See You Tomorrow

I love you all.

I´ll be home soon.

Thanks for the pictures!

Hna. Diehl

El Monasterio de Piedra (The Rock Monastery)

Mi Queridisima Familia (My super Beloved Family),

Hoy fuimos a un sitio se llama Monasterio de Piedra.  Mucha agua. [Today we went to a site called Monastery of Rock. Lots of water.]  Sorry no pictures, locutorio [internet café] frustrations.

We´re teaching a man named Felix from Ecuador.  He´s one that asked his friend to take him to church and loves the Book of Mormon.  We made a plan with him so that he can learn and prepare to be baptized this weekend.  I love the gospel and I can feel the spirit so strongly when we are teaching it to him.  He told us that he feels so good when we are teaching him and he really likes our church.

I am excited to see you all soon, but I still have a week to be here.  I hope you all don´t mind speaking Spanish with me (my spanish speaking family members).  I love Spanish.  I hope that everyone is having missionary experiences or is praying for them.  I hope to be able to invite some of my friends to learn about the gospel soon.  Not sure what they´ll say, but I´m excited to invite them.

Did I tell you all I started a fire in our kitchen a few weeks ago?  On the 7th of July I hit my 18 months in the mission mark.  So I burned a shirt.  There was a lot of smoke, but I cleaned it all up.  My companion took a video.  I didn´t do anything for my 9 month or one year mark... so I figured I should get in on the tonterias [stupidities] sometime.  (I don´t know what tonterias means in English.)

I know it might be a little hard, but I really hope everyone can be at the airport when I get there.  I get it at about 5:40PM or something like that, on the 28th.  They sent the flight plans to mom and dad´s email.

Familia Mia.  La Iglesia es verdadera.  Dios nos ama.  Cristo vive y nos ha dado el camino.  Oro cada día por vosotros y quiero que vivamos con Dios todos juntos algún dia.  Os quiero. [My family.  The Church is true.  God loves us.  Christ lives and has given us the way.  I pray each day for you all and I want us to live with God all together some day.  I love you all.]

Hermana Diehl

La Furia Roja

Oh My Familia,

The night of the big World Cup game there was madness in the streets.  I took a short video looking out of our window at the locos down below.  Lots of horn honking, singing, flag waving, etc.  We joined in the little bit from our piso.  Luckily I had already bought a sweet España t-shirt for the world cup before the raised the prices on everything.

I loved all of the pictures.  The Hancocks, the Gammons, the Whitmers.  I have the best family.  My nieces and nephews are the best.

Satan is attacking my investigators, but we´re working hard to help them.  We´ll see some baptisms soon and in the meantime we see miracles every day.  I love you all.  Gotta go-

Hermana Diehl

Hurray! Los Mellizos!

My Dear Growing Family,

With weddings and births there are now 25 of us.  Jolín. (I don´t know if they say that in other countries, it means like ¨Holy Cow¨)

Thanks mom for all of the photos of the pequeñitos and the birthday parties and such.  I want to hear more of the story of what happened.  I´m glad it was a quick labor, but I wish that baby Abby was bigger.  Is she bigger now?  What does Charlotte say about them?  What kind of babies are they?  Sleepy?  Criers?

Trac looked kinda gordito in that four generation picture, and real cute.  I was pretty surprised at how big Cai and Maya look.  I also enjoyed the little video of Eliza shaking her face.  Thanks to all for the continued news.  Even though I only have a little bit of mission left, I´m still news hungry about what´s happening with all of you.

It´s been hot here, but we´ve had a few random thunder storms blow through, which I loved very much.  One morning my companion was sick and so she was asleep and I was sitting in our... sitting room (it´s not much of a living room) studying with the window open and this thunderstorm started all of a sudden and dumped a bunch of rain in about 10 minutes.  This cool breeze was blowing in and I just thought of monsoons.  It was one of my best study sessions.

On July 1 the mission boundaries changed we now have the Vitoria and Bilbao areas in our mission.  President has to take the Elders out of Pamplona during the week of San Fermin (the running of the bulls) and so one of them is here with the Zaragoza Elders.  President also did a bunch of mid-transfer changes last night.  I´m still in Zaragoza with hna. Walters, but several people are transferring around today.  I think he wants to integrate the two parts together as fast as possible.

We should be having a baptism of the three women I wrote you about last week this coming Saturday.  They are so great.  I´m excited for them and their families.

I might be having my prepartion day on Tuesday next week... just FYI.  We might be going on an excursion with Abel and Maria Jesus.

I love you all, take good care of each other.  Tell Grandpa I was thinking of him on his 80th birthday.  I wished I could have watched some fireworks and eaten some barbeque, but we did sing a few patriotic hymns.

Love,

Hna. Diehl

p.s. Mom- I don´t care when I speak in church.  When do they want me to speak?  I want to be able to go to Trac´s blessing though is the only thing.

The photos-

one is of me in this huge park here in Zaragoza.

the other is from Semana Santa... did I ever send you this?  It´s what they wear in their prosessions as they ¨celebrate¨ the holy week.  Me da miedo.

Baptisms All Over The World

Hello mi familia,

No time to waste: this weeks cuenta is that we have three baptismal fechas-

Carla

from Nicaragua

Mother of 3 (her kids are in her pais)

Lives with our recent convert Carmen and another super strong member.

Told us she wants to get baptized, but we think she´s a little scared of the commitment.

She reads everything we give her, talks, chapters in the Book of Mormon, folletos, etc.

Candida

from Dominican Republic

Mother of 5, but only 2 live with her, her 18 year old slightly rebellious son Randy, and her 8 year old super cute son Christopher.

She has been prepared.  She is super humble and recognizes that she needs her Heavenly Father in her life.

Hard family life.  Husband left her for someone else.

Lived in the United States for several years... never really learned English that well.

Anastasia

from Russia

Only child. Her parents live in the Ukraine.

She´s here in Spain all alone and really likes being in the chapel with everyone.  She´s been rather lonely.  We met her because a Ukrainian man told her about our English classes.

Told us she was raised a Christian and likes to learn about the gospel and knows how important it is.

I love these women.  We have the greatest lessons with them.  I wish you could all know them too.

We went to visit with a less active family last night after church and when they opened the door the little boy was so excited and gave hna. Walters a hug.  The other little boy tried to give me this game he said he found in the street.  It was a board game and I gave it back to his grandma when he wasn´t looking.  I love teaching kids.  Sometimes they don´t really listen... not that that´s news to anyone.

