Week 34: Mi familia puede ser eterna

Happy Tuesday everybody!!!

This Saturday was Kattia´s baptism :) . She was so happy. She shared her testimony afterwards saying that all she felt was pure joy. She is amazing. Damian, a recent convert of about 8 months, is who baptized her and it was his first time baptizing. He was able to be in the lessons with her and saw the change that she went through. His testimony helped her many times throughout these last 2.5 months that we´ve been teaching her. So that was special too.

We are helping the Family Montero to prepare their daughters to be baptized by their papa, who is a convert of 3 years, but was inactive for about 2 years after his baptism when he fell back into his addictions of smoking and drinking, and has about 4 months in returning to activity and in a process of repentance so that he can be worthy to baptize his daughters, camila and ana, 9 years old and almost 8 years old. They will be baptized the 7th of February and we are so excited for them.

Lots of less active members are in the process of coming back to activity in the church. That makes me so happy. Yesterday we were invited to a family home evening by a less active member who is in a process of repentance. She is 16 years old. She invited us and gave the lesson on repentance, and her inactive father participated as well. It´s amazing seeing when people, investigators and members, come to the conclusion that they need Christ, that life is so much better with Him. We need to accept our Savior and realize that life is so much more full of peace and joy when we let Him help us. I know my Savior lives. I need him so much. He carries our burden when we allow Him to.

Something that impacted me in my personal study this week that I´d like to share with yáll.... We are part of God´s family even before we were born. God is our Heavenly Father, and for that, we are all brothers and sisters. Our Heavenly Father wants us all to return to live with Him as part of His family. These restored truths not only help us to understand our place in God´s family, they also give us greater hope in having a strong and happy family in this life. I know that families are ordained of God, because having families here in this life prepares us for the eternities when we will be with God´s family as well as our personal families. I am so thankful for this knowledge and the opportunity to share it with the people of Costa Rica. Mosiah 18:8-9 We must always be witnesses of God and His restored gospel at all times, in all things, and in all places. Acts 5:29, 32, 40-42  is an example of the apostles being witnesses of the restored knowledge that Christ is our savior and redeemer in their day. Matthew 5:14-16 we have been given a great light, and we have to let it shine for others to see. If we have integrity and we are constant in living according to our beliefs, the people see it. and if we radiate joy and happiness, they see it even more. So be happy. We have the knowledge that we can be with our families even after death. Let your happiness be your style of life.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Flake

Pictures Week 34:

singing carols in the park in the rain. old pictures

Week 33: Remember The Promise

Hello flake family!!!
A couple of weeks ago, one of the Assistants to the President, Elder Tai taught us a formula of success in the mission that I thought was pretty neat. Here it is:

Motive = Love
Secret = Work
Key = The Spirit
Power = Faith
Reason = Jesus Christ
Price = Obedience

And even though this formula is particular to missionary work, it applies to every aspect of life. When we help out in the house, for example, we do it out of love for our family, we work instead of sitting on the sofa, we feel the spirit when we serve our family and our testimony and faith grow, giving us more power to help out around the house and do our chores in the future. We do all this because Jesus Christ showed us the example and so we obey in order to feel His presence in our homes. haha. mas o menos.... but en serio, it applies to everything we do in this probationary state on the earth.

Ultimately, Kattia will be baptized this weekend! She is wonderful :) I love her so much. She has transformed so much since the first time we met her. She was telling us of how she knows it was God's hand in her life that we found her that day almost 2 months ago. She had been waiting outside the gates of her house for somebody, when we passed by and started to talk to her and invite her to let us visit her and her son (initially she wanted us to only teach her son, who is 16 years old) and help them to be closer to God. She accepted and always put forth her part, even when we had a couple of scares when she didn't answer her phone for a whole week, and one sunday she didn't want to go to church because we had left her with the pamphlet about tithing, and she said to herself that she could never obey that commandment being a single mother and little money, so why bother going to church. We helped her to understand what is tithing, why we pay it, and more than anything, the importance of obedience to the Lord. She now wants to pay her tithing to see if God really will open up the windows of heaven. She has so much faith, and so much desire to be a good example for her son, and to be obedient to the Lord. She truly is converted in heart and mind and wants to keep on learning and changing to become a better mother, daughter, neighbor, and friend to everyone she knows. Wow. this is what truly makes a missionary happy. True conversion.

I realized that I haven't taken a picture of her to show yall. Next week I will have pictures of her baptism para ver. ;)

Something that I really gained a testimony of this week, through the experiences of others and much study and prayer, is that God, our Heavenly Father has great promises in store for his children. Many. Tons. And every one of these promises has a commandment attached to it, or visa versa. If we are obedient to the commandments, even those that don´t seem to be spiritual (though even the temporal commandments are spiritual, everything is spiritual) such as the word of wisdom, tithing, fasting, keeping the sabbath day holy, law of chastity...etcetera, we will be blessed temporally, spiritually, mentally, you name it. Sister Kattia was at first very closed minded about tithing. She is a single mother and works hard for what little she earns, and told us that she would rather give money to the needy in a direct way, such as pay a beggar for example. However, once she understood that it is a commandment of God, that he doesn't need our money, only our obedience and faith, that every penny of our tithing goes to the building of the kingdom of God (the church buildings and everything needed to keep them running, temples, missionary work, books, pamphlets, hymnals, etc) and not to the leaders who serve voluntarily, she now wants to pay tithing and has the faith that she will have sufficient for her needs.

But it´s so true. God tests us to see if we will be obedient. He also wants to bless us. So remember the promise. Remember that every commandment has a promised blessing. Keep the commandments. Learn what they are, why they are given, and how we should live them. It´s that simple.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Flake

Pictures Week 33:

 a member in the ward wanted to do makeup for me....

yikes! haha. too much too much

Week 32: Just Do It

Hola family!!!

I love seeing the photos of your trip to Oregon :) and the coast. Enjoying the break in the best way possible. I hope that nobody is sick anymore....and that you're all excited for your New Year's Resolutions. I want to hear about what are your goals for this year :)

Kattia is progressing and came to church this Sunday. We've taught her almost everything, except tithing and fast offering. We left her the pamphlet saturday night after a visit with her to teach about service and following the example of Christ always....anyway, she hasn't drank coffee in about 5 days and even though she thinks that it´s causing her headaches, she keeps strong. This sunday she stayed for all 3 hours, and in relief society the lesson was about goals and reaching our potential, and she wrote as her first goal to be baptized. She gave us a scare when sunday morning she sent us a text saying that she wasn't going to go to church because she can't pay tithing (she had read the pamphlet we left), but we assured her that we are going to explain what is tithing and why we pay it, and that she doesn't have to pay tithing to come to church. We love her a ton, and she is a great example of diligent study and dedication to being obedient to what God wants of her.

We visit a lot of less active members, as well as recent converts, but one family in particular that we visit every week is the Family Montero Alcocer. This month was difficult because both parents had to work sundays. Now we are working on getting them to baptize their daughter, Camila, who is 9 years old and still hasn´t been baptized. Her dad wants to be the one to baptize her, but he is working on being worthy of the aaronic priesthood that he holds so that he can do so. But this week we read 1 Nephi 17 about when Nephi was commanded to build a ship. The dad shared with us his testimony of how he knows that reading from the scriptures is so important because we always receive something that we needed to hear and apply into our life. It´s food for our spirits.

One of these days I was studying about Service. As true disciples of Jesus, we also should serve others, as he served. Matthew 20:26-27. John 13:14-15. The Savior gave his life in order to serve us. Sometimes we pray to God that He might bless those people that suffer and need help and then later we don´t do anything to help these needy people. God wants us to be His hands, His tools in bringing about much joy to those people who have real needs. They are praying for help and for God to send His angels. We need to act upon those promptings that will allow us to be the answer to someone's prayer. Mosiah 25:34-40. Matthew 20:28. Luke 10:30-37.

Troy: I posted the english version so y'all can understand it. Spanish version above. :)

I love being in the service of the Lord here in Costa Rica :) Many times when we visit people they express concern for us and how much we work, or how they feel bad that we don´t have free time or do those things that we love to do because we´re serving missions, but they don´t understand that we love what we do. it´s hard, but it´s worth it. When we are so focused in helping others, and that gives us the joy that comes from serving others.

I love you all and pray for yall every day.
Con mucho amor,

Hermana Flake

p.s. my companion loved the stocking and goodies and card that yall sent to her :) thanks so much

Pictures Week 32:

Week 31: Feliz Año Nuevo!!!

Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo mi familia maravillosa y queridos amigos!!!!

So Christmas here is basically sleep all day...haha. December 24 is when families stay up until midnight to open their gifts, eat dinner, etc. Christmas day almost everyone sleeps in, unlike in the states where families with kiddos wake up in the wee hours of the morning, haha. But, the familia Corrales invited us to participate in their gift opening at 9ish (not every family waits until midnight, haha) and they also gave us a sweet gift :) So even though I wasn't with yall Christmas eve, I still was with family. Another family of members invited us Christmas afternoon to eat lunch with them, and they also opened gifts afterwards (the only family I know in Costa Rica that celebrates the gift opening on Christmas day). The family Monterosso are very special and they always have such love for the missionaries in Coronado.

A couple nights before Christmas, it was late and we ended the last planned lesson at around 8:30ish, and with 30 minutes more before we had to return to the apartment, we decided to knock on one door to sing Christmas carols for the family that receives us. We were in an area that has only one investigator that hardly progresses and a less active member that we had just finished visiting, so basically it´s an area that we hardly visit, but I remembered talking to a muchacha one time outside of her house, but that day she had been too busy to receive us. But I remembered where she lives...haha. So I decided to knock on her door. We asked them if we could sing a Christmas hymn for them, and they invited us in. We sang Venid Adoremos, and while we sang, the family trickled into the room. Jacqueline, the woman that I first talked to weeks ago, her mom, her brothers, her kids, etc. In total, about 15 people live in her house....after we sang, we told them who we are, that we share a message of Jesus Christ with everyone. They asked us to sing another song, so we sang Noche de Luz, and they filmed us (que verquenza..jjaja). Then we wished them all a merry Christmas and when I gave Jacqueline a hug, she told me to visit her whenever we wanted. So I took down her number. Anyway, yesterday we visited them again, and taught Jacqueline and her boyfriend as well as a brother who listened for curiosity. I am excited to keep teaching them. Jacqueline told us how ever since she first saw us and talked to us, she had a desire to learn more about us. I love being a missionary. :)

Yesterday we sacrificed most of our p-day to visit a reference that a member from another area gave us. His name is Sebastian and the member is Elsa. She even offered to visit him in our lesson with us. She came and brought a friend as well from her ward in Tibas (about 30 minutes in bus from our area). We taught him about how we are children of our Heavenly Father and our purpose as missionaries and basically what we ask that he do in order to learn for himself that the gospel is true. He also accepted a baptismal date for when he receives an answer that these things are true. We are excited to keep teaching him.

Basically these last couple of weeks have been pretty tough. But yesterday we had a couple of small miracles that reminded me just how important it is that we work and work no matter that we are rejected, our investigators don't always keep their compromisos, or do those things such as pray, read, obey the commandments, and go to church, or we don't always use our time as wisely as we should. Because, thanks to the Atonement, we can always repent, always change, improve, and grow. In the mission, we can never get discouraged because if so, we aren't exercising our faith. I know that God is preparing tons of people to hear and accept the gospel, we just have to be diligent and never lose hope that we will find them and help them to come to the waters of baptism and remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives. I am thankful for the trials and experiences that I've had in my 8 months as a missionary, and ready for those that come. Bring it on :) haha

Here is the poem that Nicole shared with me in a letter:
A mission is a strange experience
a trial and a test
a mission throws at you the worst
yet, teaches you the best.
I've never been so happy
I've never been so depressed
I've never felt so forsaken
I've never felt so blessed
I've never been so confused
Things have never been so clear
I've never felt my Heavenly Father so distant
He´s never been so near.
I've never been so discouraged
I've never been so full of hope
I feel I could go on forever,
I think I've come to the end of my rope.
I've never had it quite so easy,
I've never had it quite so tough.
Things have never been so smooth
Things have never been so rough.
I've never traveled through more valleys,
I've never ascended more peaks.
I've never met so many nice people,
I've  never met so many freaks!
I've never had so many ups,
I've never had so many downs,
I've never worn so many smiles,
I've never had so many frowns.
I've never been so lonely,
I've never had so many friends.
Boy, I hope this is over soon,
Gosh, I hope this never ends.

This new year, let us all remember that this life is a short period to learn and to progress, so we should always have goals that will help us to do so. Then we have to make a plan, a specific plan, of how we will accomplish our goals. Then put it into practice. Every day. The fact that we know who we are, children of our Heavenly Father, who loves us enough to give us the opportunity to learn and grown in families here on the earth, should encourage us to stretch ourselves to become a little better each day, each week, each month, and each year. Read and study more about the life of Christ. He showed us the perfect example of how we should be and what we should do. Put those characteristics, those of Jesus Christ, into practice in the little things we do each day. I know that by doing so, we will become better instruments in the Lord´s hands in bringing the world, one by one, to the truth and to come unto Christ. Primarily, we will receive salvation for ourselves, and we will help our families, and also other families, because the worth of every soul is great in the sight of God.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Flake

Pictures Week 31:

Week 31:

hello my wonderful, beautiful, amazing, familiy

My companion and I have been improving our enthusiasm and animo. No matter what we find, how many people reject us, or how hard it is to have set lessons with our investigators, God knows what He is doing, and wants us to trust in Him and trust that he is pushing the work of salvation and needs worthy and dedicated servants to help Him do his work.

Katia is awesome! This wednesday when we went to the temple, she asked us to buy her a triple combination, a bible, and a hymnbook. Then this sunday, she came with us to church and brought her triple and bible with her :) She stayed for two hours because she needed to return to make lunch for her son. She asked questions and participated in the class of principios del Evangelio and is awesome. We are excited to help her prepare for her baptism the 10th of January.

Saturday we had a ward activity in which many people came, including about 2 of our investigators. Many non members also came, whom are husbands of members in the ward. we enjoyed the beautiful weather, ate lunch, chatted, and played basketball and soccer. I was in skirt and barefooted playing basketball too...haha. wasn't the smartest idea because playing barefoot on a hot pad of cement does things to ya....like give you blisters the size of quarters (actually bigger than quarters....haha) but vale la pena....maybe...haha. I popped the blisters and squeezed out the liquid...just for your information. i'm sure yall didnt want to know all that...haha.

This last wednesday we got to go to the temple and go through a session. I love going through it all in spanish....i will miss that when I come home. Anyway, after going through the temple, our whole zone, and a ton of others went to the chapel in Heredia for a Christmas Mission Party....with President Wilkenson and his family, the secretaries, and half of the missionaries in Costa Rica. we ate lunch and President Wilkenson spoke to us of sacrifice, and giving God the only real gift that we can give Him: our will, and our desire to serve Him with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. And then almost crying he told us that after years of hard work, with him praying and fasting that the Lord would send him qualified missionaries to help him to push the work of salvation here in Costa Rica....his dream of splitting Costa Rica into two missions has become a reality....COSTA RICA WILL NO LONGER HAVE ONLY ONE MISSION. In June or July Costa Rica will be split into two missions: Costa Rica west and Costa Rica east....AS OF NEXT YEAR IT WILL BE DETERMINED WHICH MISSION WE WILL BE IN. It's an exciting time to be a missionary here in Costa Rica. Imagine the implications of what it means to have another mission opened up in this country...250 more missionaries will be here in CR. Pretty much every missionary will need to train when they all come. Yikes. Haha. I love being a missionary here in Costa Rica!

I know that the Lord is preparing the world for the second coming of Jesus Christ. We need to be awake. We need to be sharing the gospel with everyone. Now is the time to prepare our family to be strong and rock solid when the storms and tribulations come. Helaman 12:5 I love you all and know that yall are growing so much each and everyday, spiritually and physically. Remember that we must always be anxiously engaged in this amazing cause, the work of salvation. It will never be easy. But it will be worth it.

Hope: to wait anxiously for eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Trust in the Lord that He will fulfill the promises He has made. Tranquility, optimism, and enthusiasm. If we obey now, the blessings will be fulfilled in the future. 2 Nephi 31:20. Alma 58:10-11. 1 Corinthians 15:58. D&C 59:23 PEACE: the calm and tranquility interior that is born of the Spirit that God gives to his faithful saints. John 16:33 Trust that God has overcome the world. John 17:27. Alma 38:8
REMEMBER THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE RESTORED GOSPEL GIVES US PEACE AND HOPE AND WE SHOULD SHARE THE GOOD NEWS WITH OUR FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, AND FAMILY SO THAT THEY TOO CAN FIND PEACE IN THIS LIFE AND HOPE FOR THE LIFE TO COME.

Take lots of pictures! Andrew, if you read this, please put me on your email list. I want to read your weekly letters :) and Jonathon also, if you read this. Flake power. Represent. haha.

Pictures Week 30:

Week 30:

Pura Vida mi familia hermosa!

How are things going? Are you all in Christmas break now? Jessica got someone to cover her shift? What things are yáll doing to celebrate Christmas? Who are you all going to serve this Christmas?

This week, or last Saturday, our ward here had an activity in the park of Coronado. About 10 member showed up, and my comp and I invited our zone leaders, district leader and his comp, and our sister training leaders to come and sing carols with us in the park. It was raining, drizzling, as usual in good ole Coronado, but we sang, and while we sang, two elders walked around the park talking to the people and asking for their numbers so that us, the missionaries, can come share with them about our message of Jesus Christ and his restored gospel. pretty sweet. This same day we called a bunch of the numbers that we received from this activity, and one of them said that we could pass by. We arrived and learned that José, is bitter towards God ever since his wife died 10 years ago....The doctors said he had to choose between the life of his wife, and the life of his baby daughter (the mom died in childbirth). He talked to his wife and she said that she wanted her baby to live. After the death of his wife, he lived a life in drugs, and in the street, up to no good. And now he wants to try to give God a chance, but he feels like God is someone who likes to see us suffer. We have a lot to share with José to help him to feel the love of his Heavenly Father, and that he can, thanks to the Atonement, change and live such a life that he can return to be with his wife again.

Laura came to church with us again, the only investigator that came this Sunday. We have taught Laura the book of mormon, the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith, and the power of prayer, but she still didn´t except the prepare to be baptized the 20th of this month. She is very Catholic, and though she likes everything that she´s seen about the church, she won´t give up the thought that her baptism in the catholic church as a baby is valid. But we keep on encouraging her to pray and ask God to know if the Book of Mormon is true. Because if she recieves a spiritual witness that it is, she will also know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet called of God to translate the Book of Mormon and to restore the Church of Jesus Christ  in these latter days.

Catia and Ignacio didn´t come to church this sunday. That was a hard blow. We were expecting Catia and her son Ignacio to come, like they said they would, but they sent us a message at 5am sunday morning to say that they weren´t going to come. we called and called but they didn´t answer. So their baptism date fell through, because they have to come to church at least 3 times before they can be baptized. We don´t know what happened. But we won´t give up on them. They have such a desire to learn the truth. we see it in them every time we teach them. They have a hunger to fill the empty space withinn them. Katia especially becuase she wants to be a better mom and example for her son, Ignacio.

We´ve been working alot with a less active member, Karina, who has so much desire to do the things that she should. We taught her how to hold a family night, even though her family consists of her and her 7 year old son, David. Even though she was baptized 2 years ago, she has been inactive, and not been living consistent with the commandments and the gospel of Jesus Christ. But she asked us to talk to the Bishop and we´ve set up an appointment for her. I wish all less active and inactive members had such a desire to change and put their life in order to be in harmony with the teachings of the church and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Family Montero (in the pictures) invited us to make and eat tamales ;) They are great, even though they have a hard time coming to church every sunday because the dad works almost every sunday, and sometimes the mom does too. But they are adorable and love the missionaries.

I hope you all know that Jesus Christ lives, and that he made it possible for us to live again and to have the capacity to repent and return to live as eternal families. I know that, whatever happens to us in this life, if we live worthy, we will all return to be together forever in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father. One of the reasons that we are here in the earth is to demonstrate that we are willing to obey the commandments of our Heavenly Father. The obedience to the commandments is an expression of our love for Him and Jesus Christ. (see D&C 130:20-21, Mosiah 2:41, Juan 15:10)

Well, I don´t have anymore time, but I want you all to know how much I love you all and am grateful for your prayers.

Con mucho amor,

hermana Flake

Pictures Week 30:

Week 29: Remember Who You Are

Hola my lovely, large, beautiful family,

It´s Christmas time and all the missionaries in Costa Rica are dreaming of a white Christmas, but with baptisms because it never snows here in Costa Rica (although sometimes I feel like it just might here in Coronado....)  :) This cambio I want to focus more on becoming the fourth type of missionary (in other words, a missionary that truly serves with all her heart, might, mind, and strength) and to not let myself get depressed or unfocused in the work of salvation. This time of the year it´s hard not to think too much about how Im not there with yall, but I know that yall are blessed for my service, and that I have committed to give of my entire being to the work here in Costa Rica.

Laura came this sunday again and even though she still says that she just comes to learn more and that she is Catholic, we have lots of faith that she will be baptized this month. we have taught her until apostasy, so we still need to teach her about Joseph Smith, and how he restored the 5 pillars that are necessary for the true church of Jesus Christ: prophet, apostles, authority, revelation, and the scriptures. These were restored once again and for that we know that we are lead and guided by a true and living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. We can have complete assurance that he will never lead us astray, because God will never permit that we have a faulty guide. Anyway, we plan  on teaching her this week about all that...haha.

My companion and I have a lot of work to do to work harder in loving every investigator that we have, and not just the ones that keep their promises and do their homework, jaja. I know that the more christ-like love that we have for the members, investigators, and each other, the more success we are going to have because we will be more worthy tools in the Lord´s hands. We had quite a hard blow this week when one of our beloved investigators sent us a text saying that she doesn´t want us to keep visiting her anymore. She is a single mom, who was progressing so well, and had come to church one time with us. She even said that she believes that the book of mormon is true. we just don´t know what went wrong. we know that satan works hard on those that he truly doesn´t want to find the truth. He attacks and attacks until they give up the fight. We have felt the spirit so strong in almost every single lesson that we´ve had with Rafaela....and we still won´t give up on her. We will keep on calling even when she doesn´t answer. we will even go all the way to her house, which is way up in the mountains and far from anyone that we are teaching, but we know that she knows that this church is true, and that she has fear that she cannot live the norms of the church. I know that God has great things in store for her, if she will just open up her heart a little more and let go of her fear.

The pictures below, well about three of them, are of the house of Juan and Gretel. Juan recently was baptized, and they are working towards when they can be sealed in the temple. The hermana has developed so many talents, which is evident her house. Everything on their walls she either painted, sewed, built, or made. She is amazing! They are absolutely beautiful, and we love visiting them and seeing all the neat things she´s done. Also, she always offers us tasty food, what every missionary loves. ;)

I hope you all know just how much I love yall. I know that families are forever, and even though I am far away, I know that we´re all doing those things that will make it possible that we will always be together, in this life and in the life to come. Remember that we are children of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and has sent us hear to learn, grow, progress, and become like Him. Remember that satan works on us in whatever way that he can, and the easiest way for him to tempt us is to use the inclinations of our natural man. Especially laziness and selfishness. We need to be always anxiously engaged in a good cause, and pushing the work of the Lord forward always. Forget ourselves and get to work. That is my motto, and what I will keep on striving for. It´s hard, but it´s why we´re here.

con mucho amor,

Hermana Flake

Pictures Week 29:

Week 28

Hello family!

I cannot believe that it is already December! Exactly a year ago (I think, maybe it´s tomorrow...) I was opening my mission call....wow. time flies. I have so many things that have happened since that day I learned i would serve a year and a half in Costa Rica. There is a song that we have that we always listen to hear in the apartment. It goes like this....

"!With a pounding heart inside my chest, new shoes on my feet, I tell her goodbye one last time, a tear rolls down her cheek, she says I miss you son (hun, haha), and just like that I´m gone. With 19 (or 20) years behind me, I´ve got a whole life full of dreams, I´ve spent countless night asking God, down there on my knees, and pretty soon I knew, what I had to do. So with a smile on my face, and a pray in my heart, my whole world behind me, my life´s about to start. I can´t count all the blessings that are waiting in the end,, so i forget myself, and give it all to Him."

"Ï´ve been away from home now, going on a year. There´s so much that I miss, so much that I love here, and that´s when I began, to start to understand.

So with a smile on my face, and a pray in my heart, my whole world behind me, my life´s about to start. I can´t count all the blessings that are waiting in the end,, so i forget myself, and give it all to Him."

There is so much that i miss from home, and I know i´m not going to recognize my little siblings, but I also know that i will never forget the changes Ive seen in people here in costa rica. I love sharing the gospel, and will never stop doing so. The message of the restored gospel changes lives. I´ve seen it, i ´ve lived it, and I know it. I am so excited to know that my family has been blessed with the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. NOw I have the oportunidad to share that knowledge with others.

Yall should invite non members to have a family night with yall, and yall can watch this video...

Humberto was baptized this weekend!!! It was amazing. We first had the open house activity right before the baptism, and a family of investigators came, Natalia and her parents (natalia has 11 years). They are from Nicaragua and are just great. Natalia has swim lessons sunday mornings so couldn´t come to church this sunday, but her mom is going to change the hour that she swims so that they can come next sunday. Yay!!!! natalia is adorable. we found her this week when we were visiting a return missionary that is less active.

The other person that came to the activity and stayed for the baptism of Humberto as well, was a women named Laura. She said that she found one of our flyers/invitations in the street and decided to come check it out. She is catholic, but liked what she learned and saw in the activity. And guess what yall. She came to church this sunday!!! She participated lots and stayed for all three hours! I love it! We are going to visit her today to teach her the restoration.

Well. Life is great. Time is short. We never have enough time for everything. That´s why it´s so important that we plan and set goals and that way we use our time effectively and go about doing good continually.. I invite yall to read Alma 37: 38-47. Alma the prophet is writing to his son, Helaman, and he reminds him of how Nephi´s family had the Liahona to lead them in the wilderness. but it only worked when they were obedient and faithful. Remember

to always be looking for opportunities to let your light shine. I love you all more than I can tell yall. Keep up the great work that you´re all doing.

Love,

Hermana Flake

Pictures Week 28:

El clima en su localidad

San Jose, Costa Rica