August 29, 2011 Email

Hey Dad!

Good to hear from you :) Ya, I've only been in 3 areas and Salinas might be my last one. Elder Mote is getting transferred up to San Jose so I will be getting a new companion tomorrow and holding down the fort here in Salinas. I only have 3 transfers left! Crazy... I'm glad to hear you are staying busy with work up in the cool mountains. I was blessed to spend this summer in the coolest area of the whole mission. It maybe broke 80 a couple of times here. Pretty nice, eh? 60's to 70's all day long :)

I look forward to doing some good, physical work with you when I return. Ha ha, ya, nursery would be fun - as long as I don't have to change poopy diapers. What's new... Last P-day we went to the beach and threw a ball and ran around on the sand. It was a good time and it felt amazing to have sand between my toes. We also came acrossed a Seal just chillin on the beach. Took some pics of him. The biggest blessing of the week was finding a family of 4 to teach. The Martinez family. We taught them a quick restoration and my new companion and I will be going back to teach them this week. They're a nice family. Pray that they understand the importance of our message! I look forward to working with a new companion who maybe will bring some fresh ideas of how we can find more people to teach. Well Dad, I love you lots. Thank you for your prayers,

Your son, Elder Flake

Hey Steve! Take it easy!

I'm confident you passed your big test. Have you taught Alexa how to throw a spiral yet? Ha ha, I bet playing with her just gets funner and funner as she gets bigger and bigger. So what did you mean by no NBA season? They can't not have an NBA season can they? That sounds like herecy to me. Well I hope you have a nice break from school. I'm going to be getting a new companion here tomorrow, so that should be exciting. I've been with the same elder (Elder Mote) since March! So it will be nice to have a change there. Well Steve, thank you for your prayers. I pray that all is well with you and your little family. Love Dawson

Hi mom! I promise I will send a note and my picture card this week. I'm sorry I haven't got around to that. I will repent. I'm glad to hear that Lindz and Carlton survived the Hurricane. Crazy stuff. So i will finally be getting a new companion. I learned a lot from Elder Mote, but this area needs a change of pace, and hopefully whoever my new companion is can help me take things to another level. Ha ha, i thought i told you about the Tuberculosis thing. My bad. So like 2 months ago, we picked up a new investigator who was on medication to recover from Tb. Armando Arreola. He turned out to not be interested, but the mission office, upon hearing that we were teaching a man with Tb, wanted us to get tested, just in case. Elder Mote and I both came out negative ( we DO NOT have Tb :) So that is that story. Well I best be off, but you will get mail from me soon. Thank you so much for everything Mom. I'm pretty sure you're the best Mom ever. Love ya tons, Elder Flake

Hey bro! That's a funny story of you having to run home from your morning bike ride ;) I have never had to replace a tube my entire 4 months here on a bike :) Ha ha, Elder Dimond, one of the other missionaries serving here, has had to replace his tube like 8 or 9 times! Poor guy. 17:36, not bad bro. Don't let that little Sophmore punk beat you! Ha ha, jk just do your best bro :) Who's the top dog on the X country team these days?

So bro, who are your teachers? What do you do for lunch? I look forward to going on lots of bike rides + rock climbing with you next year. Well love ya tons! Keep reading your scriptures! I just started the Book of Mormon again for like the fourth or fifth time on my mission. It's a good book! I highly recommend it :) Do a good turn daily - Love Elder Flake