Elder Penner Spain Madrid Mission: Changing of the Seasons

I'm 20 today, but that doesn't really change anything. I'll probably feel like I'm 12 the rest of my life. (spoiler alert) I'll be spending my birthday on a plane headed back to the peninsula. It's transfer day and they're sending me to Madrid! I'll be serving in Barrio 1 which covers part of the center of Madrid up to the Northern part. I still don't know much about it, but I'll be companions with Elder Parkinson who was just finished being trained and is from California.

I honestly wasn't expecting to be leaving La Palma quite yet. I figured I might spend one more transfer there, but it looks like there were other plans for me. It was pretty hard to say goodbye. I hadn't fully realized how big of an impact I had made and how much I'm gonna miss everyone until I had to say goodbye. We only had time for one hour of church yesterday since we had to run to catch a boat to Los Cristianos (which ended up taking like 5 and a half hours) where we stayed last night. We're in Tenerife today taking a guagua currently to the airport up north where I'll catch my flight back to the peninsula.

The subject line comes from a song by Two Door Cinema Club, one of my favorites by them. It'll be strange going from the super chill island lifestyle in La Palma to the bustling center of Madrid. We'll see how that goes. I'm also gonna experience a drastic change in the weather once my plane touches down in Madrid. I'll be going from 70 degree weather in La Palma to 35-40 degree weather (and snow) there. Summer to Winter in one day. Yikes.

It'll be kind of a crazy day for me, so I'm sorry if I don't have time to reply to all your birthday wishes. Just know I appreciate every last one of them! Hope you all have a great week!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇮🇨🇪🇸

Pictures:

1. Group pic after church ended yesterday