A lot happened this week. I'm sure many of you have heard about the tragedy my mission experienced Friday and Saturday. On the way to Tulsa for a Zone Conference four missionaries were involved in a car accident. Three of them were okay, minor injuries, but at 3 AM Sister V-- passed away. It has been very sad and even though I had never met Sister V-- I felt like I had lost a very dear friend. The missionaries in the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission are like family. However, we know where Sister V-- is and what she is doing there right now (http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/plan-of-salvation). We know that Sister V--'s missionary work is continuing, just in a different way. In an email to all the missionaries President Shumway said, "[Sister Shumway and I] are certain that Sister V-- is busy with her work on the other side…. But she was trained here… in the OTM. I like to think that she has just raised the standard for missionary work on the other side to a whole new level."

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference, it was an amazing Zone Conference! Sister P--- (my companion in the MTC) was there! YAY! I haven't seen her in seven months!! I learned so much and I am excited to start studying my notes and re-learning from them! President Shumway is so inspired. I always learn so much from him!

Saturday was transfer calls, and boy were Sister S--- and I surprised! She is going to St. Roberts 1st and will be with Sister E---, and I am going to Navada, MO (Nuh-vay-duh) with Sister W---. Yep. I'm shotgunning out again!

Didn't see that one coming!!

Well, that's all I can think to say in this email.

I know that Heavenly Father knows what he's doing. There aren't accidents, which can be hard to accept sometimes, but I know that he loves us, and he gives us the tools we need to overcome our struggles, we just have to be willing to recognize them.

I love you all. Please keep Sister V--'s family in your prayers.

Love,
Sister Fleck

A Temple Trip

This week was great! I guess since last week was a little weird you already know about Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday we went to the Farmer's Market and had a lesson with ---. He is so cool. A couple of times ago when we taught him we talked about the priesthood and the importance of being baptized got brought up. --- mentioned that he had already been baptized, so we told him that we believe that we are the only church that has God's authority to perform baptisms (aka the priesthood) and that we need to be baptized by the proper authority. So, this week we invited him to be baptized. I was really nervous that he would say that he was already baptized again, because I've had that happen before, and --- surprised me, as he always does, and said that he did want to be baptized! Summer is a busy time for him, it's Farmer's Market/Fair aka Kettle Corn Season, so he'd have to do it in the winter because he can't come to church and give his full attention to the lessons right now, but still, HE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED! PETE, YOU ARE SO COOL!!!!

On Thursday we had exchanges and I went to Mountain Grove with Sister H---, it was a lot of fun. Sister H--- is one of the sisters that took mine and Sister S---'s places in Pawhuska, so I was able to ask her how Pawhuska was doing when she left. It was so much fun to hear how everyone was doing and talk and laugh about all the people there. Pawhuska is such a special place. (:

On Friday we did service at the Christian Foundation and we got this game there called Facts-A-Nation, it's a trivia game and all of the questions are about America. It is so much fun! Sister S--- and I LOVE it!!! Ha-ha! We had a lesson with --- that evening and brought along one of the young women. Her name is ---, she's ---'s daughter, and she is a hoot. She wants to serve a mission when she's 19 (she is currently 15), and she will be a fantabulous missionary!!! We talked with --- about temples and Family History

On Saturday, Saturday was wonderful. We got to go to the St. Louis Temple with --- !!!! Ozark is technically in the Kansas City temple district, but Kansas City was closed for cleaning so we got to go to St. Louis!!! --- was invited by the YSA ward, so we went with them, it was a lot of fun! She made friends and we're hoping that now she will want to go to some of the YSA activities. The Sister working in the baptistery asked if it was anyone first time at the temple, of course, Sister S--- and I quickly said "It's ---'s first time!!" The Sister pulled --- aside and told her "Welcome to the Lord's House." Then she explained how important the work we do in temples is. When we were watching her do the baptisms we were sitting right so we could see her face when she came up out of the water, and each time she came up she had the biggest smile! It was so neat to be able to be a part of that with her.
It was so wonderful to be in the temple. I feel like I haven't gone in such a long time and I am so grateful that --- wanted us to be apart of such a special day.


I hope you all have a great week. Remember how much Heavenly Father loves each one of you. We are beloved children of our Heavenly Father. He knows each of you personally and wants you to be truly, eternally happy.

Love,
Sister Fleck ♥
P.S. Heads up, Transfer calls are on Saturday, YIKES!!!

A Baptism, Skirts and Branson!

This week was great!

On Monday --- got surgery ): so we went to visit her on Tuesday. She was doing well, just a little groggy!

Later that day we helped a Less-Active Member with her garage sale, she has a lot of collectible type stuff she's trying to get rid of. She runs a nursing home from her house and whenever one of her patients passes away the family just leaves the clothes with Sister ----, so she has this trailer and the back half is full of clothes! She let us "go shopping", it was a lot of fun. I got a skirt, and a dress and there is another dress that I didn't get that I am going to have to go back for!

