Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures!

This week was pretty good. Nothing too crazy happened. Actually, that's probably a lie. I'll explain later.

On Wednesday we were going to be teaching Activity Days, we can't be alone with the girls, so another woman has to be with us. One of our investigators, ---, normally comes with us, but she had to work. We weren't sure what to do, but then we decided to call one of the members that we found a few weeks back. She was super excited to help, and invited us over for dinner afterwards! Unfortunately, when the time came, she called us and said she couldn't come, but still wanted to feed us dinner. Soon after that --- said she had gotten off work early and would be able to come! None of the girls showed up so we had a little impromptu lesson with ---! Wednesday was super cool because we reached all of our goals and most of the lessons we had planned fell through. It was cool to see Heavenly Father help us out like that.

Friday night was kind of crazy. Someone had told us that if you sleep with oil in your hair it makes the lice eggs easier to get out. We have been desperate to get rid of them, we were ready to try anything. So we did it. We were worried about getting oil all over the place though, so we put saran wrap over our hair. I'm not kidding right now. It was super weird, my hair smelled like chicken fingers. Normally that's an appetizing smell, but when it's coming from your hair it's super gross.

Yesterday was pretty cool. Part of The Standard of Excellence in the OTM is 20 lessons a week, which comes out to about 3 lessons a day. There are certain days of the week, where that is super hard to achieve, one of those days is Monday, because of Preparation Day. Yesterday not only did we get 3 lessons, but they were all with people who are super hard to contact, and they were really good lessons!

Today is where the subject of this email comes in. Sister Shumway called us to see how the lice was and give us some suggestions for eliminating them. One of those suggestions, which she had suggested when we first got the lice, was for me to cut my hair. I had kind of been thinking about it since she first suggested it, and now, I was motivated, I decided I just needed to do it. With Sister S's help, I cut off about 9 inches. It is now just past my shoulders. It is really weird!! I would include pictures but I forgot my SD>USB adapter! So ya'll will just have to wait until next week. Sorry!!

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

Family History, I am doing it!

Okay, I am not actually doing Family History much ): I wish we had time to though. This week has just been super focused on Family History. Last week we had a Zone Conference and we talked a lot about finding by using Family History materials.

One of our investigators --- is really into Family History and we didn't even know it! We went to her house last week and instead of teaching her what we had planned we talked about Family History with her! We went in and she wanted to show us some picture albums that she has been looking for, for a while. We opened one up, and there was a family tree in it! We asked her if she did family history and she said she is interested but hasn't been able to do anything with it in a while because ancestry.com is too expensive. We told her about Family Search, she seemed really interested, so we invited her to come to the Family History center we have at our building. Yes, tiny Pawhuska branch has a family history center... kind of. It's either bring a laptop and have the Family History Consultants help you in the Relief Society room, or try to use a computer with Windows 98 on it (I'm not kidding), but we have one! Anyway, --- came! And, the consultants are there from 5:30-8:00 on Wednesday, and --- stayed the whole time!

Yesterday we had a Zone Training Meeting and interviews with President Shumway. It went really well. He and Sister Shumway always say the perfect things!

I don't really know what to say now! This week we mostly de-liced! Yuck!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I'd like to invite you all to do a little family history! It's soo cool! If you don't know where to start and feel overwhelmed order a My Family booklet! They are awesome help! https://familysearch.org/campaign/myfamily
Love,
Sister Fleck

Nit Picking

This was a pretty good week. We found a new investigator, on Monday, which is always exciting.
Tuesday was so good, we're not even sure exactly what made it so good, it just was. We had another lesson with our new investigator ---, we taught him the restoration and we talked about how God has one true church and after we shared Joseph Smith's Vision he said he felt really good, better than he had ever felt at the church he currently attends. He also said that he thinks this might be the true church.What? We thought maybe we were on The District (https://www.lds.org/callings/missionary/the-district) and we didn't know it. Then we had Activity Days, in branches as small as Pawhuska they have to get help wherever they can get it, and if that means that the missionaries are in charge of Activity Days every other week, then so be it. This week we had one of our investigators, ---, teach the girls how to crochet. The girls were excited to learn, and --- was so excited to teach them.
After that we had dinner with M and A, it went so well. We have a really good relationship with them and the lesson was so powerful.
Friday we had Zone Training. It was soo good!!! We learned so much! I have to study my notes again to remember everything I learned.
Sunday was... interesting. It's where the subject of this email comes into play. So, Sister S’s head has been itchy for a week or so. We thought maybe it was her hairspray, because she got a new kind that she had never used before. Well, on Sunday morning, we found bugs in it. So I went through and got as many out as I could. I had always been told that lice were white, and these weren't white, so I kind of thought that they might be fleas. At dinner we had the member who was feeding us look up a picture of lice (members are so nice to us), and we confirmed that it was lice. The members that fed us had some old lice shampoo, so we used it last night. Hopefully we are lice free.
Well, I've got to go!
Love,
Sister Fleck

Tracting, Lemon Bars and Skype

This week was really good!!
On Monday we started doing the Harrison Reading Program with someone. It's this cool program that teaches people to read using the Book of Mormon. We tracted for a little bit and the first door we knocked on we found a miracle! We did our little thing "Hi, we're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, have you heard of it before?" The guy that answered the door said that he had, and that he was a member! He told us that his name was ---, there aren't any ---’s on the branch directory, which means that his records are somewhere else! He invited us in and introduced his wife, ---, we asked her if she was a member and she said "Not yet." I was so excited to hear that response!
Tuesday we had an appointment in another town, so we decided to tract there a little bit, we were just about to go home we knocked on one more door before we got to the car and they let us in! After that we were finally able to contact one of our potential investigators, ---, who we have been trying to contact for a month! We taught her a short lesson and set up an appointment to come back the next day when we could teach her and her husband together!
Wednesday we had our return appointment with --- and ---, we had our Branch Mission Leader and his wife come to the lesson, they said the perfect things, like members always do! After we said the prayer we were sitting there chatting for a couple more minutes and --- said "Would you like a lemon bar?" We were floored! It was so perfect and so funny to us for some reason! We think she's going to be a Relief Society President one day ;)
We also had our return appointment with --- and her husband J. We taught them the Plan of Salvation (http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/plan-of-salvation). Normally when we get to the Three Kingdoms of Glory people ask if we don't believe in Hell, but J confirmed that Heavenly Father only dwells in the first kingdom then said "Well, that makes sense because I've never thought of hell as fire and brimstone, but as being without God." We were blown away!!!
On Thursday we were able to contact some investigators that moved from Bartlesville to Pawhuska, we were so excited because we had been trying to contact them all of last transfer!
On Sunday I got to call home!! That was so good, but super weird at the same time! We also saw some investigators we haven't seen in about a month! Needless to say this week was really good.
It is so cool to see how Heavenly Father blesses us when we are doing his will, it is also cool to see when he answers prayers. I know that we wouldn't have been able to contact most of those people if we hadn't have been praying for it.
I hope you all have a good week! Look out for answered prayers, you'll be surprised what you find!
Love,
Sister Fleck

Finding Miracles

Hello everybody!! How are you all?
Sister S and I have been focusing so much on finding this past week, we have also had a lot of service opportunities.
On Tuesday we helped the ---'s, a couple in our branch, paint a room in a rental house that they own. That was a lot of fun, I've never painted before! We had dinner with Brother and Sister ---, Brother --- made us steak. I've never had such good steak before! He said he marinates them with Daddy Hinkles steak marinade. So yummy!
On Wednesday we had lunch with ---, one of the guys that we work with at the Soup Kitchen on Saturday. He wanted to take us to dinner in case one of us was getting transferred, and if not (which was the case) we were just going to have lunch with him. We went to this place called  Bad Brads, we all got Cowboy Fries, which are fries covered in beans, onions, cheese, jalapenos, and brisquet. THEY WERE SO GOOD! We had an appointment that evening that fell through, we decided that we were going to drive out to Nelagoany, a teeny tiny town in our area near Pawhuska. We drove until we came to a T in the road, there was a house there, so we knocked on the door, as soon as we said that we were missionaries he started shaking his head. I was a little discouraged because I felt like we had been prompted to go there. We turned around and decided to knock on a few doors on the way back to Pawhuska. We knocked on the next house we saw. A South American woman answered the door and said "From the Mormon church? Come in!" I was a little surprised, people don't usually let us in when we first meet them! She then told us that she is a member, but hasn't been since she lived in Los Angeles, which it kind of sounds like was about 15 years ago. She said that when she was there she would feed/go on exchanges with the Sisters there about three times a week! She is so kind and we are so excited to go back and see her again!
Saturday was Sister S's birthday! We did so much service! We had Soup Kitchen, as always, but we also had Hearts and Hands, which is a service project that all the churches in Pawhuska do once a year. We helped paint the outside of a house. I always hated vinyl siding on houses, now I've decided that I don't even care, because taking care of wood siding so it looks good, is exhausting! I didn't know that when you re-painted you have to scrape off any old paint that is coming off. It was a lot of fun though! I love how much service we get to do in Pawhuska!
I hope you all have a splendiferous week!
Love,
Sister Fleck

Transfer calls again?!?!?!?!?!

This week was transfer calls again! I was surprised because I feel like I just got to Pawhuska! Sister S was so sure all week that she was going to be transferred to Missouri. Every time we were planning and she talked like she wasn't going to be there I got after her. I didn't want her to go!!!
On Monday we had dinner with one of our investigators, the lesson was kind of rushed, we only had like 5 minutes to do it ): but she invited us to her house on Sunday/Easter/Her Birthday for dinner, which was good because we didn't have anyone sign up to feed us Easter Dinner.

Tuesday we had dinner at one of the member's house. Sister S and I were kind of freaking out because every room in their house was perfectly decorated and it looked like it was from a magazine!! When we were eating dinner Sister S said "I really like this table" and Brother --- said "Thanks, Sister --- made it!" All we could say was "Of course she did!" She. Made. The Table. She found/bought the legs, painted them, got wood, had it cut to the right size, sanded it, and then stained it. We were in awe. For our message we watched a video that our mission president told us to share with members. Sister S and I hadn't seen it yet. IT WAS SO GOOD!! We want to watch it everyday!!!!  Eastern Morn Just... just... just watch. (It kind of seems like an apple commercial at first... but it's not.)

On Saturday we decided to walk around a little bit so that we can be seen more. We met a really great potential and a woman who is a member, but hasn't been to church in about 15 years. It's soo cool when we find less-actives by accident! Saturday night was transfer calls! Transfer calls start at 9:30, if you are going they call you and if you're staying, you get a text when they're done calling everyone that says that you're staying. So at about 9:37 (which is super early for this, by the way) we got a...... TEXT!!! We're both staying in Pawhuska! I was so excited! Sister S didn't believe me and had to read the text for herself.

Sunday was Easter, after church we were invited to the --- family party. Now, about half of Pawhuska is ---. Sister S and I took the family picture (well, Sister S took the picture, I made a funny face for the kids) so that everyone could be in it. Sister S made them say "There are so many ---'s in Pawhuska!" instead of "cheese!" That was a lunch party, but it was at 3, then at 4 we had dinner with our investigator who invited us over for her birthday party... yeah... So we ate a tiny bit at the ---'s because we knew we couldn't get away with that at the other place. We probably wouldn't have gotten away with it at the ---'s either if there hadn't been so many people that we just kind of blended in.

Well, it's just about time for me to go! I love you all! I hope you had an amazing Easter!

PS: From Helen:  I asked Sister Fleck to send me a picture of the house they are living in.  She refers me to the picture of the shack here (you see I can't look up the house on google earth (there are no street views in that town *gasp*)).  She said that it is just painted to look like a shack for security, why would anyone want to break into a house like that.    Finally got her to send me the actual picture of her house :)  She cracks me up.  She said to tell everyone to MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THE VIDEO!

Transfer Calls this Saturday.....WHAAAAATTT?

So this upcoming Saturday (April 19th) is Transfer calls! I cannot believe it! I feel like I just got to Pawhuska!! I am partially telling all of you this because, like I said, my mind is a little blown, and  so you're all anxious to see how the transfers fall for Sister S and I all week like we will be!
We have a new Branch Mission Leader this week! Woohoo!! Brother --- is awesome and is so excited about the work being done here in Pawhuska!

Wednesday was pretty exciting, we had District Training meeting in Cleveland, OK. The Cleveland Elders have been teaching a deaf woman, her mom knows a little bit of sign language, so she can interpret for them, but she mostly fingerspells everything, so it's pretty hard. At the beginning of the transfer I mentioned that I know ASL, so on Wednesday I was supposed to interpret for them. When we got there (they teach her at her mom's) the woman they were going to teach wasn't there, so we just taught her mom. It was cool though, because she (the mom) mentioned that she didn't come to church because she didn't have any church clothes, so we told her that we had a ton of extra clothes that sisters had left behind. We were able to give them to her! Unfortunately, the Elder's never told us if she came to church or not!!

On Thursday we had a really awesome member exchange (when a member comes to an investigators lesson), it was really exciting and I feel like it really helped the investigator's testimony!

On Friday we were on exchanges! I was in Independence, KS (again!) with Sister W, she's the Sister Training Leader. It went really well and I had a lot of fun! But I was so ready to get back to Sister S and Pawhuska on Saturday!

Sorry this is so short! I'm not sure what else to say! This week was kind of same old same old.
Love,
Sister Fleck

Conference Weekend !!!!!

This week was a little on the slow side, but that's okay. Sometimes it's nice to slow down a little bit. Sister Scheuermann and I have figured out what made it slow, so we will be making improvements!

On Wednesday we had exchanges! Now that neither Sister S and I are Sister Training Leaders exchanges are kind of a novelty because we probably won't go on more than 2 a transfer! The Sister Training Leader, Sister W, came to Pawhuska with Sister Scheuermann and I went to Independence Kansas with her companion Sister H. It was a lot of fun! This is Sister H's first transfer, aka, someone newer than me! Woohoo! ;) She is very sweet and so excited about the work! The funny thing about exchanges is that normally 24 hours doesn't give you enough time to miss someone, but because you are with your companion 24/7 at the end of 24 hours you are ready to be with them again!!

On Thursday we walked by one our members, who is single, mowing her lawn. Of course, we couldn't have any of that, so we took over! I was oddly excited, because I've never mowed a lawn before (Thank you for that Dad and Tanner)! Here are some pictures of my first lawn mowing experience!

Conference weekend was, of course, awesome! I learned so much and I hope you all did too! I would like to follow up on Elder Ballard's invitation to study Preach My Gospel! There are a lot of amazing things to be learned! I am planning on sharing one thing that I have learned from it in my emails starting next week... hopefully I remember ;) I would, of course, love to hear what you are all learning from either Preach My Gospel, or the scriptures, or, whatever!

I love you all! I hope you all take the time to study the words of the prophets, both modern day and ancient. They truly speak the words of God and our lives can be guided and directed by them in ways we can't imagine!

Pictures:
Mowing the Lawn (2)
There is a table full of free books at the library, so, of course, Sister S and I put a copy of the Book of Mormon there!

So many miracles!

This week has been amazing! I am so grateful to be a missionary during the hastening!
Monday was just a normal preparation day, although Sister S and I did eat lunch at Buffalo Joe's. They do these stuffed burgers, soo good!!!

Tuesday we did a little bit of service for one of our investigator's, she is moving a couple of blocks away, so we helped her move a dresser set.

Wednesday was an awesome day! We had District Training meeting, which is always good! After that we had an appointment with an investigator who lives about 10 miles away. Her lesson went really well, but afterwards was so awesome! We decided to stop at a gas station near her home where Sister S and Sister F (Sister S's last companion) had OTMed an employee. We went there to see if she was working, she was and it was really slow so were able to have a really good lesson on the Book of Mormon, we used the Questions of the Soul from Preach My Gospel. It is such a good way to find out peoples' big concerns! At 8:30 we weren't sure what to do, we felt really prompted to go see an investigator we've been teaching at a gas station here in Pawhuska (we don't spend our whole day in gas stations, I promise!). She wasn't working, in fact, the woman that was working was someone we had never seen before, which is pretty unusual in Pawhuska. It is so crazy when, out of all the potential investigators in the world, we find less-active members!

On Friday we had an appointment at the library with someone that we OTMed last Monday. He wasn't there, but when we walked in a girl walked in right behind us. We felt like we needed to talk to her, so we did. She was having kind of a hard day, we had her pick a question of the soul. She said that she had already been taught all of the answers so she just kind of picked a random one, I was nervous when we read it with her, because it didn't seem to apply to her, and the verses that we decided to read didn't even really seem to answer the question, but after we read she said that she felt a lot better. It just attested to me the power of the Book of Mormon!!

The biggest part of Saturday was the General Women's Broadcast, I was so excited for it! I learned a lot, I've been working on making "small plates," not making "large plates" when I take notes at things like that, so writing my feelings and impressions, not direct quotes. I love that we have the opportunity to hear from the general authorities. I know that they truly receive revelation from Heavenly Father and that they have the power to tell us what He wants us to do.

Sunday was awesome! We had 4 investigators at church!!! We had been averaging at 1 or 2, so 4 was really exciting. One of them has only been once, she went to stake conference, so it was about an hour away and the session that she went to was when they tell you all the statistics, so she thought that we did that every week. We had been calling her every morning to give her a wake-up call, but that wasn't working so we decided that we were going to go to her house before church and wait for her to get ready. We told her we were going to do this, and when we got to her house she was waiting for us!!
This week had it's fair share of miracles and disappointments. "Such is the life of the black name tag." It's easy to focus on the disappointments, but it's more fulfilling to focus on the miracles. The disappointments were results of the agency of others, so there wasn't much we could do about them, the miracles on the other hand were able to happen because we followed promptings.

I am so glad that I have been working on fighting my fears and following promptings. We have seen so many miracles because we've been following the guidance of our Father in Heaven. I know He is aware of us as missionaries and of those that are in our pathways. I know He is aware of each of you, and that he loves you immensely.

I hope you all have an amazingly wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Fleck

Good Old Pow Pow (Sister S's nickname for Pawhuska...)

This week Pawhuska and I got acquainted, and now we're great friends! We teach some really amazing people here in Pawhuska!
On Wednesday we taught one of our investigators who has been taking the lessons for a while, her lessons always get very off topic and sometimes it was hard to feel the spirit. She hadn't been keeping her commitments and we weren't sure how interested she actually was. We had been talking about maybe putting her in the hands of the Lord (dropping her) and letting her heart be softened. The last time we had visited her we invited her to download the Gospel Library App on her Kindle so that she could listen to the Book of Mormon. We went into the lesson on Wednesday and she told us she had tried to download the app, she wasn't able to find it, but she tried! The lesson was completely different! We still got off topic, but the spirit was there! We were so excited!! Plus, we saw her when we first got to the library, so we helped her download the right app, so now she can listen to the Book of Mormon while she cleans! YAY!
Sister S and I sometimes have a hard time filling the 8-9 PM hour, on Saturday we prayed during dinner for help to know who to visit during that time. We do normally pray to know who we should visit that day, but we've never really prayed specifically for that time. We both felt like we should visit this family that we found in the area book during weekly planning. We went over and they were really nice. They let us in and we got to know them a little bit. We taught them about family prayer and assigned each of the kids a job to help it get moving (i.e. one keeps an eye on the time, one gets everyone gathered, one assigns who will say the prayer). The kids were pretty excited and wanted to say a family prayer right then! We were asking the mom when we could come back and it turns out that if we had gone by at 8:00 on any other day, it wouldn't have worked out! Miracles happen all the time!!
Sunday was good. We taught the Stop Smoking Workshop with one of our members to an investigator. It didn't go as well as we would have liked. From now on when we teach it with members, we will role play it with them so they can weigh how to do it more effectively. We do keep the investigators in our personal, companionship, and district prayers every night, and that has been helping I think.

I love Pawhuska, I love the members here, the people we teach her, and the people we haven't met. I know I am where the Lord needs me to be! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Much Love,
Sister Fleck

Sister S and I

Our pet cat La Hermana Gato

La Hermana Gato and I 

Pawhuska (Yes, it is as small as it sounds!)

This week has been a lot of fun! My last few days in Broken Arrow were really good. We saw a lot of people that I wanted to say goodbye to and I got pictures (will send later (:).
It was kind of sad to leave Broken Arrow! I felt like I had just gotten there, but I was so excited about Pawhuska because I love small towns. We had to leave really early, S, my new companion, and Sister F, her old companion, met up with Sister L and I. Sister F was going home, so she and Sister L were companions until Sister L new companion got to Broken Arrow.
My first day in Pawhuska was great! We taught a couple of lessons and I learned a lot about the new area! Sister S and I get along really well. We have a lot in common and we connect so well! We have a lot of fun together, but we can also work when it's time!
Pawhuska is great! I love it so much. Broken Arrow (while an amazing area) looked really similar to Utah (minus the mountains), it's a lot of suburbs, so I never really felt like I had left home! Pawhuska, on the other hand, looks a lot like what I imagined Oklahoma to be, so I really feel like I am somewhere different here, and I love it!
Soon after we got to our apartment on Thursday morning we left to go to a Soup Kitchen to volunteer. We do that every Thursday and Saturday. It's a lot of fun and there are some really wonderful people that volunteer with us.
Friday was Zone Conference, and it was awesome! Elder Tad R. Callister came to speak to us. It was just so inspired! I learned some really good analogies to help explain different aspects of the Restoration better! The Training things that we did before he spoke were awesome! Sister S and I learned some good ways to improve our area, and we were so excited to start trying them, and continue using them!
On Saturday a lot of our appointments fell through, so we did quite a bit of tracting. One thing that we do as missionaries is clover tracting. When we go for and appointment or stop-by we try to tract their next-door neighbors on each side and the house across the street, especially if the appointment falls through when we get there, because we have been sent there for a reason! Each time we clover tracted on Saturday we got at least one potential investigator! CLOVER TRACTING WORKS!
On Sunday we had church! It was really good! There are about 20-30 members in the Pawhuska branch and they come from several surrounding towns. Some of them are even from the Bartlesville ward and have a stake calling to attend the Pawhuska branch!! But, I know that one day Pawhuska will have a ward, and it will be huge! :D
I love it so much here and I know that I am supposed to be here at this time for a reason! I love the work I am doing!
I hope you all know how much I love you. I hope you also know how much our Father in Heaven loves you. He knows you by name, He knows the desires and intent of your heart. No matter what you have done in this life, I promise you that He loves you, and I can promise you that because I have seen His love in the lives of those I teach, and as I have asked to develop love for them I have felt the love He has for them. We are all His children. He loves us all infinitely, and eternally.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Fleck ♥

From mom:  Sister Fleck's companion is from Utah and has been out about 10 months.
If any of you would like her mailing address in Pawhuska just send me an email :D

Transfer Calls!!!! Do I Stay or Do I Go?

Don't think that I am going to tell you my fate right away. Transfer calls are Saturday night, I had to wait all week, so you have to wait until the end of my email!!
After emailing last week Sister Lawrence and I went to one of the members houses because the buttons were all falling off of Sister Lawrence's coat and the member offered to fix them for her, then we went to the mall for a while. I was looking for a dress, but wasn't able to find one that was modest enough in my price range.
On Tuesday Sister Lawrence went to MLC, so I was here in Fair Oaks with Siser Schuerman. We had a lot of fun, we got lost a couple of times, but we got around alright. (: When Sister Lawrence got back we went to a nail party that we had been invited to at one of our investigators houses. We were so excited for her. So many sisters from the ward showed up! It was great!
On Wednesday I went to Claremore with Sister Mah'alona. It is a great area! The members are amazing! It was Sister Lawrence's first area, so it was a lot of fun to hear the members talk about how much they love her! Last weekend an investigator from Claremore moved to Fair Oaks so while Sister Lawrence was here in Fair Oaks she and Sister Jeppson went and saw them, so we got a new investigator!
Thursday was a really good day! A couple of weeks ago when I was on exchanges with Sister J, we found some really golden potential investigators. Sister L and I have tried going back to see them, but no one ever answered, but on Thursday, THEY DID! We taught them the first lesson, it went really well, and we set up another appointment, so we have another new investigator!! Woohoo!!!
Friday was zone training! It was really great! President Shumway kind of said that these transfers were going to bring a lot of changes! I was so nervous that Sister L was going to go and I was going to stay in Fair Oaks!!! After Zone training we did two exchanges called Blitz exchanges, so we just swap for about 4 hours. I went to both of them, I was in Owasso with Sister E and Sapulpa with Sister G. It was a lot of fun! I love both of those Sisters so much!
Saturday I went on a blitz with Sister T in Tulsa, the Spanish area! It wasn't as overwhelming as last time because it was only a few hours. It was still a lot of fun though.
Well, I can't think of anything else to put it off, so I might as well get to the good stuff! When the zone leaders called I was so nervous! I was so sure that Sister L was going to leave and I was going to stay and take over Fair Oaks. Sister L answered and they asked how she was doing, she said that she was sad because it was transfer calls and she didn't want to leave Fair Oaks yet. They told her that she shouldn't be sad because she was staying. I was so relieved! I knew then that I was going to leave! I am headed to Pawhuska, Oklahoma with Sister S! I am excited! It is going to be so much fun!!!
We are going to go to the zoo today with the rest of our district! I am pretty excited! It is going to be a lot of fun!
Love, Sister Fleck

Crazy Week, or Crazy Saturday

So much happened this week! I will try to keep the email short so that you don't all feel like you're reading a novel!

On Wednesday we had a Sisters' Training in Arkansas (I can't remember the city). It was so awesome, I really loved it and I learned so much! Sister Shumway showed us a video about Esther and talked about courage and dignity, and then invited us to read the book of Esther, I've been working on that in my personal studies. It's so good! She is such an inspiration! President Shumway talked about measuring ourselves with God's ruler, not ours. He invited us to go to the topical guide and read all the scriptures there about peace. It seems like kind of a big assignment, but it's not really that much.

On Thursday and Friday we did exchanges with the Owasso Sisters, I was in Owasso with Sister A, who came out on the same day that I did! That was a little scary. We have both been out for just barely a month and we were taking over the area! They do a scripture study every week, it's pretty cool. Mostly members go right now, but they are hoping that people will start bringing friends.
After we exchanged back at the stake center, we headed to the mission home to exchange with the sisters in Sapulpa. I was with Sister S here in Fair Oaks! It went pretty well (:

After we exchanged back on Saturday we Sister L and I had a lesson with one of our progressing investigators. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, endure to the end). It was an amazing lesson. After we went over all the steps Sister L asked him what baptism would mean to him. He knew where we were headed with the question and told us that he wanted to make sure that he was really ready before he got baptized. We suggested that he set a goal of a specific date for him to work towards and if he didn't feel ready by then, we could move it. He agreed and we set a date for April 12th! We are so excited! Sister L told me about the first few times she met and taught him, he has grown so much! I am so grateful that I got to have a small part in his conversion.

Oh man! I ran out of time! I will write about the rest of my week in my letter home. I haven't even gotten to the best parts yet! Mom, could you type the letter up and post it on my blog please?
Love,
Sister Fleck ♥

Here is the video she spoke about
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-30-for-such-a-time-as-this?lang=eng  

Here is another video that is wonderful I found when searching for the other one.
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-084-when-all-is-said-and-done?lang=eng

The song is When All Is Said And Done by Kathrine Nelson (I found it on the EFY 1999 album)

Continuing :D
Let's see, where was I?  I believe Sister L was in Sapulpa.  It was nice to exchange back, because of how the exchanges worked Sister L and I hand only been together for about an hour in a 36 - 48 hour period.  For roommates this doesn't seem like much, but for companions that's madness!

After exchange we taught one of our investigators the Gospel of Jesus Christ...wait, how much of this did I already talk about?  I think I finished that part... either way, HE HAS A BAPTISIM DATE!!! YAY!  So a couple of weeks ago when I was in Owasso with Sister E we had dinner with this investigator whose son was baptized about 4 years ago. While I was there the son was asking what my area boundaries are.  I told him and gave me his dad and step-mom's address.  Sister L and I stopped by there last Sunday.  One question we ask as missionaries is if they go to church and where they go.  They go to church at -------- on Saturdays.  They invited us to go and we can go to just about any church (there are a couple that we're not allowed to go to) as long as we're invited by an investigator and as long as it doesn't interfere with our church.  So, we went! It was a is this non-denominational Christian Church, to be honest, it didn't feel much like church, that I am use to anyway.
Sunday was good. Church as almost canceled because of the weather.  Sister L and I were really glad that it wasn't because we really felt like we needed church after Saturday's, like we needed to be reminded what church should be like!

The weather was insane though! It was snowing, hailing and raining at one point and it hailed sideways for a while!  We felt really bad for the Indian Springs Elders who are on bikes! :(
Today (Monday) We went to the mall! IT was a lot of fun! I found a couple of small things.  Nothing major though.
I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week!
Scripture of the week 1 Nephi 17:13

  13 And I will also be your alight in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my               commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.

I hope you all know how much your Heavenly Father loves you and that He will be "Your" light in the wilderness if you let Him

Love Sister Fleck


Lizzie does a Sticky Note of the Week to us this week's quote was
"Who are the members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?
We are a people who love the Lord with all our hearts, souls and minds.  And we are a people who love our neighbors as ourselves"
Joseph B. Wirthin

Letters to Porter's Crossing Ward

Here are two letters Sister Fleck wrote to Porter's Crossing ward and the Porter's Crossing Youth.

Feb 10, 2014
Dear Porter's Crossing Youth
Hi!  How are you all doing?
I wanted to share something that I learned in the MTC with you!
We are constantly told to read the scriptures, we are told that we can find answers and promptings in them.  It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I knew how.  I knew that it would happen, I just thought maybe there was a trick that I didn't know.  The good news is, there isn't a trick!
Start off by eliminating as many distractions as you can. I know that having no distractions is impossible, but get rid of the distractions that you have control over (yes, this does mean turning your cell phone off).
Next, pray.  You might consider: thanking Heavenly Father for the opportunity or asking for understanding.  Then, if you have a question, or concern, share it with Him.
Now it's time to study!  Stop every verse or two and ask yourself, "What does this mean?", "What doe it mean to me?" or "Why was this verse include for me in these latter-days?" and other similar questions.  If you don't know what something means: as word, phrase, or whole verse, look at the footnotes, cross reference, look in the index, Bible Dictionary, or Topical Guide.  Do the same if a verse stands out to you!
Be ready to take notes! Write meaningful references and why they are meaningful.  Write thoughts, feelings and impressions that you have.  They might be unrelated to what you're studying, but because you're in the right frame of mind the Holy Ghost can communicate with you!
When you are done, pray again!  You could thank Heavenly Father for the opportunity to study again, thank Him and maybe even share with Him the things that you learned!
Preach My Gospel (page 17) says "Studying is an act of faith..." If you don't get an answer right away, that's okay!  Sometimes our faith needs to be tested (Ether 12:6)!
In an article by Elder Russell M. Nelson, in the October 2011 Ensign (page 11) he says "It was God's love that prompted Him to command Nephite prophets to keep a sacred record of their people... These teachings are now available in the Book of Mormon."
I know that as you study the scriptures you will find answers, comfort and insight that you might not have even known you needed.
Please don't let this wonderful tool go to waste like I did for so many years.
Love Sister Fleck

Letter to the Ward
Hello to the Porter's Crossing Ward!
Hi! How is everyone?
I'm doing really well! I am in an area called "Fair Oaks" in Oklahoma.  Fair Oaks is a ward in the town just outside of Tulsa called Broken Arrow.
It is a really neat area, it reminds me of Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs.
The Fair /Oaks ward reminds me a little bit of Porter's Crossing Ward! It's a little smaller and there aren't quite as many kids.  But the members are almost as awesome as the Porter's Crossing members ;)
I've  been wondering how the challenge of 10,000 ordinance is going? I am sure it is going well.
Sister Shumway (the mission president's wife) was talking about how we are all brothers and sisters, when I first got to Oklahoma, she said that we all knew each other in the pre-mortal existence, then she reminded us that so many of our brothers and sisters don't have the joy of the gospel in their lives.  She imagines, and I agree, that we probably promised some of our brothers and sisters that we would share the gospel with them when we met in this life.  Don't forget that promise.  Don't forget how important missionary work is, and why it's so important.

Love Sister Fleck

Exchanges, Exchanges, Exchanges

Sister Lawrence and I go on so many exchanges!  But I love it! This week I didn't go anywhere, Sister Lawrence did all the traveling, so I was in Fair Oaks! IT was kind of scary at first, but it worked out.
On Tuesday we did an FHE lesson with one of our investigators, she loved it and was so excited to start doing it on her own. When we saw her on Thursday she said that she was going to start doing it on Friday, and she had already decided that they were going to start watching the Bible videos on lds.org. She wanted to start at the beginning and watch a few every week until they'd seen them from beginning to end. At church yesterday she told us that the first one was a huge success. At first her kids were kind of running around and not paying attention, but by the end they were asking if they could watch more!
On Wednesday and Thursday we did exchanges, I was here with Sister J. She is the first sister that Sister L trained! We decided to go to an apartment complex that is really close to ours. We went in the afternoon and weren't able to find anyone, but we decided to go back that evening when people were home from work. We went back after dinner, we were trying to decide which building to do, and Sister J said "First building, middle floor," so that's what we did. No one answered on the middle floor, but we could her some people talking on the top floor, so we went up there. There were 2 guys and a girl about our age up there hanging out. We had a really neat conversation with them. They seemed pretty interested! When I gave one of them a Book of Mormon he said "I was going to ask you if I could have that book like 10 seconds ago, but I didn't want to take your book." Then when I gave him a card with our number on it and told him to call if he had any questions, he said "If I call you will you really come back and answer my questions?" I was so excited!!!
On Friday and Saturday we did exchanges with the Spanish sisters, I was in Fair Oaks again with Sister T. She is really great! We got along really well, and did lots of tracting! We knocked on one door and the lady told us that she had read about Mormons on the internet and that we were wrong and that the Book of Mormon didn't happen. She said that someone was writing it and "John Smith" stole it. It bugged me at first, but I decided that there's no point in being upset about it. She'll figure it out eventually.
Saturday afternoon we had an awesome lesson with one of our progressing investigators. He mentioned baptism for the second time, so I'm thinking this week we will set a date for him!!!!!
Well, those are pretty much the highlights of the week!
Love, Sister Fleck ♥

Sister Fleck also said that transfers come up on March 14th.  So anyone that has her direct address be aware that you don't mail things that would get there too close to this date and miss her.  We should know the following Monday if she has an exchange or not.   Thank you for all the wonderful support she has received with letters and emails, she loves it and is enjoying writing everyone back.    Love Helen

One Month as a Missionary

This week was great! I had fun, learned a lot, and taught amazing people, of course, that is the life of a missionary!
The beginning of the week was a little slow, nothing spectacular happened, but then we were able to get into the home of a less-active/part-member family that we have been trying to contact since I got here, so that was great! They were really nice, we are hoping that we will be able to continue meeting with them.
On Wednesday and Thursday I was in Owasso with Sister E on exchanges. Sister E is great! She is a powerhouse, I learned so much from her! On Wednesday morning Sister Shumway (the mission president's wife) was also doing exchanges with us. While she was there, we taught this amazing investigator that the Owasso Sisters are teaching. Sister Shumway was amazing and said a lot of really great things. She was worried that she said too much, but she had a really good impact on the investigator and Sister Shumway was able to help her a lot. We had dinner with that investigator and her family. Her son is a convert, he was baptized when he was 14, he's 17 or 18 now and he just finished his mission papers! Woohoo!! MORE MISSIONARIES!
On Friday we did more exchanges. This time I was in Supulpa with Sister . Neither of us can drive, so we got rides from people, which was kind of neat. I know the Sister that gave us a ride was excited to be out with the missionaries all day. She dropped us off at their apartment for dinner, so we ate and then waited for the ride that was supposed to take us back to meet our companions (exchanges are usually overnight, but this has been just a day exchange).
I guess when they told her (the Sister giving us a ride) the plan there was a little misunderstanding. About half an hour after she was supposed to pick us up we gave her a call to see where she was, and she said that she was at the church that we were meeting our companions at! It was like half an hour away and we weren't sure what to do! She ended up driving back to Owasso, picking us up, and then driving back to meet our companions. I felt so bad!! It was kind of funny though, when Sister G and I realized what had happened we were laughing pretty hard.
Saturday was Zone Training, which was awesome! I was able to learn a lot! I did a musical number with two other Sisters, and three Elders, it was the EFY medley, it was pretty good even though we didn't have an opportunity to practice. They also asked me to bear my testimony. We found out that Tad R. Callister was going to come and speak to us, the cool thing is that it isn't for a mission tour, he just called President Shumway because he realized he hadn't been to the OTM yet, and asked when would be a good time to come and talk to us!
Yesterday was a really good day. At first we were a little bummed because one of our investigators wasn't at church. After Relief Society we grabbed an extra hand out for her and decided to go drop it by her house. When we got there she was telling us how she spent all day cleaning the house because her husband and kids had gone out of town (she had to work the day before so she wasn't able to go with them), and she wanted them to come home to a clean house. They are in the middle of some remodeling so the house had been a little disorganized for a while. We were able to help her with a couple of things that she didn't think she was going to have time to get to. She was so grateful and excited that we thought of her. We were happy that we had listened to the prompting to go see her so we could help her out!!
I know that Heavenly Father doesn't give us promptings that we can ignore, we need to listen to all of them! We get them for a reason and Heavenly Father really needs us to follow them!!
I hope you all had an amazing week, and a happy Valentine’s Day, Have a wonderful week! Remember that I love you all!
Love,
Sister Fleck

Sister Fleck has her badge :D

MTC District badges

Pictures Finally!

This week has been kind of crazy! I think I mentioned last Monday that I was going to be doing exchanges, maybe not...
Sister Lawrence is a Sister Training Leader and on Monday she had some training at the mission home, two other Sister Training Leaders came to Broken Arrow and dropped off their companions, then the three of them went to the Mission Home and the three of us stayed here. It was a lot of fun! We didn't have many appointments on Monday or Tuesday, so we tracted a lot and OTMed (Most missions call it OYM (Open Your Mouth) but we call it OTM (Open Thy Mouth) because it's the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission, get it?) at a gas station.
On Wednesday we started teaching a new investigator ---, she is really sweet.
On Thursday I was in a trio again! Sister L and I were with Sister S from... I can't remember, it's on the other side of Tulsa... anyway... Her companion had to get surgery on her hand, so Sister S trioed with us so she didn't have to stay at the hospital all day doing nothing!
On Friday we did exchanges AGAIN! Since Sister L is a Sister Training Leader she has to do exchanges with all the sisters in our area. This time I went to Tulsa with Sister G! She is one of the Spanish speaking missionaries! She and her companion Sister T were actually called to English speaking missions, but President Shumway wanted to open a Sister Spanish mission, and they both speak fluent Spanish! It was kind of a crazy day! I had no idea what was going on most of the time, since I don't know Spanish, so I just kind of sat there and smiled!!
Sunday was church (finally), but at about 9 we were a little worried that it was going to be cancelled again because the roads were pretty icy, (the 9:00 ward actually was cancelled). Fortunately we're at 1:00 and the ice was melted by then! I was pretty excited to go to church!
I love the work I am doing here in Broken Arrow, Sister Lawrence and I work hard, harder than I've ever worked before, I fall asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow. I know this is where I'm supposed to be and I know I'm doing this work for a reason!!!
Love,
Sister Fleck

Pointing at where we are going

Elder's in my district

 Elders in my distric

Playing with bubbles, celebrating hump day in MTC

I washed my clothes with K9 I am such a geek :)

Last night with district at MTC

Funny faces with district

Me and Sister P, my MTC Companion

In front of the temple

 In front of the temple

Sisters from my district

My companion and I in front of the temple 

Tulsa, Oklahoma :D

Blowing bubbles

The Elders in my district

The Elders

The Sisters

The Sisters

The whole MTC Zone

Bubbles, we liked the bubbles

My MTC District