Que vergüenza.  That video of us singing in the kitchen of the mission home made the blog?  Vaya.  I hate hearing myself on videos. I hope I wasn´t audible.

Thanks for the great letters Alyn and Erin.  I love to hear about your lives and your worries and your kids and your houses.  I wish I could help you.

Hey Cody, I taught the Elders in my district how to do shake-face pictures on the bus ride back from Barcelona.  We all got headaches.

The Conference was great.  President shared a miracle story about Hna. Konopinski and I started crying.  I shared my testimony and I cried again.  I don´t want to end my mission, but life must go on.

I love you all so much.  I´m sorry for all of the unanswered questions... we´ll talk later.  Make sure you all keep feeding yourselves spiritually.  Scriptures, thoughtful prayers, fulfilling your callings in church.  It´s worth it.

Hna. Diehl

Concilio

Mi Querida Familia,

This last week Hna. Walters and I went to the Mission Council meeting at the mission home in Barcelona.  When we became companions we joked that we were the ¨Hermana Zone Leaders¨ because we are both kind of old in the mission... actually we are 2 of the oldest 3 hermanas in the mission (time-in-mission-wise, not age-wise).  It was great to get that extra instruction from our mission president.  I just feel like I´ve always been so far away that I have never really been able to spend much time around the Hinckleys, but Hna. Walters and I were invited to stay in their house and we got up early (luckily since mom called me about my Father´s day call stuff at 6:50 in the morning... we don´t get up until 7:30 in this mission. It´s Spanish culture!) and we helped (or actually just ending up watching the ayudantes) make breakfast.  Hermana Hinckley wouldn´t let us do too much because it´s ayudante tradition to make the pancakes for concilio.

We have a woman that we´re teaching that satan does not want to get baptized.  Her name is Carla, and every time we have a cita with her it´s really great- but then we´re not able to see her for one reason or another for like a week or more.  We´re doing our best though and I know Heavenly Father will help her and us with the things that we lack.

I thought we would be going to Barcelona this morning to spend the day there and then have our Zone conference tomorrow- but we´re not leaving Zaragoza until 6:30 this evening.  Hopefully we´ll get to see a couple of nice sights in this city that I still haven´t visited.  I´ve kind of given up on letter writing- it´s not my favorite preparation day activity and my companion wants a few letter writing hours today... Maybe I´ll make myself do it because I still have some I haven´t responded to.

I love you all- I´m excited to hear more about the babies when they come (yeah!  twins!)  Send me pictures of Erin´s volleyball belly!

Love,

Hna. Diehl

Last Transfer? Oh no...

Dear Familia,

Uh... I´m in denial.  I don´t feel like an old missionary- so I´ve decided that it´s NOT my last transfer.  I´m staying in Zaragoza with Hermana Walters.  There were several missionaries that were supposed to arrive to our mission, but are serving in the states waiting for visas, so there were very few changes this transfers.  The only change with the Hermanas is that a new native Spanish hermana (who obviously would not have visa problems) is going to be Hna. Church´s companion since hermana Konopinski went home.  I also think that there were very few changes because on the 1st of July the Bilbao mission is dissolved and a chunk of it comes to our mission, and the Elche stake goes from our mission to the Malaga mission.

Well, this week went quickly and I can hardly even remember it right now.  Ummm... I think the highlight would have to be... a Russian woman named Anastasia who is in our English class showed up on her own to church on Sunday.  We invited the whole class to come and she came!  She was born in Siberia actually, but lived a long time in Moscow.  She´s great, so now we are going to start teaching her this week.  She speaks quite a bit of English and Spanish, and there is a man in our branch who is from the Ukraine, so he speaks Russian.  It´s perfect.

Well familia- this Sunday will be Father´s Day, so I am going to call home.  The only trouble is the time... we have afternoon church and then we might be leaving to go to Barcelona Sunday evening (I haven´t found out yet), so I´m going to call at about 1:30pm Spain time... I´m not sure what the time difference is right now to Arizona... or California.  It might be kind of early... sorry.  But I´ll plan on calling at that time to the land line in Cornville.  If there´s another phone you would prefer that I call- you´ll have to call me and let me know (our cell phone is 637-460-844, and I think the country code for Spain is 34...), or you could call the mission office, if that´s easier, and have them tell me.  If I don´t hear anything, I´ll call the house number.

I love you all.  I´m going to try Hermana Grant´s trick so you can actually see a picture this week.

Hermana Diehl

p.s. man I hope the pictures finally worked.

Hot

Querida Familia,

I sent the picture in its own email this week, hoping that it would work.  (thanks for the advice on ways to change the file format hna. Grant!)  One night waiting for a bus to come we saw this view of the Basilica: El Pilar.  It´s the most famous thing in this city, and quite pretty.

I loved all of the birthday blogs and pictures.  I have the most guapo neices and nephews.  I was hoping to see some more pictures of Trac...

It´s been getting hot here and I come home at night sticky and dirty from the day.  It´s okay though- I survived last summer too.  I just walk a lot in the shade and drink a lot of water.  I already have strange tan lines from my shoes, skirt, shirts.

We had a really good visit with a woman named Maria Elena.  She is evangelica and doesn´t want to get baptized again.  We took a member with us and did an activity to explain how during the apostasy and without a prophet to guide us the true church was lost, only to be found again through a restoration.  She understood what we were teaching and finally came to church.  Still don´t know if she wants to get baptized and join our church (she´s quite active in her church), but she believes that the Book of Mormon is true so we are still helping her to get that confirmation from our Heavenly Father and to recognize the spirit.  She never understood before that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are 3 separate beings- I guess that church teaches that they are just one- and so we read with her when Christ was baptized and all three of them were manifested at the same time.  She told us that had always confused her and she was glad to understand it better.  I think she´s just scared to change.

I´m here in Zaragoza with Hermana Walters.  Hna. Konopinski had to go to Barcelona for her last 2 weeks because there was an hna. with health problems who had to go home.  We´re having fun.  Working hard.  I´m glad I still have some time left to be a full-time missionary!

Love you all-

Hermana Diehl

el Pilar

I put the picture in the blog header above, for your viewing pleasure.

Bebe! y Cerezas!

Hey Familia,

I was a bit frustrated last week with the trouble trying to attach pictures.  Sorry nothing has come through lately.  I think it´s because my new camera has a lot of megapixels.  I´ll just try sending one picture at a time... maybe.  I might just give up.

We had a really good cita this week with a woman named Carla.  She is Carmen´s friend and we were teaching her about the restauration of the gospel and we were mentioning how after Christ died there was an apostasy in the world and there were many churches that formed.  She said, ¨That´s what I´d like to know!  How do I know which of all the churches is the right one?¨ It was beautiful.  She has a baptismal goal for the 12th of June.

