21 CLUB!!!

21 CLUB!!!

That's an inside joke with some of the missionaries. But it applies well to how much time I have left.

So in American Culture, a Barbecue is hamburgers, hot dogs, maybe some chicken and pork.

In Latin Culture, Barbecue means steak, ribs, maybe some chicken and pork.

I honestly would absolutely love either one. Obviously the first one's a little cheaper. But, do with that what you will.

Side Dishes for Barbecues?? The norm. Potato Salad, normal Salad, chips, Canada Dry (everyone here drinks Canada Dry).

It's good to hear everyone's keeping busy over there. This week has been super crazy packed:

Monday, we played lots of soccer. It was a lot of fun. We later had dinner with a sweet Colombian family whom we love.

Tuesday, we did service at Knight's Table. One of the volunteers there asked us why we were speaking Spanish (because Elder Babbel and I speak Spanish when we want to speak secretly) and we explained to him what we do, why we're out here, and about the church. He really wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon, so we brought him one in English and Urdu (because he's from Pakistan). He was super surprised we had one in Urdu, but he told us that his English is better than his Urdu, so he took the English one. It was super cool. Later on Tuesday we had a great dinner with an El Salvadorian family, and we helped with English Classes. A bunch of missionaries came over that night, because we had Zone Conference the next day...my last Zone Conference.

So to start off Zone Conference, a bunch of the missionaries got together early in the morning and played some Basketball, it was really fun. The Conference was really great; I got to play the piano, lead the missionaries in a few musical numbers, act in a skit that the APs put on, and give my dying testimony. It was pretty funny. During my testimony, I said that I can't lie and that I'm super pumped to go home. Everyone kind of chuckled and I was like "I mean, 28 days and counting." It was silent for a split second and then everyone started laughing pretty hard. I guess no one was expecting me to say that. Of a truth, I am really excited to go home, but I'm also very excited to finish the work here that I have to do. Later that day we had a great dinner with the Chatters, one of our favorite families.

Thursday we taught some people and did a lot of service at the Temple and at Knight's Table. It was one of our investigator's Birthdays that night, so I told her I'd make her a cake. The cake was quite awful, but I made it and it's the thought that counts right?? Well, we celebrated with her and then talked with her a lot about temples. She loves the church and will most likely get baptized. Just not while I'm here. :'(

Friday was a day of little remembrance.

Saturday we helped out with English Classes. Most of Saturday was spent doing MCCs. Which is Elder Babbel and I sitting in front of computers, calling missionaries, and punching in numbers for like 6 hours. It was great!! :|

Sunday, we had a Multi-Stake Spanish Conference. It was super cool. Hispanics from all across Ontario came. I got to see a lot of people there that I haven't seen in...two years! It was crazy. I played the organ for it, and accompanied the choir. There were a few little blips, but all turned out great. I was so exhausted during the meeting, that I fell asleep for the last speaker and when everyone said Amen, it woke me up and I instantly jumped on the Organ to play the last song. The Conductor looked at me and was like "Elder Flint, are you alright??" and I was like "Oh yeah! Let's do this song!" So we rocked it and all turned out great.

Later on Sunday, there was a Latin Festival going on in Downtown Brampton, so us, Bishop, a senior missionary couple, and a couple of members all went Downtown and passed out Fliers for our English Class. It was going well for about an hour, and then the Security there told us we weren't allowed to pass out fliers there. So we stopped. Elder Babbel and I stayed there and talked with some people about the Gospel. We met a bunch of sweet people that us and other missionaries will hopefully teach this week. It was super cool, so as we were walking to our car, we stopped and talked with this couple with a newborn and they were super nice and sweet. While we were talking with them, three young adults passed us by. The couple was already religious, so we gave them a couple of cards and started walking to our car again. The three adults that passed us were walking the same direction, in front of us, but super slow. They were basically lingering. So I asked them how they were doing and they all turned around and were like "We were hoping you would talk to us." At first we were super skeptical, thinking they were Jehovah's Witness and they just wanted to bash with us. But they ended up being just very spiritual and they said they loved to pray for people. They had seen us talking to people at the Latin Fest, so they followed us because they wanted to know what we did. They asked us a bunch of questions about our church and they were super willing to learn. One, maybe two, were Hispanic, so hopefully we'll be able to meet up with them this week. They were super awesome!!

