Hopeless Wanderer

It has been a week. A week it has been.

We've been outside of our area a lot lately, so the progress with the people we're teaching has slowed a little bit. We've got a few new friends that seem to have loads of potential. One of them is named Mirella. She's from Peru and the way we found her a couple of weeks ago was really neat. Elder Jones and I walked passed her sitting on a bench and both of us felt an almost overwhelming feeling that we needed to talk to her, so we went back and did. We had a really good lesson with her on Saturday. I don't think she's too far away from knowing that it's true. She also has two little kids that are the coolest.

We had to go to the doctor in Madrid on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday, we went up to San Sebastian to do a couple baptismal interviews and have district meeting. On top of that, we went to the temple with a convert on Saturday. I went with the Mumford and Sons song in the subject because we've been travelling and what seems like wandering around so much. We should be in our area all of next week though (fingers crossed). It'll be my comp's last week in the mission so we're going to make sure he goes out with flames and glory. We've set some high goals for the week and we're lit as heck to reach them.

Today I learned once again that basketball is not my sport. And that's all I have to say about that. Have a good week 🤙🏼

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸

Young & Unafraid

It's Monday family. The subject this week (song by The Moth and the Flame) was inspired by a concept I've seen throughout my mission: Fear is the opposite of faith. They can't coexist. The chance to see this displayed every day has been a blessing and reminds me to always choose the former option. Those who put their trust in the Lord and fear not are always supported in their afflictions.

SOMETHING COOL

A little while back the hermanas from B1 called and told me that their investigator, Alex, asked me to baptize him. We called and got permission and were able to attend the baptismal service on Saturday. It was really spiritual. Alex is a legend. It's was nice to see everyone from my old area again even though I've only been gone a month. 

Other than that, things are pretty much the same. We thought we were going to have a few baptisms at the end of the transfer, but now it's looking like we're going to have to push them back. There's also a golden Peruvian couple we started teaching, but they aren't married :/

We went to a pueblo this week that was super cool. There's a cathedral there being built by some guy completely by himself. He's like 90 now and is still working on it. Crazy. Picture below. Can't think of anything else. Have a brilliant week!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸

PS I went to Toledo for like the 14th time last week lol

Rent I Pay

Buenassss. This week went by super quick. Everything is blurring together more than ever before. Let's see if I can sort my thoughts out and remember what happened..

On Wednesday we had Concilio with the rest of the leaders in the mission. It was the first time we were able to meet some of the missionaries serving down in Malaga. I'm really excited to continue with the missions merging. I think we're going to see a lot of improvement. A couple days after I had my first interview with President Bussey. That man is a legend. I'm pumped for these last 5 months.

On Thursday I went on an intercambio with Elder Catmull. He's from Utah and is awesome. We went out to Orusco, where Cristofer and Jesi live and taught them. Long story short, their date has been changed and they're going to go to church in B8 because it's way easier for them.

Song title (by Spoon) comes from President Pack. In his last Zone Conference, I asked what his favorite quote was and he said it was "Service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy on Earth." I think I'll leave you all with that thought. Until next week!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸

Sun

My update didn't want to send last week. Not sure what was up. We've had a lot of sun (by Two Door Cinema Club) this week and it looks to continue , but that hasn't slowed us down by any means. It was another super busy and super cool one. We did two intercambios and saw some miracles. Spain is still crisp as heck if any of you were wondering.

On Thursday, we found a Colombian man named Keldys. We've met with him twice and he seems super prepared. He's on date for the 28th. On top of that, Cristofer, a 9 year old who lives in a pueblo in the corner of our area (basically in Africa) is on fecha for the same day. They both seem pretty solid, so we're excited for the end of the month. 

Missionary work is worth missing Panda Express for 2 years.

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸

Keep Together

Hello family. This first week in Torrejon was legit. In the mission my area is known as little Africa because there are so many Nigerians. We already have a lot going on. We met with an aunt and her niece named Teresa and Monica like 5 times this week. They're Colombian and are progressing super well, but Teresa is moving to Madrid today and Monica is going to Ibiza for 3 months. They are some of the most prepared people I've ever taught, so it's sad to see them leave. We'll continue occasionally talking with Monica over Skype. We saw lots of other miracles this week as we found new people and taught others.

This week the new Spain, Madrid Mission was officially formed with a large part of the old Malaga mission joining us. It was my inspiration for the song title this week by Hunter Hunted. We had zone conference and met our new mission president and his wife, the Bussey's. I can already tell that they are going to do a phenomenal job. 

Everything is going great. It was a super busy week which is always good. Talk to you all next week!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner