Sister Flake's Mission Blog: Apostles, prepared hearts, and RAIN

Aloha my ohana! This week was fabulous and it went by fast!! I hit my 5 month mark this week... THAT'S CRAZY!!! I learned something this week from Elder Bednar about why missions go so fast... we got to have a special Visitors' Center gathering with Elder Bednar on Sunday. He did a Q&A session for a little bit over an hour. IT WAS AMAZING. I KNOW that Elder Bednar is truly an apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ! THIS is Jesus Christ's church on the earth, and contains the fullness of Christ's gospel, as well as the restored proper authority! The "restoration" is ongoing today because this is the true and living church! What a blessing it is:) One of the questions Elder Bednar answered was about understanding God's timing. Elder Bednar answered the question by explaining that we as divine spirit children of God are uncomfortable in "time". We're not used to "time"! That's why we take pictures and make scrapbooks and such--it eases that discomfort/tension. God does not live in "time", but in "eternity". As you draw close to things of the Spirit, you draw close to "eternity", and become less constrained by "time". That explains why Spirit-filled meetings and experiences fly by so fast! In mortality, or "time", our brains work linearly. God's ways/thoughts are not our ways/thoughts, and we will understand one day how God's course is one eternal round. My mind was tooootally blown as he explained this hahaha. Elder Bednar also talked about how two misunderstood topics in the church are 'grace' and 'agency'. If you study his talks, you'll find that common theme. He talks a lot about being agents who act, and accessing the Savior's grace from His Atonement. We are each agents who act. Agency is to be used for righteousness, not to do what you "want" to do. Man, I could go on and on about the things I learned and felt! It was incredible, and I would consider it life-changing because of the things I learned and felt. I got to shake his hand after the meeting, and I felt the love of the Savior in his eyes as I thanked him.

-Friday was Chinese New Year!!! Since we've got so many Chinese-speaking sisters here, we got to have a party to celebrate!!! It was SO MUCH FUN:):) The Chinese-speaking sisters prepared a presentation/dance for us to learn more about the culture, and we had a potluck dinner where I got to eat lots and lots of yummy Asian food. I looove dumplings>>> We then got to watch Mulan, which is one of my absolute favs:) It's such a great movie! It's got a great message too about seeking to find yourself. I'm such a missionary... picking out the spiritual messages in everything haha!;) It was a wonderful evening:)

Love my Chinese comp!! holding my "red pocket"

Potluck dinner

So many dumplings and noodles and rice and deliciousness:):):) ...except the chicken feet hahaha

Happy Chinese New Year!

hahaha i love being a missionary. someone made this

"Hu" means "lake" in Chinese. It's my Chinese name the sisters picked.

Also, at the Chinese New Year party came my food announcement for the week (I'm not going to call it a highlight because it was naaasty haha) was......
-CHICKEN FEET. Yep, the foot of a chicken. And no, I won't be trying it again if I can help it haha! It wasn't that bad... but honestly I mentally prepared myself to try it, then I [tried] took a bite, but it was all bone and fat!!! There was nothing to EAT! The fililpino sisters told me I had to eat the palm part, so I tried biting it and got a little piece of i-don't-even-know-what in my mouth, and I hurried and chewed and swallowed it so that I can say I've 'eaten chicken foot' hahaha. It felt like I was eating rubber. Well, you win some and you lose some... I'll stick with my dumplings;)

CHICKEN FOOT AHHHHH

-This week it rained. And I mean it really RAINED. We had flash flood warnings all Saturday night and Sunday. It was NUTS how much it rained! The people here said this is the most rain they've seen at once in years. So, my companion and I decided to make the most of the rain and ENJOY it!!!! One night after we returned home for the day, we put on exercise clothes and went out to dance in the rain! It was so much fun:) It made me think of all of the times I went and played in the crazy downpours in MN with my fambam:') Here we had a big puddle in our front yard, so I decided to make a slip-n-slide out of it hahaha we had a lot of fun just playing around, laughing, dancing, and getting totally soaked. It was wonderful! Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain;) (love you Julie Ann!)

3 Generations pictured haha... sis Blake is still full-field!

We love rain!

-This week I had another wonderful experience with fasting. Fasting is something I'm really coming to love, appreciate, and understand its purpose more here on my mission. One purpose of my fast this time dealt with seeking for continued meaningful service opportunities/interactions. And of course, the Lord answers our prayers/fasting, but this time it was QUICK haha! On morning shift we met Ricardo from Oklahoma. He bought a one-way ticket to Hawaii, and we came to discover that he's searching for his purpose. God definitely led him to us! He said he didn't like how "stuck in their ways" the people back home seem to be, and wanted to escape it for a while and come to know himself better. He decided it would be helpful to come to a place with so many cultures! Hawaii fits that job description for sure!! I think one of the coolest things with Ricardo was that we were able to so clearly and repetitively identify the Spirit's presence to him. He kept getting goosebumps as we spoke, and we testified that it was the Holy Ghost, this is Christ's church, and God led him here today. I was reminded to really focus on teaching to Ricardo's needs. We are not trying to "sell" the gospel like you would a product. We KNOW the gospel can help everyone, and we do our best to follow the Spirit, and invite action, to lead themselves to discover that. Ricardo was open and willing to learn more about his purpose. When he returns home(likely in a few weeks) local missionaries will be visiting him, and hopefully his family as well! I know the gospel can bless them in ALL aspects of their lives. The gospel brings more unity and love into families, consistent peace, and a confidence in who you are, where you come from, and God's plan for you. Man, I love this gospel!

Ricardo from Oklahoma

-God leads so many people to the VC who have prepared hearts! Rosalie from Canada, Kathy from Australia, and Jocelyn & family from California... they have all met, or are currently meeting with, missionaries! Also, Jake & Michelle from Ohio, and Samantha from Toronto were so prepared and ready to learn more. I thought Samantha's experience with the gospel was cool. She knows a little bit about the church, but it's all through social media through Al Fox and Hailey Devine. It goes to show that God intends for social media to be used as a great missionary tool! Sharing simple testimony on social media is not overlooked. It makes a difference in people's personal conversions! I challenge each of you to reach out and share a simple testimony through social media (or using technology in general) this week. It could involve a resource from mormon.org or lds.org, or it could be a simple personal testimony. You could post it on social media, call/text someone and share it, etc... and let me know your experience! Go be an answer to someone's prayer:)

Well, I'm learning lots about myself, God, and my fellow brothers and sisters on this earth! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and friend. As it says in D&C 19:23, "23 Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me."
Learn something new of Christ this week! Love you all!
Sister Flake