Week 17: Mountains to Climb

Flakey Family,

I´m sorry to hear about Grandma. I hope Dad was able to make it to see her, but even if he didn´t, I know she is proud of him and all her children that have taught their kids to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for Grandma and Grandpa Flake and for all the memories that I treasure of them and for their faithfulness to the gospel unto the end of their lives. I am so happy that Grandma and Grandpa raised up Dad to be the worthy priesthood holder that he is and taught him how to work hard, serve others, and be a real dad. I am grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and for a merciful Father in heaven who designed a way for us to live again one day in His presence and with the potential to learn how to become more like Him.  I was reading something today that is interesting and so true. It´s in the April General Conference, a talk from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf....

"In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.
Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless13 and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny.

The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions—temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful.

How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."


I love you all and wish I could hug each and every one of you!!!

This week has been....rain, rain, rain....haha. Seriously we are walking in rivers of water pretty much everyday. There has been so much rain this week and everyone says that this is nothing compared to October...oh well, all part of the mission in Costa Rica. We are still working with Miguel to quit coffee and smoking. Saturday he had one cup of coffee and one cigarette...but yesterday we had a lesson with him and we brought a member who was baptized only 4 months ago, Rafael, who had to give up coffee, smoking, and alcohol in order to be baptized...after being addicted for 25+ years! We finished teaching the restoration and watched the 20 minute video of the first vision, and then Rafael told Miguel about his conversion story, and how he had desired a change and then came knocking two elders at his door. He explained how it is much more effective to go cold turkey when it comes to addictions and not just lesson the addiction a little at a time....Having Rafael there was so key to how that lesson went. Instead of it being us missionaries coming yet again and giving him even more information to take in, he really took it to heart and it gave him esperanza (hope) to see that he´s not the only one. Even though it´s hard to get members to come with us sometimes, and they usually make the going slow, I have a strong testimony of the importance of members with similiar experiences or who underwent similiar challenges and changes.

 I love being a missionary. It´s hard. Really hard. There is so much pressure and so many different things we have to do and we´re just kids really. I´m learning a lot from trial and mistakes...and I hope that I can reach my potential and that I can be a powerful tool in the hands of the Lord, that I can learn to follow the impressions of the Spirit and act on them...This week I lost our phone....which had all the numbers of our investigators and members etc. I left it on a shelf in the supermarket and someone stole it. I felt like Martin Harris when he lost the 119 (?) pages of scripture....Now we will have to use a cheap phone that is so much harder to use and we will have to find all the numbers again. I know that even though we make mistakes, we can learn how to change and become better because of them. I know that my Savior lives and that this is His gospel and that only through Him can we be saved and achieve exaltation. I want to be more worthy to bear His name and preach His gospel to everyone who will hear it.

 Happy Independence Day for Costa Rica!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Flake

Pictures Week 17:

Week 16: Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Querido familia mia!!!

EMMA!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! AND CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING BAPTIZED! you are now a member of the only true church with the entirety of the restored gospel. How do you feel? Sorry for slacking on the birthday cards....maybe they will be there before you turn 9...haha....and before Darrell turns 6....I love you both!!! And Tyler soon will be 14, right? Man, time is flying...thanks for sending me pics of Emma´s baptism, Tyler!!!!

This week we have been working with Miguel and trying to help him quit drinking coffee and quit smoking so that he can be baptized the 20th of this month. I wish I knew better ways to help people quit addictions or habits... We did divisions this past week with Hermana Starke and Hermana Martinez, and I loved it. I always love teaching with Hermana Starke because she knows how to teach to the level of the investigators and be very simple and not teach too much. That´s something that Hermana Tordecilla and I need to work on. I want to be better on focusing on the investigators and not on the lesson. I was bummed when we couldn´t get anyone to come to the iglesia this sunday except for Miguel...We went to all of their houses and called them and they still didn´t come (half of them didn´t answer the phone and weren´t there when we went to their houses). It is depressing when you feel like you do everything you can, and you don´t see results.... I want to be a better instrument in the hands of the Lord, but I feel so inadequate because I´m not so great at teaching. I want to be better at teaching according to the spirit. Hermana Flake is not a good teacher...therefore I NEED to teach with the spirit.

