August 15, 2011 Email Release date: January 3, 2012

Hey Momma!

I hope your transition from summer life to school life goes smoothly. I got all the notes from our couzins :) Tell them all thanks for me please :) So what's the next big event you're planning as part of your calling? Speaking of callings, the Monterey Stake Presidency just got re-organized during stake conference this weekend. We went to the Sunday session over there in Sea Side. Elder Gavarret of the first quorum of the 70 was presiding and an area 70 by the name of Elder Cordova accompanied him. They were both Latinos! So they held a special meeting for all the Spanish members of the stake after the main session :) Both meetings were great. It was good, I think, for our members to see that there are Latino leaders in the church. Both meetings had a missionary theme. Pres. Watkins and his wife spoke.

The week was pretty slow, teaching wise. The majority of our appointments that we did have fell through :( We did do a lot of service though :) First, we took down this dead tree for a very nice little old lady named Betty. I used a hand saw and chain saw to trim the branches off, then we called our Spanish compadres, Elder Barrow and Elder Dimon, and they helped us push it down. Now Betty is an investigator of the English Elders :) Then on Saturday, the 8 of us elders here in Salinas helped out with a city 'clean up Salinas' project. There were multiple large garbage bins lined up along the street, each for a different material, (metal, wood, plastic etc.). And we helped people unload there junk from there cars and trucks and threw it in the bins. It was kind of fun. They payed us in all the little cezars pizza we could handle :)

Welp, tell my friends former elders Montague, Cox and Thompson that I say hi and that I salute them please. That's cool that I will get to fly into the new airport. I still got a lot of work to do though so we can't be thinking about that :) Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers mom. They are appreciated.

Love your son, Elder Flake

Very good to hear from you! You're a senior now!!! Wow! Let me know how your first week of school goes, ok? Which classes are you taking, who are your teachers etc. Sounds like you had an awesome summer. I look forward to hangin out with you all next summer. We're still gonna do a crazy road trip, ite? I'm happy to hear that you are doing X- country again. I think I got about the same time as you my first race my senior year. So you definitely have a shot at breaking my PR. What was it, like 16:30? Ha ha, looks like you had a pretty crazy fan club at your race :) Our cousins are crazy aren't they? What's Justin up to these days? Tell him I say hi, ok?

The mission goes on here in Salinas. We meet so many people everyday. It gets frustrating some times because WE know that our message is so important, and you try and share that with others, and no one gets it! But you just got to keep on inviting and pray that Heavenly Father will put a person in our path who is spiritually prepared enough to understand the importance of what we are talking about. Well bro, make the best of your senior year. You're such a nice kid and everyone knows it, so just keep being yourself and continue to reach out to the friendless. I love you to death and hope to hear from you again soon.

Love Elder Flake

August 8, 2011 Email

Sounds like the reunion was a success and a good time. I just read that article in the Ensign about that pioneer who built the Pine Valley chapel and discovered Bryce Canyon. Pretty cool. Tell Rebecca congrats for me on going through the temple. Jason just told me he got transferred to Snow Flake. Ha ha, that's awesome.

I'm glad to hear that Dad is staying busy with jobs. Tell Jonba and the boys thanks for the letters, and Sister Johnson as well. Are you ready to go back to school Mom? :) I know Andrew probably isn't. Sounds like he had a pretty fun summer.

So this past week, President Watkins iniciated a new key indicator of getting 20 contacts a day (or 140 per week) and Elder Mote and I got 146 :) That's a lot of people. We're usually pretty good at talking to just about everyone we come across, but now we're even more focused on it. You never know who the elect are going to be. Fidel Santoyo, who now has a baptismal date for the 28th of August, was a man we just went up to in the park and started talking to him. We had a cool lesson with him last week. He said a great prayer and was touched by the Spirit. Well, I look forward to reading all the notes from my couzins. The package did finally come :) Thanks! You are in my prayers.

