family and friends, wassssssup. it's your boy DV! so I'm gonna do this email different today and you can let me know if you like it more than the other typical emails or if you'd prefer those, so hit me up with your opinion! 
Straight outta Preston
well the week with elder claboux was a blast, and last Tuesday we got our new companions. It was so sick to see elder Miner again, I say it every time I see him, but honestly he's the best. so my new companion, straight outta the preston mtc, is...elder Kinard! he's 18, from fishers, Indiana! he is such a focused missionary and is a straight up stud! the next two transfers should be a blast!
The Beauty of Progress
this past week has been so cool to see those that we are teaching progress in their knowledge of the gospel. it's so cool when you see an investigator feel the spirit and really act on it. sooo PxxJxx and Syynya! we met with them twice in the past week and both times were super fun, it's been incredible to see the changes in them. Syyyonya's sister, Jyyyessie, who came to church last week, told us in the last week that she had been reading the Book of Mormon with her son every night since church, and said she was so excited to join the church in Cardiff, honestly I was so hyped to see how much her heart had been softened and how she was feeling the blessings of the gospel! I think in the upcoming week we are gonna work on the Book of Mormon with PxxJxx and Syyyonya! It's so key to read the Book of Mormon daily! We went over the baptismal interview with them and they are so ready and prepared. We also went to visit a former investigator named Kyyyelly, when we got to her house she answered and we could tell she was about to not let us in, but she ending up did. For an hour we had a heart to heart lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation and how she would be able to see her mom again, who passed away last year, it was amazing to literally watch her heart be softened.
The Golden Grind
this past week we also did a ton of knocking doors, like a ton. the first night with elder kinard was pretty sweet cuz we were able to teach a few lessons at people's doors. but two cool experiences: so we had to stop by the church for something mid-week, and I felt like we should take a different way just to try it out, well we talked to a few people and then we ran into a guy that use to meet with the sister missionaries and he was super down to meet again so we are seeing him again this week! next experience: we were walking to church yesterday and we weren't talking to people on the trail on the way down cuz we were running late, but as we walked past one guy I felt prompted to talk to him, so I went with it and stopped him and he was super interested in how the gospel can help him, he's had a hard life and moved here last week actually, he's in his twenties and was a miracle, no other words to describe it.
Money Members and Gluten-Free Prison
this ward has been so amazing, especially at feeding us. This week we had dinner at the Fells, the Robertsons, PxxJxx and Syyonya's, the other Robertsons, and the Pughs. We also stopped by the O Grady's at one point, they are all incredible, I truly couldn't make it without them. I had to go gluten free the whole week, wasn't the worst, thankful to my incredible dad for ordering me some gluten free food this week, he's the BEST and I mean that. interesting for sure, I don't know how jake does it haha. I've felt pretty sick the last 48 hours so I don't think it's gluten but it could be still, I'll be going gluten free until the appointment. but the good news is I'm going to the doctors this week FINALLY, never been so excited to go to the doctors. please don't worry, I'm fine, I'll live, just nausea, and it'll be gone soon!!! side note: I now have a sore throat so that's a plus haha
Random
just some random funny things that happened, honestly most of the funny things that happen out here are probably just funny to me cuz missionary life. Elder Campbell and I were knocking doors together for district finding and we were getting a lot of doors shut in our face halfway through our intro, and we just kept talking and acting out the conversation with the shut door, kinda a smart alec move, but it was hilarious. Also we knocked this Jewish guy's door and he just said to us "I respect what you're doing, but if I talk to you, my family would kill me", did some weird laugh, and shut the door. I was like "what the frizzle flip?". Nah I didn't say that, I heard one of the youth in the ward say that though, I hope that phrase isn't a trend haha
As always I'll close with a spiritual thought: sorry this is gonna be kind of long, and I might have said this before. Elder Holland gave a talk on the Book of Mormon in 2009 called Safety for the Soul, if you haven't read it, read it. In it he says "For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history--perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died--from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so'". I testify that this is true. The Book of Mormon is true. There is no way that a young man just made it all up, there is no way, not a chance, that he could have just made up a book like it that brings peace and comfort to the soul. And if anyone is foolish enough to deny the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon without HONESTLY reading it and praying about it, then they have been deceived. And those who read the Book of Mormon daily, in the last days, their hearts and testimonies will not fail them.
dang this is still super long but it's in a better format I think. last thing is a big birthday shoutout to my sister McKell! Happy 17th birthday! You're awesome!
Rwyf wrth fy modd i chi guys! wedi gwych yr wythnos ac yn aros hardd!
Elder Varner
ps. that's Welsh btw
pictures of elder kinard, elder miner, and more, also the talk Why 1820?
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