Hello,
Sorry I don't have much time, we had a power outage and internetoutage in the entire state and some of the surrounding states.

Ever since I got here I have been using much Spanish, because me and
my companion are the Spanish elders for the entire stake, which covers
almost all of the New Mexico in our mission, Eager, Springerville, and
up to some apache Indian reservations as well.

My companion is AWESOME! We have the same brain! We think the exact
same things all the time... Finish each other's sentences and weird
stuff like that. He has a very nice voice and makes some pretty
interesting food . He is quiet and patient and reflective. In the color world he is what we would call a white.. Oh, and I met the guy who created that whole system. He
is a psychologist and a billionaire, but he is the funniest and
most understanding guy that I have ever met. But my companion
is very logical and intelligent. His insight on gospel subjects is
amazing. We are best of friends and he already promised to take me 
home and to his wedding when we get back. We get along SO well.

Eager is great it rains and thunders here like you wouldn't believe,
and yes I am practically cousins with everyone that lives here! So my
companion and I are over Three wards and all the Spanish in the stake.
We keep really busy! The wards are awesome. Everyone up here are
cowboys, like way more so them Idaho. But the wards are strong and
small. Transfers usually
last about six weeks, but I think my companion and I will be here for
three months!

There! I hope that gives you more insight. Feel free to ask whatever
questions you are curious about!

So mom I have been really REALLY bad about writing people, but my time
practically doesn't exist. Actually I have no time... ALL IS THE LORDS
TIME! 

Friends, there is no better place than a mission. Every second, every

moment needs to be treasured. It is not every day that we will be

permitted to be Authorized and POWERFUL messengers of truth and

representatives of Christ. I have noticed a PECULIAR and SPECIAL POWER

that comes with being an OBEDIENT missionary. It is different, and I

haven't placed what it is yet... But I know it is from God. At this

time in my life God is very near, perhaps nearer than he has ever

been. He makes good on every worthy word that proceeds out of our

mouths. Our prayers have Power. What we bless is truly blessed. What

we say is heard. Our promises and blessings are carried out with

exactness. The houses we enter are touched with the hand of God. I

feel like a painter. Everywhere we go and all we do becomes rich and

vibrant with the spirit. God lives. If you don't believe me, I will

see you in a couple years before the judgment bare of God. Oh please

be good, and let that time be a Joyful experience. I just love you all

and want you to be happy. Honestly. I love you.



Elder Flake

Address

6265 N. 82nd St.

Scottsdale, AZ 85250

THAT'S THE ONE!

They say that I can't give my actual address so just send it to the mission home.....plus we don't have a mailbox.... so I don't know how that'll work anyways. So we are almost in New Mexico, and some of our district actually teaches over there, it is like a four-to-five hour drive to our city from the mission home, so I will get mail every couple of weeks! But please keep sending me mail. I loveth you all!

July 13, 2015

I love BEING A MISSIONARY! It is so exciting and so much fun! THERE IS NO BETTER WORK! And it truly is Work, but it is worth it, every single second of it. I am just going insane right now, because me and my trainer have to spend an extra THREE HOURS every. single. day. for the next twelve weeks. It is a program that is meant to help me be a better missionary and it is good, BUT I JUST WANT TO GO AND DO!!! THERE IS SO MUCH WORK TO BE DONE AND I AM MORE THAN CAPABLE TO DO IT! I just want to be turned loosed and  to PREACH and TESTIFY and SAVE SOULS! That is truly what is happening here. THIS WORK IS TRUE. I cannot stress it enough! It is true! BELIEVE IT AND BE HAPPY! I sometimes have to check myself with my passion and enthusiasm in lessons... ESPECIALLY with new investigators... Speaking in Spanish usually calms me down and mellows me out... BUT Still... It hasn't had a negative effect yet, but I think sometimes I might be a little overbearing. WHOOPS! PEOPLE, JUST COME UNTO CHRIST AND BE BAPTISED AND BE HAPPY! THEN, and only then will I leave you alone. We are actually only really doing Spanish work, and I little bit of Indian work.

