My name is Diana De Palm-Gallego, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In November 2009, when I was 28 years old, two missionaries, Elder Kyle and Elder Lehl came directly to my mother's house. The moment I saw them I remembered that a few weeks before, I had a dream where two students, similar to the missionaries had an important message. In the dream I also saw my colleague and friend Marieta Ruiz, who worked with me at the Marriott Hotel Aruba. Then I heard a deep soft voice saying: 'Listen to them' and I remembered the feeling. From the moment they started to teach me it was a feeling of peace and joy.
That same night after they left I prayed and asked Heavenly Father 'if the book of Mormon comes from Him' and then I felt the desire to read it from the beginning. While I was reading the book of Mormon I got so many answers to my questions about the Bible, it was 2 am and I was still reading. For a long time, I was missing something. That's why I was asking God to guide me to his church because when I was a teenager I had a dream where every page of a huge book was getting damaged because of strong wind And I was feeling a lot pain, I woke up from my dream but the image continue in my mind until I had to wash my face.
The following day the same dream and then I realized that I had to pray and ask God why I had that strange dream. Then I saw in my mother’s room the Bible and I understood “the Bible was there and no one was reading it. From that moment on I started to read the Bible every night, before going to bed. I had lots of questions. Because I couldn’t understand many things, I went to a church to try to understand the Bible better, but the more I was reading which took me one year and half to finish I found out that the church I was attending was not the correct one for me. So I stopped going.
Then, I had the desire to know more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. From the moment I started to attend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I felt at home. Then on January 3rd 2010, I got baptized and felt washed and cleansed and at the moment I received the Gift of the Holy Ghost my heart was filled with God's love and I felt His authority and power that is with the Priesthood.
I told myself: 'me..? I am not going to call.' But something inside me said: yes, you will.' I can see those missionaries planted the seed, and my colleague Marieta Ruiz that I worked with sprayed the water through her invitation to go to her baptism together with her son.
I almost forgot to mention that one year before I got baptized, in the evening I was sitting in my car in a parking lot, two missionaries approached my car to talk with me. They told me: 'if one day you have a problem, you can call us' and they gave me a calling card with a picture of Jesus, the name of the Church and then they left. I was a little afraid because that was a little strange.
One day in February 2011, a senior missionary couple came to Aruba and after the Sacrament meeting, they approached me and asked some questions like ' how long have I been a member of the church? How old I am? If I am single?
Elder Lee said the reason for these questions is because we know a young brother, your age, by the name of Hensley De Palm who is our right-hand in assisting us. Would you like to meet him? And I answered: 'yes! Why not'. They then asked, can you give us your email address that he can contact you? So, after one month, he wrote about himself, his family, and that he had been a missionary in Colombia for two years.
I was interested in his mission, so I asked him to tell me about his experience during the mission, and the only thing he replied to me was: 'Have you ever thought about becoming a missionary?' From that moment question infiltrated my heart and later I asked Heavenly Father If He wanted me to serve Him as a missionary? And so He let me know that I should leave everything and follow Him. I made the decision to do that.
While I was busy with the mission's papers, Hensley De Palm came for one day to Aruba and President Buckley of the San Nicolas Branch arranged everything for us to get to know each other better. On May 24th, 2011, when I saw Hensley De Palm for the first time at the airport, it was an wuuaaww! Surprise for me, because he wasn't the same person my brother had shown me on Facebook. He was more handsome, he was my type, and Hensley seemed very excited that I was preparing to go serve a mission. We had a wonderful evening together and a few months later I had the opportunity to go to Bonaire because of my brother's soccer competition.
Hensley and I were just good friends and we built a stronger friendship.
On May 04th, 2012, a few weeks before I went to serve in Belgium/Netherlands mission, Hensley came to Aruba to propose to me and promised that he will wait for me, and that 18 months will go fast and after we will get married, we will go to live in Bonaire. I said YES. For me that was difficult to believe but he kept his promise. He wrote me every two weeks motivating me to focus on the mission.
My experience during my mission was not the easiest one, but the feeling of love for everyone touched my heart a lot because I started to understand Heavenly Father's love for each of his children. The miracles and protections from God I saw in my mission were innumerable. After being baptized, it was one of my best decisions of my life.
When I came back from the mission in December 2013, my family, the members of the church, and my love Hensley De Palm were waiting there for me at the Reina Beatrix Airport. I remember feeling sad leaving my mission, but when I saw all of them, I felt happy again.
A few weeks later I received a call from my ex-boss that she found out that I am back and she wanted me to work for her again. I told her I will but just for 5 months, because I am going to live on the island of Bonaire.
August 2014 we got married thanks to all the members who helped me find the way of true love and God sent in authentic pearl for me.
My callings in the church have been to serve as Primary President, Young Women President, and now Relief Society President.
I am grateful also for the opportunity to continue studying via Pathway Worldwide
I own a Kiosk selling fruit salads and shakes.
I know Heavenly Father wants us to be self sufficient and all the knowledge we get here is what we take together with us.