Mission update 12/29/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It has been a strange week with what feels like several Saturdays. At some point life will get back to more or less normal but this next week looks rather confusing as well. But, bring on the New Year!

We started Monday morning off with a 7:30 am devotional.  That was way too early, but the message was good and it's always great to get together with the other missionaries to start off the week. We got to hear from a Joseph Smith scholar on Joseph Smith's birthday!  We followed that with interviews as always. That evening we attended the last evening of concerts at the Tabernacle for the season and wandered around in the lights and chaos of City Creek. It was a great lead in to Christmas Eve the next day.

Concert in the Tabernacle

Enjoying the noisy, happy food court

Christmas Eve we had lunch with 5 of our kids and their families at Gordon and Maria's new home in Hooper. Gordon and Maria organized it and we had a wonderful time eating Chinese Hot Pot and playing games. There is nothing better than family for the Holidays!  We love and cherish our family!  This was the best day of the week for us!

Hot Pot

Most of our Christmas Eve crew

We had a quiet Christmas Day here in Salt Lake and then got back to interviews on Thursday and Friday. I had one student who looked very solemn and worried through the whole interview until I told her that she had passed her endorsement interview and would be cleared. Then she had the biggest smile. I tend to forget that what seems very easy and routine for us is actually quite stressful for some of these students. It's probably the first time they've had an interview like this and they have no idea what is going to happen.

Friday evening we met up with the youth from our ward in North Logan who came down for an activity to Temple Square. We spent some time with them at the Church History Library and it was so good to catch up with the young men and women. They're such a great group of kids!  Thank you Bishop Ericson and all of the leaders that brought the youth to Salt Lake!

North Park First Ward YM/YW

We saw Savior of the World one last time yesterday with Jeremy and family. We loved it of course! We also spent some time seeing lights with the kids before they headed to the other grandparents for more spoiling.

At the Savior of the World

Primary was great today. We asked the kids about their favorite Book of Mormon story and they were a little slow to start but then they all had stories they wanted to share. We have an amazing class! Fortunately we get to keep most of the kids this next year and add a couple new ones.

It will be another mixed up week with New Year's but we're excited to see what 2025 brings! First thing we hope for is the safe arrival of grandchild #21 (Blaine and Deanna) very soon!

Have a beautiful and marvelous New Year celebration this week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 12/22/2024

 Almost Christmas and we had a beautiful Sacrament meeting program today with scriptures from Luke and 3rd Nephi along with lots of music. We got to sing with the Primary kids and play for a couple of musical numbers. There was also a guitar duet and an organ solo. We felt like we were having a mini Tabernacle Choir Christmas program in our own ward minus an actual choir since our ward hasn't managed to put one together yet.

In other news from our ward, we found this on Instagram (these men are in our ward here): 

In a Pathway team meeting on Monday, I heard some great advice that got me through several chaotic moments this week. When facing more than you can handle, take a deep breath, deal with one problem, then another deep breath, another problem and so on. Very simple but it sure helped when dealing with all the student issues.

On Tuesday we took orange rolls to the NOB in the morning and they were quickly gone within an hour. They also made our apartment smell like Christmas which was so fun! Now it really feels like the holidays.

Interviews went well this week and we think more problems are getting solved than are coming in. With school starting in a couple of weeks the student support team is working like crazy to help the students get through. We really like when students send us messages telling us they've been able to get registered for the semester.

Sometimes we don't quite make it back to the office in time for interviews so a convenient seat comes in handy.

Thursday was a big day for our zone. In our morning zone meeting, the mission presidency announced a zone split so half our zone will now be in a new zone. The current name of the new zone is the West Zone because it includes the missionaries working in the west most buildings in the mission. Several of the districts work out of the Triad Center (Ensign College and the KSL and Deseret News buildings) but no one seems to think the "Triad Zone" is a good name :)

Thursday evening we had our zone party (for the both zones) and we had a great evening of food, music and time together. There were about 150 people there and everything went beautifully and smoothly.

 

Musical entertainment from a local choir

Friday we got to go to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert and it was so good! We loved the music, the stories and then beautiful visuals. It was definitely a night to remember!

Yesterday we went shopping with Gordon and Maria for Christmas Eve lunch with 5 of our 7 children at their new home in Hooper. We had a great time shopping for the ingredients for Chinese Hot Pot. That was followed by a birthday party for Blaine and Deanna's youngest. It was a fun day!

Birthday cake is so good!

This week we'll do some work but also take a couple of days off for Christmas Eve and Day. We are especially excited to spend time with our family!  What a wonderful time of year!

Merry Christmas one and all!

We love you!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 12/15/2024

 This week started off with a devotional with President Lund (General Young Mens President) and the choir sang a beautiful song, Christmas Time, composed by Sister Joan Roth, who is in our mission and has arranged a couple other songs we've sung. It was as beautiful evening.

