1-23-12

Dear Family,

And I finally got your package! Oh man....okay first things first. the GRAVY is heavenly!!!

I already ate a package with my chicken and noodles. OH MAN. suuuper yummy. the pants fit like a glove on my hand. i was a little freaked out about how perfectly that actually fit.

that was amazing. RANCH. oh my word...my comp was jealous, but of course i will share. i havent made it yet though. it has to be the right time. hahaha. the candy of course was pretty amazing. i had a kit kat with a banana for breakfast. thanks for everything seriously. i was super happy to get it. you made a missionary happy this week. I wish i could tell you how greatful i was and am...but it´s hard through email. THANKS (:

this week was great. me and my comp have found lots of new OLD people to teach and bring to church. hahaha.

armando and lidia are an older couple who decided the get baptized on the third charla. they love love love the book of mormon and keep having lots of fun charlaring with us.

i dont really have a lot of time, because i want to send you guys pictures at the same time. anyways, pray for angelita. she could get baptized this week (: we are working super hard. thanks for the prayers. church was special this week. in was in a house and the rain feel super hard...it made me think that maybe thats how it was when the savior died on the cross....with storms and thunder and everything. the spirit was super strong and i almost got amotional. it also made me think of how it would hav been to go the church when it first got restored on earth, in a house with joseph smith and everything. anyways. i love you guys (: thanks for everything.

i bought new shoes, just fyi (: thanks for everything (:

1-16-12

hey guys!
i will try to send all the photos i have ready, chat with you guys and write an email all at the same time. anyways...our week was good. it felt a lot like last week. i think lately i have really devoloped a talent for pacience. the kinda of things that are happening i think would have normally frustrated me. and i am pretty pacient. i feel like i have learned a lot more of the purpose of life and accepting what happens for a reason. i must have gotten that from dad because he has always been a huge example in reverence and pacience for me. my suepr hero! anyways, this week we found some great new people. i feel like the peoploe we are finding and teaching are so different from the people we had in san juan! it´s like...they understand everything we are teaching to them, but it just doesn´t matter or it´s not a big deal, you know what i mean we found this amazing family who actually had talked to the missioanries before. we explained a lot to them abotu baptism and how it should be done and when...they understood everything. they committed to being baptized the 28th and we did everything to get them to church on sunday and they didn´t come. it is kind of a long story....anyways. so that ruined some things however this little old lady named angelita came to church. and she said she LOVED it and that she felt this peace like she had never felt before. we tried to help her recognize on sunday evening that that was the holy ghost telling her that she shoud be here in the church (and get baptized) hahaha. she is the sweetest old lady. she invited us to her garden which is super big and told us to come get food when we need some (talk about charity!) awesome lady. keep her in your prayers. she lives alone but latley she has become amazing friends of her nieghboors who are members. so, you can imagine she has a lot of contact with the church.

we are starting to make a huge weekly calendar, me and my comp of when the members are available to leave with us (trying to work better with members). we are hoping to have every member tell us when they are normally available during the week to go and visit people. hopefully when we get everyone on board, there will always be someone available. there are like half of our area who is signed for weekday from 6 - 8....haha, no one can go in the morning...one little prbblem we didn´t see coming. haha. anyways, so you can probably imagine how much we are working. the sun itself just makes you tired. you don´t have to do anything, you just lay yourself out under the sun and it sucks all the energy out of you...haha. anyways, . that´s fun (:

this morning me and my comp decided to go to a lake and have an american bbq. it didn´t really turn out as we liked but we made it work and it was super fun.

we roasted hot dogs and used this super weird ketchup we bought in centro san luis. we also skipped rocks and had to make a fire using the wood we had around us. hahaha. super fun.

anyawys. it was pretty good, but now i am just super tired...but i love it. at this time in the mission it is hard to keep up the speed and the energy that you once had being a new missionary. haha. but i am still getting up on time and being obeident. my exercises are becoming more like stretch and meditation routine....that has got to change. haha. this week is zone conference...we shall see what happens (: we are working hard and it seems like we are planting many seeds. so. you know how it goes (: haha. anyways, thanks for everythign family. photos to come (:
un abrazo,
elder jay valle.

Letters from December 5, 2011-January 9, 2012

My appologies to those who follow this blog for updates on Jay. It was a crazy holiday season and I just kept putting off posting "one more week"-ha! Anyway, here are the letters we got from Jay over the past six weeks. We had a wonderful time being able to Skype with him on Christmas day and he looked great.~Kelly

12-5-11
I got my mission credit card back (: so no worries.
This week has definitly been a good week for the test that God is giving us. Hahaha. I´m district leader of some interesting companionships. I just have been having to deal with serious problems lately. I mean, their probelms are not mine all the time, but sometimes I feel responsable not only to the mission but also the Lord, that these people keep doing missionary work. I worry and pray about them and it´s tough. It just makes me think how heavenly father feels when i disobey or make mistakes. Anyways. Crazy Stuff. Not a lot happened because my comp was actually crazy sick this week. We had to go back to the house a couple time so he could lay down or use the bathroom. He hasn´t eaten much, so we have been in the pench just waiting. haha.
We found some way amazing people this week. we found this lady named nelly who told us at a bus stop that she was looking for the trutgh because she was wayy confused about churches and stuff. anyways...we went to her house and taught her about the la restauracion and she said it made sense. she said she would pray and stuff. she was super nice. anyways...we went back to verify how the prayer went....what she felt and shat she thinks aobut Joseph Smith and stuff. She was like...yeah, i was praying and i got this way cold feeling....like it was dark....and i couldn´t talk anymore and i had to stop praying because i got scared to prayer after i felt so bad. (what?) i was soooo confused...and i had no idea what to say. either did my comp. we talked about the holy ghost and how it should feel, but obviously it wasn´t what she felt. and then i remember thats exactly what happened to jospeh smith when he was praying for the truth....boom. so we read it and she got a little teary and was like...that´s exactly how i felt! like, i couldn´t speak. We explained to her about how her answer will change her life, and doesn´t want her to get an answer. so when she feels like maybe she will have to keep fighting. I felt for sure that the idea of sharing the part of joseph smith history didn´t come from my mind, but from me and my companion just trying to figure out what God really wants her to hear. And thankfully to that we didn´t loose her. At the end of the lesson she gave us a huge plate of empanadas (SCORE!) that same day was actually her birthday so we brought her back a cake. Idk how much she will progress, but she is special so just keep her in your prayers (: anyways, that as a cool experience. I have some picture i will have to send you guys, but other than that itwas kinda a normal week (: hahaha. love you guys (:
Elder Valle

12-12-11
Hey Family.
Wow, when did my family start going to the knitting factory on the weekends? weird (: I´m glad you all had fun (: This week was good. A little frustrating..peoples agency sometimes....to not go to church or no to pray and stuff. ugh! crazy stuff. i never thought i would be so worried that people go to church and crazy stuff like that but i am.
President interviews were this week. It was a good interview, he explained a lot of cool things about how the church will grow in certain areas. He also told me some cool stuff about taking it east. I told him everything that wa s going on and the pressure that we get from getting people to progress and stuff. he told me super simply, just give it your best, god will do the rest....if it´s his will. that made me feel good. knowing that i can give it my best and accept whatever comes, because it must be the will of God. Which is the only thing I am here for really. I am glad you guys had that fireside with the to RM´s. Sounds super fun. if only all the young men knew how fun it is the baptize people...they would be preparing themselves already. it´s jsut the blast.
We had a busy wek inviting people to church. using members to get them to church, in viting in actives to pick up people to go to church (that´s a double hitter....inactives and non members at church...love it). and all sorts of phone calls and stuff. with all that we only had one investigator at church. me and my comp were so confused! someimtes, 9:30 is "early" for the people out here to do. anyways, as you can imagine, i was not really frustrated...it was just hard for me to accept god´s will you know? but i understand there are still things i need to learn. we have a baptism planned this weekend but some crazy health problems are going on with some family members...and so we are still unsure. gah. anyways, this week was really quite the hassle. we have found some new people as well. december is always a crazy month for missions. we all have to reach our end of the year goal and make sure we get it ...si o si. crazy stuff. did i tell you about that one elder that wanted to go home? well...he´s staying!!! yay! (: president is such a boss.
we found this new lady named veronica. she has two daughters and her husband died about a year ago, making her a single mom. she wants to move to the states so her family can have a better life, but obviously it´s too much money..and she doesn´t have a job. she is super receptive and loves me and my comp. way funny. i don´t think she believes in joseph smith, but thats just because she hasn´t read the bom yet...just wait. things will get real spicy when she reads the book of mormon. boom...testimony. beacuse she´s like waiting for a sign...not an answer form the Holy Ghost. man...it´s super fun helping people get a testimony. like a game. that would be a sick video game. anyways...pray for us so we can get people to church christmas eve and new years day...eek! tough stuff. i have an awesome photo this week. you guys will love it (:
love elder valle

12-19-11
Hey, I have permission to write you guys today about something very cool, that should be great. I just got a call from my zone leaders. President Avila was talking with the Area Authorites about Christmas Calling. Looks like he has permission for the Elders in all of South, South America to SKYPE their families for Christmas. Now, there are a couple rules that go along with doing this.
1) It must be the Skype service. So today, I would have to create an account, and so would you guys. I asked them if it would be okay to use the gmail one and they said no ): lame. But beggars can´t be choosers. Hahaha.
2) The call should only be, about an hour.
3) It can´t be in a members house....I will have to find an internet cafe with cameras to do it. So I will be in public instead of a members house.
4) It can´t be done Christmas Day (Sabbath Day...) and so either the 24th (Christmas Eve...I like that idea) or the 26th.

It would be nice that if Erin and Dallan want to do it, that they could sign up as well. This is kinda exciting...as you can imagine all the missionaries are way stoked. I am too. Just a little worried about the audio, just make sure to set it up. If neccisary get speakers and a microphone for the laptop so everything can work (: hahahaha. So get an account and write me back. the thing is, i would have to go download the skype thing on the computer. i really don´t have a ton of time to figure it all out. but just to let you know all this stuff so you can get it started and figured out. if you dont want to, and you just want to call, let me know. haha (:
elder valle

12-26-11
no letter because we Skyped for Christmas the day before

1-2-12
this week has been pretty great! it was a little crazy beacuse there wasn´t too much time to actually work in our area, but we have had a good time. sometimes its frustrating when people are not home...because we seriously have no control over that. so with the holidays and everything, it has been tough finding peoplein the house and actually having time to talk. anyways. we also had a bunch of meetings and little holday parties we went to that cut out so much time. right now, we have people to teach but not enough. we really have to find a lot more people to teach and lots more families if we want to baptize in the month of january. so, it was a good week but we just needed more time.

we started off having the mission christmas party. it was pretty fun. it was the first icecream bar i have had in my mission! it was so good! i forgot all about it. fudge, cookies, m and m´s, ice cream flavors. ag! it was amazing! we had lots of fun. the president dressed up like a wise man and we had santa clause there. it was pretty fun (: anyways....so we played soccer, had some weird skit game things and ate and got to talk with all the elders. i got to see my best missionary friend on the mission, elder rios. we talked forvever. it was great (: they served us cow tounge....it wasn´t that good. it was worth the try though. for the white elephant gift i got a cooking glove....like the ones you put on your hand to take hot stuff out of the oven. those don´t exist down here! someone bought one in downtown mendoza and i got it for my gift. a little exciting. i don´t cook toooo much, but you can imagine i was a little excited (: haha. anyways, i still didn´t get your package. i guess the offices fogot to bring like half of the packages down the party....as you can imagine, there were a few missionaries that were a little dissapointed. hahaha. anyways. BUT, there is acompnaionshiop who is going down the mendoza today and they said they would bring me the pacakge...and so i am not too worried. anyways.
the fiestas was pretty fun. for new years eve, we went to the zone leaders pench and actually cooked a lot and played board games. we cooked asado, pizzas, fruit salad..just lots of yummy stuff. and then we put the matresses together and did wrestling. it was a little fun, but i got dominated because like two of the elders were wrestlers before...so...chau pichu. anyways, we had fun, we had church the next morning and obviously like...hardly anyone was there. people go to bed at like 5 or six in the morning and then they have church at 930, so....it was weird. anyways, and the the actualy new years day, yesterday, we weren´t allowed to work, so we went to my pench to grab some stuff and clean it just a little bit and came back and played more board games. it was fun. it was a good new years. at midnight we got on the roof to watch all the fireworks, and it was fun. i actually ended up reflecting a ton on last year and erverything that i want to achieve this year, and the things i did achieve last year. anyways. it was fun (: i miss you guys but i hope evrythings going good! hope you guys had a blast and i´ll be seeing you this year right? hahaha (:
feliz año!
elder valle.

1-9-12
don´t feel like a rotten mother (: hahaha...whatever. i only sent pictures because we just talked the day before. anyways (:
not a lot to report this week.
me and my comp worked super super hard this week and it was hard to see the fruits. i wish i could blame it on the area and say, well this is a rich area, it´s harder to baptize, but if i think like that i will never baptize. so...talk about trial of our faith. this week will be one to remember becuase we worked so hard for the fruits of our labors and nothing showed up....so as you can imagine. we got frustrated. i feel like i don´t get mad to easily. so this week i kept my cool...but if we don´t get anyone at church next week, i might have a fit. no, just kiding (: but man....we worked super hard. we worked during the siest, we have been extra obedient but i know all of this is for my own benefit. i have been reading a lot in ether 12. it gives a lot of good guidance about going through hard stuff. i have thinking a lot about dedication. i defintily think that dedicating my self will be the best thing i can do right now. im not a bad missionary nor am i disobeident or anything...but, there are lots of little things i can fix. thats for sure. i only have a little bit of time left and i want to come back as my best self. we will see how that goes.
we found some sick families. we have found a family of eight (7 baptizable) who are super nice. they are pretty strong evangelical but they don´t got to church on sundays....which is kinda weird. anyways, so we will have to see how that charla goes...the next one (: it´s vacation time out here in argentina and so all the kids are on vacations and families are always leaving to go swim in the lakes or rivers. they don´t have like publiuc swimming pools but they do have a lake kinda near my are....it´s kinda gross, the water, but its what there is (: every one is doing their vacation thing and it´s hard to find people in house. that has been the biggest problem for us, is finding the people that we have already taught, the second time. it´s tough because a lot of people are gold but we just can´t find them! gah. whatev (: i know if we are obeident that we will be doing god´s will...and that´s all i want to do. i will try to send photos off here in a minute.
my is great (: he is new...has some good ideas. i kinda feel like he is trying to take over and show me how to do things, but you just have to run with it for a little bit and then suggest other ideas how to work. anyways, it´s good. we get along (: the area is fine and the members are amazing. thanks for everything family (: sorry, there is not a ton to write about (: love you guys!
chau,
elder valle