Elder Pack looking over Vilnius, Lithuania
Vilnius, Lithuania
Elder Pack and Elder Koegler at the Riga, Latvia bus station before his transfer
Monday, November 8, 2010
Pictures!!!!
Elder Pack looking over Vilnius, Lithuania Vilnius, Lithuania Elder Pack and Elder Koegler at the Riga, Latvia bus station before his transfer
November 8, 2010
Dear Family,
Well it sounds like everything in Cache Valley is going nice and smooth. I'm glad to hear that. Things out here are going really good, I'm really enjoying the time out here being a missionary. I can't believe I've almost been out here for 5 months, that's a long time! It's going by so fast, so I've just been trying to live everyday to its fullest. Because before too much longer I'll be home. That's so awesome how much success all the family is having... It makes be way happy to hear that everyone is having so much fun. This week was a pretty good one in the life of a missionary. We taught quite a few lessons, and we found some new investigators. Elder Reeves and I are having a lot of fun together still, we only have a couple weeks left in this transfer so we'll see what happens around the corner. The language is coming along really good lately, it's very handy to be together as a companionship with another person who doesn't speak very well cause it really forces us to learn. Hopefully by the end of this two years I'll be able to speak Russian decently. One thing I've been forgetting to mention that I really remembered today, is that's it's freezing here, and I don't have a Jacket for like regular cloths. I'm fine when I'm just in missionary stuff, but when we do service and sports I've just been wearing tee-shirts with thermals haha. So would it be ok if you could send me a jacket perhaps? you just send me one of the ones that's at home. That would be really nice of you :). Wow for some reason I really can't think of what to say this week. I'm sorry I've never been very good at writing emails. One cool thing that happened this week is yesterday we went up to Kaunas for district conference, it was really good there were a lot of really good talks. The things that really stood out to me were that we need to remember that missionaries aren't the only ones that need to do missionary work. When members help it's a lot more effective. And the blessings of bringing someone to the knowledge of the gospel is just amazing. But yeah that's all I really have to say this week. I'll try to think better next week so I can tell you some cool stories.
-Elder Pack
Well it sounds like everything in Cache Valley is going nice and smooth. I'm glad to hear that. Things out here are going really good, I'm really enjoying the time out here being a missionary. I can't believe I've almost been out here for 5 months, that's a long time! It's going by so fast, so I've just been trying to live everyday to its fullest. Because before too much longer I'll be home. That's so awesome how much success all the family is having... It makes be way happy to hear that everyone is having so much fun. This week was a pretty good one in the life of a missionary. We taught quite a few lessons, and we found some new investigators. Elder Reeves and I are having a lot of fun together still, we only have a couple weeks left in this transfer so we'll see what happens around the corner. The language is coming along really good lately, it's very handy to be together as a companionship with another person who doesn't speak very well cause it really forces us to learn. Hopefully by the end of this two years I'll be able to speak Russian decently. One thing I've been forgetting to mention that I really remembered today, is that's it's freezing here, and I don't have a Jacket for like regular cloths. I'm fine when I'm just in missionary stuff, but when we do service and sports I've just been wearing tee-shirts with thermals haha. So would it be ok if you could send me a jacket perhaps? you just send me one of the ones that's at home. That would be really nice of you :). Wow for some reason I really can't think of what to say this week. I'm sorry I've never been very good at writing emails. One cool thing that happened this week is yesterday we went up to Kaunas for district conference, it was really good there were a lot of really good talks. The things that really stood out to me were that we need to remember that missionaries aren't the only ones that need to do missionary work. When members help it's a lot more effective. And the blessings of bringing someone to the knowledge of the gospel is just amazing. But yeah that's all I really have to say this week. I'll try to think better next week so I can tell you some cool stories.
-Elder Pack
Monday, November 1, 2010
November 1, 2010
Dear Family,
Well I'm sorry I'm always the worst at answering questions for you guys. I just get caught up in the work ;). But I will make sure to answer the questions right here at the beginning so that you can know what is going on.
