Dear Family,
Hi!!! Thank you so much for sending me letters and emails
and packages and loving me! I seriously love it! And thank you for all of your
prayers. I can feel them helping me here at the MTC. I love you guys!
Kimber: Happy late Birthday!! I wish I could have written
you on Sunday, but hey. I have a pretty good excuse. Your'e old! Para bens!
(congratulations in portuguese!)
Dad: sup home skilly biscuit! That's cool that you got to do
your offsite with all of those general authorities! you should tell me about
it! I haven't heard anything about my visa, so I'm not sure how it will work
out, unfortunately. I love hearing about your experiences teaching ward members
and the talks in sacrament meeting (mom, too!) and everything!
Mom: HI mommy! I love ya! so on a regular day, I wake up at
6;15 and get ready for the day, then we have study time in the classroom from 7
to 7:45. We eat breakfast for 30 minutes, and then go back to class for another
hour of personal study, at which point our teacher Irmao Regehr comes in. He is
our investigator Gordon, So for an hour he will leave and we will take turns
going and teaching him as Gordon. Then we have a lesson on Portuguese and some
gospel stuff for 2 hours. We eat lunch, and then have 3 hours for personal,
companion, and language study, split into 1 hour chunks.Then we have gym for
like an hour, go eat dinner, and go back to class where our second teacher Irma
Wells will do the same thing. She is our investigator Laura, and then she
teaches a Portuguese lesson and a gospel lesson. Then at 9:30 we go back to our
dorm rooms and get ready for bed! that's a typical day. On Wednesday we have
service at 6:15, so that's early, and on Saturday, but besides that it stays
the same. On Sunday,we have sacrament meeting at 8, study time for a while, i
have a branch council meeting I go to with the ZL's, DL's, STL's, and Branch
presidency. oh. Those mean zone leader, district leader, and sister training
leader, if you didn't know! Then we have a priesthood meeting as a district, go
and walk around the temple, another district meeting, choir practice at 5, and
then our Sunday devotional for the whole mtc. Then we watch a movie like meet
the Mormons or "The testament" or watch a super good devotional by an
apostle (which is like what we always do) and then go to bed. I think that's
most of my schedule! a lot of study and a lot of the Spirit! Thanks for sharing
the sacrament meeting talks! I love hearing about stuff like that! I can't
believe Christian and Brittney both got married! Thats crazy! Last week you
asked about a CD from Emily: I honestly have no idea. I can't listen to any
music here, and I don't know about Portugal. Sorry! Oh! you guys looked way
good in the pageant! and going to the other pageant sounds way fun! My packages
have been so awesome! thank you so much for sending them! We have SO MUCH food
in our room right now. Its crazy. Elder Meza's mom sent him like a HUGE box of
all of this junk food, so we are loaded. The donuts were way good, thanks for
sending my licence, and the letters, and everything! It's hard to think about
everything you guys sent just because I'm trying to go really fast right now,
but I really do love getting letters and packages from you. I can buy some of
this at the store if you want me too, but i need floss, and maybe some Burt's
bees chapstick? Elder Meza is addicted and said I should get some. I can buy
laundry detergent if you want me to. It's so hard to remember things I want or
need because I never have time to think!
Anna: I seriously love your quotes you send. Way good! they
mean a lot to me! You're driving???? Stop. That's all. Your letter about girls
camp was way good! It's so cool that you get to have those experiences! I'm so
glad the spirit was there and that you had a good time. It's a good thing you're
good at shooting: a year from now, when boys start chasing after you for dates,
you can put that skill to good use. I also like the picture of me and Elder
Meza. :) I cant belive schools almost starting! I feel like I should be there!
I'm glad your clothes are normal. So, I really like choir. But I honestly don't
know how your school will be because your teacher is different. Orchestra would
definitely be a challenge, which is awesome, so... I don't really know. My
suggestion is that you make a decision either way, and then pray about it. You
will know if your decision is the best if you pray and feel good about it, or
you will know it's not if you don't. But you WILL receive an answer. You just
have to make the decision first! Me and Elder Meza are doing a lot better! We
just needed the spirit more in our companionship. :) Anna; I'm gonna give Ethan
some advice, but all of it applies exactly to you too. so please read it.
Ethan: Dude! Your comic is so good! It made laugh so hard!
If you patent those bags, please make sure that I get some free ones. They look
way good. So. You're a deacon. You have about six years before you can go on a
mission, you're starting junior high, and there are a lot of things that can
happen to you right now. You're, like, growing up! So I have some advice for
you. Please please please read the Book of Mormon every day, and pray morning
and night. It is such a good habit to have, and you will be so blessed for it.
Try to maybe cut back on playing so much and focus on the gospel primarily
(family counts as part of that), then school work, and THEN you might be able
to goof off. But I think It's so important to put things in priority order.
Your life will just get busier and busier, and if you play all the time, then
you will be really stressed and life is gonna stink. Also, be an example for
your deacons quorum and the kids you meet at school. Always be nice to
everyone, and try and look for ways you can share the gospel, even if it's just
talking about church on Sunday. Not that you don't already do these things. But
as ;you share your testimony and show everyone what a REAL deacon and member of
the church is like, people will seriously love you for it. Girls too. haha! For
real though. I only kind of figured this all out Senior year. But once I did,
it was almost funny how many people looked to me as an example and told me
about it, and thought I was super cool; I didn't know it when people thought it,
but when people said that they thought I was a huge example, they meant it. I
was just trying to be nice and be a good kid and stuff, but people really look
up to you. People would say that I was the kind of person they wished they
could be, and they thought that I was on a "different level" than
most people in the school. and girls like you a lot more! HAHA I knew a lot of
girls who had a crush on me because of my happy and loving personality. (and
since Kimmy was the same way, that was why everyone said that we should date
and gross stuff like that. It was really annoying, actually.) But the point of
this huge ramble is not to tell you how cool I am. Because I don't think I'm
that cool. the point is that through your diligence in studying the scriptures,
and serving your family, and then your friends at school, and by trying to
serve and by being the best deacon you can, you will start to realize that
you'd rather have this really good stuff in your life, rather than playing all
of the time. It changes your perspective on who you are and what you can do,
but only if you TRY to do better. Okay? okay. I love you, brother! You am smell
like grass!
Saxtons and Farnsworths: Thank you so much for writing me! I
am so glad to hear from you! I'm SO excited that Parker is starting his papers!
It will be hard for him as the Adversary works on him in this decision, but
it's a huge blessing! And the fact that Cameron is coming to church and reading
the Book of Mormon is SO AWESOME! I love hearing that! I am so excited for you
guys! Thank you Farnsworths for your advice and thinking about me! I for sure
know that prayer is powerful, and thank you for testifying of it and making me
want to pray even harder!
Okay, well, I think that is all I have to say for now. I
wish I could remember evryting that people ask me about and stuff, and I try my
best, but I get so busy that It's hard to think! so I'll try and remember more
next week. I love you guys so much!!
Love, Elder Valentine!!
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