Love Elder Flake

Hello again Mom,

So I got a call yesterday from Sister Whithers, who is the mission secretary up there in San Jose. I guess Salt Lake already wants to know which airport I'm going to fly into by this Friday. So I think it would be cool to fly into St. George (is that new airport close to being finished yet?), but I'll go where ever you're gonna be :) The regular transfer/missionaries leave day is Wednesday, January 4th. But maybe you can ask Sister Whithers to confirm which day I'll be coming home (if she even knows yet). This is crazy even talking about this stuff. The address that you need to contact is: 2011549@ldschurch .org. Call the mission office if you have any questions. They need to know by this Friday. I'm doing good :)

We chopped down a tree for a little old lady today for service. That was fun. I'll try and send pictures soon. I got some pictures today from Danielle of cute little alexa. She keeps growin! I love you very much! Hope the school year starts off great for you! Love Elder Flake

Hey Danielle:) Thanks for the e-mail. I remember recently getting a letter from you that included some of Alexa's artwork, as well as the work of your primary kids, ( I actually was in the same zone as that Elder Miller before he recently got transferred) but I don't remember costco pictures. Hopefully they're on there way. Thank you for thinking of me and tell Alexa I think her artwork is fantastic:) Alexa is so big... I saw a 2 year old at church yesterday and she was running around and I was thinking, wow. Alexa is big. I'm very excited to play with her when I return:)

That is cool you are in all those clubs. I'm impressed that you know how to sew and quilt. I look forward to seeing some of your work. What books have you been reading for your book club? I just finished Jesus the Christ, and now I am reading 'Our Heritage' The beginnings of our church are pretty amazing. Those pioneers sure were tough. Funny stuff happens on your mission. Whether it's a bike gang of kids stocking us on our bikes or some lady you just met grabbing your hand to say a prayer, or some little girl finding that pulling on your arm hairs is pretty entertaining, and she doesn't stop, not even while I'm praying:) It's fun... Well, love ya sis. Tell Steve I wish him luck on his big test. I hope you all have a fun, relaxing 4 week break break. Love Elder Flake

August 1, 2011 Email

Hey family!

Looks like you had an awesome week at the reunion and Yosemite. That glacier lake by bear lake looked like a good time! Why hadn't we gone there in the past?!? That water had to be freezing- you're all crazy. Good work Andrew taking over my role and being the first one to get in the water.

I remember rainbow falls. That was a good time. I hope everything turns out well for the Flakey reunion.

We had a pretty good week. The Lord blessed us with 6 new investigators, including a family via a member referral. Our elderly friend Fidel Santoyo broke our church attendance slump this Sunday. The member we took to our appointment the past week picked him up and did a great job fellow shipping him. Fidel had a great experience. Manuel was not able to make it to church this week, but we did have a good lesson with him and he accepted the invitation to be baptized. He's from El Salvador and lives in the same house as a member (the one who brought him to church last week). Member involvement makes so much of a difference in this work!

Hermano Vasquez was able to return to his home in Hollister after the surgery. Hopefully this will act as a wake-up call for him and he'll get back to church. Jamie Martinez (RC) had a great time at girls camp, made a bunch of friends, and is already excited for girls camp next year! Yea girls camp! 11 year old Marcelino Gerardo (RC) demonstrated his skills on the bass for us last night. (His dad and uncle have a band and music is their life). He's good. Such a bright kid. I think we baptized the next August Rush.

We also got a new car this week. A shiny, brand new 2011 Corolla. (They sell the mission vehicles before going over 50,000 miles). Then I rode up to San Jose on Friday with my MTC roomie Elder Bennet for President Watkins' first leadership meeting. It was good- a lot different than President Jackson's style, but it was a good meeting. Pres. Watkins is really big on image. He gave us all a table etiquette tips page ( which I think should have a revised version for the Spanish program ;) and he also had us all bring our uggliest tie for a tie exchange. I guess he knows someone from Mr. Mac because he had 200 nice ties there as part of the exchange.

Well I best be going, but I want to leave my testimony that I know the church I'm currently representing is the Lord's Kingdom upon the earth today. Joseph Smith was the restoring prophet and the Book of Mormon contains the Word of God, revealed to his servants here on the American continent. Families can be together and that is God's plan; His work and His glory.

Thanks for your prayers, examples and support; Love, Elder Flake

July 25, 2011

Hey family up the road!

It was BIG week down here in Salinas this past week, with the 101st Salinas Rodeo, California's largest. Lot's of vaqueros (cowboys) came, and the streets were pretty crowded for a couple days, but now things are slowing down again. Elder Mote and I stopped on our bikes outside the stadium to watch a couple of bull rides on the jumbo tron the other night. That was right after some crazy homeless guy tried to push elder mote off of his bike. Luckily he bounced off some bushes and was able to keep riding. I was riding behind, so I just dropped off the curb into the street out of the guys reach and got by him. Ha ha, it was pretty funny. There are a lot of homeless people here in Salinas. It's sad.

Well none of our investigators came to church this Sunday :( But a member brought a friend that we are going to start teaching :) His name is Manuel. It seemed like he enjoyed church. We did quite a bit of street contacting this week. Hopefully some of the potentials we got from that will turn out to be solid. There is a less active from the San Benito Branch (Hollister) who is now at the big hospital here in Salinas. It's actually hermano Vasquez, the one we helped remodel a house over Christmas time 6 months ago. His Kidneys failed, so he just had a surgery and now he will have to start doing dialysis 3 times a week. I hear dialysis isn't very fun. The waiting list for a kidney transplant is 6 years now-a-days... We gave him a blessing, and then a few days later we stopped by to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with him. He is a funny guy, a good man.

This week we also had a fun ward party. It was the 'Zarahemla challenge'. There were 3 teams and they played a series of games (such as sling shot shooting, a big puzzel, etc.) mixed in with questions from the Book of Mormon. Then at the end, a member did a presentation on the Navajo Indians, and then we had Navajo tacos- and they were super good. It was a fun evening. Well, I better e-mail President Watkins, but if I have a little more time I might write a little more. Well I hope you enjoy your time here in the Golden State. Stay away from Fulsom prison, I here it's a bad place. The lake sounds nice though. Send me some pics!

I got a letter from Darrell on Saturday, Gracias primo! Thanks for the salutation Jonba! A Town, you're my hero! Parents, you're amazing :)

Love Elder Flake

July 18, 2011 Email Transfer-Stay in Salinas

Wow Mom, that is quite the compliment Pres. Topham/Sister Dalton gave you and the fam. Thank you so much for your examples! Sounds like the hard work you all put into the trek really paid off, and had quite the impact on everyone involved. That's awesome.

So transfer calls came and it looks like I'll be spending my fourth transfer here in Salinas, still with Elder Mote. We thought for sure Elder Mote was being transferred. Obviously I'm supposed to be learning something from him that I haven't figured out yet. He's very serviceable. Also he is a great teacher and loves the people we teach and associate with. So maybe he's slowly helping me improve in these areas, and Heavenly Father thinks one more transfer with Elder Mote will be for the best. We don't always get along super bien, but we are understanding each other more and more as time goes by. So I might finish my mission here in Salinas? I only have 4 transfers left... We'll see I guess.

The English class went well. Only 3 members showed up, but they all learned a lot and seemed excited about it. We advertized it quite a bit the last few days, putting flyers in laundry mats and the like. And people have started calling so we expect a better turn out next week. We found and taught this cool young couple this week. Pedro and Ernastina. They are very nice/humble and accepted our invitation to be baptized :) So that was exciting. Also, the 4 of us Elders in the ward all gave talks in Sacrament yesterday. I got carried away I guess and I took 15 minutes only leaving 15 minutes total for Elder Mote and Elder Barrow, and they had to skip the rest hymn... but people said they enjoyed my talk :)

Of course, we all spoke on missionary work. I shared the experience of how Jamie saw the example of the Domninguez family, members who are practically family of Jamie, and because of the happiness that the Gospel brought to their lives, she pursued it and was baptized. Now Jamie is about to head off to girl's camp and it is a blessing to see her change from the Gospel. So ya, I talked a lot about being an 'example of the believers' and 'letting your light shine' to all their non-member friends. And also I suggested ways that they can take the first step in sharing the Gospel with their friends. And of course I told them how much the Gospel has blessed the lives of our family and will bless anyone who accepts and applies it.

What else... This super nice, like celestial good lady, who is always giving us fresh fruits and vegies, and packages of bottled water, and anything else she thinks we need, is taking 6 of us Elders to Olive Garden for lunch today. Her name is Hermana Rico. She is the best. Well familia, Haz lo Justo and Mantenga la fe and stuff alright? Thank you so much for helping me be out here and for your tremendous examples. Way to do missionary work Andy! Tell Shelton I say Hi :)

Love you much, Elder Flake

July 11, 2011 Teaching English

Hey Mom:)

The work continues on here in Salinas. Things are a little slow right now. We have a few investigators. None of which are super promising, but with a little work and by helping them keep a few commitments, things could definitely happen. We need to find more people. To help with this, the 4 of us Spanish elders here in Salinas are going to begin teaching an English class every Thursday. There are already a handful of members who are excited about it. So that's good. This will be my first time trying this.

Speaking of language learning, our recent converts, the Apolinar family, taught Elder Mote and I some Mixteco last night, while we we were visiting with them. Kuni Kushi! (I'm hungry:) It's a crazy language- sounds like Chinese. They are doing well. They work so hard... Before my mission, I never thought about where the strawberry I was eating came from. These people spend hours of backbreaking work out in the sun caring for, picking, and packaging the fruits and vegetables we enjoy. And they do it for $45 or $50 a day. It's a tough life...

5 and a half extra hours of meetings? That's crazy Mom. A typical Sunday for me?

8:00- coordination with ward mission leader
9:00- P.E.C
10:00- call investigators to remind them about church; or if we have the car, we go to their houses/apartments to wake them up
11:00-2:00- Church
2:30-4:00- proselyte
4:00- dinner; on Sundays we usually eat with bro. Vargas (the Elders Quorum President) and his family, or la familia Apolinar
5:00-8:30- We usually are busy with appointments, if not, we proselyte some more (street contacting, visiting potentials, less actives, etc.)
8:30- return to the apartment, I get the numbers from the district and then I report them to the Zone Leaders
Sunday is game day. How well it goes is determined by if you get investigators to church or not.
Well Mom, thank you for your prayers and sacrifices in my behalf. I love you very much. Good luck with the trek.Where are they doing it? Andrew would make a great Indian. I hope you have a great week! Love Elder Flake

p.s, I have not received the package yet, they must be holding it till transfers next week (Tues. the 19th) bummer :(

Love you Mom!

July 6, 2011 Email

July 6, 2011

Hello Family :) Sounds/looks like you had a fun time at Lake Powell. We got to meet with Pres. Watkins twice already, with interviews and a 'meet and greet'. He's awesome. Different from Pres. Jackson, but awesome nonetheless. He appears very smart and is already coming up with some new ideas to help lift the mission to another level. He emphasized the importance of obedience, hard work, and having a positive attitude. It will be interesting to see the changes that occur in the next 6 months.

We found a new investigator who seems promising named A. A. The only thing is that he has Tuberculosis. He is on medication, so it shouldn't be too contagious, but the mission medical adviser wants us to teach him out of his hotel room, in an open area, as a precaution. For P-day we went and hiked again at Pinnacles. It was fun, although it was hot, like 100. We are accustomed to the 70's here in Salinas ;)

The East side of Salinas, where all the Mexicans live, was crazy on the 4th. Smoke and fireworks going off everywhere. We're not sure if all of them knew exactly what they were celebrating, but they were sure having a good time ;)

Oh, one other cool thing I found out yesterday is that this younger guy, 23ish, named Juan, who Elder Gainor and I found in Hollister got baptized! He's the one who when we knocked on his door informed us that his Dad was being brought over from the hospital that afternoon so he could die at home. We talked and testified to him of the Plan of Salvation before later referring him to the English Elders. Now he's baptized! Miracle! I'm on exchanges with an Elder Campbell from the Philippines right now. Well I better get going. Thank you so much for your support. I love you all.
Peace and Blessings, Elder Flake

P.s Mom, please inform Lindsey that I did get her letter and I will be writing her back soon. Did you get the postcard-picture that I sent Alexa? I have not yet received the package you sent. Love you!