Ya hay calor

Bueno,

It´s getting hot already.  Right now it´s a really nice time with warm/hot afternoons and cool evenings and mornings... but it will get really hot and really humid really soon.  I asked President if I´ll be down here to finish as part of the Malaga mission, and he said he doesn´t know, but he´ll find out.  Murcia is a pretty city.  Smaller than Valencia.  There´s no metro, only buses.  The bus cards leave much to be desired (they are NOT infinate rides for a monthly bono type thing like we had in Valencia).  But we visit lots of nice pueblos.

I wish I could read the mission blog and see what president said about Victor... if someone wants to paste it into an email and send it to me, that would be great...  It really was amazing.  I hope everything is going well with him in Valencia.  (Alyn here:  I just pasted and emailed it to her.)

My first full day in Murcia we went to eat with this Spanish family that consists of some of the ward missionaries and some of the ward council (it was good to get to know them all so soon).  A few of the women in the family were VERY pregnant.  So during church on Sunday only the father of this family (and grandfather) was there because he had a talk to give.  In the middle of his talk his cell phone rang and he explained that he was waiting to hear about a new baby and handed his phone to the bishop to answer.  A minute later (as he continued his talk) the bishop handed the phone back and he told us that they had a new grandson.  Then during Sunday school his other daughter gave birth to another grandson (I think it was another boy)... so they were born about an hour apart.  Super funny.  He left after that to go see all of his family in the hospital.

A former hermana from this mission is here in Murcia visiting right now.  Her name is Soraya Notario and she tried to come with us to a visit on Sunday afternoon (the woman wasn´t home), but it was really nice to have such a well trained and informed ¨member present¨ anyways.  She loved Murcia and she was telling us about some people we should go and visit again that she used to visit almost 2 years ago.  I love the mission so much.

We are starting Semana Santa right now... I gotta get my camara fixed- it really is quite a spectacle of processions and strange hats... I´m going to look for a carniceria and get some cheap beef like Jesse told me to do last year (but a week late).  Many people aren´t buying beef this week so it should be cheaper.

Tell me how you´re all doing.  How are my sobrinos?  I liked the bunk beds in the Hancock house and the flowers at the Whitmer house.  Gotta go, thanks for all you do for me family.  I love you soooooo much, de verdad.

Hermana Diehl

Al Sur [To the South]

Hermana Oliphant y yo en el campo de alcachofa. [Sister Oliphant and I in the artichoke field]

La falla quemando en nuestra calle... 3:30 de la madrugada. Mucho ruido. [The Falla burning on our street...3:30 in the morning. Lots of noice.]

La falla en nuestra calle ANTES de quemar (pasabamos el día antes)... Cinderella! [The Falla on our street BEFORE it burned (we went by the day before)...Cinderella!]

Me voy a Murcia [I am going to Murcia]. (wiki)

I´m sad to leave Valencia. It feels like home now (like Palma did). But I´ve been here just about 6 months. Some of the things I´ve learned in Valencia is to have more patience and to have faith that the Lord will provide when we do our part. It´s so true. I love it here and we´ve seen a lot of miracles this week. But I know it´ll be a great experience to be in Murcia. But, I just keep getting farther and farther from Barcelona. I´ll be in a trio with an Hermana Gum and an Hermana Montes de Oca (I don´t think she´s a native speaker... I really know nothing though. I´m leaving Valencia in a few hours to go to Murcia). I am the hermana of the trios I guess. My 3rd one in the field and my 5th in all of my mission, if the MTC counts (which it doesn´t... pero para que sepais[but just so you know], I´ve been in lots of trios). The very best thing about trios is the ease of intercambios [exchanges]. I love it. I also love having more company. It´s more fun.

I had a last visit with my Mongolian family last night. Some of them were crying and I gave them some little hymn books and some ties for Nasanbek and Chinzo. They are the best. I´ll probably get to visit them in April because Elder Richard Hinckley is coming to do a mission tour and I think we´ll all be going to Valencia for it. Wahoo!

My Brazilian friend Maria gave me a cute jacket as a going away gift (I think she noticed that I´m a jacket person). I´ll have to send you a photo. Speaking of photos, something is wrong with my camara... it´s pretty messed up and I don´t know how. Something is wrong with the lens because I can still view the photos that are on the card and everything, just when I go to take a picture it´s just black and white garbled-ness. I´ll see if I can get it fixed... if not, I might want to buy a new one pretty soon.

