This place is poppin'

 Hola!

I'm back again! This week was pretty insane and a lot of cool stuff happened, so let's just jump right into it.

So I spent my Wednesday morning with Elder Galland while I waited to go pick up my new missionary. I just want to say that Elder Galland is such a beast and he's probably going to be a mission president one day. Anyways, we had an awesome day and then we went to go pick up my new missionary. The first day was super fun and weird because I had just done the exact same thing 6 weeks ago for another new missionary so I felt like deja vu heavy. My mission president, President Reese, said the exact same remarks as last time and then all the new missionaries came in and we got to see them. Then president Reese slowly reads off each name and matches who should be their trainer.

My new missionaries name is.... ELDER PLASTER. I LOVE Elder Plaster. He's so funny. He is the most wholesome guy ever and we are super similar. I keep saying obscure YouTube video references and then he quotes the next line and I'm like YOURE THE FIRST MISSIONARY TO GET ME! He's also a super hardworking missionary and gets stuff done. I can't wait for this transfer. He is so awesome and funny. I like the last names Pack and Plaster because it's easy to remember and everyone in the ward knows us now. 

So this transfer in Spring Lakes is going to be really different. I was sad to say goodbye to all my friends in the Lone Meadows Zone, but now I'm here and everyone here is a dawg. First of all my zone leaders are Elder Flores and Rehkow. Which if you remember him, he was my trainer, and I'm super surprised he's a zone leader but we're going to go off. We planned an exchange together so we can relive old times haha I'm so excited. Elder Flores was also my zone leader in Elkhorn Spring back in the day and now he's going home. Plus Elder Leeper is here in my district so we have the old Elkhorn gang back for one last ride before Elder Leeper leaves to his original assignment and Elder Flores goes home. It's seriously so awesome. 

So my new ward is called the Willows Ward and it is super nice. It's south Summerlin and everywhere here is gated communities and expensive. In the center of our area is a large gated walled off community with a guard. We call it Fort Knox and our goal is to get inside and start proselyting til we get kicked out. We'll probably hit up a member and he'll let us in. We already tried talking to the guard to see if he'd let us in and he said "absolutely not." We told him we'd be back. Apparently the way to find in this area is through the members. Originally I was supposed to be in the Laurelwood Ward but a couple days before transfers the assistants to the president called us and said that I would be going to the Willows ward instead. I guess he thinks I can handle lots of member work. We'll see if I can do that...

I love this ward though. Everyone is so nice and friendly and wants to work with us which is good. I'm pretty overwhelmed right now honestly though. Training a new missionary and then being a district leader and then being in a completely new ward and needing to find people who want to get baptized so I don't get roasted makes me a bit overwhelmed. It's not too bad it's just wild sometimes. Basically being district leader isn't hard or anything it's just people ask for me for help and sometimes I'm just like bruh I don't know good luck. Everyone lives so far away from me too and since I'm on bike again I'm just kinda vibing, I guess. So we don't really get any rides to the p-day building which is kinds buns. Yeah but I do love my district though even though I can't get rides from them to my own district council.

Elder Plaster is so cool. I love serving with him and I hope we can have a lot of fun this transfer. Being able to find new people might be a little difficult but I'm so down. Since previous missionaries in the Willows Ward were in the Spanish branch and the Willows Ward, no one focused their efforts in that ward. So now, we get to focus all our efforts there. I think the key to success might be working with the youth. That seems like the most profitable finding source. 

So there is this park barely out of our area that we sometimes go to do companion studies since our area is so small. This park is popping. I wish I took a picture, it's ridiculous how many people are here. It would probably take us two hours to talk with everyone there. So that's what I've been doing with Elder Plaster to get him out of his shell. We're just walking up to random people in the park and bugging them about Jesus until they accept a pamphlet. It's pretty fun. Not super effective because everyone hates us but it's still fun nonetheless. In this area everyone is so rich and prideful they won't even listen to what we have to say. It's pretty lit. 

