Sister Flake's Mission Blog: Land of the Free

Sisters Chong, Wu, Lee, Morse, and Flake wishing you a Happy 4th!

Aloooooha ohana!

WOW lot's has happened this past week! First off, it's a new transfer! This is transfer number 7 for me... can you believe that?! My new companion is Sister Morse. She is really great! She's from South Carolina, is 5'9", looooves to run (wants to run at BYU-Provo in the future if possible), eats lots of veggies, lived in Germany for 3 years, and is willing to work hard! We are both really excited to grow during our time as companions. I know that God has placed us together for a reason, and I'm excited to learn from Sister Morse! I am in Married Student 2nd Ward still (going on 6 transfers now!). I moved to a new pad (the same pad as my first transfer), and our padmates are Sister Wong from Hong Kong, and Sister Yamaji from Japan. It's definitely a different dynamic than my last pad, but it's been so good.

My new companion, Sister Morse!

First off, a quick birthday shout out to the greatest older bro, Jaedon! Love you so much!

I got to see the Hansens this week! It was so wonderful getting to interact with family and feel love from home. They are such loving people! Beau is growing up so much, holy cow. Jason and Heather were willing to do a fireside for the VC sisters, and we tried to make it work, but with transfers being this week things were too busy. Darn! I'm so grateful I got to see them though. Jason had some stories from when he and dad were college-age together... apparently dad is super good at the running man??? I think there's some stories that we need to hear dad😉

The Hansens!💕

Family love❤

Also, happy 4th of July! I'm so grateful to live in the land of the free. We had a Laie Zone celebration. We had a BBQ at the Allens house, and then got to watch the PCC firework show from the field by the temple. My favorite part was hearing all of the Asian sisters "ooo-ing" at every single firework that went off hahaha. It was all so exciting!😀 Sister Preslar, Elder Valle, Elder Allen, Elder Chandler (from Meridian, knows Shaylin), and I sang the national anthem in parts for everyone. Thankfully we sang the national anthem so many times in VSC that I could remember the entire alto part (thanks Mr Beyer!). It actually sounded pretty good! I'm so grateful for our freedoms. The religious freedom gained here in America opened up the doors for the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to come about. I pray we can always remember our Savior, who frees us from sin and death. Live in thanksgiving daily!

We sang the National Anthem!

I made easy cheesecake for our BBQ! (and salad of course)

We've been thinking of some possible companionship themes to focus on this transfer. We've already seen some miracles of confidently following spiritual impressions and being bold. Another focus/theme is to "expect miracles." On Tuesday, our first day together as companions, we were setting goals for our time with online teaching. We set a goal for 1 "miracle baptism," meaning we would find out that a referral we had previously sent was baptized. Lo and behold, it happened!!! I was looking back on the online records of people I've sent to local missionaries who have been baptized, and I found out that Estelle from Kentucky was baptized in March! CRAZY huh?! She was a Bible request I had picked up and contacted when I was in THE MTC!!! It may have even been my first time online EVER! We had the most basic text conversation ever, but the Lord works through small and simple things. I got to call and talk to Estelle. It was wonderful to connect with her!

Comic relief: I've got two. Last week I bought some super tasty-looking teriyaki sauce to try in some recipes, but then I looked at the ingredients after I got home and noticed it is a sauce to put on meat during the last 10 minutes of grilling and contains WINE haha. Soooo I returned it this week and bought some NON-alcohol-containing katsu sauce to try. Secondly, I can officially say I've cleaned the outside of a car with Clorox wipes. LOL. We had to clean it up the car we were using last transfer last-minute, and all we had were Clorox wipes, so that's what I used to clean the outside! ...AFTER which I noticed the hose conveniently located 10 feet away that would have significantly eased the job I had just completed hahaha. Whoops! Talk about living beneath my privileges... https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/your-potential-your-privileges-1

Well, I'm out of time (sorry), but I hope you all know how much I love you! I wish you were all here with me😊 I've been slowly coming to realize how special Laie is. Not only is it the place you hear "I know surfing is hard and the church is true," but the sacrifice of past generations to live their faith has made this place sacred. Everyone can feel it when they come here. I'm so lucky to get to serve here!

Well, keep up the great work! Trust in the Lord, and learn to love the pace of life God has given you!

Sister Flake