Merry Christmas

Hola Amigos!

This past week was so super crazy.

On Wednesday we had Zone Training Meeting. During my training, I
probably was a little frustrated for half a minute that no one was
commenting. So, I asked why no one was enjoying the training... after
that, there was more participation. I actually really like giving
trainings because it takes me back to debate days. A theme that came
up was valiantly responding to promptings from the Holy Ghost. I think
that's an interesting word to use: "valiantly". How can we do that?

On Thursday we had a temple trip! All of the missionaries in The
valley got together and half at a time went to the temple. There is a
fun picture out there somewhere, and when I have it, you'll have it.

On Friday, we did five hours of service. In the morning we helped sort
food at a food bank, and in the evening we cleaned someone's house. I
love serving in those ways. I like the behind-the-scenes kind of
service.

I hope each of you has a wonderful Christmas. Remember Christ and His
atonement when you think about His birth. He was born to be our
example, to teach us, to save us. He did. He lives.

1. Sister Fairbourne cut a ton of meat for the Christmas party. It was
really gross and fun.

2. Carpool to the temple! Sister Cahoon, me, Sister Fairbourne, Sister
Fairholm.

3. Merry Christmas! (Really, I avoid sunlight)

4. Christmas presents

I have a great story for you today.

Please send Laney a Christmas Card if you can - there is nothing worse than an empty mailbox at Christmas.....

Sister Laney Valentine

Arizona Scottsdale Mission

6265 N 82nd St

Scottsdale, AZ 85250

Hola Amigos!

The area has been so crazy. Last week, we had two families at
sacrament meeting (seven investigators)! This week, one family made
tamales instead of coming, and we can't even get ahold of the other
family. Who even knows what is happening.

I'm grateful that we have had the opportunity to build up member trust
and to help them come closer to Christ. I know they love us. I know
that many of our investigators love us, too. Now we just have to help
move a little closer to Christ and enter into a baptismal convent.

I have a great story for you today.

Last month, I randomly ran out of money. Not a big deal: I have pasta
and rice and tuna.. I have food. BUT. I saw some lentils in a cabinet.
I hadn't had lentils before, so I cooked some. I probably cooked too
many and had an entire pot of lentils to eat. Because I'm silly, I ate
lentils for an entire week. I made so many fancy things with those
lentils: soup, burgers, mashed lentils. We had a meeting with our
primary president, and I mentioned that I had been eating lentils, and
she was not happy about that. I want you to know that it's really hard
for nice people to not help. She went to her food storage and sent us
home with food.

A few days ago at dinner, a member I love told me that I'm so tiny
it's as if I were a starving child in Africa. I want you to know that
I eat loads of food. Like. When the members make too many tortillas
and it's a situation were we have to eat all of them, the elders look
at me to finish them off. It's so backwards. Point: I probably eat
like a starving child.

Yesterday, we had dinner with Bishop's family and the primary
president. We were the last set of missionaries to leave. We found out
that the young women, two other members, and the primary put this
together for us and the other sisters:

2 weeks of photos

11/28/16

Hola Amigos!

This week Sister Fairbourne opened someone's door before we even
knocked on it. It was so funny. No one even came to the door!

We found a new family to teach. We are still finding loads of people,
but we are searching for those who are ready to make commitments. Like
praying. Reading the scriptures.

Thanksgiving was fun! We ate with our bishop's family and the other
families that came to his home for dinner.

Transfer news (it came so quickly!): I'm staying! Still training
sister Fairbourne.

Hasta luego!
Hermana Valentine

1. It is too cold now! I can't go from 110 to 49! I'm wearing scarves
when it's only 60 degrees!

2. Dancing cactus.

3. Our zone is pretty great!

4. Sometimes we have loads of fun at stake Correlation meetings.

12/5/16
 Hola Amigos!

This week was crazy crazy. Too many meetings! I also don't have time to write!

Hasta luego,

Hermana Valentine

1. A while back we had a sisters conference.

2. I made a fun card one night for an investigator who has been sick
for a while.

3. Sometimes I am the turkey princess.

Turkey = pavo

Hola Amigos!

