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..