Saturday, February 27, 2010

Elder Scott Visits San Jose Mission

Here is a letter from the San Jose mission shared by a sister on Missionary Moms:

Hi Sisters:

My son is serving in the San Jose mission. Last week they had Elder Scott visiting for Stake Conference. He also held a fireside for the Latinos and spoke at a mission conference. I thought you might be interested in what my son had to say about it. I've left it as he wrote it...he seems to have forgotten how to spell, capitalize and use correct grammar!


Well this last week went pretty well. Very very busy it seemed like, but didn't seem like we got a whole lot of actual missionary work done. Friday night, Saturday morning, and sunday morning, we got the opportunity to hear from Elder Scott which was really cool. Friday night was a spanish fireside which he spoke at and only the latinos were invited. One of the most interesting things he said there to all the latinos was that they needed to learn English) because their children would be speaking it) In France they speak french, it Italy they speak italian, in america they speak english, so they needed to adapt to the culture. But it was really cool because at the end he blessed everyone with the Gift of tongues. That was really cool and powerful to hear and see.
Saturday we got to sit down with him as mission and talk with him for about 4.5 hours. We talked about a LOT of stuff. The thing that struck out most to me and has occurred a few times this transfer is the importance of charity and doing service. Doing service for others brings the spirit - it's pretty simple. So if we want to activate less actives or bring nonmembers to the gospel giving them opportunities to serve are excellent ways to do it. It's living Christ's example. So I thought that was pretty cool. Then sunday was Stake Conference and he talked a lot about how we need to teaching our children and bring them up right. Lots of information and lots of meetings.


Best wishes to you all (and your missionaries).

February 26, 2010 Email and letter

Hey Mom sorry I don't have a lot of time. They switched to gmail now so my email is now dawson.flake@myldsmail.net so ya i'll be calling you Tuesday morning i guess. Look forward to talkin to you. I don't thinks it is supposed to be too long of a call but we'll see what happens. I still have about $100 in cash so i'm good there. And I can't think of anything I need. It's finally setting in that i'm leaving! Crazy! Well Love ya and thanks for everything!
Elder Dawson Flake

Mosiah is Awesome! I love King Benjamin's adress and especially Alma the Younger's conversion story in Ch. 17. I love how he says how he was"snatched" from eternal torment through the power of the atonement and faith in Jesus Christ. Everything we teach out here goes back to Jesus and his atoning scrifice. I'll probably never understand how this great gift works, but I do know that it is real and will help those I teach better thier lives and bring them peace. Any how-things are going great and I love learning and that's a good thing cause that's all we do out here. I'm so excited that I'm finally getting out into the field in less than two weeks now!
So what are you doing for personal studey? I'm doing a bunch of different things. In Ch. 5 of PMG there are a bunch of 'Questions of the Soul' with scripture references in the BOM for each question. I like going through those and I also enjoy Jesus the Christ I recently started. There is so much to study and so little time here. It's frustrating! But I've really leaned to love learning so that's a plus.

Friday, February 19, 2010

February 19, 2010 Email

I got my travel papers yesterday! I leave the second of March, Tuesday morning. And because I only have about a one hour flight, I should be doing REAL missionary work that morning! Loco! It's finally setting in that i'm not going to spend the rest of my life here at the MTC! I've enjoyed my time here, but I'm about ready to get out there and do the Lord's work.
I ran into my bud Nick, Elder Andersen now, during the temple walk on Sunday, and it was really good to see him. Elder (R.J) Smith was there as well so we had a good'ol fashion St.George reunion right there in front of the temple.
Mi madre wanted to have me give my regular daily schedule here at the good old MTC. Me and a few guys from my District get up at 6 to read the B.O.M for a half hour(we recently switched to reading in Spanish) then we get ready and head over to our classroom by 7-the place where I've spent most my waking hours these last 2 months. After breakfast we usually have one of our 2 awesome teachers come teach us Spanish/Gospel Principles for a few hours and then lunch followed by gym and then more personal/companionship/language study and then dinner and then the other teacher comes and teaches us till 9 then we plan for a half hour and then we have an hour tell we have to be in bed and lights out at 10:30. Sounds fun, no? It really isn't as bad as it sounds. It's amazing how much you can learn in such a short time. Well that's about my life, atleast for the next week and a half and then the real work begins! I Hope all is well with ya'll
love elder Flake.

Mom I will call you at the airport at around 7:00 am.

Monday, February 15, 2010

February 12, 2010 Email






February 12, 2010
Mi Hermana es engaged! Loco! Congratulations Sis! So I have less than 20 days left here... es tambien loco. Every day learning Espanol is a battle. I'm nowhere near fluent by all means, but I guess no one is by the time they leave the MTC so esta bien. Mi companero es muy smart though so he helps me out a bunch. We had a threesome companionship this week porque Hermana Georgseson from our zone, who has been stuck here for an extra 3 or so weeks cause something is up with her Visa, was put with me and my comp. She was able to help us out a ton with both the Gospel and the language so that was cool. She finally got her Visa and is leaving Monday so felicitacioenes to her. So ya I ran into Lindsey here last week when she was volunteering at the TRC and that was pretty suprising/cool. And now she is going off and getting married so what ev... Ha ha j/k sis I am muy feliz for you:) So ya all is great and thanks to all those who have wrote and for all your prayers. The Church is still true! Love Elder Flake.

--Hey fam! Lindsey is really getting married huh? Pretty crazy! Congrats again! Thanks so much for the package! You found my watch! Hooray! And the mini PMG is the envy of the District. Sounds like our D-Hills boys are doin work in B-ball! Thanks also for the letter Bro. Sounds like you are living it up so just keep doin what you're doin:) Mom that is awesome that you are doing that blog. Keep it up! Dad, how's the ward? You fulfilling your calling?! J/k I know you are. Hope the prisoners are behaving. I just started reading Jesus the Christ. It's intense and I'm loving it. So you are in my prayers! Hope you liked my pics. My comp. is the one making the cheezy faces. He's a funny guy. And the one with the bottle- don't worry it's just sparkling soda:) The one with the socks on his ears-Elder Ayotte- He is HILARIOUS. Almost once a week he hides in my closet and scares the bejeebers out of me. So almost my whole life here is spent in a little class room. But we make the most of it and try to have a little fun now and again. My teachers, Hermano Burkholtz and Hermana Ribera are AWESOME. wELL keep reading the scriptures and stuff:) Love ya tons.
Elder Dawson Flake

Friday, February 5, 2010

February 5, 2010 Email

hola familia y amigos!
The first lesson in Espanol at the TRC was pretty rough. But I guess it is for almost every one so it's all good. It truly is an emotional roller coaster ride here at the MTC. One day the language is clicking and you couldn't be happier and then the next day it's like you just got here and can't even throw a simple sentence together. But with so many spiritual growth experiences going on here, it's easy to put behind you your struggles and just keep on chugging.
The 2 or 3 plates of food i have each meal here are starting to show its fruits. I've gained 10 pounds now:) We had two awesome devotionals this week- one, someone would just go up to a mic and say there favorite verse of a hymn and why then all 2,500 or something missionaries would sing the verse. Music is powerful.
The other one, Elder Hinkley, the son of the prophet who is a member of the 70, gave a powerful talk. He talked about the story of his Grandpa telling the later to be prophet on his mission to forget himself and go to work. Sometimes my brain feels like it can't handle anymore after a long day and I feel like I need a break. But this is when I need to follow this council and just forget my self. I'm gaining a stronger testimony of prayer and that the more sincere our prayers are, the more Heavenly Father is going to help us out. He wants to help. All we have to do is ask.Hope all is well with everyone.
Love, Elder Flake
(He said that he just sent some photos! Can't wait!

PS. Dawson's sister was volunteering at the TRC today with her cousin, Rebecca. Right before she went in, she just happened to spot Elder Flake! She yelled at him and got to say Hello for just a second but the teacher wouldn't let her give him a hug. Pretty cool!