Happy December!

December 1 Worldwide Day of Service!! We went to Hauula beach park and cleaned up debris that has washed up from the ocean. It was fun. My dad and my mission are the two people/things that have taught me to work, simply to work 😊 Work work work!

For the day of service some sisters washed our cars!💛

Aloha Ohana!

This has been a super fun week! Can you believe it's DECEMBER?! Sister Taufa and I have especially been working hard in our proselyting area in Hauula. It's such a privilege being a missionary!

-Thanks so much for the Christmas package!! I love every bit of it😍🎄 Our pad is now prepped for the holidays! It's all decked out. I've worn the Christmas-tree headband for exercise time 2 days now and people get a kick out of it, myself included. It makes mornings more lively!

-On Thursday we visited a member family, shared the Light the World initiative, and they told us a little bit about the people living on their street. They don't know their neighbors super well, but we asked for a few suggestions of people to visit on their street, so they named a couple of people. One of the couples they suggested we meet was Jessica and Jesse. Jesse is deployed in the Navy right now, so Jessica is on her own for the time being. We got to know her briefly, but she had come out in the middle of cutting raw chicken, so she was awkwardly holding her hands out the entire time haha. Soooo we used it as a smooth transition to ask if we could come back another day when she didn't have chicken hands, and we could share the Church's Christmas initiative and talk about ways to give as Christ gave this season. She agreed to have us come back on Sunday! We stopped by Sunday morning before church and had a lovely chat. It started off about Light the World, but morphed to her asking us about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and our basic beliefs. We bore our testimonies about the power and truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and invited her to read, ponder, and pray about it. She accepted a copy from us as well as our invitation! We are excited for her to learn more😃 It was a neat opportunity for me to see that the work we do at the VC and online really isn't that different from the work done full-field. I'm so grateful for all of the experiences I've had on my mission, it's been unique, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

-We had another lesson with Tiana and Treasure, and we extended a baptismal invitation! We are currently working through what date will work best for their family. We're hoping it will be around the 15th of December. We are so excited!!! Pray that things will work smoothly there please. One of the best moments from the week was at the end of our lesson. Tiana said the closing prayer, and in it she specifically thanked Heavenly Father for "Sister Flake and Sister Taufa" and the principles we talked about that day. It was such a simple, heart-felt prayer that made me feel so warm inside! Tiana and Treasure are so special.They came to church again this past Sunday. It's been a treat to see them slowly become more comfortable there. They are blossoming! I'm so grateful Heavenly Father is allowing us the opportunity to love and teach them.

Tiana and Treasure came to church! We all went to YWs together👐

Treasure is such a sweetie

-We had interviews with President Bekker this week. In my interview he said "I know you've expressed a desire to serve full-field Sister Flake. I just want you to know that it's still a possibility for you." Dun dun dun!! I mean, talk about something that will keep me up at night now... haha just kidding, but honestly I thought my chance to serve full-field was long gone at this point because I only have 2 more transfers, and they always have VC sisters spend their last transfer serving at the VC if they go full-field. At the beginning of my mission I really wanted the full-field experience. Now, I'm perfectly content with whatever happens. I absolutely love the work we do at the VC, and I feel like I've gotten a glimpse of a full-field experience with our area in Hauula. We'll just have to wait and see what happens! That would be a cruel trick on President's part if he brought it up in my interview and then didn't send me full-field... so I'm kind of thinking I might go full-field next transfer. Ahh!

-We got to have home evening with Maile and her son Liko on Monday night. Maile has been going through a LOT lately. At the end of our time with her, she said "I know that Heavenly Father sent you to me tonight". It's the most rewarding thing to be on the Lord's errand!

-We had the annual "missionary Christmas give" hosted by the Matalii's this afternoon, it was so fun! A family from the community "adopts" a missionary and gives them a Christmas gift. Such sweet community members. I received a nice insulated water bottle, which I'm super pumped about. Such generous people❤

Sister Mataalii. She wanted to take the photo right where we are standing because of the bananas in the back😉🍌

Mataalii Christmas give!

The pday group with our Christmas gifts!

-We've also got our ward Relief Society and Young Women's Christmas party tonight, and the Fa's are going, as well as a returning member we've met with, so we're excited to attend with them!

Keep smiling, and love the pace of life God has given you this week! Soak in every bit of this joyous Christmas season. Jesus Christ truly is the Prince of Peace and the Light of the World!

Love, Sister Flake

Exercise time... or in most of these sisters' cases, sit on the grass time 😜

There are so many CATS!

Here are the McEntees, they are in charge of the VC Christmas decor, they are an honorary VC couple for 3 month!

We drove to Honolulu with Sis Cho and Moyes for Sis Cho's doc apt. Sis Moyes had never driven to Honolulu before, and it's stressful to have an ESL comp navigating, so Sis Taufa and I came to "teach her how to drive to Honolulu"... she did fine anyways, but it was fun to be there! We stopped at Jack in the Box after.