I was so excited to hear that little Trac was born.  I laughed when I heard his name because mom had told me that Cai wanted to name his little brother Train Track.  He´s cute.  Give him a kiss from me and tell the chillens I´ll see ´em in a bit.  I was glad to hear that he and Mindy are healthy and okay.

We changed our preparation day because Abel (the man who sent the web cam information) and his wife Maria Jesus took us to this pueblo where I was able to buy some Spanish shoes (don´t worry, I didn´t buy heels- I walk like an idiot in heels) and we bought some cherries that were picked this morning and are so pretty and tasty.  They also took us out to eat at an uruguayan restaurant.  They are the best.  I found out that they believe that any chuch could have a prophet or could be true because God doesn´t pick favorites.  Years and years knowing missionaries and they still have this doubt.  I´m praying to know what I could do to help them.

I love you all.  Thanks for the letter Kori and John.  I got it last week.  Tanner is getting big and he and Spencer look so cute.

Love,

Hermana Diehl

More Fotos!

Baptism!

I just wanted to send you the fotos of Carmen´s big day.  I had to borrow my companion´s camera since I forgot to take mine to the capilla.

Love,

Hermana Diehl

Windy. More Barcelona Pictures.

Hola Familia Mia,

Hace mucho viento.  No me gusta.

We´re going to go by the web cam that points to the river and the Santiago bridge (Cody found it on the internet) at 5:00 Spain time.  Abel suggested that we take something that would stand out so you could recognize us (he´s so funny- like sister missionaries wearing rather ugly, old, and worn out clothing don´t stand out enough), so I´m going to bring my spain flag with me.  I´ll probably take my chapa off and wear it like a cape.  Not sure yet.  Hope some of you get to see us.  I think it´s in realtime...

Kori- I enjoyed seeing the Gila Valley temple!  I´ll have to go visit it!  When are the other ones going to be dedicated in AZ?  Does anyone know if a temple will be having an open house in September-October time?  I want to try to take a few people to one.

The zone conference was good (as usual).  President gave us a list of things to do to be really effective missionaries.  I´m excited to do them all.  With the rest of our preparation day we walked around Barcelona- we got a bit lost looking for a Gaudi apartment building (la Pedrara) and never found it, but we saw the Columbus statue (we didn´t know until the next day that we could´ve gone inside the Columbus statue... like the statue of liberty, but with an elevator).  The last picture is of the bus ride back to Zaragoza.

This week we´ve been a bit lost.  It´s a rather large city as far as Spain standards go and we have to depend on the buses (no bicicletas :-(  The best story I have for you is that on Sunday morning we passed by a few people and a lot weren´t home or didn´t want to let us in- but we finally went by this older Spanish couple names Julian and Josefa.  They are really nice and they came to church with us that same afternoon.  We (yo y mis dos compañeras) spoke about missionary work and Josefa really liked it- but Julian was falling asleep.  It was funny.  Their grandson´s communion was the night before so he was tired.  I would love to have an elderly Spanish couple converted and baptized while I´m here.

Tell grandma Tayrien that I say Happy Birthday.  So many May birthdays.  Tell everyone that I say happy birthday.  Little Tanner is getting so big!  I can´t believe he´s going to be one soon too!

I´m reading in Alma about the sons of Mosiah and their missionary efforts.  They are the best.  They serve the people and they get tons of converts.  They also spend some time in prison- but they are sacrificing for the work of the Lord.

I love you family-

Hermana Diehl

Live Camara in Zaragoza

I forgot-

There is this Spaniard man in Zaragoza who has known the church for 10 years and loves the missionaries and the English classes (he speaks English perfectly) and he has been keeping me updated on the NBA Playoffs (hurray!  Down with the Spurs).  I didn´t ask him to he just does.  He´s great.  Anyway, he also told us that there is a live web camara in Zaragoza that shows the Plaza Pilar and the Ebro River.  It´s at the bridge of Santiago and we´re going to walk past it next Monday at around 5:00pm Spain time if anyone wants to watch for us.

Love you,

Hermana Diehl

La Sagrada Familia

Dear Family,

My first week in Zaragoza was excellent.  I am once again serving in a beautiful city.  We sert 4 baptismal fechas.  The sad part is that 3 of them turned out to live in the other branch...  The branch seems to be very good.  I am serving in Zaragoza 2.  The branch president is from Germany and his wife is Spanish.  They also speak English perfectly, so they are a tri-lingual family.  Their kids only speak Spanish and German so for now English is the parents ¨secret language¨ they told us.

I am in Barcelona right now (again) because we have a zone meeting tonight and a combined zone conference tomorrow with all of the Barcalona zone (which is mine) and the Hospitalet zone.  I finally went by the Sagrada Familia Alyn!  It´s actually right outside this Locutorio.  The weather is beautiful and we are going to walk around to several scenic sites today.

Felicidades to Cody and Emilee on the new baby that´s on the way!  Even though I´ve never met her, I'm sure Eliza will be a great big sister.  I love you family.  I hope you all talked to mom on Mother´s day.  Kiss the chillens for me.  Remember to be good member missionaries.  The full-time missionaries just can´t find everyone on their own and God is preparing so many people to recieve the gospel.

Hermana Diehl

Yo soy Murcia

Madre Mia.

Right now I am in Barcelona.  We got transfer calls on Sunday and I am leaving my two companions behind and going to Zaragoza.  To be in a trio.  With Hermana Konopinski (she was with me in the MTC and is going home the transfer before I do) and Hermana Walters (I think she´s from Utah and goes home the transfer after me).  It´s going to be good.

Since 6 weeks was a really short time for me to be in one area I didn´t get terribly attached to everything and everyone (I did really love it there though and wanted to stay longer).  But, I will show you some of the highlights of Murcia in a few photos I took:

1- YO SOY MURCIA slogan the town has to get people to pick up their trash and keep track of their dogs.

2- this is the big Catedral en Murcia.  Very pretty.  Never went in.

(I wanted to send more, but this computer hates me)...

I did 4 intercambios with Elche during my 6 weeks in Murcia... there were some companionship troubles there.  And we had visitors passing through every single week at least once.  I didn´t realize Murcia was such a hub of activity for the Hermanas.  But now I´m going to Zaragoza (click here for Wiki) - which is deep into Aragon and nobody visits.

I love you all and thanks for the letters.  Happy Mother´s Day Mom!  Thanks for being understanding and not minding that I call on Father´s Day this year.  I hope all of the pregnant people are okay and the babies too.  Happy May Birthdays in advance!

Love,

Hermana Diehl

Re: Natural Disasters

Hey Family,

I´m sorry in advance that I didn´t leave myself a lot of time to write to you.  I was taking too long on my presidents letter- I had to give a report from an intercambio I did this last week.  I went to Elche and was with Hermana Bentley for a couple of days.  We were able to spend a day visiting this pueblo that is part of the ward that the Hermanas serve in there.  It´s called Elda and it´s a pretty little town with some really strong members.  There used to be a branch there and the members there want to have one again, so they´ve all been working really hard to reactivate people and refer their friends and neighbors to the missionaries.  They were great.

We set a baptismal goal with an investigator named David.  He´s from Spain and he´s youngish (not really sure how old- maybe 28?) and he loves the Book of Mormon.  He said ever since he started reading it he´s felt such peace and happiness and that he has a lot of faith in this book.  We´re going to help him get baptized on the 15th of May.

Last Monday night when I was in Valencia I went to visit my Mongolian family.  It was so great.  I love them so much.  They gave me this Mongolian fortune telling game with bones... it was really sweet.  Nasanbek is baptized and he´s really excited to get the priesthood so he can baptize Minjirmaa next month.  I wrote down the baptismal prayer in Spanish so he can start memorizing it.

Thanks for all you do family.  I haven´t heard from some of you in a while.  I hope you´re well- send pictures of the sobrinos.

Love,

Hermana Diehl

p.s.  I have permission to call on Father´s Day- so I´ll be doing that this year instead of Mother´s day.  I think it´s June 20th.  Dad´s turn this year!

Natural Disasters

My Dear Family,

It seems to me that there are a million natural disasters these last couple of weeks.  Some of them quite big.  We are still having the conference tomorrow even though there was volcanic ash all over Europe.  We had rain for a couple of days, but nothing too bad here in Spain.  But the airlines weren´t all running I guess... I´m not sure.  I´m the most un-informed of anyone.

The best part of this week is that we found a lot of new investigators.  We had lots of contacting miracles last week and this week we saw the results.  I am in Valencia right now (I seem to write you a lot from Valencia) for the big conference that will be tomorrow.  I´m really excited to be able to meet Elder Hinckley and President and Hermana Hinckley are really excited that he recieved this assignment.  I´ve been thinking of questions to bring to the conference to recieve personal revelation for myself, my area, my investigators.  I really want to work hard every day and every hour.  I know that there are prepared people here where I´m serving.  We just need to be prepared to open our mouths when we see them.

I was excited to hear that there was an investigator in church last Sunday mom.  Does everyone know what you should do when there´s an investigator in church?  Read in Preach My Gospel chapter 8 the part about weekly planning and the section on getting the investigators to church.  We makes plans for these people for members to bring them, sit with them, greet them, show them how to get to class, etc.  Maybe some of my family members could help the missionaries with their investigators- it really eases up the stress missionaries have at church if the members take care of their investigators.  However the best option is that the investigators are friends of the members already, no?  Like Elder Perry said, there´s a better way to do missionary work: the members find and the missionaries teach.  It´s hard, but it´s worth it.  And like Elder Holland said (I´m full of apostle quotes today) Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.  What are these people going to have if they don´t have salvation?  If they don´t have the chance to have eternal families?  I always tell my investigators about MY family (yes, all of YOU) and I show them your pictures.  I tell them they can have eternal families too and have that hope and joy that helps me so much in a world full of problems and, lately, natural disasters.  It really is worth resisting the temptations of the world to recieve these blessings.

I got my package of cake mixes and the new dress.  Thank you so much.  I really loved all of it.  We´re going to eat the funfetti cake for a birthday party very soon today.  I love funfetti cake.  I had to borrow 2 eggs from the neighbors to make it last night though... I took the new missionary from Peru (there were a couple of hermanas staying in our piso last night) and we knocked some doors in our building in our pajamas looking for eggs.  I promised the man who gave them to us a piece of the cake.  Hermana Guerra loved it.  She thought it was a funny thing to do.  Thanks sooooo much mama y hermanita.

I think that´s all for now.  I have my new camara, but I forgot to bring my cord to send you pictures... next week.  Check the mission blog.  I´m wearing my new dress to the conference... not sure we´ll have time for pictures or no...

Love you all,

Hermana Diehl

p.s.  those who have never written me to tell me about how your missions were, I want to hear from you!  I´ve heard from Mindy and Nathan... and that might be it actually.  Jesse promised me a letter recently..

Chicken Pox

Hola Familia Mia,

I am going to buy a new camara today.  I also am going to get my haircut again.  Just FYI.

I didn´t feel the Granada earthquake.  But I hope everyone was okay.  I know some people that live there- what kind of casualties were there?

One of our investigators (the one that doesn´t want to pay tithing) has the chicken pox.  As an adult.  He´s not feeling to well right now and he´s not progressing currently as an investigator.  It´s been a bit difficult getting a hold of some of our investigators this week... but we saw a lot of miracles with street contacts.  Tonight I´m going with a member to teach a couple from Lebanon who speak Arabic and Spanish and English.  I love Spain.

I have been trying to be exactly obedient... as such I have to cut this letter off since my hour is up.

Kiss the neices and nephews for me.  I love you all-

Hermana Diehl

Me encanto la Conferencia General

Querida Familia,

I was so happy and content to listen to General Conference this last weekend.  I always hate not being able to watch the last session though.  I got a letter from Hermana Grant (a.k.a. Melanie) and she mentioned some talks I didn´t hear.  I´m just grateful I guess that I can listen to the conference in my own language and normally don´t have to wait at all (unlike some languages that take time to translate).  Did anyone notice that my last mission president, President Waddell was made an area authority 70?  All of us missionaries here in Murcia were all up really close to the tv screen trying to see if we could spot him as he took his place on the stand... but they were focused on the primary presidency so we didn´t notice him.  I wonder if he´ll have to move to Utah?

We had a ton of visits this week.  The most I´ve ever had in my mission actually.  But we could still do more.  This area is set up differently than Valencia was and even though it´s a large area we can make a lot of visits much more easily because we don´t have to depend on public transportation (that takes forever in Valencia) quite as much.  We had a visit on Sunday morning with a husband and wife and he told us he would get baptized, but he wouldn´t pay tithing.  We´re working on it.  His first task is to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

What´s new with my family?  I liked the easter pictures.  Have Jesse and Mindy picked a name yet?  How about Erin and Matt?  Two names are harder than one!

