Pictures from the Sister

A note from your Sister

My Dearest Family!

I am so thankful President Sweeney is allowing me to email y'all today. He called me this mornin and let me know about Gramma's passing. Gramma is an incredible woman. She is the perfect example of service and love. I have always looked up to her and how much she loved Granpa. I always wanted a relationship like that! They are so adorable and there was no denying the beautiful and pure love they have for each other. What a wonderful thing, that she can now return to be with Granpa! Can you imagine their reunion?? How tender and happy that must have been. After I got off the phone with President, I hit my knees and asked Father if she was ok, if she was happy, if she is with Granpa. My whole body was flooded with warmth and a resounding YES entered my mind. Then Gramma's voice ran through my head and said- "Did you think I was gonna let anything stop me from getting to him?"

I know without a doubt she is happy. She is with Granpa and they are going to be powerhouses doin the work of our Father up there. I am so thankful for the knowledge that we have that it is all going to be okay! We will see them again! And what a wonderful day that will be! It's ok to cry, let it out. But don't let it stop you from pushin on. I pray for y'all with all my heart every day. Don't you worry about me. I am so happy. It makes me so thankful that God lends me my breath everyday to go and do His will. 

King Benjamin is my hero haha I talk about him all the time. Mosiah 5:15 reads: Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may bebrought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen.

Family, let God seal you His. Give your hearts unto Him. Allow Him to comfort you and make you stronger. Never doubt who you are and where you came from. This life is merely a fragment of what lies ahead. I am so thankful for the time I did have with Gramma. Taking care of her while she was in Tennessee and getting to listen to her stories and watch the Kentucky Wildcats ball it up are some of my most cherished memories. Gramma and Granpa have left a legacy of love and faith, and now they are both lookin down on us. I can feel Granpa here with me everyday. And now they are both by my side, helpin me do the work that they hold so dear. 

I love you so so much. I am so excited to skype y'all in just 3 short months! And Royce is gonna be born soon! So many happy and marvelous things my goodness we are so blessed. Thank you so much for your prayers. Because y'all are strong, I can be too. We pull together in times like cause that's what we do, we are there for each other. And I am here for you! I love y'all! Team? Team.

All my love,

Sister Crystal Snow Flake

CRAZIEST WEEK of my LIFE

Familyyyy!!!

Wow. You will not believe the week I have had. Like seriously it was NUTS. I wish I could tell everything but that would take ages haha I am still debating on whether or not to tell the demon dog story haha Ma may freak out so nahhhhh ANYWAYS haha so my hair is so long I accidentally sit on it sometimes. I would get it cut but it is such a good conversation starter and has helped me get in doors Im just gonna keep it! 

So Monday was Pday and had Zone Conference tuesday- which was AWESOME. Have y'all heard of the Meet the Mormons movie that is coming out?? We get to go see it! Its in October holy cow AWESOME missionary tool!! Everyone go see it and take your friends kay? Then Wednesday was exchanges and Sister Crandall came and was with me in my area!! It was SO FUN she is amazin. We did some service and I think somethin in the garage we were cleanin out I was alergic too or somethin.. I kinda brushed it off and kept goin and we had some awesome contacts and met some incredible people!! Welllll when we got home that night it all came crashin on me... 4 asthma attacks later and the Elders came and gave me a blessing and then I got a cold and so I was deaadddddd oh it was bad!! But its ok!! So I woke up in the mornin on thursday and was sooo sick... but I got up and kept workin! 

Sister Lieberman then was like ok youre done when we were halfway through studies and made me lie down. Cause I was pale and shivering. So I lied down and boom fell asleep. So I was sleepin for a while when Sister Lieberman came and woke me and said "umm how fast can you get dressed? Sister Carambelas needs to go to the hospital" WHAT so I shot up and got dressed and was out the door in like 30 seconds. She was having awful stomach pains oh my goodness it was so scary. We got to the ER in show low like 20 min away and I grabbed her and took her in and checked her in and sat her down we got the paperwork filled out and I turned it in and was like "Lady you need to get her in asap" so we got her in and was in there for 4 hours runnin tests and such. Thank heavens all is well and we got it all taken care of!

Welllllll then I passed out..  so we got me home and Sister Lieberman and Crandall had to go to the valley for MLC and so Sister Carambelas and I were left behind- dead and defeated. Haha we were seriously just these zombies dyin on the couches hahaha it was pretty funny. So we studied and watched the district and talked and talked and talked then Mel and Katy brought me soup!!!! Oh my goodness I love them so much!! And Mikayla Hatch brought me her guitar hot dog I was happy. 

Then Friday we were dead all day. We slept in till like 8 and then got up and tried to get ready but I couldnt even walk straight so we stayed in and studied and slept and rested and talked about life and I played guitar! It was crazy. I felt like a horrible missionary because we had to cancel appointments and such and I cried because I felt so bad :( but there was no way I was going to be able to walk let alone get on a bike! 

So that was nuts. Well then Sister Carambelas was havin a baptism that night and we found out that no one had made a program! And the baptism was in like 2 hours. So we got up and walked to the stake center and my goodness made the program- everything was going wrong- and we were freakin out but it was funny we were laughing our heads off cause everytime we are on exchanges something crazy happens!! but yeah we made the program and made it to the baptism. Well the baptism was awesome... from what I remember haha i kinda passed out in the back for a while. The Elders came and we standin on both sides of me at the end. I was strugglin my word I felt so dumb but hey what can ya do? So we came home that night and I fell asleep almost immediately- name tag on and all. (that happens a lot though haha)

Well Saturday WHICH IS THE DAY OF TRAVIS'S BAPTISM I woke up feelin like death still but I wasnt about to miss another day! So we got to work and went and did some service at a funeral luncheon and helped there and then we came back and practiced our song for TRAVIS'S BAPTISM!!!! oh my goodness ok so I made up a fingerpicking for Be Still My Soul on the guitar and put together a really cool arrangement for S. Liebs and I. Oh it was so good!! So then we met Travis at the church!!!! He was beamin. Family. My eyes were opened this day.

