Spain Madrid South Mission Elder Carson Puzey Aug 2025-July 2027

Hello everyone, it has been an alright week. We've had a couple days where we couldn't really go finding because my comp got a crazy migraine and other things,  Even though we didn't find a lot of new people, we got back in contact with a lot of people that were busy during the last few weeks. So we had a ton of lessons, which is always great. This week was also the week of transfer news! I'm staying, but recieving an Elder Chivers. It's a little nerve-wracking to have to lead an area for at least a week, but it could be worse. It could have started tomorrow, but that crazy tragic recent train crash pushed back transfers a couple of days.  For a spiritual thought: I've been in Exodus recently and it's honestly really good! I would especially like to focus on the story of the burning bush. It begins with God saying "I AM THAT I AM" in response to Moses' questionings. This is a pretty intersting name that I find not a lot of people understand. Af...

  Hello everyone, since its not been long since we last spoke, this may (hopefully) be a little shorter. We ended off starting exchanges again, with me leading the area, also again. Elder Veater came to Barrio 2 with me, and apparently his famous. He's super good at singing so I believe it. It went pretty well, even when contacting 60+ year old Spaniards. Pretty entertaining, but not much happened. Our friend also said I have a gringo accent, so now im grinding pronunciation again. Zone conference was pretty good, pretty usual though. They also fed us twice which was a big bonus. Not much happened Saturday besides a baptism that was supposed to be combined with ours but we had to push it back unfortunately.  Sunday was pretty usual too, except we met with a member (I think?) from Mexico to bring the Sacrament to her. She then tried to give us what she insisted "wasn't tea," even after we pointed out the name of the whold drink was literally just "iced tea." ...

  Hello everyone, this week has been super weird but also really good.  We ended the last pday by starting exchanges. Elder Arevelo from Italy came and I was leading the area. Unfortunately I didn't know enough Italian to talk with him, but he also speaks Spanish which is pretty cool too i guess. Besides that, the exchange went pretty well. He contacted everyone in the streets and i was able to practice a lot more Spanish.  Pretty usual weekend, with President at church again. My comp was also sick all Saturday morning but just took a 3 hour siesta and it was alright after that.  We started Monday with service starting at 9. It consisted of going to a storage unit, moving all the literal trash to the van, then only throwing 3 things away. After that, we wait 30 minutes for the van to come back from what we thought was their apartment. We get in, drive 10 minutes down the road to another storage unit, and pack all of it back into that one. All while she was asking why...

Hello everyone, it's been a long week. Why New Year's is a Pday and Christmas wasn't is beyond me, but we're here now. The next few weeks will be thursdays, too so everyone knows. We left off at ZL exchanges, and to be honest not much happened. We found a few people on the streets, brought a homeless member meat to cook in the church, and called a ton of people. Not quite as fun as ZL monkey, but still good. The next day was Christmas Eve, where we had a very odd, but fun dinner. From blasting Last Christmas during the toast to random english songs until 11:30, there was always something happening.  Christmas Day was looking good with all 3 meals, until only breakfast got confirmed. It was really good, but not quite the same. Christmas also brought completely empty streets. Contacting wasn't too fruitful this week, but by miracles alone we found some great people, including a family.  We also did some service this week, for a whole morning. It consisted of taking al...

Hello everyone, this one will probably be quick, which is unfortunate because it was a really good week.  We started with passing by some members with cookies, but unfortunately only got to one. We also found 2 people previously being taught and they recognized us and wanted to start learning again.  We had exchanges Thursday and i went up to barrio 1, on the northern outskirts of Madrid (thanks North Mission). It was really fun and I was able to go to their triple-ward family home evening. That was good too even though only around 20 people showed up. From 3 wards. Church was good even though we had only one friend come and I may have been going in and out of consciousness. That friend is progressing really well though and even took us to breakfast this morning.  For a spiritual thought: I have learned how powerful it is to teach and contact with the Book of Mormon this week. Both of those people who recognized us did it because they saw the Book of Mormon. On exchanges ...

Hello everyone, my first week in Madrid has been really good! Our area has the temple in it, so we get to see it basically everyday. We're also in an apartment with 2 other elders and it's awesome, except for when we had 12 stay over after Christmas conference.  My Spanish has increased a ton since just getting here, probably because I only have 1 other companion now. I've done a few street contacts by myself and calls too. Contacting in the streets is a little slower than it was in Alicante, but that's just how different areas are. We're teaching a few amazing friends that progressing super well though.  Madrid is a lot like Seattle right now if you've ever been. If you haven't, imagine the rainiest city of all time then add a bit of a chill. There's also a ton of leaves on the ground, but also some pine trees somehow. We take the metro a ton and the streets are actually really big and there's a lot of parks. Don't get me wrong, it's not the...