Hello dear family!

Ok I'm trying not to cry right now. i just looked at the reunion pictures and i just want all you Flakes to know how much I love you! And why are you all so tall....and im still short? HOly Cow looks like you all had lots of fun and ya'll better go to the reunion next year too because i miss you lots. Now you can all write me a letter and tell me how much you missed me! Haha just kidding.... Kind of.
Well another inspiring week. Our new ward mission leader is helping us get some good stuff happening here. We started volley ball at the beach on thursday nights. we had a good turn out, despite the rain. And we are starting the stop-smoking workshop at the church on wed. nights. Its a great way to get people in the church and also a really non-pressured way to contact people. People are more likely to talk to us when we ask them if they "know anyone who wants to quit smoking?" instead of "what do you think is the purpose of life?" Plus it helps people to see that we are trying to help in the community and people seem to like that. By the way the word religion is practically a swear word here. We hear this daily "Dont you know more wars are started by religion then in any other way?" Yeah....try getting around that. Peace, love, and Harmony!
But i do love these earth-loving, meditating, good-energied people here in Kelowna. I think that if i didnt have the gospel I would also be doing yoga in the park, backpacking across the country, and cherry-picking during the summer to to sustain me for the rest of the year, not to mention dread locks. Seriously.
Well Katie got baptised down in the states this week. And Tiffany Terry recieved the Holy Ghost at church. Lately we have been helping the members learn to seek personal revelation in their missionary efforts. We have been applying this ourselves in the work and have been seeing many more tender mercies of the Lord as we let HIm lead us. Im very happy to know the true nature of God. To be able to have a relationship with the Father of my spirit and with my Saviour and ultimate example Jesus Christ. Im doing this for Him. For any other reason, i promise i would not have made it this far with out going home. I love Him and want to obey Him for the rest of my life. I love this gospel, it means everything to me. Im happy to stand up for my Lord and teach about Him to all who will listen.

More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=danflake&target=ALBUM&id=5362613215355316209&authkey=Gv1sRgCMTO7IHc07-dDA&feat=email

I love you all ! Love, sister flake

July 20, 2009 Email

Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 3:40 PM

Hello people that i love! not much time but i just want to say that the gospel changes lives. we have had a few random phone calls from investigators this week just to tell us that they always feel so good after we leave thier home..... One sweet women, Jewls, told us that her husband, allthough hes heard lots of bad about mormons, likes us to come over because he said Jewls always seems brighter after we leave. And the same women called us to tell us that indeed repentence does work....she says " last night after i repented i slept better then i ever have and the next day i felt calm all day." wow isnt the gospel great? And Jesse when we found him had no belief in God, or Christ, but after being taught the Gospel says he looks forward to praying before bed...he says" i sleep better and feel happier"....and just yesterday we watched Finding Faith in Christ and he told us he feels like Chirst is his friend....... He never understood the whole christian thing...... but when he saw the emotion we had attached to the Saviour he says its easier for him to beieve. I know the gospel is true! i know it with all my heart! The cause of truth is worth everything we have! I love you !

Love, sister flake

July 13 Email

Dear Family,
I have the faintest memory of writing last week. I'm not sure if i did,but i thought i did. I know that i wouldn't intentionally not write to my family. I might be losing my mind. But don't be worried. I'm sure ill find it soon. Well, first off....i thought i wrote this last week...but i guess i didn't.....Katie's getting baptised in Salt Lake on the 21st if anyone is around that day. Her future father in law is baptising her, thats why they are doing it down there. This week things have been taking off with member work. We found a less active women who wants her non member sister to take the lessons, and a young girl in the ward who wants her boyfriend to take lessons. so things are going great. One of our Jamaican friends, Nigel, came to church yesterday and was really eating it up. Tiffany Terry was baptised last night and her mom who has not been to church in years came and made an instant best friend with another Filipino women at church so now she wants to come every week. And they spent the time after church making Philipino food for the baptism together. Yumm. Frinedshipping is so important! Also Mauro has been 80 days alcohol free and we did a special fast with him so that he can get off the cigarettes. He wants to be baptised on the16 of August. We are so proud of him! There is a family in the ward thathas been inviting him over for all kinds of things... so again its themembers that fellowhip here that make all the difference....if it wasn't for them what we do as missionaries is almost useless... Be a friend......make a difference! Well the Sippels are taking us to the Tressels today. I guess its these old train tracks that are pretty cool that you can walk on and it takes you to all these beautiful views. I love nature so i am really excited. I will take some pictures. Maybe you can google it. Also i found a map at the library of all the cool places that you can hike and bike around here so when we all come back and visit we can hit up some trails. The Book of Mormon changes lives.... If yours needs changing then pickup the book and start reading. I testify that it is true. I know that it unlocks the mysteries of God and gives us the determination to live righteously. We need it. I could go off for days on the corruption of the world that i have seen out here. We must read the book. The world is on a path to a barbaric society where right is wrong and wrong is right. If we do not hold to the rod we have no promise. I love you all ! Stand up for whats right!
Love, sister flake

July 6, 2009 Email

Lindsey sent a big I Love You in the family email today. She did reply to her last companion, Sister Wong and to her Grandparents.:
Hello!Thanks for the email and i did get your letter! Mahalo! It was great! You made me get emotional. Im glad that your relatitionship is improving! I knew it would.....its just hard sometimes to get used to a new person and a new way of doing things... im not gonna lie i was pretty frusterated myself the first few weeks.....i have to communicate a total different way with sister stevens...im kind of figuring it out now. so things are getting way better! Heavenly Father wants us to learn all we can out here so he gives us these experiences to grow. Well i will find out Jasons address and birthday tonight and give it to you next week. Katie is getting baptised on the 21st in Salt Lake. Tiffanys getting baptised on the 12. And Dans getting baptised on the 18th. he quit smoking! So good job Sister Wong! and guess what? Mauro has not been drinking for two months and he quit smoking last week so we will see how hes doing on that! Whoo hoo! LOve you so much! I will tell Katie what you said. oh guess what? Keith, Eric, and Jason are all getting thier priesthood this month and Keith bore his testimony yesterday! It was so good! wow! I think about you always! love you!
Love, sister flake

Hello Grandma and Grandpa! I got your letter. Thankyou very much! It was great to hear from grandpa too! I love you both so much! What a fun trip you will have! I also heard that in France they dont like Americans. But they do love Canadians.... Someone told me that if you go there you should wear a Canada pin because they will treat you much nicer if they think you are from Canada! Ha ha! Well have a wonderful trip and take lots of pictures! Love, sister Flakep.s. my companion has a great attitude and a great capacity to love! She says she knows the Capners.

June 29, 2009 Email

Well Hello!
I'm an auntie! Holy Cow little Alexa is so beautiful! Thanks so much for sending the pictures. I kinda got emotional. You all look so happy and that makes me happy. She is so cute. Well I'm so glad that it all went so well! Congrats Steve and Danielle! Yippee! Oh and i forgot to thank you for the package last week mom. I'm so grateful for your support. My companions mom passed away when she was 13 years old...so she appreciates the support too. Thanks so much. I love you all so much!
Well things are going good here. We got the new ward mission leader that we have been praying for! He is on fire for the work so that just pumped us up a lot too.
The weather here is absolutely amazing and there are so many tourists around town. Its neat to meet people from all over the world. Today for Preparation Day we are going to play basketball with Keith. The 13 year old who was baptised last month. That will be fun! This week we spent most of our time tr acting down part-member families. Some our nice, some our rude, and some our crazy. So President asked us to concentrate on member work. So its been a little discouraging because i feel like were not working as hard cuz were not contacting or tracting every waking moment, and were not seeing much success at it right away......but president promised that it will work so we will keep going at it. People seem to be really afraid to share this with their friends...How can we help the ward members be missionaries? Any suggestions? Well anyway....I am grateful for the scriptures. They are a treasure in my heart. They help restore peace to my soul every time I feast on them. And I also like marking them.... its one of my only creative outlets. Ha ha! They are becoming very colorful. I think you can tell a lot about a person by the way they mark their scriptures...just a random thought that came to my head suddenly.
Well i have a lot to learn and i am trying very hard to be all that Heavenly Father wants me to be. I just want to please Him. I'm trying to be obedient as I can. I want to show the Lord how much I love Him. I know that we are all continually indebted to Him. How grateful I am for my Advocate with the Father, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my Freind.
Love, sister flake