Week 21 12-22-14

Christmas Spirit!

    Well first off, I will be skyping y'all around eleven ish which is ten ish AZ time in the morning!! So around that time just be expecting a call from either a Richley or a Sheri Craypo and it will be me. :) WOOT WOOT! I haven't gotten your package yet so I'm waiting and ready for it. :) Thank you for the sweater by the way its so warm! That's so awesome that all of your concerts went well and that Vespers was so powerful! Man I miss going to Vespers it was the highlight of the Christmas season a lot of years for me. :) I'm so excited to Skype you guys! I TURN 19 TOMORROW!!! I AM SUCH AN OLD MAN! ONLY A TEENAGER FOR ONE MORE YEAR!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! 

     This week was amazingly fantastic!! So all of the member lessons that we had this week (7) were awesome! So, instead of preparing a lesson and teaching them after dinner, we tried a new approach to get them more excited about missionary work. So, we would sit down and say a prayer, and then we would straight up ask the members "How do you feel like the attitude is towards missionary work in our ward?" And then they honestly respond and then we would ask them for suggestions on how we can improve because elder Curless and I were talking once and we just feel so disconnected from this entire ward unfortunately. Part of that was us not being as diligent as we should have been in introducing ourselves and stuff like that though. But every time we asked this, the members would be like "Say what?" And then they would give us awesome suggestions and then they would ask for suggestions on how they could improve on missionary work themselves and it has just been really successful! Every single time, we've tried this approach it is amazing to see the true and genuine trust that we're starting to build with the members here now! And it has been helping us to introduce ourselves and get to know the members at church a little better too! :D :D ITS BEEN AWESOME!

     Something else that was crazy awesome too was we helped a member of the Spanish branch with his member missionary work and it was amazing to see what a disciple he is! So what he did (and we helped him do) was he would take a 3 page English version of his testimony and a 3 page Spanish version of his testimony, The Testaments DVD, the Joy to the World Christmas DVD, a card that has the address and meeting times of the local stake center, and he would put it all into one big envelope. We helped him address and deliver 400of these envelopes to his family and friends!!!! Holy cow right??!!! It was super cool to help him out with it!!! :D Oh and Wednesday was....................interesting. Haha

     So we were going to the library at one point to print out some items and in the main foyer a man stopped us and asked, "Do you have a minute?" The next thing you know he is yelling and screaming at us and saying that there is new scientific evidence that the Book of Abraham is false and our religion is horrible and he was trampling our beliefs one after another! I was kind of surprised how calm we were both able to stay because the man was going to town on how Mormonism is a false religion and this and that but I'm pretty sure we were mainly calm because the Spirit was whispering to both of us, "Do NOT retaliate or debate back it will do no good." Haha at one point the guy started waving his hands around in elder Curless' face and actually grabbed the front of my shirt and shook his fists!!! It was insane! We calmly bore testimony, I was prompted to tell him some certain things, and then we just turned and walked away with him yelling at us to come back and stand our ground. Not ten seconds later, a man who had been listening to the entire thing stopped us and told us that we were doing the right thing and God knew and appreciated us, then he walked away. Maybe fifteen seconds later, a random black guy stopped us on the stairs and started rapping about how God loves us and we are amazing and then he thanks us and walks away. Then like thirty seconds later, we ran into an inactive guy who we have been trying to get into contact with for like 5 weeks!!! Man! The Lord really does look after His own it was miraculous! It was definitely a new experience for me that's for sure, I haven't met a screaming Bible basher yet. :)

     We had an inspiring and fantastic zone training meeting on Thursday and that was really awesome and I felt the Spirit so strongly there. :) Friday, we went with elder Shelly (office missionary) and taught a man that he had met at Wal-Mart and he became a new investigator! His name is Thomas by the way. Hahahaha so later we found out that the sisters had been teaching the Thomas's girlfriend but he had never been interested but now he is and the sisters gave his girlfriend to us so we are teaching their entire family now! :D They are all super solid! Friday and Saturday was a blast placing a bunch of "He is the Gift" Christmas pass-along cards downtown too!! Downtown is just the best because there are always a bunch of people walking around and they're not in an apartment so they can't slam the door/get rid of us that easily! :D :D Oh and something else cool was after we did some service for brother Vaughn on Saturday, he took us with him to try to contact some people he has been trying to find to help them come back to church and we were able to find three inactive members who kind of want to come back!!! It was a MIRACLE!!! :D This week was just awesome!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake  

Week 20 12-15-14

     So to answer your questions: we are still in the same zone and work in the same area and everything but we are in a different district because this district meets in our chapel and our previous district met in the stake center and I'm still not entirely sure why the switch happened but that's ok. :) It just depends when or not we're able to teach them because anything could happen like: not there, no time, etc. And they have to have at least all five of the preach my gospel lessons taught to them. THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR THE CAMERA!!! I used it the day I got it to take a picture of this FAT raccoon outside our apartment! :D And no details on Skype and whatnot yet but I will have details by Monday!

     Monday was awesome as always playing some intense basketball with our zone! Hahahaha I love basketball now! Me and some other elders mainly just run around the court really fast passing and blocking because we're not very good at shotting its the best!! :D :D Haha I love our zone though we are all so close. :) We rehearsed our district skits for Tuesday's Christmas zone conference too and that was hilarious! So for the Christmas zone conference, after all of the training by President and Sister Jensen and the APs, every district in all of the Des Moines and Ames zones do a skit that involves a Book of Mormon story. :) After p-day was over we went and read 1 Nephi 21 with Madison and whoa! I'd definitely like to encourage you guys to study that chapter, mainly verses 14-16 because it...is...POWERFUL! It was so cool to read. :) Tuesday, we had zone conference! We had an amazing training and message from everyone and then we had skits! Hahahahahaha man it was the best thing of my life!! But a lot of people told us that our zone won!! WOO HOO REPRESENT! Ours was a combination of some of the parts from Ammon's and Aaron's stories in the Book of Mormon, acted out and sung to the tune of none other than "Tribute" by Tenacious D! It was pre-approved by the APs and words were changed to go along with the story obviously. :) Hahaha we brought the house down! And then the other district in our zone did Nephi and his brothers going back to get the gold plates with a Star Wars theme and Star Wars music playing the entire time! They used awesome light up lightsabers and everything! Hahahahaha I got a cramp I was laughing so hard!!! :D :D It was the best! Quote from "Darth Coy" (Elder Coy) "Once mooore.....the Sith will rule Jerusalem and we...shall...have...peace." Zone conference nearly took all day but we were able to go and give one of the sister's investigators, Janet the sweet, blind lady, a blessing because she has had a couple of nervous breakdowns and that was an amazing experience.

     Wednesday, we visited Curtis briefly in the hospital before he had surgery to replace his hip and then we came home for the rest of the day because Curless was running a super high fever and migraine. I learned how to play some more songs on the guitar in that time though! :D Thursday, Curless could barely get out of bed so we weren't able to do anything that day either but that night his fever finally broke and Friday morning he was finally better! :D Friday, we went and visited Curtis in the hospital and he was tired but everything went well so that's good. :) We then went and did a bunch of finding but sadly only three people answered their doors. Haha one was an Indian guy who just looked confused but took our card anyway, and the others were two little girls maybe like 5-6 years old whose parents weren't home but they took our cards. After that we went and read the Book of Mormon with Madison and he is in 2nd Nephi now!! YES!!!

