THE TIME IS AT HAND

Well, this Wednesday is it. The big shabang! AHHH! Wednesday at 2:30 I am officially off! Wappah!

Alright so this week was the SLOWEST WEEK OF MY LIIIIIFE. As soon as I got those travel plans, Old Father Time must have had a stroke or something. No kidding.

There will only be three people here on wednesday in my district... daaang.

Okay so unfortunately, today's email is going to be a little short due to packing and shtuff.... You know how it is!

I really, really hope you all got so much out of conference....

The talk that really stuck out to me was Elder Bednar's.

I know I know, I'm a missionary and I don't have to pay tithing.

The part that struck me about the talk was not about the tithing.... It was the part about answers to our prayers.

Sometimes, we will pray for outside help.... "Heavenly Father, provide me with someone or something who can help me with this problem..." or "Heavenly Father, please give me a solution to this problem." How many of you find yourselves saying prayers like these? I know I do it all the time.

Many times, instead of receiving a direct outside solution to the problem, our Father in Heaven will give us an 'inside' answer to the problem, such as granting us the ability to endure more or giving us the ability to work harder. . . it is often then, when we use those little gifts he gives us, that we are able to discover the solution to our problems. When we finally do, man oh man how sweet does it taste! How WELL do we know it. It becomes a part of the very fibers of our being!

I know, I know, it sounds a little lame, right? Why can't I have the answer now and skip the struggle?

Shoot, I experienced this frustration in the MTC ALL THE TIME.

I would ask my teachers "Hey, help me. I don't know how to connect these messages with my investigator.."

Instead of giving me the answer, they would say things such as "Well, what do you think?"

Or they would say "Hmm. Read your Preach My Gospel and pray about it."

My goodness I felt I was better off without a teacher sometimes! One of my teachers promised me there was an answer-- he was just not prepared to share it with me at that point in time...

I thought that was really interesting.

I was so frustrated. So blinking frustrated.

It literally took me weeks to find the answer to my problem. I finally did, after time. The answer is glued to my very being. It took so much effort and hard work on my part to finally figure out how to truly connect to my investigator that once I did I OWNED it.

Moral of the story?

The man upstairs knows what he is doing.

All we have to do is trust and push on. When we work for our solutions, through the added strength he gives us to push on, we will embody the solution. It will become a part of us. We will develop our faith too!

I know, "push on" is a little cliche.

I assure you, if we trust in the Lord, we will not be the boats borne ceaselessly back into time, as depicted in the Great Gatsby.

Let's be real here-- the Lord's boat is a cruise liner.

Let's get off our little row boats and get on the cruise liner.

You may have to swim through some choppy water to do so-- repentance (which really means CHANGE), gaining or improving our testimony, living the things we know to be true (aka EXERCISING FAITH)-- but man oh man how much more smooth do you think the ride of life will be once we get on the Lord's boat? We will still face choppy water-- big waves are always there in life.

The difference is if we are on the Lord's boat-- that massive cruiseliner-- no matter how big the tempest is we will not be turned over.

The little rowboat, on the other hand? You tell me.

Alright, I wish you all the very very best! Thank you for all the prayers! Fight on! Win the day!

Cheers!!

Elder Valentine