5/27;

Hey family.

It was awesome to hear about Tania and Jared´s farewells. 2 in 1. Way to go Saratoga Springs 6! :) I love that. Oh oh oh I have the scripture for you. 1 Nefi 2:15..... just kidding. I don´t know. I can´t pick my favorite scripture. Thats hard! Mom you pick. I´ll give you 4 to choose from. Alma 41:15 (just the first part, its kind of like that John Mayer reference that I use all the time "I believe that my life´s going to see, the love I give return to me" its awesome), Eter 12:4, Isaias 41:10 or 2 Timoteo 1:7. Have fun with that. Haha

Umm this week was good. We had to push back one of our baptismal dates for the 8th instead of next Saturday. Carlos. He´s awesome, we just don´t want to overwhelm him with all the commandments we have left to teach him. But yeah, he´s doing awesome and progessing alot. He comes to church every week and he doesn´t even sit by us, he loves to go and sit with all the members, its kind of funny. He´s our little social butterfly. Mike is doing good also. He is halfway through the book of Alma. So hopefully he can finish soon. He´s loving it. But its hard because he has questions about the smallest things so we really have to be on our toes. Its fun. I feel like I´m learning alot trying to study and answer his questions. Rutillo y Lorena, our awesome Mexican family are doing super good too. We had a family home evening with them at the bishop´s house. All the members just love them. I think its because their daughter Jimena is just a little superstar. She´s so funny, everyone loves her. We gave her Dora stickers last week and she gave me a sticker of a snail to put on the back of my nametag to remind me of the time she chased me with a snail when we went to the Easter concert by the temple. She´s super smart. I love that little girl. But yeah, things are going good in Alcala. It really is a blessing being here. I´m getting super nervous for transfers because I´m going to just die when I have to go to another area. By the way, they started a new leadership position for the sister missionaries here. Trainer leaders? We think its the sister version of a zone leader but no one knows what it is yet. But Hna Judy got assigned to be one of the trainer leaders in our zone. She´s awesome. I´m really blessed to have her as a companion, I´m learning a lot from her. Hna Soto is cool too. Its still a little hard getting her used to our mission as opposed to Provo but she´s getting there. 

When are you guys going to New York, this week or next? MAKE GRANDPA EMAIL ME. I can´t stress that enough. I wrote him and he never emailed back. So.... not my fault. Go help him dad. You know technology is hard. Haha oh and yeah I totally talked to Peggy. She called me on Friday and said she was in Madrid and wanted me to go see her on Saturday but we had just gotten back from the temple because we took Carlos for a tour and I couldn´t have gotten permission to go again. I´m going to ask President if I can go to the sealing. You should send me her email so I can get more information from her. 

Well I love you guys. I pray for you every day and night. Thanks for all the love. It really keeps me going most days. I miss you lots. Have fun in New York. Go to a yankees game for me. :)

Hna Palomino

Picture Monday is the BEST Monday.

Jenn said this to me (Amelia) " this is just for you. i made italian quesadillas for me and hna judy last week! it was super good! you´d be so proud :)"

Jenn's wall in her piso.

look i´m the lion! I´m actually going to frame this picture and leave it in my apartment when I get transfered out haha

elder lloyd and jose!

Hna Judy, Hna Soto, Jose, Me and Elder Lloyd

 Me, Hna Judy, Jazmin and Hna Soto

Everyone at the baptism!

 Me, Hna Soto, Hna Judy, Jose, Joanna, Jazmin, Elder Bagley and Elder Lloyd

Puerta de Alcala in Madrid (there´s a puerta de madrid in alcala... i don´t understand Spain dude) with Hna Judy, Hna Norton, Hna Seastrand, Hna Blodgett, Hna Wright, Hna Cassinat, Hna ME and Hna Frandsen. 

 From last transfer when we went to the temple. I just really like this picture. One of the hermanas sent it to me this week. 

And another one I got sent from when we went to Toledo. My favorite hermanas. oops. don´t tell. :) 

5/20 --

So I have the best news this week, Jose got baptized! And so did another girl we have been teaching, Jazmin! We had 3 baptisms in one day. One of them was Joanna that the elders have been teaching. It was really cool. I don´t even have the words to describe it. I seriously almost cried watching Jose finally get baptized. Although I didn´t find him myself, He was one of the first investigators that I really invested my heart into. All the hard work and the hours of sleep I have lost over my favorite Cuban, I can´t even explain. It was all such a beautiful experience. The same with Jazmin, she´s an 18 year old girl from Peru with a menos activo dad and her mom is basically an eternal investigator. Her and her mom have been getting taught by the elders for years and years. And finally they passed them over to the sisters. When I first got here she had stopped progressing but out of the blue she called us and said she wanted to get baptized so we taught her for a couple of weeks and she got baptized. It was super cool. 

I can´t even describe how I feel. I´ve said that like ten times but its true. This is the Lord´s work and its such a blessing to be a part of it. I love this gospel and I love teaching people about it everyday. Seriously, being a missionary is the greatest thing of my life. I would not want to be doing anything else right now. 

Things with Hermana Soto are ok. Being in a trio is really different. And its a little hard sometimes because she has her Provo mission ideas and we just do things really different out here in Madrid. Every mission is different and Utah vs Europe is a SUPER HUGE difference. But we´re getting there. Hna Judy and I are just trying to show her that the Spain Madrid mission is the best mission in the world obviously and its nothing short of a blessing to be here. :) But yeah she´s awesome. Her portugese has been a super big blessing. Carlos has actually accepted an invitation to be baptized for June 1st. All thanks to Hna Soto finally being able to communicate with him and help translate for us. Haha oh oh oh Mike is going to get baptized on the 8th. We´ve set that goal with him for him to finish the Book of Mormon by then. He knows the Church is true, he just wants to read the Book of Mormon first. Vale vale vale. Haha our Mexican family is doing great. The ward just loves on them and its awesome. Things are going really good. 

I love you guys! I love hearing that things are great at home! I can´t pick a favorite scripture! Thats hard. I´ll get back to you on that for next week. I promise. Well I love you guys and I hope you have a great week! La iglesia es verdadera! No seriously, it is. 

A Few Pictures.

the hermanas cinco de mayo party slash hna judy´s birthday in leganes last week. so much fun.

the united states according to my companion (can you tell where hna judy is from? hahaha)

you see that? i still make a mean banana bread. i still got it!

 i was going to say something witty with this but i forgot why i took it. i lost my sense of humor.

5/13

Hello again family. :)

I have been so happy ever since I got to see your beautiful morning faces over skype yesterday. It has made my whole week. :) I´m not happy that you´re selling the house but hey, what can I do. I have no say right now. Haha 

But I was so happy to hear that everyone was doing good. I loved hearing grandma and grandpa´s voice for a tiny bit. I just miss you guys a whole lot. 

I´m sorry I have no good stories. I basically told you everything fun and exciting yesterday and not much has happened since then.

Wait... Just kidding. Guess what?! I got a phone call from President Jackson this morning. Hna Judy and I are getting a new companion here in Alcala, Hna Soto will join us as a trio! Isn´t that crazy?! I was laughing on the phone when he called to tell us and my companion goes, President she served in Hna Palomino´s ward back home! And he started laughing and said, did you tell me that before? And I really had never mentioned it before. Isn´t that crazy?! Haha its such a small, small world. She´s coming tomorrow morning. I´m excited to see how everything plays out. I´ll have to let you guys know next week. Well I hope you guys have a great week. I love you lots. The Church is true. And as if I haven´t said it enough times, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Be good. 

Hna Palomino