"Pounding doors, that's what I do." "Well, that was fun."

  Dec. 13th 

HOLA,

You know, I feel like it has been a while since I can really say the week was super good. This was a super good week. Sometimes I don't know why the consistency of miracles change but what I do know is that miracles are real, and they haven't stopped. Sometimes I bust my mutt and don't get anything in return... at the moment. Then later on it comes back. I'll write about in my email some cool miracles that have been happening. I'm thankful for all of your prayers, I need them.

Elder Plaster and I really like the equinox. It is just so nice to have something to return to when it gets really cold. I feel bad for a lot of the Elders on bikes. Not because of biking, just because it's kind of cold out. I've been on the opposite end of the spectrum there when I was biking in the summer. This is a pretty fun apartment I'm living in this transfer. I've lived in a lot of different apartments with a lot of different elders. I've made a lot of really close friends. This apartment is pretty cool though. I love Elder Plaster, Sorensen, and Rehkow. They are all great elders. Living with Elder Rehkow again has brought back some memories for sure. It's hard not getting fed here which is kinda lame but it's alright. This week we have no dinners lined up but that's alright. I've gotten pretty good at cooking. 

The district is great. The names of everyone in my district is Elder Plaster and I, Elder Leffler and Ricks, Elder Hughes and Pukahi, Elder Palmer and Murdock, Sister Jensen and Crosby and Dalton (they are in a trio). Today we went hiking as a district at Red Rock in a place called Calico Basin if you want to look it up. I'm pretty proud of my district councils. They are turning out to be pretty good. I also have a lot of fun making them and they are super helpful for the district. Now, all of the reassigned missionaries are leaving the mission so there are a lot less Spanish Speaking missionaries now. I could finally be put in a Spanish area after a year. I wrote an email to my mission president asking him to drop me from being a district leader and to put me in a Spanish area. He hasn't written me back yet but I'm sure it'll be a positive response. He's super cool like that. Being a leader has been fun and all, but I would like to be speaking and practicing my Spanish more. 

I have been tracking (or knocking random doors) a lot. Like seriously we pound doors. I don't know a better person to do it with than Elder Plaster. He is so funny.

 We have run into a lot of people who don't really like us but it's all good. We have had a lot of cool experiences though. One lady had lost someone in her family, and we came and knocked on her door and we got let inside. She tried to teach her a little bit, but she wasn't ready. However, we did say a prayer and she hugged us afterwards. So that was cool. I'm sure that was a very good experience for her. We met another guy named Jose that we are teaching now. We tracked into him, and he invited us inside and we asked to share a message we sat down and taught the restoration. He is super friendly and excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Tracking miracles are super awesome! 

We've had a lot of super awesome referrals now which is cool. We are teaching a lot. Finally. I've been working so hard, and nothing was happening and now we got plenty of people to teach. Since I've realized that my mission is almost half over, I wanted to set a baptismal goal for the rest of my mission. I want to set a goal of 12 more baptisms until I go home. Already 7 people that I worked with a lot have gotten baptized. Harlie, Gracie, Wyatt, Buddy, Eric and his older brother and sister. Unfortunately, I never was allowed to attend their baptisms, but it's whatever, I guess. I would like to help 12 more souls enter into the waters of baptism before I go home. I honestly just feel super spiritually refreshed and like I am starting over again. It feels really good. I am super excited for this last year. 

Christmas is coming up which I find super crazy. I will have spent two New Years in Vegas by the end of this transfer. Not quite two Christmas' because I was in the online MTC. Anyways, I love you all so much. See you next week.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

 Dec. 27th 

HOLA,

Yeah, so that week flew by. It was a pretty bad week for missionary work though. We barely found anyone and none of our homies came to church. But Christmas was fun so that's awesome. We are definitely grinded this week on the missionary work and had a lot of fun. We had a Christmas Eve dinner and a Christmas dinner so that was cool.

