Adversity

Well greetings once again! This past week was an ok week. Nothing spectacular. We had a lot of lessons fall through. But that is just missionary work I suppose. If there wasn't any adversity there would not be any kind of growth. So I guess I cannot really complain. 

I have been teaching my companion to say Y'all though. :) I don't know if President Center would be unhappy about that, but I have to leave him with at least some kind of influence :) So it is funny. He has been saying y'all to people and they are like oh I wonder where he learned that... Guilty. It is funny. But anyways the highlight of the week was going over to Beaver yesterday for the Thai family home evening they had over there. We had more people show up then have to one before. Plus there were some people that came that have never been to one. So they are really softening up. It is amazing to see. And it is all because Elder Sae-dan is here to teach them I am convinced. It is amazing how the Lord is aware of everyone and everything. He sent Elder Sae-dan to this specific area at this specific time to help specific people. And though it is obvious to me that is the case, the same applies to every missionary. Regardless of how obvious it is to outside or internal observation. The Lord sends us all to where we need to be, and where he needs us, when we need to be there and when he needs us to be there. At any point in your life. The Lord is aware of us all individually. It is remarkable. 

But I hope you all have a great week!

I love you all!

-Elder Valentine

Week 50

Well greetings to everyone once more. It has been quite a good week this past week and it was quite the transfer as well. Seeing as another transfer has come and gone... So that was transfer number 8 for me. But as far as transfer news Elder Sae-dan and I are staying together, so I will get to finish training him! So we are one of the few companionships that is staying together. A lot of areas got white-washed (which is where both missionaries are replaced and 2 new ones come into the area) and our mission just got Mesquite Nevada added to it. So we just got a little bit bigger. But there was a lot of shake up in the mission. 

This past week we had another good week. There is not like a huge abundance of work here, but there is work and we stay busy enough. So I am loving it here in Panguitch. We have been working on improving our finding and taking care of the investigators we do have. Also Jay and Jad got baptized on Saturday. So the work continues!

I hope you all have a great week, don't get blown away by all those hurricanes! 

I love you all!

-Elder Valentine

Change of address

THE MISSION IS CHANGING THE OFFICE ADDRESS!!!!!!

DON"T SEND ANY MAIL BETWEEN JULY 13TH AND THE 17TH!!!!

NEW ADDRESS IS:

881 South River Road, St. George, UT 84790

Thank you!

Hot Air Balloons

So this past week has been a busy one. Well if you look at my planner it looked busy. Mostly because we make appointments and then people don't keep them and want to reschedule for the next day and then don't keep that... But no it actually was pretty busy. We went over to Beaver and taught a Thai family and by we I mean I sat there again and Elder Sae-dan taught. But it was super good. Hopefully we can help them. Then we had district meeting over in Tropic which I thought went well. But The highlight of the week was Saturday during the Panguitch Valley Balloon Rally.

It was an invasion of hot air balloons!! Seriously. They were every where. There were about 35 of them. So it was awesome. The last picture is when they started landing. But the first one is a hot air balloon eclipse, give me a few days and I could come up with some kind of pun for it. I am sure...

But anyways we had a pretty good week. We got some solid referrals and were able to set up an appointment with a couple (the wife came to church by herself the last two sundays in row!) for next week. But that was super cool!! 

Anywho I hope you all have a good week. I love you all!

-Elder Valentine

Weekly update

So last week was pretty busy. Because it flew by a little faster then most other weeks... I don't know if that is because it was busy or what...

Anywho though, we were able to pick up 4 new investigators over to Beaver. They are a Thai family so naturally my companion is in his element. He may be fairly new but he is a solid missionary. And since the lessons are in Thai he has to take the lead  in teaching. That is super good for him. Because the training program is centered around the new missionary taking the lead from the trainer over the 12 week period. So the idea is by the time they are done being trained they should be able to train a new missionary. That is the idea at least. But we started teaching them and also we have some appointments this Thursday with another Thai family and hopefully we can get a few others with some of the other thai people in the community. But it was busy between going over to Bryce Canyon city twice and Beaver twice and teaching and trying to find new people to teach in our actual area. So we are trying to get the ball rolling in a couple of different spots. 

But anyways things are going well. I hope that you are all doing well. I love you all, have a great week!!

-Elder Valentine

Another week

Hello everybody once again. Another week has come and I have no clue to where it has gone...

But that is usually the case. Anywho, this past week was a good week. We had Zone conference, got to see a few people from my last area. Got a surprise or two (at least two actually), and some other interesting stuff.

So to start off with last Monday we were walking to contact a few people, and on main street there are always people so we talk to them too, but we were walking by an RV park and there was a man sitting outside his RV so we went over and started talking to him. He asked where we were from and we told him and when he heard I was from North Carolina he stopped and asked which part. So I told him Raleigh and he replied that he is from Fayetteville. Born and raised. So we talked for a little bit. Talked about fiddlers grove back home and good ole North Carolina BBQ. But he is an inactive member but we hit it off, so we have stopped by two more times since monday. So hopefully we can help him. Then on Wednesday Panguitch had their Chocolate fest. So the whole town goes there and they have just tons and tons of home made chocolate everything. It was crazy. So I ate a Banana, just plain, but my companion loaded up on chocolate. so it was good. We talked to a lot of people there. So we found one person we may be able to start teaching there. So then on Thursday we had Zone conference over to Richfield. So we left Panguitch at 7:00 to get up there before 9:00 and had the conference until 3:00 so at the end of the conference President called me over with my zone leader and district leader and called me as a district leader. They split the district in the middle of the transfer. That was kind of odd. We all expected it, but not until next transfer. So anywho that was interesting. Then Saturday they had a Tractor parade so we went and "tract"ed that  :) horrible pun, I know, but I had to. So they had a tractor pull after that. We didn't stick around for the pull. Pretty much everyone we talked to were active members or less active members. I think we talked to 2 non-members. But as we were walking back to the apartment (about 2 miles) one of my recent converts ran out of a restaurant here in Panguitch, so I got to see Cobe again and talk to him, it was awesome to see him and the Sorensons were with him. So I saw a couple of different people from my last area because Panguitch had their Quilt Walk Festival this weekend. So we had a very interesting week. It was awesome.

Well I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

-Elder Valentine

P.S. I believe this is a 1937 Cord with a "C" but It is a sweet car! and Bro. Talbot 

Baptism

Another week down and another email to everyone! Greetings all, I hope your week was fantastic!

So this past week was a pretty good week. We taught a lot, put some investigators on-date, and contacted some promising leads. So it was pretty busy. Yet not as busy as I would have liked. I don't feel like we have been able to get as much done as we normally would have. But we lose about 10 hours of time a week because of the training program. So not really much we can do there. But if you figure 10 hours a week for 12 weeks that is 120 hours... That is 5 days of time gone. But that is ok. Training is super important. So it is also helping me to be able to go back to the basics and relearn and re-apply the fundamentals taught in the 12 week program. Really all it can do is help me. But anyways yeah, it was a pretty good week. We were able to teach Jay and Jad twice. We finished the Plan of Salvation with them and then started teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't remember which lesson, but we put them on date for the 28th of June. Which is pretty much the earliest we can do with 9 year olds because they have to attend church a few times. But they are super smart. They have been going to Primary for a long time and know pretty much everything. Teaching kids is either the best experience or the worst. But with them it is great. We also met with the Pendley family. The wife and son are members, but the father is not. He has something holding him back, but Elder Sae-dan was super bold (I love it) and asked him to pray about it and if he got an answer if he would be baptized. Glen (the father/husband) responded yes. So now we just need to follow up with him and make sure that he prayed. But I was super impressed with Elder Sae-dan, he is a stellar missionary. So I am glad to be serving with him. So we also went out to Bryce Canyon City, which is where Ruby's inn is, and tried to contact some of the Thai people that work out there. We were only able to contact one person that was actually Thai. The rest of them were all working. But apparently they only come out for about 3 months and work here for that long and then go back to Thailand. So they leave in 2 weeks.... That was a little disappointing. But there is a new group of about 60 coming in towards the end of the month. So we will be following up there in a few weeks. So it should be good. Also we have been working on meeting with the Thai families that live over to beaver. It is hard to find time when we can meet with them and they can meet with us, but we will find a time. 

So also last week we had Zone training meeting, and then on Saturday Adrian and Andrew were baptized!!! That was on Saturday, and then on Sunday they showed up to Sacrament about 30 minutes late.... Talk about sweating it... I was like "where are they???" So they showed up and the member of the bishopric conducting handled it excellently and just did the confirmation after the first speaker finished. So that was by the skin of our teeth. But anyways, that was our week, I will try to include a picture of the baptism.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Valentine

Weekly Email from Last week

I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, I have been absolutely horrible about this whole weekly email thingy. So I may or may not have a good bit of info for you all. Since it has been so long...

So to start off with I am still in Panguitch or if you never heard that I was in Panguitch, well I am in Panguitch Utah. Which is about 50 miles north of my last area. So I did not go very far at all! Panguitch is a small town of about 1500 people. We are about an hour from the closest sizable city. Which would be Beaver. But it is really close to Bryce Canyon. 

So as for the work, we have a pretty good size teaching pool out here. We are teaching around 10-12 people. Not as often as we would like. Sometimes we are only able to meet every other week. That is super difficult, because then they really don't progress at all. You just can't teach once every other week and help someone get to the waters of baptism. Just doesn't work.... So we do have 2 cousins that are on date for this week end to be baptized. Their names are Adrian and Andrew. They were on-date for the 17th of may, but one of their moms couldn't be down here so they didn't do it. But they are pretty solid for the 7th or this Saturday. Also we are teaching 2 other cousins named Jay and Jad, they are both 9. So their parents want them to get baptized so we are going to put them on-date for hopefully later this month, probably 3 more weeks or so... So we should have a pretty good month. 

So this past Sunday (the 25th of May) Was the beginning of another transfer. I believe transfer number 8 for me.... Which is super scary that It has already been that long!!! I don't understand where time is going!!! But yeah, I have been out almost a year............ But so I got the transfer call from president Saturday night, which always means something when you get the call on Saturday. So he asked me to train. So I am training a new missionary. On Tuesday my old comp. and I went down to St. George. I stayed down there that night and on Wednesday picked up my new companion. His name is Elder Sae-dan. He is 19 and is from Thailand. He spent 8 weeks in the MTC learning English. But he is super funny. His English is not that good, but we are working on it. We get along really well. But yesterday we found out why he was called here. There is a decent little Thai community in Beaver and they have a family home evening over there the first Sunday of every month. So we went over there for the evening (with permission from President of course, because it is so far outside of our area) and met with them. Elder Sae-dan actually found out they want to be taught in Thai. So we got permission to start teaching them. But yeah, at the home evening there are some members who speak Thai and they taught the whole first lesson. It was really cool. In talking to the members they said they have been praying for a long time to have a missionary that speaks Thai. So that is where Elder Sae-dan enters the picture. We are going to try to start teaching them. Which means I am going to have to learn some simple Thai. But Elder Sae-dan was super excited. It will be really good for him to help these people. So it seems like work is popping out of places I would have never expected to find it. Every time we pray and fast to find new investigators, things which I would never have expected just happen. The Lord really is aware of us and he does answer our prayers, I know that for certain. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen that on my mission.

So yeah. Lots of things are going on. We continue to seek after those the Lord has prepared. But the work out here goes on! It is quite amazing really. 

Well I love you all, this is going to be a really good transfer. I hope you all are doing well.

The Church is true, and the book is blue!!

-Elder Valentine

Weekly update

Well sorry it has been so long since there has been an email. It hasn't exactly been a happening transfer this time. But that is ok, You have to take the good with the bad. We have struggled the past few weeks to teach more then 3 or 4 lessons a week. We got dropped by 2 of our 3 investigators and then we dropped the 1 remaining. So we plugged away at finding someone new to teach. To no avail. So we made the recommendation to President that he close down the area and just re-consolidate it with the sisters that are down in Kanab. Between the two areas there just is not enough work for 2 sets of missionaries. So they are going to taper back down to 1 set for the stake. I don't like admitting that we struggled, but we did. 

But that means we both have to go somewhere new! And while I am excited to get to go somewhere new, I am going to miss having served here in the Valley. Like a lot. But as for where I am going, I am headed up to Panguitch. Right up the road. No lie. It is like an hour to an hour and a half north on 89 from where I am. So that is pretty exciting. That is where Elder Day was trained at (the other missionary in this mission from the Swift Creek ward). So I talked to him so he said it is a great area. I am looking forward to going there. It should be very interesting.

So the next week is going to be tons of fun. Lots of new people to meet. Lots of new places to learn. so there should be some more news next week. But I love you all. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. The Church is true and the Book is Blue (missionary copies) 

-Elder Valentine

Week 30

Well another week and another transfer and another month have come and gone!!! Crazy huh??

So yeah this week begins week 31 and transfer 5. 

So update for transfer info. Elder Read and I are staying together for this transfer. He was made district leader over the district and they shrunk the district down to just 3 companionships. So we are now centered in Kanab. I am happy we don't have to drive out to Hurricane every week for meetings. We just have to drive down to Kanab now. But we are actually in Cedar City right now doing emails. We came over here to do our shopping at Walmart. Because it is literally half as far to Cedar as it is to Hurricane. So yeah, we are outside our zone at the moment. But! that is ok because we have permission. It is amazing what you can get permission to do if you can save 90 miles on one trip. So yeah, good times.

But this past week was a good one. We went and hiked a slot canyon on P-day. It wasn't very long. It just ended at a rock face that you need ropes to scale. So we just hiked back out. But then this past Sunday Cobe got confirmed. We had 2 lessons with the Morgan Family and finally got a time set up when we can have a lesson with someone that we have been working on since we got to the area. Well since Elder Greene and I got there. But we had a few other lessons also. But anyways this transfer is going to be a good one. There is some really good potential so we have a goal for 3 baptisms this transfer. And we have names to back it up. So we will see how things go. We just have to work hard and miracles will happen. 

Well that is it for this week. I hope everyone stays warm this coming week. I hear it is supposed to get really really cold. So everyone be safe and stay warm.

I love you all. Have a great week!

-Elder Valentine

Week 29

Greetings all! Another week has come and gone and what a week it has been! This is actually the last week of this transfer. Scary to think about really. So this will be the end of my 5th transfer. Time is going by so fast.

BUT! We had a great week! So long as you are working time can fly by. This weekend we had 2 baptisms! (I will include pictures.) So Pam got baptized on Saturday and then on Sunday Cobe got baptized. It was a great weekend. Those were the first baptisms we have had in this area. So now that we got the ball rolling we need to have 2 more next month. (Which we are going to do) Now we just need to find more investigators to teach. We have 3 people that we are still working with, we need to find about 3 more, so we can stay busy. So that is what we are going to be working on in the upcoming week. 

I feel like it is a huge blessing to be able to feel joy when people enter into covenants with the Lord. I feel like it is a blessing that he gives to us to be able to experience to a small extent what He feels. Well I love you all. Know that I pray for you and wish you all the best. 

-Elder Valentine

1. Pam and her husband

 

2.Cobe!

 

 

Week 28

Greetings once more everyone! I have been hearing about a whole lot of wintry weather that has been happening out there this past week. I hope everyone was able to get unfroze and resume their normal day to day things and be safe. 

Things out here in the Valley are going well. We had a bit of slow week last week. A lot of appointments canceled on us for whatever reason. But we did find 2 new investigators. So that was really really good.  We need to increase our teaching pool because pretty soon (this weekend) we are going to be losing 2 of our investigators. But it is all good, because.... They are getting Baptized!!

Pam has been working with missionaries for almost 7 years. She is on track to get baptized this Saturday at 4:00 P.M. Then on Sunday at 5:00 P.M. We will also be baptizing Cobe Reck. So this weekend should be a really good weekend. We have the Mission President coming this evening to interview Pam for Baptism. So long as everything goes well we will help her to enter in at the strait gate. So that is very exciting. 

Otherwise I have been doing really well. I have begun to memorize scriptures. I started doing that about 3 weeks ago and then last week the mission president announced we will begin having scriptures to memorize as a mission. So I know that was inspired. I have already seen the blessings of having scriptures memorized. It helps me to be able to teach with more power and authority. It really is an act of faith on our behalf to start memorizing them.  And when we act in faith then miracles start to happen. It takes a lot of commitment and work to memorize scriptures word for word. But it pays dividends when people hear that and the Spirit can follow through more powerfully because of our efforts. Just something I noticed. But that really applies to all areas of our life other then just in a spiritual sense. When that same effort is applied to anything blessings will follow. That I know to be true. When we work, Things happen.

But otherwise this week is very promising. We are going to go out and find some more people to teach and keep this area going. Everyone is saying that once spring gets here there will be a lot more people here. So if I end up staying here that long there should be some really good progress. 

Well time is running out. I should be going. But I love you all. 

As one of the other missionaries said recently. The Church is true and the Book is Blue. 

Until next week 

-Elder Valentine

Week 27

Greetings everyone! I hope this email finds all of you doing well. I have to say that I am doing well. This past week has been a great week. And I have to say this coming week also looks promising. 

Last Monday we went and did a little bit of light hiking in Colorado City. They have some pretty good hiking surprisingly. Then we had appointments up on the Mountain and picked up a new investigator. Always exciting. Then on Thursday we also picked up another new investigator. He is our next door neighbor. His name is Roger. He is in his 60's and hasn't always been so nice. He actually quit drinking about 5 years ago and decided he wanted to quit smoking now too. But anyways he told us we were not going to convert him.  The Bishop of the Orderville 2nd ward actually got us through the door. He told Roger that we are not teaching enough and that we need someone to practice on. So Roger agreed to help. So that is why he told us he isn't going to convert. But he was talking about how he believes that Adam and Eve lived on the American Continent and how he believes that it is selfish to think that of all the worlds that exist that we are the only one that is inhabited. I just got so excited when he said that. I just told him everything that he was saying is pretty much what we believe. So much so that he actually agreed to take a Book of Mormon and read it. Which is awesome!!!!! I just get really excited about that. He says that he is not religious but that he is spiritual. So I have faith that he will want to learn more. If he truly reads the Book of Mormon I know he will want to learn more. 

Then I don't remember what days but we gave 4 blessings last week. A lot of people have been sick around here. A lot. So we have been giving a lot of blessings in general. It is amazing to be able to administer to those that are sick. It is truly following in the footsteps of Christ. 

Another thing that I have been working on is to memorize passages of scriptures. I have memorized 6 scriptures so far. Maybe 7. President Monson made a promise that if we would memorize one scripture a day for our whole missions we would have a photographic memory. So I started kinda late but I am going to try to memorize as many as I can. Plus the mission president is going to come out with a list of scriptures to memorize. I got very excited about that. It really helps you to teach with more power and authority when you can verbatim, quote the words of the Lord. It helps the spirit to work more strongly. Like reading out of the scriptures is great. But having the scriptures become part of us gives us greater power. So that is something that I am working on. 

well that is just a brief summary of my week. I have a hard time believing another has come and gone. We are already half way through this transfer. Hard to believe. But anyways. I didn't take any pictures this past week. Horrible I know. I will try to have some for next week. But anywho, I love you all! Have a great week.

-Elder Valentine 

Week 26

The only way that I know how long I have been out is to write this email. I have to go and look at what week we were on last week.... But It is hard to believe that last week was my 6 month mark. I don't know how that happened. But anyways I didn't burn anything. I feel like that is a waste.

But anywho this past week has been a great week. We have been finding new people to teach and have been helping those we have been teaching get closer to being baptized. One amazing experience that we have had out here is the fast we had yesterday. The whole southwest area fasted for rain or snow yesterday. Literally around 5:30 it started snowing. It was clear during the morning. And the weather forecast for this week said highs in the 60's and clear when we looked last week. Now they are saying snow and more snow. So I just have to say fasting and prayer really do bring about miracles. And if as a large region we can pray and fast for moisture and then receive it think about what other miracles we could experience if we exercised our faith accordingly.

So otherwise not too much else to report on. We are just keepin on keepin on. Things continually improve here in the Kanab 2 area. I love you all and hope that everyone is doing well. I will talk to you all later.

-Elder Valentine

Week 25

Good day everyone!

This past week has been a great week! I mean great. We had transfers last week and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Read. And he is a Georgia boy. I guess they only send southern people to southern Utah. Maybe. 

But we hit the ground running as soon as he got in the area. We met with Pam again on Wednesday night and she told us that she wants to be baptized on the 22nd of Feb. So that was exciting. She has been working towards that for the last 7 years and she has decided that now is the time to really do it. So we have gotten the ball rolling on that. Then yesterday we met with Cobe, and we felt prompted to ask him to be baptized so we did. He accepted and we are planning on the 23rd with him. So I am super excited about that as well. We have been working hard here and things are really starting to pick up. I have a feeling that this transfer has to potential to be great. We are just going to have to work harder and keep our eye on the prize. 

It is really amazing to me how the Lord prompts us to act and when we are filled with love for those people that he is asking us to help, we are not fearful of that prompting, but rather we do it because we want what is best for that individual. I can think of 2 very specific examples of being prompted this weekend where because we acted in accordance with what the Lord asked, peoples lives were blessed. But the big thing about it was that love preceded the promptings. We have been meeting with a man here in Orderville that has been struggling for decades with alcohol and going to church. We stopped by his house on Saturday and he didn't answer. We knocked more then normal and then left. Driving by later in the day I felt prompted to go there again. So we went and knocked on the door again. He immediately answered. We sat down and talked for an hour and a half. He was feeling very low and depressed. We built up a relationship with him over the previous 3 months. And when I felt the prompting to go over the only thing I really cared about was making sure he was ok. When we love we put those people who need our love above our worries or our cares. I am not saying any of this to toot my own horn, but rather to stress the importance of love. Love everyone. From love miracles happen. I have seen that this past week. It is something that I definitely need to apply more in my own life. 

But I Love you all!

I hope you all have a great week.

-Elder Valentine

P.S. While waiting for my companion I went out for the day with Elder Lewis, while tracting we came upon this, so naturally I had to have a picture....

Week 24

So another transfer has come and gone! It is hard to believe that I have already been out for 4 transfers. But on Sunday we received our transfer calls. I am once again staying in the Kanab 2 area. So I did not get transferred. Elder Greene, my companion, go transferred to the Enoch west area. He is going to be right next to Cedar City. If anyone knows where that is. It is a little bit north of St. George on I-15. So overall he really won't end up too far away from where I am. It is about 45 minutes northwest of my area. So not too bad. But that is where he is going. My new companions name is Elder Read. Right now it is about 10:30 and I dropped Elder Greene off at the St. George East stake center at 9:00. Elder Read is supposed to be down here in St. George at 5:00 this evening. So we will see if that is right. But I won't be getting back to my area until like 7-8 this evening. But anywho that is going to be this evening. So I am going to be here in St. George for the day with one of the Zone leaders. 

Anyways, this past week has been another good week. We have been improving in our area a lot. We have found a couple of new investigators over the last few weeks. So that is super awesome. We are teaching a 14 year old boy named Cobe. And we have just started teaching a 9 year old girl named Mercedes. And then we have a couple of other kids that we might start teaching. It is really remarkable how many kids we teach. And I use the term kids for anyone under the age of 18. They usually are the most easily taught of anyone. They aren't hardened like some adults are. So it is really interesting. I thought I would teach more adults then anything else. But not true. But we are also meeting with a woman named Pam. She has the goal of being baptized this coming February. So we are going to work with her towards that. She has a thing or two holding her back. But nothing super serious. But we have slowly been increasing our teaching pool. It takes a lot of prayers and hard work to get out there and find people and work with them. We have had amazing help from the members in the area though. They have been the main reason that we are able to teach as much as we have. I really appreciate all the work that they do. 

So that has been our past week. It was quite the adventure. But I hope everyone back home is doing well. I have heard that there is a lot of cold weather and possibly some snow back there. I hope everyone is staying warm and safe. I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week.

-Elder Valentine

Week 23

Once more another week has come and gone. And I don't even know what happened to it. I don't have a clue. Time just seems to be slipping away. 

I feel like recently there have been a lot of people slipping away from this life. Whether that be back home or out here in the area that I am serving. They have completed their probation in this mortal existence and moving on to a greater place. I feel like this might be a time of grief for many. My mind is turned to a talk given by Heber Q. Hale in 1920. He talks about his experience about what happens after this life

http://www.richmondancestry.org/pdf_files/Manifestation.pdf

I encourage you all to read it. I feel like those things that he speaks about are true. They bring a greater understanding and a much better perspective on the subject we all refer to as death. It really adds to our understanding of those things that are taught in the Plan of Salvation. What a blessing it is to know about the Plan of Happiness. 

Anywho this past week was good. We have been getting a better teaching pool established and have been able to set up a very regular teaching schedule. We have been able to do that over the last 3 weeks. So that is good. What is crazy is that this is the last week of this transfer. So next Sunday we will find out if we are both staying or if one of us is getting transferred. We have spent the last 2 transfers building this area. Establishing relationships with members and just the people in the towns in general. We are finally having some success. So I am happy about that. I feel like this area will have a good bit of work over the coming months and this next year. So I am happy about that. 

But I love you all and will email more next week.

-Elder Valentine

Week 22

I do not even know why I bother trying to remember what week it is. I think it was week 22 but oh well, that is what I put. But anywho!

This past week was a good week. We had new years and had some super fun district activities. We hiked a slot canyon here in my area. It was super intense. I will put a photo of that in here if I can. But we got to watch a movie new years eve and then on news years night as well. So we watched Despicable Me and Toy story 2. We actually had a pretty decent sized list of movies we could watch. But those are the 2 that we picked. So that was pretty exciting to get to watch a movie. 

But more importantly we were able to find a couple of new investigators this week. Which is a miracle. Considering almost no one was home because of the holidays, the fact that we found some new investigators can only be a miracle. It is amazing though the miracles you see when you are paying attention. Miracles happen all the time. I think too often we just look at it as coincidence or happenstance. But everything happens for a reason. So I say miracles. But it seems to me like things here are going to start picking up here with the start of the New Year. Which is super exciting. 

But I love you all! See miracles! 

-Elder Valentine

P.S. Looking out of the Slot towards the sky