Well, I´m out of time.  I love you all.

Hermana Diehl

p.s. Pte Hinckley told me that my release date is the same.  No plane ticket changes!

Ya hay calor

Bueno,

It´s getting hot already.  Right now it´s a really nice time with warm/hot afternoons and cool evenings and mornings... but it will get really hot and really humid really soon.  I asked President if I´ll be down here to finish as part of the Malaga mission, and he said he doesn´t know, but he´ll find out.  Murcia is a pretty city.  Smaller than Valencia.  There´s no metro, only buses.  The bus cards leave much to be desired (they are NOT infinate rides for a monthly bono type thing like we had in Valencia).  But we visit lots of nice pueblos.

I wish I could read the mission blog and see what president said about Victor... if someone wants to paste it into an email and send it to me, that would be great...  It really was amazing.  I hope everything is going well with him in Valencia.  (Alyn here:  I just pasted and emailed it to her.)

My first full day in Murcia we went to eat with this Spanish family that consists of some of the ward missionaries and some of the ward council (it was good to get to know them all so soon).  A few of the women in the family were VERY pregnant.  So during church on Sunday only the father of this family (and grandfather) was there because he had a talk to give.  In the middle of his talk his cell phone rang and he explained that he was waiting to hear about a new baby and handed his phone to the bishop to answer.  A minute later (as he continued his talk) the bishop handed the phone back and he told us that they had a new grandson.  Then during Sunday school his other daughter gave birth to another grandson (I think it was another boy)... so they were born about an hour apart.  Super funny.  He left after that to go see all of his family in the hospital.

A former hermana from this mission is here in Murcia visiting right now.  Her name is Soraya Notario and she tried to come with us to a visit on Sunday afternoon (the woman wasn´t home), but it was really nice to have such a well trained and informed ¨member present¨ anyways.  She loved Murcia and she was telling us about some people we should go and visit again that she used to visit almost 2 years ago.  I love the mission so much.

We are starting Semana Santa right now... I gotta get my camara fixed- it really is quite a spectacle of processions and strange hats... I´m going to look for a carniceria and get some cheap beef like Jesse told me to do last year (but a week late).  Many people aren´t buying beef this week so it should be cheaper.

Tell me how you´re all doing.  How are my sobrinos?  I liked the bunk beds in the Hancock house and the flowers at the Whitmer house.  Gotta go, thanks for all you do for me family.  I love you soooooo much, de verdad.

Hermana Diehl

Al Sur [To the South]

Hermana Oliphant y yo en el campo de alcachofa. [Sister Oliphant and I in the artichoke field]

La falla quemando en nuestra calle... 3:30 de la madrugada. Mucho ruido. [The Falla burning on our street...3:30 in the morning. Lots of noice.]

La falla en nuestra calle ANTES de quemar (pasabamos el día antes)... Cinderella! [The Falla on our street BEFORE it burned (we went by the day before)...Cinderella!]

Me voy a Murcia [I am going to Murcia]. (wiki)

I´m sad to leave Valencia. It feels like home now (like Palma did). But I´ve been here just about 6 months. Some of the things I´ve learned in Valencia is to have more patience and to have faith that the Lord will provide when we do our part. It´s so true. I love it here and we´ve seen a lot of miracles this week. But I know it´ll be a great experience to be in Murcia. But, I just keep getting farther and farther from Barcelona. I´ll be in a trio with an Hermana Gum and an Hermana Montes de Oca (I don´t think she´s a native speaker... I really know nothing though. I´m leaving Valencia in a few hours to go to Murcia). I am the hermana of the trios I guess. My 3rd one in the field and my 5th in all of my mission, if the MTC counts (which it doesn´t... pero para que sepais[but just so you know], I´ve been in lots of trios). The very best thing about trios is the ease of intercambios [exchanges]. I love it. I also love having more company. It´s more fun.

I had a last visit with my Mongolian family last night. Some of them were crying and I gave them some little hymn books and some ties for Nasanbek and Chinzo. They are the best. I´ll probably get to visit them in April because Elder Richard Hinckley is coming to do a mission tour and I think we´ll all be going to Valencia for it. Wahoo!

My Brazilian friend Maria gave me a cute jacket as a going away gift (I think she noticed that I´m a jacket person). I´ll have to send you a photo. Speaking of photos, something is wrong with my camara... it´s pretty messed up and I don´t know how. Something is wrong with the lens because I can still view the photos that are on the card and everything, just when I go to take a picture it´s just black and white garbled-ness. I´ll see if I can get it fixed... if not, I might want to buy a new one pretty soon.

Miracle for the week: se llama Victor [he's called Victor]. We got a call from the mission office on Saturday morning with a reference from a man who had called the phone that used to belong to the Elders here in Valencia 2 (they turned their phone in to the mission office when their area got closed and the mission has since given it to a senior couple in Mallorca.) So this man got this number somehow and called to ask if someone could come and teach him and take him to the church here in Valencia. So I called him a few hours later and asked him when we could come by to teach him that day (he lives in our big pueblo, Torrente). He told me he liked our church and he wants to be a member. Aaaaaa! I loved that phone call. We took a member who lives there in Torrente and is also from Nigeria and we taught him about the restoration. He already had a copy of the Book of Mormon because he had known some members of our church in Nigeria and since he had come to live in Spain he had become friends with a member who lives in Australia (internet friends) and she mailed him a copy of the book with her testimony. It´s really an amazing story. We set a baptismal date for the 3rd of April. Too bad I´ll be in Murcia... oh well. I´m glad to leave the area strong for Hermana Oliphant and her new companion Hermana Snow. The best part of the visit was that Victor had decided to start reading a bit in the Book of Mormon and he opened to the 10th Chapter of Moroni and really liked verse 4. So he marked it with a highlighter and told us he felt like God was really speaking to him in this verse. Miracles!

I have no more time. I want to attach a foto. Don´t worry about me coming home at the wrong time Alyn (or anyone else). I´m gonna work it out. I love you all.

Hermana Diehl

Fallas

My goodness.

Does anyone know what ¨petardos¨ are?  They are loud.  They have been cracking and popping and booming for days already and we just started the week of the fallas.  I woke up pretty mad the other night because it sounded like a bomb went off in the street.  So, petardos are fire crackers, but mostly just for the noise and not for the pretty light shows, because people light them at all hours of the night and DAY.  If I could light some I think I would like them better.

