Transfer 7 Week 5

Sidenote: I don't know if any of you got to meet Chris Olea, or if he ever reads my emails (I know I have him on facbeook for sure), but he is still extremely famous is Joseph City, that's all I know!

This week I have turned into a preacher. If any of you know me, you know how passionate my rants can get. And this week was a week of rants. Sister Panoussi has been struggling with a few things at home, and when I see her with her head hung down, I get preaching. I don't know where the words come from, but they do. It's the fire I had in the MTC, when Sister Johnson and Wilson and I went off on our rant, and called each other to repentance. All of a sudden I'm just popping open scriptures and going off on analogies and hoping they're keeping up with what my brain is vomiting out. A big theme this week has been Sacrifice. 

This gospel involves so much sacrifice, the plan of salvation revolves around sacrifice. We are constantly learning to let go of this, hold on to that, give this up, because you're working towards that. 

Anyway, we went on exchanges and my Sister Training Leader was carrying the biggest rainbow umbrella, trudging down the highway with me, tracting our feet off. A chunk of my shoe fell off and you will probably receive it when I send another package home. But we had a fun time tracting, met a lot of people who weren't as happy to meet us. But the Lord promises that when we work hard, we will see blessings. Sister Panoussi says my feet might be getting bunions, but she's a weird foot fanatic, she wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. Also she agreed to let me pluck her eyebrows for the first time. (Get ready for the pain!) Hopefully I'll get to do that today. But I convinced her the way any good missionary would, through testimony, inspired questions, promised blessings- the only thing I needed was to use scriptures, but I don't think there are any about angling the arch of an eyebrow. 

This week I learned that I am not too shabby at making a drunk angry person behave themselves, even when I'm scared out of my mind. It actually reminded me of talking to Eduardo when he's having one of his crying fits. I learned that deaf-natives are even harder to communicate with than Grandma. I had to repeat things about four times, and even then, I think she just nodded her head like she understood but she really had no idea. 

"WHAT. IS. HER. ADDRESS?! ADD.RESS. ADDRESS!?" 

*nods in response* 

GEORGIA! I laughed so hard after that conversation. Sister Panoussi has the quietest tenderest mousiest little voice and seeing her try to communicate with a mostly-deaf woman was one of the best experiences I've had this week. 

We had a great lesson in Relief Society about the talk "It Was the Load". The teacher asked a question along the lines of "When have you seen the Lord take your abilities, and stretch them beyond what you thought you could do?"

Women got off on the topic of sending off missionaries. One woman said that she could not believe how much her son had changed. That she was amazed at the transformation. "The Lord gave him to me for 18 years and I tried my hardest, and then I handed him over for 2 years and He did more than I ever could."

She talked about how the little things she taught- chores, discipline, love- were taken and magnified in those two years. How the Lord had taken such small things she tried to do, and her boy came back as a man. 

I shared my thoughts as well,

"I don't think you realize that when you send us off on a mission, the biggest thing we learn is the same exact lesson. I came out not thinking I could teach, or knock doors, or talk to strangers- And the Lord has taken the best I can give, and shown me that it is through His power I am being changed. All I have learned is that I can't do any of it without Him."

I miss you all, I love you all. 

I pinch all of your toes individually. 

- Sister Valdez

Sister Panoussi's Wide eyes

my shelf on the fridge

our area is the GREEN small one

and Nathans mom sent me the best progressive pictures in the world

Transfer 7 Week 4

Not a whole lot of time to write today! Time is cut short cause we're emailing between appointments since yesterday was the temple trip.

I saw that on the 19th YL3rd ward is going to do sealings and I hope you guys go! I can't describe how much I missed the temple and how amazing it was to go back. Going there was like coming home. I was bouncing off the walls all day Sunday, stoked for the drive to the temple. We went, the five of us: Panoussi, Anderson, Heck, Bowler, and me- In a big van from some members in 3rd ward. We left around 8:15 and got there at 10:30. Spent some time giggling with Sister Huch, hugged some other sisters, and nearly lost my mind till our session at 12. I seriously can't repeat enough how much I missed being in the temple. The joy and the clarity and the peace there are unlike anything else. You don't realize how lucky you are to go more than once a year. That is the first thing I want to do when I get home. Grab me a double-double and extra crispy fries, then book it to Newport Beach temple. I'll eat in the car and afterwards we will roll around on the sand at the beach. 

We were just at a lesson with an investigator who just got back from visiting her old home in palm springs. She showed me a video of the waves at Huntington and pictures of herself on Balboa pier. Wow, way to make my heart smash in half! Anyway, I'm not trunky, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the warm humid weather and the sound of ocean waves. Plus beach hair. 

I see that September 17th is quickly approaching, which means Amanda will be at the Back to School Dance. This holds significant memories, anyone who knows me knows what I'm talkin' bout. Go dance your face off, Pants. Do it for me. 

This week Sister Panoussi was a squirting maniac:

Sunscreen all over the car

Hand Sanitizer all over the church parking lot

and soy sauce all over her arm. 

My googleable question is:

How do you know you're hypoglycemic? 

Sister Panoussi is pretty convinced that I am.

The most spiritual part of the week has to be the trip to the temple. It is such a sacred feeling there. Me and the Lord had many things to talk about and he taught me a lot. The biggest thing is that covenants are for us. I mean, no duh, right? But really, they do nothing for him, besides help him get his children back home. We so easily forget what our goal is here. We didn't come here for money, for people, for things, for positions or promotions, for pleasure- We came here to return back to our father. Things distract us. We're not very good at staying on task. But I'm working on it. The temple helps me to remember the focus. We aren't here to be in this crazy weird distracting world, we're here to grow from it, and return home to our God. We forget the real home we're homesick for.

I miss you all lots

I love you 

- Sister Valdez

Sister P.

Rain

the Best Book EVER

Transfer 7 Week 3

First thing's first, Sister Panoussi its clutzola-central. This week she:

-hit herself in the eye with the car visor

-tripped over her scripture bag

-dropped everything out of her bag in the church parking lot

-kicked herself in the knee

This girl needs to be a sitcom character. It's driving me nuts-o.

The devastating news is that unless my lactose intolerance disappears, I will not be chugging a vanilla milkshake from In N Out as planned when I get home. But maybe I'll just risk it to get the biscuit. Tiff brought me a straw from In N Out in Utah and I think I cried a little bit. I missionary-laminated it (covered it in packing tape) and put it in Mi Binder 'O' Junk. 

I went on LDS.org and I see that Amanda will be going to a youth beach party on the 13th. I insist that she attend because that is in fact where the legendary CJC crew met the boys in 4th ward and the great adventures began. But I must also insist she is not allowed to talk to boys because I will punch someone. So she can go for traditions sake, but she will wear a burkah and absolutely no flirtatious associations with anyone besides maybe Tim Francis. Have I embarrassed you enough, Pants?

I'm sad to hear that the Biebs is really a jailbird, it was a heated topic of discussion this week at our house since Sister Heck is a Biebs lover and Sister Bowler made a comment about him being sent back to Canada. Are we ten years behind on the current celebrity drama? Maybe so. But it was either converse about dumb things or sit and watch my bean soup boil. (Shout-out to mom who emailed too late about the wrong water proportions, my soup didn't turn out to bad. It was just... soupless.)

This week at church the Law of Chastity was slammed into our heads both in Sunday school and in Young Women's (yes, we snuck in). God must really want me to learn something from those lessons because this morning when we opened up our white handbook, we read again about the Law of Chastity. It's an awkward topic, but it doesn't have to be. I learned a lot just from sitting in class and raising my hand and piping up with different thoughts. Here's what I gathered,

The lie Satan tells us"

"It's Natural"

TRUE. It is natural. Great. Awesome. Congrats, Satan, you got us there. Guess what else though? We're not hear to be natural. The natural man is an enemy to God. Naturally, I want to eat nothing but cake for breakfast. Is that wise? No. The greatest gift we have (not to mention the only way we can progress) is agency. I may have ranted about this before, but what literally gives is agency is our pre-frontal cortex. It's what distinguishes us from other animals. Ours is large enough to make better decisions rather than go what instinct tells us to do. We are designed more intelligently and therefore with more agency than dogs, cats, apes, and kimono dragons. We are designed to make better decisions than what's "natural". And that's just scientifically speaking. If we're talkin doctrine, the plan of salvation, God's whole purpose for us here, is to become like him. We are here to be more than just man. So yes. It is natural. But so are monkeys and they fling poop. 

So there you go, Satan's lie untangled. It's a truth. But it's just an excuse. Anyways didn't mean to go off on that. No idea how I got there. I love you all very very much. I'm grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I think the greatest thing I'm learning is how to let things go and become better every day. Easier said than done. This morning Sister Panoussi and I were talking about how hard it is sometimes to let go of the darkness we've let settle into ourselves. I read this verse this morning:

Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light

Life is about abandoning that darkness, walking as children of light. Abstract? Maybe. True? Definitely. I'll let you think on all that nonsense I just typed out, for the next week or so.

Miss you lots,

Be good

pinch people

-Sister Valdez

Transfer 7 Week 2

Dear Everybody,

My googleable question this week is:

IS JB A CRIMINAL? TRUE OR FALSE

Okay I heard that Justin Bieber went to jail and I just need to know if that's true. It's crazy being out of touch with the annoying fake and meaningless world of celebrities. 

And I cannot say thank you enough but I will try...

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

And okay, I copied and pasted those but only because I have limited time here- but THANK YOU for all the packages and presents and cards and love! I cried as I opened things because I was not expecting to get much for my birthday, but I got so many lovely things and am still so excited to be officially and adult now. Yes, I am 20 years old and I got a shark mug, a unicorn coloring book, a spongebob stuffed animal, Black Pride stamps, and pictures of cupcakes drawn by the Mower cousins. (: And many other fun things and useful things and things that made me smile and run in circles. It was a great birthday and also a sad time because it was my last day with Sister Garcia. I was glad I could still spend my birthday with her though, and she was glad when it was finally over so she could be done with all the birthday excitement that I was exploding with. 

I am having a great time getting to know Sister Panoussi. She's sweet and a soft spoken, so I'll have to break her in a bit. But she laughs at my jokes (once I explain them), so that's all I can ask for. I know the area a lot better than I thought I did (thank goodness!) but we have still made many a U-turn this week. Sister Panoussi is the first person I've met on my mission who has actually read JM Barrie's Peter Pan and I think I screamed when I found out. She has two sisters back at home in... YOU GUESSED IT: SLC, UT. God thinks it's funny to give me these Utah girls, I think he's trying to knock the Utah-Racism out of me. I am trying to repent for all the times I've mocked Utah's citizens. 

The most spiritual experience this week was a lesson with our recently baptized member. She came back from being out of town for a few days. She had gone to visit her son in jail and give him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He declined, but she said she would send it anyways, she bore her testimony on it's truthfulness and then asked him to please pray before throwing it out. 

Anyway, the best thing this week was when she told us about her studies. 

She was sitting in her large armchair, flipping through her scriptures, excited to share what she had found. 

"This week I read a book called Enos," She flipped through pages, and stopped on Enos. She got quiet and very reverent. "This verse really touched me."

 2 And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.

 3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.

 4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

Her voice choked as she read over the words "... my soul hungered...". Tears streamed down her face, and I knew instantly why this meant so much to her. I remembered her first few lessons. Hungered is the only word for it. Earlier she had said about her son in jail, "I feel like I need to share this. Because I went without it for so long. I wandered for so long, and this is what I was looking for. I can't let others go without it." 

She told us how she knew perfectly how Enos felt. She knows what its like to have a hungry soul. She knows what it's like to kneel down and pour out your heart to the Lord. And then she relayed to us the feelings she felt when she first prayed about the Book of Mormon. 

"Peace came over me." She said, tears still falling. 

I cannot believe how much I have taken for granted the peace that the gospel brings. I can't imagine hungering for it. I can't imagine the wrestle, the hunger, the mighty prayer. Or what it must have felt like for the first time to know the truth. But this is it. And we have it. And we should have that same conviction that she has to share it. Because this is the truth. And this has blessed each of our lives with peace that sometimes we don't even realize. This is why I'm out here. Why I left the joyous chaos of home. Why I left behind the friends who I miss so dearly and cry over and pray for every night. Because this work is so worth it. Because even just one soul can bring so much joy. Both to the missionary and to the receiver. 

I am grateful to be a part of this great work. 

I miss you all,

I'm halfway home by now, 

and it will all be over way to soon.

I love you.

- Sister Valdez

The pictures are of my birthday madness

and one of Panoussi intently reading directions to the reservation.

Transfer 7 Week 1

I will organize this email into categories.

9 Months on my Mission!!!

TRANSFER NEWS:

Garcia is going to Bloomfield, my new companion will be Sister Panoussi. I probably mispelled her name. She's Sister Fackrell's daughter (trainee) so she is my niece. Her hairstyle will change your life and I can't wait to send pictures of her. She came out with Sister Garcia so she's 6 months fresh. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FACTUAL:

This week on the 24th was Pioneer day and it was celebrated by a dinner on the 25th (Friday), at which we served plates containing: a baked potato, pulled pork, homemade rolls, baked beans, and a piece of spice cake. We served 762 people in 90 minutes. 

The 26th (Saturday) we had a pancake breakfast at 7 am with our zone at the 2nd ward Bishop's house. I debated beating the pancake-eating record (20 pancakes, set by Sister Cousins). I signed their missionary book. Then we went to get ready for the parade. There were about ten floats or so. I threw one and a half bags full of candy at small children. We sang "Children Go Where I Send Thee" and "Called to Serve". After the parade we partied for approx. 4 more hours. (By partied, I mean we helped with events at the church building). There were two slip'n'slides, one bouncy house, three-legged races, and one greased pole (which I will address later). It was 100% pure fun and we ended the day 200% exhausted. 

HILARIOUS:

I forgot to tell you about what happened a little while ago. It was the week I started out by saying I was exhausted. I felt sick that week and the next day (Tuesday) after we finished up our day, I felt pretty pukey. I leaned over the trash can and dry heaved and finally got about a mouthful out then gave up and got into the shower. While getting into the shower I dropped almost every possible bottle of shampoo on my foot and thought Wow it probably sounds like I just died. But carried on. I heard Sister Anderson open the bathroom door and shout "ARE YOU OKAY SISTER VALDEZ?" I said "Uh.. Yup." and she shut the door.

What I didn't know is that this is what the other sisters heard:

Puking, gagging coughing, gasping for air,

giant commotion and tumbling,

no sound of life.

They thought I had puked and passed out in the shower. Apparently they called my name four or five times before I answered. They ran to Sister Garcia and said "I THINK SISTER VALDEZ PASSED OUT!"

ADORABLE: 

This week we have been asking different couples at dinner for their "Love Stories". The best is the past bishop who told us that when they met he had curly hair down to his shoulders and wore parachute pants and a shirt with fringe. I teased him incessantly and didn't tell Sister Garcia until after that I shamefully own a jacket with fringe on the sleeves.  

The other adorable story is that of the grease pole. Apparently the missionaries get it every year. Its tradition. So naturally the Elders tried. Failed. Tried again. Failed again. Sweat. Grunting. Tried again. Failed. They sat discouraged trying to rethink their strategy when a little tike starts scooting up the pole. A girl about three feet tall, 7 years old, started scooting up and up and up. The crowd starts to cheer. More people come. She's about halfway. Everyone cheers louder. She starts to slip and quickly the Elders assemble a small tower of people, Elder Howes, standing on top of two other Elders, pushes her the last few feet to the top and this little girl retrieves the $100 dollars on the top of the pole. Crowd goes wild. The best part? Her mother didn't see. She goes running to her mom with a handful of bills. 

SPIRITUAL:

Since Sister Garcia and I are being separated I've had time to reflect upon the two transfers we've spent together. Here are the things we've learned: Balance. There is balance in everything. You find the balance by always holding your core. Core being truth. Eternal truth. This rant makes more sense when her and I discuss it. 

Change- embrace it. We were born for change. Without change there is no growth. 

Hope- The Lord's work is impossible without it. True faith is always accompanied by it. 

Most of all, that everything comes down to one eternal and unchanging truth. The Lord loves us. 

"God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there"

-President Monson

Thank you so much for the presents and the love! I have yet to open them but I cannot wait! I love you all (:

Transfer 6 Week 6

Yes my week was amazing thanks for asking. 

First of all I'm livid that you allowed Amanda to turn 14. I'm extremely disappointed in all of you who just sat around and watched that happen. Next time please stop her. She is not allowed to get any older or I will tickle her until she is crying on the ground. 

We found a nasty spider thing that looked like a scorpion. We described it to someone and they called it a "Child of the Earth". Not sure what it was but I flushed it and thought of daddy. It was horrifying and huge and disgusting and one person told us it's really poisonous, and one told us its harmless. 

We pulled a ton of weeds this week as a district and got a lot of work done, the picture I'm sending the the last of 3 truck fulls that we pulled. 

The baptism was beyond amazing. She has a bad back, bad knees, and osteoporosis in her feet so we had to have a second man in the water to spot them. Because the man baptizing had broken his neck and is in is 80's. But the spirit was so strong and I got to talk on the Holy Ghost. 

I shared a story about the time I rode my bike to Orange and dad followed me secretly there. My eyes leaked some water as I testified that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he always wants to be watching over us. That he wants to be there to tell us to put our helmet back on, stay on the sidewalk, turn at the light. And that's why he's given us the Holy Ghost. 

After the baptism, Sister Garcia and I sang 'I Stand All Amazed'. 

She almost wasn't confirmed the next morning because she stumbled into church late! The night before was far too much excitement for her and it wore her the heck out. She came in and the 3rd Ward sisters saw her in the hall. She said "I need your help. I need to get in there in time. But I feel like I'm going to black out." They lead her into the chapel and a man helped her down the aisle to the seat where she'd be confirmed. She is an amazing. Despite how much pain she's in, every week she gets herself into church because she says "I need it. I need to be here. I can hurt at home or I can hurt in church."

We also had two less-actives who came to church who have only come once since I've been here. And yesterday we found five new investigators!

And to daddy, no I didn't rip those CDs before I sent them. I just don't have the time to sit down and burn music like that! I love you lots

I miss you all

The Lord is blessing me and blessing this area. Sister Garcia and I have started studying chapters and discussing them together and it's amazing the love I feel and the things we learn together. Glad you hear you are all having a fun summer,

but don't have too much fun without me or I'll pinch you

xoxoxo

Sister Valdez