Elder Pack

Hey everyone! It has been a pretty uneventful week. Shawn is still progressing really well. Keep praying for him! It's been cool to see how much he wants to learn.  Gotta be honest, I'm having trouble thinking of things to write. It really has been a pretty uneventful week. But prayer does work! I wanted to emphasize that. And if you're having trouble in life or something, just pray. It only takes a few seconds and God wants to hear from you because he loves you, I promise. Thanks everyone! You are all awesome. From, Elder Pack The Mountain View District: (Ethan is in the back with a black mask on. They do service at a man's home and have now started teaching him.  He will give them a task to do (like taking out a light switch and its wiring or hanging dry wall) and then go to another group without really watching them. Ethan is gaining a whole new skill set by helping this man remodel his basement.  I just hope he doesn't get electrocuted. Some notes from our conve...

This is Michelle.  Ethan wrote to me to tell me that he isn't going to have time to write to everyone but that he loves you all. ;) Ethan is being transferred to Riverton, Wyoming.  He said he will be in the Mountain View District.  He didn't know a whole lot but he said the sisters are in the Pavillion area and his area is below that area.  On the map we have, it shows that the Mountain View Ward is the area below the sister's area, but I'm sure he will have more details when he calls next week.  This is his first transfer in the mission.  Ethan is sad to leave Wellington, CO, because he and his trainer worked so hard in the area.  And the 2 Wellington areas are going to be combined back into 1 area, so he is sad about that.  But he said he didn't sleep the night he found out he was going to Wyoming because he was so excited. The twist to the story is that he is being transferred with his greenie, Elder Blackham.  So they are going to contin...

Here are a couple of videos Ethan posted on his Facebook page.  The links should open in a new window so you can see the videos. The first is of his Zone reading the story of Christ's birth: Luke 2 video This video is of his District caroling at a preschool. Caroling video

 These are some of Ethan's posts for Light the World:

  Hi Everyone! This week was good because of Christmas but slower with teaching. For Christmas, we got to eat dinner with the other Fort Collins zone missionaries. We did a talent show too, and I learned how to do a card trick just for it (I had to do something). We also got to watch the movie "Fighting Preacher", which is a good movie. I had already seen it but it's good.  It snowed here and so we got to go around and help people shovel their driveways. It was nice to help people out.   Like I said, it was a bit of a slow week. But thanks for all of your support! I hope you all had a great Christmas! From, Elder Pack PS.  This is Michelle.  Since Ethan talks to us each week, he doesn't put much detail in his letters.  I thought I would tell you a little about his Christmas.  He was spoiled!   Thank you to everyone who sent him packages, cards, letters, and food.  I think he has enough chocolate to last him until Halloween....

  Hi Everyone! I hope you are all doing well. This week has been pretty good. We started teaching another person, who I actually taught right when I got here! Hopefully, she is more willing to keep commitments now that she is less busy with things.  My district has been doing a lot of caroling. We've sung to a 104-year-old, some preschoolers, a woman who was 'under the influence', and a lot of other people. It has been pretty great! People have really appreciated it because not a lot of people have been caroling this year obviously.  I listened to Elder Ballard's talk today he gave in the October 2018 general conference. It's about the spirit world. It is really great! I recommend you to go look for it and give it a listen or a read. It is really good! I appreciate how comforting it is. Thanks for all of your support! You are all awesome. Merry Christmas! From, Elder Pack

  Hey everyone! It has been a pretty good week here. For light the world, our district has been going caroling. That has been pretty fun. Not very many people are doing it nowadays, so it's nice to get out and brighten people's nights. We got someone to sacrament yesterday! It was great. Sherry got to watch the broadcast, and she said that she really enjoyed one of the talks. She is also reading the Book of Mormon, which is also awesome. For service/finding activity, I've been taking family photos for people. It has been working pretty well. We've managed to hand out pass-along cards, tell people about light the world, and invite them to learn more about Jesus Christ. Also, the pictures I've taken haven't sucked so I'm grateful for that haha. The owner of a small ranch has been nice enough to let me use it for all of the shots. She is really nice to let me do that! We had a cool experience when we got to teach someone the other day. We went by a former perso...

