Mission update 3/9/2025

 Monday we had our first of the month evening devotional which was given by Elder Sandino Ramon of the Seventy. He spoke about preparing for the Second Coming (we are definitely sensing a theme lately...) by bringing others to Christ. We took lots of notes and will hopefully have time in the near future to go back and read through the references and talks he shared. There is always more to read!

Speaking of reading, we are over halfway through the "Read the Book of Mormon by Easter" challenge and as we mark sections that refer to the Doctrine of Christ we've definitely run into drought sections where nothing is colored red and then other chapters where pretty much the whole chapter is red. In some of those chapter of wickedness and war we get really excited when we see repent or faith so we can finally color something!

Tuesday we had a great plan for interviews to work around the devotional and orientation we needed to do. It was a beautiful plan and we got all the messages sent out. Then the responses started coming in. This student needed an hour later, this one two hours earlier, etc. By the time we got to Tuesday morning the schedule was ridiculous. During orientation time we had an interview every 15 minutes so we sent Gary off to orient new missionaries with Elder Smith and I shut myself in a room to do non stop interviews for an hour. It all worked out but was pretty funny. Some days everything goes according to plan, other days, not so much.

In other chaos, Wednesday was a busy day so by the time we got to choir we were a bit done. Then, we got six new choir members so we needed to get folders put together for them and get their information. That shouldn't have been all that difficult but since both of us were a bit frazzled, it drove us a bit crazy. However, everyone got their music, practice went fine and we all survived, mostly. Then we came home and spent some time calming down.

Thursday we were able to go to a bit of RootsTech in between meetings and interviews. It was great and got us excited for the next two days when we were able to go more. We ran into many people we knew from other places which was great and the classes and general sessions were so good. My main takeaway is that I need to write the stories of my parents now. 

With Shane Brough from Layton

With Becky and Charlie Bown from Brigham City (Becky is my cousin)

We loved the entertainment at RootsTech as well!

Today we got to do singing time in Primary and it was great. Primary songs are the best ever and getting to sing them with the kids is so fun! This evening we get more music as we get to help with the youth choir for conference. No singing for us this time but we get to help with keeping them more or less organized. 

With Rosa Griffin from Layton and the youth choir in the background (they are amazing!)

From Gary:  Some weeks are more full than others!  This was one of those!  We loved RootsTech and really were inspired to do more for our personal histories and our family histories.  There is so much to learn about this subject that we will never get to the end of this row!  We loved seeing so many of our friends and relatives while there!  We even ran into the latest returned missionaries from our home Ward in North Logan who just returned from their Senior Mission in Cambodia!  Welcome home Elder and Sister Williams!  And we loved hearing from President Holland and Elder Anderson. The Piano Guys never disappoint either!

We have also loved being able to help with the Church Music Committee and help with choirs for General Conference!  The Youth Choir from Northern Utah sounded great last night!  

Working at Church HQ is an amazing adventure for sure.  We get to see so many things that the Church is doing to move the gospel forward and expand even more to all the world.  This is a great way to have a front row seat to the many aspects of Church administration!

We are still loving our mission!

Have a wonderful week!

We love you all!

Sister and Elder Pack