One year with Budge and a broken bike

Un ano juntos!

The past two weeks has been awesome. We are having another baptism here in Guymon on Saturday for this Mexican guy named Jesus Luna. He was super prepared. We were supposed to have it last Saturday but he couldn’t make it to church.

Things are awesome here in Guymon, 3 weeks ago Elder Garnett went home, which left his companion Elder Budge without a companion for two weeks before transfers, so elder budge was our solo zone leader, and he just traveled the zone from companionship to companionship for like two weeks. We got him for 3 days! Finally got to be companions with him, he is easily one of my very best friends in the mission.

 We had tons of fun, me him and my trainee on bikes in Guymon for three days. We got some sweet pictures. 

Observe the sweet pictures

So usually we go to the gym at 5:30 in the morning but one fo the days with elder Budge we didn't feel like it and just woke up at the normal time (6:30) and went and kicked the soccer ball in our apartments outside. Well we live in the "African" apartments because there are so many Sudanese people that live here, and apparently the bus stop is right across the street from the little basketball court where we were kicking the soccer ball. 

So at about 7:00 we already had about a 10 on 10 game going with a ton of African elementary scholars that hardly speak any English! I thought it was crazy that you could find something like that here in Oklahoma. But now all the kids in all the apartments know us, and we have gone back a couple of times to play soccer with them. Labor Day was fun, we played a tone of soccer with the Guymon high school team, pretty much gotten to know them all and so when we play we just send out a text to a whole ton of people, and they all show up at 8 in the morning it is super sweet.

I crashed my bike for the first time, it wasn't bad at all, but I dented the rim of my back tire real good. But the bike still works great. 

Elder Acosta thinking....

Did I tell you that I got a letter in the mail here from the government law place and they said they would repair any damages to the stolen bike? The lady doing our case is awesome, and called us into her office when we were with Elder Budge, and after I told her about all what they had done to the bike, she said it would be was easier to get a new one, so she is going to recompense $, that will come in payments apparently as the people who stole it pay up. She is going to send the checks to y’all in Phoenix. The people in Guymon are so nice. We are just a stone’s throw away from Texas. And where grandma Jackie is living right now, in Raton New México is about a 3 hour drive. A lot of people know exactly where it is.

 So, tomorrow is transfers, and I’ve been sent back to Liberal, Kansas. I’m super sad to leave Guymon, I really loved the missionaries and people down here. But I’ve been called to be the Zone Leader of the Liberal Zone, so I will get to be back down here on exchanges..My companion is Elder Clark. It will be cool to go back to Liberal though. Get to see everyone again. It will be the same ward, just now it a different companionship, so different apartment.

I've spent all of my mission except just two transfers in Hutchinson here in the Garden City Stake. I don't know if that is weird or not to serve all the time in one stake, but I love it. It is awesome!! I've spent almost all my mission our here in western Kansas, it is like the spot of the mission everyone wants to be in because there are so many Hispanics.

The time has gone so quick, im now 14 months in, which means I only have 7 transfers left.

Urgency in the Work

 

Hi!

So, Jack (Elder Kauffman)  sent me a picture of him in Argentina. It looks really cold. I hate the cold. I remember one day in Hutchinson it was -30 wind chill, and me and Elder Banderas (from Ecuador) were both so cold we just sat behind McDonalds away from the wind, for like an hour, because we couldn’t move.

 

YEs I got the ties! Thanks a ton that Superman tie is a winner for sure. I have really got this tie trading thing down now. I have 110 ties. And 30 Wembleys. And as a missionary it is like currency. I got this sweet baby blue three- piece suit that fits like a champ, completely paid for with ties the other day. I will send you a picture. It is such a sweet suit.

 

This week was alright. I had a lot of little problems with the bike. Really annoying ones that could be fixed for less than a dollar, but there is just no bike store here. There isn't even a bike store in our zone. The closest one is 2 hours away in Garden City. But we got it to work for the time being.

We were teaching this really cool family of 6 that was preparing to be baptized at the end of this month but they went out of town to Mexico for a week, and came back and decided they were Catholic, haven't been to church in 5 years. I don't understand it. But we still have 5 people preparing to be baptized here in the next couple of weeks. But there are only 2 left in the transfer, hopefully they keep me here. I’m tired of only staying 3 months in an area. I just want to be left alone for 6 months or so. Guymon is sweet! I really love it here. The town is so good to missionaries. Everyone is so nice. We are constantly waved at and honked at by people on the street, and we have no Idea who they are.

This Tuesday I was in Liberal on exchanges with the Zone Bums. It was great to be in Liberal again for a day. I spent the whole day with Elder Budge. We finally were companions for a day. It was good. He was called to be a zone lord last transfer there in Liberal. First time we have been in the same zone.

We have met some really cool people this week. The big pig plant here, Seaboard, recruits people from all over the place. They have representatives go out to Mexico all the way to Mexico City trying to get people to come to Guymon and work. So there were a hand full of new people that moved in. We are teaching this really cool guy, Claudio from Mexicali. Only been here for a couple of weeks. The people from México are super nice, I hope I never serve with and English missionary or in another English area again. Hutchinson was cool. But I felt out of place. I can say everything I want to, and understand completely now in Spanish. I gave a ten minute talk in sacrament in Spanish yesterday. Serving in a branch is fun. Much different that a ward. We are kinda expected to do a lot! I'm the Young Men’s President too.

 

I really enjoy missionary work. It really is a lot of fun. We meet so many cool people every day. And work with incredible people. My testimony has definitely grown incredibly. And I feel it continue to grow. So many principles that I really didn't understand before that now make 100% sense to me. It's awesome. I really search to have spiritual experiences. And I found that if we search we find them. I feel sick to think that we are heading out of summer here. I only have 6 transfers left. It seems like so little time. I feel like there are so many things I still have to do. Too many things to do in 10 and a half months. I really wish I would have understood the clock earlier in my mission. But just like sports there is always that 3 and 4th quarter push, President Bell was telling us about it the other day.

 



Barely a year ago, Budge and I were different people

It is weird seeing a lot of my good friends go home. Elder Garnett finishes his mission this Wednesday. He is already done. I’m going to miss him a ton. He was my companion in Arkansas City. But he is done. It was cool to talk to Elder Budge after so much time. I feel that we have pretty much came to the same place spiritually.


We both talked about what the mission clock feels like. And although we have almost our whole mission been on opposite sides, we kind of progressed in the same direction it seems.

Love Elder Packard

1301 E. Highway 1

Guymon, OK
73942

In case you was wonderin'.

English classes for whom?

McKellar, me, and Budge (Shane Hatch's nephew)

Yep the past year went by super fast. I cant imagine how fast this next one will go. I have loved it so far! On Friday we had a conference in Garden City all day long. So that was my fourth of July. But it was good. Got to spend it with Elder MCkellar

 

This week was pretty good, on Friday I was on exchanges in Hugoton Kansas. Its a super small town. But then I got sick on Saturday morning really bad. I got really cold, and shivery and had a huge headache, so I pretty much slept all Saturday and Sunday. Couldn't even go to church yesterday. And my whole body broke out into some sort of rash. I'm not sure what im sick from. But I still don't feel so good.
 
 But anyways a guy from Sudan called us and asked us to come over, so we went to his house, and we set up an English class for the Africans here in town too. So now we teach Arabic to Spanish to all these people from Africa. It is tons of fun. And an awesome way to introduce people to the gospel, because the people that come to a class like that are generally more humble people than you would find otherwise.  So now we are teaching five English classes a week. Tuesday and Thursday at 1PM And 7PM at the church. And then Thursday at 12PM at the fire station to all the firefighters. But the miracle of it all was that on Tuesday we set up the African English class, and on Wednesday we were walking down the street, and a black guy was yelling from behind us "my brothas". So it turns out he is a member that just barely moved here from Iowa. He has all these tribal scars on his face. Pretty cool guy. But if we can get him to the class and everything, we could be potentially teaching Africans the gospel. You would have never thought in Guymon Oklahoma.

The Seaboard -Guymon pork processing plant, located in the Oklahoma Panhandle, opened in 1995 and processes about 20,000 head of market hogs a day.

But apparently there are 28 different countries represented in the workers at the pig plant here(seaboard). And tons of different languages. Our apartments are mostly full of people from Africa.



Campo Chino-where the Chinese play soccer. feels like a third world country.

On July 5 we were in this town name Hooker Oklahoma, north of Guymon visiting a part member family. And it was funny, they celebrate the 4th on the 5th because there is only one guy certified to do the fireworks in the area, so on the fourth he is Guymon, and so IN hooker the day is completely changed to the 5th. Funny small towns.

 

 

I have really had to learn to understand Cubans here! don't know if you've ever spoken with one, but they are pretty difficult to understand, when I got here I didn't understand a word they said. But now I can understand them pretty good. There are a ton of Cubans here. And we teach some of them too. You can always tell they are home if their door is open. If it isn't they aren't home. And when you knock on a door, and the guy who answers it is shirtless then he is definitely Cuban. For some reason they just do not wear shirts. Not even kidding.  There is a less active member here who is Cuban as well.

Other than that everything is great! Pray that I Heal soon, my whole body aces. I feel pretty terrible

Beehiving and Dumpster Diving

Elder B. Keeper


This week was pretty good! I was on exchanges with my good friend Elder Garnett in Liberal for a day on Thursday. Cool to see some old people







What they do in the Midwest on Saturday afternoons




 

I found that I really like Mexican food much more that I do like any other food now. When i came on my mission I didn't really like the Mexican candies, but now I love them. The pulparindo candies with the chile powder on top.  I really don't like watermelon without polvo de chile on top. And all the lollypops have chile powder in them too. And my most favorite snack in the world is pepinos and limon. It just like cold cucumbers cut really thin , and then lime juice squeezed all over the top, and a little bit of salt. they are super good.

 

Yesterday after church we had a little potluck after church. And all the Mexican seesters cooked good food, arroz con leche, gorditas, enchiladas, and chicharrones. We had a lot of people at church, 20 more than normal so that was sweet.

