Dearest Family,                                            5/16/16

This one will be a short one, but it'll be a good one! So this last week was CRAZY! Monday and Tuesday we planned with President Sweeney for his LAST Zone Conference of all time and then taught LOTS of really good lessons. We taught a sister on Monday that wanted to get baptized the following Saturday, so...... We taught her, basically, every, single day! Except Tuesday, after dinner, we had to do our mountain exchanges, so I drove up and stayed in Cave Creek and Elder H stayed in Show Low. It was great! It is soooooo peaceful up in those mountains. Even when one of the missionaries I was with wrecks our car! The next night I went to stay with the Zone Leaders in Snowflake, it was awesome. It really is a nice little town, and the missionary work there is very good as well! Elder H went to the Apache reservation that night. Next transfer, we will switch areas we go to. Should be fun! While we were gone, we had some members teach the sister that wanted to be baptized. We just told them what they needed to teach! It was great! We got home in the middle of Friday and then taught many CHILDREN OF GOD about who they are and where they came from! Oh! It is wonderful. Then, Saturday, we had an awesome Baptism! It was so powerful! We had a baptismal interview that went very bad, and we had to fix it up, but it turned out alright. Then, Saturday night, we went to Central Phoenix so that elder s and elder H could go to the temple with their recent convert. I was going to go as well, but I thought it best to stay. So I stayed and taught a family... I.... And she FINALLY AGREED TO BE BAPTIZED! The other elders were about to drop them! But now she is getting baptized! It was a powerful experience. Sunday was fun, a lot of meetings and church, but still good.

The word of wisdom has been a rather large part of my life lately. We taught one of our investigators who is getting baptized this Saturday the Word of Wisdom, and he decided to take it to the next level... So now, he comes t work out with us every morning WITH THIS EX-MARINE PERSONAL TRAINER GUY! His name is V and he is pretty brutal on us missionaries. There is usually someone throwing up! Also, I was convinced by some other missionaries to do a sugar fast. So I no longer eat sugar. Apparently, it is supposed to give me some more energy! We shall see. 

This week I have been particularly sensitive to the hand of Heavenly Father working in my life. It is unbelievable how much he is actually doing here. I know, and I hope you can feel my sincerity, but I KNOW that He really does live. And more than that I KNOW that He answers my prayers... EVERY. SINGLE. PRAYER. I JUST KNOW IT. We have solid baptisms scheduled for basically every week for the next two months... And most of them had been being prepared for YEARS. But I remember, years before I even started my mission, crying unto God late at night and just begging for him to prepare people then to here the gospel when I became a missionary. And I have seen it. How could it not get more obvious than that. All my companions claim that I am a man of miracles and that they never saw so many miracles on their missions... And I do see many... But it is not because of me... Honestly... All it is, is a Loving Heavenly Father answering a young mans prayer years before combined with the ones we pray in the present. I see so many answered prayers. I was driving home one day, and I was just completely overwhelmed with what the Lord has done with us missionaries and what He has done with meager tools like myself. I was completely overwhelmed by what has been accomplished in the past. It was stunning. I cried and cried because of the hand of the Lord working so intensely and tirelessly in the lives of others. It is unbelievable. I am grateful beyond words. God lives. He really does. It becomes obvious if we just open our eyes. I will never deny His existence or His love. I cannot and will not be swayed. Ever. I am past discussion. Past argument. Past persuasion. I. KNOW. HE. LIVES. AND I WILL GIVE MY ALL TO LET THE WORLD KNOW THE SAME. This IS HIS CHURCH! This is His gospel. If we could all just remember... And one day we all will. I love you all. Be good. Trust in God. Talk to Him ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. He will talk back. I promise.

Elder Flake

Hi                              5/4/16

 I am doing good and I am really REALLY HAPPY!..... and pretty tired too! These past couple of days we have waken up at four or five. To take missionaries to the airport, to pick missionaries up, and to train them! Fun stuff. My new companion was Elder S and Elder H for a week, but now it is just Elder H. He is a ripped missionary. Quite the athlete. He was a personal trainer before the mission. He lives on a island just off the coast of Seattle. . Tracking doesn't really work here... Castles tend to have actual guards and twenty foot tall gates and walls... So we work through members and service and referrals and all that good stuff.... And we are having LOTS of success! We up just had three baptisms... Sort of... And lots more this month. 

Love you

Dear Friends                                         4/27/16

THAT IS AWESOME THAT ALISHA GOT BAPTIZED! That is so beautiful. So... Let me share with you the miracle of That White Dress: Tuesday, I was on a 24 hour exchange with a missionary in his area and he had a service project planned for Tuesday morning, but we had a lot of studies and I had some French meetings later that day, so I asked him to reschedule. There were some other elders that were going to go, but then things happened to line up where we felt that we should go and the other elders thought we should go, so we went. At the service project, we helped an investigator who was moving just down the street. We helped her move some random things and hang some doors and prune some trees and stuff and then just randomly she brings out this beautiful white dress and hands it to me and then walks away. It was crazy. The white dress was the only thing that she gave to anyone that day, and it was just so random and spontaneous from this random, single old lady. And it is amazing that it was right in time to send home and it was just the rift size... I'm assuming... Another cool part was that this happened on a Tuesday so I couldn't email mom to tell her not to actually buy a dress. Sooooo.... Instead of being disobedient, I just prayed that mom would feel impressed to not buy anything and it must have worked! It was a tender mercy for me, because I was pretty sad I wasn't going to be there for Alisha's baptism... The only one of my siblings I will not see, and Our Heavenly Father showed  m a wonderfully simple Miracle. 

Alright, I was transferred. And I was transferred a week early, because I have new responsibilities. Elder B is flying solo in central Phoenix for this week! Alas, six months in the heart of Phoenix are gone. I cannot believe how the time has flown by. At this rite I will be home in no time. It is frightening how quickly the time is passing. I will work harder and be more focused, so that I can sacrifice my whole will to my Father in Heaven. The opportunity that a mission gives to actually do that is unparalleled. What an honor it is. I love my mission with all that I am. Words alone cannot describe the change in who I am that has taken place. This time has served as a severe refiner's fire for me. It has purged so much bad and weakness from me, and the purifying continues. In fact, with the recent changes and responsibilities, the heat has only intensified. The last few days in Phoenix were emotional. We didn't make any visits. We taught and testified until the end, there are several large families that will be baptized in the following month. 

The new area I cover is the wealthiest area in Arizona, and probably one of the wealthiest in the nation. I now cover Fountain Hills and North Scottsdale. As well as the rest of Scottsdale. I will fill you in on some more details on Mother's Day. 

God lives. I know it. He really does answer prayers. I know that because He answers mine. He is always there. He supports you through everything. He helps you do things you never imagined were even possible. Even miracles. I love you all so dearly, keep on pressing on. There are ALWAYS good things to come. 

Elder Flake

Hello                                                           4/18/16
Alright, so this week was probably the craziest and wildest week of my
entire mission. So much happened and looking back, I don't know how we
would do it all, even if we had a month, and it happened in a week. So
Monday, we officially started what I call "prime time" in the zone.
Which is an hour of contacting. Either at the fair or knocking houses
or whatever it may be to find people between the "prime" hours of six
and eight. At first people didn't like it, but we have seen miracles
upon miracles. I am just about to compound a report to president
Sweeney about it. He wants to apply it to the whole mission at least
the part in the valley. So we have been finding very good and very
prepared individuals from that. We also taught William Brewer, and
that was good! On Tuesday I had exchanges, with the, one and only,
ELDER S! It was awesome. Exchanges are when the leader above you
spends 24 hours in your area to evaluate and help you grow. If you are
a normal companionship, then your district leader goes on an exchange
with you. If you are a district leader, then your zone leader goes on
an exchange with you. If you are a zone leader than your assistants to
the president go on an exchange with you. And the assistants don't get
exchanges. Maybe president S does exchanges for them. And Elder
S is an assistant! So I got to be companions with Elder S
for a moment! We had some good stuff! We taught a sister with M
and she is reading the Book of Mormon... Because she doesn't have much
else to do. We will get her baptized as soon as she is better! Then
from there I went  straight to the area of one of the district
leaders to do an exchange with them. It was pretty cool. We had an
awesome day! Like all of their appointments fell through so we just
talked to A TON of people! It was pretty sweet! We had some good
miracles. And an awesome lesson with a Spanish girl. the member that
helped us out was an excommunicated member who got baptized the day
before. It was pretty sweet. He was a convert and then got
excommunicated, but his testimony was so strong that he stuck through
for years until he got baptized again. That is faith and dedication.
Thursday, we went to the Mesa Temple and watched JSPR with one of our
investigators. Elder B likes to have fun so I let him ride the
train back to Phoenix, and he contacted a dozen or so people on the
ride back. Friday was fun. We planned and then went and taught French
People! It was awesome! They are getting baptized. This one guy was
speaking creole, which is a mix of French, Spanish, and English... So
it messed with my mind a little bit, but I could understand. We then
taught J, who is a new guy we found who is so hungry and ready for
the gospel. He says that his soul has been searching for so long and
nothing until now! He is so happy and grateful. He can't hold it in.
He is getting baptized. Saturday, we cleaned Rl's apartment. They
are the family from the Congo. They have about 15 kids... And a tiny
apartment. 9 kids sleep in the same little bed. So we cleaned their
place... . But great night! God lives! Sunday
was really good! I love the little Spanish branch so much. If you want
to see some latter day SAINTS go there.

I love you! You are the best. Keep smiling. Keep going! Life is great!

Elder Flake

Dearest Family,                                              4/11/16

I am still in downtown Phoenix. It is quite a party. Still lots of surprises and interesting people, and amazing people. My companion is not a zone leader. We have a split companionship zone leadership. My Zone Leader Companion is Elder A... Here is a picture of him... He. Is. Awesome. And a spiritual powerhouse. He was the old Assistant with my trainer Elder S. He is the Samoan . He is now a zone leader with me. He is going to an Ivy League: Dartmouth. To play football. He is so good. I am learning A TON from him

 We have been tracking down Africans who speak French and we recently ran into an Olympic runner. He is pretty cool. He is a GREAT man. I want to be half the man he is becoming. Yeah, I just interviewed a family of five, 

This week was filled with so many good things! We went French finding with Sister C and Sister P. We had just started, and we were driving down the road, when, all of a sudden, I saw a black man ( not being racist, those are the ones that speak French ). I screamed SSSSTTTOOOOOPPP! And Elder b and I dived out of the car and ran after this guy... Kind of stalkerish I know, but we run up to him and I'm like: parlez-vous français? And he was like: oui oui! So we found another French man. There are tuns of miracles like that. Maybe I really will start taking pictures of my journals! I love you! Y'all are awesome!

Elder Flake

Dearest Family,                                                                                  4/4/16

I am glad that you are feeling better. You can post whatever you would like to my dear mother. So there are about 6.5 Zones in the mission with about 180 missionaries. The best way that I can describe a zone leader is basically, I am a missionary for missionaries. My goal is to further help, inspire, encourage, motivate, discipline, and love all the missionaries in this rather large area. Are job is to help convert missionaries so that the missionaries can convert the world! There are some other responsibilities that include paper work and meetings, but the true spirit of mission leadership is to uplift and inspire. We go on exchanges with district leaders throughout the entire mission, but also struggling missionaries. You work a lot harder. You usually get home around ten, and you get up a little earlier. In the area we are working there are thousands of refugees. As for training and zone leader... who knows? It is completely up to president!  Ponytails? Give them a day down here! That is the style all our homeless friends wear. They would scare them away from long hair for good!  General Conference was so nice. It was such a sweet experience. Those men are men of God. No doubt. Not even one. Oh, what a relief that God is real and that He is guiding and leading all of us. Everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences. There are no surprises for Him. All is planned. He is in control of all. I will continue to work as hard as I am physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually able. You all are my world! 

Elder Flake