Sprint to the finish!

Aloha ohana!

We had an awesome zone conference this week. I learned, or re-learned, a few important things from zone conference that I'd like to share. 1. if you ever feel distance in a relationship that is important to you, pray together, either more frequently or more sincerely. 2. express love to the people you love. Especially as a missionary, we work so hard to obtain love for people, so it is so important that we express that love! It applies to any relationship as well. 3. daily repentance does not refer to a time each day where you beat up yourself for the fact that you're not perfect, rather it's a time to recognize areas that need improvement and acknowledge that you can't change anything without the Lord's help. It was a Spirit-filled meeting that was much needed!

In connection with what I learned at zone conference, that evening we had a lesson with Jason and Chandra. Before our lesson, I prayed sincerely that my heart would be filled with love for them. Heavenly Father definitely answered my prayer, and at the end of the lesson I was able to express it to them in a very natural and sincere way. It was special. A big part of their motivation to learn more about the gospel is for their kids. They want their children to have a solid foundation of faith, and they need the healing the gospel brings for themselves. They are so special to the Lord, and now to me too! Please keep them in your prayers. Pray that they will continue to be willing to act on the message we share. Before we visited them tonight, we had sent Chandra a link to a video about family. Chandra told us she was surprised because the video was eerily similar to her life, yet we didn't know any of those things about her life. It was a perfect time for us to explain that the Holy Ghost guides us in the missionary work that we do, and even if we don't know her perfectly, God does, and we are God's servants.

We got to do a big family home evening with the Martinez family. We did an activity about how to grow the flame of their faith. We must constantly nourish our flame of faith, or it will burn out. We talked about how prayer, scripture study, and weekly partaking of the sacrament help keep us spiritually recharged, and keep the flame burning bright. Keep doing those things!😃

The Martinez Family!

I officially made spam and egg toast for breakfast one morning. I'm a true islander now😉🌴🌺

We got to be witnesses at a wedding at the chapel yesterday performed by Bishop Heaton. In contrast, the Demello family (they were baptized a year ago) were sealed in the Kona temple on Saturday. We didn't get to attend with them, but we are so happy for them😊 It made me reflect on how grateful I am for temples that unite families for eternity, not only "until death do you part". It was interesting to see the contrast between the two.

Sloan and uncle Tini's wedding💗

Today for pday we got to do a cool "hike" through a lava tube! I put it in parenthesis because it wasn't really a hike, it was more of a walk, and then exploring lava tubes. It was really neat though! There were lots of poor little goats that got trapped down there and couldn't make it out, so there were goat bones and spider webs all over the lava rocks. It's crazy how diverse Hawaiian landscape is. Sister Bjarnson told me that Big Island has 11 of the 13 different climate zones possible. Crazy huh?! I'm not sure if that's accurate, it might just be 8, but still, that's a lot.

lava tube entrance

The whole district clan

Love you lots, I can't believe I'll get to see you all in 2 weeks!

Love, Sister Flake

Love Sis Bjarnson! They made us lunch for after district council

Denise!

I bought sushi of my own free will!

PIG - just out wandering around, no big deal

Sister Kapu and Hia (RM from temple square)

Auntie Ronny Triphan and her grandkids

Lunch with Auntie Sweetie at Grandma's Kitchen in town

Burrito bigger than a baby

Aloha Ohana!

This week was wonderful😀 It's crazy how much can change in a week! The most exciting announcement of the week was definitely being able to call home every week. It is an inspired change that I am certain will hasten the work of the Lord even more! It was such a boost to get to talk with the family today. My weekly emails will probably be shorter now as a result.

I went on an exchange with Sister Ahlers this week. She is so awesome! She's been out 6 months, she's from Salt Lake City, and she is so happy to be here😊 We spent the day in her area in Hilo. I was reminded of the importance of being creative in the work that we do, no matter what the work may be (missionary work, school work, employment work, etc). While we were on our exchange, we decided to do a "gratitude project" during our 5-7pm finding time. They had made cookies the day before, so we brought cookies with us, as well as expo markers and a white board with the question "what are you grateful for?" written on the top. We walked around and asked people to write something they were grateful for on the board. People were really digging it! So were us missionaries! It was neat to see the things people are most grateful for. Most people were grateful for other certain people, particularly family. God puts people in our lives for a reason. I definitely believe that we need more gratitude in this world! I have such a testimony of the blessings of gratitude. It brings so much joy! Even during the hardest days or weeks we have in life, if we take time to be grateful for the blessings God has given us, we will be able to have peace and joy in our heart. That gratitude could take form in simply saying thank you to God for 3 things that day in a prayer before you go to bed. He will help you see His hand in your life that day! This week as I tried to recognized God's hand in my life more, I was happier! It's a principle that applies to us all😊😊😊 It blows my mind what some people's realities are, but I know that EVERYONE has something to be grateful for. We will always have something to be grateful for because of Jesus Christ's perfect sacrifice. That will never change💗

Here's the results of our gratitude project we did around Hilo during finding time! It was super fun😀

I love Sister Ahlers. She is 6 months out, from SLC, Utah, and such a great missionary! We were very happy together💗

On exchanges with sister Ahlers we had a lesson with Antone

Also on exchange we went to lunch at a Mexican place and the burrito I got was literally the BIGGEST burrito I've seen in my entire life. It was the size of a small child. It was HUGE!!! Haha!
While we are on the topic of food, I had some BOMB shave ice today. It had sweet potato ice cream on top... which sounds gross, but was actually the best part! I learned to love purple ice cream today.

THIS WAS THE BIGGEST BURRITO I'VE SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE (hand for scale)

Bro Featherin and Sis Ahlers at Lucy's Mexican restaurant

A member owns this shave ice truck "big island shave ice" and gave us free shave ice... it was SO good. The purple part on mine is sweet potato ice cream. Sounds gross but it was the best part😃

YUMMMM>>>

We were able to find a lot of new people to teach this week! We did a "district flood", which is when all of the members of our district (us and 2 sets of Elders) come to one person's area, and we all go out for a few hours and try to find people to teach. It boosts finding in the area. The Waimea and Kohala Elders came to our area, and as a result 3 new people were found to teach! It brought unity to work all together. I'm excited about the new people found this week, especially about Eliana and her brother Elijah. Sister Lavaka has seen Elijah around a lot, and has felt several times that we needed to talk with him, so it was a tender mercy to finally be able to set something up. Hopefully more to come on them next week! We did great getting out and talking with more people. We also found another service opportunity at the library, and of course we had to have a little fun in doing so... see the pic of us looking at the 3D books😂

Here we are having too much fun at our service at the library...it's 3D books!!!! so cool!!!

it actually worked really well... I was entertained😄

Chelsea moved to the Waimea Elders' area, so we won't get to teach her anymore. She is still wanting to be baptized March 10 though, so we'll hopefully be able to go to it! Junior is still thinking about baptism. We have set a tentative goal for baptism on March 9, so please pray that if it be God's will, Junior can feel at peace about moving forward with that. He is such a cool guy!

I also gained a testimony of the importance of having members at our lessons this week. We had a lesson with a Filipino family, and a Filipino member came with us and was able to help work through a lot of their concerns. In fact, the member was previously Catholic, so she knew exactly what the people we were teaching felt like! She was able to bear her testimony of how the Book of Mormon helped resolve a lot of things that were a mystery to her about faith/God before. The Filipino family really listened to, and respected, her. Having her with us made a night and day difference in how the lesson went! I encourage you all to get involved with missionary work in the ward. I know you already do a lot, but continue to look for ways to do even more, and you'll feel the joy of sharing the gospel in even greater measure!!

Okay, well I've got to get going, but I hope you all have a wonderful week. Keep up the good work in all of your wonderful pursuits. This week we have interviews and zone conference, so it will be a busy week.
Keep smiling, and love the pace of life God has given you this week!

Love, Sister Flake

Mango malasada!

We had an FHE at the Seiverts with the power out... they told us that 15 min after we left the power came back on! They thanked us for bringing a good spirit to turn the lights on 😉 Their family reminded me of ours in a few ways, it was so fun.

FHE with Auntie Charlotte and her two nonmember grand-nieces, Josslyn and Mekaelah!

The Power of Prayer > Power in Honoka'a

Aloha Ohana!

First off, my missionary email is changing to ashley.flake@missionary.org beginning February 12. I believe that emails sent to my old email (ashley.flake@myldsmail.net) will still be forwarded to me at my new email address though.

There's a storm that passed through. It was super windy, so the power has actually been out in Honokaa since yesterday afternoon around 4 pm. It's rumored we won't have power for 2 more days. The work moves forward though! We were out in Paauhau trying to contact some people when the power went out. We had scheduled a dinner appointment (since we can eat with members on the weekends) with the Wolfgramms, and they were making food when the power went out. Soooo we ended up eating kerosene-camping-stove-cooked mac and cheese, chips, gas station burgers, and kerosene-camping-stove s'mores. It was memorable, that's for sure!

The flash was REALLY bright hahaha. The smores and scrabble were awesome though!

This week we met Tim from Maine. He is here in Hawaii working and exploring for about 6 months. He works at the same kava farm that Chelsea works at. We had a lesson with Chelsea on Thursday, and asked her who she knew that might want to talk with us. She said she'd been thinking about it earlier, and she thought Tim would like it! So we met Tim and set up an appointment for Sunday (yesterday). Anyways, that stuff doesn't matter haha. What does matter is that Tim is a new person we are teaching now! After talking with him, I have a renewed testimony of God's timing. Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. Tim didn't grow up in a religious home, and dabbled with it a little bit a few years ago in college, but nothing really came of it then. He said it was a pleasant experience, but he just didn't feel compelled to pursue it. However, he said that lately he's been thinking about it a lot more. He believes in God, but wants to know if God is a good God. He wants more positivity in his life. He wants to find answers to the questions of the soul... he has definitely been prepared to learn more at this time! He's super open with us, and he's willing to act on the message we share. I just love getting to teach people who want to listen and know more. Our lesson with Tim really turned my day around yesterday, and helped me to remember why I am here on a mission. I feel so much joy as I share the gospel with others!

There are a lot of farms here in my area. Things are pretty spread out. We met Uncle Elroy this week, and he picked us a few avocados from his tree in his backyard. The avocados are HUGE! I took a picture. It's almost as big as my face! I'm excited for it to get ripe so I can enjoy some good guac😍

We did some service this week at the salvation army thrift store in town. It was fun to get out and do some service in the community. We are trying to find more service opportunities here! We're planning to do some service at the city library this week, so that should be fun. We are continually trying to find more people to teach. Pray that we'll be led to those who are ready to receive our message!

I officially wish that I spoke Tagalog haha! There are soooo many Filipinos here. Many of them are kind and willing to learn more. We have given out several Tagalog copies of the BOM, and one Ilokano (oh yeah, and English ones of course😉). We are going to have lessons with Lily and Ben this week. They are both cute old Filipinos. We had a mini lesson with Lily this week. The language barrier is pretty severe, but we had a basic conversation about the BOM, and said a prayer with her. Prayer is able to bring the Spirit so powerfully, and the Spirit speaks a language that everyone can understand. After the prayer, Lily pressed her hand to her heart and looked to us with gratitude in her eyes. We didn't need words to know that she was feeling. It was a really special, Spirit-filled moment. Hence the title this week, The Power of Prayer > Power in Honoka'a lol. I mean, the power of prayer is greater than the electrical power in Honoka'a even when the electricity is working too haha!

I have learned (or re-learned I suppose) some important things the past few weeks as I've relied on the Lord extra. At church, one of the lessons was about finding happiness in our trials. Sometimes it's hard to find joy while we are going through difficult things, but we are promised that we can claim happiness in the midst of our trials! President Nelson has a talk titled "Joy and Spiritual Survival" from Oct 2016 general conference that talks about this. He says that when our focus is on the Savior and the Plan of Salvation, we can be happy in any situation. He says the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our life, and everything to do with the focus of our life. I know this is a quote I've mentioned before, but it's taken a new meaning and significance for me. This transfer has been challenging, but I know that I will grow so much from these experiences. When we do our best to focus on the Savior, and to appreciate the little moments where things are good and okay, we will find joy in any circumstance😊 I also was reminded to live in the present. Recognized that what you are experiencing right now is different from what you've experienced in the past, and embrace it. Don't wish for things to be how they were before, as wonderful as things may have been. Now is not then. Now is now (if that makes sense haha). It goes right along with the song I'm finishing up about treasuring what you have right now.

Keep smiling, and love the pace of life God has given you! I'll try to do the same😊
Love, Sister Flake

Beautiful rainbow...I love Hawaii!🌈

B I G Island

 

Aloha ohana! 

I'm sure you've all been dying to hear all about what full field on the Big Island is like! Well, it's been an adventure, that's for sure. It was an adjustment going from being around 60 sisters, to being isolated with only my companion (the closest missionaries are 30 minutes away haha). It was a tough first few days, but things are going a lot better now! I LOVE it😀😊 Big island is wayyyy different than Oahu. It's a whole lot of lava rock!🌋 You can see Maui from Kona side too. 

We live in a little studio next to a stake presidency member's home (the Loo's). It's a cute little home. It's weird only living with my companion, and no other sisters. It's wayyyy easier to use my decompress time wisely though haha (no distractions!). It's a SUPER rainy part of the island, and I've got lots of mosquitoe bits on my legs, but I found the repellent in our pad. Also, we've got these super noisy frogs at night. It's kind of fun to have all of these tropical sounds to fall asleep and wake up to, the only problem is that my current alarm sounds the exact same! Thankfully I've still woken up on time😉 There are also crab spiders here, and LOTS of them. There are webs everywhere, but I haven't walked into one yet so I'd consider it a success.🕸

 

I'm serving in Honoka'a. It's on the north shore of the island. It's a little over an hour away from Kona, but we are part of the Kona zone. There are two zones on the island, Kona and Hilo. Our area borders the Hilo zone. Our area is HUGE... like H U G E (no wonder they call this place big island). We have way more car miles allotted to us each month than I ever had in Laie/Hauula. I spend a lot more time in the car than I did before, but I'm slowly getting the area down, and have goals to better plan our visits so that we cluster them by location. From end to end in our area, it's about a 40 minute drive. We go all the way down a little ways past Pauuilo, and on the other side it goes to about Kukuihaele. We see other missionaries at district council once a week. We drive down to Waimea, about 30 minutes away. Oh, and there's WAY more pigeon spoken here😂 Sometimes I have to look at Sis Lavaka with a "what the heck did they just say... was that English??!" look on my face because I can't understand their islander accent. LOL. 

My companion is Sister Lavaka. She is from Maui--yes, I said Maui, Hawaii haha--but is Tongan. She is awesome! I am really coming to love her😊 I'm grateful for her experience in the area. She is a hoot. It always just takes a few days to figure out how to work together with a new person. 

My comp, Sis Lavaka! Here are results of Honokaa rain and no rain jacket💧

My ward is so awesome! At church on Sunday there were so many connections... what a small world. For example, apparently my great grandma Hirschi was Brother Wilkes' 1st grade teacher in St Charles! He loved her. 

 

The Wilkes! Grandma Naomi was his 1st grade teacher❤

The Honokaa ward chapel is pretty small, and there are maybe 50 ish people who come to church each week (but there are 12 pages of people on the ward list...). We've got lots of work to do in the area! There are sooo many people to love and serve! We found SIX new people this week, which apparently is way more than any other week Sis Lavaka has had in the area, and we only had a half-week really, since I arrived on Thursday afternoon instead of Tuesday. We visited a LOT of potential people who are in our area book, but hadn't really been taught yet, or were taught months and months ago. I just wanted to give a quick peek into a few of the people we are teaching so you can be praying for them. Chelsea is our only person with a solid baptismal date as of right now. She is a miracle! The week before I got to the area, the elders referred her to Honokaa sisters because she'd been going to church with her mother-in-law in the elder's ward and wanted to know more. When they met with her last week, Chelsea told them that she's been wanting to be baptized since last November, and she picked the date of March 10 to be baptized. We got to meet with her once this week, and she is super neat. She is willing to change and act, which is crucial in conversion to the Savior and His gospel. 

We are also teaching Junior. We had a wonderful lesson on the Plan of Salvation with him. He moved from Mexico a while ago, so sometimes we still have a bit of a language barrier, but the Spirit breaks through that😊 We are trying to help him understand how important the restored priesthood authority is. He feels good about being baptized, but pray that he can have the courage and understanding to commit to a specific date this week!

We also had a lesson with Tanya. We are excited about her. She grew up with religion but to her it seemed much too controlling, so she kind of jumped ship. Since having a baby last month, she's felt a desire to know if God is really there, and she hopes He is. She's willing to act as well, and we are so excited to teach her again on Thursday. It's hard for me to see other people grow up with such a different view of God and who He is vs. the loving Heavenly Father I know Him to be. It's a privilege to be a missionary and help others understand who God really is! 

I officially survived with no vegetables besides my subway sandwich greens, and panda express green beans and broccoli. I haven't had veggies since WEDNESDAY. AH! I was SO happy to get to shop at Walmart today in Kona, and to buy VEGGIES😍

 

Meat, meat, meat! (but it was yummy)

We had our zone temple trip today. Full field missionaries with a temple on their island get to go every other transfer. I'm so happy I happened to come during the 'right' transfer! It was reassuring to feel 'home' at the temple. I miss being on the Laie temple grounds every day. I miss the sisters a lot too, but I know they are doing great things in Laie still😊

Here's the whole Kona zone at the temple!

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

Love, Sister Flake

OH! P.S. my new mailing address is PO box 837 Honokaa,Hawaii 96727

 

Sister Bjarnson is the best😊 She picked me up from the airport when I came. She is a sweetie💗

Sis Lavaka made cookies for the first time... it was her first time #rookie 😄😉

Sister Hicken from Providence, Utah was at church!

Here's my trio for a day while my wound healed (still in Oahu)--Sister Melander and Sis Gabrielson