Family Email Week 10 - Week #4 in Santa Rosa

Sup hombries! That's not a word. Oh well! I love you all so much! I honestly have had a pretty boring week, so I'll answer some questions you guys asked and hopefully make this week sound more exciting!

Dad: Thanks for sending me those pictures of my certificate! I didn't even know that was a thing! Super cool! You asked about my Sundays: so we do some studies in the morning before church, and then go to ward council at the institute building for the college which doubles as the YSA church building, where Elder Adamson and I share less active members we have been trying to see, and fellowshipping, and the LDS club which will hopefully start up soon at the college, and lots of stuff! Church starts at 11, and it is a ward of like 50 or so people. All YSA! The boundaries for the ward go from like one end of Napa to the end of Fairfield, which I think is like an hour or more of a drive. It is very big! We only cover the fairfield area, which is still big compared to normal areas since we cover the stake YSA ward. Bishop McCaan is his name: he is a super good bishop! He really loves the members and wants to help them any way he can, he just forgets about the missionary work sometimes... Haha! He is very busy with the active members, but he is trying to help us out more, which I really appreciate. Every fast sunday our ward does a "break the fast" where everyone brings food, so yesterday, I ate a lot of food after church! So good! I love food! Too bad I am a bad cook! After church we will go and do more finding - that's our normal "missionary work," sunday's after church we do the same things that you would do on a weekday, it is just normally more effective because people are home! It hasn't really cooled down very much - it's like, high 90's right now. The fires are gone, I think, though I don't really have a lot of access to news to find out! I try and practice my portuguese whenever I can, but it's definitely not the same as being immersed in it. Which isn't the point, so it's all good! 

Actually, on that point - I was talking to Nikki Petersen (the member who sends mom pictures and stuff) and she said that her son Travis, who went to Brazil and who I have been doing language study with, was reassigned as well, and after a few weeks of not knowing what was going on they called the number on that email I got when I got my reassignment from church headquarters, and found out his visa had been sitting on someone's desk who was on vacation for 4 weeks. I'm not saying that that is my case, but she said you can call and just ask about it. If you want, you could talk to her over the phone or text, but the point is, I have actually been kind of worried about it. I didn't expect to be out here for this long, and I haven't heard a word about it! So if you want to call or something, you can! Anyways, for the strengthening families jig you're doing, I would say that the biggest, most important thing, is a family centered around the gospel! I have read so many talks and scriptures lately about how many blessings a family receives when they pray, study the scriptures, keep the sabbath day holy, hold FHE, etc. TOGETHER. Kids who grow up studying with their parents and seeing their examples in living the commandments are influenced for their whole lives. The reason that our church has such a reputation for family strength is because our families are blessed when they are living the gospel as a family unit. I hope that makes sense! I don't know a lot, but I have definitely seen how important this is. Okay! I hope that helped! Love ya, Dad!

Mom: Hi! question: can you send garments in the mail? If yes, then I would LOVE some more. Dri Lux, medium-ish. I don't know if you were planning on sending anything, but that would be sweet. Like, however many pairs you want. Alright! Thanks so much for that quote on Friday! I loved it so much! To answer a couple more questions you asked last week: My shopping trips have been... interesting! Haha! I would LOVE some help knowing some things to get. I go in and buy like, eggs and peanut butter and bread, and then I'm like "well, uh, that's good, I guess." Haha! So funny. So yeah! Meals, or lists, or whatever! My language studies have been going alright: I don't get a lot of time to study it feels like because we always have things scheduled in the morning, so I just try to study whenever I can! I unfortunately haven't been taking a lot of pictures... I don't know what pictures to take! What do you want to see? I just don't know what to take pictures of! President Wright is like the happiest man that has ever lived. He's so funny! He's like Santa of the gospel! He loves us very very much, and his wife is like an angel too, and they are just so nice! SO blessed to have them. I had an interview with President Wright, and I could really tell that he wanted the best for me. I really appreciated it! So, Elder Adamson. Well, he golfs, and hunts, and plays lacrosse, likes honey, penguin ties and stance socks, and is... kind of lazy! Haha. It's been really interesting. I have to wake him up every morning for exercise, and he sleeps through studies sometimes, and wants to take lots of naps. We haven't like fought or anything, but he doesn't like to talk and sometimes it feels like he is annoyed that I want to do stuff, but I don't know what else to do, and it's all kind of complicated! Ahem. It's going well, though. I try to serve him however I can and pray that I can be a good companion to him. It's just strange sometimes! Don't worry about it, though! It's all going well! If you and dad want to call about my visa, I have just been worried about the whole thing lately. Thanks mom! Love ya! P.S. your haircut looks way good! 

Anna and Ethan: Anna, it looks like you've been having a lot of fun lately! All of your pictures look so fun! You look older already, and it has only been like 2 months! Ethan... what the heck is that yoda picture...?

okay well I'll be on for a little bit, so if I'm missing anything you want to hear about, tell me! Love you guys! 

