March 28, 2011

Dear Family,
HEY! hey family I'm glad to hear from you. I'm really happy that everything is going so well. Everything over here is just fantastic. I love walking around and just talking to people. Sadly this week was about the slowest week I've had in a long time, so I don't really have any cool stories to share with you cause nothing really worked out haha. But it's ok we're working hard and all we can do is try to improve ourselves and give people a chance to listen. The weather is also moving really really slowly towards the warmer side of things. It's really weird lately since daylight savings happened so now we have a lot more light, I still don't know what I think about it though haha. That's way awesome that mom and dad are going to Italy that will be a lot of fun, we'll be in Europe at the same time! I'll get to answering your questions now cause I really have no idea of what to say.
1. What do the people in Daugavpils do for fun? Do they fish in the river or go somewhere interesting. Have you met anyone that skies? Well Russian people for some reason LOVE to go on walks for free time. There are so many times a week when we go to try and find somebody and their parents are like "oh sorry he's out on a walk with his friends". At first I thought it was just an excuse cause people didn't want to meet with us, but they really do just go on walks. A lot of people like fishing also, especially men that are over 50 and receive pension. I've met a few people that "really" ski. A lot of people cross country ski but there are no mountains in the Baltics so there's no a lot of people that go downhill skiing.
2. We are putting a package together for your birthday. Do you have any requests? Do you need any clothes or anything? I don't really need anything specific... I don't know what's up with me lately haha, as a missionary living out of two bags and having no free time I don't really know what to ask for. I could probably use like one or two short sleeve white shirts for the depths of Summer but more than that any other clothes would just be a burden cause I'd have to carry them around. I would like some more pictures of the family, it would be cool if they were in a small album that I could carry around and show to people :) (the people here love looking at pictures of families)
3. Tell us about your companion. What does he like to do? I think you said he is from Utah. Is that right? Where? How long has he been out? I myself don't know a ton about my companion Elder Gudmunson because we haven't been together for so short amount of time haha. He's from Pleasant Grove, Utah. He's about 6'4" Just a way nice guy. He served here a year ago so all of the members remember him so that's really cool. He loves to play basketball which makes sense cause he's tall. He's been out for about a year and 4 months. So he's pretty experienced and speaks Russian really well. We're having a lot of fun together, but transfers are this week so we have no idea if we'll be together or not.
4. Did your headaches get even better this week? Let us know if we can send you anything like vitamins in your package. You need to definitely stay hydrated. They better sometimes and sometimes not, but it's ok they don't really bug me as much anymore. I don't need any vitamins Sister Dance has sent me some medicine so that should help.
5. What have you been studying lately in your scripture studies? I've just been reading through the section in 3rd Nephi when Christ appears to the Nephites. It's really amazing to see how much the Lord loves his people. As a missionary and just a person living in this world it makes me think about how much Christ loves me, but not only that also how much he loves everyone else just as much as me. It's a way amazing feeling when you're walking down the street and you see someone that you don't know at all but you just know that God loves them just as much as he loves me!
Thanks for always emailing me have a great week I hope that all goes good for you this week.

-Elder Pack