So we got everything ready and the font was filled and we took pictures then went in for the service. I have come to know Travis this past month and a half and his wife Mari and my goodness.. I love them so much. Sitting there by them and feeling of their spirit.. Before he went to be baptized we sang our song! I was still really sick so I kinda butchered the beginning but half way we were cruisin. the spirit was so strong. Then we went and Travis entered the font and was baptized. I cannot describe the feeling I felt. When he came up out of the water... He stood there with his eyes closed and a big smile on his face.. just soakin it all in... His wife looked at me and said "8 years.. I have been waiting for this for 8 years" i just was cryin and we hugged and oh my goodness I have never been so happy in my life! 

The talk next was on Temples and the speaker asked Travis "You can be sealed to your wife and daughter for eternity, how does that sound" and Travis with tears in his eyes said "That sounds amazing."

Travis accepted to invitation to follow his Savior. He had quit smoking and drinking and all of that. He was prepared. Christ is the ONLY WAY we can make it back to our Father in Heaven. Seeing Travis be baptized and feeling that spirit.. was indescribable. My eyes have been opened. I cannot describe to y'all what I felt that night. But I can tell you what I know. I know I am right where I am supposed to be. I know that when we follow Christ and utilize his atonement... we can be enabled to become like our Father in Heaven. These people are incredible. I am here to find those who have been searching for this. I am here so show them that Christ is the only way. The gospel changes lives. It has changed mine. My whole outlook on the mission has changed. What if I never came? What if I decided not to come? No way haha I cant see myself bein anywhere else than right here. I only have like less than 17 months left... thats not a lot of time!!! I have so much work to do and so many people to find!! I never wanna come home haha but I know one day I will have too so I am going to give my 110% every stinkin day. I want everyone to feel what Travis felt when he received the Holy Ghost and that full remission of his sins. You dont have to droop in sin!! You dont have to live with the guilt of doin somethin wrong!! King Benjamin talked about this beautifully. Christ came and sufferered for it all so we dont have too. He came so he could stand at the judgement bar of God and say "Hey, I know what she went through was hard and she did her very best to stay righteous" and he will advocate with the Father to let us stand spotless, to stand blameless and enter into His rest. Family what more could we ask for!?!? And Travis received that. You bet your bottom dollar Im gonna give it all I got to get this message to everyone. lets go team.

So this week was phenomenal. Though I was dead for half of it, Travis's baptism was incredible. Every rejection I have had, every heartache and homesickness and fear and bad day... it is all worth it. Family I can feel your prayers. Really, I feel it. I pray for y'all too, life is so good. Everything is going to be ok. 

Soooooooo now I have a challenge for all y'all!!! I want each of you to share something gospel related on facebook. Whether it be a Mormon message or a picture- POST IT and BEAR YOUR TESTIMONY. Just a quicky kay? kay. I will be following up so you better do it. Conference is coming up soon- GET THE WORD OUT!! Tell everyone invite people over make cookies i dont care. Will you post your testimony on facebook and invite a nonmember to watch conference? BOOM. you have been committed now getcho tail feathers out there and gidderdone. 

Well I love y'all SO MUCH!! My life is changing as has my heart. Each of us have felt that burning feeling of the spirit at some point in our lives. Are we still utilizing the Atonement? Are we continually striving to be better? You have felt it. I will echo the words of Alma "And now behold, I say unto you, my bretheren, (my family!!) if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" 

Can you? Are you striving to be better everyday? Let's help everyone feel that too.

I love you Family!

xoxo- Sister Crystal Flake

September what?

Family!!!

Welcome to another addition to Sister Flake's crazy life. I cannot believe another week has flown by! So much has happened my word! Well I am sitting here in tears (happy ones) cause of Dad's beautiful email, thank you Papa, and Becca's preggo pictures!!! Oh my goodness you are so gorgeous Seester! And Matthew is forever a stud that baby is gonna be a cutie! I miss y'all all so much! But the cool thing is that I have family here to help me along! We got to go to the temple last tuesday woowwww it was incredible. First thing I saw- VERNELL FLAKE!

Oops i got so excited i accidentally sent the message haha allow me to continue! so I saw vernell!!! That was incredible. She came up to me and gave me a big hug and she wasnt even supposed to be workin in the temple that day but she took someones shift and boom! That seriously lifted my spirits so much just to feel of her love and talk to her. I love her so much she is an angel. So the session was full and so we went and did sealings- my first time! Oh the promises made there are so beautiful! I want all my investigators and less actives to have that! Its amazing!! God loves us so much and the blessings from being righteous are phenomenal. Makes me way super excited to have a family of my own someday! So the temple was incredible. I saw so many Flake's haha it was like a mini family reunion! One after the other and Vernell came and got me and was like I wanna show you off to the other workers haha it was so cute I love her. So that was the best day ever! SO GUESS WHAT i have made my bed every morning and hung up my clothes every night for the past 2 weeks. Miracles do happen people!

Travis is getting baptized SATURDAY!! I cant believe its already time! I am borrowing a guitar it only has 4 strings haha but im gonna play it at the service! 

Then there was the sweet corn festival!!! So fun. Corn everywhere. I love this little town! Its so cute!! And they celebrate CORN ah i love it. We got to be on the float and helped build it it was so fun. We ran around passing out popcorn balls haha So much fun!! 

