Week 25 1-19-15

   Sounds like a great time back in ole' Snowflake!! But guess what happened......I GOT TRANSFERRED AGAIN!!!.......PSYCH! Elder Curless left to Dubuque, but I get to stay here in Des Moines for at least six more weeks and I'm now with elder David Deeds from sunny San Jose, California! He is a total boss and we get along super great already!! When we got the transfer calls and I found out I was staying I was like "YES!!!" because I love Des Moines its so great! Elder Curless was sad he was leaving and so was I but we both knew that its what the Lord wanted. :) Hahahahahahaha so a couple of weeks ago, elder Curless, me, and our zone leaders all made a pact that if elder Curless left, we would all go and get a triple pattie "Walking Ched" burger at Zombieburger. So.......we did and my stomach will never be the same again. It is a burger that has mayo, onions, three burger patties, macaroni and cheese on top of it, and instead of bread buns it has deep fried macaroni and cheese for buns. Man it was so good! After we all finished, we just sat there and stared at our plates thinking to ourselves......."never again, but man it was tasty!" Hahaha!

     The week was a little crazy because elder Curless had to pack and then he said bye to a lot of the really awesome members in our ward we've gotten really close to but we were still able to get some good stuff done. :) Haha random story real fast: so elder Deeds and I were tracting on Thursday night and we knocked on this one house's door and the first thing we notice is a sign by the door that says "All we want is..." and then it showed the hippie peace symbol. This older guy with long hair opens the door and then his weiner dog started trying to rip my leg to shreds!!! The guy was like "I'm so sorry!!" and then he picks up the dog, chucks it through the door then slams the door! Then we did the whole "We're missionaries, etc." and he says "Gentlemen, I believe in the here and now"(and at this point he started walking towards us with his arms open like he wanted a hug and my first thought was "I'm not gonna give you a hug?") "and I like you guys to leave." So we did because it was creepy and kind of weird. Gotta love Iowa!!!!

     Friday, we went and saw Victor again! So last time we were there, Beatrice expressed a concern that they didn't have like any blankets or coats for her two kids so she asked if we could help them with that. So we tried contacting sister Helton and some other sisters and sister Helton was like "Oh yea no problem!" Thursday night, we got the stuff from her and she had gone out and bought a bunch of blankets and two brand new coats!!! It was so cool to be able to give those to Beatrice and she nearly started crying. It was a really awesome experience. On Saturday, we had get-to-know-you district meeting and I found out that my new district leader, elder Whiting, is from eagar!! I first meet him and he goes, "Are you a Snowflake Lobo?" And then I said, "Are you a Round Valley Elk?" And then we both started laughing and we had like an instant bond and started talking about the White Mountains and the rivalries and the radio stations and everything it was awesome!! :D We're really tight already just because we live so close to each other back home and we know a lot of the same people! Later that day, we were able to FINALLY contact Sam again!! We had a really powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon and Sam was able to really feel the Spirit and open up a lot which was awesome. :)

     Victor had to work on Sunday morning so he didn't come to church but he was so disappointed and was like "I'll be there next week I promise! I'm so sorry." Man he is a boss! We also found a BUNCH of awesome potential people for the sisters and for our Spanish zone leaders when we were finding this week which was a miracle in and of itself!!!!!!

Love,
Elder Logan Flake

Week 24 1-12-15

     We were never able to get into contact with Sam this week unfortunately he was always gone. :( But yes that was the second time I got to go to Nauvoo in the field so far! :) This week was COLD but amazing!!

     COLD COLD COLD COLD!!! Hahahahaha it got down to -15 degrees one day!! Thank heavens for thick coats and sweaters and gloves and beanies and thermals and all cold weather gear ever invented!!!! :D Hahahahaha so random story real fast: I love my zone they're so fun!! We were playing basketball on p-day and me, elder Clark, elder Peterson, and elder Hayden were all on a team but none of us are very good at basketball so we all just had a blast being goofballs! Hahahaha we called ourselves "the comedy quartet!" That evening, our cars got grounded so we stayed at the apartment the whole night because the heavens opened with snow on little Des Moines!!! There was like six inches on the ground within two hours!!! On Tuesday, we got a text from our APs saying that "President forbids tracting for the day because its 3 degrees outside with a wind chill of -15 degrees." COLD!!!! So all we were able to do was give some service to brother Vaughn and then we had double dinners that night. Ugh....my stomach. We had pizza at the Diaz's house and then we had taquitos at the Pymm's home that evening. We had a fantastic lesson with the Pymms about how we can all be better member missionaries and the Spirit was so strong!

     Thursday was Elder Clark's last district meeting because he goes home on the 15th. :( It was amazing and elder Clark bore an amazing testimony of the things he has learned since being on a mission and the Spirit was insanely strong. He invited sister Whipple up to do the same (she leaves on the 15th as well) and she had an inspiring testimony too. :) It was probably my favorite district meeting I've ever had out here yet. On Friday we went with the APs and brother Spencer from our ward and we taught Victor and his cousins! Ok, so the APs have been meeting with Victor since June but he moved to our area with his cousins and their family. So they handed him off to us and we showed the Restoration and it was an awesome lesson! There was Victor, his cousins: Lucky, Beatrice, Greg, and Prince, and a friend of theirs whose name is Juice. Juice was really, really, really, really high off of weed so that was interesting............yea it was kinda different trying to teach him....but it was still good. :) On Saturday Janet and Amber were baptized! Amber is a lady that the sisters have been meeting with for quite some time and Janet is the awesome blind lady that we found for the sisters like two months ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such an amazing moment to see her get baptized!!!!

     Sunday, VICTOR CAME TO CHURCH!!! MAN THAT GUY IS SUCH A STINKIN' BOSS!!!!!! Janet and Amber were both confirmed and it was amazing to see their faces glowing when they got the gift of the Holy Ghost. :) After church, we had pot roast at the Cateruccis with apple cheesecake for dessert!! They are so awesome and man their boys are funny! Hahaha it was a hoot! We taught Victor and crew again that afternoon with brother Voss about the Book of Mormon and it was a really good lesson and I think they accepted it well. That night us, the sisters, and our ward mission leader brother Peterson (who is fantastic) were all able to finally meet with Bishop Dyer. We had a really good discussion about what we can all do to best serve the ward and each other in the upcoming year and the Spirit was so strong. It was especially good because the sisters and us have been feeling really disconnected from Bishop Dyer so this was an essential meeting and I feel that a lot of good trust was built with him that night. Bishop Dyer is amazing and so in tune with the Spirit! I really like him a lot. Freezin' my behind off and working hard and gaining the trust of members! :) I love Iowa so much!!! Oh and today is transfer calls. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHATS GONNA HAPPEN?????????!!!!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake 

Week 23 1-5-15

Jamaica, Iowa.  He wishes it was the other one!

At the Nauvoo Temple

   Well first off I'll answer some of your questions. :) Sophie was a referral and we contacted her but then we ended up having to give her to the sisters because she was a single mom and it ended up being hectic trying to bring a male to every lesson sow e gave her to the sisters and they did an amazing job with Sophie. :) And unfortunately our ward has a little bit of a hard time with retention of converts. But on the plus side we are finally meeting with Bishop Dyer this week and talking about how we can best help him to help the ward! :D We are getting really close with a lot of the members which is good because almost all of last transfer, with the exception of a few people, we just felt so disconnected from the entire ward. But now we are getting to know them a lot better and it has been fantastic! But man! These last couple of weeks have been really hard for us! We've had to give away nearly every investigator and its been pretty disheartening and stressing for both of us, me especially, but things are finally picking up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     We were able to meet with brother voss, the second counselor, and his family and that was awesome because he is hilarious! We did our little discussion thingamajig and they were able to give us some fantastic feedback on what we could try doing to help out the ward. :) I went on exhanges with elder Richens and we did a bunch of service! Hahaha we were moving this like 200 pound sheet rock and I dropped it on my fingers in 15 degree weather!! AAHHHH it hurt so bad!!! And then we both probably inhaled some kind of disease from all the junk in the air when we were cleaning up a member's basement that they had gutted. :) For lunch we went to this HUGE Chinese buffet and I was brave and tried a baby octopus! It actually tasted like chicken!! But I did NOT like the texture of the little suction cups on its tentacles it was just plain bizarre......Then we were able to finally contact a referral named Sam (he is always gone and we didn't have a phone number for him) and we taught him the Restoration! He accepted it and at the end of the lesson, he knelt down and gave the most sincere prayer! The church is true!!!! For New Year's Eve, we went to the Burgess' house and the Childress family from our ward was there too. We had a blast eating veggie burgers (the Burgess family is vegetarian) and playing the most intense, cutthroat game of Pictionary I've ever played in my life! We had to go back home at ten so when the clock struck midnight, we stuck a couple of candles in a Danish, blew them out after making a New Year's wish, then went to bed. :)

     We visited Madison and Curtis a couple of times this week as well and that was fun as always! Haha so we were checking up on Royal to see how he had been doing and apparently he had gotten an oral surgery for these little stones, kinda ish like kidney stones, which were stuck in his saliva gland. And he showed us them, he had them in a little can, and they were BIG! Blech! So, we had gotten previous permission from President Jensen to go to the Nauvoo temple because elder Curless hadn't been to the temple for almost 15 months. So on Saturday the Craypos drove us down and we got to go to a session. It was really an amazing experience being able to go to the temple again, it was such a blessing. I just listened intently to the covenants this time and was able to gain some new insights that I have never thought of before so that was quite an experience. Sunday we went to church, which is at 9:00 now, and there were some fantastic testimonies given there which was really cool to hear. We went to the Andelin's home for lunch and had breaded chicken! *drool* We just sat there and talked about how we can all best share the gospel and different ways to do it. At one point, brother Andelin brought up the concern that he was nervous to share at his work, he is a doctor, because he didn't know how his colleagues would react and if that was kosher. The Spirit was able to give us the words to say and it was amazing to see that it was just what he needed to hear to help him out. Then we went and contacted a referral named Lucy and were able to set up a church tour with her for Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahaha it was interesting because her grandson is a pastor at a Pentecostal church and he was trying to bash with us so that was................uhh..........interesting. Some of the things he brought up were a little weird. But it was still good. :)

Love,

Elder Logan Flake  

Week 22 12-29-14

YES THANK YOU FOR THE THERMALS ITS COLD HERE!! Hahaha yesterday it just randomly dropped down to like 22 degrees as we were walking around tracting!! I was like "AAAHHH THATS COLD!" Made me glad for them!

CHRISTMAS AND BIRTHDAY COMBINED! :D :D

     So this week was a little crazy! P-day we played some epic cutthroat basketball and that was a blast like always! On Tuesday I had my birthday and exchanges! I got to go with elder Clark my hilarious district leader! So, first off we headed downtown and walked around and gave out like 35 "He is the Gift" cards and that was awesome! Because even just a simple card talking about Christ can easily plant a seed of faith in someone. :) Then we went and helped to teach an English class to a bunch of immigrants at the library again and that was a blast! I helped out an older Hispanic man named Orlando who was hilarious! I could barely understand a word he said and I'm pretty sure that he could barely understand a word that I said! But man we had fun with it. :) We then went knocking and got some awesome potential investigators for our Spanish zone leaders, and then we went and saw Curtis. After that, we went to the Poole's home for dinner and did the discussion thing about missionary work again and we were able to get a lot of wonderful insights from them. Hahahaha at one point during dinner brother Poole looks at me and says, "Well elder Flake, you drew the short straw because you're the one here instead of elder Curless. Could you talk in church on Sunday?" Darn it!!! :) Oh and when we were tracting that evening, we totally met an awesome black lady named Lori! Hahahaha when we mentioned Jesus, she just started going off! She just started going "Oh Jesus is my savior! He is my king and my Lord! I love Him and He loves me!" We couldn't even get a word in she was so loud! :)

     Wednesday, we had a short district meeting and then we had a white elephant gift exchange! Elder Clark got my present which was a big "pretty fairy princess" set (with accessories) and a fake samurai sword! I got a puzzle.........:) But it was hilarious! We then went to the Cluff's home and had dinner with them and man they gave us so much food to take home! Our fridge is still packed!!!!! But they were really awesome and really kind people. THEN IT WAS CHRISTMAS! Woke up and unwrapped our packages, I got a bunch of SWEET stuff like an authentic Japanese tie from Alyssa!, and then we went to the Craypo's home and skyped! For some reason my sound wasn't working so I talked to my family on the phone while I saw them. :) Man Dallin and Spencer are so old! And Alyssa is home from Japan?! WHAT???!!!! Then we went to the Poole's home again for dinner and had a blast with all of them! Man I probably gained like five pounds on Christmas! 

     Friday we went and saw Will Barnett, an inactive guy who lives at the homeless shelter, and got to know him better and just talk to him. So that was really good but kind of depressing because everyone just looks so glum in that place. :( After that, we went and did a bunch of service for brother Vaughn again. :) Hahaha man that guy! So he is 82 but acts like a punk 20 year old he is just hilarious! On Saturday sophie, the investigator who we gave to the sisters, and her daughter Somel got baptized! We were able to go and witness it and just the pure joy on her face as she came out of the water was so amazing to see. It just made me so happy! Later that day we tried some potentials in Oakridge, this African community, and nothing was happening but as we walked back to our car these little African kids were like "hey do you guys wanna play some basketball?" So elder Curless and I looked at each other and then we each said "Heck yea!" So we played basketball with these awesome African kids for like fifteen minutes! Hahaha man I've never laughed that hard in my life! Those kids were just hilarious! 

     Sunday I talked in church and it went really well so that was good. :) I gave a 15 minute talk on "How can I share my testimony of Jesus Christ and have more of a desire to share?" Then Sophie and Somel were confirmed!! We also got to sub for the eight and nine year olds in Primary so that was a blast too! Hahaha and for some reason Sophie had cooked a bunch of African food for everyone so after church almost half the ward came and we ate a bunch of African food in the relief society room! THAT STUFF WAS SO SPICY!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake