Week 34 3-23-15

     Sweet!! Wow its still so weird to think that you're all moving!!! To me it feels like time should've slowed down in Snowflake but its so weird to think that it hasn't at all! CRAZY! :) I'm glad the play went well! And go Dallin tenth chair!!! Sweetness! Random question: do you know where I can get a priesthood line of authority from? ALYSSA IS EXCLUSIVELY DATING SOMEONE???????????????!!!!! SHE BETTER NOT GET MARRIED WHILE I'M GONE!!! Haha nah that'd be fine. :) And yes Jacob's baptism is this week!! He is such a studly kid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We sadly haven't been able to get into contact with Mikayla but we're still trying. THIS WEEK WAS CHOCK FULL OF MIRACLES!

     On Monday, after p-day was over, we were able to go and see the Mcgees again. Man they are so funny and awesome I love them!!! Hahaha fun story real quick: so Monday was my "click" day (the day I hit another month on the mish) and to celebrate we went to DQ to get a blizzard and I got the "Cookie Jar" blizzard which is on the DQ "secret menu." YOU SHOULD GET IT ITS SO FANTASTIC! Never getting any other kind of blizzard again!! :D Tuesday we had zone conference in Des Moines! I got to see Elder Deeds again and talk to him!!! Man I miss Des moines! But zone conference was awesome! President and Sister Jensen and the Assistants are all so inspired! The Spirit was so strong with all of the trainings we received. :) Then our zone leaders both came to Indianola for exchanges! Elder Sites interviewed Jacob for baptism and he passed! Then Elder Carlson and I went knocking and we were led to 2 new investigators! We met them in an apartment complex hallway and they told us to come in. Their names are Joshua and Emily and they are both 19, engaged, and live together. Emily was really accepting but Joshua was a little more skeptical and had A LOT of questions which was good. Almost every single one of his questions was answered by the Restoration and we are going back to see them tomorrow and teach the Plan of Salvation!! The cool thing was at the beginning Joshua was almost like angry at us for some reason, he just seemed really ticked off, but as we went the Spirit softened his heart. It was awesome! On Wednesday, Elder Carlson and I were finally able to contact Nancy! She has been a potential investigator for a while that we haven't been able to get a hold of. We were able to teach her the Restoration and it was an awesome lesson! Although i don't think we taught the Apostasy as clearly as we could've because she just didn't understand it well. But we are addressing that when we meet with her later this week. :) We also met this really cool 27-year old Pentecostal lady named Gabbie and she is a boss! It was only brief contact after we knocked on her door but we set up an appointment for later in the week. 

     We went back home for lunch but as we were going. we felt like we should go back. So we did and we were able to teach her the entire Restoration on the door step and she was extremely accepting of it! Later she told us that she'd seen missionaries knock on her door before, but never until now had she ever felt like she should open it! It was such a miracle!!! On Thursday, we went down to Centerville (a small little town about 2 hours away in our district) and went on exchanges with the Centerville elders! It was a total blast!!!!!!! I went with Elder Houston and Elder Homer went with Elder Smith (fun fact: he trained Elder Deeds). Elder Houston and I had a blast! We met some......interesting people thats for sure. Haha we knock on this one door and the lady goes, "Oh I'm not interested but the boys out back might be." So we go to the back and there are two five year old boys playing in the dirt! Elder Houston and I looked at each other and then just lost it!! Hahahahaha it was the best! We went to a lesson with one of their investigators, a nice lady named Laura, with Sister White (their branch president's wife) and we taught Laura and her son Tim about the Book of Mormon. It was an awesome lesson and Sister White bore a powerful testimony! She then invited them both to church and was like, "I'll sit with you and show you around and help you out in any way I can!" It was sweet!! On Friday we made contact with one of the drunk guys from the other week, his name is Jesse we found out, and he was sober and looked like a completely different person! We set up an appointment for the next day with him and he promised not to be drunk. On Saturday, we got permission to go up to Des Moines for Cecilia's baptism! Elder Deeds and I were the ones who originally found Cecilia. It was an awesome service! Cecilia and four of her kids all got baptized!! After that, we drove back down to Indianola to go talk to Jesse about the Restoration.

     He was extremely drunk on vodka sadly. :(  We did our best trying to answer all of his......interesting questions but we eventually just said, "Well we've gotta go sorry see ya later." He also randomly lit up two cigarettes while we were there so we had to go and change our clothes because the smell was pretty bad. As we were walking back home that night, we saw Bryan (a former) cleaning his car so we stopped and talked to him for a bit. He invited us in and talked to us for a bit. He is awesome! He has met with missionaries before in the past so he knows everything that we do and teach. He tended to dominate the conversation a bit with talking about the corruptness of everything but we were able to just simply invite him to come to church the next day. On Sunday Bryan actually surprised us and came to church! He showed up in a suit and tie and everything! He really enjoyed sacrament meeting but he had to leave halfway through Sunday School. But he told us he enjoyed "trying out our church" again. :) After church the branch had a soup and chili lunch that we all had. IT WAS AMAZING!!! My favorite was this like tomato soup and chili combination thing that tasted fantastic! Then later that evening, we felt like we should knock this really nice rich part of town where people had previously been not interested and we met TJ! He is an awesome college student who believes in Christ and is just a boss! But sadly he was only in Indianola with family for Spring Break but he lives in Cedar Rapids. So we were able to get his information and we're sending it to the mission office so they can send it to the Cedar Rapids missionaries!! Hahahahahaha one of my favorite excuses someone has given us at the door approach happened yesterday! Quote: "Yea come back some other time cuz I'm watching the game right now." I love people they crack me up!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 33 3-16-15

    

 Wow what a week! And thats awesome about pie day! We did that in Calculus last year and some people brought pies and we all ate them! :D Congrats to Dallin on 15th chair! My little bruvuh is growin up. :') I get to practice the piano every p day at the church and I sing in the shower, at church, and around the house (hehe I'm sure elder Homer gets annoyed...bwahahahaha!) but besides that not really. :) Hahaha it was kinda cool but my first sunday here one of the members, Sister Press a super sweet lady, came up to me and said, "I was sitting in front of you and wow you have a beautiful voice!" So of course me being me, I kinda blushed and said, "Uhhh...thanks!" :P Man you guys are moving?! Its just to grandma Flake's house right? Whoa! Crazy! And Dad it sounds like you're having a great time with real estate! Elder Homer has been in Indianola for six more weeks than I have. And yup its just us two tearin' up the town! We actually just met with the branch president yesterday after church for like an hour and just discussed the branch and what we can do to help everyone. He gave us a lot of awesome advice and asked for advice on some things and it was sweet! Apparently missionaries in the past have kinda done their own thing here so its awesome that we're starting to really build trust with him and the branch! Hahahaha so I was on exchanges with Elder Hopkins in Knoxville and some members there, the Adams family (duh-duh-duh-duh *snap* *snap*) and apparently they lived in Snowflake in eighth ward for like a year not too long ago! Jacob's mom did not come to church but yes I did get my package! Thank you thank you thank you! I loved the stake missionary newsletter too its awesome to see how everyone is doing! And guess what!! The members are starting to get a little more excited because of Jacob! He is just so awesome and super pumped about the gospel and he is already making plans to save up to go on a mission! :D What a stud! 

     This week was...interesting! We met with Mikayla in the library on Monday! So apparently she and her friend were being taught by missionaries down in Southern Missouri and her friend got baptized and she was getting ready too but then she moved up here to Indianola. She is awesome and super excited to keep being taught and progress! YES!!!! Then we went knocking in Prole, which is a little rinky-dink town in our area in the boonedocks! I think thats how you spell "boonedocks." It was like 75 degrees! Sheesh heat wave! Hahaha fun story real quick! We were tracting on Tuesday and we knock on this one house that had 80s music blasting. This guy with a big beard was like, "We're out back!" WE go around and start talking to them and its these two guys that are just completely wasted! Man they were so drunk! And apparently, they were high as well. The guy with the big beard was like, "I'm a believer!" And then he showed us this HUGE tattoo of Jesus' face he had on his bicep! So......yeah that was interesting. We just kinda simply walked away with them randomly yelling at each other over their Chihuahua or something like that? Haha mission life! We then went to dinner with our branch mission leader and his wife, the Hutchesons, and we had some cut of meat I've never seen before that they called "pork ribs." It. Was. AMAZING!!! Oh man the juice! The flavor! Everything! On Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Knoxville elders! Me and Elder Hopkins hit Knoxville! Its about the same size as Indianola or so. We did some finding in Pella, a smaller town in their area but sadly no one would even accept a card. :( THERE WAS THIS HUGE CHURCH THAT I THOUGHT WAS A MALL UNTIL I SAW I GIGANTIC CROSS ON IT! HOLY GOODNESS IT WAS GIGANTIC! IT HAD TWO LEVELS FOR HEAVEN'S SAKES!!! Then we met with an investigator of theirs named Robert. He'd been reading in D+C 80-84 and we answered the questions he had about it. Wow he is a super smart guy who is a deep doctrine diver! Talk about the Spirit giving you the words to say it was awesome! Like it wasn't a debate but it was just fascinating! Then we had dinner with the Adam's family, members in Knoxville, and that was awesome! Pulled pork burritos! Then we went and saw one of their investigators and because Elder Hopkins has the "Life of Jesus Christ Bible Videos" on DVD, we watched "John the Beloved's Witness" with him. Wow that was powerful and easily one of the few times in my life that I could literally feel the Spirit's presence so near. It was something else.   

