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Elder Karthigeyan
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| "The Nasty Freaking Sardine" |
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| Indian Curry |
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| "Today, On the Way to Email" |
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| "Tracting with Elder K" |
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
July 4th Pictures
Reply to "New Bishopric and More" Email from Dad
Hey dad! It will be amazing to come back home and see the changes in the ward and the neighborhood. Brother Gibby is such an awesome guy! I think I might have already said this, but I really love hearing about your experiences as a bishop and in work (since it's completely church oriented), because I get to hear more stories of how inspired you are! If (I won't, but if) I were to ever doubt the power of revelation from god, I just have to look at you in your callings and see how God works through His servants. You are an amazing bishop and father! I look up to you so much and think about how you would do things if you were in my shoes, and it helps me make good decisions because I know that you would make them too. You're awesome dad! I love you so much! Stop crying! Because I already am!
*tear wipe* anyway, yes, year mark is coming up, and tomorrow is the year mark to go home! Happy or sad - well, it's definitely both, some times more for one side or the other! I am really excited about this year because it's a chance for me to put myself to work even more than I did this year - I feel like I have a good amount of mission experience, and I speak the language well, and I am gaining more faith as I see people take big steps in their lives to follow Christ. So for these reasons I am really excited for the next year! For the happy side, I see and hear things that I will have fun doing or watching when I get home, and I am excited to see all of the changes back home, and to drink real milk! On the sad side, I know how special this time is serving the Lord and how much we are blessed for it, and not that I will lose those blessings after, but I won't get to experience the same types of feelings that I had teaching and baptizing! So, that's about how I feel about that. :)
That Cruise! I didn't realize that it was exactly a year ago! I remember it so well that it could have been like two weeks ago! Haha remember when we get mad at each other playing rook or whatever it was.... Funny moment! Free food for days! Hundreds of ice cream cones! Fried alligator and chilled strawberry soup! Risque (riskay? Risckay? what?) indian magicians! I loved that cruise.
The package was soooo good! I loved everything in it so much! I haven't read everything that was written but I did flip through the birthday pictures - that was so fun to do! Flashbacks to little kid life! Haha you said you didn't recognize any of my friends when I was little. Hayden Maxfield, Taylor Park, TJ Hammond, Elsie Colman (a girl I liked in elementary school) Cameron something who I don't even remember how I met, Bronson Cooper, etc. We were all so little! And the recipes! So good! I am way impressed that the recipe book had portuguese on it. So good! And the ties! Haha holy moly so good! The white one and the way colorful one are super funky, and I am going to enjoy wearing them. :) And the other two are SO nice. The orangish one is just sweet and the blue one is super classy looking. I am way excited! And the balloons made me laugh, and the little cakes are fun - i'll sing happy birthday to myself tonight with them! I loved everything that was in that package! I already said a couple of things to mom so you can ask her if you want to hear more.
Mom is getting a surgery???????? What? When? Why? I had no idea! Could you tell me in the next 45 minutes? I'll pray lots for her too!
Thanks so much for telling me about Ethan! He really is growing up - I think sometimes I thought about him too much from a sort of "my older age" standpoint, without realizing that I was a dork when I was little, but that as I grew up I changed like how ethan is doing right now. It makes me so happy to hear the awesome things that ethan is doing! He is growing up to be seriously amazing. I'm proud of him too!
Haha have fun catching nothing today! Happy fourth of July you bums! I am SO JEALOUS and sad that I get back 1 day AFTER because I LOVE fourth of July food and activites SO much.
Happy almost kind of HUMP DAY! I love you so much dad!
Love, Elder Valentine!
Spencer,
Today I had a significant change in my bishopric. I think I told you that Brother Crockett and his family are moving to Washington DC for a year. Because of that I had to reorganize my bishopric. So today it happened: Brother Gibby is now my 2nd counselor, with Blake Burton my Executive Secretary and Ryan Van Brocklin the ward clerk. This was sustained in sacrament meeting and they were set apart during Sunday school. I am so excited to serve with these good brethren! Of course I will miss Bro Crockett, but I know this change is right. Having Brother Gibby as my 2nd counselor makes for a pretty small change over all, since he was already doing so much for me.
So when you read this you will be on the eve of your 1 year mark until you come home. Isn’t that crazy? Yes, I know that officially it is July 22nd that is your one year OUT point, but since your release is already set for July 5, 2017, that means that on Tuesday you will have a year until you come home. Does that make you happy or sad? Maybe a bit of both? I’m sure you are loving your mission and don’t want to think about coming home, but you also love your life back here and your family, and there’s nothing wrong with that either! Of course we love that you’re out serving the Lord…but we also miss you and will be happy when you return! So it’s all good!
Tuesday is also one year since we went on our cruise! That was so much fun. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. How time flies! I’ll never forget you and Anna singing Karoake or you dancing up on the top deck and all the girls watching you, or the great food we ate, or riding those bikes around Catalina, or going to the San Diego temple with you, and on and on. It was a wonderful trip!
Did you get your package? I sure hope so!
The big event of this week is Mom’s surgery. I focused my fasting today on the surgery and her recovery. She is a bit nervous about it, which is totally normal. Please include her in you prayers. We will be going in on Wednesday morning, so keep that in mind Wednesday evening, so you are thinking about her and praying for her. Kevin and I will give her a blessing on Tuesday night. I know that your righteous, faithful, and loving prayers will make a big difference.
I need to say a bit more about Ethan. Scout camp was Monday to Saturday. I went up Monday through Wednesday. I am so glad that I went. The best part was being able to watch Ethan in action. He is the Sr Patrol Leader, so he was really in charge with the boys. He was so dependable the entire time. He had the boys whipped into shape! They got the highest score in the whole camp on the inspections, all because of Ethan. The won the top troop award for the week! Each boy got six merit badges, which is amazing. Also, there was a new kid in the ward that came, and he told me afterward how grateful he was to Ethan for making him feel welcome. Ethan was awesome! Your brother is really growing up. Not only is he fun and funny to be around, he is become more responsible and a good leader. He also has a powerful testimony. He bore it in church today and did a great job. He sure loves you and looks up to you. The highest compliment I can pay him is to say: “you are just like Spencer” when you do that…Ethan just beams with happiness when I compare him to you. I’m proud of your little brother!
