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