"Portugal Got Hit By Rain Like a Drunk Kid Gets Hit By Another Drunk Kid" (Oct 17)

Dear Everyone, 

That subject line is a horrible comparison, but fortunately both of those things happened this week, so it works out!

This has been a pretty fantastically average week! I would love to tell you about all of the adventures I had proselyting, but my time has been eaten up by helping new missionaries declare their presence in Portugal and translating my mission President's letters into English. Sorry for the exciting details. :)

But! We did almost take part in a little gang fight this week. We were waiting for the metro (subway) to show up when to our great surprise, three drunk 17ish year old kids ganged up on another drunk 17ish year old kid, and someone threw the a punch. Luckily it broke up before we could get to them, or we would have hit them... with the gospel. 

The rainy winter season has also hit Portugal! All day every day!

We have been working to bring back some of our less active friends to church, and sometimes it reminds me of Laman and Lemuel. In 1 Nephi 3, Laman and Lemuel SEE an angel, but continue to doubt God and His power. Sometimes, we get impatient or doubtful with things that happen, but like Nephi, we need to remember that we won't always "know beforehand the things which we should do!" People who leave the church can have several reasons for doing so, but one thing is for sure - they have lost some of the faith they had in God in His ability to help us. I know that God loves us, and that He will show us the way - but only when we start walking on the path. Take the first step, trust God, and He will lead you through. I know that! Have a fantastic week!

- Elder Valentine! 

Reply to "On My Way to a Country Near You" (Oct 17)

Daddio!

You're probably preparing for your fancy dinner with the Vice President of Findmypast! Que chique! You're such a stud.  This isn't even your first time, is it? Speaking of this, I don't remember when you got your new position anymore; was it before I left or after? I remember that you for sure didn't travel as much as you are right now. What would you say is your average travel schedule? Like, once a month for a few days, or something like that? Or more? What's Tel Aviv? 

I haven't thought about obedience as a gift of the spirit like that before! But it makes sense because I wonder how people just don't get it sometimes. It seems so logical to me as a life rule. Thanks dad!

I don't remember if I said it last week, but it's really fun to respond to your questions and it gives me some things to write about! Your question is really good, too. I think the differences between the church here and in Utah are enormous! And I hadn't actually thought about it like that before. Actually, missionaries will sometimes complain (and I'm not excluded, unfortunately) about different things that we think should be better. But to think about it in the light of the church being "young" here is a much healthier train of thought! I think because of the small size (congregationally) and big size (geographically), it's hard for the members to have a close relationship sometimes. We have members that live a half hour away to come to church - that's like us going to brigham city every sunday! When Elder Bednar came here, he put a huge emphasis on "putting them to work", as in giving more members callings to help them serve and stay active. The less active rate here is HUGE - like, enourmous. We have less than 100 attend church every week, and the member list copy that I have has over 900 people on it. That's so many people! There could be another 4 or 5 strong wards with that! But a big part of it is the isolated feeling that I see - members without callings, and members who live far. These aren't negative things, just things that "are" because the church is young here. I think the church only has 40 or 50 years here. Those are just some thoughts off the top of my head, but I'll think more about it!

Thanks dad! I love you! Here's a fat face picture for your enjoyment. 

Love, Elder Valentine!

Hola Spencer - Email Between Dad and Spencer

Here's another personal email between me and Spencer that I want to share and preserve:

Hey dude!

I mean dad.

Err, Bishop.

Wow, you're schedule is really booked! How do you feel about it? I mean, before I left you were busy and I was always surprised at how much you had to do, but you've definitely gotten a lot more responsibility since I left, so how is it all going? What is a really awesome thing about it? 

Hey I like these questions! It's fun to think about the answers!

1. Well, there are a couple ways that I have learned from him; things that he says, and things that he does. Something he always says is "the most important time to work is when you don't want to," which is super true and is the stuff of great people. He is one of the most dedicated and hard working people I've ever met in my life. Dad, he has a wikipedia page. You can totally look him up. Did I ever tell you he's filthy rich? But only because he worked for it! He is an awesome example of dedication to whatever you are doing, in this moment preaching the gospel, but he's dedicated to anything does. So I guess dedication.~
2. Haha this is a funny question just because it totally happens. In the Book of Mormon, I share 1 Nephi 17:2-3 a lot. Haha in English it says the women "gave their children much suck" or something like that, in Portuguese it just says they had "bastante leite," which means "plenty of milk," which sounds better to me. I love it because Nephi was in a really sucky situation if you think about it, and Laman and Lemuel were probably murmuring, but Nephi focused on the fact that they were so blessed! And then he testifies that "if the children of men keep the commandments of God, he will feed them and strangthen them and give them ways by which they may fulfill the things which he ordained" or something along those lines. I'm currently translating that from my portuguese scriptures, want to see a picture?? (my scriptures, and then my face by my scriptures) I also share the story of Peter walking on the water a lot, partly because it's my favorite bible story and partly because it applies to everyone! We lose sight of Christ and start to fall, and then he catches us and asks us why we doubted. There's more to it than that, but I'm trying to be frank.
3. Obedience is so essential. My favorite D&C scripture is 130:20-21 which talks about blessings being given based on our obedience. Obedience is how we fulfill everything we came on earth to do. Faith is followed by obedience, to gain knowledge. Repentance is being obedient to God's will be leaving behind old habits and starting new ones. Baptism IS obedience. The first law of heaven is obedience, and I never really knew why, but now I know! Obedience is how God governs everthing. When God formed the earth, the materials used obeyed his command through the priesthood. His plan is based on obedience bringing blessings. Again, I've gotta be frank, but that is a short version of what I have learned. Applying it is the hard part!
4. One cool thing about the office is that I'm doing, like, grown up stuff! I deal with money and visas and other people and if I mess up, it's not just a wrong answer on a test, it's kind of a problem! So it's cool to have big responsibilities.
5. Yup!

Haha oh my goodness When you said Anna had a story to tell, I thought it was going to be a good one. HOW LAME! Oooh, boys. 👿

Well, love you dad! Guess what? In a few days you'll be a couple hours flight from me!! I could take a trip for €40 and come see you! Should I?

Have fun!

Love, Elder Valentine!

On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 2:40 PM, Stephen Valentine <ValentineSJ@familysearch.org> wrote:

Dear Elder Valentine,

Greetings, my son! I hope you are fully recovered from bed bites! Wow. And here I thought you were going to a first world country! 

It was a long week for me last week. Work is a bit stressful right now as I prepare for my trip to London and Tel Aviv. There’s also a ton of other stuff going on at work that’s keeping me extremely busy. My usual work day is that I start meetings at 8 and don’t stop meeting back –to-back-to-back meetings until about 430 or so, including through lunch. Then I have to actually get things done that requires work at home in the evenings or late into the afternoon because I can’t get much done being in meetings all day! As for the home front, Monday night was yard work. Tuesday and Wednesday are always church nights. I get to the church about 6 and stay until about 10 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Thursday I went to Provo in the evening for dinner with one of my teams, then met up with Anna and Mom at a theatre in Salt Lake and watched “Jekyll and Hyde.” Friday night I helped the Gibbys move out of their house (they are moving within the ward) and Saturday I helped another family move, then worked around the house and yard. Anna went to Homecoming on Saturday so we were here taking pictures of her, etc. I’m sure Mom or Anna will tell you more and send pictures, so I won’t spoil their thunder.

Yesterday we celebrated Grandma Valentines 80th birthday. Can you believe that? My Dad is 85 and my Mom is 80. I can’t believe my parents are so old. It feels like yesterday that I was at home with them. Isn’t it amazing how time flies? You are now under 9 months until you come home. Before you know it your mission will be what you tell other young men about rather than something you are now actively doing. I feel the same way about being a bishop, knowing that someday that will end and I won’t have this opportunity any more. All we can both do—you and I—is to work as hard as we can while we can. 

