La Oficina

yeah i forgot to tell all you guys that my pday is now on saturday. it´s been a whole different experiance. i feel like i fly all day and then at the end of the day i feel like i did nothing. it´s hard for me. the first half of the week we weren´t getting to bed tell one with all the combios and things that happen there. haha one thing after the other. but that´s cambios. it´s starting to slow down and i´m catching how everything goes. they tell me i´ll at the very least be here for two cambios but its almost unheard of. everyone here has three cambios here at least. whelp my comps great. he´s so cool. Elder Walker from Colorado. he´s the secratary here. poor kid works so hard. he´s in charge of all the legal stuff that goes on. we´ve had some many things happen all at once and Elder Walker had to take care of them all. he´s a stud. and he too feels weird bein in the office so we talk and he´s helping me out alot. we finally got out to working the other night. man every contact meant so much more. it was a breath of fresh air gettting out in the field a bit. we found our first investigador. his name´s gaston. he´s so cool. dad you´d absolutely love his story. he went from dirt dirt dirt poor to super rich! he lost his left arm when he was sixteen. i´ll tell ya we could make a movie out of his life. o yeah that´s the other thing. I went from one of the poorest sectors to one of the richest. its quiet a shock. so yeah. so i live in a five story apartment building. work in an eight story office down town conce. it´s nothing but the city life. with the school thing there´s alot of protests down our main street. the last one had a group of ten streekers. interesting. and they just walked! and people just walked around them! hahah everyone was so chill about it. it was weird. anyway yeah that´s what has been happening and that´s my new life now. I´m sure it´s gonna be a blast but right now it´s pretty crazy. love you and miss you all.

ElderValdez

Decide what kind of day you are going to have!

so yeah i said this a few months ago but it´s so true. you can really decide what kind of day your going to have. it´s amazing! i´m so happy right now and just lovin this work. even though no body seems to want to go to church and read so that they can find out this is true, so that they can have something as huge as salvation! yeah but whateve. really we´re just doin´ the best we know how. an Apostle´s going to come this thursday so that´s going to be awesome! This week i was studying on pride and me and Elder Wilkin´s were talking and we found out every bad thing that has happened comes from pride. and President Benson has excellent talk about it. but anyway yeah our discussion found its way to star wars and how anikan skywalker turned into darth vader. which comes now the saying "don´t jump Obi-one" haha yeah so whenever someone´s says a prideful statement in the house we just say that. cool thing passed this week. The two senior comps in our house are district leaders and they had an important meeting all day one day. so elder Wray and i had to work that whole day by ourselves with our wonderful knowledge of spanish. we were deciding where we should trak and we had this idea. we both grabbed a map of the sector and seperated into different rooms and prayed where we should go. we met back with our fingers on where we felt we should go. when we revealed them to each other we of course were pointing to the same place! for how big our sector is it is very much a testimoney builder for me. no one at home better call that coincidence. um yeah that´s the end of the story though nothing amazing happened when we traked but hey!!. it was awesome!!. k last thing. we knoked a house the other day and this lady came out. it´s amazing when you contact like a catholic or evangelic that have never gone to church they tell you they are catholic or evangelic. when you contact a mormon that hasn´t gone for years they always say they were mormon not that they are. what they don´t know is they´re still on the team and still responsible. but yeah this lady gave us a pathetic excuse why she left the Church of Jesus Christ. we then talked of the Book of Mormon. she said that an intelligent intelligent man wrote it. that he was a genius. i told her it´s either of God or of the devil. she was convinced it was in the middle that it was a very good written story. pathetic right. you can confuse me in deep doctrine or something like that but you can never never never never never never never convince me that the Book of Mormon isn´t from God himself. I know its true and i know it invites all men closer to God. It´s of God or of the devil. if its of God this Church is true.

Elder Valdez

Happy Halloween! November 1

Happy Halloween! um so i saw two costums yesterday. other then that no one celebrates it down here. it really scares them they said. they really don´t like it and think we´re devil worshipers for celebrating it in the states. can´t argue it´s a pretty creepy holiday. and today´s day of the dead so everyone´s going to go to the cemetaries. yup. well i couldn´t write yesterday cuz we had a huge mision P day. it was sweet. we went to a nice soccer field and just did a  whole bunch of fun games. one went terribly wrong. we put all our shoes in the middle of the field adn the zone to get all their shoes back on wins. yeah when i saw how big the pile was and how many missionaries were all surrounding it I knew it was going to be a bad idea. nobody got hurt to bad. o yeah about getting a little banged up. there were these two missionaries doing tricks and stuff and i realy wanted to learn one so i had them teach me how to do a backflip on the ground. yeah how sweet is that! I landed on my face though. so yeah mom i think i´ll just save all those talents tell after the mission. but it was sweet. O small world time. there´s an Elder Mendonhall from Sky View here. and also an Elder Poulsen who´s an excellent friend of Whitney Reed´s from Virginia. how sweet is that? yeah it was fun to meet up with everyone and play a bit. Everyone´s telling me i´m an oldy in the mission now but i totally don´t feel like it. Spanish is really hard. the kids under me are starting to get it down and it makes me feel pretty slow. older guys are starting to wonder why i dont got it yet. so that kinda sucks but whatev. i can teach in the language i just can´t crake the jokes that i want to. It´s hard to use spanish when we have a house full of greengo´s. been a hard cambio but i´m loving it. glad i´m still in centinela and have support from all the friends i´ve made here. this week i´ll keep better attention of what´s going on so i can write more but this week was pretty much just this. we´ve been knocking alot to find some new investigators. not much luck but we talked today and have some great ideas. love you all and miss you tons.

Elder Valdez

Fastest Week of my Mission! OCT 24

That went so rediculously fast. still trying to figure out what happened. we did alot of contacts. door after door. it was good. we found alot of news by it. one time i used talking about their garden to get to know them. and we talked about this flower called a Camila. they´re all over in Chile. you should google them cuz they´re a beautiful white flower. they´re way cool looking and i told the contact this and she was like "O do you want some?" and she gave me a little boquet of them. haha so the rest of the day i was stuck with carrying this boquet as we contacted more people. i bet it looked pretty funny but they´re sweet flowers. anyway another mess up with the language i forgot to say. this happened like three weeks ago but i was on a bus with Laurito and i was asking someone if they wanted to sit down where i was sitting. in my defence the words are really simular. there is "sentarse" and "sentirse". one means to sit and the other means to feel. yeah he just gave me a weird look and Laurito was chuckeling pretty bad. K so the Spiritual part of the letter. my bestfriends in Chile are my converts Perla and Pedro. they´re are the coolest. I love them so much. One night i got a call from Pedro and he was asking me for a scripture for animo. I gave him DyC 58:2-6. He loved it. I felt so needed. It´s like this guy turned to me and thought of me for animo. I felt like "wow i really made a difference here somewhere in Centinela" Pedro´s the man. He stopped pornography, alcohol, and (his favorite) smoking all for the Gosple. O yeah and he married Perla for the Gosple. Can you get any cooler!? The other thing of spiritual stuff is i fell asleep the other night smiling. I had the coolest feeling. it was the same feeling when you like solve a really complicated math problem and your looking over your work and your like "O my goodness this is the answer! i did it! and i know without a doubt this is the answer." the teacher hasn´t told you the answer yet but you know it´s the answer cuz it just all worked out so perfectly. Yeah hope that made any sense. O and instead of the math problem it´s the Gosple. that´s important to know. yeah anyway that´s how i felt. Love you guys all a ton. and miss you all tons. until next week.