1. Did you get any of the packages that we sent? I sent a couple of small ones with Savannah from the office, and we also sent a big flat rate box. We sent them to the mission home.
I got one of the packages so far, it was the big one that had snacks and silly putty thanks for that it was way good. But I probably won't get the other ones for a few more weeks, because since I live down here in Vilnius I don't get packages unless people are traveling around, and that probably won't happen until transfers now but I'm really excited to get them.
2. Do you have all of the warm clothes that you need? We put a few bucks into your account, but not much. Do you need more?
Yes I was able to get all the warm stuff that I need, sorry it was kind of expensive I have never been very good at being thrifty with money haha. But yeah I should be all good for a while.
3. Tell us about Elder Reeves. Where is he from? What is he like?
Elder Reeves is super awesome, he's from Ferth Idaho. He is like a star football player, he got player of the year in football and basketball two years in a row in Idaho for 2A schools, which is a lot better than I ever did at anything, haha. He's a really good missionary and we're having a lot of fun. We're having a lot of fun trying to figure out missionary work together.
4. Have you received Nancy Cheals letters? Have you written her back? What about grandma and grandpa robinson? They would love to hear from you.
Yes I have received letters from Nancy, and I'm planning on writing back today actually. Our P-days are always super busy, so hopefully I can get to it today. I really need to write Grandma and Grandpa also, and I will try really hard to get to that also I'll cross my fingers that I have time.
5. We would love to get some pictures. Can you just take your sd card and copy a few to your email? Please send us some. We would love to see you and Lithuania. Just send us your sd card dangit.
Well... that's a little harsh I guess I just won't send you any pictures now... No I'm just kidding, I'm sorry I haven't sent pictures yet. I just don't have very many yet, so I hesitate to send my sd card with like 30 pictures on it. But I guess I'll send that out this week so that you can get those. One of these preparation days soon me and Elder Reeves are going to just have it be a picture taking day. So I'll get a bunch for you.
6. Do you have any requests for your Christmas box? What candy do you miss? We are putting it together this week.
I actually can't think of anything off the top of my head. They basically have anything here that I'd want to eat in America. And stuff doesn't really do me a lot of good cause I'm a missionary and so I wouldn't be able to ever use it. So the thing I would really appreciate the most would probably just have to be getting a card. I don't really need anything besides that really.
7. When we have sent you pictures have you gotten them? We send them in separate email.
Yes I have receives all the pictures that you sent to me, and thank you for them they are really cool. It's really nice to see how you are all doing.
Well there are all the answers to you questions, are you happy now? No but I'm sorry I always forget to answer questions when I email you guys. I'll try a lot harder, and I'll work really hard to send pictures to you so that you can see how everything is going over here. But yeah that's basically all that I really have to say. I'm having a lot of fun out here. This last week was kind of a slow one and I hope that it picks up a bit this next week. We taught a few really cool people though and I'm excited to keep teaching them. So I hope that you all have a great week, and I'm way excited to get your email next week, it's always a nice to know that you haven't forgotten me yet.
I also forgot sorry it's written яа люблю тебя in russian, but it's pronounce Ya Lyoublyou tebya in English it's kind of weird, but that's my life over here right now haha. I love Russian it's like the coolest language in the whole world. Oh yeah and one question why was Frank asking a girl how to say I love you ;)
-Elder Pack
Well I'm sorry I'm always the worst at answering questions for you guys. I just get caught up in the work ;). But I will make sure to answer the questions right here at the beginning so that you can know what is going on.
1. Did you get any of the packages that we sent? I sent a couple of small ones with Savannah from the office, and we also sent a big flat rate box. We sent them to the mission home.
I got one of the packages so far, it was the big one that had snacks and silly putty thanks for that it was way good. But I probably won't get the other ones for a few more weeks, because since I live down here in Vilnius I don't get packages unless people are traveling around, and that probably won't happen until transfers now but I'm really excited to get them.
2. Do you have all of the warm clothes that you need? We put a few bucks into your account, but not much. Do you need more?
Yes I was able to get all the warm stuff that I need, sorry it was kind of expensive I have never been very good at being thrifty with money haha. But yeah I should be all good for a while.