I have a few questions for you, if you have time to answer them:

1. What is one thing that you have learned from your mission president that will stay with you after your mission ends?
2. What story from the Book of Mormon do you find yourself telling over and over again?
3. What one principle of the Gospel do you understand at a deeper level now than a year ago? 
4. What is your current favorite thing about working in the office?
5. Bonus question: have you learned to like shrimp??

I hope Mom sends you pictures of her incredible cake! And you need to see pictures of how beautiful Anna looked at the dance. She has a crazy homecoming story to tell you. 

I’ll be in London at this time next week, so I’ll write you a bit earlier this week before I leave. I get to spend a couple full days in the Holy Land, so I should have lots of good stories and experiences to tell you next week. 

Have a great P-Day! I hope you actually get a bit of time to relax for a change!

Love ya!

Dad

October 10 Group Email

Dear Everyone,

Olá! In Portuguese, Olá does not have an "H" like it does in Spanish. Consider yourselves pro's at Portuguese. :) 

This is gonna be a short one - I've got lots of emails to catch up on! 

Brazilians, Cabo Verdians, and Angolans are very elect people. We found this big old Cabo Verdian family who have all talked to the missionaries in the past, a brazilian less active who's family members are interested in the gospel, and a member from Angola, who was baptized here and then returned to Angola for a couple months, basically started a group in Angola by herself after being baptized like 3 months ago. Now she is helping the missionaries find people to teach here! 

I think it's pretty common to have lots of homeless people in big cities, but no matter where you are, it's a sad sight to see. A homeless guy was walking through the Metro (Subway) asking for money, and we took him to a grocery start and bought him some dinner. Even though he didn't want to hear about the gospel (nor would it really work out without a home to teach him in) it was a good experience to help someone out. I feel like sometimes we judge unrighteously(or maybe it's just me) and let opportunities to serve pass by, but I have gained a testimony that by serving with only the good of others as your goal, miracles happen and everyone is blessed! Elder Cook quoted President Marion G. Romney in his talk during conference; 

"Service is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the celestial kingdom. Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the celestial kingdom is made."

I love that! Service is a heavenly principle, and requires us to have heavenly eyes towards God's children. Go and serve someone today! 

Have a jolly week!

- Elder Valentine!

Conference Weekend (Oct 3)

Dear peoples of all the world,

How good was general conference??? Ah! I love the church!!! We have a 7 hour time difference here so we got to stay up till 11 PM to finish the afternoon session wooh!

So, I watched all of the sessions in Portuguese, so I can't quote the speakers word for word, but some of my favorite talks strengthened my testimony of the goodness of God of the restored Gospel. I loved the talk by Elder Christoffersen about God's love; he explained that God's love is not "unconditional" in the common sense, because our response to His love allows us to be partakers of His blessings. One thing that people that we teach don't understand is how God allows bad things to happen in the world - why He doesn't fix everything - and it's because God's love is divine, but not unconditional! He truly loves us, but I think His love is like that of our mortal parents in the sense that they can't force their children to do everything right, and when a crisis happens in a child's life, the parents are obviously concerned and full of love, but they can't just fix all of their child's problems for them! I saw this principle with a less active family that Elder Yoder and I found. We were looking in the member list for people in our area that we didn't know, and we passed by a pretty scetchy house without a lot of expectations, but a little family of a mom, dad, and 18 year old daughter answered the door and said it had been three years since the elders had passed by, and longer since they had been to church! I shared Alma 7:9-11ish with them about the Atonement of Christ and what He feels for that family. They were very moved by the spirit and even came to General Conference, and kept commenting on how the apostles "seemed to know what they needed." It was so amazing! It was the same feeling as anytime I have seen an investigator feel the Spirit for the first time to see this family re-see the blessings of the gospel. They had to partake of God's love to feel it - God always loved them and always will, but because it is not unconditional, they had to act to get that feeling again. Elder Ballards talk also applied well to them (and fortunately that was the session they went too) as he asked, like Peter, "where would (you) go?" In all, I loved conference and saw some very big blessings happen in a lot of peoples lives, and I LOVE the gospel! The church is true! 