Well, it’s getting late here, so I guess I’ll go. Ethan and I have to set up flags early in the morning. We’ll probably go to breakfast, then I think I’ll tke Ethan and Anna fishing. In other words, we’ll sit there and eat snacks and talk while our line sits out in the water with fishes swimming all around our hooks and bait…the fish will laugh our ineptitude as fishermen while seven year old girls catch loads of fish just down the shore from us. I will eat too much junk, we’ll laugh at dumb jokes, sing some dumb songs, put our pulls away, throw away our bait, not catch a single fish, and have a great time. That’s the plan!!
Have a great week, Spence! Here’s for counting DOWN now toward your return instead of counting UP to how long you have been out!! But don’t wish it away too quick. I love having you out there. I love talking about my missionary son and using you in lessons with the Priests. The Church is true, the Book of Mormon is true, Jesus Christ atoned for our sins…it is ALL true!! Your Mom and Dad love this Gospel and love that YOU love this Gospel, so of course you are doing exactly the right thing right now in your life. We couldn’t be more proud of you or more happy for you!
Happy American 4th of July!
Love,
Dad
God Bless America - July 4 Group
Dearest people who read my letters every seven days,
HAPPY JULY 4TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wanted to put on a bunch of patriotic emoticons but my computer doesn't have the capability. :(
(Insert emoticons of fireworks balloons, hot dogs, Merica, etc.)
So here in Portugal, it seems like they have a holiday about every other week. I guess it's just a party people! This last week was the Festa de São João (Saint John Party) And they eat grilled sardines to celebrate. #random. So I ate a grilled sardine. It is like a 0.6 on a scale of 1-American 4th of July food, but I'm not complaining. :) At least I ate it! Other missionaries didn't even try, and I feel like you need to try everything you can that is special to the place you serve for good memories and once in a lifetime experiences, even if they aren't enjoyable. :)
Ricardo is progressing well, but he is going to be out of town this whole next week, so we'll see what happens with his baptism!
Elder Karthigeyan is very tired always #GREENIE But he is doing very well with the language, and ti is just so fun to be with a guy from india! The whole world is like "Wow you're from india?!" and then they try to say his name - "Elder Kha... ker... Karthuh... kerfde.... Kartshi...." and then they give up. Good times!
This is not a very meaty letter, for which I apologize, but the work is going really well here. I am loving Gaia! And the mission! I read Alma 5 this week, which is an amazing chapter all around, but there is a verse that really stuck out this time -
26 "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"
Dear friends and family, I have the opportunity to see and feel the happiness that the gospel brings in the lives of dozens of people, and I can tell you, I feel this goodness daily! And that's the goal - to have the gospel be a part of life, and to see the blessings and feel that "change of heart" always. President Uchtdorf has a super good talk I think called "It Works!" which talks about this, but IN ESSENCE I invite you all to look at your testimony, and how the gospel has been a joy for you in the past, and ask yourself "Can I feel so now?" God will help you find the peace and happiness that comes from living the gospel. I know that is true because I know that God is real, and that He loves you!
Have the best week of your lives!
EMOTICONS STARTED WORKING
🌭🌭🌭🍔🍟🍻(obviously cream soda) 🗽🗽🎉🎉🎊🎊🎆🎆🎆
so that's 🆒
- Elder Valentine!
Living the Indian Dream - June 27 Group
Dear Everyone,
So this week was transfer week, and I thought I was going to stay with Elder Kiki since we had only been together for one transfer, but alas! He left me! I stayed here in Gaia, now starting my 3rd transfer here, and I am training again! Whoopdeedoo! Hahahahaha oooooooh no. :) My new companions name is Elder Karthigeyan (say cardigan with an extra ey in the middle) and he is from INDIA! He is the first missionary from India to serve a mission in a language other than English in the history of forever, so that's cool. I'm making history by training the first of many Indian missionaries around the world! My missionay posterity will be full of Indians mwuahaha! He is very excited to serve here! He speaks a total of 13 LANGUAGES and he used to be a professional soccer player for the National Indian team but he broke his knee in a motorcycle accident so he can't play anymore. :( We have eaten Indian curry stuff with our hands because that's how they do it, and I am totally a pro. He also has 342 ties. He's pretty cool.
I may or may not have left my camera at home. Sorry you can't see any indian pictures today! :)
We are also starting to teach a guy named Ricardo, who is the son of Fatima, a recent convert in our ward who is helping the missionaries baptize the whole world! He has a baptismal date marked for the 16 of July already, and we are so excited! He has as lot of work to do to leave behing the "natural man" parts of his life, because he is a partyer, but we have lots of faith that he will make big changes in his life for the best!
I have come to realize the term "natural man" in a very different way here on the mission. this is the scripture in Mosiah 3:19 -
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
God expects us to change, and leave behind everything that is out of line with God's will. I have seen how blessed I have been by putting a side a lot of worldly habits, attitudes, interests, whatever - and how close to the Lord I have felt. But I couldn't have done it alone - only through Christ's atonement can we acheive that level of perfection. I have seen it work in myself and in other people here on my mission, and I am so grateful that God asks us to do partake of the atonement and leave behind the natural man! Being a latter-day saint is so awesome! I feel so much happiness all of the time that other people just can't feel without the gospel and commandments like this one to help us reach perfection. I love the gospel! Have a great week everone!
- Elder Valentine!