Cool Halloween house

Our teaching pool of people is so small. We opened our area book and there is nothing. So we've been on the gas this week and found a couple of people. I really hope we can find lots and teach lots so I can provide a good experience for Elder Plaster. I really want him to have an awesome training experience with me and see the value of hard work. But if we can't see the fruit of our labors then it's pretty hard. Hopefully Elder Plaster enjoys his time with me. I know I'm going to love every second with him.

This P-Day we are going to buy Pumpkins and carve Pumpkins at the church building with my district. It's going to be awesome. That's something I'm looking forward to. It's crazy how it's already Halloween. It's wild. OH, here is a spiritual thought for the day. My Christlike attributes that I'm studying this transfer is faith and humility. I've found that when you study Christlike attributes you realize how inadequate you actually are. Last transfer I studied patience and love and my patience and loving abilities were really tested. Now sometimes my faith to find is being tested. I guess the spiritual thought for the day is that we all have something to improve. We could always be better and more like Christ. I hope that one day I can master all of these attributes but that's pretty hard not going to lie. But God makes everything possible.

Anyways, I love you all. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you next week.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

We carved pumpkins for PDay

Time for Upgrades...hehe..

 Hola,

I only have a little bit of time to write so I have to zoom. Transfers came up again and now things are getting spicy. I didn't really expect what was going to happen, I had several idea but now things are wild. So as you know, I was chilling with Elder Wheeler in the Cheyenne Ward and I thought I was going to stay with him another transfer because I was training him. Then Elder Jessop and Moa called and now I'm going to the Spring Lakes Zone. Apparently, it's supposed to be super nice. I don't really know how I feel about that but whatever I guess. Oh, and I'm training a new missionary and I'll be a  district leader there. So I straight up abandoned my other new missionary and now I'm chilling in Spring Lakes. I'm pretty nervous, but I also know I'll be fine. 

My district

Basically what district leader means is that I am in charge of like 6-8 missionaries in an area and I make sure they're doing what they are supposed to and other stuff like that. I actually haven't been one so there's more stuff you do and I'm sure I'll figure it all out. Oh there is also exchanges that I plan for people in my district. I really hope my new missionary likes to work. I really want to grind for another baptism but we will see what the Lord wants. This new zone seems pretty fun and I'm excited to be here. Also my trainer, Elder Reykow, is a zone leader here so that's pretty wild. So, I'm excited. 

Where to start? Well my mini zone conference training was really good and I feel like I taught people how to affectively work with the ward council. I guess it was pretty decent because they made me a district leader. Haha. However, I'm a still a pretty trash missionary but hey were all chilling. Life's really good now. Elder Wheeler was an awesome companion and I loved this ward and zone and I'm going to miss it. ALSO the temple was so sweet. Loved it. The celestial room in the Las Vegas temple is absolutely insane. So beautiful. Our pictures we took at the temple weren't very good but its whatever I guess. 

Temple pics

Oh on Saturday we also went to Burger King and bought 120 nuggets and ate them during transfer calls so that was awesome. So sweet. But hey, really wish I had more time to write and talk but I want to let you know I love you all. Life is great and I love the Lord. 

Nuggets night

Adios!

-Elder Pack 

There are a lot of missionaries here....

 Hola,

First of all, we're heading into the last week of this transfer which means by next P-day I will know transfer details. I will most likely stay with Elder Wheeler in the Cheyenne Ward. However, I've seen some crazy wack stuff go down. Anything could happen, but also most likely I'll just be here for another transfer which means I'll have been here for 4 transfers. I mean don't get me wrong I love this place, but 6 months in the same ward gets a little old. My mission president says the spirit of speculation is bad but I mean it can be kinda fun sometimes haha just kidding. Sort of...