Working at the giving machine

Elder Rehkow

 

The members that invited us over wrapped a bunch of gifts for us too so that's awesome. They basically bought a bunch of hand soap, toilet paper, and paper towels and wrapped it for us. It was kinda funny. Jokes on them though because we actually needed that stuff. Then Christmas day happened, and Elder Plaster and I got matching ties from a member. We also got so many awesome things. I got new belts, slacks, and ties from my family. It was so needed and so awesome. My new slacks are amazing but now I definitely need to ship a lot of old stuff home. 

This week I did an exchange with Elder Hughes and Pukahi. It was so fun and it was cool to help out some elders who needed some training. Then my roommates in my apartment, Elder Rehkow and Sorenson had an exchange with the APs. That was fun. 

Playing frisbee golf in the flooding rain

Zone photos

Just a very productive and good week. I always love Christmas time. Always a great vibe everywhere. I thought I'd miss home more but I really like it here and I love my companion. Always a good time. I think I've found a recipe for a happy mission (and really a happy life). 

How to be happy on the mission:

1. Less is more.

You don't need so much stuff. Like physically and mentally. Get rid of all that baggage weighing you down and your mental stuff holding you back. You really just want to focus on one thing at a time. That's all you can physically do anyways so don't waste brain power worrying. 

2. Leave every single day satisfied. 

Try to accomplish everything you want to that day. Some things are going to happen that you can't control but do everything you can. Lay in your bad at night satisfied you used the time the Lord gave you.

3. Choose to be happy. 

It's not easy to be a glass half full kinda guy but if you realize how much you've been given by God, then you don't take for granted what you have. You have to make a conscious effort to be happy. It's hard but it changes your day. I know that when I know my purpose in life and where I'm going after this life then I've realized how much easier it is to be happy. The gospel really helps. That's why I share it haha. 

Thanks for reading my emails. You're all amazing! I more or less use it as a journal every week, but I appreciate you all wanting to take this journey with me.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas! 

Well, by the time you read this it'll be almost Christmas even though I write these on the Monday before. I'm just chilling here with Elder Plaster and life's good. Christmas is coming up and I'm super excited. Not about the presents because I know I got some slacks and socks (and there is nothing wrong with that) but because our president told us we could SLEEP IN! Plus, it's just a great time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. 

Anyways, this past week was awesome, and it was in preparation for Christmas which is also awesome. We had a Christmas zone conference which was cool. We basically hung out for 6 hours. We watched the Fighting Preacher and had doughnuts. We also did some skits. The Fighting Preacher is a super good movie and I recommend it. The acting was kinda wack sometimes, but I also haven't watched a movie in over a year, so I don't care. 

Christmas Zone Conference

We're teaching this guy named Jake and I really hope he can get baptized soon. He is such a cool guy. It might not happen this transfer because he has been reading some anti lately which is lame. If he keeps reading that stuff, I'm going to roast him. I love my area and my companion right now. Life is great being a district leader and making councils. My perspective has changed, and it is actually so fun. I guess I needed to learn that lesson haha. I asked president to put me in a Spanish area soon and he hasn't said anything to me about it so I think I might ask again. I don't know. All of the Spanish speaking reassigned missionaries are leaving to go to their original missions, so this could be my chance. 

There were some other cool things that happened this week. Like on P-Day we are doing a white elephant gift exchange and some other fun activities. Also, I learned how to solve a Rubics cube so that's fun. Elder Plaster taught me. Another fun thing that happened is that I caught a cold and now my throat hurts a lot. I also have a stuffed nose and it's kinda the buns. I remember I got sick with Elder Mcgee and had to quarantine but I'm planning on not doing that because quarantining is a miserable experience as a missionary. Every day here we don't get any member meals or lessons, so we just find all day every day, so I've been eating really unhealthily. This is probably why I got sick. Yeah, but life's good though. 

The mission really is such an interesting experience and it's weird to think that in 11 months I'll be home. It's so cliche to say but it is going fast. The mission has changed me for the better. It's awesome.

