Pictures, finally!

Cliche Provo MTC picture. :)

All the sister missionaries from the Madrid MTC at El Retiro.

My district and our teacher Hermano Larea

Sister Peterson, me, Elder Thorpe, Sister Seastrand, and Elder Wilson tried to take the most awkward picture ever. Did it work? :)

(Email Jenn sent her parents this week that she forwarded to me.)

3/25/13 --
"i´m in my first area! alcala de henares! i love it so much. we have a lot of investigators and one i got to invite to be baptized! isn´t that awesome?! i hit the ground running here. i had to leave the mtc on tuesday, i cried having to say goodbye to everyone. i really did love them especially president and sister sitterud, they loved me because i was their translator! pres. sitterud said on the last day, we all had to learn a different language here: english, spanish, the language of the spirit and then the language of hermana palomino. hahaha i speak spanglish. it was great though. whoever said i wouldn´t like the mtc, clearly did not go to the madrid mtc, i felt like i was leaving home again. 

anyways, on my first night in my first area, i had to go give a lesson and its been work, work, work ever since. but i love every second of it. i run into SO MANY COLOMBIANS. they love me. everyone is so curious about my accent because i speak so funny. when i say my parents are colombian and ecuadorian they are just like ooooooohhh that makes sense. its funny. 

my first companion out in the field is hermana wright. and i love her. she is so good to me. and she´s a great trainer. i got really lucky out here. she is the sweetest girl ever. she´s from utah. she goes home in july and she speaks better spanish than i do, i swear. haha but i love her. we make a really good team. 

i went to my ward on sunday and it was so great! one of my favorite teachers from the mtc, hermano arlan is in my ward. guess who had to give their first talk already? not a testimony but a talk! and yes, i did awesome. i think. haha

on saturday i had a really hard experience. we met with an investigator named vicente and he´s this young guy from new guniea and he´s awesome. we were trying to teach about the resturation but he could not get past the fact that god would remove priesthood authority from the earth after the death of christ and his apostles. he didn´t see the point for modren prophets so we tried really hard to explain it to him. at one point he said, ¨i respect that you girls are out on the streets talking to people about god and joseph smith and believe in thomas s monson but wouldn´t it be easier to just say that he´s a man of god and not a prophet?¨ I WAS SO MAD. i never have had to control myself more in my life to not yell. so i calmed down and i just said ï´m not here to sell anything, i´m here because i want to be. its a saturday night and i could easily be home in utah and probably out with my friends right now, but i´m not. i´m here because i know that joseph smith really was a prophet of god. and i´m here to share that. but don´t take my word for it, you can ask god yourself¨ and then i invited him to pray. it was so hard though. at the end it was a good lesson and i´m glad i kept my calm. i´m really learning so much out here. 

i love you guys so much and i love hearing from you. i pray for everyone every night. i hope everything is going wonderful back home!"

(This is an email she sent to me, Amelia. Lest there be any confusion. If her parents or her foward the emails she sends them, I'll post them. I'm just working with what i've got right now.)

3/18/13 --

"oh my gosh. i miss people calling me JENN. MY NAME IS JENN. BUT SHHH ITS A SECRET OUT HERE. its so funny. the english speakers i hang out with told me i don´t look like a jenn.... and i´m like.... reallly?

dude the time change wasn´t crazy at all. its weird how fast i got used to it. sometimes i´m like.... dude my homies in utah are still asleep. when i´m getting into bed at night (like 4pm for you) i wonder what everyone´s doing.

i got super homesick on saturday because i was dreaming of you guys. so i showed the sisters my pictures and told them stories and it made me feel better. no one has as many pictures as i do, its a bit embarrassing but also makes me feel cool. my comp is a nightmare. she had to go back to her hometown to take care of some business, and it was the happiest day and a half. if i could spend all day with the english speakers, i´d be completely fine. but there´s a lot of good people here other than that, and i love them all so much already. its bumming me out that today is my last day at the mtc. yeah dude, i get assigned TOMORROW. its crazy. but you should give out my email to the ones you feel like deserve it because i´ll have like loads more time once i´m out in the field. and right now i´m only writing you and my dad. its kind of sad. but i´m happy to hear from you.

I MISS YOU LIKE A WHOLE BUTT LOAD, (not like a representative of christ should speak) ITS WHATEVER.

did everyone like the cds???????????????? like i hope i didn´t emotionally scar anyone. i was geniunely worried.

my friend elder thorpe says you guys would get along. he peeked at my screen. he´s awesome. he loves beyonce and we´re basically best friends. yes, all true. i´m not just saying that because he´s probably reading over my shoulder.

dude, no joke i was singing some of our songs in the shower on tuesday. happy wolfpackaversary my dears. you´re my happy thoughts when i need to fly out here.

i´m very happy you´ve been hanging out with the thomas family. i miss sundays at their house. i just miss everyone. like if i could virtually hug you all right now i would. so virtual hugs!

i went to the temple on thursday. i´m going to miss waking up to it every morning. its just a nice reminder that thats why i´m here so people can someday go in there like i did and make sacred covenants. thats why i´m a missionary. good thing i have pictures to hang up once i´m out in the field. i´ll be able to go once every 3 months to the temple.... compared to twice a week... but hey i´m on the lords time not jenn´s time.

i´m going to send you a message for the blog with pictures. if it lets me.

DUDE OF COURSE I´VE BEEN USING MY 1D TOOTHBRUSH. since day one! sister seastrand and sister peterson sing to me everynight when i brush my teeth. they sing one thing because i played it on the guitar for them. haha btw seastrand is the american sister who is basically my favorite person, she´s from provo and peterson is from sweden and that girl is seriously an angel. she´s going straight to the celestial kingdom. seastrand is going to madrid with me but peterson is going to barcelona. i could cry.

also there´s a british elder and he´s awesome and loves john mayer and we´re also best friends. hahaha i make him speak to me in an american accent and its the best thing. i´ll have to get a picture with him tonight to show you.

anyways, i´m learning a lot but i can definitely testify that the spirit does not dwell in contentious situations. its almost sad when i get along with 22 other missionaries except for the ONE that i should be getting along with. but its whatever. i´m trying my hardest and thats all i´ve got. i know why i´m out here and i´m trying to give it my all because i know my savior lives and i have to share that with these people.

i love you and everyone so much. i´m constantly just trying to think of what i can do everyday to make everyone proud. i hope its working. peace and blessings ya´ll."

(This is an email she sent to me, Amelia. Lest there be confusion.)

3/14/13 --
"If it makes you feel any better i´m emailing you first out of anyone else. hahaha sooooo idk if you heard but i'm in madrid. the shift button is hard to find. this keyboard is weird. also i´m being timed. cool. anyways. yes i´m in spain. seriously 2 days in provo and then they shipped me off to spain. the mtc here is soooo different. i went from 3000 missionaries and 19 buildings to 24 missionaries and 3 floors. haha its really chill though. i really feel like the lord is trying to teach me patience hardcore. my companion is a bit.... different. we just dont vibe and it bums me out because we need to be in tune with each other to teach our mock investigators. yeah, 2 mock investigators. also the first day i got here, we went to a park called el retiro where we had to practice proselyting. as in, we had to be legit missionaries. me and my companion for the day placed 4 books of mormon, got 4 references and contacted or talked to 15 people. it was awesome. everyone loves me because i speak spanish and english. only 1 other elder does from my district. also the natives aren´t really natives, they're from south american countries that just moved to spain and have lived here for years. i mostly hang out with the english speaking sisters at meals and in between classes. i love everyone here though. there´s an italian elder learning spanish. they make him do a mario impression. so funny. dude thats totes cray cray <i miss people understanding slang. omg for realz. lolz>

i feel the spirit like crazy here and i´m learning alot! i don´t feel homesick but i look at pictures everynight before i go to bed to think of you all and laugh to myself. tell everyone i love them a whole bunch. and i´ll write more when i´m out in the field. which is..... after tuesday. crazy right?? anyways i love you hippie grandma! be good. i mean it."

Spain Address.

I posted a blog yesterday giving Jenn's MTC address in Provo, because we thought she would be in the MTC there until the 20th, but she actually leaves for Spain TOMORROW.

Her visa was approved and she'll be leaving with two other missionaries.

So please, if anybody is planning on sending her anything, please do not send anything to the MTC in Provo. If you would like to send anything, you can send it to the following address:

Sister Jennifer Palomino 
Spain Madrid Mission
Calle Fuerte Ventura 4, 2, office 8B
28703 San Sebastian de los Reyes 
Madrid, Spain 

We'll keep you posted!