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
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6 comments:
... I don't know if Hna Diehl will get her wish... 4 hermanas are going home... I smell a transfer...
Thanks Melanie for keeping us informed. It's really fun to check out the Spain Barcelona Mission Blog, but we also enjoy your comments too. You know how us Missionary Moms are, We love NEWS. Thanks again. Marti's Mom
I could be really wrong because the Church has advised that missionaries stay in an area for longer, but I was just thinking that there have to be some changes with so many going home, so it's likely that she could be transferred.
On a side note, I think it's really interesting that they are dissolving the Bilbao mission.
It's more economical to have fewer mission homes/offices with lots of missionaries per mission.
How many missionaries were in any of your missions? Temple Square had 180. Barcelona has only 100?
Since the "Raising the Bar", when the number of full-time missionaries dropped, it seems like they've absorbed quite a few missions. I know it happened in Italy.
When I entered the field in April 2008, there were 135 +/- missionaries in the mission. They announced in November 2009 that they were cutting down to 90 for Barcelona. All of the Spain missions were being cut. (Bilbao was going from 90 to 60)
I would say it is just demographics. People are having less children. The children of the Baby Boomers are now past mission age so there are just less people to go on missions.
According to a fellow sister missionary that served in Barcelona that is from Cuenca (Spain) here are the changes:
§ La Estaca de Vitoria (con unidades in Bilbao, Santander, Logro... See Moreño, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Burgos, Las Arenas, and Vitoria) pasará a la Misión España Barcelona.
§ La Estaca de Elche y el Distrito de La Mancha pasarán a formar parte de la Misión de Málaga.
§ Las Islas Canarias y los Distritos de León y Santiago (de la Misión de Bilbao) formarán parte de la Misión de Madrid.
§ Pte. Richard G. Clegg (de la Misión de España Bilbao) presidirá sobre la Misión España Málaga.
There won't be more than 300 missionaries in all of Spain. I wonder what that means for the people that in Barcelona that are serving in the Elche Stake (Elche, Murcia, Cartegena) will be transferred to Pamplona, or the other Bilbao units. I'm sure it will all work out, but it's sad that there won't be very many missionaries in Spain and that the south of the Barcelona mission is being transferred to Malaga. It makes sense, but I loved serving in Elche!
that was supposed to say Nov 2008...
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