There are tons of people that know dad and grandma and grandpa. We have been doing as much work as we can and trust me, we have many investigators that I will start to tell you about if I have enough time. Just know that the work is Hastening, and that IF YOU WANT TO BE TRULY CONVERTED AND NOT JUST HAVE A TESTIMONY, then you must do missionary work. Testimonies are weak, it is easy to come to a knowledge of the truthfulness of the gospel because IT IS SO OBVIOUS and SO TRUE and THE HOLY GHOST WILL ALWAYS, A.L.W.A.Y.S. answer a sincere seeker of truth. To know the truth about this Gospel is EASY, but it is useless without further action. Bednare: Testimony is what you know to be true. CONVERSION is being true to what you know. MOM, If A MERE Testimony is all we have, we are in trouble. With a testimony we will fall. If all I get is a testimony on my mission I WILL FALL. WE MUST BE CONVERTED! I promise you, my Beautiful, Wonderful Mother that I will not... NO... I CANNOT go back to my way of Life. When I chose to serve a mission. It was forever. When I decided to follow Jesus Christ. It Is Forever. When I decided to lay down my life for Him. IT IS FOREVER. My Life is His. And I will never, EVER COME DOWN from that sacred calling that He has commissioned me with. I Will Not GO BACK ON MY COMMITMENT. Lest I break the heart of my Father in Heaven. These feelings cannot be expressed through words and I feel so passionately that it physically exhausts me.

I love you, but more importantly, I love Jesus Christ. For without Him, my love for EVERY SINGLE one of you, would be hollow and temporary. Through Him I can love you forever. And I will ALWAYS love every single one of you forever. Thank you for letting me love you... Oh My Friends, can you feel the power of these words? Not my words, but the Truthfulness and Immense Power of the word of God. Feel His goodness. Feel His love. Feel His reality that HE EXISTS. How Glorious!!! These are not merely words that need be written on a computer screen or a flimsy peace of paper... these are words that must be written in your hearts and your souls. I pray that I might be a useful Instrument in the hands of the Almighty God that when you read these words and the other words of God that You Will FEEL The Holy Spirit with which these words were written. I am weak, but He is strong. This is His work, I am grateful beyond words to be a part of it. God Lives. What more can I say? He is real and is full of love. Find Him. He is there. He is waiting for you. Don't you dare break His heart through unrepented of sins or permanent disobedience. Reflect. Ponder. Make sure you are clean, and if not, I invite you to repent and be happy. I love you.

Elder Flake

Hello Mother!

So I am in Arizona, and it is quite nice I am enjoying it quite
thoroughly. It is a nice 75 degrees outside, Cool breeze, and some
beautiful pine trees! Can you guess where I am? Dad has probably been
here one thousand times! It is cute little Eager Arizona! Up in the
Mountains. There isn't a whole lot of Spanish speakers here, but my
companion speaks it so we get plenty of practice!

My mission President and wife are wonderful people... I LOVE THEM.
They are so good! And so kind! And so wise! Phoenix for a day and a
half was EXTREMELY HOT. I didn't realize how foreign this place really
was. It is hot. Tuns of palm trees. These crazy massive cacti
EVERYWHERE! An endless amount of homeless people. A lot of soccer. And
nobody really speaks English. Just about as foreign as I could get!
Not really....but I am happy!

I enjoyed the call VERY MUCH on Monday, and I hope you are all having
a just as AMAZING time as I am! Out here... At least in the
mountains... Member missionary work is EXTREMELY important! So,
please. OH PLEASE, be missionaries... Call the missionaries up and
give them referrals to your friends that aren't members.... Invite
people to come to church... Anything!

My companion is  awesome... We are going to bring so many people to Christ!
I am so excited!!!

