Easter

So I have no idea who the new Bishop is, but that´s cool, no biggie. And I still can´t believe AJ gets back this week! That blows my mind! I wasn´t sure if Cassidy got home before me. Sounds like just a few days, if it is the middle of October! That will be crazy. And no worries, I´m not trunky. I´m pretty resilient :) Mom, good luck on getting into the program, I know you can! And I was so happy that Dad got his article published that I actually shouted "yes!" when I read it. And then I told Elder Castillo and everyone and they were all pumped too. Let me know the results of the numbers, no matter what they are, okay? Thanks! So Ammon, you´re going to Prom this week! Nice. I forgot who the girl was already, because I don´t think I know her, but send me a picture! I mean it, this time. You guys failed miserably on your assignment by the way. SO like any good missionary I shall commit you to doing it once again. This week I want a picture from every member of the family. The picture should describe, in brief what it is that is your main focus, hobby, etc. right now. Basically just summarizing your current life in a picture. I expect to have them all turned in by next week. Thank you.
So kinda a fun thought this week about faith. I don´t have a lot of time to write today, so this might be a little shorter than normal, just to let you know. But this week I was talking to Hermana Castillo a little bit about lots of things really. She was a nurse in the emergency room and is the nurse of the mission, so we often talk about medical type things. One of the things she mentioned about the connections between people believing they are getting better and their actual recovery. Basically the Placebo effect. They give you a pill that does nothing and it ends up working because you believe that it is. My whole time learning about that I have always just thought of it as a mind over matter thing. That the mind can overcome the physical of the body, but Hermana Castillo kind of put a spin on that theory. She said, the placebo effect is basically just scientific proof that faith really works. And that is so true. What cures the people? Their faith that it will work. Whether that be faith in the medicine or the doctor or whatever, it is still a hope for something that they cannot see that is true. And how much more powerful could it all be (and the placebo effect is quite powerful) if that faith was focused in on Christ? That´s where miracles begin. And just like a person receiving a medicine, they can´t be 100% sure that they will be cured from the sickness, but they can be pretty sure that it will do it´s job. With Christ, we can´t be 100% sure that things will turn out smoothly, the way we expect, but we can be 100% sure that He will do his job with us. I love being able to testify of Christ and to tell people that I know he is mindful of us, because I have felt it. We can´t be positive that things will work out how we want them to, but we can be positive that our Savior is there by our side no matter what happens. I know he is there for all of you. I love you all so, so, so much. I miss you and pray for you. I´ll see you in a couple of week on Mother´s Day!
Con amor,
Elder Charlie Flint

Hello family!

Hello family!
Things are going well here. Not much new. I want on a huge hike today and I am super tired! We climbed to the top of a mountain called La Concha. I have pictures and will send some. But my camera was dying, so the good ones are on another camera. So I´m super jealous of you all going to the temple. Just to let you know. That is one of the things I miss the most (other than people). Have a good time there! And every time you go just remember how privileged you are to have a temple so close! And that you can actually go. So I need some detes from the life of my big college brotha. You´re in an apartment with a few roomates right? Who are they and what are they like? And are you dating any ladies? Detes brotha, detes. I can´t believe AJ gets back next week! That blows my mind. I kinda lost some contact with him for the last little while, I hope he´s doing good. Send me pics so I can see how it´s going. And I want some pics from Ammon´s choir tour. I just want to see what you all are doing in a series of photos. So that is your assignment this week. Each member of the family has to send me a photo that describes what they are doing right now. And I will follow up, I learned that from Elder Ballard (and a thousand other times form Preach My Gospel) So you better do it!
So I don´t have much time, but seeing that it is one of the best chances of the year to share testimony of the Savior, that´s what I want to do right now. You know, I thought I had a pretty strong testimony before the mission, and really I did. But my surety and more than anything my confidence and trust in the Savior and his eternal sacrifice have been strengthened tenfold. I know that He lived and that He lives. I know without a doubt that He actually suffered for every single one of us. I know that He walked this earth just like any one of us, but He lived a life that would save us all. I have felt His love and strength. I have felt His supporting hand and his goodness. I have given my all to Him and have felt everything that I need in return. I trust Him fully, I love Him with all I am, and I´m finally starting to understand what it is He wants us to do when we mess up. His sacrifice is infinite, and I am so grateful that for a sinner and a wretch like me, that He will give fully of His grace and love. It´s a love I´m still trying to understand. But I know that it is real, and I know that as we strive to do the same, to love others like he did, that we will be able to see ourselves and everyone else with His eyes. I testify of Him, and I do so in His name, the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Con amor,
Elder Charlie Flint

