Working Hard in the Vineyard!

On dia de los reyes, some members took us our for churros and chocolate for breakfast, then we went out to their house in the campo to PICK OLIVES!!!!!!!!! I told them when I first found out that they have olive trees that I really wanted to help them pick them!!!! As you all know this is like a dream of mine!.... well I did it!!
we spent the morning picking 4 huge buckets of olives. Normally people dont pick the olives by hand like this.. but they dont have many trees, so this was the best way to do it. We did it in many different ways.. we also took big sticks and hit the top branches so that the olives would come off! it was soooo fun! it was soooo great!
afterwards, we stayed at their house in the campo to eat lunch! we had a very spanish meal of salad, cheese, pork, and chorizo!! it was sooo good! they have a special barbacue house that they cooked the meat on.. it was cooked on an open fire and was super delicious!!! it was such a wonderful day!!!!

Spain Malaga Mission Picture

Here are two pictures Valerie sent this morning of the missionaries from the Spain Malaga Mission!

Can you find Hermana Letendre.......

There always needs to be a silly one..... ;)

She may have to work on that... ;)

What a great looking bunch!!!!

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas from Ciudad Real, Spain!!!!

Thanks for all the packages, letters and cards!

It's great to hear from you all!!!!

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad!

So! What a week! I have been pretty busy. Transfers were this week, so i now have a newcompanion-- hermana carter. i was able to go to Sevilla to pick her up on wednesday! It was great! it was sooooo great to see my MTC companion hermana crowder!! it was likeseeing a friend from home! i had forgotten how close we had gotten! we had so much fun together. we even got to go onsplits, and hermana crowder and i got to go out and teach a lesson to a less active member together. it was really fun toteach with her again!!! it was great! on thursday morning i went out with my newcompanion, hermana carter. she had to do some last minute errands in sevilla, so i get togo with her. she needed to finish up some of her residency things, so we had to go to the plaza deespaña. it was soooo beautiful! google it! it was amazing! i amgoing to attach some photos to this email so that you can see! it was sooo great! around the plaza, there are tile displays ofall of the bigger cities in spain, one of which is ciudad real!!! sowe got to take our picture with it! it was great!!! It was sad to leave hermana crowder in sevilla, but on thursday afternoon, weheaded back to ciudad real!

{{Valerie wasn't able to upload pictures. Below is a photo of Plaza de Espana in Sevilla thanks to wikipedia!}}

So, we have three fechas!!! In spanish, fecha means date. WE have three investigators that have baptisms planned on certain dates!!! these dates are more like goals than fixed dates of their baptisms, but it is a really good sign! we are really excited about these three poeple. they are all such great people, and it is so great teaching them!!! The hardest thing right now is getting them to church. I have realized so much on my mission how important it is to go to church. The Sacrament is the most important thing that we do all week. The sacrament is the only ordenance that we do every single week. We dont even renew our temple covenants as frequently as our baptismal covenants... it is so interesting to think about that. I love going to church... even when it is all in spanish! haha.

I am really starting to be able to speak and understand a lot more. it si great. i dont understand everything of course, but it is getting so much better! it is great! I have realized that I depended on Hermana Sturgess a lot and I didnt talk as much as I shoul dhave when I was with her because she really took the lead... but now that I am with Hermana Carter, I now have the chance to really speak a lot. It is great! Hermana Carter has been in the mission for a little over a year. It is nice to have another companion who has been out for a while!

This Saturday we had the stake christmas party... well not stake, but district... we are not big enough here in la mancha to call it a stake! it was soooo great! each ward did some kind of a skit. our branch did something goofy, and another branch did the nativity... it was great! they even used a real baby as baby jesus!! the baby was only 1 week old!!! it was such a fun party! they had sooo much food, and there was a gigantic paella!!! it was sooo good! dad, you would LOVE to see the giant pan that this paella was cooked in.. i am going to try to send it today, but im still not sure if i can get my pictures off of my camera...

Things are going great. i am really starting to love teaching, and i love working hard. it just feels so good to work hard as a missionary. the lord really blesses you when you work hard, and you just feel great!

oh, i get to go to malaga this week for another zone conference!! wooo hhoooo!!! we got to stay with hermana sturgess for the night! it is going to be soooo fun! I cant wait!!! oh, but we have gotten some sad news here. The senior missionary couple who lives here in ciudad real, the cleggs, are going to living up in madrid for the next few months!!!!!! they are going to act as interim president of the MTC in madrid while the new president waits in the US for his visa!!! they think they are only going to be there for a month or two, but it is soooooooo sad. it is a huge loss for us here in la mancha. they are a huge support and have become like my grandparents here. i love them so much. however, we are still going to be abelt o cal them when we want to, and i hope they come back before i leave la mancha!! it seems like i should be here in ciudad real for 12 more weeks, but well see!!!

I am happy, doing welll.... i love the people here-- the missionaries, the members, and the investigators. I am really loving reading the book of mormon. read it! i didnt realize before how wonderful it is to read it from cover to cover. it is amazing. the things that we can learn are just incredible. it is sooo inspired!! ok well i have to go!

Hello! Hello!

So, transfers is this week! My companion is getting transferred to Malaga. She leaves on Wednesday, so we have a TON of things to do. we have to clean a lot to get ready for my new companion, Hermana Carter. Hermana Carter is coming from Sevilla where she has been training Hermana Crowder! I just got some interesting news today..... On Wednesday, I will be going to Sevilla to stay the night there!!!!! wow!!!!!! how exciting!!!!! I guess hermana Carter cannot leave sevilla on wednesday because she has some residency things to do there... so i get to go there for a night! that means that I get to see hermana crowder!!!! and i get to see sevilla!!!! how cool!!!!!!!! i will be taking the train to sevilla with elder white, an elder from la mancha who is going to be transferred to sevilla. then i will come back on thursday to ciudad real! how exciting!! Ill take a bunch of pictures!

This past week was great. we met a few really great investigators.

This week in church was the pri9mary presentation! it was great!! we dont have many children at all, but they did a wonderful job, and the spirit was so strong!!! it was soooooo great! we had 3 investigators at church and they LOVED it! one of them is from Cuba! how cool! she just arrived in spain about a month ago, so she is very new here... but i thinj its so interesting that she is from cuba!

Soo this week we also had a fun time at the home of a less active member, Nieves. Nieves has two children... ages 22 and 25. her daughter is 25 and is studying law! we get along great. that is the home that i am going to for christmas eve! it should be really fun!! so dont worry about me, i will be having fun! im not sure what i am doing on christmas yet, but we have a p-day so if i dont have plans i get to just hang out at home!!! thats exciting! there are some single mebers of my ward that dont ghave family here, so we are going to try to do something with them! it will be fun!

English Class in Ciudad Real!

Happy December!!

This week was good. we had a lot of great citas with members and less active members this week. We still dont have any baptisms planned, but we are still working hard, and have had some good lessons with some investigators. we have one man who would be ready to be baptized if he could come to church! his name is luis. i have told you about him before. his work schedule is going to be changing so he said he will be able to come to church starting in january!!! well wait and see what happens! he is such a great man!!!!!

This week we also got to play soccer with two of our younger investigators and a less active member!!! It ended up being really really fun! we got to play with a bunch of other people who were in the park, and we ended up getting 3 people´s phone numbers who want to come to our english classes!!! elders play soccer with investigators a lot and also play with people in the community to meet new people, but usually the hermanas dont! it was really fun to do it!!!! the less active member that came to play too used to be a professional soccer player in peru!!! he is now a soccer coach for kids here in ciudad real! it was so much fun!!

Anyways, things are going great! i miss you all!

Another Week in Ciudad Real!!

First off, thanks for sending me a ferw pictures this week! I loved that in the picture that dad sent, "I" was eating black olives!!! hahaha I eat so many olives here... mostly green though. And a cool thing is that the olives are starting to turn black on the trees now! it is cool, somtimes you can just see them walking around in the streets!!!

So I will first tell you about my thanksgiving celebrations!! yes, plural! we celebrated thanksgiving twice. I will attach pitures of both celebrations! First, last p-day, we celebrated with all of the missionaries from our district! each missionary companionship was in charge of cooking one dish and bringing it! we had such a great meal! it was like a real thanksgiving... even though we had chicken instead of turkey! (turkey is a little hard to comeby here!). Hermana Sturgess and I made an apple pie and a greenbean casserole! I thought of Meme when I was making the greenbean casserole! It turned out really great even though we had to make it in a pinch because they dont even sell things like cream of mushroom soup here!!! Along with the things we made, other elders made mashed potatoes, a sweet potato casserole, and the cleggs made chickens, stuffing, a pomagranite salad, and a soup! Oh, we even wre able to get cranberry sauce from a specialty store in Malaga!!!!!!! wow!!! it was soooooo good! we had such a great time. After the meal, we all went around and said what we are thankful for. It turned into a really spiritual experience. All of the missionaries in our district are amazing and they are all so grateful for the gospel and so grateful to be missionaries. What a great bonding experience!!

So, our second celebration was on Thanksgiving night at Presidente and Hermana Sanz´s home (president of our branch). They had never celebrated thanksgiving before, but they really made a special night for us!!! We taught the kids how to make handprint turkeys, and told them the story of the first thanksgiving! We then ate! we had little pizzas, salad, and toasts with cream cheese and salmon for appitizers!! then we had chicken and mashed potatoes for our main dish!!! it was soooo nice of them! we even had a candel lit on our dinner table! they really wanted us to feel like we were at home!!! It was so sweet! we have a great branch fmily here!!!

This week i also got to eat at my neighbor, Isabel´s home! Isabel is 91 year old woman, and our friend Myra takes care of her. They invited us over for mediodia, and we had a very spanish dish... Migas!!! Migas are kind of like stuffing, but kind of taste fried! you eat migas usually with some kind of fruit because otherwise they are very dry! you should look it up. they are quite intereting! it was so fun eating a really spanish mediodia with them! isabels son was visiting from Mardid, so he was the one who cooked with us! Isabel is an amazing woman. She lived through the rise and fall of the dicttor, Franco, and was an orphan t the age opf 15. She has seen a lot in her life, and loves it when we come over. She is extremely catholic and tries to convince us that we should pray to the virgin mary.... haha. But she is always willing to let us shre spiritual thought... she thinks the scriptures from the book of mormon re beautiful!

Things are going well here. We are still teaching and working hard. No big news on that front. We through we would have some baptismal dates set this week, but it just hasnt worked out! I heard tht my MTC companion Hna. Crowder had her first baptism in the mission!! thats so exciting for her! She is in Sevilla!.

Anyways, things are going well! I love ciudad real and the members here. Thanks for sending me the pictures and things!

Friends!

hey! check out this picture too!! a police man took it for us with his super cool camera. he has a specil lens on his camera that made the background look like that. soo cool! he was nice enough to offer to take a picture for us and email it to us!!! the gril in the middle is our friend myra. she is our neighbor. we are teaching her family, and she want be to taught, but she really doesnt have much time.... she is a great friend!

La Mancha District "Family Picture"

Hey everyone! take a look at this pic, this is a picture of my district here in La Mancha! once every transfer, we take a "family picture"! we are the only district in the mission that does it, and it is because we are more like a family here than in any other place in the mission... this is because there are so few members and so few baptisms tht we are really a tight knit group! it is great! plus we have elder and hermana clegg... they are like the parents of the family!!!! hope you like the pic! crystal, be sure to post this one!!!

Val's New Haircut!

It's not the greatest picture, but this is Hermana Letendre's new haircut!

Hola de Madrid!

Hola!

S0! things are going great here. I love being here. let me see... Since I e-mailed you last, we have had a few good days! Today, we went to the temple in the morning with all of the people from the MTC. There are about 30 missionaries here right now, which is almost double of what is usually here. So cool! While we were out today I didn't really talk to anyone about the gospel, but I made small talk with a few people. i really need to practice my spanish!!! Tomorrow and Saturday we will be going to a park to do some street contacting....so we will be able to practice a little more!

Today we got to do a little sight seeing! It was really great...we went to see the Plaza Mayor, the Palacio Real, and the Catedral Almudena. You can google these places and see where I went! It was great!! I'll send photos home soon... ( Click on the links to see the sites!)

Let's see, things are great. I am excited to go to the park tomorrow. I am still pretty tired....actually I feel more tired today than I did yesterday. Maybe the time change is really hitting me...but I'm sure I will be fine in the next couple of days. I really love Europe so much...Since being here I have realized how much I have missed it. There is just a different feeling here...like a feeling of enjoyment...of not rushing around just to get things done, like in America. I love walking around outside and seeing plazas with lots of outdoor cafes and things. I can't wait to get to my mission so that I can see what the area is like. Madrid is great, but it is just a big city...I hope that I get to serve somewhere that is a little smaller.

It seems like I will be here in the MTC in Madrid until Tuesday (9/27), then I will travel to my mission.

Take Care,

Hermana Letendre

Hermana Letendre está en España!!

Hola Amigos!

We made it to Spain. We are now in the Madrid MTC and will be here for one week (until next Tuesday). We arrived this morning at about 10am Spain time, and it is about 2pm. I am quite tired because I did not sleep much on the plane. Today we are just going to be having a little class, I think...I think we are going to et to go to sleep early tonight!

Things are going well. I am just very tired. The MTC is right on the Madrid Temple grounds. We can see the temple from our bedroom window--it is very nice. The temple here is very beautiful...

Madrid, Spain Temple (http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/madrid/)

We will definitely be able to go to the temple Thursday, but they also said that we might get to go tomorrow as well.

I am really tired right now...I am not sure what else to say. I think on Thursday we will be able to see Madrid. On Saturday we will be going out to the biggest Park in Madrid and we will be doing some contacting! Wish me luck! I hope that I can understand people. I am excited, but also a little nervous!

Take Care!

Hermana Letendre

Heading to SPAIN!

Mom & Dad received a call from Valerie on Friday night. Valerie, AKA Hermana Letendre, was very excited to inform us that she had received her Visa and was leaving for Spain on Monday!

So, Valerie left SLC today, Monday, September 19th, to Madrid, Spain with her companion, some other Hermanas and an elderly missionary couple. She is very excited to arrive and start sharing her special message with the wonderful people in Spain!

Edith "Annie" Fox -- 5/10/22-9/10/11

On 9/10/11 Valerie's Gramma Fox passed away. Valerie was able to speak briefly with Mom & Dad that evening. It was a great comfort to Mom and I'm sure to Valerie too.

This evening was Gramma's wake in Massachusetts. While we were there, we received an unexpected email from Val. She was given some extra time on the computer to write a little something for Gramma's Funeral the next day. Here is what she wrote:

I sincerely wish that I could be there with all of you to celebrate the life of Grandma Fox. SHe played such an important role in all of our lives, and I wish I could be there to give each of you a warm embrace. It is difficult for me to not be with all of you, but one thing that has brought me much comfort in being away from home during this time, is my knowledge that Grandma was ready to move on to the next phase of eternity. I continually think about the fact that Grandma used to always speak about her "invitation". What a beautiful perspective she had on what was to come; and what a wonderful depiction of her faith. She had great faith that as her time on Earth came to a close, that she would be "taken home to that God who gave {her} live." just as it says in Alma 40:11. This faith has provided such a wonderful example to me, as I prepare to leave the Missionary Training Center next week to enter the mission field. As I have been reflecting on Grandma's life over the past few days, I have realized that without ever serving as a full-time missionary, Grandma Fox has brought the Gospel into the lives of so many individuals simply by accepting the gospel herself. Especially at this time in my life, as I prepare to preach the Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ to the people of Spain, I am so grateful for Grandma's decision to accept the gospel, and pass that knowledge on to her posterity--including me.

Even thought I am comforted by the knowledge that Grandma has now entered into the rest of our Heavenly Father, I will inevitably miss hearing her stories, songs, and rhymes. I continue to marvel at the fact that Grandma seemed to remember more about her childhood at the age of 89 that I do of my childhood at the age of 25! Despite the sadness that we feel at this time, I cannot help but be excited for Grandma--for her to experience new things and new adventures in the Spirit World, where she will prepare a place for us all. I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Savior of the world, and that Grandma is truly living in peace right now.

I love you all, and I love you Grandma!

Love,

Hermana Valerie Letendre

MTC / Visa Update!

I only have 15 days left in the MTC, crazy huh? my departure date is sept. 20! we checked on our visas this week and we found out that the spanish consulate office was closed for the whole month of august...we are hoping that they come any day. however, they said that if sept. 17 comes around and we have not heard about them by then, that we should go check in with the travel office, and they will put our name in for a stateside transfer. this means that our names will go back to the 12 apostles, and they will decide where i go in the US. i will only go there until i get my visa, then they will make arrangements for me to go to spain! we'll see. i am okay with whatever happens...!!!

Take Care,

Hermana Valerie Letendre

No Visa....

Hello everyone! First off, still no word on my visa! I don't know when I will find out about it, but hopefully I will find out soon! we have been told that like much of Europe, Spain told nearly closes down in August because most people are on vacation, so since September is nearly here hopefully our visas will be arriving soon as well!

This past week has been great! My companion, Hermana Crowder, and I had an amazing lesson this week! One of our teachers, Hermano Nava has been acting as an individual named Raul for the past few weeks so that we can practice teaching. Raul has been very difficult to teach at times, but we have had some amazing experiences with him. We have learned so much about figuring out what peoples needs are, and teaching to those needs. Even though Raul is a "fake" person, we felt so much love for him and wanted him to experience the happiness that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring. IN our last lesson with Raul he committed to be baptized--what a great moment that was. I am so excited to get to Spain so that I can teach the people there.

I have to cut this post short because it is time for me to go to bed! The fire alarm just went off, so I just spent the last 25 minutes outside instead of writing this---Life at the MTC is great!! :)

I hope you all are doing well!

Take Care,

Hermana Letendre

No Word on the Visa...Still in Provo, UT

Valerie is still in Provo, UT. She is studying and waiting for her Visa. She's busy so we didn't get a blog post yet, we hope to get one in the mail later in the week. For now, I'm going to share a story that she shared with us from her e-mail we received yesterday.

this week i heard a story that you all would like. a sister in the mtc told this story about a couple in her ward. this couple was a senior couple and they put in their mission papers...they received their call to ukraine, but they didn't want to learn a new language so they declined the all and decided that they would put their papers in again in a year...so they did just that. when they got their second call, that call was also to ukraine. the couple decided that they should probably go since the lord had called them twice to that same mission...when they got to ukraine, they were assigned to a very interesting area, which included a prision...one day, they were trying to teach some individuals in the prison, but they were having a very difficult time with the language. finally they spoke loudly and asked, "does anyone speak english" one man came forward and said that he did...this man ended up being their son who had been backpacking in europe and had been missing for 7 years. this man had somehow landed himself in jail, and his parents had no idea....but because they followed the call of the lord, they were able to find him...AMAZING!!

If you have a second, Val would LOVE to hear from you! You can send her a letter in the mail, or you can go to www.dearelder.com and send her a note there.

Her address is:

Sister Valerie Letendre

MTC Mailbox #282

SPA-MAL 0921

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

Yes, I'm Still at the MTC in Provo, Utah...

Hello everyone! Greetings from Provo, Utah. Yes, I am still in Provo...Not in Spain. Our training program is 9 weeks long. I was supposed to leave for Spain on August 9th, but I still have not received my Visa! I live with three other sisters who are also going to Spain--none of us have received Visas. If we get our Visas within the next 3 weeks, we will be sent to Spain as quickly as possible. If not, we will probably have to serve the first 6 weeks of our mission somewhere in the United States before going to Spain. Although I am anxious to get to Spain, I really like the Missionary Training Center in Provo and all of the missionaries I have met here! I especially love the beautiful mountains of Provo and the delicious Chocolate Milk from the BYU Creamery!!

My schedule here at the MTC is booked from 7am - 9:30pm. It is extremely tiring, but I love it! I LOVE my companion. We are starting to really enjoy teaching together! Right now we teach lessons about the gospel of Jesus Christ to our teachers who act as investigators. When we teach, we always teach only in Spanish!!!

I have learned so much since I have been here that it is difficult to express it all in one blog post. Also, I do not have much time to write. The biggest thing that I have learned is that the only way to truly teach others in a way that allows them to tryly learn is through love. I have realized that there is no difference between getting to know someone and teaching them. In order to teach effectively, you must teach through the questions that you ask to get to know them. I hope all of this makes some sense to you. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that in teaching others about something as personal and sacred as the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is so necessary to understand the needs of every individual that I teach.

I love this work! I love serving the Lord! I hope that the next update that I have for you will be that I am leaving for Spain!

Take care everyone! I will write again soon!

Hermana Letendre

Hermana Valerie Letendre

On Monday, July 18th, Valerie was set apart as a Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by our Hartford Stake President, President Taylor. Attending this very special blessing was Mom (Kathy) , Dad (Don), Shaun, Christopher, Anneli, Bishop Johnson, Sister Johnson, Jacque Johnson, and I (Crystal).

Here are some pictures of that evening.

President Taylor, Hermana 'Valerie' Letendre, Bishop Johnson

Mom, Dad, Christopher, Hermana Valerie Letendre, Crystal, Anneli & Shaun

Valerie's friend Jacque and Valerie pointing to their missions on the Stake Center Missionary Map!

Jacque & Valerie

Jacque, Valerie & Sister Johnson