Elder Valentine Finally in Portugal!

It's finally happened! Spencer left California on October 12. We were able to talk to him in the airport for only a few minutes. We talked to him in Oakland for about 20 minutes, then for about 5 minutes when he arrived in Seattle. He loved his time in the Santa Rosa mission, but we could tell he was really relieved and excited to finally be headed to his mission! We are so excited for him!

As an update, Elder Valentine left on October 12 and arrived in Portugal on October 13. However, we didn't hear anything from him until October 19, his first P Day. We never heard anything from the Mission--didn't know if he arrived safely or had any problems along the way, nothing! It was very frustrating! But finally on the 19th we received the first email from him, so all is well. He is now in Porto, Portugal! We're so happy for him!

Elder Valentine with President and Sister Wright

We received this great picture from the Santa Rosa Mission. Here is Elder Valentine with his Mission President and Sister Wright!

Elder Valentine and Companions Enjoying General Conference

A nice senior missionary couple in Spencer's mission sent this photo of Elder Valentine watching conference. It's looks pretty uncomfortable on that couch with all those Elders! But we were really happy to get this picture!!

More Pictures from Santa Rosa Mission

Elder Achal and Elder Valentine on Exchanges

Elder Adamson Likes to Sleep! (This is Spencer's Caption!!)

Elder Valentine is going to Portugal!

We received the official word on Monday night that Spencer is finally headed to Portugal! He received his VISA and will be leaving for Portugal on Monday. This is such great news! We are so happy for Spencer! Here's the email he sent Monday October 5 at 4:52 PM:

Surprise!!!

Dear Family,

President Wright just called and I got my VISA!!!!!!!! I leave next Monday for Portugal!!! Woo hooo!!!! It's real this time!!!!! I go to seattle, then to frankfurt Germany, then to Portugal!!! I don't know any more than that, like the exact time or anything, but it's here! Yay! If you have a couple seconds write me any questions! I am truly grateful for my opportunity to serve here in California, and I know that the Lord called me here to help someone and to grow to be a better servant for Him. I am so happy! Love you all! 

Love, Elder Valentine!

Week 11 Family Letter

Hey family!

Dad, thank you so much for telling me about my visa! President Wright called on Saturday and said he would call the travel office about my visa, so hopefully I will hear from him soon about it, but as of right now, it's still up in the air. But I was SO happy to hear that it was there. It made me so happy! Also, I'm quite jealous of you all for going to a Styx concert. I was pretty salty about it. But I am glad that you enjoyed Elder Scott's funeral. I loved how Elder Bednar testified of all of the amazing men that he has seen pass away as prophets and apostles and it was so powerful to hear him talk about each one, including Elder Scott. I loved it! I haven't got your package yet, but I'll hopefully get it today or tomorrow. You all look so happy at home and I'm so glad!

Mom - Hey mom! I hope you got that picture of the elders watching conference from sister nordfelt! We watched Conference at their house for the Sunday Morning session and had breakfast and it was super nice! On saturday we watched it with some other elders and a members house, and then we watched the last session at the church. How are you doing? Have you been able to get a lot of things done? How is Melissa and her baby? Anything exciting happen recently? I haven't heard from you in a while, which is fine, but I want you to know that I love you and that I'm doing great!

Kimber - thanks for your email! haha I love to see you guys and your little family! I'm surprised that you gutted the fish! I honestly don't know if I would have done that! And Lincoln looks like he's getting so big! I can't believe it has only been 2 months since I've seen you guys - Both lincoln and porter are growing so fast! 

Kevin - Ola Irmao! Primeiro, desculpe para meu mal portugues - I nao tenho muitas opportunidades por practicar, entao estou perdendo todas meus palavras! Mas, obrigado por escrevendo-me! I vou lembrar escrever-ti quando eu preciso ajuda em meu trabalho. I espero esta mesagem e bom a ler. Ler? Nao sei! Anyways, I really appreciated your letter. I'll for sure write you more later, but thanks for now!

Anna-I'm so glad you are enjoying school! You look like you're having so much fun! and Ethan, you too! You wore my tie to the priesthood session. I hope you enjoyed it. Haha! I love you guys! 

Well that's about it! I'm sorry there isn't anything exciting this week, but I could possibly be going to portugal by this time next week, so that's SUPER exciting! I'll talk to you guys later! Bye! Love ya!

Love, Elder Valentine!

Week 11 -- General Conference, Baby!

Dear Everyone,

Holy cow!!! General Conference was SO AMAZING!!! I loved every minute of it! Super super powerful! But I'll talk about that in a bit. 

We had some really neat opportunities to teach a few members lessons about Sabbath day observance, based off of President Nelsons talk from last conference. We taught this lady Sister Brown who is paralyzed from the neck down and her roommate who has been through like three marriages and lived in countries like afghan and crazy places, and it was really cool to see how the gospel and it's principles (in this case sabbath day observance) apply and can bless every person, no matter what their conditions are! We all go through such different trials, and I am SO grateful that the Savior knows us so well that he can bless us with what we need in the moment that we need it. I love our Savior!

It rained! Hallelujah! It's been over 100 degrees for like the whole time here in California and I am so happy that it rained! I was on exchanges with an Elder Schaefer and we were knocking doors for a while all in the rain. Very nice. I felt bad for the homeless people - oh yeah, here in Fairfield, there are a ton of homeless people. They all have shopping carts that are just LOADED with all of their stuff, like, 7 feet high, not even kidding. Again, it has been really interesting to see different walks of life here, and I am so grateful to be a member of God's church. We are truly blessed with the knowledge that we have and the blessings that we receive - I really hope that you all know that! 

Alright. So conference was amazing. Unfortunately I can't write it all here, but I really liked Elder Nelsons talk about mothers and women in the church - I just felt like it was very inspired and powerful, and President Eyerings talk on the Holy Ghost, and there seemed to be a big emphasis on faith and the other basic principles of the gospel and I really loved it! I also really loved Elder Bednars talk on our church leaders. The spirit of his talk really strengthened my testimony about our prophets and apostles and it was soo powerful! 

Well, it has been an awesome week with conference, although I don't have anything super exciting to share. But I'm loving it out here! I'm so thankful for my opportunity to serve God's children and help them feel the love of our Savior! I hope you all have a good week! Bye!

-Elder Valentine!