Elder Valdez

I love life and I love loving life!

My goodness i just love life. and i love to love life. we´re just having a party over here! Spanish is coming along very nicely. When it get´s rough i just gotta step back and go "wow remember your first day in this country?" Members help me with that too. They´re always commenting about how much better the spanish is. yeah. anyway the new comp´s name is Elder McConnell. It´s way hard to follow a comp like Elder Laurito but he´s doing a good job. McConnell from this no name spot in Utah. never ever heard of it. and never heard of the closest city either. so yeah he´s just from Utah. He´s very obediant. which is good. we work really hard. I´ve never felt more satisfied in my whole mission. I can lay down in bed and say "Wow i really worked hard today and didn´t waist a single minute of the Lord´s time." (wow i always start my thoughts with the word wow.) K so the sweet story of the week. I was showing the sector to McConnell showing him where everything was and what not. anyway we were headed to our mamita´s house and we passed an investigators house to get there.The Spirit imediatly brought that investigator into my thoughts and i was like"Hey Elder this is one of our investigadors we should really drop by and introduce you" so we walked in and she was so happy to see us! Her name´s maria. and she told us she was just thinking about us. when we entered the house the Book of Mormon was open and also the pamphlet of lesson one. she said it was a miracle we stopped by at such a perfect time. the night before she had had a dream. Maria´s arm is broken so it was really giving her problems one night and she started praying. It´s pretty Spiritual to her what happened so i´m just going to say that she got her answer that the Church was true! she was excited and kept asking us when her baptism could be. haha sweet huh? Love you all and miss you all. The Church is true and miracles exist acording to your faith. until next week!

Elder Valdez

Cambios

So cambios are tomorrow. sadly i don´t know my comps name. haha but he´s from Utah so i think we´ll get along. I´m still in Centinela. after this cambio i´ll  have six months in the same sector. it´s not un heard of but everyone expected that i´d be leaving. I don´t mind it. I love Centinela. every where you go there´s just an amesome view. and the people here are so great. I was working with this lady and her daughter in my first cambio and they lost intrest. i was really confused and wondered what went wrong. Laurito and i visited them again and they´re excited about the Gosple again! so hopefuly i get to see their baptism! they´ve got a date for the 29th. they didn´t come this week to church so we´ll see what happened. gonna miss Laurito a ton. we had such a blast. He´s going far south. it´s a seven hour drive to the bottom of our mission and that´s where he´s serving. i didn´t realize how big our mission is. it´s huge. everyone says the south is so much prettier then here. so i hope eventually i´ll work down there. Im happy that Wray and Wilkins are staying in Centinela too. they´re so cool. so we´ll have another cambio of some fun. They´ve found ways to abuse my love for bananas. we have bananas probably 40% of the time for dessert. so they will be like "Valdez i´ll let you have my banana if you give me the rest of your meat." we both win in the end but yeah they definetly understand how much i love them! so yeah that was this week. just combios and stuff. this week i´ll find a story to tell or something. haha it´s weird. this is feeling more like home and you guys are feeling further and further away. its a good thing right? I know this church is true. i base alot of my testimoney on the book of mormon. i know that that book is true. it didn´t just show up. it had to come from somewhere and i know it came from God. hope all is well. love you all so much.

Elder Valdez

Bus Wreck!

Man that was awesome right? i don't know if it's just cuz i'm a missionary or what but  every single talk was so so good. i sure hope you were all staying awake and paying attention. guys did you go to preistood? it was so tight. k so i told everyone at home to be forward and straight with me so i guess i should be as well. also Hermana Martinez tells me that i should of told you guys about this. don't know why i didn't. it's really not that big of a deal. I guess i didnt want anyone to freak out so just know i'm protected and everythings fine :) yeah i'll try to explain it short. so remember the micros straight out of harry potter? yeah we got pushed off the road one day and hit a tree about two months ago. i was on a quick combio with Elder Corliss. everyone drives really close to eachother so when i saw this truck coming closer to us i was like "don't freak out this happens all the time" but nope he pushed us off the road. it was really fast. i don't know how but Corliss was shot to the front off the bus. he broke the seats in front of us. this one lady ended up in my lap. well i hit the left side of my face pretty good and bit through my lip. Corliss bonked his nose really good. everyone in the micro was fine in the end. it was amazing because the micro behind us had a sister from our ward and she saw the crash. she said the Spirit told her she knew someone in the crash and she had to go help. it was such a reliefe to see her run up to us and throw her jacket around me. because we were both bleeding we had to go in the ambulance. It was amazing to see how unselfish everyone was. everyone was checking on me making sure i was alright even though they were hurt too. i made alot of friends in the micro that day. i spent my whole p day in the hospital. that was lame. we finally got let go. oh and that Sister Muñoz staid by our side the whole day! I love that lady! anyway so the next few days I was throwing up so Demke asisted me to the hospitle once again. haha hope this isn't too much detail but it was just such an experiance. anyway after a CAT scan they saw a shadow in the back of my head and loaded me up into the ambulance again. Hermana Martinez met us at the next hospital. The doctors then took me to a brain surgen. he studied the image and to our reliefe it was something that i've had for my whole life our something. K so yeah is everyone breathing again? haha it really was a great experiance of love and laughter (at my spanish and jokes Demke would say to lighten the mood) he}s the shiz and handled the whold thing like a champ. but yeah haha that's my experiance. it was crazy. I spent that week in the Presidents house on close watch and ran to a few more specialists to get second opinions. but yeah i'm totally fine now and back to working with no side effects. this passed two months ago so no worries. :) love you all tons and hope you enjoyed this weeks story :)

Elder Valdez

Other Side of Heaven-ish

Sometimes I feel so other side of heavenish! instead of the elephant disease we have tiña. You see it the most with dogs. It´s a skin disease that your skin flakes or something like that. yeah never seen a human with it but dogs all the time. about 60% of the dogs here have it and it makes their hair fall out. Its really pathetic and creepy looking but we got all these I Am Legend dogs running all over the street. The way i found out the name of this disease was playing tag with some kids and instead of being "it" you have tiña. and you run around trying to give everyone else tiña. haha yup. what else. oh the apartment buildings next to us are finally getting taking down professionally. yeah everything´s so normal to me that i´m running out of things to say. haha as far as spiritual things are going. this week was fast and testimoney meeting. I´ve had a hard time feeling like i´m doing anything. I can´t speak the language and don´t know the scriptures that well so my converts i feel were just the previous missionaries investigatore. but this week Karen stood up and gave a beautiful testimoney and she thanked the missionaries that had helped her get married and then baptized. I felt so happy that i got to be a part of that. that i got to help with her conversion. Her husband and i are buds too and he was at church this week! We´re trying to re activate him. haha this probably doesn´t mean anything to you guys but o well haha. just know that i´m loving it and i know i´m making a difference. I love this gosple it´s just so dang perfect. Love you all and miss you guys tons.

Elder Valdez

18th of September

 I´ve never eaten so much meat in my entire life! The eighteenth is Independance day for Chile. They celebrate it in three days. so we ate a ton of food at a stake activity on the 17th. then the 18th is the big party. and now today is a big party as well. yesterday we were invited to three different Bar B Q´s! and when they barbq they don´t make anything else but meat. I´m serious! no potatoe chips, no mashed potatoes, no vegetables, not anything else but meat! they just bring you a plate with five different kinds of meat and a coke. I thought i was going to die. the very last bite clashed with everything trying to come back up but i forced it all down. haha sorry but that´s what happened. and today we have two more Bar b q´s to go to!!! I dont think i´ll make it! haha it´s crazy fun though. Elder Laurito and I are having such a blast. there´s still a language barrior but sometimes that just makes it twice as fun! He loves soccer and looks for every chance to play. we play with the rocks in the street while we walk. if you can get it through the other companions legs then that´s a goal. It keeps us entertained through the long walks. yesterday was so awesome. with the parties yes but also with church. It was ward conferance and the stake presidencie wanted to talk with the Señor comps. so with out a subject and our little spanish, Elder Wray and I had to teach the Gosple Principle class! Elder Wray´s a stud from West High SLC who now has three weeks in the mission. yup so not speaking much we forced our way through teaching the restauration to everyone. when we got to the First Vision the Spirit was there so strong. We´re not crazy! a Crazy person would leave his family at age 19 and go give up two years of his life for nothing. but we know its true. You guys at home watch all these teenage boys leave everything for two years cuz they know its true. they know they know. and you can make up all these pathetic excuses that we´re from utah and this is just what we do but if i didn´t have a testimoney of this i would be home so fast. this just isn´t worth it if you don´t have a testimoney. this is hard stuff but because i know this is true i keep going just like all these, our best friends, are doing. Love you all millions. miss you tons.

Elder Valdez

Bautizmo!

We had a baptism yesterday. it was so awesome. Karen and Javiera (her daughter) it was so amazing! Javiera almost didn´t at the last but it all turned out! It was so cool to watch Karen progress. She´s been meeting with the missionaries for five years! we finally got her to set some goals and accomplish them. she got married last week and now is a member! so great to watch people change their lives for this gosple. and then on the other hand some people just don´t get it. we had to drop one of my favorite families ever! I´ve been working with them for more then two months and they didn´t move at all! :( we gave a gorgeous lesson of the Restauracion and the Spirit was there a full. right after we got done testifying and all that stuff. they just turned on the tv and started going off about how they´ll read and go to church when God tells them too. ugh it was such a Spirit killer. This week we´re really going to focus on finding news and getting fechas for baptisms. One day it was just going so slow. but we kept on working we kept on knocking. we finally met this lady who  was an old investigador of the church. we got talking with her and Elder Laurito brought up work for the dead right off the back. it was crazy. but she loved it. she was so intrested that we put a fecha with her right then and there for the 24th of sep. it was so cool. diana is still having problems with getting permission from her dad to get baptized. so if we all prayed for her i think we could have an excellent month! Elder Laurito is perfect. we have so much fun together. and! A HUGE jump in the language. its so exciting! this might actually be posible! haha yeah so everythings going so great and i´m having a blast. a huge change from the first month.  Love you all tons! thanks for the letters. they´re starting to come now and it helps me get through the weeks.

Elder Valdez

Manly Scriptures

Demke and I checked up all the manliest scriptures we could find. my favorite is Job 40:7. I loved that whole chapture. anyway hope this tells you how much Demke and I get along. We´re just having a blast. the Napolean Dynamite fact of this week is that Demke missed his brother´s wedding cuz he was in the house playing X box! so they thought they´d have Napolean miss his brother´s wedding. Yeah these little facts will be useful someday but they´re way fun. Tomorrow is combios. Demke and Corliss are leaving me . Its read sad but i´m way excited for my new comp. his name is Elder Laurito and he was in my zone last combio. so we already love eachother and are buds. we´ve spent a few p day´s together already and make each other laugh. He´s from Uraguay and reminds me alot of Taylor Stephenson. So it should be a fun combio. we also have a few baptisms lind up right off the back. in fact i just got back from a wedding of my investigator! it was so cool! I can´t even imagine a wedding in the temple! yeah so she and her daughter are getting baptized this sunday! SKIYA! Everyone love your parents tons, they just want the best for you. but o my goodness they are so annoying sometimes!!!! We have four seperate investigators that want to be baptized but are under eighteen, and the parents just won´t let us baptize them. Ugh its so stressful. we´re so close but the parents just won´t alow it. All these guys want to be baptized because of their testimonies of the Book of Mormon. This book is so so important. please everyone back home eat this up. check up cross referances, figure out why that verse is there. there´s no way way way that this book isn´t straight from God. It is or it isn´t. If your having a hard time, or a doubt, just read the Book. and go back to basic that that Book is from God. I love this Book and I love the church. People are changing their lives down here for this gosple! It´s so so perfect in everyway! don´t take it for granted (is that how you spell it?) Love and miss you tons.

Elder Valdez

Tree Farms

Yeah so i found out that Chile makes alot of their money from selling wood. We went to a volcano today (no big deal) anyway yeah we drove for almost two hours through these tree farms!! they went on forever! I honestly tought they extended all the way around the world. you try to see the end but nope there wasn´t one. Yup we went to a volcano. it was so freakin cold at the begining. but then we hiked up far enough to wear the wind stopped. we couldn´t hike all the way to the top so we just hiked to a lake below it. it was so so cool!!! I got Mrs Dent a rock from a Chilean Volcano. pretty sick huh? across the lake and over some mountains was Argentina. so we were pretty close to the border but i just couldn´t see Argentina. really wanted to. anyway so after having the perfect day of hiking a volcano and playing in the snow (in the middle of Augost!) the sad part comes. i forgot a battery for my camera. so Elder Demke and I took a bunch of sweet sweet pics. but then when we were headed back he lost his camera!!! we have no proof that we were actually there :( we ran up the entire trail looking for it with no success. bummer. o well. our investigadors are doin well. The investigador with the experiance last week didn´t come :( but i´ll get on that. k so we taught this fifteen year old girl and we gave her the book of mormon and a pamphlet of the first lesson ( the Restauracion) yeah when we went back to teach it she taught us the first lesson!! it was so sick! we gave her the goal of getting baptized on the fourth! so we´ll see how that goes. she knows the book is true. the book of mormon is everything! it proves everything!

Elder Valdez

In the Fish-Eye Club!