 Follow the words of Elder Andersen and Elder Oaks this week, and be a missionary! How great will be your joy if you bring many unto Him! 

Love you all!

- Elder Valentine!

Loving the Gospel

This is an email between me (Dad) and Elder Valentine (son) that I found interesting and satisfying:

Hi dad! 

Jordan's home! Wow! I literally cannot believe it! It seemed like so not long ago when he left! 

You've been a bishop for that long already? wow. 

Haha that was a lame restate of your letter, but I read it and I liked it all. :)

I think the Atonement should rightly be the favorite part of the gospel for everyone, since everything in the Gospel revolves around it. But one thing that I have come to understand is God's wisdom shown through the gospel. I love that the gospel makes sense! It isn't vague, or strange, or full of rituals or scriptures that we don't understand or gods who are "unknowable." The gospel is clear in who God is, why we are here, and how we can get back to God. That's kind of everything in forever, when you think about it! Everything I do or study in the gospel has understandable application for my own life, and by applying it I understand more about God because He shows us His will as we follow it. I try and find out about other religions and I just can't understand them sometimes. For example, and as an honest example - there are a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses here, and I have yet to understand why knowing "the name of God" is so important for their religion. I mean, it is important, but basing doctrine and a church around something so specific is hard to understand. Our church is based on Christ. That's it! Because it's through Christ that we have everything. He is the Creator, the Savior and Redeemer, and our King. What else could the true church be about? It's things like that that I think about sometimes. I love that I can understand, and continue to study and gain more knowledge that I understand. I also have understood something about grace recently. There is a talk by I don't remember who where they compare the grace of Christ to piano teaching. Christ didn't "make up" for what we can't achieve - there isn't a line where we have to get to and Christ will do all the rest, Christ did everything, and we have to do what HE asks, not necessarily "pay the debt." For piano teaching, Christ "payed for our piano lessons" when we don't have any way to pay them. Now, he doesn't ask us to pay anything else, but he asks us to "practice the piano," and do something with the debt that was already paid. I hope that that analogy makes sense through email the same as it did when I heard it. I really loved the analogy and it made me understand grace so much better!

Alright, well, sorry that was kind of a lame letter. But I love you! Good work at work! Have fun in your big long meetings!

Love, Elder Valentine!

On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 6:37 AM, Stephen Valentine <ValentineSJ@familysearch.org> wrote:

Dear Elder Valentine,

Hi, Spencer! I’m back in town for a couple of weeks. This is a busy travel season for me. In about three weeks I’ll be headed to London and then to Israel. I had a great trip to Vermont. It was fun because I got to talk about the Church to a bunch of business executives. I shared with them why the Church has temples and why we do family history work. It was really enjoyable to talk about our focus on families and that we believe that family relationship will continue after death. I also got to visit Sharon, Vermont while out on my trip. I think I sent you pictures. I hope so! It was pretty cool to visit Joseph Smith’s birthplace. We have a nice visitor center there, and you can also see the foundation of the house that belonged to Solomon Mack, the grandparents of Joseph. I love our Church! I love our history!

So Jordan Jaramillo came home yesterday, and was in church today! After giving me a big hug his first question was about you. He wanted to know how you are doing and I told him that you’re having a great mission and tearing it up in Portugal. It was so great to see Jordan. You just can’t believe how much Jordan has grown. He is so mature in the Gospel, so solid in his testimony. It’s also really weird because Jordan was the first missionary that I sent out while bishop, and now he’s back!! I’ve been bishop long enough to have missionaries coming and going! You will be home before you know it, my son. Work your guts out!! 

