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....