This past week was insane! We had a sisters' conference and a training
for Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple--that's right. Even though the
Mesa Temple is out of the mission, the sisters in the valley are
invited be on the grounds and answer questions from, teach, and guide
people through the grounds during the Christmas lights display. I am
excited, and according to the schedule (if i stay in the area next
transfer) I will be there on Christmas. It will be wonderful.

We received a member referral, which was basically a self referral,
for a family this week. We went by last night. They are so neat! We
are excited to help through their trials and come to rely on Christ
and His atonement. It will be great.

I have a few pictures to send out, but other than that, not much
happened this week.

1,2. We are all wearing blue things.
3. The Christmas lights training was at the temple, so we walked
through the visitors' center.

We. Are. So. Happy.

Hola Amigos!

This week someone came to church. We. Are. So. Happy. Julio came to
church for the first time, and he loved it! He even started telling us
about who he was going to invite to come with him next Sunday and to
English class on Wednesday. It was kind of funny, actually. He text us
saying that he came inside, didn't know where to go, and was sitting
outside waiting for us. We walked around half of the building looking
for him and found him! He was even reading the Book of Mormon while he
was waiting!

So great.

On the tenth, I will have been on my mission for nine months. How
crazy is that?

On Thursday I gave a training about baptism at our zone training
meeting. I was reminded that it is the Holy Ghost who sanctifies us.
Sanctification is, "The process of becoming free from sin, pure,
clean, and holy through the Atonement of Jesus Christ," (Guide to the
Scriptures). When we receive that gift, we are sanctified, and we
remain clean as we have faith, repent, and keep the commandments and
gospel, even as Christ taught those doctrines.

I have to go, but have some pictures from this week.

1. After our zone training meeting, the sister went out for fancy ice cream!

2. I love Sister Fairholm. And pumpkin pie ice cream.

3. Sometimes Sister Fairholm randomly has almost the skirt as I have
while we are on exchanges together.

4. I miss fluffy little dogs.

There was some success!

Hola Amigos!

This is how it is.

We have someone on date now! Jessica is great, and we are super
excited for her.

Our Spanish ward had a Halloween party, and we set up a plan of
salvation game. There was some success! It wasn't Halloween themed,
but the members thought it was cool.

For Halloween, we aren't supposed to be out and about at night. So,
the zone is all together playing games and eating candy!

Enjoy this picture! Sister Tenisa, me, and Sister Garcia.

knocking on 198375827 doors

Hola Amigos!

Sorry about last week! I was doing crazy things at the mission office
and having a fun party with new missionaries and the Assistants.

I have been transferred out of Mesa. I am now in...Paradise Valley!

And...I'm training! There are now six missionaries in the Via Verde
ward, and I know they already love us. Sister Fairbourne is great.
Pretty much she knows everything already. Now, she's learning
everything in Spanish.

Things to know about Sister Fairbourne: she's great. She's from Salt
Lake City, UT. She already loves knocking on 198375827 doors all day
long to find people to teach. Which it good, because I honestly love
this part of missionary work. We meet the most interesting people.

We were contacting in a park one night, and we met a lady from France!
She told us that her Spanish was better than her English, so on
Tuesday night I spoke with a French lady in Spanish. Fun fact.

Oh! I found someone from Missouri! She's from the KC area, but her
best friend went to Neosho High, so she knows the area! We were
clicking on everything! It was pretty neat.

We had a fun lesson this week with a family we found at the beginning
of the week. They are interested and are reading the book or Mormon! I
know that if they ask Heavenly Father in a prayer if it's true, He
will answer them. It'll be great.

This area is huge compared to Mesa. We have the northern part of the
stake and are starting from scratch. I'm really excited to find
people.

I don't have loads of pictures this week, but that's ok. Have this fun
picture of Sister Fairbourne and I partying in the back seat on the
way to Walmart today.

How to serve cake

Hola Amigos!

