Dallan's Letter 11-30-10

The part he wanted me to translate is on the bottom, but for you who read Spanish, here's a little taste of how Dallan's Spanish is going! The second part describes a Zone Activity that he told me in a separate letter he felt inspired to organize for his zone (he is senior Zone Leader now). He kept thinking about it all week and then went with his prompting. Enjoy. Kelly

Hey everybody!
Sorry that this week I don`t have much time to write. We just got back from our Zone Activity, we went to a catholic orphanage and we did a service. What I`m going to do though is send the letter I sent to my mission president and I`m going to ask my mom or dad to translate it for you guys. Love you all hope you enjoy it!

Esta semana fuimos con Eledin, la fecha que tuvimos por este sábado. Nos había comentado que ya no quería bautizarse. Para mí eso no fue algo que no me sorprendió. Hay muchos investigadores que sienten temor, especialmente antes de su bautismo. Cuando entramos su casa nos sentamos con él y, con amor, empezamos a preguntar porque ya no quería bautizarse. Nos dijo que no sintió preparado para su bautismo. Ya le habíamos enseñado todo, le habíamos dado una bendición. Él nos empezó a contar porque no, pero con El Libro de Mormon sacamos su duda. Leímos con él Alma 32:16. A pesar que era un joven que no sabe mucho, entendió perfectamente el mensaje. Le preguntamos lo que él había aprendido ese día, y me enseñó algo que no creo que pueda olvidar nunca. El nos dijo, “No tiene que saber todo aquí”, señalando a su cabeza, “solo necesitamos saberlo aquí”, señalando a su corazón. Por alguna razón aprendí una lección que nunca había reconocido. Tal vez yo no sé todo, pero sé todo lo que necesito saber. Le invitamos al bautismo y tuvimos un servicio hermoso.

Fuimos con la zona para hacer la actividad de Zona en un lugar se llama la “Ciudad de los Niños”. Prestamos servicio cortando leña, y recogiendo hierbas malas. Recibimos ampollas, el sol nos quemó un pocito, pero salimos felices. Las hermanas estaban llenas de gratitud por el servicio que les prestamos. Para mí, fue una de las mejores actividades que he hecho. Al principio tenía el temor que los elderes se iban a quejar pero mostraron mucha madurez y lo hicieron con tanto amor. Les amo mucho y sé que están aquí en la misión por la razón correcta. Pues le envié fotos de la actividad. Espero que le gusten. Nos veremos mañana.

Con Amor, Elder Valle I sent some photos as well. I got super sweaty. Gross! but work is work! hahaha.

Translation of letter to his president:

This week we went with Eledin, the date that we had for this Saturday. He had commented to us that he didn't want to get baptized anymore. For me, this was not something that surprised me. There are many investigators that feel afraid, especially before their baptism. When we entered his house we sat down with him, and, with much love, we started to ask him why he no longer wanted to be baptized. He told us that he didn't feel prepared for his baptism. We had already taught him everything, already given him a blessing. He began to tell us why not, but with the Book of Mormon, we resolved his doubt. We read Alma 32:16 with him. Despite the fact that he is a young man that doesn’t know much, he understood the message perfectly. We asked him what he had learned that day, and he taught me something that I don't believe I can ever forget. He told us "You don't have to know everything here," pointing to his head, "we only need to know it here", pointing to his heart. For some reason I learned a lesson I had never recognized. Perhaps I don't know everything, but I know all I need to know. We invited him to the baptism and we had a beautiful service.

We went with the zone to do a Zone Activity at a place called "City of Children". We gave service cutting firewood, and picking weeds. We got blisters and got a little sunburned, but we came out happy. The sisters were full of gratitude for the service we gave. For me, it was one of the best activities I've done. At first, I was afraid the elders would complain, but they showed much maturity and did it with so much love. I love them and I know they are here in the mission for the right reason. Well, I'm sending photos of the activity. I hope you like them. We'll see you tomorrow. With Love, Elder Valle

Jay's letters 11-23-10 &11-30-10

11-30-10
This week was packed full of stuff so I feel like I have a lot to write (:

For last Tuesdays Devo, Per G. Malm from the Seventy came. If you remember he actually spoke in GC and gave a really good talk. Well when he came, he was totally funny. Oh wow, everyone was laughing but we also learned a lot too off course. He had a wicked Swedish accent and poked fun IKEA being a swedish store. Hahaha. He is a very funny and powerful speaker.

