I have an eggplant.

 Hola, 

Well, we started the new transfer! Transfers are always so shocking and it can be pretty crazy with new changes. I already talked about that last week, but now I got to find out what was new haha. Let's just hop right into it. 

So as teaching goes, we are still teaching the same people, Cody, Amber, Wyatt, Jabri, Javier, Marita, and more. But we found two new people this week which was cool. They seem pretty interested but we'll see what happens. We teach so many restoration lessons and then come back for another appointment and they're like, "haha psych! I actually don't care about learning more or praying about the Book of Mormon." I love teaching all of these people though. I am most excited for Wyatt's baptism on the 28th. Everyone we're teaching is pretty cool and they keep commitments well which is good. 

So there are some new changes with the Lone Meadows Zone and in the Cheyenne Ward. First of all, 70% of the original missionaries here dipped and we got a bunch of new ones. Also, we got 32 new missionaries in the mission and mostly everyone here in this zone is training a new missionary, except Elder McGee and I. It's kinda fun having so many newbies in the zone. Also Elder Zuniga returned to this zone again, so that's pretty neat. Seems like it's going to be an excellent transfer. ALSO, our ward go shrocked when we found out were not the only missionaries in our ward anymore. We have 2 sets of missionaries, and they're sisters. Their names are Sister Harris and Black and they seem fun. Now we have to work together and I don't really know how were going to do that so we are going to have a free for all. They also cover the Portuguese branch so they're balancing both assignments. And of course they have a car and we are stilling chilling on the bikes. 

Also speaking of the bikes, I popped both of my tires again. I was so angry. The road here is just completely covered in glass and garbage. We checked the rims again and tubes to make sure there wasn't anything inside that was poking them. I'm so frustrated and hate this junky bike. But, I'm too lazy to waste P-Day time to get a new one. That's 4 flat tires in the past two weeks. I guess I'm just going to have to buy new rims or something. 

And that's about it for this week. Super lame and super boring. Actually, something fun did happen. We got an eggplant from a member. So now we are going to figure out a way to cook eggplant. Maybe someday this week we will throw some garbage together and make something fun with the eggplant. I imagine it might be good in a soup or something. 

I'm actually kinda glad there are Sisters in the ward now though. Even though they're stealing all our member dinners and baptisms... haha just kidding... no they're actually helpful. This ward is really big and their help is much needed. Everyone loves sisters so much more than elders though. When the sisters came in they were swarmed by the members during church. I was like bruh. So now it might be a competition with them no biggie. 

Anyways this week went by super fast and not a whole lot to talk about but I will share a short scripture because I LOVE short scriptures. 

"29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another." - 3 Nephi 11:29 

This means I shouldn't be mad and yell at my dumb bike because that is the spirit of contention. I also run into a lot of people that want to fight but this scripture is a good reminder of my purpose and who I represent. I represent Jesus Christ and He doesn't fight. Enough said. 

I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that Jesus is Real. I know that because I have read and prayed about the Book of Mormon. Because of that, I know I can live with my family forever. Thank you all so much for reading my emails and I wish the best for all of you. 

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

We tye-dyed t-shirts (this ones mine)

Quarantining is not fun!

 Hola todos,

Here we are again with another week down. This whole mission thing goes by way too fast. This week has definitely been an interesting one full of miracles and insanity. Looking back on it, it was a pretty fun week. Transfers were this week which is crazy! This transfer with Elder McGee has gone by so fast. Luckily there is no new changes in our companionship. Our roommates are the same too. We're just chilling together. We're still on bike and are just over the Cheyenne Ward. Glad I still have Elder Llontop too. I love that guy and he teaches me good Spanish. 

