Por La Lluvia

Mi Querida Familia,

We were going to go to Soller today (it´s a port/tourist town here on the island) but... por la lluvia no es una buena idea (due to rain it isn't a good idea). Entonces (so), we´re going to go bowling (I don´t know how to say ¨bowling in Spanish).

1- Me in front of a really old building in Valldemossa
2- Me in front of a new house in Valldemossa... I thought that Dad might like it since it was made entirely out of stone
3- A window decoration in a shop, and you can tell we were in a tourist town because the sign was in English
4- A small little art gallery with a man from St. Petersburg... the art was alright, but I just liked the half-dome design in the architecture

I enjoyed Erin and Alyn´s blogs (I like your childrens´ blonde hair too Al). Why don´t all of my siblings set up there blogs so I get their entries sent to my email (have I said this before?) Sorry if I´m repeating myself... I just like to see what´s going on sometimes.

I´m excited to hear about the changes at the house mis padres (my parents)- no more tarps? Really?! Wow. That´s big news. Y por favor, envien fotos de la acera y el jardin cuando puedan, ¿vale? (And please, send pictures of the sidewalk and the garden when when you can, okay?) Jesse- por favor, ayudales hacer este para mi? Al mejor, ya tu estas ayudando con los dos (Jesse- please, help them do this for me? Maybe, you're already helping with both.)

Tell Anna I said happy bridal shower, would you mom? I´m sad I can´t be there, but I hope I´ll get to see pictures of the wedding! Will you send me her mailing address mom?

Tambien, me hace falta fotos de dos de mis sobrinas (Charlotte y Eliza) para traer a citas a mostrar a la gente (Also, I am in need of pictures of two of my neices (Charlotte and Eliza) to bring to appointments to show to the people) . Erin and Cody, would you be able to get some cute snapshots printed to send me? I don´t have any hard copies to show people! Gracias.

I have an exciting story to share: last Friday we were making contacts and we talked to this woman named Guadalupe who used to be a nun... but isn´t anymore... and we told her that we had a the Book of Mormon to share with her the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she said, ¨Es verdad. Que hago?¨ ("It is true. What do I do?") And we went to visit her at her house on Saturday and we taught her about the Restoration and asked her if she wanted to be a part of Christ´s true church and be baptized, and she said ¨Si, cuando?¨ ("Yes, when?) And she came to church on Sunday and we´re going to visit her today. She has a goal to be baptized on the 16th of May... but we still have to teach her a lot... including some commandments that I think she might have problems with since I don´t think she´s married to her ¨pareja¨ ('partner') and she might smoke... But I´m so excited!

Tengo que terminar familia- les quiero, como siempre, (I have to finish family- I love you, like always)

Hermana Diehl

One Whole Transfer

Hello mi familia!

I´ve been running into lots of British people lately and it´s really strange to be able to speak English in the streets. We´re not supposed to do that in general because we´re supposed to be learning Spanish... for some reason.

Sorry to be a day late this week. It´s transfer week (I´m still in Palma) and our preparation day is always a day late on transfer week. I´ll try to remember to warn you next time. I can´t believe I´ve been in the field a whole transfer.

Thanks for those who wrote to me and for the blog updates. I loved seeing a few of the Easter pictures. I have the best neices and nephews ever. Ya esta. Oh, I forgot to say thanks for the pictures and such from last week. Eliza is so cute! I can´t wait to meet that little girl.

I´m trying to be patient with myself as I learn Spanish and as I learn how to be a missionary... and although I can´t say that I´m the most patient of people, I did get a nice compliment last night that made me feel a little better. Hermana Henderson and I were teaching the message at a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) and most of the people there were South Americans and other missionaries, but there was one actual Spaniard there too. The Spaniards tend to be rather blunt and they´ll tell you just what they think (not that the South Americans don´t... but they do tend to hold back a bit more of what they´re thinking than the Spanish people when what they´re thinking isn´t complimentary) anyways, before we left Ivan (the Spaniard) told me that I was doing really well with my Spanish and that my accent was pretty good. I felt pretty good until I tried to respond and said something that he couldn´t understand and had to repeat myself 4 times before changing my response. No, it was a nice thing to say and I think he meant it... so I´m feeling a little bit better about Spanish.

I think I told you all that we teach English classes once a week. I wanted to tell you a few things related to them. It´s once a week for 12 weeks and we teach basic classes or intermediate classes. Apparently every time they do the course there are always fewer and fewer people coming every week... which has been happening this time too. But we have some faithful students who love us. There´s one man in my class (Hermana H. and I teach basic) and he´s Italian but he´s married to a woman from Argentina and they live in Spain. His name is Jorge and he is great. I would guess he´s probably in his 50s. We taught him and his wife and son about the Restoration and his wife and son apparently weren´t that excited about it and they asked us not to come back (to their home to teach them), but Jorge still comes to the English classes and loves our spiritual thoughts that we give at the end of each class. He also just likes missionaries I think. He brought Hermana Henderson a special pen and he had some little free samples of french perfume that he gave us. He told the Elders they could come eat Italian food at his house. And last week we invited all of our English classes and all of our investigators to come to the capilla and watch The Testaments on the big projector screen and have ice cream and he came and loved it (along with 35 other non-members). I love meeting people like Jorge. And we really did have a great turn out for the movie. At the end I think almost everyone in there was crying and absolutely loved it. Sadly for the Hermanas, everyone lives in the Elder´s areas here in Palma and not in ours for some reason... but I love to see the gospel being shared no matter who does it.

I´ve gotta go mi familia. We´re going to Valldemosa today (little touristy town) and I´ll have some good fotos for you la proxima vez, vale?

Les quiero-
Hermana Diehl

Una Mezcla

My Zone here in las Islas Baleares con Presidente y Hermana Waddell

My district on top of a local tourist trap: Elders Carpenter, Zickler, Kidman, Morales, and Hermanas Henderson y Diehl (Alyn says: notice the view is over the bay, similar to the picture at the top of the blog!)

That same tourist trap with the sun shining behind it

The park in Madrid that we always went to while I was at the CCM

A tourist trap in Barcelona... I don´t know what it´s called. I love the architecture here though. Love it.

Hola Familia!

I don´t really have a theme for this weeks´ letter... not sure I ever really do... so es una mezcla (it´s a mix).

Primero- I wanted to ask for tips on what my siblings and siblings-in-law did to learn their mission language (if it wasn´t English)... I am learning, but I want to learn faster so I can be more effective, so por favor- digame.

Segundo- I was thinking about how many different countries are represented here in Spain. Of the ones I´ve met, there are people from: Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Germany (lots and lots of the tourists here in Mallorca are from Germany), Romania, Ukraine, UK (more tourists and a few people that have moved here), virtually every country in all of North, Central, and South America, and lots of countries in Africa too. I love it. I get to hear so many different accents. Sometimes it´s funny to me that I keep trying to learn the Spain-Spanish accent since I really don´t hear it that much.

Tercero- I told you all last week that they have parades for Semana Santa... and I decided that I should correct myself. There not so much parades as processions of really sad, crazily dressed Catholics. It´s quite a show, but there´s really sad music and nobody smiles. I only saw a tiny glimpse of one since they last about 6 hours and go until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.

Quarto- madre, how´s my bird and the perros? I was also vaguely wondering what was going on with my taxes (hopefully I got a return this year) and school stuff... but if all is well, I don´t need to hear anything about it. Thanks for taking care of my stuff for me while I´m gone, you´re my favorite mom.

I love you mi familia, I´m gonna try to write more real letters to you all soon-

Hermana Diehl

Semana Santa

Querida Familia,

This week is a big week in the Catholic world (and consequently in Spain)- it´s Semana Santa and there is a parade and fireworks every night for a week. On Sunday morning I saw quite a few people walking around with olive tree branches (Palm Sunday, you know). It´s a religious thing for many people, but for most it´s just their culture... and an excuse to party for a week and close the schools and businesses. I love Spain.

(Alyn inserted this picture of an ancient Olive tree in Palma)

I loved the blog updates Erin and Alyn! I can´t say I read all of the cloth diaper experiment... but I looked at the pictures and read a good bit! Thanks for making it possible for me to see your blogs without breaking the rules!

Thanks Kori, John, and Spencer for your letter and drawing. I was able to understand everything that John said and almost everything that Kori said (gracias por la practica con mi Espanol Hermana mia). Glad to hear that Spence and Cletus are doing well. Love you Gammons.

I forgot to tell Madi and Lia last week that I loved the stories, letters, and pictures they sent me. And thank you Alyn for the great letters once again. Madi- your cursive looks very good to me, bien hecho! And Lia I loved the cat story- I read it to my companion and she liked it too. Alyn- I won´t plan on being in the Christmas gift exchange. I don´t know the exact date right now, but I think I will be getting back to the United States around June 16th or something... of 2010 of course. I´ll try to find out more exactly when it is for you later. Doesn´t anyone want to come and pick me up in Spain though?! Come on, you know you want to!

(Alyn added pic. Photo courtesty of Sister Thomas, Mom of Hermana Thomas on far left. Her Mom picked her up from Barcelona, and visited her former area and companion Hermana Henderson. The Querolos, a member family, invited them all over for dinner. Early March 2009.)

Madre- I loved conference so much as well. I was able to watch it in English. They set up a room for the missionaries and anyone else who happens to know English better than Spanish. With the time change we had to watch it like this:

Saturday at 6:00pm we watched the Saturday morning session live
Sunday at 11:00am the Priesthood session was rebroadcast
at 2:00pm we watched Saturday afternoon rebroadcast
at 6:00pm we watched the Sunday morning session live

And because we´re missionaries and have to be home by 10:00pm (we´re on a modified hour-later schedule here in Spain... I think they do it like this in South America too, no?) we weren´t able to watch the Sunday afternoon session, so we get to wait for the Liahona. I learned a lot about needing to be more prudent and in strengthening your testimony now so that when the winds and storms blow it won´t shake. I also loved the promise that the trials are what helps MAKE our testimonies stronger too. A lot of people here in Spain are here trying to find work from South America and it makes me so sad when they seem interested in learning, but they don´t think they have time because they work like 100 hours a week. I´m learning how to testify with more power in Spanish so people will feel how important this is.

I´ve been working a bit more on the tape I´ll send someday... Who would be the best one to send it to so that everyone can listen? I´m sorry it´s taking me so long, but I´m starting to just tell you some of the stories and tidbits that you´re all missing because my email time is corto. I´m excited for you to hear it someday... :-)

One last thought- mom and dad, I was reading in my missionary handbook about priesthood ordinances and I was wondering if you every dedicated the new house? Just a thought.

I love you all. I´m still working hard and I love it... even the rejection. I´m grateful for the rejection because it makes me appreciate so much more those that want to learn. It´s a privilege to represent my Savior and I hope I´m being a worthy representative of Him.

Yo se que JesuCristo es el Salvador y que Dios le envio a este mundo para expiar por cada persona. Estoy agradecida que hay un profeta viviente. Se que Thomas S. Monson es el profeta en el mundo hoy y que Jose Smith fue un profeta llama por Dios para restauro la iglesia verdadera. Comparto esto en el nombre de JesuCristo, Amen.

Hermana Diehl