Love, Elder Valentine!

Group Email Week 10!

Hi everyone!

I don't actually have a lot to write this week, we do very similar things day to day. But I have a couple of cool things to share!

We have actually been being fed lately! We had a dinner almost every night this week, and at every dinner we have the opportunity to share a spiritual message with the family. Sharing so many different messages have really helped me search for applications from the scriptures, because that is my primary source for inspiration! The families here are wonderful, and I am so very glad that I can serve them! 

We also had a zone conference with president Wright about finding through members. It was super super good! I love president Wright! He talked about gaining good relationships with members so that they would want to give us referrals of their friends, and helping members understand the importance of THEIR missionary work in the ward, because they are the primary source of fellowshipping after new converts arrive! The missionaries can't do it all by themselves!

Alright. These last couple of weeks, I have been studying my favorite scripture right now; Matthew 14:31 when Christ walks on water. "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" I LOVE this story. The fact that, in Peter's time of doubt and lack of faith, Christ IMMEDIATELY caught him and bore him up is amazing to me. Christ will never let us fall. Peter had faith to start, but was scared, and doubted that he could walk on water. But Christ did not hesitate to pull him up and save him, teaching him about faith at the same time. Christ is not only our Savior who will ALWAYS pull us up when we fall, but He is the ultimate teacher! He taught peter about faith right then in the midst of his trial. He does that for all of us! Peter had so much faith to even start but was frightened by the sea around him, but Christ was there the whole time, ready to save Peter the moment he fell. In our lives, we can be easily frightened by the sea (or the world) around us, and start to turn our gaze away from the Savior, wondering how in the WORLD we can get through all of the trials we have. But Christ is waiting right in front of you to catch you when you fall. Peter made the mistake of turning away. Sometimes we make mistakes, and turn away from the Savior, but He is ALWAYS there for us. 

Mmmkay! I feel like that's everything for ya'll! Sorry there isn't more exciting stuff; I'll try harder next week. Remember that the Savior loves you, and is ALWAYS there for you! No matter what! I love my Savior, and I am so glad to know that He is always there. Have a good week, everybody! Talk to you later!

-Elder Valentine!

Photos! September 21st Photos!

Elder Valentine sent photos today! It's so great to see something from his mission!

Chair Soccer

Missionary Room with Four Missionaries. Spencer Gets Top Bunk!

Elder Christensen and Hawkins Playing for McD!

Spencer's Favorite Picture!

The Zone!

Santa Rosa Week #3 - Fam Jam

Ola minha familia! 

How are you all?? Thanks for writing me lots this week! I really really loved getting your emails! I now have lots to write today! I'm gonna write it the way I normally do, but Mom and Dad, if you want me to write individual emails, I totally will. It's just more convenient to respond to everyone on this email! 

Dad: Holy cow! That is SO COOL that you were in that leadership meeting with all of the apostles and seventies!!! You should totally tell me more about it when you get the time! I would love to hear what you learned! That is seriously SO COOL. So the wildfires have died down, I think: I don't know how much it helped, but it rained a little last week! I LOVED IT SO MUCH. It averages 100 degrees out here, which is quite hot. So the little rain storm was so nice! I don't know when it will cool down, but it's been a pretty constant heat out here. And okay. I can't like, SEE the golden gate bridge from where I am, but if you go to the bottom of the mission, you can see it. My area just barely doesn't go down to the bay, so I haven't seen it since I got here, but it's like, right there. So my teaching experiences. Alright. Um, it's actually been kind of difficult lately with lessons! I have only taught lessons on exchanges, because the YSA work is just not very effective! Basically all we do is drive around, trying to find less actives and potential investigators, which just doesn't do much. So, Elder Adamson and I have no lessons or investigators or anything. But it's all good! We try hard, and there's something here I need to do, so I'm just gonna keep working in faith and pray for assistance! Oh! Actually, a cool thing has been going on: wednesdays, we have a lunch at the institute building across from the community college that we invite nonmembers to, and we had like 5 nonmembers show up last week! I gave a devotional on the love of Christ and the spirit was super strong! So that's super cool! They come like every week and we are hoping that we can teach one or two of them! We are also doing an LDS club at the school, and we finally got the required number of sign ups for the club, so we will start doing more stuff right at the college, which has a lot of potential! Yay! I pray for you with your work and your bishop duties, so I hope that you have felt some extra blessings recently. I love you, Dad!

Mom: Hi mom! Haha so yes, I did call Kimmy at the airport. The branch president at the MTC said we could call family and friends, so after I talked to you and dad, I had a couple minutes and I called Kimmy. It was totally allowed, I promise! That's way cool that you are doing cross country! I hope it's been going well for you! Tell the drapers I said Hi and I miss them! I will pray for Sister Draper. Thanks for the talk, also! I have missed getting those from you! So for some of your questions: A typical day here consists of my hour study blocks: personal, companion, twelve week (which is new missionary training with my companion), and language, but it doesn't always go that way, because we have service assignments like 5 times a week! We help a lot of older people with yard stuff and community projects like we go to the food bank and bag donated food every Wednesday and Thursday for 2 hours, and on Saturday we did a creek cleanup where we picked up SO MUCH GARBAGE all along this creek for the morning. Then we eat lunch, normally at the apartment, go finding for a couple of hours, eat dinner, find some more, and then head back for the night. Like I said, we don't have anyone to teach, so we just try and find less actives and potentials. I heard from the other elders that Sasha is doing well and they are planning her baptism for like the 2nd week in october! So that's really cool! We live in a big apartment complex across from a little store area with a Food Max and a cigarette shoo! Haha! just down the street is a really dangerous park where, like, people die sometimes... but we don't go over there! haha! Don't worry: we are VERY safe. There are just some areas in fairfield that are pretty sketchy! Have you ever heard of Grande Circle? That's in our area. We just don't go to places like that! Haha! The roads are normally pretty busy: one of the biggest differences here is that the roads are SO windy! There isn't a straight road in like all of california it seems like! They all curve and twist and make me carsick! It's pretty funny! There are a LOT of hills around fairfield, but they are all yellow from the drought, so not very pretty. But it's cool! I don't really know how to explain it, but the houses are very... Californian? the roofs have a certain shingle style, and they are all kind of close together etc. etc. Lots of palm trees! We go work out at a little gym in our apartment complex, and we go with the elders who are like football players and know how to work out, so uh, not gonna lie, i'm getting pretty buff. Pretty sweet. I'll answer some more questions later: but i'm gonna run out of time!

Kimber: Thanks so much for writing me! I hope lincoln is feeling better! Your picture of porter is very cute, despite the fact that you don't want him to suck his thumb. :) Hows Kevin doing? Hows his work? I'd love to hear more!

Amanda: your baby is SO CUTE! I'm so glad she's healthy and doing well! I'm also very glad that Ryan is opening up to the gospel! I pray for you guys every day for him to be more open to the church. I'm glad that you could help him see the truthfulness of the book of mormon and about the spirit! I'll write more next week, but i'm just so happy for you! Keep praying and listen to the spirit as you teach!

Anna: weird is definitely a hard word. So is definitely. I hate spelling that word! Congrats on your AP test! Math and chemistry are rough? How come? What kinds of stuff are you learning? DO you study hard? and your experiences with the rough transition: it will be better. I promise. The very beginning of sophomore year kind of stinks. But pray and have faith that it will all be okay! Do the right things and the Lord will put you in the right place. He loves you! And I do too: I pray for you every night as well. Haha it was funny to hear that a boy asked for your number. It will happen more than you want it too. Haha be firm! Say no! Boys don't deserve your number, especially before your'e sixteen! Play hard to get! Tell em you have a mean big brother who will beat them up in two years! Haha! The missionary work is starting to feel pretty regular! It isn't like, uncomfortable or scary or anything to talk to people! I love it! Sometimes I think about home and I get a little homesick, but not for very long. I try to stay busy to not have that happen! Some wierd stuff: um, the elders in my apartment love to bet mcdonalds food for shooting a little rubber baseball into a blender... I stopped because I owed like 5 hamburgers, a mcflurry, and some little dessert things from taco bell. Too much. Haha! The people in the YSA are very strange... if you think about it, the YSA is for people who aren't married yet, and, not to be rude, but a lot of times people don't get married because they are kind of odd. A lot of them like video games or are just kind of socially awkward! haha! We teach this guy Thomas Day who is like a hermit to his home; he never leaves! He is kind of gross, and doesn't shave, and stuff. That's how some of the people are here! Haha! so funny. There ya go! I pray for ya and I love ya! Thanks for writing me!

Ethan: congrats on all of your awesome callings and responsibilities! It is an really cool opportunity you have to lead and be an example to others. I pray for YOU too, and I hope that you are doing well and finding time to do the good things you need to do! That's awesome that you are playing the trumpet! You'd better be pro when I get back! some similar things out here: well, I have an ipad, which is like having a phone, so that's the same, we drive, I'm attractive, the stores are the same... It's like an un-mormon-ified version of Utah! That's the big difference: people are very different! No one is super social and not a lot of people want to talk to us. But it's all good! The people who do are the people we get to teach! It's awesome! I want to write you more next week, but I gotta go: just know that I love you and pray for you, and want you to be an awesome priesthood holder and example to your friends. So, do it! 

Okay family! I love you very much! I'll talk to you next week! Keep writing! Love ya!

Love, Elder Valentine!

Santa Rosa Week #3 - Group

Hi everyone!

I have officially been out for 2 months tomorrow! How crazy is that? The time just flies by!! This week has been way good! I had a district meeting about studying and learning from my patriarchal blessing: it was so good! We talked about looking for the blessings and the challenges your blessing gives you, and trying to work towards those blessings and challenges, and then praying about it and looking for the fulfillment of the blessing. I know that's pretty not specific, but it was seriously awesome! 

I went on splits with an Elder Schaefer, and we taught 3 lessons to members about sabbath day observance. The spirit was SO strong while we taught the lessons, and I absolutely know what we taught is true! In essence, we talked about how we can make the sabbath day more holy for us, and making plans to treat the sabbath day the best we can according to our needs and desires to be close to God. So powerful! Elder Schaefer and I also found, through tracting, a lady named Rebecca whose husband passed away on 9/11, who was very receptive to our message about eternal families. How cool is that? The Lord led us, through the spirit, to a lady who needed EXACTLY what we had to share with her! I love that we receive promptings of the spirit to be able to do the Lord's work here on Earth. It was an amazing experience! Unfortunately, because it was an exchange, I won't be able to follow up on lessons, but I am sure that she will be blessed by the elders who teach her!

So in my personal studies, I have been reading in Alma, chapters like 15-30ish, about the sons of Mosiah, Alma, and Amulek. These men are amazing! They are probably my favorite examples of missionaries, besides Jesus Christ. Many times, these men were rejected, like Alma being cast out of Ammonihah, to be told by an Angel to return, where he found Amulek, and they were like THE power companionship! Or when they were in prison, and withstood the harshness of the Lamanites, eventually throwing down the prison walls and preaching repentance to the people. Or Ammon being a servant to King Lamoni, converting the entire household! Or when Ammon went to save Aaron, Muloki and Ammah from prison, leading to Aaron teaching Lamoni's father, converting HIS household, which led to the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's, who were one of the most righteous people ever, or... there are seriously so many amazing stories in Alma. These men were able to do this work because they had unending faith in Christ, and understood that they had power through Him to do an amazing work. In the face of imprisonment, rejection, and even death, these men stood firm in their knowledge of the goodness of our Savior, and their greatest desire was to share that knowledge with others. In Alma 26, Ammon is literally overcome by his joy in the successes he and his brethren had in serving God's children. He boasts of God, exclaiming that God loves His children and sent those missionaries to help Him bring those children to the truth. They are so inspiring! In our lives, it might be hard to do the right thing sometimes. It can be intimidating, or scary, or seemingly inconvenient in the moment. But it is in those moments that, if we have faith and live our lives according to the principles of the gospel, the Lord will strengthen us and bring us out of our bondages, exactly as he did to Alma the olders people in Mosiah 24. Sorry that this is all kind of jumbled up, but the point is, when we are strong and withstand our trials in faith, we WILL be strengthened and blessed from God. He loves us, and wants us to succeed! He WILL help us if we ask in faith and endure our trials with that faith. I testify that He lives, and loves us, and wants nothing more than to see us happy. We can be eternally happy, and all we have to do is listen to the teachings of our Savior, whose teachings make us happy anyway! It's like, a totally win-win situation! Anyways, I love you guys, and I pray for you all. You are all inspirations to me out here! Have a good week, and stay strong, don't give up, love the Lord, and you will be blessed! Peace out until next week!

-Elder Valentine!

Santa Rosa Week #2 - Family

Dear family,

Hello! How are ya'll? I'm so jealous that you got to peach days and the zoo and get star wars shirts! That all sounds so fun! I'm gonna answer a bunch of questions that dad asked me real quick. :)

So my companion is Elder Adamson; he is from Orem, and he is a big hunter, but with bow and arrow, not guns! He's way good! He also likes golf, sunflower seeds, and stance socks (Anna can explain the socks, hopefully)!

I have an Ipad, which is so nice! We can only get on church stuff like gospel library and lds tools, but it's super helpful to have all of the materials I need in one place! I really enjoy it! I can just turn from one scripture to another and all kinds of lessons and missionary stuff; it's very helpful!

Fairfield is SO HOT. If you look at the picture I'm gonna send, it is of our car dashboard showing 132 DEGREE WEATHER. WHAT? It's SOO HOT! Haha we were talking to this less active Mark, and when he answered the door, instead of letting us in his air conditioned house, he came outside for us to die in the sun for twenty minutes. I have never been sweatier than right then. I wanted to die. It's also dry because of the drought; Middleton, a town close by, caught on fire yesterday! Like, the whole town! It's so crazy! All of these houses and shops burned down because of how dry it is! It's so sad!

Like I said in the big email, I have taught a total of ONE lesson! Whoo hoo! I REALLY enjoyed it though; I hope that I can teach more lessons soon, because it was seriously so cool! I felt the spirit so strong with Sasha!

Luckily, we drive, so we don't have to burn all day. We cover like 5 cities because the YSA covers a whole stake, which out here in Cali, is very big! So we drive a lot! 

When I went tracting with Elder Achal, people would slam doors in our faces or not answer after looking out the window, where we could totally see them. Haha! People are so funny. But it doesn't bug me at all! We just go to the next house and try again! Most people are, like, stand offish, but it's all good! I enjoy serving. :) 

Our apartment has 4 elders; my companionship and one other companionship, Elders Christensen and Hawkins. We have the nicest apartment in the whole mission! We all sleep in this big room (they stuck me on the only top bunk, they all got beds on the ground.), and we have a big living room and a little kitchen and two bathrooms! We are very lucky! Of course, just down the street is like the most dangerous park in the mission too - very sketchy and a lot of cops every night. Good thing it's not part of my area! Haha!

Did I not send my address already? It's 2100 West Texas street number 142, Fairfield CA, 94533.

We like don't ever get fed because of YSA, so I eat a lot of quesadillas. :) actually, we bum off of other elders for dinner appointments, so a lot of members get 4 or 6 missionaries to feed sometimes! Haha!

No word on the VISA yet, but it's all good. It will get here sometime. :)

Mom: Thanks for telling me about church and everything! And dad too! I love hearing how people are doing and hearing what you guys learn to teach me! It's so awesome!

Ethan: congrats on being called as 1st councilor! That's such an awesome opportunity to serve your friends! Tell me about how it's going and how school is going too! I haven't heard too much!

Anna: Haha your letter is so funny! Cute boys; psh. Wait till you're sixteen. ;) Cool opportunity to play the piano! Have you been practicing? And tell me the name of that amazing violinist girl! And good job studying so much! I totally agree. It's a huge blessing for us to do, but people just don't understand that! 

Amanda: Tell me about your baby! How is she???

Okay, well, I love you guys so much! Have a good week! Thanks for writing me! Love ya!

Love, Elder Valentine!

Santa Rosa Week #2 - Group Email

Hi everyone!

This has been a pretty sweet week! One of the main things that we do out here in California is service projects. On Wednesday, we helped this lady move some stuff out of her house... and it was SO gross. The whole house was covered in spiderwebs and beetles and lots of fun stuff! I got bit like 4 or 5 times by spiders. Pretty sweet! We probably do two or three service assignments a week, either with members, or investigators, or the food bank, or whatever! 

Because Elder Adamson and I are over a YSA ward out here, the work is quite different. We try and find less actives or potential investigators given to us as referrals, and we just drive around all day trying to find people and hope they will even open their doors! We have found a couple of potential investigators, but they were both married, so we had to hand them over to some other elders. We are ONLY allowed to teach people who are unmarried and between the ages of 18 and 30. Haha it makes tracting not very effective! "Hi! We are missionaries, and we have a message about the gospel that can bring you eternal happiness, but we will only share it if you don't have a spouse and meet our age qualifications!" Hahaha! So we don't do that very much. :)

Although, I did get to go on an exchange with an Elder Achal, and I taught my first lesson with him! I know; "Elder Valentine, you've been out for like two weeks and you have only taught one lesson??" But like I said, the YSA work is very different. Anyway, we taught the plan of salvation to this girl Sasha, and she took it all very well, and wants to get baptized! It's so cool! I love feeling the spirit testify of truth and make people happy! It is SO gratifying as a missionary to see people happy because of the gospel. We also found this guy Willy while we were tracting, and he was interested in talking about what we believe; we found him because I had a prompting to knock on a random house! The spirit totally found him for us! 

Speaking of the spirit, that's what I have been studying recently; learning to recognize and act on the promptings of the spirit. It has been very interesting and a huge blessing for me. I wanted to know how I could always act on promptings to be doing the right thing, but something that I learned is that God (Christ) doesn't need to guide us in every action we take; He trusts us to make good decisions and do what we think is right, and as long as we are trying to follow His example, He will make sure that we are successful. This is something I have always known but not needed to apply as strongly as right now. I mean, I just want to do everything right so that I can be the best missionary! But that doesn't mean that I need to be led by the hand every step of the way. My faith, testimony, and knowledge of the gospel and the truth of what I have to share will be enough to get me going and to do good work. This applies to all of us! If you ever feel like God isn't answering all of your prayers while you are struggling, remember that the teacher is quiet during the test. Heavenly Father and Christ want us to grow, which we can only do if we ACT for ourselves! When you make good choices, especially when they are hard, you are blessed more than you can imagine. I testify of that, and that Christ loves us. He will guide us when we are trying to follow His example. 

Okay! Well, that's all I have for the week; I try not to leave important stuff out, but just let me know if there are things anyone would like to hear about. Bye everyone! The church is true! God loves us! We are blessed as the children of Heavenly Father! Don't ever forget it!

-Elder Valentine!

Airport Phone Call with Spencer -- Awesome and Tearful and Inspiring!

Note: this post is a bit out of chronological order:
On Tuesday morning, September 1st--after a long night of fretting and fearing I'd sleep through the call and miss my chance to talk to Elder Valentine--we were able to finally hear from Spencer! He called us at 8:00. Linda and I were driving to Salt Lake together. She took me to the office so I wouldn't miss his call. He called at 8:00 and talked to us until nearly 9:00. We had an entire hour with him! It was really such an amazing experience. We were both overwhelmed with the Spirit and emotion and righteous pride all through the call. Here's a few highlights of what we talked about:

• He bought himself a 500 minute phone card so he had plenty of time to talk!!
• Linda asked him if he knew any of the missionaries he was traveling with and how many. He said he didn't know them, there were 12-15 of them, and that somehow he ended up being their "travel leader" for the group! Pretty funny!
• We asked if he was the only one who didn't get his VISA and he said it was just him and one of the Sisters. Bummer for Spencer!
• We asked him about the food--it was a very funny response. He said that he had gained NINE POUNDS over the past six weeks!! He kept saying: "It's gross! My stomach is all squishy!" He said the food was better than on our cruise! Tons of cookies, chocolate milk . . .plus then sitting around in all the classes. No wonder he got fattened up!
• We asked him if he had been healthy the whole time at the MTC. Elder Valentine said that he had gotten a cold early on, but just a for a few days and then he's been great ever since. He said that reminded him that there was a sister missionary in his district that had a cough and it never went away the whole time! In every meeting it was always a pattern: 6 coughs in sets of 2. In one meeting he counted and she coughed 250 times!!
• When talking about exercise at the MTC, he said they played a lot of volleyball because there was an Elder who was going to play volleyball in college so he always wanted to play it. When he and Elder Meza (his companion) were on opposing teams they both went up to spike the ball at the same time and coming down Spencer landed on him and his knee slammed into Elder Meza's leg, injuring him severely! Elder Meza was on crutches and had an MRI and everything! At first the doctor thought Elder Meza may be delayed on leaving for his mission! Spencer carried his book bag and opened doors for him and helped him out, but also teased him about being a crippled missionary (ha ha ha!)
• We asked him about his responsibilities as a Zone Leader -- he talked about the prank that occurred on his first day as being a ZL and how he had to talk with those involved about obedience. Spencer told them that the MTC is a dedicated building just like the temple and that they were now on the Lord's time. He has a hard time understanding how any missionary would not want to be perfectly obedient and follow the rules. Spencer is just so good!
• Linda and I asked him how he's feeling about going to California. He said he's really excited! He knows that's where he is supposed to be and he's just excited to be out there doing missionary work. He even had set a goal to place his first Book of Mormon while at the airort, but we talked to him so long he probably didn't end up doing that . . . 
• When we were wrapping up he said he would like to tell us something in Portuguese. He bore his testimony and he sounded like a missionary coming HOME instead of one just going out! His pronunciation was amazing and he just sounded so good. Linda could understand everything he said! Linda couldn't remember it all now--we should have written it down sooner, but here are some things she remembers him saying in Portuguese: "I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and that he can save us from our sins. Even when things go wrong we can be happy. Heavenly Father has a plan for his children.

We had a really cool experience with the call. We knew his call would come between 6-9 AM because his flight was at 9:50. we wanted to be together when he called so we could both hear and talk with him together. Linda canceled her walking and I went into work late. Even Anna and Ethan were hoping he'd call before they went to school. Sadly that didn't happen. I came up with a plan that would ensure that me and Linda would be together at lest. I needed to be at work by 9:15 to join a meeting, so Linda drove me to work. That way we'd be in the car together for the call. We dropped Ethan off at 8 and started driving. As we got on the freeway, Spencer called! We started talking to him and listening to him (it was SO cool to hear his voice!) and not long after we got on the road, traffic came to almost a complete stop. But we didn't care! It actually made it easier to focus on the conversation since Linda didn't have to do a lot of driving and maneuvering.  

About half way through the call, Linda had the thought: "Traffic will clear  as soon as our call is done." After about 20 more minutes of bad traffic, I was starting to worry about getting to my meeting. But w were enjoying the conversation with Spencer so much! But literally, as soon as we said goodbye (and we both got very emotional!) traffic cleared up! The moment we hung up the traffic just cleared like the Red Sea and I got to work on time! What an amazing experience!

First Photos from Santa Rosa Mission!

We received one of the great blessings from his temporary assignment in the Santa Rosa Mission . . . pictures from one of the members! Linda received several texts from a member in his area. She gave us some information on how he is doing, and these great pictures!

Santa Rosa Mission Week #1 Family

Here is Spencer's family email for the first week in Santa Rosa mission:

Hi family! 

Um, I don't have a lot of specifics for the fam, but I wanted to say that I love you all! 

Amanda: CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Your baby is sooo cute! I'm so jealous that you all get to see her and I don't! How are you feeling? How's the baby?? Tell me all about it!

Mom: I hope you liked the pictures and videos! Sister Petersen is super cool! We have met with them a couple of times and they LOVE missionaries! She gave me this tie that you can only get in a gift shop on the OTHER side of the Golden Gate Bridge (which I can see from here!!!), which is outside of our mission, and it is the only place in the whole world you can get it! It's basically coveted by everyone in the mission because no one can go get it, but I got one. No big deal. Pretty sweet! How is your time off going? What kinds of stuff have you been able to do? How is the Powells baby? DID YOU GUYS INVITE THEM FOR FHE??? I was seriously inspired when I thought of that. It needs to happen!!!!! Sorry. Not trying to be pushy or anything. Just sayin. :)

Ethan and Anna: Tell me all about school! What rocks? what socks? I hope you guys have been doing a lot of study of the scriptures; I have only just started to realize how important it is for our lives. You two will be seriously blessed in every aspect of your lives if you study every day. 

Kimber and Kevin: Lincoln looks way cute in his bed! How's your family? How's Kevin's work? What's been going on for the last 2 months? 

Dad: How's your back feeling? How is, like, your life? For the whole family? I feel like I don't hear from everyone as often as I did in the MTC! If nothing exciting happens, I totally get it, but yeah. I just like to hear from you guys!

Sorry this was so late: we got done with a late lunch with some other elders and a really nice sister we call Mama because she is seriously like the mom of missionaries here. She LOVES missionaries. Also! I have an Ipad! that's cool! I can read your emails at anytime during the week, I just have to wait until monday to respond, so if you feel like sending something early I'll be able to get it!

Okay! I think that's all! I love you guys! Have a fantastic week! Ask me questions! Love ya!

Love, Elder Valentine!

Santa Rosa Mission - Week #1

Elder Valentine arrived safely in the Santa Rosa mission on Tuesday, September 1. We didn't get to hear anything from him for nearly a week! Finally we received this message from him:

Hi Everyone! 

Wow. This has been the longest week of probably my entire life. It has been crazy!

So I woke up at 3 AM last Tuesday to go to the airport, called family, etc. etc. and got to California at like 11 AM. We were picked up by the mission president- President Wright- his wife, and the AP's. We had lots of in field training and a couple of devotionals and slept in the most comfortable bed ever at a hotel and... It was all just so rushed! Unfortunately I don't have my journal with me right now, so I will try and remember the important things of the last week. My trainer's name is Elder Adamson- he likes sports and hunting, is like 6'3", and is a pretty good guy! I am in the Fairfield area of the California Santa Rosa mission, and we serve in the Rockville YSA ward. Haha oh man. The work is rough! Because we are in the YSA ward we can't teach anyone who isn't between ages 18-30 or married, which is like 1% of everyone here! So finding people to teach is a bit difficult, and the ward doesn't help the missionaries a ton because they are all, like, single adults between 18-30... haha it is just so funny to me! I love serving here! I feel like there are a lot of opportunities to improve and ways to help; I just need to find them! We taught Thomas Day, a less active guy who has this disease which makes the nerves on his body always receive pain signals, so I guess he is always in pain, but he has medication for it which gives some negative side effects like rashes and tiredness... It was really interesting to meet him, to say the least! We read from the Book of Mormon with him and asked if we could help him, but he wasn't super responsive or anything. Haha it is an interesting situation! 

Oh yeah! something super cool- we got done shopping for food (which I have NO IDEA how to do!!! Haha! Oh, man. It's gonna be rough!), and as we were putting stuff into the car this guy pulled up to us and started speaking in spanish to us, and I could totally understand what he was saying! He wanted to know where our "Mormon church" was and wanted to have some missionaries talk to him, so I was able to tell him where to go, talk about the bible for a little bit, and give him the Spanish elders number! It was super cool! I got to use my portuguese in Cali!!! 

We have a lot of service opportunities like moving people and helping at a food bank and such, and, oddly, it reminded me of a "parable" I heard from a conference talk in 1990 by Elder Lybbert. He said“An enterprising turkey gathered the flock together and, following instructions and demonstrations, taught them how to fly. All afternoon they enjoyed soaring and flying and the thrill of seeing new vistas. After the meeting, all of the turkeys walked home.” 

I thought this was cool because we can learn all we want, and have the knowledge, but what good does it all do us if we don't act? My favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon is 2 Nephi 31, which describes in great but very simple detail the doctrine of Christ. Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. How often have YOU applied these principles in your life? What does it REALLY mean to have faith? Do you partake of the Atonement daily, relieving yourself of sin and striving to be better through our Savior? Do you remember the covenants we make at baptism, outlined in Mosiah 18? Do you know what enduring to the end means? For me, enduring to the end is not just "living" life. It is overcoming the trials we all have, with faith that Christ is there for us, to improve ourselves through learning and experiencing all that we have here on Earth! We are here to progress, and become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. We can't do that if we don't act on what we know! Following the parable in Matthew 7, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them!" So I would encourage you to seek to improve yourselves based on the testimony and knowledge of the gospel you have. As you do this, and do it with a sincere desire to better yourselves, through faith, repentance, prayer, heart, might, mind, and strength, I promise you that you will see a change for the better. I promise that Christ will be there with you in every step you take. If you reach out to Him, He will do as He did for Peter in Matthew 14:31: "And IMMEDIATELY Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him." Christ will carry you. I know He will! I love our Savior, I love this gospel, and I love serving! Thanks again for supporting me in my calling as a missionary! I will talk to you all next week! 

-Elder Valentine!

Family Message - Last Night in MTC

Hi family! I love ya! This email is gonna be really short because I honestly don't have a lot to talk about before I talk to you tomorrow! But mom, I totally kind of left one of the letters you sent in the package on my food tray and it got thrown away... it wasn't from you and it wasn't from dad or his blessing, so whichever one is not that one, could you send it to me on an email? I would love it! Haha I'm sorry I lost it!

Well, I'm so excited to talk to you tomorrow! I love ya! Be expecting my call anywhere from like 6 to... sometime... I don't know how it works. I hope it's not earlier because you need to sleep, but I'll just call mom whenever I can! 

Okay! Talk to you tomorrow!!!

Love,

Elder Valentine!

Going to Cali!! - Spencer Announces His Reassignment

Here's the email Spencer sent to his friends announcing the temporary reassignment to the Santa Rosa California Mission:

Hi everyone!

If you haven't heard yet from me, I'm going to the Santa Rosa California mission for a while because my VISA hasn't gone through yet. It was hard to accept at first, but I absolutely know that the Lord made my new assignment because there are people I can help and opportunities to grow in California. I am so grateful for my opportunity to serve more people! I love the gospel and am so excited to teach it wherever the Lord sends me!

Speaking of which, I leave for California tomorrow! I am going to arrive around 11 in the morning, so I will have all day to preach to the people of Santa Rosa! I am going to try and place a Book of Mormon in the airport or on the plane and get my first contact!

So this last week has been so good! Well, one thing kind of stunk. I totally hurt Elder Meza in gym; we were playing volleyball (the lamest sport to get hurt in), and we both went up for the ball, and I landed my knee into the side of his leg, and he totally collapsed. He had to go to the doctor like three times and got an MRI, but luckily it wasn't anything super major; he just had some tissue damage and an effusion. I was worried that he wasn't going to be able to go to Portugal but he will be okay! He's been on crutches and I've had to carry is stuff around; I also make fun of him for being so slow because he hates it. :)

I had my last time at the temple for two years on Tuesday! I seriously LOVE the temple. I'm kind of bummed about it, but hey! I think missionary work is a pretty good trade off! We also had in-field orientation and an ending devotional, which were very long and boring, and we have finished our classes, and everything! I can't believe I'm leaving the MTC! I finally get to go preach the gospel!!!

I had a really cool experience while I was interviewing one of the district leaders in my zone. We were talking about how we could be better leaders, and the DL apologized for his inability to serve the calling well. I told him that he was looking at this experience all wrong! None of us are perfect, and we always judge ourselves and our abilities, especially when compared to those of others. But the thing is, we are completely different people. We have different ways of leading and showing our love for those we serve. So comparing ourselves to others is basically pointless. The only person who knows us and knows how we can truly improve is Jesus Christ. He paid the ultimate price so that we could be forgiven, and so that He could help us whenever He knows we need it. How amazing is that? One of the two most powerful beings in all eternity knows us so perfectly, and loves us so much, that He helps us in the exact best way that He can. I told the district leader that I am weak. I told him that one of the things I struggle most with is talking to people and expressing the words that I want to say, which is a big problem when the next two years are all about talking to people. I have a very real struggle with this. But I told him that through Christ, my weaknesses are swallowed up. He makes me strong. He constantly gives me the ability to do His work because I am worthy of it and have the desire to be better than I am. I could not do this work without His help. But I have His help, so I had better use it!

Anyway, it was super super cool. I was bawling like a baby because I felt the Spirit so strongly. I loved it! And I am SO excited to go serve the people in Santa Rosa. I know I am called to where the Lord needs me. His gospel is the only way we can receive salvation, and I get to go share that with people! The Book of Mormon is the very literal word of God. We can learn everything we need to know from that book. Prophets are men called of God to help Him lead His church and help us all return to our Father in Heaven. This Gospel is SO true, and I love that I am a part of sharing it. The next time I talk to you all, I'll hopefully have some sweet stories to tell about preaching! But until then, I love you all, and I'll talk to you next week! Tchau!

-Elder Valentine!