On Thursday we had interviews with President Shumway. They went really well. He invited me to start over on the Book of Mormon and finish it by the Zone Conference in December. I was in Helaman, and now I'm in 1st Nephi. I am reading 5 pages a day, but if I finish those 5 pages and have a few minutes to spare somewhere (which are few and far between), I'll read in Helaman.

Friday was a fun day! Brother --- was home, and we were having a lesson with ---, so we asked him to come with us since he's a ward missionary and rarely gets to do things with his calling. We also had ---'s Baptism! YAY!!! It was a great baptism! Since she's 18 the YSA Bishop, Missionaries and Ward Mission Leader came and guess what? The YSA ward is having a temple trip on Saturday (16th) and they invited ---! She got her recommend on Sunday and WE GET TO GO WITH HER!! YAYA!!

On Saturday we had dinner with the ---, they invited a new member and her family, and their neighbor that is a potential investigator, ---. It was really cool. We were able to teach the Plan of Salvation.

Yesterday was (weirdly enough) a normal day because we had a Zone outing today. We went to Branson and saw a show, The Brett Show. It was really good, the Bretts are a family that perform together. They are members, the show was really good! It was really weird to be there though! It was all music we normally wouldn't listen to on our missions!!

They shared a little bit of the gospel at the end, they sang Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art and had pictures of Christ, showing the pictures were all from the LDS Gospel Library. I thought it was really cool that they were able to use their talents to share their testimonies and the gospel in such a big way!! Heavenly Father has given us all talents and we can use those talents to share the gospel!


I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Fleck! ♥

Sweet Baptism! ♥

This week was great! On Monday we had dinner with a member, but they live way out in the boundaries, fortunately, they invited Brother --- and ---, so they gave us a ride.

On Tuesday we did a mini bread delivery with Sister --- *only* (I say only sarcastically) five loaves of bread.  We  did an extra one because last week Sister S--- and I had dinner with some members who had recently moved into the ward and we told them we would come by with Sister --- bread sometime. We really had every intention of doing so, but when we delivered bread that week we had a really awesome list, normally we have one or two loaves that we don't know who to take to. Anyway, they (jokingly) went up to Sister --- at church and said "We were promised bread and we didn't get any!" (Jokingly I promise! All in good fun!!) So, Sister --- made a mini batch so we could take some to them!

On Wednesday we were able to have a mini lesson with P--- the Popcorn Man. It sprinkled all day, which doesn't sound like too big of a deal, but the grass was really wet and by the time we went to our next appointment my shoes were soaked! They were wet for three days! Fortunately, I have other pairs that I wore.

Thursday was a super service day! We went to the women's shelter that we started volunteering at, and then helped a member start painting in her new house. After that and dinner we had a lesson with Maddie! We went over the baptismal interview questions! She is so ready!!!

On Friday we had exchanges, I stayed in Ozark with Sister S---, she is in Mountain Grove now, and on the way back from picking up Sister S--/dropping off Sister S--- we stopped to visit an old friend of Sister ---'s (that's right, not only does Sister --- make 10 loaves of bread for us to deliver every week, but she drives us two and a half hours (one way) for exchanges!!). We helped a member get ready for a massive garage sale that she's having. She has a lot of stuff, and just wants to get rid of a lot of it!

Saturday was a special day (I hope you're humming the primary song now), it was ---'S BAPTISM!!! She was so excited! When I saw her after she got changed into her jumpsuit I almost cried! Her mom (non-member) and neighbor (also not a member) came. --- (her mom) was completely focused, I don't know if she blinked, focused, on whoever was giving the talk, or whatever was happening. It was great! While --- was changing after the baptism we showed the I Am A Child of God, Mormon Message (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JOrcqqpHCt8), she came out at the very end.  Brother --- (the man who did the baptism) took a little bit longer, while we were waiting for him ---(girl that got baptized) got up and gave Sister Stockhoff and I a hug, then Sister ---, then Sister ---(husband baptized her) (The ---'s taught her grandma when they were on their mission and came all the way from Illinois (I think) to be at/perform the baptism!), her mom, grandma, and a few other people. It was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. They did the confirmation that day so Brother --- could do it, since they had to leave Saturday evening. It was so good!! :D

After the baptism we met with the ---'s, that went really well. We talked about Lehi's Dream. They asked some really awesome questions that got me thinking about it in a way I never had before! i.e. one of the boys asked if you could eat more than one of the fruit, Sister --- said that she thinks you could eat as much as you wanted because you can never fill up on the Love of God. Whoa.

In Testimony meeting on Sunday both --- and --- bore their testimonies. They were both so sincere! It was great!

After church --- had her baptismal interview, she did great! We also got to meet with Bishop, which we have been needing to do for a while. It was a great meeting!

This week was splendiforous. I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Sister Fleck