  Hey everyone!  This will be a bit of a shorter email because it's been a pretty chill week. I also don't have any pictures really, so that's my bad. We have been focusing on finding people, and the few people we are teaching right now are actually keeping commitments! Now we just need to meet with them more. I got pulled over the other day. My first time too! I accidentally cut off a cop. Looking back on it, it was kind of funny. Today for P-day we played some frisbee golf. That is always a good thing to do with a larger group. It was a lot of fun. Later we're going to go caroling to some members. Thank you, all, for your love and support! It really means a lot.  Have a great week! From, Elder Pack

Hey everyone! Right now, my district is playing a 9-player board game and it's kind of a grind, so I figured I could multitask right now.  This week has been pretty crazy! I'm training a new missionary, Elder Blackham. He is doing really great so far. We have also in the early stages of some great success on Facebook. I put up a post on the local Facebook page offering free family photos. That was yesterday. Today I have 15 people who are interested. So, for right now, we have a lot of opportunities to set up return appointments to teach. Hopefully, it works out and we're able to teach them. Otherwise, everything has been pretty normal here. The work is really moving forward! My new district is pretty cool. We got to go to Fort Collins and eat Thanksgiving dinner with the zone. The relief society was kind enough to cook for us. It was pretty great. I got to meet the zone on the second day of transfers, so I got to see all the new missionaries. Sorry for the shorter email. T...

 I wanted to record Ethan's grateful posts for the #GiveThanks challenge given to us by President Nelson.  Enjoy!

   Hey everyone! Yesterday I had to say goodbye to Elder Unruh, my trainer and first companion. I got to stay with him for 4 and a half months! He is a great trainer and I'm sad to say goodbye. Also, I will be training as well, so if you'd like, you could include my new companion and me in your prayers. It will make a huge difference! I'm kind of nervous but excited, haha! That gratitude video that President Nelson put out was great! Gratitude really does make a difference in our thinking. I know that there are some things in our lives that we can always be grateful for, even if there is literally nothing else. Some of those include the atonement of Jesus Christ, the chance to live with our families again, and the knowledge that there is life after death, again with our families. These things, plus many others, are the eternal truths that will always exist, and that will never go away. I'm also still staying in Wellington for the next little bit at least. The work is re...

  Hey everyone!  Things have been good here. We had a sweet experience with a referral who didn't actually click on one of the Facebook ads, but still somehow got sent to us with her information. The coolest part was that she was open to a message! So we are going to be teaching her tonight. It is going to be cool! We have found a few new people to teach. The work is moving forward. Thanks for all of your support. Sorry, this is a shorter email, but it has been a busy pday. See ya! From, Elder Pack Ps. The gross looking pictures are exactly what you think it is. That Elder had a bit too much fun on the whirly thing at the park after eating McDonalds. Ethan is wearing all the warm clothes he can find. This elder lost it when they drove around a round-about after eating McDonald's and going on a whirly thing.  I don't know why they thought pictures were a good thing.   Ethan and Elder Unruh.  This was Elder Unruh's last pday.  He goes home next Tuesday a...

  Hey all! I hope things are going well for you all. I didn't get to write an email last week because I got to go through the Fort Collins temple! It was pretty cool. I'm grateful that I got to go, and that my family got to come out and see me for it too! We have been encouraged to be more creative in finding. So, as part of it, I posted something on the Facebook page in Wellington asking if anyone was willing to teach me any skill (I might have told you all this already but I can't remember). So, someone said they could teach me how to fuse glass, and someone else said they could teach me the book of Acts. So, I got to fuse glass! However, that person was already a member, albeit a non-active one, so we're going to try to figure out what's going on. I'm also going to be offering free family photos with my better camera to see if anyone would be interested.  Otherwise, not a lot is going on, other than us finding two more people to teach! It's been a while, ...

Hey everyone! This is Michelle.  You get me this week because Ethan didn't write a letter home because...he was in the Fort Collins Temple taking out his own endowments...and we were there!  So he was a bit busy to write home so I thought I would give you the update on him. Ethan is doing really well.  When the Fort Collins Temple went to Phase 2 we were told we would be able to go through with him and we were so excited.  After a couple months of waiting for our turn, we were on a plane early  Tuesday morning  on our way to Colorado.   Their zone had Zone Conference Tuesday so the rest of their Zone had p-day Monday, but since Ethan was going through the temple, they did regular work on Monday then took Tuesday as p-day and will attend a different Zone's conference on Wednesday.  Kind of crazy but the temple takes priority. We were given permission to spend one hour with Ethan so we decided it would be easiest to take him and Elder Unruh to ...