I think about this same thing in my calling. This December will be exactly 2.5 years for me. Most bishops are in for five years, so that would make it half way for me. Yikes!! That makes me nervous that I haven’t done enough and haven’t worked hard enough. I know you know what I’m saying. You and I both want to do our best while we can. So I promise to do all I can to be a better bishop; I know you’re doing all you can to be a great missionary!

Last email you asked me my favorite part of the gospel. That’s a great question. Of course I love the doctrine of the temple. I love the ordinances and covenants that we make. I love that we can provide saving ordinances for our entire family, both the living and the dead. I love the focus on family and service, missionary work, the humanitarian focus of the church. I love so much of the gospel. But the thing that I love the most is the atonement of Jesus Christ. Many churches believe in the atonement, but none of them understand the fulness of the atonement that we understand. We know that it covers every person who has ever lived. We know that it enables us to become perfect, not just redeems us from our sins. We know that we can become a God, not just an angel. We know that we can thus be with our families for ever. We know that grace saves us after all we can do. This are glorious doctrines, and only we truly understand them! Yes, this is what I love the most.

What about you? What is your favorite doctrine or part of the gospel? Before I go I should also mention that I LOVE the Book of Mormon. I have a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. I love reading it. I love talking about it. I love quoting it and teaching from it. I know you do too!

By the way, your mother is just finishing the Doctrine and Covenants. That means she’ll have read the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and New Testament this year. She’s amazing!!

I gotta go now. It’s about midnight and I have an early morning. I can’t wait to hear from you tomorrow!

Have a great week! 

Love, 

Dad

Good night, sleep tight, watch out for those bed bugs tonight... (Sep 26)

Dear Everyone,

This week was pretty exciting! We had some good success finding people here in our ward - we did a big Hawaiian party at the chapel and had about 150 people there! Some non member families came and loved the feeling they had in the church, and unfortunately for us they live out of our area but fortunately for them other missionaries will teach them now. I love watching families recognize the blessings of the Gospel, even from just being in a church building. It's so happy to see!

So a few weeks ago, some Elders came into the office to get some stuff from us, and little did I know that they had fleas/bed bugs/whatever other little bugs portugal has. A couple weeks ago I woke up with about 45 bites (it was hard to count because there were lots) all over me. I had no idea what was going on - I thought a swarm of mosquitos had gotten me the day before, then that night I got even more! Long story short we sprayed the house with some bug spray and I washed all of my clothes and it was going good, but then I was in a meeting with President Amorim (our mission president) and his wife Sister Amorim, and I had my arms on the table with a short sleeved white shirt on, and she saw all of the bites and decided to take out all of our mattresses, take them to a place to burn them, and de-infect our house professionally. So we have been sleeping at the mission home for the last few days! I look like I have chicken pox right now, but I haven't been bitten in a while, so things are looking good. :) 

I would like to share a story with you all! My mom sent it to me and I love it. Disclaimer - it's long, because it's basically a talk. So don't read if you don't have time, but if you don't have time then make time. Because it's good. It's part of a talk called "the lord's wind" by Elder John H. Groberg.

Before you read it I'll wrap up - Prayer is an essential aspect of the Gospel. It is how we comunicate with our Father in Heaven! It is His established way to thank him, talk to him, and ask him for help. But sometimes we need to have trust in the Lord and truly be His wind, truly be the answers to our own prayers as well as the prayers of others. I love my Father in Heaven and I know that He answers prayers! Have a great week everyone!

- Elder Valentine!

Lots of Random Pictures (Sep 20)

Elder Valentine has really figured out how to use his camera! This is his full, rich, informative description that accompanied these photos:

"These are a bunch of totally random pictures of me, Elder Yoder, Porto, and Catholic churches. The last three are inside a catholic church where we saw a little bit of a mass. Enjoy!"

TGIPDAY (Sep 20)

Dear Everyone,

Thank Goodness It's P-Day! It's been a while! The office has been busy and I haven't been able to get emails out! 

