Saturday, September 24, 2016

Dearest Friends                               9-19-16

There goes another week. It seems that it was only a couple of minutes
ago that I wrote you! The time is going too fast. I will see you in no
time... And life will go on... Then all of you will go forth and serve
the Lord and taste of the wonderful adventure that I am an
experiencing. You will change and become. The mission is like a
spiritual metamorphoses. Before the mission we are like awkward, green
little worms just trying to get a grip on what life is all about. Then
we cocoon on our missions, and when we come out of it we have changed
dramatically. We emerge a beautiful little butterfly ready to fly
forth and conquer the world! I hope you caught the visual...

This week, we had some pretty cool things happen. We have been
planning all week from the morning until the evening with President
Robinson, because we had an Mission Leadership Council in Payson on
Friday and tomorrow and for the next two weeks we have Zone
Conferences, and then another Mission Leadership Council, and then the
following week, we have another General Authority coming. Mission
Leadership Councils usually last about 5 to 6 and we Get all the Zone
Leaders and Sister Training Leaders gathered in from the 4 corners of
the mission and have a council together about the future, welfare,
state, goals, and vision of the mission. President Robinson and us
usually give most of the training. It is a lot of standing and talking
and teaching, and they always take a lot of preparation. They usually
happen monthly, but we are having two additional ones because the
member of the seventy coming in a couple of weeks requested one and
there were a few mission matters we had to get sorted out. Zone
Conferences usually last about 10 to 11 hours all together almost
every day for two weeks, and President, us (the assistants), and the
Zone Leaders train there. It is a lot of fun! Very exhausting fun.
Elder Zabellos of the 70 will be a good experience as well. We will be
able to have a private meeting with him. And he will interview
President Robinson, Elder Bn, and myself individually. That should
be a good experience!

BUT. Amidst all of these meetings and things, we are still doing A LOT
of proselyting! We have been getting anywhere between 6 and 12 of our
nonmember friends to church every week, and the Ward is thrilled. The
Scottsdale YSA has really caught the fire and passion of missionary
work. We meet and teach new investigators weekly. A wonderful thing is
happening here. People of all faiths are coming and Lear I get and
accepting the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Many are being baptized
in Christ's name. From atheists to Orthodox Jews. There is a great
gathering taking place. God is gathering in the elect. The work is
hastening. And it is a privilege to be His instruments to do it.

Just the other night we were teaching one of our investigators and he
felt the spirit and was ready to face his friends and drinking once
and for all. He was fired up and ready to repent. This was Saturday
night, and we were pressed for time because we had MUCH to do in
preparation for the upcoming Zone Conferences... But Elder Bn and I
both felt that we should go by someone whose door we contacted in an
apartment complex. We were kind of excited, because we both knew it
was the spirit. So we followed it regardless of the workload and
planning we had in front of us. As we needed the house of the
potential investigator our excitement grew, because we were pretty
sure God had something amazing planned for us. We knocked on the door.
And we waited and waited and waited. Nothing. We were both pretty
disappointed because of the clear promoting to go and the Lord's time
that we thought we had wasted. We were a little confused. There was
another person in the area that we were trying to get in contact with
so we thought we'd give it a try. We went and knocked on the door and
this MASSIVE, shirtless body builder answered it... It was pretty
intimidating, but we just asked if we could come in for a few seconds
and share with him something that had changed our lives. He said......
YES! We went in and taught him and his girlfriend and they were SO
PREPARED AND INTERESTED to hear and accept the restored gospel. It was
a tender meeting, and they were so grateful for what we were doing and
the message we were sharing. We will be back in Thursday. God is
guiding this work, because it is HIS WORK. It is not the work of man.
That is absurd. I know He is there. I trust Him, because I have
clearly seen in my own life Him doing what He promised He would. He
keeps His promises and He answers prayers. Always. If we can just open
our eyes long enough to see it. I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Flake

