ALRIGHT! HERE WE GO!

So let us start with the fun stuff shall we?

I LEAVE IN ... A NUMBER OF DAYS THAT IS BELOW TEN! (Too lazy to do the math... I leave on the 9th at 2:30 AM. Party over here woo woo party over there woo woo!)

After the 8th, if ya wanna contact me, shoot me a letter at:

Elder Kelley Valentine

Washington DC South Mission

5242 Lyngate Ct

Burke, VA 22015

I would really really hate to miss any letters :( If you want to dear elder me, send them before the 8th! Otherwise, they will get stuck at the MTC :( You CAN dear elder me at the dc south mission, but that does cost money so... might as well write me a letter! They really do make my day! Thank you so much for sending me letters, dear elders, etc so on and so forth :) They truly are great!

OKAY! ANOTHER FUN THING!

Elder Johnson (my companion) accompanied Sister Astle (short sister in my district) for the big sister missionary relief society shabang soooo.... I got to go >:) The sisters have it good! They have like a full blown general conference status thing! Priesthood reminds me of single's ward elder's quorum.....

Ahaha. I got to sing As Sisters in Zion with a few hundred sisters.... Needless to say, Elder Johnson and I rocked that alto part (it was no sweat for him-- he has such a high voice he can sing soprano). I got some winks and thumbs up from the Senior sisters...

Go cougs.

Alright so we had a series of amazing devotionals this sunday/tuesday... I'd love to share with you my favorite parts!
....

Let us start with my most recent thing.... The Tuesday Devotional...

So this is the Provo temple president talking....

Back when he was a Bishop at BYU, there was a young man pacing back and forth in front of his desk for a very long time.... Finally....

"Are you Bishop Daines?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"I want you to excommunicate me."

What followed was what the President described as the most horrifying and obscene story filled with a life entangled in sin. He literally had to look up the terms in a dictionary and had to get help from his friend to figure out all of the terms the young man used. He told us if ever he had met a son of perdition, this was it.

Back in that time, in order for someone to be excommunicated (in a Provo ward or something, I don't exactly remember), they had to go through President Kimball or someone else. They were assigned President Kimball....

The then Bishop Daines took this young man to Kimball... The young man repeated his story to the President.

The President looked him in the eye and said: "I want you to answer three questions.

"Do you want to be forgiven?"

"... Yes."

"Do you want to have all the blessings promised to you?"

"More than anything."

"Do you want to be sealed and have a family for time and all eternity?"

At this point the young man broke down and nodded.

"I need you to do one thing. Get up in the morning and ask the Lord for all the strength in the world that one day. In the night, you thank him for that strength. The following morning, you get up and plead with him for the strength you need to get through that day."

"Oh one more thing... On your way out, look both ways before crossing the road. Stay alive."

I thought this was profound advice. Profound.

The President went on to explain what President Kimball meant in his last words to the young man....
Yes we can repent in the next life. This life, however, is the time to change our actual character. What we are now will carry over into the next life.

That young man could not afford to die at this point in time.

Neither can I.
Neither can you.

We need to keep pushing, keep breathing, and keep turning our hearts to the Lord. We can do it one day at a time. All we have to do is keep GOING.

I am out of time to email! I will write more next week!

Suzanne, Dad, Marianne, Scott, Grandma Blake, Aunt Lori, Sophie, Garrett: Thank you for the Dear Elders. They mean a ton to me. I really do appreciate them.

See you all next week! I am glad to hear you are all doing well!

Love you!

 

 

Sooo that right there... that is Nutella. NUTELLA. Maryann, in all her wit and wisdom, thought it would be funny to feed my dark obsession.... ARE YOU HAPPY NOW MARYANN!?

haha she sent me a big package this week :) I was seriously the happiest guy on the block. No joke (that shirt is from her as well-- she sent me a plethora of things... whole wheat bread, stickers, mustaches, Luis-- my new horse teddy bear--, markers, the new strangely Twilight-like mormon.org cards, so on and so forth) Moral of the story? You want to be a good girlfriend/wife/boyfriend/husband/ so on and so forth... emulate her! She knows what shes doin. I was skippin through the MTC and blue birds were whistling with me. 'Twas a good day indeed :)

 

 

These friends are dear to me :) My old roommate, Spencer Coakwell, and my old fhe buddy, Jessica Bagley.
I really hope those two date after the mission.
That would make some fun times for us indeed.