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

Where We Gonna Go From Here

Went with a song by Matt Kearny this week. We received transfer notifications on Saturday, and well, now I'm in Torrejon de Ardoz. My 6-month stay in Barrio 1 has come to an end. It was hard to say goodbye. Especially when we had so much work there. I'm really excited for the challenges that are awaiting me here in Torrejon. It's a pueblo that is about 20 minutes outside of Madrid. My new comp is named Elder (Dallin) Jones. He was in Valladolid with me when I started my mission and we get along super well. I'm pumped for this transfer. Downside: no air conditioning in our piso (rip). 

My last week in B1 was just as great as always. At the beginning of the week I went on an intercambio with Elder Burt. We taught two lessons that went incredibly well. The first with Ismael and Narcisa who are still both doing great. The second was with Elizabeth (The reference from Doris, who I'll now be seeing a lot since she lives here in Torrejon). We showed her the church and taught her the first lessson. She seemed SUPER prepared. I hope things go well with her. That's all for now family. Until next time!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner

Glass of Water

It is P-day my dudes. This week was a little wild, but also pretty fantastic. This week's song title (by Coldplay) is brought to you by the elders in B5. They had a baptism on Saturday and overflowed the font and flooded the capilla which we share hahaha. We had to go and help them get it all cleaned before the service started. It took like 2 hours. Lots of fun. Today we went and played soccer with like 30 other missionaries at a field we rented. My futbol sala boots that I brought from home finally gave out. It was loads of fun. The World Cup started this week which has made it harder to concentrate not gonna lie. Gutted that I won't watch any of it.

This week Narcisa and her 20 year old son Ismael, our investigators from Ecuador, accepted a baptismal date for the 28th of July. They are super legit and we were told that Ismael is thinking about serving a mission. We also recently got a call from Doris, who we taught for a while before she moved to Torrejon, called us. She recently got baptized over there and told us she wants us to teach her sister Elizabeth who lives in our area. We're meeting with her tomorrow. This might be my last week in the area. We'll find out if I'm leaving or not on Saturday. I'd be down to stay one more transfer. You never know...

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸

Rivers and Roads

Hey, sorry you didn't hear from me last week! Things are going great here. We took a bus up to the mountains and went on a hike with a couple of members today. It was brilliant. Spain is pretty neat. Went with Rivers and Roads by The Head and The Heart today. We saw a few of those.

We went to the temple last week and had our last zone conference with President and Hermana Pack. It was pretty bittersweet. I'm going to miss them when they leave in a couple of weeks, but I know the Bussey's who are replacing them are going to be great. Our mission officially merges with the Malaga mission in two weeks as well. The week after is gonna be crazy. Hope all is well back home! Talk to you all later!

Hasta luego,

Elder Penner 🇪🇸