My Apartment Was Infested with Cockroaches!

 Hey,

2022 is really flying by. My last year on the mission is going to go by so fast. I really feel bad about this week as nothing really interesting happened. Still working really hard and trying to do all the right things. Love my district and my zone. The Elders and sisters here have become some of my best friends. I love Elder Plaster. Him and I have never ever gotten into a disagreement. Things are looking to be amazing this transfer too with teaching. 

Right now, I live in a pretty gross apartment. It's not old it's just some of the Elders that lived here previously were gross. I deep cleaned the whole apartment this morning which was nice. The apartment is looking so good now. Not a speck anywhere. We also have a cockroach problem which kinda sucks. Yeah, the previously Elders and our neighbors were pretty gross. An exterminator came in today which was nice. The apartment is looking so good now. 

Elder Carter holding Bud Light at a service project. Not sure why.

Something pretty wild happened at a service project this week. We were loading a moving truck and an older gentleman was moving this huge bed by himself and accidently fell out of the truck backwards and it looked like he was going to break his back but then he rolled backwards when he landed like a ninja. So, he was perfectly fine. We thought it was going to be so bad, but he rolled, and it looked awesome, and he was perfectly fine afterwards. Honestly, he should've broken his back 

We are still teaching Edgar and Kayla. We are also teaching a man named Sam. We were directed by the spirit exactly to knock on his house, and he is digging to find the true church of Jesus Christ. It was pretty cool. We had a church tour with this week with him, and he really liked it. I honestly love being a missionary and talking to people. It is the most fun thing ever. Teaching new people is awesome. I have had so many cool experiences. Teaching Sam has been awesome. I really like answering people's questions and blowing their mind. It is so satisfying. He was really caught up on some doctrine that didn't make sense to him, so we read the scriptures together to help clarify things for him. 

Nothing else really happened this week other than finally getting rid of the cockroaches by deep cleaning the whole apartment. Also, I'm trying a new thing on the mission. At 10:00 pm I go into the closet and say my personal prayers out loud and write in my journal afterwards. That's been pretty awesome. I've loved my time here and I love serving. I wish my emails were less boring right now but it's whatever. Love you all and I'll talk to you next week.

Sincerely,

-Elder Pack 

They were lost, now they are found.

 Hey!!

It's slowly starting to warm up again here. I remember last year as it slowly creeps up to 120 degrees again. Right now, we're chilling at a nice 60 degrees but eventually it's going to be bad. I guess I am just enjoying it now. Yeah so, this week was pretty awesome. Some really cool stuff happened. 

First of all, I lost my keys and I got locked out of our apartment for like 3 days. That kinda sucked. I had to climb into the balcony on the second floor to break in multiple times. It was quite the climb. It was pretty cool to say I did it though. I'm glad no one saw though because it looked really bad. Like some shady figure broke into another person's apartment. Eventually we got new ones to replace them. What's even better is 3 days after that I found my actual keys so now, we have duplicates. I guess we'll have to return some to the mission office. 

I guess this sink lost its keys too.

Then this week my whole district got sick, so everyone was out for 7 days straight, but Elder Plaster and I were working. We had a lot of cool miracles though. We found a lot of people and then put Edgar on date to be baptized (finally!). I've been trying so hard to get someone on date and now we finally have someone which is just a huge blessing. I love Edgar and his whole family. They are going to get baptized in February. They were found by some other missionaries a while ago and now we get to teach them. It's been a huge blessing. I am so thankful for the Elders who worked so hard to find them. I know Edgar is thankful too. He is so ready and excited to be baptized. 

It was a pretty good week. One of those super satisfying weeks. This whole transfer is going to be awesome. My whole district is living in the same apartment complex (except the sisters of course) and it's so cool. Love the mission right now. Life is just super perfect. I basically live in my area with a heck ton of miles. I couldn't ask for anything more. Hopefully we can put more people on date this week. Life is so sweet right now.

Love you all,

Elder Pack 

I shook hands with Elder M. Russell Ballard!

 Hey! 

It's been a little bit since I have a week where a lot had happened, and I get to talk about. It was a great week and definitely some wild stuff has happened.

Elder Rehkow with a rabbit

 

Something definitely went wrong when we tried to fill up the font.

Elder Pukahi and a cat

Okay so first of all, we have had some great lessons with some of our friends. No one is on date to be baptized yet. But that's going to change very soon. We've had some powerful lessons. We're teaching a decent amount of people which is great. That is so fantastic. I really hope though that Elder Plaster and I can take at least a couple of people to the waters of baptism. We definitely have that faith and we're working really hard, but I guess we have to work smarter and be more in tune with the spirit. That is what I want to study for these next few weeks, is being super spiritually in tune. I want to be worthy and smart enough, so I am directed to the elect people. I have the hard-working part down, but I think I need to be more spiritual. 

So last week we heard that there was going to be a special guest speaking to the mission and we found out it was Elder M. Russell Ballard. It was so cool to listen to an apostle of the Lord. I had really good seats while listening to him, literally front row. It was sweet. When he came in it was so unreal. He walked right by me, which was even cooler, I literally could've high fived him. Then he spoke to an elder standing next to me for a long time, but I never quite got to talk with him. He talked for like 3 hours to all of the missionaries in the mission and also the Las Vegas east mission's missionaries. It was super packed with two missions there. We got there really early so we could claim an awesome seat up close. He spoke about so many awesome things, and I wrote most of them down. It was pretty much the coolest thing ever on my mission. Apparently, he came to Las Vegas for a senator's funeral and then came to speak with us afterwards. He like free styled a 3 hour talk without writing anything down which was cool. He spoke about the importance of having the people you teach pray for themselves and how the missionary assignment process works. I wish I could've taken pictures, but they asked us to turn our phones off and not record anything. He talked about some other cool stuff too and mentioned how if you want to baptize more then you should talk to more people. He also said that most of the reason people don't get baptized is because of the way the missionaries are rather than the doctrine so you need to be the best you can. Then because of covid he air shook everyone's hand over the pulpit so technically I shook his hand which was cool. 

