1/2/17

HAPPY NEW YEAR! GOOD MORNIN 2017!

I. Love. Missionary Work. I know I say that in every email, but I
really REALLY DO. WOW DO I LOVE IT. I have never ever participated in
something so epic and purposeful and joyful and fun in my entire life.
Mark. My. Words. I WILL ALWAYS BE A MISSIONARY. I will never stop.
Even when the badge comes off. I will never stop. I have tasted true
joy, how could I ever settle for anything less. And that is EXACTLY
WHY I so badly want you to participate in the way I have asked you to.
Because when you do, you will start to feel something powerful work
within your life. Priorities will align. Answers to the questions of
your soul will flow from heaven with greater ease. YOUR LIFE WILL
SIMPLIFY. And God will heal you. I promise it. Each and every one of
those blessings are true. It will happen. I have seen each one happen.
Try it. Prove God. But I was thinking that what I asked might kind of
be a big step to take. So, I want to invite you to do what Elder Oaks
invited us to do in this last conference: pray for a desire to want to
have a non-member taught by the missionaries in our home. Just pray
for a desire. It will come.

This week we had some great exchanges up in the White Mountains. We
were blessed with the capability to really inspire those Zone Leaders
up there, and it will carry to the rest of the missionaries in those
zones. I was in Snowflake and then Pinetop/Lakeside. We drove down the
Salt River Canyon on Thursday, planned for a big missionary meeting,
brought John to the Temple Christmas Lights and Visitor's Center and
then headed back up to Payson the next morning for our meeting. So
much work to be done! I love it.

12/20/16

12/19/16

Oh, I am happy! I am so very happy! Because of you! You all make me so
happy! It brings such powerful peace to my heart to hear how well you
all are all doing, and how extensively that you are using the Lord's
talents that He has entrusted in you. I promise you that your talents
will be multiplied. Because you can't help smiling in the service of
the Lord, even when everything is falling apart around you! And people
are rude and cruel and hate you for the name of the Master's name! Oh
it is such a privilege to be mocked for His name! I LOVE and embrace
every moment of it! It is pretty powerful, because in those depressing
moments I have occasionally felt the approval and support of My
Heavenly Father more than usual.

We had such a truly miraculous week! Sh was baptized! It
was a beautiful experience. So a little background on S. Her
brother, CJ, was baptized into the YSA Ward back in March. And a few
months ago, Sh decided to move from the south out here with her
brother... when she made that decision, she practically made the
decision to be baptized because her brother is so amazing. I love that
guy! Sh refers to him as "master Yoda," and he really is! For all
the lessons we invite him to, he sits cross legged on the floor, even
when there is a perfectly good couch or chair set before him! Not only
that, but every word that comes out of his mouth is so Profound and
Wise! You will have to meet him sometime! So we taught her and taught
her and taught her. We shared so many tender spiritual experiences
together as she continued on her spiritual journey. And yesterday she
joined the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. God is doing
His work! Israel is being gathered! It is actually happening! The
Savior is actually coming! Hallelujah! I'll send you her whole
conversion story some other time!

Family,   12/12/16

That show sounds AMAZING! I expect lots of pictures and videos!
Christmas shopping! I actually enjoyed doing that with you two years
ago!..... wow.... it has almost been two years! Where has all of that
time gone!?! I am sure that you are GREAT in the play. You put all the
Christmas Lights up again?!?!? That is awesome. I have very fond
memories of all those lights.

Zone Conferences this last week were great! We read the Book of Mormon
in about 60 days as a mission looking for the Doctrine of Christ, and
then we had a lot of good discussion about it. President Robinson is
still very inspired.

All IS well here. We had an amazing week. The pictures are pictures
with one of our investigators named Sh. She is GREAT! This is a
picture from her baptismal interview. The Elder on the far left is
Elder H. He is 7'2" and he is a sweetheart. He interviewed Sh.
I will give you her full conversion story next week after the baptism.
This weekend was Stake Conference, and Elder Southward of the seventy
joined our YSA Stake. It was EXCELLENT! He is from the south and has
the coolest southern drawl that I have ever heard. He was such a
Christlike and gentle man. He was a convert too! Actually, Elder Dale,
the housing coordinator of the Arizona Scottsdale Mission who I spend
A LOT OF TIME WITH, getting apartments and things for missionaries, is
the one that baptized Elder Southward. Pretty neat. Anyway, Elder
Southward and our Stake President visited Sh! And they used her
story in almost every single one of their talks at Stake Conference.
They tried visiting another one of our investigators as well! Usually
the stake president and visiting General Authority visit struggling
members in the wards, but we are having so much missionary success in
our Ward that they actually visited our investigators. It was pretty
touching. Elder Southward took us aside on multiple occasions and told
us how well we were doing and how much we were loved. It was touching.
And the crazy thing about it is that it really isn't us doing all this
work. It is God preparing individuals to receive us. It really is. I
am not just saying that to sound humble. All the success that we have
had is because of the work of the Lord in the hearts of His children
through His Holy Spirit is is not our work.

Elder Flake