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