I got my travel plans!!! Which for you back home means I get to call you. Here is all the info you should need from me (:

My Flights
December 06: Delta Air Lines Flight #1406 from SLC 12:00 PM to Atlanta, GA and I arrive at 5:33 PM.
Delta Air Lines Flight # 101 from Atlanta, GA 7:45 PM to Buenos Aires, Argentina and I arrive there at 7:50 AM on Dec 07.
Oh yeah, then the 14 hour bus ride from BA ARG to Mendoza...lucky me. Hahaha. I don't know exactly the calling will work with you guys but I think that I will call you at the Atlanta Airport if anything. I also don't know how to convert Georgia time to Idaho time. So you folks will have to figure that out yourself and then you can figure it out that way. I hope that is all the things you need as far as my flight plans. Less than one week!!!

Thanksgiving.
It was great! Wow! Food sucked, but what do you expect? It was still nonetheless terrible fun. Us missionaries get so creative. We all brought different things to the Thanksgiving meal. Like for myself I brought the pepper, someone else brought pie sent from home and so forth. It was pretty cool and we had fun. It wasn't horrible but it was just fun (: Our service porject included making packbacks for kids who don't have some. My job, and my station was to cut out big squares of fabric. When you get a bunch of missionaries together who eagerly do service you get A LOT done. We made 33,400 backpacks on Thanksgiving day. Crazy huh? It was super well organized and we went super fast. It was really satistfying to stop thinking about yourself on Thanksgiving day, and It's the only Thanksgiving where I truly focused the whole day on what I was gratefull for. The devotional was.....bomb. To say the least. Jeffery R. Holland. Enough said. I don't know if you knew, but he is like the Super Star Apostle for missionaries. He gives POWERFUL talks, and the one last Thanksgiving was incredible!!!!!! His whole family came too, and that was super nice of them to donate their time like that. But It was a great experience, and I beyond blessed to have seen 5 Apostles in my time here at the MTC. Elder Holland was incredible!

Mom, thanks for your blog post! That was so sweet, and I wanted to cry but not really at the same time. Hahaha, cute. So thanks Madre.

Has anyone ever read Chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel?? Wow. It's so funny because me and my district always talk about..."Wow, where has this sripture been this whole time?" or "Wow, no one told me that PMG was THIS good!" Hahaha. For some reason, the Old Testamant becomes better than Harry Potter...and best yet, it was TRUE! Ahhhhh. Something about being a missionary that gives you energy and motive to do a lot more. I love it. A lot.

Well it started to snow enormously over here in Provo. My companion from Souther Nevada can't get enough of it. I don't really like and I don't really hate it either but it does get cold, and it makes temple walks hard too, but its all good.

Thanks to Erin for sending back the SD card. I hope that you guys were able to take picture of that. Sorry if I look fat in all of them. It probably because I am. hahaha.

Ahhhhh! Less than one week! Crazy! I'm nervous obviously, like every missionary is, but then again I'm so excited to begin to teach REAL people. It's going to be fantastic. I love being a DL. I have made a lot of new friends and a ton of friends on my floor in the my class building. Right before my mission I can't remember how social I was, but one thing for sure, I'm way more social now. Not that I'm more obnoxious, just more social and what not.

Hey Marie, Ana, want a good laugh? Go read Judges 3:16-22. You are welcome.

Last night I had the oppurtunity to give my "first" blessing. An Hermana came up to me after class and wanted me to give her a blessing for comfort and what not. I of course said yes and it went super well. I loved being directed by the Spirit. I loved being able to give the blessing and being able to help someone out. That's what missionary service is about.

