Isombard

I'm absolutely convinced that General Conference is about 47 times better while you're serving a mission. For those that don't know, General Conference is a series of broadcasts over a weekend that happens twice a year, where we get to listen to the leaders of the church and what they have to say to teach us and help us improve. One talk, which was probably my favorite, was by Gary B. Sabin. He spoke about always maintaining a positive attitude and getting back up when we're knocked down, or "standing up inside," as he put it. At one point, he was talking about his father in-law who had a ridiculously optimistic attitude, despite being very elderly. When someone expressed to him a concern about his ability to walk, he replied, "that's ok. If I get tired of walking, I'll just start running." This reminded me of a song by Deklan McKenna - Isombard. In the chorus, it repeats the phrase, "If you can't walk, then run" several times. This is something that is good to keep in mind when we're out working. If you feel like you can't walk, and you just want to go home a little early at the end of a long day, that's often the time when we have to run. I have already seen many examples of blessings received when my companion and I have just gone and done a little bit more. I´ll definitely be looking to apply that throughout my mission.

We had a good week here in Valladolid (pronounced Vay-uh-doh-leed, not sure if i ever included that before). We started teaching this guy named Cristian. He was a reference from a member here and he really seems solid. He's been reading the Book of Mormon and says he likes what he has read. We're meeting with him again today to follow up and teach him the next lesson. He told us he's done karate for years, so I'm hoping we don't ever say anything that offends him hahaha.

Another thing, we called Mikchael, the recent convert, about a week ago to see if we could meet with him, and he told us he was in Paris out of nowhere. Apparently he's there with his uncle for the next month or so. He told us he's going to church there, so that's still good. I just hope there's a Spanish branch there. He's been struggling to learn English and doesn't know French at all hahaha. Love that guy. Hope he returns before I get transferred to another area.

Alright here's your guys' Spanish culture lesson of the week. So Spain has this thing called Mediodia, where pretty much the entire city shuts down during the middle of the day, from roughly 2:00 to 5:30. Everyone goes home and eats lunch and takes a nap, then they go back to work after Mediodia ends. The streets are practically empty at some points, so we usually return to our piso and do our studies if we don't have a meal appointment during those hours.

We've got zone conference this week up in Oviedo which is my comp's old area, so stay tuned for an update on that next week. Until then, I'm Elder Penner. Goodnight (morning) America.

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner

Pictures:

1. Group that came to play basketball and soccer with us this last Saturday (my team won as always) 

2. Graffiti that describes the feelings at the end of a long day (S/O Bay Area)

3. Valladolid is pretty