Week 55 8-10-15 Bikes and Baptisms

     Awesome! So Taiga is a boss at Nerts then? Sweet! Brian's baptism was awesome!!!!!!!!! It was so great, I love him so much he cracks me up! Yep his wife Christine is a member who is coming back to church now! We have three wards here and Elder Bolinder got his bike back! I'll give you details in a sec. And yes I went to the temple on Saturday, details later. :P

    I don't have too much time this morning so it might be slightly brief. :)  Monday was good, we had a great p-day and had a blast with basketball and chair soccer and all that other fun stuff. We were able to see Sister Albin again and read out of the Book of Mormon with her which was great! Tuesday I was in Iowa City all day with two of the elders there because Elder Bolinder went to the temple along with everyone else that he is going home with. I was with Elder McDonald and Elder Green and we had a great time! We went and shared a message with one of their members, did some finding, helped move around some furniture for some members, and then we had dinner with some members! It was awesome! We were able to have a lesson with Liz Allen (a less-active member) on Wednesday and it went really well. We got to know her a little bit better and then we were able to encourage her to get back into the habit of reading her scriptures again and praying which was really good. :) We had dinner with the Johnsons that night-pulled pork sandwiches!- and we were able to watch "I'll go where you want me to go" with them and discuss how we can all be better missionaries. Hahaha they are hilarious! At dinner we were all discussing the weird foods that we've all eaten on our missions. :D On Thursday we had a great district meeting (Elder Bolinder's last.....) and he gave a fantastic training! Jacob Orr came with us to a lesson with Ty and we taught him everything else in the Plan of Salvation in what happens after death. He thought it was really interesting and loved it! Now the only thing that we need to focus on with him is getting him to church because we get him rides and he is always a no-show. So we're working on that. :) OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT! We were driving back from district meeting and then we suddenly saw the same man from last week riding Elder Bolinder's bike! We followed him stealthily, called the cops, and go tour bike back! The cops were like, "Do you have a silver bike lock on the front? Elder Bolinder went, "Yep! I can open it too." So he went and opened his lock and the cops gave the bike back to us. The man said that he'd bought it from some black guy at a gas station and whether thats true or not we don't care. We just got the bike back which is all we really wanted. :)

Brian's Baptism

     ON FRIDAY BRIAN GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!! The service was fantastic and it was so amazing! He has come so far and completely changed his life and his wife's faith has been restored in God and she comes to church again! Near the end of the baptismal service he asked if he could say a few words. He bore a powerful testimony of the Atonement and God's love and it was sweet. On Saturday we had the opportunity to go down to Nauvoo-again!-because one of Elder Bolinder's recent converts was going to receive his endowment. It was an awesome session, I was able to learn some VERY interesting things about myself that I didn't know, and the Spirit was powerful! The temple really is the House of the Lord, I love it so much. When we got back that evening we went to go talk to some of the people fishing off the bridge and it was great! I was talking to this awesome one-armed guy named Dante and holy cow! Thank heavens for the Holy Ghost because there is NO WAY that I would've been able to keep up with him otherwise! He was super smart and a stud! At some points when I had no idea what to say, I suddenly started answering his questions and bearing testimony of things that I hadn't even thought of! It was so cool to feel the Spirit working through me so powerfully. Whoa. On Sunday, I had the opportunity to confirm Bryan and that was an amazing experience as well. I love Brian so much! :) We tried by a lot of people that afternoon with Tyler (a recent convert) and at one point we noticed that he had a flat tire. So we pulled into the gas station to fill it up, they had free air, and it wasn't even halfway full when it suddenly blew! It sounded like a gunshot and I jumped probably two feet in the air!!!!! He had a spare though so all was well. :) We had dinner with the Munsons that night and it was great. They are like one of my favorite families in the whole world! The week was super busy and awesome! Not to mention....WE GET TRANSFER CALLS TODAY! I know Elder Bolinder is going home but whats gonna happen to me?! Hahaha I don't know! Oh and I went out this morning to take the garbage to the curb and I noticed that now BOTH of our bikes are missing! We had them chained up to this huge metal pole in the yard! Aw man seriously? Oh well, we'll figure something out. :)

Love,

Elder Logan Flake  

Week 54 8-3-15

     Awesome awesome awesome! So wait I'm confused, who has a new car? The family or Alyssa? That is sweet about Taiga! Haha man! I'm sure its quite a big change for him coming to Snowflake. :) I'm sure he'll have a great time though. Sad that there wasn't any Black Thunders though, those things are the best! :(  Random question: did you get the package I sent? I sent home a little package with some stuff I've been given in my mission that I didn't want to cart around. So did you get it? Just let me know please. :)

     Well this week was a little nutso but awesome! Its crazy because ever since I've come to Cedar Rapids we've been like insanely busy ALL the time! We got haircuts on p-day! My hair grows super fast so man it felt great! :P We had a blast, Elder Barron and I collided heads accidentally when we were having a HUGE Nerf war but we were fine. It was pretty funny actually. :) We were able to go and visit the Meck family again and we took Brother Zimmerman (he is in the Elder's Quorum presidency) with us. We shared a message about how the Book of Mormon can answer any question we might have and we left everybody (including ourselves) with a commitment to read with the intent of finding the answer in the Book of Mormon. I'm kinda pumped to find the answer to my question now. :) OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT! Elder Bolinder's bike got stolen! We came back from p-day and it was gone! We asked all the neighbors if they'd seen anyone go into our backyard and they said they hadn't but that they would keep an eye out for it. We called the police department and let them know and that was the end of it. Or so we thought.........details in a sec! Tuesday morning, we went and gave Jacob Orr a blessing and that was awesome. He asked me to give it and I can't remember what was said but let's just say that Heavenly Father definitely knows and loves all of His children so well. We had lunch with Brother Lahman that afternoon and helped him lay more of his brick path for his yard. Brother Lahman is the best! I love him so much! :) We had an appointment with Brian at the library Tuesday night but Brian forgot about it so we rescheduled for Wednesday. We had dinner with the Dixons that night, they just moved into the ward like a week before I was transferred here, and they are awesome! They are a bunch of fun and we had a fun object lesson with the kids about the Atonement. On Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Spanish elders! I was with Elder Rader and we went in their area in Hiawatha. Hahahaha Elder Rader is one of my favorite people ever! He is probably half my height (and I'm only like 5' 10") and I have no idea how he has so much energy! We were able to find a new investigator named Porfirio! He is probably the most solid, humble, and smartest 16-year old kid I've ever met! I had a blast though, Elder Rader is such a stud. :) Elders Bolinder and Barron were able to teach Sarah with the Fords from our ward and apparently it was a great lesson! Elder Bolinder told me that they feel Sarah is starting to realize the importance of living the commandments which is awesome! They were able to contact Ty (a sweet guy who was a potential investigator) with Brother Couser form the ward and they were able to teach him the Restoration! Elder Bolinder was like, "Man it was awesome! The Spirit was flowing freely, we were all completely unified in our teaching, Ty had some awesome insightful comments, it was AMAZING!!!" We had dinner with Jacob and Jaycee on Thursday and that was a bunch of fun like it always is!

     That night we were able to visit the Walkners again and it was great! Hahaha Brother Walkner is hilarious! He had ridden RAGBRAI (its this huge bike race across the state of Iowa) last week and he told us he'd accidentally drank a little cider with alcohol in it, thinking it was apple juice. Later that day, his pedal had caught on the side of the road and he got dumped in the grass off his bike. So, he told us that he felt that was because he'd accidentally broke the Word of Wisdom. Hahahaha it was hilarious! Friday night we were driving home and a man rode past us riding a bike and Elder Bolinder goes, "Wait! Thats my bike!" So we parked the truck and took off after this dude and we stopped him at a stoplight! Sure enough it was the bike, with Elder Bolinder's bike chain still on it! Elder Bolinder said, "Sir, thats my bike." The dude swore us out about 50 billion times and then Elder Bolinder said, "I'll call 911 on you sir." Then the dude snarled at us, cussed some more, and took off riding away as fast as he could! So we called 911, they sent us a police officer (he was awesome!) and we gave him the details of the bike and the man, pointed the direction he was heading and he thanked us and said he'd search around but don't get our hopes up. We walked back to the truck, talked to a lady on her porch and explained the situation and asked her to keep her eyes open for the man and the bike. She goes, "I know exactly who you're talking about, he visits the house next to mine all the time and he has stolen bikes before!" We were like, "Wait what?!" Another lady across the street said the same thing! So we let the police know that we'd found a house that the man frequents a lot, then we went home. The crazy thing is, that house where the man goes all of the time is only like 2 blocks from where we live!!! Its nuts! On Saturday we were able to read with Sister Fernandez out of the Book of Mormon again, and then we went and taught Ty with Brother Couser again. We met with Brother Couser beforehand to go over what we were teaching (the Plan of Salvation) and it was great! We went into the lesson better prepared to all work together in unity to teach. We found out that Ty didn't have any food at all and Brother Couser goes, 'Well Ty c'mon and get in my car, we're going to Wendy's!" So we followed them to Wendy's and after he'd eaten we taught him there. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!! The lesson flowed really well, the Spirit was powerful, we were all completely unified in teaching, and Ty had some great insightful comments! We only got about halfway through the lesson then we had to leave because it was our curfew. Ty randomly started talking about how he and some of his neighbors had been talking the other day about what happens after death and apparently they were just saying how they hope they make it to heaven right after they die. He said to them, "No you don't go straight up to heaven, its not Judgement yet. You just kinda wander around with some other spirits in a resting place I think." It was crazy because we haven't even taught about the spirit world yet and he already knows some stuff about it! Man! We had an awesome fast and testimony meeting on Sunday. Christine, Brian's wife, bore a great testimony how Brian taking the lessons has helped to restore her faith and bring her back to activity. Forgot to mention that we finished teaching Bryan on Wednesday night because that was the only night that he could meet on besides the day of his baptism because of work! We were on exchanges but the other elders taught, he passed his baptismal interview with one of our zone leaders, and he'll be baptized this Friday at 5:00 PM! :D :D It is so awesome! The Atonement has completely changed Brian's entire life and helped him to stop smoking! God really is a God of miracles.

Love,

Elder Logan Flake    

Week 53 7-27-15

     Awesome awesome! Man my first missed Flake rodeo that is SO weird to think about! In Dallin's EFY pictures he looks like a mature little stud which is super weird because the last time I saw him was just before his sophomore year........I'm so old! I TURN 20 IN LIKE 9 MONTHS! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Calming down now. :) Its a miracle that Smokey didn't poop or pee! Whew! :P Another choir, a foreign exchange student, man home is changing so much! We've picked up some sweet potentials, we spend about 5-7 hours or so a week finding probably, and no we don't have Ipads. :( But its whatever because I'm so used to doing it this way anyways. :) Scott is a stud! I'll give you some details on when I met him in a sec. :) The gospel is super awesome and I LOVE it!

     Monday was kinda goofy because Mike (potential investigator bike repair dude) tried to fix my bike's crankshaft and it broke their tool! So it wasn't going to be done until Wednesday, but he gave me this beastly ancient one-speed bike to borrow until then. It was a blast to drive but hills were TERRIBLE in that thing! :) We were able to talk to a bunch of people and then we went to FHE with Jacob Orr (a recent convert of about a year) and Jaycee (his member girlfriend, thankfully they don't live together!) and that was awesome! They fed us hamburgers and then we watched the "Mountains to Climb" video with them and it was awesome and brought the Spirit super strongly. For some random reason, in all my studies and whatnot I just kept on relearning again about Heavenly Father's love for us! I was reading the Ensign the other day and it kept emphasizing how God ALWAYS loves us no matter what we do! Even if we feel we've gone so far that there isn't a way back, that is a total lie because He still loves us and knows that we CAN return. It was super awesome. :)

I met Scott Hendrickson in Nauvoo!

TUESDAY WAS NAUVOO! Brother Ford drove us and the zone leaders down and we got to go to a session in the Nauvoo temple! It was sweet because it was a total spiritual recharge and I was FINALLY able to receive an answer to a question that I've been wondering about for ages! The Church is true and the Spirit is awesome! We had time to see the brickyard, the blacksmith's shop, check out the Vistor's Center, and go to a variety show before the pageant began. And...I met my future brother-in-law, no big deal. Hahaha we were talking to some of the performing elders in the Vistor's center and I met an Elder Solomon who is related to Cade and Colton Solomon! He noticed my name and he goes, "wait, do you have a sister named" I said, "Alyssa?" Then he was like "Yea!" I said, "Do you know Scott Hendrickson?" He grinned and said, "Wait here for a sec," then he took off into some random door! Like two minutes later he walks out with this tall dude and his nametag says "Elder Hendrickson." He sees me and he goes, "No way! You're Alyssa's brother!" I was like "Yea man!" We started talking and he is a super chill guy! I like him a lot! Halfway through our conversation he goes, "Wait, I was going to send her a letter. Hahaha do you want to write a little something on it?" Pssh! Of course! He whipped it out, I wrote a sentence or two, then we both started laughing! We gave each other a big hug and then he took off because he was in the variety show! Hahahahaha it was the greatest thing ever!

     The Nauvoo pageant was awesome and the Spirit was super strong there! I loved it so much! Haha we didn't get home until like 1:30 in the morning! Then we still had to wake up at 6:30 which was brutal. :) Wednesday we went on exchanges with our zone leaders! Elder Schwendiman and I stayed in our area and Elders Bolinder and Ellis went in theirs. We went and gave service mowing a member's lawn because he couldn't and that was a blast! Haha at one point, the lawn mower randomly made this horrible grinding noise and the next thing I know a random belt shoots out of the bottom! It was snapped in two! It was just the belt that allows the lawnmower to be self-propelled, so for the next hour I muscled it up and down the lawn. :) We did some knocking, tried by a bunch of potentials, and then we were able to teach Brian at the library that night! His aunt that they live with doesn't want us coming over anymore because she doesn't like Mormons. So now we teach him at the library. :) By the way, as of today Brian has been 100% SMOKE-FREE FOR OVER A WEEK! YEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were able to address a bunch of his concerns, Satan has been working on him overtime, but he still knows the Book of Mormon is true! He is still super pumped to get baptized on August 7th! :D Exchanges were a blast, I love Elder Schwendiman so much! He is hilarious and we had so much fun! We helped Brother Lahman dig more paths so he can lay some brick down and that evening he fed us dinner! His son (Richard) was there visiting from Newton, Iowa and it was awesome because he is a recent convert of Elder Bolinder's when he was in Newton! Then on the 8th of August we get to go to Nauvoo again because Richard is going through the temple! Haha on Friday we were doing service at the library dusting off a bunch of their shelves and straightening a bunch of the books. Some random older gentleman comes up to us and this is the conversation: "Are you guys volunteers?" "Yup!" "Mormons?" "Yup!" The next thing we know, he starts bashing on us and all this craziness! Its like dude! We're just giving service at the library c'mon! We said, "We don't want to argue sir, have a good day," and then he walked away. Man the people you meet on your mission you'll never meet anywhere else! We were able to get in contact with Sarah again which was good. She felt like it would be easier to get baptized and then live the Word of Wisdom and the other commandments, so we had to explain how living the commandments before baptism helps to prepare us for baptism. It was cool because at one point in the lesson we were just like, 'Sarah, we hope you know that we love you!" She was thrown off guard! But then she replied, "Thanks, I love you guys too!" It was awesome! Learning how to really just love people is so awesome! On Sunday none of our investigators were able to come to church but its ok. Sarah was busy, and Brian's new schedule with his work had thrown his sleeping out of whack so he'd accidentally slept right through until like 12:00! We tried calling him earlier that morning but no answer. After church, he called us back and was like, "I'm so sorry guys! I promise I'll be at church next week!" That evening we were able to find a new investigator named Bruce! He is probably the most fit old guy I've ever met! He is in his 60s, rides his bike all over the place, and works out! He is paranoid and schizophrenic, but the Spirit was strong and we were able to help him see that Heavenly Father loves him. It was an amazing lesson and my testimony was built a lot! What a sweet week! :D

Love,

Elder Logan Flake  

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

Week 51 7-13-15

First off thank you much for the package! Me and all of the other elders have just been pounding all the food like crazy! :D Haha it was great! Those were some awesome videos of the anvil firing! I've never seen it before so it was sweet!!! Cedar Rapids is the second biggest city in our mission and its like 160,000 or so people I think? Its similar but definitely different from Des Moines. We have three wards in the city and a couple of branches scattered around the stake. Guess what?! Waverly is actually in this stake! I was looking at a map of the stake boundaries and I see "Waverly branch" just about 80 miles north of here!  

     Guess what? This week we had the bikes because we are in a car share with some other elders in our zone and it was HOT AND HUMID! But! It was absolutely FANTASTIC too!!!!!!!!! :D On Monday we had a great p-day! Its so weird to have a zone p-day again and actually see other missionaries instead of just me and my companion! After p-day ended we were knocking and a lady named Julia opened the door. We start talking to her and were able to teach a brief version of the Restoration and she loved it! She is super humble and open to learn! Hahaha so apparently she is 30 but she looks like she is like 22, it was weird! On Tuesday, we went to a couple of appointments but they sadly fell through. Haha so we're on bikes and my bike is kinda goofy and I was gasping and wheezing trying to get that thing to keep going! We were able to fix it up so now it rides like a dream but whew! I am a little out of shape! Haven't touched a bike in like a year! We went and helped Brother Lahman transplant some flowers and grass shrub things and then he fed us Italian sausage! After that we got picked up by Tyler (A recent convert who is hilarious and I love him!) and we were able to go see a less-active member named Joanna. Haha her nickname she always tells us to call her is "Mama Joe." She is hilarious and super cool! That night we had dinner at the Andersens, fantastic Dominican food because Sister Andersen is a convert from the Dominican Republic, and we were able to share a message on obedience. It was great and the Spirit was pretty strong. They are so awesome! :) We also felt like we should go and try by Brian Foster and his family again so we did and we were able to teach him about the baptismal qualifications. Haha Brian and his wife Christine are like a comedy duo! Wednesday we went and helped Brother Quillin (an older gentleman in our ward) mow his lawn and do some weed whacking! After that, we went to our appointment we had with Julia but it sadly fell through because she was at the doctor's office for an sinus infection. We went and gave service at one of the libraries, haha they had me try to straighten a bunch of kids books, and then we did some finding. We were able to talk to a lot of people though because they were everywhere! Our mission is doing a new initiative called OYM which stands for Open Your Mouth. We try to talk to literally EVERYONE we see and its been fun! It was kinda uncomfortable at first for me because I'm not exactly the type to just randomly go up to someone and start talking to them about the gospel. I'm a little more reserved at times y'know? But! Its gotten easier as we've done it more and now its just a blast! 

     On Thursday we had our weekly planning session which was long but good. :) We were then able to and visit a member, Sister Meyer, and read out of Doctrine and Covenants with her. Hahahaha she is probably one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life! Ok I know I say that about a lot of people but its true. :) As we were riding over to the library to do our Mormon.org time, we stopped and randomly started talking to this guy walking on the sidewalk. He was sweet! His name is Austin and he has kind of been wanting to come back to church again and we were able to set up a return appointment with him for Saturday! On Friday we had our district meeting, it was fantastic and we were trained on beginning with the end in mind, and the Spirit was strong! Brother Lahman randomly called us out of the blue and invited us over for an early dinner so we were like, "Uhh sure!" :) We visited with the Mecks that evening, they're members who just moved here literally two weeks ago, and then we went to see Brian Foster. HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok so we get in there, he sends his kids upstairs, and then after the opening prayer he says, "Ok guys I nedd to tell you something." First off, he tells us about this amazing spiritual experience that he had that morning. After that he says, "I am finally ready and willing to commit my entire life and will to God. He has given me so many blessing like this new fantastic job I just got and many other things and I know that this is the path I need to take. Teach me everything and I will do whatever He asks." We were like, "......Alright." We'd gone in planning to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson but we scrapped that and ended up going over the baptismal interview questions with him and his wife. I've never seen him (and didn't think he would) cry before but like 3 times we were all brought to tears and the Spirit was just insanely powerful. It. Was. A. Straight. Up. Miracle. On Saturday we were able to go with Brother Ford and teach Sarah the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That was an AWESOME lesson! She had some concerns about is she'd be strong enough to stay active after she was baptized but the principle of enduring to the end helped her out a bunch. We arranged a ride for her to come to church and everything and she was pumped to come! Our appointment with Austin sadly fell through but it happens sometimes. SUNDAY WAS AWESOME! Brian and his family all came to church and stayed for the whole three hours and felt the Spirit really strongly and loved every second of it and it was awesome to see how the ward completely fellowshipped him! Whew! That was a long sentence! We went with Brother Bullock to go pick up Sarah but she'd left a note on her door that said, "Go without me to church today sorry. I'm not feeling well." Hey its not a drop so there is hope! :) The rest of the day was HOT! 90 degrees with 80% (or something like that) humidity and it was roasting! However, the Lord was able to bless us with a bunch of super nice people who would give us water as we went. :) We had some fantastic rice, roasted green beans and Spam, and a beef+pepper stir-fry with the Munsons that night though. They are from Hawaii and are probably the most awesome people in the world! This week was just great. :)

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 50 7-6-15 Transferred!

     I GOT TRANSFERRED AGAIN! I was transferred to Cedar Rapids (the 2nd biggest city in the mission so its quite a change up) and I am now with Elder Bolinder who is on his last transfer. :) He is from Firth, Idaho and absolutely hilarious! It'll be the first time I'm with a companion who is on the home stretch of his mission so it'll be a great learning experience! :) I was able to say goodbye to a lot of the members before I took off and it was sad because I have grown to absolutely love the Indianola branch. Everybody is just so fantastic and awesome there! Well, we went to transfer meeting on Thursday and I saw Elder Hollan for the last time! He is home now and done with his mission which is really weird and makes me feel ancient! It was fun though I was able to see a lot of people there that I knew including Elder Curless again! :D Oh by the way, we live with our zone leaders in a house that a member rents out to us and it is super fun! Anyway, we got back from transfer meeting and the evening was BUSY! We went and saw an investigator named Brian Foster and answered his questions that he had about baptism and the Holy Ghost. We were then able to teach him the Word of Wisdom (he has problems with smoking and tea) and he committed to do his best to live it! He is an extremely humble man and super nice. His wife is actually a member who started to return to activity once he started taking the missionary lessons! Miracles all around! We were then able to go and see some recent converts, the Falkners, and they are an older couple who are probably the nicest people I've ever met! We went and read the Book of Mormon with them and it was great, the Spirit was so strong. :)

     Friday was kinda nuts! First off though, we were able to go to the ward 4th of July picnic for a bit which was a blast! They did it on the 3rd because nearly everybody was going to be gone on the 4th. We had hot dogs, played some epic volleyball, I cracked a bullwhip and scared myself to death because it was so loud, and a bunch of other great things! The ward is super friendly and all of the members are just awesome! :D We then went and mowed some lawns for Brother Harvey (the older member whose house we rent out) because he broke his ankle so he couldn't do it. Then we went and weekly planned and by the time we finally finished that, it was nighttime! On Saturday we went and helped to clean the church in the morning and then we had a great get-to-know-you district meeting! So our district is the Spanish missionaries Elders Barron and Rader (who I've been in their zones in previous areas so I know them fairly well), the zone leaders Elders Ellis (who I came out with) and Schwendiman (who is actually Elder Cook's trainer), Sisters Gygi (who was in my MTC zone) and Schrader, and then me and Elder Bolinder! It was a blast and so much fun! After that we tried by some investigators and did some knocking.

     On Sunday we had an AWESOME fast and testimony meeting in sacrament meeting! This ward is the BEST! There were actually quite a few members who at least knew where Snowflake was! It was great! We had an awesome discussion about the Savior's suffering in Gethsemane and how much He loves us to do that. It was really powerful. Then we had an awesome discussion in Elder's Quorum about priesthood dispensations. After church we did some finding and it was...interesting. Haha we started talking to this older guy, he was standing in his yard and we were talking to him from outside his fence, and we said, "Would you be interested in a message about Jesus Christ?" He just looks at us and says, "No, I've got better things to do." So we said, "Ok, do you know anyone who could use an uplifting message?" He slowly turns around, gives us a death glare and says, "You're lucky you're over there and not over here," then walked away muttering under his breath. Sheesh dude! It was kinda weird! We drove by this random bike repair shop and Elder Bolinder felt like we should go back and talk to the guy in the shop working on a bike so we did. His name is Mike and he is a Seventh Day Adventist. We got to talking and answered a LOT of questions that he had about our religion and we were able to have a great conversation with him! He said he might be interested if we could answer him this one question, Is it important to keep all of the commandments or just the ones traditional to your church? He said, "Next time you guys stop in, answer me that one out of the scriptures." It was a lot of fun talking to him he is a great guy! :) Thats about the week!

Love,

Elder Logan Flake

Week 49 6-29-15

   Man sounds like everyone is going to be super busy all the time! The week was great! Hard, but super awesome at the same time! Its been like 75-90 for the entire week with random rainshowers! That's just the good ole' bipolar Iowa weather though. :) Hearing about the whole gay marriage thing was just crazy. Ugh. We get one hour of LDS.org time a week and when I saw that I was like, "Wait what?!" The Lord still guides His church though I know that to be true! We'll just have to "hold to the rod" and endure it well and then we will be blessed. I'm doing a lot better and starting to be more positive again finally! :D Things are looking up! Oh and we get transfer calls today too, I have NO IDEA whats going to happen!!

       Well, this week was definitely a hard one but its amazing to see how much the Lord can bless us if we endure. On Monday, we had dinner with the Bodines (they are just here for a little while because Sister Bodine is singing with the Des Moines Opera and they're here in town for a bit) and it was great! They are an awesome family and super pumped for missionary work! After them, we were able to briefly stop by James again and see how he was doing. :) Monday was a little slow but it happens sometimes. :) TUESDAY WAS AWESOME! We went knocking and met this awesome lady named Kathleen! She is a married lady in her mid-20s with four kids and is super prepared! We taught her the Restoration and while it wasn't the greatest lesson ever the Spirit was strong and we were all able to feel it which was sweet! She even said, "I always hear about people getting knocks on their doors and talking to missionaries about Jesus. I was just wondering if I ever would." She wants to raise her kids right and feels that the Church is the way to go! :D It had kind of a sad afternoon because we went to an appointment we had with Bob and he decided he was done meeting with us. Then right after Bob we went to our appointment with Dakota and Natasha and.....they dropped us as well. So the Lord totally blessed us and it was awesome because we found Kathleen right after they dropped us! We also were dropped by Adam as well.

     On Wednesday we went and gave service at Goodwill again sorting all the donations. Man people still donate the weirdest things sometimes! We were able to go and see Nancy Smith again and try to help cheer her up because she was super depressed. Thank heavens the gospel is such a joyful message! The Spirit was strong and we all felt great as we read out of the Book of Mormon with her. :) That night it was raining ridiculously hard and the lightning kept me up half the night! In the morning we found about half and inch of water on our bathroom floor and in the laundry room! Thank goodness we happened to have a mop and a ShopVac with us! On Thursday, after we were finally done cleaning up the wwater that morning, everybody (us included) was late to district meeting because a lot of the main roads were closed with water coming over them so we had to take the random country roads to get to Knoxville! We had a great training on our purpose as missionaries and we had an awesome testimony meeting with it as well. The Spirit was really strong and it was just great. :) We went to go see the Corbetts that evening and it was insane! Their little boy Joe was going CRAZY!!!!! It was just an interesting experience that's for sure. On Friday Sister Strain was able to come with us to teach Kathleen about the Book of Mormon and it was great! They both just clicked and the lesson was awesome! Members are so awesome because they are great fellowshippers and their testimonies are just solid!

     We were able to teach Gerry, an older Methodist lady, the Restoration that evening and she enjoyed it and thought it was interesting! She might have a problem with learning more but we'll be working on that as we go. :) Saturday we did a bunch of finding and we were able to go and visit Sister King in Martensdale as well. She is probably one of the nicest older ladies I have ever met in my life! We were also able to FINALLY get in contact with Sheldon Midas, a less-active member, and we arranged for him to come to church tomorrow with Brother Strain! On Sunday, Sheldon bailed on church but that's ok we'll work on it with him. :) Kathleen was going to come but her father is pretty much on his deathbed all of a sudden so she understandably couldn't make it. In Sunday School we had an awesome discussion about the importance of developing our talents and sharing them with others. It kinda made me realize I need to work on that more and not just "bury" mine. :) We were able to help teach the Primary about the Holy Ghost and that's always a good time! Later as we were walking, this guy who we'd given a card to earlier in the week drives up to us and says, "Hey can I meet with you guys this evening? I'm going through a rough time right now man." We were both like, "Sure!" and set up a time for that evening. After a great dinner and lesson with the Kentners, we hustled on over to our appointment with the guy. His name is Tiberius and like all of his family and friends have just left him for some reason or another. He said he has tried a bunch of different religions but none seem to be working out for him. He had a bunch of questions that were all able to be answered by the doctrines in the Plan of Salvation! He was just like, "Man this is awesome! It makes so much sense!" Yeah it does because its true! It was just awesome. So we lost four investigators and the Lord blessed us with three new awesome people to teach! A mission is the best thing ever! :)

Love,

Elder Logan Flake