Thanks for the updates Family! Sounds like the weather is great down there. Its warming up here and people are a lot more happy....including us :)
Well we had really neat experiences this week finding people to teach....i love talking....you may have already known that....but i know that we really surprise almost everyone that happens to walk on the same street as us because we greet them with huge smiles and just talk to them as if they were our brothers and sisters...oh wait...they are....anyway lots of people have really surprised looks on their faces when we start talking to them. And then we have wonderful conversation and i am just having the most fun time talking to all these people. and I'm learning so much about culture, religion, philosophy, communication, and even drugs. haha! yeah and all in the same conversation haha! so its like college only interactive learning!
anyway.... i have to buy new tennis shoes today because last week we started jogging for exercise and i got really bad shin splints because my tennis shoes lost their cushion. Oh and something funny...i found out from Sister Nelson that i am the richest missionary in our mission! Yeah she actually told me its a big problem and that i need to start spending the money in my account...haha! I guess i really did learn something in young women's and relief society about being frugal. its such a funny word....
anyway i have to tell you about these Filipino's that we tracted into a few days ago. we started tracting their complex early in the afternoon but decided that contacting would be better cuz no one was home.....so that night we came back to tract that complex and the second door we knocked on Rochee from the Philippines opened the door and invited us in!!!!!!! holey moley! and so we started sharing the restoration with him and this other women who lives there and guess what he said? " i knew that i was supposed to let you in when i saw you at the door....i can tell you are messengers from God." The spirit was so strong.......we will teach them this week......this is something that has never happened to me before and i was beginning to think it only happens on foreign missions. But i guess they are foreign so maybe that's why...they are so humble and kind! wow! and also we are teaching Javone from Jamaica who is also very humble. But Dima from Russia is not so humble....anyway....its so neat to be teaching so many different people. well anyway i am so grateful for the gospel. It is so true and it makes me so happy. i love you all! Keep up the good work!
love sister flake
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter Letter April 13, 2009
Hello family!
Hope you had a happy Easter. Guess what? We went to a member’s house for dinner on Easter and they made the same dinner you always make mom! Ham, potatoes, homemade buns (Canadian for rolls), and even angel food cake! Can you believe it? So that was nice and yes I got the wonderful Easter package on Saturday. It brought us great joy. Especially that little squiggle pink thing. Funny! Oh and those shirts are so cute thank you. And that’s too bad about grandma’s package....but I wouldn’t want too many packages at once anyway:) So thank you for making sure that I feel love and support.
Well we volunteered for the community on Good Friday for their annual pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt. The Victory Life church put it on. There were thousands of people there and it was so fun to help out the little children. I got to stamp hands. and it was a beautiful spring day. My only complaint is that the music was Christian rap which I think is an oxymoron. Yeah I felt that it was disrespectful and we were not the only Christians who felt that way. Other volunteers agreed with us. Anyway we handed out a few pass along cards while we were at it. Also we saw this drama about Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. It was kind of like interpretive dance celebrating the resurrection. and to tell you the truth because of the rock music and the interesting interpretation of Satan I actually felt a total absence of the spirit.....it actually really affected me....probably more so because I appreciate the art of dance so much.....anyway....I just felt even more so the importance of having the whole restored gospel with the Holy Ghost to back it up. We go to church to keep covenants and not to be entertained. The Lords church and organization is perfect and does not change. Even as the world changes and new things become popular our beliefs, doctrine, and worship will remain the same! Have you ever realized what a great blessing that is?
Anyway....we are continually finding many new investigators and now have great member fellow shippers to help. It makes a huge difference! We finally have some people progressing! Keeping their commitments! Yea! I will give you more details next week! Thank you for all you do! Love you so much!
Love sister flake
Hope you had a happy Easter. Guess what? We went to a member’s house for dinner on Easter and they made the same dinner you always make mom! Ham, potatoes, homemade buns (Canadian for rolls), and even angel food cake! Can you believe it? So that was nice and yes I got the wonderful Easter package on Saturday. It brought us great joy. Especially that little squiggle pink thing. Funny! Oh and those shirts are so cute thank you. And that’s too bad about grandma’s package....but I wouldn’t want too many packages at once anyway:) So thank you for making sure that I feel love and support.
Well we volunteered for the community on Good Friday for their annual pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt. The Victory Life church put it on. There were thousands of people there and it was so fun to help out the little children. I got to stamp hands. and it was a beautiful spring day. My only complaint is that the music was Christian rap which I think is an oxymoron. Yeah I felt that it was disrespectful and we were not the only Christians who felt that way. Other volunteers agreed with us. Anyway we handed out a few pass along cards while we were at it. Also we saw this drama about Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. It was kind of like interpretive dance celebrating the resurrection. and to tell you the truth because of the rock music and the interesting interpretation of Satan I actually felt a total absence of the spirit.....it actually really affected me....probably more so because I appreciate the art of dance so much.....anyway....I just felt even more so the importance of having the whole restored gospel with the Holy Ghost to back it up. We go to church to keep covenants and not to be entertained. The Lords church and organization is perfect and does not change. Even as the world changes and new things become popular our beliefs, doctrine, and worship will remain the same! Have you ever realized what a great blessing that is?
Anyway....we are continually finding many new investigators and now have great member fellow shippers to help. It makes a huge difference! We finally have some people progressing! Keeping their commitments! Yea! I will give you more details next week! Thank you for all you do! Love you so much!
Love sister flake
Monday, April 6, 2009
April 6 Email
Thank you all for your love and support and prayers. Sister Wong and i have been truly blessed! Its been an amazing week. The Lord is helping us do hard things.This week we had two people at the food bank with the desire to learn about our church. So we already met with one, and the other we will meet with this week. So far so good. The stronger our faith and confidence in the Lord the more He just places people in our path. Its so neat to see. Tracting has really been paying off for us as we received four new investigators again this week! Wow the Lord is so wonderful! Well we have still been helping that single woman with the seven kids. This week we painted her basement. It was fun and we have built a relationship with her six young sons. I love going there cuz they remind me so much of my little bros. They would make such good Mormon boys. I wish that Dawson and Andrew could come out here and fellowship them. Well the great thing is that the mom fed us dinner and told us that one of these days we should just come over to talk and not to work.....so that is a great opportunity that we have been praying for. I will keep you updated!
Anyway i really loved conference! Holy cow did anyone else feel that wave of the spirit when the choir was singing "We thank thee oh God for a Prophet" and they started showing the pictures...wow the spirit was incredible. and it answered a question for me for an investigator that i will share with him this week. His name is Dima and he is from Russia. anyway he is all philosophical and was suggesting that an answered prayer or feeling the spirit just comes because you want it to and attract that feeling into your life....but its not a real answer...blah blah blah...etc... anyway i thought about it and could not come up with a way to explain it..... but while in conference and the song was being sung i was just sitting there listening to the beautiful music and thinking about the many different hairstyles of the women in the choir...not asking for or expecting any spiritual manifestation then all of a sudden whoosh! The spirit flooded my body and tears filled my eyes. so i want to share that experience with him and testify to Him of the reality of the spirit and of God. Well i know this is the true church. i know Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet.....how grateful i am for this knowledge! Not just because it all makes since but because i have felt it and cant deny it! Love you all!
Love, sister flake
Anyway i really loved conference! Holy cow did anyone else feel that wave of the spirit when the choir was singing "We thank thee oh God for a Prophet" and they started showing the pictures...wow the spirit was incredible. and it answered a question for me for an investigator that i will share with him this week. His name is Dima and he is from Russia. anyway he is all philosophical and was suggesting that an answered prayer or feeling the spirit just comes because you want it to and attract that feeling into your life....but its not a real answer...blah blah blah...etc... anyway i thought about it and could not come up with a way to explain it..... but while in conference and the song was being sung i was just sitting there listening to the beautiful music and thinking about the many different hairstyles of the women in the choir...not asking for or expecting any spiritual manifestation then all of a sudden whoosh! The spirit flooded my body and tears filled my eyes. so i want to share that experience with him and testify to Him of the reality of the spirit and of God. Well i know this is the true church. i know Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet.....how grateful i am for this knowledge! Not just because it all makes since but because i have felt it and cant deny it! Love you all!
Love, sister flake
March 30 Email
Well Hello family! sooo wow dad first counselor. Holey moley. that will be a new experience and i know that you will do such a wonderful job dad. but no one told me who the bishop is. Could you give me more of a low down please. and Danielle looks so cute with her big tummy. and how fun that you could celebrate her birthday with Brandy. That is so nice. Well how tall are my brothers now? how are they doing in track. I hope that they like it. You know hockey is huge here! Way bigger then the NFL. Do you know how much it costs to get all the equipment to play. Your looking at around 500 dollars. so i guess its a good thing that they dont play much hockey down there. well you asked me some questions that i guess i should answer cuz i usually avoid questions...sorry. so anyway we wake up early so we can get a ful half hour exersice in. we do 800 jumping jacks and then we have free weights that we use. i weighed myself for the first time on the mission and found i have only gained three pounds. apparently thats really good for this mission. haha. and pdays we have been just hanging around at the house relaxing or go shopping together.... we get along so great. we are more then just companions we are great friends....we have sooo much fun together no matter what we are doing and she has a laugh that she cant hold back ..kind a like mine so its great fun. and im learning cool stuff about hong kong and china and even learning to speak a little chinese. i will practice for you on the phone on mothers day.
as for my easter package get what ever you want. but make sure you get stuff for my companion please. she doesnt get much from her family. she is the same size as me. and we share clothes. so thats fun too. my clothes are getting so boring. haha.
so anyway this week was great. we tracted some houses by the Okenogan lake. so we had a beautiful view as we walked from house to house. we have alot of great conversations at the door because the people here are way layed back. we talk about hockey, the weather, or telecommunication powers with normal and odd people and then find some way to tie it into the gospel....its really fun. we found some hippies this week. and also taught a really wonderful christian family. they looked like mormons. we asked them simple questions that they could not answer. so we layed out the plan of salvation and testifed of the simpliicty of Gods gospel and that the truth can be felt....i think they felt the spirit but then they disagreed because they told us that their pastor told them that they cant trust thier feelings.....sooo sad.....we also spend alot of time at peoples doors trying to convince people that not all christians are hypocrites. you would be amazed at the new teaching skills we have aquired as a mission. we hardley ever say statements....we put everything into quesion form...its the only way to keep the door open...we have also found that the more compliments we give those we are talking to the longer they keep the door open....im learning so much about communicating. anyway....i will let you know as soon as we get some progressing investigators. right now we are teaching about 15 people but only one is progreesing. you should pray for Geoffry to decide on a baptism date. he is an african american who is 12 years old. he has been going to church for 2 years but doenst want to commit tell he feels ready....he is awesome! You should pray for him. thanks! Love you all so much! The gospel is truer then ever ! Love, sister flake
as for my easter package get what ever you want. but make sure you get stuff for my companion please. she doesnt get much from her family. she is the same size as me. and we share clothes. so thats fun too. my clothes are getting so boring. haha.
