Elder Pack hits his "One Year Mark"

Hello family and friends!!!!!!

I am excited to tell you all that this Thursday 1 shirt will be ashes and maybe a crazy dance will be performed by me and my companion as it burns!!!!!!!! (SHHHHH don’t tell the president… they say it’s not permitted in the mission, but who can stop such a great tradition!!!!!!) =)

This is strange.  I don’t feel like I have been in the mission a year (more like 6 million!!!!) hahaha No really, I don’t feel this way because I haven’t learned enough of everything: Spanish (even though we speak castellano because it’s not perfect Spanish, my companion just told me no we speak Mexican who knows why I think he is a little crazy sometimes), the scriptures including all the other things that I have to study, how to help people effectively, how to run a branch, there is a list of things that I haven’t really learned and am hoping to learn.

So this week, we finally got Daira ready for the baptism, and so in this coming Saturday we will have a baptism!!!!!! yeah for baptisms.  We only hope to help her parents make the decision to get married so that they can get baptized also.  We only have to work out some of the problems with that.

As a missionary, I love hearing apostasy.  It really makes me kind of laugh.  I have been thinking of the past and trying to figure out when I had said something very wrong so that I can laugh at myself.  It’s funny when we are sitting in sacrament meeting and the person giving a talk says something very apostate and then we go to the other classes and hear messages that are part apostate.  Then we have to correct them so that the people listening don’t learn something that is very wrong.  One time my companion was sitting in a gospel doctrine class and the lady teaching was teaching about the BOM and she said that Nephi and his brothers went to go get the plates because Laban had stolen them from his family.  Hmmm that isn’t quite right.  We all know what happened.  It is true yes that Laban stole all the gold and precious things from Nephi and his brothers but didn’t steal the plates of brass.

I hope that in this week we do something that is well worth telling everyone.

So this means I have run out of ideas, so I would like to say that I love you all and hope that you have a great week.

LOVE ELDER PACK

Living in Formosa - Sister Pack

Well this week has been really busy! and really really really hot. It´s like Vegas with humidity….awesome right!? lol. A bit more about Formosa.  So as you know, I know live in the city of Formosa which is kind of true but not really for me.  To email you guys, we take a bus an hour in! Insane right! Most of the streets here are dirt and lots more horses in this area. The President of the branch and his wife are amazing! The branch is amazing too! I hurt my ankle the other day and people were bringing us food galore! They are really kind here!

 We are working hard in this area right now because things have to be fixed between the missionaries and members. However the awesome noticia for this week is that we have a baptism!! Amazing right! Our investigator is Carlos and he is in his 70s…he is solid!! The best way to describe him is ready. He understands the gospel so well! It´s amazing!!! One of his answers to our question ¨How can you continue to live the Word of Wisdom?¨ was teach others about it!!! Amazing right! I don´t have pictures of the new pension, but I will work on that.  I am sending some pictures of Christmas and with a turtle!  Hope you guys enjoy.  This is a pet here! It lives in the house! Awesome right! lol. Oh, some sad news I received during my interview with president was my first convert Leo passed away this week. I was way sad however he now has accepted the gospel and can continue to learn. I hope everything is ok with Tyler I haven´t heard from him or received his emails in a month. One thing I have learned here in my mission that I am going to cherish my whole life is prayer. I never understood prayer before my mission but now that I am surrounded only by Spanish, I feel lonely at times and this is the time I find the most solace in praying. I hope everyone reads the General Conference talk from President Monson.  He talks about his relationship with God through prayer and I now know we all can have that relationship not just the prophet! I hope everyone has an AMAZING WEEK!

PS. Tell Grams thank you for the watch.  It has saved me.  My other one broke!!! ahhh!!!

Cutting Down some Mesquite Trees! - Elder Pack

Hello people that might be reading my letter.  I would like to say…I love you all!!!!

So this week we didn’t have a baptism (I know sad day).  I had to make the decision to let her go through the baptismal interview and see if she would pass (and I wasn’t confident that she would) or tell her to wait a week.  So I took the path with less likeliness of her feeling bad and not wanting to get baptized later.  I just hope that we can help her get more prepared in this week or in the next.