I love being here in Valencia it´s such a beautiful city and a great place to serve.  We´ve been looking for new investigators this week (after finally sorting through all of the investigators after the white wash) and we had a hard cita with a pentocostal man who wanted to Bible bash.  We refused to participate and he was mad... especially at me because I told him God loved him and wanted him to be a part of His church... because he said I was judging him and he knew that he was in the right path already and he challenged me to read the Bible and pray about it, which I said I would and I asked him if he would read the Book of Mormon and do the same and he said he wouldn´t.  Not my favorite cita.  But last night we had a really good one with Bulgan and Nasanbek and their kids.  He´s progressing well.  I love this family.

I´m gonna attach a picture from last preparation day: me pointing at the Falleros.

I love you all, this is the true church.  I know the Book of Mormon is true because my Heavenly Father let me know.  I hope you are all reading it and learning what you need to do to be better.  I´m trying to.

Hermana Diehl

Warm, Rainy, Cold, Windy, Sunny

Hey Familia,

My subject line is the weather.  It changes every day.  Somedays are really so beautiful and sunny, and then it´s cold and rainy and windy... I don´t like the windy part.

Thanks for the great pictures of Cai and Spencer (and a bit of Maya and Tanner and Grandma).  What cute boys.  Did they get along pretty well the whole week or was there some fighting as well?  I remember how everyday when Anna and I were together we would play nicely for a while, fight for like an hour, decide to be friends again, and then we´d cry when she had to go home.  Did the boys get to have some sleepovers too? I hope so.

I did get both of your emails mama mia.  Thanks for the note too dad.  I´m glad you´re getting some missionary experiences.

We´ve continued teaching the Mongolian family and the father (Nasanbek) is progressing, which is actually a miracle since we can´t speak directly to him.  He´s been reading in the Book of Mormon and coming to church every sunday.  The bishopric has really taken this family in and is helping them so much.  I love Valencia.  I´ve seen the ward grow so much since I got here- actually both wards.

We had a few days where we were in the street quite a bit, and then a couple of really full days where we were running from cita to cita (that´s how I like it).

How are all of my sobrinos doing?  How are my pregnant sisters (you´re my sister too Mindy!)?  I´d love to hear anymore news about names or plans for the babies.  I was thinking, I don´t know if all of you have read about the change in the missions here in Spain and the changes that will happen.  But in the beginning of July the Elche stake (that is now part of the Barcelona mission) will pass over to the Malaga mission... including all of the members and the missionaries.  If I´m transferred to Elche, Torrevieja, or Murcia and stay there until the end of my mission, I would finish in the Malaga mission.  ANd I´m not sure, but there´s a chance I would come home on a different date- three weeks early or three weeks late... I think for school reasons I would need to come three weeks early.  But I´m not gonna worry about it too much until I find out where I´ll be in July.  Just a thought to get you all worried, huh?  Mostly Alyn really since she´s the far away one.  I´ll try to get it straightened out quickly for your sake hermana mia.

I´ve finished my internet time again.  I love you all more than I can say.

Hermana Diehl

p.s. the Fallas are gonna start soon.  Look it up on google.  It´s a little crazy and only in Valencia.

the photo is Encarna showing us how to make tortilla de patata

I heart España

Hola Familia,

I wanted to just do a heart symbol in the subject line, but it wouldn´t let me.  I heart all of you too, by the way.

I got some great letters in the mail this last week.  There was this banner from several of my favorite ladies in Cottonwood (well, the greater Cottonwood area...) and pictures of their children.  The Sorensens, the Mathises, the Ipsons... a few I must admit I don´t know who they are... but I loved the banner and we put it on the wall.

I love Spain because it is March first and the weather is beautiful today.  I love being here.  There was a super humid night the other night though.. which I don´t love, but I think I´m getting more used to it.  It´s good for my skin, right?

We have so many people right now that should be getting baptized so soon.  I love our investigators and I love our recent converts.  Thanks for the letter about the Mongolian sisters you know, Alyn. I had forgotten that you did know so many.  Bulgan told me that I should learn Mongolian because there are lots of Mongolians in the United States that I can talk to.  I try to say a few words to her husband (he´s been coming to church!) but the best I can do is the word for Gracias and trying to pronounce their names right.

I´m so excited about the boy and girl twins!  Huzzah! AND Baby boy Diehl.  I´m sure he´ll be just as cute as Cai and Maya.  Thanks for the pictures Mama mía.  I like the barstools.  I love the bubble bath excited faces.  Take another one with Tanner and Spencer!

I want to tell more stories, but I used too much time writing to president this week (that´s right, Jesse, we also email our mission president!  Everything´s on the internet now!)  I love you all.  I love the gospel.  I love the mission.

Hermana Diehl

I love Mongolians

My Dear Family,

We went to visit this older lady here in Valencia for Preparation day (I now know how to make the famous tortilla de patata!) and we spent many hours there... as a result I have not left myself any time to respond to letters... nor to write a very good one to all of you.

First, Happy Birthday last week Kori!  I wrote you a little card... and never bought a stamp... it will arrive soon.  Happy Birthday this week dad!  I love you!

We had the baptism of Bulgan´s son Chinzo this last Saturday.  It was really cute.  He was nervous and excited and his little sister was super excited.  She´s getting baptized in May when she turns 8.

I loved the blog entries.  Erin- my guess is 2 boys.... and uh Jesse.... I found out via Erin´s blog that you´re baby is a boy... I feel left out.  But those were really cute pictures Mindy put on the blog of your 2 already born children.

I love you all, more next week-

Hermana Diehl

New email?

Hola familia!

I think my email address is probably different because they had us update our email accounts.

No importa. [It's not important] My only request is that Erin send an email to all of the contacts in my gmail account and tell them about it. I´m still allowed to recieve emails from people, just not reply to those who aren´t direct family. Gracias mi hermanita pequeñita. [Thanks my little bitty sister]

The great part about the new email is that it´s gmail/myldsmail together. Yeah! No more lost emails!

Bueno. Una semana buena. Mucho trabajo como siempre. Tenemos 2 metas bautismales que van bastante bien. Chinzo es un niño muy bueno y su hermana Minjirmaa tambien. Hemos enseñado la palabra de sabiduría con debujos y una cara y una basura para poner las cosas buenas (como frutas y pan) en la boca y las cosas malas (como drogas y alcohol) en la basura. Fue un poco dificil a explicar a 2 niños de Mongolia que son ¨drogas iligales¨... y bastante gracioso tambien. [Well. A good week. A lot of work like always. We have two baptism goals that are going quite well. Chinzo is a very good kid and his sister Minjirmaa too. We have taught the word of wisdom with drawings of a face and a trash can, to put the good things (like fruit and bread) in the mouth and the bad things (like drugs and alcohol) in the trash can. It was a little dificult to explain to 2 kids from Mongolia what 'illegal drugs' are...and very funny too.]

I wanted to send a note to each of my sibling´s families today instead of writing individual emails to each (lazy? Yes. But much faster.)

Mom and Dad- I love the stories about the grandkids and the missionary efforts you´re doing. ¡Tengan animo! [Have enthusiasm!] Keep sharing with everyone. Angels really do prepare people. I got the card with the pictures you printed me mom. Thanks so much. It looks like the Rhoda´s gave you some furniture or something. I´m sad they don´t live close anymore. I always liked visiting their family. I have another picture request (not hard copy, just email)- I want to see the new barstools... I think you mentioned barstools once... I also got the medical information. Oh mom, I asked Chelsie Draney to help me a bit in getting things organized for going back to school in the fall... could you send her some information from that green folder I left you? Her email is in my gmail account (I also think she is a ¨follower¨ of the blog where my letters go... if that helps). She´ll need to know the classes that I´m lacking. Have you been able to do FAFSA stuff or anything like that? Thanks for all you do for me. I wish I could help more... let me know if you need me to do something... and I´ll do what I can.

Alyn and Nathan- thanks for the blogs you send so faithfully Alyn (don´t worry about not sending one every week, you do a ton), I´m glad you liked the letters I sent. They were fun to write. Nathan asked a lot of good questions and made it easy to reply. I hope Lia liked the story I wrote her... it was a little lame... but I liked it okay. Make sure Charlie doesn´t forget how to say my name.

Kori and John- oh my goodness your boys are getting big! I couldn´t believe how long Tanner´s hair was and how tall Spencer is (although I still don´t know for sure since I haven´t seen a counter picture... :-) How is work going, John? Busy season again. I hope Kori´s not going crazy being at home too much. Enjoy the nice southern Arizona weather for me. It´s been cold and rainy here. How´s the primary calling going? How many are there in your Primary? I´m losing my sense of what a big ward is like.

Jesse and Mindy- bueno. Most of what I know about your family mom tells me... but I know you have 2 crazy kids and I won´t hold anything against you. How´s the pregnancy Mindy? When do you find out the gender? Anything new with work Jess?

Cody and Emilee- I printed some of the cute pictures of Eliza. She´s a doll. What´s going on in your lives? Work wise? Temple attendance? Everyone loves the San Diego temple picture I carry in my scriptures. I tell them how you can see the angel from your door.

Erin and Matt- tell me the baby names. I won´t tell anyone I promise! I hope you´re not sick sister. Take care of my hermanita [little (in the physical sense) sister] Matt.

Okay, gotta go. Kiss the kids from me. I love you-

Hermana Diehl

I'm old

Birthday party with the Mongolians (Chinzo = 10 and Hna. Oliphant = 22)

Bulgan´s baptism

The building where I live here in Valencia

 
Hola,

I remember talking with Hermana Henderson and Hermana Grant about how the longer you´re in the mission the more worn out you get (and the greater your appreciation for elevators... instead of having to take the stairs)... well, I was feeling old this week. Yesterday was the first day of my 9th transfer (since we measure time in ¨transfers¨ in the mission... 1 transfer= 6 weeks), and I was sad that my time left is getting shorter and shorter. But let´s not talk about it, okay? We´re just going to pretend that the mission never ends.

Good news this week:

I stayed in Valencia with Hermana Oliphant! I love Valencia and I love being able to stay in one place a long time. We continue to see miracles. We´ve been teaching Bulgan´s children and they´re super smart. (Hermana Grant- we played your jumping game for lesson 3 and they loved it muchisimo!) We taught them what prophets do like this: before the lesson we hid a bag of chuches (uh... candies) in this park where we knew we would be teaching them. When we got to the part of explaining what prophets do we told them, ¨There´s something tasty hiden somewhere near here... and you have 1 minute to find it if you can. Go!¨ They ran around like crazy looking in all of the bushes and things while we sat and laughed with Bulgan for a minute. Then we told Bulgan where we had hidden the chuches and she told them... it still took a few tries for them to get it right, but they said in the end, ¨So, the prophets tell us where to find the good stuff from God.¨ Exactly! I love kids.

There was a broadcast stake conference on Sunday for all of Spain and Portugal. It was so good. 2 members of the first quorum of the 70 spoke a member of the Primary General Presidency and Elder Nelson of the 12. They talked a ton about the family and Elder Nelson pronounced a beautiful apostolic blessing on all of the people of the Iberian peninsula. I don´t remember all of the blessing right now because I don´t have my notes with me from the conference, but I loved it.

And the sad news:

As Hermana (Melanie) Grant was saying, there are 4 Hermanas going home this transfer and we´re only getting one new one. There was a trio in Zaragoza last transfer so President had to chose 1 hermana area to close... and the time finally came to close my beloved Palma. There are now no Hermanas in the islands... well, that´s not entirely true, since they put a senior couple of missionaries in Inca...but it looks like I won´t be returning to Palma to finish my mission like I wanted to. It was a small area and it will be easy for the Elders to take over it... but I loved it there and I´m sad that it´s closed.

Well family (and friends), I´m going to close for now. I love you all. I´m so glad to be a missionary and to be serving in the Lord´s work. I read several times in my studies this morning that all we have to do is obey the commandments and we will be well. I know it´s true because I feel it. It´s so clear to me now, and I wish everyone could understand it. Be good. Take care of each other. I loved the pictures of Eliza´s birthday, Charlie´s mismatched shoes, and Cai in the dog food bag (he´s getting so tall!). Give those neices and nephews kisses from me.

Love,

Hermana Diehl

Our snail mail from Marti

Marti was in Palma 6 months.  (5 transfers)
Now in Valencia 4 months.  (3 transfers)
She has 5.5 months left until her transfer home. (Which is 24 weeks or 4 transfer periods.)

So, after Melanie's mention of several sisters departing, perhaps she'll transfer this month or next. The areas she mentioned as "sister areas":  Sabedell, Barcelona, Hospitalet, Zaragoza, Palma, Valencia, Benidorm, Elche, Murcia, Torreviieja.  I'll plot them on the map in blue.

  We received letters from Marti in recent weeks. 

The back of the photo says:"This is me at a bull fight with an Elder from Cadis, Spain and an Elder from Sevilla, Spain.

Woo!  Spain!

