7/29;

Hey Family!

I never email anyone back. I hate emailing. Haha I´m sorry but its the truth. Its just really stressful so if anyone says to you, I emailed Hna Palomino and she didn´t email back... just apologize for me. Plus I´m on the Lord´s time. When Paul was a missionary, no one emailed him. I´m not sure what that has to do with anything but I´m trying to make a point. Haha just tell people not to get offended if I take a million years to email. You´re my main priority when it comes to email and everyone else just kind of comes second. I should also apologize for not taking pictures. I never have my camera with me but I promise I´ll try to take more pictures. I´m just busy bringing souls to Christ, OK! :) 

Ok since I´m sure you´re super concerned about the accident, it was no where near me. The train was headed to Galicia which is the North of Spain. Still the Madrid mission but I consider it like the exile of the Madrid mission because when you get sent to the north, you go for a freaking long time and you never get to see anyone. Whereas in Madrid you can still see people from time to time. I have harsh feelings towards the North, I´d rather get sent to the Canaries... but anyways. Haha this new elder was getting sent to an area called El Ferrol or something like that and was invovled in the accident. He´s out of the hospital though and I believe he´s in the MTC in Madrid while he recovers and all that. Super crazy. The whole mission was praying him. Poor little guy. 

So Torrejon is awesome. Its a lot like Alcala just... a lot bigger. Haha I love it though. The ward is so great! I love my companion, Hna Vouemba. She´s great and a super good missionary, I´m learning a lot from her. She´s really hard on herself sometimes and it bums me out because she doesn´t see how great she is. But everyone struggles with that I think. I´m just trying my best to be a nice and little helpful companion. Oh, Mom what part of Guayquil are you from? There´s a ton of people in the ward from Guayquil and they keep asking and I have no idea... oops. The work is kind of slow right now because well... Spain is weird. The whole country takes like July and August off for vacation. Granted it makes sense because its hotter than sin out here and there´s no beach in Madrid but still. We´re trying our best but I´d be lying if I said I wasn´t praying for cold weather for more than a few reasons. Haha but other than that, things are great. How are you guys? How was Pioneer day? I really missed you guys on Pioneer day. Not that we ever did anything super special but I was just missing Utah and home. Normal stuff. Well I love you guys and hope everything is going super good! Be good and all that jazz, tell everyone that I love them. 

Hna Palomino 

Picture Monday.

Just a few photos to start off our Monday! :)

My two "madres".

Lorena, Rutillo and Ximena.

With all their missionaries. 

The best day ever. :)

A family from barrio 4. They were so good to us.

7/22;

Hey family!

So I have a lot of good news. First off, I got transfered... again. Now I´m going to be serving in Torrejon! My new companion is Hna Vouemba and I love her. The Alcala Hnas and Torrejon hnas share a piso so I have lived with her before so that means.. I´m back in my old apartment. Funny right? She´s been in Torrejon for like 4 transfers now and she´s awesome. I´m really excited. Hna Soto is staying in Barrio 4 and is going to train a new missionary. She is really happy, she really really really wanted to train. 

More good news, yesterday after church and saying goodbye to the members of barrio 4 I got a phone call from Hna Judy, she told me I had 2 hours to figure things out and find an investigator because I had to go to Alcala for Lorena´s baptism! I had it figured out in like 2 seconds, no one had to tell me twice. Haha it was the happiest day of my mission.. so far. I can´t even describe how happy I was to be there. The first people I taught as a missionary, my little family that I left in Alcala, she was finally getting baptized! I got to see Mike there and also Jose! Hna Wright was even there! It was so perfect Rutillo gave an amazing talk followed by Hna Wright, which by the way, it was her last day as a missionary. A pretty awesome one if you ask me. She gave a great talk, the Spirit was just so strong during the whole baptismal service. And then Rutillo, having just received the Melquisdec priesthood, baptized his wife. It was the perfect moment. Lorena stood up and bore her testimony after. And the last hymn Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos, I had to sing it with Hna Wright right next to me and it was a little awful but a little perfect. I´m going to miss her alot. When I was saying goodbye to the members in Barrio 4, one of them was shocked that I had only been out here for 4 months, she said you must have had a really good trainer. And I just smiled and said, you have no idea. Hna Wright was the best and I´m just so happy that yesterday we got to see people we had taught together get baptized. It was a really beautiful day. This stupid email does not do it justice. I´m sorry. Haha

But I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. I love seeing how the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families and changes lives. I´m seeing it and its changing my life. There is nothing that I would rather be doing right now. This is the work of salvation, it truly is. I´m so blessed to have had this gospel and enjoyed its blessings my whole life and for that reason, I have to share it with anyone that will hear me. The Lord loves each of His children and He is aware of every little thing that we are going through. We just have to reach out to Him in prayer and He will bless us. I´m seeing it. I love you guys. Thank you for all the love, support, prayers, everything. 

Hna Palomino

7/15;

Hey Family!

