Jason's 11-21-2011 Letter

Hello!
We have a pretty full day planned on Thanksgiving. Ted Turley is feeding us. He knew grandpa. Then our ward mission leader wants to feed us right after that. We will be fat and happy. So they are having a mini family reunion in Utah? sounds fun!
There is a story that I don't think I ever shared. The other week we were down in the valley for a meeting. That night I stayed with some missionaries in Phoenix. Elder Appiah-Knudsen and Elder Fuiava. Elder AK is from Ghana and Elder Fuiava is from Samoa. They were both really funny. Elder AK had a baptismal interview so Elder Fuiava and I headed out to contact some people. He had only been out for a transfer. I drove him to this one lady who they were teaching. As we talked she found out that I was from Snowflake.

I look for promptings every day. That is how you find miracles. I will most likely be staying up in Snowflake until January 25th. Most trainers stay with their companions for 12 weeks now because we have a two hour study program that we do now. I'm excited about staying here for the Holidays.
I actually am playing basketball on Thanksgiving early in the morning. Hopefully I can burn off all the calories I will gain during the day! Thank you for all that you do. I hope thanksgiving goes well. Enjoy all the leftovers now that I'm not there! Let me know how your thanksgiving goes!
Love Elder Flake

Rebecca's 11-17-2011 Letter (Very Funny)

¡Hola! ¿Que tal?

I hope everyone is doing so wonderful! As always I dont have much time and so I am going to try and write fast. 

Thanks so much to everyone that wrote me! I got a wonderful letter from Sarah and Momma! Thanks so much! I am going to be able to write everyone back today hopefully.

About the Christmas package, I really would love some more pictures of the property and the treehouse and family! I miss Tennessee´s beautiful fall leaves! Summer just got started here and its pretty hot! 

So... I want to talk about last Saturday's adventure into Buenos Aires! So we were out doing our proselitismo and as usual, it was hot. Well, Hermana Toki and I were walking down the streets in a daze because it was sooo hot, and then suddenly this bee the size of a computer mouse basically, flew at us and chased us down the street! I tried so hard not to make a scene, but it was a monster, and I was so afraid that I was going to die... Hahaha anyways I don't know why I was so excited to tell that story... oh, after we ran a block or so with this beast thing chasing us, we actually met a woman who was really interested in the family aspect of the church. So blessings did follow that trial!

Something really strange happened that day. A man that we were teaching about the plan of salvation suddenly asked if we had any information about a boy seeing a vision. He said that he knew it was a random question, but he said that he had a dream that two norte americanas (one was a girl with red hair) came and told him about a boy who saw God. Wow. My companion and I didn't know what to say. We changed our contact to the first vision, and talked to him for almost an hour (because he was a security gaurd and we could teach him outside at a little station... they don't have stop signs here, its all run by guards). Well, anyways, we gave him a book of mormon, and told him to come to church. We are giving his info to the other missionaries who actually have that area. But that experience was super crazy. The only bad thing is we had to spend a good half hour talking about how come he wasn't a prophet. He was convinced that his dream about us was a vision... hahaha sorry to burst your bubble buddy.

Ah! Elder Christofferson came! It was so incredible. He recognized me, and so did his wife. He remembered our family and he said you made it here alive! Haha he also gave me a box of Alfajores to distribute to all the other missionaries. He is super nice. His message was about the importance of the Bom in our studies and in the conversion of investigators. It really is the keystone of our religion. Its pure truths cannot be denied. He said we need to study it everyday, and so that we have power when we testify of it.

I am so excited that I will have investigators to write about in a month. Yep. Super ready for that! The month mark for me being here is on sunday. Wow, time has flown by. Spanish is still super hard. We are now in the stage where our teachers just speak spanish, and they dont respond to us when we use english. Yeah, its frustrating sometimes, especially because I love to talk haha I am a toooon quieter now. (Hard to believe huh fam?)

So I want to tell you a few funny Spanish mistakes that we have made:

1. Can we come back Apple? (supposed to say tomorrow)

2. You can be forgiven of all your fish. (sins) haha this one was me!

3. Do you want to drink with your family forever? (live)

4. The Father has a body of steak and eggs. (flesh and bones)

5. They were all prophets in China. (ancient times)

6. No one is in the sock. ( in the middle of our relationship with God)

7. Can we come back naked? (later...hahaha)

Some of these were said to real investigatores on the street contacts we do. Thankfully I haven't had too embarrassing of ones out there yet! (knock on wood!)

 Please keep up on family scripture study! You should be in Helaman now huh??I love yall!!

Becca

Jason's 11-14-2011 Letter

That's cool you met Barry and Vernell. There are so many Flakes like that down here. I plan on giving that picture to Dean today. I was sure to save the other ones. My ward mission leaders wife's grandma is Dixie Flake who was in several of those pictures. Crazy! I will probably also need new shoes. Size 13 if you can please. What do you want for Christmas? You never told me! My comp is great. We have been working hard. There are so many great people in Snowflake. We played basketball this morning at five. That was a lot of fun. I have been asking a lot of people if they have any pictures or stories from Grandpa. I meet this one guy name Ray Flake. Except he spelled it different. I will be sure to send some of those home.
It didn't snow a lot. I enjoy having the truck though. tomorrow I'm going down to the valley again for a meeting. It feels like I just came back from one! We had stake conference this weekend and I loved it. Elder Lasweer of the seventy came and he told us a story of a Navajo man and a doctor. There was a Navajo man who was sick and went to the doctor. The doctor said he would help him if he taught him how to dance. The Navajo said, "I will teach you to dance, but I can't teach you to hear the music."
He explained that is how many of our members are today. They do the dance but they don't hear the music. The dance is coming to church, reading scriptures, FHE etc. The music is the Spirit. That is what I was doing before my mission. I was doing the dance but I wasn't listening to the music. The music is on full blast now and I don't plan on turning it down.
My relationship with God has grown so much on my mission. I would not trade that relationship with anything.
That is crazy that Josh is on the B-ball team! I told him he should try out! Just stick with it man! You will be a baller by your senior year. Spencer is getting the priesthood soon! I can't believe that. One day our whole family will be able to do baptisms at the temple. That's good to hear Ryan is doing well. I'm not gonna be homesick if you tell me don't worry! What is he doing well with. I heard Paul is going to the Philippines! Crazy! Do you know when he reports?
Just wanted to let you know all is well with Elder Flake in SnowFlake. Thanks for the letter. I love you and hope you have a great week!
Elder Flake

Rebecca's 11-10-2011 Letter

Family!

How was everyone's week? Mine was so crazy busy, but fantastic. I have a few things to say, and maybe I can send pictures.

So all the latinos left for their missions! It was so quiet and empty. we only had 13 missionaries in the entire ccm! It was crazy. We miss them a lot. There was this one elder named elder barreos from Peru, and he was mine and Hermana tokis favorite. He was so funny and would try to tell us all these scary stories. One day all the other elders told me that I needed to watch out... because apparently all the latino elders were joking about how they were going to cut off all of my hair and put it on their scripture cases....? yeah it was really funny. For a whole week all of them would randomly grab at my hair and joke about it. Haha crazy latinos. We have more today! We also  got 3 more US missionaries. Hermana Toki and I are now in a Trio with an Hermana from California named Hermana Collins. Yeah, we are not sure how things are going to work out yet, because she knows no Spanish and that's all our classes are in now. We will see. We love her already. She is so sweet.

Ok, as far as Spanish goes.. I am getting a little frustrated sometimes with my speaking skills. I just wish that there wasn't so many rules, and tenses. I am OK though. I know that things will work out as long as I am putting in my best efforts. I am definitely doing that!

Proselityzmo was amazing this week. Of our 6 return appts, we only got to teach 2, but that is preparing me for the future I am sure!  This week we taught this one man a lesson on the importance of the BOM. I felt the spirit so strong telling me that what I was teaching him was true. I never struggle with the language when I am bearing my testimony! Maybe that's what I should do ALL the time!

So Pres Christofferson comes this Sunday! I am so  so excited. I cant wait to let y'all know all about it.

Mom, I mailed you a letter today! I mailed another last week with stamps that I bought with Alfajores. They are these delicious things that we use like money here. They put little Debbie to shame for sure. oh, and every meal here has included spinach lately... they even wrap it up with meat... yeah no me gusta.

I love my district so much! We have all gotten pretty close! They all made up a word just for me... ustodos.... it means yall basically even though thats what ustedes is... haha oh well. They are all so hardworking.

On sunday, the president and his wife left to go to a conference, and so we were all alone in the ccm for about 9 hours! We were all so responsible, even though it was a miscommunication, and there was suppposed to be other people here. We just studied and only goofed off a little... as you will see in some of my pics!

Crystal, how are you? I miss you and love you, expect some funny letters from some elders here! ahhahaha Josh and Spence I love you both so much! Be good k? Ryan.... write me.... Quere morir? Thats what I thought....

Mom, thanks for the letter you sent. I love hearing about your life. I love you all so much!

Have an amazing week!

Becca

Jason's 11-7-2011 Letter

Hello mom!
I'm glad Spencer's handwriting is improving. I'm excited for the letter! I received those pictures for Dean Flake and I will be sure he gets that letter. That's awesome that you will be able to meet the Flakes! Barry Flake is a very nice guy. You should invite Jim and Julie over as well. That's gonna be fun in the 70 degrees. I drove here to email as it was snowing! I have my new companion now. His name is Elder Sims from Wyoming. He is awesome and enjoys working hard. I have never worked as hard as I have the past couple days. I love it. Sadly Elder Sims was never able to meet the member that we stay with. Leland Smith passed away Thursday morning. We attended his funeral an hour ago. He was 82 years old. It reminded me of Grandpa's funeral and how much I miss him. It was sad but I know he's in a better place.
You keep telling me of all these improvements but I need to see some pictures of it! How big is the chicken coop? How is Biggs doing?
Is he friendly to the chickens?
I've heard a lot about that movie. That will be one that I will have to watch one day. Another movie that everyone is talking about is 17 Miracles. You should watch that.
Of the 4 converts in Snowflake 2 are rock solid and 2 are not. You were right when you said that its hot or cold. I read my blessing where it told me that the experiences that I learn on my mission will help me as a member missionary for the rest of my life. I hope to experience better success with my friends when I return.

As far as Christmas goes, all I want is a copy of all the Hallowed Journey cds! I love those things and we do a lot of driving now so it would be fun to listen to. By the way, I almost forgot to tell you that I got a truck now! I've been driving like a mad man. Tomorrow I'm going down to the valley for a meeting and will be gone for 2 days. My companion has the area to himself! That will be a great way to learn the area fast! I'm good with my eyes right now. I still have some boxes but I will let you know when I need more. I have to get on with my Monday exciting stuff as well... Laundry etc.
I love you and hope all is well.

JASON'S OCTOBER 31st EMAIL

Hey family! How's it going? Things are going great down here in Snowflake! The weather is starting to get cold. We will be getting a truck for transfers on Wednesday! At least that's the plan. Speaking of transfers, we got news on Saturday. Sadly Elder Jones will be leaving but I know he will love Mesa. We worked hard together and I know he will have a good time in the warm weather down there! I don't know who my new companion is. Right now he is still at the MTC. That is a crazy thought. I go down to the valley to pick him up. My ward mission leader was wanting to pull a prank on him. He wants us to tract on his door and then chase us with an axe! That would be exciting. Last PDay I visited the Stinson museum. That was the adobe home that William Jordan Flake bought along with the ranch. It was really cool. I went with Noah Flake who is leaving on his mission tomorrow. In one of these pictures I'm wearing William J. Flake's hat! I love visiting these sites and knowing that this is where my ancestors have been. Noah also took me by a road called Flake Avenue. There are tons of Flakes that subdivided the family ranch and settled there. That's what we should do with our plot of land! It sounded like you had a blast at the Fall Festival up there. Of course you pull out the banjo's when I leave! haha. We had a fun Halloween party with the ward down here. We had a trunk or treat and everyone came and parked their cars and decorated them. We only had bikes so we decorated those and passed out candy and Mormon.org cards! It was a lot of fun. This week will be a hectic week but I'm excited to go to work. There are so many people whose lives are changing as they do those simple things like come to church and pray. It has been amazing to see. I miss you guys but I'm loving it here right now. I hope you have a great Halloween today and don't eat to much candy! Unless it's a Snicker.
Love, Elder Flake

REBECCA'S 11-3-2011 LETTER

Hello family!

I have so much to tell you!  So, this week we did the unthinkable... we PROSELYTED in SPANISH! It was pretty crazy. Last Saturday they took us on a bus ride to Buenos Aires (downtown) and we got to spend almost 4 hours contacting people in spanish. My companion and I were scared out of our minds. BUT we set a goal to contact 20 people in the 3 and a half hours and to get at least 4 return appt. Well.... we did it! Actually we got 8 return appts and contacted 20 people! It was so hard, but I know that my prayers were answered because I understood most of what was going on. I will telll you about this one woman that we contacted... She was a mother of 8 children, and she told me that she does not believe in organized religion. She said that everyone has their own ideas about God and that she respected ours but she had her own. I asked her how she would feel if I told her that she could be with her children forever, and she said that she wasn't sure if she wanted too... haha she was funny. Well then we asked her if she wanted to feel more happiness in her life, and she said that would be amazing, because she was always so stressed. Well, we are going back on sat! I am so excited! Another woman that we contacted has been Catholic for 20 years. She is probably in her 70s. She gave us hugs and kisses every five seconds haha Well I told her about the book of Mormon, and I gave her one, and she said, this is sooo important! how did you get this information? Can I learn more about when Christ came here? It was so neat. It was hard to understand her because she had no teeth and so her Spanish was super slurred.

Yep. well that was my adventure into the land of the Latinos! I am so glad that we get to go out of here every Saturday, because these three floors where we eat, sleep and go to class start to close in on ya. Haha my companion and I are always looking out the window. It really is pretty here.

Oh yeah, Dad, The water does drain the opposite way. Its pretty funny. All of the Norte Americanos were all watching the sink drain last week when I asked if anyone had noticed that before. It was funny.

oh, tomorrow all of the Latinos leave, because they are only here for 3 weeks. Yep, there will only be 13 of us here white folk in the ccm. It will be so dead for almost a week until we get more.

So i can receive packages, but they cant be in a box, just a padded envelope. And I am glad i brought an adapter because I was the only USA missionary that did. They see a lot of use.

Oh!!!!!! Pres Christofferson is coming here!!!!! He is coming on the 12 or 13! Crazy huh? I bet he will remember our family! He is coming for a missionary pres conference and then he is coming here for us! I am so excited to hear from him again.

So my companion is so fun. Her and I get along really well. She is pretty shy, and so I have to be careful  not to walk all over her in our lessons. I am used to pauses now... you know those awkward ones that I used to not be able to stand. Yep. haha We are learning so much about how to teach. I realize that its more then the language for me... its all about the people not the lesson. I love the new PMG.

So, I mailed yall a letter today, and I included one for Jason because I only had one stamp. You should get it in 3 weeks haha keep a look out! Oh and Crycry, I gave some elders your address... they needed a buddy. Be kind... they are all knuckleheaaaaads. haha jk i love em

Welp familia I must say how much I love you all, and how glad I am to be a missionary for this gospel. Everyday I find a new reason to why I am here on a mission. Yesterday my why was because I have such a wonderful happy family. I love you allllllllll!

Hermana Flake

Rebecca's First Week in the MTC

Hello Family! 

Man, I am so excited to write to everyone! Ok, so this week has been super hard and crazy awesome... So I will try and organize all my thoughts and maybe send pictures if time allows.

Ok, so the food here is amazing actually. They have this one fruit that is kinda like a mix between a peach and a nectarine. Its pretty awesome. I eat a ton of amazing fruit, and then they serve steak all the time! The only gross thing is cow tongue.. its just a little weird. Ha I cant get over the fact that its a tongue. 

The temple is under construction and so things arent so pretty right now. Its ok though, the weather is gorgeous, and we get to go outside for and hour everyday to play futbol or basketball with the latinos. Its like playing the provedincia branch all over again. 

I love the Latinos! We got 2 new latina roommates this week, and it has been so fun! They are so patient with our language skills. They are so humble, and I feel like a horrible person around them all the time because they come from such humbling sercumstances. One hermana said that she couldn´t afford pictures of her family when I asked for them. Wow. They are so helpful with the language though. They always ask us what we learned in class. Um, we always learn a TON in class by the way. I know more spanish now then when I studied in high school and it has been one week. I kinda feel like I am in school again acutally. The latinos always pray for us to learn faster. They say that we are needed. They always talk about how much the people need our message. They say that they will do anything to help us. 

The teachers are amazing! My Hermana teacher reminds me soooo much of crycry. yep. I told her too. She is just so sweet and silly. We see the President and his wife everyday. They are americans. They work so much with us. They are proud of me bc I can understand a ton of spanish.... my speaking is lacking though.

My companionera is Hermana Toki from Utah. She flew in on the plane with me. I love her! She is tongan, and we get along so well. her and I are 2 of the 4 american sisters here, and there are only 5 latinas. This mtc is teeny. The only americans here are the ones going to uruguay. I am so lucky to be here. My district is all really close because we are the only ones that speak only english hahaha

I am so blessed to be here. words cannot describe the rollercoaster of emotions and trials that happen in just one week. Mom, thanks so so much for all your help gettin me ready. Daddy, you are amazing, and I admire you so much. Presedente reminds me of you everyday. I love my siblings so so much. 

I love you so much family! Please read your scriptures and do what is right ;) Next week I will try to get used to this weird keyboard.

love, Rebecca

October news. Jason a D.L. and Trainer

Hey family! How's it going? Things are going great down here in Snowflake! The weather is starting to get cold. We will be getting a truck for transfers on Wednesday! At least that's the plan. Speaking of transfers, we got news on Saturday. Sadly Elder Jones will be leaving but I know he will love Mesa. We worked hard together and I know he will have a good time in the warm weather down there! I don't know who my new companion is. Right now he is still at the MTC. That is a crazy thought. I go down to the valley to pick him up. My ward mission leader was wanting to pull a prank on him. He wants us to tract on his door and then chase us with an axe! That would be exciting. Last PDay I visited the Stinson museum. That was the adobe home that William Jordan Flake bought along with the ranch. It was really cool. I went with Noah Flake who is leaving on his mission tomorrow. In one of these pictures I'm wearing William J. Flake's hat! I love visiting these sites and knowing that this is where my ancestors have been. Noah also took me by a road called Flake Avenue. There are tons of Flakes that subdivided the family ranch and settled there. That's what we should do with our plot of land! It sounded like you had a blast at the Fall Festival up there. Of course you pull out the banjo's when I leave! haha. We had a fun Halloween party with the ward down here. We had a trunk or treat and everyone came and parked their cars and decorated them. We only had bikes so we decorated those and passed out candy and Mormon.org cards! It was a lot of fun. This week will be a hectic week but I'm excited to go to work. There are so many people whose lives are changing as they do those simple things like come to church and pray. It has been amazing to see. I miss you guys but I'm loving it here right now. I hope you have a great Halloween today and don't eat to much candy! Unless it's a Snicker. 




Love, Elder Flake

This is James Madison Flake's grave site. He is Elder Flake's Great Great Great Grandfather. He settled Snowflake with William Jordan Flake. Elder Flake visited this site in Snowflake.

Hermana Flake's Arrival in Argentina

Hello Family!

I cant even say how excited I am to write to you! Wow, it has been a trip, but I am here. This email will be short, but I promise to write in more detail next week. They told me that it is best if yall think of questions to ask me and I will answer them when I have more time.

So Argentina is beautiful. I came here with 6 other elders and 1 sister. When we were about to board, a sister lost her visa! I had to help her search everywhere, and then we said a prayer. We felt like we should still get on the plane and trust that something would work out. When we were in the air, a worker came back and gave her her visa! she said that someone found it! Wow. When we flew into Argentina (after the longest 11 hours of my liiiiiiife) We were thrown into the customs and I descovered that I was the only missionary that spoke any spanish. Wow... That was an adventure. I changed everyones money and got us hooked up with our driver. I really wish that I did Rosetta Stone a little more now... I think I understood 5 percent of what was going on, but we made it here to the MTC.The airport here was scary. I had all of the money for our group and the driver kept telling me in spanish that outside was so dangerous so I had to stay close to him. Yep. I listened. There is only a few rooms. I am guessing this place holds only 40 missionaries from what I have seen. The rest of them already speak spanish...and nothing else haha.

Now that I am here, I am so glad that I packed smart. I have 5 more minutes to write and then I have interviews.

Ok, so I ate lunch here... it was super dross. Haha I am excited to force myself to eat a ton of meat and rice every day. I love the pudding though.

Familia, I love you all so much. I know that Heavenly Father sent me here for a reason. I guess I have another 18 months here to figure it all out.

The teachers dont speak much english, and so I am sure that I will learn spanish so fast! I am so excited! I gave out 4 pass along cards on the way down. One person said that they were going to look up my blog, so Momma, please keep it updated. I love you so much Mom, and I guess the rest of you too. Thank you for your prayers. Oh, and make sure that you all do family scripture study!

I love this gospel. It is so perfect and peaceful and true. That is why I know I can make it through this stressful time.

Hermana Flake

Family Newsletter September

Hello Family! Sorry it has been such a long time since I have written. Things are crazy here in Snowflake! I have met so many people that knew Grandpa. I met his cousin Dean Flake who got in and out of a lot of trouble with Grandpa. Grandpa's old house is actually just down the street from me! I love it here. I can't meet anyone without them commenting on my name. I've been learning a lot about our genealogy too. Last week I went and toured the James Madison Flake home. It was a nice place. We need to have a Family Reunion down here one of these summers. After my mission though! Last week we found a lot of people to teach. The first couple weeks I came here, nothing was going on. Then out of nowhere, people have been wanting to meet with us and it has kept us very busy. The busiest I've been in my mission so far! There are a lot of members up here. There are a lot of Flakes as well! A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I'm from Tennessee. They never thought Flakes existed anywhere else but Snowflake. Its very exciting meeting relatives in every ward I cover. I haven't met a Flake yet that hasn't been willing to help out with missionary work. I hope I can stay up here for a long time.

I'm excited for Rebecca to be heading out for her mission! Grandma's missionary wall just keeps getting bigger and bigger. We both will be serving our missions at the same time! I will come home one month before she does. We know you'll do great Rebecca. You will be so much taller than all the natives down there! My favorite memory of Rebecca is when we were little kids. She zipped me up in a sleeping bag and threw me down the stairs! I'm sure it wasn't intentional. That moment made me the man I am today. Rebecca, your testimony and standards have always been an example to me. Thank you. I hope you love your mission as much as I love mine.

Hope you all have a great month family! I will be sure to keep updating you on the happenings of Snowflake. Thank you so much Grandma for all that you do. I love getting the newsletters every month. I hope all is well!

Love, Elder Flake

:)

Rebecca leaves in 3 weeks!

Elder Flake July 4th

Hello Flake Family!
Things are going good down here in Mesa. I am currently still in my first area and have been here for five months! So far it has been the best five months of my life!  I could potentially get transferred to Snowflake! So many people ask if I'm related to the Flakes up in Northern Arizona. A lot of people don't realize that  Flakes exist elsewhere in the world! If I were to stay in Snowflake there is a Flake family that houses missionaries. I could live with my family! That would be crazy. I've also run into a lot of people that have met our family. At the MTC, I had a teacher who served in Vegas with Justin. Also, a returned missionary in my ward said that he served with a Sister Flake who would cut off raccoon tails that were on the side of the road. That was Megan of course. Also, there was a boy named Jake Cotter who was down from St. George visiting family who goes to school with Andrew. Its a small world! I also was able to meet congressman Jeff Flake. He is currently running for senate. He has my vote! The mission is going great! Even the other day when it was 117 degrees outside! Unfortunately, our bikes don't have air conditioning. Its a good missionary tool though. We just fake that we are having a heatstroke on someone's doorstep and they have to let us in. I love working with the members down here. They are the finders! We keep busy even though we cover about a mile square. Well I hope ya'll have fun at the reunion! I was looking at the schedule from the newsletter. It looks like a lot of fun! My favorite part is the missionary letter part. I'm not sure exactly what that is but it sounds fun. I love you all.