This week, I've been reading about the Atonement, Trial, and Death of Jesus Christ in the book Jesus the Christ. It has amazed me how patient and humble Jesus was throughout all that. He had such patience and such charity for everyone. This last week, we had this guy try to bash with us really hard and let me tell you, it's SUPER hard to have patience and love for someone when they're yelling at you and telling you that you're wrong. So I'm just super amazed and inspired by how loving and patient Jesus was. I'm trying to be like Him each and every day. I hope you all have a great week and enjoy life. Chao!!

ONE MONTH LEFT!!! Time to get Sushi!!!

ONE MONTH LEFT!!! Time to get Sushi!!!

Don't worry Mom. I'll get Dad to sing with us. I'll guilt trip him into it somehow.

One possible idea for my Homecoming is a Barbecue. Just an idea. Barbecues are dericious. 

I'm down for Sandwiches though. Maybe have a little more variety than just Chicken Salad Sandwiches, because some people don't fancy them too much...like me. :)

You should also tell everyone that there's going to be a Cheesecake Competition, so everyone should bring their best Cheesecake. AND I'LL BE THE JUDGE!!!! YAHOO!!! CHEESECAKE!!!!

Sounds like things are kickin' over there. It all sounds super fun. The Virtual Reality place sounds intense. Just don't let it confuse you with the Actual Reality. 8|

So this week was pretty average. Not too many exciting things. But I'll try to pick the best thing from each day.

Monday, we had dinner with the Acosta family. They a big El Salvadorian family with five kids from like 9-17. They're always super fun and we had salmon and shrimp and 'twas delicious.

Tuesday, we met with Romeo and Carla. We were going to have a very Spiritual Lesson, but Romeo started voicing some deep questions and concerns about the temple (specifically Garments). We did well at explaining it, but it was funny because his wife started rebuking him and saying "Why is is such a big deal?? Almost every church has some sort of Religious Apparel!! Look at where we live!! Everyone wears a Turban or a Hijab!! I don't know why you're freaking out about it!!." It was pretty funny. We gave them the link to the church's video they made about Garments. So hopefully all went well.

Wednesday we had a super fun time doing service at the Food Bank at Knight's Table. There was a lot of new people there we met that day. So it was pretty great. The workers there LOVE us. One time, Elder Babbel jokingly said that he was ugly and they thought he was serious and were like "No Way!!" So now, one of the workers there always calls us "Hubba Hubbas!" It's pretty funny.

Thursday we helped one of our Investigators move to Mississauga. She was super grateful for the help and we were able to get the Mississauga Spanish Elders to help her move into her house down there. So everything worked out super well. And she invited us to a Barbecue in a few weeks. Success!!

Friday we had Missionary Coordination and our Ward Mission Leader was hungry, so he took us out to eat. We went to his place called Popeyes. I don't know if it's in the States, but it a Louisiana Based Fried Chicken Fast Food Restaurant, so it probably is. It's huge here in Ontario. 'Twas delicious. Later that night we had a Choir Practice for the Spanish Conference that is coming up. Then it rained super hard. It was awesome.

Saturday was a sweet day because we at first had no lesson planned and no dinner with any family, and then we had it all. We gave Daniel (I think I mentioned him last week) a Book of Mormon and read some with him and talked about it. He's SUPER willing to read and learn more. His parents are members, his daughter's a member, and his girlfriend is a dry member. The only reason she's not baptized is because he still needs to get divorced from his previous wife. The missionaries have never really taught or focused on him before, so we're going to do that and convert him, so him and his wife can get baptized. We're super pumped.

