Here's a nice exchange between Elder Valentine and his one and only Mommy!
Hey momma VALENTINE!
Happy Valentine's day! Are you going to do anything fun for Valentine's day? Here it's called Dia dos Namorados (basically Couples Day, like BF and GF) and it's the same day with basically the same idea, they just don't call it Dia de St. Valentine which is silly to me but whatever haha :) I got two heart sugar cookies from one of the Senior Couple´s in the mission, and Elder Judd and I went and ate KFC (which is a thing here) for lunch and watched all the couples who were there haha it was pretty fun! I promise that I'll go get the scriptures soon - we just have to plan it well because it's like an hour away from here to get to the guy's shop and we don't know exactly where it is. But we'll go do it soon!
Yay for breaks! Mom, I'll totally spend July 5th cleaning the house with you if you want. It's been a while since I've cleaned up around there and it'll be just about my turn by then haha :) Thanks for using your time to figure out my card thing - it stinks sometimes when I'm like totally powerless to do anything for myself that is important but I have a really awesome mom so it helps!
I miss fun things like the Valentine Social! Not that I am ready to go home or anything but it's not like I can't miss doing fun stuff haha!
So, what are you studying gospel-wise right now? What are some gospel principles you have been actively trying to apply in your life? What was dad´s and yours first date? What was your favorite part about RootsTech? What did you learn?
Some random facts about the office - well, some days are calm but sometimes I get an email from Don Love (the church travel agent we work with) who will tell me he needs a sponsorship letter (it lets missionaries get visas in the states) tomorrow, so I have to run to the notary place by subway and get the thing notarized and sent through DHL the same day, and on the way back there is a pastry shop that has a big sign that says "Best croissants of Porto!" The croissants are pretty good. :) Residency stuff is SO frustrating. The last two mondays (p-day!) I've had to take missionaries to the residency place to get new residency cards because they lost theirs, and BOTH of them didn't work out, so it was a big waste of time and money to get the missionaries here and try and get the new cards. I sign lots of documents and mail that comes in and help president with transfers (which are the worst) and stuff. :) We are still in that apartment, it's still old, it's still cold, it still leaks (though in different places now)... yup. :) I haven't been eating anything healthy lately, unfortunately - ever since the new changes in the missionary schedule, President only gave us 30 minutes in the morning to get ready and eat, so I haven't had time to prepare food or a good breakfast, and it doesn't really work to cook food in the office... so I haven't been using recipes like I want to but eventually I'll make a good lunch. :)
Gotta run real quick, But I love you mom! :)
Love, Elder Valentine!
Hi there, Elder VALENTINE! Do they do Valentine's Day in Portugal? I don't remember if we talked about that last year or not. But Happy Valentine's Day! I wish I could have gotten a package off to you in time to send you some Valentine treats, but it's not just an excuse - I really was the busiest I think I have ever been. All my time completely taken up to the point that I didn't even have time to sleep. Literally!
I am so ready for a break - a real one, not just a vacation. You know, vacations are not necessarily a break - they are a break from regular life, but you still don't get free time to get stuff done, because you're gone from home, and that just means that all your regular life stuff that you don't have time for are still there when you get back. So what I really need is FREE TIME, not a vacation! AHHHH!
Actually I get a small break on Tuesday - I have the day off from work. So for the first time in about three months I have a day that I don't have to go to work, I don't have to sew a costume, I don't have to make a cake, and I don't have to go anywhere. I can stay home and start catching up on housework! (YAYYYYyyyyyy...........fizzle out....) Unfortunately one day is not enough though. :/
So, last week we were working on trying to get you logged in to your Chase account. I wasn't able to do that, but I can get in obviously, and you have $86 dollars in there right now so you can go get the scriptures. And your card will expire in April, and I was on the phone forever with them trying to figure out how to deal with that, but in the end I'm just going to have to mail it to you. If it's not activated yet it should be safe to mail it to you, so hopefully they will arrive here soon and then I'll forward them on to you and you can activate it from where you are. So I'm trying to take care of ya! Anyway, bottom line is, go get those scriptures! I will be so happy when you report that you have paid for them. :)
Well, Last week and this week were filled with making my cake! It took two days just to bake the cakes and mix the frostings and fondant, and then it took five days to do all the decorating on the tree and the rest of the cake. Three nights in a row I only got three hours of sleep. So in three nights I only got ONE night's worth of sleep. I am so tired! Anna has had a busy week too, and Ethan got really sick so he's needing more sleep than usual, and so the three of us went to Sacrament Meeting today and could NOT stay awake! It was so pitiful and embarrassing. So we went home after Sacrament Meeting and took a long nap. I have never done that in my life, but I felt that it was the best thing for our family just this once. If any family needed a true day of REST today, it was ours. I feel much better. But it will probably still be a while before I get "caught up" on sleep. In fact, if I don't get to bed soon here, I will be only getting less than six hours of sleep tonight too! So I'll tell ya a couple more things and then I need to get to sleep!
So aside from my cake contest, I had a great time participating in RootsTech for the first time. I have been to one day here and there in the past, but this time I pretty much went to the whole thing. Dad and I both loved being there together. He loved being able to see me all day for three days while he was working, and I loved being there to see him in his work environment and sharing all those cool experiences with him. One of the highlights for me was going to a VIP event at the Conference Center where they served hors d'erves (I think maybe that's almost the right spelling) and there were several general authorities there include some of the Twelve and many Seventies. I shook hands with three different Seventies that Dad knows, and I was only a few feet away from Elder Chistoffersen and Elder Oaks, and Elder Renlund. I also saw Donny Osmond a few feet away from me. It was really fun. Then after that we went into a meeting with them, and then into the Tab Choir Concert. It was such a great evening!
In the midst of all the cake and RootsTech craziness, we also had our ward Valentine Social. Dad and the bishopric did the Napoleon Dynamite dance and Dad was so awesome!!!! He actually nailed the dance. It was impressive. We were a bit late to the party because of delivering my cake just before, and so we were only there long enough to do the performance and have a few treats, and then it was over! Last year it was so amazing, so it was kind of a bummer for us to not get a chance to be super into it this year. But next year! And you'll be there!!! Hopefully you'll be able to take a break from college and come up for it. It will be so fun!!
Ok, so that's about all I have time for right now. Maybe I can write some more in the morning when I get to work! Ask me some questions. :)
I want to hear about your families you are teaching. Tell me some random facts about your day to day work in the mission office. How are things going with your apartment lately? Are you still in the same one? But no more fleas, and no more floods...? What have you been eating lately? Have you made syrup for your pancakes yet? Have you used any of the recipes I sent at Christmas?
I love you tons! Talk to you soon!
Love, Mom