Mike and Lorena did not get baptized this week. I didn´t ask questions. I´m not the missionary in that area anymore so we´ll just have to pray and see. I had something cool this week happen though. Last week Hna soto and I had contacted a guy on the street and he was super nice and invited us over to meet with him and his wife. Turns out this young couple from Peru, Edson and Diana have family in a town called Azuqueca that are members and they were meeting with the elders there. They had a baptismal date and everything but the elders were very fuerte with them and pushed the baptismal date on them. So they backed down and when they moved to our area of Madrid, they lost contact with the missionaries and we found them on the street! They are super nice and really awesome. Diana came to a relief society activity with us on Friday and she´s already friends with all the sisters in the ward. Its so great! The members did a really good job on hermanamiento! There´s a lot of potential there, they just need love and patience and thats why they have sister missionaires now! So yeah, it was awesome. 

We also got to go to the temple this week. Which I know I say every time but I LOVE that I have a temple in my mission and that we get to go every transfer. Its really such a blessing. I can´t stress enough how much temple attendance should be a priority for people. There´s nothing that can compare. We always seem to go to the temple when I need some peace and I can always find it there. 

Mom, good luck with your new iphone :) hahaha and primary. I´m so jealous that you have my old kids! And dad, I hope you´re loving your new phone. junior sent me what superman was about and it sounds like it was pretty good. Just have the blu ray waiting for me next year so we can watch it :) I love you guys. thanks for all the love and support. I really couldn´t do this without you. So thanks for being so awesome. Have a super good week. 

Hna Palomino 

7/8;

Hey Family!

I have good news from my last area Alcala! Lorena is getting baptized this Saturday and so is Mike! Hna Judy let me know this week. And I totally get to go and see my favorite people from Alcala get baptized! I´m so excited! Lorena herself called me on Tuesday night to let me know so I could get permission to go. And since its still in my zone I can totally go back! I´m super happy! Hna Wright got permission from President Jackson to go with us too! So my first comp from Alcala will go down with me to see 2 people that we taught together get baptized. Its super neat and it´ll be nice to go before she goes back to the states. This is her last transfer so she´ll be going home in 2 weeks. 

Other than that, things have been pretty normal. We got to teach some more lessons, meet some cool new people. We had zone conference on Thursday and since it was the 4th of July we sang the Star Spangled Banner. It was about the most american thing I did all day. Haha but it was a super good conference. They talked a lot about how the Lord is hastening His work and it would only make sense that he is calling a lot of missionaries because people are being prepared to receive them. And if we act in faith, He will be an active companion in our efforts. It gave me a lot to think about. it was good. 

I was feeling sick this week though so thats why things were slow. My stomach is not handling eating with members everyday well. I basically take Tums like 3 times a day. But its ok I will just have to get used to it. Don´t freak out or anything. I´m a big girl missionary and its just a tummy ache. Haha I´m just going to have to eat more fruit. Its just hard since I don´t have a nice mom that has all the fruit I need and I hate grocery shopping here because its so different. The only fruits I ever eat are bananas but now Hna Soto is going to force me to have more of a variety. Hahaha its good. 

Well I´m glad you guys had fun during your 4th of July. Thanks for the pictures. You all look so great! I love you! 

Happy Birthday tomorrow Mom! I hope you got my letter in time! 

Hna Palomino

7/1;

Hey Family :)

Mom, stop making me cry. Thank you for the uplifting words. Definitely needed them :) Dad, you too. You guys are great. I did get the shoes from Grandma, THEY ARE THE BEST. Sandals. I needed them. ITS SO HOT HERE. And we don´t have AC in our piso or the church... but lets not dwell on that. Tell her thanks! Oh I got an email from Grandpa FINALLY! I answered right back. Hopefully he gets it. Dad, there is no guy from Mozambique I have no idea what you´re talking about... Haha sorry! 

This week was AWESOME! We had a zone meeting and it was like a huge answer to my prayers. We talked a lot about how we have to work in faith in order to see miracles in the work. And how love needs to be the motivator. I loved it. After zone meeting, I had to do an intercambio with Hna Judy since she´s the sister trainer leader for our zone. So I got to go to Alcala and be her companion again. Only for a day though but it was great. The Lord blessed me because I did not see anyone I used to teach and it wasn´t hard to leave again. I had forgotten how much I loved teaching with Hna Judy, she´s a spiritual powerhouse and we always taught with awesome unity. I came back super motivated and Hna soto was super pumped too and not even kidding, we saw miracles all week. In 2 days we got 5 new investigators it was awesome! Finally! People to teach! We even had our first investigator that attended sacrament meeting. Her name is Ajumi (I´m definitely spelling that wrong), she is 16 and from peru. She´s awesome and we teach her dad too. Hoping to get her mom to listen and then boom, a whole family to teach and baptize :) Its been a good week. 

I love being a missionary. Do I say that enough? Because I do love it. I love you guys. I sent Dad his letter last week hopefully he gets it. And then I was feeling super motivated and I wrote everyone in the family letters. Haha I just love you and miss you guys! How is packing and stuff going? I hope you guys have a super American 4th of July. THINK OF ME AND HOW MUCH I MISS AMERICA. Eat a burger for me :) I´ll just wear my American flag as a skirt all day and be like yeah, take that Spain! I love you guys. Be good, be safe, choose the right and all that jazz. 

Hna Palomino