Week 52 7-20-15

     Man what an awesome week!!!!!!! It sounds like summer has just been a super total blast!! Yup Sister Meck wanted to know if you were on Facebook when we were visiting with them yesterday and she whipped out her phone and sent you a friend request. :) Hahahaha of course Spencer just randomly bumps into Elder Bednar, why not? :) Thats crazy that you got to see Payge too! Her letters are the best and so awesome! I had no idea that I had that positive of an effect on her....whoa. I still remember the day that I got an email from Brock telling me that he was going on a mission. I was like, "WHAT?! YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!" I was super pumped for him! Brock is one of my best friends ever!!!!! (haha I like a lot of exclamation points) :) I love the members here (which is saying a lot because I absolutely LOVED the Indianola branch) and I love living with other misssionaries too it is a blast! And I don't know about the whole Waverly thing but I'll definitely ask President Jensen about that. 

     THIS WEEK WAS SO FULL OF MIRACLES THAT IT WAS INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So first and foremost, on Monday we went and taught Brian the Plan of Salvation and he was like, "Whoa guys its kinda weird how this literally fits in with everything I used to believe." Yep thats because its true! :) He randomly gave us some fantastic fish that he made as well. Hahaha he hands it to us and goes, "Didn't know I was a chef now did you?" We took a bite and we said, "Well, we do now!" Brian is awesome though I love that guy so much. Which is saying a lot because I don't know why but nearly my entire mission (with the exception of some) it has been really hard to truly just love my investigators. Brian, on the other hand, is just a fantastic guy and I really do love him a lot! He is such a stud! We were able to (finally!) visit Sarah again on exchanges! We went with the Spanish elders and Elder Barron (he was in my first zone!) and I went to our area and then Elder Rader (he was actually in my last zone!) and Elder Bolinder went to their area. We were able to go with Brother Couser from our ward to go and see her and we taught her the principle of obedience as well as the Word of Wisdom. It was a great lesson! Brother Couser (who is a convert to the church and had struggled with Word of Wisdom problems as well before he joined the church) bore a powerful testimony how the Word of Wisdom has blessed his life in so many ways. It brought the Spirit really strongly and was awesome. However, Sarah was like, "I still want to be baptized and be righteous and stuff, but it'll have to wait until after my birthday on August 11th." So we were like, "Uhh why?" Then she told us something along the lines of how on her birthday her and all her friends are going to have a big party and drink and do all sorts of other stuff. She was like, "Then after all that craziness I'll want to keep learning more about the church." *sigh* Thats not how it works Sarah sorry. We'll be working with her to help her see the true importance of living God's commandments at all times. On Thursday I woke up, looked at the calendar, then wanted to go back in my bed and hide. BECAUSE IT WAS MY YEAR MARK! Its going WAY too fast! I'm just barely starting to figure out how to be a good missionary and follow the Spirit and love people and all that good stuff! It was super weird and made me feel ancient. Man, a year gone by already. It does NOT seem like its been that long already. Anyway, we drove down to Davenport (in an insane rainstorm the entire time!) and had an awesome zone conference down there! I was able to see Elder Houston again, it was awesome! I see him and he goes, "Elder Flake! No way c'mere!" Then we give each other a big hug and start talking about the good ole' times even though its only been like three weeks since we last saw each other. :)

     The trainings we were given was great and the Spirit was really powerful the entire time. President Jensen is an inspired man and is awesome. He is hilarious, knows what he is doing, and loves everybody. I love him so much! :) That night, we felt like we needed to go and see Brian so we just went and dropped in on them. He was stressing out major! The night before he was praying and asking God for a sign that this was the right thing to do and he was feeling really conflicted with what he felt he needed to do. He dropped a BUNCH of questions on us that caught us off guard but thank heavens for the Ho;y Ghost. We were prompted to answer him with the scriptures and we found the answers in the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price. The main one that we felt impressed to read was D+C 6: 21-24. It is the Lord's response to Oliver Cowdery when Oliver is trying to find the truth. It hit Brian really hard and he just started crying. I was privileged to bear testimony on how doubts can strengthen our faith and it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in my life. The Spirit was literally powerful in that home and we all felt it. He later told us that he is 100% committed to continue meeting with us. On Friday we were able to go and teach the Stop Smoking Workshop to Brian at the Hodson's home (members of the ward) and he gave solid commitments to obey all 15 steps to the letter! He hadn't had a cigarette for nearly a day! The lesson was awesome and I know that he can do it! He can be smoke-free for the first time in his 28 years of smoking in just a week!! On Sunday, we went with Brother Bullock to see if Sarah remembered that she wanted to come to church and she was ready and she came! The ward just fellowshipped her to death and everybody was super friendly and she really enjoyed it! The sisters in the ward just welcomed her in with arms wide open. :) Brian came as well and he is a boss! Oh man this week was so awesome! By the way, Brian has now been smoke-free for nearly four days! I now have a more solid testimony that if we ask Heavenly Father for miracles, He REALLY will grant them according to our faith! The Church is true and the gospel is just awesome!!!!!! Oh and me, Elder Bolinder, Elder Rader, Elder Barron, and the zone leaders all got permission so we are going down to Nauvoo tomorrow to do a session, enjoy the city, and then see the pageant that night! I'M PUMPED!!!!!!!!!! Man I love my mission!! 

Love,

Elder Logan Flake