Symtoms

Hey guys it´s you're favorite missionary coming at you again from Spain! It´s been a really strange week honestly. We had the mission tour with Elder Soares as I said in last weeks update and it was great. On the way back to Valladolid, however, I started to get sick and then was bed-ridden for the day after. I thought the song Symptoms by Atlas Genius makes sense for this week. As a result, I feel like we didn't do much this week. Today marks two months since I left Corntown and flew to Madrid. Can´t stress enough how fast the time has gone by.

We had a few good lessons and had a lot of people show up to play basketball and futbol on Saturday which was great. We have some new investigators as a result. Can´t say too much more happened this week up until then.

That changed on Sunday though. Our investigator, Mikchael, has been having trouble accepting a baptismal date since he has some doubts about how strong he´ll be after he is baptized. Two of the other Elders´ investigators passed their baptismal interviews this last week and so their baptismal services were announced in sacrament meeting yesterday. This must´ve made Mikchael realize something. He nudged me and asked if I had something to write on. I opened my memos on my tablet, gave it to him and watched him type out "I want to bautizarme (to be baptized). is very coollll." He´s been trying to learn English, so that was pretty good for him. My companion and I tried to contain our elation since it was in the middle of church, but we were thrilled. We later discovered that he wants to be baptized THIS WEEKEND. Apparently its important to him to be baptized on the same day as the other Elders´ investigators. So we´ve got to get the zone leaders to come and interview him and teach him the rest of the stuff he needs to know by Saturday. It'll be a little crazy, but I think we can make it happen. We´ve got a lot going on this next week, and I´m ready to get to work and make things happen. 

I feel like my Spanish is becoming a little bit more natural, and I´m understanding a little better. The elders in my district keep telling me that my Spanish is the best they´ve heard for someone who's been out as long as I have. I´m reminded of a quote from The Office, when Michael Scott says, "Sometimes I start a sentence and I´m not really sure where it´s going, and I just hope it finds its way as I go along." Glad that I feel I´m finally improving :)

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SPAIN AND SPANISH PEOPLE

Ok so I´ve realized a few things about Spain. People really like Burger King here. I´m not entirely sure what it is, but everyone is obsessed with it. Literally everyone and their dog has a dog too. And people always walk with their dogs through the city. I´m not complaining at all though. I love dogs and it makes for a great conversation starter when we contact. Everyone smokes here, which seems to be the case with all of Europe. Everywhere I go, I smell cigarette smoke and I´m really getting sick of it. Only 22 more months of it hahahaha. If I come back with lung cancer, you now know why. I´m starting to think that carpet doesn't exist in Spain. Everywhere you go has wood or tile floors of some sort. The last thing is I really can´t seem to find bagels anywhere. Its something I grew to love in the states and just figured that they'd have here. I never thought I´d miss them so much.

Anyways I really miss you all (more than I miss bagels) and hope you all have a brilliant week :)

Pictures, although I don´t have any new ones from this week (hopefully they actually send when I attach them this time):

1. Elders take the Santiago Bernabéu

2. Elder Penner with the 11 (!) European Championship trophies

Up & Up

Another week has flown by! I chose the song Up & Up off of Coldplay's newest album because that's the direction this week has gone in, and I can only see it getting better. I realized last week I may have made it sound like I was having a rougher time than I was. There were definitely some fantastic experiences to go along with the lows. This week was definitely better now that I've adjusted a bit.

We met with Mikchael a few times this week and he's expressed to us some doubts that he's having. He's afraid of failing after he is baptized. We're doing our best to assure him that it's nearly impossible with the way he's progressing. He's such a great person in every way. He just needs to realize that the only thing he's short on as far as becoming a member is baptism. We weren't able to set up many other lessons than the ones with him, so we're focusing on trying to find more people and setting up times with other investigators. Elder Kamimoto has taught me a lot, one of the most useful things being the best cereal here. He also cooks and says that I'll be lucky if I ever get another comp that likes to cook hahaha.

The reason I'm emailing today instead of Monday like normal is because we have what's called a mission tour this week. Elder Soares of the quorum of the 70 is speaking to us tomorrow so they had us come down a day early and spend our P day in Madrid.

We went to Real Madrid's stadium, the Santiago Bernabeu and went on the tour this morning. That was tremendous although I'm not the biggest fan of the club. Following that, we went to Sol which is the tourist center of Madrid and got Five Guys for lunch. Pretty sure it's the only one in Spain. It felt like home with the classic rock playing while we ate hahaha. It's been a pretty fantastic day and it's warmer here which is nice. We're finishing off the day with a temple session, which the elders in the north of Spain don't normally get to do. I realized this week that I've already been out for almost two months which is insane. I'm definitely gonna do my best to make the most of the time I'm here in Spain since it's obvious that it's not gonna last. Hope you all have a top tier week. Love you all <3

-Elder Penner

Welcome To Your Life

Wow it actually seems like it's been forever since I last had a P-Day. They actually give me an adequate amount of time to email now that I'm out in the field so I don't have to rush anymore. This past week and a half has been crazy honestly. The song "Welcome to your Life" by Grouplove seemed to fit pretty well. 