Things went fairly smoothly Monday and Tuesday with a BYU Pathway Christmas lunch on Tuesday where we got to see a preview of a BYU Pathway documentary that will be broadcast this spring. It was beautiful and such a great reminder of all that BYU Pathway is doing to change people's lives. Tuesday evening we went with the Smiths to Savior of the World (and we still love it!). 

Wednesday we had a bit of a disaster when my WhatsApp account got blocked right after I'd sent out the messages for the next day's interviews. We were able to get hold of most of the students through email and set up their interviews over google meet but it has sure thrown a wrench into our schedule! This happened to the Johnsons last year and it took a month or more to get the account reinstated.  This is because of the sheer numbers of WhatsApp messages we send out, and they think we must be marketing something, even though we are only responding to student's requests.

Wednesday evening was the Zone party for the Mission Office Zone (MOZ) who have more or less adopted us. So, we played a musical number and got to attend their party. It was beautiful, great food, wonderful decorations and fun people. We'll see how our own zone party this week stacks up to it :)

Some wonderful friends from growing up were at that party with us!  Packs grew up with the whole North Logan Israelsen clan.  Margie now serves in our same mission, so she and her husband Hoyt Stephensen came to the Christmas party!

With Margie and Hoyt Stephensen at the zone party

Friday we had early interviewsand it was snowing in the morning, so we did our work from our apartment and then did some Christmas shopping. It's fun to wander around City Creek in December.

Santa, enjoying some choir music in between visits

Yesterday we had Tyler and Blaine's families come down for different events so we got to spend time with them. Tyler, Marie and their two older kids saw Savior of the World so we took the younger two to the Church History Museum where they have a great kid's area that the kids loved. They got to build block temples, color pictures of temples and many other activities. 

Later we met up with Blaine and Deanna and took care of their boys while they had a date. The boys ran like crazy at the food court kid's area and loved it. We just had to keep track of them in the midst of about a thousand other kids. It was fun chaos.

Catching Grandpa up on all his life news

And now, Sunday evening, I have been reinstated in WhatsApp and life can get back to a little bit closer to normal. Hallelujah!

From Gary:  We had more amazing interviews this week! We talked with a handful who have been baptized in the past few weeks after starting BYU Pathway as non-members.  We also talked with some who are planning on being baptized soon!  It is amazing to see the changes that happen in people's lives when they start learning more about Jesus Christ and get closer to God than ever before due to devotionals and Institute classes that are part of the BYU Pathway experience.  You add an affordable education to that mix and change people's lives forever!  We love our mission!

Monday night's devotional with President and Sister Lund was very inspiring!  They talked much about how our missionary work is helping move the work of the Lord forward across the whole world.  

We love being around Church Headquarters during Christmas Holidays!  The events, lights, and people are just amazing!  You should all come and join us for something fun here!  We have been told that there will be a standby line for the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concerts coming up this week, so if you want details about that, just let us know.  We are just barely more than a week away from Christmas!

Have a wonderful week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 12/8/2024

 The week started out with two rather overwhelming days of non stop student questions and problems. It was a lot to handle but there were a couple of bright spots that saved our sanity. Monday evening we got to have dinner with Gordon and Maria and had a great time with them. They always make us happy. Then Tuesday we went to the Temple and it was a much needed hour of peace and calm! 

Tuesday evening we went to dinner with President Mitchell (Gary's Hong Kong mission president) and another couple. It was a wonderful time and President Mitchell is great at making us feel so loved and appreciated. People who can do that are very much needed in the world!

The second half of the week was calmer as far as student issues went but non stop busy with our schedule. But, as we've discovered many times before, the busier you are, the more you can see the miracles of time just seeming to stretch out and give you what you need to accomplish all that needs to be done. It's a rather wonderful miracle and one of those things that reminds me that God is very aware of me.

Thursday and Friday night we went to Savior of the World with a different missionary couple each night so we got to see both casts of the show. It was absolutely wonderful both nights. It is such a beautiful way to celebrate the Christmas season and I love waking up in the morning with music and thoughts from the show going through my head. My favorite line so far this year has been one that Zacharias, Elizabeth and Thomas all say about not giving up their hope but giving up their demands of God. Basically, letting God prevail. 

Yesterday we went to a granddaughter's dance recital which was fun. Then, later in the day we had our ward party. The youth did a Nativity presentation with the wise men following the star around the gym to the Christ child on the stage. They did a great job and took it quite seriously. The rest of the party was making ornaments, eating good food and visiting. It was a good balance of planned activities and unplanned visiting.

Today has been very busy but so good. We got to teach our Primary kids about baptism and the Sacrament which they quite enjoyed discussing. They are a very smart bunch of kids and it's fun to see that they know the stories from the Book of Mormon. 

After that we went to my cousin's house for the post church gathering for her daughter who just got home from her mission. It was great to catch up with some of my Mom's side of the family. We got home in time for a quick snack and then headed off to practice and record some music for a devotional. It went much better than we thought it would, thank goodness!

Tonight we went to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional which was wonderful. We both loved Sister Ruina's talk, such a great way to start off the meeting. The other talks were great, the music was wonderful and it was so great to have the whole presidency there. We got to sit on the side close to where they come in so that was the best! Afterwards we met up with my sister's daughter, Kristina, who is going to school at BYU this semester before heading out on her mission in a couple months. 

This next week we have lots and lots of students to interview, several parties to go to and some Christmas shopping to finish. It should be a great week.

From Gary:  What a week!  It was wonderful to see the Savior of the World and the Christmas Devotional! The Savior of the World production has a lot of meaning for us.  I pulled up the history of this production and found out it was created for the opening of the Conference Center and was first performed in the year 2000 when the Conference Center opened.  It has been running in the Conference Center Little Theater ever since then each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Back when we lived in Layton, our Stake decided to put this production on twice!  I was in it both times with several of my children joining me in the cast.  It has always touched me to the point of tears as I see it and when I participated in it.

I love the underlying song that is done throughout the play called Come, Lord Jesus, Come.  It is sung by the angels before his birth, when they invite Him to come to the manger and be born.  It is then sung again before his resurrection to come and save us from our sins.  Then it is sung at the end after His ascension into heaven as an invitation to come back to the world for the second coming.  

Our October Missionary Conference Choir sang that song for the first time in Conference since it has just been added to the new Hymns for the Church.  Here is a link to hear us singing it:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/music/songs/2024-10-come-lord-jesus?crumbs=music-from-october-2024-general-conference&lang=eng

So my thought for this week is about having us looking forward to Christ's presence in our lives with absolute faith and enthusiasm!  We should all be praying that Jesus will come into our lives and be part of our existence every day!

Also, for those who can come to Salt Lake City, we know that there are no more tickets available, but we can tell you that standby seats are available for every performance, so you can get in if you come!  The cost is always free too!  We plan on going more times before it is done this year!

And the First Presidency Christmas Devotional was wonderful!  We were only about 50 feet from where the First Presidency entered the Conference Center and came onto the stage.  We are so glad to have living Prophets, Seers, and Revelators among us!  

Have a wonderful week as we all prepare for Christmas! 

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 12/1/2024

 We had a wonderful week of Thanksgiving. We started off the week with our mission choir Christmas Program which we had to fit in before the current choir director leaves for home. It went quite wonderfully with the usual miraculous help from above. One of the missionaries in our mission has written a bunch of poems about Christmas--from the perspective of the wise men, shepherds, Mary etc. and those were scattered in between the songs as well as a beautiful slide show with pictures of the Nativity. 

We had interviews most mornings along with pulling the new students off the endorsement requests and finding all their information so we could contact them. One day the computer and I were getting along worse than usual so there were several "walk abouts" around the office, visiting other missionaries so I could calm down and not punch the computer. 

In one of my interviews I asked the student if he was staying away from coffee, alcohol etc. He said, "oh I know about that, it's the Word of Wisdom, the missionaries taught me all about that last week." He then explained it all to me and said that of course he lives it. He's planning to be baptized this month. 

We spent Thanksgiving with Tyler and family and had a wonderful day with great food and fun games. Gary even won one of the games which is very unusual for him. He always says he never wins but he can't say that any more :)

Cutest Turkey on Thanksgiving Day

Friday and Saturday we did a bit of work finding student information and getting ready to get interviews set up for this week but we also had time to do some window shopping, relaxing and watch a few Christmas movies. 

Fun stained glass on the west side of the train station which is now a hotel

This evening we went over to see all the lights at Temple Square and got into the Tabernacle for part of a concert from a combined institute choir that was beautiful. We loved seeing more lights and decorations than last year, so pretty!

Tomorrow we'll have interviews, lots more students to track down and hopefully be able to hear more music at one of several locations that groups perform at throughout the day. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

From Gary:  We have spent some time this week thinking about what we are grateful for!  We are so grateful for family!  We love each of our children and their amazing spouses!  We love all of our grandchildren!  We love our siblings and their wonderful families!  Our most important life experiences seem to start and continue with family at the very center of everything that matters the most!

We feel so blessed to be missionaries at this time!  We are having great experiences every day that remind us of the great plan of happiness that has been laid out by our Father in Heaven for His children!  We know firsthand how with Christ's help we can do so much more and be so much more than we can ever do or be on our own!  We love the scriptures and the words of living Prophets!  We love the temples and what we can gain there as we serve there!  We love the Ward here in Salt Lake where we get to serve and the friends we have gained!  We love the music we have been able to be part of while we have served here!

We could literally write chapters on each of the statements above and still not be able to express all of our appreciation and gratitude for the blessings we have seen in our lives!  And there are so many more subjects that we could add to the above list and write chapters on them too!

During this coming Christmas season, we plan to look for more ways to be grateful and more ways to serve our Father in Heaven's children with love and kindness!  

Have a wonderful week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack