The Teaching Pool is Kinda Dry.....

 Hola,

Not going to lie, it is really hard to find people to teach in this ward. Luckily I have Elder Plaster to keep me smiling, but if I didn't have Elder Plaster I would straight up not be having a good time. I'm used to other areas where people will listen to you but here mostly everyone just runs away or doesn't want to be bothered or yells at us. Not really anyone willing to listen. There are a lot of families here which is cool, hopefully we can find one that will listen. The people we have right now are some of the most coolest ever. When we first ran into them they seemed elect but they all have been ghosting us now. I'm not jazzed about that. One of them was a family that straight up told us they wanted to join our church so we had an awesome first lesson but we couldn't get a return appointment and now it has been two weeks. I'm about to throw some hands. I just more or less feel bad for Elder Plaster because he really isn't getting any teaching experience. (Other than the roleplays I do with him and the occasional willing to listen guy). At the end of the day it's whatever, I just feel bad for him. We have a couple of other people that we want to teach to but they just need to get back to us so I guess we'll have to drop them. 

Let's see, what are the highlights for the week. Elder Plaster totally destroyed his bike earlier. We were riding out of an apartment complex and all of a sudden his gears in the back tire just broke and the switcher thingy broke off. It was pretty bad so we ended up calling a member and he gave us a ride back to our apartment. That was pretty lame. We're going to go in on P-Day and demand them to fix the dumb bike. 

I crashed again this week haha. I don't know what's been up with me lately but I guess I'm prone to crashing. I was on exchanges again with an elder in my district and we were at the top of this huge hill. At the bottom of this huge grass hill in this park, we could see a guy walking away. I was like, we need to talk to this guy. So I start zooming down the hill and circle in front of this guy. I'm going pretty fast. I pull out a card while I am in front of him and yell "What's up?" Then I hit the brakes to slow down because I am zooming. I slow down on the front and I basically cause my bike to completely flip forward and it throws me over the handle bars. I am completely on the ground with the bike upside down over me and the guy just looks at me and walks away. Doesn't even laugh or anything. I really wanted to give him that card. :) 

Elder Plaster's broken bike

Making district councils has gotten a lot easier. I was pretty stressed at first but then I realized that I shouldn't do it like people I'm not, I should do it like me. So after that I've been able to make them easier. I really like my district, they are beasts. Everyone is so awesome and hard working missionaries. They all find and baptize, it's super cool. Having Elder Rehkow has my zone leader has been awesome. Love serving around him again.

Spring Lakes Zone

Love my experiences with Elder Plaster. He is so funny and awesome. I've never laughed so hard in my life. Hopefully I'm a good trainer for him. I know he is enjoying his time but I really also wanted to give him lots of teaching experience and especially a baptism. Hopefully I'm with him another transfer and we can get him a baptism. I know that we can do it but it's going to take a lot of work. I'd honestly be down to rock a 3 transfer with Elder Plaster. I'd be so hyped with that.

Me and a creepy clown

Elder Lutter

I had a pretty cool experience where I got to do a baptismal interview for a guy named Manuel. The interview was so long because his life story was pretty cool. His testimony of the gospel was awesome to. Being able to interview him was such a cool experience and I won't ever forget it. Honestly, now that I've been out for a year I realize what they mean about these precious experiences. I have been having the most coolest experiences ever and I wouldn't have had them if I never left. It's pretty cool. Some insane things that I thought I'd never do or see. I just hope I'm not wasting it. I've been out for a year. I'm halfway done. Did I try my hardest in the past year? Did I waste a year of my mission? I don't think so, hopefully I can go the hardest I can for the next year. I really want to teach people though so Elder Plaster and I better find some people or I'm going to flip out. I know in other missions and areas people barely have any teaching and baptisms but I feel like that's not an excuse for my area. The people are there. I know they are, just need to find them. Las Vegas West is a baptizing mission, there are plenty of people outside, we need to find the elect one. 

"9 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you—there is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper;

10 And if any man lift his voice against you he shall be confounded in mine own due time.

11 Wherefore, keep my commandments; they are true and faithful. Even so. Amen."

Doctrine and Covenants 71: 9-11

Sincerely,

Elder Pack    

Haunted House and Nathan Pacheco

 Hola otra vez,

Here we are again. Life's good here in Vegas. Almost too good. Elder Plaster and I get along really well. Honestly I don't know what I did to deserve Elder Plaster but he is so awesome. Area is also doing well. Could be better. The members in the ward are so awesome and I love them so much. A lot of people are outside so we can talk with them now, but no one is willing to listen. I guess people in really rich south Summerlin don't want to talk about God. It's a little frustrating. I'm used to finding a decent amount of people and getting return dates but people here are just not having it. We did find two families though that are interested. They are just not getting back to us through phone which is lame. They're all like, "Of course we will come to church and read and pray about the Book of Mormon," and then don't follow through with there commitments. You said you would! All you have to do is read and pray about the book and then you'll know it's true. But it's alright I guess. We had a fantastic first lesson with them and that was cool, wish we could teach more.

Right now the mission has this huge push on getting a baptism every transfer and I feel a little overwhelmed sometimes. I want to help Elder Plaster gain some good missionary skills and become a baptizing missionary, but I can't do that unless I'm a baptizing missionary too. We're just going to have to reevaluate the way we find in this area. Anyway, it's all good. I just want to provide a good experience for Elder Plaster and we don't have to baptize to have a good experience. 

Yeah so this week was interesting. We didn't find anyone which stinks but we did have a lot of service and concerts and stuff. Our mission president is awesome and took us to a Zions Youth concert with Nathan Pacheco there. I didn't get any cool pictures or the concert but I got a picture of the foyer. It was such a nice auditorium. It was sweet. They were pretty good. Reminded me of my singing days and stuff. Nathan Pacheco was awesome too. He's pretty good. Then later in the week we did service at the giving machine. 

That was pretty cool. We were asked to not where our mission tags and wear normal clothes. We also were asked to go by our first names and not proselyte. That was pretty cool. I felt like a normal person. So basically I had to introduce myself as Neil and not Elder Pack. Oh and we helped out at this cool service project for a place called opportunity village. We basically helped take down a big haunted house. It was awesome. There was this small haunted house and a big one and it was actually a lot of hard work but it was cool. Got some fun pictures. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Moss this week and that was cool. He's a good missionary. Super fun too and always wants to do the right thing. We were grinding all day and hadn't seen any success. Until the end if the night we were walking and ran into a newly married couple. We talked about families and what we share and then we talked about eternal marriage. They really liked what they heard and wanted to learn more. It was pretty sweet. Love when people want to listen and decide for themselves. Cool miracle. 

Then I went in exchanges with Elder Rehkow my trainer and that was cool. It was so sweet to reunite for a little bit. He is a totally different missionary now. Super hardworking and humble. Super friendly and fun too. He's changed a whole bunch and so have I. We've both been so impatient with each other and it was so awesome to serve together again. We were pretty jank and just basically talked all night. It was cool. 

Other than that, nothing really happened this week. I love my mission. I love my new friends here. It's so cheesy but I've changed so much, which is good. I needed to change. I'm coming up on my year mark which scares me a little. One year as a missionary. I love my companion and all my previous companions. I think the mission was really for me more than it was for the people I'm teaching. It's so cliche and cheesy and I hate that but this is good for me. 

Love you all and I miss you, feel free to write or message me on Mondays.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

Happy Halloween!!

 Hola,

Well I'm back! This was a pretty good week. I feel like the days are slow but then once I get to P-Day I realize how fast it's going. I love it here in Las Vegas now. The weather is absolutely amazing again. I used to yell every single time I walked outside in the summer, "who would live here??" But now the weather is perfect. It's like in the high 60s and low 70s and occasionally will get a little higher than that. It's so nice. For the next 6 months it's going to be the best mission ever and then it's going to turn into a nightmare again. Hopefully I won't be on bike again by the time summer rolls around. 

The Willows Ward is definitely a very nice ward and finding new people to teach can be a little over overwhelming, however, the people are awesome. Everyone is so friendly. Missionaries in the past haven't really had a lot of success here so the members are a little hesitant to work with us (which if you really if you think about that doesn't make sense, if the past Missionaries didn't have success, wouldn't you want to help the new missionaries and help them have success rather than not work with the new ones?) I'm in this place called South Summerlin in Las Vegas and it's so nice. In my area I also have downtown Summerlin which is like this huge mall place. But president doesn't really like us going there so I've only been there once. That's actually where the baseball game was a couple transfers ago. We are teaching some people that are promising and could get baptized. Elder Plaster and I found them and they are cool. Their names are Angela and Nathan. We are going to see if we can put them on date in our next lesson. 