     On Thursday we had district meeting down in Centerville! So the members in Centerville don't have an actual chapel they meet in a place that was a bar but the Church bought it and converted it into a chapel of sorts. It was awesome! Elder Homer gave a powerful training on "Teaching People Not Lessons." Hahaha later that day, as we were walking along a road back in Indianola, a random lady pulls over and says, "Hi elders! I'm Sister Richards from the Knoxville branch! Have you had dinner yet?" Us: "Nope, why?" Her: "Stay right here I'll be right back." Then she zips off! Not five minutes later she comes back, gives us a bag of food from Arby's and then says, "Here you go! Thanks for the work you do!" Then she zipped off! We were both like, ".....sweet Arby's!" Saturday I had the worst migraine I've ever had in my life and the mission nurse made us stay in all day. Man those are annoying I hate headaches! On Sunday, we had branch council. President Cook is one of the most inspired men I've ever met! It was awesome! And Jacob was able to make it to sacrament meeting again! We got to teach sharing time in Primary about following the prophet. Hahahahaha it has been forever since I've been in Primary I'd forgotten half of the songs that they were all singing! After church we sat down with Jacob and went over the baptismal interview questions with him because he is getting interviewed by our zone leaders on our upcoming exchanges on Tuesday. We then went to the Kentner's home for dinner and had spaghetti and meatballs with them. They have been converts since 2005 and are awesome! Hahaha so apparently the initial contact that they had with the church was through Donny Osmond! Sister Kentner loved his songs and they got a Book of Mormon from his website! Hahahaha who knew? And that was about the week! I love Iowa!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 32 3-9-15

   

I got to see my trainer Elder Hollan

Laser beam!  Not photoshopped

 

 Well first off, GO MOM!  I love the small town! And yes we have a small private college called Simpson College, just like Wartburg College in Waverly. I think that they are in the same division? Although Des Moines was a blast because it was just the big city! And sounds like a bunch of fun with the musical! I know that Dallin will be great he is a boss!! :D And nice comment there Dad. :P But thanks Dad it was always awesome being able to work with you on a bunch of stuff together. I'll definitely pray for you with your job. Yeah this week was a little tough for that, basically 3-5 hours of finding every day and not very many were interested. But you just do what you can with a smile y'know? :) The only thing I can think of for the package is maybe peach rings? I CAN'T FIND ANY ANYWHERE HERE FOR SOME REASON! :'(

     What a week! Well first off it was kind of interesting because this is my first area so far where its not a zone p-day its just me and my companion. :) So after e-mailing and shopping, we went to the church and shot some hoops and played the piano and whatnot. Just kinda chillin' thats us. :) After p-day was over, we went to the Hutcheson's home for dinner and that was awesome! We had lasagna and sister Hutcheson told us all about her horses and all this other fun stuff! Don't worry she is over 60 years old so we're not breaking any rules. :) Then we shared Ether 12:4 with her and we all talked about how with faith in Christ we can hope for better things to come. Which is good because the world is going crazy! On Tuesday we went and gave service at "The Helping Hand" ( a little thrift store) and we folded donated clothes and hung them up. Man there were some funky clothes in those bags! I folded up some random Japanese style silk shirt that had this crazy Chinese design on it! Darn it! I forgot to take a picture. We then met with Bryan, he is a former investigator, and that was....interesting. Basically, he told us all these random things, faith is garbage, etc. So that was kind of interesting having to "defend" my faith. But it all turned out alright so no worries. :) We then went and saw the McGees, who are an older couple who don't come to church very often. They are awesome! We were able to share with them Alma 7:11-12 and we all talked about the Atonement and it was pretty cool. :) Wednesday was FREEZING! Almost all of our appointments dropped so we went finding for about four hours in 15 degree weather (with wind chill) but we were able to find Jake and Jessica who accepted a Restoration pamphlet! So fingers crossed on that one! We also met David, who is a really nice guy but a HEAVY smoker and he has had a lot of awesome spiritual experiences and he likes the King James version of the Bible the best. He just kind of randomly told us that. :) He ended up not being interested but it was awesome to meet him and talk to him about religion and God. We also met with Jacob Henry, a 16 year old guy who is currently our only investigator and he is getting baptized on March 29th, and set up baptism details with him. Man that kid is a stud! He's been handing out Book of Mormons (or Books of Mormon however you say it) to his friends at school! Hahaha so we were trying by a former investigator, and as we knock on the door elder Homer says, "Oh by the way she has a zombie dog." Umm...what? She invites us in and then her dog comes out. So her dog, Lexi, broke its back a little while ago and got it went blind in one eye and when it walks anywhere it drags its hind legs like a zombie! When it came creeping out of the kitchen I was like "Gah!!" It totally caught me by surprise. But the dog is really sweet it just walks creepy. :) And then Thursday rolled around!