Baptism of Joao Paulo - June 20
Dear Everyone,
João got baptized this week! It was so good! He is so grateful to have found God´s true church and he makes sure he tells us by calling us every day at 10 PM to let us know. He bought us some T-shirts because it's his favorite thing to wear and he will take us to eat out tomorrow for lunch. Way cool! #blessingsforbaptism Right before I baptized him, he stood in the font crying for a bit from being so happy. I love seeing the joy that the gospel brings to people! It is the greatest thing ever! I will try and send some pictures from this no good ghetto library computer I am using, but if I don't, it's because the computer broke from trying to send the pictures haha!
We also taught a lady from the "Reino de Deus" which is a portuguese church, and... she's crazy. And a man who believes in reincarnation and seven universes with different God's and that Christ had kids and lots of other stuff. Honestly the people here are nuts. I love it.
I love the example of Abinadi as a missionary. He must have been one of the most faithful men who ever lived! He preached for 2 or 3 years to people who wouldn't accept him, and died as a martyr without the knowledge of having brought a single soul to Christ. That must have been so hard for him to think about as he preached. But because of his faithfulness and obedience to God, he touched the heart of Alma, which led to the construction of God's church in his time. Without Abinadi, we wouldn't have the book of Mormon with us today. I feel like we can relate to Abinadi sometimes - we work and press forward continually, but we don't see the fruits of our labors. We might think that we don't make a difference. But God works in mysterious ways! I know that as we faithfully fulfill God's commands of us, we are blessed, and others are blessed through us, even if we don't see it. And in the end, our Celestial Glory will be an infinitely greater recompense for our works. So stay firm! God is in charge, and he blesses us always, especially in our struggles.
It was a great week! I hope yours was too! See ya´ll later! Happy fathers day to all you dads!
- Elder Valentine!
Another Good Week in Gaia - June 13 Group Email
Dear Everyone,
If you are looking for originality or creativity in your weekly missionary email subject lines, I would direct you to my friends Elder Gideon Benge or Elder Jacob Jackson. Otherwise, sorry for not being creative. :)
But it has been an awesome week! We taught João Paulo about all of the commandments, and he basically taught us all of them before we even got to talk to them! Ex. he stopped drinking coffee when he started meeting with us. Way cool. We are way excited to baptize him soon! He is leaving town for this whole next week, which might be a problem with the baptismal date, but hopefully it will all work out!
Portugal. The place where in the morning you want to die from the heat, and by 7 PM, you want to die because it's so cold and rainy that you can't open your eyes without being blinded by the rain, since you left your umbrella at the house. It's great! Love it %100! I feel like it makes the mission more exciting and it gives you fun stuff to look back on! :) Plus cool story - as we were walking home last night in our short sleeve white shirts soaked in the rain, a guy we didn't know pulled over his car and gave us his umbrella! He said he had met with the Elders in Porto (Which is just accross the river) and that he really felt good talking to them, so he wanted to give some service to the Elders that he saw walking in the rain! It was so cool! I love people!
Service - it's a topic that I have learned a lot about on the mission! I have really seen how important it is that we serve out of love, and not out of desire to gain recognition or a good standing with the people we serve. King Benjamin explains this perfectly as he talks to his people on the tower - he explains that his service to his people was not done to gain glory in their eyes, but to glorify God! And then he gives the well known verse of scripture Mosiah 2:17 - 17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
God expects us to pay back a little bit of what He has already given us, and we can do it by serving! That man who gave us his umbrella did an act of service purely out of the desire to do good. Do we sometimes serve in the church or at work or among our friends to simply look good? Or do we serve because we really love God, and want other people to feel the same? I have really learned to love and serve people without recompense here on the mission. The feelings I get by serving of the love of God for me are more than enough of a reward as I serve! I truly love God, and His Son Jesus Christ, and I am so happy to be serving them. Pray for some opportunities to serve this week, and God will put people in your path for you to bless! Love you all! Have a fantastic week!
- Elder Valentine!
Reply to "Elder Renlund Training" Email from Dad - June 13
Hey dad! That must have been an amazing meeting to be a part of! The funny thing that I noticed was that a lot of the things that he talked about apply directly to missionary work! I think that is really cool. For example - what you would use to help members deepen their conversion is the exact process that we need to use with investigators to help them gain a testimony and get them baptized! I guess they are just like pre-members, you could say. Thanks for sending me these notes! I really enjoyed reading them! Love ya!
Spencer,
I finally had a few minutes to type up notes from the bishop’s training with Elder Renlund. I have included a few selected portions from the notes below. Of course it’s hard to capture the real essence of the meeting in notes, but maybe this will be of value to you. Hope you enjoy this!
The meeting started with Elder Renlund saying that he had one message and one assignment for all bishops. The message was that the Brethren truly appreciate and love the bishops! The assignment was to go home and tell our sweet wives the same thing; that the Lord is pleased with our service and with the sacrifices of our families. This was really nice! And we all got to go up and shake Elder Renlund’s hand! After this he went to a whiteboard and asked for the bishops to share their top concerns.
Here are the concerns raised by the bishops:
- Men at home not using their priesthood
- Abuse
- Conversion
- Pornography
- Repentance
- Missionary prep
- Welfare administration
- Same gender attraction
- Self worth
- Family not living gospel in home
- Depression and mental health issues
- Expired recommends
- Apathy
- Self-reliance
- Church discipline
- Marriage relations
- Tithe paying
- Dealing with the burden of the call
- How can I magnify my calling and keep my life in balance
Worthiness and Sacrament:
3 Nephi 18 states that we do not allow people to partake of the sacrament unworthily. But we can use this as a club at times. When they come to see the bishop, they are already trying to repent. We want people to be at the sacrament table and temple—two places we must be at repeatedly in our lives in order to improve. Use the sacrament as a means to help them to be clean. When you take it, commit to be clean. When you go to the temple, commit to be clean. Encourage members to the temple and to the sacrament in ORDER to be clean, not because they are already clean. Use your keys of discernment to understand when to encourage versus prevent.
Pornography:
Teach people their true identity and potential. The correct understanding of doctrine is what changes behavior. President Packer would often say that you can write your spiritual pedigree on a napkin: it is you and then God. You are the child of God. Joseph F. Smith said that for some things the only way to fight the sin is to run away, and this is true of pornography. Professional help is needed for deep addictions.
Atonement:
How the Lord looks at sin is different than how he looks at sinners. He cannot look upon sin without abhorence, but he always looked at the sinners with love. Recognize that the atonement is infinite! The Church is simply an atonement delivery system to the world! Read President Packer’s last talk, where is said that he learned—at the end of his life—that the atonement leaves no tracks, no traces. What is fixed is fixed. What the atonement heals stays healed. Read this talk!
Magnify Priesthood and Callings:
Leaders first strive to become Christ-like so we can then help others. Leaders best help others by personal example. This is the purpose behind every calling in the church: become a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ and then help others do the same (this is right out of the Handbook). This is how to change the church, through our personal example. What is powerful is NOT to say “go and do this” or “go and do that” but share your own experience in doing those things and how it blesses your life. Bear testimony of your own personal experiences doing the things that deepen conversion. Remember, President Eyring said that everyone needs to change something different.
Deepening Conversion:
Elder Renland said that you cannot induce faith in someone else. Faith isn’t transmitted like a disease or induced. Faith is kindled by hearing what someone else knows, but any subsequent increase in faith only occurs when the person DOES something. You have to DO and ACT in faith in order for conversion to deepen. You cannot give it by speaking. Preaching is inadequate if people do not act in faith. What is important is the INVITATION. The key is to pray to understand what doctrine, properly understood, will prompt an invitation that will encourage action. So the keys here are: doctrine, invitation, action. Bishops should spent a lot of time thinking and praying about what invitation people will accept, then teach that invitation and doctrine, with promised blessings. Then follow-up!
Repentance:
People need to understand Godly sorrow so they can repent. The notion that “God loves me no matter what I do” is a half-truth. He does love us, but he may not love what we do! He is often disappointed with choices we make. If a person is humble and contrite then God can help them. God doesn’t care who we were, he care who we are now and who we are becoming. DC 58: by this can you know if a man has repented, if he has confessed his sins and forsaken them and remembers them no more.
Self-Reliance:
If a man is living as he should he ca go to the Lord and ask for what he needs, and the Lord will put what he needs into his path. Spiritual self-reliance always comes before temporal self-reliance. Self-reliance has a lot to do with self-worth. People need to render service to others as we are helping them to become self-reliant. Elder Renland shared that the poorest stake in the church (in Africa) receives NO welfare assistance and actually exports fast offering funds to other stakes!! We can all become more self-reliant by focusing spiritually first, serving others, preparing ourselves, and giving to the Lord’s storehouse.
Reply to "Half-Way Paid" June 6 Email from Dad
Hey Dad!
I know! It's just really strange how fast time is going by. I'll be at a year in just a bit, and then my trunky family can start going down on the other side of that Temple missionary calandar!
Will Brother Crockett come back to his old house when he is done with his assignment? I hope so! That stinks that his family is moving! They are way awesome. Has anyone else moved out or in recently? How many families would you say are new to the ward since I left?
Hahaha I miss good cooking! Elder Kiki and I tried to make crepes today, but we have really limited cooking supply options pan-wise and every crepe just stuck to the pan and turned into a mess. We ended up eating a scrambled egg looking pile of crepe-goo. It was pretty... fun. :)
How is Amanda doing? I am not even sure if the divorce is "final" yet - what's been going on with her? How is Ryleigh? How is it having Amanda at home? Different than it was with Kimber and Kevin?
Haha did you guys ditch Anna back home for the project? Or did she that rebelious teenager age where she didn't want to go? Just kidding she told me she has been camping with friends so that's probably what she was doing. I also miss big breakfasts... or maybe just good milk. I seriously cannot even wait for good milk. Ethan needs to toughen up and eat like a man!
What are you doing for your little trip? Are you just checking up on records, or teaching anything, or what?
Hey so you're a pretty cool dad, did you know that? I love ya lots! Have a fun trip and a good week!
Love, Elder Valentine!
Elder Valentine,
Greetings, Spencer! Happy P-Day to you. I hope your first week of June is finding sun and warmth instead of nonstop rain. So guess what? When I make the payment this month on your mission it will be my 12th payment . . .meaning that you are half-way paid! HALF of your mission is now paid off!! Can you believe it? Is time flying or what? In a month from now we’ll be talking about your halfway point, and then counting down the weeks until you return, instead of counting UP the time that you’re out! Amazing.
I learned on Friday that Kyle Crockett will be taking a temporary job in Washington DC. This is part of his normal job, only a temporary assignment in DC for the next year. He will be moving his family out there starting in late July. This means that I have to release him and call a new counselor! Sad day for me!! I love the Crocketts and will really miss them and Kyle in my bishopric. I’m not sure yet what to do about his replacement. He leaves some big shoes to fill.
Here’s what’s going on right now: I am in my office typing this. I can smell the sweet aroma of baby-back pork ribs in the oven. Soon will take them outside and put them on the BBQ grill to smoke them the rest of the way. Mom is upstairs asleep on the bed. Anna is in her room, reading presumably, though maybe asleep. Ethan just came downstairs a few minutes ago and totally scared me. I thought he was upstairs, and he snuck down just to startle me. The brat. You’d be proud of him. Amanda is downstairs. Kimberly and Kevin and Lincoln and Porter are headed our way and will get here about 5:30. Grandpa and Grandma Valentine are coming later tonight. They are headed to Oregon for 2 weeks with David, Laurie, and Kris and their families. They’re coming by to say “hi” and “bye” before they go. Later I’ll be packing up to go on the road the next three days. I’m headed down to Southern Utah to visit some family history missionary centers.
Me, Mom, and Ethan spent Friday night in beautiful, scenic Evanston, Wyoming. We stayed the night there so we could be close to the Unitahs, because Saturday morning we got up early and drove to Lake Lyman for a stake service project. We painted benches and a cabin floor and moved a bunch of bark all over the campground. It was fun to be there with Mom and Ethan and work together. In the morning we had the normal hotel breakfast, and we were talking about your epic breakfast at the Anaheim Hill Fairfield Inn. That was a very proud moment as your father, the day that you set like the world’s record for breakfast consumption. Ethan nibbled at a waffle and had a bit of an omelet. Rookie. Mom will send you some pictures of our little service project.
Well, it’s now 10:15, or five hours later than I last wrote. Kimberly and Kevin just left. I am now getting ready for my trip. I was going to write a bit more, but I’ll have to keep it at this. I’ll be on the road but will be looking for your emails. I may not be able to reply, so if not, have a great week! I love you!
Love,
Dad
Summertime! June 6 Group Email
Dear Everyone,
First, if I make any grammatical mistakes in this email, don't laugh. You can't use spell-check on a keyboard that doesn't know how to speak English.
Second, happy first week of summer break! I have some friends who just graduated high school, so congratulations to you guys! I hope that the weather in the States is nice and not, like, so humid that you can't breathe. The weather here has been out of wack lately - one day it will rain and be chilly and 5 minutes later you wish you could wear those tongan kilt things they use there because it's so hot. Personally, I think the tongan kilts are very fashionable, and should be standard missionary summer atire.
Well, to talk about things that I don't have to wish for, João Paulo is going to be baptized on the 19th of June! I have never met someone who was more ready and willing to accept the gospel. He said he has been waiting for the right church for his whole life and he finally found it, and accepted it immediately when we taught him the Restoration. We are so excited for him to be baptized!
Funny story - last night Elder Kiki and I didn't get home until around 11:15, which is SUPER not okay for missionaries, because we were helping our Stake President translate a letter he needs to send to Salt Lake about the Stake's experience when Elder Bednar spoke here. Luckily we had permission from President Amorim, but I have never felt so rebelious serving someone on my mission!
I made a goal a while ago that I wanted to have 42 ties by the end of my mission, so that I could wear a different tie for everyday of the last transfer (transfers have 42 days, if you didn't catch on). I am currently at 29. #Winning
While we were teaching João Paulo, I understood more deeply just how great of an impact the Book of Mormon can have on our testimonies and our understanding of God's plan as we truly study it. We invited him to read after the first lesson, and he came back telling us how much he enjoyed reading, and how good he felt, and he shared how he could apply the stories that are told in the Book of Mormon to his own life already. It was an awesome experience to see that power in someone so quickly. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that it has the power to change lives! Has it already changed yours? Because I know that it can, and will as you put in your effort to read it and apply it as you ask God how you can use it better in your life. God intended that book to be given specifically to us in our day, and He blesses those who use it. I love the Book of Mormon!
Well, that's about it for the week! Happy summer! Peace out!
- Elder Valentine!
Reply to "Memorial Day Weekend" Email from Dad - May 30
Heyyo daddio! Yard work, yard work, yard work. I honestly miss working out there with you! Of course, I say that now, and will most likely not want to when I get back. :) But be satisfied that for at least two years, your son wanted to do some chores outside! Do you and mom get a lot of chances to do things together? I know that your lives are really busy, and I hope that you guys get to spend time doing fun stuff with one another! Your date sounded like a lot of fun.
The (politically) American Sign Language session sounds way cool! I want to go to one in Portuguese when I get home - a cool thing I have realized is that different things stick out in a different language in the scriptures. I just read the last part of 2 nephi and the beginning of Jacob, and parts in their narratives have caught my attention that I have never noticed reading in English! It's really cool!
How often do you meet with general authorities? You need to be careful to not spend so much time around them, Dad, or else you'll be called as one soon! :)
Dad. Marriage. I still have like a whole year before that! Or a year and a half, if you're picking up what I'm putting down. I can't think about that yet! Ew! Plus you're like 4th in line for the Kimmy joke! Getting slow, old man! :)
I love the outline for your Womens meeting! I think the sisters really need that kind of opportunity for themselves to... well, basically just everything you said since you rock at powerful and meaningful lessons. Love it!
Yeah so don't tell mom but we totally got threatened by a drunk man who said he would kill us if we "lied" to him, because "god would justify it" since we were "of the devil" and lots of poor english. He knew the F word though! It was way weird. I wasn't scared at all, which I don't know if that meant that I am just tougher than I thought I was or if the spirit was telling me it was going to be okay. Either way, we left with just a bad beer taste in the mouth, and a long conversation about the crazy drunk 24 year old we had just talked to. Crazy stuff.
Love you dad! Thanks for the letter!
Love, Elder Valentine!
Elder Valentine,
Hey, there, Spencer! It’s Memorial Day weekend back here in the good old USA. I had Friday off as well, so it’s been a nice four day weekend. I spent all day Friday out in the yard. That yard is ruling my life (well, technically your MOTHER is ruling my life . . . But in a good way, honey!). We planted five new shrubs along the west fence by the Powells, and I spent many hours trying to clean up the west side of the yard. It’s been a lot of work but it’s coming along. Friday evening me and Mom went out on a date: shopping, dinner at Station Park, and to see Captain America: Civil War for a second time.
Saturday morning we went to the temple and had a very cool experience. We went to the deaf session, or American Sign Language session to be politically correct. It was really a great and unique experience. They had several large television monitors set up where the endowment movie was captioned. There were also ordinance workers playing each of the “parts” in the movie and they signed the entire thing. The movie was playing and they signed in a split screen mode. We went up to the prayer circle, and it was the coolest thing ever. Almost everyone in the circle was deaf, and they signed the prayer! Of course we didn’t understand it, but it’s sort of like a foreign language. You don’t need to understand it to feel the spirit.
I spent the afternoon in the yard (AGAIN!) and in the evening we went up to Morgan to see the Drapers. Today (Sunday) I taught a combined meeting for all of the sisters. Most of the lesson was in Powerpoint, but I’ve included below a few of the notes I used during the lesson. The focus of my presentation was about sacrifice; sacrifice to make sacred. I talked a lot about the sacred grove, and that each sister needs to create their own sacred grove experience. This means that they all need to find a time and a place for their own personal devotional to the Lord. I think the lesson went well. I felt the Spirit!
I’m going to type up my notes from the Elder Renlund meeting, I promise. I will do so tomorrow but you probably won’t get them until next week. Oh, also, I got the be in a work meeting this week with the following: Elder Renlund, Elder Packer, Elder Foster, Elder Richards, Elder Wilson, Tom Coburn (managing director of Temple dept), Steve Rockwood (managing director FamilySearch), me, and someone who reports to me. That’s a pretty cool group of people, right? I did the first part of the presentation, and Steve Rockwood did the rest. I was able to talk directly to Elder Renlund and answer his questions, etc. It was really incredible!
Anna will probably tell you that she went to Kimmy’s farewell today. We couldn’t go because I was teaching that lesson. I’m really happy for her. She’s going to make an awesome wife . . . I mean, she’s going to make an awesome missionary! Did I really just say that? Oops. Sorry.
In the morning I’ll try to send a few pictures before you email us. Also below are some of my notes. Have a great Monday! I’ll try to email you at the same time you’re emailing us. Love ya!
Sacred Sacrifice
Women’s Meeting 5th Sunday May 29, 2016
· I’m holding this meeting because I love you, sisters!
· Why would I talk about sacrifice to a group of sisters who spend their entire lives sacrificing for others?
o Because sacrifice means to make sacred. Do you realize that when you sacrifice for your family you are making them sacred to God?
o Are you taking the time to make yourself sacred to God?
o You will find greatest peace and happiness when you realize that you are sacrificing the betters for the best!
· What does it mean to sacrifice?
o Is it a negative?
§ Sacrifice career for children
§ Sacrifice my weekend for church
§ Sacrifice what I want to do for what others want me to do
· Sacred grove experience. What were the characteristics
o Found it in advance;
o Away from everyone else
o Set aside the time to do it
o Made a plan and acted
o Had faith that it would work
To sacrifice is to give up something valuable or precious, often with the intent of accomplishing a greater purpose or goal. Sacrifice has always been a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a reminder of the great atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all who have lived or will live on earth.
Lemons, lying, and the sky is crying - May 30
Dear Everyone,
Lemons - Last P-day, Elder Kiki and I decided that we wanted to make brownies. And then we decided that we wanted to make lemon bars. And then we decided that we wanted to make chocolate salami (basically it's chocolate powder with sugar, graham crackers, and an egg, and something else unhealthy), so we spent our p-day baking, and our week, eating. If anyone wanted to know what my favorite dessert is, it's lemon bars. Holy moly. So good. We made more today and we are way happy.
Lying - we found this super elect man named João Paulo getting off of a public bus this week. He was never baptized in a church because he wanted to wait until he found the true one! Like, how sweet is that? So we taught him the Restoration, and he said he´ll get baptized when he feels ready, so we smoothly taught him about the Book of Mormon, and he will study it, and he will be baptized. :) Unfortunately he might not live in our area. :( As he was leaving he said he lived in a place called Espinho which is really far away from our chapel. About a half hour after he left, he called telling us that he lied about where he lived; he actually lives in Canelas, still far away, but he said he was scared to tell us the truth and tried to justify lying, but then he felt bad, prayed to God for forgiveness, and then called us for forgiveness too! Elect! If we can get him to church, he will be baptized. He just lives like a half hour away, but God always prepares a way for His children when they have the desire to do what is right!
Crying Skies - it has not stopped raining here! I can see the ocean from my house, so that might have something to do with it, but for real. It's like almost June. Us missionaries want to get farmers tans!
Well, those are the most excited parts of our week! We were also threatened by a drunk guy, in the rain, which was pretty exciting! I had a beer-breath taste in my mouth for the whole rest of the day because he was up in my face, which was not exciting. I will never drink beer. It tastes nasty, but maybe that's just because it was a "second hand" taste. Gross!
This week, I have been studying the parables and works of Jesus Christ in the last few weeks of His life. I don't have anything in specific to talk about, besides the deepening knowledge that I have for the Savior´s love for us! He LOVED His disciples. It is evident in every lesson and every righteous chastisement that He gives. Everything He did was to teach how to be better, more loving, more blessed! And the love He had for His apostles is no less than He has for each one of us. In John 15 He calls the apostles His friends, not His servants. Servants are not known by their Master; they work without true love, only for pay. But friends, who serve willingly, are known perfectly by their greatest Friend, and serve because they love He whom they serve. As we go day to day as Latter-day Saints, are we serving (callings, neighbors, at work, etc.) because we feel obliged, or because, with the knowledge of our Saviors love, we want to give that special connection to Him with everyone we meet? I love my Savior. I am serving because I love Him! Sure I and my family are blessed, but more importantly, I can give back just a little bit of the love the Savior has for me. I hope this week you all can serve because you love Christ!
Love ya'll! Have a good week!
- Elder Valentine!
May 23rd Family Email
Dear Family,
I like writing letters like this sometimes! I think it lets everyone see more of the things that I say in response to letters. Elder Bednar was seriously so awesome. It seemed like he had the perfect answer to every question, even if you didn't ask it! It was way cool!
mom - I'm excited for you to be part of the Primary presidency! I know that you will do so amazing! I'll make sure to pray lots for you. Dad said that your concert was really good! What did you sing? That's way cool that you guys ran the half marathon! I miss standing on the sidelines to cheer you to the finish line! But hey cool story - McKayla Moser's dad ran in the same race, so she was there at the finish line and she cheered for you when you ran through! Plus you beat her dad. So that's cool. I can't believe cooper has already graduated! Or will this next week, anyway. Time flies so so fast! And all of the cousins with babies - the world will be a different place when I get home! I loved that quote from Elder Perry about peaceable missionaries. We had a pretty interesting contact with an atheist a couple days ago and he started arguing about lots of stuff with us and saying how we couldn't know that God was real, and for a minute I kind of got frustrated, but near the end I had a really peaceful feeling come over me, that I knew that God was there, and that I was there to build peoples faith, so we just finished with our testimonies and left. Nothing really happened to the guy but I felt really good that we didn't leave him with a bad impression by fighting. Thanks for sharing that quote! Love you mom!
Dad - I really like the story you use of Peter at the beginning of your talk and the application - I have a talk from President Uchtdorf where he talks about how Peter needed to be completely converted, just like you did! And you talked about conversion, more than just a testimony, which was a topic that Elder Bednar talked about too! Dad! You're like basically teaching the same thing as the apostles! Haha I really liked your talk, I hope it went really well. Question - when you have so many meetings and work responsibilities and everything to do like you talked about, what would you say is the main way you manage it all? I'm curious because you have lots to do and you get it all done, and I want to know how! Also make sure to send me some notes about Elder Renlund! Love you!
Kimber and Kevin - so, uh, hows life? How are the kids? And work? And home? And your ward? I forget sometimes that you guys don't go to our ward anymore! How are things back at the old house? Is the house finished yet? Kevin - how is your portuguese coming? You sounded a lot better the second time I talked to you! Love you guys! Hi Lincoln!
Amanda - Elder Bednar is like average height, and exactly what I expected - super powerful and spiritual and intelligent and inspired! I LOVED the whole thing! He gave us some talks to read before hand and had us talk about what we learned, and I was called on to talk, so I stood up and talked to him about some things I learned and he asked me some questions, so yeah! I totally talked to him! Way cool! Way to go on the race! I think it is awesome that you guys are so fit to be able to do that. Maybe I'll try after the mission - I have been running a lot in the mornings for exercises and I realized that it's not complete torture to run! Just mostly. ;) I am way excited to see ryliegh. She sounds super fun and cute and I just can't wait!
Anna - CONGRATULATIONS! You made Productions! I know that you wanted to make it SUPER bad and I am so so happy for you! You talented sister you! I also think it's awesome that you got a good part in the musical, and ESPECIALLY that the vocal coach lady talked to you about lessons. That is so sweet! There is a lot of jealousy coming through the computer screen at you right now. And it's awesome that you got to see Elder Renlund! Don't you just love the apostles? It is the greatest thing ever to get to be so close to them and feel the spirit they bring. Have a good week my Junior sister! Portuguese tongue twister "a aranha arranha a rã, a rã arranha a aranha." It means "the spider scratches the frog, the frog scratches the spider." It is super hard to say fast, because all of the "r's" at the biginning of a word or double r's are a hard "h" sound, and the other ones aren't, so it gets confusing. Ask Kevin to try it fast. Elder Kiki is WAY funny. Not anything in specific, but he's just super goofy and a lot of fun. We have a good time together! Unfortunately the longest I have ever had a companion was only 2 transfers with Elder Barrett, so I don't feel like I spend enough time with anyone to really miss them! Except Elder LeBaron - he was such a stud missionary. Love you anna!
Ethan - I am smelled like grass this week twice. Love you man! Tell me something exciting this week!
That's about it! Love you family! Peaceth thee all out!
Love, Elder Valentine!
Elder Bednar - May 23 Group
Dear Everyone,
This Thursday, Elder Bednar came and spoke to all of the missionaries in my mission! It was the coolest thing ever! He didn't give a talk, he let us ask questions and would give very apostolic answers, which was a super cool and very spiritual experience. He kind of made a theme about being an agent, and not an object - acting and using our faith rather than waiting for things to happen, and also about helping our investigators become agents during their conversions, rather than "objects," sitting and hearing the missionaries talk during lessons. Probably one of the coolest 4 hours of my life! We also got to shake his hand, so that makes three apostles that I have officially met and talked with! Just, like, 11 to go plus the prophet. :) The spirit that Elder Bednar brought was incredible - there is truly something special about the men who God calls to lead his church. It was a seriously amazing experience!
We have been doing a lot of member work using a program that our mission president set up to help members help us find people to teach, and we received more than 10 references this week from the members, so that's cool! The members in Portugal are having a hard time getting excited to really be "member missionaries," and a lot of the focus that President Amorim has put on our work is centered around these members. So we are hoping to see a lot of results from working with the members in our ward!
We have been working hard and have been teaching lessons, and are having lots of faith to see some really promising investigators come around! We found a girl named Tyna who is very evangelistic (is that how you say that?), but she has a lot of faith that God teaches truth through the spirit, so we are trying to help her feel that spirit through the Book of Mormon!
That's all for this week, folks. I love our leaders - President Monson and the quorum of the twelve - and I know that they are men inspired of God to lead His church! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father to be a part of His church here on earth! I LOVE THE GOSPEL! I hope you do too!
Have a fantastic week all you people!
- Elder Valentine!
Reply to "Latest and Greatest from Dad" - May 16
Hey dad! Wow! I loved this letter! I love lots of information. It makes me feel like I know more of the little things that happen! That's so exciting for lanson! I Know he will be an awesome missionary! I am so happy that you are so inspired by the spirit. I love hearing your experiences as a bishop! I liked number 3 a lot. #4 I wish I could help! 5 I didn't realize that his kids weren't part of the church. I have realized a ton here just how much of a blessing it is to have the direction and comfort of the gospel in my life, and what other people don't have. 6. Um so we went to this store Fnac today, and I learned about 1. Rogue 1 (IT LOOKS SO GOOD!!!!!!) 2. Jason Bourne (IT LOOKS SO GOOD I AM SO EXCITED FOR JASON BOURNE!!!!!!) 3. Finding Dori (Also looks good, but yeah) 4. A new DC comics movie with batman 5. probably something else. Super trunky 10 minutes. New Star Trek too??? Man! Haha We will have a fun week of watching all of these movies when I get back home! #7 if she sounds excited then heck yeah! I think mom would like it! 8. I miss the father son campouts! And yay Elder Renlund! Way cool! We both get to see apostles this week!!
Love you lots dad! Ask mom about the letter I sent her. I won't write all it here but we are super super blessed. Love ya!
Love, Elder Valentine!
Spencer,
Hey, it was so great to see you and talk to you last week. How is everything going with your new convert? That’s so great that you were able to have this baptism! Congratulations!
I thought I’d give you an update on what’s happening in the ward, and then a few other things.
- Lanson got his mission call this week! He opened it on Wednesday. I was teasing him that he would be sent to the Pocatello Idaho mission. When I was being serious I told him I thought he’d go somewhere in Latin America. He is going to Chile! He is really excited. He took 4 years of Spanish so he has a bit of a head start on the language. He leaves on August 23 and goes straight to the MTC in Mexico City. I forgot to give him your letter today but will do so this week. Can you believe it’s been more than a year since you received YOUR mission call? I find that amazing, to think it’s been more than a year so you went through the process that Lanson is right now.
- Today I released my young women presidency and the primary presidency. It was a really emotional and spiritual experience for me. I’ve never had the experience of being choked up while at the pulpit, but the Spirit witnessed two things to me: first, that those who were being released had their offering accepted by the Lord with deep gratitude and love; second, that those who are being called truly have been called of God. The longer I’m in this calling the more I realize that I don’t do much at all…this is the Lord’s work and he does everything. The experience of these callings though have been just so rewarding.
- It’s Sunday afternoon at 5:16 PM. I’m sitting in my office at home. I can see homes right across the street from us that weren’t even started when you left on your mission. Most people have their yards in now. It looks totally different than when you left. I can hear Ryleigh downstairs throwing a tantrum. She really has a temper! Anna is asleep in her room. Mom is taking a nap on our bed. Ethan is on the computer. I got home from church at 5:00 and put a roast in the oven. Anna is going crazy waiting to find out if she made it into Productions or Actor’s Company. She and Ethan went to Lagoon yesterday. I went to Spanish Fork to Adam Folkman’s stake and was the keynote speaker at their family history fair. Mom came with me. It was a fun event. Everyone seemed to like the presentation. Last night we went to Jonathon Perkins reception, which was cool. Lots of people there asked about you. I told them you had married a toothless woman in Portugal, had a kid, lived off government welfare, and spent your time sitting around complaining about Americans.
- I spent my Saturday yesterday planting the rest of my garden. The yard is coming along! If I had you here we could get this thing done. Anna’s a pretty good helper. Ethan is getting better. He at least cuts the lawn, which is helpful!
- My uncle Lynn Rasmussen passed away, did I tell you that? This is your grandma’s brother. You remember he and Aunt Karen. I went to his funeral on Wednesday. Two of his three children are completely out of the church. They didn’t speak about God or eternal life at all. How sad for them. The active son centered his talk on the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement, and that brought peace and comfort and the Spirit into the funeral. How sad and lonely and empty life is without the Gospel!
- On Thursday I took Mom and the kids to see Captain America: Civil War. Pretty darn good. It was Captain America fighting Iron Man, along with some other heroes on both sides. THere’s a new spiderman in this one who was funny. Yet another movie you’ll have to make up . . . After Star Wars of course! The movies the summer I’m most excited about is a new Star Trek, but most important is a new Jason Bourne with Matt Damon. Wahoo! It looks so amazing!!
- Hey, the next Star Wars celebration is in Orlando in May of next year. Think I should take Mom to it?
- This coming Friday night is a Father and Son’s campout in our ward (thanks to my great planning). The next day is Mom’s marathon and her concert. She’ll tell you about that. Also, and this is cool, I get to go to a THREE HOUR meeting with Elder Renlund next Saturday. Isn’t that awesome? It’s just for Bishops and Stake Presidents. I cannot wait! I will write like a hundred pages of notes! I’ll share some of it with you in my next email.
Okay, I have just sent you an email WAY TO LONG for you to actually read. My apologies for being so long-winded. I hope you can at least skim through this.
Have a great week! Look forward to hearing from you!
Love,
Dad
Transfers and Elder Bednar - May 16 Group
Dear Everyone,
This week we had transfers, and I have a new companion! Again! This will be my eighth companion on the mission! His name is Elder Kiki. He came in with Elder Barrett, and is also from Washington. He is a funny kid - I can say kid because he is my first companion that is younger than me! June 29th - only 7 days younger than me, haha! But he's a great Elder, and we are going to work hard together here in Gaia 1B! I forgot my camera today, so I will send pictures next week. :) Sorry. :)
Also, this week, Elder Bednar is coming to Portugal to talk to the members and have a training with the missionaries!!!!!!! WOOOOH!!!!!! I love Elder Bednar!!! He is coming this Thursday. I am WAY excited. I'll have lots of good stuff for next week.
Other than that, José was confirmed this sunday by Irmão Neves, his friend who has helped him be baptized. It was great! I love seeing people get baptized and be happy in the church. Yay missionary work!
This week, I just wanted to share a thought I had the last couple of days. In preparation for Elder Bednar, we were given 4 talks of his to read and study. They are "Seek Learning by Faith," "Ask in Faith," "Converted unto the Lord," and "Always retain a remission of your sins." They are amazing talks, and helped me understand my role in receiving blessings from the Lord. We can ask and pray and hope for all the things we want, but we only really recieve the blessings when we ACT on our desires, like Joseph Smith did when he prayed to God - his intent was not only to know which church was true, but which church to join! He intended to ACT on his knowledge. I love the gospel. God makes so much sense! I love that everything about the gospel fits so well with becoming more like a perfect Father, who really wants the best for His children, so He gives us chances to grow by our own actions and dedication to Him. That's a pretty unorganized thought but I hope you felt the Spirit. :)
I love the gospel! And being a missionary! Have a good week everyone!
- Elder Valentine!
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