Dearest                                                      12/16/15

 I am growing a lot. I feel completely different then the man I was just a short six months ago, but we will see! How different was Jacob? 

Well I did get your package, thank you very much! It was much appreciated! But the letters were the best part:) except for the fact that I have not heard from a few of my siblings for a while! But it is all good. As for Christmas, I really do not want anything, so please don't worry about it! I don't need food or clothes or anything, so really, please don't send anything, BESIDES a nice letter from all of you and for my family to just be a little kinder and much more focused on Christ than we have been in the past. If you just want to spend some money on me, please just buy some things for a family in need. Please understand and then live the fact that "It is more blessed to agive than to receive." Acts 20:35. That is, honestly, all I really want. Even though it may not seem much. I promise that these things will make this Christmas the best Christmas that we have ever experienced. Think about it. 

The weeks have been amazing, I have so much to share, and such very little time. But, we have been singing and dancing and performing so much. We wrote the coolest arrangement of Angels we have heard on high! Sometime you'll have to hear it! We are baptizing two of our investigators this week. Wil and Jo. They are both 27 years old and live in completely different worlds. Wil, I am sure is a multimillionaire and lives in about the third tallest building in the state of Arizona. His room overlooks almost all of Phoenix. He is a CFO in the rich part of Scottsdale (Which is saying something because all of Scottsdale is rich) and says that he could easily live there. He is EXTREMELY intelligent and is so knowledgeable about the church already. I think he knows more than I do already! And we have been teaching him for 3 Weeks! And then there is Jo. I LOVE Jo. He is such A GOOD GUY. WOW. Jo, on the other hand, struggles with work, education, and is living with his sister on the same street with one of the local gangs. We have taught him for about three months. We recently caught Jo smoking outside before a lesson one day. AH! That was discouraging. But the. We had a lesson with him, and we talked about if he wanted to quit and if he would quit. And then right after, he took out all his tobacco and poured it into the trash! ON THE SPOT! MIRACLE! And we promised him if he didn't smoke all that week before his baptism he could still get baptized! And so far so good! But we keep going over to help him out, They are the same age and being baptized this weekend, but they are complete opposites and they live just down the street from each other! Only in Phoenix does such diversity exist! It makes for VERY Exciting fast and testimony meeting! In fact the first fast and testimony meeting down here was the first time on my mission that I DIDN'T bare my testimony in English, because I was so shocked and somewhat scared at all the testimonies shared at that meeting! But I still bore it in Spanish;) And I was just in a completely different universe when I was up in the Mountains! Life is crazy, but awesome. We had transfers this week and I am still with Elder W. We are DOING SO MUCH WORK SAVING SOULS! President said that he hadn't seen this much progress in central Ward for A LONG time. We live on the very edge of our mission so sometimes we go out of it on accident. But all is well. We are also, like the only zone in Arizona that has French speaking missionaries, and so we have to go out of the mission a lot and help those sisters out! But that is about it! Oh, except I am a district leader now. Life is good! 

This work is real. It is our Heavenly Father's work, and He is doing it. He doesn't need us, but He lets us help for our own good. There is nothing better to do in the world. The happiness I feel is not normal. Not should I expect it to be, because it is of God. If ever you are sad... Be a missionary and it will change your night to day. I want to be the best I can! I want to be perfect just like Our Savior has asked us to be. And it seemed so impossible, until I got some advice from Elder Lynn G. Robbins last week. He talked about something that he called "spiritual reflexes." That is when having Christlike attributes is instinctive and natural. You do not need to think about it because it is part of who you are. It is a habit that is noticed only when you do not do it. It is a reflex! And so that is the goal. To gain as many Christlike reflexes as possible! I love you much! And I will see you soon! 

Love Elder Flake