Seeking out the aloe.

 Hola,

These past two weeks have been crazy long. Probably the longest weeks of my mission ever besides when I got transferred to the Vegas zone. Those weeks felt super long too but eventually they sped up, so I hope it's the same here. Life in the Alta Loma ward has been really fun actually. We are teaching lots of people and finding lots of people. Our area is pretty large so I can just go anywhere I want with my Tacoma pickup.

There are alot of people we are teaching but most of the people that are progressing live up in Logandale. So, we go up every weekend and go hangout with them. 

Logandale

One of them is Jared and that guy is the most elect person I have ever met and he's super funny. He's getting married to a member and he wants to be sealed in the temple with her. Super cool guy and I can't wait for his baptism this weekend. There are honestly a lot of people that we are teaching up there and if everything goes according to plan then we will see 8 people enter the waters of baptism. Very exciting! Elder Medina and Jared have basically become best friends and all they do is message each other on Facebook messenger like a high school couple or something. It's kinda funny but a little odd at the same time. Anyways so that's been fun. 

We went up to Logandale and we were backed up with so many lessons. I didn't have a chance to breathe we just kept moving. Wish everyday was as fast paced as that. We've been teaching a lot of kids, so we've been doing a lot of fun object lessons with them. Still love the drive to Logandale. It's so nice to just vibe for a whole hour watching the desert scenery. I'll probably really like driving long distances after the mission. Instead of staying Sunday as well though we went back to Las Vegas for church on Sunday. Kinda cool to have my first sacrament in Spanish in the Alta Loma ward. It was fast and testimony meeting so a lot of people shared their testimonies which was super cool. I'd be lying if I said I understood every word because I definitely I had no idea what they were saying most of the time. The spirit was still there though which was cool. I could tell that it was a good meeting. 

Doing district council in complete Spanish is kind of a struggle. I definitely use a lot of English, but it was about 50% in Spanish. I hope by the end I can do 100% in Spanish. That would be sweet. I've definitely been practicing and learning a lot which is good. Elder Medina doesn't really like speaking Spanish with me for some reason even though he's fluent in both languages. That's a bummer but it's okay, I'm still able to learn a lot. We talked alot about goals and how district council will be structured throughout the transfer. Then we did a training about who we are becoming and how and why we need to change as missionaries. It was pretty fun. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Judi this week which was super awesome. Probably the highlight of the week. We had a pretty incredible experience where we prayed and chose an exact neighborhood to go knocking doors. I've found a lot of success when we pray and study a map for a really long time whenever we want to tract. I like profiling people to and most Spanish speakers have aloe outside their house so I knock on doors with aloe. 

We knocked on this door and we've been doing this method of asking to bless people's homes for free. A lady let us come inside and we said a prayer together in her home. We then asked her if she felt the spirit. She said yes so we explained that we have a message that goes hand in hand with this feeling that she's feeling and then we asked to sit down and teach it. We taught her the whole restoration on her couch. She started crying when we taught her the first vision. Literally balling her eyes out. She asked us if we actually believed that happened, and we told her "yes, yes we do." She was crying a lot. Then we invited her to be baptized and she said YES. Wow, pretty incredible. That's the experience I've been praying for because I really wanted Elder Judi to have an incredibly powerful teaching experience like that. So awesome. Wish Elder Medina could've been there too but that's okay. One of those experiences that you never forget because of how incredible it is. 

We also got to go to a Zion's Youth concert which was cool. I went in November last year and now I got to go yesterday again. Our mission president is so cool. The concert was really good and I got to see everyone of my friends again. I saw Elder Plaster and immediately hugged him. Miss that guy so much. I love all my companions but that guy is special. He's such a beast. 

Well that's about it this week. Powerful exchange that gave me a spiritual boost and listening to Zion's Youth on Sunday was awesome. 

Here is an excerpt from a scripture that I read today: 

"Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their reviling's"

-Isaiah 51:7

Some people make fun of me for being a missionary or trying to be obedient but to that I have this scripture. I fear no one! Besides God of course haha. 

Sincerely,

Elder Pack