Hello Fam,

It was great to be able to talk and see you all on Mother´s Day. I love you all so much! You´re the greatest :) Basically I know what you all are up too, and it sounds like things are going well. Getting Skyler moved to a new place, and maybe getting me hooked up with the Deweys (that stinks about the Walkers though, big bummer). That would be chill to room with Skyler, hopefully I wouldn´t drive him crazy :) That makes me so happy that Grandma Carol is preparing to go to the temple! That is AWESOME!!!!! I hope that she´ll be able to be in my sealing, I hope all my family can! Don´t know when that will be, but it will be the icing on the top of the cake of happiness if they could all be there. Sounds like everybody is pretty busy. Going to movies, on dates, and to birthday parties. Very nice. So to answer your questions about how long I´ll be here. I just started training my replacement, so I´ll be in the office for another 3 weeks or so and then I will be heading out. I´m not sure where I´ll be heading, but I won´t be here in the office anymore. There are for sure some things I´ll miss about the office, really just the people in and around it, but I am SO excited to get back into the work in the field. It will be a great change. Things have changed here in the office though. We got assigned a new area. It is a small town right next to Fuen called Benalmádena. We will be working there and working with the English Branch also. We are excited for the change mostly because it gives us a concrete place to go when we aren´t sure where to go. It will be great. Things have calmed down enough here in the office so the missionaries should be able to get out at about 6 or 7 every day and work for the rest of the night. That will be a great blessing.
So this week we have been visiting with a lot of member and talking about, you guessed it, missionary work. One of the things that we have focused on is getting names of less actives, part member families, and really anyone they know that lives in our area. As we have done so, the Lord has, once again, brought something to my attention that I thought I had already understood. Through small and simple things are great things brought to pass. What does that mean? I always thought, yeah just going things like reading scriptures and stuff like that can change your life. And I don´t want to downplay that, because it is VERY true, but really there is so much more than just that. Before the mission I always thought that if I could teach with just the right amount of doctrine and testimony and personal experiences and commitments and all that stuff that people would just be lining up to take a dip in the font. But that´s not always the case. I have felt the Spirit testify so strongly to people and seen how they, almost physically, reacted to that, but still would not commit to do anything. Wait, didn´t we do what we are supposed to? Isn´t God supposed to change their hearts and draw them to the waters of baptism? That´s what we tend to think, but it´s just not always that way. You know what usually happens. A member mentions the church to a friend. That´s how it starts. Hey, what are you reading? Oh it´s a book called the Book of Mormon? What´s that? Well, its a book kinda like the bible....That friend comes to church. Listens to the lessons and gets baptized. And it all came from one example. One small and simple thing. One of the most amazingly spiritual experiences I have had happened just a few weeks ago. A member from the UK who has lived here in Spain for the last 10 or 11 years, who was quite active earlier on in life, but very less active in her time here in Spain, has come back to full fellowship in the church. She quit smoking and drinking alcohol, tea, and coffee all cold turkey. (I told you about this while we were talking on Skype) It was an absolute miracle. We had been teaching her and trying all sorts of things to get her to quit, the past missionary had done the same, and the members of the branch were constantly trying to help. But nothing seemed to work. After all we could think of and all we could do, the thing that she attribute the difference to was minuscule, in a sense. I had listened to a talk by Brad Wilcox, the father of a sister in our mission that I became good friends with in our time in Badajoz, thought it was great, and thought of Debbie when I heard it. I thought it would be something she needed and would like to hear. So I printed it off with the intention of giving it to her. After about a week of forgetting it in the office or forgetting to give it to her when I saw her, it finally reached it´s intended destination. And that is what she said changed her whole attitude and viewpoint on life. That is what caused the change in her heart. Let me get things straight, I take absolutely no credit for giving her the talk, it was all the Lord. Really I just feel bad that I´m such an imperfect servant and it took me so long to give it to her. But small and simple? Definitely. Something great brought to pass? One of the most amazing and beautiful miracles of my mission. So when we think about missionary work in our homes or even just trying to perfect ourselves and teach those around us. Remember, the Lord works through the small and simple things that we do, and he makes them great. I love you all, I hope you have a fantastic week and I will talk to you next Saturday!
Con amor,
Elder Charlie Flint