When I lived in Venezuela, pena was used to mean to be shy about doing something, as in:
Me da pena pedirle el dinero.
In Peru, however, pena is also used to demonstrate sadness:
Me dio mucha pena escuchar lo de tu hermano.
You could use embarrassed and everybody would understand what you mean, but the feeling that produces the awkwardness about doing something is shyness.
Look at it the other way round; the opposite of shyness is boldness. Because you are bold you do things. If you are shy you don't.
I think that the person writing the email means shy rather than sad. But that is just my opinion.
Que piensas?
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