 

Trailer park fun

But we had some cool miracles this week. We put up flyers all over the town in every Mexican store, for our English class. And we get several calls a day about the class, it has been really successful.

The Panhandle is super cool! Really hilly. Not at all like all my other areas.

Wow, that is hilly!
 

 Its pretty windy and hot right now. The people here are pretty much the same. Super good people. I think I realized how different the people are here when we were helping out with some service this week, we were helping with the grand opening of the fire station and the service opened with a prayer. I don't think that happens in Arizona? But it is really wierd to find someone that doesn't believe in God here. And its crazy how many churches are here. Not kidding on main street within half a mile there are 6 different churches, right next to each other Methodist, catholic, Lutheran, Nazarene, and a couple other Christian denominations.. You don't stand anywhere without seeing a church.

The view from our apartment on Highway 3

 

But we did some cool stuff this week. Like I said we helped out with the Fire station grand opening, that was pretty cool. The Fire chief here isn't a member, but he is like the best friend with the missionaries. He is always inviting us over for food and stuff.

 

 We are in tornado season, we get some huuuuge storms.

 

Tornado weather

We also got a check from "the community" for 100$ to fix our bikes (since they were robbed and then returned to us paitntd up and missing cranks)  That's the one thing about Guymon, everyone respects the missionaries a ton here. Some one gave us 20$ gift cards to Sonic the other day, just because. And whenever we go places seems like everyone is waving or honking at us, and we have no idea who they are. There are a lot of good people here.



Eveything is awosme. I really do love it out here. Its crazy my year mark has already come. On Friday Elder Garnett gave his dying testimony to the zone, he goes home in a couple of weeks. I realized how short this all really is. Too bad

OK is OK!

Here we are, the Liberal boys. Ibarra, Garnett, Malo, and myself

 

So I was expecting to be here in Liberal for at least 6 months. But I guess they changed their minds. I'm leaving Wednesday for Guymon, Oklahoma. the only area in Oklahoma. MY area is the entire panhandle.

 

Oklahoma panhandle is in a serious drought. The Grapes of Wrath, anyone?

 

 

 

 So it's pretty exciting. Its a really small branch that has some history.

 

The Branch President has been in his position for something like 30 years Because there is no one to take his position. It is pretty dysfunctional. Not at all like Liberal. Still a lot of Spanish.

But anyways one of the best missionaries in this mission, Elder De Leon served as assistant for like 6 transfers like 9 months. And For his last 4 transfers they put him down as training district Leader. So They sent him to Guymon, to see if he could help the struggling branch. for his last 4 transfers. He had been there for 2 and they decided to pull him and put him in an almost shut down Spanish branch in Wichita. So they are sending me out there. I'm pretty excited but really nervous. It is a huge responsibility. Still district leader.

 

 

 

I'm with Elder Blaylock, my first Utah companion. He's white too. But my Spanish is pretty good, I'm not worried anymore.

 

But I need a lot of prayers so that I can find out how to work with the people in Guymon. I find that every missionary has their niche or way of working, I really feel that in Guymon I will find mine. but I need a lot of strength from de Lord.

 

 

 visiting the Oklahoma temple

 

I'm still in the same zone, just 40 minutes south of Liberal not far at all. So I will still participate and work in the soccer tournament in July, and will come up to referee. Bishop here might be kinda mad. He didn't want anyone transferred because he needs us here for the tournament. But I guess I'm not that far.

 

Mark McKellar got transferred to Garden City, as a ZL. MY ZL's are still Garnett and Ibarra. I like them a lot ,Garnett is my really good friend from SC remember?, and he served in Guymon for 9 months of his mission, so that's good to have someone experienced.

April 28

April 28

 

This week was really good. I was thinking that there were probably some tornadoes somewhere in Kansas. It was super super windy yesterday, and very, very dusty. Too much for me to handle on foot. We got dust all in our mouths. But it was okay, most everyone let us in. Yea maybe I will see one soon. It makes sense that there would be a lot of tornadoes here. The weather changes every single day. If the wind is going north it is a warm day. If it is going south it is a cold day. And it changes at least once or twice a week. I guess when the two winds meet in a low pressure system that's where tornados happen.

 

We had dinner with the Bishop last night. And we were talking about the next big ward/missionary activity. And I thought of the idea of a soccer tournament. So in June we will be holding the S.U.D Liberal Cup. Or LDS Liberal cup in English. There will be 68 teams of 3. there will just be 3v3 tournaments! its going to be awesome. You should see how big soccer is out here. Every field has soccer goals all over the place. Its much bigger than any of the other sports. The population is like 80% Hispanic so that only makes sense. But its going to be a sweet activity! I really think that were going to have more people there than we know what to do with. We are going to charge 20 bucks a team, and then Bishop is going to use his monster grill, and we are going to cook food for everyone that comes.

 

 

Transfers were today. Me and Elder Malo are staying! The only one sister in my district is changing so that's good. Bu there were some big mission changes. I remember my friends Elder Neeley and Stopper? Elder stopper was in a trio companionship with me and Elder Gomez in Garden City when Elder Neeley got called to be Assistant. But anyways, Elder Stopper is now the Assistant, And Elder Neeley is a District leader in my zone. So that's really cool.

I'm in the back, next to my Chilanglo companion
 

 

 

Our Zone only has three districts, and two of the three district leaders are previous Assistants. Makes me feel like a little guy being on conference calls with those guys. But the zone leaders are in my district, and Elder Garnett just got transferred out to be in my district! He was the good friend of mine, that was my companion in Arkansas city when I was there for two weeks during Christmas time. So that's super cool to be serving in the same ward with him again, before he goes home at the end of July.

 

 And Elder Budge got sent to Garden City. So we're neighbors! There were no Spanish elders coming into the mission this transfer. So I was expecting to train again but no one even came. But I like Elder Malo a lot so I'm glad to be here with him!

 

 

 

I know its been 3 months since my last baptism. Its time to have another. I'm positive we will have a couple this transfer. Our investigator Carlos is doing super good. He will get baptized pretty soon here in a few weeks I'm sure. And he will be an awesome addition to the ward. He is really smart, and everyone knows him. And he was a Catholic priest for a long time here. So It will have a lot of merit when he is baptized. He came to another baptismal service we had on Saturday. The zone leaders baptized a lady named Maria Isabel. And he really liked the service.

 

We got a free tour through the Masonic lodge here in liberal.

 

We have a super cool investigator named Jimmy Johnson. He is pretty high up in masonry. But anyways the first 13 presidents and first 6 prophets of this dispensation were masons. It is a Fraternity.  I learned a lot from getting into the lodge. Their ordinances are almost the same as what we do in the temple. The masons were the people that built all of the old temples in the old testament, and so they know all the ordinances of the ancient temples. And so when the great apostasy came, those ordinances were kept on the earth through the free masons.  Its pretty cool.

  

 

Me and Elder Malo have been reading the new testament in Spanish for language study, and we just got through Luke. So I think we will be able to finish it this transfer and start the book of Mormon.

 

We started teaching this guy from Cuba and I hardly understand what he says. They speak so fast and so slurred. I'm sure that's how Brother Rojas speaks his Spanish. But he's a cool guy.

 

but this week went really well. This transfer is going to be a lot of fun with Elder Garnett around. His companion is from Spain, Elder Ibarra. And is super good at soccer. So we are going to have tons of fun. West Kansas has got to be one of the ugliest places in the mission. But one of the most fun, and best to serve in.

Conference means BBQ--Kansas style

 

 

 

Conference was awesome! It always is! I loved a lot of the talks and I need to listen to them all again!

 

I really liked Bednar's talk, about having a load. He touched up on upon a few of the same things that he did when he spoke to us a few weeks ago. He spoke a little about objects and agents. I thought it was really good. I also really liked a few talks form the priesthood session. But I really can't remember all the talks. I took notes but forgot to bring them to the library. But there were a lot of good talks. I just need to look through them all again.

 

 So last Monday we found an investigator....from Yugoslavia! We knocked on his door, and he had an accent but did not look Hispanic, so we asked him where he was from and he said Yugoslavia, and when I told him my dad had lived there and spoke Serbo-Croation, he invited us in. He was disappointed to hear that Dad didn't live here in Liberal. He said he hasn't found anyone yet that speaks Serbo-Croation here in Kansas. He and his wife have lived in the U.S. for 15 years or something, so his English is pretty good. But we have a book of Mormon that we are going to take back to him tonight, so I need to know ASAP what towns dad served his mission in! So I can tell him. his name is Cole, and he's like 40 years old.  

 

So before the conference on Saturday night for the priesthood we had a big steak fry. Bishop has the biggest grill you've ever seen. He welded it out of a old mild processing machine. They throw like 30 steaks on at a time. They take their grilling/smoking serious out here in Western Kansas.

 

Last P day the whole zone came down and we played a huge soccer game. Soccer is huge here. It is what everyone does. The weather is super nice, an the trees just started to get green so every park in the evening is just packed full of everyone playing soccer. All the Guatemalans play together and play and speak Ciche. And there is a team of Puros Argentines here too. They have huge tournaments apparently during the summer. It sounds like a ton of fun!

 

 

 

 

This last week we had dinner with the Bishop  Davis'. son.  It was cool, he knows everyone in our ward and the area super well, and he graduated from my same high school! Crazy that he grew up around the corner from me.

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't like the weather......

 

 

 

 Tornado season is here! and we are in what's called Tornado Alley! Maybe we will see one. Its cool, you can feel all the cold air from the north, and all the warm air from the south. One day it will be in the 80's with the wind northward, and the next day there is ice on the windows and it is in the 40s with the wind coming south. Liberal is 40 miles of what is considered the exact midpoint geographically of the U.S. IT takes the same exact time in a car to go to san Francisco and New York where we are right now. Pretty cool.

 

IT was 90 degrees on Saturday, today it snowed. there is s saying in Kansas "if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes". And the weather really does change that fast. But looking forward to tornados.

 

This week out here was awesome. So me and elder Malo said that we were really going to try to talk to everyone this week. No matter what they were doing we would not come back to the apartment unless we had found 5 new investigators every single day. We didn't see the blessings until Saturday. So in Liberal there are a bunch of ice cream men. But they don't drive trucks. they have these little hand bush carts with bells tied around their necks. Looks like Mexico. But they just walk all over the place in the afternoons, and we always buy ice cream. So we met one of the guys named Juan Morales from Guatemala, and we got his address but it was a bad address. But it was weird, we just kept running back into him throughout the week, until we finally found out where he lived. but he wasn't even home when we went but the other guy he lives with was. The other guys name is Carlos De Leon, from Guatemala as well. But anyways we taught him about the Restoration, and he accepted to be baptized. He is the most prepared person I've seen! He clicked with everything we said. He's a really smart guy.

 

But anyways we were mentioning to a member Sunday morning that we had an investigator named Carlos de Leon, and they could hardly believe us. So it turns out Carlos is a High priest in the Catholic church, and super well known amongst the whole community, especially the Latinos. Even all the white people know him because he has been the greeter at Walmart (the only grocery store) for 20 years. When he came to church yesterday, everyone already knew him. He doesn't speak much English, but even all the white members knew him. And all the Spanish converts that used to be catholic were just it awe, because their catholic priest was at church. We had no idea that so many people knew him! But it is awesome because he will be key in bringing many others into the church for the Spanish community if he continues on his own road to baptism. He's a super cool guy.

 

As district leader I have to go on exchanges with every elder in the district at least once every transfer. On Tuesday I went to mead Kansas, with Elder Stanford, and we had an awesome day! We put 5 different people on baptismal date in one day. It was sweet. I actually met elder Stanford at EFY that one year we went. We played soccer together in the gym, everyday. So the district is all doing super well. We have 11 people progressing to baptism, and the standard for the mission is 4. I love Liberal!

Helados...ice cream.. and soccer

Jack told me about his mission call to Argentina!!! You can't even imagine how happy that all makes me. That's such a cool place to go. I've met a few Argentines here in Kansas and some of them talk real funny. They talk with kind of an Italian accent. And they don't say "tu" they say "vos". They always say, " me tienes podrido" o "me tienes voludo" I don't even know what that means. But they are fun to talk to. Why don't you talk that? did you used to? That's so cool. That we will be able to speak Spanish together!

 

Liberal really is the biggest place to be. It is not super different than Mexico down here. Almost all the people are Hispanic. The Mexican ice cream men even don't have cars. They push around these coolers on three wheels, with Mexican ice cream inside. We always stop to buy some too. Many are now our investigators. A lot of Mexicans, and a lot of Guatemalans, and a lot of semolina to surprisingly.



But the Somalians kind of scare me. Don't know why. Their culture is so much different. I cant even compare. But its cool because we need special permission from the president to teach a Muslim. 

 

 The bishop is honestly one of the greatest. Actually president told me he is the best in the mission. So the ward is super friendly and nice. The  Davis' are really cool. They feed us every week. Bro Davis looks a lot like...The other brother (bishop)Davis.

 

I would not mind staying here for a good portion of my mission. And I think I probably will. The bishop likes a minimum of 6 months and he is in close contact with President Bell.

 

But this week was cool. We really have seen some cool things in the area. We found a load of new investigators this week. Everyone is outside playing something it seems. There are just too many people to talk to.

 

This week  I got to really understand what it means to be anxiously engaged in the work. Now I really feel anxious about everything we do. I find myself constantly thinking about how we are going to reach our goals, and how we are going to better the ward and area. Next Monday will be 9 months! pretty quick. I will get back almost exactly a year into Jack's mission.



My companion is super cool. really good missionary. And everyone likes him because he is Chilango, even though he has been in the USA most of his life.

 

My Spanish is coming a lot good now too. Sometimes when I'm talking English I will say something in Spanish just because I can describe it in Spanish better than I can describe it in English.

Like "asi es" or "para cara uno",  meaning like each person. But I just don't know what to say in English.

 

On Saturday and Sunday it seems like everyone is outside barbecuing, and cooking carne asada. Today we are going to this sweet Mexican place called Gorditas 2 go! Best gorditas in town. And we mostly do all our grocery shopping at the Carneceria. I can hardly eat store tortillas any more. Fresh ones are so much better, and I think that pan dulce is better than donuts.

 

 

Transferred to Liberal

So this week is transfers! There are a lot of changes.

 

SO remember that Elder McKellar was serving in Liberal Kansas for 5 transfers(71/2 months.) He trained 1 1/2 missionaries and was district leader, for the whole time I've been on my mission, minus the time I had in the MTC. So he has been there for a while. Well Training lasts for two transfers, and Elder McKellar began training Elder Malo, from California, last transfer. And they sent him out of Liberal....And sent me to take his place!!!!

Liberal is right down there on the Oklahoma border. Yee Haw.

 

 So I will finish the second half of the training of Elder McKellar's "son", and will be serving as District leader in Liberal Kansas. I'm super excited! Liberal is easily known as having the most Spanish speaking people in the whole mission. It is just full of Latinos apparently!!! And my companion is Native Mexican. Gomez served there a while ago as well. He says that they play a ton of soccer. And I am going there right at the beginning of spring! Liberal is known for being the place where wizard of OZ is from. Like they have a museum and everything. Its just a couple miles from the Oklahoma border. It was a part of the Colorado Springs mission, before the mission split, where as the whole east of the mission where I am now was a part of the Independence Missouri Mission. So I get to go back out west where I began my mission. Looking forward to more paupusa

The man in the back is confused and wants Packard to eat it with chopsticks

 

 Pisole

Papusa!

 and Menudo. And tons of soccer.

 

 

 

And Elder McKellar is going to Newton, to be companions with Elder Gomez. Haha its all really cool.

 

But this week went really well. After District meeting we went out to eat at a little dirty Mexican taco stand. Some real Mexican food. And me and Elder Gomez got these gorditas. And The hot sauce the gave us was super hot! And Me and elder Gomez were already dying after eating the gorditas, but then we decided to go all out. so were took turns taking spoons full of the hot sauce. We both took five, and were dying! My whole face and arms were tingling, and numb, like after you hit your funny bone. And  we both were sweating a ton, and had runny noses. It was pretty crazy. The ladies in the restaurant were freaking out. But it was fun.

 

We went to the Gym a ton this week. Sad I have to leave the free membership behind. It was a good deal, and  was getting big.

 

 But on Thursday at the gym, I smashed my finger in the weights and my whole nail fell black and fell off. It hurt a lot.

 

But this week we got some more Spanish coming to church. Sister Reina brought her Friend who will definitely be baptized in the next little while.

 

 

 

Love

Bednar, Martino, McKellar, and the Homeboys




Homeboy McKellar

 

 

 

 

But it sounds like you all have had some good days! Arizona sounds super nice right now. So in the past two weeks the weather has been crazy here. two weeks ago Tuesday it snowed.  And the snow stuck around until Wednesday then it all melted. Then it snowed another 4 inches last Sunday. It was so ridiculously cold, we were only supposed to leave the house if we could get to where we were going in 20 minutes. And we were not allowed to use the car.

Don't try this in Kansas

 

 A  few missionaries got frostbite. It was not fun at all. It really was only like 7 degrees, but here in Kansas with a 20 mile hour wind, the wind chill gets -30. Too cold. I hate the cold. Then it was a little cold this week after all the snow left. And yesterday and today we are in short sleeve shirts and the temperature is in the 75-80. so its super nice now. Much better.

 

Crazy Ecuadorian Companion

 

So two Saturdays ago, Elder Martino, from the second quorum of the seventy came down to speak to the missionaries in our zone. He spoke a lot about  good stuff. How we can better do our missionary work. Especially how to work with less actives. IT was really good, and we all enjoyed it a lot. He was really cool. From the us, but he served as area seventy for 17 years in Guatemala, and Columbia? Not sure but he spoke really good Spanish. Then later that night we stayed in Wichita to watch a Spanish devotional that he gave to the Spanish members and investigators in the Wichita area. I understood everything he said, save one word. My Spanish is pretty good now.

 

 

 

Elder Martino


 

 I got to see some of my friends while we were there. Elder Budge, And Elder Garnett. And a lot of other missionaries.


 

Then on Friday, I had one of the most cool experiences ever! Elder Bednar came to our mission and we had a 31/2 hour meeting! It was so cool. All missionaries in the whole mission came it. So I got to see everyone. Elder McKellar, Budge, Stopper, and Maki. Just everyone. It was just awesome. We took a picture with all the missionaries, so hopefully they send it to me, so I can send it to you. (see above)

Elder Bednar

 

 

Then Elder Bednar came, and I just learned so many things.

 

First of all he is a super funny guy. He was more funny than I expected. He said some super funny things. But basically what he did, is we have question asking session with him for almost 4 hours. He had asked all the missionaries to read three of his talks a few weeks prior of him coming. And we discussed them, and then talked about all sorts of stuff. It was so cool. I will send you the talks so you can read them too. He spoke about all things in the universe being objects or agents. That we need to make things happen instead of things happening around us. He talked a lot about how we just need to do what we know is right. That too many people wonder and worry about being led by the spirit, or fulfilling gods will, but we just need to do what we know. Do everything our mission president says, what our leaders say, and what preach my gospel says, and then we will be led by the spirit without even knowing it. I thought that was interesting. And he also talked about how faith means action. And is grown through action as well. For me it put a lot of emphasis on the fact that we basically decide how things go in our lives. The power of agency means that we can just change anything and everything around us. He spoke about prayer and what a prayer even is. He spoke about "stupid traditions" that the Mormons have. One being meaningless prayers. He gave the example of when people say in sacrament meeting " Please bless those of us who aren't here today, that they will make it next time".  He said that it was a very "stupid" prayer.  He said the prayer really should sound like "help every one of us to go visit someone that is not here, to love them, and help them get back to church." And then if everyone actually did that, 25% of the people that weren't there would come the next week, but with the first prayer, absolutely nothing would happen. So everything we pray for needs to be followed up with action. Or it is a hollow prayer, and means absolutely nothing. He talks about it in the talk i will send today.
 

I learned a ton of cool things. To many too write. One of the most interesting things he said though, was at the end when he commented that the time--our 4 hours together-- had gone so quickly. He said that that's because Time is only relative to mortality. Time does not exist in eternity. So when are close with the spirit, or closer to eternity than mortality, time has no effect on us. He said that we humans are very uncomfortable in mortality, being eternal beings. Which is why we scrapbook and take pictures. I thought that was super cool.

 

 

The other cool thing that happened this week is a sweet lesson that we had last night with some investigators. Mike and Lisa. We taught them the restoration, and it was super strong and good, and they committed to being baptized in the beginning of April. Its going to be a long road to get there but they are awesome investigators. We did really good in our area this week.

 

Thanks for the package! Those oranges are soooo goood!!(Thank you Pam Jones )  I miss the Arizona spring a ton.  Wish I could smell the orange blossoms. But  are delicious.  

 Elder Perry talks about " The spiritual  blessings from living a simple life". That trip to Colorado we went on with the scouts 2 years ago was really spiritual for some reason, and know I know why. You need to listen to the talk, "Let Him do it with Simplicity" by L. Tom Perry. Sweet talk. https://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/11/let-him-do-it-with-simplicity
 

Love Ethan

 

February: Morton Salt and a silo

This is what a silo is!

This week was really good. We had our baptism this saturday, and the service went really well. It was a really good thing to have here, to gain some good old ward trust. The ward here is awsome. there are just some incredible families that are incredible examples to all.

This week, was definetally very uplifiting. Im not sure if Ican explain it but Hutchinson has an awsome feel to the whole place. It just feel spiritually alive. Ive felt myself more in tune with the spirit here than I ever have been. I dont know what it is about this town, but it feels spiritually alive. Both good and bad.

 

In Garden City with all the witchcraft that was going on, I found myself loosing faith because I felt scared. In our training with the member of the Seventy a few months ago, he taught that three things take away faith: dout, fear, and sin. I've found myself a very doubtful person by nature. Whenever we had an investigator that had problems, I found myself doubting their progression. But I've been trying to get rid of that, and have done a good job so far. I feel that my faith has grown a ton in just the past few weeks. And I've found that when I exercise it (doubt), the Lord actually can stop miracles from happening.

Finally getting Christmas package

Just on saturday, we were going to take a young man out with us to do some teaching, but we had no appointments, and I justt felt worried that if we took him out we would end up with not much to do, but we decided to go and pick him up anyways and we left for just an hour. The first person I felt like stopping by to visit was a guy that we tracted into the other day. His name is Mere, and he was just a nice young dude, 21 years old. But anyways we had tried finding hi a few times before but we never found him at home after his first doorstep visit, and we still hadn't even taught him anything. But we went with Max, and found him at home, and taught him one of the best first lessons I think I've been a part of. The spirit was strong. Mere said he would be baptized the 15 of Febuary. He is clearly prepared. And had some good questions.

A common sight: Mennonite parking. they don't drive cars.

Missionary man

Ive felt really good this past week. I think ive been doing a pretty good job out here. Some of the members had given us some really good compliments. One thing that is really cool about this area, is that since it is one ward with a companionship of sisters and elders, we have the opportunity to really work as a team with the ward. The sisters here are super good missonaries, and we have gotten to be effective with them. We have our own little Hutchinson correlation meeting once a week, and we're all  working together well. We find alot of good potential investigators every day. I've still been trying to really become a part of this ward. To involve them in misisonary work, and just become not just a missionary to the ward, but a strong asset to how the ward functions and works. I want to be inside the foundation. Any ideas? We taught Seminary again this morning. How can I become a member of the ward? What can a misisonary do to support the auxillaries?

I am also really trying to better express my love for all the members. I find that some missionaries can just express love with the words they say, and how that act, and I'm trying to master charity. Its hard.

But everyting is going well. I feel myselft growning now more than ever, i think im kinda getting the hang of how to do missionary work, and accustomed to the life of a missionary.

Love,

Elder Packard

Waiting for the car we share with the sisters and studying in the snow

 


Feb 18:
We blew our numbers out of the water! Not to brag or anything, but me and Elder Banderas taught more lessons this week between our companionship, that did 3 whole districts. The Zone leaders called this morning to see what happened. Remember Elder Stopper? We served next to eachother in Garden City for 2 transfers, and he got transferred out here to be zone leader here, so for the majority of my mission, all but one transfer, he has been my zone leader, and we are really tight.

But anyways, the weather here has just been ridiculous. On Tuesday it was in the 50s and Wednesday it didn’t get above 20, and then Thursday 50s again, until today, like 15 right now. Not snowing. Just cold. And with no weather channel, it’s crazy to watch it happen. every day before i get dressed and shower i have to walk outside and check to see if it has dropped or risen 30 degrees so i know if its long or short sleeve.


 So on Wednesday when it was super cold, and we are on bikes, we decided to thumb through the yellow book and call some of the Spanish names for an hour before we left the apartment after studies. Missionary Telemarketing. The second name we called, was Campuzano, which sounds Spanish, but an English lady answered and when we laid out the schpeal she said that she was already a member and had just moved here. We didn’t have her records, and it ends up that she is less active, hasn’t been to church in a while, and is about to get married to a non member. That was a miracle!

Then yesterday, we went out with a young man, who is exactly Connely’s age, and so he drives us around for like 3 hours on Sundays and we go with him to just visit everyone. It’s a ton of fun. But the elders in McPherson (30 minutes north of us) stopped on the highway to help some people on the way to Hutch, because their car broke down. And so the people told us to send the missionaries over to their house when they got back to hutch. So we went over with Max on Sunday afternoon, and it ends up that they are both black,and not just skin color, but everything they do is black. the way the talk. They don’t go a sentence without a "praise the lord" "halleluiah" or an "amen". Haha so we went into their house taught them the first lesson and they said they would, read, pray about the book of Mormon and be baptized at the end of February. We may have a couple of the highly desired "blacktisms". But one thing that I've learned how to do is speak peoples language out here. I teach, and talk differently with all different people. With the Hispanics, the old cowboys, the college students, and now the blacks. You have to speak their language, and I think its tons of fun.
We also found a super solid Spanish couple this Wednesday that are looking for the truth. They are young and have two kids, and recently converted to Christianity from Catholicism. So we are working with them to baptism.

We have stake conference here in a couple of weeks, and hopefully we will be getting a new bishop. I like him and he’s a really good guy, but he rules with an iron fist. And I don’t like that.
It’s hard getting people to church here for some reason. The church isn’t super far, but it is on the outskirts of town.
 A lot of really good members and prepare people. I’m learning a ton about how to do effective missionary work, how to work with the ward, and stake leaders. And how to get people involved as a whole. It’s a lot of fun, but also very stressful and hard.

All that soccer sounds like a lot of fun. I haven’t played any since I left Garden. Its too cold right now. I miss the AZ winters.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Feb 23

Tornado memory?
 

 Yes I want to see Charles play soccer. He sounds good. It would be cool if he got really good as he got older. Is he better at baseball or soccer? I was never good at baseball, but I really like playing it. I wish more people did. Is he much bigger now, since the time I left? I think that I’m still growing. I had been super hungry for about two weeks, and then I had growing pains all in my legs, and now I’m not eating as much. Maybe I will come home taller. 

worked over 400,000 hours without an accident?

You should definitely send some oranges. That sounds really good. And a grapefruit. Not much, if anything grows naturally here in Kansas. 

Hutchinson is great, I really like the area. I think its harder than most areas, just right now especially because the missionaries don’t have a ton of support. The bishop has been fixed to be released for about 8 months now. And everyone is kind of just waiting for it to happen. And he is kind of checked out as well. And I love our ward mission leader, Brother Williams, but he is a really busy guy. He works all the time. And we haven’t had a correlation meeting in a bout a month. He is an awesome guy though. He just bought me a 50 dollar Kansas Basketball sweatshirt. 

The sweatshirts! Thanks Brother Williams from Kansas!

But we have a lot of fun here. My companion is kind of a weird kid, but he is hilarious. He refuses to play sports because he thinks they are stupid, and at the beginning of the month when we receive our money for groceries, spends the whole thing on ice cream and Dr. Pepper.

One of these things is not like the others

 And then has like 9 cents in his account for the last two weeks of the month. Haha. But although I’m not in a pure Spanish area right now, my Spanish is coming along just fine. On the step thing you sent I would say I’m above 4 for sure. I can talk, and express myself almost perfectly. I just don’t know the words or vocabulary for special things. Like when we help one of our Spanish investigators in his body shop. I don’t know what all the machinery words are, or car words are. But I can say what i want to. My companion doesn’t like English, so we speak puro espanol en la casa. Hopefully my next area will be one of the two Spanish branches in Wichita. There are two, and they would be sweet to serve in. There is also one in Topeka. Brother Hansen sent me a letter about his mission the other day. In it he shared his experiences of how he learned Spanish in his mission. He read the whole missionary library in Spanish! So I’m going to do the same thing. I’ve already began true to the faith. And I’ve read both first and Second Nephi in Spanish as well. I’m going to finish the book of Mormon in Spanish. I look up all the words I don’t know as a go along and I don’t have to look up many words anymore. I’m trying to transfer all of my studies to pure Spanish. So now I’m also only reading out of predicad mi evangelio, and not preach my gospel. And Jesus the Christ is about 100x easier to read in Spanish rather than English. It is a hard book to read.

We have interviews this week. So that will be cool. They are always fun. And i love seeing president, he is just a super loving guy!

Yesterday was stake conference and Elder Snow from the First quorum of the 70 came down. He is also the church historian. So that is pretty cool. And here is some other cool news: Elder Bednar is coming for a day to our mission the second week of March! Less than a month. That’s pretty exciting.