La Cucaracha!!! La Cucaracha!!!



Sister Jiminez: 

"We are so happy together!!! ♥"

 

 

"This week was a good one! The weather is being so strange here. It changes errrrr day! One day it was so hot and that can only mean one thing... The war of the Cucuracha has begun. I was saying my morning prayers only to look up and find a whopper cockroach the size of my thumb on my pillow. Satan works in mysterious ways. It took 4 o 5 tries but I finally gained the victory and Mr. Cockroach is no more. I just hope he doesn't have a cousin." 

"Today and yesterday it's been raining hard. My companion and I couldn't help but laugh during the hymn 'There is sunshine in my soul today' while the thunder outside the chapel was roaring too loud for us to hear the music." 

On Wednesday I had my first zone Conference and that was really cool.  I can't tell you how highly I think of my Mission President and our leaders. On Friday we went to the mission home because Hna Jimenez had an interview and I got to talk to Hna Thurgood for a good while. She is so sweet. I am discovering that my English communication skills are declining haha. 

I also had exchanges once more this week with Hna Sosa in Alejandro Korn. Hna Sosa knows every Bob Esponja (Spongebob) episode that ever existed and even though she was quoting every line in Spanish I still knew exactly which episodes she was talking about and we had a good ole laugh over that haha.



"Happy 2 Months to me!"

We had lunch with a part member family whose little girls ages 3 and 5 wanted a nametag just like mine so I madethem each one that said their name and 'Soy un hija de Dios, y Jesucristo me ama'. I thought of what Grandma Flake taught me about the influence we can have even on small children. We sang to them primary hymns and they kept wanting to hear more haha it was so cute.

We are also teaching English classes to a few of our investigators- many people want to learn English here- the deal is they have to listen to our message first haha.

Hna. Flake, Hna. Jiminez, Laura, Yonathon, Frodo

"Our only progressing investigator right now is Laura and she has heard almost every lesson and has an awesome testimony...... She wants to be baptized and promised us that she is going to pray and ask what Gods will is for her. We are really hoping she finds her answer. Keep Laura and Yonathon in your prayers!"

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"We have a LOT of investigators that appear to be interested in our message but do not follow through with their commitments. We are trying to help them but when it comes down to it, they have their agency and we cannot force them to accept the good news of the Gospel. That is something that hit me hard this week. I was aching over how many people we come in contact with do not accept what the Spirit has taught them, and I realized that I am feeling only a small teeny tiny portion of what our loving Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ feel every moment. I cannot imagine how they feel. They love each person perfectly. I hope I can do everything I possibly can as a servant of the Lord to present the truth the way our Savior would present it. With love and sincerity. With boldness and clarity.

I love you all so much! Thank you for being such a wonderful loving family to me and for making good decisions. That, in the end, is what brings most happiness in everything. To yourself, to others around you, and to your loving Heavenly Father."

Con mucho amor para siempre,

Hermana Charly Flake

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who wants BREAD?



"This week has been a good one and one filled with many tender mercies!

For example, on Thursday we got to go to the temple with the Ward and it was so amazing! It's a mission rule for missionaries not to enter, but we got to walk around the outside and sit in the waiting room. I was so glad, the spirit is exactly the same even halfway across the world. It amazes me. I miss the temple so much! I learned this week that we get to go once a year. Hopefully I can wait it out till January haha."

 

We got to go bowling last PDay with our zone and it was so fun! The mall makes me feel like I'm in America again. But then I tasted their Subway and I remembered.

So I got to know the Bishop real well this week. You know how you want your first impression with the Bishop to be a good one? Haha well he invited us for Sunday dinner and everyone kept looking at me weird when we were eating the meat.

Then all at once the whole family started giving me tips of how I can use my fork. They all asked me if we have forks in the United States hahaha. His daughter even wanted to take a video of me. I talked to another Hna from the US that served in this area and she said that the Bishop told her the same exact thing!

Apparently us Norte Americanos don´t know how to use forks. Hopefully the Bishop still trusts me with referrals haha.



"Okay also I swear this food is killing me. Everything is so dang delicious! ........ Every meal I am presented with bread, pasta, bread, potatoes, bread, cheese, bread, meat, bread, cake, bread, pastries, bread.... oh and dulce de leche... and bread. And in my spare moments... I crave bread."  In this Picture, "We made Empanadas!!"



We have two new investigators this week, and elderly couple who have lots of questions. Thankfully my companion knew how to explain that we don´t practice sacrifices haha. Our investigator Laura and her boyfriend Yonathon are the best. We had Family Home night with them this week and we played charades. I was the champ because in the mission learning Castellano, charades is every day of my life haha. I taught them all how to sing 'We are the Champions'  on the ride home.

'SAND! STRAW! WATER! FASTER!'

My comp Hna Jimenez is just what I need right now haha she takes good care of me. She is sassy and in control but sweet and is serving me constantly. She likes listening to my music haha except one morning I was playing Prince of Egypt while doing situps, you know the Deliver Us song and so I was all pumped up haha and she just looks at me and was like, ' What is this' because she hasn't seen the movie and all she hears is a bunch of men screaming, 'SAND! STRAW! WATER! FASTER!'

Hahahaha I died of laughter so much that is was a much better workout than those sit-ups. I have to tell you, every time I am missing home I just sing that song 'This is my home!' and I feel right at home here in Argentina. I'm even writing a new version of it. Be expecting it next week :)

Well I love Argentina! And I love the mission :) Most of all I love the Lord and I am grateful every day to be here. I know one thing that I couldn´t do it without Him. I hope all of you remember Him this week. Sometimes we forget that He is our constant source for all things. I feel so sorry for those Christians in Iraq right now but I found a scripture that comforted me so much. Moroni and Mormon experienced much of the same things in their day and they wrote Moroni 9:25,26. These truly are the last days and I feel so privileged to be sharing the restored gospel right now and hope I can find those people who are thirsting for the truth. Moroni 9: 6

 

 

 



"Still have that love for Buzz Lightyear"



Yeahh whooohoo who´s up for ANOTHER WEEK 2?!

 

Language Update:

This week has been crazy and such a good one. On Monday my comp and I went to Claypole to be in a trio with Hna Castillo because she doesn´t have a comp right now. Haha I absolutely love being in a trio with these crazy girls. They speak perfect Spanish and when I don´t understand what they´re saying I just do something to make fun of myself and we end up laughing haha. I am feeling really good about the language and everything. I can understand a lot of what people are saying and I can speak enough to get around and express myself.I have such a testimony of the gift of tongues.  It truly is incredible.

 

 

On Wednesday we returned to Burzaco and the next day I went to Alejandro Korn with Hna Torman from Utah for an exchange. Let me tell you that was so fun haha it felt good to be with someone who spoke my language.

No I´m not talking about English. I´m talking about movie quotes.

FINALLY someone who knows who Chris Farley is! We were quoting Tommy Boy the whole time we were tracting haha.

Friday I returned to Burzaco and then Sunday we recieved word that we need to be a trio with Hna Castillo again haha so here I am until tomorrow. I´ve pretty much served in three areas in my first two weeks haha but it has been an adventure and so much fun.

Here in Claypole you need to watch where you step because there are dogs literally everywhere. I have never seen so many dogs.

 

Also yesterday was Feliz Dia de Niño and so my comp and I handed out suckers to all the kids in our ward. One kid got in line twice and I didn´t notice so I gave him another one and he gave me the biggest grin and held up both suckers in his hands like a champion. It was so cute.

 

 

 

 

 

(insert picture)...... One of our investigators, Laura and her boyfriend Yonathon, are the best and we have become such great friends. I have fallen in love with the people.

...Laura and Yonathon they make the best food in the world by the way.

ARGENTINA!!!!!

"Apparently the Atlanta Airport doesn´t like Mormon Missionaries because every pay phone in sight was not working. We were quite a sight, a bunch of nervous missionaries with nametags roaming around in a herd trying every pay phone in sight. The flight was great and I woke up Tuesday morning landing in the beautiful lands of Argentina!"

1st P-Day in Adrogue, Argentina

I`m glad you got a picture and letter from my President! Aren´t they the best? They are just as sweet as I imagined they would be. They spoiled us the first day with empanadas and pizza and then introduced us to our companions and sent us out into what is now known as REAL MISSION LIFE in my definition. All I can say now is that the MTC was a big, fat, delicious piece of Brucey Bogtrotter chocolate cake. Haha things are really different here but I love it. Okay, I don´t know why I EVER worried about the food. Oh my goodness everything here is delicious! I will never be able to eat American bread again. Most of the members feed us pasta and bread and soda. I haven´t gotten anything weird yet (knock on wood) but seriously it is delicious.

My companion is named Hermana Jimenez and she is the sweetest! She is from El Salvador and knows perfect Spanish and just enough English to help me out haha. She is also very hardworking and I am so grateful for that. In truth, she guides me around like a little dog sometimes so I´m glad she knows what she´s doing. :) It is lots of fun because I am trying to learn Spanish, and she is trying to learn English, so we have a lot of fun while we are tracting or traveling trying to guess which words mean what. I carry around my dictionary and we take turns learning new words.

There was one time she told me to guess the word for popcorn and I intelligently guessed 'maíz (corn) de poppo' haha and she started laughing so hard she couldn't walk. It was then that I learned the Spanish translation for 'poop'. Believe me that's not the only wrong word I have gotten funny reactions from haha it happens regularly! Good thing I know how to laugh at myself:) Burzaco is a little town with people who have big hearts. We live in a humble casa and we even have a dog named Cariz. Except she doesn't really like me haha. Last night we let her out of the gate and she took off down the street. Both Hna Jimeniz and I chased her down like crazy people. We do a lot of reinactivating because there are many less actives here. We also have a couple investigators named Laura and Yonathon ( less active) and they are my favorite! Laura plans on getting baptized as soon as they are married. We also do tracting here but get this: we don´t knock on doors, we CLAP on doors. It´s the coolest thing you've ever saw. We get around mostly by walking or bus and sometimes the train.

The people here are so incredibly nice and friendly it kills me! Every humble home I enter, (after almost being attacked by crazy dogs) I can feel of their special Spirits. Yesterday I got to meet all the members in the ward and every single person I met greeted me with their Argentina kiss haha.

During Testimony meeting after the Bishop bore his testimony, he asked me personally over the microphone if I would come up and share my testimony. I feel like it was really good and I believe everyone understood me! It's funny, that moment of me standing in front of a small Argentina ward in a humble little chapel and bearing my testimony for the first time is a moment that I´ve always imagined, and it was pretty much exacly how I imagined it haha. And then after my testimony a crazy lady with white hair got up and talked for about 15 minutes. My companion then told me that she has mental problems haha and finally the Bishop had to tell her to sit down. In truth, I never predicted that part.  Every person I meet tells me how good my Spanish is but again, that is just an example of how nice they

are.:) Sometimes, I feel like I´m doing really good with Spanish and I can hold a conversation and understand a lot and then other times, the only words I understand are ' Ella no entiende mucho, verdad?' Hahaha but I am finding ways to relate and show my personality. The way I see it, I can never go wrong with a smile and even though my Spanish needs a lot of work, I try to talk and ask as many questions as I can.

Everyone is really understanding and kind and helping me learn. When I want to make them laugh I just tell them my maíz de poppo story and it gets them every time.

Argentina is really starting to grow on me! Believe me, it wasn´t exactly like that at first. I didn´t just jump into a foreign country and feel right at home. Things are really different here, and it has made me appreciate so much already the way I have been raised and all the blessings I enjoy. I really am so blessed

A Letter from Hermana Jimenez:

I'm sister Jimenez! I'm from El Salvador, San Salvador. I have been out nine months. Nice to meet you. I need to tell you that Sister Flake is my best companion that I could ever have. She's so sweet, smart,lovely and obedient. :) I'm so happy for her. She's doing well. I'm learning a lot about her and your family. She's my example to follow. She's okay, don't worry. When I need something she say:"My mom, gave me this.. this and this.." she have every thing that we need here. hahaha :D 

medicines, clothes, shoes, books, all.!

 

I love her a lot, she's working really hard. I'm so proud of her. You can count on me. :)