     We had zone training meeting in Osceola (about 40 minutes away or so) and wow talk about a spiritual steroid shot in the arm! The sister training leaders especially! We started with a prayer asking that the Spirit teach us new things and then we very simply studied the first three paragraphs in Preach My Gospel in the Restoration lesson. It was "God is our loving Heavenly Father." We read through it and shared what stood out to us and why. It was extremely powerful and many testimonies were strengthened, especially mine. Wow it was awesome!!! Then for the zone leader's training we did some deep doctrine diving on the "Holy Spirit of Promise." It was fascinating!  Anyways, it all boiled down to be obedient on your mission and do everything you can and the Holy Spirit of Promise will seal your mission. IT WAS AWESOME! Hahaha that night we were going to an appointment with the Foxes (members) and we totally got lost because they live in the middle of nowhere! We called them and they pulled up Google Maps and gave us directions so we were all good. :) Thank heavens for satellite images! But the Foxes were awesome! Hahahaha we had a good time getting to know them and then share a message. :) Friday we did a lot of finding again, not much happened sadly but we were able to set up some return appointments. We had dinner with the Johnson family again and we had French toast and sausage and bacon! It was to die for! It was also like 50 degress all day! Sheesh break out the beach shorts! Haha on Saturday we met with Nancy Smith (she is the member whose home we live in, she is currently at a nursing home) and read from the Book of Mormon with her. Geez she had some deep questions! "Where is heaven?" "Are there people like us on other planets?" "How can we know?" When we were walking back to the car I was like "Ugh my brain hurts." :) We then had dinner at the Child's house (she is a less-active member and he is a nonmember) and we had burgers! I haven't had a good burger forever it seems like! They were super sweet though and gave us a bunch of food to take home. On Sunday Jacob came to church and he brought his mom! Apparently she hasn't been interested at all in the past and was against him joining but she wanted to come and see for herself what he was "getting into." She left after sacrament but she said she really enjoyed it! That evening, we went to the Hanson's home for dinner, haha sister Hansen had looked at the meal calendar and noticed we only had one dinner for the week so she told us to come over that evening, so we did. :) They are awesome! Hahaha Sister Hansen in hilarious and Brother Hansen is kinda quite but still a goof! They told us as we left, "If you guys ever want to come over for dinner just tell us the night before and we will definitely feed you guys any day of the week!" Sweet! Then, randomly that night we get a text from some phone number and it says, "Hi this is the Mkayla is this the LDS missionaries in Indianola?" Us: "Yes?" Her:" Sweet! Could we meet at the library tomorrow at 6:00?" Us: "Sure that can work." And then we never got a reply back so.....this'll be interesting? And last night, the Hancocks (members) randomly gave us a HUGE bucket of KFC chicken! There go my thighs......

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 31 3-2-15

  

Now that is a burger!

Free Hot Chocolate.  Definitely lovin it!

One of the awesome Sisters here in Iowa

Love these people!

  What an awesome letter! AND WE TOOK STATE IN BASKETBALL WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!! That hasn't happened forever!!!!!!!!!!!! EXCITING! So to answer some of your questions, sister Craypo sees me at transfers and randomly asked me what mom's phone number was so I gave it to her. :) My new companion is elder Homer from Sandy, Utah. I am actually a transfer ahead of him so I'm senior companion and I drive and whatnot but he just got made the district leader so its been fun to see him already start to grow from that. :) Man I feel so ancient I've been out for almost eight months!!! Indianola is almost exactly like Waverly! Like same size, same feel, everything I love it already! Oh and we live in a member's house and its really nice! The member actually just got put in a nursing home but she still lets us live here. :) The branch is awesome we have probably about 40-50 active members and they are all spiritual powerhouses!! The district is awesome we've got a bunch of great guys! There is us, the Knoxville elders, the Centerville elders (their branch is so small that they meet in a barn for church! Awesome!), and the Oskaloosa zone leaders! 

