#missionislife

RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGTTTTTTTTTTIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you're killin' me. What theater is that in?? I'm decently familiar with the ones in Logan. Well, jokes on you. Matilda the Musical is here in Toronto and I got President Shield's permission to go. Ha ha. Not really. I wonder if I could get that though. Hmmmm??? Ay!! And Tomato Street Garlic Bread too?? You WANT me to come home early. Jokes on you, I'm not falling for it. I honestly couldn't even fathom the idea of coming home early. It's unfathomable...or without fathom. It's so surreal to me. #missionislife
Yes, the camera cord works. But no, I don't think it will fix my camera. It's pretty out of whack. The pictures I sent were from Elder Delap's Camera. I'll keep working on mine though. And no, Russell M Ballard hasn't come yet. August 20th. I'll get that tie. ALSO, I was asked to play the piano/organ for that meeting, so I'll be right up there on the stage with him. Cool Beans!! Have fun at Couer d' Alene. That's French No?? Everything's French here in Canada. So annoying. HEY LOGAN!!! WHY DON'T YOU CRAM ONE MORE DATE INTO THIS SUMMER!!!! Or one date at all!! You've blatantly ignored me enough!!!! BUT! Since the school year is coming up, you will be forced to ask girls to dances. HAHA!! And if you don't, everyone (girls and boys alike) will hate you and bully you!! Including Me!! Just kidding (kind of). I love you bro. BUT! My rule for you is that you must go on AT LEAST one date in between dances. AT LEAST ONE!!! That is SO easy!! JUST DO IT!!
I apologize ahead of time for the long letter. This week was quite eventful.
So last Tuesday, we went over to the Black Creek Central Elders' house to sleep over before District Meeting the next day. It was pretty good. And then we had District Meeting. Which was more than pretty good. SO, this was our last District Meeting in Jolly July, so I had everyone bring all their Christmas decorations and apparel and we had a BLAST!! Other than singing Christmas songs and sharing Christmas stories, I planned an activity where we did "role plays" of contacting different Christmas Characters (Santa, Ebeneezer Scrooge, Rudolph, and of course, Buddy the Elf). It was so fun. And then we took some toffee I made and went to carol to the other District. What happened though, was the other District ended their District Meeting WAY early and some of them had already left. Losers. BUT we sang to a few championships in the hallway and afterwards, we took a Jolly July Christmas Picture. Hopefully later today, or next week. I'll have some Jolly July Christmas Cards for all of you!!!
Later that day I went on exchanges with Elder Anthony Martin Leyton Rivera, from Peru. One of my BEST Friends in the mission. We had a super fun day where we got fed a TON by the members. He's such a stellar missionary and I love going throughout the day only speaking Spanish.
Thursday was good. We found two new people to teach. Yay! Also, we made cookies and I wrote a letter of encouragement and we brought them over to Jeroe's house. We luckily caught him just leaving and gave him the cookies and the letter (which he both loved).
Friday, July 29th 2016, was a memorable day. I hit my mid-life crisis. And it was a wonderful one. SO. To start out. In the middle of our studies, we get a phone call from the vehicle coordinator of the mission, who tells us that he has a new shiny car waiting for us in Brampton. FOR REALS!! Our car had gone over 80,000 kilometers, which is when they switch it out and sell the old one. So we took it to Brampton and got ourselves a Rogue Nissan SUV!!!! Her name is Sylvia. I decided that it's my year mark, they want me to start training to be a father. So they gave me a SUV. :) Makes sense. Later that day, we celebrated at an Italian Restaurant we've been wanting to go to called Goodfellas. The food was quite delicious (and expensive). But it was such a classy place and it was cool being able to order in Italian (because it's VERY similar to Spanish), communicate in Italian with our waiter, AND communicate with another Waitress we had who spoke Portuguese (from Brazil). I LOVE CULTURE!!! It's so good here. The rest of the day was average. ;)
Last Saturday we went with a member to an Ice Cream/Waffle place...again. Which is super delicious. While we were there, there was a family sitting behind me speaking Spanish. Before we left I started talking to them and they told me they're from Bogota, Colombia!!! It was super cool. The mother told me I spoke Spanish very well. Oh yeah. We weren't able to get their information, but we gave them a card and they'll probably be baptized sometime soon. ;)
Sunday was of course wonderful. There's this homeless man named Dennis, from Trinidad and Tobago. That came to church for his second time. We started talking with him and he told us that he's never been baptized before, and he wants to be baptized in our church because he feels the Spirit here!!! So Sweet!!! He's a really great guy. We just need to get him off smoking and alcohol. Not a Problem!!
Yesterday, we celebrated Civic Day here in Canada. I have no idea what that is, but we celebrated it. :) We did a lot of service and work for some members, then we taught this Spanish/Colombian family that we've been trying to teach ever since I've been here. They're a Stellar family, the father just has read a lot of Anti stuff, and is really skeptical about people that have been raised their whole lives in the church. That's why we have members!!! Later that day, Jeroe's family (the Fotines) invited us over for a barbecue. It was super good and we had a really good conversation with Jeroe. His dad, who is a member, just blurted out at the dinner table. "Jeroe, when are you going to get baptized?? Stop waiting." It was SO good. It's funny too because he keeps saying, no one's pressuring you, but he totally is. We later talked about listening during your prayers for the Holy Ghost, which is going to help him out a lot, and we committed him to asking if he should be baptized a week from this Saturday. We'll follow up with that and I hope that everything goes well!!
One thing I've been working on lately, just like Jeroe, is listening for the Spirit after my prayers. A few weeks ago, a missionary came to our ward and he said something that I really liked. He said that after every personal prayer he has, he listens for a few minutes, just in case God has something to say to him. I've started doing that lately, and I've found that God has a lot to say to me. At least a lot more than I expected. Those few minutes after you end your prayers are very sacred and I can honestly testify that I know that the Holy Ghost really does testify to your heart and to your mind (D&C 8:2). I challenge you all to listen after you pray, because Heavenly Father has many things he wants to say to you. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. Ciao!!

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Elder Flint
Canada Toronto Mission