Family... I am so sorry for who I was before the mission... Like seriously what a lame bucket I was!! I have grown so much and have learned so much its crazy and its only been like a month. But I look back on who I used to be and all my old habits and hot dang I was a mess I am so sorry! I am not going to come home the same Crystal, and I am so excited for that. Focusing all I got on Christ and the people here have humbled me. So please forgive me for all my short comings. I am workin so hard to give all of myself to these people. I know that as I do that I wont have to worry about who I am, God will take care of that. I just gotta put myself completely in his care and He will help me. I know He is protecting me! 

We were able to teach the young women lesson yesterday on why temple marriage is so important! It was awesome. One thing we stressed was what Dad always would say to me: "If you want Superman, ya gotta be Superwoman." How true that is!! I hope and pray that I can continue to be the best Sister Flake I can be. the girls were so cute we had them write letters to their future selves saying they wouldn't settle for anything less than a temple marriage. It was awesome. The promises we receive in the temple my goodness that we can be together forever with our family!? Y'all are stuck with me forever mwahaha but really. Heavenly Father loves us so much its awesome. 

The work here is really starting to pick up. The members are awesome and we are doing a lot of reactivating work. The Book of Mormon is so incredible. I hope y'all are reading from it everyday cause my word it is the most amazing thing!! I always have known it was true, I prayed about it so many times and have read it at least 9 times or so. But seeing it CHANGE LIVES. Seeing someone read a verse and look at me with the light of Christ just beaming from their eyes. Seeing someone stop smoking. Seeing people come closer to Christ because of that book. Its incredible. The principles taught in that book and the the pure and simple truths.. this is your salvation in 531 pages. It tells you everything you need to do to get back to your Father in Heaven. Please read it. Ponder it. Not only is it like instructions for us- but it is a safety net, a comfort. I just finished studying Enos. I love how much he loves his dad! Jacob was awesome you can tell how much Enos loves him. In the last verse, verse 27, ah it makes me cry he says "And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest." what comfort!! Christ is our rest. Come unto him. Now my favorite part "And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen." 

My loved ones, one day we will all face our Maker. I cannot wait for that day. I will work everyday to get there. The feeling I get when I think of seeing my Savior and my Father in Heaven are indescribable. I want to be ready for that day. Thank heavens we have the Atonement, because I am so imperfect and I mess up so much. But I know, with all my heart, that Jesus is the Christ. That the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, and as we abide by it, we can stand blameless before God. I love you. I love my Savior. I love the people of Arizona. Don't let anything stop you from inheriting your place in His mansions above! I am praying for each of you. Have a blessed week and Happy September!

Much love,

Sister Flake

I think I'm in Heaven: Aug 25th

Hellllooooooooo Family!! 

WOWZERS what a week! I honestly can't believe I am sitting here emailing again! It feels like I was just here this week flew by so fast!! I have now been out for over a month can someone say crazy sauce?? Time is starting to fly even faster and it freaks me out. I brought my journal here today so I can look back and remember cause it went so fast I cant even think about what has happened haha.

So I went on exchanges with Sister Carambelas again I LOVE HER we get along so perfectly! She is so funny and we just have the most lovely time. We got to go to a member home for supper and it was incredible! Dad you would have loved it. He built EVERYTHING. The house and an ampitheatre with a house upstairs in it and all this awesome stuff! Ill have to bring you back here! He also HANDMAKES guitars. And I have missed playing guitar so much! It is how I clear my head and relieve stress and so i was dying to play and he let me play his 12 string acoustic guitar! It was seriously such a tender mercy. I played hymns and sang for them, the spirit was so strong. I was so happy!!! Oh how I miss my guitar. But that was flippin awesome. 

So Travis is still on set for baptism September 6th!! I am so excited!! He asked me to sing I am so honored. I think Liebs and I are gonna sing a duet. I super pumped. When I first met Travis, Liebs was like hey lets sing a Childs Prayer for them. I was like wait what? So we sang! The spirit was so strong! Then the next lesson was when he committed to baptism! Music really does speak to the heart. I never realized how based my life is in music until I got out here! Something tells me to stick with it because it really has been touching lives. 

We got to participate in the town clean up for the sweet corn festival! it was an awesome service project. I got to weedeat haha I was the only girl who knew how so they gave it to me and they all call me "farm girl" haha so they were like here ya go farm girl get to it! So i weedeated for 4 hours! it was so fun!! I miss manual labor so much haha it was so nice to be out in the sun just weedwhackin away! The people here are so great and the town is so cute! I think we are gonna be on one of the floats for the sweet corn parade! Im gonna see if I can throw some pass along cards ;)

Soooo i got sick. Pretty bad haha but its ok! Im doing great now. It was funny because Sister Lieberman would be like rest go take a nap and I refused haha i cant this is the Lord's time! So after the service project, Liebs was in the shower and I lied on my bed and waited and I fell asleep!! I woke up an hour later and freaked out! I ran into the livin room where Liebs was studyin and I was like "NOOOO why didnt you wake me up when you got out of the shower!!! I didn't mean to nap!!" She looked at me and said "Sister Flake. I was so happy when you finally fell asleep on accident because I knew I wouldn't be able to get you to go do it on your own!" it was funny we busted up laughing. She knows I am a stubborn mess haha I love her. 

So being on my mission has taken all of my weaknesses and thrown them up in lights. Honestly I am so imperfect and I make so many mistakes!! I am nothing compared to God. I love when King Benjamin addressed our "own nothingness" its so true!! We are nothing compared to God! But to God, we are everything. He wants us to come back to Him! US!! We are sinners and He is perfect! He loves us so much. I look back on all the hardships I have been through... but the cool thing is is God was ALWAYS there. He always helped me through it! And look where I am now! I know when hard times come its ok, God will guide the future as He has the past. It kills Heavenly Father when we are sad. But look at my knee injury experience for example. I was SO SAD. But having faith in Christ and knowing it would be ok, Heavenly Father helped me out and I learned SO MUCH. I grew substantially and I look back and I wouldnt trade that trial for anything because so much good came from that one bad time. So chin up family!! All is well!! 

I have met SO MANY family members!! I love it. They are like.. Sister... Flake?? Where are you from girl?? I say Tennessee- they say the Flakes are takin over!! Hecks yes we are. And lots remember Jason! They love him so much! its really cool. And we got to eat Big Jake's!! I still have half in my fridge haha no way could I finish that! 

I am so thankful for this Gospel. Each week I know I am changing and I dont even realize it till I sit at this computer and type to y'all. Now I am not even close to the missionary I know I need to be! So any advice would be FABULOUS. Most of y'all are return missionaries so hey shed some wisdom on me! I need it! I love y'all so darn scootin' much. Keep your heads up! Even when the clouds are out, the sun in still shinin. 

Much love,

Sister Crystal Snow Flake

here are some pics of the service project!! I became the honorary weedeater fixer haha they put a wrench in my back pocket so i could keep em goin. It was so fun! the blonde lady is Katy Chee!! She is AMAZIN!! She is a member but her husband isn't and we are teachin him. They are incredible I love them so much!!

(EDITORS NOTE: She sends about a million pics each week so I will just make a post soon with all of em.)

Mighty Miracles

Holaaa!!!

Wow I cannot believe it has been another week! Time is flying by SO FAST :( I love it here. The people are so great. I spoke yesterday in church. It was so fun! Lots more people than our little branch haha. SO GUESS WHAT. Travis is one of our investigators whose wife is a member and he has been investigating through 3 sets of sisters. Last monday we taught him about the Book of Mormon but i felt impressed to go into the Atonement. Turns out he understood the mechanics of the atonement but wasnt sure why it had to happen. Heavenly Father just put the words in my mouth. I bore hard testimony that God loves us and the only way back to Him is through Christ. That Christ stood in our place and bled from every pore for US. So that we dont have to suffer! He did the hard part! Now we need to follow him and repent and be baptized! I looked at him, we both had tears streamin, the spirit was so strong, and I asked if he would like to follow Christ and be baptized. He said yes!!!! September 6!!! God is workin might miracles. Its all the spirit. Isn't that so wonderful!! I love Travis. He has such a great heart and family. You can already tell the difference he is making and how his countenance has changed. He was prepared.

So that was amazing! Another miracle was we got the impression to visit a less active lady. She has been struggling with depression. As we sat there in her tiny living room, God took the wheel again. Through me He testified of His love for her. That she was a beloved daughter and He wanted her to come back to Him so He could heal her and take care of her. She committed to come back to church! And her teenage daughter was sitting in there. We all felt the spirit. Her daughter wants to come to church now too! Heavenly Father knows His children. He knows what they need to hear. I am so thankful that I am worthy to have Him work through me. It is amazin.

This is the hardest thing I have ever done! My body, mind, and spirit are exhausted by the end of the day. Rejection and disappointment ah it gets so tough. But when you look into someone'e eyes, and they themselves feel the spirit and accept to follow Christ? Worth it. This is the BEST thing I have ever done. If it wasn't hard it wouldn't be worth it. and lemme tell ya its SO WORTH IT.

So Liebs has had to go to the valley for meetings and Sister Carambelas and I were companions for a day I LOVE HER haha we had so much fun! I love my bike. His name is buckbeak. We probably biked 50+ miles last week no joke haha

I think my favorite scripture for this week is 3 Nephi 13 32- 34. Just put God first!! in EVERYTHING you do ask yourself, would God be ok with me doing this right now? I promise as you do that, everything else will fall into place! I love the last verse, its so cute!! Dont think about tomorrow. Let tomorrow think about itself! As long as you are doing what God wants you too, He will take care of it. That is how we receive true faith. By knowing that what we are doing is in line with what God wants us to be doing.

I love this work!! I love everything about it! We go to church for 9 hours every sunday! its fantastic! I am so excited for this week. We got big things and are helping Travis get ready for baptism! I love you each! Remember, God loves ya. I love ya.

xoxo- Sister Crystal Snow Flake

Oh there's sunshine, blessed sunshine

FAMILIA!!! 

Holy smokes I am so excited to sit down and write y'all!! Dang I can't even remember all that has been going on... I LOVE IT HERE. So much. the people here are so inspiring and wonderful. So here is what my days are like:

6:30- arise and shine!! We go running every morning. Then we shower and get ready!

8- personal study! I am reading some awesome talks. My goodness.

9- Companion study! It has been so fun studying for our investigators. Sister Lieberman (Liebs) is such a great teacher. I love learning from her. She has helped me so much!

10- GAME TIME. We usually do this 12-week study thing cause I am new but then we head out! We visit people all day. I love my bike. We can just stop and talk to anyone! So our dinner appt. got out late one night, and so we dashed down the hill on our bikes and we saw a man walking right where our turn was so we went up to him and started talking. He was having a rough day but said all of a sudden when we showed up he felt peace! So we taught him about eternal familes and i bore my testimony and we got his info and are gonna teach him! cool huh?! Crazy how he was right there at that exact moment! God is guiding us. It rocks.

So 5 is dinner and the lovely members always sign up so we have supper every night. Which rocks cause all I have is bananas and honey haha oh and slim fast. then we go back at it, get back round 9, plan, and then get ready for bed! I write in my journal and read letters and fall asleep and have crazy weird dreams. A couple nights ago I dreamt we baptized Voldemort hahaha yeah my dreams are mixed with missionary shtuff and Crystal's crazy brain. weird combo.

But yes. Life is so great. Yesterday, none of our investigators showed up to one of the wards (we are over 3 wards) so we were so bummed. So we went to visit people later that night and this one family let us in and they are so awesome!!! They are inactive but it was such a good visit. the people here are amazin. So we felt so good coming out of there. Liebs and I just hugged each other and were so happy! The moon was HUGE. As we were biking home, the air was so cool and crisp and the moon just lit up the road (no street lamps so that was nice) it was so breathtaking. So i started to sing How Great thou art. this was the best part-

"And when I think, that God His Son not sparing.. sent him to die.. I scarce can take it in.. that on the cross, my burdens gladly bearing.. he bled and died.. to take away my sin."

When I sang that I got goosebumps all over my body. Warmth fillled my heart and I could barely sing the rest. Christ gave his life for us. Willingly. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How great thou art!! How great thou art!! 

One day I am going to fall at my Savior's feet, sweaty and exhausted, having given all that I possibly could.. "Then I shall bow, in humble adoration, and there proclaim, my God how great Thou art!!" I cannot wait till that day. I have so much work to do though! I am growing so much. I am becoming more confident and quite frank with people. If you want salvation, you gotta work for it, but God makes it so easy! He spells it out. Just do it. God gives us so many chances its crazy! That is why the Atonement is so beautiful. I can better myself everyday. 

Something super awesome.. is how we has humans need to fix our attitudes haha I mean that in the nicest way! This applied to me especially. My Mission President asked us, "Why do you think life should be easy for you, when it was not easy for Christ?" Woah. That buckled my knees. Even Christ, the SON OF GOD, the most perfect person ever- asked God if there was an easier way. This life is supposed to require something of our soul. Sacrifice and hard work brings about so many blessings. When you struggle and go through hardship, you are pushing shoulder to shoulder with Christ. He went through it all for us. Our work is never finished. We must press on and give it all we got no matter the opposition! Life is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. But you know what? Life ain't even that hard!! We got each other. We got ice cream. We got sunsets and daffodils and Biggs!! What more do we need?? 

My bishop told me- "There is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone" Hecks yeah I am in the growth zone but I feel all the comfort in the world from y'all's prayers and my Father in Heaven. So I send my love and my prayers right back atcha! This snowflake is a happy one. Oh Liebs and I did the math- if we got paid minimum wage for every hour we work on the mission (16 hrs a day) we would make almost 70 Grand!! we laughed haha then I yelled THATS 70 THOUSAND BLESSINGS! You bet it is.

xoxo- Sister Flake

pics1 and 2- This is our caterpillar. His tame is Taco.

pic 3- muh bike shot

pic4- im really bad at taking selfies. Josh needs to teach me how. ;)

pic 5- I FOUND FLOWERS. tender mercies.

pic 6- this is a live shot. i just took this. sorry i look nasty we biked here in the rain. it felt so good!

pic7- I LOVE LIEBS

DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

Family!

Aaaaaaand now that I am landed in the beautiful Arizona Desert, it is time to reveal my first area!!

But first. 

So monday I flew out with 17 Elders at 3:30 am. Wowzers I was exhausted especially cause I couldn't fall asleep till about 1 amhaha. I felt super weird being the only girl. I was attached to my mission president's wife's hip when we landed haha then we went to the temple and took pictures and yeah! Lots of orientation and training. I LOVE IT HERE. It's super hot. But my watch tan line is fabulous. Then we went street contacting! I decided I could be shy or confident and I chose confident. I gave out two Book of Mormons and invited several people to meet with the sisters. I snuck a card with mormon.org on it to these ladies who were eating lunch and one lady found it and looked at me and smiled real big. Oh so I was in scottsdale at this point. Then I stayed at the McConkie's they are so gracious and fed us WAFFLES. Oh it was delicious I love them. Then tuesday we went to the church to find out the big news!!

I sat down next to the only other sister I saw in the room and we talked and I had met her last night- Sister Lieberman! She is super cool. Then as they were talking the pieces clicked haha She was the only sister trainer... and I was the only new sister... duh. Haha She is my trainer!!! She is AMAZIN. Like... the epitome of a beauty and grace. We are going to be a great team ah I love her so much!! 

Now the moment we have all been waiting for... my first area is..... dum dum dum TAYLOR!!!! I am up in the gorgeous mountains in 70 degree weather. Its like Fairview but mountain form! WE HAVE A COW IN OUR BACKYARD. Can life get any better? I submit that is cannot! OH and I am on BIKE!! At first I was like oh heck no. but I am in love with it already! I am so excited to serve here!! Just walking down the road last night a man drove by on his tractor and waved and I was like yes. This is where I belong. They go fishin on Pday! Heavenly Father has truly blessed me to be here. And the air? Asthma don't stand a chance! It's so clear up here! So after the meetin and everything we stayed another night in Scottsdale cause Sister Lieberman had a meeting. Then we got to drive up here last night and here I am!!

Ok pause. So tuesday night I went on splits with another sister- Sister Rasmussen- she is fabulous- and we rode bikes!! This is where I fell in love with the bikes. It was sunset and we were just cruisin through neighborhoods and it was hot yes but my heart was even warmer. It just hit me that I am in the mission. I am ready to serve. I am here to tell people of Christ! How beautiful. Oh. And I only crashed 3 times! Miracles my friends miracles. Though one time was not my fault. I did not see that pole comin. Who paints poles the same color as the walls? Crazy people thats who. But yes I love bikes like where have they been my whole life? It is so fun. And my legs are beginning to look so good. ha. jokes. 

Aaaaaanyways oh so tired has a new definition to me now. But I got this. I know when I am tired at the end of the day that I worked efficaciously throughout the day. the other night i was in the shower and i fell asleep. i ended up slipping and falling and now I have a very nice bruise on my leg to show for it. I know what youre thinking. Day 4 in the field and I have almost died several times. Jokes. God can stop bad things from happening to me but He can't make me anymore graceful. Sorry. But also another miracle happened. So for monday through wednesday I was living out of a small bag with necessities cause I was separated from my suitcases. I forgot my asthma medicine. So i prayed so hard everyday and kept my inhaler in my pocket. I just prayed that I could not have an attack cause I went several days without the medicine. And y'all know how it was- I missed a day and I would have an attack. So I prayed and told my companion and so she knew and could keep an eye out. I am also in scottdale and it just rained. So basically a hayday for asthma. BUT God watched over me! No attacks no nothin! Not even chest pain which usually happens anyways. I know that He is lookin out for me. Don't worry- I have my meds back and I am takin em. 

So here I am, in the Family History Center in Snowflake, Arizona. Kinda ironic yeah? The ward mission leader is so pumped to meet me. The sisters told me that all he talks about is this Elder Flake who served there and how much he loves him. One of the sisters said "Yeah our Ward Mission Leader loved Elder Flake, he talks about him ALL THE TIME. He is a legend here. Do you know him??" and I said YOU BET thats my BROTHER!!! So everyone is freakin out cause Elder Flake's sister is serving here! Seriously. Jason left a mark here that its been what... almost 2 years and they STILL are raving about him. Brings a smile to my face everytime. My little size 8 feet got big size 14 shoes to fill!! I am so excited. And I love my apartment. Its so spacious! And I sleep by the window and I can see the cow. Ah life is SO GOOD. 

Last night was my first night here. And it was dark and the stars were all out and the moon and it was GORGEOUS. We walked to visit someone and when we were headed home, I just looked up at the sky and my heart just filled with so much joy. These past couple of days were rough. I felt so out of place because I had nothing to do and just had to sit around the mission home reading and such. Satan was attackin my mind so hard core. Telling me I wasn't good enough. Makin me question why I was here and tellin me to go home. I slapped that man upside the head, get thee hence Satan! Walkin in Taylor under the stars... I know I am supposed to be here. I know God called me here for these people. I am so excited to serve them with all I got. 

Wanna know what's crazy? So I prayed about coming on a mission after the age change in October 2012. The answer was no. So I applied to BYU and got accepted in February of 2013. So I prayed again, asking God if I should go to BYU or go on a mission, cause I was turning 19 in July. The answer was go to BYU for a year. So I did! And I learned so much about myself and I made friends that will be with me forever. I got to spend time with Ryan and Cari in provo before they move to tennessee. I got to be with Becca and Matthew when they announced their baby and spend ALL MY TIME with them. And I got to make memories with Jason that I will never forget. "Can you Sally forth the aunt Jemima on tuesday?" *Hands Jason a loaf of bread* hahaha I got to grow so close to my siblings at home and in provo, and become besties with Erin and all the friends and ahh my cousins and ahh it was so perfect! God knew I needed that. I grew so much. I learned things that I am utilizing now. AND THATS NOT EVEN THE BEST PART! So then in July 1, 2013, the Arizona Scottsdale Mission opened. When I prayed about going, it was before then. My mission wasn't even established yet! So I go to BYU for a year, grow immensely, then in February 2014, I ask God one more time. And He told me it was time. He needed me now. So I filled out my papers and turned that sucker in and here I am! God needed me right here, right now. There are people here that He is preparing me for. And I am so excited to find them!! Yes it is hard, but it is so fun!! When you see people's eyes light up when you tell them that they can be forgiven of their sins, that Christ suffered for them so they don't have too... it's a whole new feeling of happiness. I love it here. I have been gone for just 2 weeks now and I feel like it's been ages haha I have truly changed a lot. My heart isn't beating for me anymore, it's beating for God.

So pday was today cause of transfers but its officially on monday so I can email then! Send me pictures of Josh and Spencer in their football gear! I miss y'all so much. But I love you even more! Heavenly Father is watching over each and every one of you. He promised me He would if I worked hard. So that's what I am doin. We live right across from the rodeo grounds haha oh my word I am so happy here. 

Trust Heavenly Father. He knows absolutely everything about you. He knows from before the beginning till after the end. Just be good. Do everything you can to follow Christ. That's all He wants! I love the primary song "I'm trying to be like Jesus." We just gotta try. Give it all we got. Push till you can't anymore. Take a leap of faith, and Christ will be your wings. I love y'all. My heart is so full. 

Much Love,

Sister Crystal Flake

ps- this pic is Sister Lieberman!! My trainer!! She is so incredible. I want to be just like here. She is from Chicago. Sorry I look super rough in the picture I am runnin on an hour and a half of sleep haha

Don't drink the orange juice..

FAMILY!!!

Oh what a glorious week it has been!!!! I HAVE 3 DAYS LEFT. I head to the airport at like 3:30 monday and then its game time. The MTC has been such an AMAZIN time. I love everything about it. Some days are hard, but my companions are beautiful and always cheer me up. We taught Barbara, one of our investigators, who didn't even know about Jesus Christ!! it was crazy. I was so sad because so many people don't know about Christ and this gospel and that is why I am here! So we taught her and the lesson went AWESOME. We invited her to pray and she said she would try. The next day was a rough day for me and I wasn't feeling like I was good enough and just super down on myself. I butchered the first lesson of the day and wanted to cry but then I went into a corner and just prayyyyyyed my guts out that God would help me teach with the spirit. Then we went into teach barbara and I felt the spirit so strong. We taught her about Christ and His atoning sacrifice and how much he loves us. She was confused on how God could love each and everyone of us so much. "There are billions of people, how does he know me?" she said. Then a scripture popped into my mind it was Psalms 147: 4-5: 4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Heavenly Father is our Father! He knows each and everyone of us so personally! If He can name each and every star - billions upon trillions upon gazillions of them- then He can know and love us each. "His understanding is infinite." He KNOWS us. He has a plan for us! So Barbara loved that. She couldn't stop smiling because she could feel God's love for her!!! Everyone should feel that. God loves y'all so much!! I know why I am here. To help people come unto Christ and feel God's love! 

So my companion Sister Stewart is going to San Diego, and Sister Condie my other companion is going to Las Vegas! So we all leave different days and I'm glad I leave first because these ladies have become my sisters. They have lifted me and guided me to be the best missionary I can be. I love them with all I got and I know we will always be so close. Also I love my district! They are my family! They all go to Vegas and San Diego and I am the only one to go to Arizona so that will be sad goodbyes :( But God needs us! 

So orange juice... yep the orange juice here does NOT i repeat does NOT settle well with the belly. And I have had like 3 glasses a day for the first couple days and I am dying but its ok! That was the first thing I told the new missionaries haha lesson learned.

Sunday was phenomenal. Everyone is so focused on Christ that the spirit is so strong!! You know Johnny Grober? From the other side of heaven movie? The real Brother Grober came and spoke to us!!! It was amazin. He told us we could bear our testimony through word, song, actions, and who we are. It just showed me how much more of an example I need to be and I need to be more like Christ. 

My new missionaries came in yesterday!! Training is so fun. These sisters are amazin too. Crazy how now when I see people I can just feel God's love emanating off of them. The spirit is so strong here. Im gonna miss the MTC but I am super stoked to get into Arizona! 

Well time is about up. I dont know how to send pics on this computer haha but I will try my best! Yall may have to wait till next week. But I just want y'all to know this church is true. God is watching over me I have felt it. I love you each with all I got. I don't think I have prayed this much in my life haha it is so important to have God with you at all times. 

Next stop- Arizona!!!!

Sister Crystal Flake

I LOVE THE MTC!!

Family!!

Ok so our pday isnt until next thursday but they wanted us to quickly let y'all know that I am alive and SO HAPPY!!! I am loving every second of it here. My companions are Sister Condie and Sister Stewart. They are PHENOMENAL. Already changing my life. They have brought me so close to God these past few days. I love being in a trio. It is so fun!! They are my sisters, literally. We get along so well and are so beautiful inside and out. I know God sent them to be angels in my life.

Then there is my district!! OH MY GOSH I LOVE THEM. It is us three sisters and then 6 Elders and then us 3 sisters and 16 elders in our zone haha so we are very outnumbered. I am the only sister going to Scottsdale this transfer! But there are 3 other Elders so that's nice that I have someone. My district has blessed me so much with their testimonies. Yesterday we were doing quick invitations to pray and I was the investigator and one of the Elders was asking me to pray and I was supposed to say no. When I did he asked why, and just acting as the investigator I said I didn't know if God loved me. He said well you pray and ask God if you are His daughter. So I did. My whole body was blanketed in warmth and I started to cry! I am His daughter! I felt God's love for me SO STRONG. I know He is proud of me. OH! I am senior companion and a Sister Training Leader! So I get to train all the new sisters on Wednesday! Fun fun.

So here I am. I love it here. I am so excited to continue learning. Yesterday we taught our first investigator a lesson. WE WERE SO SCARED haha but I took us into the corner and we knelt and I pled with God to bless us with the spirit to teach with. Then I stepped off to the side and said my own prayer. I asked God to please let the lesson go well. We had a super rough day and our confidence in our teaching was shot. So I begged Heavenly Father to please let it go well so we could feel His love, discover the investigators needs, and gain confidence. Miracles my family. Miracles happened. There wasn't a dry eye in that lesson. I have never spoke with that much power before. This is what it is all about. Seeing people through Christ's eyes and telling them what He wants them to hear. 

I have drawn so close to my Savior. I devote all I have to Him. I have SO MUCH improving, but that experience was phenomenal. I am in love with the work. When they put my name tag on, I got goosebumps all over. I am not Crystalright now. I am Sister Flake, someone set apart to be a full-time servant of God (even though my ZL's  found out my full name and told EVERYONE. punks). With that comes so much responsibility, but so much power!! (Spiderman reference yes.)

So don't worry about me. I am loving it. Yes, there have been hard days. Yes my body and mind and rung to the core. But I love it. I fall asleep as soon as my head hits my pillow and when the alarm goes off it is so much easier getting up because I have a purpose. Thank you for the love. I will email next thursday and I believe my flight for Arizona is Aug. 4.  

Everyday is so fun too. We played sand volleyball this morning and yesterday was our first dayy to get to go to the gym at like 6am. OH HOW GLORIOUS! Being able to work out was seriously so great I felt ten times better. I am eating well, so don't worry Dad haha I have fruit and juice for breakfast and salads for lunch and dinner. We drink a lot of water and I probably have lost about 5 pounds already- all of that fried chicken weight haha. 

Just know that I am so happy. I don't have time to get homesick haha whenever I slow down to think about it I find that I am late to something else haha we just go go go! 

Family? I just want y'all to know how blessed we are. We have the true and living gospel here in our lives, bringing us closer to Christ EVERYDAY. I know I can work on this, but in D&C 110 I think.. or 88.. I cant remember I think its 88.. yes its 88 verse like 68 i reckon but it talks about having an eye single to the glory of God. My teacher said straight up "Get over yourself, lose yourself to find yourself." I think we each can do that everyday. We are simply here to grow closer to Christ. I encourage each of you to forget yourself and look to what you can do to grow closer to Christ this week. Cause he is just waiting for you, to bless you and give you the strength you need to make it through these days.

I love y'all so much!! Thinking about y'all doesn;t make me sad, it makes me so HAPPY. Because I am fighting to bring blessings to y'all. Yes its hard but things that are worth it are going to be hard. This letter is turning out longer than I thought haha they gave us more time and I have so much more I want to say! I love y'all. I gotta go now but thank you for your prayers. I really can feel them. Thank you for getting me here. It is changing my life. 

Much love,

Sister Crystal Flake 

ps- i think i got the whole families emails to send this too, make sure it gets to my siblings and if I got their email wrong have them email me from the right ones! Love ya!

Heeeeere we go!

We are now at ONE WEEK until I embark on the most incredible adventure of my lifetime. Now, many of you may be wondering- "Crystal, what even is this shindig you're doing?" Which is a very good question! Click on this link to have all those questions answered --> https://www.lds-missions.org/

Now the real question is, why am I serving? Not all young women are asked to go, so why me? Allow me to answer.
We have a loving Father in Heaven. He is our God, our Almighty, but most importantly He is that loving Father. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for all of us and take upon himself the sins of the world. This was so we could repent and make it back to our Father. Wow. Just thinking about that even more gives me goosebumps! He DIED for us. Suffering not only the pains in Gethsemane but the excruciating pain of being nailed to the cross. A perfect man. Suffered for an imperfect girl like me. For all of us.
And for the sole purpose that we could come back to our Father in Heaven. Why? Because He loves us so darn scootin' much! He has given us everything we own from our lives to our families to the food we eat and the clothes we wear. From waking up to falling asleep. Absolutely everything we are is because God loves us with such a deep and unconditional love. Isn't that beautiful? That no matter who you are or what you've done He loves you  and wants you to come back to Him!
Doesn't that just make you wanna jump for joy and give Him a big hug!? I sure do. I love my Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ so much! I know you do too, or else you wouldn't be readin' this!

I want to share a personal experience of when I felt that pure love. Once upon a time I was a senior in high school. I played soccer since I was a wee girl and it was my senior season!! Time to rock it and give it all I had for that last time. I had dreamed about that season for years. Well, in the 3rd game of the season a girl and I were battling for the ball and long story short I was left behind in the grass with my knee cap on the back of my leg, dislocated and quite disgusting. So what does this stubborn, southern girl do? Pops in back into place, gets up, and goes and gets the ball back. Well after about 20 seconds of running and the adrenaline dying down, I realized I could no longer walk. I yelled to my coach and I hobbled off the field for what we be my last time. Turns out not only did I dislocate my knee but I blew out part of my femur bone. Hot dog that stinks. After praying and praying I asked God to heal me and let me get back in the game. Unfortunately the doctor said that was not gonna happen and my dreams were swept out from under my feet.
I remember coming home that night, mangled and broken, so discouraged and sad... I crutched on outside to my dock.. it was gorgeous outside. The stars were mesmerizing and the moon reflected off the pond adding a soft light to the world around me. I sat on the edge and dipped my feet in the water. Tears filled my eyes and I looked up to the heavens, crying out to my Father in Heaven. I was filled with so much sorrow.. so I prayed. I prayed that I could feel His love. I prayed that I could find the reason why this had to happen. I prayed to find a way to grow because of this and become a better person. At that moment the wind picked up and blanketed my body in the warm August air. Then I heard a voice say: You are my daughter, everything will be okay. My eyes shot open. I looked around to see who had said that! No one was there. I know that was my Father in Heaven. My heart filled with joy and peace. And I began to cry tears of joy, because I knew I wasn't going to go through this alone!! I felt that love flood my body and soul. And I channeled that love to my team, my second family. I can't tell you how close we all came together and I will forever be grateful for that experience.
I still am not healed from this injury. I still face a lot of problems with my knee. But my relationship with my Father grew ten fold. He gives of His love freely. He knows what we are experiencing, and He sent our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ to feel every pain and affliction so that He could hold our hand as we endure our own personal pains. But what is so beautiful, is we can forsake our sins and our afflictions. We can let Him take over! What a beautiful thing!!

I am a 20 year old girl. I am majoring in Exercise and Wellness at BYU aiming to be a massage therapist/personal trainer. I have put all that on hold to go and serve God and His people in Arizona. I put a hold on dating and that education, lost a scholarship, and going this year and a half not seeing my family or friends. I am aware that I am sacrificing a bit, but in the eternal perspective, it's not a sacrifice- it's my pleasure.
There are people in this world who don't know of God's love for them. We are divine children. We are loved. We have a purpose on this earth! Each and everyone of us is here for a reason!! There is a GREAT plan of happiness to guide us back to Heavenly Father. THAT is why I am going. To tell everyone that they are LOVED. You are loved!! And Christ's church is restored on the earth today, giving us all the necessary tools and keys to return to our Father in Heaven. WOWZERS. What a grand life we live in!!
My dear friends. I know God loves us. He loves you. Everything about you. He made you and you are His. Jesus Christ is our older brother. He is by your side, wanting to guide you and help you along, if you would just come unto Him. This shindig I am going on is the greatest opportunity for me to go and serve and tell people this great message. I want to follow Him. I give my life to Him because He loves me and will not lead me astray.
I love my family. I love my trailer and my dog and my chickens. I love my pond and living in the south. I love my friends and my truck and cows and camp fires. I love my guitar and country music. But most of all, I love my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ. God is so great! I can't do half as much as He has done for me, but I can give Him all I got in helping His children find their way back. 

So ya with me? Let's do this. One week.

xoxo
Crystal Snow Flake