     Haha so on Monday our entire complex's heat went out so that was freezing! We were able to meet with William and answer a lot of his basic questions which he has been wondering about forever and that was really good to be able to do that. That evening, we were visiting Madison when the phone started ringing and I look at it and it says "AP Elder Cleverly." Elder Deeds and I just looked at each other and we were both like, "Ohhhhhh boyyyyy." So I answered it and then he told us that Deeds was staying and I was getting transferred. :( But the good news is that night the heat came back on in our apartment! :D Tuesday, we went and said goodbye to Curtis. It was kinda sad and the poor guy started crying. :( I'm gonna miss him he is so awesome! Two random stories real fast! So, we were doing some tracting and at one door this big black lady answers the door and says, "I don't care who you are or what u sellin'! So you can just take yoself outta here!" And then she slammed the door! Oh the people you meet on your mission! :) Later, we were knocking and we met this guy whose name was....Ant! He was a super chill guy and REALLY into nature! Hahahaha that was one of the most interesting conversations I've ever had in my life trying to tell him about Jesus Christ while he tried to tell us about how nature is better. :) On Wednesday, Brother Vaughn took us to The Latin King, which is a reeeeally nice Italian place, and gave me a going away lunch! He also gave me a really cool painting that had the letter L made out of flowers and all this other cool stuff. Man I'm gonna miss brother vaughn too! He is just awesome. At the church, it was p-day, we were all signing each other's little books and whatnot and it was just a blast but sad seeing everyone in my zone for the last time. :) THURSDAY WAS TRANSFERS!

     Brother Huermann (an older guy in our ward) took us down to Iowa City and fed us IHOP for breakfast! And at transfers I saw elder Hollan and elder Curless! Elder Hollan is in Quincy, Illinois and elder Curless got made district leader in Dubuque! :D I got put with elder Homer and we went to Indianola! We went and had dinner at the Johnson's home and they fed us amazing fried chicken! They are legit and I love them already! Friday, we went to go see a potential investigator named Sam (a nice Asian lady) but we ended up talking to her (American) husband Dustin instead. He let us right in and we just answered A LOT of questions that he had about "Mormonism" and it went really well. We just simply bore testimony at the end and invited him to read the pamphlet and pray about it. He said he would do that and he'd call us if he wanted to meet again so fingers crossed! We then went and met with Christian Whipple (an inactive member) and his girlfriend and we were able to just have a simple discussion with him and try to see if we could help them come back to church. Oh and randomly half the power in Indianola went out for a couple of hours because someone crashed into a power transformer! Hahaha what the dump Iowa?! On Saturday we had a get-to-know you district meeting in Knoxville (about 30 minutes away) and that was hilarious! Our district is just fun! When we got back we went and saw Nathan, a potential, and that was pretty much just a bash. He didn't believe in the Priesthood and his perspective on it was kinda weird and we tried to make it not a debate. It was good though and I hope we answered his questions alright. We then went and tried by john Weir ( a former) and that was just plain weird! We tried talking to him but he would just sit there and give us one word answers and stare at us. Awkward.........it was really weird. Then we were able to go teach the Plan of Salvation to Gerald Conklin ("Conk") and that was really good. He is about 90 years old and a really nice guy. When we reached the part about the spirit world, he just broke down and started crying because he lost his wife about a month ago. It was really sad. On Sunday we had an AWESOME fast and testimony meeting! There are a bunch of members that are spiritual powerhouses in Indianola!!! And then inSunday School we talked about The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and it was awesome! Hahaha in Elder's Quorum the lesson was on strengthening your marriage so elder Homer and I didn't really contribute much. :) Later that day we were knocking and on one of the houses this big college-age guy opens the door and then says "Come on in!" So we did! His name is Joey and he lives with his parents Dawn and Chris. They were extremely nice and we talked to them for a while. :) They even gave us sugar cookie bars which were amazing! They politely declined our invitation, they are devout Catholics they said, but it was just so nice to be able to talk to some really good, humble people! :) And that was the week!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

   

