8/11;

Hey Family! 

Well its certainly different working in a different companionship but same area. Its a little sad not being able to visit the people I was teaching with Hna Scattolon but I have enjoyed working with Hna Rica. There´s not a whole lot of investigators that this companionship was working with but there´s a lot of work with the less actives and recent converts. Hna Rica and I just seem to have good unity off the bat and have had some great experiences this week trying to teach and help people. I will admit its hard working in a companionship knowing that your area is basically getting closed when you leave but we are trying to work our hardest with what we´ve got. The plan is to leave everything nice and ready for the new companionship of Elders that came in last transfer to hand them our investigators that we do have. We actually are teaching a few really good people. 2 of them very close to a baptismal date. One of them is David who is a total miracle. The hermanas contacted him last transfer but he couldn´t meet with them formally because his wife didn´t like it or something like that. But they would randomly share a quick message with him and he´s actually started to read the Book of Mormon. We had a lesson with him and he straightway started asking about baptism because he says he feels so much peace when he reads the Book of Mormon. Miracle. He came to church with us too and just loved it. Every scripture that they shared during the talks he would mark in his book. So good. Definitely have mixed feelings about having to end all this in a week and a half but trying my best to not think about it. So we´re keeping busy in Leganes! 

Hna Palomino

8/4;

Hey Family! 

Wow so many emotions this week. So transfers happened... I´m in Leganes but switching companionships. Hna Scattolon is training and I am going to be comps with Hna Rica, an hermana that I started in the MTC with. We are both going home together. So we have 2 and a half weeks to whip out and work our heads off before we hand our area over to the rest of the missionaries. Crazy but hey, its the Lord´s work. Scattolon and I did a little bit of ¨cleaning house¨with our area book. Because all though we can whip out a lot of lessons, we don´t have a lot of people progressing and we are trying to do our best with what we´ve got and work hard to find more. We did have one investigator who is a leader in his evangelical church come to sacrament during testimony meeting and I swear everyone came up and bore their testimony about the ONLY true Church and it might´ve helped him. I guess Hna Scattolon will have to work with that. I´m excited for the chance to work with Hna Rica now and so happy to be able to stay in Leganes. 

So this week was Rutilio and Lorena´s sealing that I got permission to go to. I know its not regular missionary work but I just have to say that there are no words to describe how I felt in that sealing. I thought of my very first zone conference and hearing about the vision of the mission and thinking how neat it would be to teach a family that would get sealed someday and I got to see it. I saw the vision of the mission as I saw this cute family kneeling over the altar and becoming an eternal family. This family that was my very first lesson in the mission field and became so special to me. Not that anyone reads this but I felt like so many Hermanas got to rejoice over this, all the Hermanas that played a part, Wright and Judy especially. I wished they could´ve been there. I love the gospel. I am so grateful for the chance to be a missionary and teach people the way to get back to their Heavenly Father. Thats what it´s all about.

Hna Palomino

7/28;

Hey Family! 

This week was all sorts of crazy but in a good way of course. We are still just trying to power through the heat and work hard. Seriously its so hot, its ridiculous. Scattolon and I are like walking through the desert of our afflictions here. But it was a good week. We actually saw a lot of fruits from working with the members. We had a lesson with a member´s 2 sisters and his niece that he wanted us to meet. We shared the Book of Mormon with them and it was a really great lesson, the Spirit was super strong and we are having another Noche De Hogar/lesson with them this week. 3 new investigators thanks to a member trusting us with his family. We feel so honored and so grateful to be winning the trust of the ward and being able to work side by side with members like this faithful brother. We are trying to improve on our finding and organizing. Its a little hard when we have all these investigators that aren´t progressing and my companion feels too bad to let them go for a while. So it doesn´t leave room for finding new people that are ready to accept the gospel. But we are working on it, slowly and surely. She´s a lot softer than I am. And I am pretty soft, so you can only imagine. Haha I love this area and I hope that we are doing our best in our efforts to serve and love the people.Love you guys!

Hna Palomino

7/21;

What a week. First off, Scattolon and I had to go to the leadership council meeting in the mission home with President and Sister Jackson. The spirit felt there was incredible and I could really feel the love of President and the Lord for us missionaries. Our zone leaders did so well at trying to portray that same spirit in zone meeting. It was nerve wracking having to speak in zone meeting but the elders were so nice and supportive about it and I think Hna Scattolon and I did alright. We had to speak on teaching in the Savior´s way using the Spirit and love. And of course going to the temple prior to zone meeting definitely helped invite such a great Spirit. But like most missionary weeks, it had its highs and its lows. Its one of those weeks when you are trying to do your best and not seeing very many results. We´ve tried inviting with power and authority only to get denied and rejected. We have one investigator that flat out told us a piece of paper that says you´re legally married is not important and chooses not to keep the Law of Chastity. Another that says she would rather sleep in on Sundays that have to get all ready for Church. One man that won´t come to church until he receives an answer about the Book of Mormon. And another that is a leader in an evangelist church and despite having a testimony of the Book of the Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith won´t commit to a baptismal date because he thinks it would look bad to the people in his church. Thats been our week in a nutshell. A few tears were shed I will admit but overall I feel like we are sincerely trying our hardest to do our part. Although the results were not the best, I feel at peace because I know my companion and I are doing our best. I feel like before I would´ve been extremely frustrated and disanimada but I have faith that if we continue doing our best, things will work out. Its all about faith and trusting the Lord. So despite the challenges, we are looking up. Throwing our head back and enjoying the rain. So things are good here. I truly love this gospel and getting to preach it day in and day out is nothing short of a blessing. So I´m thankful for all the days, good and bad. I love you guys! 

Hna Palomino