Everything is cool here.

Dearest Amigos,

Everything is cool here. It even snowed yesterday! I leave on Monday morning for Arizona, so I'm not sure when I will email again this next week or if I will at all. You'll know soon enough. 

Hna Gull is doing well! She just happens to know when our Sunday temple walks are (since she was with us, of course), so we saw her on Sunday with her family. She's excited to come back once she recovers! We are excited for her as well!

Today I played basketball for forty minutes. I know what you are thinking: "Does she even know how to do that?" The answer is no. Don't worry, though! I was only rebounding for Hermana Klopfer while she tried to break the 3-point and free throw records. She almost did! I gave her the solid, probably modified, advice Uncle Calvin gave his JV team one night. It went something like,"Hermana Klopfer, don't worry! As long as you look good while you are shooting, and an awesome picture is taken, we can pretend that you made it! Remember, our memories will fade, but will always have that picture." I think she liked it. 

This week I thought of so many people! I had that song that might be called "Blessings in disguise" stuck in my head, so i thought of Whitney. You know who you are. We definitely listened to that song for hours our sophomore year (I think...). Just because. I thought of Mr. Harbaugh, too! We had a devotional last night with elder Zabellos, and at one point he taught about baptismal qualifications. He said we have to meet all of them to actually be qualified. if we meet all of them except one, we (our investigators) aren't qualified. I was immediately reminded of Harbaugh's rule about partial credit! If it's not all right, it's all wrong. Or something like that. 

I want all of you to know that i know when to capitalize words, but the shift key on this computer is fickle. And, I'm not going to fix this message. Pretend I still know hoe to speak and write in English, please.

Hasta luego!

Hermana Valentine 

Write to someone else's family!

Dearest Amigos,

As district we pick a name from a hat each week and write to someone else's family! It is so fun! The other families seem to really enjoy it, and it's neat to write about people in the district to their families. It's the best way to tattle on them. Ha. Just kidding.

I learned something cool this week from elder Rafael E Pino, a member of the seventy, during a devotional. he read in 3 Nephi 11:31-(part of)32 as follows: 

(Christ speaking to the Nephites in the Americas)

"(31) Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will declare unto you my doctrine.

"(32) And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me..."

Christ made the doctrine of our Father His doctrine. We should be doing the same! It should be written on our hearts!

We are all very worried that we will gain weight while in the MTC until we walk in the cafeteria and remember that Sundays and Wednesdays are ice cream days.

I don't have loads of time! I feel like that will be a regular excuse, but it is so true today. One of our sisters is going home for medical reasons in one hour, and we all want to be with her. 

Also, my birthday is on the 19th. I accept letters full of best-birthday wishes.

Hasta Luego,

Hna Valentine

 

 

Spanish isn't terrible

Dearest Amigos,

Spanish isn't terrible. I haven't been discouraged yet, and my companions and I have made the goal to never cry out of frustration. So far, so good. I think that can be everyone's goal.

I definitely thought I prayed quite a bit before I came out here, but now I pray way more. It's more than just having prayer in my heart always; we seriously pray before we do anything. I probably love it. 

This week I almost died. I'll just share the short version with you: I have been having nose bleeds like crazy here in Provo, and yesterday I was super sick. The MTC clinic doctor connected the two, and today my companions and I went on a field trip to an ear, nose, and throat doctor in town! Fun fun! The blood vessel in my left nostril that is causing all the trouble was cauterized, AND the clinic gave us a humidifier for our room. This week has been an adventure.

Last minute. That's when we know who is speaking in Sacrament meeting. It's announced right after the Sacrament. We are all expected to have a talk prepared (3-7 minutes long) on the topic of the week in Spanish or Spanglish. So, I was chosen to speak this past Sunday on obedience, doing the will of the Father. I definitely used Spanglish, but I read all of my scripture references in Spanish. I was thinking about how Alma testifies that all things denote there is a God by their movements and motions etc (Alma 30:44). I thought, why or how? In Helaman 12, the obedience of the earth is described. For example, if God commands a mountain to move, it will. I wondered (and still do) are we obedient to the point that our actions and movements denote there is a God? 

Have a short version. Time to go do things!

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Valentine