Life is difficult, my friends, it is meant to be. Because we taste the
bad things in life we find that we can distinguish and realize and
define the good. It is a rough road for every individual person, and
it is even more difficult and takes even more work, to follow Christ.
But we MUST FOLLOW CHRIST. I mentioned that it is the hardest road to
travel on, but it is also the happiest road to travel... There is no
other peace and joy that comes from walking as Jesus the Christ
walked. Salvation was not meant to be easy, and if we don't have the
guts or the love to face hard things like my Savior Jesus Christ did
then we do not deserve to be saved. EVEN WITH following Christ with
all our soul, we do not DESERVE Him to help us. But He does and He
did. He died. He was left alone. He was murdered in the worst ways
possible. He suffered pains that we would not even be able to suffer
in mortality. He is good. Be willing to stand with Him and suffer your
own trials and the smallest sliver of what He went through. It is
hard. It is meant to be. Oh, but mom, it is worth it. It is so worth
it! Just for a time! Wait it out! Endure it well! And Never, NEVER
stop fighting! This world is a WAR ZONE. Never get complacent or
comfortable, I learned that the best way to do that is from missionary
work. Do mission work, and you will have a Spiritual experience. Then,
your faith will be strengthened and you will become more converted to
God! But you also must realize that the first convert is yourself! And
so EVERYONE needs to be a missionary to themselves first, and then to
the rest of the world! Strengthen yourself! Make yourself keep
commitments, and be accountable to God!

I love you all with my whole soul! Be good! I want everyone to be
ridiculously, annoyingly nice to everyone. Be a missionary!

Love,
Elder Flake

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It is interesting how much my perspective is changed, I no longer believe in God, I no longer believe in Jesus Christ, I know longer believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet chosen by God before the world began. NOW I KNOW. I know that God lives, He is our Father in Heaven and loves us more than I Love You... AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING! He just wants you to be good, and come home. I KNOW that Jesus is the Christ. No Power unseen or seen will ever take that knowledge from me. I know Joseph Smith was the man chosen from God to restore All things to this earth. Joseph Smith gave all for the cause of God, can we claim the same? What have you done with your life? Have you done any good in the world today? Well, because you are my mother and you are wonderful I am sure these answers are YES! But we all have things we can do, this is a war of a lifetime. Whomever does not believe WHAT I NOW KNOW about the reality of a Loving Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and all other doctrines connected to these I INVITE you to ask and learn for yourself. IF you really want to know... you will read. you will pray. and I promise you, YOU WILL KNOW. Not all at once of course, but with time, faith, and God you will learn the truth about where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. Please try. I beg you to try your Heavenly Father. Test Him, and see if HE wont bless you and reveal Himself unto you! If anyone chooses not to discover for themselves the truth of these things and chooses not to believe ( as if not believing makes God not Exist ) I am sincerely sorry for the joy and happiness you will miss. But I promise you, one day all will know of the reality of these things for "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, that JESUS IS THE CHRIST," but by then it will be to late... SO COME! Learn of the truth. Be happy. Change your life! So this week was truly amazing I walked among current "special wittiness'  of Jesus Christ." We had been practicing all week for the special Missionary President Seminar. And on Thursday we were blessed with the opportunity to raise my voice with angels and talented others to sing praises to Heavenly Father in the midst of apostles. APOSTLES! Real-life-current-day prophets, called of God! Wow! I HAVE NO IDEA WHY Heavenly Father blessed me with such a splendid opportunity when there were over 1000 other missionaries that could have easily taken my spot! He is Good. So let me set this up for you. picture a really small room with something like 100-200 mission presidents, seventy members, general authorities( Presiding Bishopric, Relief society, young men, young woman General Authorities), and Apostles. The room is so small and personal, we can see everyone's face clearly and distinctively, and the apostles... WOW. I do not recommend singing for apostles... It is very difficult... because the spirit is so thick that it smothers you!As you know, Saturday was the commemoration of the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith. When we sang about  oh how "LOVELY WAS THAT MORNING" for all the apostles, the mission presidents, and other servants of the Lord. The spirit was undeniable. Then. I was blessed on Sunday morning to raise my voice and testify with angels and friends of the divinity of Jesus Christ... in the presence of the chosen Prophet of God on the earth today. Mom, I was feet away... from him, and ALL of the remaining apostles and first presidency, in that tiny room. We sang for sacrament meeting and I felt so strongly that I honestly felt that my Happiness was going to overwhelm me. The prophets are wonderful, but what I felt even more powerfully that day was of Jesus Christ. I felt His love individual and personal, and that is much more important than being in front of all the quorum of the twelve and first presidency. I KNOW HE LIVES! HEAR HIS VOICE! I testify of Him with all my Heart, Mind, and Strength! FEEL my Sincerity! There is power in God, He can do all things. Trust in Him always. I love you, I love the family... you ALL give me real and lasting happiness. Be good persevere. Remember: HE LIVES. 

HEY'YA MOMMA!

That's Crazy, EVERYONE HERE is sick too! Except for me... I promised my Heavenly Father to never, EVER take a nap in these two years and that I would NEVER, ever take a day off, because of that, He has blessed me with health, strength, and energy even when literally like every single person is really REALLY Sick. Like hospitalized sick. But I am not worried in the slightest, I am obedient and I am doing my best to work hard and so I have nothing to fear!  And YES I get to go to the temple every week, in fact we get to go today! I LOVE IT!!! One time we tracked down the temple president and had some amazing insight that I will share with you when I get home! (OH, and MOM I am writing extremely poorly, so feel free to correct all this awful grammar) I get to sing for the prophet and all the apostles separately throughout this entire week, but then on SUNDAY I get to sing to the fifteen brethren ALL TOGETHER for their own private sacrament meeting. I am the men leader in the choir, and so I get to work pretty close with Elder Nelson (He is the Apostle over music for the New Mission President Seminar) through our amazing choir director and music prodigy Brother Eager. HE is amazing!!!!!! and there are less than 36 Elders and sisters that will be singing in the choir. I am blessed, God knows me and watches out for me. He gives me INCREDIBLE experiences at every turn in my life, when I clearly do not deserve it. Mom (and Family), I KNOW that I was meant to begin my service on May 27th 2015. There was no other time. My existence before this life and in this life have prepared me for these very moments. This is exactly WHEN Heavenly Father wanted me. And I cannot express to you how DEEPLY CONFIDENT I am that He would have me go nowhere besides Scottsdale, Arizona. Mom, I know for myself, I know for a fact, that He called me there. I felt it, He told me. 

I cannot believe that it has already been FOUR WEEKS! I am humbled (Because it is not by my own power) to say that I am almost fluent in the language, we have skype lessons with real people from South America and other Spanish-Speaking places and I can talk as if I was born knowing spanish... Sometimes when I am really feeling the spirit and barring testimony of Jesus Christ or Praying to my Father in Heaven, He talks through me. The gift of tongues is real. This whole Gospel is real. I think sometimes we forget that. No, this is all real, it doesn't just go away when you stop believing it. I have had other opportunities to give many other blessings this week, and every time the feelings and power that come into my heart still take me by surprise! And how, I ask, would any of that make sense if all of this was just pretend?!? IT WOULDN'T!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE! God is our Loving Heavenly Father. He watches over you. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. So talk to Him! He wants to hear from you! HE anticipates every moment that you get on your knees and talk to Him like the Best Friend and Best Father HE is. 

I invite you and everyone to watch the new movie, Joseph Smith. It is BEAUTIFUL. I saw it this week and it caused me a lot of strife and deep reflection, and it all came out of this one question: What have you done, Logan, for your Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith gave his life, he gave all his time. I CANNOT EXPLAIN ALL HE DID! Just watch the movie, I promise your testimony of Joseph Smith will become UNSHAKABLE. I am determined to give all I can for the cause of God now, but more especially AFTER MY MISSION! DIOS ES MI REY! (sorry I told myself I would never write in spanish, but this phrase in english isn't quite the same.) Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. If someone shames or mocks him, they mock me. I Love Joseph Smith. Study the Book of Mormon. If you read sincerely and with an open heart daily YOU WILL NEVER be able deny that God Exists and the Jesus is the Christ. Just please read it. Just do it. Please. 

I CHALLENGE you, to read the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY for the rest of your life, even if you get back from camping at two in the morning. Read every day for the rest of your lives. If ANY of you miss a day, don't miss another day!

I LOVE YOU WITH MY WHOLE SOUL. 

- Your little boy,

Elder Flake