Alright I'll start with my last few days in the MTC. For my last p-day there, we went to downtown Madrid which was super cool. We got to check out the stores and the city square. The following Saturday we went to the park to talk to people as usual, but this time I got to go with my MTC companion, Elder Ward, rather than being assigned someone else in the MTC like each Saturday before. It was definitely the best time I've had in the park. We had good conversations with 5 or 6 people lasting roughly 15 min each. Some in English, some in broken Spanish. On Sunday, I finally got to meet and be interviewed by my mission president, President Pack. He seems like a top quality guy. Monday was in-field training day so we just had a bunch of classes about what the mission field was gonna be like.

On Tuesday, we went our seperate ways according to which mission we were going to. Pres and Sister Pack brought all the new missionaries to a hill that overlooks the city of Madrid and we had a little devotional there. It was super cool. After that we went back to the Stake Center at the temple grounds and met our new companions. My companion is Elder Kamimoto. He's a pretty cool guy and knows quite a bit about music, so we talk about that quite a bit. He's from Las Vegas and has been out for a year and a half now. I've already learned a ton from him. Hermana Penner (my cousin serving here) actually knows him fairly well and told him that he was gonna train me. Turns out she was right hahaha. After I met him, we jumped on a train and went to our assigned area: Valladolid.

Valladolid is a really cool city with some really awesome looking architecture. It apparently used to be the capital of Spain, so that explains a little why there's so many cool buildings and such. We're serving in the Valladolid branch with one other companionship. Elder Peroni, my good friend in the MTC is in the same area as me, so I get to see him a lot. 

We've already taught a few lessons to investigators in the area. We're teaching a guy from Colombia whose name is Mikhael Yadkson (Pronounced Michael Jackson). He's a really cool guy and we've got a baptismal date set for him at the end of this month. We're also teaching a man named Carlos, who isn't quite as firm, but he's been really trying to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. 

The mission field is really different than what I thought it would be to be quite honest. It's been really humbling for me, to say the least. I feel like I've already experienced so much just in this first week. I can already cross off several things that I've experienced. I've been spit at, laughed at, had some great meal appointments and some not so great. We teach English classes every Wednesday and Friday and I enjoy them quite a bit. I'm getting to know the people there pretty well. On Sunday, the branch president had me go up and bear my testimony in broken Spanish, but everyone said I did a good job. Not entirely sure if I believe them.

I think that covers most of what I wanted to say. My P-day won't be until Tuesday next week since we're going to Madrid for a zone conference, but after that, it'll be on Monday every week. I love you all hasta luego <3

-Elder Penner

Elder Penner Has Arrived!

Dear Penner Family,

We had the great pleasure of welcoming your son to the Spain Madrid Mission.  We spent the day together at the mission home where he received training and orientation on his missionary assignment.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time together and felt a wonderful spirit present.  We appreciate all that you have done to prepare your son to serve the Lord and for the sacrifice you are making in giving him to the Lord for a time. 

Elder Penner has been assigned to labor in Valladolid with Elder Kamimoto.

We thought you might enjoy these pictures that we took in the backyard during our lunch break.  May the Lord bless you and your family in all of your endeavors.

With love,

President and Hermana Pack

Move

The song Move by Saint Motel seems to sum up my week pretty well. It´s been pretty frantic yet again. As crazy as it´s been here, I love it more and more as the weeks go by.

Last Thursday we went to Alcala de Henares which is a cool city on the outskirts of Madrid. The architecture there was super cool. We got to see the author of Don Quijote, Cervantes´, house so that was pretty neat. We also checked out one of the universities in the area too. I´ve decided that probably 95% of the really cool looking buildings here in Madrid are either churches or universities. We got some churros afterwards and they were superb. Not much like the ones in the states, but they´re certainly delicious.

I feel like my Spanish is improving but we´re learning weird verb tenses that we use without realize the difference in English like imperfect and subjunctive so it´s gonna take me a while to figure what they´re all about. I talked to a Spaniard at the park for quite a while last Saturday and I thought I understood at least half of what he was saying. I´m still a long ways off being fluent, but I feel like I´m finally progressing a little more than I have been.

I´ve only got 4 more days here so I´m really trying to make the most of them. I´ll talk to you all next week!

-Elder Penner

Pictures:

1. Got a pic with my man Don Quijote

2. Street in Alcalá