Monday, February 10, 2014

Fun fun fuuuuuuuun!

Okay this week.

Guess who was at the gym lifting weights the day before transfer meetings?
NOT ME AND ELDER JOHNSON!

"I was ruuuuuunniiiiin!" -Forrest Gump
yeah we went on a little few mile adventure around the foresty area.
So my new companion... Elder Beck. The first official chinese called missionary to this mission (I was the second ;) )

Holy mackerel, we are having fun.

SO we had a little hair adventure the next morning... I was cutting my hair... looked fine... then I wanted to try something I see barbers do.. WHUMP.

Bald spot.

I had to pull out the super short ones and cut my hair.

I am now known as Sergeant Valentine. I tried to do the back myself, but Elder Beck just started dying so I knew something was up hahaha. He took pictures then did the back for me..

Anyway, this is pretty much the most fun transfer ever. We are both loud, crazy, and outgoing.

Oh yeah, he makes me clean now. So I clean. Thought you all might like to hear that.

We ran into a couple of deer.... Haha. Literally. Ill send you all the stuff...
So there is a movie in theaters right now-- it is called the Saratov Approach. It is about the missionaries who were kidnapped in russia.

Guess who got to watch it at transfer meetings (which got turned into a mission conference)?

WE DID. It was a total surprise! The movie was AWESOME. I recommend you all watch it!
Alright soo I learned something recently.

I learned that the mission pushes you. Okay, duh I bet you all knew that.

No, just wait a second here.
During the mission, you become reacquainted with your weaknesses.

Some of them are ones you were fully aware of before,
whereas others are ones you never knew.

I know my work ethic is terrible, and I know I am a terribly unclean person.
That wasn't knew.

I found out I am headstrong, proud, and am severely lacking humility (again, to some of you, this may be no surprise!).

I talked to my president recently, and those are things I am now working hard to correct. It is funny how this all works though. It is when you are striving hard to follow Christ, you continue to find more and more small things about yourself that you need to change.

It's a never ending process, I guess.
Anyway, the point I was making is that the mission really really changes a person. I don't know if any people who are contemplating on going on a mission will read this.
If you are one of those people, just know that the mission is hard. It is tough. It is humbling

BUT
It is all worth it and will change your life.

Alright everyone, I am off! I wish you all the best.

Love ya!

Elder Valentine
 

 

Better weather=happy missionary

Alright so I have a freakishly busy Pday ahead of me, meaning this email will not be as big as the usual one...

Highlights and opposite of highlights of the week:
Cai Xiansheng: Awesome guy, mid twenties. PRAYS NOW. Said he feels peaceful. Yeah, okay that might not sound like a huge win to some of you south, central american missionaries, but that is HUGE to us and I will TAKE IT.

LinLin: Frustrating :( Very frustrating. I think she might have a learning disability, because whenever we ask her basic questions we went over last time, or a few minutes earlier, she completely misses it :/ I guess I just need to be more patient. We did get a baptism date for her! That is a week from this saturday. We already covered all of the lessons. We mayneed to review everything again... Oi. Oh well.That's how it goes, I guess.

Our GPS decided to just NOT work one day. That was fun. Oh so fun. Not really. We are probably the most GPS reliant set of missionaries in the mission because we cover all the way from China to Korea (figuratively) in the mission.
So we busted out the ole' map and tried doing some good scouting stuff.

Long story short, I am glad you can't get your Eagle Scout revoked due to map-reading failure.
(We were out all night. hahahaha. It was really funny seeing Elder Johnson get flabbergasted and frustrated due to him being accustomed to the Utah grid system)

MMMM. AHHHH. What else? We visited an old Chinese man who was chillin in bed. I was yelling at him in bed because his caretaker said he was almost deaf. This is how it went. (I'll translate it into English for the sake of time.)
Me: Are you chinese?
Him: Mehehhhh
Me: Are you a chinese person?
Him: Blahhhhhh
Me: ARE YOU A CHINESE PERSON?
Him: MMRRRRRRRRRRRRREJOFEJ
(I felt like I was Dory trying to speak to the whale in finding nemo)
I then grab a peice of paper and write it out in chinese...
ME: ARE. YOU. CHI. NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE.
HIM: (In an extremely loud voice) YES.

We then gave him a book of mormon in chinese and headed out because he wanted to sleep haha...
It was fun!

Oh here is some big news. I made a bet with elder johnson.
I am saying he is leaving the area and I am staying, while he is betting the opposite.
The bet?
I have to run a 10k with him Wednesday morning if I lose "and not bellyache" while he has to "lift seriously" with me if he loses hahah.
I am going to win, juuust saying :)

We know he won't stay as my companion, that's for sure.
It's been six months now! Wow it is going to be so weird.
(transfers are thursday)
Well, I love you all, and I hope you all are doing well! See ya next week!
Love, Elder Valentine