July 11, 2011

Dear Family,

There are always so many neat things going on at home when I get emails for you. It always makes me way happy to hear that so many people going on missions and that is so good. No one who has the opportunity to go on a mission should pass it up, it's worth it in so many ways. I've come so much closer to God in so many ways that I didn't even think were possible. I've made so many amazing friends and I've had so many amazing/crazy experiences. When you go on a mission you have stories and experiences that you can learn from and have stories from for the rest of your life. I just got that picture of Sean with his mission president, that made me so happy! No one who goes on a mission and does what they were supposed to ever regrets it. Jenna good luck playing the violin in church! You'll do great! I'm way jealous of Robbie and Alycia I want to go to scout camp way bad those were so much fun.

This week in the field was a pretty good one. Elder Waddoups are working really hard trying to fulfill our purpose as missionaries. We taught quite a few lessons. I'll just tell you one of the miracles that happened this week. This last week we had a way way way cool activity at the church. It was just a big game night with a whole lot of snacks. We had a really good turnout of non-member youth, and they really enjoyed it. A kid of one of the members came (his first contact with the church) and he really really enjoyed it. She came to church on Sunday and was like "my son wants to be baptized" It was incredible. We also had a few people with baptismal dates show up and they really enjoyed themselves. The Lord is really working and softening the hearts of the people here in Tallinn. One of our investigators also brought a friend, we were able to meet with him. He has a huge desire to change and he knows that if he joins this church it will really bless his life. He's working towards baptism on the 20 of August.

Sorry the email won't be as long as usual this week. We have a lot going on this week that we have to get ready for so we have no time. Tomorrow we're going to Riga for a zone leader's council and 6:30 a.m. then on Wednesday we're heading to Narva to do some exchanges and do a baptismal interview. I wanted to just talk about one thing that I've been studying that has really been impacting my service and my attitude (in a good way) I've been studying about Gratitude, and it's really been amazing the impact that gratitude not just on yourself, but on everyone around you. If we're grateful for the people that are around us it's impossible to have any negative feeling towards those people. And as we give people encouragement and sincerely compliment them it can really change their life in an very positive and dramatic way. As I've found things to be grateful for in everything it's really changed my whole look on life. The Prophet was really inspired to give that talk on gratitude two conferences ago it's a very God-like principle. Thanks for all you do have a great week.

-Elder Pack