Me wearing Elder Llontop's glasses

First of all, the people were teaching are still the same. Wyatt moved his date AGAIN to the 28th of August. Hopefully this will be the last postpone but I'm gonna be real sad if I can't make it to his baptism if it goes out of this transfer. Jabri, Amber, and Cody are still where we saw them last and we have a bunch of other people we're teaching but they aren't really progressing that well. However, we found two new people that are very promising! I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to be baptized this transfer! Javier and Marita are the most humble and awesome people I have met on my mission. So basically, we did a member lesson with the Hanson family and they are from Peru and mentioned that they wanted us to come over for dinner and try Peruvian food. Then we had this delicious Peruvian dinner and it was so good and I wish I could've gotten seconds but it's alright. Anyways the Hanson's has family staying with them from Peru who don't speak a lot of English so they joined us for dinner. We did a spiritual thought in Spanish after dinner and Marita and Javier were super interested. Elder McGee doesn't speak any Spanish so it was really all on me and I was freaking out a little bit. I actually did a pretty good job and we talked about the Book of Mormon.

What's awesome is that Javier and Marita wanted to read the book of Mormon and come to church. They literally came to church Sunday and couldn't understand anything because it was in English but they really liked it. THEN we came back for dinner again and had another lesson in Spanish and gave them copies of the Book of Mormon in Spanish(they had them in English and Javier read the whole introduction in English). We finally set up a time to come back with the Spanish branch elders(Elder Child and Llontop) to teach them the restoration. And that all happened in the past week. Just an incredible miracle. 

I know it's cliché and cheesy but those two lessons were the strongest I've felt the spirit ever. I wish I could've said that my Spanish was perfect but it really wasn't. But what I do know is that because of what we said they are reading and praying about the book of Mormon. I may not have said everything perfectly but they are progressing and that's what matters. I'm just excited to do a restoration lesson in Spanish next week with Elder Child and Llontop. Those lessons were so powerful and they will be moments I will never forget for the rest of my life. 

I'm still trying to memorize 20 new words in Spanish everyday. It's definitely helping my Spanish TONS. I may not have all of them perfectly memorized that day but when I need them in conversation they are brought to my memory which is cool. I've gotten to a point in my Spanish where I know the grammar and how to speak but I just need more vocabulary so that's really what I'm focusing. Oh and understanding what people are saying. It can be crazy sometimes. I literally don't understand anything anyone says when they're from Chile or Peru. It can be really tough understanding Javier and Marita. People from Mexico are so easy to understand and I love it. Their Spanish is so clear. 

We got a call Wednesday night by the bishop and he asked us to give a priesthood blessing to an older lady in the ward. She had pancreatic cancer and it looked like she was not going to make it, she wanted us to give her and her family a blessing of comfort as she passed. Hearing about her story left me so devastated. I remember knocking on the door with Elder McGee at 8 pm and seeing her and her family, it was definitely a humbling experience. I didn't perform the blessing, Elder McGee did, but I could feel the spirit so strongly as he said the blessing upon her head. I felt the love that Heavenly Father had for her and her family. I know that whatever happens in this next month she will be at peace. What was cool was after the blessing, a gentleman approached us and asked if he could be baptized. Apparently it was her sisters boyfriend and he hasn't been baptized yet but he wanted to be apart of the church. That was pretty neat. We setup a time to come back and teach him. 

I made brownies in quarantine!

Another downer was the fact that I may have accidently gotten the whole zone sick. Remember how last week I mentioned that I was a little sick and so were my roommates? Well, a lot of other people are sick and I realized it might've started with me haha... yeah so now Elder McGee is super sick and we talked to our health coordinator over the mission and she said that we had to quarantine for 3 days. You've got to be kidding me. So we ended up just doing Facebook work for 3 days. Quarantine is so boring and NOT fun at all. The only cool thing about it was I literally read the Bible for 3 hours straight. Elder McGee and I were tried to do Bible speed reading and we got pretty into it. Quarantine is still depressing though. What made it a little better was that Elder Llontop and Child quarantined too so we weren't super alone. It was just so boring and I never want to be sick again. I've heard some talk that they might quarantine the whole mission and I really hope that doesn't happen. But since people who are sick are getting transferred I could totally see this spreading through the whole mission because I got sick last week. Oops. 

You know this transfer has been probably one of my favorite transfers so far. My district was fantastic and I felt like I made a huge difference in the Cheyenne Ward. I've had some pretty crazy stories too. I remember at the beginning of this transfer I tried to make crockpot chicken and I accidently left it on over night on the highest setting and it could've exploding and killed everyone but luckily that didn't happen. Instead it just made super tender and delicious chicken. Two flat tires and crashing my bike to constant flash floods everyday, this has been one awesome transfer. It's monsoon season here in Vegas and it's been flooding like crazy. Because of that though it's no longer 117 degrees everyday. It's like 100 so that's neat. 

It is RAINING!

When you ride your bike in the rain it stains your clothes
with muddy Las Vegas mud water.

This has been so wild here. I wish you all could see what I see and do what I am doing. It is really spectacular here and I love being a missionary. My life here is so different than who I was and its like I'm on a constant roller coaster going 900 miles an hour sideways. Sometimes on the roller coaster I want to puke my brains out but really it's a pretty cool roller coaster (quarantining was the puking part). 

I know this church is true and I'm making a difference a difference in the lives of so many people. Thank you for reading my emails and I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Pack 

Street contacting with my comp

Quarantining selfie sticky note inception

It's like dementia up in here!

 Hola! 

I have hit my 8 month mark today as a missionary! It's pretty neat but like means nothing in the long run. It's still kinda fun though. 8 just seems like a big number I guess. I'm above the age of accountability now haha. Anyways let's just get right into the week.

Okay so nothing has really changed with people we're teaching right now. No new updates and not many cool stories to tell. We haven't met with Jabri because he's been busy and I'm super sad about that. I love talking with him so much. We've focused a lot of our efforts on less active members right now. We've exhausted a lot of our efforts hitting up part member families and all that so now we're just going after the less active. This ward has 200 individuals regularly attend church but there are 700 in the boundaries. Sooooo.... We've just been grinding on those. We've got a lot of families to come back to church and it's pretty cool to see the fruits of our efforts there. Yeah also so Eric's baptism had to be pushed back, unfortunately. I was pretty sad. I hyped it up last week and it didn't even happen. Should happen sometime in August though.

Church was good. We helped out a friend teach a Sunday school class which was pretty cool. It's fun to be asked gospel questions or deep questions and then answer them pretty easily. It's very satisfying haha. That's like the only thing I'm good at. Actually, we helped move  that same friend the other day and then they took us out to breakfast. Man! getting fed all the time is so good but it's destroying me. I've gained so much weight. I mean it was probably good for me because I was so skinny but I've gained like 20 pounds. 

Mud Mask on my comp

You know now that I think about it I get fed a lot here. Everyone here is so nice and awesome. The people in this ward are fairly old too and so kind. They're like my grandparents. It's so awesome. They like to fatten us up and are just so awesome, like spending time with your grandparents. I'm having a great time here in this ward and with Elder McGee. There is an awesome member here that gives us so much free stuff. The other day he gave us melons to take back to our apartment but we were on bikes so we biked with one hand and the other hand we each held a giant melon. It was great. Awesome. Crashed again but it was fun. We are still planning on what we're going to do with them.

Some legit fish we found at some Mexican market

Yeah so I got super sick this week for some reason. All of a sudden I just got shrocked with a cold. It was pretty bad. Hopefully it wasn't Covid but I heard a lot of missionaries got a cold or something. My roommates got it to and they ended up quarantining. Hopefully I didn't get anyone else sick but I didn't really quarantine soooo. I was too busy on the grind. The other elders had a great time in quarantine apparently. We came back and the apartment was completely covered in sticky notes. They're  for Elder Llontop since he doesn't speak English. It's like dementia up in here! There's a sticky note with English words on everything so Elder Llontop can learn them. Its kinda interesting but fun I guess haha....

Sticky notes are everywhere!

Other than that not really much happened this week. My back bike tire is going flat so I'm pretty sure there is a slow leak but I'm just too lazy to fix it. Oh I also made sugar cookies this week! That was neat. I burned them so that kinda stinks. They were really bad honestly. 

My burnt cookies

I read this cool scripture the other day and it's pretty much my favorite scripture now. It's Proverbs 27:17.

17- Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Basically what it's saying is that when you have a positive attitude it rubs off on others. People sharpen other people. We can sharpen the countenance of our friends and families. You can't change some circumstances you've been given, so what you choose is to sharpen yourself. Have a good or bad attitude. The choice is yours. Iron sharpens iron! I don't know it just sounds cool. 

I love you guys so much and am so thankful you read my emails. Sorry this one wasn't kinda short and boring but it basically sums up this week.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

I Crashed My Bike!

 Hola otra vez,

This has been the fastest week of my entire life. I feel like that every week, but this one is for reals. Seriously, P-Day just rolled up on me again. I feel like my letter last week was kind of just me complaining haha. Sorry about that, I think I was just sad. This heat has really messed with my brain. Honestly life here is actually really great, and I see so many miracles and blessings. I guess I was overwhelmed last week. This week was way better though. Lots of things happened this week so let's just jump right into it.

Wyatt's baptismal date got pushed back to August. Kinda lame but whatever I guess. Originally it was for the 24th of July but it's alright. Wyatt wants some of his family to perform the baptism and they're out of town until August. I totally respect that but hopefully I stay this transfer then so I can see the baptism. Family is always more important than some random missionary haha. We are still teaching Amber and Cody. Also we met this random guy named Jabri. Jabri is literally so cool. He just pulled up his van on the side of the road as we were walking by and was like, "HEY! I've got some questions for you guys!! Why are we here on earth? Why do bad things happen?" And we're like haha glad you asked. We've taught him a couple times now and he said he wanted to come to church! He never showed up though... we'll give him benefit of the doubt but we will be super hyped to see him and his family at church.

We also had a fire couple of lessons with Edward. Edward was a guy we ran into and he is super cool. It's so interesting because every time we come over to share a lesson he comes outside at the same time. It's an interesting coincidence... We gave him a Book of Mormon and this guy has just been absolutely feasting on it. He said he wants to come to church too and learn more. It's nice to teach and watch people progress. 

Just a random picture of us

So a couple days ago, Elder Caldwell calls me and says, "ELDER PACK GUESS WHAT?" And I'm like "what" and he says, "ERIC IS GETTING BAPTIZED!" And I was like, "BRUH WHAT?" And that's not even the coolest news. Eric has asked me to perform the baptism. He wants me to baptize him! I was so hyped. If you remember, Eric was this 9 year old we found and taught last transfer. I didn't think his parents would let him be baptized but here we are. Hearing about that news literally made me cry. I was so hyped. Elder Caldwell called me during dinner and we were eating buffalo wild wings so I could've been crying because of that too. I got some crazy spicy wings that day. Anyways, that happened. His baptism is on the 17th so be prepared for some pictures next week. 

This week we went to zone conference again and it was a blast. Probably the best zone conference I've been to. There were a lot of good trainings and president laid down some fat bars during his talk. I saw some old friends too! Everyone from Vegas Zone were there and some people from Elkhorn Springs. Elder Caldwell and Elder Rehkow were there. We reminisced on old memories. I forgot how much I missed Elder Rehkow and we had so many dumb memories together. During zone conference I even got a new oil vial which was lit. I lost my previous one haha.... 

My new vial of oil

Elder Zuniga, Sister Sellers, and I (They are from my MTC district)

Our District

The Lone Meadows Zone

I love my companion so much. He is literally so awesome. It's so refreshing to lighten the mood with Elder McGee. We are so different but very similar at the same time. It's fun. It's so hot all the time and pretty miserable but with Elder McGee life is actually pretty good. During exchanges I get pretty sad. I'm pretty spoiled with Elder McGee. I know that the Lord is probably giving me so many blessings and then Elder McGee will get transferred and I'll be super sad. 

Spanish frosted flakes Elder Llontop brought and they suck.

Elder McGee and I messing around

Yeah so my bike went through some garbage this week. I crashed my bike and also go two flat tires. It was kind of thrilling to be honest. Time slowed as I jumped over my handlebars and landed on my feet. My bike got shrocked but I was okay. My bike is still doing some weird stuff to this day. Then I got some flat tires after rolling over glass. Las Vegas always has glass and some other interesting stuff on the road haha.... It was chill though because we rolled up to the church and called our next appointment. Then Brother Barker came in clutch and gave us a ride.

Brother Barker fixing my bike

When Brother Barker gave us a ride and then took us to target I was so thankful. I don't really deserve some of the blessings I've been given but here we are. Brother Barker literally bought me a new tire and fixed it for me. Without him I would've been so stuck. Without members I'm literally nothing. We need members so much. Brother Barker is such a dog. Sometimes we take for granted the members but I am so thankful for them. Missionaries without members is kinda like hands without fingers. Actually that's kind of a weird analogy but you get the point. Yeah you need member help. If you can't have the members testify and invite then you kinda are stuck. I know I have a huge testimony of member work and without them I would be so stuck. 

Anyways thanks so much for reading my emails! I hope you all have a great week! 

Sincerely,

Elder Pack

Happy Independence Day!!

 Hola todos!

Happy 4th of July! Independence Day is always one of those holidays that kinda slips my mind but this whole week here has felt like Independence week. Literally every night for the past week people have been launching mortars. Looking back on it though, this has been an awesome week. These weeks go by so fast and I feel like just yesterday I was writing an email. Now here I am again.

As of writing this it is currently July 5th. My fourth of July didn't really have anything special happening. It was Sunday so we went to church and had a couple friends there. Then we went proselyting and then ate dinner at the apartment and watched the fireworks. However we didn't have anywhere to go so we watched them from our apartment, which was super lame. Our sacrament meeting was probably the most insane sacrament meeting I have ever seen in my life. It was fast and testimony Sunday which means that for 45 minutes anyone can come up to the pulpit and share whatever they want. It's supposed to be your testimony of Jesus Christ and how you found out the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, but some people didn't get the memo. 

So first of all, I love everyone and all but a testimony needs to at least say Jesus once. It's your testimony of Jesus Christ and the restoration of his gospel. Anyway, so this sacrament meeting was fast and testimony Sunday and the first person that came up literally typed up a 20 minute talk on paper and gave it to the congregation. They literally had a five pieces of paper with them they were going to give. Then another person came up and talked about how Joseph Smith "wrote" the book of Mormon and she has won Mormon battles and I was like bruh what? Then another person gave an equally weird story and then it ended with an actually heart felt testimony but it was still awkward. It was definitely an interesting experience. I told all my friends afterwards that meeting was a little different haha. Don't get me wrong I love people and know they mean the best but it was pretty big yikes moment for everyone there. All that sounds negative but really I wish the best for them. It was just one of those experiences you had to be there for and love and laugh it off later.

Elder McGee and I have been on the gas lately. It's nice to work hard and then see fruits of your labors. We found some new people to teach and we're still planning on having Wyatt's baptism on the 24th. He's super excited! He is such a funny and good kid. I really hope he can stay active, we're trying our best. Finding new people is good and all but more importantly in having them keep commitments and setting them on date. We always "find" but we want quality finds. What's interesting is that I've gotten so used to not wearing masks during lessons and dinner appointments now. I rarely see people with them here and we don't social distance anymore. Things have gone back to normal here so it's interesting. Our president of the mission is so anti masks so he is super excited about that. 

My District on Lone Mountain

We hiked Lone Mountain on P-day so we could see all of Las Vegas. That was pretty neat to see. It wasn't a long hike but it was still pretty cool. I wish we could've have watched the fireworks from the mountain. That would've been neat. You could see the strip and then the whole city surrounding it. This P-Day was pretty good. We played basketball and gatorball for like 5 hours. It's nice to take a mental break from everything you see and hear during the week. 

My District leader

Elder Jones in my District

One thing that's kinda tricky here is learning Spanish. I wish I could say I was improving rapidly but it's a slow improvement. I rarely talk Spanish with people here since my area doesn't have a whole lot and I'm still in an English ward. It doesn't help my previous companions didn't speak any Spanish. I do all my personal studies and reading of the scriptures in Spanish. I can read and speak well but understanding people is so hard. It's a little frustrating. My roommate Elder Llontop is fun to speak Spanish with but he always replies in English since he's trying to learn English, I don't get a chance to practice understanding what he is saying. It's just difficult sometimes. I do feel I learn Spanish and memorize so much easier which is nice. I'm focusing on memorizing 5 new words a day but when your companion doesn't speak Spanish It's tricky. Maybe I should increase my goal and memorize 10-20 new words a day? Maybe Spanish shouldn't be a huge priority right now? I don't know what the answer is. I wouldn't be able to progress in the mission like start training again or even be a district leader if I can't learn Spanish. President says I need to be fluent in Spanish before I get Instagram and be a social media specialist and stuff like that so learning to be fluent is my top priority right now. Maybe that sounds selfish but I want more responsibilities and be able to use my skills but I can't do that if I don't have fluent Spanish. Maybe my goals and priorities aren't in the right place? Should I even strive to be good enough to be a district leader? Would the Lord bless me with Spanish if my goals aren't for the right reasons? I have so many questions and I'm just in a pickle I guess. 

Not really too many funny stories this week which is lame. Elder McGee and I are just on the grind and we have a lot of fun biking around and all. It's still hot out but you adjust. Now I'm thankful It's only 105 instead of 117 degrees. Well here's a cool excerpt from a talk that gave me some encouragement when I get the big sad. 

My companion next to a street sign
with the same name of the town
where he grew up.

"Elder Gordon B. Hinckley spoke of meeting a young naval officer from Asia. The officer had not been a Christian, but during training in the United States, he had learned about the Church and was baptized. He was now preparing to return to his native land. President Hinckley asked the officer: 

“Your people are not Christians. What will happen when you return home a Christian, and, more particularly, a Mormon Christian?” The officer’s face clouded, and he replied: 

“My family will be disappointed. … As for my future and my career, all opportunity may be foreclosed against me.”

President Hinckley asked, “Are you willing to pay so great a price for the gospel?”

With his dark eyes moistened by tears, he answered with a question: “It’s true, isn’t it?”

President Hinckley responded, “Yes, it is true.”

To which the officer replied, “Then what else matters?”

- "It's true, isn't it?" By Neil L Anderson - April 2007

I know this is true. I know what I am doing. I know that this will change lives. I don't always love it though. It's hard, and it sucks sometimes. But I know it's true, so what else matters? 

I love all of you so very much, reading these newsletters and emails means the world to me. I want to help people and sometimes, I don't feel like I'm making a difference here, but when you read my emails and messages, then I'm making a difference. Happy 4th everyone.

Love,

Elder Pack 

It's Hot and Wet.

 Hola! 

It's nice to finally write again this week. A lot of interesting things happened this week and I saw some pretty awesome miracles. Always forget to take pictures but I took some decent pictures this week. It's still kinda hot but not as hot as last week. Last week was nightmare fuel. This week wasn't so bad. We actually got some rain so that was interesting. It rained for like 10 minutes and then it stopped. Apparently there is supposed to be a stormy rainy season during the summer but were still in a huge drought here. Elder McGee loves the rain and so we went outside for a little bit. My life is so different than my life last year. I feel like sometimes I'm living someone else's life. Like I look in the mirror and it's me (besides the fact that I'm sunburned 24/7) but I just feel so different. It's hard to explain. 

There are quite a few people were teaching and if it were up to me I'd drop a lot of them because they are not progressing but Elder McGee wants to keep them. We have a couple individuals that are promising, most of them have specific situations that are holding them back and need a miracle. Amber is one of those people, she is ready to be baptized but just needs to work on one thing. Once she gets that sorted out she can be baptized. Elder McGee and I are waiting for a miracle. Cody is another one that really needs a miracle. What's cool is that Cody has been being taught by missionaries for over two years and he came to church for the first time last week. He has never gone to church before. Our mouths dropped when we saw him walk through those doors. I couldn't believe it. One kid that we meet with is named Wyatt. Wyatt is so cool and his family wants to get him baptized. His family has been inactive so we knocked on their door and now we're talking to the whole family and getting them to church. Wyatt hasn't ever been baptized and so we are teaching him so he can have a desire to be baptized. 

We gave another talk in sacrament meeting. We had to take 35 minutes so Elder McGee and I each spoke for 16 minutes. Elder McGee's talk was pretty awesome! I love speaking and I felt I gave a pretty fire talk as well. We dropped some bars over the pulpit for sure. We talked about how we gained our testimonies and it was a very spiritual experience. I talked about how I read the Book of Mormon and prayed over it for the first time and got an answer. Some guy came up to us afterwards and told us he was literally crying during it and I was like whoa bruh. It was a really good talk for Cody and everyone of our other friends there.

My companion Elder McGee is such an awesome guy. I love working with him.

None of my previous companions really laughed at my sense of humor so I was a little depressed every now and then but Elder McGee laughs at my jokes! I know that sounds kind of selfish and childish but it means a lot to me when my companion laughs with me. He's pretty hilarious too so it just makes every dull moment full of energy. I feel like myself again and it's refreshing.

 

Well other than the rain and heat, not really anything happened. I gave a talk and we saw a bunch of scorpions and lizards at the church.

Really I'm just chilling here. So, I wanna share a quote from the prophet that I used in my talk: 

"...choose to believe in Jesus Christ. If you have doubts about God the Father and His Beloved Son or the validity of the Restoration or the veracity of Joseph Smith’s divine calling as a prophet, choose to believe and stay faithful. Take your questions to the Lord and to other faithful sources. Study with a desire to believe rather than with the hope that you can find a flaw in the fabric of a prophet’s life or discrepancy in the scriptures. Stop increasing your doubts by rehearsing them with other doubters. Allow the Lord to lead you on your journey of spiritual discovery.

...act in faith. What would you do if you had more faith? Think about it. Write about it. Then receive more faith by doing something that requires more faith."

Just a fire quote. Very inspiring for sure haha. Thank you so much for reading my email and I'm sorry I couldn't write about any more interesting stuff. It's just one or those weeks I guess haha. Anyways, I love you all and hope you have an excellent week!

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

I have a mammoth tooth!

 Hola todos, 

Well, after getting transferred to a new area again, life is so much different. I liked the Evergreen Ward but I was ready for something new. I loved Elder Caldwell too, he taught me a lot of valuable lessons. One of the most valuable lessons he taught me was how to hug. I was never a hugger before but now I like to hug because of him. He taught me real kindness and my time serving with him well probably impact me for the rest of my life. Honestly though, I was excited to hear I was going to this new area. So this new area is pretty big, it's probably the biggest ward I've ever served in. The Cheyenne Ward is huge and the people are ancient. This ward is just old people. I feel bad for the primary and the one youth kid. Nothing wrong with an old married adult ward but it can be tough to ask them to come along on lessons or other stuff like that. 

Wow, it's hot outside. Like I'm surprised even I am truckin' through some of this garbage. Being stuck on a bike in 115 degree weather is pretty horrible. First of all, the wind is just killer. I feel like I'm getting blasted with a hair dryer 24/7. I'm just sweating like a pig so all my white shirts and ties are just so wet. Someone will try to shake my hand or something but I'm just soaking wet so I whisper "sorry" as they shake my drenched hand. Apparently I can tan now which was never a thing before, either that or I permanently screwed up my skin. What's weird is people are still outside in this weather just hanging around. Like I'd expect to find no new people while contacting, but people are still just hanging out in their yards doing nothing. People here are interesting. Like we'll walk up to someone and be like "what's up?" and they'll be like "It's too hot for you guys to be out," as they're just sitting on a lawn chair, so we say "what are you up to," and they're always like, "oh nothing." Who just hangs out in this weather?! Anyways rant is over. 

Me after I dropped spaghetti all over the floor

Me and Elder McGee eating pizza

Besides the whole heat wave garbage, life here isn't so bad. I'm still not getting fed as much as when I was in Stone Mountain but I'm definitely getting fed more than when I was in Evergreen. However, Evergreen gave me an opportunity to learn how to cook well. Plus, Elder Caldwell is a beast at cooking so he taught me so many great tips and tricks. Which now I'm teaching my new companion, Elder Mcgee. I love Elder Mcgee so much. Like, he is just so awesome. We work really well together and he's just genuinely nice and a cool guy. He reminds me of all my friends back home so we get along perfectly. Everything about him is so awesome, I am so glad I get to be his companion. Before this transfer I was praying to Heavenly Father for him to let me know somehow that next transfer was where I'm supposed to be and that the mission president would receive revelation on where I need to go. I think Elder Mcgee was an answer to my prayers. Hopefully he thinks the same about me but serving with him during this week has made my life so much easier. 

Our roommates, Elder Child and Llontop are cool too. Elder Llontop is from Venezuela and his English isn't the best but he is teaching me good Spanish. We just talk every night. Speaking Spanish with him has been good for my Spanish. Elder Child is training him and he is super awesome, but his English is not the best. Listening to him speak English makes me laugh because his grammar is all over the place. I laugh in a loving way of course, we're all learning plus English is super difficult. Elder Llontop played a lot of video games before the mission so we mostly talk about that kind of stuff in Spanish haha.

Boundaries of my new area

A scorpion we found at the church building

 

We met this guy named Arthur and this guy is so interesting. He reads the book of Mormon in Russian and his theories about life are so out there. We try to teach him but he doesn't listen to what we have to say. However, I asked a question that made him listen to what we have to say for a little bit. He was talking about how he is spiritually woke and that we are infinitely changing and growing and all that stuff. So I interrupted him and asked him "what he felt his next step to coming closer to God would be?" He literally paused and sat there for 30 seconds and looked up and said, I don't really know. I basically told him that there is always a next step and that I know that the Book of Mormon will lead you to that next step to understanding the true nature of God and understanding your purpose in this world. To know if it is true you have to exercise a particle of faith and read the book. When you read with an honest desire to know the truth, then the truth will be manifested unto you by the gift of the Holy Ghost. But you have to read with a desire to know, you can't read going in like a skeptic. Only then will you feel the spirit. You could do the same with the Bible and tear it apart. Having a willingness and humility to know if its true is crucial for a spiritual witness. 

Anyways, Arthur afterwards gave us a wack gift. First thing he let us hold was a meteorite that was "older than the earth." He said that the meteorite would probably be the oldest thing we have ever held. It was pretty cool looking, it was all compact and dense. Then he gave Elder Mcgee and I some "Mammoth teeth." It looks pretty cool but I'm not quite sure it is actually a Mammoth tooth, but just a cool rock. He pointed out the naval cavities and stuff and said how it was worth $25,000 and stuff like that. It was pretty cool but not quite sure its actually worth that much. 

Something interesting that I've noticed as a missionary is that I can answer almost every philosophical question now. Meaning, every question that I've been asked during a lesson or on the street can be answered, either by my companion or I will. There are some that I don't know the answer to but every question that I've been asked so far in these past 7 months, I could answer. All people have to do is listen and experiment upon the words of Christ, meaning pray and ask God if it's true. There are so many people that I run into that talk too much or won't listen intently, they always ask a question and we give an excellent answer but they won't listen. Why did you even ask in the first place? Because of this gospel and the doctrine of Christ, I have come to understand the true nature of God, His plan, why we are here, where we are going, what happens to people that never learn of Christ, the role of Jesus Christ and his Atonement, the purpose of Adam and Eve why they NEEDED to partake of the fruit, why bad things happen to good people, and so on and so forth. I am always asked these questions but if people listen then they can actually know for themselves.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack