Eduardo's Baptism

Well this week has been another hectic crazy week! But somehow I am still alive. The most exciting news was that Eduardo was baptized! He is so great! He is 20 years old and his girlfriend is in our ward. He started coming to ward activities around September and then we were finally able to begin teaching him in November. We taught him like two times and then he fell off the face of the earth. We tried calling and seeing him, but he was obviously avoiding us. So we just gave him his space. He showed up to church with his girlfriend in February and came to all 3 hours. In the Gospel Principles class he came up to me and told me he was ready to be baptized. (Sorry if I've already written about this story, can't remember). But we set up a date and it all went off super well! It was such a special time to see him making these covenants. We had his baptism on Friday and then a crazy crazy weekend.

Right now I am here at my mission president's house, President Wright. I have gotten pretty sick out here and so my president wanted me to come be with him and his wife for about two weeks to see if I can heal and be ready to work. So it has been an interesting weekend living with them and see what our president does. It has been pretty neat. I like living in a real house again! It's been so long. I have gotten used to these little apartments here. But the adventures will continue. There is another Hermana who has gotten sick so she came over today and will be with me for a bit of time! Her name is Hermana Rodriguez and she is from Guatemala. I am happy to have the company. President gave me the challenge to memorize all 100 Scripture Mastery's in Spanish by the time I leave. Don't know if my mind is capable of doing that. But I've got the first 3 from the Book of Mormon done! I feel accomplished :) I hope to be a bit better this week and if I am I can go into the mission office and help out in there. It would be a cool opportunity! I am excited for the work that is going forth. I hate that I am not out working everyday.. But I think this break will help me heal up and be ready to work even harder than I could before!

Love you all! Thank you for your prayers and love!

Hermana Flake

1. Eduardo's Baptism!

2. Pastel de Choclo!

3. Hermana Fernanda y Hermana Trincado

Sometimes There's No Light at the End of the Tunnel

But literally, we have no lights. Where to begin? How about with the fact that our apartment doesn't have electricity! That was a fun surprise. We got a paper a few weeks ago saying that we hadn't paid. So we called the office and got everything straightened out and they paid it. But apparently not... Because we got a phone call about a half hour ago saying that the man was at our apartment to cut our lights! We were freaking out calling everyone we could but because it's p-day no one is in the office. Hermana Christensen and I took off to write our families, but I am pretty sure we won't have lights tonight. Yay... Adventures... haha

This week has been great! We have been visiting and progressing a lot with investigators! I've still been pretty sick and not able to leave much, but we try to take advantage of the time when I feel good and get a lot accomplished. We were able to have some great lessons with Francisco and Camilo! Both of which have baptismal dates coming up soon. We had a Ward Family Home Evening for the two young men that left on their missions this week, José Manuel and Jonathan. We were able to teach Francisco before the activity and then he came! It turned out super well and the members were great and made him feel really welcome in the ward!

We saw Eduardo this week and he is really excited for his baptism too! He is so great and keeps learning so fast. He tells us about the studies he has when he is on breaks at the hospital. I love seeing his progress everytime we see him!

On Sunday we had a great day at church! Camilo came! Yay! He hasn't come to church since the beginning of December, but he came! It was so great. We have taken a lot of members to lessons with him and they all went to say hi and he looked really comfortable. The Gospel Principles Teacher didn't show up, so I decided to teach an improvised lesson on the 10 commandments. It turned out pretty decently. Camilo was the only one in the class with us for about 20 minutes and then a man Jorge came in. Hermana Ferreira contacted him last week in front of the church and gave him a Gospel Principles Book. He shared an incredible story about the affect the book had on his life in the week. He was into drugs and had been kicked out of his house and onto the streets. But after meeting Hermana Ferreira he found two other companionships of LDS missionaries during his day. He was able to pray and read almost the whole book and found a job. He walked all the way to church from almost the center of Santiago. It took him more than 6 hours. He is truly incredible! We are trying to help in in all that we can. The Spirit was so strong as he was sharing his experience in the class. Camilo got his phone number and was trying to find ways he could help him throughout the week. It was a great thing to see.

This week has been long, but super wonderful. I am grateful for all of the blessings and miracles I have seen in the mission. The Lord really has His hand in the work and is helping us in every moment. Love you all! Hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Hermana Flake

Sick + Summer = Sad Hermana Flake Feb. 23, 2015

Well, this week was kind of a bummer. I got a crazy virus or cold or some crazy disease of Chile. Sometimes I think this country is just out to get me or something! I got way sick and couldn´t leave too much. My companion says that my body hates Chile or that Chile hates me. She doesn´t know which it is, but is certain that it is one of the two. Anyway, we didn´t get to visit too many people. But we did divisions a few days so that Hermana Christensen could go visit our investigators and I could sleep some more.

Yesterday was the first day that I got to leave for the whole day! I was sooo excited! I struggled through church, but no big deal. I almost fell asleep when I was playing the piano during Sacrament Meeting.. yeah, it was an adventure! But then I got way better as the day went on. We had a great lesson with Carlos! He is an interesting person. On Friday Hermana Christensen went with Hermana Fernanda y Hermano Manuel to visit Carlos. Poor thing! They got there and he had this anti mormon video ready to watch. She said that the members helped her get out of the trap and that they didn´t fight with him but tried to invite him to pray. Needless to say, when we had another lesson with him on Sunday, I was a tad bit nervous. We went with Hermano Manuel. It went super well! We were able to teach the Restoration and how to pray. He was very humble and willing to try. He said the closing prayer and is going to pray about everything we have taught him.

We had a lesson with Francisco this week and when we invited him to be baptized he said yes and now he has a date! We are pretty excited with the investigators in our sector who are getting ready for their baptisms. There are so many miracles happening everyday. I am so grateful for my sector, ward, and leaders who help me so much! Being sick has been pretty lame, but I have felt so much love from the people here. The members are great and are willing to help in any way that they can! I love it here in Chile! Being a missionary is the best :)

Love,

Hermana Flake

1. Food here is crazy cheap in la feria. All of this celery cost like 75 cents in the street market. We eat so many fruits and vegetables here. It´s sweet!

2. The Familia Calderòn and I at church yesterday! Josè Manuel gave his last testimony in the ward and leaves on his mission on Thursday!