So this week we went to help Hermano Valles to cut down bushes for fire wood.  Here in Tlahualilo, almost everyone has water heaters run by fire and not by gas, so we went to help him cut some wood.  I’m pretty sure in English the name of the tree is Mesquite (I said bush because they didn’t look like trees…just like over grown bushes).  When we were cutting the trees my companion did something stupid.  He was trying to remove the trees without touching them (because they had thorns), so he was using the back of the ax to do it.  While he was trying to remove the tree limbs the limb twisted and stabbed him in the head with its thorns.  Well, he pushed the tree away, and I started to make fun of him for doing it in the first place (the tree had stabbed his head underneath his hair).  As I was making fun of him, i noticed that he was starting to bleed from his hair line.  I told him, and he received tp from hermano valles to clean it up.  He stopped working for a few min. to stop the bleeding and went to the car.  When he came back, he told me that as he was sitting in the car trying not to vomit and pass out.  I guess he is a little squeamish of his own blood.  I couldn’t help but laugh a little about what had happened to him.  In my defense, he would have done the same thing if it had happened to me, but it was funnier when we came back to the house and the hermano looked at my companion and found a thorn stuck in his scalp.  When he took it out, the thorn was about an inch long.  I was wondering how he didn’t feel it…ha ha!!

So this week, I found out something interesting.  Well all my mission, I was wondering when I would be in an area that hermano steven gines served in.  The funny thing is, I have been in this area for about 3 months, and I just found out this last week that this was the area in which he finished his mission hahahaha.  I found out when we were talking to hermana valles and she told me that an elder had given her his BOM right before he went home. I asked her which missionary and she responded, Elder Gines.  Then my brain went off telling me I knew him hahaha.  It’s funny it took me so long to learn that.

This Sunday I went to bermajillo for the district conference.  It was interesting because sacrament meeting was 3 hours long.  I don’t know if that is legal, but I really can’t say much.  It was cool because all the stakes and districts in the north had the same day for their conference.  I’m sure of this because it was a broadcast from salt lake for all of the North Mexico.  Elder Oaks gave a wonderful talk.  It was interesting that his talk could have helped so many people in this area, but only 5 people went to the conference. 

Well my family and friends, I need to go.  Sorry!  Oh, I'm still in tlahualilo with elder cortes for the next 6 weeks at the least. Yeah!!!!!!

Love you all, and I hope you all have a great week.

Love, ELDER PACK

New Area for Sister Pack

My week has been action filled.  They did a white wash of my area and put elders in there. Someone got robbed right in front of our pension. I got moved down to Formosa with a Latina who is loved by all because she has the highest baptizing rate. My companion is a lot older than me.  When I first met her, I thought she was in her 30s but she is 25 and from Uruguay.  She really is a hard worker just very different from me in other ways…we work hard in different ways and handle the people differently.  Today is so busy so instead of writing…I will send pictures.

Here are some pics of our baptism and my district!  We had so much fun together, and I loved every moment in Corrientes; however the lord has called me to Formosa to open an area (well a white wash.)  I guess the lord has more confidence in me than I do in myself! lol.  It´s hot here so have William keep praying for me!

Love you guys, Hermana Pack

Some New Pics for Elder Pack

Three King's Day - Elder Pack

hello family and friends around the world!!!!!!!!!(i can say that because i know people in other countries right now! tee hee)

so this week has been good. we went to work.  we haven’t really found anyone that is willing to progress very fast, but we are hoping that soon we will. we will hopefully have a baptism this week. her name is Daira. she is a child of 8 (now don’t go thinking that elder pack is going around looking for children to baptize because she is part of a family of eternal investigators and that’s fair game!)

so i learned of a new holiday that i think we should start celebrating as a family… hahaha.   It’s the 3 kings day. i am going to learn more about it to have a better background when i come home.  Plus, they came through for me. they helped santa get my packages to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i know i was supper happy to receive them. thank you mommy and grams. also the lautter family for the tie. i will be taking a picture with my little tree and have a title of "thank you 3 kings for helping santa!!" what do you think??  hahaha.

we had a funny experience with the family aramendaries this week. we have been teaching them and one of the nights that we were teaching them my companion saw a little toy phone that looked like the toy phone that another little girl that we know (her name is fernanda) so my companion said "¡oh that phone is like the phone of fernanda!" and then i agreed. after i agreed with him daira looks at him dirty and asks "¿who is fernanda?" hahahahaha it was supper funny to see that she was jealous of the other little girl because i think she has a crush on my companion.

i am realizing how much work it is for someone to stop an addiction now.  we are trying all that we can to help a brother in the branch kill his habit of drinking.  we are going to their house every day for a little bit of time to help him and strengthen him with his fight with himself.  so that he can get to the point of baptizing his son.  we are keeping him in our prayers because really he is a great person and he is willing to help us out more than any other member in this area.

pues mis amados amigos míos, mi mente terminé trabajando entonces a dios!!

love you all and hope you all have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!

love ELDER PACK

An Awesome Week - Sister Pack

Hola Familia!

We had a baptism this week and it was amazing! I forgot the pictures, so we will send them this week! Leo got baptized.  We are now working on two other investigators.  Everything is going awesome with Tamara except we just found out she wasn´t married! We had the Charla (lesson) with her about marriage and it was actually really good. It was both me and Hermana Lythgoe´s first time. We practiced a lot for it! She wants to get married but she thinks her boyfriend won´t like it.  He is an inactive so maybe he will agree... we keep praying for her.

We also had 3 investigators come to church and we are now teaching a family of Gitanos (gypseys) don´t worry only at the church lol. We have an interesting mix of investigators right now. We are having tons of fun though because we get to prepare every lesson a bit different than the other.  The best part of our week this week was the baptism and confirmation for sure. It made me so happy to see his eyes light up! We are just hoping now the branch will get involved now.

Yesterday we got turned down a lot... here we don´t knock on doors really because either they don´t have doors or have a gate, so we clap.  This works in our advantage to a certain extent.  It was funny though yesterday we had one lady yell at us that if she did have a door she would shut it in our face and another lady walked away in the middle of a sentence.  Luckily my companion and I can just laugh about it.

So sometimes I forget that I am not in the US while we are working till I see a horse and a dog getting in a fight... that was really hilarious for me.  Kind of silly of the dog seeing that the horse is 2 tons bigger than him.  I truly love it here in Argentina with the heat and all.  Also something else that is way different here is that there seems to be a Holiday for everything here! Yesterday was Gauchito Hill day he is like Robin hood but for Catolicos. They love their fireworks and little bombs. I was woken up in the middle of the night by the fireworks I swore it was New Years all over lol. But I love it here and could never imagine serving my mission anywhere else with the best companion in the world. Well hope all is good in the USA and tell William thank you for praying for me in this heat!  It can be a bit draining, but I love the work still the same.  I hope all is well in the cold!

                                                          Hermana Pack

Sister Pack Sends Pictures!!

Holidays with Elder Pack

Hello Friends and Family,

Well I have no time at all to tell you the truth.  We had the opportunity to baptize this week!!!!!!  How wonderful right?  It has been the first baptism this area has seen for many months now.  Her name is Genesis.  She is 9 years old (she made me promise that tomorrow I have to bring a cake to her for her baptism…sorry mom) She is the daughter of a less active sister and the great thing is, we are slowly reactivating the family and there are 4 members and a bunch of children in this family.  We are still in hope that we can help people come unto Christ before the end of this change or if not have them prepared for the next change.

So two weeks ago we had to go to Chaves to take out money for a ward activity.  Then after that we had to plan it all because no one from our branch wanted to do it.  We will just say that I’m not as good as mom in planning activities but it wasn’t to bad for throwing it together in 4 days.  We had pasole hot, chocolate, a piñata, and some other small things.  There were about 30 people there in the activity. (oh how I wish that they would all just go to church)  It was a fun activity and I think that everyone liked it, and if they didn’t, I hope they plan the next one…hahahaha.

Tuesday of this week we went to Torreon because we had "Christmas" with the president.  We had a ping pong tournament, watched Harry Potter 7 part 2 (It was interesting to watch in Spanish), and got to ask the president hard questions. (He wasn’t able to really answer mine…I was kind of sad hahaha) then after all was said and done we got to see what Santa brought us.  I was a little sad because Santa didn’t make it with my packages, but he did make it with a great tie (from the president).  Sometimes that’s the way the cookie crumbles, and we can’t always get what we want.

This is all the time that I have time for…sorry that there isn’t much more.  I hope that you all know how much I love you.

Love ELDER PACK

New P-Day for Sister Pack

So sorry for those who thought I was going to write on Monday, but today is our P-day.  It was great hearing from the family and I am sorry I didn´t have enough time to talk with everyone.  Maybe next time we can figure out times a bit better. I am glad everyone is doing great and enjoyed their Christmas! This was one of the best Christmas´ I have ever had. I love being a missionary on Christmas!

So nothing to crazy has happened in the last two days. However I am learning the pace of a missionary’s life.  Things change frequently. Anyways needless to say our baptism for today is not going to be happening. We just have to get some things fixed and have it hopefully next week!  The job is way tough! However, as I was explaining to Chelsea the other day on the phone, it may be hard but it is the best thing in the entire world. There is no better feeling then when you help someone learn how to find hope in their issues. The message we bring is literally full of hope and joy. I love seeing the light come into their eyes. Well I wanted to thank Grams and Papa for the PJS! Also, the watch was one of the best things ever. I really needed another one... mine is already breaking... ba humbug anyways our week was awesome and as Tyler said we celebrated Christmas on the 24th with our President of the Rama.  We had tons of fun and lots of good food.  They do more food than presents here! Dad what did you learn from your student´s presentation!? I´d like to compare!  Anyways well love you all!  Have a happy new year!

                                                                                    Hermana Pack