Hi mom! Haha you know what's funny? I made the request for my own flight home! That's part of what I do in the office; make the return flight requests. So it was kind of a strange experience doing the whole process for myself haha! I'm pretty happy about the arrival time - sometimes missionaries don't get home until like 10 PM and I was going to be sad if that was the case on the 4th of July, so it worked out well!
Sounds like you had a good week! I'm sure Ethan had a really fun birthday. Laser tag wins the heart of any boy hands down. :) What song did you sing for your broadway concert?
Yeah I got to see all of the session of general conference! Because of the time change, we watched the morning sessions at the chapel at 5 PM, the priesthood session on Sunday morning at the chapel, and the afternoon sessions at 9 PM here in the office. Haha it was nice to have these good computers to watch conference on. President Amorim has tried to make it so that us office elders have not had "more" than the rest of the mission (hence not having a smart phone and also not having a car like most mission offices), but we still get to have little nice things like having enough computers for all of us to write on Pday (which is a problem almost anywhere outside of the office) and stuff like that. Oh also! President Amorim talked to us in the office this last week, and he told me that I will be transferred out. Elder Peterson is (a previous zone leader) is going to replace me. He got here yesterday, and I'll train him this week and then stay in the office for the first week of the next transfer to give Elder Peterson 2 weeks to learn everything, and then leave. President didn't tell me where I'm going - this next weekend is transfers so I'll know by the time next Pday comes around.
This week was pretty good - we're hitting some walls in some our investigators progression, and we are trying to help them overcome their problems. I'm learning day by day how important it is to have the spirit in our planning, studies and practices, and lessons, because without the spirit we won't be able to really help our investigators. So it's been a good experience!
I got your package this week! I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet (my camera is still with problems but I'll figure it out soon) but I loved it! Haha I like the stickers. I saw them before I read the letter and I was really confused at why you sent them. The socks are crazy! They're awesome! Also with the card - will it work for Portugal already? I'll have to call because there are no chase banks here. I just haven't done it yet because I am not sure how everything will work.
I'm actually back in an apartment that I was in when I first came to the office - it's super small but a lot nicer and better insulated than the other one. We are currently 5 in the house because of Elder Peterson and the whole quadrupla companionship thing, so it's super cramped but definitely better than the other house haha! We have a washing machine but no dryer, which is typical for missionary houses. We just have drying racks to hang our clothes up. It's on the third floor - whenever I get my camera in order I'll take a picture of it. I don't know how it is in biggish cities in the US, but a lot of times you will have houses/apartments that are a part of a huge long strip of buildings, so they are long but skinny. If that makes any sense. Or you could just look up my address and see what it looks like if you want - the address is Avenida Fernão de Magalhães 497, Porto. The view looks out onto another strip of buildings haha! It's not great but during a morning run we can get to the top of a hill that has a pretty sweet view of the outskirts of Porto with lots of hills and stuff. Here's a funny thing - NO ONE knows their neighbors in Portugal. No one. Partly because everyone lives in apartments and so it's not like there is a yard to take care of or a front porch to relax on, so you never know who lives where unless you're inside the house. And we aren't supposed to proselyte in the buildings we live in (something about making landlords angry because of complaining clients), and we are the only ones on our floor of the building (it has a super tiny little landing outside the door so there's not even room for another apartment), so I don't really know the neighbors unfortunately. The furniture is pretty sparse in this apartment. Others have more, I think it's just because of the size for ours. We have two study tables and a little square table that we use for all 5 of us to study, 2 bunk beds (elder peterson is currently on a mattress on the ground), a fridge, an oven, one bookshelf, and 4 clothes racks (basically a bar to hold hangers) and that's literally it besides chairs! Well there is this super tiny table thing in the kitchen that barely sits 2 people too. Haha I'll take a video and some pictures to show you!
Today we went to a mini golf place which was fun! It was super chill and relaxing which was much needed. I tied with Elder Judd for first place of the 5 of us.
I'll write a letter to dad real quick. Love you mom! :)
Love, Elder Valentine!
Hello, Elder! Guess what!! We got an email on Thursday from the Church travel department! It had all of your flight info and you are coming in at 7:30 pm on the Fourth of July! So we'll have time to get a hamburger and watch fireworks to celebrate you coming home! It was just exciting to see it officially in an email to us. 😊 You probably already knew, or Dad already wrote about it, but that's ok cuz it was very exciting!
This week was a good week for me. Not super busy or stressful! First time in a LONG time! I cleaned my room this weekend (seriously I hadn't deep cleaned it since before Christmas even though I really wanted to!), I got enough sleep, performed in my choir concert, did my visiting teaching on the first day of the month, went for a walk with Dad, and best of all, watched Conference! 😄 It was really good.
Last Tuesday evening we celebrated Ethan's birthday at Boondocks. We did bowling, laser tag (my very first time ever), and played some arcade games. We ate dinner at Chick-fi-la. We had lots of fun, and I had the highest score in bowling and the lowest score in laser tag, ha ha!
Thursday Was Ethan's actual birthday so I picked him up from school on his lunch and took him out to eat. We went to Kneaders. One reason we celebrated his birthday on Tuesday is because Dad's friend Star Hall got us tickets to go with them to see "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the Hale Center Theater and he got mixed up on the dates. So we asked Ethan if we could celebrate on a different day and he was a really good sport. So while we were gone, Amanda took him to Cafe Rio for a birthday dinner. He got an iPod for his birthday that he partly paid for himself. He seemed like he had a good birthday.
Friday night was my "Broadway Bingo" concert for choir. I sang a little solo and it was really fun. 😊
Did you get to watch all of Conference? It was so good!
The kiddos are on Spring Break this week but Dad is in London so we're not really doing anything... and I have to work except Tuesday I have off. Yay!
Spring is in full force here, we've had some rainy days, but lots of sunny days too so the tulips are blooming, the leaves on the trees are coming back, and the grass is starting to green up. I love it!
I think you have a few more questions from last time that you didn't have time to answer, so I won't ask any new ones just yet. Tell me about your week, how the investigators are doing, anything new or different that happened this week, etc.
Love you so much!! Can't wait to hear from you! 😊
Love, Mom
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