I kinda missed everyone at Thanksgiving, but mostly just for the newspaper tradition. But I have the rest of my life to be with you, so no worries. I'm out here to help other peoples families be together for eternity. I already have that. So, I'm not worried. (:

Well I still have time left today, so, If there is a question or two I left out, I might be able to get back on later today answer them.

Love you guys, Hope you had a great week!!!! This will be my last e-mail I think from the MTC. Next week we will replace it with a phone call.

With Love,
Elder Valle.

11-23-10
Hey Everybody! Last week went by unbelievably fast. I don't know how much I have to write about this week but here we go (:
So last Tuesday ended the streak of our record of consequitive Apostle setting devotional streak. :( I'm too selfish I guess. Hahaha. But Kevin Pearson of the Seventy came and his talk was upmost fantastic! He said some superpowerful stuff and it was great!
District leader is keeping me busy! Meetings, interviews, meetings, mail. Ag. It's all for the district but its all for the Lord too. I love it.
I was able to "Host" Earlier this week at the MTC. Which means you take missionaries out of the car and from their family. No one told me you could say goodbyes for 20 minutes outside of the car and take pictures! But it's ok. The Elder I hosted was from Boise ID, loves marching band and went to Centennial. Go figure. What's even more crazy is the next Hermana I Hosted was Hermana. Danes from Nampa, in our Stake! Crazy huh. It's good to see familiar faces and what not.
I am still reading about the life of Christ. Especially Matthew Chapter 7. WOW. It's better in Spanish to.....and I don't really know why to be honest.
So I can't remember if I told you about this or not. But on the columns of cereal, there is obviouslu the name of the cereal and so there is Cheerios etc. On top of the column of Life, someone wrote with a piece of paper, "ETERNAL". Eternal Life. It was so funny....hahaha. I love the snese of humor and how msisionaries entertain themselves in the mtc with they have. Hahaha.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!
In the MTC we don't really have Thanksgiving. Just Sack dinners but it's all good. We get to do service projects and I am actually really excited. We are also have a fireside....who's going to come?!?!?!? Haha. For my "Thanksgiving" present, here are some fantastic scriptures.
Mosiah 24:21-22
Mosiah 25:1-11 (Wow.)
DyC 46: 7

You should all go check out the LDS website. LDS.org or new. LDS.org. It's so so gorgeous. It's way cool!
So This week in sacrament meeteing I had the oppurtunity to play a musical number. I can't remember if I told you this, that I was preparing one. Well, I was and I performed for the Sacrament Meeting. It's a version on the piano of "A Poor Wayfarying Man of Grief" (Mom, you can delete this next little part before sending it out to everyone, because I brag here...haha). I think I recieved the most compliments I ever have in my life that Sunday. Everyone liked it. Zone leaders wanted to hear it two more times and then once the next day. I had 4 people ask me for the arrangment of that piece, and almost everyone asked "Who wrote that??" Yours truly. Haha, jk. It was really good, and My companion was annoyed because we kept getting stopped by people asking me to play it or say good job. That was a highlight this week in the MTC (: I wish I could record it for you!

I can finally now use the voice with my district. I remember joking about that with Melissa and the Family about using the voice on this mission....Hahahaha. But I actually did and they actually thought it was funny...sooo....hahaha. yeah. Like I said, we do a lot of silly things to try to entertain our selves in the MTC. Like my branch President said. "The MTC is like a prison, except in the MTC, you don't get visitors." hahaha.

We taught a TRC appt. this week to a guy who didn't believe in God. We went in there planning on just teaching all about God and Jesus Christ and this purpose. But when we were in there, we followed the Spirit and just talked about Joseph Smith and testified of the Restoration the whole time. By the end of the lesson he thought the figure of God and the Restoration was "logical". We taught him to pray and told him to pray. The Spirit was so strong! It was amazing. I hope we have simliar experiences like we had with Brad, in Argentina.

Ha, so, I found a scripture about American Idol. In the book of 1 John Chapter 5:21 it talks about how American Idol is bad. Haha. Sorry I'm all joking around in this letter today.

OK. So mom, about the Christmas Picture. There is No way possible to send pictures electornically. The computers are so locked down on, here. Ha. So, I took some pictures on my card and I am sending the card to Erin where she can upload to Costco.com. And you can choose (: Hopefully that works. Send the card back as soon as possible! Thanks!

So it looks like the church is making a new video or movie or something because I came out of class and there were lights and camera people in the hallways going into classroom. I probably wont be in the video but it's all good, it was a pretty cool thing to see the works of it all though.

So TWO WEEKS my friends. So send all you packag....I mean...hahaha. No but seriously, this is probably my second to last tiem e-mailing you in the MTC and I'm off. I'm pretty sure I get to call you for five mintues in the MTC before I go, and unlimited when I get to the air port. So have your phone on at all times and don't get anywhere where you can't answer it. Hahaha. I'm excited and nervous. As everything I say. Hahaha.

Well I got Dallans letter and it sounds like he is doing great. Whats funny is that I have Backstreet Boys songs stuck in my head too. Which leads me to my next item of business.

My District is starting a mormon boy band when we all get back. We we will be all cheesy and where cool but casual clothes, sing about the truth and do cheesy dance moves and tight harmonies. We will be..."The Tract-Street Boys". We will be the biggest (Mormon) Pop sensation of 2012. Watch out. hahaha.

Well Happy Thanks giving to all. I'm thankful for the oppurtunity god has given me to serve this mission and to be blessed into such a wonderful strong family who supports me the whole way. I love you guys!

Elder Valle

Jay's letter 11-16-10

"Wow. One more week down. Me and everyone else in my dsitrict agrees that this week has been the fastest one yet. I learned A LOT this week and, well, lets go in chronological order here (:

Tuesday Night Devotional. Gah, you are not going to believe me but I will say it anyways. Yes, David A. Bednar himself came. It was amazing to say the least. It was one of the bst talks I think I have ever heard in my life. Seriously! Mind Blowing! My fourth Apostle in a row! My teachers are saying that has to be a new MTC record. But most importantly I got to see and here David A. Bednar! My favorite Apostle. He talked about Doctorine, Prinicples, and Applications. How sometimes as missionaries or even members of the church we spend to much time doing the applications. Like making cookies for our home teaching families. Thats great and all but in reality, the best feast is the feast on the words of Christ. He talked about how too often we just do the application, just to operate the church. BUT, if we understood the doctorine behind it (home teaching) and we truly understood it in our hearts, then it would change our life. Enough with the cookies. Hahahaha. But anyways, if you know me well wnough, you know that he is my favorite, so I was more excited I think to hear from him than seeing any concert.

SO, here is an example.

Doctorine (is a truth): Our bodies are gifts from God.
Principle (a guideline from the doctorine): The Word of Wisdom
Application (the action from the Principle): Follow the The Word of Wisdom

So If I had an investigador who had a hard time quitting the smoke, me and my comp could come over every day and pray with him to help him and all we would be doing was an application. No matter what we do, he will probably never understand why and maybe even go back to smoking. BUT, if he understands that Our bodies are temples and gifts, he will understand in his heart and the Holy Ghost will testify of it. It willl change his life and his habits.

Dad, as the bishop I would totally reccomend teaching this to the ward. It makes a huge difference in why we do things in the Church and helps us to change our lives too. The talk was amazing. I have never realized how many times we just do the applications and never take time to point out the doctirine. Dad, I challenge you to look for the doctorine and everything you do. It's amazing. And remember, Docotrine is a simple truth.

Me and my companion have been reading under the Topical Guide all the scriptures under the Life of Christ. It's a long list, but it's amazing. We are reading it in Spanish and it has been quite the adventure. This week I have learned so much about him and his earthly ministry. I still in Jesus the Christ. Let me just say, James E. Talmage is the BOSS. It's soooo good. OH man. And it's true. Even better. Hahaha.