Miracle for the week: se llama Victor [he's called Victor]. We got a call from the mission office on Saturday morning with a reference from a man who had called the phone that used to belong to the Elders here in Valencia 2 (they turned their phone in to the mission office when their area got closed and the mission has since given it to a senior couple in Mallorca.) So this man got this number somehow and called to ask if someone could come and teach him and take him to the church here in Valencia. So I called him a few hours later and asked him when we could come by to teach him that day (he lives in our big pueblo, Torrente). He told me he liked our church and he wants to be a member. Aaaaaa! I loved that phone call. We took a member who lives there in Torrente and is also from Nigeria and we taught him about the restoration. He already had a copy of the Book of Mormon because he had known some members of our church in Nigeria and since he had come to live in Spain he had become friends with a member who lives in Australia (internet friends) and she mailed him a copy of the book with her testimony. It´s really an amazing story. We set a baptismal date for the 3rd of April. Too bad I´ll be in Murcia... oh well. I´m glad to leave the area strong for Hermana Oliphant and her new companion Hermana Snow. The best part of the visit was that Victor had decided to start reading a bit in the Book of Mormon and he opened to the 10th Chapter of Moroni and really liked verse 4. So he marked it with a highlighter and told us he felt like God was really speaking to him in this verse. Miracles!

I have no more time. I want to attach a foto. Don´t worry about me coming home at the wrong time Alyn (or anyone else). I´m gonna work it out. I love you all.

Hermana Diehl

Fallas

My goodness.

Does anyone know what ¨petardos¨ are?  They are loud.  They have been cracking and popping and booming for days already and we just started the week of the fallas.  I woke up pretty mad the other night because it sounded like a bomb went off in the street.  So, petardos are fire crackers, but mostly just for the noise and not for the pretty light shows, because people light them at all hours of the night and DAY.  If I could light some I think I would like them better.

I love being here in Valencia it´s such a beautiful city and a great place to serve.  We´ve been looking for new investigators this week (after finally sorting through all of the investigators after the white wash) and we had a hard cita with a pentocostal man who wanted to Bible bash.  We refused to participate and he was mad... especially at me because I told him God loved him and wanted him to be a part of His church... because he said I was judging him and he knew that he was in the right path already and he challenged me to read the Bible and pray about it, which I said I would and I asked him if he would read the Book of Mormon and do the same and he said he wouldn´t.  Not my favorite cita.  But last night we had a really good one with Bulgan and Nasanbek and their kids.  He´s progressing well.  I love this family.

I´m gonna attach a picture from last preparation day: me pointing at the Falleros.

I love you all, this is the true church.  I know the Book of Mormon is true because my Heavenly Father let me know.  I hope you are all reading it and learning what you need to do to be better.  I´m trying to.

Hermana Diehl

Warm, Rainy, Cold, Windy, Sunny

Hey Familia,

My subject line is the weather.  It changes every day.  Somedays are really so beautiful and sunny, and then it´s cold and rainy and windy... I don´t like the windy part.

Thanks for the great pictures of Cai and Spencer (and a bit of Maya and Tanner and Grandma).  What cute boys.  Did they get along pretty well the whole week or was there some fighting as well?  I remember how everyday when Anna and I were together we would play nicely for a while, fight for like an hour, decide to be friends again, and then we´d cry when she had to go home.  Did the boys get to have some sleepovers too? I hope so.

I did get both of your emails mama mia.  Thanks for the note too dad.  I´m glad you´re getting some missionary experiences.

We´ve continued teaching the Mongolian family and the father (Nasanbek) is progressing, which is actually a miracle since we can´t speak directly to him.  He´s been reading in the Book of Mormon and coming to church every sunday.  The bishopric has really taken this family in and is helping them so much.  I love Valencia.  I´ve seen the ward grow so much since I got here- actually both wards.

We had a few days where we were in the street quite a bit, and then a couple of really full days where we were running from cita to cita (that´s how I like it).

How are all of my sobrinos doing?  How are my pregnant sisters (you´re my sister too Mindy!)?  I´d love to hear anymore news about names or plans for the babies.  I was thinking, I don´t know if all of you have read about the change in the missions here in Spain and the changes that will happen.  But in the beginning of July the Elche stake (that is now part of the Barcelona mission) will pass over to the Malaga mission... including all of the members and the missionaries.  If I´m transferred to Elche, Torrevieja, or Murcia and stay there until the end of my mission, I would finish in the Malaga mission.  ANd I´m not sure, but there´s a chance I would come home on a different date- three weeks early or three weeks late... I think for school reasons I would need to come three weeks early.  But I´m not gonna worry about it too much until I find out where I´ll be in July.  Just a thought to get you all worried, huh?  Mostly Alyn really since she´s the far away one.  I´ll try to get it straightened out quickly for your sake hermana mia.

I´ve finished my internet time again.  I love you all more than I can say.

Hermana Diehl

p.s. the Fallas are gonna start soon.  Look it up on google.  It´s a little crazy and only in Valencia.

the photo is Encarna showing us how to make tortilla de patata