September 14, 2021

Hey everyone!

It has been a good week. I found out that I'll be staying in Casper for another transfer. That'll make 6 months here. I'm glad to be staying. I really like the people here and I'm learning a lot. 

If you could be praying for Michael, he could use it. He is trying to learn about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and he could use an extra measure of the Spirit of God to help him understand. Troy, Kino, Nicole, Gus, and Todd could also use some prayers.

Sorry for the short email, but things have been going good. Thanks for all your support. 

Love, Elder Pack

P.S. The third companion in Ethan's trio is being transferred so they will no longer have the minivan to drive.  Ethan is kind of bummed because the van has more oomph than the little cars do.  But the van belongs to the other area so they have to give it back. Bummer!

There are a ton of new missionaries coming into the mission tomorrow so there are a lot of changes.  Ethan said there is one elder who has been out for 6 weeks who will now be training.  That would be terrifying! Even with all the transfers, Ethan's district remains all elders.  He said it was a good group of elders to be in an all elder district.  If they had different ones, he said it could be really crazy.

The elders were invited to the ward mission leader's house the other day.  The man grows peppers and asked if Ethan wanted to try one.  He said it was a Naga Viper pepper (a world record holder in 2011 for being the World Hottest Chili).  They are 113-553 times hotter than a jalapeno pepper.  The man cut off a sliver of pepper and gave it to Ethan who, of course, popped it in his mouth and ate it.  Ethan said it was super hot - he was crying and shaking.  He said the effects are supposed to last for about 20 minutes but he doesn't think they lasted quite that long.  One side of his neck hurt but he thinks that was the side of his mouth that he chewed the pepper on, so he said "that makes sense."  Crazy!!  Ethan's goal is to now regularly eat peppers so he can build up a tolerance to spicy food.  Ok.

Ethan was wearing a jacket today when we talked to him.  He said the temperature was in the low 40s so they are getting ready for "first Winter" to hit.  Ethan said the locals tell them that you have first Winter where it snows and kills all the mosquitos.  Then the weather gets beautiful and nice for a month before second Winter hits and that's the real one.  He is going to enjoy the good weather when he can.  He missed the huge winter storms last year so he is looking forward to what this year will bring.