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