 This is some of Lia's letter, in which she requested Marti to write her a story and draw her a floorplan.  So you can see the layout of her current apartment:

We thought her letter to Nathan contained lots of info that might interest everyone.  (I didn't scan the 4th page because it was just a couple lines closing the letter.)

 

 

 

Bulgan's Baptism and HAPPY BIRTHDAY FEBRUARY PEOPLE!

Hola Familia,

Bulgan got baptized! I love her so much. She´s such a sweet person and is so happy to be able to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. She wants us to teach her children and she´s talking with her husband as well... he just really doesn´t understand any languages we speak... all 2 of them. The service was beautiful and I got to give her a hug when I handed her the towel afterwards (my tradition apparently... I did the same thing with Maria back in Palma).

I don´t have anything more exciting than a baptism to report. Next week are transfers and I´m hoping to stay in Valencia with Hermana Oliphant. Pero, ¨A donde me mandes ire¨. [But, "I'll go where you want me to go."]

Thanks Alyn and Erin for the emails and blogs. I enjoyed the news and I laughed quite a lot. I´m excited to see more counter pictures (just missing Kori´s boys, Charlotte, and Eliza).

Happy 1st Birthday to Eliza! It´s so crazy that I´ve officially missed her first year of life. Hombre! [Man!] I love her anyways. And happy birthday this week Emilee! I know that dad and Kori will have birthdays in February as well... falta alguien? [...missing anyone?] I can´t think of anyone else... Sorry...

I´m so sorry that I didn´t send pictures again... the USB ports in this computer are destroyed... how do I always find this computer?

The only other news is that in July they are going to realign the missions in Spain and dissolve the Bilboa mission (so there will only be Barcelona, Madrid, and Malaga). Not sure of all the details yet... watch for an article in the church news about it.

I love you all-
Hermana Diehl

Pues...

Hola Familia,

Story/Miracle for the week:

we have been teaching this woman named Bulgan from Mongolia. She doesn´t really understand Castellano [Spanish], but she has the Book of Mormon and the Bible in her language, so we use them a lot and let the spirit teach her. We have been focusing on teaching her because she is ready to get baptized very soon (this Saturday, the 30th actually). The other day we brought her and her husband and their two kids to the capilla (chapel) to have a birthday party for her son and for Hna. Oliphant. We just ate some brownies and had a few little presents and such (I forgot my camera... fotos next week, vale? [photos next week, ok?]) and then they all stayed to attend the baptism of a 12 year old boy from the other ward (who I taught a few times before the reassignment to Valencia II). It was just fun to see this family so happy and smiling (even though they really don´t understand a lot). Bulgan feels the spirit so easily and her kids are really sweet. Her husband is really nice too... he just really doesn´t speak a language I speak. But we had a miracle in church yesterday. Bulgan came and sat through RS and Sunday School and listened very nicely and read along with the scriptures, then we went to the Sacrament meeting (barrio II has Church the other way around...) and I was asking the ward mission leader and a less active man we teach to sit with her and introduce themselves and the less active man (se llama Nelson [he's called Nelson]) reminded me that he can speak Russian... which Bulgan understands way better than Spanish. So he translated for her through the meeting. I loved it.

Hey, I love you all. I loved Alyn´s blog for her half-birthday (I played a significant role, no? The beloved little sister... who is bigger than Erin... but pretty soon she MIGHT be fatter than me! Maybe she´ll get to weigh more than I do for the first time since I was 12. At the end of her first pregnancy she still weighed less than me. I forgot how blonde I used to be.) I gotta go. Lots of missionary work to do.

Hermana Diehl

Story Time

Querida Familia Mia,

For the first time in my mission my companion and I are taking (on purpose) a day just to write letters and hang around our piso [apartment]… it was not my idea, but we are a companionship and we do things together, right? I´m sure this never happens in marriage, does it? Anyways... I´ll be responding to some long ignored letters today.

This weeks´ stories:

It´s been warmer this week and we went out to visit that couple that live in the campo [country] (where we get muddy shoes) and the woman was not there, so we had the cita [appointment] outside sitting in lawn chairs in the sun on his patio. It was delightful. During the cita [appointment] the neighbor gave him some oranges (the famous Valencia oranges!) over the fence... it was like home. I love visiting their house.

I love Africans. We are teaching this man named Nathanial who is from Nigeria and his piso mate [roommate] used to be an investigator (she is called Faith). While we were there we taught a man who is now a new investigator named Matthew. Then Nathaniel got home and we taught him his own lesson (I love the double lesson visits!) And while we were teaching, Faith gave us these little tasty things called ¨chinchin¨ or something like that, that were just little balls of flour and water and sugar that had been fried (pretty much tiny donuts). It was just nice to be there with them. They´re such a kind people and they are so willing to learn about the gospel. Many of them recognize that their churches are corrupt and they love coming to our church and seeing how well organized it is and how strong the spirit is there.

We had a really good Zone Conference. The highlight was an invitation that President and Hermana Hinckley gave us to read a fresh copy of the Book of Mormon in our native language (they gave each of us a new copy) and mark it with three colors as we read (not doing cross references, just reading and marking and pondering).

1. references to Christ (in whatever form His name may be in).
2. The words of Christ (when He speaks or when a prophet quotes him ¨Thus sayeth the Lord¨ type of things).
3. Attributes of Christ.
   

We were promised that as we do this everyday for the next few months, our testimonies, our missions, and our lives will change. I´m already loving it and I´m on page 13 of the Book of Mormon. I invite all of you to join me!

We are teaching a Mongolian family. They are so cute. The mother and the 2 kids (10 and 7 years old) speak Spanish quite a bit now... but the father doesn´t speak at all basically. We are waiting for some materials in Mongolian from the mission office. People are always thinking that they are from China because of their eyes and because Mongolia is just north of China... but they relate more to Russians- especially in their language. Their alphabet is much more similar to that of Russia than China. We´re having a surprise birthday party for Chinzo (the 10 year old boy) on Saturday because he didn´t get to celebrate (his birthday was the 9th of January) because they have no money. I´m going to make brownies and put the candles mom sent me on them.

Well, I spent my whole email telling stories... now it´s your turn my beloved family. Story time!

Thanks for the blog entry Alyn. I liked seeing the Hancock Christmas (my district leader right now is an Elder Hancock... from somewhere in Utah... no me acuerdo que ciudad... [I don't remember which city...]) I liked the gingerbread houses and seeing Charlie in the oven.

Love you all-

Hermana Diehl

p.s. I hope everyone is having good birthdays (Nathan and Erin recently). I don´t forget them, I promise! I just forget to say anything in my emails... it´s not the same.