Update from Charlie

                                                    Raúl, our little Romanian friend

                                                            The beatiful Valdepeñas!

                                Matching shirts! Super cute right ;)






Be on the look out for baptism pictures next week!
Hola mia familia!
Sounds like things are going awesome over there in the States and in Peru. I´m glad to here that everyone is safe, happy, and rocking all sorts of tests and things of the like. So we have even more animals now. Pretty sweet! I´m excited to see how many are still alive by the time I get back :) Una broma. So just for the record, all those that happen to read this email must know that I have the smartest mom in the universe! She´s so smart she´s messing up the curve at UVU after ? years of not being in school :) Good work momma! And thanks for doing a photo album, you´re the best! So to answer some questions, things are going great here. We have our first baptism this Friday and I´m super excited for that. We also have la Semana Santa coming up so that will be interesting. We´re hoping to make it more than just an interesting week by helping people not just think about Christ, but actually come unto Him. So excited! Valdepeñas is going to be the next SLC! :) Oh and really there aren´t many animals here. There are lots of stray cats everywhere. They do have deer and stuff out in the country, but they´re hard to find in the city. They also have Jabolin (boar) that they hunt with just dogs and a big knife. Pretty sweet. I´m excited to see you in about 1 and a half years too, Micah (do I really only have that much time left? Fetch, do you think they could give me a little more? I´ll write the Prophet about it ;) ) I´m so excited for Chandler to get out here, he´s going to be a fantastic missionary! And Cassidy too! And Sarah when she comes! And basically all my senior class that is coming out or is out already! I love being surrounded by missionaries. Here and with all my friends and family back home. It makes me feel like a part of a huge group of elite servants of the God of Israel (because that´s what we are). So I learned a great lesson in humility this week. Not that I was humbled (well I´m always being humbled, but this experience is a little different). We met a man in the street, and at first contact, he seemed like he could be "golden". He had a ton of knowledge and testimony about Jesus Christ and all the things that he said lined up with correct doctorine. So we went to his house last night with the intent to teach the first lesson and give him a Book of Mormon. Well things didn´t go quite as planned. The man had analized our folleto (pamphlet) and found out all the things "wrong" about it from the Bible. Oh no. So he started to bash us pretty good. Trying to catch us in our words and asking us ridiculous questions to test out our Biblical knowledge (such as,Q: How did God form Adam through dust? A: By blowing, not through his mouth, but through his nose. Claro, ¿si?) As he was doing this, I just prayed that he would be humble enough to listen to a sincere testimony, and then stopped him, told him that we didn´t know a whole lot about those specific things in the Bible, but what we do know is that the Book of Mormon is true and that it has helped us and our families. The Spirit tried to testify, but his heart was stone cold. The words of two vulnerable 19/20 year olds blew off of his hardened visige like (put an awesome simile here, I can´t think of one). Well he just didn´t listen, or even try to. Later he would not even accept a free copy of the Book of Mormon. I learned a lot from this. The man professed to do nothing but God´s will, to strive constantly to do, not what he wants, but what the Lord wants. But what he lacks, is humility. He was not humble enough to even test the Book of Mormon, to even try. If a man is truly humble, if he truly wants to do the Lord´s will, he will do all he can to find it. He will try every option until he is 100% positive that he has found the correct one. He invited us to read the Bible and pray about it. I accepted. I love the Bible, it is the word of God. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon. He refused. He loves the Bible, but his eyes are blinded by his pride, he would not accept the fact that the Lord wants to bless us even further. It was sad, but I learned a lot. I hope that I can be willing to truly do the Lord´s will always, and to not just say it. I was reminded of the Pharisees. Though they had the appearance of righteousness, in the end they were serving, not their Father, but the father of lies. They drew near with their lips, but their hearts were far from the Lord. Let us not be that way. Let us truly do the Lord´s will and truly be humble. I love you all un montón and hope everything is going great. Keep up the good work in school mom, and the rest of you, and keep up the good work in Peru dad. I´m so proud of you all and love you so much.
Con Amor,
Elder Charlie Flint

Hello family!
It´s great to here that things are going well! It´s so crazy that dad´s in Peru! I hope he´s having a good time. Sounds like you all had a fun trip to Richmond. Skyler you better learn to love some rice, that´s for sure. I´ve eaten a ton of rice here too, it´s not too bad :) For the thumb drive, whatever is easiest for you. I suppose the question would just be about memory, but with the portable DVD players we have here we can copy from CDs or DVDs to flash drives or SD cards with just the DVD player (they just took the flash drive technology and ran with it!). So whichever is easier for you. And don´t worry about getting it here soon or anything. I just wanted to let you know what I would like if you ever send a package. So this next week (the week before Easter) is la Semana Santa. The week of Santa Claus ;) Just kidding. The Holy Week. So there should be a lot of parades and stuff with Catholics dressed up in crazy costumes and carrying huge imagens of Christ being crucified and suffering and crying and stuff like that. Kinda depressing, but I suppose any form of adoración is good. It´s just going to be different to try to work with all that going on. Things have been going really well here. We have been working really hard and trying to get as much done as we can. I can just feel Valdepeñas bubbling beneath my feet, ready to burst with baptisms, but I suppose we´ll just have to wait a little longer. But things really are going well. I will be staying here for another transfer (6 weeks) so don´t worry about address changes or anything like that. Something kinda crazy is happening though. We will be getting one new Elder here. So this wednesday we shall be a trio. He´s older (in the mission) than Elder Butler and I, so that should help our Spanish out. It´s going to be great, we´re really excited. So this next week is Father´s day here is España (weird right, super early) So my next little bit will be directed to Dad. I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you. After having seen examples of Fathers here in Spain that don´t fulfil their responsibilities as Fathers, I have truly realized how blessed I am to have you. You have always been there to support me and I have always known that you love me. I know that we have fought and disagreed and times, but just know that I love you too. I hope that someday I can be a Father like you. That I can let my kids know how much I love them and how important the gospel is. I hope you know that I have a strong testimony of this work, of this gospel. And that testimony started as a seed. A seed that you and mom planted in my when I was young. Thank you for everything Dad. I´m so grateful to have you in my life, and I hope that you know that.
Well I love you all, sorry I don´t have any picutres this week, things have been pretty chill. Send my love to the whole fam when you see them again!
Con Amor,
Elder Charlie Flint

PS Carson had her baby!!! And Emily going to dar luz again!! Craziness! That´s so awesome! Send my love to them and the little ones :)

                                          Pulpa (Octopus). Delicious

                                          Honestly I love it. It´s really really good.

                                         Adventures on P-day

                                          Romanians!

                                 This guy is going to be my first baptism!!!! He´s awesome!


Hola hola hola!
So before I forget anything I have a few questions to answer and things to say. First off, yes, there is bacon here. It is like the one English word that is used regularly, bacon. Super great. Second, the regulations on email have been changed. We are now allowed to email friends, preisthood leaders, and recent converts as long as we are staying within the limits allowed in the white handbook which are not emailing people of the opposite gender within your mission boundaries without permission from your mission president. So I can basically email anyone now. Yipee! You´ll still be my focus, of course, but if anyone from the ward wants to talk to me by email, they can now do so. Third thing. So here in Spain, Apple is not a very popular marca. So it´s kinda hard for me to actually use my iPod. And something happened to my speakers and they are not working :,( So here is my idea. If you could find a cord that I had that allows you to hook up an ipod to practically anything, it looks like two head phone jacks connected by a cord, maybe you could send that my way. And another thing. With any music or cds you are finding right now, I believe the best way to send them here is to do so by using a PIN drive/flash drive. Here in Spain they use PIN drives in just about everything. So if you find music just put it on a flash drive in an MP3 format and send that to me instead of cds. I believe that should be more affordable for you all in shipping. And if you happen to find any music for the piano and male vocals I would not mind having that either. Especially if you could find anything an Spanish. Sacrament meeting appropriate. But yeah. So if I could have anything from you all right now it would be a photo album and a pin drive with EFY and Vocal Point type awesomeness and a cord for my iPod that could be in my room or the car. Just thought I would let you know, don´t feel obligated to do anything, but Easter is coming up and I wouldn´t mind Easter candy too ;) Just kidding, they have candy here too. And a whole week of Easter with people parading through the streets. That will be interesting. And we have my first baptism on the 30 of March! I´m so excited! Hopefully I´m still here in Valdepeñas, because this week is the last week of the transfer :/ But we shall see this next Saturday.
So how is everyone? Dad, getting excited and a little nervous for Peru? You´ll do fine, and the family will be just dandy in Richmond! I bet you all are excited for that! Good work on the basketball Jimmer, I mean, Logan :) And Shrek the Musical would be super fun. For crazy awesome Spanish foods, honestly nothing that special yet. I have eaten some great Colombian food though. I´m supposed to tell Dad that I had Bandeja Paisa and San Cocho and Papas Rellenos. I´m not exactly sure which is which, but they were all delicious!
So last week we had an awesome experience. We were having a fairly normal day. Not a ton of crazy awesome things happening, but still a good day. Then we went to a eating cita with some of our "miembros secos". They aren´t baptized because they can only be married in Colombia or Italy, but they are basically members. They come to church every week and are super active in the rama. So we´re eating with them and afterwards we ask if their son could come with us on a visit to a lady that lives sola. He said no. Bummer. But his dad, Milton, asked if he could come. And we said of course. Then he asked us something even more awesome. He asked if afterwards we could go visit some of his friends, because he wants them to get to know the church and the missionaries. After that Elijah came down with choirs of angels singing and they lifted us all up and took us to the citas :) Not really, but it was still super awesome! We ended up getting 4 new investigators that day, and 2 of them came to church the very next day. I´ve realized a lot in the last few days how important it is to work through the members with people that have connections with the members. That´s the way to do missionary work! When people can be strengthened by those around them and can see the changes that have been made within their lives, they are more willing to accept it and learn about it. I am determined that when I return I will help the missionaries in whatever way I possibly can to help them fulfil their purpose. Their is absolutely nothing better than a strong member that will put aside time for us and befriend those we bring to the capilla. It is an incredible help to us and allows us to fulfil our purpose more fully. I know this gospel is true. I know that it is literally the Church of Jesus Christ. He is at the head of it and he leads and directs us, I believe more literally than we actually realize. I am so grateful for his atoning sacrafice and the changes it makes within people. It is truly amazing. I´m so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord and to work here in this part of his vineyard. The work is hastening, but it is a work of miracles and wonders. I love you all so much. I´ve realized that even more from being away from you. I hope that things are all going well and will continue to go well within the following weeks and months. Love you all. Keep on keepin´ on.
Con Amor,
Elder Charlie Flint

PS Valdepeñas has the craziest weather ever. This last week it has rained almost every day and yesterday we had a crazy random hail storm. I was just standing by the road trying to figure out where we needed to go next and then I heard this rushing of wind and pattering that sounded like it was headed towards us. Then out of nowhere, like a wall, hail started pounding the sidewalk. Pretty big hail pieces too. It only lasted a few minutes, but it was insane! Well Love you all!

Well hola mi familia (ps. hola is how you say hi in Spain, Sophie)

It´s sounds like you have all had a super awesome, exciting week. Thanks for all the recipes and picutre, they are super fun! Lookin good in the boxers Ammon :) Good work on the invention Micah, that´s awesome! You´re super smart. And speaking of smart, good work on the universidad Mamma! I knew we got our smarts from someone! Oh, and I guess Dad´s pretty smart too ;) I hope you all do a showcase Ammon, they are super fun! I loved the showcase we did last year with the Ambassadors and the year before. It´s fun to be able to do a piece from any show that you want. Super awesome! And Logan and Skyler, good work with the basketball! I can´t believe you won the championship again, Skyler. Well I can, because you´re awesome at basketball, but that´s super guay tio! (Tio is used like dude here). And Skyview one the 4A championship!? Super great! And Jalen got on SportsCenter! Jolin! That´s so cool! You all are super amazing! And Dad! You´re going to Peru super soon! That´s so sweet! You have to send me a bunch of pictures! Wow, you all are awesome! And Sophie, good work on your recital, I´m sure you played beautifully. And thanks for all the recipes, that will be fantastic. And super thanks to Annie! You´re amazing cuz! And I hope you don´t have any tornados.

