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!

Answering Questions - May 8 Email to Mom

Hey mom!

I hadn't responded to all of your questions in this email, so I'll continue with just the last couple that you asked!

Who has written me that surprised me - (I don't remember if I already wrote you about this so sorry) well it's really awesome to get emails from aunts and uncles - Adam and Shaela (?) have written me a couple times, Uncle Blane wrote me a few weeks ago, the Saxtons wrote me a couple weeks ago too, and Grandma Folkman writes me maybe once a month. One email that was awesome to recieve was from a guy named Carson Brown who was in the grade below me in school: I knew him but we weren't like great friends or anything, but he wrote me telling me he was on his mission, and talked about a time when I was a UKnight leader (remember that?) and he was one of the students in the class that I was assigned to. He remembered it being a good experience and anyway, it was cool to hear from him! It's also nice any time I hear from ward members. Sister Talbot wrote me last week asking me to share my testimony for a young women's class she was giving. 

A fun package was my birthday package last year with the little cupcake things and cereal and the letters from the family and socks and the oil holder - it was just a fun package! I haven't really gotten anything from anyone but the family, a couple letters from Kimmy, and wedding invitations from different people haha! 

Traditions - Well, I don't really know what kind of traditions you are looking for... there is definitely a missionary "lingo" which probably changes depending on what language you speak. There are definitely words in Portuguese that, even though they have a translation to English, don't mean the same thing - I'll never have another time in my life where I can speak English and Portuguese together without worrying about people not being able to understand me! Things like "pois" and "fubeca" and "toma" and other things that we don't use. I definitely used to think that missionaries who came back from a foreign speaking mission who "couldn't speak english anymore" were talking a bunch of bologny (?), but I can totally understand what they mean. 

Alright! Well I answered all your questions! They were fun to answer! It made me think of a lot of stuff that I don't normally tell you guys about. :) Thanks!

I will have to leave early today because we changed up our schedule just for today, so just let me know if you get this in the next little while. :) Love you mom!

Love, Elder Valentine!

On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 6:23 PM, Spencer Valentine <spencer.valentine@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Yeah playing the piano went well! I definitely have big goals to get a lot better when I get home.

So for groceries - there are like 5 main supermarket chains in Portugal - "Continente", "Pingo Doce," "Mini Preço." "Lidl," and "Jumbo." Lidl and Jumbo are less common but are like the best. I've only ever been in Jumbo once though! And Lidl just a couple times. Continente feels like a Walmart but looks like a Target. If that makes any sense. It's the biggest and therefore has more stuff, normally, but is a little more pricey. Pingo Doce is my favorite; it has the best tasting food of almost everything. Mini Preço is the cheapest but it's for a reason. The food is lower quality and they don't have a lot of options for stuff. There is a Mini Preço right by our house, so we have been using that recently. When I was with Elder Yoder we went to a Continente which was part of a mall by that stadium I talked about and took a bus back home (there is a bus stop right in front of our house that makes it convenient to get back from the stadium, but it isn't worth it to get to the office). I get 160 euros per month to spend on groceries, a haircut, toiletries, stuff like that. This transfer we have been doing super well at buying food together, which makes it cheaper to make food! I probably spend like 20 euros a week on food. We've made so much stuff this transfer - I made Stew and Buscuits, and I made navajo tacos (which were super good, by the way), a spinach chicken pasta bake thing which was actually really yummy, and I made banana pancakes and syrup using the brown sugar syrup recepie you sent me! It was kind of runny but tasted super good. And the other elders have made soups and spaghetti and chili and a couple other things. We actually eat about ZERO meals in the apartment, because it is super inconvenient to stop working in the office, walk home, eat, and walk back. It takes too much time. So we have been making food either the night before or the morning of, and taking it to the office. It's worked out well! We probably eat at a members house like twice a transfer. Not that much. But they are good days when we do! Typical breakfast - lately I've been just having a bowl of cereal (totally not the same. The cereal is pretty bland and the milk doesn't help, but it works!) and yogurt and a fruit, normally a banana. I've also made omelets, and I made pancakes a few times, though not that often because they take long. 

Okay that's question two down! I'll answer more next pday. Love you mom!

On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 6:03 PM, Linda Valentine <lindacmemail@gmail.com> wrote:

That's awesome that the organ can play the hymns by itself. Some of the organs here in Utah can do that. Usually the newer ones. Before we moved from Clinton they had put a new organ in our building and it could do that. But ours here in Layton isn't one of those. I'm so proud of you for playing the piano!! 😊 I have the sheet music for that song "I'll Find You My Friend". It is a very old song from the 80's! 😄

On Monday, March 27, 2017, Linda Valentine <lindacmemail@gmail.com> wrote:

I love your description of the chapel! :) I am on so write more if you want! I have the day off today, and so do Anna and Ethan because it was end of term. 😊 It will be nice if you can go to a different place before you come home. But also very much a compliment that Pres. Amorim values you so much that he wants to keep you. It's a hard decision!

On Monday, March 27, 2017, Spencer Valentine <spencer.valentine@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hi mom!

