02/03/17
This week was AMAZING! We saw so many wonderful miracles. Like actual MIRACLES, not just great blessings, but miracles.
Tuesday, we had an amazing experience early in the afternoon with a YOU man that we are teaching. He used to be atheist, but he has had some recent experiences with prayer and with God that he cannot deny. Some of his experiences were similar to Joseph Smiths, so we told him about Joseph Smith and he is beginning to believe. The member we brought has had an incredibly hard past with using HARD drugs. But he is coming back! And he shared such a sweet and sure experience about he knew that God lived and that Jesus was the Christ and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. Then, we headed up early to the Mountains, so that we could avoid the icy road conditions. We would get up there around 6, so we thought about and prayed about a companionship that Elder B and I could go on exchanges with. We narrowed it down to two companionships: a companionship that was on a reservation in a place called Cibeque (about an hour South of Show Low) and a companionship on the North side of Snowflake (they live in the massive castle of a house right below the temple with the B family... like feet away from the temple itself if you remember that house... its huge). Anyways, we called President Robinson about it and also to talk over some other mission matters because he is always EXCEEDINGLY inspired, and he told us to go proselyte with the Snowflake elders. So we went to snowflake! And this is where another miracle kicks in! We got to Snowflake and Elder B and M and Brother K went together, and I went with Elder Fr, a newer missionary, to a young man's house. He is going through a little trouble in his marriage, and was really struggling. But early this morning, he felt that he should reach out to those Mormon missionaries that he had been avoiding. So, he texted Elder Fr and M just as we were deciding to go and spend the evening with them. Coincidence? We got to his house, and started talking... we connected almost instantly. They had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation, so we started with a prayer and started unfolding the great Plan of Happiness to him. There was a powerful spirit upon us all as we began to discuss the things of God. We talked about our purpose in life. And the joy that is a key part of our purpose here. We told him and testified with all of our hearts that God wanted him to be happy. And that he could and would if he would just follow God! I started crying! That doesn't usually happen these days! But it was powerful. We all felt it. I felt strongly to invite him to be baptized. So that is what I did! He agreed with all is heart and new that it was right and that our message was true. I felt bad, because I kind of took over the lesson... but I felt personally responsible to be a messenger of God's love and care to that man at that time. He is getting baptized soon. And that was the only thing I did while I was there. Taught him, and then left to Show Low for my exchanges with the Zone Leaders. It is amazing how God will often send us at great lengths for just one of His children. It is all about the one. Hopefully, we fired those Snowflake missionaries up! That is the first person that they've had with a baptismal date in over 6 months.
Exchanges were Phenomenal and Powerful Spiritual Experiences... that I don't have time to wright about at this point...
We got back from the White Mountains Friday Afternoon, Reported to President Robinson on our exchanges, and then headed to a dinner we had with some of our recent converts that just got baptized. About halfway through dinner, one of their friends showed up... not a Mormon one... and so we got to talking to her, and of course shared with her the message of the restoration and the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the Whole Package! It was epic! She had no idea what was coming when she showed up for dinner. It was a powerful lesson. The spirit was there as we recounted Joseph Smith's first vision, and bore witness of his experience and of Christ's church being reestablished on the earth. We told her that she didn't have to and couldn't just believe our words. We told her to part all the bad that she has heard about the church as well as all the good and just read the Book of Mormon and take the matter to God through prayer. It was pretty amazing to also see the recent converts give their witnesses that our message was true, even when we taught the same thing t them a few months prior. This is God's work. The nonmember friend was pretty shaken up... she felt it. And I think that it rather terrified her that what we had told her was true. She was convinced. Now she must act or turn against the spirit which she has felt. From their we went to our brother W, the fellow that I told you last week that we coincidentally met when we were trying to meet with the Chinese golfer guy, and he was going to get his apples and bananas from his car. Yeah him. It. Was. AMAZING. We again shared the message of the restoration and he was even more prepared than the girl we met with at dinner. He listened so intently to every word that came out of our mouths. He was so focused and so feeling it, that he would just smile and talk about how he knew that what we were saying was true. He was feeling it so much that as soon as we said the first couple words of the first vision. He said "STOP! Does anyone else feel that? Wow! Do you guys feel that?!? I've got goosebumps like ALL OVER!" We told him to just wait until we told him the next part... we proceeded and he just started crying uncontrollably. We asked him what he thought and how he was feeling, and he said that he knew it was true. He THAT it was true. So, we told him briefly about the Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized and he's getting baptized latter this month. It was wild. I wish that you could just feel the power of the spirit and the energy and the feelings of the purest most powerful joy! That is why I am being SO PERSISTENT AND ADAMANT about you all doing a little bit missionary work. No price is to much to pay for the joy and the spirit that I promise you that you will feel. It is unparalleled.