Hello familia

Hello familia,
Sounds like things are a little crazy. Those rebellious UVU students! I can´t believe that. Well I can, but that´s stupid. We justify so many things! But one of the things I´ve learned on my mission is that you can´t really lie to yourself. I mean you can, but what´s the point. So why lie to anybody? You know it´s not true, so why try to fake it. Unless it´s an awesome prank. Then you just avoid the exact truth until prank works out and then you tell them the whole truth :) Just kidding...kind of :) So General Conference was basically amazing. I loved it! Super spiritually uplifting, super awesome. I took like a thousand pages of notes and I haven´t even watched the last session yet! So we´re getting a new bishop huh? Wouldn´t it just be super awesomely ironic if Dad was called :) One more thing on the plate ;) But that´s pretty exciting. And if Dad does get called, we´ll just be grateful like Pres. Uchtdorf taught.
Micah´s rocking the school, Logan´s rockin the sports, and Ammon´s rocking it with the ladies. Good work boys, good work. And Skyler is just silent! I haven´t heard anything from him, hope school is going well. And the girls are silent also. But that´s cool. No biggie. Things are good here. I´m getting more and more ready to leave the office every day, but I know that my time here is a wonderful blessing. It´s great to be able to serve the other missionaries, I just want to be able to get out and preach the gospel. I´m pretty sure I´m going to fire out of the office like a cannon. It´ll be hard to get back into the swing of things (especially the walking, I think I´m going to die!) but I´ll have so much ganas that it won´t even matter! I´m pumped.
So a thought for the week. I hope you like hearing my thoughts, if not, too bad, because you´re my family and you´re stuck with me for eternity :) And if you are just a good friend tuning in, you´re not safe either. I heard a wonderful quote that said, "Friendships, like families, are eternal." Now, they´re not nearly as binding or full of promise, but you all are going to have to put up with me for a long time :) So I hope you enjoy it, if not, I apologize for my ramblings. This week with General Conference and everything I´ve been doing a lot of self reflection. I´ve been thinking about my faults and my strengths. What I do well and what I need to work on. There are lists for both of the sides, and I don´t necessarily want to bore you with either one of those lists, but I do want to talk about something that I´ve come to realize. I´ve spent so much of my life focusing on what I´m not. I´m not cool or popular. I´m not as talented as him or her. I´m not as smart as that guy. I´m not worthy, I´m not good enough. And when I look at other people, I see that they have the same struggle. We all think that everyone else is better than us. But we tend to compare our worst with everyone else´s best. And see things through a fun room mirror. But that´s not who we really are. We are not defined by our failures in the Lord´s eyes, nor should we define ourselves by them. We are defined by our potential and what we are becoming. It is good to understand that we are not perfect. Humility is key to progression. But sitting moping about what we are not, or how bad we messed up dams our progress. I loved President Uchtdorf´s talk I think last conference about getting back up after we fall. Elder Castillo often asks, "What´s your bounce-back time?" How long does it take you to get back up when you´ve fallen? That´s the proof of our desire to change and follow the Lord. So what´s our bounce-back time? A day, two days? And hour? Or are falling and getting back up almost one smooth motion? Can we move forward and do better? Of course we can! I love you all and hope you learned as much as I did from General Conference. Have a fantastic week!
Con amor,
Elder Charlie Flint




And PS my favorite talks probably were the one´s from Priesthood session. But I really learned a lot from every single one, so it´s hard to say.
Me and Elder Dansie found Sión (Zion). I didn´t know that it was a pub :)

Hey fam,
First off, HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you had a fantastic day, it sounds like you did. Ammon, props on the PROM invite, creative, clever, and well played. You are a gentleman and a scholar. Super jealous of the Cajun food consumed on Logan´s birthday, but I´ll get over it :) To answer Sophie´s questions, yes they celebrate Easter here. In fact they celebrate it for a whole week! It´s called the Semana Santa. They have lots of parties and have parades and everything. (Well not really parades, they are called processions and sometimes they whip themselves and stuff, so that´s kinda weird, maybe best if you don´t tell Sohpie that part :) ). And yes I have had lots of Spain candy. The most common are called chuches, they are gummy candies, kinda like the ones we have at home, but even better :) There are also other candies called Turron that comes in a lot of different types. Some are chocolate, others are like toffee, but they are all really good. They eat that around Christmas time. I sleep in an apartment right next to the office and the train station. I have gone to some good restaurants. There are really good all you can eat chinese restaurants called WOK, but one of my favorites was an authentic Spanish restaurant that a member took me to. I don´t remember what it was called but I ordered a berejena rellenada (stuffed eggplant) without knowing what it was. It was REALLY good. It was full of meat and melted cheese, so that always helps. They even have McDonalds and Burger King here. In fact here in Fuengirola there is even a KFC and a Subway (a couple of the very few here in Spain). But all food is good when you are a missionary. I have eaten lots and lots of things I didn´t like before and they all tasted great, because they were free :)
Things are going well here. I am very very VERY excited for General Conference. In fact I watched the first session before writing this email. It was great, even though our computer was slow :/ I´m excited for when I will get the chance to talk to you all about what we learned and what your insights are to the conference. Feel free to write about them to me :) I can´t believe AJ is on his way home. There is a sister here in Malaga that was good friends with both him and Carson. Her name is Haleigh Flake. She´s great! But she sends her hellos and love to John, Deb, Carson, Steve, and AJ (and the baby whose name has just not stuck in my head yet :/ Sorry!)
So this week I had a thought. I was ironing my shirt and reading from the institute manual for Doctrine and Covenants and read something about something, really I don´t remember. What I do remember is the thought I had directly afterwards. What I read must have had something to do with vision because I began to think about how the human eye works and all the scriptures that talk about eyes. The eye uses light to create perception. That light helps us understand what surrounds us. If our eyes are closed, we may be able to perceive a few things, but the majority of what is there will be unknown to us. The same principle holds with our spiritual eyes. When we close our eyes to the light and truth that the gospel brings, our perception of the things around us decreases. Why do we have such a hard time handling trials when we are not reading our scriptures, praying and doing those things that we need to? Because our eyes are closed and we are receiving less light. As we strive to open our spiritual eyes more, the light and truth of the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds and our hearts to those things that are around us. We understand better the world that we live in and the loving plan of our Heavenly Father. And as we all know, the source of all light is the Son (Didn´t he spell that wrong? No I did not). As we come towards Him, we see with his eyes, and His eyes see all. I love you and I hope you all have a wonderful week and a wonderful conference and you learn a lot!
Con amor,
Elder Charlie Flint