Wow so, thanks for the beautiful package family! I love the shirt, your funny letters and the caramel. I got it just fine and it is so wonderful. Ricola has helped a lot too. Thank You x 100. The pants are great, mom. THanks!

Oh Mom, I got a shot here at the MTC. So, I had to pay 126 Dollars. No Biggie but I sent you an insurance form, and you should be getting that in the mail soon.

I get all you dear elders. Even if you send them to the wrong box, I still get them because they figure it all out. So yeah, the best thing to do is to write questions in a dear elder and I will answer them in my e-mail like I am donig know. (:

SO. The big question about my box number. I told you guys it was box 135 now right? I swear I did. Well, I better say it now. It's now 135. (: Hope that clears everything up.

Dallan wrote me a freaking long letter and sent me a sock with the Argentine Flag on it. Its amazing.

I met a missionary from Villahermosa going to Boise. We talked and it was great!

Alma 5:15-19.

My teacher Hno. Ackerson told us a pretty cool story this week. So, the CIA came to meet with the MTC Presidency. I guess they wanted to know and were willing to probably pay to find out how we get missionaries to speak a different language so fast. They are trying to impliment a new Language Traning Program over there and know how we do it, and wanted our advice. So they told them about how we submerge our missionaries in the language all day and then they ended up giving them a copy of Preach My Gospel Chapter 7, and told them that the real reason that we learn so fast is because the Spirit helps us. Through the guidance of the Spirit and with trust and Faith in the Lord, We can all learn languages super fast. They were really impressed and now I am too with the answer they gave them. Neat story huh? I thought so.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIE. Oh I miss you! I just wanna go hang out with you. Did I hear that you are 16 now??? What? Did someone say HOT DATES? Ow Ow. Go Marie. Make sure to turn down all the weird boys....I know you will. Marie is all grown up now. Tear. Hahahahaha. Just kidding Marie, I'm your older brother and I would not be fulfilling my purpose and duty as a brother had I not made fun of you. And well, you are 16. Ana's going to get it worse when she turns that age. (:

I am loving the MTC. I love this gospel and I know that this church is the church of Christ. I can't believe I have about only three weeks left here, but it is getting really exciting.
Love you all
Elder Valle"

Payoff

So I was thinking a lot lately about how grateful I am for my kids and all the joy they bring to my life. I remember about 19 years ago after my second son was born, thinking "hey, these two boys will be on missions at the same time." I was so excited for that day to come someday in the future. I have always been excited for my boys to serve missions. I knew from my own mission that they would have joy in serving. Not just fun. Not just a good time. But joy. I could not wait for them to be out together and write each other. The only thing that has brought me more joy than my own mission is raising my kids. I think that is because in both cases, selfless full-time service for other people is the main job. And the wages are joy. So, naturally I couldn't wait for them to be out feeling the joy! And they are! And their letters make me cry. Only a little because I miss them. Mostly, though, because I am so happy for them and they are feeling the joy. Now the holidays are coming soon and my boys won't be here, but I told them they are not allowed to feel homesick during the holidays. I told them they will only have 2 Christmases in their entire life with the beautiful people they serve as missionaries and they have to cherish it now. They can always have Christmas with me. So I am grateful for this time that I always dreamed of. I am so glad they are out together making me cry with their letters. I love you, boys!



















I am grateful for my girls. I am grateful that Erin made me a grandma this year and I am having a blast watching her fall so gracefully into motherhood. She is a pro. I'm so proud of her for putting Penny first and beginning that service-joy cycle I talked about. Now, at home, the two "little girls" and I have a non-stop girl party. The boys are gone, Jose is always at a meeting and we have so much fun being best friends. I love the decisions they are making, even when they are hard-- and for being my buddies. I love you, girls!









When all of my kids were very little and I was perpetually sleep-deprived and peanut-butter smeared, I kept telling myself there would be a payoff someday even if the monotony and constant correcting and guiding were hard at the time. Well, payoff keeps happening now and I feel so rich. I am having so much fun in this stage of motherhood! Not just fun. Joy.