Elder Plaster and I get along very well. Almost too well. It's weird. We are so similar it's ridiculous. We both are going to study computer science after the mission and start coding. He is going to BYU Hawaii and I'm going to BYU Idaho but I'm trying to convince him to go to Idaho. We have the same exact sense of humor and sometimes we'll say the exact same thing at the same time. We both really liked choir and have a lot of fun memories from men's choir. We both did the exact same things in high school and played the same games and watched the same TV shows. We both worked at a pizza place before the mission and were pizza delivery drivers for a little bit. AND for the cherry on top, our birthdays are two days apart. The only difference is he is from Spokane Washington (like Elder Rehkow, and no, they didn't know each other). I've been so blessed to have awesome companions. Elder Plaster is so fun and I hope I stay with him for a couple transfers. 

Well, I crashed my bike again. Yeah this time it was 100% my fault. It was really dumb.

I was riding down a hill and since Elder Plaster and I are goofing off, I thought it was a good idea to see if I could ride my bike without any hands and standing up on it. I stood on the pedals and then I let go. For about 1 second it was pretty neat and then I lost control and ate asphalt. Out of the whole sidewalk, I fell into the only bush that had been near it. Any other time and I would've gotten seriously hurt. Instead I just happened to completely destroy a bush. I totally nailed it and tore a giant hole into that bush. I remember Elder Plaster was screaming at first and then he started laughing historically. I started laughing too and I was shaking pretty bad because of the adrenaline. I was stuck in the bush still under my bike and needed help getting out. Elder Plaster had to help me out. It was honestly a crazy crash and I should've gotten hurt pretty bad. 

The bush before I landed in it

The bush after I climbed out of it

Just the other day we had this cool experience where we were walking inside the church and we were going to do some weekly planning when there was this guy standing outside the church at a bus stop. I stopped Elder Plaster and told him we needed to go talk with him. We went outside and introduced ourselves and started a conversation. His name is Sal and he is from Saudi Arabia. As he was going to the bus he gave us his phone number and we set up a time to meet. We met in the church building and did a church tour kind if thing then sat down and talked for a little bit. He is Muslim and we basically just answered his questions. He asked so many great questions. We eventually taught the whole restoration and plan of salvation out of order and then taught the law of chastity and the law of the fast. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was super excited to read it. It was a pretty cool experience to talk with someone outside and then teach them the next day. The fact he actually showed up and was interested is pretty cool too. You know the Church of Jesus Christ and Muslim theology are actually super similar. I learned so much from Sal. It was super cool. One of the major differences though is he believes that God doesn't use prophets anymore. We teach that God doesn't change and he uses the same things he did when Jesus Christ was on the earth. Like apostles and prophets.

-Ephesians 2:19-20

"19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;" 

We teach that miracles are still here and God still speaks to us through his ordained mouthpieces, the prophet. They don't believe that. Their last prophet was Muhammad. There are a lot of really cool similarities though. 

I feel like I've been learning a lot about other religions recently. So there is this Jewish synagogue in my area and we pass by it all the time on our bikes. Then one day the security guards waved us down and talked with us for a little bit. They were members of the Church of Jesus Christ and just wanted to say hi. We got some sodas and they told us a lot of cool stuff about the synagogue. I'll just share one highlight that I thought was neat. They have this sacred ceremony before they enter into a kind of chapel room. They get completely wet and wash and anoint themselves to make sure they're clean before they enter the presence of God. It's called a Mikveh (hopefully I spelled that right). Basically what it sounds like is baptism. The security guards say it is SUPER similar to baptism and they explain in the ceremony that it has been on Jewish tradition for so long. Before the new Testament and into the old. Pretty cool to think about. I thought I'd share another scripture because it's super cool to pair these two things together. 

-John 1:23-25 

"23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.

25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?"

So to explain this scripture, it is when John the Baptist is baptizing people in the river and the Pharisees came to him (basically almost everyone at that time was Jewish and these guys in particular did not like Jesus or John the Baptist) and said basically "what authority do you have to baptize?" They knew what baptism was even before John the Baptist started baptizing, or else they would said "what the bruh are you doing in that river?" Just an interesting thing to think about.

To end the week off we got to have a Halloween party in my apartment. On Halloween we had to be back in out apartments by 6:00 pm so we got everyone in our apartment complex to come to my apartment. It was sweet. (Don't worry I got permission from the zone leaders, I'm not disobedient) it was honestly so awesome to end the week off on a highlight like that. Life is super good right now.

Well, that concluded my week I guess. I love you all so much. Thank you so much for reading my emails. It really means everything to me!

Sincerely,

Elder Pack 

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