Week 21:

My wonderful family,

We have a wonderful ward here in Coronado! And each time I am in a new ward I feel the same way, Like we are one big family as members of the restored chruch of Jesus Christ. And i shared my testimony which I have done more in my mission (like officially over the pulpit) than combined in all my life. I never was very good a public speaking...haha. And i was always a nervous wreck when I finally did decide to share my testimony. But for all you reading this, don´t ever give up! Keep on going up there even if you feel like your heart might just jump out into the congregation. I actually enjoy sharing my testimony now (and what´s more, its in spanish...). This ward is adorable, lots of older couples, as well as young families with lots of little kiddos. I´m in heaven. haha. This saturday was the baptism of Argentina. She has been investigating for 3 months, and finally decided to enter the waters of baptism....which, funny (sad) story....So Argentina is an older lady, and an adorable one at that. She was really concerned about being baptized because the water would be cold. And for some reason my comp and I told her that we would heat up the water for her. So she was expecting warm water.....and that is definitely not what she got.....So we were told to not even try because other missionaries had tried boiling pots of water, but they were never successful, so we didn´t bother....my comp was convinced that God would heat up the water....because one missionary in our zone told us a story of how they were unsuccessful in heating up the baptismal font, but when their investigator entered the water, he said thank you elders for heating the water for me. But lo and behold, this miracle did not happen for us....she was moaning as she entered the water because the cold water hurt her joints.....I felt SO BAD.....but after the ordinance and when she was changing she told us that she didn´t feel cold anymore, and that she actually felt kinda hot. We were trying to help her dry off as fast as possible and brought her a cup of hot agua dulce....never will promise hot water again.....only in the temple is the water heated..haha.

( I hope yall don´t mind, but I always insert a part of my weekly letters to my mission president, into these weekly letters....so this is the excerpt that I wrote to my mish president)..Well, two weeks have gone by here in Coronado, but it feels like 4 days....I´m not going to lie, I took a back seat and was complacent for about a week, because honestly didn´t feel a lot of pressure because i felt like my companion needed to teach me the area and help me to meet our investigators and members, etc. But i´ve realized that she needed me to take charge. She has a strong personality, but I do too, its just harder for me to take charge when I don´t have the best control of the language. A couple days ago we came home after working all day, and our district leader called as always, and really was telling us how we need to improve and giving advice and telling us that things have got to change. Afterwards we talked a lot and we´re both really honest with each other, and we expressed our thoughts and I flat out told her that she has got to start trusting that I know a little bit about what I´m doing and that even though she knows the ward, the members, the area, etc. that I´m not just a piece of meat sitting in the refigerator....haha I didn´t use those words, but I want her to know that I am going to start taking charge. We have felt moments where we were guided by the spirit, and I hope that now she has faith that she can be successful. She still has a hard time believing that numbers are a good thing....but we´re progressing. I love her so much, even though she can be frustrating at times (and walks EXTREMELY slow)....haha. But i´m working on patience and want to teach how to be diligent and work HARD. I love being a missionary even though sometimes i just feel like a kid placed in another country with GREAT expectations....but that´s what it´s all about. Christ didn´t have it easy when he preached the gospel, or when he sacrificed for our sins. but he did it. now that is my motto....just do it (sorry NIKE...haha). OUr goal is to find 20 new investigators this week......we have an awesome district leader who pushes us to reach our potential. And great especialistas who know how to encourage and push us as well.

This week we got the new liahona (it´s like christmas when we get new liahonas, haha, at least I enjoy reading them cover to cover, in spanish and english, hahah) There is a powerful article on THE PRAYER OF FAITH. wow. en serio. yall should read it. One idea that I really liked, and that I´m trying to put into practice, is reflecting before praying. It even suggests writing in a notebook to write down blessings, how you have seen the lord´s hand, or names of people that we want to pray for. And keep that notebook close, and whatever thoughts come to us as we pray or after we pray, WRITE THEM DOWN. this is revelation. and then ACT ON THEM. or we can´t expect to recieve more. we should pray for the prophet and every leader of the church. pray that we can overcome temptation, including the temptation to be complacent.  as i was studying this theme, the prayer of faith, i came up with a circle thing, haha, or a life cycle of recognizing the impressions of the spirit.  it starts with gratitude,----> love for God and charity----> desire to be obedient to the commandments and to god´s will----> prayer, meditation, service, magnifying callings, sharing the gospel, reading and studying the word----> the holy ghost tesitfies and speaks peace and joy to our soul-----> Revelation or thoughts, good ideas, knowledge, light and truth------> gratitude   :) that´s the circle that I came up with. Thought it was pretty neat and felt very enlightened, hahah, but just goes to show that we can all recieve personal revelation :) I love you all so much and invite you all to read the articles in the Liahona, the ensign, friend, new era, etc. Especially maybe yall could use the idea of having a family night focused on having more thoughtful prayers. And the activity can be found on lds.org (i believe) just look up prayer sandwich.....I thought it would be a good idea for family night, and yall could make sandwiches, with each part of the sandwich signifying a part that should be in our prayers....just an idea. Ok. now i am ranting again. Sorry that These are not the most interesting letters. I just kind of ramble and ramble. I will improve one of these days....haha. Love you all so much!

Love,
Hermana Flake