This week we had planned to visit Rogelio several times and he kept on canceling on us :(  Two of those times we had called a recent convert to come with us to the cita, but we had to tell him nevermind. Finally, yesterday we were able to have the lesson with Rogelio with the member present and I look forward to the next lesson with him. We reviewed over the first part of lesson restoration (we had already taught that) and then we watched the 20minute video of the restoration and afterwards, Abraham (the recent convert) shared his conversion story. It went well, though I would have preferred to have heard Rogelio speak more (he is kinda shy), so I know that we need to work more on asking questions that allow the investigator or share his or her feelings and thoughts.

I love being a missionary, and I want to be a better one and work more on having a positive attitude. When it´s always raining and our citas are always falling (or at least the last couple of days) sometimes I find it hard to be positive. But that is my goal. I am so thankful for all letters, and pray that we can all work harder push the work of the Lord forward.

¨Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;
And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.¨ D&C 78:18

Remember what covenant be made when we chose to be baptized into this church...
7. And it came to pass after many days there were a goodly number gathered together at the place of Mormon, to hear the words of Alma. Yea, all were gathered together that believed on his word, to hear him. And he did teach them, and did preach unto them repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord.

 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

 11 And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts. (Mosiah 18:7·11)

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Flake

(From Troy: the pictures for this week did not send correctly on the e-mail, (; so I will get them next week and add them to this post)

Week 15: Just Keep Swimming

Hola!!! First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARRELL!!! I love you so much and cannot believe that you are 5 years old!!! I miss you and know you are being a good boy for mom and dad and your siblings. I´ve been meaning to send a card....but it will be a while before he gets it....and oh my goodness, Emma is turning 8 years old soon! (it is 8, right?) haha....I got your envelope with the drawings of Laura, Emma, and Benson ! they are on my wall now ;)  I love them!!! Thanks! 

I love being a missionary. It´s hard and there are lows, but there is something so rewarding about going to bed dead tired and being excited to teach certain investigators. I am finally getting the hang of LPEs (lecciones para encontrar, which basically means talking to random people in the street, in front of their houses, knocking on their doors, in taxis, or in buses), and feel comfortable making conversation with pretty much anyone, even the drunkards...but we try to avoid them haha. This week has been a week of rain, rain, rain, but we keep on trucking on even though we get soaked almost everyday. We´re finding new investigators and trying to use the members more because we know that it is WAY more effective to teach people who have connections with members. Daniel Jimenez is a recently returned missionary who helps the missionaries whenever he can, and he told me that his goal is to see my family of recent converts (familia Vargas) sealed in the temple in a little less than a year :) That made me so happy to know that someone in the ward has the same goal as me, and can take over when I have to leave Ojo de Agua someday. In fact, we have a noche de hogar with familia Vargas tonight and Daniel is going to come too and we´re going to talk about the Temple and the things we have to do to prepare for this remarkable opportunity. 

This Sunday, my companion and I were a little bummed because none of our investigators were there initially. However, Deyver (amigo de miembro and investigator) came and he stayed for the second hour as well in the class of principios del evangelio. Also, Wendy (friend of Carmen Vargas, new convert) came for the first time with familia Vargas, and she stayed for 2.5 hours. And then, towards the end of the sacrament meeting, an older gentleman walked in and sat down in the only available seat, and we later found out that he, Miguel, decided to come to our church (he thought it started at 10 so he was late, but he stayed for the second hour as well) because he read the folleto of his son, which we had contacted in the street about a week ago....he is awesome and we have a noche de hogar with him as well tonight, in the home of familia Campos. YAY! I love being a missionary, and even though it´s way out of my comfort zone, I am beginning to love talking to random people, in spanish, haha.

I am grateful for a companion who puts up with my ways and my sometimes strange behavior ;) She has a personality very different from mine, but the amazing thing about missions and companionships is that it really doesn´t matter what your companion is like, you can work together and enjoy serving together when you have the same goals. Hermana Tordecilla is a great example and I am trying to be a better companion for her, because she deserves it. That will always be my goal, to be the best companion that I can be, because jamás will I be someone that my companion cannot tolerate. I am confident that we are being obedient with exactitude because when we don´t cumplir with all that we should be doing, we recognize it, repent, and try to change the next day. For example, we had a rough few days of LPEs where it wasn´t our priority and we blamed our slack on the rain and weather...but when we really try to meet our goals of LPEs, we are able to see the blessings of being obedient in LPEs. We will always have much to improve on and I am grateful for the leaders that we have that help us to cumplir with our metas. Our zone, district, and especialistas leaders keep up on us and expect us to improve always and check up on us.  I am proud to have President Wilkinson as my captain, and to be enlisted in this amazing work.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Flake

P.s. I´m pretty sure the Elders in the ward here think I´m a freak, haha. We were returning from our multizone conference and it was raining cats and dogs, and we saw a toad...and it was huge, I mean as big as a big mac (bigger than a big mac because the hamburgers in fast food are shrinking, ha). I will have to send the picture next week because Elder Harrison (the new gringo in the ward) took the photo and he is not with us this pday to send emails...stay tuned :) until next week

Week 14: Siempre Feliz, Nunca Satisfecha

Hola familia y amigos!

Whew. Life is great. The mission is great. I´m always tired, sore, and sweaty, but hey, I´m a missionary and have been called  by a prophet of God. I love my new companion, and hope that I can be a better companion for her. She is completely different from my other companions and we have a lot of things that aren´t in common, as well as many that are....it´s all part of the mission life, learning how to work diligently with all different types of companions. I feel a lot of pressure to fill our planners with lessons because I´m the one who knows the area and members and investigators, but I feel like I hardly know this area at the same time. 

Our area is the largest area in our zone, and to give you an idea, we could walk from one point to the other in maybe 3 hours....I´m not sure because I haven´t even been to all the parts of our area yet...The bishop says that you could drive from one end to the other in a little under an hour....yikes! Anyway, you can imagine that we really have to plan our days wisely or we end up with no where to go at 7 or 8pm at night, which is the hours least productive for knocking on doors (or gates) or talking to people in the street. For that, I´ve been a little discouraged the past couple days when we´re rejected from houses, people cancel their citas (usually as in we get to their house and they say that they´re busy), or people don´t answer their phones....but when that happens, I try to remember the big picture, and that I´m serving this mission for me, my family, and most importantly, for God. He knows that we will have ups and downs, but only if we prove that we can stay positive through the negative times will he provide us the way to see miracles. I´m still in the waiting for miracles point, but I´m working each and every day to be happy, and to smile, and to pretend I have energy to talk to people. Sometimes, when we´re studying, I realize that I am just dead tired and I think to myself....just ignore it and pretend you have energy. That´s really all to it. It´s all mental ;) haha. 

Each and every day of my mission adds to my assurity of the importance of members in missionary work. We can work until we fall down dead and still not help these areas grow if the members don´t have a part in fellowshipping, teaching with us, magnifying their callings, and expecting us to work diligently. I want to help this ward so much, and the only way to do that is to help the ward help itself. 

We had a ward activity last friday, and part of our service for the week was to help hermana and hermano Castillo cook arroz con carne for the activity. It was fun and the activity was great because lots investigators and menos activos came. Lots of people shared talents, and Daniel (a return missionary in the ward) made us missionaries get up and sing a hymn.....haha. what talent! not. haha. 

The other night we had a noche de hogar with our family of recent converts and they invited Alejandra, who is one of our investigators. We talked about eternal marriage and the temple and the importance of being sealed as a family so that we can live as families for eternity. It´s never easy to have a lesson when there are younguns present, but we managed and the spirit was present at times ;) 

Remember to always stay positive and to keep on looking for ways to improve each and every day! Siempre feliz pero nunca satisfecha!

