09/30;

Hey family!

Well this week has been realllllllllly slow. LIke time wise. I feel like its been soooo long. But it was a good week. Its raining today which is lovely. I am so sick of the nice weather. Madrid is prettier when its overcast. But the week was good! We´ve been hunting down less actives. Alot. which is kind of fun. We met a lady that got baptized like years ago and then nicely decided to tell us that she had gone back to being catholic. it was a little awkward. I guess I haven´t hearrd of very many people going back and forth like that but hey whatever makes her happy right? I think less actives are scarier to teach than investigators because there´s a reason they´re less active, you know? and its either something dumb or something super fuerte. Never a tender middle. 

We found some new people to teach, got to go to the temple, had a noche de hogar in the capilla with the ward which was fun. One of our investigators brought a friend and we got to do a little church tour with them after which was really cool. I´m really excited for conference because its just a little cool to testify about living prophets and then invite people to our special conference where they can hear them for themselves. Really excited. 

Well I hope everyone has a good week. I´ll send pictures. Sorry I didn´t have time to do it last week but I have a couple for you. i love and miss you guys a lot! que tengan una buena semana :) Hna Palomino 

9/23;

Hey family.

Its been quite the week. It feels like it went by super fast yet super slow. We had David´s baptism on Saturday which was by far the highlight of the week. It was really special, I´m not really sure how to describe it. It was just a really good baptism. The talks were all really good, a lot of the ward members came. Watching his dad baptize him was just so sweet. The night before we were at their house trying on the clothes and just getting last minute details together and his dad asked us if we knew the baptismal prayer and Hna Bellota and I just look at each other.... umm no... we had to pull out the little white bible where they have priesthood ordiances in the back and we practiced the baptism in the living room. Hahaha it reminded me of when I was going to get baptised and Will would whip out D&C 20 and pretend to baptise me in the basement. I doubt he even remembers that but I do hahaha But anyways, it was really good. His parents got up and bore their testimonies and then he did too.. and there was not a dry eye in the chapel. I´m sorry I have a hard time describing moments like that but just trust me when I say it was really special. 

Sorry but this week is going to be kind of a short one. But just know that I really really love what I´m doing. And Torrejon is such a good ward. I love this area and the people here are great. If I have to leave soon its going to break my heart, probably more than leaving Alcala did to be honest. I love being a missionary and serving the Lord. I know this church is true. And the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Should I ever forget or deny that, someone punch me in the face and remind me, vale? I love you guys and I miss you more than I can say but its ok, its only a little bit and plus you guys keep me going every week. :) Thank you so much for everything. All the love and the support and the happy thoughts you send me my way. I appreciate it. Be good :) 

Hna Palomino 

9/16;

Hey Family!

Well, I´ve had quite the week. Let´s see, I met Elder Ballard, David passed his baptismal interview, my comp taught me how to make Peruvian food at Johnny and Alba´s, stake conference, and I just got back from Toledo again. Nothing special. 

Oh yeah, I met Elder Ballard as in, the apostle. yeah that happened. We got a text from the zone leaders on Thursday that totally last minute he was going to be at the stake center in Madrid on Saturday to meet with all the missionaries in the 3 zones of Madrid and the ones in the MTC. So obviously everyone books it there. It was so aweesome. He shook hands with everyone! And gave a rocking talk. I think my whole mission has changed, it was definitely a big moment. My favorite thing he said was sometimes he feels discouraged. He said I´m almost 85 and I´m still running around and I´m tired and I think why do I do this, I do it because I understand Getsamane. That really just blew me away. He told us to contemplate the attonement when we get discouraged. Because no matter what the Lord asks us to do its nothing compared to what the Savior of the world had to do for us. That really touched me. Its true I get discouraged justl ike all we do at times but really as a missionary, I don´t have the time for it. I only have a year left to show the Lord how much I love Him and what He has done for me. Thats not a long time at all when I contemplate the blessings I have. I´m taking that to heart. i have no time to be discouraged. Its the time to act and to change and to do better everyday. The Lord is telling us to hurry it up and pick up the pace in regards to His work. Are we willing to work hard and serve, step up to the challenge or sit on the sidelines? I think a lot about 3 Nephi 19:25 when the nephites are praying to the Savior and it says He smiles upon them. Thats what I want to see at the end of my time here on Earth. I want my Savior´s smiling face to welcome me to the heavenly home. So right now, I have to give Him plenty of reasons to smile. Just a thought. 

Hna Palomino

9/9;

Hey family :)

So my new companion´s name is Hermana Bellota. She´s from Peru but she´s lived in Spain for the last 9 years. She´s from Richard and Peggy´s ward from the estaca de Valencia. Crazy small world right? She said she´s heard about me before from them so that was crazy. Yeah, training is definitely a little harder than being the jr comp but its all good. We work through it like always. 

Its been a little slow still this week because my comp is super shy and doesn´t like contacting. I´m basically teaching lessons by myself. Which is scary but its only her first week, she´ll get it. We had this cool experience with an investigator, Rafael, that was gone the whole month of August on vacation and we saw him for the first time since he left this week. We watched the Restoration DVD and he loved it. So after I´m bearing my testimony about the book of mormon and the Spirit was just really awesome and after I´m done, he just looks at me and says I want to feel the same way you do about this book and I said, you can! And he starts talking about how he´s been having a super hard time and he feels so lost and I felt prompted to share Alma 7:11-12 with him. He read it over twice and got real quiet and I said how Christ understands everything we go through and was bearing testimony about that. And he just says, Palomino you really understand me. It was a pretty cool moment. I´m really excited to be teaching him. I´ll have to let you know how that goes. David is doing good! We pushed his baptism one more week though because his dad wants to be the one to baptize and confirm him and he´s supposed to be getting the Melquisdec priesthood next week. But he´s progressing really good I love that family. Last night we also had a random family home evening with some of the recent converts of the members. We watched 17 miracles with them and had a little testimony meeting after. IT WAS SUPER EMOTIONAL. We were all crying. But it was really good. Just a good week this week :)

But yeah 6 months now. Its so crazy. I´m just really happy to be here. I feel like I´ve learned so much and my heart is just changed. I can´t even describe it. I wouldn´t change the last 6 months for anything. I love serving the Lord. I love and miss everyone back home but I´m good. I´m happy. :) Thanks for being so good to me and for all the love. 

Hna Palomino

9/2;

Hey Family! 

Well this week marks the start of a new transfer. Transfer 5 for this little missionary :) hitting month 6 this week. I´ll be staying in Torrejon, Hna Vouemba is going to Barrio 9 in Madrid and.... I´ll be training a new missionary. I meet my companion tomorrow at 2 at the stake center in Pavones. So yeah, I´m going to train.... thats a little crazy. I feel like I just got done with my own training. I´m basically a baby missionary but I guess its time to step it up. I´m really excited though. I LOVE Torrejon. The ward is incredible. The work has been rough this transfer but thats just because the month of August is the worst but September is here and I´m ready to get moving again. We have David´s baptism planned for the 14th and hoping to get some more in the plan. 

Well this week was a good one in terms of lessons with the part member families. There´s one lady in particular that Hna Vouemba has been working really hard with to get active again, Carmen and she has been steadily coming to church for about a month now. When we visit her, her son Nefi listens to us. Nefi is 24 years old and was never baptized, he listens to the spiritual thought we leave her and comes to our English classes so now we are working on seeing if he will listen to the lessons. I mean really, someone named Nefi and not baptized? That is just not ok. Hahaha There´s another part member family, Jahira and Miguel. Jahira has been a member her whole life basically and Miguel married her knowing she was a member and he respected it. Well now he has finally been listening to the missionaries again and was going to church but all of a sudden got lazy and stopped coming. Its been hurting Jahira a lot. He could get baptized really any day he wants, he just needs to stop being lazy about it. So thats the challenge right now. I´m hoping to see some miracles here. These are really good people and I know their time will come and the Lord will make it happen. And David is doing so good and really progressing like a dream. He´s getting baptized the 14th and is super excited about it. 

Lets see, random things I wanted to tell you. Oh I picked up my residency card this week and it broke my heart a little. I´m an official resident of Spain now but this heart is American like an eagle. Hahahaha oh I think I´m funny. ok. I had to give a talk in district meeting and referenced the scene in Lion King when Simba sees Mufasa and he´s all Remember who you are. It was golden. Also I don´t know if I´ve said this or not before but I´m super good about eating anything the members give me. This week I tried gaspacho and it was disgusting. Also octopus. It was alright but the texture was super weird. I´m basically a champ when it comes to eating. 

Well I´m just super nervous to train. I hope I can be a good little trainer like Hna Wright and Judy were for me. I´ll just be obedient and try my best. :) I love you guys and hope everything is going super swell on the other side. Talk to you next week :)

Hna Palomino