Anyways this transfer really has been awesome. I've loved the Elders I've lived with, Elder Boyce and Stutz. They're hilarious and super hardworking so it provided a good example for Elder Wheeler. Elder Wheeler and I are very different people but I feel we get along well. I've noticed I've become a more patient person since my time on the mission. It's cliché to say but I've grown a lot. I really wished I could've had a baptism this transfer but Elder Wheeler and I grinded so I feel satisfied. We did everything we could. The zone has been really good too, and I love my district and my zone leaders. They're hilarious. Just a decent transfer. For a time this transfer, Elder Phalyn was in a trio with Elder Stutz and Boyce so that was cool. 5 man apartment was fun. But then he got booted out so now there is just 4. 

Elders Stutz, Boyce and Phalyn

So these past few transfers we have gotten so many new missionaries. Seriously for the past 3 transfers and now this next one we have gotten over 30 new missionaries all in the west side of Las Vegas. Now there's like 250 something. I don't know but it's wild. So since more than half the mission is under 6 months they've done a reset button on the whole mission and now we're going back to basics. This next zone and district council they've asked certain individuals to give really basic trainings on certain things (like a mini zone conference) and what's cool is they've asked me to talk about something. Elder Jessop called me and told me to talk about how I work the ward council best. I've seen a lot of success with the ward councils and I've been picked to do that training. I've been in a slump lately and hearing that made me feel a lot better about myself so that was neat. 

Speaking of wack things in the mission. Our mission president was doing some studying and found out that social media work really isn't doing anything. We've only had 4 baptisms through social media and like a bunch more labeled 'other'. President just assumed that this other meant Facebook and that the huge number in the other finding baptism category is for social media. Yeah so he came out and was like Okay everyone stop using Facebook, we need to re-adjust. So then we decide to do a social media fast as a mission and not use social at all for October. So that way people can focus more time on useful stuff. Apparently social media has been a huge waste of time and my whole life has been a lie. haha. I was trying to convince Elder Wheeler that Facebook work was useful and then president came out and shot it down. So now we are resetting as a mission and trying to fix our time priorities. So yeah I haven't touched social media in a hot minute and I wonder if we'll use it as heavily after October. 

So this past week was probably the best stake conference that I have ever been to. Wow this conference was amazing and I'm so upset that no one I'm teaching showed up (except my returning member homie Berkman). Yeah but it was such a powerful stake conference and the spirit was so strong. I was feeling kind of down lately and just sitting there in church and seeing such a powerful Sunday was so cool. Some recent converts gave talks and then our mission president and his wife spoke. Then straight up the stake president spoke. The spirit was thick. I didn't realize my mission president was here until I accidently bumped into him in the hallway. I was all surprised and flustered and everything and then he was like "what's up Elder Pack." Their talks were so good. I wish every stake conference was as powerful as this one. 

I'm still going to the Las Vegas Temple this Wednesday which is exciting. Our mission president selected some of us to go with him so that's super cool. I feel like so many people have been to the temple except for me. I've been kinda upset about it but hey now it's all good. Sometimes I get impatient with silly things like that but now things are happening so that's what I like to see. 

Okay so here is a wack miracle that happened. So after Elder Wheeler and I's companion study we walked around for a little bit in the park to go talk to people. As we're walking around I notice this guy really far away sitting on a bench. I said out loud, "we need to talk to that guy." And instantly we book it to this guys and slide in. We're like, "hey you got a minute?" And he's like uhh sure. So we end up teaching him and talking with him and all that jazz. He basically believes there is no purpose in life, there is no God, there is afterlife, and we can't find real happiness. So we have this AMAZING discussion with him and he's actually changing. He wants to learn more and we schedule a time to come back and teach him. We offer him a free copy of the book only Mormon and says he already has one. So were like uhhh okay whatever and we didn't end up giving him one. So before we leave, he says, "are you guys always in the park? I see people like you a lot here..." we laughed and all that stuff. But the story doesn't end there.

So this guy, Sal, is his name, is super awesome and we end up telling some other elders about him in the park. Apparently, they talked to him too and taught him a completely different lesson then what we taught him! They tried to give him a book of Mormon but he said some other missionaries gave him one the night before. So were like what the heck?!? So then we talked with the sister missionaries in our ward a couple hours later and they said they taught Sal too in the park right after us. He came up to them and asked how to pray! They taught him another different lesson as well. So now we've learned that 3 different sets of missionaries have taught Sal and apparently a fourth set taught him and gave him a Book of Mormon as well all in the span of at least 24 hours. By now this guy is getting a little weirded out. So then later that night, Elder Black and Hammond call us and tell us they ran into Sal at the park. Apparently they were the ones that gave him the Book of Mormon and happened to run into him a second time after the sisters taught him. At first, Sal was not really interested but now he is so intrigued in learning more. 

All the pass along cards Sal got

The Elders and Sal

What's wild is that Sal was not at all impressed by the first missionaries, but decided to read the Book of Mormon anyways. HE READ THE WHOLE BOOK IN ONE NIGHT! He couldn't set it down and ended up staying in the park til morning when we found him. Sal made it all the way to the book of Ether in one night. So then the missionaries that first found him met up with him again and then referred him to us and now we get to teach him. It's pretty awesome!

Pretty bomb week with some pretty bomb experiences. Writing out a miracle like that doesn't do it justice but really it was so cool. I love my mission and I love serving here. It is so fun and Las Vegas really is an awesome place. I love you all and hope you have an awesome week.

Sincerely, 

Elder Pack 

Back on a bike (sort of)

 Hola,

I love fall so much! Seriously, it's so awesome. Growing up in Iowa, the leaves were so awesome when they changed colors and then it starts to get a little chilly. Here, it's still pretty hot actually. So nothing really changes color here. The palm trees are still just there. A lot of people hate the palm trees here which I find is a little odd.. It's slowly cooling down. It's still occasionally in the 90s and 80s but won't touch triple digits for a while. Which is good. Life is just good right now. Really good. Anyways not a whole lot happened this week, but still a good week nonetheless so let's just get right into it. 

So starting off, our teaching pool is pretty limited. We had one guy who used to be on date but he is NOT ready yet. He will one day but not now. People in Las Vegas struggle with some stuff sometimes. Anyways his name is Isaac and he's awesome. We love Isaac. He knows it's true but just has to sort some stuff out first. Then we have another guy named Rick and he is so cool too. Rick is completely blind but loves meeting with us. He might be able to be baptized next transfer but we'll see. He prayed about the Book of Mormon and got a yes answer which was pretty sweet. Finally there is Josh. Josh is also a super cool guy. He's hilarious too and asks a lot of questions. So many questions we just kinda sit there and answer his questions. He is progressing super slowly but still progressing. So these are our most progressed people. Josh, Rick, and Isaac. Everyone else we had to drop, including Amber which was mega sad.

So actually the way we found Josh was kind of cool. So Elder Wheeler and I just finishing knocking on a member house and then as we're walking back to the car Elder Wheeler says, "Hey, let's just keep walking around." So I'm like alright. So we walk around for a little bit and then Josh comes out of his house on the phone and is like, "Hey wait!!!" He comes walking up to us and puts the phone down. "You have been trying to call me to meet with me, I wasn't ready at first but I am now." It was pretty cool. Meeting with him is always an adventure too. One time he had a Donald duck costume on for work or something. 

So something else happened this week which was super cool. So we were looking through our area book and found someone named Regina. I felt like I knew this person so I was checking her timeline and then it hit me. This is Gracie's mom! Remember Gracie from when I was with Elder Rehkow? We had an opportunity to teach and baptize a girl named Gracie. Her mom and step dad live in the Cheyenne ward boundaries! I was like wait what... this is so trippy. So Elder Wheeler and I drove to her house and knocked the door. They answered the door and they also remembered me! They were like "oh you're the Elder that spoke at Gracie's baptism" and I was like "yah!" and so right now we're trying to teach them but we will see how it goes. Just an interesting thing to think about. What are the odds that I'm in her ward? It's wild. 