     Saturday, we had our ward Christmas party and it was a breakfast!! It was a lot of fun and we got to be in the little Nativity skit and that was a blast! And after nearly everyone had left and everything was cleaned up, Sam and "San" (apparently that's how her name is actually pronounced) showed up and we had apparently forgotten to give them the correct time of the Christmas party so that was our fault. :( But we gave them a church tour and talked about baptism and they both loved it and said they would come to church! Then we went with our zone leaders and helped move a less-active lady's sister and that took WAY longer than expected but we still tried to do some finding but no one was interested. :( SUNDAY WAS AWESOME!

     We went to ward council and then to sacrament meeting! And halfway through the meeting guess who shows up? None other than Sam and San!!!!! And whats even better is they brought their mom and little brother! And they were all dressed up really nice in shirts and ties and dresses!!!!!!!!!!! And then talking to them afterwards, they all LOVED CHURCH A LOT!!! It was super cool how Sister Pym in our ward was an amazing fellowshipper to San because she just "took her under her wing" and helped her out with everything and invited their family over for dinner and it was awesome! :D We then went to the Craypo's home for lunch and had crockpot lasagna! Then we tried to find a referral that we'd gotten from our ward clerk Brother Andersen but it was out of our area so we gave it to the Easter Lake elders. That night, we were able to go to a stake choir thing in Waukee that is similar to our "Night of Sacred Music" and that was awesome and the Spirit was so strong there. :) But there is the week in a nutshell!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 19 12-8-14

     YAY SAAS IS BACK IN THE GOOD OLE' U.S. OF A!!!!! Huh its weird to think that she is a missionary no more.....awesome. :) And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the new camera! Sister Shelley at the mission office called saying "Elder Flake you have a package and we live like ten minutes away from the office so I went and got it. Hahaha when I opened it up the first thing I said was YYYYYEEEEEESSSS!!!! Guess what happened..................................ELDER CURLESS AND I ARE GOING ONE MORE ROUND IN DES MOINES!!! HOOOOO DOGGIE!!! YES! I'm so glad that we get to be together for one more transfer I love the dude to death! :D :D

      So Monday was a normal day, not p-day, because of transfer calls that week and we did service for brother Vaughn cleaning up his place. We then went and visited the Brown family of our ward and that was a blast! Their little boy, DJ, is 9 years old and he has some sort of handicap but he is the sweetest and looooves the missionaries! We shared a message with them and it was extra awesome because we were able to connect with the dad! He hasn't been to church in a number of years so it was really cool to see him get touched by the Spirit. :) I love being on a mission! Then we went and contacted a referral from some elders in Houston, Texas and it was awesome! So his name is Sam Aye and he is 14 years old and was being taught by the missionaries in Texas before he moved to Des Moines. We recapped the Restoration and he loved every minute of it! The even more amazing thing is his sister, Sam Win who is 20 years old, wanted to listen as well and they both ended up accepting the invitation to baptism!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!

     Tuesday, I had a cold and was really sick ALL DAY so we weren't able to do anything at all. :( Hahaha Curless is a goober. So while I was taking a nap in the afternoon, he randomly strung rubber bands all over my bed and made it kind of like a trap because he wanted to see what I would do when I woke up and saw them all over the place. So when I woke up, my first thought was "huh?" And I just couldn't figure it out! Because my mind wasn't really functioning that well cuz I was sick I suppose. But elder Curless just busted a gut laughing at my confused face. :) But by the time 8:00 p.m. rolled around I was finally recovered. :)

     Wednesday was p-day and that was a blast! Hahaha we were all trying to figure out what game to play next at one point, then we decided to play mofia. Hahahaha man I love my zone they're so much fun! It was hilarious and we all had a blast playing it! :D That night, we went and read the Book of Mormon with Madison again and that was fantastic as always too. :) Thursday, we went and did Mormon.org time and then we went and saw Curtis and read out of the Book of Mormon with him again. :) He has been getting really nervous about his upcoming hip replacement but some of the passages we read with him were comforting and really helped to calm him down. Man the Book of Mormon is amazing. We then contacted some referrals and even set up a return appointment with one of them! :D :D Then we helped brother Spencer jump-start his car because it was dead and he ended up inviting us over for dinner that night and we were able to go and share an awesome message with him!

     Friday elder Curless was sick so while he slept, I learned how to play the guitar a little bit because we randomly have one lying around our apartment. :) He was better that evening so we went and were FINALLY able to contact Mike Borah, he is a referral from nearly 5 weeks back who wanted the Book of Mormon and we haven't been able to meet with him because crazy stuff always happened whenever we try, and we gave it to him and had a really good lesson on the Book of Mormon! The only sad thing was that we learned that he'll be gone for nearly six months traveling the U.S. but we were able to get the Book of Mormon to him literally a week before he left! Talk about an epic miracle! :D

     Saturday we had our get to know you district meeting and that was a blast! We got switched to the Easter Lake district and they are a lot of fun! :D After lunch, we did a random unplanned exchange and so elder Hoskins and I stayed in the Easter Lake area and elders Curless and Clark went to our area. We did some finding, but not a lot of success, then we went to the Easter Lake ward's Christmas party. Hahaha I got lucky that they were having it that night I guess. :) Sunday we went to church and that was awesome! I love fast and testimony meeting! And that night we got to go to the Christmas devotional broadcast!!!!!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 18 12-1-14

Thanksgiving with the President and office staff

Thank you thank you thank you for my snow boots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Literally the day after I got them, we got like 5 inches of snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sounds like a lot of fun as usual! Hahaha that's great that mom and Heather both preg tested, hahaha that picture of Heather's face is priceless!! :D And to answer your question Mom, they are all struggling less-actives, there are so many less-actives in the ward that the only thing our Bishop wants us to do at the moment is trying to get them in a good habit with reading the Book of Mormon. This week was super amazing!!!! A little slow at first but then.....MIRACLES!!!

     Monday, we had p-day and it was a blast!!! We played some epic basketball and trash ball (which is kind of like ultimate Frisbee), and then a bunch of us sang at the piano and watched elders Garner and Mkenna have an epic lightsaber duel!! Hahaha yup! Then we did some finding, nothing came from that sadly, and then we went and read with Madison from 1 nephi again. He is doing so good and FINALLY starting to read a little more on his own now! :D YES! Tuesday, I got my snow boots in a package! :D Which was a total miracle because the next day the heavens unloaded six inches of snow on us out of nowhere!! :) We contacted a bunch of referrals we've received from the office but sadly no one is interested. Sometimes I just wanna be like, "C'mon people! This is salvation!" But you do what you can y'know? Haha yea. :) That night, Royal took us out to A Dong. a really amazing Vietnamese restaurant! :D

     Wednesday was awesome!! So first off, we were getting ready to do our companion study that morning and we were like "what should we study? Hmmm....the Atonement!" So we had like an amazing hour long deep discussion on the Atonement and it is so amazing! All of the stuff that the Atonement does for us and enables us to do is just jaw-dropping! Best study of my life! Then we did service for Brother Vaughn, cleaning up his yard and then decorating it with Christmas lights and that was a bunch of fun. :) Haha ever since I've come to Des Moines its been awesome because members are always like "New elder! Yes free service!" Its been a blast! :D Then we did a bunch of knocking on people's doors, I think that Iowans hearts get a little cold during winter :P and then we went to the Diaz's home for dinner and had spaghetti. :) It was awesome because their dad John, who is not a member, whenever we've come for dinner he has never been interested in any of the lessons that we teach the rest of the family. But that night as we were talking about just random religious stuff, he was totally interested and asking questions! YES! Hopefully it continues!

