If anyone is feeling sad, stop. Forget about yourself. The only times we really are sad are when we're thinking about ourselves.
When we focus on others, that's when happiness comes. Everything is a choice. Literally. Everything.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Semana 8, but who's counting...

Hola! 

How's everyone doing? It's been a fun time out here, I thank everyone for all the letters, support, and prayers I've received. Special thanks to my ward for sending me that package, it was very much loved and appreciated. Love the quotes.

This week feels like it flew by so fast! The first few days our car was in the shop (actually Monday-Friday), so we had a bunch of bike days...that was not as fun as it sounds, but I really did enjoy it. Well...some parts. The five mile ride to visit one of our investigator families was less than enjoyable what with the 40 degree weather and seemingly hurricane force winds...jk, the winds weren't that strong but they did make 5 miles feel like 15. It was an interesting week for transportation. But we finally got our car back!

And then on Saturday, we went to McAllen to listen to an Apostle of the Lord address the missionaries. That was pretty cool, I met a lot of some new people, including Kris's friend that Facebook friended me during the summer, and Elder Chamberlain. It was super weird to see him, but pretty cool as well.

So we heard from two 70's and Elder Oaks, and it was pretty awesome, but during one of the 70's talks, he called out specifically on Elder Chamberlain, and everyone was like "oooohhh!!!" because that's funny but also scary as anything, and then he explained that it was because Elder Chamberlain was his home teacher before the mission....it was pretty funny.

Elder Oaks' talk was really really good, he talked a lot about revelation, and he's a pretty funny guy as well. Near the beginning of his talk he said "my daughter frequently asks me why I look so stern in conference while I'm giving a talk. I don't try to be, I try to smile, but think about it; if you're addressing 3 million people and the first presidency is right behind you...you're not so full of giggles." That sounds really lame in writing, but if you were there you would have laughed:) I really like his talk, really that whole meeting was fantastic. 

There's a lot to learn, you never know everything the Lord has in store for you. Especially when you're supposed to be teaching it. You're always learning.

Anyways, for the pictures this week, we had a poorly planned potluck that ended up being spaghetti, bread and fried rice, with no silverware, so luckily we had a ton of bread to use and make sandwiches with Doritos, rice and spaghetti....mission life. Then after the meeting with the apostle we went to Panda Express, and I got the coolest missionary fortune of all time. So yeah, anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all, and so does the Lord.

Elder Packer




Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Transfer #2

Hey everyone, 

I'm staying in Brownsville for another 6weeks! I'm so excited and happy about that, I love it down here. My comp is staying too, so no change there either, but one of the zone leaders got transferred, and I'm really going to miss him, but oh well. He was super excited about everything, and he was super fun to be around, but our new one is pretty cool too, so its all good.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who has been supporting me and praying for me, I really do appreciate it a lot. This week has been interesting, but super good, we've had some good success with some of our investigators, and a family is really progressing and looking good to get baptized on February 1st! Keep them in your prayers!
We had our first interviews with president since I've been here, and that was super good, but super long while waiting for your turn and stuff. The AP's teach stuff, but it's hard for anyone to focus or really do much. So it really was just a long day, but it was good, we had zone lunch afterwards and that's always super fun.

That's really pretty much it for this week, so now to the pictures:
one of them is with me and Elder Livingston, who was the zone leader that left. I really am gonna miss him because he was so cool, but he gave me a pretty dope tie that I'm actually wearing in the group picture that is after interviews. The other group is the workout group that goes super hard in the morning during exercise time, and actually involves me and three others, but those are kind of the personal trainers of the group I guess. and then the last one I just thought was funny because it's super texmex, tio meaning uncle in Spanish.

Anyways, I hope you guys have a great week, and I'll be sure to write you  next week!! Love you all!!

Elder Packer





Monday, January 12, 2015

Transferencias

Hello everyone!

This week has been a super fun and crazy week. We had zone meeting on Tuesday and that was amazing, I love my zone, I wish I could stay with them my whole mission! But I can't, transfers are tomorrow, so that is kinda sad. Weird thing about transfers: we still don't know anything about them yet!! 

Usually they call at 7:45 Sunday morning to let everyone know where they're going and who their new comp is gonna be, but we still haven't heard anything yet, so it's making everyone kinda nervous and anxious. But it's all good, it'll be fun whenever we hear about it I guess.

I also went on an exchange with my District leader this week, that was pretty fun because they had moved into a new apartment and we were the first ones ever to spend the night in it. Then the next day I was the first one to get a haircut in it, by my DL none the less. It was fun. 

Then we went to Taquito Express and all ate 18 tacos in honor of our zone goal of 18 baptisms this month. We're going to get it, we're sooo close already! But anyways, I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week! Here are some pictures of the exchange, tacos, and other stuff! Remember who you are and what He stands for!

Elder Packer







Monday, January 5, 2015

¡Año Nuevo!

Happy New Year todos!

First off (as usual) I really want to say thank you to everyone who has been supporting me with letters and helping my family at home and with emails and everything, you guys are awesome, and I love you!

This week was really good, but not super eventful. We had some good lessons with investigators and members, but we might have to drop some because they aren't keeping commitments...I feel sad about that, but I trust my companion, he knows what he's doing, and I'm learning still.

We had to be in by 6:00 on New Years Eve, and our zone got together and watched Frozen in the gym at the church, it was really awesome because half of them had never seen it, and by the end they had all the songs memorized, and that's what everyone has been listening to ever since...#letitgo #doyouwannabuildasnowman.

Aside from the repetitive listening and singing of disney songs, it really has been an awesome week, the spirit has been so strong and I've loved every moment of it. This is the last week of the transfer, so it's a possibility that either me or my companion or both of us will be transferred next week to a new area. I really hope that I don't get transferred, I've loved Brownsville, the people here are so amazing and the zone has so much fire and fun together and it's just been amazing, but the president knows where I'm supposed to be so I'll follow whatever he tells me to do and go where the Lord wants me to go.

So to close, here are just a couple random pictures. The first is of me and one of these houses the city had out for christmas. There's about 30 of them in all, and they were all pretty cool, and we actually got to have a service project and take them down on Saturday, so that was pretty neat. Then the other is just a random mission selfie...I'll try to have more and better pictures next week! Love you all!

Elder Packer