Happy Memorial Day - May 29 2017

Hey Mom!

Whenever you get up I'd love to get that talk! I've been coming early to do emails lately because... long story, but basically it's always this way so sorry!

Wow fun week! Those pictures of Blakes ranch are rediculous. That place is huge. I wanna go there too! I'm glad that you guys already like his family too. It's so good to hear all of these good things about him and stuff because Amanda needs it! She's been through a lot and it's about time! 

Yeah so this week was... crazy. It rained really hard yesterday even though it's been really hot, so we weren't prepared with umbrellas and got SOAKED. It was a lot of fun. :) Besides that, this has been such a rediculous week of working really hard and not having ANY success! We talked to so many crazy people. Literally, you name the contact and we probably had it this week. Drunk people, atheists like no tomorrow, "convict agnostic" (which doesn't really make sense to me but whatever), people who believe in reeincarnation and Spiritualism... we (elder Carrelo and I) also sent out a challenge for the zone, that whatever companionship contacted more people than us on Wednesday (the day after the new transfer officially started), we would buy them a tub of ice cream! So we went crazy and talked to over 150 people that day, which was a lot of fun! One cool part about it was that we got to lots of different types of contacts that we don't normally do. Most of the time it's kind of rote, but we had some fun and tried out lots of approaches. 

Also, I saw something pretty disturbing; Saturday night, we were walking home around 10 PM and passed this HUGE group of people holding candles, and in the middle was this statue/shrine to Mary of Fatima, who Catholic's believe is Mary the mother of Jesus, who appeared in 1916 or so to three shepherd children, and now they worship her. No joke! So they were walking and had this huge shrine thing held up by 6 or so guys above their heads, and they were reciting this chant over and over about how Mary saves people from their sins and from death and basically it's really idolatrous and not okay. Like I don't normally talk bad about catholics or other people in general, but this was really bad! I couldn't believe it! Christ wasn't even mentioned or shown during the whole thing. Really really crazy!

We also marked Vitor and Dorina for the 24th of June! They will finally be married and baptized! We are stoked. I'll try and get a picture with them this week. They're awesome!

I think that's a really cool thought about "the Rock." I'm excited to hear from Sister Cleaveland!

Well that's about all for the week. Love you mom! If you can send me the talk, please do. :) Thanks! love ya!

Love, Elder Valentine!

Missionaries Coming and Going - May 22

Hey there you fat lard!

Sorry, that was disrespectful. 

Greetings, my good Father!

So for real, thanks for that part following your thoughts on D&C 93. To be totally honest, I've been what you might consider the opposite of trunky, or maybe just a different version of trunky - I have been scared to leave the mission because it has become everything that I do, and has given me so much purpose! I was thinking about what would happen after I get home and about some goals, like goals for music, or studying, or working out, or gospel study, but as I was thinking, I couldn't really fix an "end point" in my mind. I guess that's what scares me. My end point right now is the end of the mission, and I will work hard every day until that happens. But then, after that, what's the end goal? It's kind of an expanded experience of what I imagine people go through who don't have the Gospel. "What in the world am I doing here? What is really the purpose of life? Wake up, go to work, take care of family, have fun, go to bed, and repeat, every day until I die?" There is no substance to it. And I guess I'm kind of going through a version of that haha. What will be my end goal? But I think my view is just really narrow right now because of the mission and I haven't really thought a lot about it, so it's just undeveloped. ANYWAY, your last paragraph was really comforting, especially when you said that "whatever we are doing in this life CAN and SHOULD be the best experience of our lives and not just something from the past." Thanks dad. 

Also, that's REALLY awesome that so many youth from the ward are going on missions! Whoohoo! I don't know how it would work out, but I'd love to just say hi to Garrett before he leaves. Maybe wednesday morning? Or a quick visit Tuesday night? I don't know, but I just want to congratulate him and tell him how great and how quick his mission is going to be!

Thanks dad! I think this is why I needed to get on the email today. I'm going to study D&C 93 when I get home tonight. Love ya!

Love, Elder Valentine!

On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 1:22 PM, Stephen Valentine <ValentineSJ@familysearch.org> wrote:

Elder Valentine,

Greetings! I’ve been thinking about how interesting our LDS missionary experience is for the young man or young woman and the parents and the whole church. You are now starting your last transfer! That’s amazing! For our family we are now counting down the last 6 weeks of your mission. There’s all these mixed feelings at the end of the mission and all the blessings of the experience and your service, plus thoughts about the future. Then there’s the families of the missionaries who are about to leave, and all their emotions of parting and excitement and anticipation and separation for two years. I’m thinking even more about this because of so many now are about to leave.

Ethan Gibby has his call to Florida, he is leaving July 21. Garret Figgins received his call and assignment (thank you Elder Bednar!) to Chicago and he leaves on July 5! This made me think even more about the coming and going, with you coming home one day and he leaving the very next day! Ryan Wallentine received his call this week as well, and he’s assigned to Ecuador. I also met with Dani Van Brocklin and started her on the process. She can turn in her papers on July 4! And then there’s Anna’s friend, Spencer, who leaves in about 3 weeks. Lots of missionary activity right now!

I was reading last night DC 93. This is the famous section about “the glory of God is intelligence” which is the quote used all over the place at BYU. I am so grateful that you are committed to going to school on your return. I see so many young adults who wander on strange paths no certain of what to do, mostly because they lack a clear goal. I know that the mission has been the main goal, and it should be! But you have so much goodness ahead of you as well. Life is not the mission. The mission is the preparation and service to make your life even more meaningful! Rob Perkins used to say that his missions had been the best two years of his life TO THAT POINT, but his marriage to Rhonda and having children, etc., were THEN the best years of his life! The point is, whatever we are doing in this life CAN and SHOULD be the best experience of our lives and not just something from the past. Your experience in college and getting married, etc., will become the best years of your life as well, and I’m excited for your journey ahead! 

Work and yard work and church work is dominating my life right now! All are going pretty well, but it’s a lot of work! Really looking forward to our big vacation in July, partly to get a break from all the various kinds of work! 

Okay, sorry this was a bit late. Have a great week! WORK hard! I’ll try to do the same!

Love,

Dad

"This Week" May 22 (to Mom)

Hi Mom!

I know! It's very surreal! It sounds like you have a lot of crazy weeks like that. 

My week went by really fast as well. We went to Caldas da Rainha to do a baptismal interview for a young cape verdian guy, and it was crazy - the sisters there wanted us to come because they couldn't figure out why he didn't want to be baptized. He accepts everything and keeps the commandments, but he just didn't want to be baptized yet. So Elder Carrelo and I prepared to teach him and after like an hour and a half, he FINALLY, after him giving prayer asking God when he should be baptized, said that he had some doubts about the law of chastity. So now we know what's up and the sisters can help him with his questions. It was a great experience to work with the Spirit to help the investigator open up and help us help him progress. 

We also had a Zone Conference this week and President Amorim talked about the parable of the talents in the Sermon on the Mount. It was awesome! He compared the three different results of the servants to the three kingdoms of glory, and applied it to us as missionaries, saying we could all double our 5 talents (because we are blessed with the most as members of the church and as missionaries) through God and He will even add on the 11th when we really do our part. It was a cool comparison!

 Oh I also went to the doctor on Saturday. I don't want this to be gross, so I'll try and be really simple. It's not a big deal, just annoying. Around January or February I bruised my tailbone REALLY bad; like, I had to sleep with one pillow under my thighs and another under my back to keep the pressure off because I couldn't sleep with the pain! But bruises on the tailbone take a long time to heal and you can't really do anything about it, which I already knew, so I waited it out and it got better. But then, two or three weeks ago, when I did sit ups or lied on hard ground or other things that put pressure on the tailbone area, I would feel my lower back and it would be wet! Like, super weird. And it happened every day. So I went to the doctor and he basically told me that there's an ingrown hair or some other dumb debris in the tailbone area, and it keeps getting infected, and the only way to permanently fix it is to get it surgically removed. Like a little baby surgery, but still. Really dumb. Well, we'll see what happens I guess!

Yeah that's about it haha! Love you mom!

Love, Elder Valentine!

On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 12:55 PM, Linda Valentine <lindacmemail@gmail.com> wrote:

 I can't believe it's your last transfer! It's very surreal! And bittersweet, and all that. I guess that's why you're on early today…? 

 This week went by super fast! And it was very busy. But I didn't take very many pictures, sorry. 

 But here's a quick recap: Wendy Ethan had his choir concert. He hasn't really liked choir this year, I'm not really sure why. I think it just must be the teacher. But they sing some really fun songs and he looked like he was having fun. I had a choir concert also this week. I had rehearsal on Wednesday and then the concert was on Thursday. We sang a Requiem  by John Rutter  that was one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever heard. And then we saying six or seven other really awesome songs.  The concert was in Salt Lake City at Libby Gardner concert hall at the U of U campus. We went to the Pie Pizzeria after the concert ended at 9:30 PM. The thing that kept me so busy is that I tended Ryleigh all week while Amanda was out of town.  It's crazy how much work it is to take care of a little toddler 24/7!😂

 Saturday I went to a stake women's conference  and the guest speaker was a man named Chad Hymus.  He is a paraplegic-  he was crushed by a 2000 pound bale of hay when he was 27. He's about my age now. But he goes around and towards the whole world doing motivational speaking. He is a member of the church, and he is super amazing. He was really uplifting. The thing that meant the most to me, was he said "Nothing you do is really about you. Everything you do affects someone else in some way."  Of course we all know that, but somehow we forget. It made me want to serve more, and make sure to be kind to everyone always.  I wish I had time to go into more detail, but I don't. Maybe I'll tell you more next week. 

 Dad has worked so hard in the yard this weekend! It looks really good. Her garden is all planted, all the grasses in, the trampoline pit is done, it's just beautiful! And we finally have nice weather. It has been very cold rainy spring.  We have a robins nest in our rosebush and there are little baby birds in it. It's so cute! You can hear them chirping every time the mama bird brings them a warm. Ethan is pretty excited about it so I took him to the store and bought a birdfeeder so that they would have more to eat. 

 Well, I'm going to hurry and send this in case you have to go now before I get done.  I love you tons! And I am excited for your last transfer! Make the most of it! You're the best. 

Love, Mom

Pictures - May 8 2017

1 and 2: zone meeting last week

3: that building on the right is the chapel, we are coming from our area which is on this huge hill. That hill is my bane.

4: A wild Elder Valentine

5: A tired Elder Carrelo

6: a cool fortress we saw while tracting

7: me and Elder Carrelo

8: I don't know if you can see, but these are the little bugs I talked about!

9: a church

Tranfser #17 - The End

Dear Everyone,

Well I haven't really talked about it, but I might as well just say it before people start freaking out; I'm entering my last transfer in the mission field this week. I'm staying with Elder Carrelo here in Santarém and we're going to have another amazing six weeks working hard together!

We're working with a couple, Vitor and Dorina, who only need to get married to get baptized. Besides that they're ready! It's a complicated process because Dorina is from Romania, so we have to work with the Romanian Embassy here to get it taken care of, but they should be getting baptized in the next couple weeks. We're excited! 

I was studying the doctrine and blessings of prayer, and I recognized something that I want to share from 2 Nephi 32:

"8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

In Portuguese, instead of saying "performance," the translation is just "action." I don't know why, but when I switched the word "performance" for "action," it made it simpler to understand and clearer for me. God will consecrate our righteous actions when pray for the same. But we have to pray always! Whenever we do something for the Lord or in service to Him, we should pray to have the action consecrated or set apart for our own good. I loved that and I am going to make my prayers more meaningful and pray more often because of what I learned!

Have a good week! Pray lots!

- Elder Valentine!

May 15 Group Email

hey there family!

So we have been working with Vitor and Dorina, one portuguese and one Romanian, to get married, and then baptized soon! We also taught a cool indian guy, Gormit, about Christ, because he doesn't know a lot about him. Our branch president changed a couple weeks ago, and the new one, President Pipino (that's cucumber in Portuguese, haha!) is super excited to work with the missionaries. It's great! We are going to Caldas da Rainha tonight, a city about 45 minutes away, to do a baptismal interview/teach the guy marked for baptism, because he is doing everything he needs to but doesn't feel like he is prepared. Also, I finished the journal that I brought from home - that is a pretty big accomplishment for me, since I've basically never kept a journal! Anyway, this is just a short one since I talked to you all yesterday. Love you guys!

Love, Elder Valentine!

Trampoline, Sod, and Tears - May 8 to Dad

Hey dad (and family!)

Dang it! That really stinks about the trampoline. Haha it'll be good to be able to help with yard stuff when I'm around. Fear not!

So, I'll probably be able to do it at like 6 (about 11 AM your time), if that works for you guys. It would be a good time for me but if it doesn't work to do it that late I can do it earlier!

I totally agree with what you said about that level of conversion. It's been really easy to see the different levels that people find themselves on, both in members and in missionaries. Some missionaries just really don't want to work hard or push themselves and it's hard to work with people like that! (Elder Carrelo is not like that, thankfully!) I studied a part of Chapter 4 in Preach My Gospel, on the Holy Ghost, this morning. It was about the Holy Spirit of Promise, I think an associated scripture was D&C 132: 7, 18 and 19, and 26. The latter 3 verses talk about celestial marriage, but verse 7 is more general. I thought it was very interesting that it says in verse 7 "All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise...are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead." The things that will be carried over are those things such as covenants and ordinances done through God's priesthood authority - baptism, temple ordinances including those regarding eternal families - families themselves, when sealed, and then as it states in D&C 130: "And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." So we bring knowledge gained, of which Gospel knowledge will be essential, and then other things like service - we will be blessed eternally for what we DO, the people we help, the lives we save, because in D&C 18 it says 

"13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" 

Meaning that we will be eternally blessed for all those that we bring unto God!

Anyway, that was basically my whole study for today haha! To wrap it up, I told you about it because I thought it was interesting the things we take with us, and the value of what we do here on earth. The "burdens" that some people find in the Gospel aren't burdens! They are the things that God knows will be for our greatest benefit. 

This week has been pretty good - here in Santarém there are a ton of immigrants from Romania, and most of them don't work or have great financial situations, so it's kind of tough to find self-sufficient people here. But we did find a really nice couple, Rafael and Maria; Rafael said he wanted to get baptized before I even asked him! The only challenge we have with them is they aren't coming to church and we don't know why, so we'll have to work with them for it. We have been ATTACKED by these little black bugs that show up super randomly. Like one second there's none, and not even kidding, then next second there are 50 all over Elder Carrelo's back. It's happened like 4 times and it's so not fun! 

So yeah! That's what's down. We're working hard! 

Love ya! Have a good week, dad! Get better with your back!

Love, Elder Valentine!