Os Quiero! [I Love Ye!]

¡Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año!

Buenos días mi familia (y amigos que siguen mi blog…) Estoy contenta. Hemos tenido un buen año aquí en la misión de Barcelona. No puedo creer que el tiempo ha pasado tan rápido. ¡Ya estamos en al final de Diciembre! Tiempo para fijar metas y hacer planes (suena como el Élder Scott, ¿no?). Espero que todos pongan en sus planes a irse MUY a menudo al templo. Cuando vuelva voy a poder cuidar sus niños para que puedan ir, ¿de acuerdo? La primera cosa que quiero hacer cuando salgo de aquí es asistir al templo. Los que puedan, vengan conmigo, ¿vale?

El día de la Navidad no hicimos mucho… organizamos nuestras carpetas de área (tenemos 4), fuimos a una cita para comer por mediodía y recibí un suéter de una miembro Brasileña (ella es la mejor), y fuimos a otra cita para comer y hacer las llamadas por la noche con una familia Colombiana. O, me encanta la Navidad. Aun que no podía oír muy bien durante la llamada, estaba contenta a escuchar las voces de mis queridos.

Nuevo traslado: sigo aquí en Valencia con la Hermana Oliphant (sí, su nombre es casi Elephant). Somos buenas amigas y caemos muy bien, entonces, estoy bien y feliz. Estamos enseñando a un español (¡por fin!) y él está progresando mucho. Y, aun estamos enseñando a muchos que hablan el inglés. Hoy no hace mucho frío y vamos afuera para disfrutar Valencia.

Os quiero, hasta la semana (y año) que viene,

Hermana Diehl

p.s. Gracias Cody por traducir mi carta, quería escribirla en el castellano hoy.

Here's the translation:

Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year!

Good morning my family (and friends who follow my blog ...) I'm content. We have had a good year here in the Barcelona mission. I can not believe time has passed so rapidly. We are at the end of December! Time to set goals and make plans (sounds like Elder Scott, right?). I hope that everyone puts in their plans to go to the temple VERY often. When I return I will be able to take care or your children so you can go, agreed? The first thing I want do when I leave here is to attend the temple. Those that can, come with me, okay?

On Christmas day we didn't do much ... we organized our area books (we have 4), we went to an appoitment for lunch at noon and I got a sweater from a Brazilian member (she is the best) and we went to another appointment for food and to make calls at night with a Colombian family.

Oh, I love Christmas.

Even though I could not hear very well during the phone call, I was glad to hear the voices of my loved ones.

New transfer: I am still here in Valencia with Sister Oliphant (yes, her name is almost Elephant). We are good friends and get along very well, I'm good and happy. We are teaching a Spaniard (finally!) and he is progressing well. And, we are even teaching many who speak English. Today it is not very cold and we are going outside to enjoy Valencia.

I love ye, until next week (and year),

Hermana Diehl Sister Diehl

PS. Thanks Cody for translating my letter, I wanted to write in Castilian (aka spanish) today.

Feliz Navidad! TWINS!!??

Oh Family,

I am so excited for the twins. My poor little Erin is going to be huge. I never did see how Stefani looked with so much baby inside of her... and Erin is even smaller. (come to think of it, I´ve never seen Stefani´s twins... and I didn´t even know Nate and Melissa were expecting a baby... what is this madness?)

I love Christmas. I have presents from Mom and Dad in my living room under my little tree. I did open one already ´cause I wanted to wear something new for the baptism... and I found a skirt! Que suerte.

We´ve been having a white christmas because there has been a lot of snow in Spain... just not where I am. There are some Elders in my zone who are serving in Alcoy which is up in the mountains and they showed me pictures of the snowman they built. Pretty snow! But in the other sense we have also been having a white Christmas of baptisms... there were 4 in Valencia last week. Like I said before, Hermann (from Cameroon), Vanessa (Nigeria), Fabian (Equatorial Guinea), and Francisca (Paraguay) all got baptized and, although it was a crazy baptismal service, I loved it. Para que sepais, there are Spaniards in Spain... I promise. Actually we are teaching a man right now who is Spaniard. His name is David and he already looks like a member. He comes to church in his white shirt and tie and the bishop asked me if he was an investigator or if he was baptized already.

The Christmas conference was so good. I love the Hinckleys and we have the best missionaries in the world! Ya esta. And Elche is beautiful. The chapel is amazing. Alyn, you should get on the internet and look at it (or anyone else who wants to see it). If I go there again I´ll take some architectural shots for you. Amazing woodwork on the inside and a huge garden on the outside (garden in the grassy-with-lots-of-trees sense).

Alright, the big call news. I will be going to visit a family for the evening/night time on the 25th, so I should be able to call between 11 am and 2 pm in Arizona time... not sure what time exactly because of the time difference and I´ll be eating dinner with them... so I´m not sure what time we´ll be free. I love the members here. This cute little Colombian women named Paula came up to be on Saturday and asked me where I was going for Noche Buena (Christmas eve) and I told her we had someone we were visiting, but did she have a fijo telefono (land line) in her house that we could use to call our families on Christmas day? And she said yes, of course and we had to come to dinner too. I love being a missionary. This is why Christ told his disciples to not worry about clothes or food or lodging. People take care of us!

Gotta go, I´m trying to be so obedient and not be on the internet too long- os quiero muchisimo!

Hermana Diehl

Navidad Blanca

Hace frio!

My fingers are numb as I type this, so don´t expect a long letter today. I am inside, but this locutorio doesn´t appear to have heating and it´s raining and windy today... cold, cold, cold. But no snow. My mission theme for this month is White Christmas or Navidad Blanca, so we will have a white Christmas of baptisms (clever huh? White baptism clothing) since we probably won´t be seeing any snow.

I had a good week in that we had a great baptism on Saturday with one of our investigators and one from the Elders´ (that used to be mine) getting baptized. It was a bi-lingual baptism again and I was translating. It was good. The Elders and Hermana Oliphant and I sang ¨Be Still My Soul¨ acapela and it was pretty (not because of me, because of Hna. Oliphant and Elder Jensen who can sing parts). I love baptisms. We have another one this Saturday as well. One of our investigators and 3 of the Elders (also people I used to teach... I sound so vain don´t I? I don´t mean to, I´m just pointing out how blessed this area is and how blessed I´ve been since being here with prepared people to teach.) I love the gospel.

Any of you who are observant may have been asking, Why didn´t Hermana Church sing in the baptism with everyone else? And the answer would be that on Thursday night we got a call from President Hinckley and he emergency transferred her to Barcelona to be companions with an Hermana who is from Chile who was waiting several months for her visa to come through to be able to enter Spain... I don´t remember her name, but she´s the first Chilean to serve in Spain... or at least the first Chilean hermana... I´ll have to find out. I´m so excited to have another native speaker in the mission and I hope I can be companions with her sometime! I miss Hna. Church though. She is a great missionary and we had a lot of fun together.

Tomorrow we have the Christmas conference and I get to go to Elche (I´ve never been there before). You´ll probably hear about it all first on the mission blog, but I´ll let you know next week how it goes.

I´m gonna have to know what you want me to do for calling home on Christmas day. I think it´s 8 hour difference? Or 9? I don´t remember. I can buy a phone card like on Mother´s day since they´re so cheap here.

Alrighty, I love you all and I am trying to work hard and do what my Heavenly Father wants me to. I pray for you everyday mi querida familia.

Con amor,
Hermana Diehl

p.s. sorry I didn´t attach a picture of the baptism. I chose poorly in the computer I am using today and the USB ports are all destroyed. Just imagine 4 really white missionaries and 3 quite black men and you´ll be seeing the picture I wanted to send you.

Bautismos

Wow Familia!

We´ve been inviting everyone to get baptized this week. We are inviting all of our current progressing investigators and all of the people in our area that used to have baptismal dates (but missed them) to be baptized before Christmas. It´s been great. There have been a lot of people who want to be baptized and a lot of people who don´t… so we´ve had to stop visiting them. We studied as a mission in Moroni 7 about how angels prepare these people and we are just here to teach them and invite them. We are not the ones who do the preparing. So we are looking for the prepared ones. And we´ve found a few. A lot of the people that I was teaching in the other ward (Barrio I of Valencia) are now being taught by the Elders and many of them are going to get baptized. I feel like I was a big part of the teaching process for at least 3 of the people in that ward that will be baptized soon. It´s so great. I love being a missionary!

Alright, Alyn is telling me I might have missed the deadline to request things for Christmas… but here´s my requests if I´m not too late:

I want that lullaby CD that Charlotte has (it´s approved)

Some thick tights (not patterned), black and grey please

Some stickers of Christ (nice ones from Deseret Book probably)

A fine point black Sharpie (I love them)

More brownie mixes! They were so good.

Reeses (I miss them mucho)

I also would like another dress… but I´m not sure how feasible it is… the skirt that you sent me fit fine, but the shirt was way too big… I´ve lost some weight on the mission. Maybe DownEast has something that would be long enough? I think I wear an extra small, but maybe check that dress I have in my closet at home (if one of my sisters hasn´t stolen it…) It´s not a big deal if it doesn´t work out. Most of my clothes are getting ruined anyway.

Alright, the only other thing I wanted to tell you is how blessed I am. I love being here in Spain. I really feel like I get to be a part of bringing the gospel to all the world since everyone I teach is from a different country. There´s a man named Hermann who will be baptized this Saturday who is from Cameroon. His country is a mess and our church is not allowed in right now because of the messy political situation and how dangerous it is. The gospel is going to every nation anyways, even if we can´t send missionaries inside their borders.

I´m also blessed to have all of you for my family. I know that all of the hard work to make it to the celestial kingdom will be worth it so that I can be with all of you there familia mia! Take good care of each other and thanks for your prayers.

Hermana Diehl

Hola my family!

Well, my Thanksgiving was excellent, but Elder Kopischke and President and Hermana Hinckley didn´t end up coming to the feast. They had other meetings they had to deal with at the last minute. But I did get to play some tennis! I played in my skirt and everything. It was amazingly tasty and the house wasn´t just on the large side… it was huge. I didn´t get very many good photos, but I did take one of the tennis court. I hope we get to go back for Christmas and I´ll try to take more of the house… it really was amazing.

This week has been so good and we´ve seen a lot of miracles. On Saturday we found 7 new investigators (that´s a lot for one day… at least in my experience). One of them we just walked into the wrong piso thinking we were going into a member´s home… and it wasn´t… so we told them we were missionaries and asked if we could teach them about the Book of Mormon. It was amazing. It was a bunch of women from Honduras who share that piso for the weekends basically and the rest of the week they all work interna taking care of grandmas and grandpas. One of our other new investigators IS a rather old Spanish woman named Rosario. She was great. We also had several people contact US on the street and tell us they want to learn more about our church. Miracles! The conference really inspired me to be more bold and I feel like I have so much more faith in the Lord to guide us in this work. I´m also really enjoying being in a trio. Both of my companions are great missionaries and we have fun together. Today we´re going to visit a science museum and a park called Gulliver hopefully with some of the Elders.

I love you all and I´m so Thankful for you. I hope everyone is studying their scriptures and applying what they learn! They really are the words of our Heavenly Father.

I love you all, kiss the kids for me-

Hermana Diehl

Thanksgiving week

Hola Familia Mia,

It´s Thanksgiving week! Here´s the story: several weeks ago all of us missionaries in Valencia were invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at one of the American Family´s houses (the Strodes). Brother Strode is in the military and they apparently have a rather large house, so they wanted to have a big Thanksgiving party and invite some of the Americans that are living in the area. So that includes the other American family in the ward (the Dixons- who are living here just because they can and they wanted to have a foreign adventure), and a family from the military that brother Strode knows who aren´t members of our church (but possibly could be soon!), and, of course, all of the missionaries. So we had this lovely party to look forward to with things from America (the military base stocks everything you need apparently) and then last week President Hinckley anounced that the Valencia zone, the Elche zone, and the Murcia zone will be having a combined zone conference in Valencia with Elder Kopischke on Thanksgiving... boo! So I called to tell Sister Strode and talk to her a bit to see if we could come by after the conference to eat some left overs or something and she said that would be fine and it was okay with her if we brought a couple of extra missionaries (the Benidorm hermanas and the ayudantes are staying the night here for another meeting the next day with Elder Kopischke in Valencia). And so I called Elder Lee (the Ayudante) and told him I had an excellent eating cita to take him to and asked him to find out if we could play some soccer while we were there maybe. He called me back and said he was talking to President about it and President wants to come and bring Hermana Hickley and Elder Kopischke along for Thanksgiving and they asked me to call sister Strode and find out if it was okay if they came too. I laughed so hard and called sister Strode... who laughed really hard. So, we are all having a huge party with the mission president and the 70. I´ll let you know how it goes.

Thanks so much for the packages Mom, Erin, and Colin! I got them all last Tuesday when Elder Jensen showed up from the office (he hauled them all here in one of his suitcases for me... it was really nice of him so I gave him one of the jerkey packages). I loved it all and I love you all. Thanks for making my November great! I´ll have to think a bit more for Christmas stuff I want...

Love,
Hermana Diehl

Barrio 2 [2nd Ward]

Oh My Family,

Guess what President did to us? He took the Elders out of Barrio 2 [2nd ward] and gave the entire ward to me and my now 2 companions. Hermana Church and I are going to pick up our 3rd companion at 6:20 at the train station), her name is Hermana Olifant... she´s been in the mission one transfer more than Hermana Church. We spent a good chunk of our morning getting everything ready for her coming. She´s a very happy person... and that´s about all I know about her right now. Veremos [we will see].

Para que sepais[So that ye know]- unless I am much mistaken, Valencia is the 3rd largest city in Spain (after Madrid and Barcelona)... and now half of it and several pueblos [towns] to the south and east of it are being covered by only my companions and I. We have so much work to do. It´s gonna be great... and probably a little stressful. With a trio we are going to be doing lots of splits like Hermana Grant and I did when Hermana Bentley showed up in Palma. We have 3 really fat and full area books...