So Spain is super amazing. Some crazy stuff happened this week. The first thing is that...it SNOWED!!! Like hard. Like Utah. Only for one day, but still, it was insane. I had organized a family home evening with the rama to celebrate E. Butler´s birthday in secret and it snowed a ton, but a bunch of people still came. Our Rama is super amazing! They help so much. Even though they are a small group of people they are some of the strongest members I have ever seen in my life. They don´t know as many doctorinal points as maybe somebody from Utah, but they have testimonies like you wouldn´t believe! They are so strong and they love this gospel. They give there all to help us out and help the Lord. We spend a lot of time trying to rescue the menos activos here in Valdepeñas, so it has become kinda difficult for us to have work with the menos activos and finding and teaching investigators. We have a ton of work! But I love it. There is the chance that we could get more missionaries here in La Mancha and hopefully in Valdepeñas so we are praying hard for that and the Rama is too. Another set of missionaries would make our lives fantastic! But we are learing how to teach with more precision and more spirit. It´s a process, but when we can perfect our teaching, we can invite, more effectively, people to come unto Christ. I love missionary work. It is hard at times, but it is always, always worth it. And my Spanish is coming along! Well at least I think it is :) So we have a baptism coming up! The boy from Holland that I told you about, Martinus, has a baptismal date for the 30th of March! We are so excited! He is going to be an awesome member. He has next to nothing, when it comes to worldly possesions, but he has a testimony worth the whole world. He lives with his mother and step father, and the get all there water from a well in their yard. Their house is the size of maybe one of our rooms, but they get along and try their hardest. His mom has already read the whole Book of Mormon. She´s not sure about it still, but it´s a fantastic start! I´m so excited for that. I love missionary work! So amazing. We see miracles every day. I´m so excited for Skyler to get the chance to serve and see the miracles I´ve seen. It´s an amazing thing!
So life is good! I´m loving my mission. It´s an amazing opportunity. And Dad, don´t you worry, I don´t have enough time to focus on anything other than working :) And even if I did, I would still be thinking about how I can help the people here in Valdepeñas. The people here are great. We are friends with all the homeless and helpless people here in the city. We can´t give them money, but we can give them something infinitely better. Not many are willing to listen quite yet, but we are still friends with all of them. When we pass them sitting on the side of the road begging we always say hello and talk to them for a while. I love it. Last night we can across a guy that has become pretty famous or infamous here in Valdepeñas. He always says hello to us, calling us hermanos or amigos or stuff, but last night he was super duper duper duper drunk. We found him on our way home fallen over in the sidewalk saying me caigo, me caigo, me caigo over and over and over again. So we got him to sit up and tried to help him up, but he was way too drunk. So E. Butler gave him a picture of Jesus (which he kissed over and over again) And we let him be. Kinda a funny experience, but at the same time super sad. People here have destroyed their minds with alcohol and tabaco. Everyone smokes. Even the 15 year old girls. It´s insane. And we see the results of it with the older generation. They have like 4 teeth and can barely walk. It´s sad. They need the gospel! Sometimes we just want to shout it from the rooftops and tell them all to repent, but it doesn´t always work that way. So we go about one by one. And someday that will be the difference. Well love you all and I hope things are going really well! Have a good week, I´m praying for you all!

Con Amor,

Elder Flint

PS I bought octopus today. It´s super delicious! I love it :) It comes in cans like tuna. Yum! 

 

                                                 First tortilla de patata. ¡Éxito!

                                                Happy birthday Elder Butler!

Don Quixote!! These are everywhere. He supposedly visited every pueblo in La Mancha

                                                         Hypnotism. It works. :)

 

                          So...I have a secret. I´m not just a missionary. I´m Batmam. 

                                                                        SNOW!!!!