Sister Flake's Mission Blog: Meeting the Governor

Utah's Governor Gary Herbert visited the VC!

Aloha Ohana!

T-13 days until Christmas!!! This is the most wonderful time of the year. I got to meet Sister Taufa's parents this week! Oh yeah, and the Governor of Utah too😜 Governor Herbert is a really nice man, and his wife is super sweet too. Sister Taufa's dad is the head security guy for the Governor, and the Governor came to Hawaii for a work conference. After meeting Sister Taufa's parents, I can totally see where she gets her sense of humor! Her parents are SO funny. It was fun to see how she interacted with her parents, and it really blessed me with a new way of looking at her as I saw the way her parents view her. It brought a lot of love and joy to my heart for Sister Taufa. If you ever want to really know how awesome someone is, just spend a little time with their parents. Anyways, the whole crew attended the musical fireside on Sunday, where Sister Taufa, her dad, and the Governor actually all got to share their testimonies. It was really neat😊 Man, I have just loved being Sister Taufa's companion, she is such a fun person. I've developed a lot of charity for that girl and have learned a lot from her. Be grateful for the people God places in your path!
Oh yeah, Elder Uchtdorf is here in Laie too! He is speaking at the BYU-H graduation this weekend and stopped by the VC last night. I didn't see him but a few of the sisters got a pic with him! That's okay, I've already met him once😉

The couple on the right are Sister Taufa's parents❤

This week we've gotten to video call Jackson in Tanzania several times (he requested a copy of the Book of Mormon online), and he has SUCH a strong desire to start up the Church in his community! He is not a member, but is learning about the Church and is the most grateful and humble man I think I've ever met. He is so cool! He accepted our invitation to be baptized, he admires the prophet Joseph Smith, he recognizes the truthfulness and divinity of the Book of Mormon... he's amazing! Something that struck me that he said was regarding knowing that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God--Jackson said that by the prophet's works and words he will know if it's a true prophet of God. It's true! Sometimes people say "how can you know Joseph Smith was really a prophet?" but if anyone sincerely reads and prays about the Book of Mormon, and looks at Joseph Smith's words and works, it will be crystal clear that he was a true prophet of God. Wise words from Jackson! Jackson was even willing to travel to a nearby country (several hours by bus) to go to the nearest church building--wow huh!

This is Jackson in Tanzania. We've video called him several times, and he has SUCH a strong desire to start up the Church in his community. He is not a member, but is now learning and is the most grateful and humble man I think I've ever interacted with. So cool! He was willing to travel to a nearby country to go to the nearest church building--wow huh!

Tiana and Treasure's baptism will probably have to be pushed back a little bit just because it's been busier than normal for them with school commitments and such. Tiana is really doing a great job of pulling out principles from what she reads in the Book of Mormon with her family, and applying them to life today. I'm so impressed with her! Treasure is still having a hard time understanding the old language used in the Book of Mormon, so Sister Taufa bought her a kids Book of Mormon stories to read. Any ideas of how to help an 11-yr-old understand the Book of Mormon better? Definitely keep them in your prayers!

Elder Allen mentioned something neat to Sister Taufa and I this week. He commented on how a lot of movies nowadays have "portals" in them that lead to an alternate universe. He walked us to the the middle of the temple grounds and had us look at the temple. He then said, you are looking at a real portal right now, and there's only 160 of them on the whole earth right now! It's true--the temple is a "portal" between heaven and earth. If we could see the traffic going to and from the temple on the other side of the veil, we'd be blown away. I feel so privileged to get to serve on such sacred ground every day.

A couple of random things I learned this week:
-Planning is not the same thing as scheduling. Planning is a time to seek the will of the Lord. It's a time to seek revelation.
-How can I have the Spirit more abundantly in my life? Serve with no thought of reward (don't expect or seek recognition or praise for serving. Part of your reward from Father in Heaven is the Holy Ghost's influence😊

Here's a quick story someone shared in sacrament meeting that I thought was really neat. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but this is what was told to me: President McKay visited Samoa many years ago. The children in Samoa had all been told previous to his arrival that if they had faith and prayed earnestly, and were good little boys and girls, an apostle would come and would be impressed by the Spirit to greet each child individually (but they had to have faith and pray for it!). The children prayed and had faith. President McKay visited, and when the time came for the meeting with him to end, the time was very short. He had to leave. However, he felt prompted TWICE to shake each child's hand (a total of 240 kids) before leaving, despite the fact that he needed to leave promptly. He finally followed the prompting, and told the translator he wanted to shake each child's hand. The translator, beaming with joy, related to President McKay how the children had prayed for exactly that. This story made me realize that when I receive promptings from the Spirit, it may be in answer to someone's prayer. It brought increased motivation to follow the impressions I receive😀 Go out an be an answer to someone's prayer today!

Well, we have mission tour tomorrow with Elder Pearson of the 70 in the morning, and then Mission Leadership Council meeting in the evening. Next week is transfers already, can you believe it? So I'm' not sure when my next pday will be. Stay tuned!

We've been doing light the world family home evenings with ward members, and we encourage them to invite someone to join us. It's been great so far! Make sure you are lighting the community this week! Sister Taufa and I are in charge of the Young Women's activity tonight and we are going to "heart attack" a few elderly women's doors with homemade paper snowflakes and light bulbs with sweet messages #LightTheCommunity

Keep smiling! Love the pace of life God has given you this week.
Love,
Sister Flake