Chasing Ghosts

Since today is Halloween and all, I thought I'd get into the spirit and go for a song with a bit of a spooky theme. "Chasing Ghosts" by Against the Current accomplishes that pretty well (See also Chasing Ghosts by EDEN). A bit disappointingly, Halloween isn't nearly as big of a deal here as it is back in the States, but it doesn't matter too much since we can't dress up anyways. 

Not a whole lot has changed with our investigators since the last time I wrote. The bishop a week or two ago asked us to go through a list of all the members and figure out who still lives here, so we've been working on that lately. While in the process of doing that the other day, we ran into a member who we didn't have any records of. She had been living here for almost two years and was looking for the church, but couldn't find it since we meet in a hotel. She told us she's going out of town soon, but we hope to see her in the near future.

ABOUT LA PALMA:

Can't remember what I've already said, but here goes nothing. We live on the dryer, west side of the island where it doesn't rain as much. Most of the clouds here stop once they reach the mountain range in the middle of the island. It's pretty small, so when we went to the 2nd highest point about a month ago, we could see the ocean on both sides of us. We have to travel a lot, but it only takes about an hour in guagua (a Spanish word for bus that's only used here [pronounced: waw-waw]) to get to where we live (Los Llanos) to the other side of the island (Santa Cruz). Thoughout the coasts there are sand beaches and it's nearly always a nice 75 degrees. 

That's all I've got for now lads. We're going to Tenerife next Monday for P-day with the rest of the zone and then zone conference the day after. Until then! Have a great week!

P.S.  He replied back and clarified that they don't celebrate Halloween on the 30th there, he just was thinking "this week" but typed "today" instead.  

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸🇮🇨

1. La isla bonita 

2. This member was really proud of his card tower and told me I had to send it home

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Fantastic week deserves an equally fantastic song. One of my favorites by Coldplay, in fact. Part of the song goes, "Maybe I'm in the black, maybe I'm on my knees, maybe I'm in the gap between the two trapeezes." I think often times we all can feel the same way. As long as we can keep our faith and "turn outward" to help others as Elder Bednar says, everything will turn out fine even though it may not seem so at first. Since we're in charge of the youth program here, we had a hiking activity and went to a waterfall here called La Cascada de Colores on Saturday. It was more of just a trickle of water, but super cool nonetheless. Pictures to come.

Awesome week with the members here and investigators. Yesterday, we had a visit from a member of the bishopric from Tenerife since the group here is a part of the ward there. The stake patriarch also visited. They both spoke on Sunday (The first time that I didn't have to speak or conduct in sacrament meeting since I got here 🙃), and afterward, we went and visited members with them. Both great guys and super Canarian. The relationships between members here has improved since I've arrived which is really satisfying. With the work, we had a lesson with the investigator Wendy and her mother that I mentioned last week. It turns out her mother isn't a member and is going to be staying here. Great news, especially considering the fact that we were told that she was almost baptized last time she visited a few years back. I still haven't met Wendy's husband, but we're really hoping he'll be supportive of his wife or even be open to listening to our message.

The work is moving along here. Really excited for what we have to work with now. One of these days I'll actually explain a little bit more about the island itself and the culture. Maybe next week. Love you guys! ¡Os deseo una buena semana!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸🇮🇨

Fotos:

1. The start of the hike

2, 3. En camino

4, 5. The end

6. Another sweet view in Santa Cruz

Remain

Transfers have come and gone and both my companion and I survived. We're both staying here for another six weeks. Mutemath's song Remain is the song of the week. I'm definitely glad to be staying. We've made some great progress this week. Also I'm pretty sure La Palma is one of the only places in the world where you can see a pine tree, a cactus, and a palm tree all growing right next to eachother naturally.

This week we had a lesson with the person that was a reference from a member that I mentioned last week and it went incredibly. We felt the spirit strongly as we went over prayer and reading the scriptures. She shared a couple of experiences that she's had with prayer. She came to church yesterday too! She mentioned to her friend that's a member that she can definitely see herself becoming a member in the future. We're really excited to work with her more as well as the rest of her family. Her mother is also moving here from Venezuela this week.

Things have settled down a little bit here. Running the group is still crazy. Not sure that will ever change. Elder Jones and I found out at 11:00 Saturday night that we had to give talks in church the next day since members of the bishopric coming from Tenerife couldn't make it. All in a weeks work. We're getting things moving on the missionary work side and helping members as much as we can along the way. Hope you all enjoy your week!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner

Just one picture this week:

1. El Teide, Tenerife - Highest point in Spain on the flight back from Gran Canaria (picture doesn't do the view justice imo)

Army of One

I guess technically my companion and I are an army of two here, but you get the idea. It's just he and I out here seemingly against the world. Coldplay highlights that well in their song off the album A Head Full Of Dreams. Sometimes it seems everything is against us here to be quite honest, but every roadblock we hit is designed to help us in some way even if we don't see it at first. If there's one thing I've learned here, it's that we go through trials to help us grow.

ALRIGHT THIS WEEK. On Tuesday we had Zone Conference so we flew to Gran Canaria to meet with all the other missionaries here in the Canary Islands. It was almost all preparation for the smartphones and Facebook which we are now using in our proselyting! It's already helped us even more than I imagined. I'm now in contact with a few old investigators as well as a few converts. It's really nice to be able to check in and see how they're doing. In addition, we keep in contact with everyone we work with here so much easier with WhatsApp. Can't wait to see what other blessings these new improvements bring.

This week we went by Javier. We've decided to try and help him see that baptism and the church is something that can really help him in his life. He accepts everything else we teach to him, but when we talk about baptism he's unsure and just wants to wait until his life is stable. He's a great guy. He jokes a lot about converting me to be a Real Madrid fan as well. I always tell him I'm City til I die though. 

Great week. It really seemed like a blur. We have transfers next weekend. I think it's likely that both Elder Jones and I will stay another month and a half, but you never know. Until then, guys.

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 

Pictures:

1 & 2. Zone conference

3. We were real proud of our Oreo pie

Island in the Sun

This week's subject line is brought to you by Weezer and my companion, Elder Jones who suggested it. I felt it pretty accurately described my area. Today, we flew to another island in the sun, Gran Canaria, for zone conference tomorrow. Gotta say it's not nearly as lush and cool looking as La Palma. It's a lot more populated too. I lucked out with where I got sent. We'll be receiving our new smartphone at the conference tomorrow and we'll be authorized to use Facebook and WhatsApp in our proselyting as well (pretty sure Instagram is coming later). I'm unbelievably excited for it all.

General Conference was this last weekend! For those that are unfamiliar, General Conference is a worldwide broadcast that the church does twice a year where all the members have the chance to hear from the leaders of the church. It's an amazing opportunity we have to learn how we can improve as people and also how we can help others do so. On of my favorite talks was by Elder Donald L. Hallstrom. He spoke about miracles including the ones that maybe aren't as obvious. He also mentioned that our faith should be firmly centered on the Savior when we have trials and not on wanting to have the pain taken away.  There were several other talks that were also fire (President Uchtdorf, Elder Hollamd, etc.). If you weren't able to watch it last weekend, I strongly suggest you do so asap.

The week itself was the least eventful since I arrived about a month ago. I hit my 9 month mark a few days ago. Our investigators that we have seem to be stalling a little, so we're gonna try our best to get them up and running again this next week. We also started teaching a new family that was a reference from a member. Excited about them.

Mission life is the good life. Soaking up every moment I have to spend in the sun here trying to make it last. Love you all and hope you have an incredible week!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸🇮🇨

Pictures:

1. Trying to figure out why that door is there

2. Played a quick game of chess while waiting for our flight