Week 42

Hello Family and Friends! 

I hope everyone is having a greeeeat Monday! 

I went back to Federal Way this week for an unplanned for exchange! It was pretty great. We went to Costa Vida for lunch and guess what... we got it for FREE! Sweet pork salad for freeee! I was pretty pumped! It totally made my day. Ha apparenly that owner is a member and he hooked us up. So good :) 

Have you guys read the talk in the Ensign called An Hour to Watch With Him? It's SO good. Everyone read it for Family night tonight! 

It starts out talking about these few verses in Matthew.. 

36 ¶Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, andbegan to be sorrowful and very heavy.

38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

I was thinking about the Apostles and how bad they must have felt for falling asleep THREE different times. Then Christ says, "Could you not watch with me one hour?" You wouldn't think it would be that hard to stay awake! But in that talk it talks about the way that we approach sacrament meeting is the way that we can watch with Him one hour. So on Sunday I did my best to be completely focused. Not just during the sacrament, but during the whole meeting. I listened and wrote down impressions that I got. And I think I did a pretty good job! But then during the next sacrament meeting I was having a hard time. My mind kept wandering and I couldn't focus on the talks! It was kind of rough. I think I was able to feel a little bit how the Apostles felt. I didn't necessarily fall asleep, but my mind definitely wasn't present in the meeting! So I decided that this is something that I personally need to work on. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that we have to go to church each week. It's such a blessing to be able to reflect on what our Savior has done for us and to renew our baptismal covenants! Man, we are so blessed. :) 

I've got to get going but thank you all for the prayers! I love you all so very much. Have a great week! :) 

Love, 

Sister Flamm 

Week 41

Alright all you people that are getting married... NOT COOL! I'm not inviting any of you to my wedding if you keep this up! Haha geez.. Congrats to my cute little friend Tanya though!! Haha so excited for ya :) Looove you monkey! :) 

Can you guys believe that it's 2015?! Where did time even go? I don't understand. Ha our New Year's was pretty awesome though! We went to bed at 10:30p.m.! Ha it was a party for sure. Holiday's are so weird on a mission.. haha but that's ok. We still have fun :) 

We had a lesson set up with an investigator the other day and we couldn't find anyone to go with us. Everyone was out of town! But instead of giving up we kept pondering on who we could take. Immediately after that someone popped in our head so we gave her a call. She willingly accepted to go with us and it was such a great lesson! We talked to Michelle (one of our investigators) about the restoration of the priesthood and Temples. We showed her a video about Temples and everyone in the room was just feeling the Spirit. The member bore her testimony and then Michelle prayed at the end. She told Heavenly Father how excited she was to be able to go to the Temple someday. It was perfect! Then after the lesson the member told us that she felt inspired to share that video with her non-member friend. And you know what? She did! And her friend said that she was really interested in learning more! How cool is that? Member missionary work is where it's at. We discussed at mission leadership council the other day about the importance of member missionary work. We're trying our best to help the members understand that they don't have to know their friends for 5 years to then ask them to learn more and meet with the missionaries. I don't know who it was but an apostle said that the chances don't go up if you know someone for 5 years or 5 weeks. So the sooner you invite the better! All you have to do is do it out of love. :) 

I hope everyone has a great week! I love you all so much and you're all in my prayers! Get feeling better all of you sick ones. :) 

Love, 

Sister Flamm 

Week 40

Hello everyone!!

I hope you had a fantastic Christmas! So.. I'm sorry that I completely lost my voice!! Haha that was so dumb.. I couldn't believe it! It was great to see all of you though! Haha I couldn't say too much.. but I'm glad Skype was working :) It was weird cause I wasn't really sick.. my voice was just gone! But no worries, it's mostly back now. I don't know what the deal was.. but whatever. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to you guys next time. :) 

Christmas day was a lot of fun though! We went around to a lot of the members and Sister Pearson sang them a song on her guitar. She sang a song about the Atonement that she made up herself. Maybe I can try to send you a video of it or something.. it was SO good!! She's a champion and is definitely going to be famous someday. I just love her and I'm so grateful that I get to be companions with her! She's taught me so much and it's going to be sad to see her go at the end of this transfer! 

I got to go on exchanges this week with Sister Webb! She's the one that I'm facebook friends with that I met before the mission. Ha she's the best!! We had so much fun together. I'm really hoping that I'll get to be companions with her sometime soon. :) 

For the first time on my mission I woke up super late. Like 7:22a.m.! Haha it was crazy.. we had set our alarm for 6:30but forgot to switch it from p.m. to a.m. So Sister Pearson and I jumped out of bed and booked it trying to get ready so that we could make it on time for studies at 8. It's a good thing that yesterday was Sunday and we didn't have to work out! Ha cause that just would've been the pits.. 

I can't really think of much to tell you guys.. ha my brain is dead. But please pray for all of our investigators! We've got Gaby and Sergio who are trying to get their marriage papers so that they can get married and then baptized! Then we've got mother and daughter Corinne and Carley who are really going through a lot. Carley's parents are divorced and her dad told her the other day that he's not going to give her his blessing and won't support her in her baptism. So if you can think of anything that we can do for that, let us know! We're a little stuck. We're just praying that his heart will be softened though!! Then we've got Emily. She's about 23 and her mom just got baptized about a month ago. She's so sweet! But like I said, I know that the power of prayer is real. So I'd really appreciate if you guys could pray for them! :) 

Thank you so much for everything. I really appreciate all of the gifts and love and support! I love you all so much! 

Love, 

Sister Flamm

Week 39

Merry Christmas everyone! :) 

Can you believe that Christmas is in 3 days?? There's no snow here.. like at all. So I still feel like it's November or something. Ha I guess this year will be a Christmas without snow! Which will be super weird.. There's snow at home though, right? I guess I'll see it when we Skype :) 

This week flew by. It was super fun though because I got to help out at a food bank for a few hours! I love being able to serve those that are in need. It really puts things into perspective for me! It breaks my heart to see people who are really struggling though. But I'm glad that I was able to help them! 

I just wanted to share my testimony with you guys since I'll get to talk to you in a few days. :) 

I know that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem to humble parents who love our Heavenly Father. I know that my Savior preformed many might miracles such as healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He loved EVERYONE including those who persecuted him. He went forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind. He took upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people so that he would know how to succor us in our infirmities (Alma 7) 

I know that he died on the cross, was laid in a tomb, and then rose on the third day. I know that my Savior lives. "He lives and grants me daily breath. He lives and I shall conquer death. He lives my mansion to prepare. He lives to bring me safely there." (Hymn 136) I know that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer! And because of Him I know that we can all return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven again someday. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving us The Gift of His Son. Their love is real! And I hope you can all feel of that now and forever. 

I love you all. 

Sister Maurcine Flamm 

"Without Christ, there would be no Christmas. Without Christ, there can be no fulness of joy. Without His birth and His Atonement, we would have no Intercessor, no Advocate with the Father, and no Mediator who makes it possible for us to return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father and live together as eternal families."

-Bishop Gary E. Stevenson 

Remember to #sharethegift!! There's so much that you can do. Think outside of the box and just help someone in need :) 

Week 38

Hello! 

I hope everyone's doing alright! This week has been pretty great! I love my new area and my new companion. Haha Sister Pearson is so great!! We have so much fun together. :) And she's definitely helping me out so much! She goes home at the end of this transfer though. So that's the pits! But we'll have a good 5 weeks together. :) 

So I'm in Puyallup South and we live in a house and we have the whole thing to ourselves! Haha we are so spoiled right now. It's pretty fantastic. :) We even have a dishwasher and an oven that works! Ha I'm pretty pumped. :) 

Alright so we were contacting a referral the other day, but they weren't home. We then saw that their neighbor was outside so we started walking over there to talk to him. As we were walking his dog bolted at us and kept trying to jump on us. It was super annoying... but we kept trying to talk to this guy about his family and the gospel and things. So as we were talking to him his dog kept sniffing my boot. I kept trying to shew him away, but it just wasn't happening! So I decided to just ignore it. I then turned and looked over at Sister Pearson and her eyes got HUGE. She then pointed at my feet and started freaking out. Then.. I felt it. And it definitely wasn't the Spirit! Ha this dog PEED ON MY LEG AND BOOT! Haha I thought I was going to die... I'm telling ya.. It was the worst thing ever!!! How does that even happen?? Geez. SMH. I couldn't even believe it. And what do we do? We laugh and then keep talking to this guy about the gospel! Want to know the worst part of it though? He wasn't interested. -_- Haha for real.. that guy owes me. I'm going to go back and tell him that he has to at least let me teach him the Restoration! #NEVERgettingapet#ever

But on a better note, we had 4 investigators come to church yesterday! We were pretty happy about that. :) The members here are awesome and are really fellowshipping all of these people. I'll tell you more about them in my letter home or something though. :) 

Well I can't think of what else happened this week.. so I guess that's all. :) Haha I love you guys so much! Thank you for all of the prayers! I can feel them working in my life. :) I know that prayer is real. I know that Heavenly Father loves us SO much that He sent His Son to earth so that we could make it back Home again someday. I love my Savior. He lives! And I'm so grateful for him in my life because I have so many weaknesses! But I know that because of Him I can become better. :) Let's all do what we can to bring more unto Him! #sharethegift :)

Love, 

Sister Flamm

Week 37

Hello!

Man.. I feel so bad for my favorite little Skyler!! It breaks my heart to see him struggling! I'll keep him in my prayers for sure. I can't believe that him and Ethan both have been diagnosed with diabetes at such young ages! I hope and pray that the doctors will be able to continue to help him though. You guys are killing me. Stop it with all the sicknesses and stuff! 

Speaking about sicknesses.. I was pretty sick to my stomach when our phone rang the other night! We were at a member's house at like 9p.m. and were trying to get out the door. While we were there we kept getting a bunch of texts from like everyone and their dog. Then as we were walking out to the car, our phone started ringing. I took it out of my pocket, looked at it, and saw that President Eaton was calling. And I was like oh crap. So I answered and President says, "Sister Flamm! Thank you for being such an amazing missionary. You have been called to serve as a Sister Training Leader." I was like, "Are you kidding me right now?!" Then Pres. said, "I'm dead serious!" He then told me to pull out a piece of paper and started giving me some instructions. What in the world?! That totally blind sighted me. You're supposed to train before you become a sister training leader. But apparently I'm an exception to the rules! Ha geez.. I don't even know what is going on. When I had my interview with Elder Hamula he mentioned that I need to look forward to the leadership opportunities that would be mine in the near future. I didn't know that he meant the near NEAR future! Ha. Crazy..  But my new companion's name is Sister Pearson and she's also a sister training leader. So hopefully I'll be able to learn lots from her. :) I'll be in Puyallup South cover 2 wards again! So it should be super exciting. :) Ha I just hope that I can do the things that Heavenly Father wants me to do in this next area. 

Saying goodbye to everyone in Dolloff and Star Lake was super sad. There were a lot of tears from the members and I just didn't even know what to do! I just tried to keep a positive attitude cause I'm definitely coming back to see these people again. I just love them all so much!! And I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to touch some lives there. :) Because they all definitely touched mine! 

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week! You guys are always in my prayers. Give Skyler a kiss for me!! I miss my little buddy. I love you all so much! And I'll talk to you real soon! I can't even believe that it's almost Christmas!! Ahhh! 

All my love, 

Sister Flamm 

Week 36

Hello Flammily! 

What a week! Thanksgiving was pretty good! Definitely not the same... but still good! We had a mission activity that morning and we all got together and played sports and stuff. I didn't know that's what we were going to do though.. so I curled my hair. And not going to lie, it looked dang good! Haha. But then soccer in the RAIN happened. It was so muddy and wet.. and then my hair was destroyed. But no big deal. I'm over it. ;) Haha. After that we had dinner at a members home and then tried to find people to share the gospel with! We met a lady who spoke Persian who let us in her home. She was super nice! We showed her the "He is The Gift" video. I decided that I absolutely can't wait until there isn't a language barrier one day. That'll be nice. :) But if you haven't watched that video yet, DO IT! And then share it with someone. 

This week it SNOWED! Haha I got out of the shower and my companion was just staring out the window with the biggest smile on her face. She looked like a little kid at Christmas! Haha. But it snowed about two inches and then guess what? They banned us from driving our cars and riding bikes. They said we had to be on foot for the day! I was like are you kidding me?! This is nothing!! So we had a service project that we had to do at the church that morning that a member took us to. But then we had to walk back home in the freezing cold. Haha it was only like 2ish miles, but it was brutual. And now I know how the Elders who don't have cars feel... haha. But after we made it back home we got a call saying that we could use the cars again. HALLELUJAH! So we were happy about that. :) I did find out that our name tags make great window scrapers though! ;) 

A huge miracle happened this week! We've been working with a part member family and the husband committed to be baptized in January!! We were so excited! So now they can start working towards being sealed as a family :) Joe is the dad to that cute little girl that I sent you guys a picture of two weeks ago. I just love them!! And they all came to church for the first time as a family yesterday! I can't wait to come back for his baptism. 

Well.. it's not really looking like Angelika is going to be baptized this week. I know.. it's super disappointing. It breaks my heart! But I know that Heavenly Father has something in mind. Something that's greater than my plans. :) It'll all work out!! 

I hope everyone is starting to feel better! I'm sorry that the flu hit you guys so hard. That's no fun at all. And Spence, get better and go back to school! You're not ever going to be able to graduate if you don't go to school! Ha. I love you guys so much! Have the best week ever! 

Love, 

Sister Maurcine Flamm