Faith, hope, charity and love...with an eye single to the glory of God

Yo trato de ser como Cristo y hacer lo que hizo El. El mismo amor que El mostro, yo quiero mostrar tambien.
Esas palabras tocaron mi corazon esta semana. Son palabras de un himno de la primaria. La cante desde niña. Esta semana pude cantarla mucho como misionera. A cada familia que visitabamos, cada persona que investiga la iglesia, pude cantarles y decir..Yo trato de ser como Cristo.
Medite mucho sobre ello. Pense, realmente que puedo hacer para ser como Cristo. Encontre  respuesta en las escrituras. Mientras estudiaba el capitulo de como desarrolar atributos de Cristo, en Preach My Gospel me di cuenta que puede ser feliz al tratar de ser como Cristo.

Queria compartir algunas cosas de mi estudio personal principalmente sobre la caridad.

As you continue to receive the Savior’s perfect love and as you demonstrate Christlike love for others, you will find that your love increases. You will experience the joy of being in the Lord’s service. The Holy Ghost will be your constant companion, guiding you in your service and in your relationships with others. You will be prepared to meet the Lord at the Judgment, when He will reward you according to your dedication to His work. Mormon taught:

“If ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--

“But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure” (Moroni 7:46–48).

Charity is a gift from God. The prophet Mormon said that we should “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love” (Moroni 7:48). As you follow this counsel and strive to do righteous works, your love for all people will increase, especially those among whom you labor. You will come to feel a sincere concern for the eternal welfare and happiness of other people. You will see them as children of God with the potential of becoming like our Heavenly Father, and you will labor in their behalf. You will avoid negative feelings such as anger, envy, lust, or covetousness. You will avoid judging others, criticizing them, or saying negative things about them. You will try to understand them and their points of view. You will be patient with them and try to help them when they are struggling or discouraged. Charity, like faith, leads to action. You will develop charity as you look for opportunities to serve others and give of yourself.


Se con todo mi corazon que al tener caridad, el amor puro de Cristo, seremos felices. Veremos a todos como nuestros hermanos. Nuestro amor por otros crecera.



LES AMO MUCHO!

Lately...

Ultimamente tambien ha sido bien alegre servir al Señor aqui en Mesa. Un dia tenemos lluvia y otro dia calorcito.

Tambien ya tenemos traslados o transfers y se nos fueron 3 hermanas a casa ya, al igual que un senior couple, los Jenkins. Les amo tanto. Terminaron su mision de 18 meses. Tan buenos ejemplos...

Tambien pudimos sentir mucho amor al ayudar el dia de ayer a una familia del barrio con su patio. Les ayudamos a mover unas rocas. El servicio es algo que siempre me ha gustado. He tambien aprendido que hay pequeños actos de servicio que puedo hacer dentro de casa y con las personas mas cercanas. Amo mucho a mi compañera, Hermana Jeppson. Ella es un ejemplo de humildad, fuerza, paciencia y mucho amor. Tiene tanto cariño y aprende muchas cosas cada vez! Me encanta ser su compi :)

Coman mucho, tomen agua, lean las escrituras...

con amor,

SISTER VALLADARES

Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors' Center

525 E Main St.

Mesa, AZ 85203

Amo sher mishionera

I love to be a missionary and share the gospel!
This last week we had many visitors at the Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors' Center and we were having fun while teaching everyone here. It's amazing to see how many people come here because they want to feel the Spirit. I love the Spirit that's here. This week we had a goal with my companion to teach as companions the whole time and have unity while teaching. We met this lovely family in the back greet of the VC, in the south area facing the temple. First we met the two girls, they were sisters and were waiting for their parents that were in the temple. After conversing with them about their friends and what they're doing to help their friends to know about the gospel, they both said they would share with their friends about mormon.org! It was so great to see them have this great desire to share this with the people they loved.
A few minutes later we met their whole family and we had an amazing time sharing the gospel with them at the new humanitarian exhibit that we have at the VC. They told us they felt so inspired and loved it. I love this exhibit too, you should come see it :)

Also this week was a little bit crazy with many things going on. I loved it! I've been working together with Elder and Sister Beckstrand and also Sister Miller, with my new assignment at the Visitors' Center as a trainer. We help the sisters fulfill their purpose proselyting at the Center. We help plan weekly training meetings and train every week. I love working with the great people over here in the mission. They are amazing examples. Two weeks ago I started working with this new assignment, we worked on the schedule for the new transfer and we had a farewell meeting. It's been a learning experience and I love it. While we were working on the schedule for the whole transfer we saw from the window we were having a huge dust storm outside so we decided to just jump out there for a second. It was fun!

Also it has been amazing learn about how the Spirit works. I can really say that's the thing I've learned the most during my mission, to recognize an listen to the Spirit...also to act towards the impressions I get. One day I was talking with this couple that were sitting in a couch, they're from Mexico and super sweet. I felt prompted to take the sister to the Christus area, and I was grateful to be obedient at that prompting. She told us how she needed Jesus Christ and just by listening her, she felt more loved and she felt comfort. I love to know that we are not alone. We are here on the earth, we walk by faith, but we have guidance. The Lord has promised us that if we are worthy we can have the Holy Ghost with us every day.

con mucho amor,
su catracha..

SISTER VALLADARES

La Caridad es el amor puro de Cristo

We love love love to serve! We believe that serving others is how we become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. Learn more about it here:
http://mormon.org/values/helping-others

This past week we had the great opportunity to help the people that work in the gardens of the Mesa temple. It felt so good to help! I love to serve and all the sisters here love it too!

Let us know how we can help you too!

Esta semana pudimos ayudar como hermanas en el Centro de Visitantes en los alrededores del templo, fue una gran oportunidad, lo hacemos cada mes o cada vez que lo necesiten! Nos encanto sacar plantas malas y ayudar en los alrededores de este hermoso templo. El servicio y amar a otros es lo que nos hace felices.

He aprendido que al servir a otros mi corazon se llena de amor y caridad hacia ellos. Se que e slo que Jesucristo hizo y quiero seguir su ejemplo siempre.

SISTER VALLADARES

ps. Que puedo hacer para ayudarles? :)

Cada semana cosas nuevas!

Every week there's new things that I want to share with you. I hope I can update this blog frequently so you can all know that being a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the best thing ever!
This last week felt a lot how my Heavenly Father loves me and protects me. I found out my grandmother passed away, my family in Honduras were gathered together to remember the great example my grandmother Elida was. She was a strong woman, with an amazing heart.
I'm grateful to have a knowledge about the Plan of Salvation (to learn more click here http://mormon.org/beliefs/plan-of-salvation). I know that I can be with my family together forever. Juntitos para siempre! por la eternidad! I know that God wants us to be happy, and this week my testimony about this plan of happiness became stronger and stronger. I know that I will see her again and I'm happy that she's happy, with her family.
We present a video called God's Plan for His Family at the Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors' Center, it's a powerful video that shows us that we can be happy in this life. I hope that you can come see this video at the vc! You can also visit other Visitors' Centers and Historic sites and watch this great presentation.

The CHRISTUS statue at the Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors' Center

This past few weeks we've also seen many miracles with my companion Hermana Jeppson! We are always praying to find and teach the people that prepared to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This week two great members of the Church came to visit us to the Visitors' Center and brought some friends! We taught them about the Book of Mormon and how we can receive answers from God and they all accepted to learn more from us and local missionaries! It's been great to teach them because I know that this message brings happiness to my life.
We also had a delicious breakfast with our district and our stake president for the 4th of July.

Hermosa Vista district 

We got a new mission president this month and they are also great! I love them!

Tambien queria decirle a mis visitantes que hablan español, que  estre poniendo posts aqui en español tambien. Me encanta comaprtir con todos lo que pasa en la vida d euna misionera.

Hurrah for Israel!!

SISTER VALLADARES

Work work work!
Being a missionary and having the blessing to represent Jesus Christ has been the best experience I've ever had. I really feel this is the place where i needed to come. In the Arizona Mesa Mission we say this quote everyday when we study with our companions and prepare for the day or when we have a meeting. I love this quote. We can find it in Preach My Gospel pg. 121.

"I have often said that one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works she will get the Spirit, if she gets the Spirit, she will teach by the Spirit, and if she teaches by the Spirit she will touch the hearts of the people and she will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work! There is no satisfactory substitute especially in missionary work! "

I love this quote so much! It has been a reminder and great help during my mission. Every time i recited that quote with mu companion or with other missionaries I felt so much power and I remembered why I was here.
That's what my mission has been about, working hard. Loving the work. I want to give my very best to the Lord, I have many things to be grateful for.

Every experience has been life changing for me. I've learned so much from each one of my companions, like Christlike attributes. We've also had fun moments I will never forget.

Here are some pictures i want to share with you. I love them so much.

Hermana Sordes from France

Hermana Cottrell from Utah

Hermana Larson from Texas

Hermana Longshore from Washington

Sister Homer from Oregon

Hermana Castillo from California

Hermana Jeppson from Utah

WORK, WORK, WORK!

MTC experience...back in Sept 2012

Hola!
Im so happy to be a missionary. It's a blessing! I was iust thinking lately that i have so many things to share with you, that i don't know where to start.
First, i've been out (i've been a missionary) for 10 months now, so many things had happened during this 10 months: miracles, experiences, trials, great moments, funny stories...and more miracles! It's been a blessing to serve a mission here in the arizona mesa temple visitors' center.
I think i want to share a glimpse of what has happened during this time as a servant of the Lord.
I said bye to my linda familia in the beautiful small country of Honduras. My family really helped me to prepare to serve a mission. I can really say i come from goodly parents. After saying bye and traveling far away from casa, I said hi to a new country and new people. The first thing we do as missionaries is receive a brief training on how to be a better missionary. Some missionaries even learn a new language in a few weeks!

I landed in Salt Lake City and then entered the Missionary Training Center(MTC) in Provo, Utah. There i learned with millions of missionaries from all over the world, how we were going to share with others the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It was an amazing experience i will never forget. I was there for 4 lovely weeks, 3 for normal training and an extra week for Visitors' Center training. I received great classes and workshops from amazing teachers, returned missionaries. I met many people that came from other parts of the world, because all the international missionaries are put together, we learned so much from each other and we had fun!

For those 4 amazing weeks I learned how to love different cultures and people. I know that we are all brothers and sisters, i know that we are all children of God, our Heavenly Father, He created us in His own image and loves us all equally.
My companion for the first 3 weeks was Sister Kim from Korea, she was an amazing companion! She was a great example for me and i learned from her exact obedience and diligence. I also learned to love asian food :)
After 3 weeks with her and other missionaries from all over the world, i started my Visitors' Center training with the amazing experience of training with other sisters that were serving at Visitors' Centers around the world. i also had to chance to go on exchanges with sisters at the visitors' center in Temple Square at SLC.

I got trained on how to discern people's needs and help them feel of Jesus Christ love. I also learned how to direct tours and teach people around the world through technology like phone, chat and many other things.
One experience i will never forget: we were on chat in mormon.org with my companion. When people go to mormon.org they can learn more about the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints chatting with us, the missionaries at the visitors' centers around the world. We were talking with this man from Peru (name not mentioned). I shared with him why i was serving a mission and i testified about Jesus Christ. He told us he wanted to learn more. He became my first investigator through online proselyting. He said that what helped him to make the decision to learn more from us was reading about our great testimony that we have of Jesus Christ.
In the Visitors' Center training they tell us how they choose sisters that serve at Visitors' Centers. They can see the deep testimony that we have about the atonement of Jesus Christ through our pictures, and assign us to serve at a vc. I know that i'm called by a prophet of God to declare the gospel.
A really cool experience i had at this time in my mission was being together with one of my best friends, Sister Katherine Flores from my beautiful country, Honduras. We met each other a couple of years before deciding to serve a mission. We started together and we are both serving in amazing missions. It was amazing to be with her and learn from her great example. She's serving a mission in the utah slc temple square mission.

With love,
Sister Valladares