This week was AMAZING! We saw so many wonderful miracles. Like actual MIRACLES, not just great blessings, but miracles.
Tuesday, we had an amazing experience early in the afternoon with a YOU man that we are teaching. He used to be atheist, but he has had some recent experiences with prayer and with God that he cannot deny. Some of his experiences were similar to Joseph Smiths, so we told him about Joseph Smith and he is beginning to believe. The member we brought has had an incredibly hard past with using HARD drugs. But he is coming back! And he shared such a sweet and sure experience about he knew that God lived and that Jesus was the Christ and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. Then, we headed up early to the Mountains, so that we could avoid the icy road conditions. We would get up there around 6, so we thought about and prayed about a companionship that Elder B and I could go on exchanges with. We narrowed it down to two companionships: a companionship that was on a reservation in a place called Cibeque (about an hour South of Show Low) and a companionship on the North side of Snowflake (they live in the massive castle of a house right below the temple with the B family... like feet away from the temple itself if you remember that house... its huge). Anyways, we called President Robinson about it and also to talk over some other mission matters because he is always EXCEEDINGLY inspired, and he told us to go proselyte with the Snowflake elders. So we went to snowflake! And this is where another miracle kicks in! We got to Snowflake and Elder B and M and Brother K went together, and I went with Elder Fr, a newer missionary, to a young man's house. He is going through a little trouble in his marriage, and was really struggling. But early this morning, he felt that he should reach out to those Mormon missionaries that he had been avoiding. So, he texted Elder Fr and M just as we were deciding to go and spend the evening with them. Coincidence? We got to his house, and started talking... we connected almost instantly. They had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation, so we started with a prayer and started unfolding the great Plan of Happiness to him. There was a powerful spirit upon us all as we began to discuss the things of God. We talked about our purpose in life. And the joy that is a key part of our purpose here. We told him and testified with all of our hearts that God wanted him to be happy. And that he could and would if he would just follow God! I started crying! That doesn't usually happen these days! But it was powerful. We all felt it. I felt strongly to invite him to be baptized. So that is what I did! He agreed with all is heart and new that it was right and that our message was true. I felt bad, because I kind of took over the lesson... but I felt personally responsible to be a messenger of God's love and care to that man at that time. He is getting baptized soon. And that was the only thing I did while I was there. Taught him, and then left to Show Low for my exchanges with the Zone Leaders. It is amazing how God will often send us at great lengths for just one of His children. It is all about the one. Hopefully, we fired those Snowflake missionaries up! That is the first person that they've had with a baptismal date in over 6 months.
Exchanges were Phenomenal and Powerful Spiritual Experiences... that I don't have time to wright about at this point...
We got back from the White Mountains Friday Afternoon, Reported to President Robinson on our exchanges, and then headed to a dinner we had with some of our recent converts that just got baptized. About halfway through dinner, one of their friends showed up... not a Mormon one... and so we got to talking to her, and of course shared with her the message of the restoration and the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the Whole Package! It was epic! She had no idea what was coming when she showed up for dinner. It was a powerful lesson. The spirit was there as we recounted Joseph Smith's first vision, and bore witness of his experience and of Christ's church being reestablished on the earth. We told her that she didn't have to and couldn't just believe our words. We told her to part all the bad that she has heard about the church as well as all the good and just read the Book of Mormon and take the matter to God through prayer. It was pretty amazing to also see the recent converts give their witnesses that our message was true, even when we taught the same thing t them a few months prior. This is God's work. The nonmember friend was pretty shaken up... she felt it. And I think that it rather terrified her that what we had told her was true. She was convinced. Now she must act or turn against the spirit which she has felt. From their we went to our brother W, the fellow that I told you last week that we coincidentally met when we were trying to meet with the Chinese golfer guy, and he was going to get his apples and bananas from his car. Yeah him. It. Was. AMAZING. We again shared the message of the restoration and he was even more prepared than the girl we met with at dinner. He listened so intently to every word that came out of our mouths. He was so focused and so feeling it, that he would just smile and talk about how he knew that what we were saying was true. He was feeling it so much that as soon as we said the first couple words of the first vision. He said "STOP! Does anyone else feel that? Wow! Do you guys feel that?!? I've got goosebumps like ALL OVER!" We told him to just wait until we told him the next part... we proceeded and he just started crying uncontrollably. We asked him what he thought and how he was feeling, and he said that he knew it was true. He THAT it was true. So, we told him briefly about the Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized and he's getting baptized latter this month. It was wild. I wish that you could just feel the power of the spirit and the energy and the feelings of the purest most powerful joy! That is why I am being SO PERSISTENT AND ADAMANT about you all doing a little bit missionary work. No price is to much to pay for the joy and the spirit that I promise you that you will feel. It is unparalleled.
This is W, he came to church for the first time yesterday... and Bare HIS TESTIMONY! It was so solid! (He is also a Two-time All American 400 hurdler, plays college football)
All these wonderful experiences will never be forgotten, and there are so many more that I can't even begin to tell you about, but the most touching experience that I had this week happened Saturday night down in Tempe. We had planned hay day to go by some members and ask them who they knew that were YSA Aged individuals. And we planned to go by and ask this specific person. We had also texted President Rice, the Elders Quorum President, to see if here was anyone that had been on his mind, that he wanted us to see and strengthen. He just "happened" to say the exact same person that we had already planned to go by. Coincidence? We then made special arrangements to insure that we saw him that night. And see him we did. He answered the door, and we had a nice little chat. He was a return missionary of a couple of years from Argentina, and he was at the point where he did not necessarily believe in a God. He said that you couldn't know... no body really knew... it's impossible he would say. I told him that he did know. He restated that he didn't. We asked to come in. We saw his place... and all the drugs and alcohol and the bong sitting on the table. He had a 3 D printer. We again approached the subject of his mission. He rejected the thought of any feelings that he ever had about the church being true. We then waxed bold, and bore powerful testimony of what we had come to know was true. We told him how great things the Lord had in store for him if he would just be faithful. We invited him to church. We had a prayer, and then we left him standing there speechless. On Sunday, I didn't feel that I adequately told him and expressed what I knew to be true. So, Yesterday, I stood up in fast and testimony and proclaimed the things that I did know. And I said that I prayed that our friend could hear me from wherever he was. There are many things in the Gospel that I still only believe, but there are certain things that I know for certain. I know that we have a loving and perfect Father in Heaven. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. I know that He died for us, with no other motive than that of Pure and Powerful Love. I know that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw, and that the church of Jesus Christ was, indeed restored to the earth. The Book of Mormon contains pure and untainted truth. You can strengthen your relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ through that book over any other book in which I know. These things I know. And I will always defend that assertion. God lives. I just know it.
I love you. I pray for you all daily. You are being watched over and cared for. I am sure. Try to see how. Look for God's hand in your life every day.
Elder Flake
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