Week 30 2-23-16

     Man that is so awesome that Elder Nelson spoke to you guys in Stake Conference! Talk about a spiritual powerhouse!!!! Sounds like it was an awesome week with Regionals being amazing, and some random Show Low guy breaking his wrist, but hey it happens. :) The calves are starting to pop up too? That's so awesome!!!!!! Thanks Dad for that, its been a little tough lately. :) But....MAN THIS WEEK WAS SO AMAZING AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     So first off, I had exchanges with elder Hoskins in their area!! Again! Sheesh it was like the 4th one of the transfer! But we had a great time. :) We went and saw some less-active members in their ward, one of their member families fed us authentic Mardi Gras jambalaya and king cake! It was delicious!!! Hahaha so they had a Soda Stream machine and I've never used one before so the first batch sorta got all over the sink and us but it was hilarious! :D The next day, we walked to the library (in like 5 degree weather! I was bundled up like a ninja!) and then we did Mormon.org time. Then we went to B&B for lunch which is a little meat market place that has AMAZING sandwiches! Easily the best Philly Cheesesteak I've had in my life!! Besides that one time we had them in Philadelphia that is. :) Then we went and gave service at the Bidwell food pantry and that was a blast like always!! Hahaha those guys are a hoot! We were having a blast stocking shelves! :) Oh and that morning, we went and saw their investigator, Graham, and he told us that he has been having some suicidal thought lately and all this other crazy stuff. So using his tablet, we showed him the Mormon Message "Sitting on the Bench: Thoughts on Suicide Prevention". It was really powerful and the Spirit was so strong and we talked to him about it and man. It was just one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. That night, we went and visited another less-active family, the Koches, and they are awesome! We had a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza that was to die for!!! Ugh my poor stomach.........

     Thursday we had an amazing district meeting like always! Elder Whiting gave a really powerful training on the power and authority of our calling and it was really inspiring and made me want to work even harder!! And then at district lunch something awesome happened! We go to Wendys and as soon as the manager sees all 10 of us missionaries coming in, he slaps down $100 and says, "Its on me you guys get whatever the heck you want." WHAT?? Turns out he is a member from the Lenox branch who just moved to Des Moines! We were like, "Uh you sure man?" And he just says, "Oh 100% sure get what you want!" Crazy! AND THEN SOMETHING FLIPPIN' CRAZY HAPPENED! So we were knocking some doors in the apartment complex where William lives and we knock on this one door that looks no different than all these other doors. All we hear is this coughing and wheezing and then the Spirit started to say to me, "Get out get out get out." I was like "We're fine its just some sick guy or something." Then as soon as the person was almost at the door the Spirit goes, "RUN!!!!!" I turned to elder Deeds and I was like "LETS GO!" And then we booked it outta there crazy fast!!!!! I don't know why but we followed the prompting of the Spirit and got outta there! Then we went and tried by a inactive member named Alex Fratali and he is just a super nice guy. We were sitting there talking to him and then his friend Brandon came in and started listening to us. After we'd gotten to know them better, we started turning to 1 Nephi 21:14-16 to share with them. As we're turning to it, Brandon goes, "Hey is there a scripture in there that helps to let you know that God is still there? Because I feel like He has abandoned me." Elder Deeds and I just looked at each other for a second, and then I was like, "Wow, that's exactly what we were turning to." We shared it with them and talked about it and it was really powerful for all of us. Sweet experience. That night we were able to FINALLY get into contact with William again and we taught him the Word of Wisdom!! He loved it and apparently has already been living it so that's kind of nice! :)

     On Friday we were able to see the Buchwalds! They are a less-active family who are really nice and they invited us over when we asked if we could come and see them sometime. We went and had AMAZING fruit smoothies with them (they have this GIGANTIC Ninja blender!) and then we had egg rolls! We were able to share an awesome thought with them and they said they would be at church on Sunday!! Yes!!! We tried by Lindsey, one of our former investiagtors from when I first came to Des Moines, and (sorta) Re-connect with her! So we'll see how that goes. :) On Saturday morning, we helped a member of our ward move out from his mom's house (which is good because he is like 32) and that was fun!! Then we went to Aung Yo Trae's home and blessed it for them because it hadn't been blessed yet. I got to do it and that was a really next experience. :) Then we had authentic Burmese food while we sat cross-legged on a mat! We had noodles and soup and fruit and something that smelled like fish but definitely WASN'T fish and all this awesome food! Then we went and contacted a media referral named Prince! Hahaha we were about done with the Restoration when his cousin suddenly bursts in, runs over to the sink, and then he starts puking up his guts into it! We were all laughing and gagging at the same time! Then we went and taught Cecilia, an investigator that elder Deeds and elder Whiting found on exchanges, the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome! Her son Phil joined in and he had some really great questions! It was such a great experience! We then went and contacted Korey Reed, another media referral, and we were able to teach him the Restoration! Ho-ly good-ness that guy is a boss! He is super spiritual and has had some crazy awesome spiritual experiences! So we went over to try and see Abinadi, he was gone, but like 2 blocks from his house there was a stakeout! Three police cars, spotlights all trained on this one house, and a bunch of police cars roaming the neighborhood looking for someone! It was crazy I'm just glad we were able to get out of there!

     On Sunday we had an awesome ward council at 7:00 in the morning! Man I love how enthusiastic Bishop Dyer gets about everything! Cecilia and Phil came to church! Sadly, Prince, Korey, and William all bailed but hey you've just gotta keep your head up. :) But Cecilia and Phil both loved it and totally want to come back!! We went to some appointments, they fell through, and then we did some finding in the 2 degree weather! Gotta love Iowa! :) Then, because we were invited, we went to Brooke Burgess's 17th birthday party! Us, the Burgesses, the Meteers, and the Heltons were all there and had a blast! Man that food was all amazing! By the way, cranberry ginger ale is possibly the most amazing thing in the world! Later that night, we went hometeaching with Brother Green but sadly all of the appointments fell through. But it was ok because we got to know Brother Green better and that guy is a hoot! What a great week!!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 29 2-16-15

    Man what a fun-filled week!! I'm glad that Jazz Mad went well! And thanks so much for that awesome letter! Gah! Dallin is dating???????????????????????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's so weird! Yep this transfer we've been doing exchanges up the wazoo! I'm going on another one this evening! Yep its still cold! It literally started snowing 30 minutes go! Hahaha I love Iowa!!

     This past week was a long, hard one. We tried by Victor a couple more times but he was always gone at work and we couldn't get ahold of him. :( So we'll keep trying but we've got no idea on whats up with that. Keep him in your prayers please! We tried some more less-actives and that was interesting! Haha one of them was a legit, sassy, old black lady! She opens the door and is like "Oh you guys again? Come on in!" She is really awesome and the only reason she hasn't been coming to church is because she has been taking care of her husband who doesn't have the greatest health. But man she was absolutely hilarious!!! Then on Tuesday evening, we swapped companions and I went with elder Whiting in their area. We had a dinner with some members of their ward, they're pretty awesome, and then we did some finding! Wednesday morning, we headed out to contact a referral he had but he sadly wasn't home. :( So we did some finding in that area and like the entire neighborhood was full of Buddhists! Hahahaha it was hilarious! One guy opens up his door and as far as the eye can see, his house is FULL of life-size Buddha statues everywhere! Its a miracle he was able to even come to the door! Hahaha oh missionary life and the people you meet!

     We then tried some finding and saw an investigator of theirs named Graham, that guy is awesome! Then we did service at Bidwell, which is this giant food pantry! We unloaded like 4 pallets of food off a truck and then stocked the shelves and that was just a blast! Later that night, we were doing some finding but we had to go home because it was just TOO COLD to even try to do anything! Haha so here is the funny story of the week! We tried by a less-active member's house and no one was there. As we're about to leave an older lady pulls up in her car and is like "Oh they aren't here right now they are in West Des Moines." We said, "Alright thanks for letting us know. Who are you?" And then she said, and this is a direct quote, "I'm just here to check the beans." Umm..ok? Whatever that means? Then she pulls out her phone and pretends to talk on it so we just left. As we started to drive away, we notice a random guy open up the door, stare us down, and then he invites the lady inside. Hahaha ok?? Apparently they WERE home!

     On Friday night, our ward had a "Valentine's Bash" party thing which was a blast! The only thing sad about it was that missionaries aren't supposed to dance, so me and elder Deeds sat there and suffered listening to all of the good music being played. :P Saturday, we had bacon-wrapped hamburger, which was amaaaazing, at the Cluff's house and we taught them the Plan of Salvation. Hahahaha man their little boy Jonathan is adorable! It was awesome because we were able to help Brother Cluff give his wife a blessing as well because apparently she has been dealing with some hard stuff lately. Sunday, we had dinner at the Voss' home and we had roast and mashed potatoes and gravy and green bean casserole and apple fritters and ice cream! It was also really cool because David Garrison (a less-active that brother Voss hometeaches) and his wife Mary came to dinner! We shared 1 Nephi 21:14-16 with them and then a lot of us were able to share a bunch of really cool spiritual experiences and how we knew that God is always there for us. Another funny story! So when we were giving service at Brother Vaughn's house, I couldn't find a knife anywhere so I was trying to open a cardboard box with the point of a pen. Looking back, that was really stupid of me. Long story short, the pen exploded onto  my white shirt, Brother Vaughn randomly gave me a new shirt that he bought for me yesterday (sheesh that guy is so stinkin' generous!), and he fixed the stained shirt somewhat. :) Welcome to the life of Elder Flake!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake 

Week 28 2-9-15

  Thanks for the awesome letter! Sounds like Snowflake is kicking into high gear! Sam and Vandee bought the Home Slice pizza place and are running it?? What??? And Dallin is going to be getting his driver's license??? WHAT??!! And the house might be sold and you'll all move??? WHAT??!?!!! Man leave for a mission and everything changes!! :) That's so awesome with all that's going on though! To answer your questions, the ward members have been praying for missionary opportunities and are working on that. Oh by the way, WE FINALLY FOUND VICTOR AGAIN!! He apparently had to work on the day of baptism and now he is getting a new work schedule so we can coordinate something with him and we'll be re-teaching him everything before he is baptized so pray that everything will go through! As for Pastor Philip, we haven't been able to find him so we're working on that.

     Hahaha so on Monday after we did laundry at brother Vaughn's house, for some reason his drain in the basement started backing up so we were like running a pipe snake down the drain, nothing happened. Then we tried some drain cleaner and nothing happened but some black sludge started bubbling up!! So I got down on my knees-in work clothes obviously-and stuck my hand into the pipe and started pulling out a bunch of nasty goop. Nothing we were doing was working!! So brother Vaughn called Roto Rooter and they apparently came over the next day and flushed the pipes with superheated water and that finally did the trick! Yup just another week in good ole' Des Moines!

     On Tuesday we went on exhanges with our zone leaders and I went with elder Petersen in our area. Hahaha man I love that guy! We hit the east side of our area, some areas were REALLY ghetto, and tried to contact a bunch of less-actives and we did some finding as well. Hahaha even though we were both bundled up, we each caught a cold because it was so cold! Especially elder Petersen poor guy. Haha we met this one lady named Tonya and we taught the Restoration to her on the doorstep and it was interesting. The lesson was good but man! We were both getting weird vibes from her so it was kind of strange! And we met a random guy named Lef from Estonia! Sadly he wasn't interested in the gospel though. We then went and read the Book of Mormon with Madison and went home. Another miracle was the Shafers had us over for meatloaf and mashed potatoes! They are a less-active family who we've been starting to meet with more and they are awesome!!!! On Thursday I went on exchanges again!

     After an AWESOME district meeting, elder Hoskins and I hit our area! We did a lot of finding and met with some awesome less-active members who were open to us stopping by again some other time! Miracle! :D Hilarious story real fast: I had to go to the bathroom so we stopped at a nearby McDonalds and I went. I went to get a quick hot chocolate and the cashier, an awesome black guy named Deonte, was like "Can you go shake everybody's hand in the restaurant and introduce yourself to them?" So I said, "Umm...what?" Then he looked at this little card he had in his hand and he then said, "Alright, can you turn around, tell everybody your name and then yell your biggest fear?" Then I just said, "What? Look man can I just pay for my drink?" Then he told me, "If you do it, the drink is free." So I turned around and in a loud voice said, "My name is elder Flake and I have claustrophobia!" All of the employees went CRAZY cheering while all of the customers, including me, looked confused! Hahaha so apparently all of the employees were having some kind of contest that their manager gave them and they had to try to get a customer to do one of the random things on a card that the manager gave to the employees. So after my announcement, Deonte pulled out a McDonalds sticker that said "I payed with lovin" and gave it to me along with my free hot chocolate! Best bathroom stop ever right? Hahaha it was hilarious!! And weird!!

     On Friday, we were able to see William and his family and set a baptismal date for March 7! It was kind of an interesting lesson though because we started talking about the Restoration and then William kinda took the reigns and taught his family the Restoration pretty much! Hahahaha man he is a character! But it was awesome and we still have a lot of work to do with him and his family! :) We also saw Curtis that afternoon which was a blast because he is hilarious! Man I love that guy!! Ha-ha another random story: we were knocking a neighborhood and on one of the doors this big black guy opens the door, looks at us and our nametags, and before we say anything he just says, "Yea, this is a crack house so I'd appreciate it if you didn't knock this house again bye." And then he slammed the door. Gotta love Iowa! On Sunday it was stake conference and that was awesome! Bishop Dyer gave a talk on the importance of developing Christlike attributes and then in Sunday School, the stake president, President Pence, went through a bunch of them and we all discussed them and how we can better develop each one! It was awesome!

      So in my personal study on Sunday afternoon, I just sat down and read out of the New Testament and it was fantastic! I need to get so much better acquainted with it because the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and his apostles is just amazing! I'd encourage you all to start studying it more! When we were knocking in this kind of sketchy neighborhood, we suddenly saw a random cat corpse lying in some yard! So we were like "Ok?" and then not five minutes later we saw it! This sign outside a random, scary-looking house that said "Sugga Babies Day Care." Hahahaha not "sugar" but "sugga!" (pronounced shuga) :) Man I love Des Moines! We then went to a surprise birthday party for Sister Craypo that the Robinsons (family from our ward), the Velas, the Vosses, the Pooles, the sisters, and us had all set up. Hahaha sister Craypo came through the door and we all started belting out "Happy Birthday" as we gave her a cupcake with a candle in it! It was the best!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake