Thanksgiving

Hey everyone!!

I'm so grateful today for so many things. First of all, big thank you to those of you who have supported me, it's been so wonderful. Thank you grandma and grandpa for the donuts, Becca for the dr. pepper, and mom and dad for the pie and pep. It has been such a great week for me, I am so blessed. 

I've heard devotionals from three different apostles this week, two of which were broadcast live from Provo. Elder Holland spoke about being a preach my gospel missionary, and he got pretty fiery. I learned so much from all of these devotionals, but I'm just gonna give you a couple main points for sake of time. Elder Holland said that we need to be converted before we can hope that our investigators will be converted, and he boiled everything we do down to "Do we love Christ?" If we truly love Christ, then we will feed his sheep, and do everything we can in our power to do so. He then asked us to decide tonight if we are on a course that leads to Christ, and if we are not, CHANGE COURSE. I challenge you all to do the same. 

The first live devo from Provo was Elder Oaks, and he talked missions and expectations. We can't expect anything except to serve Christ. We do not think we are better than others who belong to other churches, but our church is the only one that can bring salvation. Then to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, we need to be in working condition (healthy) and willing to do his work, not our own. It was a great talk.

Then today we had a Thanksgiving Devotional by Elder Bednar, and he seriously is amazing. It was the coolest thing ever. Him and his wife basically did a Q&A session with all the MTC's around the world through email and texting. People would ask questions and he would answer them or have his wife talk a bit about it, it was seriously one of the most spiritual meetings of my life, and I am so thankful for it. 

One of the two main points I learned though is that agency isn't the ability to choose disobedience to our covenants or to follow them, it's to choose whether or not we accept the gospel, and once we have we have to obey our covenants, otherwise we're just breaking a covenant when we disobey. Sin is selfish, and looks inward toward you, not towards others. We need to learn to love others more than ourselves. The other point was that you don't receive a witness until after the trial of your faith. I don't know if that has happened for me or not, but I guess we'll find out over the next couple years. 

Another cool thing is that I learned how to meditate for reals this week. An elder in my zone used to be Buddhist, so he taught a bunch of us how to meditate the proper way. It was pretty cool. 

Anyways, thats most of it for me this week. One of the pictures is of me just about 15 mins ago with all the packages I've received this week on my bed, and the another was the Thanksgiving Lunch we had at the CCM. I seriously am so thankful for all of you. I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, I am thankful for my family and friends, and I am so very thankful to be serving a mission. Write again soon! 

Elder Packer

Week Four

Hola everyone,

I have a lot to say this week! First off, thank you all so much for everything you have done to support me, I have been so grateful. Mom, thank you especially, and in answer to your question of pie or Pep, I would prefer the vanilla pep over the pie...so yeah:)

Anyways, one cool thing is that I was made district leader because our old district leaders are now the zone leaders. Our senior district is now gone, and it was so sad. We loved those guys so much, it's crazy how close we got in just a few weeks. Elder Harrop and Elder Trautman were my hero's, they were exactly the kind of person that I wish I could be and that I hope to become. 

Second, one of the Hermana's in my zone who has been called as Sister Training leader with her companion is Hermana Savannah Heywood, one of Kris's old soccer players. She said she was from heber when we introduced ourselves, then I said I had family that lived there, she asked who, I said the Golightly's, and she said "wait, so do you know Kris Thacker" and I said, "yeah, she's my aunt" and we both proceed to talk about how crazy and awesome Kris is. Shout out to you shorty. 

Another thing that was super awesome was our Sunday Devotional by Elder Bednar. It was amazing. I can't write everything that I learned from it but I'll just mention a few key points that apply to everyone. Overall, the talk was about humbling ourselves and becoming like Christ. He mentioned that even after he was let down by his three most trusted apostles, suffered the pains of the world, which agony was so great that it caused him to sweat drops of blood from every pore, and was betrayed by one of his apostles by a kiss, he still cared enough to heal the guard whose ear was cut off by Peter. He said that we need to be converted unto Christ, not just have a testimony of Him, but live as he lived, humble ourselves to care more about the welfare of others than ourselves, and study the His character and try to become more like Him.

That wasn't that great of a summary because it was such a good talk, but if you find it I definitely recommend it. I never really believed it when missionaries would write home and say that they feel the spirit so much more and so strongly because I thought  it was just to say that or that it couldn't happen, but I seriously do feel the spirit so strongly here. I love it. 

One more little tidbit of information, my maestro Hermano Guerrero proposed to his girlfriend this week. They had been dating for five years since they both went to school here, they've both served missions during those years, and they're both super cool. 

That's all for now, but for one of the pictures I need to explain something. We took pictures with our whole zone on Sunday because it was their last one, and Elder Harrop and Elder Trautman decided I looked like a gangster because of the way I posed in most of them. So in the one where they're all being serious and I am smiling, it's because I was laughing because they thought I was an O.G. So yeah, anyways, thank you all, I love you all, and remember to pray always that the Lord be with you.

Elder Packer

Week Three

Hello friends and family. 

I am so thankful for all of you who have written me, and to those that have supported me as well. Thank you for the letters you guys have sent, Mom, thank you for the brownies, and please thank Sande and Danny for the package they sent me, it really helped and meant a lot to me. 

This week has been crazy good. On Saturday we watched a video on the Atonement (I don´t know it in English, but the version with Spanish subtitles is on youtube as "La Expiación y Obra Misional" (The Atonement and Missionary Work)) and I was crying like a baby. It seriously was the strongest I've felt the spirit probably in my entire life, and it gave me courage to endure any trial. I made a new motto for myself that I kinda wish I had a ring or a picture of Christ that said it, and it is "Do it for Him." For those of you that watch the video, you'll understand. 

Also, I've been reading the Book of Mormon a lot more lately because I have so much time to study. When I got here I was on Alma chapter 25, and now I'm hoping to have it finished by Monday. It really is such a blessing in our lives. I have a challenge for everyone that is willing to take it to really read and ponder about the Book of Mormon, but not just a verse or two. Read 2-5 pages a day, or for ten minutes a day, whichever you feel more comfortable with. I promise you that you will be blessed if you do so. 

There are two down parts about this week; it rained exceptionally hard on Tuesday and I got soaked while wearing my suit (don't worry, my suit is fine), and our senior district in our zone is leaving on Monday or Tuesday. Every Sunday here we watch a church movie and then afterwards there's a little video tribute to the districts that are leaving that week, and I almost cry every time because they play the EFY medley, in Spanish. It is one of the most beautiful things you'll ever hear, I'm tearing up just thinking about it. 

Last of all, today we got the opportunity to go to the Mexico city visitors center, and that was awesome. Mexico city is a dump, but has it's own kind of beauty. And the visitors center was incredible. I have some pictures of both the city and the center, hopefully they make it through ok. In all honesty, the first couple weeks sucked, but I am so happy to be here now. It is amazing, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord and share this amazing gospel. I love you all!

I don't really know what order the pictures are in, but just go ahead and look at them, I'm sure you'll figure it out for the most part;)

One picture I will explain is the airhead extremes, I thought it was funny because here they're called "Chupa Chups" which is almost my nickname. 

But anyways, I wish you all the best, stay strong and Love Jesus!! 

Elder Packer

Week Two

Hey everyone!

So this week was really...well, it was good. For fast Sunday we started after lunch on saturday and were supposed to go until lunch on Sunday, but at about 8 o'clock, I got really sick, so i ate and took some meds, but I still stayed sick until about Monday night...it wasn't my favorite time at the CCM. But other than that it's been really good! 

Our first "investigator" we taught introduced herself as our teacher, and she's pretty awesome. I've learned a lot in the language, and it's been a really fun, spiritual, and...less stressful than week 1. 

We got a bunch of new people in, so we're really one of the senior districts even tho we're only in our third week, but its fun. I also got a haircut today, and it's really really short... Other than that, it's really been uneventful, it's like having a fourteen hour school day where its all gospel centered. It's not awful, but let's just say that I'm excited to get to Texas. 

OH! and I would like to thank my parents and g&g packer for the packages, they've been life savers. all my district members keep asking me what site you're using. its missionarypackagemx.com right? anyways, thank you!!!

Elder Packer 

 

Me in my suit

  

Mi Casa

  

Street outside my house

 

Before my haircut!

 

 Viewmont shirt in Mexico!!