Happy birthday Jessica!!!! 19 years old!!! crazy! I´m glad you were able to spend the week at home :) Keep God first siempre and everything else will fall into place.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Flake

Week 13: Cambios!

Querido familia mia! 

Today was cambios, and now I'm with Hermana Tordecilla and I"m still in Ojo de Agua. I am very happy because I feel that she has a great desire to be a hard working missionary and follows the spirit. I can not explain how happy I am here to stay here in Ojo de Agua because it hasso much potential! This úlitmo Saturday we had the baptism of Aurora, who was one of the first investigators I met here with Hna. Morales andHna.. Escobedo. She is a fighter and her and her two children are going to progress together now That They are all members. I'm going tokeep Working with them, and helping them be more Comfortable with spiritual things (Sergio and Fernanda are very shy and dont like to cometo mutual or get to know people) but i know that its a process.

I'm not going to lie, these first 3 months here in costa rica in a trio with Hna. Morales and Hna.Escobedo was very difficult for me. I came to costa rica gunho to hit the pavement, knock on doors, and work my tail off... And then I realized that I my companions didnt see things the same way. I dont think they realize how hard that it was for me to have two mothers/trainers that didnt always have their heads here in costa rica, and I couldnt express my feelings because of my limited spanish for fear of offending or insulting them... But I know that they were meant to be my trainers. I learned un monton. Some things I learned because they are things that I know I never want to do when I'm a trainer or ending my mission. I never want my companion to know that I'm ending my mission, until 2 weeks before, and even then I dont want her to notice a difference in how I work (unless its to notice that i'm working double time, haha).          Among other things, I learned most that youve got to be yourself, no matter what, and that when you open up and laugh, your companions will put up with you enough to work and teach in unity.  I learned that there is a lot of types of pride, not just the pride that consists of those who are high in ranks who think they are all that, but also, the pride from those who nit pick leaders or who are always saying,"no me caie bien con este hermana, o este elder". There is type of pride that consists of those who think that those who try to be exactly obedient are haughty or full of themselves. But that simply is wrong. I believe that those who arent trying to be exactly obedient are truly the ones who have pride because they fear what others think of them more than what God thinks or wants us to do. I am working on that type of pride, because i don{t open my mouth with everyone. I've improved a lot, but I still have fear sometimes, which means I'm worried more about how others think of me more than what I've been called to do. 

Anyway, another thing I learned from my comps is to love. When things are tough, serve your comps. And also, i was humbled a lot, because they may not want to "hit the pavement" and work there tails off, but they are successful and know the doctrine and know how to work with people. I can apply that always, because being dead exhausted from working all day isn{t necessarily a sign of effectiveness. Its how many people you help bring to the waters of baptism and build their faith in Christ. 

Sorry this is so long.....If you get anything out of my ramblings, just know that I know that every companion that I recieve is for inspiration and meant because I need to learn something. we should never think "i hope my new companion is good", it should be " I want to be the best companion that I can be for my new comp". I've got a long way to go, but here{s to another chapter.

Sorry, I still dont have interesting news...I am not keeping up too well on my journal writing...

I just want to say that so far I{ve eaten (or at least tasted a bite) Mondongo (its like intestine or something of a pig i think), Lengua (cow tongue), sope con huevo de tortuga (turtle egg soup), rice with a bunch of shrimp type creatures, and more, but I cant think of what they are right now....its crazy, and we have to eat everything so as not to offend anyone...

I love you all so much!!! continue to let me know about the going_ons in your lives and please keep up those things that build up our family, such as scriptures and prayer as family every day and family night every week! Get to know the missionaries in our ward and help them by giving them referrals! haha, I{m probably preaching to the choir, since you already do these things and I badger yall like every week, but they are so important! Jessica, let me know whats going on, I want to hear about college life without me :)

Mucho amor,

Hermana Flake

Pictures Week 13: