Hello famillia mia!
This week has been a good one. Through all the ups and downs of emotions that I am feeling too (and they are definitely there, so I´m with you all in that), a lot of people have helped me out this week. One of the Hermanas (hna. Wilcox) helped me out a lot in remembering our purpose as missionaries and trusting in the Lord. President Deere reached out in love to help us as much as he can (if we ever decide to have a special fast or prayer, he wants to join us). And Elder Castillo, a senior missionary, also extended a loving hand and let me know that I could call him whenever I need too. And then we also have those that are always there for me. Loving words from all of you and Amaya that help me realize that I´m not even close to being alone, and of course the comforting feelings from my Father in Heaven that keep me going. At times I feel like I´m in a boxing ring with Satan and he keeps punching me over and over and over again in the face, until I can´t take it and fall to the ground. At that moment the Lord picks me up, brushes me off, and sends me back in to get my butt kicked again :) But I know that I can take the punches, because the Lord is on my side and one day, it will end. So just keep it up fam! I love you all so much and I´m praying for you all with all my might.
So you wanna here a bit about our investigators. Right now we really only have one good progressing investigator, but even he has many problems. His name is Mané (pronounced man-a...pues sorta) He has changed so many things, but he just isn´t quite ready yet. He has a baptismal date for this saturday, but with his struggles we can´t let it go through. His biggest problem is that he smokes. He has been quiting, but he is still smoking with an electronic cigarette. And smoking is smoking, whether it be with a cigarette or an electronic one. So today we are going to go to his house and explain to his true repentence. True repentence involves a few steps, the first it to recognize the sin, the second is to stop doing it, that´s where Mané stops with the smoking thing. He hasn´t stopped. He says he wants to stop the day of the interview, but we don´t feel like that is enough time. Or better said the Lord does not feel like that is enough time. I have been searching very diligently for revelation the last few days. I asked for a priesthood blessing and have been fasting to know how to teach Mané and what to teach. This is what the Lord told me to do, teach about repentence, and help him understand that he can be baptized, he just needs to show the Lord his willingness to follow him completely. It´s a tough call. I mean I´m probably going to be leaving this week (nothing positive yet) and I´ll personally miss the baptism. Also we may not have it in this month and the zone leaders are always wanting more from us. But I cannot let someone make a covenant unworthily. That guilt would weigh me down my entire life, especially if he returned to smoking. So hopefully the Lord will give us strength and the words to say.
Other than that things are pretty normal here. The play is coming right along and we are going to be putting it on this Saturday! I´m a little nervous, but it will all be good. You´re going to have to make sure to get a video of Peter Pan for me, I want to see how it goes. Great story with Mom VS Mrs. Dunn. Mom probably does trump drama teacher, but normally Mom isn´t going to destroy said person for not going to a rehearsal ;) Much more danger from Mrs. Dunn. Just kidding....pues sorta. Skyler, you´ll have to send me some pics of your new apartment, pretty crazy stuff! Say hello to grandma for me and everyone else, including Hna. Brimhall if you see her :) I love you all and am super excited to see you on Christmas!
Love,
Elder Flint

PS Logan, they don´t celebrate Thanksgiving here :( Entonces no turkey for me. But such is life. Love you all!

hola

Hola familia mia,
Quiero empezar un poquito en español para mi papi. Primero, para que sepas, te amo mucho y estoy muy agradecido que estas alli para mi. Segundo, lo que dijiste del discurso del Elder Holland, pensé lo mismo. Cuando lo escuché sentí el Espíritu testificar de la veracidad de sus palabras y la aplicación a nuestro situación. Y tercero, sé que estas pasando por tiempos difíciles. Para mi también son difíciles. Pero quiero que sepas que sé que el Señor esta en nuestro lado. Él sabe lo que necesitamos mas que nosotros. El otro día oré mucho para que serías bien. Al final no tenía una respuesta de si o no, pero mas un sentimiento de que estamos en sus manos y que tenemos que confiar. Entonces vamos a luchar. Vamos a darlo nuestro todo. Vosotros allí en casa tenéis que orar ardientemente y leer las escrituras cada día. Vivir el evangelio como nunca jamas habéis vivido antes. Ahora es el tiempo para luchar en contra de este enfermedad con todo lo que tenemos, tanto espiritualmente como físicamente. Ahora voy a traducir un poquito. I said that I know that times are tough. For me they are tough too. This is a rough situation that I wouldn´t wish upon any other person. But what can we do? Well first we can trust the Lord. Completely and fully. We can submit to his will whatever it may be. He knows what´s best for us much better than we do and as scared as we are, as scared as I am (and I am very scared) I know that they Lord will help us through it all. Second, we can fight. We will fight this sickness from all angles. First off physically. Like you are already doing we will go through all the steps we can. All the options we have from the doctors. Secondly we will fight spiritually. This is the time to live the gospel more than we have ever lived it before in our lives. It is time to pray with all our strength, read the scriptures every day and apply what we learn, and help all those we come in contact with feel the love of our Heavenly Father. I want you all to commit to me to do that. I am going to give my all 110% out here in the field so that we can recieve the help we need (keep in mind that the help we need is not necesarily a cure. What we are fighting for is the way to move forward, be that what it may). So I want you all to take this very seriously. Please let me know how things are going with the goal. I´ll be letting you know how things are going here. I promise you all that if we do this, we will be able to make it through this trial with all the help we need from our Father in Heaven. He truly loves us, and I truly love every single on of you. I miss you all so much, and am super excited to talk to you here in a month. I testify that Jesus is the Christ, that miracles have not ceased. I see them daily, and I know that they happen not when we want them, but when the Lord sees fit. Keep that in mind throughout this whole journey, we are on the Lord´s time and will, but it IS best for us. Also remember the promise we do have. The Lord promised our family in his holy house that we would be together for time and all eternity. And we will be, as long as we live worthily of that convenant. So live worthy, pray often, STUDY the scriptures, and join with me in giving your all to the Lord. He will protect us and guide us through whatever trial we may face.
So my week has been okay. We had a slow one and got a lot of flack from our zone leaders for it, but we are trying. We really are. Sometimes that darn agency thing just gets in the way :) But it´s all good. You want to hear a funny story? So yesterday we went to eat in the house of a member. We had an awesome barbeque and everything was good. But afterwards we went to the chapel so I could get numbers from the rest of the district and my comp realized that he had lost the keys. So we called the family that fed us and they couldn´t find them. But we had an activity we had to do, so we decided that the Lord would provide the way as long as we kept looking. So Elder Pomazón looked through the capilla and we had our activity. We had another appointment scheduled for 7:30 so we had to run to that and just kept going, hoping that the Lord will help us out. After the cita we went to go fix a few things in a members house and that´s when it really hit me that we didn´t know where we were going to sleep. So we came up with a few ideas and called President Deere. He didn´t pick up for a while and we were flippin out. The owner of our piso (whom we had called before) wasn´t answering either and me and Elder Pomazón were just planning on sleepin on the sofas in the church. Eventually we got things figured out, but in the process my suit coat got burnt on a stove :( So it was a super crazy day. We didn´t actually find the keys until this morning, but the owner called us back super late and gave us some spares. But that´s my crazy story for the week. It was kinda funny, but not so much during it :) The worst part is my suit coat. Luckily I have two, but I need to get my other one cleaned because it´s kinda dirty. But I suppose we are just living like the missionaries of old. D&C 84:81 "Therefore, take ye no athought for the morrow, for what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed." :) Well I love you all so much and am praying for you all everyday. Sorry to hear about Floribertos, how super lame! But I suppose 6 o clock breakfast burrito runs are pretty good too. Looks like Halloween was pretty awesome. Loved the costumes of Sophie and Micah. And you have snow!?! Lucky ducks. Here it doesn´t snow, but such is life. I can´t believe that Leah´s getting baptized!!!!! That´s so awesome!  Send me pictures, okay? And send them my congratulations and love. And Skyler and Logan seemed to have had the same week :) But it sounded like a good one. Enjoy thanksgiving, I´m going to see if I can´t get my hands on some turkey :) Love you all a ton and have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Flint

Happy Birthday Micah

First off HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHDDDDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY MMMMMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like you had kinda a stinky one, because you were sick, but I´m glad you got lots of candy. I didn´t :/ But that´s mostly becuase here they don´t really celebrate Halloween. I can´t believe it´s snowed already! Here it doesn´t snow, it rains. So unless I get moved before Christmas to Granada, I´m in for a brown Christmas instead of a white one. But it´s all good. I just like Christmas! Speaking of, I would love another money card. You can make it for whatever price. The big thing I want to buy is a Spanish suit. I´m going to be buying it cheap, so it should be from 40€ to 70€. But that´s all. Not sure what else I want, I´m pretty content :) Maybe some good socks, mine are kinda wholly :/ Or some nice kahki or light gray slacks (they are now allowed, see dress and grooming standards in lds.org :) ). But really I can´t think of anything else that I want or need. Just be creative :) Some nice piano music is also always appreciated.
So this week went well. It was a very average week and I´m okay with that. Sometimes I feel like we do the same thing every day (maybe it´s because we do) but you always have a new experience. This week I´ve really just been able to feel a lot of ups and downs and very stressed out. But I´ve learned a lot of patience, or better said, I´m learning a lot of patience. It´s seems that at times the Lord likes to hold things back to throw everything at us at once. That´s kinda how I´m feeling right now. But I know that the Lord has a plan for me, for all of us really. And I know without a doubt, that he loves us, and that no matter what happens, it will be for our benefit. The Lord doesn´t want to see us suffer, but even more than him not wanting to see us suffer he wants to see us grow. And he knows, just as well as we do, that growing doesn´t come from sitting in still waters. We have to have some movement to get us where we need to go. Sometimes there are rapids, but what we have to remember is that no matter what the Lords not going to let us drown. We might tip and fall out but, like one of my favorite quotes says, our lifeguard walks on water, he´ll save us, as long as we take his hand. I love you all so much. You have helped me so much. Through your examples and all you do. Have a wonderful week and keep me updated with everything. Stay strong!
Elder Flint