali. for my mission but now I am so grateful that I am here :) I don't want to be anywhere else. I am sending some pictures home this week so you should have some pictures of me soon. I forgot my cord to upload pictures online so that's why I haven't put any pics up... but I will figure something out sometime soon for you all. Thanks for the mail and things that I have been getting! that's super awesome of all of you! I am doing really good and super healthy. My reading and prayers are becoming a lot more sincere and that means the lord is blessing me more so I am loving life :) I love you all very much and I am praying for you every night by name so I hope you are all being blessed! I love you so much! Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you :) If there isn't, have a good week!

Elder Penman

Now Vallejo isn't exactly a "Heavenly place" but I can't help but think this is what it is going to be like to return back to our Heavenly home, except that it will be a much greater scale of joy and happiness. I can only imagine the joy that is going to fill my soul when I get back to my Father in Heaven and my Heavenly Home, a place I love. I have heard it said that when you return to God you will be shocked at how familiar he is too you. This is because before this life we knew him and lived with him. He sent us here to earth to learn and grow and his goal is that we will eventually return back to him. This should be the focus of our life here on earth. As it says in the Book of Mormon "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God." (Alma 34:32) We all need to take a look at our life and say, "Am I prepared to meet God?" I know that as we make this our goal we will realize things we can do to prepare for that day when we will see him again.



I am so glad that my Father Heaven gives me small glimpses, like that experience I had today, to help me remember what I am striving for. As the prophet Enos said " And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen." (Enos 1:27) I can't wait for this day!

Well its Monday again and that means e mail time. I hope that all of you had a good week! I know that I did. I loved this week a lot! I do have two words of bad news though.... the first thing is the baptism, It didn't work out. :( but we postponed it until this coming Saturday the 23 so i hope it will work. the 23 is also my mission birthday so that will be cool! ha ha. the second thing is I got sick on Friday night :( I think I got food poisoning... I was sick Friday after dinner and than Saturday until like 4:00 so about 20 hours of being sick! It was not good at all! But we worked through it. I got a blessing and than everything was good. I have such strong faith in the priesthood now. I just love it so much! All is good with me and my companion. We are still working hard and finding more people to teach. I know that the people will come with hard work. I went on exchanges with the A.P.'s this last week and they taught me a lot. I learned how to be more bold when I contact people and I learned to not take no for an answer. so now we are finding more people cause we are being more bold in talking to people. The area is still really nice, I am getting to know the area a lot better now so that's always good! I am just having a blast out here! Its almost time to transfer though, well its almost been 6 weeks, I am hoping that i stay here. some people in my district think I will stay here but I will train someone. That would be nuts! but i think that Elder Ratuwara will be the district leader and I will still be a normal missionary :) I guess we will all find out on Saturday. This transfer has been full of cool and exciting things. I love it very much! Vallejo is amazing! the other day a member took us to Olive Garden and out our way out some people stopped and talked to us and told us that they are members from Utah. they live in Alta but they have a son coming home in like 10 days from Sweden or something like that. they are all pretty stoked! ha ha it was cool to see someone from Utah and talk to some normal members. ha ha. I gave them all pass along cards and challenged them to pass them along. I hope they do it! ha ha. Pass along cards work sometimes and it also builds charity as we pass them along. so if you want some, talk to the missionaries in your area or i will send you one or two. ha ha. the weather has been really nice. its super warm here! not hot or not cold.its warm. like a perfect temp! its amazing! I am still trying to pick up Fijian. its not easy to learn. ha ha. but than again i only try learning it at night. ha ha. I am glad that Bishop Wayment gave me that advice. I am totally using it! I have grown a lot and my mission is totally changing me. for the better that is! :) I am learning so much from the zone leaders and the district leader and i learned a lot from the assistants on Thursday! The president is really amazing! Such a cool great guy! I bet he will be an authority after the mission! ha ha. well thanks for all you do for me and all the prayers. i have the best family ever! thanks so much! I will write when i can! :) love you all and have a good safe week. Let the spirit guide you to do the right things in your lives. read Alma 17. its a good chapter. love you again!

Elder Cody Penman