After having those incredible spiritual experiences, I had an experience that wasn't so pleasant. I woke up Monday morning feeling like garbage, it was awful. But I'm not a quitter and I'm the kind of Elder to not take a sick day because I'm not wasting a day in my mission. Anyways I went out and felt terrible all day and eventually it got so bad that I couldn't even function. Pretty sure I had covid or something. I told Elder Plaster that I needed to go back to the apartment because I couldn't take it anymore. My whole body hurt, and I had a crazy high fever. It was honestly a miserable experience and I ended up sleeping for 5 hours straight during a nap. I woke up and still felt awful. I was literally moaning in pain (which I have never done before) and after a little bit I asked Elder Plaster to give me a blessing. He agreed and the other Elders had just come home too, and they joined and gave me a blessing. After the blessing I went back to my bed and then 20 minutes later woke up again. I felt perfectly fine and so I got up and started walking around. I felt normal again other than a slight stuffy nose, I felt fine which was pretty insane because I honestly thought I was going to have to go to the hospital 20 minutes ago. I said a prayer of gratitude and told the others I felt great. Only Elder Sorensen was in the apartment because Elder Rehkow and Plaster didn't want to stay in the apartment doing nothing, so they went on an exchange and Elder Sorensen told them that he'd stay with me and clean the apartment. But we stayed in anyways so that way whatever I had didn't spread. That was a very interesting experience. I don't think I've ever gotten a blessing for the sick and afflicted before (that I can remember) and it really gave me a testimony that it works. It was a really cool experience and now I know how important the priesthood is. 

Yeah, so Elder Plaster didn't get transferred and neither did I so I'm still in the Laurelwood ward and I've been with him for 3 transfers, so this is hype. Love Elder Plaster. Excited to be with him for another 6 weeks.

Love you all,

Elder Pack 

New Years in Vegas.....again!

 Hello! 

Wow, every single day in 2021 was spent in Las Vegas. I cannot believe it! That's crazy. Seriously so cool though. How many other people leave home willingly for more than a year to teach others about Jesus Christ? Yeah.... Also, I don't even get paid bro. I pay to be here. I'm just saying either I'm insane or... maybe the church is true. Maybe both. Anyways this week was not as fun but still some cool stuff happened.

Life is still good. But it's freezing here in Las Vegas, and it sucks. I know it's only a couple months of this, but I've acclimated to the climate here and now 40 degrees feels so cold. I do not like it. It occasionally gets high 30s though. Finding has been kind of bad too. We haven't found anyone and none of our friends came to church, and I was super depressed but then we found two people which came in clutch. We found a family who have been taught by missionaries before and really want to start meeting with us again. Also, they said they'd feed us which is epic. Love when the people we're teaching feed us. I love teaching families too because then I feel like the missionaries in the church videos and it's so cool. Yeah, so that was a fat miracle.

Yeah, I got kicked out of an apartment complex again. That was super lame. We have started knocking private communities because I'm desperate to find people to teach and I don't care, and some homie called security in less than 15 minutes. Super lame. That guy probably needs Jesus. Yeah, some security guy came over and was like yeah, we got a couple calls and was like yeah you guys can't be in here. I really wanted to tell him about how we're actually not soliciting but I didn't want to fight with him, so we just left. I don't think the elect was in that place anyways. So, we went to another apartment complex and went nutso bananas on all the doors. Didn't find anyone. No one is really outside so I've resulted in just knocking a heck ton of doors. 

Let's see... yeah that's really all that happened this week. I'm excited for 2022, it's going to be cool. I'll also spend a majority of it in Las Vegas. Maybe I'll even be in a Spanish area! Who knows? Probably soon. All of the reassigned missionaries are leaving, and they'll definitely need some Spanish missionaries in Spanish areas. Missionaries always look at me weird when I tell them I've been out for more than a year and I've never been in a Spanish area. Members look puzzled too. I've asked my mission president, but he didn't respond to my email. Maybe I'll ask again. Transfers are coming up too so everything could change again. Maybe I'll be with Elder Plaster again. Maybe I'll be in a Spanish area. maybe I'll train again! Who knows? Whatever happens I know that the Lord needs me to be there. It's cliche to say that but I know. It's still fun to think about it though. 

My time spent with Elder Plaster has been my favorite so far. Don't get me wrong, I love Elder Rehkow, Elder Caldwell, Elder Mcgee, and Elder Wheeler. Whenever I see them again, I'll give them a big hug. But Elder Plaster really was so awesome. It was amazing to see his growth as a person and as a missionary. It went from me dragging him to do stuff to him dragging me. It honestly inspires me. He's funny, never rude, always positive, smart, hardworking, and always tries to do the right thing. I don't know how I was ever worthy to train such a great person but here we are. I will be very sad if I get transferred but I also know that the Lord needs him to do great things and most likely he will train a new missionary. I wouldn't be surprised by that. It's probably time for him and probably time for me to have a hard companion, Haha. No, I've never had any hard companions and in fact I've loved them all as my friends. I hope to see them after the mission. 

Well, that was my week. Very fun. I love the work and I love you all for reading what I write. Spending your time to read my thoughts is pretty sweet. 

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

"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