Mud

Familia!

Thanks for the picture of the bridge mom and dad! I love to see the projects. I got an SD card of pictures from Cody and Emilee and there were some really cute pictures and videos of my neices and nephews and some really good pictures of the new fence and the brick sidewalk. I´m so happy.

Emilee asked for more stories... not sure what I´ve been filling my letters with... but apparently not enough of the good stuff. So, this week we saw some miracles in finding new investors [investigators]. Last week a couple showed up at church without anybody knowing who they were and we went to talk to them of course... and found out that the woman is a member who hasn´t come to church in a long time and the man is not a member. So we set up a cita [appointment] to go and teach them. We were pretty busy and they lived kind of far so we had to wait until Friday to see them. They had told us which bus to take to get close to where they live and then drew a little map in Hermana Oliphant´s agenda so that we could find the place... but also gave us the instructions to call them when we got close so they could bring us there... we were confused as to why we had to call since we had their address and a map and lots of experience finding places. So we got off in the right bus stop and went to the street we found on the map... a little sad because the street was actually in the ward boundaries of the Catarroja ward (to the south of Valencia). We discovered that the number they had given us didn´t exist on the street, but luckily a woman stuck her head out of her window to ask if we were lost and told us that we were on the Calle San Jorge and we probably needed the Camino de San Jorge which was in the middle of some fields on the edge of this pueblo [town]. So from where we had gotten ourselves the fastest way to their house (HOUSE- not piso! [apartment]) was to cut through the fields. Which we did. Even though they were muddy and puddle-ridden. We got lots of mud on our shoes and were quite cold and almost fell into an irrigation ditch. But in the end they lived in our area and we have a new investigator who is looking forward to learning and coming to church. I loved it. We felt like real missionaries finally what with getting dirty and muddy. We just spend so much time in the city streets, it was a nice change.

Okay, gotta go. Love you all- keep sending pictures and take care of each other. I know that this is the Lord´s work I´m doing and I know that this is the only true church on the earth.

Hermana Diehl

p.s. I climbed a tower last preparation day and took some pictures of me in the rain for Alyn to put on the blog- enjoy! The pretty plaza with all the flowers is Plaza de la Reina and if you zoom in to the right of the other one you can see the science museum and theatre house and such that are landmarks in Valencia.

2010

Hola Familia,

English this week. It´s been a good week. We have a baptismal meta [goal] with a woman from Cuba named Yuni (pronounced June-y) who came to church with some members last week and then came by herself yesterday. She´s going to get baptized on Saturday. I love missionary work. Every time we find people like her President Hinckley reminds us that they have been prepared by angels and we are just ¨harvesting the wheat¨. Entonces: el campo blanco está ya! [Then: the field is white already!]

I loved the Christmas and house painting blogs (good color selection Erin and Matt!). I also loved seeing the family pictures of Jesse and Mindy´s family. Que guapos sois. [How good looking ye are.] Thanks for being such faithful correspondents. I love you all, pero muchisimo [oh so much].

Since you have a new camera I have some picture requests mom (and actually everyone): I would like to see how tall my nieces and nephews are getting (in comparison to something recognizable… perhaps the kitchen counter or something standard like that that everyone has in their houses. Let´s see some great blog entries hermanos mios! [my siblings!] ). I´d like to see the view of the front of the house from the road (the full view) and maybe a closer up view of the garden spots and the brick sidewalk. I´d like to see the bridge with my parents standing on it. I´d like to see the dogs (the ones that are left). I´d like to see the living room, like the view from the entry as you look at the fireplace (a little inspiration to clean quizas [perhaps] :-) hee hee. The only ones I really want hard copies of right now is the full view of the house from the front and the bridge picture.

I know that this is the true and living church of our savior Jesus Christ. I know it with all of my heart. I hope that you´re all reading diligently in your scriptures and praying together as families and individually. I love you-

Hermana Diehl

p.s. I attached a picture of Hermana Oliphant and I with a convert named Vanessa (she´s only 14! Es grande no? [She's big, right?]) because mom wanted to see what Hermana Oliphant looks like.

Os Quiero! [I Love Ye!]

¡Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año!

Buenos días mi familia (y amigos que siguen mi blog…) Estoy contenta. Hemos tenido un buen año aquí en la misión de Barcelona. No puedo creer que el tiempo ha pasado tan rápido. ¡Ya estamos en al final de Diciembre! Tiempo para fijar metas y hacer planes (suena como el Élder Scott, ¿no?). Espero que todos pongan en sus planes a irse MUY a menudo al templo. Cuando vuelva voy a poder cuidar sus niños para que puedan ir, ¿de acuerdo? La primera cosa que quiero hacer cuando salgo de aquí es asistir al templo. Los que puedan, vengan conmigo, ¿vale?

El día de la Navidad no hicimos mucho… organizamos nuestras carpetas de área (tenemos 4), fuimos a una cita para comer por mediodía y recibí un suéter de una miembro Brasileña (ella es la mejor), y fuimos a otra cita para comer y hacer las llamadas por la noche con una familia Colombiana. O, me encanta la Navidad. Aun que no podía oír muy bien durante la llamada, estaba contenta a escuchar las voces de mis queridos.

Nuevo traslado: sigo aquí en Valencia con la Hermana Oliphant (sí, su nombre es casi Elephant). Somos buenas amigas y caemos muy bien, entonces, estoy bien y feliz. Estamos enseñando a un español (¡por fin!) y él está progresando mucho. Y, aun estamos enseñando a muchos que hablan el inglés. Hoy no hace mucho frío y vamos afuera para disfrutar Valencia.

Os quiero, hasta la semana (y año) que viene,

Hermana Diehl

p.s. Gracias Cody por traducir mi carta, quería escribirla en el castellano hoy.

Here's the translation:

Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year!

Good morning my family (and friends who follow my blog ...) I'm content. We have had a good year here in the Barcelona mission. I can not believe time has passed so rapidly. We are at the end of December! Time to set goals and make plans (sounds like Elder Scott, right?). I hope that everyone puts in their plans to go to the temple VERY often. When I return I will be able to take care or your children so you can go, agreed? The first thing I want do when I leave here is to attend the temple. Those that can, come with me, okay?

On Christmas day we didn't do much ... we organized our area books (we have 4), we went to an appoitment for lunch at noon and I got a sweater from a Brazilian member (she is the best) and we went to another appointment for food and to make calls at night with a Colombian family.

Oh, I love Christmas.

Even though I could not hear very well during the phone call, I was glad to hear the voices of my loved ones.

New transfer: I am still here in Valencia with Sister Oliphant (yes, her name is almost Elephant). We are good friends and get along very well, I'm good and happy. We are teaching a Spaniard (finally!) and he is progressing well. And, we are even teaching many who speak English. Today it is not very cold and we are going outside to enjoy Valencia.

I love ye, until next week (and year),

Hermana Diehl Sister Diehl

PS. Thanks Cody for translating my letter, I wanted to write in Castilian (aka spanish) today.

Feliz Navidad! TWINS!!??

Oh Family,

I am so excited for the twins. My poor little Erin is going to be huge. I never did see how Stefani looked with so much baby inside of her... and Erin is even smaller. (come to think of it, I´ve never seen Stefani´s twins... and I didn´t even know Nate and Melissa were expecting a baby... what is this madness?)

I love Christmas. I have presents from Mom and Dad in my living room under my little tree. I did open one already ´cause I wanted to wear something new for the baptism... and I found a skirt! Que suerte.

We´ve been having a white christmas because there has been a lot of snow in Spain... just not where I am. There are some Elders in my zone who are serving in Alcoy which is up in the mountains and they showed me pictures of the snowman they built. Pretty snow! But in the other sense we have also been having a white Christmas of baptisms... there were 4 in Valencia last week. Like I said before, Hermann (from Cameroon), Vanessa (Nigeria), Fabian (Equatorial Guinea), and Francisca (Paraguay) all got baptized and, although it was a crazy baptismal service, I loved it. Para que sepais, there are Spaniards in Spain... I promise. Actually we are teaching a man right now who is Spaniard. His name is David and he already looks like a member. He comes to church in his white shirt and tie and the bishop asked me if he was an investigator or if he was baptized already.

The Christmas conference was so good. I love the Hinckleys and we have the best missionaries in the world! Ya esta. And Elche is beautiful. The chapel is amazing. Alyn, you should get on the internet and look at it (or anyone else who wants to see it). If I go there again I´ll take some architectural shots for you. Amazing woodwork on the inside and a huge garden on the outside (garden in the grassy-with-lots-of-trees sense).

Alright, the big call news. I will be going to visit a family for the evening/night time on the 25th, so I should be able to call between 11 am and 2 pm in Arizona time... not sure what time exactly because of the time difference and I´ll be eating dinner with them... so I´m not sure what time we´ll be free. I love the members here. This cute little Colombian women named Paula came up to be on Saturday and asked me where I was going for Noche Buena (Christmas eve) and I told her we had someone we were visiting, but did she have a fijo telefono (land line) in her house that we could use to call our families on Christmas day? And she said yes, of course and we had to come to dinner too. I love being a missionary. This is why Christ told his disciples to not worry about clothes or food or lodging. People take care of us!

Gotta go, I´m trying to be so obedient and not be on the internet too long- os quiero muchisimo!

Hermana Diehl