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...