March 14, 2011 Transferred to Salinas

Lindsey is going to have a baby!?!?!?! WoOooOowwwW! Congratulations! That's crazy/exciting! When will you know if it's a girl or boy? I'm betting it's going to be my first nephew :) Congrats again, that's exciting.

I got the call Saturday night that I will be getting transferred. Rumor has it I will just be going around the other side of the mountain to Salinas, but I won't find out for sure till tomorrow at transfers. I have enjoyed my time here serving in the San Benito Branch, but it will be nice to have a change of scenery. 7 months is a long time. We are going to play one last game of indoor soccer at the church today with some members, and then my main man Hermano Miranda is going to make a Carne Asada feast tonight to make sure I have a full stomach as I head off tomorrow.

I'll share one cool experience we had this week. We showed up for an appointment Tuesday morning and the person wasn't there. So we began to contact potentials in the area like we had planned, and for like the first 5 doors, no one answered. But finally at the last door, a 23 year old man named Juan answered the door. He informed us that his father was being brought over from the hospital later that day so that he could pass on in his home. We saw the hospital bed already in there set up for him. Juan then informed us that 2 days ago, he had been thinking about the Mormons. Turns out growing up he had a good friend who was a member of the church who apparently was a really good example to him and even brought him to a few mutual activities. So with this knowledge, we shared a bit of the plan of salvation with him and testified that families can be together forever. He really appreciated our visit and thinks we were an answer to his prayers. He's now an investigator of the English Elders because he doesn't speak Spanish very well. It was pretty cool. The Gospel truly does bring peace to the soul and God does answer prayers. Well I'm off to a new land and new adventures. I hope ya'll have a great week. Love Elder Flake

---- Wow, Lindsey is going to be a mother... Sounds like Philly was fun. I want to here about Andy's missionary experience in the Ghettos of West Philly. I remember when we got to go out with some Elders when we picked up Dani from D.C. That was fun. If I do end up going to Salinas, I should experience some real ghetto as well. I guess the Nortenos and Surtenos (the 2 biggest gangs in Cali) clash their quite a bit. We'll see what happens. Love ya fam! Elder Flake