Cave Spelunking

 Hola,

So, this week was awesome. Just awesome. Let's start off with the stupid stuff and then we'll get into the spiritual stuff.

So Elder Muraski and I did something kind of dangerous and probably shouldn't have but it was super cool, and we didn't die... but we could've. So, we went to Sandy Valley again, the wild west town in Southern Nevada, and all our lessons canceled. So huge bummer, we went to a funeral for a member there and had dinner with the branch president but other than that everything else canceled. So, we decided to do something fun, kind of disobedient but I was really looking forward to those lessons, so we found online some mines nearby because Sandy Valley was an old mining town, and we went mining. We think it was called Azurite mine, but we drove about a mile or two away from the town and parked our car then hiked up this mountain. Then we entered the mine in the top and explored. It was really cool.

I have lots of videos and pictures. There were straight up bats and stuff. Lots of old mining equipment and structures. Super interesting and cool. So, we went actual spelunking. It went further down but we decided not to go too far down. So cool.

Okay so the reason why we went to Sandy Valley again is because we are teaching Cynthia and Jacob. They are a family that wants to join the church. They are super cool, and we're referred to us by the branch president. We had a lesson with them last week and they are super awesome. We were going to have a lesson in person in sandy Valley but then they were sick, so we had a lesson over zoom the next day. They are so elect and both lessons were legit perfect. What's fun about teaching Cynthia is that she has no idea what church even is and legit knows nothing about Jesus Christ. Teaching their family is so fun. She texted us last week that they read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and God answered their prayer, exactly what we said would happen did happen and now they have a testimony that's true. Very cool. We tried to put them on date but both of them want to attend the church for several months before they are baptized so we told them that could potentially be baptized in two weeks if everything goes right since they need to attend church two times beforehand. I am hoping and praying that they can be baptized before I go home in 6 weeks. I'm a little worried but we have a plan to go in person next week and pray together on our knees about baptism and then it'll be GAME OVER. Satan has no chance. So please pray for Cynthia and Jacob.

I just want to take a moment and point out that a nonmember family prayed about the Book of Mormon and received a spiritual witness that it was true. If this church was not true, then a family with absolutely no reason to believe and just keep living the way they are living, prayed and had those good feelings. If we were making up the spirit in our minds, then that doesn't make sense because they have no reason to do that. It just proved even more to me that all my spiritual experiences are true, and I need to trust in God. This work really is true. 

Other things that happened this week, we had the MLC meeting again. Very cool. We discussed fasting from unvirtue as a mission. 

As well there was a funny story from Sandy Valley. We pulled up to a member's house and this stray dog that was following our truck ran onto their property. It starts scaring the kids who were outside and stuff and then the dad came out with a pistol and just started screaming at the dog and then he disappeared into the wilderness with this mangy stray. We didn't hear any shots but apparently, he shot him a couple times. I'm sure that dog got absolutely wrecked. But that pretty much sums up life in Sandy Valley. Pretty epic. Another epic story that happened this week was during our zone council meeting a random dude walked into the building and walked into the room and announced to everyone, "do you guys have any holy water?" Elder Muraski and I make eye contact and were like "sure we can help you man" then when we're outside of the room we tell him we don't really bless water and then we asked him what he needs to water for. He said he wanted to bless his home because apparently there were demons inside. So, we got his address and went to go bless his home. Elder Muraski and I felt completely fine in there and there wasn't anything spooky so we dedicated his home and then taught a little bit about the priesthood and how faith and love can cast out all fear so hopefully no more wack stuff happens. He also wasn't interested in meeting with missionaries either which was a bummer. 

Well, I officially have one week till the transfer ends, then I'll be in my last transfer of my mission. It goes by so fast and I am definitely enjoying it. 

Sincerely,

Elder Neil Pack