Yeah so Elder Wheeler and I are on a bike again. Only for a little bit though haha. We are getting the truck back. We ran out of miles to use in the car so we're biking around. It was pretty fun to relive my glory days with Elder McGee. That's when I hit my peak. I peaked with that Elder. It was nice to also give Elder Wheeler a perspective on how biking is. Now he doesn't take the car for granted haha. I love the truck. Life's great right now. I've actually gotten pretty good at biking. When you bike everyday for 12 weeks straight, you get pretty good at it.  I can bike without holding my handlebars and text and bike at the same time. It's sweet. 

So I actually have some AMAZING news. I was still pretty bummed out that I couldn't go to the temple a couple weeks ago but then I got an email Friday. I am going to the Las Vegas Temple on the 13th!! So awesome! I'm so excited. Life is honestly so exciting right now. I've literally only been through the temple once and now I get to go again.

Also General Conference was this week. So awesome. Such a powerful weekend. I took a lot of notes and now I'm gonna apply them in my life. We watched with a bunch of different members but the Saturday afternoon session we watched with one of our friends. He really wanted to watch conference so we came over and watched it. But when we came over he was super drunk so we turned it on and watched it anyways. He wasn't opposed to it (however his agency was a little hindered) so we watched it with him. I hope he got something out of it. He was pretty plastered. But he was also intently listening and even talked about some of the talks afterwards. So I think that was a mission accomplished. Then we had another Word of Wisdom lesson afterwards. :) 

Anyways, just an awesome week and a lot of memorable experiences. Life is amazing right now. Like always, I like to share something afterwards so here is a great scripture:

"For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation" -D&C 82:3

Even though life is great and awesome, much is required of me. You always have to stay on the GAS. Anyways. I love you all and am so thankful you read my emails. It means everything to me.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

Lone Meadows Zone at Zone Conference

The Craziest Exchange of My Life!

 Hola,

This week has been so fast but so awesome. Definitely a great week. I love serving in the Cheyenne Ward and Elder Wheeler is such a hardworking Elder. I'm the kind if guy that like I don't care at all whether my companion is like me or not, I just care if you want to work hard with me. Elder Wheeler likes to work so we get along well haha. Yeah it's been a pretty good week. 

Handing out cookies

First of all, we delivered cookies to a bunch of our friends and thanks to one of the cookie visit we put Isaac on date to be baptized. That was sweet. We literally sat down and had a talk and put this man on date. Then we also found a lot of solid new people to teach. One time as we were walking Elder Wheeler felt like walking forward a bit more and so we did. Then immediately a guy named Josh pulled up and was like, "you guys have been trying to call me, I wasn't ready to meet then but I'm ready now." That was pretty cool and we've had two lessons with him already. Josh is a pretty funny guy. He sells merchandise and he's gonna make some missionary merchandise line for us. I'm so hyped. 

Elder Wheeler and I are teaching English now at a Spanish resource center. Elder Wheeler isn't even called Spanish Speaking and now he's teaching English to a bunch of Spanish speakers. He honestly teaches it better than I do sometimes so that's interesting. We mostly talk in English anyways. I want to get as much Spanish practice as I can so I try to speak Spanish a decent amount but also English so they can learn too. It's honestly pretty fun. 

Okay but now it's time for the lit story of the week. So basically I've been doing some exchanges throughout the week. I went another exchange with my district leader and that was fun. But the most crazy exchange was with Elder Jessop. So Elder Jessop and Moa are my zone leaders and since I'm training a new missionary the zone leaders wanted to do an exchange with me. Elder Moa went with Elder Wheeler and they apparently had an absolutely spirit filled exchange where they put a referral on date in the first visit. It sounded pretty incredible. My exchange however was very interesting. I had companion study with Elder Jessop and then halfway through he's like, "yeah so Elder Pack actually I have a pretty bad stomach/ bacterial infection so I'm not feeling that great so if halfway through this exchange I pull the plug don't be surprised." I was like oh dang okay. So naturally we then went to in-n-out for lunch. Then we had a member visit and about 20 minutes later, Elder Jessop is like, "I need a bathroom, like right now." So then we go to a church bathroom so Elder Jessop can release the beast. 

So we're in the bathroom and Elder Jessop is making some interesting noises in the stall and everyone else in the bathroom is like what is going on. Because there is a baptism going on, there is a decent amount of people. I'm laughing like crazy so I need to leave the bathroom because I can't breath and so then I wonder into another room where Elder Child and Whipple are doing weekly planning. I join in with that for about 30 minutes and Elder Jessop comes in and is like yeah we need to end exchanges. But this is where things get crazy. I'm like bro I have so many things planned and I know Elder Wheeler needs to be with Elder Moa sooooo. Then we realize Elder Child needs to pack since he's going to Ecuador, so we make a new plan. I'm going to do another exchange inside the exchange and be with Elder Whipple. Elder Child is going to pack for the rest of the night so Elder Jessop joins him and sits on the toilet for the next 5-6 hours. So that was fun.

Elder Wheeler my companion

Elder Gonzalez

Okay so now Elder Whipple and I are together and we go to our homies Josh's house and he asks us to move his printer. We're like, okay sure we can help with that. Turns out it is a jersey printer so it is absolutely massive. It's 8 feet by 3 feet and weighs 700 pounds. So Elder Whipple and I are like what is going on as we move this thing. Then we have another lesson with him but this time he's changing into a Donald Duck costume for some reason as we teach him. It was crazy. I'm pretty sure he was changing into it for work or something but that was fun. Then we ended exchanges 3 ours later. 

One thing I've noticed is that my weeks are really the same. I'm really scraping the bottom or the barrel for these emails. Last week I literally talked about shampoo. So it's honestly a miracle I've written this much about my week. Life is still good, I love working with Elder Wheeler, and I've learned a lot about myself and who I am. This experience really has changed me so much and I feel like a whole new person sometimes. I still make dumb jokes and all that, but I feel different. 

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

-3 Nephi 5:13 

This gospel is truth. I know it as a fact. Like I know the sun shines or I'll wake up in the morning. This is truth. I'm putting my whole heart and soul into this and working so much. Sometimes people accept or sometimes they reject it. More often the latter. I see these people as I walk past them in the street and I just want to stop everyone and tell them who they really are. Sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. I know there is a God. I am His son. Jesus Christ is real and performed and infinite and eternal Atonement for me so I can live with my family again after I die. I know that is truth.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack

An older picture of Elder Caldwell and I

Yummy taco dinner

Oysters and Cup Pong

 Hola,

Another week down, and I've officially hit 10 months as a missionary. Pretty sweet. I'm now in the double digits so I can sound like an experienced missionary! Just kidding, I still sometimes has no idea what I'm doing. But that's part of the fun. I think that will get me ready for life, just not knowing what I'm doing at all and just winging everything. Anyways, let's get into the week. 

The Tacoma is still sweet. We love the Tacoma. Also I think my skin is healing well from all the sunburns I've gotten while on bike. I've noticed a huge difference in my redness of skin. Heck Yeah, life's good. But I still look like a tomato but that's whatever I guess. The Tacoma protects with that. Elder Wheeler is a pretty fun guy too. Loves to learn and ask for help when he needs it. That is a good skill to have and I struggle with that sometimes. I don't really ask for help when I need it. He's a good guy though and I like working with him. He's learning a lot and so that's pretty neat. I think the best learning tool is failure so I let him fail a lot so he can learn what to do next time. I could tell him things but really experience has taught him more than I could ever teach him. For example, I like to go up to random people and tell them my friend has a question to ask them. Its soo fun.

