Some Pictures!

We got some pictures of his time so far at the MTC!!

3-12-10 letter

Hey mom! thanks for the email, sorry if lots of words are mispelled, the keyboard im using isnt very good!! So guess what! last night Elder Holland came and talked to all the elders here for the tuesday night devotional! It was amazing , the spirit was so strong, im pretty sure that all 2000+ elders cried at one time or another during his devotional! He said so many good things, and he talked with such power! my testimony grew like 200% after listening to him talk. it was absolutley amazing!! He said that we all have to convert one person no matter what, and that one person has to be ourselfs! He talked about the importance of having the gospel in your heart! and to live what we preach! he said that if we come home and go inactive he will punch us in the face haha!! he also talked about teaching the lords way, which is by the spirit, he said that this isnt burger king, we dont get it our way haha!! he also said that we must teach by authority, he said we have more authority than anyone, the president, the pope, the prime minister!! he spoke with so much power, all i can say is it was amazing! In the end of the talk he spoke how we need to be the missionaries that kids think we are, we need to be moroni, because thats who they think we are! at the end he bore his testimony, he said that he has not given up his whole life for a fairy tale, this is gods truth, we are in this forever! Everyone was Speechless after the talk! It was so inspired!

Also this week, elder holobaugh passed a kidney stone, and that was pretty much all the excitment this week! The spanish is coming along good, i can have good convos pretty easy now! its crazy how fast i am learning, but i know its only because heavenly father is helping me!!

Mom i know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ! i know that this is the true and everlasting gospel of jesus christ!! The mtc is an amazing place! It gets better almost everyday! Sure the days are long and sometimes i wanna punch my comp in the face, but its not suppose to be easy! It his making me a better person everyday!! I love all you guys!!

Well gotta go! Write me and send me goods!!

Love, Elder Stradling!!

Our First Email From Elder Stradling

Hey family!!

hey guys hows it going at home i am doing great here, i like it alot!! the spirit is very strong and everyone is happy to be here! The Spanish is coming along pretty good! i have learned so much and its only been a week!! My testimony has grown so much! and it grows more and more every day!! I sent you guys a letter sometime last week i hope you got it! So you pretty much you should all write me letters because my companion Elder crow gets way more than me, so you guys are slacking!! haha but its okay because I'm usually way busy anyways!! I have some pictures to send you all of me and my comp and my district!! Its very pretty here, but i think here its like December or January! because it has snowed like everyday i have been here! i like it alot, but i get cold sometimes and my comp calls me a wimp because he is from Utah , he lives like 10 min away!! so he is use to the cold and all! he always wants to study out side, but its always freezing and he always thinks its such a beautiful day, and I'm like freezing haha.

So guess what, somehow i managed to get an ingrown toenail during the first 3 days of my mission haha, i dk how that's possible but i guess it is! So i have a doctors appt later today at like 2:30 and we have to leave the mtc and my comp is kinda scared because he lives like way close to the doctors office where i am going but oh well he will get over it! when you see the pictures of me and my comp elder crow you will laugh because he is like way skinny and I'm like huge! it just looks funny, you will see!!

So i guess i wont be able to call you on mothers day! sorry mom!! Happy Mothers day though!! and I love you!! so i guess the next time i will be able to talk to you in in like June or whenever i leave the mtc! But i guess its really slow right now to get visas in Mexico because of the whole border bill thing that was just signed or what ever but hope fully it will speed up! I will look forward to that day!! And guess what me and my comp are the only elder in the whole mtc that are going to Oaxaca, which is crazy because there are like 2500 elders here and so yeah, its pretty rare that happens!! Si guess that means there are tons of local missionaries that serve in Oaxaca!! Well I hope you all are doing great, and if you have any questions for me just write me!! Tell Hannah I love her and miss her!! But i Miss everyone else to just as much haha

I love you all and i hope to hear from you ASAP!!

Love Elder Stradling

We woke up early on the 28th to take Elder Stradling to the airport he had a 7:30am flight. We saw many other missionaries leaving on the same flight, some families were crying others looked like they had done this a million times and acted like it was no big deal. We started out fine but when we started saying our final goodbyes and hugs, we all lost it!! Especially Mel,Rance & Cam. We didnt think we would all ball like babies...boy were we wrong! Zach even had tears running down his face,I don't know when the last time I saw that happen!! We are so proud of our Missionary!!! And we know he will be an Amazing Missionary!!