B'Ville here I come!!!!

For those of you who know the areas in my mission, B'ville is either Bartlesville, or Bentonville, I'll just leave you guessing as to which one until the end of the email >.<

This week, while awesome, was kind of slow. It was hard to see people with Christmas coming up. We were also changing our focus a little bit. But, this week, whenever we looked at the directory to try and decide who to go see, nothing stood out. We decided to just tract, after all, that is what the 1st Presidency wanted. So, that's what we did. We weren't able to share He is the Gift with a ton of people, but I felt a little bit better because I felt more like I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do.

On Tuesday we met this cool potential investigator in Okmulgee. I had written down her address on Friday as we were leaving Okmulgee. She had a cute Christmas yard blow-up things, and lots of lights. One of her blow ups was this T-Rex wearing a Santa hat with a present in his mouth and his head kind of shakes back and forth like he's trying to open it with his mouth. I had to knock on her door to tell her how much my brother would love it! She was really cool and said we could come back sometime! :D We also tracted into this man with a wooden leg named Smith, we forgot to ask about the name of his other leg. HAHAHAHAHA Just kidding... (See Christmas Eve for an explanation of the corny joke!)

Wednesday was Christmas Eve! We had a district outing in Broken Arrow, we watched Frozen and played games! It was a lot of fun! Frozen is so good! I was excited to be able to watch it again! When we got back Sister B--- and I went to ---'s for a couple of minutes because she said we could borrow some of her movies. We borrowed a ton, way more than we knew we could watch, we just wanted to make sure we had plenty of options. We ended up watching Mary Poppins on Christmas Eve because I didn't know if we would be able to finish a movie or not by the time we got back for the night, so, we picked one we wouldn't mind not finishing. Of course, I had no idea that Mary Poppins is basically the longest Disney movie ever! If we had picked a different one we probably would have been able to finish it, but that's ok, Mary Poppins is good!

Christmas was great! We got to call home, and that was awesome! Most of the day we hung out at our apartment and watched movies. We watched Cinderella 3, The Gnome Mobile, and Princess Diaries, then we went to ---'s again. She had her son for Christmas and she really wanted us to meet him, so we went by there for a little bit. Then we had dinner with Sister --- and her two adorable little girls. It was a lot of fun (: after dinner we watched Princess Diaries 2 and then we went to bed.

On Friday we weekly planned. It went well and we got it all done, yahoo! We also saw our investigator ---, her mom and grandma are members. She is really sweet.

On Saturday we went to Okemah, but not much happened there... we came back and did some Family History, that was fun. I like Family History a lot. Then it was Transfer Calls!!! *dun dun dun!!!!*
I am leaving. Sister B--- is staying here with Sister K---.

My new companion will be Sister P---- There are 3 Sister P--- in the mission, I know all 3 of them, but I'm pretty sure I know which one will be my companion (: I am going to be in... BARTLESVILLE!!! I am pretty stoked! Sister P--- is really sweet, and I think we'll have a lot of fun together.

Sunday was good. The High councilman over missionary work came to the ward, and we went out and visited a couple of people in Okmulgee with him and Sister --- after church. We had dinner with the ---. I love them a lot. They're super cool.

I hope you all had a very merry CHRISTmas.

I have loved this Christmas with He is the Gift. It has really reminded me what is truly important at the Holiday season. I am excited for this new year. I am excited to continue to progress and become a better person through the Atonement of my Savior. I know that he is my Savior, and your Savior and through him we can become better. I invite you all to set a resolution to become a little better this new year! Use the Atonement. Anytime we choose to become better, we are using the Atonement! How great is that?

Love,
Sister Fleck

Oklahoma Tulsa Mission, Tulsa zone. December 2014.

#ShareTheGift

This week was great! It started off by making ornaments with ---. She's one of our "less-actives." I use quotes because she's homebound, but would totally come if she could. We made little homemade play dough Gingerbread-Sister Missionary ornaments and painted them! They're super cute!

On Wednesday we had District Meeting, we saw ---, and got a new investigator, --. She is into all sorts of sports. Her Mom and Grandma are members, and her mom wanted her to make the choice to get baptized by herself  when she felt she was ready, and now she feels ready!

Thursday was weekly planning, but when we went to go teach people after dinner, we felt like we needed to talk to our neighbors and we shared He Is The Gift with him and his little girls. It was pretty cool! (:

On Friday we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, I was in Henryetta with Sister C--- (typing "exchanges take me back to my Fair Oaks days with tons of exchanges (: ). WE got a ton done and shared He is the Gift with some pretty cool people!

On Saturday we had... --- BAPTISM!!!! It was cool for 1,000,000 reasons!
1. --- GOT BAPTIZED! And that in and of itself is cool!
2. Sister M--- and her companion Sister B--- came!
3. --- did the baptism!
4. It was basically ---'s anniversary of being a member!
5. PRESIDENT AND SISTER SHUMWAY CAME!!!!

I don't have time to list the other 999,995 reasons that it was cool, so I'll just stick with the top 5. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and Sister M--- gave a talk on baptism.

Just a rewind on how we found ---, we OTMed (talked to) him in the parking lot outside of --- and ---'s apartment. We gave him a pass along card, and I might have slightly forgotten about it because people almost never call us back from the pass along cards. UNLESS THEY'RE BRYAN AND THEY TOTALLY DO CALL US BACK!!!! He called us back a week later, and it was awesome!

The rest of Saturday was just packed full of Tender Mercies! We were able to talk to this family, we've been wanting to talk to for a long time because they have lots of Christmas lights and Christmas inflatable thingies, so we know they love Christmas! We set up a return appointment! And right after that we knocked on another door, shared He is the Gift, and got a return appointment! WAHOO!

Sunday was good! We had 14 less-actives at church! WHAT??? It was great!

I was studying the Christmas story in the Bible the other day, and I noticed something that I've never noticed before.
Luke 2:15-17
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it,‍ they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

The shepherds instantly decided to go see the Christ Child, and then went to Bethlehem with haste. After they saw Him, they told everyone they could about what they had seen! I love this because it is so easy to apply to us. If we haven't received a witness of the truth for ourselves, we need to go with haste to "Bethlehem", wherever that may be for us. The scriptures, church, etc. If we've already seen the Christ Child, or, if we've received a witness of the truth for ourselves, we need to make known abroad what we've learned!

I love you all, and hope you have a magnificent week!
Love,
Sister Fleck♥

Does Oklahoma know it's December?

Apparently not, because we have a high of 60 today! It has been freakishly warm... or maybe just to me and my Utahan-ness. Anyway...

On Tuesday we met with --- and guess what, WE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE WITH HIM! I think I told you that we had set the 6th with him, but investigators have to come to church 3 times before getting baptized, and he went out of town for Thanksgiving, so he missed that Sunday, but now he's getting baptized on the 13th! :D Which is pretty cool because the 14th is ---'s baptism anniversary, and he's going to be doing the baptism!

On Wednesday evening we went to mutual because they were doing family history and anyone was invited, so we went to see if we could get/offer any help. It was a lot of fun and we were able to help some of the members, which was awesome!

Friday was Okmulgee day. We met a couple of people for the first time, that was cool.
Saturday was awesome! So much good stuff happened! --- had his baptismal interview, he did great! The Relief Society had their Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange, I got a super cute chalk board, that we will defiantly be using! After that this family, the --- that signed up for the 40 Day Fast, they wanted to go on an exchange with us all day, so we did! We met some really awesome families, and it was sweet because they were willing to go to the people who live in the boondocks that we normally can't get to! Yay! Way to go on being super awesome ---!

On Sunday evening we watched the Christmas devotional, so we watched that at the church. It was super good, although, we did miss parts because the internet wasn't cooperating, so I'll have to print off the talks.

This week has just been so Christmas oriented. We've been sharing He is the Gift with basically everyone. I just love that video a lot. I love that it invites us to Share the Gift of Christ. What a perfect way to show Him our love for Him. 

This week Sister Barrett and I want to have the members take a picture with them holding a chalk board that says "I will share the gift by..." and then posting it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever social media they prefer. I invite you to do the same. How will you Share the Gift this year? Decide how, and then share it with others! If you post it on social media feel free to use the #ShareTheGift hashtag so others can see how you want to share the gift. I know that as you share the gift you will find Christ becoming more and more a part of your Christmas. This is the easiest time of year to share the gospel!

Love,

Sister Fleck ♥

If you want to write Sister Fleck for Christmas please leave a comment and I will email you her address.

Thanksgiving and a Baptisim

This week was great!

On Monday we had dinner with one of the families in the ward, He is in the bishopric, she is in the Relief Society Presidency, but what's more important is that they just had a baby! Little ---. He is so tiny and adorable! :D I can't wait to be able to hold babies again!

On Tuesday we went to Okmulgee, one of the members came out with us for a little bit, that was awesome! We had a lesson with the fantabulous ---s! It was a pretty good day!
On Wednesday we had District Meeting and --- got her baptismal interview!!! We normally do them a week before, but... I almost forgot to schedule it soo... awkward... Anyway, it all worked out. It doesn't have to be a week before, that is just preferred.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! We hung out with the ---- all day! They are this sweet part-member family. Our original plans fell through on Tuesday and Sister --- invited us to spend the day with them and her husband's family. It was a lot of fun. I learned how to play some fun card games (:

Friday we ended up weekly planning. It took most of the day, as always. We were able to go up to Okmulgee and see a couple of people though.

Saturday was ---'s baptism! Hooray! It went really well, she had to be dunked 3 times! But it was good! All that matters is that it was eventually done correctly.

Sister B and I gave talks on Sunday. I talked about "Yes, Lord, I Will Follow Thee" from conference. Sister B talked about love (:

This week we have been focusing on getting into the groove with the He is the Gift 

Jesus Christ truly was the first gift of Christmas. Luke 2:10 it says "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." The ancient form of the word gospel translates into "good news," or "good tidings" so the angel could have said "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you the gospel personified." (Elder Holland is really smart...)  The next part of this verse that I love is "which shall be to all people." Or, this is a gift for everyone. When I think of a gift for everyone I think of a big family gift that we all have to share, and the cool thing is, this isn't what the Savior is. It isn't even like a neighbor gift or something where everyone gets the same gift. Through the birth of one baby boy, our Heavenly Father gave each of us a unique, personalized gift. The perfect gift. The one thing we could never live without. He gave us a Savior. But, just like all gifts, it is up to us to use it. We can use this gift every single day to its fullest extent, or, we get put it up on the shelf, let it collect dust and go to waste.

This year, with the He is the Gift video, Heavenly Father, through his prophet Thomas S. Monson has invited us to Discover the Gift, Embrace the Gift, and Share the Gift. If you haven't discovered the gift yet, watch the video and talk to someone who has discovered the gift to learn how to embrace it. If you already have discovered it, find a way to more fully embrace it, I know we can all embrace the gift of the Savior in our lives more, and share it. This is super important. Share the gift with your loved ones who are still searching for the gift. I know that through sharing the gift you will appreciate it more and embrace it more fully.

Love,

Sister Fleck♥