Later on Saturday, we were reminded that one of the Young Men in the Ward was having his Mission Farewell and they had invited us to the Barbecue. So we got to stop by there and we had a good time.

After that we met with Hillary and Victor (the Colombians that came to church last Sunday) and she was on fire with the Spirit. She loved church and was going off on everything that she had learned from us and from Victor and from the Joseph Smith Movie (which she had watched) and how the Piano Guys was one of her favorite bands for like five years and she didn't know they were Mormons until a week or so ago. It was super awesome. So we invited her to get baptized and she said she'll work towards it. Then we met with Kevin, who is another young Colombian that basically tried to tell us the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith. So that was fun. :| 

Sunday, everyone that said they were coming to church didn't come. So that was a bummer. But we got food during Elder's Quorum, because of Father's Day. And I accompanied the Primary for their Father's Day Song in Sacrament Meeting. It was super fun. The rest of Sunday was Lunch, Dinner, and stopping by Investigators.

Also, Elder Babbel and I made a board of all of the missionaries in our Zone and what house they are in. I'll send  you the pictures. The "M" on their forwards stands for Muggle. And the Head Boy and Head Girl of each house are farthest to the left. We got pretty into it yesterday. The things you do as Zone Leaders. 

It's funny how when people try to convince you of how the Book of Mormon or how our church isn't true, it only strengthens my testimony of those things. And of God. So with Kevin, he basically pulled out a bunch of scriptures that Nephi wrote and said "These are all exact quotes from the New Testament, which happened way after Nephi's time, so someone had to have the New Testament when they wrote this book. We basically told him that that's true; either the Book of Mormon was written Joseph Smith who had the New Testament, or it was translated by the power of God. One or the other. Elder Babbel shared with Kevin his testimony and how awesome it is that God is a True God and He is One God and how awesome it is that what he revealed to Prophets in the Bible, he also revealed to prophets in the Book of Mormon. We told him to pray about the Book of Mormon and ask God if it really is from him. Hopefully he does.

Well, I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you in a month. Enjoy the Pictures!!

Time is a Ticking

Time is a Ticking

We haven't done any pranks lately, I believe. Just had a lot of fun. We took some really funny pictures last night. I'll send them. Yeah, it's crazy how little time I have.

Sounds like things are kickin' over there. I've never heard of that method before (the Jon Schmidt method). It sounds sweet. It'll be interesting to see how it changes things.

Congrats Sophie, on passing your test. And good work, Micah, with your Lacrosse Team. I'm glad you had fun on Brandon's Birthday and your Anniversary. Those are some sweet plans too. I'm going to try my hardest to attend the temple regularly when I get back. It shouldn't be too hard. I'll have two within walking distance. I'm excited for everything!! And yeah, I think it's a great idea if I can get with a School Counselor ASAP, when I get back.

Glorious in Spanish would be sweet too. I'll send you the lyrics. The accompaniment I have is good, but super confusing. If you could find one (it's the same in English), it'd probably be better. Especially if you can find one where you sing parts. That would be SUPER sweet. Because mine's just a solo.

This week has been a pretty crazy one.

Monday, we played some sports.

Tuesday was transfers. The Brampton Zone Leaders are in charge of supervising transfers. So we we're pretty busy all day. I got to see lots of my friends in the mission and said goodbye to a lot of them. :( I also said goodbye to Abigail. It's weird to think that that was probably the last time I'll see her in the mission. The next time I'll see her will be in Utah...in 5 weeks!! Craziness. The rest of the day was good. We had a choir practice for a number I accompanied last Sunday. And yeah.

Wednesday we had District Meeting. 'Twas good. Then we did some service, ate some dinner, and taught some people. Pretty exciting stuff, eh?

Thursday we had a big Leadership Meeting, for the majority of the day. It was a lot of fun and very spiritual. It was also very hot. I was exhausted the rest of the day and almost fell asleep at our dinner appointment with a member couple. Luckily the Spirit prevailed.

