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