I just recieved a phone call from one of the ayudantes [helpers (aka assistants to the mission president)] and my new companion is having a bit of a crisis and won´t be here until tomorrow. Her current companion was also leaving their area to go to work in Elche and they were waiting in the train station (after missing their first train) and Hermana Jackson (hermana Olifant´s current companion) had her bag stolen with her wallet and scriptures and things. So, it´s been a bit of an odd transfer.

Isn´t Hermana Hinckley great mom? I love her so much. She´s a great missionary and she takes good care of all of us. I´ll let her know that you were happy to get her phone call. She talked to me just before she called you to let me know she would be phoning you and to tell me happy birthday.

I´m sad to be leaving behind some really great investigators in Barrio 1 [1st ward]. We´ve spent so much time working with some of them! There are so many miracles happening in Valencia and in the whole mission. We had a mission-wide fast to be able to reach our mission goal of 400 baptisms this year and the two weeks following the fast were the most productive ones in the whole year for baptisms. The gospel is true! This is the best work ever.

I loved seeing those cute Hancock kids today. Charlie Crocodile is getting so BIG! I wish I could´ve been at his party- what a cake! Give that boy a kiss from me.

So what happened with the castle in Xativa? Closed on Mondays. Luckily we have an Elder here that speaks really good Spanish and is good at getting people to help him because we got in anyway after he had a little chat with the gardener... sort of. We got to enter in the gate and take a few pictures. But we didn´t get to explore at all. We´ll have to go back a preparation day when we aren´t dealing with transfer mess and preparation day is on a Tuesday.

Well my family (and friends who are reading this)- I´ve gotta go. I love you all. I know that this is the Lord´s work and I´m so happy to be in it. I love Valencia. I still love Palma, but now I love Valencia too! Take care of each other.

Hermana Diehl

Lladro!

¡Familia!

Thanks for all of the happy birthday wishes! It was a weird birthday... actually it didn´t feel like my birthday at all. I went to church (twice) and ate some sweet chocolately things. But not very many people knew that it was my birthday, so there was no big song and dance routine. My companion did put some candles in some of the sweets we were eating and sang a solo for me... and she has a headcold right now so I laughed through the whole thing. One of the Elders asked me how old I was turning and when I said 23 he said, ¨Antingua.¨ Muy simpatico, no? ['Ancient.' Very nice, no?] It was kinda funny. Today we´re going to visit a castle called Xativa (Alyn here: google map it, and you can click pictures of the area.) that´s a bit of a trip in train, but I´m excited to see something new even though the trip there is a large chunk of preparation day.

I wanted to send some pictures from last weeks preparation day. There´s this porceline factory called Lladro (pronounced Yod-row) and there are some really beautiful, intricate, and expensive pieces. We got a tour of the factory (a very small part) and then we got to view the gallery and some of mis compadres [my associates] bought some stuff to send home. There are some really nice things... but every time I picture a large, fancy nic-nac sitting in mom and dad´s house it´s easy to talk myself out of dropping the hundreds of euros on one. If anyone wants me to buy them one feel free to put the money in my account and let me know which one you want. They´re pretty famous. There´s a small shop that´s like a factory outlet as well: the things that are going out of style or slightly messed up for some reason. These pieces are cheaper, but still rather pricey.

This week we spent a lot of time walking around looking up inactive members. We made a huge list of names and addresses and went by quite a few of them. Barrio 2 [2nd ward] is trying to figure out what happened to all of their members before the end of 2009... so we´re helping them a little bit. It did mean we had to put some of the investigator and recent convert visits on the back burner though. It´s so hard to do every aspect of the work all the time. Balance is not my forte. We have some good progressing investigators, but some that were progressing are struggling a bit. That´s how it goes. Ups and downs. There´s lots of speculation about what president is going to change in the mission next transfer because we´re losing 11 missionaries and only getting 1 new one... which means he has to close several areas... again. I´m not a big predictor (is that a word?), so I´m not too hung up about it.

Mom, to answer your question about working at the polls... I´m not sure I´ll be able to. I´d like to, but I´ll probably have classes I´ll need to be attending. I guess just tell them I can´t for 2010 and maybe I can take it back when I know my school schedule. Thanks for being my mom and taking care of my mail for me.

Thanks for the niece and nephew stories. Cai can use my room whenever he wants. I want to see the halloween costumes! I saw the Whitmers and the Gammons... but that´s only 2 out of 5. ¡Venga! Mas fotos por favor. [Come on! More photos please.] I´m glad to see we had 2 tinkerbells in the family. A blonde one and a brunette one. Perfect. I´m trying to picture how Eliza was a ghost and I´m drawing a blank. Did you just cut two holes in a pillowcase and stick her in it? She´s too little for a sheet.

I´ve been officially invited to a big Thanksgiving party with the American families in Barrio 1 [1st ward]. I´m pretty excited for it. Mostly because I love eating. But I also think a day of giving thanks is a very good thing. Although it should be every day, no? I´m thankful today for my food. And my family. And my friends. And Spain. And the mission.

I haven´t gotten my birthday packages yet, but it´s okay. I´ve always liked celebrating my birthday for the whole month anyways. I´ll let you know how excited and happy I am when they come.

Love you,
Hermana Diehl

p.s. I only attached one photo, sorry...

Work

Mi Familia,

I´ve had a request to give more details about the work that I´ve been doing here in Valencia.

Hermana Church and I are working in two wards (Barrio 1 and Barrio 2 of Valencia), so we pretty much run around like crazy all day every day.

We have a lot of recent converts that we visit between the two wards... like 12 or 13. Some of them speak English (Nigerians) and many of them of course, speak Spanish. I love teaching in Spanish and I feel weird teaching in English because I am forgetting the gospel words in English. Luckily I have Hermana Church who speaks English way better than I do.

We have a lot of investigators as well. Many of them are family of our recent converts. The friend of a recent convert wants to get baptized as does the daughter of another. It´s amazing. I love being a missionary. It´s so stressful sometimes, but that´s my own fault. This really is the best work ever.

We are trying to help Barrio 2 get organized right now... lots of confusion in that ward. But I love organization, so it´s good.

We went to the Lladro factory today. I´ll send pictures next time. Love you all,

Hermana Diehl

p.s. kiss the chillens for me

Computer Time Limit

Here's the reply I received from Hermana Diehl re: how much time she has on the computer, and her mail preferences. (She's been receiving blog posts from her 5 siblings via email.) (bold and large font emphasis mine.)

I am replying to this immediately to not forget and to get it done before I get distracted by all of the blogs. I´m sort of joking when I say that, but some weeks the reason I don´t write much is because I am reading a lot of blogs. But I love them so much. I don´t read ALL of them... but if my siblings and nieces and nephews are featured I like to see them. I don´t really know what to tell you, but I don´t want to encourage less bloggage, because with the blogs I am able to save the pictures... when people attach pictures to emails they send me I have to delete them because they are too big for the email service the church lets us use.

I have 1 hour to email, but I have to use 15 minutes of it to email my mission president my weekly report (they just switched to emailed reports instead of handwritten).

I would LOVE to get more snail mail letters with real printed out pictures that I can show people. People love to see pictures and I love to show my family to everyone (and I would love to show my HOUSE if anyone would send me photos of it...)

I will include more details of the work here [in Valencia] and possibly to a comparison to Palma in my family letter that goes to the blog.

ooooooooOoooooooooOooooooooo

Only 45 minutes to read (4-7 posts/emails) and REPLY.

She'd really love real pictures and snail mail. I doubt she's receiving much real mail at all. I'd like to record the dates she is sent snail mail, so we can collectively attempt to send her at least 1 real letter / week.

She enjoys the pictures we send. I propose we each limit ourselves to 1 email or blog/week, so we don't monopolize her precious 45 minutes with the minutia of our lives. One way to easily do this: put your own email address in the "email blog" box, not hers. Then you can decide which post to forward on to Hermana Diehl. We may even be able to delete extra verb-age & pictures, if desired, before forwarding.

If we continue to flood her inbox, the letters she sends will become even more brief.

If it takes only 5 minutes to open and read each email, that's already 20-30 minutes of her 45 minutes gone. I personally would like to savor my letters a bit more than that! What luxury to spend 10-15 minutes reading a snail mail.

Maybe we should alternate weeks... Alyn/Kori/Jesse one week and Cody/Erin the other week... I don't know! That sounds complicated. But it would leave her with 30 minutes to reply, rather than 15.

Any discussion or ideas?

Un bebe!! [A baby!!]

Familia Mía! [My Family!]

Estoy tan feliz a escuchar las noticias del bebe! Numero 10! Felicidades Jesse y Mindy (y Cai y Maya)! [I am so happy to hear the news of the baby! Number 10! Congratulations Jesse and Mindy (and Cai and Maya)!] Speaking of the little whipper-snappers, what do they say about the baby? Hopefully Cai has enjoyed Maya enough that he´s okay with another little sibling :-) I am sad that I´ll miss being there when the little Diehl is born, but there will be 3 little news ones to greet me when I get back (and hopefully 7 other little ones and their parents and grandparents... is everyone going to be able to be at the airport?! I´ll understand if not, but I hope so.) Let me know when you know any details (gender, names you want to use, etc.)

Someone´s really gotta help mom and dad attach some pictures to send me. They keep telling me, ¨I´ll try to attach a picture¨ ¨I´ll try to get help attaching a picture¨ and... well... it never happens. I´m missing so many things in the progression of the house and yard (it´s like a growing child too... I need photos!) Thanks much.

I loved hearing your experience in the mission prep class dad. Why did you end up going to that class? Is it part of your calling or you just like it? I enjoyed the mission prep class I took... but it wasn´t based on Preach My Gospel... which would have made it so much better. Preach My Gospel really is a great manual. Everyone should study it.

I loved also to see the pictures and read the stories from San Diego trips and the goings-on in Georgia (I couldn´t watch the video of Eliza crawling... and I´m sad.) I laughed pretty hard at some of the Hancock children´s antics. You´re a good writer Alyn.

I was able to see some miracles again this week. Two women were baptized that Hermana Church and I have been teaching. They are both African, one from Equatorial Guinea (speaks Spanish) and one from Nigeria (speaks English). They are amazing and have such faith. I love the gospel so much. The spirit really does testify to people. We´re just there to share the doctrines and guide the process a little. This is the true church!

I´ve gotta go. I love you all. I´m trying to be good and work hard. Kiss the neices and nephews for me (and give the little Diehl a poke from me)-

Hermana Diehl

Fall time

1st- new haircut! I got my haircut by a member my last day in Palma and this is the 3 of us that were leaving the island with a couple of the Palma members (Victor and Irene)

2nd- my new companion Hermana Church and I

3rd- hopefully this will suffice for a picture that Alyn requested for the blog… I´m not in it though, sorry. It´s of the Plaza de Ayuntamiento… I think.

Oh My Family,

There really is a lot of work here in Valencia. It´s great. We are trying to keep track of everything and everyone. It´s been getting chilly here so I´m not sweating in the streets anymore… I´m shivering at bus stops now… I blame the skirt. I do wear a jacket, mom, don´t worry.

I got the letter from the Hancock family (thanks to all of them!!!!) I really was excited that Charlie said my name. I think my jaw dropped and I stopped walking for a second (I was reading in the street… which is actually quite dangerous with the light posts and such… yes, I have walked into one).

I am printing out a bunch of your letters to respond to. I just never have enough email time. I love to read all about what´s happening, so thanks for the continued blog posts informing me of your lives (not too many from Jesse and Mindy… but I hear bits from mom and dad of what´s happening with your family…)

Here are a few of the CDs I´m allowed to have for the big 8th-of-November-celebration package:
Mormon Tabernacle Choir:
Come Thou Fount
Called to Serve
Consider the Lillies
Love is Spoken here
Praise to the Man
Christmas Albums
Other religious (but not show tune) CDs
Also I can have BYU Chorus and Orchestra CDs
Also classical music
(If you can´t tell I´m reading this from the list we were sent with the music guidelines.)
Anything is good with me. I just want some tunes.

We currently have 5 people with baptismal dates. It´s amazing. I´m so excited for each one of them and I love, love, love to see their desires to change their lives and be worthy to be baptized.

I miss you all and love you. (Thanks Hermana Grant for being faithful to your old companions! I´m writing a real letter to send to you with ¨el clarin¨.)

Hermana Diehl

chapel in Valencia

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=39.47256%2C-0.355704&spn=0.003975%2C0.006866&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&z=17&source=embed&ie=UTF8&mid=zTGrbsMHMSpk.kkEWKcvZD_eU

Here's a red pin indicating the building where those 2 wards meet.  If you click on "view chapels in valencia on a larger map, you can then drag the little orange man from the zoom bar, to the street, to see a full screen of the street view, and even zoom in on the sign for the church.

I wonder if any other missionaries are assigned to those 2 wards...?

LOVE

Mi Querida Familia [My Beloved Family],

Valencia is a beautiful city. There´s so much work to do here... I feel a little badly because I was in Palma doing a lot of what we like to call ¨finding activities¨... which means a lot of time in the streets and not a lot of investigators... and I switched areas with Hermana O´Neill (she was here in Valencia and went to Palma... so everyone there is asking where I went and everyone here is asking where she went)... and I feel badly because she inherited my beloved Palma with lots of ¨finding¨ to be done and I inherited her beloved Valencia with lots of investigators and recent converts... I was thinking about it though, and I think that one of the reasons that I love the mission and I love Palma so much is that I sacrificed a lot there. I really put my blood, sweat, and tears into that beautiful island. I learned how to speak Spanish there. I learned how to recognize miracles there. I learned how to love the mission there. And I am so happy to be in Valencia. It´s a place of miracles too.

I am serving in the Valencia I and the Valencia II wards (right now we go to 6 hours of church on Sundays... we´re thinking of ways to get around that... but we have investigators in the both wards.) Barrio I [ward I] is really strong and large. Barrio II [ward II] needs more help- but I feel at home there because it´s more like Poniente. I taught gospel principles (Fasting was my topic and I didn´t know I was teaching it until about an hour before church started) and led the music in Sacrament meeting... my first week there. It was fun. I was able to bear my testimony in the 2 barrios [wards] and lots and lots of people gave me la bienvenida [the welcome]. It´s great to be here. We don´t walk nearly as much as we did in Palma. We use the metro and the bus a lot. I like the metro because it´s easier to talk to people (aka contacting) than just stopping people in the streets and at cross walks.

I want so much to respond to all of the letters and blogs I read... but I really have no time. Happy Birthday to the October people! I can´t believe my little Maya is 2! And my little Cody is 27! How fast they grow.

I just want to remind you all that the 8th of November is fast approaching... I love the 8th of November. If I had to choose anything I wanted to do on that day it would be to open a package with: a new skirt, some nice black gel pens, some new nylons (not that I like them... but I have to wear them...) some of that apricot face wash that doesn´t exist in this country, some M&Ms and jerkey, some approved missionary Cds (I´ll have to let you know what they are... the list is short, but also forgettable...) and I can´t really think of anything else...

I love you all. I´ll try to respond to more questions next time. Kiss the chillens for me.

Hermana Diehl

Valencia!!!

Woah Mi Familia [My Family]!

I am sitting in a locutorio [internet cafe] in Valencia. I have sat in this locutorio before because I came here with Hermana Grant (and the rest of the Palma zone) for the Waddell´s last conference. But now I am sitting here after dropping all of my stuff off in my new GRANDE piso [BIG apartment]... because I live here now. The piso [apartment] in Palma really is the smallest in the mission, and I don´t think the Valencia piso [apartment] is the biggest in the mission- but it is meant for 4 hermanas, so there are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms... and way too much ¨piso trash¨['apartment trash']. Don´t you worry I´m gonna take care of it pronto [soon].

On Sunday night my district leader called us and told us that the transfers were the most boring he´d ever heard. There was only one person leaving and it was Elder Reynolds from Manacor (we knew he was leaving earlier in the day for some reason... no puedo explicar, porque no entiendo como [I can't explain, because I don't understand how]). He asked me how I felt to be starting my 6th transfer in Palma, and I said ¨Good. I really am never leaving.¨ And I don´t remember what he said next, but something to the effect of ¨Well, I hope you´ll be happy in Valencia because that´s where you´re actually going!¨ I yelled real loud... something about why did he feel he had to lie to me every transfer... I don´t really remember that part either. It´s true the elders love to tell the hermanas lies when they call us with the transfer news. Pero bueno [But oh well]. He told me I needed to call the President´s secretary to find out the flight information, but to wait until tomorrow because he was really busy that night.

The next morning (Monday) I called and was informed that I had to fly out in six hours.... I was quite surprised because usually we fly out on Tuesday. So I called the other 2 elders that were leaving to see if they knew (they didn´t...) and then arranged for someone to take us to the airport and to be Hermana Bentley´s companion until her new companion arrives. I was pretty sad because I had planned on saying good-bye to a whole bunch of members that day and I only got to visit 2 people. One of them was Maria and she had written a letter for me and letters to give to Kori and Cody (I´ll get them in the mail soon I promise). She cried and it made me want to cry. I don´t know how to leave an area! I don´t know how to enter a new area! I´m so inexperienced! But my new companion (Hermana Church from Fresno, CA) has got some great ideas and we´re going to do our best. This area is booming in baptisms right now. Hermana Church started her mission here (she´s starting her 3rd transfer right now) and in her 2 transfers she´s had 5 baptisms! Wow. I´m so excited. I just hope I don´t ruin anything... luckily it´s in the hands of the Lord right? I´m gonna do my best.

I loved conference. I had written some questions I wanted to ponder during the conference and I found a whole bunch of answers in the very first 2 or 3 talks. It was amazing. We ALL need to be better missionaries, no? :-) I´m workin´ on it.

I liked the great blog entries. Lots of cuties again.

Hey, here is the address to the blog that President and Hermana Hinckley have for the mission in case you don´t have it:
thespainbarcelonamission.blogspot.com

I think they emailed the address to everyone´s parents... but nobody said anything, so I assumed you didn´t have it.

I have so much more I want to write but I have so much to do!
I love you all (and I love to tell you like Elder Bednar told us to!)

Hermana Diehl

Almost Conference Time!

Familia Mia [Family of Mine],

I am taking Emilee´s advice and writing this letter in Word and then copying it into my email. I´ve thought of this before... but my memory is getting worse as my mission goes on (just like Hermana Henderson and Hermana Grant told me it would) and when the crucial emailing time comes I can´t seem to remember these little inspirations. Thanks for the help Em.

I received so many great letters and blog entries this week. (Gracias mi hermano por la carta para Maria. Voy a verla esta noche para darsela.[Thanks my brother for the letter for Maria. I am going to see her this evening to give it to her.]) I love pictures so much. Man Tanner is a lot bigger than the last picture I saw of him! I love that the sobrinos [neices and nephews] can remember each other and like to see other. We´ll see which ones remember Auntie Me when I see them next year. I laughed when I read that you called the mission office Alyn. I think you must have talked to Elder Gold and Elder Jensen. I don´t really know Elder Gold, but I know Elder Jensen and he´s great. I was happy to discover that I have one extra transfer! I thought I would be leaving in June. I had asked President Hinckley about it but I never heard anything back. Hurray! El tiempo vuela. Tengo muchisimas cosas que quiero hacer y no hay tiempo! [Time flies. I have many many things that I want to do and there isn't time!] Thanks for looking out for me Alyn (and planning things WELL in advance).

I will get to watch the RS broadcast this Saturday and then the first 3 general sessions of Conference between Saturday and Sunday. I won´t get to see the last session. Sadness.

I´m out of time. I love you. I love this work. I spoke in church this week about the importance of la obra misional [missionary work]. I loved it... and I think they understood me. Be good. Take care of each other and give each other hugs for me.

Hermana Diehl

We're not counting down or anything...

Friday 9AM:

I just called Barcelona Mission. (Vonage includes international) (3 PM in Barcelona.)

I said: "Habla Engles?"

And the Elder said: "Uh, yes I do."

And then I explained that my sister is in your mission, and I'd like to know when she comes home, so I can plan to travel from Georgia to Arizona. And schedule scout camp. (Her 18-month mark is right between the June and July transfers.) He thought perhaps I was related to Hermana Henderson. But then I remembered to explain that I'm related to Hermana Diehl.

He said he'd give the phone to his companion who knows the release dates. I heard him explain my question to his companion. The second elder came on the phone, and asked how I'm related to Hermana Diehl. And then he told me her release date is: Wednesday July 28th. That it would be later if her parents pick her up. He asked if I wanted to send a message to her. I said "just tell her that we love her."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The school calendars won't be finalized until Spring. Based on this year, Mom may start work that Friday. Our kids may go back to school that following Thursday, 8 days post Marti.

We'll figure out our travel details sometime in the Spring! But it's nice to have a date, and tentative plan to visit Arizona the end of July/ first of August.

Cody, how long beforehand do they know the flight information?

No puedo creer

Oh mi family. I really cannot believe the bad luck I have. I can´t even blame the locutorio this week. This week´s emailing problems are because the email system that the church uses is not very good. I didn´t want to say it, but there it is. I once again have lost a 30 minute letter. I don´t even know what to tell you except don´t expect pictures to be emailed anytime soon.

In summation:

Happy birthdays and anniversaries for September.

Thanks for the letter mom and dad. I want to see more pictures of everyone´s lives (no blogs this week- how sad!) I also want to hear from Jesse and Cody. It´s been a while.

I love Palma. I love the gospel. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I love all of you-

Hermana Diehl

I love baptisms

Hello my family,

This is a picture of my companion Hermana Bentley, Victor (a recent convert who performed the baptism), Pau, Maria, and me. I loved Maria´s baptism so much. I love this work so much. I got to be there when Maria came out of the water and I recieved a wet hug with a tearful ¨Gracias- de verdad, gracias.¨ She is so great and I love her so much. I want to have a baptism every weekend!

I wrote you a really long and detailed letter. Did I mention before that I hate locutorios? Thanks for all of the emails. Thanks Kori for the note for Maria, I´m going to give it to her tonight.

I will try really hard to find a reliable locutorio in the future.

Love you,
Hermana Diehl

¿Cartas por favor? [Letters please?]

photo 1- the most recent zone conference

photo 2- Barca! Mom- if you were wondering where my money´s been going I´ve been buying some very important things like this jersey. It´s this season´s jersey of the Barcelona Futbol team. I love it.


Oh my family,

I know what you´re thinking from my subject line... that silly Hermana Diehl, asking for letters. Doesn´t she know she´s been out long enough that most people have forgotten that she´s missing and are just going to wait until right before she gets home to write her one last letter? No es así. [It is not so.] I would like to ask my family if they would write a letter or two to give to my and hermana Bentley´s investigator Maria. She will be getting baptized this Saturday the 12th. She has so much faith. She´s an example to me. She accepted a baptizmal date only a few days after meeting us and coming to church for the first time and she´s learning about everything and accepting all of the... compromisos (comittments? quizás [perhaps]) we give her. And here in the Palma Zone the zone leaders asked us to ask our families to write to our baptismal date people and encourage and support them. They were talking about how we can translate the letters to Spanish, and if anyone wants to write her a note in English I can translate it for you, of course. If anyone who already speaks Spanish wants to write her a note as well, that would be excellent. How blessed we are to know two languages, no? We need to share our talents more. Maria is from Ecuador and has a 15 year old son that still lives there named Moises. She also has a 1 year old son named Pau that lives here with her. I love her so much and I´m so glad to be able to teach her the gospel and help her feel the love of Heavenly Father. Entonces, por favor, ¿ayudenme? [So, please, help me?]

Son los mejores. De verdad. [You all are the best. In truth.]

I got a note from Hermana Grant (aka Melanie) correcting me... and I laughed when I read it because I do this all the time... but I always right ¨bale¨ instead of ¨vale¨. It´s the crazy b-v problem! Spanish is a great language, but it´s not perfect! And niether am I, gracias hermana mia. [thanks sister of mine.]

Thanks for your letter mom and dad- I will be praying for Kade Backus. I hope he is improving quickly. Thanks for the story about your missionary efforts papa. I think that every seed planted is worth it, and you´re showing Heavenly Father how much you love Him by trying to share one of the best things we have in this life with those who don´t have it. I love the gospel so much. I know that it´s true! We really can live with Heavenly Father one day. And that´s where I want to be.

Thanks for the great blog posts. I love seeing the bits of your lives that you post. I hope all is well and everyone is happy. Just know that I love you all so much and I pray for you.

Hermana Diehl

Amor

¡Familia Mía!

I LOVED what mom wrote to be about the need to express our LOVE for one another more. I agree. It´s been my goal these last several weeks to love others more. I can´t convince anyone to listen to the gospel- the spirit does that. I can´t convince less-active members to start coming back to church and reading their scriptures and praying with their families. I can´t convince the members to help more with the missionary work. All I can do is love people. Sometimes I have to pray for more love and more patience, but I really have been given more of both since I´ve been a missionary! I know that Heavenly Father listens to my prayers and is blessing me so that I can help Him bless others. Luckily for me, it´s easy to love my family. I love you all so very much. I hope you´re taking good care of each other. If I were there I would do something to show you I love you (maybe I´d clean your kitchen or make you brownies or take care of your chillens)... but since I´m not you all need to do it for me. And don´t forget to give the kids kisses and tell them that I love them. I mean it. Go. You can finish reading my letter after you dispense the love.

.....

Bale. Seguimos. Thanks for the blog updates. Tanner and Eliza are getting so big! What cuties. And nice job with the knitting Alyn. Another talent with the yarn (do you still have your yard chain from years gone by?) I always liked it.

Hermana Grant (aka Melanie) si estás leyendo esta carta- te quiero mucho y te extraño mucho y quiero agradecerte por los emails que me envias cada semana. ¡Mi hermana fiel! Envie una carta a la casa de tus padres el otro día. Tienes que darme tu dirección en UT. (Estoy practicando TU... ¿como va?) Élder Laney es el nuevo Ayudante (Élder Watson está entrenando). ¿Qué bien, no?

President Hinckley has started making some bigger changes in the mission this transfer. The schedule that President Waddell used for Zone Conferences and interviews and such is getting changed and those who have been in the mission a long time are all shaken up. The ayudantes don´t know a lot of the changes until the last minute either and this seems to worry people. I have spent my whole mission on the island cut off from the normal mission society (or whatever you want to call it) so I am used to not knowing anything about what is happening.

I have finished my time. I am trying to work hard and we have a baptismal date with a woman named Maria for the 12th of September. It was a miracle.

OS QUIERO-
Hermana Diehl

Transfer 5 begins...

I am in Palma. I am with Hermana Bentley. This is the third time I have tried to write you all an email because the computer I was using in this locutorio [internet café] is awful. I love you all and I´m sorry that I don´t have more time to write. Thanks for all that you do. Even though I hate locutorios [internet cafés], the church is true and I´m supposed to be here. I love Palma and it looks like I will never leave!

Hermana Diehl

Una Corrida de Toros en la Plaza de Toros [A Running of the Bulls in Bull Plaza]

I went to a bullfight this week.

I wasn´t sure how it would be but I was mentally prepared for lots of blood so I wasn´t too shocked. I actually really liked it. There was a band and the matadores were riding horses (I didn´t know they could do that.) The horses were very talented and very fast (luckily!) There were also the ¨pack horses¨ that hauled the dead toros [bulls] out. They were huge. I took a picture of them for Emilee.

Thanks for the letter Mindy! I´m so interested to know how other people´s missions were now that I´m experiencing the mission! Thanks for the stories and the info. Te quiero muchisimo. [I love you alot]

I liked the story about the baseball game that Cody and Emilee went to. I love baseball and they don´t talk about it here. Nobody cares about sports that aren´t futbol [soccer], a bit of basketball, and maybe some tennis (only because Nadal is Spanish). And of course I loved the pictures that everyone posted... but I wasn´t able to see the ones of Charlie! I was so sad. Please post another blog entry soon Alyn!

Thanks for your efforts to be member missionaries, mom and dad! What good examples you are. Just share with everyone. Pray for the courage and then plan how you will talk to people and Heavenly Father will help you. If anyone has missionary experience stories I´d love to hear them to share with the members here to encourage them!

A few more things:


I will be sending a map of the Iberian Peninsula home. If you want to get it laminated and maybe put it up in my room madre mia? No sé. Me gustaria tenerlo en mi cuarto. [...mom of mine? I don't know. I would like to have it in my room.]


I still would like some pictures of the house to show people here where I live.


I was missing my grandparents this week as we went to visit this old women named Maria. She is great and she reminds me of my grandmas especially.


I love you all, I´ve gotta go. ¡Os quiero! [I love ye!]

Hermana Diehl

Somos Solo Dos [We are Only Two]

Helloo mi familia,

Yes, Hermana Grant is gone. She sent me an email about her first week home. She got off the plane and went home for a few hours and then went to the hospital to see her first neice be born... and then she went to get set apart. What a first day home, eh?

Thanks for posting your and Nathan´s story Alyn, I really enjoyed reading it. I didn´t know quite a few of those details. And of course, thanks to all who posted pictures (Charlotte y Eliza son guapatonas... [Charlotte and Eliza are very cute]I do not know how to spell that word... Cody- puede traducir no? [Cody- can't you translate?] )

Hermana Bentley and I have been good. We have found several new investigators and are trying to help them feel the love that our Heavenly Father has for them. We are also trying to help the members feel that love as well so they have more inspiration to share this great feeling with their friends and family who aren´t members.

The conference with the Hinckleys was great. I took a picture of them eating their first kebab. I love kebab! They´re so great.

I gotta go, but I love you all more than I love kebab- take care of each other!

Hermana Diehl
p.s. sorry there´s no picture... the USB port in this locutorio computer isn´t cooperating.

Death Day

Hola Familia,

I hope my subject line didn´t scare anyone... in the mission we have ¨births¨ when someone first gets into the field and ¨deaths¨ when someone leaves to go home. For some reason a lot of missionaries get sent to the island to finish their mission (not ME obviously... I was ¨born¨ here). I have seen two of my district leaders, one of my zone leaders, and the district leader of the other district in my zone ¨die¨. And today is the death day of Hermana Grant. She flies to Barcelona tomorrow morning. It hasn´t really sunk in yet. In three more weeks when the transfer ends I am going to see another one of my zone leaders ¨die¨. I joke that I was born in the cemetery.

I love the pictures I´ve been able to see in the blogs. Charlie´s hair cut! Charlotte´s first slushy (that´s a big day)! Nanner and Spence together :-) (I just made myself laugh when I said Nanner.) I loved seeing Eliza´s chubby little self a couple of weeks ago as well. Thanks so much for the special blog posts to help me stay informed as to what is happening with your families. I love my family so much. Hey! Erin- are you wearing my short pants when you went slip and sliding? I can´t remember if we bought the same pants or not... it made me wonder if my room was getting invaded. Oh well. I´ve been living on half of the stuff that I´m allowed to have as a missionary anyway for almost 6 months. When I get transferred I´m going to have my stuff back. It´s going to be odd... I´ve already forgotten what I brought with me.

Thanks for your good letters every week mom and dad. I´m excited to see the new truck someday. How did you clean out the old one to trade it in? It was kind of messy... It sounds like Cai is talking so much more! Someone should make a tape to send me (I´m still working on sending one to you all.... someday.)

I have my first real zone conference with President Hinckley this Friday. I´m so excited to see him and Hermana Hinckley again. They are so great. I´m so blessed to serve in the best mission in the world!

I don´t have to much to report investigator-wise right now... estamos buscando por los eligidos todavía. [...we are searching for the elect still.]

Les quiero [I love you all],
Hermana Diehl

El horno y la sauna [The Oven and The Sauna]

Querida Familia Mia-

In Arizona I lived in an oven (un horno) in the summertime. Here I am living in a sauna. It was over 40 degrees celsius here the other day... which is over 100 degrees for those of us who use ferenheit (I cannot spell either of those temperature measuring words...) It´s been toasty. In a wet kind of way. For this I am sending two pictures of me getting very close to the cool, wet water... and not touching it. :-)

I need some more addresses (thanks mom for the last ones). I wrote a letter to Anna (now Canning) and also to the Grant and Donnie Tayrien family. Thanks for the help. I should probably just get all of the family addresses so I can write to all of my aunts and uncles.

It´s been a good week and a bit of a long week. Now that we are three working together here we´ve been able to do some inter-cambios (splits) and teach lots of people. But the days where we don´t have very many citas (what do they call them in English? Appointments? Because in Spanish cita means a few things... no sé [I don't know]) those days are rather long and especially hot walking around in the streets. The buses here are air-conditioned... but sadly we don´t have a lot of need for the bus in this particular area. I´m pretty sure that most of the other areas I will use the bus or the metro more. Until then, I walk. With my two companions. One of the members referred to us as ¨un ejército¨['an army'] approaching people´s doors with so many of us.

The best part of this week was that our investigator Wilson has a baptismal date set for August 8th. It´s a little hard for him because his wife is Catholic and doesn´t want to listen when we teach. We´ve been praying and trying to help him feel the spirit and recognize how important it is to take this step in his life.

I´ve been enjoying my time here in the mission. I have great companions and the members are the best. I love where I´m serving too. It´s a good life.

Les quiero por una semana más[I love you for one more week]-
Hermana Diehl

Palma todavia [Palma still]

Querida Familia Mia [Beloved Family of Mine],

I wrote some letters last preparation day after my email disaster... and I don´t have the addresses to mail them. So I´m going to have to wait until next week when I get the addresses to send them in the mail (yes, I thought about just sending them all to Mom to deliver for me... but I already put stamps on the envelopes. Not my smartest day.) So if someone could please send me the addresses of Jesse and Mindy, Grandpa Diehl, and Grandma Tayrien. Thanks. I thought I had Jesse´s, but the zip code is wrong and I really can´t remember the zip code for Camp Verde. Muchas gracias.

Another request. Brownie mixes in boxes don´t exist here in Spain, so if someone could send me a relatively easy recipe to make brownies from scratch, sería genial [that would be great].

Bits of news this week: I am still in Palma with Hermana Grant. But about half a week into this new transfer we found out that we were going to be in a trio. So on Saturday Hermana Bentley (from northern California) came out here to be with us. Hermana Grant leaves in just over two weeks to go home and get ready to start law school this fall at BYU. So we get to live in cramped quarters for a bit and then it will just be Hermana Bentley and I here. The scary part is that she has less time in the mission than I do... I just started my fourth transfer and she just started her second. So I´m going to be the senior companion and have to be in charge of the phone and such and helping to translate for her until she understands a bit better... It´s going to be fun!

In Sunday school this week we were talking about the Responsibilidad Familiar [Family Responsibility]. And I have a theory as to why I have such a great family: mom and dad taught us how to work. Work in the house, work in the yard, work at the property digging and digging and digging, and working TOGETHER. I love my family so much and I´m so grateful that we all learned how to work and how to take care of each other and use our time and money wisely. Que buenos son mis padres y mis hermanos[How great my parents and siblings are].

Thanks for the blog updates (I sadly was NOT able to view the video of Eliza... no funciona[it doesn't function]) and the letters. I loved hearing about the chillens. I´m glad someone missed me amidst the chaos. It´s nice to not be forgotten!

Gotta go, sorry there´s no picture this week. Next time, bale![Okay!]

Hermana Diehl

Cuarto Traslado

I wrote you a letter. But it got erased. I´m just going to try and attach a picture today and that´s all I really have time for. I´m sorry.
Happy Birthday Alyn!
Love you all,
Hermana Diehl
The photo is of me in the Plaza de Toros (bullfighting stadium... a really old one). We walk past it all the time and one day it was open, so we went in and took pictures.

¡Les amo!

The photo is of me with some missionaries and some members... on top of an old wall... Don´t worry it was stable.

Bon Dia Querida Familia Mia- (that´s a mix of Catalan and Castellano to say Good Day My Dear Family)

Thanks once again for the letters and the blog updates. I really loved seeing Eliza and Charlotte together- they look like they´re the same size... maybe Charlotte´s just small for her age? Or maybe Eliza´s just big? No importa. Son guapas. I´m glad that everyone (or mostly everyone it sounded like) got to be there for Tanner´s blessing.

Gracias por la carta, Isai. Siempre me comporto bien, no se preocupe. Me parece que Maya es tan grande ya. Cai tambien. Por favor darles besos. Tiene que enseñar a Cai como responder en Español por lo visto. Que listo es mi sobrino- él puede hacerlo.

I really am trying to write real letters to more people... little by little. I sent off a couple last week... I´m sorry I´m so floja.

We got to meet President Hinckley and his wife this week. He really does look a lot like his dad, and his voice is kind of similar in some ways also. They´re so great. They came to a baptism that was happening in my branch that night (the elders that serve in the same branch had one of their investigators get baptized) and they were talking to everyone in Spanish. Presidente speaks well (he said he´s re-learning spanish, but he did very well) and Hermana Hinckley has learned a lot in the last few months. She did so good. She isn´t very sure of her words yet, but she´s trying and she´s going to speak very well if she keeps it up for the next 3 years. I´m so happy to have them here.

I don´t have much time left, but as always, I love you all-

Hermana Diehl

¡Estamos haciendo una gran obra y no podemos ir! [We are doing a great work and can't go!]

foto 1- yo con mi nombre! Estoy en todos lados! [Me with my name! I'm everywhere!]

foto 2- estaba en Formentor (northwest corner of the island) [I was in Formentor]

foto 3- ultimo conferencia con los Waddell- la familia Waddell (menos sus hijas) y la zona de Palma [Last conference with the Waddells- the Waddell family (minus their daughters) and the Palma Zone]

Hola Familia-
The subject line this week is the lema [motto] for this transfer in the Barcelona Mission. It´s a reference to the talk that Elder Uchtdorf gave about Nehemiah in the Bible and how he wouldn´t come down from the work he was doing to meet with his enemies. We are doing a great work and we cannot come down! Subimos el monte y no bajamos. Como Nefi estamos intentando a estar en el monte y no en el mundo haciendo cosas del mundo. [We climb the mountain and don't come down. Like Nephi we are trying to be in the mountain and not in the world doing the things of the world.] We are having a great transfer.
Thanks for all of the blog updates. I loved reading the story about how Kori and John met and I love the pictures of everyone´s kids of course and of everyone´s adventures (Fort Sumter-I´m jealous!)... I only wish I could watch the videos too!
Cody- gracias por la carta en Español hermano mío. Su hija es tan guapa. Enseña la niña mi nombre cuando ella empieza hablar, bale? Vamos a ser buenas amigas. [Cody- thanks for the the letter in spanish my brother. Your daughter is so beautiful. Teach her my name when she starts to talk, okay? We are going to be good friends.]
I have a question for Alyn- my mission president said in his last talk to us last week that the Hermanas have a very important work to do in the mission field and we have a special talent. Then he asked, ¨Why do you think there aren´t any Elders in Temple Square?¨ I have some reasons of course, but I wanted to hear what you, as a temple square missionary, said on the subject.
I have been enjoying reading the conference issue of the Liahona. I loved the talk by Elder Perry in the final session of conference admonishing everyone to help the missionaries :-) All of you who read my letters should read the talk ¨Bring Souls unto Me.¨ My favorite part is, ¨We´re missing a golden opportunity to grow the Church when we wait for our full-time missionaries to warn our neighbors instead of doing it ourselves.¨ De acuerdo. [Agreed.]
Request for mi madrecita y papito [mommy and daddy]: can you take a nice picture of the house and mail a printed copy to me? I want to have one to show people that Cornville isn´t a big field of corn and nothing else. I was thinking maybe one from the road of the front of the house looking so nice as I´m sure it is these days with a brick sidewalk and plants! Muchisimas gracias.
One miracle that we saw this week, Hermana Grant and I, is that two girls we are teaching accepted the invitation to be baptized! I´m so excited for them. One is named Dayana and she is 17, and her little sister Dana is 9. Their mom is a member, but inactiva [inactive] for many, many years. We´re going to visit her (the mom- se llama Damaris [the mom -is called Damaris]) tomorrow. I might not be here for the baptism if I get transferred in two weeks, but that´s not the important part. I´m just excited to see them and their desires to follow Christ.
Les amo, pero muchisimo- Besos a los niños, por favor- [I love you all, alot- kisses for the kids, please-]
Hermana Diehl

Papito! Y Valencia! [Daddy! and Valencia!]

Familia Mia- [Family of Mine-]

I have no time to write. I have a few things to say though:

Happy Father´s Day Papito! [Daddy!] I love you so much. Next year, I´m calling on Father´s Day. Happy day also to my many brothers (aun que unos son ¨in-laws¨ [even though some are 'in-laws'). Thanks for taking care of my neices and nephews so well.

Thanks for all the blog updates. I love, love, love my family.

Estoy en Valencia por la ultima conferencia de Presidente Waddell [I'm in Valencia for the last conference of President Waddell]. I´m going to miss him and his family a lot. He´s done so many great things in this mission. I´m excited for the Hinckley´s to come though.

I hope all is well... I haven´t heard from Jesse in a while...

Oh! And I got my package. Thanks mom and Mindy (and anyone else who helped get the stuff together).

I love you all... more next week... the work is good and we see so many miracles. The church is true. I´m so glad to be here. I wouldn´t want to do anything else with myself right now than be on a mission.

Hermana Diehl

¡Unas fotos!

Fuimos hoy a un sitio bonito yo you queria enviar unas fotos. ¡Disfruten!

Les quiero otra vez-
Hermana Diehl

The picture with the people in it is me, my companion Hermana Grant, my zone leaders Elder Peña (he´s from Ecuador) and Elder Zickler (from Germany).

If anyone has a map of Mallorca this place we were at is called Cala Rafeubetx (in the southwest corner of the island). Not touristy and a place we could only go to because we had members with us who live here. I loved it so much.