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!