3. Tell us about Elder Reeves. Where is he from? What is he like?
Elder Reeves is super awesome, he's from Ferth Idaho. He is like a star football player, he got player of the year in football and basketball two years in a row in Idaho for 2A schools, which is a lot better than I ever did at anything, haha. He's a really good missionary and we're having a lot of fun. We're having a lot of fun trying to figure out missionary work together.
4. Have you received Nancy Cheals letters? Have you written her back? What about grandma and grandpa robinson? They would love to hear from you.
Yes I have received letters from Nancy, and I'm planning on writing back today actually. Our P-days are always super busy, so hopefully I can get to it today. I really need to write Grandma and Grandpa also, and I will try really hard to get to that also I'll cross my fingers that I have time.
5. We would love to get some pictures. Can you just take your sd card and copy a few to your email? Please send us some. We would love to see you and Lithuania. Just send us your sd card dangit.
Well... that's a little harsh I guess I just won't send you any pictures now... No I'm just kidding, I'm sorry I haven't sent pictures yet. I just don't have very many yet, so I hesitate to send my sd card with like 30 pictures on it. But I guess I'll send that out this week so that you can get those. One of these preparation days soon me and Elder Reeves are going to just have it be a picture taking day. So I'll get a bunch for you.
6. Do you have any requests for your Christmas box? What candy do you miss? We are putting it together this week.
I actually can't think of anything off the top of my head. They basically have anything here that I'd want to eat in America. And stuff doesn't really do me a lot of good cause I'm a missionary and so I wouldn't be able to ever use it. So the thing I would really appreciate the most would probably just have to be getting a card. I don't really need anything besides that really.
7. When we have sent you pictures have you gotten them? We send them in separate email.
Yes I have receives all the pictures that you sent to me, and thank you for them they are really cool. It's really nice to see how you are all doing.
Well there are all the answers to you questions, are you happy now? No but I'm sorry I always forget to answer questions when I email you guys. I'll try a lot harder, and I'll work really hard to send pictures to you so that you can see how everything is going over here. But yeah that's basically all that I really have to say. I'm having a lot of fun out here. This last week was kind of a slow one and I hope that it picks up a bit this next week. We taught a few really cool people though and I'm excited to keep teaching them. So I hope that you all have a great week, and I'm way excited to get your email next week, it's always a nice to know that you haven't forgotten me yet.
I also forgot sorry it's written яа люблю тебя in russian, but it's pronounce Ya Lyoublyou tebya in English it's kind of weird, but that's my life over here right now haha. I love Russian it's like the coolest language in the whole world. Oh yeah and one question why was Frank asking a girl how to say I love you ;)
-Elder Pack
Monday, October 25, 2010
October 25, 2010
Dear Family,
Hey how is everything going? From this last email it sounds like everything is going really well, I'm glad to hear that you are all staying really happy. It's cool that Frank is doing so well in football! I'm sensing a future pro player coming along. Good luck in the playoffs Frank I know that you'll do really good and I'll be rooting for you, here from Lithuania. Awww dang now I just really want to run in the Ragnar really those were some of the funnest things I did. Dad get ready for another one because we're going again when I get home.
This has been a fun week on the mission, me and Elder Reeves have just been making our way and trying to figure things out. But it's a really good experience, it really is helping me grow up I think. I mean come on I even have to go grocery shopping for myself, that's a pretty big step for me wouldn't you say. I don't know why but I'm trying to think of really cool things that happened this week but I'm having problems remembering them even though I know a ton of things happen. My whole mission is already just blending into one big blur in my head. It really, really is going by so fast I'm already getting close to 4 1/2 months and that's making my mind explode, because it feels like I just barely left. The language is coming along pretty good and that makes me happy, cause I have to learn it really fast now if me and Elder Reeves want to teach anybody. Oh I just remembered something cool that happened, last night me and Elder Reeves were just talking to people on the street. And we start talking to this really cool guy on the street who is from Saint Petersburg but lives in Germany, and he's here on vacation right now. He was way cool his name is Valodya, we asked if he could come with us to our teaching center and have a little lesson with him. But it didn't quite turn into a little lesson, he kept asking the best questions so we taught him for 2 hours. It was way long and we probably almost made his brain explode but it was so good. And now he's going to read and pray and meet with us before he leaves Lithuania again. But yeah that really show that the Lord has prepared people, it's just up to us to find them! Well have a great week it's always way awesome to read how all of you are doing. Good luck with all the things that you're doing.
-Elder Pack
Hey how is everything going? From this last email it sounds like everything is going really well, I'm glad to hear that you are all staying really happy. It's cool that Frank is doing so well in football! I'm sensing a future pro player coming along. Good luck in the playoffs Frank I know that you'll do really good and I'll be rooting for you, here from Lithuania. Awww dang now I just really want to run in the Ragnar really those were some of the funnest things I did. Dad get ready for another one because we're going again when I get home.
This has been a fun week on the mission, me and Elder Reeves have just been making our way and trying to figure things out. But it's a really good experience, it really is helping me grow up I think. I mean come on I even have to go grocery shopping for myself, that's a pretty big step for me wouldn't you say. I don't know why but I'm trying to think of really cool things that happened this week but I'm having problems remembering them even though I know a ton of things happen. My whole mission is already just blending into one big blur in my head. It really, really is going by so fast I'm already getting close to 4 1/2 months and that's making my mind explode, because it feels like I just barely left. The language is coming along pretty good and that makes me happy, cause I have to learn it really fast now if me and Elder Reeves want to teach anybody. Oh I just remembered something cool that happened, last night me and Elder Reeves were just talking to people on the street. And we start talking to this really cool guy on the street who is from Saint Petersburg but lives in Germany, and he's here on vacation right now. He was way cool his name is Valodya, we asked if he could come with us to our teaching center and have a little lesson with him. But it didn't quite turn into a little lesson, he kept asking the best questions so we taught him for 2 hours. It was way long and we probably almost made his brain explode but it was so good. And now he's going to read and pray and meet with us before he leaves Lithuania again. But yeah that really show that the Lord has prepared people, it's just up to us to find them! Well have a great week it's always way awesome to read how all of you are doing. Good luck with all the things that you're doing.
-Elder Pack
Sunday, October 24, 2010
October 18, 2010
October 18, 2010
Dear Family,
Hey how is everybody? It's sounds like a whole bunch of cool stuff has been going on over there in Cache Valley Utah. I miss Cache Valley quite a bit because there's no mountains over here in the Baltics :( It's ok though here in Vilnius there's hills which is a lot more than you can say about Riga. So as you can guess by my last sentence, I'm still in Vilnius and I'm pretty happy about it because I was only here for like 2 weeks before transfers ended. It's very pretty here in Vilnius also, I would send you pictures but I need to take some more haha. We're only allowed to take pictures on preparation day and I've always been really bad about taking pictures. But yeah here's what happened this last week, we had transfers last Thursday and Elder Mock got sent up to Riga, so my new companion is Elder Reeves. He's a really awesome Elder and I'm really happy to be able to serve with him, the only problem that I can see right now is that he's only on his 3rd transfer and I'm on my 2nd haha so we're both way brand new missionaries and he's never been to Vilnius and I've only been here for a couple weeks and we're in Center (the most crazy part of Vilnius) haha. I think we'll probably have a lot of getting lost to go through this transfer, before we really find our way around. But yeah I'll keep you up to date on all of our crazy adventures. This week was a pretty cool week though, we taught quite a few lessons and I really feel like the language is coming along so that makes me happy. I'm really good at talking about the gospel but if the subject deviates from that topic it's very hard to understand what is going on. One cool thing that happened this week was about 2 Saturdays ago this guy called us and was like hey I met with the missionaries like five years ago and I would really like to meet with them again if that's possible. So last night me and Elder Reeves were able to go and meet with him, he fed us some really good fruit tea and cookies and we talked about the Restoration. It was way cool though he's a way awesome guy and we're hoping to give him a baptismal date soon already, so I'll keep you posted. Also another miracle that happened this week is at the beginning of the week me and Elder Mock were walking around and just talking to everybody and we found this kid named Thomas, he was a Lithuanian from Kaunas and he was in Vilnius buying a car. But he agreed to walk with us to our teaching center and have a lesson. So we met with him and just talked about The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, me and Elder Mock just both really felt like we needed to invite him to be baptized. So we promised him as he continued to read and pray he would have a desire to follow all the commandments and be baptized by someone holding the proper authority, and he said YES!!! It was so awesome because he was in Vilnius only for that night and we found him, we were able to give his information to the missionaries in Kaunas and as far as I know everything is going really good and his baptism is scheduled a couple weeks from now. It's amazing how much good the Lord can work through you when you're doing what you're supposed to. But yeah that's my week I’m happy that you were able to go to Savannah's Halloween party I had a lot of fun last year also. And also the first thing we do when I get back is hiking the Wellsville’s because I really am craving a good hike lately. But I'm having a great time out here in the Baltics it's amazing how many incredible things happen each and every day I wish that I could tell you about all of them, but I've been keeping a way good journal so I'll be able to share more with you someday. Have a great week.
-Elder Pack
Dear Family,
Hey how is everybody? It's sounds like a whole bunch of cool stuff has been going on over there in Cache Valley Utah. I miss Cache Valley quite a bit because there's no mountains over here in the Baltics :( It's ok though here in Vilnius there's hills which is a lot more than you can say about Riga. So as you can guess by my last sentence, I'm still in Vilnius and I'm pretty happy about it because I was only here for like 2 weeks before transfers ended. It's very pretty here in Vilnius also, I would send you pictures but I need to take some more haha. We're only allowed to take pictures on preparation day and I've always been really bad about taking pictures. But yeah here's what happened this last week, we had transfers last Thursday and Elder Mock got sent up to Riga, so my new companion is Elder Reeves. He's a really awesome Elder and I'm really happy to be able to serve with him, the only problem that I can see right now is that he's only on his 3rd transfer and I'm on my 2nd haha so we're both way brand new missionaries and he's never been to Vilnius and I've only been here for a couple weeks and we're in Center (the most crazy part of Vilnius) haha. I think we'll probably have a lot of getting lost to go through this transfer, before we really find our way around. But yeah I'll keep you up to date on all of our crazy adventures. This week was a pretty cool week though, we taught quite a few lessons and I really feel like the language is coming along so that makes me happy. I'm really good at talking about the gospel but if the subject deviates from that topic it's very hard to understand what is going on. One cool thing that happened this week was about 2 Saturdays ago this guy called us and was like hey I met with the missionaries like five years ago and I would really like to meet with them again if that's possible. So last night me and Elder Reeves were able to go and meet with him, he fed us some really good fruit tea and cookies and we talked about the Restoration. It was way cool though he's a way awesome guy and we're hoping to give him a baptismal date soon already, so I'll keep you posted. Also another miracle that happened this week is at the beginning of the week me and Elder Mock were walking around and just talking to everybody and we found this kid named Thomas, he was a Lithuanian from Kaunas and he was in Vilnius buying a car. But he agreed to walk with us to our teaching center and have a lesson. So we met with him and just talked about The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, me and Elder Mock just both really felt like we needed to invite him to be baptized. So we promised him as he continued to read and pray he would have a desire to follow all the commandments and be baptized by someone holding the proper authority, and he said YES!!! It was so awesome because he was in Vilnius only for that night and we found him, we were able to give his information to the missionaries in Kaunas and as far as I know everything is going really good and his baptism is scheduled a couple weeks from now. It's amazing how much good the Lord can work through you when you're doing what you're supposed to. But yeah that's my week I’m happy that you were able to go to Savannah's Halloween party I had a lot of fun last year also. And also the first thing we do when I get back is hiking the Wellsville’s because I really am craving a good hike lately. But I'm having a great time out here in the Baltics it's amazing how many incredible things happen each and every day I wish that I could tell you about all of them, but I've been keeping a way good journal so I'll be able to share more with you someday. Have a great week.
-Elder Pack
Friday, October 15, 2010
October 11, 2010
Dear Family,
Hey it's good to hear that everything is going so good over there in the good ol' United States of America. Things are pretty good over here in Eastern Europe, at least on the missionary work side, things are going really good. Things have been kind of crazy because of what happened and getting all of a sudden changed to Lithuania, but I really like it here a lot. It's starting to get really cold here, like really really cold haha. And they don't turn on the heating in the apartments until November starts up ha. That would also be the reason for the strange dissappearance of my money, in a lot of stores over here debit cards don't work, so we have to us atms, so I pulled out a bunch of money to buy some winter stuff like a hat and a couple scarfs but I made a mistake and I didn't think about pulling money out for gloves so I might need a little more to be able to get those. But after I get gloves that will be all my winter stuff and I won't need to buy any more while I'm on my mission anymore... HURRAY! But yeah this week was really cool because we were able to watch General Conference twice, we were able to watch one session a day throughout the week in English as a zone, and then on Saturday and Sunday we went and watched with our ward in Russian. It was really cool because the language is really coming and that makes me happy, it's always a good thing to be able to understand people. But yeah here in Vilnius we have a Russian and a Lithuanian branch so that's really cool, because we don't have to try and understand Lithuanian also. Over here in the the Baltics, in the main cities everyone understands Russian so it's not to hard to find people to talk to. We do a lot of contacting on the street and a whole bunch of knocking also. People here are quite a bit nicer than they were on average than the people in Riga, so that's a nice change when talking to people on the street. Another crazy thing that happens is tomorrow is we receive phone calls for where we are going for the next exchanges, and then we leave on Wednesday. So I don't know at all what's going to happen yet I could be here in Vilnius for another transfer or I could go to Estonia or something (which would be cool cause I would have gone to all three countries within one transfer ha). So I will keep you posted on how all those things go. But yeah one cool thing that happened this week was about two days ago me and Elder Mock were walking around at about 8:30 pm just talking to all the people on the street and I saw this kid from the distance and he was quickly walking away from us, but I was like I should talk to him. So I basically ran to catch up with him, and I caught him right before he went into a billiards club (he was right in the process of opening the door) and I was like hey do you have a second we have a lesson that will bless your life, and he was like "ok if it will bless my life then I want to hear it right now, but my friend is up waiting for me so I'll go grab him and he'll come with us" So he went and got his friend and we taught them a lesson. It was so cool, we taught about Joseph Smith and how they can to our church is true through prayer. It was a very good lesson and we are meeting with them again this week I hope that all goes well :). But yeah I hope you all have a great week. You'll have to tell me how the Halloween party is with Savannah's family cause it was really fun last year they had way good hotdogs. But yes have a great week, this gospel is true so you don't have to worry about me, just have a lot of fun and enjoy the blessings in life :)
-Старейшина Пак
счастливо всем
Hey it's good to hear that everything is going so good over there in the good ol' United States of America. Things are pretty good over here in Eastern Europe, at least on the missionary work side, things are going really good. Things have been kind of crazy because of what happened and getting all of a sudden changed to Lithuania, but I really like it here a lot. It's starting to get really cold here, like really really cold haha. And they don't turn on the heating in the apartments until November starts up ha. That would also be the reason for the strange dissappearance of my money, in a lot of stores over here debit cards don't work, so we have to us atms, so I pulled out a bunch of money to buy some winter stuff like a hat and a couple scarfs but I made a mistake and I didn't think about pulling money out for gloves so I might need a little more to be able to get those. But after I get gloves that will be all my winter stuff and I won't need to buy any more while I'm on my mission anymore... HURRAY! But yeah this week was really cool because we were able to watch General Conference twice, we were able to watch one session a day throughout the week in English as a zone, and then on Saturday and Sunday we went and watched with our ward in Russian. It was really cool because the language is really coming and that makes me happy, it's always a good thing to be able to understand people. But yeah here in Vilnius we have a Russian and a Lithuanian branch so that's really cool, because we don't have to try and understand Lithuanian also. Over here in the the Baltics, in the main cities everyone understands Russian so it's not to hard to find people to talk to. We do a lot of contacting on the street and a whole bunch of knocking also. People here are quite a bit nicer than they were on average than the people in Riga, so that's a nice change when talking to people on the street. Another crazy thing that happens is tomorrow is we receive phone calls for where we are going for the next exchanges, and then we leave on Wednesday. So I don't know at all what's going to happen yet I could be here in Vilnius for another transfer or I could go to Estonia or something (which would be cool cause I would have gone to all three countries within one transfer ha). So I will keep you posted on how all those things go. But yeah one cool thing that happened this week was about two days ago me and Elder Mock were walking around at about 8:30 pm just talking to all the people on the street and I saw this kid from the distance and he was quickly walking away from us, but I was like I should talk to him. So I basically ran to catch up with him, and I caught him right before he went into a billiards club (he was right in the process of opening the door) and I was like hey do you have a second we have a lesson that will bless your life, and he was like "ok if it will bless my life then I want to hear it right now, but my friend is up waiting for me so I'll go grab him and he'll come with us" So he went and got his friend and we taught them a lesson. It was so cool, we taught about Joseph Smith and how they can to our church is true through prayer. It was a very good lesson and we are meeting with them again this week I hope that all goes well :). But yeah I hope you all have a great week. You'll have to tell me how the Halloween party is with Savannah's family cause it was really fun last year they had way good hotdogs. But yes have a great week, this gospel is true so you don't have to worry about me, just have a lot of fun and enjoy the blessings in life :)
-Старейшина Пак
счастливо всем
Monday, October 4, 2010
October 4, 2010 - Transferred!
Dear Family,
Hey how is everybody doing? I have quite the story for you this week so it might take quite a bit of my email to tell you about it haha. First of all I'm not in Riga anymore I'm Vilnius, Lithuania... Yay. But the story that I want to tell involves how I got to this place all of a sudden haha. So last Friday in the early afternoon, I was sitting in the kitchen eating some lunch and reading the Book of Mormon in Russian when all of a sudden we get a phone call. My companion talked on the phone for a while, and I didn't really pay attention because I was really busy trying to understand the Book of Mormon in Russian ha. But when he got off the phone, he just ran over to me and gave me a huge hug, which was weird because we never hug each other, so I knew something fishy was going on. And he broke the news to me that I was going on an emergency transfer to Vilnius and I was leaving the next day. At first I didn't believe him cause it was kind of weird and he kept laughing, but it was true and now I'm here. I don't know the exact reason why they had the transfer, because real transfers are happening in like a week and a half from now. But yeah I love Vilnius I've only been here for a few days now but it's very pretty and the smell of smoke isn't constantly lingering in the air like in Riga, like honestly even like all the 10 year old kids smoke in Riga. But yeah I took some way good pictures of Riga, and now I have a few really good ones of Vilnius also. I would send them to you but in Vilnius we email in the American Embassy and no electronics are allowed here. So I'll try to find a way to print them out and send them to you in a letter or something. My new companion here is really cool, his name is Elder Mock. He's from Texas and he's been on a mission for about a year now, and he's been in Vilnius all of that time. Well the work is going really good right now, it's a bit slower here than it was in Riga but things are still going way good. Yesterday we had church because we don't get conference here until this upcoming weekend because we are waiting for the translations. Yay I get to watch general conference in Russian. But that's way cool that you got to go together to General Conference, we should do that when I get back too because it would be a ton of fun. Oh my gosh I'm way happy right now that USU beat BYU, because my companion went to BYU before he left so now I can rub it right in his face haha, I guess that's probably not a very Christlike thing to do, but I think a situation like this allows some exceptions. But yeah I'm still having a ton of fun out here on the mission, I'm excited to see what Vilnius is like, and I'm way happy to be a part of this work, because it's TRUE. But yeah I just want to share a quick little thing that I remembered about one of my studies one time. It's 1 Nephi 11:17 it says something along the lines of I don't know the reasons for all the things that God does, but I know that he loves his children. And I love this scripture because it's true we don't know all the reasons for the things the Lord asks us to do, but he loves us and he wants the best for us. So we can take comfort in the fact that even though sometimes life is hard and things don't go the way we want them, if we're doing the things that the lord asks of us we will be so much happier than we could any other way. Because the Lord wants the best for us.
Sorry I know that you just got a long email from me, but could I ask you a huge favor? could you send me a few cds me and my companion don't really have anything haha. I would like some Adrea Bocceli and some Paul Cardall, but it would be highly appreciated :). You can just send them to the mission home still because I don't know how long I'll be here in Vilnius and so I'll be able to pick them up when I'm in Riga for interviews or something :). Thanks for all that you do for me, and all the support you're giving me out here on a mission. I hope you have a great week.
-Elder Pack
Hey how is everybody doing? I have quite the story for you this week so it might take quite a bit of my email to tell you about it haha. First of all I'm not in Riga anymore I'm Vilnius, Lithuania... Yay. But the story that I want to tell involves how I got to this place all of a sudden haha. So last Friday in the early afternoon, I was sitting in the kitchen eating some lunch and reading the Book of Mormon in Russian when all of a sudden we get a phone call. My companion talked on the phone for a while, and I didn't really pay attention because I was really busy trying to understand the Book of Mormon in Russian ha. But when he got off the phone, he just ran over to me and gave me a huge hug, which was weird because we never hug each other, so I knew something fishy was going on. And he broke the news to me that I was going on an emergency transfer to Vilnius and I was leaving the next day. At first I didn't believe him cause it was kind of weird and he kept laughing, but it was true and now I'm here. I don't know the exact reason why they had the transfer, because real transfers are happening in like a week and a half from now. But yeah I love Vilnius I've only been here for a few days now but it's very pretty and the smell of smoke isn't constantly lingering in the air like in Riga, like honestly even like all the 10 year old kids smoke in Riga. But yeah I took some way good pictures of Riga, and now I have a few really good ones of Vilnius also. I would send them to you but in Vilnius we email in the American Embassy and no electronics are allowed here. So I'll try to find a way to print them out and send them to you in a letter or something. My new companion here is really cool, his name is Elder Mock. He's from Texas and he's been on a mission for about a year now, and he's been in Vilnius all of that time. Well the work is going really good right now, it's a bit slower here than it was in Riga but things are still going way good. Yesterday we had church because we don't get conference here until this upcoming weekend because we are waiting for the translations. Yay I get to watch general conference in Russian. But that's way cool that you got to go together to General Conference, we should do that when I get back too because it would be a ton of fun. Oh my gosh I'm way happy right now that USU beat BYU, because my companion went to BYU before he left so now I can rub it right in his face haha, I guess that's probably not a very Christlike thing to do, but I think a situation like this allows some exceptions. But yeah I'm still having a ton of fun out here on the mission, I'm excited to see what Vilnius is like, and I'm way happy to be a part of this work, because it's TRUE. But yeah I just want to share a quick little thing that I remembered about one of my studies one time. It's 1 Nephi 11:17 it says something along the lines of I don't know the reasons for all the things that God does, but I know that he loves his children. And I love this scripture because it's true we don't know all the reasons for the things the Lord asks us to do, but he loves us and he wants the best for us. So we can take comfort in the fact that even though sometimes life is hard and things don't go the way we want them, if we're doing the things that the lord asks of us we will be so much happier than we could any other way. Because the Lord wants the best for us.
Sorry I know that you just got a long email from me, but could I ask you a huge favor? could you send me a few cds me and my companion don't really have anything haha. I would like some Adrea Bocceli and some Paul Cardall, but it would be highly appreciated :). You can just send them to the mission home still because I don't know how long I'll be here in Vilnius and so I'll be able to pick them up when I'm in Riga for interviews or something :). Thanks for all that you do for me, and all the support you're giving me out here on a mission. I hope you have a great week.
-Elder Pack
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