Update - I'm still here in the office with Elder Yoder; Elder Karthigeyan left and went back to Gaia close to our old area. Our ward is one of the biggest in the mission and has a lot of wonderfully old members. We have a recent convert here who is preparing to serve a mission named José. He is 25 and used to be a Jehova's Witness, so he knows a lot about the bible! He's awesome because he loves helping the missionaries find people to teach! It's also been very hot here. And when you are taking the public bus which has no air conditioner and is full of Europeans who don't like deodorant, it's just a splendid game of "lets see who can hold their breath for the longest!" 

We have been teaching a young guy from Cabo Verde named Alberto lately. He is a student at a university here in Porto. He believes in God, but doesn't have a super strong foundation in religion. He likes the Book of Mormon but more as like a "study help" for the Bible, but we'll change his mind! 

One thing I love about the Gospel is that we have so much material about the Savior. I am pretty sure there isn't a page in the Book of Mormon that doesn't mention the Lord in some way. It makes it so easy to learn about him! I have been thinking about faith in Christ lately, and I have a stronger testimony of why it is so important to have that faith. . Faith is believing that the Christ is the Savior and that through Him we can receive the glory of our Heavenly Father, and Faith is following Christ's example. That's, like, it! So no wonder that we need to teach Faith to the whole world; no one really knows exactly who Christ is! He is our Savior, but we need to really know what that means to have real Faith in Him. We need to know that he wants us to be perfect like Him! And so the times that I feel like I have the most faith in Christ are when I am following His example. Serving a mission shows my faith in Christ and grows that faith in me, but it works for everyone! If you want to know the Savior more and have more faith in Him, be more like Him through service and love, and you'll know Him better! I love the simplicity of the gospel.

That's a rap, folks. 

- Elder Valentine!

Yikes! Bug bites!

When I was a kid, my parents would tease me to cover my head so the bed bugs won't bite . . . Well, Elder Valentine really DID get attacked by bed bugs! So nasty!!

Elder Valentines Apartment

Here's some pictures of where Elder Valentine is living right now (September 2016):

Pizza Hut!

Elder Valentine Enjoying American Pizza!

Shine the Light! (Sep 7 2016)

Dear Everyone,

I'm sorry for the lack of emails lately! Office work is crazy. Yesterday we had a mission conference with Elder Zwick of the Seventy, and it was super super good, but it messed up our p-day again, so now it's today! 

It has been a really good couple of weeks! My comps Elder Yoder and Elder Karthigeyan and started a game to contact as many people as we can by trading contacts, and if you don't do your contact then you owe the other two lunch. I hope that makes sense. It has been amazing! We have been talking to literally everyone that is on the street! Haha I even contacted a teenage couple making out on a bench; I gave them a Law of Chastity pamphlet. :) It was an amazing way to overcome any fear I had left of really "opening my mouth" to the whole world! We are teaching a couple of people right now; we have invited them to be baptized, but they want to wait until they hear more. Their names are Carlos and Gustavo.

The conference with Elder Zwick was so amazing! I can't imagine how the church could be false with such amazing men running it worldwide. Elder Zwick talked a lot about our obedience and sacrifice, the first two commandments of the gospel, and how we can sacrifice MORE. As a missionary I have left home and my family and school or whatever eles, but that's not all there is to it. I can sacrifice my thoughts, my pride, my fears, my sins; anything that "dampens" my light; to do the Lord's work. And when we do that, Christ becomes a light in our lives that shines through us, and we can share that light with the whole world! We almost literally become a light that other people can see and follow. How amazing is that? We as members can sacrifice parts of ourselves and become stronger lights that our families and our friends can see. There is a quote that says "preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words." This is how we do it! I love the gospel and I am so excited every day to try and be a stronger light to bring more people unto Christ. 

I won't have a p day next week, I don't think, because we in the office help the mission president with Transfer plans which is this weekend, and it means that we need to work through our p day. So I will talk to you all in a couple weeks!´

- Elder Valentine!