8/26;

Hey Family! 

This week was... not the greatest but thats ok. It just leaves more for improvement for next week right? I´m ready for the month of August to be over and for people to come back from vacation. The streets are EMPTY. There is not a soul out until about 9pm when its not as hot. Its the worst. And everyone this week decided to fail us. It was a really slow week. Pero no pasa nada. Better days are coming. This is the last week of the transfer, so we´ll just have to see how things play. Hna Vouemba is on her 5th transfer here in Torrejon so we´ll see, we´ll see. 

So I think I´ve told you about David, the 13 year old boy we´re teaching, who´s family was less active and they´re on their way back and trying to prepare for the temple and everything? They said this week that the mom and one of the boys is moving to Ecuador next month because she got a sweet job there. I feel so bummed! I love them. And once the mom leaves, we probably can´t go visit because they live out in Coslada and there´s not a ton of members out there that would be willing to go with us. But its fine, David is getting baptised on the 15th before his mom leaves. And then the rest of the family is moving at the end of the year and hopefully things keep going well and they get sealed down in Ecuador. I love them though. They made us dinner this week. Chicken ceviche. I hope i spelled that right. IT WAS SO GOOD. I mean I eat regular ceviche now because I pretend I like seafood but really I´m just dying on the inside but with chicken it was super good. 

Dad, thanks for the jokes and always the good updates. Mom, I did get grandma´s package. Like 2 weeks ago. 2 bottles of ranch, I cried a little. Hahaha I did not cook for those members yet. I´m too scared to. I´m going to avoid it for as long as I can. They love me, I can´t ruin that with my horrible cooking skills! Haha I´m glad you guys had a good week. Sorry that summer is over and back to real life now. But on the upside, by this time next year I´ll be home bugging you again. :) I love you guys! I hope you have a super good week. Hopefully I´ll have good news for you next week. Be good!

Hna Palomino

Happy Happy Pictures. :)

8/19;

Hey family!

You guys sound like you´re all having a good week. Haha I wish I was on vacation.... oh well. Just a year left no pasa nada. Haha Carolina sent me pictures of the kids. I miss them. They´re getting so big... no me gusta para nada. They´re supposed to stay little and cute and stuff. I mean look at Junior. He was cute and little and now look at him. Just kidding. :) 

So Andres got baptized on Saturday! It was awesome. President and Hna Jackson even showed up. So naturally, everything went wrong at first haha they started a half hour late. The first speaker was one of the Young Men that Andres picked and of course he shows up in jeans and the bishop got mad and didn´t let him talk so the bishop improvised a discurso. I was sweating bullets the whole time but it was all ok once he was in the water. One of the counselors of the Young Men baptized him and it was just so awesome. Seriously there is nothing like seeing someone that you have taught and grown to love enter the waters of baptism. Its really the best feeling in the world. And after he got up and bore his testimony and I just about cried. He´s a good little guy. He´ll be a missionary someday. No big deal. 

Mike and Carlos got baptized in Alcala yesterday but Hna Vouemba thought it was a waste of time to go all the way out there just to go back and then have to go back home to Alcala and by the time I had finally convinced her, it was too late to get an investigator that wanted to go out there with us. But its all good. Hna Judy gave me a whole play by play that night when I got home and showed me all the pictures. I´m just happy they´re both finally baptized :) 

Other than that, its been a slow week. Its sooooooooooooooooooooo hot. Its insane. Today we went and had a nice little Madrid adventure and I thought I was going to die. I live off ice cream. The other day I was feeling sad over something dumb so naturally I bought myself some chocolate. I was outside for 2 MINUTES AND IT HAD ALREADY MELTED. Thats life. Dad, I got myself a Real Madrid Jersey today. Its sweeeeet. I think I´m gonna start looking to see when the games are so I can go next transfer. Well I have to decide if I want to go to a Madrid game or a bull fight. Because President only lets us do one or the other once in the mission. What are your thoughts? 

And mom of course the provo mission is using facebook already.... pssh they said we wouldn´t get to use it until the end of the year. Oh well. Did I tell you Elder Ballard is coming next month? They´re having a special stake conference and I think they´re making a stake in the Canary Islands. So everyone is super excited about that. 

Well I hope you guys keep having an awesome week and Mom have fun with the Silva´s. Dad, remember you only have to clean the day before she comes home. So enjoy it. Hahahaha just kidding. I love you guys. I miss you a lot! thanks for all the good thoughts and all the love. And MOM THANKS FOR THE RECIPE. I´ll have to see if I actually do it or not. Hahaha 

Hna Palomino

8/12;

Hey Family! 

So good news first. Andres is getting baptized next Saturday. He had a super fuerte experience in EFY and he´s stoked and ready to go! This kid is just super prepared and awesome. I´m really excited for him. He invited some of his friends to church yesterday to warm them up to the idea of coming to his baptism. He´s already being a little missionary. Its awesome. Things are awesome.

We´re on the search for new investigators though! Because a lot of people have disappeared since I got here and plus its super hot and we need more lessons! Haha We met some pretty cool people though. Torrejon has a lot of potential. DId you know the first ward in Spain was Torrejon? Just a little bit of SPain Church History para que sepa. Anyways, I got to teach a Nigerian in English by myself yesterday since my comp doesn´t speak any English. A little scary, a little fun. The thing with most Nigerians though is that they love to talk to us to hear the word of God but the second we talk about the Book of Mormon, they get all defensive. Becuase the Bible is the only word of God. Blah blah blah. Its like, dude just chill and pray about it. Seriously its so easy pero no pasa nada. Some of them actually are super nice and open to learning more about the Book of Mormon. You just have to get lucky and find those. Haha speaking of which. Mike in Alcala is getting baptized on Sunday and so is Carlos! He came back like 2 or 3 weeks ago and they´re both getting baptized this week. I might be able to go as long as I get an investigator to come with. So cross your fingers! 

Anyways, yeah working hard as always. OH. There´s these members here that always make missionaries cook for them. LIke they buy all the ingridents and everything and we do it at their house we just have to be the ones to make it. So it was my turn and since I can´t legit cook anything I made banana bread. and they said it was good and all but I owe them a real meal....... so MOM HELP. Send me a recipe of something! I need to win their love with food! Haha well i miss and love you guys as always. 5 months down and a few more to go. It´ll go by quick and then you´ll wish I was gone longer. hahaha mom next time you miss me, just remember how I never cleaned my room or did dishes and slept in all the time. hahaha that should help you not miss me too much :) I hope you guys have a good week. Have fun with Will and the family this week :) 

Hna Palomino