I've really learned a lot about myself since I've been here. Living with a dude 24/7 really teaches you a thing or two. One thing I've learned about myself is I am a huge perfectionist. Things literally HAVE to be perfect and that never occurred to me til now. That attribute of mine is something I've been trying to drop. I think I've been doing a better job of it. I've really stopped caring about a lot of things. I have been trying to work on two Christlike attributes these next couple weeks. Patience and Love. I want to show unconditionally Christlike love and patience to Elder Wheeler and to my fellow peers. I think I've been doing a lot better. It's really been good for my mental health too. I'm less stressed and all that stuff so yeah that's neat. 

Anyways, here is a fun thing though I've noticed this week. Girls shampoo is so awesome. I ran out of shampoo a couple days ago and I went to the store with Elder Wheeler on P-Day to go get more. I found some shampoo that was definitely not for guys but wow this thing is sweet. Why haven't I been using this stuff my whole life. My hair is just like so silky now. Life is good. Just thought I'd share that with you and all the wisdom I'm receiving on my mission. 

Also, I had exchanges with Elder Hatch again. I love that Elder so much. He's so funny and smart. Just a great guy to be around. Plus, I set up some pretty fun things for that day. First of all, a member fed us oysters. I do not like seafood. But, I wanted to try eating an oyster. Wow that stuff is gross. I'm sorry if you like it, that's totally fine. But in my taste buds, it's nasty. Apparently they're alive too and that just weirds me out. So yeah oysters aren't my thing. It was a lot of fun though. Elder Hatch was just downing all of them and I only ate like two. Nasty. I just tried to slurp it down my throat without chewing or anything. It was so weird. 

Yeah that exchange was so weird. We also went to Elder Hatch's baptism during the exchange and were going to be late and they needed to fill the font, it was so stressful. I don't know why we did the exchange with a baptism on the same day but whatever I guess. I ended up getting like 50 "check your speeds" on the Tacoma as I was driving over. Another funny experience during the exchange was when it was later in the evening at night when we left the baptism and showed up at my apartment. A massive group of people was just raging outside our apartment in a party. We pushed through some of them to get to our apartment and someone yells, "YOU GUYS WANNA PLAY BEER PONG?" Everyone is yelling and stuff and the four of us are just like uhhhh.... then we're like nah we're good. We then go inside and my district leader leans to me and says "Elder I really wanna play cup pong and not drink." And I'm like Elder we probably shouldn't play cup pong with those guys. Then the two other new missionaries are like "Sure! Let's do it!" And I'm like bruh. So we go the door and said a prayer to leave the apartment and after the prayer all four of us are like yeah... we shouldn't do it. But then we still left the apartment to drop off Elder Hatch and they asked us AGAIN to play. My district leader insisted we should just play but not drink obviously, and should just contact them and I'm like bruh what? NO! Turns out it was a really good idea not too because someone we were teaching was there and was watching us the whole time. So... that was good. 

Well, at the end of the week and after all our hard work we realized that no one that we were teaching came to church again. We had so many people that said they'd come and I was so hyped, none of them showed. It was kinda frustrating. Elder Wheeler and I were just grinding and these people straight up didn't show. It's whatever I guess. Part of missionary work I guess. Keeping commitments is so important. I really have learned the value of a dependable person. Anyways, I know that I'm doing what the lord wants me to do and all that so it's no biggie... but don't get me wrong I love seeing miracles. 

This has been a great week and I love working with Elder Wheeler. I like helping him learn how to succeed on his own and it's a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind training my whole mission but I know that probably won't happen. Thank you all for reading my emails! I hope you all have an incredible week and I'll talk to you later!

Sincerely, 

Elder Pack 

Welp, here we go again!

 Hola,

Well, I finished the first week with the new transfer. I feel like I got so complacent with the way things were and now things are different again. But change is good I guess. Last week I talked about the details of the new transfer but living them is even weirder. I'm training a new missionary and I'm driving around in a Tacoma. Life is pretty good! 

So I got my new missionary Wednesday and his name is Elder Wheeler. He's such a good guy and an even better missionary. Orientation with him reminded me of Orientation when I got trained by Elder Rehkow. That feels so long ago. It's interesting. It was pretty cool being on the other side though. Elder Wheeler is from Virginia but he moved to Germany right before his mission so he tells everyone he's from Germany. I think it's so hilarious. People think he's like some German guy and it gives us so much clout. He is a super nice and friendly guy too. Can't wait to keep serving with him. 

My new companion

Yeah the truck is pretty sweet, not going to lie. Finally getting off a bike and having a truck is so sweet. Basically, I'm like the designated driver for everyone though. I feel bad for a lot of guys on bikes so we give them rides around. Having a truck is so convenient. I can't even describe how awesome it is. I'm a pretty terrible driver though. I'm still getting used to driving again so I'm pretty terrible and make some pretty sketchy decisions. I'm sure I'll be fine though. 

My new roommates are Elder Stutz and Elder Boyce. They're good missionaries and are super funny too. They're always out among the people so I'm glad that they're being a good example to Elder Wheeler. I really want Elder Wheeler to work hard and see fruits of his successes. Elder Stutz and Boyce are Spanish missionaries so I'm glad to practice Spanish with them. Elder Stutz has been out for longer than a year and he has always been in a Spanish branch. I'm super jealous. I really hope one day I can serve in a Spanish area. I hear of some missionaries here who don't serve in Spanish areas til the very end of their mission. I guess that may be me haha who knows. My Spanish has definitely improved but still not fluent. I wish so badly to be fluent. 

Training has been interesting. I basically have to explain everything in detail and sometimes I forget Elder Wheeler doesn't know some things. I really like it though and think it'll be a good experience for me. Elder Wheeler doesn't speak Spanish though so I'm training an English missionary. I really wish I could train in Spanish so that way my Spanish could improve too but I guess my Spanish isn't good enough. Maybe president doesn't think I'm ready for that or whatever haha. I don't know. Life is good though and I'm just taking one day at a time.

We had a pretty sweet miracle the other day. Elder Wheeler and I have been trying to hand out his first BOM but we've been having some trouble. I handed a Spanish BOM and referred a guy while Elder Wheeler was here, but we couldn't get him to give out an English one. Eventually on Friday, we found a lady named Connie. It was so cool and she asked us to sit down and she told us her whole life story. Then she accepted Elder Wheeler's Book of Mormon and said she'd pray about it. It was so sweet. I really want to be a good trainer for Elder Wheeler and leave a good impression on him. I hope he looks back on his time with me and say he enjoyed every bit of it. 

So I got some bad news that I was a little upset about. So last week I talked about I had the opportunity to go to the temple with a recent convert and I was super excited about it. He asked me to escort him through and I was so excited. But then I talked with my mission president this week and he said that I can't go to the temple with him. It wasn't a good use of missionary time. So I couldn't escort him through the temple. I was pretty bummed about it and I vented pretty hard to Elder Wheeler and so that sucked. But Elder Wheeler was super chill and gave me some advice and love so it helped me release some tension I had. Hopefully I'll be able to go to the temple another time before my mission ends but we'll see. I was talking with one of the senior couples about it who went to the recent converts temple session and was confused why Elder Wheeler and I weren't there. They were a bit confused too but they gave me some advice and all that so I got over it pretty fast. 

Anyways I love the mission and my new companion. I can't wait to serve with him and make a new friend. I'm so thankful you read my letters, I appreciate it. This week was pretty short but a good one. I'm excited to train and I know I'm ready.

Love you all,

Elder Pack 

My district leader and I during our calls