This week we kinda had a little craziness and someone stole my camera.

Hola!

Well today I sent you all letters!! I hope you guys can get them! It is $2.50 to send letters here. Which is kinda a ton so I sure hope you can get it. But the stamps are kinda cool. Well first off this week was crazy. We didn`t have a whole lot of people to teach. I really truly believe the Lord is just trying our faith and he just wants us to be strengthened. But it sure has been difficult. But we did teach one guy these past two weeks and he just moved to Peru. But he said he was gonna send us photos of his baptism in Peru. He really was a great guy. And hey I am still doing what I can to get the work moving along.

This week we kinda had a little craziness and someone stole my camera. Don`t worry. It wasn`t that big of a deal so don`t worry at all. I just don`t happen to know where my camera is. And the worst part about it is that it had all of my photos from all of my mission in it. So quite honestly that is the most depressing part. But Mom if you have saved any of my emails it would be really cool if you could save my photos as well because honestly those are the only photos I have now of my mission. Sadly. But luckily we have the blog, right?

This past week we taught a woman who is bed ridden because she is super sick and she showed us all of her photos in her photo albums and it was crazy to see. Her and her husband are 90 years old and converts to the church. It is crazy to see the good fruits that have come from them. It was amazing. All of the children they had that served missions and all of their grandchildren. But what was the most amazing to see was her baptism photo. That is what I want for these people.  I want them to one day share their photos with other missionaries and change those missionaries perspective on things. God really just has such great plans for his families. God just is so real. It was crazy to see her cute little face light up when we sang hymns for her. She really was great. But that is why I am here. To change lives. And bless those who I come in contact with. Anyway, I wish you all a great Easter and I love you all tons. 

Remember that this is a time for the Lord and that he has blessed you with such amazing things.

Christ lives. He loves you all. He knows us and supports us.

Love to you all,

Hermana Pack

Training has been one of the most difficult yet exciting things of my mission.

Hola!

I am so glad you were able to see conference. Mom you were completely right. The second conference on Sunday was perfect for investigators. Luckily all of our investigators were there Sunday afternoon. I was really impacted by this conference and I think it was because I had to concentrate so hard to understand everything, because it was in Spanish. My poor companion. I felt bad I don`t think she got a ton out of it because she is so new.

Training has been one of the most difficult yet exciting things of my mission. My biggest thing is trying to remind myself that I need to pretend to be a Latina because without me she won`t learn Spanish very quickly but she really is great and I am so grateful to have her. Right now has been a true trial of my faith. Opening up a sector can be super stressful but I am so grateful to have this opportunity. I have been able to learn a ton. 

This past Saturday was General Conference and we tried with all of our might to find and bring people to conference. But before we left the house we decided to pray with all of our hearts to have at least one person in the conference, and God provided. It was crazy. We were literally just walking down the street when we found a man who started talking to us in English, (this happens a lot considering we are both gringas. haha) But we invited him to the conference and just headed on out and he broke down when we invited him to be baptized. He said this is what he has always been waiting for.... And wow it just was amazing. God has a plan for all it just blows my mind how well he works.

Anyway as usual I am short on time sorry! But I hope you like the pictures of this week. I miss you all tons and I wish the best for you. You are always in my prayers. Love you all.

Hermana Pack

Transfers and another new companion!

March 24

Hola all!

So guess what??? Transfers!!

But don`t worry I am still in the same place but I now have a girl from the states as my companion. She is from Colorado and her name is Hermana Carollo. She is great. She has been in the mission for 10 months. So she still has a lot more time than me. Which is nice. We have been working really well this week and I am super excited to be working with her. I was super sad to say goodbye to Hermana Argueta, but she just got transferred to the other ward and we still live in the same house, so that is nice. I am so excited to still be Totarococha. I feel like I still have a ton to do here. 

Sorry I can`t send any photos this week. We got sent to a really crummy Internet store. But eh at least I can write.

Mom I absolutely loved every single one of the photos! Mike you are getting so big! SO SO SO Big! And Neil you are really starting to look like Ben! It is crazy to me. OH AND

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR NEEEEEIIIILLLLLL!
HAPPY BIRHTDAY TO YOU!!!!
Neil I am extremely sorry I missed it. But I sure hope you had a great birthday and I have a gift for you for when I get home. You will just have to wait a  little while haha. Like one year or something like that. 

Guess what all of you!? I hit 7 months this week. Man the time flys by so stinking quick. I cannot even believe how quick it has gone by. 

This week has been good and I am so grateful for your prayers. We have found a family that is really promising and I hope the best for them. I am so grateful for all of your prayers and I can feel them in my life. Thank you so much.

Love you tons and remember to always say your prayers read your scriptures and take the sacrament! love you!

Emily

(Hermana Pack)

Oh you know just hanging out with what looks like home. Corn corn corn hahaha

 

March 31

 

Hola everyone!

So first off thank you for all of the letters! I seriously love reading about you guys.

My new companion! Hermana Mann!!! From California

But as you can see from my pictures I got transferred again. But don`t worry they just transferred me to another sector of Cuenca hahaha. Go figure. Seriously my mission is Mission Ecuado Cuenca. But I am okay with it. I love it here. My new companion`s name is Hermana Mann, and she is great! So this transfer was a little different for me. I am now training and I am also opening up a new sector. I think the Lord decided I was getting too comfortable and wanted to throw me something hard. But yeah. My companion is from California and I love her! But she is brand new so the only thing with that is that Spanish is the struggle. I have a lot of hope though. I know that we can get through it. It will come in time. Honestly we just have to put all of our trust in the Lord. Starting a new sector has been really really challenging as well. But I know that in time it will all work out. I am super excited to see General Conference this Sunday. I just hope we have a lot of investigators that are able to go as well.  I was able to go to the temple this past week before I got my hija. And it was so good.

Outside the Guyaquil temple with Hermana Mann!

Going to the temple really is one of the most amazing experiences. Guayaquil is so beautiful.

Anyway I love you all and I think right now I need all of your prayers. Especially for my companionship and for General Conference.

I wish you the best.

Hermana Pack

 

 

 

I don`t think I have ever been so happy in my entire life!!

Gaby, the recent convert of the Elders. She really is great. She is 18 years old and is planning on serving a mission. She is always willing to help us out. She doesn`t look very happy in this picture, but really she is a happy person. haha!

The most adorable baby in the entire world.
But really I think that she is the most beautiful baby.
Her name is Danna! She is the baby of Hermana Priscila Gallegos.

 

Hola Everyone!

This week has been a super good week. Glad to see you guys have had a good week as well.
 

I cannot believe you guys went to Disneyland and that you were in California. Seriously it is hard for me to imagine. Crazy stuff. But it sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. I would love it if you guys could send me some pictures of your trip! I am also jealous that you went to the Grand Canyon. One day I want to go! Hopefully we all will get the opportunity again!
 

Oh and I would like you to know, Mom, that I received your package, finally! Seriously after like two months. You guys sent it the 6th of January. Today is March..... But something I have learned is that it isn`t the delivery system it is the office here in the mission. So don`t worry it didn`t get lost! Thank you so much!! I loved all of it! I ran out of lotion the other day and it is super expensive here so I was really excited for that. And for new socks haha. The zone leaders brought it to the house today and made me open it and they ate all the tootsie rolls haha. They were pretty excited as well haha. My new zone leader as of this week is from Iowa. How crazy is that?! But really it is a super small world. I think he is the very first person I have met that is serving from Iowa. Crazy. He is from the Ames Stake.

Today we got permission to leave our sector for the center of Cuenca and mom and Danielle I bought stuff from Cuenca Ecuador for you guys! It is sweet! I was super excited. But you will have to wait a year to get it. haha. I also got a soccer Jersey this past week with my last name put on the back and with the number 14 on it for the one year of my life that will be entirely in Ecuador. CRAZY. Man do I love it here. Everyone cannot believe how long I have been here in Cuenca. Seriously my mission call just might have been "You have been called to serve in Cuenca Ecuador" I mean I have been here for 1 third of my mission. But, now that I say that I`ll probably be transferred. haha. great.... But really I do love it here. I hope that one day we all can return and you guys will get to see it too!

As for this week, we had a baptism!!!!!! Yay! I almost cried. Priscila is amazing. She is the one who came to church after we fasted for a miracle. Her brother and husband are both planning on being baptized this next Saturday. They really are such a great family. Priscilia is amazing. When she exited the water after the baptismal ordinance the first thing she said to us was, Wow! I am clean. How amazing! I wanted to cry! During her baptism service she bore her testimony and started crying and just stated that she has never been so happy and that she really knows this church to be true. And that when she reads the Book of Mormon she can tell that it is the word of God because she can feel his presence. How true. It really amazes me how true the Book of Mormon is and how blessed I am in my life to have a knowledge of it.

This past Saturday we ran into a drunk man on the street and he started talking to us in English and when we told him that we had a message of happiness and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ could change his life he burst out into tears. and told us he wanted this and that we were his angels. Well anyway, we just invited him to church. He cried a little more and started singing for us in English. Possibly the most hilarious thing of my life but it was good. Anyway... HE CAME TO CHURCH!! So yeah that was crazy. Because when we invited him he was drunk. Hahaha But he came to church and told us he wanted to change his life around and that he has been going to church somewhere else for 3 years but has never gotten baptized because he doesn`t feel happy there. But for the first time since the birth of his child he felt happy in church on Sunday and we invited him to be baptized this 5th of April. And before we could even finish saying, Will you be baptized this... he exclaimed Yes! When??? haha! It was glorious! I love seeing people that really want happiness in their lives and want to change. He was another miracle for us. Man this is the best time of my life.

Today I was studying Joseph Smith and the first vision, and the Book of Mormon and how it came about. And honestly, I can say without a single doubt in my heart that this book is the word of God! And no matter what other people think it is another testament of Jesus Christ. The prophets that are in the Book of Mormon really did live and really did see what our world was to become. The words in the Book of Mormon are written for us in this day. I know that God has more love for us than we could ever imagine. It really is wonderful! I just cannot believe the pain that our Savior suffered for us.

This really is my message as a missionary. That we have a loving Heavenly Father and he commands commandments for our benefit and wants us to have eternal joy. I don`t think I have ever been so happy in my entire life and really I am so grateful for this gospel and the knowledge that I have of it. And I am also super grateful for my parents and for their guidance in what is right.

I hope you all are doing super well and I love ya tons. Remember to read your scriptures and say your prayers and always take the sacrament. Love ya tons!

Sister Emily Pack

Miracles are so real.....

 

 

 

 

 

My most favorite person in the entire world! Hermana Argueta!

 

 

This phrase means the work carries on!
 And yes it sure does here in Cuenca with awesome missionaries :)

Hola!

I have had such a good week and I sure hope all of you did as well. I can´t even begin to explain how crazy things have been here. I cannot believe you guys are on your way to California. SAD. I wish I could be there. Seriously though. So jealous. But then I remind myself that I am in Ecuador and then I am okay haha.

I am glad that you guys still have the missionaries over every once and a while. Crazy to think that Elder Dearing is a zone leader right now. How crazy.  Time blows by way too quickly. Sister Millis told me that the elders are getting ipads. NUTS. I cannot even imagine that. I know for a fact that if we had ipads we WOULD get robbed. haha without a single doubt.

Dad I love all of your letters and I don´t want you too feel like you need to change anything. I just like knowing how the real world really is. Especially about the family. Your letters always make me laugh. I realized how lucky I truly am to have you guys write me every week. You guys are such a great support. Thank you! I live in a house with three other girls and all three of their families didn´t write them this week. This just broke my heart. So thank you for writing every week! Sorry my letters are occasionally so short.

I would just like to bear my testimony that truly when we are obedient we are given miracles. Miracles are so real and it just blows my mind. Last week I don´t know if I wrote about this but we fasted to have a miracle in our branch because we both have gone almost one month without a baptism and this is a huge deal. Not good for our mission. We should be having at least one every week. This mission is one of the highest baptizing missions in the world and it really is a sin not to have a baptism every week. haha! SO anyway, we fasted to have a miracle in our branch Totoracocha. And a girl came to church all on her own (which is beyond rare) because her mom lives in New Jersey and was recently baptized and told her daughter that she needed to find the church. Anyway she found us and came on her own. She lives with her husband and baby girl and her brother who is 20. Her name is Priscilia and she is adorable. So anyway she is preparing for baptism this 22 of March with her husband and her brother for the 29th. Anyway this was not yesterday but one week before but now I would like to tell you all about true miracles from my experience Sunday. In the morning I walked out of the house with full hope and faith that we would have many people in church. We had a list of people to pass by to wake up and then later pass by to pick them up with members. We passed by 3 houses and nobody answered. Then we eventually got to Priscilia and her family and she told us that her husband had a change of mind and couldn´t make it but that she still wanted to go. And that her brother wasn´t there either. At this point my heart was a little broken, but I thought awesome, don´t give up hope. We still had one more house left. Then we passed by a boy, Mateo, who is 14 years old, who we only met once, and only invited to church. This was the start of our miracle. Mateo walked out of his house and asked if it was okay if his brother could come too. Awesome! Of course he could come haha. So then at this point we were pleased because we knew we would have at least three people in church. Then we felt inspired to call the husband of  Priscilia and remind him why we go to church and how the gospel really can change his life. So the conversation really just ended with him saying. Gracias Hermanas, but I don´t think I can make it. So then we headed into the church just as the same time as Prisicilia with some members. And in walked a boy who we have invited many times to church but never was able to make it and he walked in all by himself. It was a miracle. Then started the meeting and halfway into the meeting calls Mauricio, the husband of Priscilia, and he said he was in the parking lot waiting to come in. and to our surprise he had Johnny the brother of Priscilia as well. We now had 6 people in church! What a miracle. I was so grateful. I know that I truly am just a working tool of the Lord and he will make happen all that he wants to happen. I really am grateful to be here in this new branch. It is much more difficult than the last ward but I truly believe that when we are obedient we will have success. I know that the Lord has huge plans for me and that this is the best decision of my life. There is not anywhere else I would want to be (Not even California) haha. But I do miss you all and love you tons! Remember to keep living the commandments and God will bless you! Love you all from the beautiful country of Ecuador.

Emily

 

 

 

People aren`t going to ask for help, we just have to be ready to lend a hand......

Hola everyone!

We cooked flan for the first time in my life!

I cooked pantacones for lunch today. Basically, like fried bananas.

 

I just want to tell you all I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your prayers!! 

 

I don`t have much time and sorry my letters are always short. I think I must just be a slow typer hahaha. But this week I have learned so much about myself. Service really can be amazing. and following the promptings of the spirit really can make a difference in the lives of others.

So this past week we were walking towards an investigator and we felt that we needed to stop by a members house real quick before to see how they were doing. This isn`t an odd thing of my companion because she feels the promptings of the spirit much more quickly than I can. She really is an inspiration to me. She is the sister leader of our zone and I learn so many things from her every single day.

But, we stopped by the members house and we found out that the sister was alone with her 5 children because her oldest daughter was in the hospital because she had been throwing up blood and was in the hospital with her dad. So then without even asking we entered into her house and started cleaning. I love this about my companion she has taught me that people aren`t going to ask for help, we just have to be ready to lend a hand. Anyway, the sister broke down and started crying and we just cleaned away. God works in so many miracles. Her daughter now is much better and we have now built up our relationship with this sister and her family. God works in so many different ways. 

The lesson to learn from this is that God has a plan always and we just have to rely on the spirit to guide us.

I love you all and I wish you an amazing week. I love the mission with all of my heart and wouldn`t want to be anywhere else!

Love you!

 

Emily

 5 day old kittens!! AAHHHHH SO CUTE!

I got transferred!!!!

Goodbye! Hermana Camacho!!





Oh, ya know, just looking like the average testigo de Jehova hahahaha!!
With my umbrella for the sun hahaha!

 

 

 

 

Hola Everyone,

So guess what.....???

I got transferred. hahaha!

But I am in the same city just in another zone....

Go figure. I think Cuenca is gonna be my mission practically haha. I am now in Totoracocha Cuenca, Ecuador. There aren`t any farms in this new area and it is a whole lot smaller than Alamos. I really am happy to be in Cuenca, though. I love it here!

 

 

 

My companion's name is Hermana Argueta (Said like are-get-uh) I love her to death. She is so great, seriously. I think we are gonna be best friends. 



Hermana Argueta. She is just so great!



It was an emergency transfer because the other Hermana who was companions with Hermana Argueta before had some spinal problems and got sent to the hospital in Guayaquil. I literally got called at 11:30 at night to be transferred. Haha, it was a good time. But I am super happy to be here. Totoracocha is a branch but it is a rather large branch. There apparently are a ton of inactive members. So we are trying to do what we can with them. My companion has a huge testimony of working with the less active because her family was inactive but the missionaries helped reactivate her and now she is on a mission. Wow! crazy how this gospel work functions.

Anway, I am doing well. I love working here. This past week has been crazy. We both are really new to this sector and we don`t know anything so it has been a good opportunity to find new people. In our Branch, we also have the zone leaders.

 

So we plan to have plenty of baptisms this month :) Full power in branch Totoracocha. hahaha!! My companion has only two more weeks in the mission than me. So we really work well. We feed off of each other and it is amazing! I think we both have a great opportunity to teach one another. We have taught so many lessons. Our biggest thing is getting people to commit. Definitely the most difficult thing. But we have been really blessed and even in my short time here I have seen miracles.

I love serving. and I hope you all are doing well.I am glad to hear that you are feeding the missionaries because they need it ;)

Love you,

 

Emily