I have some fun things to share. First: Bill is getting baptized onThursday! We are excited for him and know that Heavenly Father ishappy for him too!
1. Sometimes we have to really think about how we present things. Howare we inviting people to pray? How are we really helping people tocome into Christ? Do we think about it? I don't know about you, but ifsomeone offered me this cupcake, I would say no. We should be mindfulof how we are inviting others to come into Christ!
2. Other times, we must check every stall in the church bathroombefore picking one. Fun fact: scorpions are peeping toms and willcrawl into the stall you are using. What you don't see in the picture,is me standing on the toilet seat, about to leap out of the stall.
3. We have had a number of meetings this past month. Twice we have metin the mountains! The super cool valley missionaries ride up in twovans. This the fun group. (I'm in the back)

This past weekend was general conference. Each six months the church has a worldwide broadcast during which leaders of the church,
including President Thomas S Monson, speak to us! It was great. I
enjoyed the talks about Heavenly Father's love for each of us. He
really does know us individually. He knows what we need, want, and
what is best. He is a perfect Father and a perfect example. We can
always trust Him, talk with Him, and choose to follow Him by keeping
the commandments. He loves us.
Sister Patterson isn't sick anymore, so we are doing all of the fun
missionary things. We even found a new family to teach!

Hasta Luego!
Hermana Valentine

Ate Menudo!

Hola Amigos!

I intended to send a few pictures a while back. They have fun captions!

This week Sister Patterson has been sick. We were still able to teach
people with the help of members! Someone would go with me to lessons
and someone would stay with Sister Patterson. It was neat to see that
people care for us and know the importance of spreading the gospel. I
already knew that members here know that, but I'm glad I have had
opportunities to see it in action.


1. "You must be this skinny to be baptized." Ha, that is a tiny door!

2. We ate menudo! We told a few members that we hadn't had it yet on
the mission, so they invited us over for lunch! Menudo is cow stomach
lining. The soup part was pretty good, but I could not eat the meat.
It was all gristle. So, I ate the hominy, onion, etc. The family we
ate with said we didn't have to eat the meat. I ate quite a bit of it,
but it was not super fun.  I'm grateful we were eating with
understanding and kind members.

Hasta Luego

Hermana Valentine 

Not Laney's fault

I had a hectic week with work - so I apologize this is just going up now- but hopefully you'll get 2 e-mails from Laney this week. (This is from last Monday)
-Christal



Hola Amigos!

This past week has been a blur! On Tuesday, we asked Bill if he would
be baptized. He said yes! He prayed to know if the Book of Mormon
really is another testament of Jesus Christ, and his prayer was
answered! It is. It testifies of Christ and His love for us. When Bill
said the closing prayer, he cried a little bit, he was so happy! I'm
excited for Bill. He's excited, too.

We also caught up with several less active members this week.
Hopefully we will be able to help them remember their testimonies of
the truthfulness of the gospel of Christ.

I love the people here. I feel like I've come to understand more of
the urgency and importance of missionary work. Pretty neat!

Love you all!

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valentine

Sister Patterson demonstrating how things go sometimes. Sometimes we
try to teach, but they don't want to hear about the love Heavenly
Father has for us! Sometimes they do, though.

They like me here!

Hola Amigos!

This week I don't have much time, but I will include fun paragraphs
from other emails.

We had transfers this week, and I'm staying here in Mesa! Same
apartment, same car, same members, same companion (Sister Patterson).
The only thing that will change it that we will now teach all of the
people here in Mesa and give all of the families an opportunity to
come into Christ. EverypersoninMesa.

We were at our relief society president's house when we got the
transfer call. Her husband, also the stake executive secretary, had
stepped out for a moment. I hid behind the island in the kitchen when
he came inside. Sister Patterson and Sister Cummard told him I was
being transferred. He was so sad! They like me here! Then I jumped
out, and we told him we were kidding. He thought it was funny.

We started teaching a man named Bill. He is pretty cool. He is friends
with a less active lady we are teaching. She gave him a Book of
Mormon! We invited him to church two weeks ago, and he came! Then, he
told the less active member about how great the church is, and she
told us she was definitely coming to church. Then she came last
Sunday! And yesterday! It's been great. On Tuesday we will invite Bill
to be baptized. I'll let you know how that goes.

The church is true! Fast and testimony meeting was great yesterday I
love it when the youth and children share their testimonies because
they are so simple and true. Also, they are easier to translate into
English when you are in charge of translation.

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Valentine

Obedience is the first law of heaven

Hola Amigos!

This week was pretty interesting. I'm in Mesa Grande and 20th Ward
still. While tracting (knocking on doors) in our Spanish ward, we
found two English families who are interested! They are in 25th ward
boundaries. The gospel is the gospel, but it would be cool to teach
them. I know that the missionaries for 25th ward will do a good job
teaching them though!

We had Missionary Leadership Council this past week instead of this
upcoming week. Usually MLC is the first Friday of each month. Elder
Kevin W. Pearson, a member of the Seventy, came to give a training. It
was so neat! The training was about two hours long, so I'm not really
able to say what he focused on. For a good amount of the training, he
explained what faith is and how to gain more faith in Jesus Christ. He
explained that the way to having more faith is being more obedient to
the commandments. Obedience is the first law of heaven, and as we
choose to follow Christ, choose to abide by his teachings and example,
our faith in Him increases. We also show our love for the Savior as we
keep the commandments (John 14:15).

We taught a number of less active members this week, but the most
exciting thing was how many of the less active members came to church
on Sunday. These are members who don't have the habit of coming or who
haven't been in years. Seven. Six less active members out of nine who
we taught last week came to church, and one who we didn't teach last
week came to church. I know that because they came to church, they
felt the Holy Spirit testify to them of the importance of taking the
sacrament each week. Maybe we will see them at church again next week!

Maybe you'll be at church next week.

Enjoy this picture of our zone after playing ultimate frisbee for
morning workouts.



Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valentine

Phoenix for a day

Hola Amigos!

This week was pretty neat. I went to Phoenix for a day to be with a
different Sister, and I talked to a lot of people. I didn't see
anything crazy, but I did get soaked. It rained really hard for maybe
ten minutes.

Something neat happened on Sunday! We were making our rounds of
inviting less active members to a short church service held in an
assisted living center, when Sister Patterson and I both felt that we
should invite Bill. I've talked to him twice. Maybe. He was a referral
from a member, and he wasn't super interested. Surprise! He came to
church! AND HE LOVED IT.

We also talked to a man who wasn't interested in anything we had to
say. After chatting for maybe 15 minutes,  we sent him away with our
number, a restoration pamphlet, and a Book of Mormon. Also, we have
his number, and we know we're he lives. We plan to teach him now!

I really like it here in Mesa, Arizona. The people are nice and aren't
usually crazy. They like the missionaries even if they don't like what
we teach (which is that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and a
Savior who loves us and lots of other true and wonderful things). I
like it.

1. Sometimes, to practice teaching lessons, we play headbands with
topics. And by that I mean, today we played headbands one time and
practiced two topics. (Mine is on sister Patterson, and hers on my
head)

6 months down 12 more to go!

Hola Amigos!

This week went by so quickly!

Did you know that there is cotton on the reservations out here? How
neat! We have some!

This week we knocked on someone's door who kept saying "We're good
we're good" over and over again and then closed the door! We didn't
even know what to think. We had other good experiences though. We have
three families who were interesting in learning more, so we hope to
talk to them this week!


1. Cotton. It literally looks and feels like a cotton ball. 

2. I've been a missionary for 6 months! So has Sister Patterson! Celebration lunch!

3. Puddles are rare, but it happens to be monsoon season. 

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valentine

That's not ideal, but it's almost always funny!

Hola Amigos!

The past few weeks have been so busy! I know not all of my emails sent
one week, so I think I sent my weekly email from the week before..last
week... This email is current and up-to-date. Mostly.

Sister Patterson is super funny! I'm glad she's cool, or I don't know
what I would do. We came out here at the same time. That fact makes
our Spanish visits interesting sometimes. She sounds really good when
she speaks Spanish, and her vocab is a little different mine; I'm
grateful to have her here. When she doesn't understand what's going
on, I usually do, and when I don't know what's going on, she usually
does. However, one time we were talking to man on the street, and we
had gathered that he wasn't super interested, but we looked at each
other afterwards and both asked, "what was he saying?" ... That's not
ideal, but it's almost always funny!