Friday, another District Meeting. It was a lot of fun. We then had dinner with a sweet member family and then we taught some lessons. You can tell my life is very exciting right now by how detailed my days are. :)

Saturday, we had a bunch of Meetings, then we did service for one of our part-member families. The father then invited us back over for a Barbecue that night, which was SUPER good. He's a professional chef, so obviously 'twas delicious. It was a really good time and it was so spiritual at the end. After the prayer, he was crying and he told us that something's going to change in the families' life, because we're there. Something good.

Sunday we had a great Sabbath Day. I played the Organ and accompanied a musical number (actually, that Spanish Quartet) and it went Super well. One of our investigators who we haven't met with in a while came, with her less-active boyfriend and they Loved it. Hopefully they'll start coming out regularly and we can baptize her. They're both Colombian. :)
Later on Sunday we had an awesome dinner and a sweet Family Home Evening with Romeo and Carla, at our Bishop's House. It was super sweet and the message at the end was super spiritual. We talked about Eternal Families and Bishop and his wife and his Mom all testified on Eternal Families. Very spiritual. They're so getting baptized. So all in all, it was a pretty good week. SUPER HOT!! I've been very tired lately because of how hot it is. I'm not going to miss the humid heat here in Canada, that's for sure.

One thing we talked about in the Leadership Meeting last Thursday was Building Our Foundation. Sister Shields (President's Wife) gave us a few minutes to find scriptures on building our foundations. We had started out the meeting singing "How Firm A Foundation," so I flipped to that Hymn and checked out the Scripture References. Isaiah 41:10 reads "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." That scripture hit me really hard. Not only is it SO true. It's just so cool how the Hymn book connects with the Scriptures. I've sang that line like a hundred times. But I never knew that it was from a verse in Isaiah. I've been studying the Hymn book a lot, and it has grown my testimony of not only how beautiful the Hymns are, but how beautiful and inspired the Scriptures are too. I know that that's true and I hope you all take time to enjoy them both. I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

My Week of Pranks

My Week of Pranks

That's SO funny about their wisdom teeth!!! I wish I could have been there. No more drugs for those two, they obviously can't handle them. Me on the other hand...

Sounds like everyone is keeping pretty busy and having fun. That's great. Here too.

This week has been a week of less miracles and more pranks. But it has still been a great week.

Monday we played ping pong and sports with some other missionaries.

Tuesday, we had interviews with President Shields. I only have two more interviews now. They went well, it was funny because he basically told us everyone who was getting transferred in our zone. Elder Babbel and I are staying, no surprise. Later on Tuesday, I had fun teaching English Classes.

Wednesday, we had a fun District Meeting where we bought and brought Krispy Kreme Donuts. (As far as I know) There are only three Krispy Kremes in Ontario. Two are in Downtown Toronto. And one is really close to our house, in Mississauga. It was Sweet!! Later on Wednesday we did some service.
Thursday we did a ton of service. We helped this sweet Italian/Peruvian Investigator Family move into another house, we planted flowers on Temple Grounds, and we worked in a Food Bank. We were pretty tired at the end of the day.

Prank 1. Thursday night, we get home to find these two notes on our door. So we come into the house PUMPED!!!! Ready to destroy. We follow the instructions, I grab my spray bottle (that I always carry on me), and we first head upstairs. There was a mattress barricade upstairs which we busted through, but nobody was behind it, so we grabbed the mattress and headed to the basement (because we heard the Elder laughing maniacally down there). Right when we get down there everything is dark (except a strobe light flashing) and we hear this HUGE BANG. Then we start getting pelted with water balloons. Elder Babbel had the mattress, so we used it as a shield and charged them. We stole their water balloons and started pelting them with them, then Elder Babbel wrestled Elder Taylor, and put him in a hold while I grabbed my spray bottle, uncapped it, and poured it all over Elder Taylor's face. Our retaliation was a success. Later, while we were cleaning up, Elder Babbel and I found two water balloons that hadn't popped, so we pocketed them, and after we had all changed into dry clothes we threw them at the APs (the other Elders). I drenched Elder Shu and Elder Babbel completely missed Elder Taylor. It was mostly successful. Afterwards, Elder Babbel and I went downstairs to continue cleaning up, and the APs come downstairs smirking so we ask "What??" And Elder Taylor says "The balloon you threw at me never popped." Then he took out the balloon and drenched Elder Babbel with it. Then we got Elder Taylor to lose a couple of bets, so we got to spank him (after my Birthday Spankings, Spanking has been a big thing here in our place). I ended up breaking a Ping-Pong paddle over Elder Taylor's Behind. It was a success.

Friday Morning we met with Romeo and Carla, then they invited us back over for lunch. So we went to District Meeting, then we went back for lunch. It was awesome.

Prank 2. Friday night, the APs got home around 12:30 AM (because they were out late helping President Shields with Transfers). And I hear them come in and tell Elder Babbel that our house and our car got Toilet Papered and EGGED!! I was super tired and too lazy to get up and check. But the next morning, I saw the damage. It was pretty bad. I honestly have NO respect for ANYONE that Eggs someone's house. It is disgusting, disrespectful, destructive, immature, and all around mean. We spent a good portion of Saturday Pressure Washing the Egg off of our Driveway and House. We did find out who it was, and things happened. All in all, it was very disappointing. But fun!! :)

Saturday, I taught English Class again. Then I played the piano for about an hour for a Relief Society Activity (it was worth it because we got fed...and service :).

Sunday, none of our Investigators came to church :(. But, I got to play the Organ for Sacrament, which was fun.

 

And now, the Prank of all pranks. Last night, Elder Babbel and I decided to get back for the Water Balloon incident. So on Transfer Sundays the APs are out really late, because they call everyone to tell them where they are going, and then they do some things with President. The tradition is, is that when the APs come home, the Zone Leaders are hiding from them, and the APs have to find them. So we got them SUPER pumped to come and find us, but this is what actually happened: We bought about 800 yards of white yarn and we basically made a HUGE spider web scene in our basement. We then filled up three HUGE water balloons and put one on the ground in the Spider Web and one IN the Spider Web and one in our fort (which was on the other side of the basement behind the Web). We killed the breaker in the house (to turn off all the lights) and put on the strobe light. They come in around 11:30 PM ready to find us. Eventually they come downstairs and are SUPER confused. Especially when we start throwing mini frozen pickles at them, from on the other side of the Spider Web. They were EXTREMELY confused at that point!! It was so funny. So they run upstairs, grab a huge knife and start hacking at the web to get to us. Somehow, they did not see the HUGE water balloon entangled in the web. Watching and listening to that balloon fall and drench them with water was one of the greatest experiences of my life. At that point, they were freaking out. So I threw the other HUGE water balloon at them and drenched them some more. Eventually, they got through the web, so we started hitting them with pillows and wrestling them and of course, we continued throwing pickles at them (we had about 100 mini frozen pickles). Elder Babbel once again got Elder Taylor in a hold, so I got my water bottle and dumped all the water on his head...again. I then grabbed a pickle and tried to stuff it in Elder Taylor's mouth. I then turned the breaker back on and we cleaned up the wreckage. It was probably the best prank/attack in the history of ever. So that was the highlight of my week.

This email is pretty long, so I'll share a short thought. And that really is just to go out and Live Life!!! Life is too short to let pass you by. Go out and make some memories. I promise you that you'll never regret it. Unless it's something illegal and you get thrown into jail (like egging people :). I love you all and hope you have an incredible week!!

I AM 20 NOW

​I AM 20 NOW.

Yes!! I had an awesome 20th Birthday. SO...after my Alarm Clock was almost stolen. haha. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings with the APs (the Elder we live with). We all got like 20 Wings each and it was delicious. Then I got some cake there, my Birthday Cake. Afterwards, we went to a super cheap Bowling Alley. It was super fun. The Bowling Alley played Oldies Rock & Roll Music and we had a great time. We made a bet that the loser of the second game had to do something...well...

technically, because how bad I lost, I was only supposed to get spanked 18 times, but I decided to go the full 20 (for my Birthday Spankings). Also, I technically was spanked 23 Times, because we lost count. Butt, Elder Shu gave me some pretty weak Spanks, (or pats). So it evens out to 20. Wait, how did I spell but??

After bowling, we had a dinner appointment with one of my favorite families. They sang me Happy Birthday. Then I taught English Class, which was also super fun. And then it all ended with the Spanking Tunnel and Some Birthday Brownies. All-in-all, one of my favorite Birthdays. Pictures will come.

Perfect!! I'll plan Tuachan for the 31st. Wait, did Logan buy me one ticket or two??? Hmmm.... ;)

We did not end up moving into the house. It was part of a Country Club, and our leaders didn't want to have to put up with that. :( We're not sure if we're moving or not, now. Everything's kind of up in the air. I hope I don't have to move. It'll not be fun to pack up all my stuff, move, unpack, then pack up all my stuff again to go home.

Put the deposit down for Raintree. I'm very okay with living there.

You should ask Logan a bunch of questions about girls and kissing when he's Under the Influence while getting his wisdom teeth out. He'll probably open up more when the drugs kick in. ;) Good luck to the both of you!! It's not fun.

Thanks for making me more trunky and talking about the Roasted Red Pepper Dip. :/

Well, this week was easily one of the best of my mission:

Monday and Tuesday were just straight partying.

On Wednesday Romeo (who we thought had been in El Salvador)'s phone was working, so we decided to stop by him. Not only was he home, he had gone to El Salvador and he and his whole family are back!!!

The rest of Wenesday, we had some meetings, did some service, and taught some people.

Thursday, our Investigator, Sofia, texted us and told us that she wanted to get baptized this last Saturday!!! Of course, it was too soon, so she didn't. But we're working towards this or next Saturday with her!!

Baptisms for Days!! 

The rest of Thursday we did some service and taught this very prepared man that the APs found in Tim Hortons the other day. He's Colombian so they passed him off to us. We met with him, committed him to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and come to church. It was super good.

Friday met with Romeo and his wife and committed them to reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. We had a fun meeting, then met with Sofia to talk about the details for her Baptism.

Later on Friday, I went on exchanges with Elder Austin Payne, from Alberta. It was fun. I met a lot of really great members and learned some Italian. :)

Saturday, I taught English Classes again. Then we did a lot of tedious missionary work and we had a great Dinner with a sweet Colombian/Venezuelan couple.

On Sunday, we had a wonderful Sacrament Meeting. Two of our Investigators showed up, including Kevin!! He loved the services and made a lot of friends. We're going to keep teaching him and see where he goes!

Later Sunday, we went on Splits and I went with two Return Missionaries to visit the Mexican Migrant Workers. The RMs had both served in Mexico City, so they loved teaching them. They said it was like they stepped through a portal to their missions. Very fun. Until one half-drunk guy started bashing with us. Ugh...Twenty minutes later we finally left. We'll stay away from that one.

All in all, it was an awesome week and I'm excited for the things to come.

One thing that I was reminded about during exchanges was how strong the Attribute of Charity is. We met with a Brother and he was one of the most incredible men I've ever met. He's an older man, who has lung cancer (and a number of other problems), and whose sons have recently abandoned and betrayed him. He was baptized about three years ago and his testimony of the Gospel is very strong. The love I felt for this man, I had never met before, was so strong. In 1 Corinthians 13:8, it reads, "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." It amazes me that we will never forget the love we've felt for these people. Knowledge and Wisdom may vanish away with time, but that sense of love we've had for others, we'll never forget. I know that's true and I know that Charity is the most important Attribute of Christ we can ever gain. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!