June 1, 2015: For the Strength of Youth

Hey wonderful beautiful family!

Things are great in San Carlos. This Sunday we had planned on bringing 2 families of investigators, but they canceled on us. However, 2 less active families that we have been visiting came, so we focused on making them feel welcome and loved. We have been focusing on inactive youth trying to reactivate them and get them to come to seminary, mutual, and to church. The youth really are the door to references because they invite their friends. This sunday one boy brought his friend to church and today we played basketball with an inactive member who brought his friend and will bring him to seminary and to church this Sunday :)

We´ve been trying to help Flory stop smoking and be baptized, but she just doesn´t keep with the goals that we set with her...She has tons of pain because she suffers from bone cancer and lots of other health problems. She has been visited by missionaries for 9 months now and still hasn´t been able to be baptized because she cannot give up smoking. We visited her every single day this week and brought her something every single time we visited. I don´t know what else we can do to help her. We fast and pray for her every week.

We have lots of faith that Xiomara and Jackson will be baptized this month. They have to save up in order to pay for the lawyer to marry them, but they are great. We love them so much and they are adorable because they love each other so much and are always doing things together as a family.

Hermana Flores and I are doing good. Sometimes when things get hard and people are rejecting us left and right, I notice that my companion gets really down on herself or loses hope in the situation. I am learning that I have to be doubly happy so that my companion can also be happy. Like make jokes, or help her to laugh at weird things I do. Haha. I am learning lots about how important it is that we be happy not only for ourselves but for others.

Another week has gone by. Time flies too much. It´s already June. Wow. Hey, I want to challenge yall to do something this month. This month, invite a friend to mutual. And after he or she comes to mutual, invite him or her to church and offer to pick him or her up and go together. Introduce him or her to the missionaries in the ward. Will yall do that this month? I want to hear about who yall decide to invite :) tell me what happens. Troy, Tyler, Travis, Laura, and Emma can all do this challenge, right? Go get em! :) This sunday 4 young single adults came to our ward and gave talks. One of them is a young woman who just recieved her mission call. She is the oldest of 11 kids. Her family is all inactive except for her. She wants so much that they can come back to the gospel, and she is so brave because she will leave them and serve a mission. The other youth was a convert about a year ago thanks to a friend that invited him to church and to his farewell when he left on his mission. His whole family is super catholic, but he told us that he feels selfish when he doesn´t bring his friends or invite his family to come to church with him. He knows the gospel is true, and only came to know so through his friend that shared it with him. We never know who will accept the gospel. But our duty is to share it with everyone we know. So the challenge is on. Who accepts?? (If you bring someone to church, take a picture with him or her at church, I want to see your pictures).

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Flake