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