     Thursday was Thanksgiving! :D :D :D We had a short district meeting at 10:00 and elder Coy gave a fantastic message about the power and authority of our calling and it was super awesome and a spirit slap in the face! After that we went to the mission home and had dinner with the office missionaries, President and Sister Jensen, and the APs. Hahaha no one in our ward invited us so President took pity on us and invited us to their Thanksgiving. :) It was a blast! Hahahaha president Jensen is absolutely hilarious!!!!!!! :D After that, we went with our zone leaders to a Hispanic member's home (the members told the ZLs to invite other missionaries), the zone leaders are in a Spanish branch, and had Mexican Thanksgiving! Chicken, enchiladas, and tamales! Haha I gained like 3 pounds that day. :(

     Friday, we went with elder Stringham (office missionary) to Norwalk, Iowa and got a couch from the missionaries there to put in our new place because we didn't have one. The couch took over an hour to get from the curb outside to inside our apartment. Even with the ZLs helping us, we somehow managed to scrape a little paint off the walls and break a light because the couch was so big!We're fixing those today though so no worries. :)  Its a hide-a-bed couch so it weighed about...oh fifteen tons? We then went and read the Book of Mormon with Curtis and that was super awesome as well. :) Oh and here is a random example of what a goofball elder Curless is. So itsFriday morning and I'm just sitting there reading the Book of Mormon. I suddenly hear elder Curless making these weird noises from where he was reading the Bible on the floor. The next thing you know, he starts acting like a zombie and tries to eat my leg! So naturally I fended him off with a Nerf sword, no big deal. :) Yup we have a lot of fun together. :)

     Saturday we got haircuts from this place called PlatinumKutz! Its a barbershop run by all these super legit black guys that were absolutely hilarious! I sit in the chair and the guy was like "Hey how you doin? My name is Royal and I be cutting yo hair today!" Hahaha best hair cut of my life! Then we went to a baptism that Elder Garner and Mkenna had and I saw....................ELDER HOLLAN! So Hollan's current companion, elder higbee, was Garner's previous companion and had been teaching this guy getting baptized so they'd gotten permission to come down from Waverly for it!! I saw him and I just stopped. He goes "Son?" Then I said "Father?" Then we ran toward each other and hugged and it was awesome being able to see him again! We talked for a little while after the baptism, it was good to see my dad again. :) AND THEN SUNDAY!

     Went to church (which was amazing and awesome!), had lunch, then went finding in 20 degree weather! We were like "Alright, weknow that we can find at least one new investigator if we put our trust in the Lord." So we did and went and knocked doors for nearly four hours, the weather dropped down to sixteen degrees, and we found THREE! One was Wilbur, a super awesome kid who was totally amazing and a boss! And the other two are Eduardo and Diego, these two Hispanic guys who were totally open to learning and asked really good questions and are really interested and awesome! At one point Diego directly said "I don't even know why I wanted to jog over to Eduardo's house tonight but I just felt like I should, and I think that God wanted me to meet you guys." YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 17 11-23-14

YES WE"RE IN THE FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT MAKES ME SO STINKIN PUMPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(The Lobos that is, our High school football team)  No snow boots yet unfortunately. :( But yeah our old place was disgusting and run down because missionaries have been living there for seven years and its pretty trashy. But I love the new pad!!!! Its all hardwood and tile! No carpet for missionaries to mess up!! :D Haha missionaries and carpet do not get along well at all. :) Our area is huge! Its all of downtown Des Moines and the entire east side of Des Moines as well!!! I love it so much!!!!! And unfortunately we were unloved in the ward and no one invited us over for dinner but a bunch of the senior couple office missionaries are putting together a big Thanksgiving lunch and invited us as well as some other missionaries who were unloved as well. :) Hahaha the hilarious thing is the two sister missionaries in our ward got like three invites to Thanksgiving, thereby proving that sisters are loved more. :) Hahaha nah just kidding!! So here is the week in a nutshell!

     Monday we had p-day and that was super awesome like always! Haha with elder Coy's help-he is my district leader-I totally learned how to play "Let it Go" on the piano! Yes!!! We tried to see some potentials after p-day was done but nothing happened unfortunately. :(Tuesday we cleaned up our old place some more-there was SO much junk we've had to get rid of-and we went and saw Curtis and read Ether 1 with him and had a super amazing discussion on it with him and that was awesome!! Hahaha Curtis just kills me! :D But literally like fifteen minutes after Curtis' lesson, I got SLAMMED with a  migraine! I got dizzy and saw spots and everything and I was like "Whoa we need to go home Elder Curless my head hurts." So we did because I couldn't function. But the next day it was finally gone so that was better. :) Wednesday we went and saw a LOT of potential investigators but nothing happened with that unfortunately. :( That evening, we had dinner with the Jensen family from our ward, and it was awesome! So brother Jensen said something like, "Alright Elders, whats your spiritual thought for us?" And we told him, "Actually this is going to be a little bit different." And we just had an open discussion with them about member missionary work, their fears with doing it, how to overcome those fears, etc. It was a little bit of a new approach that we have been getting trained on, not just share a message about missionary work with the members, but actually make it a discussion and talk about it more deeply than just a simple message on it. It worked really well and we were able to get some really solid commitments out of the lesson and it was the best!!!! Then we went to go check up on Royal to see how he was doing and we ended up totally teaching his roommate Zac the Restoration with Royal! Talk about a blessing in disguise! His roommate has never been there before!!!!!! The Lord works in mysterious ways! :D :D :D :D

     Thursday we had an AMAZING district meeting and some really good role-plays on the new curriculum with member missionary lessons and it got me even more super pumped, if that's possible to be more pumped than I already was, to help members out and really work hand in hand with them with missionary work!! :D Then we had dinner at the Vela's home that night (brother Vela is our high priest's group leader, he is loud, Hispanic, and absolutely hilarious!! :D) and it was super awesome! They gave us the most amazing fried chicken I've ever had in my entire life! They had also invited some less-active members of our ward to so we were able to see how they have been doing. :) Then we hustled on over to Curtis' house and read Alma 5 with him and had some good discussions on the messages in that passage with him. Alma 5 is an amazing chapter. :) That night, elder Hollan had permission so he called me from Waverly and told me that Kevin was getting baptized in two days!!!!!! He also told me that Brad and Angie were dropped though. A member friend of theirs was at their house the other day apparently and he saw the Book of Mormon in the recycling bin and Brad and Angie aren't interested anymore. To be honest, that one sent a dagger through my heart a little bit and I might have cried a little bit, it was pretty sad to hear that I love Brad and Angie so much.

     Friday we CLEANED! We finally had a lot of time and so we had to devote it to deep cleaning our old junky place and we finally finished! Man it took like five and a half, almost six hours!!!! But its finally done and we can FINALLY focus more on missionary work stuff now because we are done with all of the apartment stuff! :D YES!!! :D :D Hahaha funny story real fast: so we went to grab a carpet cleaner from elders Coy and Hayden and they were coming back to their apartment and we totally AMBUSHED them with nerf guns!!!! Hahaha man I've never laughed so hard in my life looking at their faces when we rushed them! :) Saturday, our entire district painted Terah's house and then we had stake conference that night and it was super awesome! :) Sunday, we had stake conference again and it was really cool because the main thing that all the speakers talked about was temples and the importance of them and it was awesome. We tried some more people, the Craypos had us over for chicken fajitas, and then we came home. :)

 I JUST FOUND OUT FROM PRESIDENT JENSEN'S E-MAIL THAT KEVIN WAS BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED ON SATURDAY THE 22ND!! I'm so happy I cried a little I'll admit!!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 16 11-17-14

    Awesome awesome about the dedication and the concerts and whatnot sounds like a fun-filled week in good ole' AZ as usual! :) This week was a smidgen RIDICULOUS!!! So we moved apartments because ours has been a missionary apartment for like seven years and it is REALLY run down and we found a new one and got permission to move. :) The majority of the week was mainly cleaning and moving almost every single day there is so much junk in there.

     Well first off a funny story! So at the church with the other elders and sisters in our areas on p-day we played ZOMBIES! So what we do is two people are zombies and try to tag you to make you "zombies" and all the normal people are armed with Nerf guns and swords. Hahahahaha so there I was with two nerf guns ready to take down some undead and I was soooo jumpy and then people would be like "Behind you!!" and I would totally scream "AAAHHH DIE DIE DIE!!!" and waste that zombie with nerf darts!!! Man it was the best!!!!!! Hahahaha I was super jumpy and got waaaaay into that game. :D :D :D Tuesday was super awesome because we had interviews with President and Sister Jensen and that was super duper awesome being able to talk to both of them because after I was done with that, I just felt super uplifted and it was just good to talk to them. They are just super amazing. :) Then we went and had a really good lesson with Curtis on repentance. We were planning on reading the Book of Mormon with him but we ended up talking about repentance and it was really good for him I think. He has been struggling with some stuff. :( Then we went to Madison's place and read the Book of Mormon with him and had a super good discussion on that too. :)

     Wednesday was awesome!!! We, along with the craypos (senior couple in our ward), had an AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC lesson with Lindsey about prayer!!! She has never really felt like her prayers have never been answered and she has always had to do things on her own but elder and sister Craypo totally shared some awesome experiences and then we were able to help recognize how God does answer prayers! :D She is still on date for December 27th as well!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D Thursday we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and then we had some extra time and brother Vaughn totally helped us make ties! It was super awesome!! Then after that, we cleaned even more. :) Friday, we had a mission tour with Elder Craig A. Cardon of the Seventy! We went to the Des Moines Stake Center and Elder Cardon, Sister Cardon, President Jensen, and Sister Jensen talked to us from about ten until four and it was awesome! I can honestly say that I have never felt the Spirit more strong in my life than those six hours it was AMAZING! The church is totally true!

     Saturday we finally moved!! Using Mason Diaz's minivan we got the majority of our stuff over and we slept there that night!!! Hahaha so a couple of funny stories from moving on Saturday: Mason and I were carrying one of the mattresses down a kinda steep hill (oh by the way at this time its been snowing for like 4 hours straight) and I almost slipped so I was like "Whoa! Be careful man its slippery!!" Then about five or so seconds later, he totally wipes out and just slides down the hill and our mattress slides down after him! Hahahahaha it was hilarious!! And then our apartment key broke in Curless' pocket somehow so every time we need to get in our apartment Curless boosts me up and I climb in through the bedroom window! :D Hahaha! And when we were turning into our street once (we were with Mason in his minivan) the car didn't turn for some reason and we slid right into a telephone pole!!!!!! But the crazy thing was that the car only got scraped a little and the fog light fell out but nothing else!! No dent or anything! Isn't that crazy??!! So yup that's the week! We weren't able to do much missionary work because of the moving so hopefully when we're done cleaning our old apartment we can have time to do that again. :)

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 15 11-10-14

Digging out tree stumps

Bathroom signs at "The Zombie Burger" 

    Awesome awesome awesome about football!! I hope this is the year!!! :D :D And to answer your question mom, it would just be super legit to learn how to play Zelda songs on the piano because they are super pretty and awesome! :P Idk its just an idea though. :) And we mostly do our own door-to-door finding but we've had some good member referrals here and there. :) Hahaha I love the picture of the cows on the porch that is awesome! And the walkway looks great too!!!! So this week was a little crazy!!

     Real fast sidetrack: on Monday we totally got to play golf for super cheap because some of the West Des Moines elders had golf clubs and bags in their apartment and balls and the fee was a good price! :D It was the best!!! Monday wasn't very productive unfortunately no one was receptive. :(  Tuesday we did the English class thing again and that was interesting teaching a Japanese and a Mexican lady about our system of government cuz it was almost election day. Fun fact about Iowa: they go craaaaaaaazy over political stuff! There have been posters and banners up the wazoo all around Des Moines!!!!! We had dinner with Curtis after teaching him and then we did a bunch of finding and it was hilarious cuz 3out of every 4 houses we knocked on they were all either Buddhist or Hindu and didn't speak almost any English!! Haha man Iowa is diverse! Wednesday we did some service at terah's house, she is an investigator of the sisters who is getting baptized on Saturday! :D, doing a bunch of yard work and it was the best because I totally got to use a HUGE heavy duty leaf mulcher and it was a blast!! :D Then we went on exchanges with our district leader and his companion, Elders Coy and Hayden. Hayden and I stayed in our area and we went and taught Lindsey with some members, Sister Burgess and her son Brooke, and it was totally awesome because it was a super powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless our lives.

     We then found a few AWESOME potential investigators and had a blast! Elder Hayden and I actually came out together so that was fun to bond with him. :) Hahaha because we were in my area I got to drive and it was a little bit sketchy at points because its been some time since I've drove on a freeway but we were fine. :) Thursday, we studied and then went out at the cold hour of 10:00 and found some more good potential investigators and then we went to district meeting. We had an amazing district meeting on retention of converts which was super good because we haven't really got much training on that yet. :) Then we went and taught our blind investigator Janet and we gave her volume one of the six volume braille Book of Mormon (or as we named it, the Braille of Mormon) and had a good lesson about the plan of salvation with Mason Diaz (another member). We then gave her to the sisters because Janet apparently lives in their area (oops). They weren't mad though. :) Then we had dinner with brother Nate Spencer who is a super legit member of our ward who goes to Des Moines University, which is a really good medical school. He totally fixed the knots in my back without kneading them and pressing them and making it hurt! All he did was lift my arm in some certain way and I apply a little bit of pressure and after a minute or so the pain was gone!! It was awesome!!!!! :D :D :D :D Then the weekend came and all of a sudden we got slammed with service!!

     Friday we did more yard work at Terah's house, then we went and helped the Robinettes move one last time (for real this was the last time, they're moved now) and it was kinda sad to say goodbye. :(  That night, a member of our ward who prefers to remain nameless, took us to the fanciest restaurant in Des Moines!!!! A five-star restaurant called the Chop House!!!!!! Hahaha he totally taught me how to eat fancy and properly and that honestly might be the best meal I've ever had in my life. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!! The steak was amazing!!Saturday we did more service, helping Terah one more time and then helping out brother Vaughn, then we took brother Spencer to a lesson with Lindsey and oh man! It was awesome!!!! Brother Spencer is a spiritual powerhouse and a half!!!! We set a baptismal date forDecember 27th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     Sunday we had church, Lindsey was sick so she couldn't come, and Madison came to church! He hasn't been for like three to four months!! :D :D We then went and saw a member's sister-in-law who was in the hospital and gave her a blessing with him. She has breast cancer and is in her late 40s but she looked like she weighed less than 100 pounds and she couldn't be much bigger than a 10 year old kid. But it was really touching because it was a beautiful blessing and we were all tearing up and when we shook our hands she kissed them. Haha it was a little unusual but still really cool. :) We then had dinner at the Craypos (beef stroganoff!!) and then we tried to contact some potentials but they weren't there. :( But the weekend was FILLED with service! :)

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 14 11-3-14

  Sounds like a totally fun-filled week! :D That's funny about the weather who knows maybe we'll get a snowless winter again. :) Its starting to get a bit nippy here in Des Moines the wind is a bit chilly. :) So I don't have very much time cuz laundry and other stuff took longer than normal and we still gotta do a bunch of stuff so i'll try not to rush too awful much. :) This week was super legit! We read out of the Book of Mormon with Abinadi (isn't that the most legitly amazing name ever??!!!) Aguierre-he is a Hispanic boy in our ward-and that was a blast the Book of Mormon is the best!! Then we went with Brother Spencer-he is a total boss-and read out of the Book of Mormon with Madison again, we read twice a week with him and it was super awesome! Tuesday we gave service helping people learn how to speak English it was the best!!! So every Tuesday at one of the libraries here, we go and we help all these Vietnamese and Chinese and Japanese and African people learn how to speak English it was super fun!! Hahahaha man those guys are funny. :) We then went and read the Book of Mormon with Curtis and then we went to the Poole's house (members) and ate dinner and then talked about their fears of doing missionary work and how to overcome them. We then gave them some pamphlets and invited them to pass along two of them by November 8 and they were totally willing!

     We then helped the Robinettes get rid of MORE of their stuff and then we went knocking. Hahaha so one of the houses this little Asian lady answers the door and says, "I don't speak English I'm Burmese have nice day." And then she kindly shuts the door. Hahahaha we were like "....ooookkkk?" The funny thing is we've ran into a bunch of Burmese people this week! Des Moines is so diverse! We then went with Brother Greene hometeaching and totally got a potential investigator from the lady that we were hometeaching's sister!! YEA YUH!!! Thursday we had an AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC zone training meeting and like two hours later we totally met this awesome girl named Lindsey and using the training we'd just gotten about inviting to baptism on the first lesson, she totally accepted!!!!!!!!!!!! That night we went to the Diaz family's house and played Scrabble cuz it was Beggar's night so we couldn't do anything else. So Iowa has the 30th of October called Beggar's Night-which is when all the kids go trick-or-treating and such- and then the 31st of October is Halloween. So its kinda like two holidays one after the other-idk its weird-but both nights at six o' clock we had to be inside our apartments and stay there unless we were with members. But the Diaz family was like "oh we can totally pick you guys up and you can come to our house and play board games and such." They totally saved us from epic boredom for two nights straight! :D

     We did a lot of yard work for the sister's investigator-Terah-Saturday morning and that was a bunch of fun just raking leaves and moving gravel and belting out Imagine Dragons songs. :) Then we helped the Robinettes with their big moving all the furniture and stuff to their new house and now they're nearly all done with everything! Oh and it was so awesome cuz I finally met Sachigo! She is this older suuuuuper sweet and nice little Japanese lady staying with them. :) Hahaha she is the best! Then we went to some of the Easter Lake elder's baptism and Lindsey totally came!! And she thought it was really cool!!! Then on Sunday she totally came to church and really enjoyed it too!!!! WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT!!!!!!! After church we did a bunch of finding and the only person we really met was this HILARIOUS older guy whose name is........wait for it.......you'll never guess it........MICHAEL JACKSON!! For real thats his name!!! Hahahaha he ended up not being interested cuz he is a minister for another church but he was super awesome! We then went to try to contact a former investigator but found out that he had moved and the guy who lives there now is a member who has been inactive for like 10 years but he was super appreciative of us dropping by. :) We then met this super nice blind lady named Janet and had an awesome discussion about the Restoration and she totally accepted the baptismal invite! Awesome awesome awesome week!!!!

Love, 

Elder Logan Flake 

Week 13 10-20-14 Transferred!

     Sounds like a blast! And wow a new car?? Sheesh leave for three months and the whole world changes! :) And one more thing, Dallin are you wearing my BYU hat? Cuz I wanted that to stay boxed up please. :) Nah you can wear it just be careful cuz I like that hat. :P But guess what happened...drumroll please.......I GOT TRANSFERRED TO DES MOINES ITS HUGE AND SO DIFFERENT THAN WAVERLY!!!!!!!! Transfer calls on Monday were the worst cuz the APs called and were like, "elder hollan you're staying and elder flake you're......getting transferred." AAAAHHHHH!!!! But I love des moines its the best! My new comp. is elder curless and he is from bountiful, Utah. Hahahaha and he is hilarious! We get along great. :) (haha whew!) But first, heres the past week. Monday we got transfer calls. Tuesday we got permission so we went and watched a play called "let freedom ring" that all of the NorthStar people put on and it was awesome!! Hahahahaha it was hilarious watching them all singing and dancing to patriotic songs! :D :D Then we went to Kevin's house with Brother Durbin and watched the "Finding Faith in Christ" video and it was super powerful.

     Wednesday was p-day and that evening we went to Brad and Angie's house and talked with them and it was really good and super sad too cuz when they found out I was leaving Angie started crying and Brad was tearing up. I've grown to love them and their family so much already but it was super good to be able to say bye to them. :) Thursday we went to transfer meeting in Iowa City (about 2 hours away) and then I got a new comp. and we went to des moines! Man its huge!!!! Elder Curless and I taught the plan of salvation to two of our investiagtors-Isaac and Janeth- and it was super good. They are 9 and 14 yrs old so it was interesting having to simplify everything down cuz I've never taught a lesson to just the kids before. :) We then went and tracted the downtown area of des moines.

