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, October 26, 2015

Year Mark

Bueno!

Como están todos? Espero que bien. This week was really awesome.
On Thursday (it was my Year Mark!!:)) and we had Mission Tour with Elder Dube of the 70, and for those of you who don't know him, he's from Zimbabwe, gave a talk a few conferences ago, and is a really fun and energetic guy. Him and his wife spoke to us on Thursday in McAllen, and they were really fun, really cool people. We all learned a lot, not only about missionary work, but about gospel application. It was a great meeting, great day, I got to talk with a lot of missionaries I hadn't seen in a long time, including sister Guzman and Sanchez from Beeville, so that was pretty fun, reminiscing the days of the Beeville Ward. 
Friday we had weekly planning and that was fun because we pieced together a big map of our area to better get around places and it's been a big help, and then we also went and had dinner with the Velez family that night. They're a really cool family, they've made me pozole twice now, which is my new favorite food in case I forgot to mention that earlier, and this last time they had horchata tambien. Sooo good.

My son, Elder Mason, is almost done with his first transfer, it's the last week! It's super weird I feel like when I was a greenie it went by super slow, but this transfer has gone by really fast. We both think we're going to stay here in this area for at least one or two more transfers, so we're not super worried about next week, but our District Leader goes home next week, so it'll be interesting to see the changes there. I haven't said much about him, but Elder Gilliam, our district leader, served in Veracruz, Mexico for 20 months of his mission, 8 of which he had spent as a ZL, then got sent up here with no real reason. But he's a fantastic leader, his Spanish is great, he's helped us a lot in that, and he's just a great missionary overall. I'm gonna miss Elder Gilliam, he's been a real help and a real funny guy. 

That's basically it for my week, I hope you all have a great one. I love you all so much, tengan una semana buenísima!!

Elder Packer

1. Sister Guzman, Sister Sanchez, y Yo. 
2. Year Mark shirt
3. *hand over heart* *moment of silence*
4. Toilet paper we found at a member's house. :)





Monday, October 19, 2015

Tour de la Misión

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening!

I can't tell you how fast this last week went by. They all seem to be getting shorter. Especially because my year mark is next week, that keeps getting closer and closer, it's kinda weird. But it's been a good week.

Last P-Day we went golfing with a member, that was a lot of fun, and today we're going to go bowling again at Bass Pro. I love bass pro, but I feel like I want to go into major debt every time I go. Haha maybe one day when I'm rich.
This week we taught a lot of really cool people, but decided that it's time to change focus to strengthening the ward.

We have a lot of really cool members in the ward and in our area, but there's a lot that need some help too, especially the Elder's Quorum President. They don't have a HT program, so we're trying to help him set one up. It's hard for him especially because even though he's been a member his whole life, this is the first calling he's ever held. So we're going to be focusing on the Elder's Quorum this week, hopefully everything goes well there. 

We did a couple of bike days this week, one of which we found a cardboard cutout of Mr President, so we decided to take selfies with our good friend. As missionaries we don't have a lot of info about the outside world, but we do see the news every once in a while at McDonalds or something like that, and all I have to say is I'm voting for Trump. (JK).

Thanks for all your support. I love you all, I hope you have a great week!!!

Elder Packer





Monday, October 12, 2015

Intercambios con....Chambo!

Hello!! 

This week was really fun, I'm gonna try to explain it as quickly as I can. 

So Monday we went to Bass Pro during P-day, and that was killer fun, then we had an exchange from Tuesday-Thursday morning, and it just so happens my companion was.....Elder Chamberlain!! So we had a good time, we worked in my area and taught some really cool people named Patricia and Crystal, all the while talking about how weird it was that 2 boys from Davis county were now driving around in a minivan in Harlingen, Texas. Super fun stuff. 

Then Thursday and Friday passed by pretty quickly, and on Saturday we spent a good chunk of the day helping out the family Daniels to move. They were the people that fed us every Sunday, but they moved just outside of the ward, so we probably won't be able to go over to them anymore, but they're super cool people. After that we ate with the Mullowneys and had some fun with his drums for a bit. Then Sunday we taught another really good lesson with Patricia and Crystal, and that about sums up the week. 

This next week should be pretty fun, we've got interviews coming up on Wednesday, and then some other cool stuff planned. We're really going to be focusing on working with the members this week, so that should be a fun time. 

That all for this week, I hope you guys get spiritually fed this week, have a great time!! I love you all! 

Elder Packer






Monday, October 5, 2015

General Conference

Hey!

So this last week was great, but obviously the biggest part was this weekend. 

General Conference as a missionary is very cool. It's a lot different than otherwise, I think because you really do take it for what it is and you apply it immediately. I learned a lot this last weekend haha. 

There were a lot of really great talks, and I loved the ones that gave challenges, invitations or commitments. I started this morning with my first scripture I'm "ponderizing," which is Juan 3:16. Along with that, I'm studying a lot of other things as well. Studying was never my favorite thing, I really didn't like it or really even do it before the mission, and now I can't stop. I love it. I hate that I love it but I do. And I guess it's not such a bad thing, it's just obnoxious. I really do hunger after the scriptures and love them with all my heart. 

This conference was really interesting in that it seemed to really hit on women and mothers. During Elder Holland's talk I just kept imagining my mom bawling her eyes out for no reason hahaha then I imagined her really just taking a bunch of notes. Then in Priesthood session I loved Elder Andersen's talk on faith. It was really great. In the first session, I liked the invitation from Elder Lawrence to ask "what lack I yet?" I feel like I need to improve a lot, so that really spoke to me. Along with the clay analogy from Elder Maynes, that was pretty cool, I liked that a lot. 

I'm sorry my thoughts are so disorganized this week hahaha it's been an exhausting weekend, but I just wanted to leave you all with a little challenge: Read one conference talk from each session. I promise that if you do, you will find something else you were looking for, or maybe you didn't know you were looking for. I love you guys, until next week!

Elder Packer