October 10, 2011

Dear Family,

Wow I'm super pumped now!!! I'm way super excited for Frank to get his call! The mission really is the best two years. Maybe you shouldn't have told me because now I'll be way super impatient waiting for next week when I can hear where he's going. This will probably be a long week... I'm glad that everyone is having such a good time at home. I didn't know you had a wakeboarding mishap last year dad. I hope that the surgery goes well. Will you be out for a while? I'll keep you in my prayers. What exactly is wrong with your shoulder?
This week was a great week in the life of Elder Pack. I'm having a ton of fun with Elder LaCroix and Elder Thomas. It's so much fun to just lose yourself, so many incredible things can happen. We've been working really hard to reach our goals, and there’s been a lot of fruits coming from it. We've been teaching more lessons and finding a lot more people so lessons will continue to go up. It's kind of weird having it be fall again and remember last fall when I was with Elder Reeves. I've definitely come a long ways since then. We had no idea what we were doing and we were barely teaching anyone haha. Now I'm with another very experienced missionary (Elder Thomas) and a fire ball (Elder LaCroix) so a lot of amazing things are happening. It just seems like people's hearts are being opened. I'll share one miracle with you that happened this last week that is sticking out to me right now. A few days ago after we had just got done teaching a bunch of lessons and watching conference we had like 30 minutes to go find someone to teach so we just walked a couple blocks and started knocking. The very first door we knocked the man that answered let us right in. It was kind of funny cause when we were talking to him he was way curious how many people had let us in that day, and we were just like "everyone because this is the very first door that we've knocked all day". That really caught his attention, and we were able to testify that we are here called of God as his missionaries. We had a great lesson with him. He's really excited to read the Book of Mormon. We're going to pass him to Latvian speaking missionaries this week because he speaks Latvian better, but it was an awesome miracle. The Lord's hands are defiantly in this work.
Thank you so much for being awesome. I love hearing from you every week. I hope that my emails are kind of interesting for you to read also, and that I don't bore you too much. I hope that you have a great week. And I'm way excited to hear from you next week.

-Elder Pack

October 3, 2011

Dear Family,

Wow I was really worried when I read the heading of your email, but then it made me laugh when it was about football. It is too bad that the Aggies aren't doing too hot, but I bet everything will be fine. Elder Manning is getting home this coming winter, and he'll lead the aggies to great things. I'm happy to hear that conference was so good, but I guess that's not really a surprise, it's always great! I'm really excited to watch it this upcoming week. We just watch a session a day throughout the week with our districts. Conference on a mission is really really cool, I feel like I get so much more from it than I ever have in my life.

This week was a really great week. Elders Thomas, LaCroix, and I had a great week. Yes there are three of us. It is a little bit crazy, I feel kind of like I'm in a gang. I just walk around and when people are like "no I don't want to talk" Elder Thomas and LaCroix come out and are like "are you sure that's what you wanted to say?"... No I'm just kidding, we don't quite do that haha. It's just a lot of fun all the time though. Someone always has something fun to say, and when we talk about investigators we're basically in a council so we can get a lot of good ideas. Elder LaCroix brought the miracles with him though. We taught a lot of lessons this last week it was a lot of fun. We worked really really hard. We also had a really really cool miracle that I wanted to tell you about. A few weeks ago Elder Thomas and I went to stop by some people that said that the missionaries could come back. When we stopped by one guy it turned that he had moved away and a mom and her little family had moved in. We asked if maybe she would be interested to hear more and she said that she was. It didn't work out to teach her for the last little while, but the other night we stopped by and she let us in. We had a really good lesson about families and how the Gospel will bless her family. We invited her to be baptized to receive these blessings and she accepted, so we set up a lesson for the following day. When we went back the next day to teach her we found out that she had read half of the Book of Mormon the night before. She liked it so much she just stayed up all night reading. She's already gained a good testimony of the Gospel. We're very excited to work with her for the next while. I love missionary work.

Thanks for the email this week. It's always nice to hear from you. I hope that you have a great week, and I'm way excited to hear from you. As for what I need I think I'm pretty good. For Christmas I really liked last year how you sent me General Conference on cd. I'd really like that again, that's a suggestion I'd have. And I'd really like a copy of Josh Groban's Christmas cd maybe. That would be great! Thanks!

-Elder Pack

September 26, 2011

Dear Family,

Hey!!! Wow it sounds like it was a way awesome week, I'm happy to hear that all is going so well. I'm so happy that Frank got his papers in!!! I totally guess that he's going to Japan. I'm so excited for him... keep me posted. That's way too bad that Patriarch Israelson died. He really was a great man, I'm really happy that I was able to know him at least a little bit. I'm absolutely positive that everything will be fine for him in the life to come.

This week was a lot of fun. I was able to go to Daugavpils again on exchanges and you know how much I really love Daugavpils. I went with a missionary who's name is Elder Stucki, he just came out this last transfer, but we had a ton of fun, and a lot of success. I was also able to conduct an interview with an investigator who's getting baptized this next Saturday. It was especially cool, cause I taught him with Elder Gudmunson for the very first time when he was referred to us by the Branch President. It's really incredible to see how much the Gospel changes a person's life. His testimony is so strong, and his family is very supportive. His mom (not a member... yet) actually came to church with him this Sunday, and she was just so proud of the step he's taking in his life. As far as things in Riga go there was a really crazy thing we found out this week. Elder Thomas are going to be getting a trainee this upcoming Wednesday!!! It's way crazy I'm way excited to train with Elder Thomas. The new missionary's name is Elder LaCroix. He's from Nevada but that's all I know I'll make sure to keep you updated and let you know more about him next week. We also had a cool miracle, this week while we were knocking we ran into a really cool guy named Janik. He told us he'd come to church, that usually means that they won't, but he really did. It kind of threw us off guard. When we walked into the Sacrament chapel we didn't recognize him at all, so I sat down by him and started to get to know him. Then suddenly I realized that he was the man that we invited to church earlier in the week. The Lord really has been blessing Elder Thomas and I, I'm really excited for the upcoming weeks.
Thank you so much for emailing me everyweek, it's always way nice to hear from you. I hope that you have a great week. I'll try to send pictures again, lately it hasen't been recognizing my camera, so I'll probably have to buy a card reader or something like that they're way cheap so I'll probably try to do that today.

-Elder Pack

September 19, 2011

Dear Family,

Sorry if one of my past emails confused you, we didn't get transfers until this last week, but now I can tell you what is going on! I'm still with Elder Thomas! Hurray! We're way excited to serve together for another transfer. Elder Thomas and I move a lot so we thought there was no way that we'd both go without moving somewhere. Actually our whole entire district stayed together, so that's really cool. I'm glad to hear that everything is going so well back at home. It sounds like everyone is having a way good time. I'm way excited to hang out with all of you when I get home.

This week in the life a Riga, Latvia missionary was really great. We found seven new investigators, and that made us really really happy. Elder Thomas and I have been very blessed while we've been together. We're also teaching a girl that I knew in Daugavpils, who lives here during the school year, she's doing well, and has a lot of potential. For some reason I'm having problems remembering specific things that happened this week that I can tell you... We had pretty cool miracle with a less active, who was actually the very first missionary from the Baltics. He just kind of lost his faith throughout the years and he's really into scientology these days. But this last week when we were teaching him he really opened up. He told us the concerns that he has, he also wants us to start serving him by teaching his wife and son English, and btw his wife and son are awesome! I think more miracles are coming. Another cool miracle that's happening is there's a kid that the other Elders are teaching, who's about to be baptized. He's a way nice kid, who Elder Koegler and I taught last year when we were together in Riga.

I'm going to take some time now to send you some pictures. Isn't it just about time that you got some haha. I'm sorry that I've been so bad at sending pictures home on my mission. I hope that you all had a great week. I also wanted to say a quick happy birthday to Robbie real quick. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBBIE!!!!!!!! Wow that's crazy that you're a teenager now, why did everyone have to start growing up so fast after left on my mission it's not cool. I'm glad that you had a great birthday, I made sure to say happy birthday on your birthday even though you couldn't hear it at all haha. Well have a great week everybody, thanks for all you do I'm excited to hear from you next week.

Well I'm really really sorry family, This computer for some dumb reason won't let me send pictures, it'll have to wait til next week :( sorry. I have some more good news though that I forgot to tell you in my email. There's a new missionary that just got here this last week by the name of Elder Braden Mickelson (He was a grade below me, and we ran cross country together) It was so awesome to be able to see him. He's just on the other side of the River, and as a zone leader I get to work with all the new missionaries in my zone. I'm way excited, this mission just got even cooler, and I thought it couldn't possibly get any cooler haha :)

-Elder Pack

September 12, 2011

Family,

Wow I got so many emails today from you and from my mission President that I won't be able to write you back that much. I'll just get to telling you how my week was and then just add a few comments at the end :).

This week was way awesome. We had 4 investigators at church!!! It was way awesome. 3 of them were in one family, Elder Thomas and I found on Saturday night, they're so cool! It's a mom, dad, and a little 10 year old girl. It seemed like they really enjoyed church, we're going to meet with them this week and we're really excited. We also had another really cool miracle this last Saturday. Elder Thomas and I decided to knock this giant apartment building (there are like a few hundred apartments in it), and while we were knocking we just found a ton of people (we found that family) and we also found another lady who was a huge miracle, here let me tell you about it. So we knock on this door and this lady just starts yelling at us from the inside, so we start walk away cause we thought she was just way mad at us, but then she opens the door and is like "oh... I want to talk to you guys". So we started talking to her of course. After a little bit she noticed that we had Books of Mormon and she was like "Wow no way I found one of those books on the street today, and I brought it home to look at it" She had found a book of Mormon on the ground next to a garbage can and it caught her attention and she took it home, that very same day. She went inside and brought out the weather worn and wet copy of the Book of Mormon that she'd found just to prove to us that it was true. It was just a giant miracle, we met with her yesterday and we have another meeting set up this Friday, we're way excited.

So that's just a few things that went down that were very cool, there was even more stuff but I don't have time to tell you sadly. I'm keeping a good journal so I can tell you all these things in the future :). As far as money goes, if I had about 100 dollars, I could get some cool stuff and send it to you. Just let me know when you put that money on and I'll get you some awesome baltic stuff, I'm the most excited to send you some Baltic candy :). Have a great week. I love all of you. Oh yeah and before I forget, Happy one day late birthday Frank! Congratulations! I'm glad you had a great birthday, you’ll have to tell me about the cool stuff you did and the cool stuff you got ;).

-Elder Pack

September 6, 2011

Dear Family,

I'm way super jealous that you all get to go to the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa Robinson, and Cardon this week. The other night I was walking along the street and a couple of people were having a fire in their back yard and it smelled exactly like the camp fires we have at Grandma and Grandpa's cabin, it make me think of all the great times we've had up there. That's definitely one of the first things that we're doing when I get back. I'm happy to hear that everyone is enjoying school, I remember the first few weeks of school were always a lot of fun. It was way awesome to see all the friends I didn't see all summer.

This week was a pretty good one in the life of Elder Pack. Every week on my whole mission has been a pretty good one haha. It's way to much fun to not just love everyday. We're still working with Svetlana #2 and she's doing really well. She really wants to be baptized and this last week she found a really strong answer in the Book of Mormon and just has a new desire to keep going. We're very excited for her we think all will go well. We also found a really cool guy this week named Janis, who's way way way cool. He has a family and is very believing. We just promised him a lot of blessings and the gift of the Holy Ghost and he really wants that in his life. We talked about baptism our last meeting and he agreed to be baptized next month. Kengarags is just the land of miracles, Elder Thomas and I are having a blast here together. It's crazy to think that this transfer is ending really soon, time just goes by faster and faster.

Dad I'm sorry I actually don't remember the address to my apartment I'll definitely tell you when I find out. Hey I was wondering if I could ask you all a favor... could you maybe take some time to write me and tell me about some miracles or just really great experiences that you've had in your life because of attending church on Sunday, especially when it's difficult? That would be awesome. Well I'm out of time because I'm heading up to Seagulda with my district today to look at castles it will be way sweet! Have a great week.

-Elder Pack

August 29, 2011

Dear Family,

Wow it sounds like everything is going well. I'm happy that the kids are having fun in school so far. I remember that the first couple weeks of school were always a lot of fun. That's way awesome that aunt Janet is getting married pass my congradulations on for me. I hope that all goes well, I'm excited to meet the guy. Thank you also for sending me Daniel's emails it's really cool to be able to hear how he's doing, and how the work is moving along in Adalaide Australia.

This week was really fun. We had a baptism!!! It was so good. I'm so happy that I was able to be there for the begginning and for the baptism :). I got some good pictures (sadly I don't have the possibility to send them, I'll try next week). She was just so happy, I was so happy, Elder Thomas was way happy... Everybody just was way way way happy. There was a good turn out for the baptism (more than I've seen on any baptism here in the Baltics). We had a really good program. A lot of members helped and gave talks and testimonies it was really neat. Elder Thomas and I were also able to sing a duet of "Lead Kindly Light" it was a lot of fun. I've really grown to like singing a lot on my mission. Especially spiritual songs they just have really amazing lyrics that make me think a lot. Everything is going really well with Svetlana #2. She still has a really strong desore to get baptized so we're excited that her baptism is getting closer and closer. Missionary work is so much fun, I'm so happy that I'm able to give two years for the Lord's work. Especially when I can really feel the lord working through me, it's an awesome opportunity.

Well I can try to give you some more ideas for your talk mom. One aspect of missionary work that is just so cool is the amazing friendships that you make during this two years. I've made so many friends among all the missionaries that I'm serving with. And some of my best friends in the whole world are people that I've met here. It's just crazy to me that I would have never known these people if I wouldn't have come on a mission. I would never trade away the friendships that I've made on my mission. I hope this thought gives you some more ideas for you sharing time this upcoming Sunday :).

Have a great week!