Week 56 8-17-15

My new "old" companion Elder Martin

Well, our week was great! :) And yep we've let the police know but we haven't heard or seen anything yet. :) We've got some kinda junky bikes the mission gave us that'll do the job for the moment, but we hope that we'll be able to find the original bikes. :) 

     MY NEW COMPANION IS ELDER MARTIN WHO WAS MY MTC COMPANION! He went home for health reasons and then he got to come back out in February and now we're together! Yes!!! :D It was so sad to see Elder Bolinder go home though. :( Just as I start to get to know a lot of missionaries they all go home, Elder Curless goes home in six weeks! :'( Well we were able to be blessed to find a new investigator on Monday named Chelsea! She is in her late 20s, is married and has the cutest little 2 year old boy named Cameron! She was telling us how she was "led to Christ" about two years ago while serving in the Air Force and so that's why she wanted to talk. She is super open and willing to learn and has awesome questions! It was great because the lesson was a little scattered but the Spirit was still there which is always a plus. :) That night we taught Michele in the Perry's home and it was great! We read some of Alma 32 with her and we all had a great discussion on what faith truly is and how we can help it grow. It was awesome and went really well. Michele is awesome! We were able to meet with Liz Allen again on Tuesday and we also discussed faith with her. Liz is super cool and very willing to work with us which is always good. :) Thursday was just sad...... So many people that I knew went home! Although we had 23 new missionaries come out which was nuts! Mainly because we've been getting like 5-10 or so for the last like 4-5 transfers so 23 all at once was like "Whoa!" President Jensen goes, "In the Cedar Rapids 3rd East area Elder Flake will continue to serve, and he's going to have a new companion. Elder Martin." I was like, "YES!!" Oh man it was the best thing ever!!!! :D :D Elder Martin is 6' 4" (haha I'm only like 5" 10") and he is a STUD! We are having a blast together already and its only been like 4 days! We were able to finally contact a less-active member named Kristi Gilligan and it was good. She has depression and doesn't like coming to church because she feels like everyone there judges her. We just simply did our best to listen to her and help her out the best we could. It was kind of a sad experience but it went well. :) Hahaha the weekend was one of those where every single appointment that you have falls through! We did a bunch of finding and met some cool people. :) 

     Haha one man, he was a Jehovah Witness, was like, "We have similar religions but I challenge you to try to live the life of a Jehovah's Witness for a couple months! You'll come out of that a changed person for the better!" He liked to yell a lot. :) And I think I'm good, I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So we're all kind of pumped because this week was pretty tough, other than finding Chelsea, so that means that this coming week is gonna be AWESOME! Its funny how many rises and falls there are in missionary work. Some weeks you're like, "Woo! We're on fire! Everything is awesome and I'm loving it!" Then some weeks its like, 'Well hey at least the Gospel is still true." :) It has also been really weird because those weeks where everything falls through and it seems like nothing at all is going on, those are the weeks that I'm the happiest! Hahaha it makes no sense! Its like, "Why am I so happy? Life stinks right now!" Then I always realize that I'm happy because I'm serving the Lord with all my strength. :) Mission life is the best! Brian is doing great and loving life! Well except for Sunday morning because he was sicker than a dog, but other than that he is doing great! Sunday was awesome and its sweet how close we are with most of the ward! Everyone is always super friendly and happy to see us! They're just like, "Hey Elders! How are you doing? How goes the work?" Oh man its the best! Cedar Rapids is awesome and I love it here! :D

Love,
Elder Logan Flake