5/8/2017

The best problem ever that I was referring to is the fact that our Zone this month has too many baptisms! The Zone that we cover covers an entire stake. And the Stake only has one Baptismal font. This hasn't been a problem in the past because in the past several years this zone has averaged 3 or so baptisms a month. Not any more! The tide has changed! It is amazing the influence of faith has on a Zone. Our Zone is in fire. We are all so close and experiencing miracles frequently. So this month we are planning on having 20 baptisms and the majority of those fall on May 27th, so we're kind of scrambling to find other water sources nearby. That, my friends, is the best problem ever. 

Elder Flake

Dearest Family,

What an absolutely overwhelmingly wonderful and miraculous week! And
I'm not even exaggerating. It was that good. They are all that good. I
have loved every, single day of the mission. I wouldn't trade these
years for anything. Ever.

God moved us mightily to accomplish some pretty impossible feats. We
found out that our drug dealing friend had relapsed, so we went after
him and found him and shared a strong spiritual experience with him,
so strong that he was interviewed by President Robinson yesterday and
he put some things in motion so that he will be baptized on the 27th
of May. There is also a Navajo Native American Sister that has had
just phenomenal experiences with the Book of Mormon lately and is so
excited to be baptized, but she was going out of town to California
again... but we weren't going to let it get in the way again. So we
set up some skype lessons, got the Missionaries numbers over there,
found church buildings, and called her every night. But the most
important thing that we did was prayed. And guess what, on Sunday she
ended up back in Phoenix. She'll be baptized in a couple of weeks.
God's work is hastening! There is a girl named Nicole that is getting
baptized soon as well, she came to church yesterday for the second
time and got up and bore a sweet and powerful testimony that shocked
the Ward and got them so fired up to do missionary work that our Ward
is practically exploding! The passion and missionary spirit is so
strong! I wish you could feel it!!! It feels so great! There are so
many others. The Lord is hastening his work, and we have such a
complete honor to be a part of it. What a beautiful world. Some times
I feel so happy that I feel like I am going to explode. My little
heart can't handle the goodness of God sometimes!

We are super involved Zone Leaders, so we make sure that we go on lots
of exchanges with everyone in our Zone. Usually, Zone Leaders only go
with District Leaders, but we've got a high baptismal Goal to reach!
So this week I went to Vía Verde Ward with Elder Se. It is an all
Spanish area. It was fantastic! We had so much success just talking to
everyone and being beacons of light and rays of sunshine in some of
the darkest, grossest parts of Phoenix. We taught a wonderfully humble
and prepared Family of 4 the Plan of Salvation and invited them to be
baptized. They all agreed! It was a tender moment. They are
sacrificing a lot in every way to be able to join this church. May God
bless them.