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