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.