Grabbing a pigeon

Elder Plaster holding a pigeon

Thank you all for everything you do for me and all your prayers. I need as much prayers as you can give. 

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

The Longest Week Ever

 Hola,

Wow this was a long week. Which is weird because technically my week started on Tuesday instead of Monday, so my week should have been shorter. It felt really long though. Tuesday happened and we all did the whole transfer thing and went to a church building and switched stuff around and then dipped to their new assignments. Elder Plaster and I only had to go to pick up our new car. It's a 2019 Chevy equinox. It's pretty cool. All the other cars I've driven are 2020 and 2021 so this one might be one of the older vehicles I've been using. Elder Plaster is the designated driver which is awesome. I hate driving in Las Vegas and I prefer having the SIM card. Usually they split the responsibilities between the two in the companionship, one drives, the other one takes phone calls and sends messages. 

My new apartment is alright. Not as nice as the last one. I've been very blessed to have lived in 4 man apartments my whole mission and I've really liked all my roommates. This one I'm in is a bit older but isn't as bad as the one I lived in during the summer. There is a reason we retired that apartment, that one was an old fart. This one isn't too bad. The apartment I had when I picked up Elder Plaster (so last transfer) was by far the best one I've been in. It's super nice. The Church literally just bought it. My new roommates are Elder Rehkow and Sorensen. Living with my trainer again has been pretty fun. Talking about old times and stuff we missed out on. We've both changed a lot. Elder Sorensen is cool too. This transfer goes all the way through Christmas and New Years which is super cool. I will spend New Years Eve and day with Elder Rehkow again, just like last year. Maybe we will try to play Jenga again, haha. 

Yeah this week just felt super long for some reason. Like we were outside alot finding and didn't have any lessons or members lessons so we were just finding. It just felt super long. We found a lot of interested people but not a lot of progressing people. We found a lady named Dora who was cool and a guy named Rafael. They were pretty cool. We are just going to have to spice things up and start doing some other ways to find. Street Contacting and going home to home all day isn't producing the outcomes I'd hope for. But we atleast we have interested people which is good. 

Nothing really funny or interesting happened. The car is cool and so is my distinct and zone. Elder Plaster is awesome. Just a recipe for a great transfer but just not really a whole lot is going on with the work. It might be because Christmas is coming up but I really don't want to use that as an excuse. Because if they're elect people then it doesn't matter what time of year it is. I haven't had a baptism recently and I'm getting kinda sad about it, I really want to help Elder Plaster teach and take someone to the waters of baptism. I definitely have the faith, hope, and diligence for it but I guess I just need to be more patient. Missionary work is definitely hard mentally. 

But honestly I shouldn't complain, this transfer is awesome and I shouldn't really be complaining. I'm working as hard as I can and I think that's enough. Elder Plaster and I are always outside in the area and talking with as much people as we can. So we are doing our part. Speaking of the area, I'm super glad we have the car. We almost live out of the zone and have to drive 15 minutes to get to our area. So it's nice having a car for that. The area is a lot bigger than Willows but still super small. Laurelwood is fun. 

I think this week we are going to try some new ways to find people to teach. It's kind of depressing having a drought of super spiritual experiences and lessons. But hey, atleast I have an awesome companion. I laugh so many times a day. 

Sincerely,

Elder Pack

Happy Thanksgiving

 Hola,

Well that was probably the fastest transfer of my mission, these things just keep on flying by. I am so excited for this transfer though. Like, I am soooo excited. On Saturday we got our transfer calls and Elder Rehkow and Flores told us we'd be transferred... sort of. Elder Plaster and I are still sticking together (which is AWESOME) but we are leaving the Willows Ward and going to the Laurelwood Ward. Apparently, I was supposed to be in the Laurelwood Ward and then I got put in Willows but now I am here which is good. We had to change apartments so I wouldn't be living with Elder Carter and Schmutz anymore (which is sad) but now I will be living with Elder Sorenson and Rehkow. That is so cool and rare! I'm living with my trainer again. Out of over 230 something missionaries what are the odds of me living with him again. I am so excited. Also we get a car! Yay. Life is good. We got a white Equinox which is so sick. I am excited for this transfer. I'm still the District Leader which is fun, I like it a lot now. And some old friends from the beginning of my mission are in my District now.

My District

So last transfer was a tough experience for me. Not physically, just mentally. We grinded but couldn't find any success. We had a couple of people to teach. Lots of miracles for sure but not any miracles that led to the waters of baptism that transfer. Of course we planted some MAJOR seeds, we didn't really get to see the fruits of those. However, I know that those people we ran into and taught will progress and I hope they choose to be baptized. What's cool is a lot of the people I have taught previously have gotten baptized. Like Eric and his friends from when I was in Evergreen. Also Buddy from when I was in Evergreen got baptized which was cool since we started teaching him first. I don't even know how many seeds and other chain of events I am starting. 

I increased my humility and faith a lot this transfer which is good. (Those are the two Christlike attributes I was trying to work on). Now I want to study virtue and meekness (meekness is basically teachable). 

Anyways what happened this past week, well not a whole lot. Let's see... oh yeah Thanksgiving happened.

So Thanksgiving was awesome, we went to the Bishop's house and our Mission President told us it was okay to spend as much time as we wanted at members homes eating Thanksgiving and sharing messages. So we spent a decent amount of time with the Jones hanging out. We taught their kids how to rub their fingers on wine glasses and then make really annoying noises. It was so awesome but Brother and Sister Jones thought it was less awesome. The food was awesome and it will definitely be known as one my most memorable Thanksgivings ever. This Christmas will be memorable too and I'm excited.

This transfer I am just going to go off with Elder Plaster. I can't express to you how much I appreciate Elder Plaster. He is so awesome. This is definitely the best parts of my mission so far. Great zone, great companion, great area, life is good. Don't get be wrong all my other companions are my best homies. I love all of them so much and I am definitely hanging out with them after the mission. 

Our Taco Bell sauce tower

It's kinda cool being more than a year out and now people respect me. I feel like a cool kid now haha. Nah, I'm just joking. I love my mission so much. I love who I am becoming. 

Sincerely,

Elder Pack

I almost got stabbed by a man!

 Hola, 

I hit my one year mark! This is so awesome! Now I feel special! 

The end of the transfer is coming. Which means Elder Plaster and I get our transfer details in a week. If I get split from Elder Plaster I'm going to be so sad. Might cry honestly. He's so funny and I love him so much. I know I say it every email but it's true. He's honestly become one of my best friends. This transfer has been awesome. Loved training again. Really liked being a district leader, even though for the first 3 weeks I had no idea what I was doing. I basically figured out how to make councils and now it's dope. I don't have a lot of time so it's time to write a short email really fast. 

Angela got back to us and we had a powerful lesson. We finally had dinner with our ward mission leader Brother Erickson. The ward has been good and now we're finally finding a decent amount but no one progressing really quickly. Life is still just really awesome and I'm not depressed so that's good. We also served at a primary activity and I got to ride a hand wagon pulled by 8 year olds. It was so fun.

I had a two cool experiences, one where we were biking around and I was trying to teach Elder Plaster how to follow the spirit. I want to make sure Elder Plaster has all of my tips and tricks just in case I leave. Following the spirit is tough. Basically the spirit is usually the first thought that pops into your head that is something you wouldn't typically think. The second voice is usually the adversary. It tells you that the thing you thought was something stupid and won't work. So we were biking and we passed a U-Haul and I had a thought to follow the U-Haul so I looked back and yelled at Elder Plaster to follow the U-Haul. So we did and then when the lady parked in front of her house she got out and we asked her if we could help. She said that there was no way she could do it all by herself and that she has been praying that God would send angels to help her. We said "well here we are, so how can we help?" It was a cool story to show Elder Plaster how to follow the spirit. 

Another story is when I almost got stabbed by a man during our lesson. We met with a guy who was really lonely and needed some friends but also told us he was suffering mentally. So then in the middle of the lesson he yelled "what if I just grabbed this knife here..." and lunged towards Elders Plaster and I. I was ready to die. But he basically just wanted to do a weird knife object lesson. I love the guy and all but it was really scary. 

Elder Carpenter

Check out this hamster!

Anyway, I know this email was short but I love my mission and I love my time here! 

-Elder Pack

The Teaching Pool is Kinda Dry.....

 Hola,

Not going to lie, it is really hard to find people to teach in this ward. Luckily I have Elder Plaster to keep me smiling, but if I didn't have Elder Plaster I would straight up not be having a good time. I'm used to other areas where people will listen to you but here mostly everyone just runs away or doesn't want to be bothered or yells at us. Not really anyone willing to listen. There are a lot of families here which is cool, hopefully we can find one that will listen. The people we have right now are some of the most coolest ever. When we first ran into them they seemed elect but they all have been ghosting us now. I'm not jazzed about that. One of them was a family that straight up told us they wanted to join our church so we had an awesome first lesson but we couldn't get a return appointment and now it has been two weeks. I'm about to throw some hands. I just more or less feel bad for Elder Plaster because he really isn't getting any teaching experience. (Other than the roleplays I do with him and the occasional willing to listen guy). At the end of the day it's whatever, I just feel bad for him. We have a couple of other people that we want to teach to but they just need to get back to us so I guess we'll have to drop them. 

Let's see, what are the highlights for the week. Elder Plaster totally destroyed his bike earlier. We were riding out of an apartment complex and all of a sudden his gears in the back tire just broke and the switcher thingy broke off. It was pretty bad so we ended up calling a member and he gave us a ride back to our apartment. That was pretty lame. We're going to go in on P-Day and demand them to fix the dumb bike. 

I crashed again this week haha. I don't know what's been up with me lately but I guess I'm prone to crashing. I was on exchanges again with an elder in my district and we were at the top of this huge hill. At the bottom of this huge grass hill in this park, we could see a guy walking away. I was like, we need to talk to this guy. So I start zooming down the hill and circle in front of this guy. I'm going pretty fast. I pull out a card while I am in front of him and yell "What's up?" Then I hit the brakes to slow down because I am zooming. I slow down on the front and I basically cause my bike to completely flip forward and it throws me over the handle bars. I am completely on the ground with the bike upside down over me and the guy just looks at me and walks away. Doesn't even laugh or anything. I really wanted to give him that card. :) 

Elder Plaster's broken bike

Making district councils has gotten a lot easier. I was pretty stressed at first but then I realized that I shouldn't do it like people I'm not, I should do it like me. So after that I've been able to make them easier. I really like my district, they are beasts. Everyone is so awesome and hard working missionaries. They all find and baptize, it's super cool. Having Elder Rehkow has my zone leader has been awesome. Love serving around him again.

Spring Lakes Zone

Love my experiences with Elder Plaster. He is so funny and awesome. I've never laughed so hard in my life. Hopefully I'm a good trainer for him. I know he is enjoying his time but I really also wanted to give him lots of teaching experience and especially a baptism. Hopefully I'm with him another transfer and we can get him a baptism. I know that we can do it but it's going to take a lot of work. I'd honestly be down to rock a 3 transfer with Elder Plaster. I'd be so hyped with that.

Me and a creepy clown

Elder Lutter

I had a pretty cool experience where I got to do a baptismal interview for a guy named Manuel. The interview was so long because his life story was pretty cool. His testimony of the gospel was awesome to. Being able to interview him was such a cool experience and I won't ever forget it. Honestly, now that I've been out for a year I realize what they mean about these precious experiences. I have been having the most coolest experiences ever and I wouldn't have had them if I never left. It's pretty cool. Some insane things that I thought I'd never do or see. I just hope I'm not wasting it. I've been out for a year. I'm halfway done. Did I try my hardest in the past year? Did I waste a year of my mission? I don't think so, hopefully I can go the hardest I can for the next year. I really want to teach people though so Elder Plaster and I better find some people or I'm going to flip out. I know in other missions and areas people barely have any teaching and baptisms but I feel like that's not an excuse for my area. The people are there. I know they are, just need to find them. Las Vegas West is a baptizing mission, there are plenty of people outside, we need to find the elect one. 

"9 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you—there is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper;

10 And if any man lift his voice against you he shall be confounded in mine own due time.

11 Wherefore, keep my commandments; they are true and faithful. Even so. Amen."

Doctrine and Covenants 71: 9-11

Sincerely,

Elder Pack    

Haunted House and Nathan Pacheco

 Hola otra vez,

Here we are again. Life's good here in Vegas. Almost too good. Elder Plaster and I get along really well. Honestly I don't know what I did to deserve Elder Plaster but he is so awesome. Area is also doing well. Could be better. The members in the ward are so awesome and I love them so much. A lot of people are outside so we can talk with them now, but no one is willing to listen. I guess people in really rich south Summerlin don't want to talk about God. It's a little frustrating. I'm used to finding a decent amount of people and getting return dates but people here are just not having it. We did find two families though that are interested. They are just not getting back to us through phone which is lame. They're all like, "Of course we will come to church and read and pray about the Book of Mormon," and then don't follow through with there commitments. You said you would! All you have to do is read and pray about the book and then you'll know it's true. But it's alright I guess. We had a fantastic first lesson with them and that was cool, wish we could teach more.

Right now the mission has this huge push on getting a baptism every transfer and I feel a little overwhelmed sometimes. I want to help Elder Plaster gain some good missionary skills and become a baptizing missionary, but I can't do that unless I'm a baptizing missionary too. We're just going to have to reevaluate the way we find in this area. Anyway, it's all good. I just want to provide a good experience for Elder Plaster and we don't have to baptize to have a good experience. 

Yeah so this week was interesting. We didn't find anyone which stinks but we did have a lot of service and concerts and stuff. Our mission president is awesome and took us to a Zions Youth concert with Nathan Pacheco there. I didn't get any cool pictures or the concert but I got a picture of the foyer. It was such a nice auditorium. It was sweet. They were pretty good. Reminded me of my singing days and stuff. Nathan Pacheco was awesome too. He's pretty good. Then later in the week we did service at the giving machine. 

That was pretty cool. We were asked to not where our mission tags and wear normal clothes. We also were asked to go by our first names and not proselyte. That was pretty cool. I felt like a normal person. So basically I had to introduce myself as Neil and not Elder Pack. Oh and we helped out at this cool service project for a place called opportunity village. We basically helped take down a big haunted house. It was awesome. There was this small haunted house and a big one and it was actually a lot of hard work but it was cool. Got some fun pictures. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Moss this week and that was cool. He's a good missionary. Super fun too and always wants to do the right thing. We were grinding all day and hadn't seen any success. Until the end if the night we were walking and ran into a newly married couple. We talked about families and what we share and then we talked about eternal marriage. They really liked what they heard and wanted to learn more. It was pretty sweet. Love when people want to listen and decide for themselves. Cool miracle. 

Then I went in exchanges with Elder Rehkow my trainer and that was cool. It was so sweet to reunite for a little bit. He is a totally different missionary now. Super hardworking and humble. Super friendly and fun too. He's changed a whole bunch and so have I. We've both been so impatient with each other and it was so awesome to serve together again. We were pretty jank and just basically talked all night. It was cool. 

Other than that, nothing really happened this week. I love my mission. I love my new friends here. It's so cheesy but I've changed so much, which is good. I needed to change. I'm coming up on my year mark which scares me a little. One year as a missionary. I love my companion and all my previous companions. I think the mission was really for me more than it was for the people I'm teaching. It's so cliche and cheesy and I hate that but this is good for me. 

Love you all and I miss you, feel free to write or message me on Mondays.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack