Sister Flake's Mission Blog: God Cares

North Shore Tacos for dinner @ Hukilau beach. I'd say my mission couldn't get any better!

Aloha Ohana!

This week was great! The weeks just keep going faster and faster. I met lots of neat people this week, and felt the Spirit working through me😊 For pday today, ten of us went bowling at BYU-H. It was a blast😆 We took a big bag of skittles so that we could spice up the game with "trick shots" corresponding to the color of skittle you choose. For example, if you picked a yellow skittle you'd have to bowl with your non dominant hand, or if you choose red you have to bowl between your legs. It was a hoot!

Skittle bowling... it keeps things exciting😉

half of us got the memo that it was a serious pic... half of us either didn't get the memo or didn't care haha! (I just didn't get the memo)

Saturday pdayers unite!

On our drive to go grocery shopping this morning I kept driving through random rainy patches. We'd drive 100 feet, then it would start raining on us, then after a few hundred yards it would totally stop raining, to then start raining again 10 seconds later after driving further. It was like Olaf's "personal flurry" but for our car as we were driving haha! Gotta love Hawaii😉

Okay, I'll start with a couple of funny highlights from the week. On Monday, Sister Boyce and I were companions together for online teaching and we picked up a phone call in to mormon.org from a man who had the greatest southern accent. During the course of our conversation he just kept slipping in the funniest phrases like "sweeter 'n a jar of peanut butter" and "like a chicken wing on a string!" So funny😂 We get to talk to lots of fun and interesting people during our online teaching! Also, the other day a little girl walked past us at PCC and she was singing the song from Moana that says "Make way! Make way!" Sister Wu was super confused, because apparently "Méiguī" in mandarin chinese means "rose" (the flower) and it's pronounced the same way as "make way". Haha! So to Sister Wu it sounded like the little girl was singing "Rose! Rose!" We got a kick out of that😄

-On Sunday, we met the sweetest woman (Stephanie) and her two daughters. They were members of the Church from California. We had a tender experience as we shared why we came on missions, and the mother shared how the gospel has blessed her life. The Spirit was so strong as Stephanie shared how the gospel taught her what "unconditional love" really means. The gospel of Jesus Christ has allowed her to learn that God's love is not earned. She grew up in a home where her parents were a bit strict and non-emotion-driven. The gospel has taught her how to truly love others. As Stephanie opened up her heart and experiences to us, I felt the words come to my mind "This is what the gospel is all about! It doesn't get any better than this feeling!" as love filled my heart. I felt pure joy and love. She reminded me that in order to learn how to love, you have to be willing to be vulnerable and ask for help. We are not meant to do everything on our own, no matter how talented or capable we are. Just as God loves us unconditionally, we should strive to reciprocate that unconditional love to others!

"oh how lovely was the morning..." Hawaii is so beautiful!

-We got to watch the celebration "Be One" (https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/be-one-celebration-optimism-overcoming-prejudice?cid=HP_FR-1-6-2018_dPTH_fBCAST_xLIDyL1-C_). It is so good! Every person on this earth is a child of God. The "equality of God" does not mean equal outcomes for all, but it DOES mean equal opportunities for all. The 1978 priesthood revelation is evidence that the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ is still unfolding. We should focus on the opportunities of the future rather than disappointments of the past! This even reaffirmed to me that this truly is Christ's own church on the earth today in its fulness. The biggest thing that makes the Mormon church different from any other Christian church is the restored priesthood authority. The priesthood authority, or power to act in God's name, was restored by the Lord to Joseph Smith through heavenly messengers in May of 1829. It's through that authority that Christ performed miracles, established His church, and ordained Apostles. That same authority has been brought back to the earth bless all of God's children. It's through that restored authority of God that blessings of healing and comfort are still given today, by the laying on of hands, as if from the Savior Himself. On Wednesday one of the sisters here started having bad stomach pain. The pain worsened, and soon she couldn't get up off the ground, and her arms and legs started getting all tingley. To me it almost appeared like she had temporary paralysis in her arms because of the way they were being held. It was very out of the ordinary, and pretty severe. Elder Allen came over immediately and gave a special, spirit-guided priesthood blessing. He placed his hands on her head and blessed her that her pain would immediately begin to subside. Later, the sister told us that during the blessing was when her pain went away. Later Sister Wu also told me that she felt like she was in Biblical times and was watching Jesus heal someone. It made my heart fill with gratitude that I got to witness a miracle, and I believe that part of the reason our bodies malfunction sometimes is to test our faith. I know that the priesthood power of God is back on the earth, and it's held by worthy men of this church.

-We had Zone conference yesterday and it was AWESOME! During my interview with President Bekker he asked me, "if you had to choose one or two words to describe your mission so far, what words would they be?" It was so hard to choose!! Ultimately I said "God cares." He cares about sending little tender mercies my way, He cares enough to lead people to learn more about Him, He cares for my family, He cares about preparing me for big changes in life, He cares enough to send His Son, etc. God really does care about the details. He cares so deeply and individually about each one of you!

Zone conference lunch! The sister in the bottom left, Sister Tychingco, is called full-pros but wants to be in the VC so badly hahaha during her baby testimony that day she told Pres AGAIN that she belongs in the VC haha she's a hoot.

She's an aspiring dj/rapper... she's hilarious haha. LOVE HER.

Life becomes a lot more joyful when you take the circumstances you've been given, make the best of them, and just try to focus on the Savior. Remember that you are making a difference in the ways God needs you to right now. Oftentimes He's got a very different path planned for you than you expect😉

Trust in the Lord with your whole heart!
Love, Sister Flake