Okonoma-what-i??

Aloha Ohana!

You know you're living in paradise when you see TWO rainbows in one day! I love living in Hawaii. It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place. The loving people just add to the natural beauty here. I'm so lucky to be serving a mission here❤

Well, it's transfers again already. Can you believe it? Time is flying by. I feel like this transfer just started! I got a call from my mission President today extending the call for me to train another new missionary! I'm so excited to come to love another daughter of God who has been called by a Prophet to be a special representative of Jesus Christ. Woohoo!!

I found out yesterday that ELDER HOLLAND IS COMING on May 15, and he'll be speaking to all of the missionaries in my mission!!!!! The missionaries on Oahu get to actually be in the meeting with him in person. AHHHHHHH I'm so excited! I know we don't pick favorite Apostles... but if we were allowed to pick favorites he'd definitely be one of mine!!😉 One of my favorite talks given by him is found here. If you haven't listened to it before, or haven't re-listened to it yet, I invite you to do so!!

FOOD HIGHLIGHT: We had dinner with the Meguros again, and they made us okonomiyaki. When they first told us what is was called, I was like "Okonoma-what-i?!?" They spelled it out for me and said it a few more times before I got it down haha. It was soooo good! They do such a great job of helping us branch out and try delicious Japanese food. It's been fun to learn about the Japanese culture from them! They are such good examples of faith-filled disciples of Christ. Then to top it off, Nao made homemade cheesecake. YUM!

Nao and Haruki Meguro! They move back to Japan on April 23 😢

Another Japanese Dish! It's called okonomiyaki! It's deeelish. The Meguros made it for us. I love them!

Top left are the dancing fish flakes you put on top of the okonomiyaki. Bottom right is the fish bullion stuff for the cabbage mixture.

...okay okay okay, I can't just have ONE food highlight, right?! The second was probably our lunch at a Mexican food truck at the Fijian market today. I tried "huarache" and it was suuuper yummy! It's a fried corn tortilla with beans in the middle (the beans are sort of in between layers of the tortilla), and some type of white cheese on top, along with cilantro and onions! The owner of the food truck loves sister missionaries and gave us the rice and beans for free 😊 Also, I attempted to make omrice after trying it twice at dinner appointments and LOVING it... and it worked!! Maybe I'm secretly an eighth Japanese😎 It was SO HOT in our kitchen the night I made it. I worked through sweat and heat for that omrice... I think they key was cooking the egg using chopsticks😉

Lunch at a Mexican food truck at the Fijian market!

I tried "huarache" and it was suuuper yummy! It's a fried corn tortilla with beans in the middle (the beans are sort of in between layers of the tortilla), and Jaedon's fav white cheese on top, along with cilantro and onions! The owner loves sisters and gave us the rice and beans for free 😊 ("si I looove rice and beans!!"😉

YUM:):):)

Yes, I'm sitting on a minivan chair haha. I feel like if the Flake fam opened a food truck we would do something super cool and creative like this for our seating😉 It made me smile!

30-minutes-and-lots-of-sweaty-heat-in-the-kitchen-later...

I made OMRICE!!!

I've recently been trying to think of ways to use Facebook more creatively in furthering my purpose as a missionary. I've been working on an original song! I wrote lyrics for this particular song a few weeks before I left on my mission last year. Now I'm working on a melody, and touching it up. Hopefully I'll finish soon! It's called "Let Him Lead." Here's a sneak peak at the lyrics for the chorus... "Let Him lead you to a place where you'll find peace amid the pain. Let Him help you understand that in His loving arms you're safe. He waits patiently until the moment you recognize the need... to let Him lead."

We had a fun bonding activity at the VC on Friday. We played Jeopardy with topics that deal with the resources we have available here at the VC. The STL's made the questions. It was so fun! I love serving in a Visitors' Center. Oh yeah, and the senior couples made homemade ice cream sandwiches. YUM. Any prayers on your behalf that my teeth won't be totally rotten by the time I get home because of all of this sugar I consume would be appreciated haha😉😂

The Goodmans made homemade ice cream sandwiches for us! they were so good holy cow...

One online teaching miracle is with Debra. I logged on to my teaching center account and looked at my "current interactions". There was a direct phone call that appeared to be from Debra (the woman I met from Wisconsin several weeks ago). I had had not luck contacting her via text or call at ALL since meeting her here at the temple, so I quickly called her back. The first miracle is that she answered the call!! I asked if we had missed a call from her, and she said she did not call. That's the second miracle!! Her call was in my current interactions, but neither she nor I had called the other person. Wow, huh?! I got to have a 30-40 min conversation with her. I was able to more adequately introduce her to the Book of Mormon (at the temple I had about 30 seconds to explain it because she had to leave on the tram tour back to PCC). We read from it together, she asked some questions about it, I bore testimony of its truthfulness, and committed her to read a portion of it. I set a return appointment to call her for another lesson/visit. What a miracle! Debra is a very special daughter of God. It's so neat that technology allows for me to continue teaching her! It was a special experience for me because I had a meaningful experience with Debra when they came on vacation to Hawaii, and how I get to continue helping her come closer to her Savior, even though I'm thousands of miles away. The local missionaries had been unable to contact her thus far, but I updated them and they'll be trying again this week.

I've been coming to slowly understand that a huge thing God wants me to learn on my mission is how to listen. More specifically this week I was realizing that He not only wants me to become a better listener, but He wants me to improve the skill of being able to concentrate/focus in general. This will help me more sincerely reach out in love to all of God's children that visit the temple.

Today we went to Terilyn's baptism! She's the one that Elders Russell and Winward brought to the VC and we took a Spirit-FILLED tour through God's Plan. It was awesome! We got to share our experience with Teri while we were waiting for her to get dressed after being baptized. Baptism is so special! I can still remember the peace I felt on my baptism day😊

The eyes really are a window to the soul. We met two sweet families this week. We met Bree and Jordan from California, and Daylene, Tom, and Colby from Washington. We had wonderful experiences with both families, and the Spirit was felt. One thing that sort of stood out to me today as we interacted with them was the look in both Bree and Daylene's eyes as we spoke. I could tell that they were both just soaking in our words and testimony like a sponge! As we testified of temples, how the gospel can bless them, and how much God loves them, it was almost like I could see the spiritual hunger in their eyes being quenched a little bit. The restored gospel is able to fill the vacantness that many people feel (even good Christian people feel that vacantness sometimes). I know from experience that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ fills voids and mends hearts. It's incredible. This really is Jesus Christ's church on the earth today! I know it!

I love you all! Keep trusting in the Lord. Because of transfers, my next pday will be Tuesday, April 17.
Keep smiling!
Sister Flake

"District Awesome" !