Here's Charlie's email from his 1st p-day!  Bummer about his visa!  Not too unexpected though--I think it happens a lot.  

Hola mi familia! Sorry I haven't been able to talk to you all that much, I'm very busy here at el CCM (MTC). So first off I want to suggest to you the wonders of DearElder.com. I don't know how it works exactly but it gets the emails or letters you send to me that day. That way I can read them throughout the week and know how to respond. I only have 30 minutes every week to use the email so every moment is precious. Well that's enough of that, you've used it so I'm sure you can figure it out. So the MTC is great. It's a lot of hard work and a lot of Spanish, but it's all worth it. Everything with the language has been going very well and my testimony is growing every day. We had the opprotunity to teach an investigator (not a real one, just a teacher posing as an investigator they had on their mission) the Friday after we arrived...completely in Spanish. A little bit terrifying if I may say so. His name is Cristian and we actually just taught our last lesson with him yesterday. It was really really hard trying to say all I felt in my heart and all that the Holy Ghost was trying to dictate in Spanish, but we figured it out. Our first lesson with him was a mess. He was falling asleep and while I was reciting the first vision in Spanish (which I had memorized, thank you, thank you) he started doing what I like to call the sacrament meeting headbob, which consists of the slow decsenct of the chin followed by the springing up of the entire head. As I was reciting and he was headbobbing my companion, Elder Graham who is awesome, looked up and saw the headbobbing and started laughing so hard that is caused Cristian to break character and start laughing too. Pretty great. But I guess we must have done something right because yesterday we were able to get a baptisimal committment from him. Seeing as it was our last lesson with him I've decided just to pretend that he went on to be baptized and was a branch president within the next year :)

 

So a little more about the MTC. The schedule consists basically of waking up, eating breakfast, studying, going to class, eating lucnh, more studying and class, more studying, dinner, more class or teaching, more studying, planning, and sleeping. It's quite exhausting, but super awesome. At first my companion was Elder Graham. He's from Atlanta, Georgia and is going to Raleigh, NC. He is incredible. We get along very well and are very much alike. Now Elder Graham is still my companion but just a few days ago we got a surprise and recieved another companion. His name is Elder Rutledge. He's from LA  and comes from a family that is completely non-LDS. His mom is Catholic and his dad is a Jew. He's has an incredible testimony and spirit about and is extremely good at Spanish. Well that's basically it about the MTC. It's hard but it's worth it. Oh and a little bit of bad news. My visa has not come through yet. I talked to the travel center and they said that the visas for Spain got caught up in LA and just barely got to Spain. So they think that I will recieve it by the end of November, beginning of December. So I'm stuck here until then, but that's okay because the Lord knows what He's doing and there is a reason for it. So these emails will consistently be a little on the short side because I only have 30 minutes but hopefully that's okay. Just know that I love every single one of you and think of you often. Happy birthday Micah! Oh and more news will be coming in letters so don't worry, you'll each have you're own little message from me. I just want you all to know that I know this gospel is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and that what I'm doing here at the MTC is what I'm supposed to be doing. The spirit here at the MTC is incredible. I wish every person in the church could have the opprotunity to come here and learn what I'm learning and have the experiences I'm having. I've been reading the Book of Mormon every day in all the spare time I have. We watched a video from a past MTC devo with Elder Bednar and he suggested getting a cheap paperback BofM and reading it completely through studying one subject. And then continuing to do this for the rest of your life. By the end, he says, you could have 400-500 copies of the BofM all with different subjects and markings. So I took his challenge. I want to do at least 5 a year. So, mom, if you wanted to pick up a few paperback BofM's that would be very nice of you :) This first one I'm trying to get to know the companion that I'll have with my at all times for the next two years even better. That companion, of course, is the Holy Ghost. I'm learning about his characteristics, his being, his responsibilities, and his authority and power. I've never looked forward to the time I could read the Book of Mormon before in my life. It is an amazing experience. Did you realize that Nephi talked to the being of the Holy Ghost face to face? (well face being a relative term because the Spirit doesn't have a physical face). It's been an incredible experience. I love this gospel so much and am so excited to bring it to the people of Spain. I cannot wait to get there. I love you all so much. I hope you are all doing well. Hope you had a good Halloween and aren't too sick from all the candy. Keep reading the Book of Mormon and doing the things you are supposed to be doing. Love you all, be safe, stay strong.

 

Con amor, Elder Flint