September 9, 2014 letter: "Leavin' on a Jet Plane!"

Uh-oh... ingrown toenail! Soaking my foot!

At the doctor's office... I couldn't keep from watching the whole disgusting thing!

My "creds"... yeah...

Me and my friend, Hermana Cokerham, from Texas!

An awesome day going to the temple with my awesome district!

Here I am. Me. Today.

My companion gave me a head cold, it was a tough week! Here I am with my friend, Hermana Hoggan.

So this week I obviously got my flight plans and that was super exciting! I am so excited and nervous at the same time! I can’t wait to go! When we first got our flight plans I was kind of wiggin’ out a little because it happened so fast! I just had a solid pit in my stomach and I just felt so scared.

Today we went to the temple and we did a session and it was so great! It was my last time going through the temple probably for a couple of months because we aren’t allowed to go on our mission unless a person invites us to go with them, but anyways, when I got out of the temple I just felt so ready to go and not scared or nervous anymore! I can’t wait to go and meet all of the great people and actually get to work.

My language is coming along better than I thought! I was able to go to one of our lessons and only bring my Spanish scriptures! So that was exciting! I know I had a lot of help from the Lord while I was talking. And my companion helped me out with some words. We are both fine now. So the rest of my week has been great! I am really pulling for a general authority to come and speak at devotional today because it’s our last one! All of the talks have been really good though!

So about all of the letters I sent you all (I hope they all got to you, if not they will soon!) So anyway, I wanted to write all of the kids before they all went to school and before I left for Mexico because letters will take a lot longer to send out from there! And also the little thankful letters were not originally going to be sent to you all. I was having a bad week so I decided to write what I was thankful for and it ended up being all of you! So I wrote them all and decided to send them all to you:)

So I decided that our family just had the worst luck with feet. This week I had to go get SURGERY! Okay, well, they called it that, but it wasn’t at all that fancy. I just had an ingrown toenail and he had to cut it out and it was soooo gross. I know because I watched the whole thing. It was like a bad car accident I just couldn’t look away. Sorry, gross I know but it happened! Now I just have to treat it every day and night then I go back to Orem on Thursday for my checkup.

So funny story of the week: So after I was at the doctor for my toe we had to wait for the car to come pick up me and my companion. We were just sitting there talking and this Hispanic guy came up to us that was working outside on the lawn and stated talking to us in Spanish. I think he had a lisp or something because we could barely understand any words he was saying and my companion knows Spanish really well and she could barely understand him. Well anyways the car came and we had to go so I got up to shake his hand and he started pulling me in for a hug and I tried to lock my arm but then he somehow got around it and gave me a hug and a big wet one on my cheek. I was so awkward about it. It was probably the weirdest looking hug in the history of the planet. Just imagine a cactus trying to pull you in for a hug and you trying to get away from it, but then you’re stuck and are forced to hug. Yeah that’s about how it looked. Then I felt like a sinner when we got into the car and I just kept wiping off my cheek, ha-ha, but I know that’s just their culture and they do that! I told my teachers about it and they both just started laughing at me and telling me about their stories with girls trying to hug them. So I'm just going to have to try harder next time to stay away or learn how to say “I can't hug you, touch you, so handshake?" or something like that!

So I met some elders going to Pocatello on their missions! They are pretty cool; they left today! So keep an eye out for elder Hurtado. He’s a spunky little one! I love you all and can’t wait to call you on Sunday/ Monday. Just please please all keep your phones handy both of those times just in case! Jacob; talk to mom and see when exactly it will be that I can call you! It will probably be Monday sometime so just keep your phone ready! Love you all -- have a great week! The church is true! 

I am so thankful to be a part of our family! I know that we were meant to be a family and this is part of the lord’s plan for us. I know that with faith in Christ and the lord all things are possible! I love this church and I love this gospel and I can’t wait to share it with others! Love you all and have the best week ever! 

-Hermana Velasquez