Thanks for answering all of my questions! I liked your answers. They were very descriptive!

The parable of the good samaritan is so symbolic! That's so awesome! I had no idea about that. Have you ever read Jesus the Christ? I think you would really like reading it if you haven't. The book is just very descriptive and makes me think about the Gospel's (the books in the New Testament) so much more profoundly. But I have never heard that parallelism in this parable!

I haven't gotten the package yet. It'll hopefully come in this week! Also, I haven't gotten around to ordering the scriptures - but I gotta do it soon! (oh I forgot to mention about my interview with President Amorim that he basically asked me if I wanted to stay in the office or not - I said I would like to go to a different area, but it's still up in the air. He said that if it was purely his choice, he would keep me in the office until I leave!)

I like that scripture in Esther - I read Esther for the first time a few months ago out of curiosity but I didn't really study it intensely, and thus didn't even remember that scripture. I really like it! I don't know if I mentioned that I'm trying to read the Book of Mormon twice (Portuguese) , The Doctrine and Covenants (Portuguese), and the New Testament (English, because I've never read the whole thing, and the translation is hard to follow in Portuguese), all before July 5th That's the goal! It's going well so far! I started it at the beginning of this year. It's also mostly apart from my personal study hour, because I want to spend that time studying for the day for investigators and stuff. So it's mostly in the morning and at night after we get home.

Church building - the "chapel" that we are in is a renovated house. More like a mansion. It's got 2 floors and a basement, but it's really big! the top floor has like 8 or 9 rooms, the main floor has a big room where we have sacrament meeting and a kitchen and stuff, and the basement has a few more rooms, one for the high council and another for Gospel Principles. It's big enough for the 80ish people that show up weekly, but as the ward grows (which it will!) it won't fit much more than 110 to like 130 people. There is a stake center, which is an actual chapel built by the church, though it's smaller, I think, than most chapel's in Utah! I served there when I was in Porto 2 at the beginning of my mission, and we have zone conferences and other meetings there. It's hard to get to though - it's right on a freeway so walking is a struggle! My building is the Porto 1 ward now. Our building has a piano that I play (oh yeah, I play the piano for sacrament meeting. I can struggle through most of the hymns haha! There was two ward choir numbers for the ward conference yesterday, one was "a child's prayer" (in portuguese, of course. It's called "oração de uma criança") and another called "I'll find you my friend," a song that also has a portuguese translation. You can find it on youtube, I'm sure. I was SO nervous to play either of the songs because I can't practice the piano since that's not my duty and I'm just not super good, but I played both and it wasn't perfect but it was good enough that I felt the spirit there! It was a very real tender mercy that God helped me play as well as I did!) The Stake center has an organ that can play all of the hymns by itself! (do they do that in the chapels in Utah? I think they did it because they knew that there wouldn't be a lot of people who knew how to play the piano) I'll send you a picture of both chapels, if I can find them. Our chapel is basically on the same road as the office, which is super convenient, and it's around the corner from the mission home, also super convenient. It's on the very east of what people still consider Porto - it's up a hill from the big soccer stadium the "estadio do dragão" (dragon stadium) and any farther than the stadium and local people will use other names to describe where they live. There's a big catholic church and a mcDonalds on the street over from the chapel. :) Whenever a meeting house is a renovated home, the church does a really good job at making it look more church-y and put the big black plaque with the church name on it and it looks nice. 

Don't worry - I'll continue this letter in a bit. I just wanted to send it now to let you know that I'm on and if you want me to wait to respond to more questions I can, but I a little extra time today so I will probably be able to write more! love ya!

Love, Elder Valentine!

On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 8:32 AM, Linda Valentine <lindacmemail@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Elder Valentine/Spencer/Son,

It seems like I'm always cramped for time when I write you, or it's very late, or something. So even though today is still the day we just heard from you, and you won't get this for a week, I decided to write to you for your next Pday. :)

Did you ever read those talks I sent? Did anything stand out to you? It's ok if you didn't get a chance. I know you're busy!

You asked me some questions I haven't answered yet so I will answer them now. 

Your questions: What is Ryleigh like? And Porter? I don't really know them haha! What is your favorite Bible story and why? (Either old testament or new testament or both) Can you pinpoint a moment when you really knew the church was true? Or that the Restoration was true? 

What is Ryleigh like? Well first of all, it's the strangest thing how genetics work. Each person is unique and individual, mostly because they are a 50/50 blend of two people. But I swear that's not always true, and it's amazing how similar children can be to just one of their parents! So in a nutshell, Ryleigh is just like Amanda! Like it's weird how much she is like her. It's like she was cloned. Ryleigh looks just like Amanda did as a baby, sounds like her, and acts like her. She is so adorable and sweet, but then at the same time she can be really stubborn and has tantrums sometimes, and when she has a tantrum, watch out! She is loud. She is really super friendly and affectionate. She loves attention. She warms up to new people really fast. She has a cute laugh and a big smile! She isn't talking much yet, but she walks around pretending to talk- her babbling is so stinking cute! She HATES baths. We don't know why. And she is afraid of loud noises, and gets very afraid of a lot of things easily. For instance, when Ethan was in the play and he had to wear wolf makeup, she was SO afraid. Like crying so hard she didn't take a breath for a second. She was afraid of the mannequin heads we used for the funny dance we did at the valentine social. (They are just plain white...) Oh, and she's afraid of Ethan's millennium falcon toy. She cries every time he turns it on. Things like that. It's sad and funny at the same time. She also knows who things belong to and she likes to pick things up and give them to the person. She will sometimes go into the mudroom and get shoes and take them to their owners. Or if my purse is on a chair she'll see it and try to bring it to me, sometimes taking things out of it one at a time and bringing them to me. It's cute. We love her. She's a sweet little spirit. 

Porter is the cutest baby boy! He was very attached to his mama for a long time, but now is his daddy's buddy. He was also a really quiet baby, but now that he is almost two his personality is coming out and he talks a little bit and laughs and runs around with Lincoln and is really friendly. He looks just like Kimberly did as a baby/toddler. He's very sweet. His eyes are so big and blue. He just looks up at you with those eyes and has you wrapped around his little finger. He's also very heavy! He is like a brick. He was pretty chubby for a while, but now that he's a toddler he is more normal, but he just is solid and heavy. He knows how to make all the car noises when he plays and he is all boy, but he is sweet and cuddly - he has a stuffed doggie that he has to have to go to sleep.  

My favorite Bible story: I have more than one, but I think if I HAVE to pick a #1 favorite I will have to say It's the story of Esther. She saved her people by relying on Heavenly Father, even though she knew she was risking everything to do it. The part I love the most is the scripture that says:

14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14)

We should never be afraid to do what the Lord asks us to do, because he raises us up to do the work we need to do. It's similar to 1Nephi 3:7  but with an additional layer to it. He puts us where we need to be to do a work and we don't want to mess up Heavenly Fathers plan for us and building up the kingdom by being afraid to speak up or move forward. Whenever we have to do something out of our comfort zone, we should think, "who knoweth whether I have been put here for such a time as this". I love that. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. We just need to submit to his will in every situation.

Your question: Can you pinpoint a time when you knew the Church was true, or the Restoration?

For me it's hard to pinpoint, because I feel like I was born with a testimony of the Church and the Restoration. But I have also had many experiences when I have felt a witness that has confirmed it over and over again. For example: When I was a Primary age child, I had a picture book about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. I loved to read that book and look at the pictures. I felt drawn to it and felt a really strong spirit when I would read it. I felt the Spirit very strong when I was baptized. Seminary really strengthened my testimony. I took Moroni's challenge while in Seminary and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and I received a feeling of peace and joy after praying, and while it was not spectacular or obvious, I couldn't deny that it was the Spirit I was feeling, that my answer was, "you know its true, you have always known it." I feel such peace and warmth and happiness when I am at church, or at home reading scriptures, listening to Conference talks, doing service, paying tithing - I could never doubt of the truthfulness of the gospel. I wish I was like some who have some really specific day or time that they knew, but I guess I haven't needed that because I just know.

Well, Spencer, all of the above was written last Tuesday night. I didn't send it so I'm just going to add on to it now and tell you about the rest of my week. It was overall a busy kind of stressful week for me, but good. The stress was just from so much to do without a break, but you know all about that I'm sure. It was all good though.

The beginning of the week, Lincoln and Porter were staying with us while Kimberly and Kevin went to Las Vegas for a work conference for Kevin. I took care of them Monday through Wednesday, as well as watching Damian and Naomi, so it was a busy three days. Kids can wear you out! 

Wednesday night I went to choir (it was a nice break away from the constant kid tending!) and I did my solo in front of the whole choir and I wasn't even nervous.It went really well. (The concert is this coming week!) When I got home from choir at 10:00pm, Porter was asleep, but Lincoln was still up so I had to try and get him to sleep before I could go to bed. Kimberly and Kevin were getting home at midnight, so the boys slept in our front room so that they could just come in and take the boys without keeping any of us up.

Thursday I worked and then in the evening we went to Anna's violin recital. She's the oldest of Ann's students now! Crazy. You can't believe how much Ann's little girl and boy have grown! They of course play in the recitals too. It will be fun if you can come to the next one.

Friday I made another cake. The 7th cake in 8 weeks! That's a record. I made about $50 profit on this one. It still doesn't work out as a good hourly pay, because it takes a whole day to bake and decorate a cake, but usually I don't get paid at all, so it was nice to get something for a change! I also went visiting teaching Friday and tended Ryleigh a bit. In the evening, Dad and I went to the temple. We saw Elizabeth Tromlitz' mom and dad and talked to them for a few minutes. Sounds like Elizabeth is doing really well on her mission. They asked lots of questions about you and we love to tell how you are doing. Everyone is amazed when they hear that you'll be home in a few short months! That reminds me.....did you know that TODAY (for me tomorrow, today for you as you read this) marks 100 days left for you! Wednesday will be double digits at 99. Wow!!  So anyway, Saturday Anna went to Prom, and Ethan went to see the Lion King broadway show in Salt Lake with Grandma and Grandpa Folkman and cousin Robert. Grandpa took them for their birthdays. Ethan loved it! And Anna was jealous. :) I went with Kimberly to watch the Women's Conference Session at our stake center. It was a good meeting! I took some good notes on each speaker. I loved President Eyring's talk. It made me excited for Conference next weekend!The meeting got over at 7:15, so Dad and I still had time to go out to dinner to Texas Roadhouse. We had to squeeze in a date because I'm not going to see him much over the next couple of weeks. He goes to London next Saturday, and the days before that this week are really busy for him.

Today at church, Laura Cleveland (the sister who Dad knows from work who just moved here and whose husband just passed away three weeks ago) gave the Gospel Doctrine lesson. First of all, not many women who are going through losing their husband would be taking on a calling like that so soon. But she is amazing!! She gave one of the best gospel doctrine lessons I've ever heard. Dad says she loves to read church doctrine books and is super smart. So she knows a lot. She talked about the parable of the Good Samaritan and gave insights that I've never heard before. I have a completely new understanding of that parable now. Usually we think of it in terms of serving others, doing our duty, "being a good samaritan". But it is totally an analogy of the Savior!! It seems so obvious now, but I never got it before. So I would like to share with you what I learned about it from her: 

"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho"  - Jerusalem = Holy City, Jericho = Unholy City, and to get to Jericho from Jerusalem, you had to go lower.

"...and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment..." - the raiment, or clothing represents COVENANTS (think of temple garments) I never knew that!

"...and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead." - half dead = spiritual death

"But a certain Samaritan...came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him..."  - a Samaritan is half Jew and half Gentile. Jew = Holy, Gentile = Unholy. The Samaritan represents the Savior who is half immortal and half mortal! 

"And went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine..." - Oil and wine represent the Savior in that he is the "Anointed One" (oil) and he atoned with his blood, hence the wine. She also explained that Gethsemane means "the place of the olive press" and when olives are pressed, the liquid that comes out of the olives is red before it is refined. So it is even amazingly symbolic that he was literally pressed like an olive when he atoned in Gethsemane and his red blood flowed just like the olives.

"...and brought him to an inn, and took care of him." The inn represents the church! We imperfect and spiritually wounded beings come to church so the Savior can take care of us! (they that are sick need a physician, not they that are whole, as the scripture goes.)

"And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee." - The amount of money he had to spend was open-ended, or infinite = the infinite atonement! And He will come again.

Isn't that amazing???? Oh I love it. That parable will never be the same to me again. Yes we need to be good Samaritans to those in need, but it is a symbol of Jesus Christ. Wonderful!!!

I love the gospel, I love my Savior, and I know this Church is the true and living Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter-Days, restored through the prophet Joseph Smith after a long apostasy, and because of the restoration we have living prophets today! They give us the counsel that we need to navigate through a wicked world, and they know the Savior and speak for him! It's so wonderful!

Have you received your package yet? Have you ordered your scriptures yet?

Here's some questions for you:

What is the church building like? How does it compare to size with ours in Utah - how many rooms, do they have an organ in the chapel, or just a piano or even just a keyboard? What does it look like from the outside? Where in town is it located?

Where do you buy your groceries? How much do you spend on groceries in a month? How many meals do you eat in your apartment and how many do you eat out or at members homes? What is your typical breakfast?

What is your new apartment like? Nice? Run down? larger or smaller than the last one? Do you have laundry machines in your apartment? What floor is it on? How's the view? What furniture do you have? what are your neighbors like?

Describe a typical Pday. List what you do usually, in what order, and what times.

Are there any items you brought with you from home that you never use? Have you bought any souvenirs? Have you given/thrown away anything that you brought with you?

Who has written to you that surprises you, who do you hear from the most (besides me and Dad), what has been your favorite letter and/or package that you have received on your mission?

What traditions do missionaries have that everyone does?

If you can't answer all of those right now, it's ok. It will give you some things to write about over the next few times. :)

Ok, it's late! I gotta go sleep. Can't wait to talk to you tomorrow! Love you tons!

Love, Mom

Elder Valentine and Daddy Valentine - May 1

Hey dad!

Way to go on the Joseph Smith activity! That's so awesome. I would have loved to be there. But I'm somewhere better! (just kidding but almost!) The picture of Kimber and Kevin is really powerful - I can just imagine how the Spirit was in real life. 

It's been a good week. We're working hard to find people really ready to recieve the Gospel. That's always the goal, but sometimes we forget to be focused on not just finding people to teach, but working in such a way that we will find people who will help build the kingdom of God on earth. 

You'll get to baptize a man back into the church - that will be an amazing experience. Take a picture! 

I wrote mom a big letter and didn't leave time for you... sorry! But I'll be able to write more next week, plus the week after I'll see you guys on skype! I read your letter very attently (is that a word?) so don't worry about it haha.

Talk to you later dad! Love ya! 

Love, Elder Valentine!

On Mon, May 1, 2017 at 5:03 AM, Stephen Valentine <ValentineSJ@familysearch.org> wrote:

Dear Elder Valentine,

Hey, Elder! I hope you’re doing great in your new area. It sounds like a beautiful place. I did the Google Earth on it and thought it looked amazing! I’m happy you get to spend some time there.

So we concluded our Joseph Smith activity yesterday. Did I tell you I was doing it again? You remember how awesome it was last time. I think that this time was even better. I made several adjustments to the program to really improve it. I was able to include a lot more people in the program, including some new ward members that weren’t here when we did it last time. Last time I held it for two nights, one for the youth and one for the ward. This time I held it over three nights, which was nice because a lot more people were able to come. We had two sets of full-time missionaries there and an investigator, plus lots of family members of ward members who are struggling with their testimonies or who had gone inactive, etc. We had a really great turnout all three nights.

As for the changes to the program:

I started the evening immediately with the new First Vision video that was recently released. It was a powerful way to start. I didn’t speak or have a prayer or anything just launched right into the video. After that video we had our opening song and prayer, then I talked about Joseph Smith and why we need to get a testimony of him, and talked about HOW we gain testimony and HOW we feel the Spirit, etc. Then it was the Joseph, Emma, and Lucy Smith narration same as before. I then showed an updated video—same as the one you were in when the kids receive the First Vision, only now updated with the new youth in the ward. Then we released the groups to go around the church.

I add two new rooms and this made a huge difference. I added a “tar and feather room” which depicted Joseph tarred and feathered and Emma cleaning him and the two of them being very tender and loving and emotional. The best part is that the actors in this room were Kimberly and Kevin! It was so awesome and the did an amazing job. Everyone who went through it said that this was their favorite room. Then there was the Liberty Jail in a new room and the Nauvoo room was new, and then we had a Carthage room with Jared Beckstrand singing inside the jail. We came into the chapel and had Jared sing the full song (same as last time). Then I added a new thing with Brigham Young and his family coming into the chapel and saying that the church did not end with Joseph Smith, because it is not his church, but the church of Jesus Christ, and the work moves on! I closed with a new video that Nate Picket made that had President Hinckley and Monson talking about the modern day church and how Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration. It was so powerful! I then closed with my testimony, and two of the three nights a member of the stake presidency talked. I also had a few testimonies at the end which were really powerful.

The Spirit was so incredibly strong each of the three nights. Oh, also, Ethan was the 14 year old Joseph in the First Vision room on Saturday night and he did a GREAT JOB! I had so many people tell me how much this event strengthened their testimony, not only of Joseph Smith, but more importantly Jesus Christ. I feel so honored to be part of this yet again. I know that many hearts were touched and lives changed, and it made me feel happy to do a bit of missionary work right there in Layton! 

So that pretty much dominated my life Wednesday-Saturday. Today was a very long but excellent day of church and meetings and ministering. I started at 7 with bishopric, then meetings and appointments until 1. In sacrament meeting I called several people up to bear testimony, and the whole meeting was powerful. Then I visited Barry and Debbie Brown, went to Ethan’s Court of Honor and then visited an older couple in our ward and gave them a blessing. I got home about 8:30! Sounds like just another day for you on the mission! And now it’s time for bed!

You’ll be interested to know that I FINALLY finished the trampoline!! On Saturday Blake and Ethan and Anna and Kevin and Spencer Knavel worked for about 5 hours the backyard and got it DONE! I now just need to finish leveling it and buy some sod. Aren’t you glad that will be done before you get home and you don’t have to help me do it???

I’ll send you some pictures of the Joseph Smith event. It’s been a spiritual feast for me lately! I’m so envious of you having these types of experiences every single day! 

Well, this is long and it is late so I’ll go now. Have a great week!

Love

Dad

May 1st Email to Mom

Hi mom!

Dad sent me a couple pictures of the Joseph Smith activity. Sounds like it was a big success! That's awesome! I like the addition with Kevin and Kimberly doing the tarring scene. Haha yay the tramp pit is done! I can't believe it took two years!! That's really funny. 

Like I said in the email, we had a cool missionary-work sacrament meeting. It went well! I sang "I know that my redeemer lives" and a sister accompanied me on the piano. It was a pretty arrangement that I've heard before but I couldn't tell you which one haha!

We've been working hard in our area - Santarém is so much smaller than Porto, so it's really different. This area has a few different people who could be baptized, but they all need to get married and are all not from Portugal (they are all from Romania; Portugal has a TON of romanians. Most of them are gypsies), so it's kind of a long process. But we're trying to get them married and baptized! I really really really really want to baptize... like, a lot of people before I leave. I haven't baptized since Gaia and I'm kind of tired of not baptizing. There isn't anything big landmark wise, besides the fact that the main part of Santarém is on the top of a big hill, which is our area. The chapel is down the big hill in a little offshoot of the main part of the city called São Domingos, so we climb this hill a lot! Being a zone leader is good - it's not super different from anything else, really; we call the district leaders (we have 3) and talk about their districts and their progress in their areas and ideas to get the work moving, we gave zone meeting last week; it's a three hour meeting where we talk about mission and zone goals and share new ideas from president for the things he wants us to focus on (this time it was planning and finding new investigators) and it's pretty fun! It was both Elder Carrelo's and my first time giving a zone meeting, so it started a little rough (just technical issues) but was fun! We also do divisions with the district leaders, and the AP's do divisions with us. And besides that, we are free to do whatever else we feel will help and bless our zone. We do competitions and send spiritual thoughts and things like that. And do baptismal interviews. We did one last week. I really am enjoying not being in the office to be honest! I like not being cooped up all day. It's hard work, but it always has been! Like I said, this area is a whole lot smaller. The buildings are smaller, the streets are smaller, the branch is smaller, stuff like that. We only go up to Porto for mission council once a month, so we'll probably go back up to Porto sometime in May. Yes I have a phone! We have one for each of us for zone leader stuff. The Santarém branch has been struggling the last couple years - the branch president, President Barata, wasn't very liked by some members, from what I understand, and the sacrament frequency dropped from about 100 to what it is now, about 50. So by half! But yesterday, actually, he was released and a new branch president was called, and just from yesterday we can tell that he is really pumped up to help the branch, so we're excited! Because the branch is smaller, the members are affected by little things like gossip and stuff, which is like the main issue. Members talk bad about members and then someone stops going to church. It's so sad! So we're trying to help the branch grow! We're really lucky because the church building a new chapel and is only 2 years old. It's really pretty! Elder Carrelo is great - there was no problem starting to work with him. From my experience, the only reason why it's hard to get along with a new companion is if one works harder than the other. If both comps aren't on the same hard-work page, there is contention. But we both want to work hard, so there's no problems! We have had different ideas for different ways to teach and to find new investigators and stuff like that, but it's just a matter of trying out what works better and sticking with it. No problems!

Wow! It's weird that it's close enough for Amanda to already be choosing a dress. My temple recommend expires in June, so I'll have to have an interview with President Amorim so that I can renew it before I get home. 

Yeah so for mothers day... I'll have to tell you more next week. Elder Carrelo will skype next Sunday because Mother's day is next week for Portugal, but on our Mother's day there will be 5 missionaries wanting to talk to their families, so we'll just have to coordinate it. I'm not worried about it - everyone will get a fair amount of time! President is letting us have an hour this year, which is cool! Just as long as Christmas!

Okay! I gotta write some other people. Love you mom! You're the best!

Love, Elder Valentine!

On Mon, May 1, 2017 at 2:31 PM, Linda Valentine <lindacmemail@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Elder Valentine! What a great week this has been! The Joseph Smith activity was a huge success. Anna opened another show, and is amazing as usual. I had a choir concert in the Salt Lake Tabernacle- we sang the most beautiful music and we got a standing ovation! We finally finished the trampoline pit you helped start two years ago! 

Those are the highlights, anyway. What have you been doing this week? Have you been out and about teaching and enjoying your new area? How is being a zone leader? Is it hard? Or easier than being in the office? Fun/not fun? What is something that stands out to you about the new area besides that it's warmer? Have you seen any cool landmarks? How often do you travel back and forth to Porto? Do you have a phone as a zone leader? What is the ward/branch like in this area? What kind of building/chapel? Was it hard meshing with a new comp? Do you think you adapted to his way of doing things or did he adapt to yours, or is it not really like that- like everyone does things the same in the mission? That's a lot of questions! I know you don't have as much time, so answer what you can. :)

As you could see from the pictures, Amanda picked out her wedding dress the other day. It's crazy that you'll get home and the next day go to the temple with us when she gets her endowment, and then two days later it's her wedding!  

Mothers Day is right around the corner and we'll get to talk to you! I'm excited! It's kind of different this time though, isn't it- because you'll be coming home so soon! You should go last so that the other missionary moms who don't get to see their sons for longer get enough time in case time is short. I get you back sooner than them most likely! Just don't give away ALL your time ;) Let us know the plan!

I can't believe it's May already! April was gone in a blink! The kids will be wrapping up school and then you'll have a little sister who's a SENIOR, and a little brother who's in 9th grade!! (Technically high school! A Freshman!) Crazy. Ethan got his life scout award last night. 

We've been doing our scripture study as a family where we just take turns and share a chapter from wherever we happen to have read individually that day, and share something we learned from it. It's working pretty well for us. it will be fun when you're home to have you share scriptures with us!!

I started this last night (Sunday night) and finished it this morning before work so I could have written more or better, and include a spiritual thought, but I've run out of time! If I can I'll write more after I get to work. 

Love ya tons!!

Love, Mom

May 1st Group Email

Dear Everyone, 

We had a great week! We worked really hard to bring people to church this week because the missionaries were in charge of sacrament meeting; we have 3 companionships here in Santarém, so three other missionaries gave talks about missionary work, we had testimonies from recent converts, I sang a song; anyway, we wanted a lot of people to be there, and we got 7 investigators to come to church, which is great! Normally we only have three or four, so it was great progress. The zone had two baptisms as well; the work is really getting along here! 

We talked to an atheist for a while yesterday, and he said some interesting things. He said that part of why he didn't believe in God is because "all" religions are corrupt - priests and leaders are paid by the money of poor people, no one practices what they preach, things like that. I was so happy to be able to testify that God's church isn't like that! He also said that he had to see things to believe them; I told him to imagine that he had never seen an apple in his life. A neighbor gives him an apple tree seed and says that if he plants it and waters it etc. it will grow a bright or green red fruit, that is sweet, and you can make juice and pies out of it. So he plants it, and waits. He has to work to keep it growing, and won't see the results until the end; but when he sees the apple and eats it, he'll know that his neighbor was telling the truth! Basically Alma 32 modern-day edition. It's such a great application - God wants us to work, have faith, believe in Him - and after, He will show His hand. 

The work is going great! Have a great week everyone!

- Elder Valentine!

Santarem (April 24)

Dear Everyone,

I'm here in Santarém now! The train ride over was pretty long, and the wheels on one of my bags are pretty much destroyed (thanks to all of this portuguese cobblestone - it happens to every missionary at some point), so it was probably pretty comical to watch some american dragging around his squeaky bags. As the train pulled up to santarém, I got up and grabbed all my bags and was heading for the door, but there was a dog cage right in front of the door to leave; the owner had to come and pull it away, and by the time she grabbed it, the train started leaving! Dang it! The next stop was... Lisbon. In another mission. It was about another 45 minutes until the train stopped. I had to run out, find a train heading back (all of this without a cellphone to tell the missionaries waiting for me in Santarém that I took a detour, thankfully portuguese people are nice and let me use their phones), and head back to Santarém. I got there at like 10 PM when I was supposed to get there at 7:30 haha! But it was lots of fun!

Santarém is soooo hot. And it is only April! Whoohoo! But I can't complain - shoutout to Elder Jacob Jackson who is serving in Ghana, he's probably dying. The city is smaller than all of my other areas and is still one of the biggest cities in the mission - I've only had big cities! 90% of the areas here are in the middle of nowhere basically, but I've had all of the big places. It's definitely not as big as Porto, and it's a nice place! There are a ton of people from Romania here; it's hard to baptize a Portuguese person in this area, so I've been told. Challenge accepted.

Besides that, Elder Carrelo is great! Hard working and happy. It'll be a great transfer!

Have a great week!

- Elder Valentine!

Missionary Living!

What Happens When the Bunkbed Breaks!

A Few Googly Eye Photos

Elder Valentine sent us about 50 "googly eye" photos! Rather than take up the whole blog with these pictures, I'm adding a representative sample!!

Easter Email - April 17

Hi Mom!

So I haven't gone to my new area just yet - I stayed this first week of the transfer showing Elder Peterson how to do all of the executive stuff, and I'll be leaving today, at like 3 or 4 or something. It's about a 3 hour train ride down to Santarém. I heard it is SUPER hot there, so maybe I'll finally be able to lose some of this office-weight, haha! (I'm not really all that fat, but I definitely have some improvement to do.) I'll be back up in Porto this Thursday for a Mission Leadership Council (MLC). I've been going to them since I came in the office; they happen once a month, and include the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, APs, office, and President Amorim, obviously. So I'll still be around Porto. We had a pretty good week - it's been really fun with a 5 way companionship! Elder Peterson will do really well here in the office. He picked up everything really quick and knows a lot about computers, so he has basically already surpassed all of my knowledge! That being said, I'll probably get a lot of calls from him with questions on how or when to do things for the next couple weeks haha! I know a couple things about Elder Carrelo - he's Portuguese (from Lisbon) but speaks fluent English, and is a super hard working missionary! He's also the shortest Elder in the mission. I'm excited! 

There are a couple equadorian missionaries here in Portugal! (I say that in response to you guys going to the Old Spaghetti Factory) I know most of the missionaries pretty well and basically 99% of the missionaries decently because of the office. I know everyone's first names which is funny since you normally just know their last names. Stuff like that. Hey, singing would be fun! Also, you're tough for being the only one to not get sick! Easter was good here; we contacted a bunch of people by reading the resurrection account in Matthew, which was fun! It's fun to switch things up when you work. Portugal loves to use any holiday to take off a bunch of days of work, so basically Thursday-today has just been a big holiday here and no one is around!

So with my card - I can't call to the united states for personal stuff. Is there any way for it to be activated not by me? Because there are only two options, either call the number in the United States or find a chase bank, which are both not options for me. I'm sorry!

Oh yeah, one of your questions was "Are there any items you brought with you from home that you never use? Have you bought any souvenirs? Have you given/thrown away anything that you brought with you?" So it's good that I can run some of this by you! I wrote down a list as IU was packing my bags today, and I totally left it at the house. Super lame. But I'll try and think of all the stuff that I have, because I want to know if what you think that I should leave behind at the end of my mission, because my bags are currently about 2 kilos (like 5 pounds) overweight. I have:

• 6 or 7 longsleeved and 4 shortsleeved white shirts, 4 pairs of slacks, I want to leave 3 of them that have gotten really old. 
• a whole ton of ties (I hope to trade some of them in kind of a 2 or 3 for 1 deal to get better ties and have less ties haha!)
• 5 t-shirts from home, I only use 2 of them frequently, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of white shorts that I've never used because you can't wear shorts on the mission unless you're exercising (didn't know that before the mission!)
• 3 exercise shirts, 2 exercise shorts, and my exercise shoes. I kind of want to leave the shoes at the end.
• 2 waterproof jackets, one is the green one from grandpa and another is one I found. I'll for sure leave the other one.
• 19 pairs of black socks. Lots.
• 11 or 12 pairs of garments
• 2 pairs of church shoes - I'm planning to leave the black ones, since they are getting destroyed. 
• the big overcoat that I have
• 2 suits
• 2 belts

I kind of feel like the other stuff is miscellaneous - letters from home, a couple souvenirs that I've already got (portugal is big into scarves but not in a fashion way - they are part of the soccer culture, so I have two, one that I bought for €5 and one was given to me, and a couple gifts that I will bring home for the fam) a bunch of very colorful socks acquired through various means, lots of church books (I'll have to decide what kind of stuff I'll leave, because somehow I really just have a ton of books and paper), the two family picture albums (should I bring those home? I want to but I don't know if it's something I should leave if I needed to free up some space), etc. I gave away a pair of tan slacks to Elder Wait that I told you about a couple months ago, the ones that are HUGE on me. Besides that, I don't think I've really given anything away except ties, and those I traded. 

So yeah that's the gist. I will probably make another similar list later. 

Love you mom! 

Love, Elder Valentine!

Reply to "Easter, Birthday, USU" April 17

Hey dad!

I can't believe that Ethan Gibby and Garrett are getting their calls. It seriously blows my mind. they were so young when I left! (not that I'm old but whatever) I'm so glad that Garrett has changed. I've been thinking about these types of changes lately; it's interesting that the commandments in the scriptures and in modern day revelation are mostly focused on personality/characteristics/behaviors. Being humble, loving (of all people, not just your family etc.) patient, honest, serving, virtuous, healthy (in a Word of Wisdom sense) are all attributes that are SO far from what the world focuses on. In a worldly sense, it wouldn't be the worst thing if Garrett were to stay as a kind of an attention loving immature kind of guy, but the Gospel, or more specifically Christ, requires so much more from us. The Gospel really shouldn't be just the way we live, it should be the way we are. So anyway, that's really awesome that Garrett is getting ready to serve! I'm excited for both of them!

I'm excited to hear how the Joseph Smith activity goes. Let me know!

Is the Brad Wilcox book called the Infinite Atonement? It looks super good if it is! Haha it's kind of funny because on the mission I can only read the scriptures and the missionary library (true to the faith, our search for happiness, our legacy, and Jesus the Christ (which I have now read 4 times I think)) and they are all super good, but I've been tempted to read other church books but I can't. I totally agree 110% with all the mission rules and don't have a problem following them, but stuff like this is sometimes funny. If I were to read another church book I would feel like I'm sinning, even though it's good. Makes me laugh sometimes. Mom told me about your birthday and stuff (sorry I messed up on that, by the way, haha it was the very end of pday and I was rushing to send you a little happy birthday email, and counted from 1972 wrong! But hey, it makes you look younger, right?) and it looked like a lot of fun. I'm sorry you all got sick! I've been healthy lately (except for the extra belly/hips/butt I've gained in the office) and I'm grateful for it! 

I'm in the office stealing Elder Trindade's computer to write real quick, and then I will be heading down to Santarém later today. It's 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get there by train. I'll have my first real day down there tomorrow, and I'll be back up here in Porto for MLC on Thursday. I'll never truly leave!

I think that it'll work out to stay home. So USU will still let me take the test even if it's after I get home? What's the time limit? Because I would love to take a couple days reviewing some math stuff - I haven't used ANYTHING on the mission and I know I'm pretty rusty. But in general, I'm okay with it. It'll be nice to be at home with the family, and price is a big part, so yeah. I can't really imagine all of the logistics yet but I've got a great dad helping me out, so I'm not super worried about it. Not to say that I expect you to just figure it all out! But until I can be more involved I trust you! ;)

So let me repeat - Humanities, Government, English, Biology class and Lab, and Calculus. Would it be unwise to think about adding another class or two? Do you think there would be any big advantage in taking another class (either degree-directed or general)? I guess I don't really want to focus to much on my schedule yet, but I've got lots of stuff running through my head on how it'll be during the semester. That's pretty vague, but if you have any thoughts, I'll be able to look next week on pday. If not, and until then, you said that the classes start registration on the 19th, so I'll talk to you after that. 

Love you dad! Thanks so much for figuring out my life! For real!

Love, Elder Valentine!