     Friday we had a get-to-know-you district meeting and that was a blast cuz all the missionaries in our district our hilarious!!! We then went and talked with Royal Corbin (a black member of our ward who is super awesome). Saturday we went and tried some less-active people-they all fell through- and then we went and helped the Robinets (older inactive couple in our ward) move and that was a bunch of fun too! :) Haha so the funny thing about our ward is we have like 130-140 active members and then we have like 450-500 inactive/less-active members as well. So we've got our work cut out for us. :) Oh and this was a total miracle! So the Robinets gave us a bunch of canned goods after we helped them out-like three big brown paper bags full!-just cuz they like us (and they WOULD NOT take no for an answer). And then Royal called that night and was like "do you guys have any food by chance? I'm sorry for being a freeloader but I'm all out." So we were totally able to give him a bunch cuz we'd gotten a bunch like four hours before! Cool isn't it??!!

     Sunday we went to church (Isaac and Janeth came and they loved it!!) and it was awesome! Afterwards, we went tracting downtown again and ran into this down-on-his-luck guy named Chris who was totally prepared! He has had a real rough life and he told us that before he met us walking around, he'd said a prayer hoping that God could guide him to somebody who could help. WOW! It was the coolest thing ever he is super awesome!! We then went and had dinner at the Craypo's house (they're senior couple missionaries in our ward) for dinner and then we went to go try to see Augusta (less-active nice African lady). Haha so we got there and she was like "do you guys want to try some African soup?" And we were like "sure!" So I took a single sip of the broth part and my MOUTH WAS ON FIRE IT WAS SO STINKIN' HOT! MY LIPS TURNED BRIGHT RED IT WAS SO SPICY THATS NEVER HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE! And then I only took like two bites of the turkey (it was pretty good actually) and I also noticed that there was some kind of meat covered with spines (I didn't dare touch it) and a shrimp with the legs still on (didn't touch that either). And then....it happened. A BOILED CHICKEN FOOT (without talons thank heavens) BOBBED UP FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE SOUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I nearly lost it all over the table. I have an American stomach for goodness sake I'm weak! Elder Curless actually gagged!! Good thing Augusta wasn't in the room when that happened......

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

What a goober!

Week 12 10-13-14

Some of our district (He still doesn't have a belly!)

Well,  this week was awesome! 

     So we have two couches in our apartment and one of them is a big leather one that had all this NASTY crusty stuff on it but we cleaned it up and gave it to one of our potential investigators because she needed a couch. Hahaha so that was kinda fun clorox wipes are a miracle. :) We then popped by Kevin's house to see how he has been doing and he has been doing awesome and hasn't drank for like a week!!!! We then went by Chris's house (he is a potential) and talked to him and that was.....interesting. He is a really nice guy but we think he might be a pathological liar. But we love him nonetheless and are doing the best we can to help him. :) Hahahaha so on tuesday we were helping out at NorthStar and we played the board game "Life" with Jeremy and travis (two of the patients) and it was hilarious cuz we're all super bad at it! And almost the entire time we were there, there were a bunch of other NorthStar patients playing Just Dance 4! I've never laughed so hard in my life it was so great watching them all dancing and having a blast! :D :D We then went with Lincoln Ackerson ( a member of our branch) to Dave's house and we taught about half of the plan of salvation before he pulled out a bunch of anti stuff on us. Man i don't like that stuff its spiritually destructive. So keep dave in your prayers please. Then we went to the Austin's house and watched the video "finding faith in christ" and man! That one is powerful! Wednesday we went with Stefan (pronounced "steh-faun") Larson and we went and had an AWESOME lesson on the Book of Mormon with Brian and Rebecca! They are an awesome family we met with a couple we

eks ago and taught them the plan of salvation. But it was awesome! They've both been studying hard on our church and they had alot of really good questions and they are totally honest seekers of truth and really prepared. :) We then went to Brad+Angie's house and raked their yard, had dinner, and then EPIC AWESOMENESS HAPPENED! So elder hollan was helping angie with dishes talking to her about the Book of Mormon and me and Brad were chilling by the fridge talking about priesthood authority and wow! It was so cool because he has some really deep concerns about the priesthood and the spirit totally told me what to say and brad was satisfied by my answers! It was the coolest experience i've ever had in my life. :) 

     Thursday we had an AWESOME district meeting on using the Book of Mormon to respond to objections and then we went on exchanges with the Waverly West elders. Elder Olson and i hit our area and we went and taught the plan of salvation to kevin (it was a bit of a rough one but oh well) and then we went and had a legit discussion with Paris and Bria!! They haven't been praying at all and only reading the Book of Mormon a little so all we taught about was the importance of scripture study and prayer and wow! It was like a spirit BODY SLAM at one point because we were all feeling it so strong!!!!! Oh and we finally connected with James (he is the 15 year old guy who has been inactive and anti) and at the end of our discussion he said he'd try reading the Book of Mormon and he said the closing prayer for us!!!!!!!!!!!!! MIRACLE!!!! Then we went and taught Wilma about temple work (baptisms for the dead and eternal marriage) and it really touched her that she could be married to her husband forever. She is moving to Waterloo, Iowa in two weeks so we're fairly sure that she won't get baptized in Waverly but who knows? Maybe she'll get baptized eventually she is so prepared. :) Saturday we helped these older people move to Denver, Iowa for like four hours but it was a blast and they fed us lunch!! :D We then went with Sky Holmgren (member from our branch) to janesville and we tried this one house and it was CREEPY! So the day before, we had been in Janesville and met this older lady named Katherine (she isn't all there but she is really nice) and set up an appointment. The first thing we noticed was her sun porch had an open container of mothballs on it so it smelled really bad but the creepiest part was the mounted deer heads. There were like five mounted deer heads and there was mascara+eyeliner+lipstick on them and it was the creepiest thing i've ever seen in my life!!!!! Ugh it was freaky deaky! We then went to Henry and Susan's house and it was amazing! So the two previous lessons with them has been a kind of a bashing atmosphere because all they've done is try to prove us wrong but we would never bash back so they would just get frustrated. but this one was just a really simple lesson about the Book of Mormon and it was really good we were all touched by the spirit super strongly. :) And then Sunday!

     So first off, Kevin shows up at church and he'd shaved and had a haircut and he bought a white shirt, tie, dress pants, and sunday shoes and he looked awesome! The Atonement has totally begun to change him inside and out! Man he is a boss! Then Sky and Stefan both gave their mission farewells (Sky is going to California, Stefan is going to Sweden) and it was awesome. :) Elder's quorum was super awesome cuz we had this lesson on loving others and loving God and it was powerful! That evening we went to the Larson's home with the West elders and they fed us amaaaaaazing pork and we had an inspiring lesson on charity and elder olson gave a powerful testimony. He is going homethis thursday at transfers and he has been such an awesome missonary i'm gonna miss him alot. :( But thats the week! Oh and we get transfer calls today!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Love,
Elder Logan Flake

"All Natural" Deer with no makeup

Week 11 10-6-14

First off, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA (thats an evil laugh by the way) WE BEAT BLUE RIDGE TAKE THAT!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D Ok i had to get that out of my system. :) But it sounds like a totally awesome week as always! Elder Hollan and I for most of the sessions watched conference in the church by ourselves but we had A LOT of pringles and ginger ale (to combat the pringles) so we were set and happy. :) I think probably one of my absolute favorite talks was the one by Lynn G. Robbins cuz he went hard in the paint!! But this week was AWESOME!

     Monday we had dinner and a lesson with Wilma at the Durbin's house. We started talking about faith but halfway through, Wilma like started clutching her arm and was like "ugh this darned thing hurts so bad." She allowed us to give her a priesthood blessing and after it she was like "i don't know what i just felt but it was definitely something." YYYYYYYEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SO AWESOME!! Tuesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders and i went with elder Bellistion who is a total boss! We knocked a lot of doors and not much was happening but we were finally able to get into contact with Abebe (this AWESOME ethiopian guy we tracted into like 5 weeks ago) and we were able to clear up a lot of things (hahahaha he has been thinking that we were Jehovah's Witnesses so he never wanted to answer the door because he doesn't like them). So yea that was good to clear that up, and we gave him the Book of Mormon after talking about what it was and he was super pumped to read it! Elder Hollan and elder Parry taught Kevin and it was AWESOME! So on monday he just slipped up suuuuper bad and drank like 3 pints of vodka and chewed A LOT of tobacco but it was good too cuz it FINALLY got his wife paula involved. Before, every time we came over to Kevin's house, she would just disappear into the bedroom and listen to devil music! But now she wants to help Kevin so she is interested!! MIRACLE FO REAL!!!

     Wednesday, we went and gave service at NorthStar again and it was super fun as always. :) Hahaha when we were walking back, this random truck went by with a GIGANTIC fake bear in the back of it and it just made me bust up! Hahaha only in Iowa i swear! We talked to a guy named Scott Swehla (who has bats in his attic literally and figuratively-he has a bat infestation in the 2nd floor of his house and he is CRAZY) so that was......interesting. Then we were able to go and help the branch out with their Combined activity and it was like a murder mystery thing and that was a blast! Hahaha i played an irritated colonel who yelled a lot it was hilarious! We went and knocked some doors and NOTHING was happening so we said a prayer and then we were led to this boss Lutheran guy named Jim! The Lord truly answers prayers! Thursday we got to go to Iowa City and watch "Meet The Mormons" (a movie coming out that was produced by the Church and its super awesome) cuz President Jensen got it from the 1st Presidency so that was way cool! We then had dinner with the Berding family (she is an inactice member and her husband is a nonmember) and as we started to share a spiritual thought they just hustled us out the door (but it was in a nice way i guess). Idk it was a weird situation.

     Friday we went to Wilma's with brother Larson and we had like a Book of Mormon study thing it was sweet! We just all read through 3 Nephi 27 taking turns and we all jotted down thoughts as they came to us and then we told what we had written down and why. It was really good because it was REALLY simple and thats just what Wilma needs right now. We then and met a potential named Brian who just sat there with a Book of Mormon and a sheet of anti junk in the other hand and he just tried to bash with us but we wouldn't bash back and he eventually ended up accepting the invitation to baptism! Who knows it could happen! :D Saturday we watched the 1st session of conference and it was awesome and then the 2nd session we watched with Wilma at her house and she really liked it! CHURCH IS TRUE! Then we hit Janesville and were able to talk with Henry and Susan Heine, we talked with them last week-they are a really old couple who is REALLY Lutheran. He had gone to his pastor and asked him about Mormons and his pastor gave him LOADS of anti-mormon papers. So Henry tried to bash with us as well but we found out that he hadn't read the Book of Mormon at all so we invited him to read it and pray to know if it was true. We told them that was the only way to know if it was true. 

     Sunday we watched conference and it was super legit again! Our appointment with Paris and Bria (potentials) cuz they told us-and this is an exact quote, "you can't come over for this week because one of our dogs-they have three-is in heat and the other two are going crazy!" Hahahahahaha we just started laughing our heads off i was like "What?! Thats the most random excuse/reason i've ever heard!" But we were able to finally meet with brother Matthews (he is inactive) and his wife Kathy (she is a nonmember) and we had a really good talk with them and encouraged them to look up the conference talks-especially the one by m. Russell Ballard about "staying in the boat." Then we talked to Dave (history buff guy in the trailer park) and had a recap of the restoration with him (we haven't been able to meet with him for like 6 weeks!) and it was super awesome and he said he'd read the Book of Mormon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was another super awesome week in Waverly, Iowa!! Love you all!!!

Love, 

Elder Logan Flake

Week 10 9-29-14

Real nice, Logan

Fall colors starting to show.

Iowa hills

Well first off, thats super awesome about all the AllState stuff mom i'm sure that it was just a total blast as always!! :D And congrats to "S. Dog" on his football stuff its such a blast! Yea i got the package and when i opened it up me and elder hollan were both like "AGH THERES SOOOO MUCH CANDY!!!!" but it is slowly being consumed we're trying to limit ourselves on it. :) So the week now:

     We went to the Buettell's house and had dinner with Wilma there and that was a total blast! Hahahaha elder hollan and i made funeral potatoes but we put waaaaaay too many bread crumbs on top so it was like sand! But they still tasted decent so oh well. :) After dinner, we taught her about family history and set up an account for her! Woot woot! TUESDAY WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!! We went to NorthStar (a handicapped home we volunteer at)  and we karaoked (is that how you spell it?) for like three hours with all the NorthStar people and it was the best thing of my life!!! Hahahaha i had to start out so i sang "Separate Ways" by Journey and it was a blast and we were all rocking out! Hahahahahaha at one point me, elder hollan, elder andrews, and elder olson all sang "I want it that way" by the Backstreet Boys." At one point I sang "Living on a Prayer" with Lynn (a super smily Northstar dude) and that was the funnest thing i've ever done! Hahaha man it was just the best!!!!!! We then went to Janesville and had dinner with the McAllisters from our branch and that was a blast! Fun fact: she knits legit Weasley sweaters (like from harry potter) and sells them for like 150 bucks!!! Sheesh between the sweaters and Brother Larson's wands that he makes we could totally open a harry potter shop in the area and make bank! After that, we were lost on what we should do but then we felt like going to Wilma's house so we did and we went and read some of the Book of Mormon with her. 

     Wednesday Wilma's son and his wife came up from Cedar Rapids (about 1.5 hours away) and we met with them and Wilma and they were telling Wilma why they converted and it was super awesome and the Spirit was soooo strong but Wilma looked a little overwhelmed. It was Kathy's b-day last week but we missed it so to make up for it, brother ackerson and us took her a meatloaf cake smothered in gravy and it was hilarious! She hasn't been able to cook for herself for a long time and she wanted some meat. Hahahaha we went into her house with a candle stuck in the middle of it singing happy birthday at the top of her lungs! :D She loved it!!! Thursday we had an AWESOME district meeting and training on the Book of Mormon and using it more. We then went to Janesville again (Waverly is getting a little discouraging so we thought we'd try some of the other towns). Nothing really was happening so we went back to Waverly and were able to get into contact with a less-active guy named Craig Herrmeyer and we found out that he and his family are kind of apostate and have some CRAZY views but we were able to have a good discussion with them and encouraged them to read the Book of Mormon and pray and they said they would try. 

     We went by on Friday just to see how Wilma was doing but any time we brought up the gospel she deflected it so keep her in your prayers cuz she is on the fine line. Either she is going to get baptized or she is going to drop us idk its close to the decision time for her. Oh i forgot to mention we saw Kevin twice this week and had EPIC lessons on the Holy Ghost and the Word of Wisdom!!! He has been doing so good and he looks so much happier! After his lesson on Friday I had a NASTY headache! So much that we went home for the rest of the day cuz i couldn't do anything at all. :( Saturday we went and did service sealing the skate park with this sealant stuff that smelled HORRIBLE but we had a fun time with that still. :) Our appointments fell through (hahaha again!) but in Janesville we were able to meet Henry and Susan, a really old couple who are VERY Lutheran, and talked with them for like an hour about the Restoration and committed them to reading the Book of Mormon!!!!! It was awesome! (hahaha he tried to bash with us!) KEVIN CAME TO CHURCH AGAIN!!! He came to sacrament AND gospel principles class this time! Then he had to go but hey! HE SAID THAT HE IS LOVING IT!!!!!!!! Oh and we set a baptismal date with him for November 1st! I forgot to mention that. :) So it was a little bit of a hard week but we still had some epically awesome things happen! Keep Wilma and Kevin in your prayers!

Love, 

Elder Logan Flake

Week 9 9-22-14

9-22-14

     Well first off, idk why this transfer is short but the next one is seven weeks so it balances it all out. :) And brother Larson (our branch mission leader) was in the MTC around the same time you were Mom so I was just wondering. :) Thats crazy that Grandma is going on another mission! Hahaha i remember when i first found out she was doing another one my first thought was, "why am i not surprised? Thats totally like Grandma to serve another one she is so awesome!" :D And thanks for Devin's address now i can finally send him a birthday card! (And its really late!)

     So it has been really bipolar weather this week here in Waverly for some reason. Hahahaha one day we had to wear our coats cuz it was freezing!!! And a couple days later it was so hot that sweat was literally dripping off us! Blech! It was disgusting! But its all a good time. :) Monday we had an awesome p-day (like always) and it was a blast! After p-day ended we got to go and (finally!) see Allan Engel (this really nice less-active college guy) and we read out of the Book of Mormon with him and had a super awesome discussion about it with him and he said that he'd read it more.! Woo hoo! We then went with Sister Swallow (awesome member of our branch! Her husband has really bad cancer) to Wilma's house and we had the most fantastic and uplifting discussion on the Atonement ever! It was sooooo powerful!!!! We then taught this guy named Chris and that was interesting... Well, first off he is eighteen and working like sixty hours a week and (he says) he is an affiliate marketer on the internet and makes bank on that. He told us that last year he pulled in almost nine million dollars. Soo we're not sure if its legit or if he is just a pathological liar but we're working with him. And then Tuesday was like ARGH!

     Hahaha so we had five (count 'em five) appointments all planned and we prepared lessons and everything and EVERY SINGLE ONE FELL THROUGH!!!! Haha it was like "C'mon guys! This is salvation here!" But its whatev we still had an awesome day. :) We went to this gigantic farmer's market and got like seven potential investigators! Woot woot!!! So that totally made up for the dropped lessons from earlier!! We then went tracting and met some cool people and thats always a blast! :D After that, we went and had dinner and an awesome lesson on member missionary work with the Ackerson family. They live in this GIGANTAVIOUS house that needs a lot of work but its the coolest house ever!! And randomly a couple weeks ago we discovered that Waverly has a Masonic Temple! I don't know what it is or what they do in it but its got the same logo on the outside of it just like the one in National Treasure! The G within the triangle thing! Hahahahaha oh man i love Iowas its so random! 

     Wednesday we power washed the Buettell's house to get all the mold off and that was a blast cuz i've never power washed anything before! Hahaha half the time Elder Andrews just power washed me! :D Brother Buettell then took us to the huge John Deere factory in Waterloo and he got us in on a tour cuz he used to work there. Man that was fascinating! Some of those tractors are gargantuan!!!!!! After that we cleaned our car for like 2 hours cuz we had car inspections the next day at zone conference. Then we knocked into a nice, older guy named Bruce and we had an awesome lesson about the Restoration with him! Haha he is VERY opinionated about gay marriage-he hates it!! Then we had an awesome lesson at the Garner's home (he is the elder's quorum president and they are way awesome!). 

     Thursday was my 1st zone conference! We drove down to Iowa City (like two and a half or so hours away) and the APs, Sister Jensen, and President Jensen all gave trainings and that was awesome! (They didn't even do vehicle inspections darn it!) The Jensens are just the best and so nice and amazing. :) It was kinda weird to see a lot of the missionaries who came out with me looking changed already. Well, i guess that i'm not really the same anymore either. :) My mission has already started to change me for good. :) When we got back we had an awesome lesson with Paris and Bria (awesome dude and his girlfriend) about the doctrine of Christ and she had A LOT of questions but the Book of Mormon totally pulled through and answered every one of them it was amazing! Like one of them was she asked us whats the deal with infant baptism and what do we think of it so we turned to Moroni 8 and it boldly answered them on that one! And then she was like, "Oh! That makes so much sense!" It was fantastic! Friday we went to NorthStar and had a blast there like always! Hahaha man those guys are hilarious! And then we had an AMAZING lesson with the Buettells with Wilma and we talked about the Plan of Salvation for a good hour! She straight up told us that it made so much sense!!

     Saturday we were working at the Community Gardens and the heavens opened on us! It was like "oh its a little chilly this morning" to "AAAHHHH RAIN, LIGHTNING, AND I'M SOAKING WET!!" After that we went and met with Sister Hollandsworth (an older lady in our branch who doesn't come very much) and it was good but kinda awkward cuz i don't think she really likes us. Kevin (our investigator who has a lot of problems with drinking and chewing tobacco) invited us over to his house for burgers so of course we went! Hahaha Kevin and his wife Paula (she is atheist) are hilarious! Then he told us he'd come to church! We then met a boss, Dan, and we had an awesome talk about the Restoration with him!

     ON SUNDAY KEVIN CAME TO SACRAMENT MEETING AND LOVED IT!!!!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!! HE SAID HE FELT THE SPIRIT!!! YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the coolest thing i've ever seen in my life!! After church we went with brother Larson to Kathy Curlee's house and we gave her the sacrament and talked about the Book of Mormon. Man i love the Book of Mormon its fantastic! Holy goodness her faith is amazing! Everything that can go wrong in life happens to her i swear! Keep her in your prayers please. After that, we had dinner at Brad and Angie's (they're the investigators who love us :D) house we talked to them and had an epic heart-to-heart and discovered their fears about what was holding them back from moving forward with talking to us. They committed to start praying about the Book of Mormon with real intent!!! I love them and their family so much they just need to get baptized already! Thats about the week!

Love, 

Elder Logan Flake