Friday, September 16, 2016

9/7/16
Alright mother, here is your long expected letter! I finally have time... Kind of... Let me give you some background on what is going on first. As you know, President S returned home about two months ago and President Robinson entered the field as our new mission president. The old mission president and the new mission president and their wives meet together for approximately 2 hours... And that is it. As soon as those brief few minutes are gone. The old mission President leaves and has absolutely 0 contact with the new mission president for the entire time that the new mission president is a mission president... That is insane. If this were not God's very work, and revelation did not heavily guild the new mission presidents, missions would collapse left and right. The only constant between the Old and the New presidents are the Assistants. And so these last two months have been filled every, single day with helping this mission thrive and succeed. I have learned and done things that I have never wanted to! But they must be done. I have been running day and night. Most days I feel that I cannot move one more step or do one more thing... But then I do. But it is not me. I have relied more on Christ's Atonement for strength and to hold me together more than I have ever imagined possible. He helps us maintain an impossible pace. I strengthens us and supports us, the words of How Firm a Foundation: "Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed, For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous, Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand." I really could not even stand right now without divine aid. A mission is hard, harder than anything I have ever done before. And I would not be here without my Father in Heaven's divine aid. I have been really extensively tutoring President Robinson in the affairs of the mission. President Robinson is such an incredible and amazing man. I know that he is a man of God. A powerful and chosen vessel. He inspires me. He is a great man in my eyes, and he has loved me like a father would. He is so kind and godlike. He is wise and sincere. He is humble, but powerful and bold. I have leaned more than I could ever write just from watching his example, and we are together OFTEN. Elder H did not go home. We sent him to Maricopa for his last transfer. He goes home in October. Elder B, from Shelley Idaho, is the new assistant... And he is awesome...President Robinson listens to my advice OFTEN. . Almost about everything. It is a humbling experience. It touches me that he would give such careful and considerate attention to what I say. Elder B is great. He has only been here for about 3 days so he is COMPLETELY overwhelmed with all that we do. He did not expect it. He said he had so much respect for all that we have already done and continue to do. And now he is part of it. I find it sometimes humorous that other missionaries think that all we do in the office is lounge around and stare at a computer. NOT TRUE. We do all that we do, and carry a full time proselyting load in the Ward that we cover. We had a other one of our investigators commit to baptism last night. The work is moving forward. No matter how sluggish or exhausted I feel... It seems to picking up the pace! Life is joyous! Between breaking in SWATT style to missionaries apartments and eating dinner with general authorities, I have found little time to really think. Time is going so fast!
Family,                                                           9/12/16

I am doing EXTREMELY well. Mostly because I have emailed ya'll every week for the past two weeks! That is a record. Things are still busy. Wednesday night, we met with one of our investigators who just graduated college as a tax accountant. He was living in a massive fraternity. Which, I have learned, are really bad... But he wants to change his life so bad. He is reading and praying and begging for an answer that this church is true. And his prayers are beginning to be answered. Yesterday, Elder Cook held a devotional for all the young single adults, but yesterday was also the opening day of football. This investigator is deathly afraid of joining the church and living accordingly because he believes that he will loose all of his "frat brothers." But yesterday, instead of getting drunk all day and hanging out with his friends watching football... He lied to them and told them he had to go to work. And he came straight to church and stayed the whole time, after church he went to buy some bread for the potluck before the Elder Cook devotional (we haven't taught him about the Sabbath day yet! So don't judge!), and then he spent the entire evening listening to inspired talks and prophets. He loved it! What a turn around! What a change! And that is why this gospel is so precious to me, because of how it transforms us in beautiful ways. It can change anything to good. Through Christ we can become. And that is what we should each have as a goal. To change from who we are to day, to someone better tomorrow. This change does not come automatically, nor does it come without intense labor and consistency. That is one of the biggest things I have learned so far as a missionary: just because you serve a mission does not guarantee a change in your nature. I have the opportunity to work with all the missionaries in the mission. And I promise and bare witness that Jesus Christ will only change you IF you let Him. If not, you might change your behavior for these short two years, you might do the things a missionary is supposed to do, but you cannot change your nature. And that is the way it goes with all of life. Elder Cook said that "Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare." A change in nature comes from consistently doing the little things. But I am not perfect. I still forget little things here and there which are just dumb mistakes. You try your best, and even if it is not enough God will accept our sacrifice as an unprofitable servant. We have had so many great spiritual experiences with no members this week. My favorite is when people are rude and cuss us out or slam the door in our faces... that is THE BEST! That is what gets me fired up. Because Salvation is not a cheep experience for the Savior, and so the road to get there isn't going to be easy for us. I expect it, and I want it. I love you all. I am so sorry that I am being such a bad and neglectful brother. I will do more!

Elder Flake