11/7/16

Dear Family,

What an absolute adventure this week has been. So much has happened!
But I do want to hear from you! I never heard about Halloween! Tuesday
I was on an exchange with a very good Zone Leader, Elder J, on
the Salt River Reservation. We had a cool experience finding a Native
American sister who was in a very humbled position to hear the gospel.
I left Elder J with another missionary so that he could plan for
a Zone Training Meeting the following day. But, instead of waiting
around, Elder S (Elder Js' companion from Samoa) and I decided
to go out and find some one to share the gospel with! Now you have to
understand that Elder S is rather new and speaks very little
English, but he has powerful faith. We found the little native sister
really struggling. She had 4 children and no husband... she was about
28 years old and had little education. Her children are really sick
and one might die soon. He is 6. We taught of God's Plan of Happiness
for his children. Cool experience. The reservations out here are
comparable to third world countries... and some of them are just
minutes away from one of the wealthiest cities in the United States.
Wednesday, I was on exchanges with the Zone Leader in the Mexican part
of Mesa! At was so fun! We had so many good lessons and contacts in
Spanish! Thursday, I was on exchanges with two other Zone Leaders in a
part of our mission called Paradise Valley. It is a really nice part
of town!... most of it. We had so much success! We met a man named
Ma, and he has had a rough life. But we taught him that his Heavenly
Father loved him and he didn't just hear those words, but he felt
them. At that point he knew that our message was true and that Joseph
Smith was indeed a prophet of God. He agreed to be baptized on
Christmas Eve and confirmed on Christmas Day. This work is going
forward! There really are people searching and begging and thirsting
for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is so beautiful. Friday, I was back
with Elder B! We actually got to proselyte in our area! We had a
couple of really good lessons with some investigators. We taught the
guy from New York and the 1st Councilor in the Stake Presidencies...
our investigator was pretty amazed... I was too! This guys palace had
to have cost tens of millions of dollars. He went to Stanford and now
does something developing resorts and stuff. Anyways, it was pretty
cool... but I really don't want to be wealthy anymore... it just
really doesn't seem like the way to do it. Saturday, we were back on
exchanges. This time I went to a Zone Leaders area in North
Scottsdale! It was an interesting day! Towards the end of the night we
were just contacting referrals and potential investigators, but the
area is pretty large so it took about 15 minutes to get two and from
each destination, and most the time they weren't even home to receive
us! So, I just took one of their iPads and started calling all of the
potential investigators in their area, and so many people answered
there phones and wanted us to come by! Sunday was fun! We had a lot of
investigators come to church, and almost ALL of the testimonies
addressed precisely the concerns that our investigators had. It was
pretty neat! I love you all! Let me know if you have any questions! I
will gladly answer them. Have a great week!

Elder Flake