Elder Penner Spain Madrid Mission: Joy Rides

"I'll give you the bad news first, cause the good news is probably worse," as the song by Mutemath goes. That's how this week has felt a little bit. We lost our phone early on in the week, and they can't get us a new one until the beginning on next week. We've just been using the phone at the church, but for now, people have no way of getting ahold of us. I've been without my wallet for the last couple days as well. I think I may have left it at a member's house, but we haven't been able to figure out exactly where it is or if it got stolen or not. Hopefully I can get that sorted out soon. As of now, I'm without a phone, money, residency, and my bus card. Oh well. Es lo que hay.

On the bright side, however, everything is going great with the work here. Xavier is set to be interviewed for his baptism this week, so we should be having his baptismal service in the next few weeks. We met with Kennis and we've got her on a baptismal date again for the 17th. The biggest news with her is that her work schedule changed, allowing her to come to church roughly every other week as opposed to never before. She's still super solid and is only going to keep progressing now that she can get to chruch. We found 3 new people to teach this week. Two are from Bulgaria, Ivan and Nicolai, and one from Romania, Rradi. Potential with all of them as well. We met with Loventa this week too. Can't remember if I've ever mentioned her, but she's from Nigeria and has a strong belief in God. She told us earlier this week, that she didn't feel ready to accept a baptismal invitation yet, so we'll keep working with her. Her husband Julio I think is the most skeptical guy I've ever met. The man doubts EVERYTHING. There's rarely a principle that we teach that he doesn't have a problem with, so we've mostly been focusing on Loventa.

DUODECIMA:

The Champions League Final was Saturday night and it was one of my favorite experiences here so far. Real Madrid played Juventus and ended up winning 4-1 which meant their 12th European Championship. Whenever Real scored, whether we were in piso or on the streets, we heard it. We heard fireworks later that night too. When one goal went in, a drunk Spaniard ran up to me and hugged me he was so happy. That's just another thing I can check off my list. He, then, offerred to buy us drinks. We kindly turned him down hahaha. It can be a little rough serving here when I really don't like Real at all.

There you guys have it. That's how my week was. Ups and downs for sure, but that's the mission. Hoping you all have a brilliant week. I'll catch ya next time.

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner

Pictures:

1. Only in Spain