Mijo!

Hello everyone!!!

How's it all going? I hope you guys have had a great week, I've had a lot of fun. 

I got transferred this week to Harlingen, the same stake as Brownsville, so I'm back down on the tip of Texas!! There was talk about going to the Brownsville Zoo for one P-Day, and I secretly started hoping we would so that I could maybe have a slight chance to visit some of my homies from Brownsville, I love them to death! But we'll see. 

I am training Elder Mason, an Elder from Farmington, Utah, whose mom works at the same school as mine, so that was kinda funny haha. It's been quite a first week for him, we've had a lot of fun hahaha. Our first night we ate with a super cool family who moved here from New York and got baptized 4 years ago named the Mullowneys. Super funny guy, and their adopted daughter Sofia is the cutest little mexican girl ever!! She even drew me a picture, I love it!

Our district leader, Elder Gilliam, is really cool, he served in Mexico for most of his mission, then got transferred up here for the last 3 transfers, and he goes home after this one.  I'm not quite sure why he got transferred up here yet, but apparently there's a really good story to it. Our ZLs are also really cool guys, they have a ton of faith and animo and we're all ready to go out and get things done!

Something cool I noticed the other day when I was flipping through the area book was that there's a few formers who were taught by Sister Welch! For those of you who don't know, Sister Welch is the daughter of my stake president who served in this mission and went home a little while ago. So that was kind of a fun connection, we'll see how it goes with some of them. 

That's about it for this week, lots of fun, lots of cool people in the ward, lots of work ahead of us. I love you all, hope you have a great week!! 

Elder Packer

1. Me, my son, and Chainz...;)

2.The zone

3.Jesus on the drums (Brother Mullowney is a drummer, super dope!)

4. The picture Sofia drew me<3

5. Napolean Dynamite

Voy a tener un hijo!!!

Buenos dias a todos, buenas noches a los otros

This week has been really long, stressful, and fun. On Wednesday Elder Taylor and I did an exchange and ended up biking in the rain for most of the day. It was a blast haha we enjoyed it a lot. Then Thursday we had a zone service project at the National Butterfly Center, that took forever, but it was really fun, we all had a good time and I got a new t-shirt out of it. 

Later that night I got a call to be a trainer. That means I had to get up and be in McAllen at La Vista chapel at 10AM in my suit with a bunch of other people haha it was super fun. Another Elder in my zone who has only been out for 3 transfers got the call too, Elder Canfield. He's super cool, he'll be a great trainer. But we spent about 4 or 5 hours at that meeting and had lunch with Presidente and Sister Maluenda, it was a good day.

After that we worked a bit and on Saturday we had Zone Meeting and Stake Conference, both of which were really fun. Stake Conference was really cool, we watched a video about soldiers coming home and then talked about families and one of the presidency had 4 missionaries come up and act out being a family and having FHE. 

After that was Sunday and we had Stake Conference at 1 o'clock for the Spanish Members, and it was basically more family and Sunday centered messages.

Other than those things, nothing much. Mostly I'm just excited to be a trainer. It'll be a fun new experience, I hope I do a good job and help him to adjust well. Anywho, I love you all, I hope you have a great week, there's never going to be another one like it in your entire life. 

Elder Packer

Simple Things

Hello everyone!!! How are you all doing?? 

So this week went by really quickly! I went on an exchange on Friday with my ZL Elder Ivey, and that was really fun, we went to a place called Tortas Jerry (sooo mexican) with a recent convert and it was just really fun! I've actually got pictures too!

Then directly after that exchange we had a zone exchange, so I went from Elder Ivey to Elder Birrell!! You guys probably don't know, but Elder Birrell was the greenie that we did an exchange together in Banquete with the truck and got free food. Super cool kid. But this time instead of a truck we were on bikes...I definitely preferred the truck hahaha but it wasn't too bad. I enjoyed myself, he's super funny, and we had a lot of random fun hahahaha. Some random guy gave me basically brand new Steve Madden shoes and then we took pictures with some people from Monterrey who were in town for a guys birthday. It was super fun. \

Also yesterday we had an 8 year old baptism, the cutest little girl you'd ever see in your life!! I can't believe how flippin cute she is hahahaha she's awesome. 

That's basically what happened this week. But I've been studying about gifts of the spirit recently, and thought I'd send out a challenge. Anyone willing to participate, read D&C 46, and then think about what gifts you have, what gifts you've seen you or someone else have, and what gifts you'd like to have. It's pretty fun to do. And then make plans to get the gifts you want! Super easy. 

I love you all, I am super grateful for all the blessings I receive from your prayers and for all the support I have. Have a wonderful week!!

Elder Packer

conferencia de zona

Hello!! 

How is everyone doing? Sorry I'm emailing so late, Monday was LaborDay so the Libraries were closed and the yesterday we had Zone Conference, so we didn't have any time to write. But here I am!! 

This past week and 2 days has been really fun. We went to the zone activity for P-Day and had a blast, we've been working with a lot of cool people, and Armando should be getting baptized this week, along with Eddie! So that's pretty cool! We're still working with Nancy, but her work schedule just got switched up so it's a lot harder to get in contact with her. But I don't have a doubt in my mind that she'll be baptized soon. Anywho, outside of that it hasn't been much.

Yesterday we had zone conference, and that was really cool. We learned a lot of really cool things, especially about faith. Something I've learned the past couple weeks has been the power of faith. Remember how when you're little everyone tells you "If you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want?" Yes? Well that's doctrine. We've been studying faith a lot, and really if you have a righteous desire and don't doubt about it, it will happen. It. Will. Happen. Everything is all about self control through your spirit. Your spirit controls your mind and body, and if you get that self control, you can convince your body to overcome small illnesses or become ill, you can pass or fail a test, you can choose to complete a goal or not. Everything is about choices and what you think. If you truly think it can happen or if you think it won't, either way you're right. Cool right? 

Now, because I'm a missionary I bear testimony that this really works, but I don't want you to believe my words. but try it out for yourself and then gain your own testimony about it. I've seen it a lot, and I promise you that if you try it out yourself and exercise your faith in some way in order to get a righteous desire, that desire will be reached. Alcanzará su meta. Quiero dar mi testimonio que podemos hacer qualquier cosa que es justo mediante nuestra fe. Les amo muchísimo!! Y finalmente tengo fotos! Entonces espero que ustedes disfrutan esta semana! Hasta la semana siguiente!

Elder Packer

P.S. My mom was asking for my address to send me a letter, and I finally got it! So if anyone would like to send me a letter, here's my address:

1701 W. Las Milpas Rd. #1904

Pharr, Texas 78577

1.Yo

2.Elder Taylor (el verdecito) y yo.

3.13 $150+ corbatas

4.Tostadas con crema

5. Chile's with the 3 dollars Elder Taylor got for eating 23....greenie.

Week 4 Transfer 7

Hey everyone!!

This week went by really fast, I don't really know how to describe it. Tuesday we had district meeting as usual, Then we went on an exchange on Thursday, so I had another day on a bike! Hahaha I actually really enjoy the bike days, it's pretty fun and it feels like the day goes by a bit faster on a bike, the car can get a bit boring sometimes. Then on Saturday we had an exchange with the ZLs and I went up to work in the area of plantation, probably the richest area in the mission. It was definitely a change from what I'm used to. Huge huge huge houses. We went to the "gym" to work out in the morning, but it's actually just a member's garage. However, it could be a gym. They had a ton of equipment, it was crazy. And super fun.

Then later that day we had Zone Roleplays, and went to lunch, then blitzed the area of some sisters that haven't been able to work basically all week because one of them is super sick. So that was pretty cool. After that we went and worked in the ZL area, and that was fun, and for the end of the night we had an adventure with the APs; we were gonna meet at a gas station at 8:45 to trade back in the exchange, and then we got a call from the APs that they needed the ZLs to interview a family of 5 right then. So...well, it was a long story, but I ended up chilling with Elder Cruz at the gas station for a while and then finally got home a bit late. But that's why we have repentance;)

It was a pretty crazy day, and then the next day we had a ton of miracles. It was the last Sunday of the month, so the last day to hit the baptismal goal as a Zone and as a mission. And we ended up actually outdoing both haha. There were a lot of crazy miracles that happened, including a Skype from a recently returned sister missionary from Chile for someone to get baptized. Pretty nuts day hahaha. Miracles really do happen. Anyways, that's all for the week, I hope you all have a wonderful day and week! And once again, I apologize for not having pictures haha next week for sure.

I Love you All!!

Elder Packer

10 Meses!!!

Buenas!!!

So this last week I hit my 10 month mark, that's kinda cool. Only 14 more to go!;) I still don't feel like I've been out for too long....anyways!

This last week went by super fast! My comp had 3day training with President and all the leadership in the mission, so I was sent to work with Las Milpas on bikes for all 3 days....bike areas. Hahahaha I had a blast, I'm definitely glad I'm in a car area, but it was a lot of fun riding a bike around all day for most of the week. We talked to a lot of cool people and found some pretty good investigators.

After that I only really worked in my own area for really like Saturday and Sunday, and that was good, our actuals rocked and we found a family we are hoping to baptize soon. Along with them, we have the Rodriguez family who we've been working with for a while, and he finally got the divorce papers mailed to him so he sent them to his ex wife and should be getting an appointment with the judge really soon so that he can marry his current wife and they can be baptized!! Yay!!! We just hope the judge doesn't take forever or schedule the appointment out too far. We also have Nancy and she is super cool, her and her six year old son came to church yesterday and they are awesome. She's kinda shy but she's really willing to do what God wants her to and should be getting baptized on the 6th of September. And then the week after we hopefully have Armando getting baptized, he's a really grumpy/sarcastic old guy, but Elder De Piano and I both can totally see him being that guy in the ward that gives all the kids a hard time but they all love him for it because it's funny haha. He's great hahaha.

Anyways, yesterday we taught a pretty in depth lesson about patriarchal blessings to a family in the ward, and I was thinking that I'd like to send out the challenge for everyone that's gotten their patriarchal blessing to really study it one day this week, and see if you can crossrefference any scriptures with some of the promised blessings or commandments or anything! And for those that don't have it yet, I'd invite you to really start thinking about getting it. It's awesome to have scriptures directly to and for you from God!!

That's about it for this week, I hope you guys all have a wonderful week!! I love you!

Elder Packer

Hidalgo!!!

Buenos dias!!! Espero que este dia esta bien para todos!!

I'm back down in the Valley! My new companion is Elder de Piano, and we serve in the Hidalgo ward, spanish speaking. It's fantastic, there's a lot of great people down here, and our investigators are great! One family has been to church 6 times now and is just waiting for some legalities to go through and then they'll be baptized as soon as that happens. They're amazing, they're the family Rodriguez and the wife is a Zumba instructor, so that's what we do for exercise on Mondays hahaha I was having a blast!! So much Spanish club music, it was hilarious, I couldn't stop smiling the whole time hahahaha. But yeah, they're amazing:)

It has been a really long week trying to get to know everyone, but I'm still in a car area, that's good, I'm speaking Spanish again, which I've missed, and I still love the gospel. My companion is great, I don't have a picture with him on my camera, but one of our members gave him a selfie stick...so we have a lot of pics together on his camera haha. I'll try and get one soon. For now, just enjoy the ones I've taken the last couple weeks, some are of them are with my last district (who I love a ton!!:)) so here you go!! I hope you all have a great week!! I Love you!1

Elder Packer