We've been trying to find new people to teach. We usually pick a
street and go knocking on doors. Last week, we didn't have loads of
time, but we wanted to go down a street with a mini missionary (a
member from the area staying with us for a few days). We did. The goal
was to avoid members' homes that night which isn't super easy in that
half of our area. A few people answered; no one was interested. Then.
We knocked on a door. An older couple answered who I didn't know: "Oh
it's the missionaries! Come on in! Are you thirsty? I'll get some
water. Have a seat! It's too hot outside." Our brains were thinking,
which members are these? We can't stay here super long.

Surprise! They weren't members! We talked for about five minutes, then
I realized who they were (a super community-active family), but Sister
Patterson didn't know them. When she realized they weren't members,
they kind of laughed at us. In a good way. It was super funny. They
aren't interested, yet. They've just had so many missionaries come
through and have even fed the missionaries a number of times that they
love missionaries. We plan to do service for them. It'll be cool.

We have had some success with finding! We plan to visit about three
families this week who want to learn more about the restored gospel of
Jesus Christ.

Time to go!

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valentine

This is last weeks email...

For some reason Laney's e-mail didn't send last week. No e-mail this week

- Christal

Hola amigos!

Sister Pierson is gone. She's home now...

Tomorrow I will have Sister Patterson as my companion! Until then, I
am with the sisters we live with and a mini missionary!

1: good bye Sister Pierson! We love you!
2: I am a Child of God family home evening (they wouldn't stay still..)

Hasta Luego!
Hermana Valentine

One time an old man told us what we believed. He was wrong.

This is bits and pieces from Laney's e-mail to me - so that there is something but no real letter this week. Feel free to call her to repentance in your letters and e-mails :) - Christal

 ------

I don't have any time left again. This time it is because we watched a movie with the sisters in our zone.

I like knocking on doors. One time an old man told us what we believed. He was wrong.

I don't know how much work you want to put into the blog this time, but I'll just email you, and you can pick and choose what to share =)

One time we had Carlos act out 1 Nephi 3:7. It was pretty silly. He kind of just moved his mouth and waved one arm while we read it out loud. But, he will never forget the promise that the Lord gives no commandment to the children of men without preparing a way that they can accomplish them! (Kind of paraphrased a lot)

On Monday we did Christmas in July with a few people. They liked it. I liked it too! We made Christmas cookies and everything! 

This is Sister Pierson's last week, so I will for sure be getting a new companion this next transfer. Which happens this Friday. Whoa.

Hasta Luego

Hermana Valentine

We knocked on so many doors

Dearest Amigos,

This week we knocked on so many doors. So many. That's not unusual.
What is unusual is that one day no one answered. It was really weird.
Something good came of it though! The next day we did find one of
those families home, and we are teaching them now! Hooray! We just
have to trust in the Lord's timing.

The nearest thing that happened this week, though, is that a less
active family came to church on Sunday. We've been working with them
for a while, and they came! We could hardly sit still, we were so
happy. I love seeing people apply the gospel to their lives, make
changes, and come closer to Christ. I'm glad to be a missionary and to
have this opportunity to see it so often.

I also want to share the following with you:

There's a sentence in the Spanish grammar book we study that says,
"Angelica is fat because she eats cake and ice cream everyday." Or
something like that. Pretty much, WE EAT CAKE AND ICE CREAM EVERYDAY.

Have a nice week! Hope the Fourth was great!

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Valentine

Canada Day and America Day

Hermana Valentine got a new Mission President this week. https://www.lds.org/church/news/new-mission-presidents-called-to-areas-including-russia-uganda-and-mexico?lang=eng 

Hola Amigos!

This week I was at girls camp! I'm still a missionary, so I didn't have the full girls camp experience. I did sing loads of songs and didn't sing songs about boys. I helped with crafts. I hiked. I taught missionary lessons. I also wore pants for three and a half days.

We celebrated Canada Day on July 1st because Sister Pierson is Canadian. It was pretty cool. 

Today is America Day. I really love America. Our country has good qualities (and bad, but don't they all?). I am so grateful for the freedoms we have. Without some of them, I wouldn't even be able to preach the gospel. I think that the Fourth of July should also be Thanksgiving, so you should make lists of things you are thankful for and try to remember that we really do have a pretty great country. 

I'll share a few photos. 

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valentine

1. Canada day. We wore red and white and ate red and white food.

2. Camping and wearing pants! We went with Mesa Grande.

3. I don't have a picture of this but. The first night, Sister Pierson
and I went to the cabin while the girls had a dance in the main lodge.
We found a mouse. When they came to the cabin, Sister Pierson told one
of the leaders. She wasn't sure how to say "mouse," thinking that
ratón was rat. It was a super little baby mouse, though! So she
explained that it was a "ratón como Mickey Mouse." Mickey Mouse is
giant. So, the leader thought it was giant mouse... It took a while
for the girls to calm down. The leaders got ahold of bishop, who was
in a cabin on the other side of camp, and he came. He killed Mickey
Mouse for us.
Mickey Mouse*

4. I was invited to a meeting earlier this month. Here's that pic. I'm

the last sister on the left.
President and Sister Sweeney are in the middle

This week will be my first time at girls camp.

Hola Amigos!

This week will be my first time at girls camp.

That's right.

Missionaries can go if they are cool like we are.

Girls camp is like church camp for girls ages 12-18 and young women
leaders. I don't know much about it to be honest. I haven't been
before!

We have four nonmembers with us and one less active member from our
Mesa grande ward, and we will be staying with the ward in the cabins.
The camp ground is up near the mountains, making it about 20 degrees
cooler than the valley. Also, it's raining. That makes it like another
10 degrees cooler. With that math, it's about 80 degrees... It feels
cooler than that, but I am used to 110-120 degrees.

So, this week, my schedule is girls camp from Monday through Thursday
afternoon. While the girls are doing things missionaries aren't
supposed to do, like canoeing, we are making calls and setting
appointments for later in the week and the following week. We might
even teach a lesson over the phone! We also hope to teach a few
lessons to some of the girls.

We are getting a new mission president on Wednesday this week. We
won't know of any special Fourth of July finding activities or rules
until he comes! We are excited, though.

Last week. Oh man. It has been so hot the past two weeks.

We had several lessons set up with people, but many of the set lessons
fell through. HOWEVER. I am super grateful for planning. We had
lessons with backups and people we just felt needed us to stop by. I
know that when we are obedient (WHEN WE PLAN BACKUPS AND OTHER THINGS
LIKE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO) we are blessed. Others are also blessed by
our efforts to preach the gospel.

I don't have loads of time! To those I normally send individual
emails: I'll try to email you next week!

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valentine



_____________________________________________________________

For those that aren't sure what Laney is talking about with planning out their day - this video takes a small snapshot of what that means. Missionaries try to be intentional that each hour they spend is working towards bringing someone closer to Christ (even after someone has cancelled an appointment with you)

 - Christal

Yesterday it was 121

Hola Amigos!

Confession: My companion typed out our bedbug story last week. I am glad to say that we still don't have bedbugs! Unfortunately, our apartment isn't as clean as it was last week, but we will clean today.

We went to the Mesa temple last week! I love the sweet feelings of love from Heavenly Father that we can feel simple by having a sincere desire to go to the temple. those same feelings are even stronger as we actually go to the temple. We have an elderly lady in our Spanish ward who, for health reasons, isn't able to comfortably leave the house. It's not super likely--but it is still possible--that she will attend the temple soon, but she talks about the blessings of living worthy to have a current temple recommend. They are so real.

Also, yesterday it was 121 and the car said 122. 

Have a nice week!

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valentine

1. Temple trip with other missionaries and President and Sister Sweeney

2. Lunch after the temple trip! Some missionaries hadn't gone yet, so
we had fancy plastic bibs to prevent the spaghetti from getting
everywhere!

3 Sometimes it's hot here in the valley. Sometimes we use the car to
warm up our cinnamon rolls. Just pop them up on the dash (on a plate,
of course) and the icing melts again

This week we had transfers....and bed bugs

Hola Amigos!

This week we had transfers, but I'm in the same area! Sister Pierson is still my companion, and we even have a car. 

Last Monday night through Thursday night, we had a mini missionary: Sister Johnson! She is leaving for her mission in August to the Chicago area, and she is speaking Spanish. It was neat to have her along with us. She stayed with us in our apartment, followed the missionary schedule (including..everything), taught a few lessons, and prayed in Spanish with us at a few members' homes! 

We found a great family to teach! The dad said he is member but hasn't been to church since he was little, and his children are super interested in coming. We called our ward mission leader (the member in our congregation who coordinates things for us...I think it makes sense described that way...) and asked him if who would be able to take the kids to a youth activity that night. He called around and called us back. That side of the road is out of our ward's boundaries. Ha, they are still excited, though! We sent their info to the Elders in that area. I'm still glad they have a desire to learn more.

 

Oh! Speaking of being productive...this weekend, while we were working on our weekly planning, I saw a small, light brownish flat bug on me...and then jump onto the couch. I immediately thought...Bed Bugs! I've never seen one before, but we called some other missionaries and their description tends to match what I saw (more or less), so we commenced with the bed bug detox. What's cool is we weren't worried or concerned...no one in the apartment had gotten bit, so if it was bedbugs, they weren't eating us, which is really nice of them. We started sweeping, vacuuming, throwing what we could in the washer/dryer, and spraying the whole house thoroughly with permethrin. We contacted Sister Sweeney...she told us to contact Elder Dale, our housing coordinator. We gave him a description of the bug...and he said it definitely was not a bed bug. So our house is SUPER clean now.

Those are my stories for the week.

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Valentine

 

 

Obedience brings blessings

Laney tried to include a video but her link didn't work. I will try to get it from her next week. 

-Christal 

Hola Amigos!

As usual, I saved this email for last.

I want you to know that obedience brings blessings and exact obedience
brings miracles. I know that miracles still happen, that Heavenly
Father loves us, and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I'm grateful for
this opportunity I have to teach others about the unconditional love
God has for us and the freedom from pains, sorrows, and sins we can
have as we choose to truly follow Christ and keep the commandments.

Also, it's really hot in Arizona.


1. Me, Sister Zabariza, Sister Peterson at a meeting!

2. Sometimes we are cool when we work out. (Sister Pierson is in this one.)

3. Sometimes we go to the Mesa Arizona temple visitors center and then
take a picture in front of the temple. (Cool member that came to a
lesson + cool person we are teaching + me)

Hasta Luego,
Hermana Valentine

This past week I did missionary work!

Hola Amigos!

This past week I did missionary work! Hooray! 

The week went by so quickly that I hardly remember the cool things that happened!

We did start teaching someone who had gone to church a couple of times in the past, but she was never baptized, and she stopped coming. She decided that she did want to be baptized in one of our lessons, so we set it up for June 18th! We had several lessons with her this past week, and she even came to church! Then. After sacrament meeting (the first hour of church), she told us that she didn't want to be baptized. 

It's hard for me to understand why! I'm grateful for our agency, or ability to make our own decisions, but I know how important it is for her to learn and grow and truly come unto Christ! AHH. 

I only have time for that one story. 

And this one. 

I finally received a two month old package from my aunt and uncle. The post office was hiding it from me! It's ok. The cookies are still delicious. 

Keep being Christlike examples! Others see that light in you! 

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Valentine

This week these things happened...

Hola Amigos!

I fell off of my bike this week. Fanny, an elderly lady, always gives us treats after our lessons or service. On Friday, she gave us ice cream popsicles. I can totally ride a bike and eat ice cream. I cannot turn onto a sidewalk while holding ice cream. It was so silly! In my mind I was thinking, "If i drop the ice cream, it's littering. NO ONE WANTS TO BE A LITTER-BUG." So, I held on to what little was left of the ice cream and the handlebars as I hit part of the inclined curb trying to turn onto the sidewalk and fell. Unfortunately, the ice cream hit the ground, too. It's ok because we found a trash can. I didn't want ice cream anyways!

Sister Pierson and I were talking about bread in Spanish one evening just before nightly planning, so of course we wanted some toast. Sister Pierson put bread in the toaster, but just before she started the toaster, the power to part of our apartment complex (including our apartment) went out! Solution: turn on all of the flashlights and bike lights. It didn't help make toast, but it worked really well for light! We decided to just eat bread instead of toast. 

Something cool that happened this week: we invited a member to come with us to an elderly care center to visit a few people who haven't been able to make it to church and to visit an investigator the previous sisters told us about who we hadn't met yet. Her name is Dolores. She is so cool! She has the neatest stories! The best part was the timing, though. She invited us inside, and we saw two bookshelves still in their boxes just waiting to be built. We offered to build them, and she was so struck by our kindness that she needed a tissue. She was super thankful, too! We weren't able to finish, so we came back later that night, and she invited us to come back this week to help her with family history work. And computers. 

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valetine

I'm holding bread in the photo

This week was super weird!

Hola Amigos,

How is everyone? Good, I'm glad! Unless I shouldn't be glad. Then I won't be.

This week was super weird! It was my first full week on bike, and it
wasn't even terrible!  Unfortunately, I don't have any cool pictures
of Sister Pierson and I on bike, but I promise we are so cool. We have
lights on our bike wheels that change color while we ride, and we have
matching Camelbacks.

One day last week during lunch, we had a "funeral" for a sister who
was going home. We had pizza, watermelon, and some other food I don't
remember. She loved it. Sister Pierson and I bought it would be a
perfect opportunity to show off our interpretive dance skills. I'll
share the video. Pretty much, we should be on So You Think You Can
Dance? when we get home.

I'm not sure if I update you on transfers last week. We are still in
our Spanish ward, but we don't have the Young Single Adult ward
anymore. Now we have an English ward: Mesa 20th. Because our area is
way smaller, we have bikes instead of a car.

The work is going well! We are still teaching Carlos and Yissell, a
brother and sister. They even came to Ezra's baptism. Their
testimonies of the restored gospel are growing like crazy!

My Mother's Day call home was wonderful once we got it all figured out.

Here are some pics for this past week, and, if it works, the promised video:


Sometimes we put raincoats on. 

Right after workouts, we had breakfast with our stake president and his wife (in the photo). Left to right: Sister Pierson, me, Sister Palmer. 

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Valentine

Didn't get married!

Laney had a baptism this week!

Hopefully her letters get longer and not shorter as time goes on or it will only be one word by the end. - Christal

 

 During district meeting, we had to bring a photo of our family and five things that not many people know. I showed a picture of Grandma and Grandpa and talked about my family. Then I showed a pass-along card with a picture of Christ and children and talked about being a convert. I started talking about college. I mentioned the 3-to-1 boy-girl ratio at S&T (I hope that's still right), and the Elder who was writing my fun facts on the board wrote "didn't get married." At the end, another Elder had "$$$$" beside one of points. He said something like, "I don't have money. Can we change that point? I just don't what you using this as a talking point in conversation." 

Naturally, my response was something like, "Join the club! 'Oh, uh, hey Sister Valentine. So, I heard that you didn't get married.'" (Imagine that this ' ' is in a deeper, fake man voice.)

Transfers weren't so bad. I'm still with Sister Pierson and we are keeping our Spanish ward adn our apartment. but we lost a few things in the transfer: the YSA ward and our car. We have 20th ward and bikes. It will be good.

Here's that picture from the baptism! and a few funny ones after we dropped our car off at the mission home and got a ride from some other sisters.

 

(Please don't use this as blackmail. I don't know how I made that face.)

This one is because I want you to know that we don't act too crazy in public:

 

 

Zero time. Have pics.

Conversation opened. 13 messages. All messages read.

Dearest Amigos,

Zero time. Have pics.

1. We played pictionary with Ezra using gospel terms. This one, by Ezra, is Heavenly Father.  

2. EZRA WAS BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY.

Just kidding. My comp has that photo. Next week. 

3. We broke the number-of-lessons-in-a-week record recently!

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Valentineprint YSA w Adddress.pdf.