What a feast!                      10/3/16

Dearest Family,

H.A.P.P.Y!B.I.R.T.H.D.A.Y!M.O.M! This week was pretty crazy! Last
Monday we headed to the mountains and we got back Friday evening. We
spent all that time training in Zone Conferences, training Ward
Mission Leaders & Stake Presidencies, going on Exchanges, and then we
ended it with a Mission Leadership Council in Payson. We were in Show
Low, the Apache reservation, Pinetop, and Snowflake. I saw grandma
walking down the street... That was crazy. That was my week. Way less
exciting than doing actual missionary work, but it was still
fulfilling. We got back on Friday night and taught one of our
investigators named Sh. Sh is so great. She is so sincere and
wants to know God so much. When we first met her she asked if she was
even aloud to pray to God, because, in her native town of Florida,
they aren't aloud to if they aren't holy or something like that. We
kindly yet boldly affirmed that: " YES! You can pray!" We told her
that she had to pray! That God commanded it, and that she couldn't
possibly know Him on the personal level that she yearned for without
Talking to Him! She was so happy. The lesson on Friday she said that
she recently came to the conclusion, while at church, that she doesn't
love herself. And that she can feel love from others, but that she
doesn't feel it on the inside towards herself. Once again, Elder Bn
and I had the opportunity to testify with power and authority that she
was indeed a daughter of God and that He loves her completely and is
pleased with the goodness in her life. We testified that if she wanted
to feel that love that she first had to understand who she really was.
Missionary work is so cool. We have the opportunity and privilege to
live such pure and clean and simple lives, and I want to live like
this forever. Because this is true joy. Nothing is sweeter. It is so
nice to have the spirit guiding you and having it noticeably with you
so often.

Conference was so good! It feels like Christmas time whenever we get
to watch conference. It is the best feeling ever! Did everyone get to
watch conference at home? If not, I invite you to repent and watch it.
It is so good! It filled me with swelling motions in my heart to be
better and to change! And I promise that if you listen to conference
with your heart and not just your ears... That you will experience the
same Spirit. Surely they are prophets of God. The wisdom and words of
the worldly men look embarrassingly pitiful in the grandeur of the
Power that God grants those men and women. I wanted to just run into
every house in Scottsdale, Turn on CONFERENCE, and then run out with
the remote to the next house so they couldn't turn it off! Oh, if the
world could just know and feel what we know and feel. But agency holds
its ground, and the world is still in chaos.

 While we were on our way to stop by a couple that we are teaching
there was a man walking a cute little white dog, and OF COURSE we
stopped to talk to him! And he didn't even see is coming, so he had no
time to run! But, we got to talking about apostles on God and how his
dad died when he was twelve and how he got through things and the
struggles of his life. By the end of it he gladly accepted that we
return again the next day. It is pretty neat to see who God is
preparing and what can happen if we just open our mouths to those
around us. The work is God's! I love you all.

Elder Flake

9/25/16

The week was really great! And I really do love the time I have as a missionary, so what you are telling people is accurate. However, I feel that that might be a little bit of an UNDERSTATEMENT. You have got to promise me that if any of you are asked how I am doing that you tell them that Elder FlakeLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEESSSSSSS and typing doesn't do it justice about how I really feel. The mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me. It has changed my entire person! It has changed my future, my desires, my hopes, my dreams, my fears, my goals, and almost every other aspect of my life. And it is still changing me! It is transforming me. It is the happiest and most exciting time of my life. Every day is a brand new adventure and filled with joy. It is also the hardest thing I have ever done, and the saddest. We were teaching one of our investigators and she asked us if we ever get impatient or annoyed with those we teach. And our answer was no. And we really never do. The only thing that we feel is sadness. Sadness because we know for a surety what will help these people in their lives! It is not even a MIGHT. The gospel of Jesus Christ has the power and ability to change every life that it is permitted to enter! And we are terribly disappointed and saddened when people don't do it! It is so obvious! So clear! Why can't the people see it? Why aren't they just flocking to the font to be baptized? But that is the life of a missionary, and it involves tears and fervent prayers, just begging for God's help to make us what He needs us to be no matter how painful and to change the hearts of the people so that they can see and feel and know that what we are presenting to the world is Truth! Oh! Missions are great. I am jealous that all of you still have two years of missionary service ahead of you. Mine is dwindling far to quickly. If I could be a full time, set apart missionary forever, I wouldn't even think twice about it. I would do it in a heart beat. THAT IS HOW MICH I LOVE THE MISSION. The majority of this week has been spent traveling around the mission doing Zone Conferences with President Robinson. We are in Show Low at the moment, and it is about 30 degrees cooler than North Scottsdale where I call home. For Zone Conferences we have been discussing the road to conversion, and the starting point for that for our non-member investigators is keeping commitments. So me and Elder Bn have been training on Commitments, and we came up with this idea to give out two HUGE, delicious cupcakes to two people in each meeting. The first cupcake we would have Sister Robinson present on a Silver Platter with a fancy fork and napkins and a glass plate. The other second cupcake we just grab with our bare hands and smash it up all over the table and give them a kleenex as a plate after blowing our nose in it, and then pull a broken fork out of our sock and give it to them... And it has worked great! We used it to illustrate that it is not about the commitment (cupcake) that determines whether or not the investigators will want it. It is more about HOW we present that commitment (cupcake) that makes it desirable. It was a lot of fun. See you soon! I love you.

Elder Flake