I wanted to send more pictures...

Hola Querida Familia,

I was planning on sending you more pictures today, but my picture sending ability is limited to the particular computer and the particular locutorio that we frequent to use the internet. A locutorio is a little shop with computers and phones to use and you can also make copies and buy candies and whatever kind of dulces the owner of the locutorio makes (por ejemplo: a loculorio that is ran by someone from Argentina will always have fresh cookie-and-dulce-de-leche sandwiches to buy... which I love very much, by the way). We pay to use the computers based on how long we stay. I wish we could just use a free public library, but I´ve not been able to locate one yet... Anyway, desculpe me for not sending any more photos. I will try every week.

I got a large envelope from the Hancocks and I got the package with my new shirts and vitamins and soap and M&Ms! Thank you so much for all of the emails and blog updates that I received this week! I wanted to know how Cai´s party went and I got an email from Mindy about it and pictures from Erin! I´m so glad that he finally got his track. All of my neices and nephews look bigger than they were when I left! Would it be possible for somone to send me some recent pictures of as many of the family together in one photo as possible (my parents, my siblings and their spouses, and my neices and nephews)? I want a couple of pictures to carry around and show to people when we teach them... and I have a lot of pictures that I got printed, but I don´t want to carry around too many of them. And I want some recent ones! And I really need some printed photos of Eliza! Sorry... I´m so demanding. Por favor...

To explain my pictures from last week:
The first one was pretty obviously me pointing to Barcelona (map in Provo)
The second one was me and my district in Provo (I love those people)
The third was a tribute to Harry Potter (in Espanol! at a bookstore in Madrid)
The fourth was a tribute to the wonderful Spanish helado (ice-cream)
And the fifth was me, my companion, and Martin - the new convert

A few quick things I want to share:

I tried a bedet the other day! There´s one in my piso and I figured I had to try it out and see what the big deal was. It was funny and interesting. I don´t usually have the time to get the water the right temperature though... so I don´t use it much.

Last preparation day we went to this really old sort of monastery/prison thing... It´s just a museum now, but it was really interesting. I´ll send a brochure I got from it to someone and they can share with the rest.

My companion and I are working hard. There are always good parts and bad parts to every day, but we´re trying to do what Elder Wirthlin said and always laugh. I love laughing.

Gotta go, love you all-
Hermana Diehl

Walking and Pictures

Hola mi familia,

I spend a lot of time walking. We don´t take the bus, the metro system is very tiny, and we don´t ride bikes. My shoes are treating me well so far though.

Well... loading pictures took a long time... so I´m not gonna be able to write much. And I can´t remember which ones I loaded, so I´m sorry that there aren´t any explanations to go with them. I hope you can all forgive me.

I love this work. I love my family. I love my Heavenly Father and my elder brother Jesus Christ.

Desculpe me por la carta corta. Disfruten las fotos. [Excuse me for the short letter. Enjoy the photos]

Hermana Diehl

Palma de Mallorca - Mi Primera Semana

Querida Familia,

I was glad to see that you all know where I am serving already! I am so excited that I get to start my mission on this beautiful island. It´s humid here (and you can just imagine how my hair is taking it) and apparently the rainy season is in the winter so I will be getting warm (sometimes hot) weather with not too much rain... just wet air. I love it here. There are several beautiful pueblos and sites around the island I´m going to go visit on my p-days while I´m here. Today for p-day we´re having a barbeque and playing futbol at the capilla... and maybe watching a Disney movie. I´m excited.

My companion is excellent. Her name is Hermana Henderson and she´s from Pocatello, Idaho. We sing that song from Napoleon Dynamite as we walk home at night ("I can tell that we are gonna be friends") and one of her claims to fame is that she´s been to the Preston High School (to play sports) and she has taken a drink out of the same drinking fountain as Pedro. Not a terribly pertinent fact, but I thought it was funny. She goes home in October so she´s been in the mission for about a year, mas or menos. Her Spanish is quite good and we have a goal that she´s going to speak to me in Spanish all the time and I tell her if I don´t understand. It´s gonna be helpful for my learning Spanish, I just know it. We´ve been working really hard and running from cita to cita (cita= appointment). I had my first baptism on Saturday. It was a man named Martin. His two daughters, his parents and some of his siblings are all members. His daughter told us that he used to be a very different person than he is now. He´s so humble and kind and soft spoken now, but he used to smoke and drink and he was a policeman in Peru before he came to Espana. I feel like I stole a baptism from the Hermana that I replaced in this area (she finished her mission and is home now) but Hermana Henderson assures me that the Lord put me here for a reason and I was meant to be there when Martin was baptized. So... day 4 in the field and I have 1 baptism to my name! I told the Elders in my district I would get one every week. That would be great! I can see what Hermana Waddell meant when she said that they send missionaries to the island that they can really trust because the Elders are excellent and my companion is excellent. I´m so blessed to be able to serve with them.

My p-days are now on Mondays, so take note for sending email purposes. I´m only supposed to email my immediate family (grandparents, parents, siblings - my siblings spouses are approved too, I believe). So if anyone runs into any of my friends, please give them the mission home address so I can still write to them.

Thank you Cody for the escritura in Doctrina y Convenios.
Doctrine and Covenants 124:88

"Let my servant Marti go and proclaim my everlasting gospel with a loud voice, and with great joy, as she shall be moved upon by my Spirit, unto the inhabitants of Barcelona, and also unto the inhabitants of Zaragoza, and also unto the inhabitants of Valencia, and also unto the inhabitants of Palma (or anywhere else you may serve), and await patiently and diligently for further instructions at my general conference, saith the Lord."

I loved that you put Palma in there. Did you know I was in Palma before you wrote that? I want to put it on the wall in my piso for inspiration before I go out every day. I can definately understand why the first couple of months in the mission could be really hard- and I´m not ruling out that I´ll have hard times- but so far I´ve been having a really good first experience in the mission. I haven´t cried once! I´m excited for conference though... but I don´t know if I´ll listen to it in Spanish or English... I got a little bit of a headache at church on Sunday with everything being in Spanish, but not too bad honestly. Anyway, gracias mi hermano- te quiero (apparently this phrase is more loving than te amo).

I loved all the blog updates. I wish I could watch the videos too! I have such a great family.

I gotta go, lots to do, os quiero-

Hermana Diehl

La Capilla de Palma

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.5856255,2.6557432,208m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en