Baraja´s just left. I´m way way sad. he was such a stud and taught me how to laugh and have fun on the mission. we walked all day and talked the whole time. about a whole bunch of  random questions. the official combio doesn´t happen until the 29th. so I was put into a trio with my tios (Elder Demke y Corliss) So I still haven´t finished my training and I was suppose to do that just with Elder Cortés. but instead I´ve had Elder Cortés (mi padre), Elder Barajas (mi madre, or stepfather) and now I got Elder Demke (which we decided to name my godfather). fun facts. The lead singer of Killers is now active again and is the activity guy for the elders quorm. I got to see the video Jack Black sent to Demke its so legit to hear Jack Black ask about how the mission and the people in Chile are. I´m now in the fish eye club! ate two of them the other day. we eat alot of fish. lots of different kind. its weird how the meat tastes so different. I hated fish before but i think the ocean fish just taste so much better.
One of my investigators that came yesterday brought her kids. I was taking care of one and she was trying to take care of her baby. the baby towards the end started to cry a bit and some sister i´d never seen before just decided she could help. she came over and grabbed the baby out of my investigators hands and walked out of the chaple without saying a word to the mom!!! ugh she ran after her and was shouting out her. I ran out with them and i got them to calm down a bit. the sister finally gave the baby back and just kept saying. "Elder you need to bless this baby right now. the baby´s sick." haha it just all went so south so fast. My investigador grabbed her kids and left. I tried to apoligize in my broken spanish and was trying to comfort her. UGH Idk i guess we´ll go visit her this week and see what effect it caused. but yeah it was crazy.
So having a huge blast now with everything promise. Language has slown down quite a bit with a house full of greengos. but I know how to get around and what there is to do. how to work money and how to have some fun during the day ( thanks to barajas ) Love and miss you all. two years is going to be a very long time but i´m starting to have the time of my life.

Elder Valdez

Bronchitis

My whole house has been sick with bronkitis. yeah hope you guys know what that says. This week we really just were all being sick. Not a whole success at all but what do ya do? haha we´re all much better now and gonna rock it this week. We´re just having way too much fun out here. I just love the culture and the people. I just love the members and I have a lot of best friends. you never really know until something happens to make you realize how many people love you. so the thing for this week is everyone look for those people that just love you and will be there when times get crazy. It was cool here cuz i´m so new and i can´t speak the language that i didn´t realize how many people loved me but i´ve got some great friends and second mom´s down here. o haha I was trying to teach President about the word "getting". It doesn´t exist in spanish and probably shouldn´t exist in english. but my dang north utahn accent got in the way and I kept pronouncing it "getin´" I laughed when i realize it was probably just like when I was teaching Josh his "eth´s" (s´s). Haha sure hope I make sense. Emails are just always so on the run and music is blaring and its always just so hard to concentrate. haha. We had a 4.6 earthquake this week. so that was pretty fun to feel. Elder Demke keeps me alive. he´s so hilarious and i´ve learned so much of Nacho Libre and Napolean Dynamite. Did you know Napolean Dynamiate was a street contact? Yeah Jared Hess wrote in his journal that night that he just contacted the guy with the coolest name he´s ever heard. Also Demke´s brother once called his sister asking for chapstick and also saw a cow shot in the face on the way to school one day. haha so yeah it´s just a movie of all the random experiences that Demke´s family and the Hess family have had. Yeah just wanna write all my million facts about Napolean Dynamite but that´d be a pretty lame email. Next week I´ll talk alot more about the culture and our investigators but this week... we were all sick. haha love and miss you all tons. O Kaleb (and fam) we were playing scrabble this morning and I spelled GALAXIES. 102 point word. WHAT!!!!

ELDER VALDEZ

Life Rocks!

Sorry about last week that was so so lame. I guess myldsmail kicks you off when you´ve been sending too many emails. so i´ll try to cut the pictures down. well this is just fun now. having full conversations now. The Chile people love chistes (jokes) so they tell one and i´m the only one fake laughing so they explain it to me. In spanish! it´s like no I´ll get the joke if it were in english. there´s just a language barrior here! Well me and Barajas have so much fun. I knew he was gonna be a great friend when we were just sitting there and then he just bit me! haha yeah he´s one of those random guys. So me and Demke were flipping through a bunch of Liahona and he was like "hey Valdez do you know a Mckenzie from Chiuaua?" Sure enough Mckenzie Call was in the Liahona. Haha crazy stuff. I miss Mexico days so much. It prepared me so much for this time.  So did anyone find anything about Ben? Chile is finally home. When i get home after work you have the feeling "Oh its good to be home" The first time this hit me was last P day. I was like O my gosh i love this place. The ward and i have a excellent relationship now. I´m bak to my hugging self (clearly only hermanos) and i just love everyone! the other night for once this family fed us all this sea food. it was so so good. except for the inside inside of a crab. what´s with that!? I´ll send pics cuz it was definetly one of the funnest nights of my mission. Man Great Grandma I love you so so much! thank you for excepting this gosple! I should of called or visited you before i left. Everyone on the street I just picture my great grandma ( especially the ones that think we´re just annoying people.:) ) so Love you tons grandma. The humility of the poor just amazes me. We contacted the one room houses the other day. just about all of them let us in. We just don´t get it. I just love this gosple and I´ve gotten such a huge relationship with Christ. You need the Lord in your life. there´s no doubt. Learn to trust Him. And learn to vent on Him through prayer. Ugh this is so annoying cuz im typing words that we´ve all heard over and over again so i´m so worried you guys are just gonna brush it off as just another missionary. but no you don´t get it!? gosh please just understand and pray so much more. Love you all so much. I hope i´m not getting boring its just life is getting normal.

Elder Valdez

Permiso...

So really weird this cambio. I was suppose to be with my comp for two but he´s moving. My new comp is Elder Barajas. Haven´t met him yet but everytime I tell people who i got they go tell me how lucky I am and then go off about how much they love that guy. so I´m real excited. He goes home after this campio so we say that I´m killing him. which also means lost likely i´ll be in this sector for at least four months. K does anybody got any breakfast ideas? that´s pretty much my only meal i gotta worry about. Alyssa and Mom remember that earth quake we felt? "someone just probably broke the sound barior or something" haha yeah that one. anyway yeah those happen all the time. I´m sure it happens more then I realize but the only ones i notice are while I´m studying my scriptures. It´s pretty sweet and is just a little reminder Who´s in charge :) Chile finally lost last night so that helps us work a little more. so keep in mind when your favorite sport team looses that it could of just been a prayer from a missionary for a certain investigator :)  in my case it´s the whole country. which come on Shelb how the heck are you suppose to know if someone´s hurt in soccer. everytime the ball seems to move someone falls down crying grabbing their ankle :) haha jk it is becoming a sweeter and sweeter sport. K spiritual. I love love the scriptures! I want to know just all of them! so Josh Shelby and everyone else of course. start loving them! Study Study the Book of mormon. with colors, cross references, other books, and of course a journal for impressions. When you do this you´ll want to study all the other scriptures too so get started.  So get on that :) Love you all so so much and miss you all tons.

Elder Valdez

Family- K didn´t think this would be apropriate but what ever you think.
K so permiso is the magic word. You can get away with about anything as long as you say permiso. you say it before you enter a gate, house, or bathroom. you say before you give a public prayer. you also say it when you do rude things and the word makes in fine. from drinking out of your bowl or reaching across someone to get someting, to eating food off of someone else´s plate. well we were in the craziest lesson ever. we had no idea what we were teaching. we were bouncing around everywhere. My spanish was having an off day and this family couldn´t understand me. There were two kids crying and two other kids playing tag. the mom was trying to fight with us and it was just out of control. I couldn´t believe it could get any worse until half way in a sentence the mom says "Permiso" grabs one of the crying kids, just lifts up her shirt and starts nursing. yeah.

Soccer, magic tricks, and disappearing aparment complexes

What a roller coaster of emotion. and so much emotion. Up and down then up and then go smashing back down again. Haha but we´re all good. Sadly this week wasn´t too exciting. I went to Lider for my first time today. it´s owned by walmart so very simular but with chilean food. Man soccer! If i´ve already said this please forgive but its crazy! I´m kinda praying that Chile would loose. I know bad right? but they are in the american cup right now and when they play (I am not exaderating) No one is in the streets! no one will answer there doors! We just keep on walking looking in windows and seeing that every single person has the exact same television screen. I don´t know what to do its crazy. But the coolest noise ever is when they score. the entire city just explodes! people scream GOAL and the barges and boats in port blow their horns. It´s so cool. The other day we were doing a family home evening with these members and an investigator family. We played these awesome intense games and when you lost you had to do a chiste. (tell a joke or sing a song) I did head shoulders knees and toes but the one that got the laughs were my magic tricks! they were a hit! You know the ones when i throw my finger up and catch it. or the one i put a finger behind a cloth and two magically apear. yup those. Chileans are crazy about weight and achne. yeah when you got a white thing on your face they will be plenty kind enough to point it out. they´re also very embarassed when they got one. they try everything they can to have smooth skin. Oh also these apartment complexes next to us got titled as unsafe to live in after the earth quake. Its crazy cause they´re disapearing! the other night we passed two guys carying a part of the roof to their houses. You also see parts of these apartments starting to apear on random houses through out the city. Two apartment buildings are totally gone and there are like five left. Its like cocroaches. haha so anyway love and miss you all so so much. The Church is true.

Elder Valdez

Different Sort of Fourth of July

Elder Valdez looks a little chilly in Chile

Singing the Star Spangled Banner

TAPS

Watching their ONE firework (a flare some ward memmber had)

A Chilean Fourth of July

Very crazy that I´m freezing while you guys are BBQing! No fair! Haha actually today is so so nice! Just got back from the beach. we had a huge independance party there. with football, ultimate frisbee and tons of food. I´ll send pics. we were singing the national anthem when this random Chliean came out of his house and played the star spangled banner for us on his trumpet. we had him come and play it one more time while we sang and those are what the pics are. When we´re turned around its because for our "firework" one of the members launched a flair. It was pretty sick and a perfect way to celebrate. So get to meet my new president tomorrow! I hear he doesn´t speak english but that´s fine cuz the language is starting to take off really quick. With understanding more I realize how I have no clue how to talk! Haha its pretty frustrating but I can see all the progress. I was giving a quick lesson after almuerzo and when i was done the lady told me (in spanish)"I would of understood your lesson better if you just gave it english" Ouch huh? I thought it was pretty funny though. Oh! the spiritual part of the week! Everyone go find the movie (something like this idk cuz it was in spanish but) Treasures in Heaven: History of John Tanner. Muy Bakan! Its nineteen minutes long and the actor for Joseph is the same actor as the one in the new Joseph Smith the Prophet. Its so good and really made me dedicate my life to the Church. Its incredible and I feel so bad I didn´t know the story before.Other part of the spiritual part. Right before President Swenson left Sister gave an excellent testimoney of life. We all chose this! I know you´ve heard this but really really think about it. Idk how it worked in heaven maybe it was an interview or something but we chose this life. You really can´t get mad at God with things go wrong cuz you said "yeah i can do that. And I´ll do it faithful and return to You." Maybe you saw like a tape of some of the trials in your life and you agreed. We all agreed we´d follow the Savior no matter what! We aren´t victims. Even those who don´t know the Gospel knew it before and agreed to the life they would be given. IDK haha maybe I´m just being weird but this has helped me so much. If it helps just one of you too then its worth sending and looking weird haha:) Oh please say the pics are working. Cuz in one when we´re mopping up the down stairs, the ELder with glasses is elder Demke. He keeps me sane and alive. I just love that guy! but anyway yeah his brother in law is Jared Hess!!!!! Serio! So last night he showed me a bunch of pictures of him chilling with JACK BLACK! no fare right!!!! So if any of ya´ll wanna meet Jack Black i found away! haha you can know anyone in the world through seven people right dad? anyway sorry this one is long its just been a great week. Love you all and Miss you all very much.

Elder Valdez

First Baptism

Flood!

Fleas!

I remember the first season of hockey. How frustrated i got that i wasn't skating like everyone else. I felt like such a burden to the team that i couldn't skate. sometimes i did think why am i here? I'm just waisting money. But every so often when i'm putting on my skates and gloves its like "Oh my gosh i'm actually doing this! I'm actually playing hockey! I've wanted to do this ever since i was a kid!" Yup so I got hit pretty hard these first two weeks but i've got my skates under me again. I know I most likely will fall down again but I'll get back up and do it all over again. Idk but I feel pretty confident on skates now so why would spanish be any different? And the difference is I get to practice spanish 24/7! So we had four baptisms this week! Sweet huh? It was hard feeling a part of it because i really didn't do much. but i do love these people and they're my first best friends in Chile! Whenever we visited them they've help me so much with the language. O yeah fleas. I know you all have joked that i have fleas but now its real. haha I wake up every morning with bites all over and they itch so bad. we're waiting for more bug spray but in the meantime i guess i'll just enjoy it. yeah the day of the baptism i woke up to little red bites all over! I went down stairs to shower as fast as I can. But when i got there the entire down stairs was flooded. haha! we spent the morning sponging it up with pieces of a blanket and then ringing those out into a bucket. I'll send you guys the pics. Yup its been such an adventure everyday. The skies right now are all...i don't know the word....cloudy? with ash from the volcano going on. pretty cool huh? Yup so real quick on the baptisms. Names Gabriela, Veronica, Perla, y Pedro. I got to baptize Gabriela. Yeah almost drowned her. I felt so so bad and hope i didn't ruin the special day. We had Once with her after the baptism and about half way through it she started talking to me again so yay i was forgiven! This is a blast. this week was ten million times better. It's all about attitude. You have to have to have to just literally jump out of bed at six thirty knowing that today's going to be a great day. (You also have to jump and get moving cuz we don't have a heater and you gotta get the blood going. You sleep in sweatshirts, sweatpants, socks, and sometimes a beenie ) ok but where was i about attitude. Yeah if your not happy right now you gotta change how you look at it. Everyone tells me this but not until i was here did i realize how true it really is. your in control no one else. Miss and love you all. Hara for Israel!

Elder Valdez

Pictures From Mission President

'Nother One Down

I´ve tried diving into this thing. it´s so so tough. i can tell my comp is getting frustrated that i can´t help as much as i want. ugh i got a testimoney. i know the doctrine!  I just can say it. yup really really tough. but i can´t deny the wonderful Spirit that comes when i give everything i got to tell my testimoney. My investigators are just so perfect and so patient with me. we had four baptisms planned this week but they all fell through. it was quite a blow. but they´re all reschedualed and so we´ll see  how this time around goes. O thing about the culture i forgot. there´s grafity everywhere. some of it is of course pretty freakin´ cool but where i live and work is like the place they all practiced before they got good or something. also there´s american music everywhere. its just as popular as the latin stuff. its funny cuz they don´t know the words. they just kinda make noises that sound like english (only during the verses though, they sound pretty good at the chorus) haha probably what we sound like when we´re trying to sing spanish songs right? K so hilarious story. I´ve been trying so hard to just be out going and contacting everyone. Well i went up to someone gave them a pass along and did my spill that i always do. when the contact was done and we started walking again Elder Cortés was just smiling and giggling to himself. when i asked what was up he explained that they guy i just contacted was the member that we had lunch with that day. haha yup totally spaced it and didn´t recognize him. Yup so lot´s of contacting. just trying to spread the gosple here. one house we went into was so so cold. it was a single mother raising two children. she was a reference so we went by and "knocked" all last week and nothing. but she was finally home this time and she was so so happy to see us. don´t really know what was going on the whole time but she was crying and the spirit was so strong there. i tried my best to give a testimoney of  how we´re never alone in our trials. her name is Pobla. She seriously was just so hapy to see us. like we came just in time. Spiritual Coast Gaurds right? haha sorry its hard to tell stories cuz half the time i had no idea what was going on. All I remember is feelings. Haha yeah kinda hard to describe in a letter. I´m really hopin´ these letters get better too and i eventually sound more myself again. i´m just in such a shock right now. can´t believe i´m hear and i´m doing this. Hara for Israel.

Elder Valdez

Pictures From Chile

Good Bye MTC....

Hello Chile!

 



Here!

Dogs! I´ve never seen so many dogs in my entire life! they´re everywhere! which means alot of barking and trying to bite you. It also means dog crap everywhere. your just walking through a land mind out here! yup we walk all day. we contact for most of the day and teach about three lessons in the night. When we´re headed to a meeting we take the micros "buses". I think this is where JK Rowling got the idea for the night bus. no joke they drive just like that. slamming on their brakes to let someone pass, then punching it bak to top speed. there´s really no such thing as speed limits its crazy. I´m in the sector farthest north at a place called Centinela. It´s almost an island. so i got ocean on both sides of me. It´s a hill too and they seem to have just cramed as many houses as they can on this thing. every house is gated off and pretty small. because of the gates we stand outside of them and shout "¡ALO!" I really took the MTC for granted. our apartment is tiny and you have to wear your flip flops everywhere you go. It is alot like Mexico with a few differences. when we contact the older ladies always kiss us and my comp says when we get teaching them in their houses is when we explain we can´t do that. haha its great. yeah so the people are so kind. Lunch is the big thing and someone´s always feeding us that. It´s rude to leave anything on your plate. and they feed us alot! I´ve never had to pray for help to finish eating something but i´ve done it three times here! I seriously feel like i can´t eat anymore about half way through the second course. they always have bread with the meal so that you can actually sponge up the remaining juices on your plate. yeah so we sometimes have breakfast and investigators feed us snacks in the night. yeah i´ll fix my diet but i´m still just tryng to figure it all out. man i´m just throwing up on this email. lots of imfo i hope it makes some sens. o yeah with the night snak. they always give us this drink called ecco. looks like, smells like, and tastes like coffee. but its not. it´s really weird and we have it all the time. yeah this week is  just explaining everything so you guys can picture it and next weeek will be more stories. but yeah its awesome. freezing though. they don´t get snow like we thought. but the wind is always blowing and we have mist storms. its like your standing under one of those mists mechanies at a grocery store. We couldn´t get in any houses yesterday because it was the soccer finals. it was awesome. your just walking then all of the sudden the entire town starts screaming and you know someone just scored. Love you all and miss you. this is just a set up for my wonderful stories that will come.
 
O´Higgins 940, Oficina 503
Concepcion
Bio-bio
Chile
 
Elder Valdez

Let's Roll!!!

What an amazing amazing week this has been. super spiritual and have learned so much. Elder Crayton has opened up to me and told me alot alot about his life. Hands down the coolest conversion story i've ever heard! ever! My goodness he's already a successful missionary because he has brought me closer to Christ. there is no way this church isn't true! now i just put my head down and plow into this thing! Yup leave on monday. six in the morning. so so excited. it's going to be so much fun! Today i just met someone from Santiago! he told me how beautiful Concepcion is! I'm pumped and ready to go. There was a talk given in sacrament about marathon's. and it got me thinkin' HOLY CRAP! mom 26 miles is forever! i can't believe you actually did it and got good time on it too! That's a beautiful personal experience that you can relate to the gosple. so mom and all you marathon runners use that oppurtunity in your talks or whatever. i don't know it just really brought the Spirit. Dad to find "investigators" to pretend teach on we go to something called "one in 8 million" its incredible. New York time fines some random person and gives a quick clip about their lives. People are incredible and come from so many different stories. Ugh i can't explain this feeling i have. Its like i'm a little kid again. that little kid that was inoccent and doing his very best to understand the gosple. that little kid i've been striving so hard to find. back home i was like ugh i wish i could go back in time and do this all over again and don't make those stupid mistakes. Here is where that happened! Yeah not explaining it well and now i'm just frustrated. haha the point is through Christ all is forgiven and all is forgotten. we bring up our mistakes too many times. don't talk and think about them and just keep going. one of my maestros said "When satan reminds you of your past, remind satan of your future." start right now. now's the day to put it all behind and be that better person your always wishing you would be. love you all and miss you tons and the next one will be from CHILE!
 
Elder Valdez

Travel plans are here! The time has arrived!

Hey everyone. well this week was Russell M Nelson. Yeah no big deal just hearing apostles almost every week. haha jk but seriously its way fun and you can always feel their love so much. K so travel plans are here! the time has arrived! I'm out of here in ten days! its all coming real and i'm getting nervous but excited. I get to be in an airplane for about eighteen hours! My flight leaves here at 9:40am on june 6 and i land in chile concepcion on the 7th at 9:15am. haha pretty sick huh? with the new district we just got there's one named Elder Collins. he's from tatcher and thinks that grandma and grandpa were in his ward. of course he also knows kelsey brown. man everyone knows her! Which if kels is reading this i'm really interested with how Elder Harington is doing. miss that guy. This week there were a few complications so President Larsen got permission to switch up the companionships. My new companion is Elder Crayton. We have a blast and are getting so much done. its how a companionship is suppose to run and i'm so glad i got to learn that before i left. so when's school get out for everyone? I got to host Elder Greene this week and i also saw Elder Heaps! everyones coming in and getting to work! So congrats to garret for getting his call to hawaii. that's pretty sweet. or really really sweet! any other big news i need to be aware of? When's Nic Murray coming in again? I'm gonna miss him aren't i? Don't really have any exciting big news this week so i'm sorry. but its always fun and i'm learning so much. I told a few of you this before but its funny how the more you learn, about the gosple, the more you realize you know nothing! it's crazy! I'm trying to read all the New Testament. Its so cool and helps me understand and use the bible much more when teaching. I love you all. Hope everythings going great. one more email after this and then i'm in CHILE!
 
Elder Valdez

Know the Scriptures Better

Wow think only 2 more pdays and i'm gonna be in south america! did that go fast for anyone else!? Dad about Bella's noise. it's her itching the back of her throught. she still do it? the pics you send are so so great! I love them so much but don't send too many. they take time to load but i wanna see them all so bad. also please use dearelder if you could. but this working fine too i just wanna write you back and don't have paper to look back on what to talk about. k this weeks speaker was Elder Hinkley! so so good! He definetly has his father's humor. he did however tell us about the story where those two missionaries died from the gas. he explained how angry President Monson was. they met in a counsel meeting and the prophet pointed rigth at him and said "We cannot allow this to happen." how intense would that be to have the prophet point a fnger at you. I had another humbling experience with one of my branch counsolers. Hermano Sanchez. I was in an interview with him and he asked me how comfortable i felt with explaining the doctrines in preach my gosple. he then said ok give me a seven minute lesson on the law of the fast starting with a scripture. when i sheepishly admited i couldn't think of one off the top of my head he said "Elder Valdez you need to know the Scriptures better." Yup been working on finding a scripture for every doctrine now. Just finished Matthew. If someone has just half hour for the Lord and yourself please read Matthew 26-28 and then 3 Nephi 11. so good so good! O mom some very interesting people are going to email you a picture of me. please tell them thank you. I was sitting in lunch and a random lady came up to me and Elder Brady and just started up a conversation. turns out she's from Preston and she was just so happy that she found someone so close to home she decided to take a picture. um yeah. anyway what's with all this flooding i'm hearing about? Spanish is coming great! I definetly need to use it more but there's so much i wanna say but i can't in spanish so i switch to english. One of my teachers here is Hermano Zivic (Civic like the car). His dad is one of the Seventy! he's the nicest teacher and teaches us so much. Why didn't anyone tell me we could have tea!? I was in a lesson teaching the word of wisdom and he had to stop me and tell me that it's only black, green, and iced tea that's the no no's. anyway yeah got so much to do and so much to learn! Hows everyone doing? School's almost out right? Sounds like Kaleb's just traveling all over the place! You should definetly check out a hockey game when your in Calgary! Man after reading the story of Christ I just live Him so much. When Matthew was describing the crucifixion and what they did before they crucified Him there was a foot note that took me to 1 nephi 9 19. i think. someone double check. anyway it says He suffered all this because He loved them. I can't even comprehend that. When someone hits me in hockey or lacrosse i definetly don't love them. and its just a game! man i got alot of stuff to repent of! Love you and miss you all so so much. Look for Christ's love in everyday of your lives! then if you wanna take it a step further write it down :) Well until next week.
 
Elder Valdez

Ted J. Valdez

K so this week was of course awesome again! the biggest news (alyssa) I saw Christian Etherington! He's headed to Spokan Washington! yeah this mexican grabbed me and said "Do you remember me!?" O it was too perfect. We hugged and wrote down eachothers emails and mails. If the name isn't ringing the bell he's my basketball budy from mexico. played with me, kreg, logan, and bradly all the time! K alyssa he's short! he was tall last time i remember him but now he's shorter then me! O it was too good. Speaking of. someone please find out when Ben Nielson left or leaves. Mom please express my deepest thanks to Uncle David. You have no idea how many times i've used "When I was working in the potatoe shed..." Seriously it was by far the best missionary prep i had ever had! the last thing Uncle David said to me before i got on the plane was " the work didn't get any easier. You just got alot more stronger." Elder Andersen came and spoke to us on the Atonement. It was amazing! We need to think of our Savior and pray for forgiveness everyday! I've also been reading Christ Like Attributes in PMG. Man I got alot of work to do to even be a deacent human being! There's a test you can take on pg126. Ya'll should do that for a fhe or something. K gotta to admit i'm not super super happy right now. I got my spanish scriptures engraven today. i've seen others they have done and they always seem to mess up on something so of course i didn't expect it too be perfect but i guess i'm now "Ted J Valdez" No idea how that happened! o well its in my scripture case 90% of the time so I'll just get over it :) Patience is also a Christ Like Attribute :) Elder Warhurst has found out how Bella makes that clicking sound!!!! I was so amazed! I described the situation to him and he was like "does it sound like this?" and then he did it! Unbelievable! Shelby I also found out that Elder Crayton has lived his whole life with Corn Rows! yeah sick huh? go back and look at the pic of him. he strengthens all our testimonies with his conversion. Elder Moala has now been made DL so i'm off the hook :) jk still behaving myself. Thank you everyone for the packets but ( i can't believe i'm saying this) I got too much candy! there's no way I can finish it by the time I leave. thank you so much though! Love you all so much!

ELDER VALDEZ
 
Family: Elder Holland's talks in Oct and Apr of 2009 are so good! He's dangerously close to becoming my favorite apostle :) Josh get started right now reading and studying PMG. mark that baby up! Write all over it. Highlight. Draw arrows and Diagrams. You have no time in here to warm up. You hit the ground running. Love you all so so much. Mom thanks for sending the news letter. How am I suppose to get a snipet in it again? O yeah and if no one knows I'm leaving June 6th :) SKIYA!

Fastest Month I've Ever Lived!

Hey guys! this week was so great! spanish coming along nicely and I've been busy non stop. K hands down the fastest month I have ever lived in my entire life! Poor you guys. Time still goes slow without my beautiful face but for me its so fast! It's actually creating this sense of panic! I only have 23 of those left! and I've got so much to do! I haven't even had a real investigator yet! O well. K what everyone needs to keep in mind is i'm in the mission field. Let alone in the MTC! I have no idea what's going on in the world! Grandma Keith made a comment about Osoma Binloden? Um yeah no idea what's going on there. and there's a rumor going around that there was another earth quake in japan? Shelby and Issy. Your letters made my day! so so happy to hear from you guys! Dad Brielle is already sitting up and smiling?! that's no fare! And then mom there was a talk the other day about how we use to think tying our shoes was impossible! I then recalled this little braty four yearold jared throwing down a shoe and bursting into tears telling you that it was impossible and I'd never be able to do it :) Look at me now! I tie my shoes like a LAX stick! :) The other part of that talk was an experince told by Russel M Nelson. One of his patients was going to die but he told Elder Nelson to cut him open and the Lord would tell him what to do! And sure enough the Lord did. Elder Nelson said he could see dots where he was suppose to put the stiches. the speaker then said "God knows heart surgery!" sorry i forgot the speakers name but it was a great talk. God knows heart surgery so he'll also help me with mission work and all this stuff. really i'm just having a blast out here! I love my District! There's also a new district that has joined our zone and they're a blast too! two of them are from ogden adn hyrum so we bash and tease eachother. Of course all this time is starting to get too people. we've had a couple of contentious blow ups. yeah i'm so glad we're all learning that here and now. Ugh I got so many sweet and spiritual stories to share but not enough time to share them! I got an email from Mo so hopefully me and him get in touch again. miss that kid. I see Elder Anderson once in awhile. I love you all and miss you tons. No worries for me cause this is just flying by and going fast. got lots to do so i can't waist anytime :)

 

Elder Valdez

P-day moved to Friday

Sorry I don't have alyssa's email on me so i'll work on that next week. haha! it seems every email starts this way! but anyway great week. Got to hear from Elder Scott and Oaks! It was amazing! they were both so great! Scott's spoke more to me. My favorite quote he gave is " to reach something never before achieved one must do something never before done." O! and "Grace comes after we've done all we can possibly do." should of brought my notes to the computer lab! dang! He also testified about how our calls are from God. He then pointed at two missionaries in my zone and made a comment about Costa Rica. And sure enough those missionaries are headed to Costa Rica! I love this Church and the power God gives to these loving leaders! Elder Scott also bore his testimoney of Christ and this Church. While he was i was thinking "man could any other leader from another church give a testimoney like this!" they can't! it was so amazing. I huge day in my Mission experience. Oooo other learning experience. You guys will get a kick out of it. because school is coming to a close we get alot of subsitute teachers! its really frustrating cause you waist the morning getting to know them and then another hour finding out where we are at in the lessons. One day it really really bugged me! The teacher then began into the lesson of "the importance of the Spirit in teaching". I had heard this lesson three times now! I was so torcked! I was so sick of listening to the same speach! While I was throwing a little tissy fit in my mind the teacher then told us to start practice teaching. I turned to my "investigators" and began to teach. I couldn't! I couldn't find scrilptures, i couldn't think of things to say, i couldn't answer questions. It was awful! I took me having to listen to the lesson THREE TIMES to finally get it! It's such a good thing the Lord knows me and knows how dence i can be. :) A few days ago I taught the whole lesson of the restoration in spanish! SKIYA! Maybe this Spanish thing is possible :) O that's right! Elder Scott blessed us all ( as an apostle of the Lord) with the gift of tounges! It's amazing cuz its actually working! it is so much easier! I do my part at studying and the words just somehow stay in there! How's everyone doing? Shelby your in some tournament or something? Please right me. I can't respond to everyone so don't be offended but i'd really like to hear from people. Dad those pics are so cute! Briell has gotten big already! Thank you everyone for your letters! they mean alot! Love you all and miss you tons. Now back to work!

 

Elder Valdez

Short Fuses

Ugh mom i lost your email adress! i threw the letter away that had it on it! ugh so sorry. anyway thank you so so much for the care pakage! it made my entire week! reminder that letters make my day! so all you lazies use some dear elder. :) jk dad please dearelder me your address that'd be nice. awesome week but also filled with drama. o boy do i have stories when i get home! loosing an elder in my district today :( don't know any details but we fasted and prayed for him very hard. o well what do ya do. everyone's gotten over the one week efy/scoutcamp feeling and now we're all realizing how long two years actually is. everyone's on short fuses and getting upset about the language. lot's to take care of. but me i'm so so hapy! this is the greatest thing ever! i feel the Spirit and am starting to recognize promptings. Elder Crayton is new to the church so he doesn't know the stories that we refer to all the time. so we bought him one of those primary book of mormon stories thingamajig. yeah he loves that and reads it all the time. hey i don't know how you could cordinate with sister stephenson but she has a news letter that she sends out to all the misionaries. if you could put in a snipit for me that'd be nice. her address is on my hotmail account or you can fb here on my account. anyway its been excellent! I'm studying Matthew and Christ's life. its been very good!

  

I love you all so so much and can't wait to spend forever with you guys. this church is true. Love you guys tons! :) be happy and enjoy life :)

 

Elder Valdez

First Week! "Oh my goodness..."

Hey I was so happy to get your letter. please keep using dearelder.com. it's faster and i only have half an our on this so i don't have time to read emails.

the week's been great. I was made DL on my second day here. i love my district! their so cool. I just have to get the hang of all this though. David Stott was made ZL on his third day!

K mom so so sorry but here's a few things. dad please read too :)

My feet stink. if there's like a spray or something i could use that'd be the best.

I need thumb  tacks. with long needles please. I'd also enjoy some pics from Mom and Dad.

I can't use dearelder so i need mo's address

I love seeing hand writing but I love how fast dearelder is too! Letter's really make my day so spread the word and keep them coming.

i need more colors for my marking pencil.

O very IMPORTANT. all my slacks say dry clean only. can you call the miss mall and see if that's true? dry cleaning here is expensive and they don't do a very good job.

Dad I'd also like your address please. send bella josh and brielle stuff.

someone please put my mailing address on fb.

yup and that's it :) still got time to say how much i love this! o my goodness we watched the Joseph smith movie the other night and all i could think of was Elder Hollands talk about "Nevermind that they were leaving their families fatherless. Nevermind that their followers were going to be homeless." remember that one? yeah please read that and go watch that movie. so powerful! I've had tough hours but never a tough day. there's always just so much going on that the days and your mood change. I love the Spirit! It's helped me so much. My mind is like crystal clear! all the spanish i've ever learned is flooding back to me. It feels so weirdly cool. so the thing that made my day today was i found out i play basketball everyday with Kelsey Brown's Missionary Friend. yeah way small world. we get to play basketball everyday Shelb! Ugh the day's are just so full and there's not a whole lot of time to waist. I'm looking at a ginormous work project! when i look at it i'm overwhelmed at all that needs to get done. so i just grab the closest thing to me and get to work. Valdez mindset no? how's everyone? How was josh's denver trip? how's AZ? Elder Tanner Winger left this morning for Argentina. got to see him and also get to see Elder Stott, Hansen, Burt, Carlsen, and (for josh) Elder Bennet. it so sweet to see all your buddies choosin the right! I'm making some close best friends too. Elder Brady is my companion. Shelb Elder Crayton is my new black friend from SLc. he's a sick basketball player. he's been a convert for two years! isn't that awesome! he's such an example to all of us to see him working so hard to still understand. Elder Gunnel is my buddy from Mesa. I forgot what highschool he's from. but anyway love the kid and he helps me stay happy. still lot's more to tell and lot's more to share but not time. so ttyl Until next tuesday.

please use dearelder.com instead of email! It'll save me money and typing time. mom please put your email address in your next letter. love you all!

Elder Valdez

Making The Drop!

Yoda unloads another Valdez missionary!  Not sure if Shelby knows what's going on....

Elder Valdez and Elder Stott!

Elder Valdez and his small but enthusiatic farewell party :)

This is the last photo taken of Elder Valdez.  When pulling up to the MTC there was such a huge line of cars.  Still about a block away our enthusiatic Elder couldn't take it anymore.  He begged to just be let loose and walked the rest of the way to the MTC.  Not even knowing if he made it to the building ok, we later found out that a security officer stopped him at the gate and simply asked, "Son, where did you come from?!" :)

Welcome!

Welcome to Elder Valdez’s blog!

Elder Jared James Valdez was called to serve in the Chile Concepcion South mission and reported to the MTC April 6, 2011.  As his family we are so proud and excited for him.

Thank you so much for your support and the friendship you’ve given Jared as he’s prepared for this phase of his life.  We hope this blog is a way you can stay updated on what is sure to be many adventures during the best two years of his life so far.

Viva Valdez!!! :)