Monday, November 2, 2015

11/2/15
HELLO MY FRIENDS!

Alright so I guess I have some catching up to do! Alright so last week was AWESOME! We didn't get too much ground time in our area, but we did a lot of service. We chopped some more wood in the forest, we had to cut down a massive tree and we almost got killed by a metal cable, fortunately God was watching over us, and no one was hurt! I'll have to show you the video when I get home! We also went and did some service out in New Mexico for a Baptist Deaf and Youth camp! I got to buck 150 pound bails of hay for about 4 hours. It was one of the most exhausting things that I have ever done! We also went to St. John's for our monthly Spanish sacrament meeting that we hold for the Spanish. It was a wonderful experience! We sang in Spanish, on the spot. And God sent angels to be sing with us.

This current week was really good. We worked hard! I got to hang out with one of my favorite people Thursday. His name is Chuck. Every once in a while we get to eat lunch with him. He was a mission president In the Ivory Coast several years back. And he is fiery. He has so much good advice for everything and I just love being in his presence. He gave a talk at a stake thing that we sang at, and I thought for a second that Elder Holland was up there speaking. He is awesome. We sang at a volleyball game, and we are becoming quite popular in this cute little town. It really helps people to let us in and trust us. We are trying to get in and teach the ENTIRE Football team. We have a couple of the star players that we are already teaching and so it is going to be sweet! But. I am about to be cast down from the Garden of Eagar. I have no idea where I am going or what is in-store for me, probably down to the valley to finally learn some Spanish! But it is really going to be hard. I have come to love all these cowboys up here. I am really going to miss them. But the Lord knows what He's doing. I will trust him with my life.

Last week The temple was an interesting experience. I was putting on some socks in the dressing room, when all of the sudden I hear: "it is a pleasure to have you here Elder Flake." I looked down and my name tag wasn't on, so how could anyone know my name? I looked up and it was good ole grandpa. He also ended up calling me through, and then my grandma was there in the celestial room. And then on Halloween, we got to go to the temple again! For 8 hours! It was AWESOME! We did intatories. Two endowment sessions. But my very favorite part was when we got to go and do some sealing. Oh, it was wonderful. The feeling that I had as I acted for a son being sealed to his parents was INDESCRIBABLE. It was amazing, I couldn't help but smile and almost start laughing for joy while it was taking place. I felt like an overjoyed little boy again. I AM SOOOOOO GRATEFUL that our family will be together through the waves of time and  the difficulty of this life. We are together. FOREVER. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!? We are an eternal family. No matter how far we go or how split up we become we will be ultimately together in the end!!! AHHHHHH!!! That makes me so happy! We decided to come here. We were predestined, each of us, for greatness. And we were destined to be together FOR EVER. Out of infinite number of children, us 11 were chosen and ordained to be together. We will always be together. We can always lean and depend o. Each other for anything and everything! WE WERE CHOSEN FOR EACH OTHER. Our Family will last to INFINITY and BEYOND. BUT. We do have a responsibility to up help each other out. I have already told Daniel this, but we were in Heaven once, all of us together. And we were all standing up there waiting for our time to come down here. And as we gave each other our last hugs, we all, with tears in our eyes, promised to look out for each other. We PROMISED to help each other out, because we knew it would be hard and we knew that we all were going to make really dumb choices, but we also knew that we would have each other to depend on and to remind us who we really were. We need each other. 

Brothers and sisters, mom and dad, I want you to know that I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that will not EVER FAIL. In my life before it has. But now. It shall not. I have experienced to much. I have tasted the fruit, and I cannot nor will not ever go back. And so Lathan, Michelle, Daniel, Katelyn, McKay, Tyson, Isaac, Alisha, Dallin, and Caleb if you ever feel weak in testimony... YOU CAN DEPEND ON MINE. Because I know God lives. He is real, and He cries with us when times are bad and smiles with us when we are truly happy. This is why I love the gospel: because it makes us happy. It really does. And that is true for EVERYONE. I have seen it work every time, WITHOUT FAIL. Now it is important to know how this works, and why some people feel that the gospel and church DO NOT make us happy. And the reason some think this is due to something called guilt. We all mess up in life. We all sin. And that sin causes guilt. However, if we keep sinning or don't repent we avoid that guilt. BUT, When we go to church, pray, read the scriptures, or do anything else really spiritual the GUILT that all of us have is brought out and made really intense. THAT IS BECAUSE GUILY IS GOOD! Guilt in spires repentance. And repentance is all we have to do to feel the joy of the gospel! Repentance is the only thing that stands I the way of Happiness. And so every day I cry: "REPENT ALL YE ENDS OF THE EARTH! Come unto Christ and be happy!" We really have an easy job. Anyways I love you all and pray for you always! Be Good. 

Love Elder Flake

10/26/15
So the super long and awesome email got deleted before I sent it. So I
will update you all next week. Unless you want to pray it to show up?
:) but I am happy and good. I love you all.

Elder Flake

10/19/15
So as you have seen I have recently been spending a lot of time in the mountains and trees of the Crazy Wildlands of ARIZONA! I mean, it's no Africa or anything, but it is still pretty cool, it looks a lot like Garden Valley, or Cascade, or almost ANYWHERE in Idaho, but it is nice. This time of year everyone in this little town are either hunting, getting wood, or doing some more hunting, so we get to spend a lot of time doing those same things! We usually have to drive quite a ways to get to those areas so Elder Bowns and I are becoming masters of truck lessons! It is amazing how grateful and different people treat us when we just go once to get a quart or two of wood for someone. We, also, taught a lesson in the bar. That was exciting... but I wouldn't recommend it. You know how I sometimes feel that I cannot feel the spirit... Well I can DEFINITELY tell when He is NOT there. And teaching a lesson in a bar does not bring the spirit.

Elder Bowns is awesome. He plays about 30 different instruments and is really good. He played a solo in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and for some apostles before he came out. He wants to be a psychologist when he grows up, and plans to get married right when he gets home, to a sister missionary he met here! But he is pretty awesome. He has a lot of really good insight and knowledge that I am gleaning!
Sorry, it is short! GOD IS REAL! He watches you every day! Don't forget about Him! I love you all, and will see you soon!
Love Elder Flake.
10/12/15
Hello again! Wow, these weeks are flying by so fast that I hardly even notice how long it has been! Isn't crazy! I have been out almost FIVE MONTHS! That is a lot of months, it hardly feels like I've been out here for more than a couple weeks! How fast is time going over there in Idaho?!? This week was FANTASTIC! We had a lot of really good progress with one of our investigators. She has been going to church for about 20 years. Her husband is a member, and she knows all the stuff, but she basically refuses to be baptized! But we had a really good lesson where she got emotional, and then we asked what she had to lose with getting baptized. She will lose nothing, but gain everything: the Holy Ghost, Eternal Marriage, freedom from guilt, deepened faith, deepened testimony, EVERYTHING.

We had dinner and a lesson with one of the members that was baptized last month named Billye . Her husband is not a member(yet), he ate with us and was super nice, but as soon as she started talking about churchy stuff, he kindly excused himself. We tried to hold on to him, so he would stay for the lesson, but it didn't really work. When that happened, our hearts sank. But the next Sunday, we went to church and Billye (his wife) said that he had been sneakily listening in the kitchen and that he was very impressed!! So we will see what the future brings. LIFE IS GOOD! God is real!

Yesterday was fast Sunday and for missionaries with a lot of wards, fast Sunday is quite exciting, because you end up Baring your testimony A LOT. As I bore my testimonies, combined with what has taken place this week, I have really been pondering WHY I actually decided to come out on a mission. And I think it's time that I shared it with you. MY DECISION TO SERVE A MISSION CAN BE SUMMED UP IN ONE WORD. Hope. Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I did not come to increase hope in my own life. No, I came to give hope to others and to show them the NEVER-ENDING hope that comes through the atonement of Jesus Christ. HOPE for a better world, HOPE that we can be freed form the paralyzing chains of guilt, HOPE of someone ACTUALLY loving  them in ALL TIMES and in ALL PLACES. THIS IS WHY I CAME! I didn't not come because of the social pressures to do so! I did not come because I wanted to pass the Return-Missionary test in order I date that cute Mormon girl back home! I did not even decide to serve and to consecrate my all to the Savior and His marvelous work in order to improve my self or to become a better person! I CAME TO SPREAD HOPE. And by connection, to spread Faith and Love. There is NOTHING that breaks my heart more than seeing the loss of Hope in the eyes of a child of God. Oh, Family, it hurts to see someone so lost in sin and so beaten up by the world that they. Give. Up. If only they could see who they really were... Their REAL Potential and Destiny. If only they could see the savior standing there. With tears running down His cheeks and Reaching out. And THAT is why we can ALWAYS have Hope. He is there. Is arms are ALWAYS there. That Is Our Hope. In His arms and safely in His embrace. That is where I have come to take the people of Arizona, into His arms. There is always hope.

I love you and pray for you. You guys are my world.

Love Elder Flake