so anyway this week was great. we tracted some houses by the Okenogan lake. so we had a beautiful view as we walked from house to house. we have alot of great conversations at the door because the people here are way layed back. we talk about hockey, the weather, or telecommunication powers with normal and odd people and then find some way to tie it into the gospel....its really fun. we found some hippies this week. and also taught a really wonderful christian family. they looked like mormons. we asked them simple questions that they could not answer. so we layed out the plan of salvation and testifed of the simpliicty of Gods gospel and that the truth can be felt....i think they felt the spirit but then they disagreed because they told us that their pastor told them that they cant trust thier feelings.....sooo sad.....we also spend alot of time at peoples doors trying to convince people that not all christians are hypocrites. you would be amazed at the new teaching skills we have aquired as a mission. we hardley ever say statements....we put everything into quesion form...its the only way to keep the door open...we have also found that the more compliments we give those we are talking to the longer they keep the door open....im learning so much about communicating. anyway....i will let you know as soon as we get some progressing investigators. right now we are teaching about 15 people but only one is progreesing. you should pray for Geoffry to decide on a baptism date. he is an african american who is 12 years old. he has been going to church for 2 years but doenst want to commit tell he feels ready....he is awesome! You should pray for him. thanks! Love you all so much! The gospel is truer then ever ! Love, sister flake
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
March 23 Email
Dear Friends and Family,
Well thank you so much for the pictures of Moab.... i love the pictures of everyone "jackie Channing" it up the side of the rock. and i noticed that you took all the same pictures in all the same spots as the last time we were there....the only difference is that it was different cousins and i was not there. haha oh well. im sure there will be other trips. Mom Deanna called me last week and we talked a long time...she is excited about going to the temple but maybe you can continue to motivate her to prepare for it. She told me " i dont know how your mother does it.....i miss you so much and worry about you being safe....it must be so much harder being your mom...." anyway it was really sweet. She is excited to meet you someday..... and i am so excited for you all to meet her....if she was the only reason for me coming here it was worth it. well sister Wong and i have had an amazing week! We recieved four new investigators this week!!!!!!!!! HOly MOley! The Lord is blessing us so much.....i have felt the spirit in great abundance at these teaching appointments.... i feel that there is something very special about our companionship and we sure are learning a lot from each other. She is my motivation! From the moment we wake up in the morning and have companionship prayer i am determined to find more people like sister Wong who will accept the gospel! her prayers are so humble and sincere. it is very touching to hear her and work with her. And like i said we laugh a lot...because we both just love laughing....only at appropriate times of course:) anyway.... we have dropped quite a few people since i got here..... sometimes as missionaries we hold on to people even when they are extremely stubborn because we are afraid if we let them go we wont have anyone to teach....but we were bold and took that risk.....we let go of a few people and with in th next week we found 4 sincere people who actually want to learn and not just debate....so we feel very blessed and i cant even explain to you the joy that comes from teaching other people these great truths....like Elder Dickson said, the general authority who came to our zone conference last week, "we are here to share with people insight on who they really are". That’s probably my favorite thing to testify to people of! That they have a Father in Heaven who loves them soooo much and knows them by name! well, its spring here now! yes we do have sunshine and the snow is gone! And we have flowers popping up here and there! This is a cause for great rejoicing! Tracting just keeps getting better! Sister Wong and I got to talk in church yesterday. There was going to be three speakers...but for some reason there wasn’t.....so sister Wong went first, did an excellent job, but only went about 15 minutes.....so i got up and talked as long as i could...... i thought i was going to faint! Haha! But i was amazed at the way the Lord just gave me the words to speak...it just kept coming.....wow! Talk about blessings. So i spoke about the power of the book of Mormon and why we should share it with our friends....i explained that the best decision i ever made was to begin reading the scriptures every day....and any good decision i made after that was because of that first decision....to drink from the living waters daily....and i thank my older sister for that!....i remember seeing her study her scriptures before bed and so i decided i would to it too. Thanks Danielle! And happy birthday! I will be thinking bout you! well i love you all so much! Thank you for everything!
Love, sister Flake
Well thank you so much for the pictures of Moab.... i love the pictures of everyone "jackie Channing" it up the side of the rock. and i noticed that you took all the same pictures in all the same spots as the last time we were there....the only difference is that it was different cousins and i was not there. haha oh well. im sure there will be other trips. Mom Deanna called me last week and we talked a long time...she is excited about going to the temple but maybe you can continue to motivate her to prepare for it. She told me " i dont know how your mother does it.....i miss you so much and worry about you being safe....it must be so much harder being your mom...." anyway it was really sweet. She is excited to meet you someday..... and i am so excited for you all to meet her....if she was the only reason for me coming here it was worth it. well sister Wong and i have had an amazing week! We recieved four new investigators this week!!!!!!!!! HOly MOley! The Lord is blessing us so much.....i have felt the spirit in great abundance at these teaching appointments.... i feel that there is something very special about our companionship and we sure are learning a lot from each other. She is my motivation! From the moment we wake up in the morning and have companionship prayer i am determined to find more people like sister Wong who will accept the gospel! her prayers are so humble and sincere. it is very touching to hear her and work with her. And like i said we laugh a lot...because we both just love laughing....only at appropriate times of course:) anyway.... we have dropped quite a few people since i got here..... sometimes as missionaries we hold on to people even when they are extremely stubborn because we are afraid if we let them go we wont have anyone to teach....but we were bold and took that risk.....we let go of a few people and with in th next week we found 4 sincere people who actually want to learn and not just debate....so we feel very blessed and i cant even explain to you the joy that comes from teaching other people these great truths....like Elder Dickson said, the general authority who came to our zone conference last week, "we are here to share with people insight on who they really are". That’s probably my favorite thing to testify to people of! That they have a Father in Heaven who loves them soooo much and knows them by name! well, its spring here now! yes we do have sunshine and the snow is gone! And we have flowers popping up here and there! This is a cause for great rejoicing! Tracting just keeps getting better! Sister Wong and I got to talk in church yesterday. There was going to be three speakers...but for some reason there wasn’t.....so sister Wong went first, did an excellent job, but only went about 15 minutes.....so i got up and talked as long as i could...... i thought i was going to faint! Haha! But i was amazed at the way the Lord just gave me the words to speak...it just kept coming.....wow! Talk about blessings. So i spoke about the power of the book of Mormon and why we should share it with our friends....i explained that the best decision i ever made was to begin reading the scriptures every day....and any good decision i made after that was because of that first decision....to drink from the living waters daily....and i thank my older sister for that!....i remember seeing her study her scriptures before bed and so i decided i would to it too. Thanks Danielle! And happy birthday! I will be thinking bout you! well i love you all so much! Thank you for everything!
Love, sister Flake
FOR MORE PICTUES GO TO THIS LINK: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=danflake&target=ALBUM&id=5316541305650417105&authkey=Gv1sRgCMXdzKHin-zAWg&feat=email
Monday, March 16, 2009
March 9 Email TRANSFERRED!
Hello family! Thank you for all the inspired emails! You are so wonderful and i love you so much! Well Surprise! I have been transfered! President is white washing Langley with elders and sister Anderson and i were transfered up to the Okanagen! She is with sister Duong and i am with sister Wong from HOng Kong! Haha! We are serving in Kelowna which is so beautiful....its the vacation place in BC! Yes its more north and still cold but once it warms up this place is gorgeaus and known for all its orchards and organic fruit. you should google it. people are way nicer here and laid back. and loads of old people. our ward only has 7 young men and young women. but thats ok cuz we are going to grow the ward. Sister Wong is so amazing! She joined the church in 2003 in HOng Kong and she has been going to BYU Hawaii and working at the PCC! she is so sincere and hard working...and we love to laugh. She has gotten really good at english. sometimes she is a little hard to understand but its getting easier. It so neat to be working with a convert. It makes the work seem even more important and worth it! Her family are not members so please pray for them.
The members here are so nice and very friendly and we have lots of dinner appointments. They are more missionary minded then the last ward. They actually had a baptism here the week before i got here so thats great. Its about -10 right now outside and we have been tracting in snow but it doent feel as cold as the lower mainland because the air is more dry. we live with an old couple. so its like we have this huge house that we share with grandparents. they are so sweet. the Sipples are theier name. They started letting missionaries live in thier house when they went on their mission to Hawaii. Now they are living with us. its kind of wierd sharing the kitchen and everything with them but i guess we will get use to it. So i am happy to be here. i feel like i am supposed to be here.
We have been finding new people to teach. we found a cool hippie with dread locks that we will teach this week;) Old people love to invite us in and talk but usually dont want to budge. I will miss sister anderson....i learned so much from her. But we are still in the same zone. and this is her last transfer. I really love tecahing and we get to do a whole lot more of it here. Thats great! oh yeah we flew here by the way. The man next to me avoided me...oh well. so now i am far from the mission office and most the missionaries so things willl be a little different because we are a little more isolated. but really it is so beatiful here and lots of wildlife and mountains! Very neat.
Well love you so much!
Love sister flake
The members here are so nice and very friendly and we have lots of dinner appointments. They are more missionary minded then the last ward. They actually had a baptism here the week before i got here so thats great. Its about -10 right now outside and we have been tracting in snow but it doent feel as cold as the lower mainland because the air is more dry. we live with an old couple. so its like we have this huge house that we share with grandparents. they are so sweet. the Sipples are theier name. They started letting missionaries live in thier house when they went on their mission to Hawaii. Now they are living with us. its kind of wierd sharing the kitchen and everything with them but i guess we will get use to it. So i am happy to be here. i feel like i am supposed to be here.
We have been finding new people to teach. we found a cool hippie with dread locks that we will teach this week;) Old people love to invite us in and talk but usually dont want to budge. I will miss sister anderson....i learned so much from her. But we are still in the same zone. and this is her last transfer. I really love tecahing and we get to do a whole lot more of it here. Thats great! oh yeah we flew here by the way. The man next to me avoided me...oh well. so now i am far from the mission office and most the missionaries so things willl be a little different because we are a little more isolated. but really it is so beatiful here and lots of wildlife and mountains! Very neat.
Well love you so much!
Love sister flake
March 16, Email Kelowna, BC CANADA
Hello Friends and Family!
I appriciate your love and support! I really love it here in Kelowna. People are much nicer....i wonder if its just my perspective or attitute or something...but this place has a total different feeling then Langley. We have had a great hard working week except that Sister Wong has a terrible cold. She is so determined though. It snowed again yesterday and she was feeling terrible but she wanted to keep working.... I feel so blessed that i have been healthy even though all my companions have been sick.... hmmm...i hope im not the one making them sick!
Anyway this week we met with Amythest. She is 18. we found her tracting and she is golden. She went to Victoia for spring break but we are looking forward to teaching her more when she gets back....in the mean time she is reading the Book of Mormon! Well we do schedule alot of appointments as we tract, alot of them fall through but there are those few who are serious about it! We do lots of service with the food bank and dad you would be proud of me because we have been helping a single women with 7 kids dry wall! i think thats what its called..but anyway yeah im working construction! And we tract a whole ton. i really enjoy it to tell you the truth.....funny things happen all the time that sister Wong and i enjoy laughing at in between doors....instead of crying! Ha Ha!
God is blessing us with litte tender mercies here and there to help us remember that he is always there for us. I'm still trying to build up my faith more. The ward is so wonderful! We had a great pot luck yesterday. WE need a felloshipper for Amythest but there is no one in our ward her age! So hopefully she starts bringing friends to church who want to be taught too. I never thought i would be in a ward that is youthless......maybe i can help bring in some youth while im here. well thats all for now. love you all! The church is true and its all worth it!
love, sister flake
I appriciate your love and support! I really love it here in Kelowna. People are much nicer....i wonder if its just my perspective or attitute or something...but this place has a total different feeling then Langley. We have had a great hard working week except that Sister Wong has a terrible cold. She is so determined though. It snowed again yesterday and she was feeling terrible but she wanted to keep working.... I feel so blessed that i have been healthy even though all my companions have been sick.... hmmm...i hope im not the one making them sick!
Anyway this week we met with Amythest. She is 18. we found her tracting and she is golden. She went to Victoia for spring break but we are looking forward to teaching her more when she gets back....in the mean time she is reading the Book of Mormon! Well we do schedule alot of appointments as we tract, alot of them fall through but there are those few who are serious about it! We do lots of service with the food bank and dad you would be proud of me because we have been helping a single women with 7 kids dry wall! i think thats what its called..but anyway yeah im working construction! And we tract a whole ton. i really enjoy it to tell you the truth.....funny things happen all the time that sister Wong and i enjoy laughing at in between doors....instead of crying! Ha Ha!
God is blessing us with litte tender mercies here and there to help us remember that he is always there for us. I'm still trying to build up my faith more. The ward is so wonderful! We had a great pot luck yesterday. WE need a felloshipper for Amythest but there is no one in our ward her age! So hopefully she starts bringing friends to church who want to be taught too. I never thought i would be in a ward that is youthless......maybe i can help bring in some youth while im here. well thats all for now. love you all! The church is true and its all worth it!
love, sister flake
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