Mission update 9/29/2025

Dear Family and Friends,

Our last mission blog post, cue the tears!

We started the week off with the last mission devotional we get to attend. The devotional was in the Joseph Smith Building chapel for the first time in over two years and it was so good to meet there. Then we started into our week of "lasts". It made for an emotional week!

Joseph Smith Memorial Building Chapel - Beautiful!

We got to train our choir replacements and hope they understand what they're doing. They're already having issues getting into the Outlook group site so it's going great! We went to choir on Wednesday for our last rehearsal and it was beautiful and emotional. It was so fun to be able to practice for the first time in the Joseph Smith Building. The acoustics are wonderful and the choir could actually sit like a choir instead of trying to be in auditorium seating. Everyone sang God Be With Till We Meet again for us at the end and there were many, many tears.

Thursday morning we gave the devotional for both our real zone and our adopted zone. We talked about obedience and shared what we've learned from our mission experiences. Then we played a duet of I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go with Crystalynn Mellor who we've worked with on conference choir things. She did the arrangement and we love it! Below is a link if you want to listen:

https://youtu.be/diHH_trNpQg?si=h0NDm7Mc3EVprt-n

Trio of Friends!

On Thursday we took the Tilleys over to the Pathway offices so they could see where Pathway employees work when they're not working from home. 

Packs and Tilleys

Friday we went to the Provo City Center Temple with the Smiths and it was wonderful! I realized as I was changing that it would be our last temple visit as missionaries (for this mission) and that was hard! 

Gary had a goal to keep track of where he was (north, south etc.) the whole time he was in the temple. He did great until about the fourth turn down in the basement dressing rooms. It's a very confusing place! But, it's so beautiful.

We LOVE the Provo City Center Temple

Saturday and Sunday we got to help with the tech and dress rehearsals for the conference choirs. We're so excited for these choirs to sing in conference, they'll be amazing! 

We had a busy Sunday for our last day in our ward here. We got to be greeters, give the prayers, bear our testimonies and do singing time for the Primary chorister who was out sick. We loved it!

Now we're here at the office making sure we've given Tilleys all the information we can, trying not to frustrate them with too much. We'll make a trip to Logan today and then another one tomorrow after the zone devotional. Then we're done and we'll figure out what's next, maybe...

From Gary:  What a week!  Our last one as fulltime missionaries for a while.  We have loved our mission here at Church Headquarters.  We have seen daily miracles with the rolling forth of the gospel to all the world!

We are sad about the passing of President Russell M Nelson, but we are so happy for his graduation from this life.  He has made a HUGE difference in our lives and we will always have his words to hold us up and give us amazing direction in our life choices.  His example of life-long service is so inspiring.  We feel the strong desire to follow that example.  We know that the whole idea of "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" is really what it is all about.  When we let the Lord be the architect of our life story, we will be surprised at how joyous and wonderful the trials we go through are and how much these things have been for our good!

We will never be done serving our God and His children!  This chapter of our life is coming to a close, but the new chapters coming in our future are going to be amazing to behold!

Have a wonderful week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 9/21/2025

Dearest Friends and Family,

This is our second to last mission update. We're still not sure what to think about that. You'd think we'd have a clue what comes next in our lives but other than visiting a few kids, we're pretty clueless. So, life as usual.

Elder and Sister Tilley both had some issues last week that kept them home for part of the week so we didn't get as much training done with them as we had planned. But, we did get to do a few interviews ourselves which is always a good thing. 

A really good thing happened with one of the students this week. She did not pass her interview a few months ago because she wasn't ready to live the honor code. But, she is now ready to make the needed changes and she was able to pass her endorsement interview. So good!

Monday evening we got together with the participants in our Leadership Pattern Journey group (that Gary led) and we had dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We were so grateful that all of them made the effort to be there even though it wasn't the most convenient time for a few of them. It was wonderful to all meet together again!

Leadership Pattern Journey Superstars

Wednesday we had our second to last choir practice and we got to sing the songs they'll be doing for the Christmas program. The songs were beautiful and we'll miss singing them of course.

Thursday we worked half the day and made sure the Tilleys had interviews set up for the next day and then we took off for Gary's sibling reunion at Bear Lake. All of his siblings and spouses were there except for his oldest brother who passed away. It was wonderful to get together! 

The whole Pack crew

While we were there, we noticed that the fall colors changed and brightened every day. It was so beautiful! We also spent time on boats (two of the brothers own them). One brother waterskied, the rest of us just enjoyed the ride and lunch.

Fall is Here!

We finished up the weekend with Gary's brother Kevin and his wife speaking in church before their mission to the Vancouver Washington Temple site. It was a great gathering of family and friends and their talks were wonderful. We're excited to hear about their experiences over the next few years as the temple gets built.  We love spending time with extended family and especially our grandchildren!

Miss Artemis, grandchild #21 being her adorable self

From Gary:  Here we go!  Yes, we have just a week left on our mission!  One thing I have noticed is that being "trunky" is necessary!  There are things we HAVE to finish up here that must be planned and executed that are just not normal missionary-life details.  We have things we HAVE to prepare on the other end to make things ready so we can return.  So thinking about all of these things truly are necessary!  So yes, we must admit that we are "trunky!"

We had a week that was glorious because of our sibling reunion at beautiful Bear Lake!  My brother Kevin and his wife Susan gave wonderful messages that resonated with all who were there on Sunday.  We truly have a missionary-minded family. We calculated as close as we could, and came up with 139 fulltime missions that have been served by our family when we include my parents, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who have served along with their spouses who have served.  That seems remarkable!

Enjoy the fall weather now that we are officially in that season of the year!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 9/14/2025

Dear Family and Friends,

The end of our mission keeps getting disturbingly closer! We had our "exit interview" this week which was weird but really good. We've taken several loads of stuff home but feel that we haven't even made a dent. So, it's going well.

We were supposed to have a mission devotional on Monday which was the last time we'd sing with the mission choir but the devotional got cancelled when the speaker became ill so that was a bit of a let down. We did have choir practice this week and it was fun to get to sing some of the songs they'll be doing in the future but also sad that we won't be singing them.

Elder and Sister Tilley, who are being trained to replace us in our BYU Pathway duties, continue to make progress in understanding the various spreadsheets we use and the whole process for interviewing and clearing students for their endorsements. Sister Tilley has a notebook that is rapidly getting filled up with notes on the various steps.

Packs and Tilleys

Friday we had an MTC district gathering with the remaining 8 of us plus Elder and Sister Geyer who were released six months ago but came back for the party. It was wonderful, we just love our group so much and they are doing such good things in the mission!

MTC Group Left from 30 October 2023

Today we got to see the final primary program practice which was great because we'll miss the actual program next week. The kids did great. Who knows how many of the same kids will be there next week for the program....

We helped with both conference choirs this evening getting them checked in. We didn't hear any of the multi cultural choir rehearsal but got a bit of the combined institute choirs and they are amazing! We love helping with these conference choirs!

From Gary:  Somebody asked me this week if we are trunky.  That is a funny question I guess.  I would not say we are trunky, but there are a lot of details to work through as we prepare to go home.  Mostly it feels like we should be doing a lot more going-away dinners with so many friends that we have around here!  What we also recognize is that we have seen so many of our friends already go home, and they seem to be doing well in their new life experiences, so we should not worry about taking our turn to be more engaged in our regular lives instead of being fulltime missionaries!

With the challenges of the past week in our state and country, I could not help but think about how important the teachings of Jesus are to keep us being and doing better as human beings.  We need to continue to teach and preach and practice being better disciples of Jesus Christ.  Please help me pray for this country and the whole world.  We got to sing a great song this week called "There is Peace in Christ."  Here is a link if you want to listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R46J-GjbRWA

I know that God lives and loves you all!  Sister Pack and I love you too!

Have a wonderful week!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 9/7/2025

Dear Friends and Family,

We started off the week with a wonderful Labor Day. We met Gordon and Maria in Hooper for Tomato Days. It was the best! We watched the dog races (categories for mini, small, medium and large), saw the displays (including Gordon and Maria's entries), visited the booths and didn't buy anything and saw the tractors and miscellaneous antique engine displays (including a Maypole winder and a wringer washing machine). It was the best!

Our favorite Hooperites

Maria's produce display

Gordon's barn quilt

After so much fun on Monday, we kind of had to drag ourselves back to missionary work on Tuesday but once we got going it was good. We continue to train Elder and Sister Tilley and they're doing great! We also had choir practice and got rather emotional when we thought about how few times we get to meet with them again.

After working hard through noon on Friday, we were all relieved to take the afternoon off. We went to the Mount Timpanogas Temple which was wonderful. We were amazed at how full the parking lot was by the time we left. It's a big parking lot! It is so good to see full Temples!

At The Mount Timpanos Temple

On Sunday we were in Logan for the baby blessing of grandchild #22 and it was beautiful. We got to spend a few minutes at the house after the blessing and then hurried back to Salt Lake in time to help the multi cultural choir get checked in at the conference center for their rehearsal. Following that we got to check in the institute choir who were practicing in the Little Theater. So much excitement and enthusiasm, we love helping these conference choirs!

Grandma with Beautiful Persephone Galadriel Pack

From Gary:  Sunday was a day of many miracles!  It was so fun to have three of our six sons in the circle for Persephone's blessing.  Richard gave a wonderful blessing to his daughter and Tyler and Blaine were in the circle with me there too.  I have to admit that to be there and have a part in that circle made me cry a little.  There is no greater miracle in the world than to see a new daughter of God join our earthly family!

We also love to work with the choirs that are preparing for General Conference.  We absolutely loved singing in Conference last year, so we are happy to assist the Choir Committee for this upcoming Saturday sessions.

It was also wonderful to be back in our Ward in North Logan and see so many loved friends and neighbors there!  We will miss our fun Ward here in Salt Lake City, but we are loved and needed in North Logan too!

Have a wonderful week filled with miracles!  I am still writing down at least one of the miracles I see every day in my journal!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 8/31/2025

Hello Family and Friends!

We are down to one month left on our mission and it is very weird! We are excited for some things about being done (traveling to see out of state kids, having a yard, house projects) but very sad about leaving things here like our ward which we love so much, the missionaries we work with, and all the people we run into every day. 

Our biggest news this week is the birth of our 23rd grandchild out in Minnesota (our first post mission trip!). Lucy was born earlier than expected and is technically a preemie but doing well and mom and baby are home and getting lots of love from three older siblings. 

Beautiful New Little One!  Straight From Heaven!

We spent the week training Elder and Sister Tilley, new missionaries from Santaquin, Utah who will be replacing us when we leave. They are full of enthusiasm and working to learn fast. It's fun to get to know them and they were able to do a few interviews this week as well as start to learn some of the processes we use. We will try to remember to get a picture with them next week.

We also were able to get all the choir music stuff organized in the room behind the organ in the newly-reopened Joseph Smith Memorial building chapel. The chapel itself has had a bit of an adventure this week with water leaking in from the stained glass roof above the mezzanine because of some much-needed rain. It looks slightly less beautiful at the moment.

The scaffolding and plastic sheeting is not part of the decor :)

The elevators in the Joseph Smith Memorial building take some getting used to. You use a screen on the wall outside the elevators to choose your floor and then scan your badge to show you are authorized to go to that floor. Then it sends you an elevator. When you get in there are no buttons to push, you just trust the thing to take you where you need to go. We're getting used to it but I still worry about it being in control of my life.

That's all we get for buttons!

We made a fun connection with a Sister in our mission this week. Sister Dawson is in the Mission Office Zone and works near us doing missionary training with most of her focus on family history. We knew she was absolutely delightful but didn't know a whole lot more about her. But, now our desks are close and we found out that she served with her first husband, Elder Kay, in the Chicago North mission and they knew our son Kendall when he served there. So fun to make that connection :)

The absolutely delightful Sister Judith Kay Dawson

Despite the fact that we don't leave until September 30th, we were invited to the Appreciation Luncheon on Thursday last week. This is where they feed all the departing missionaries a nice lunch and tell them how much they appreciate what they've done. Then everybody cries. 

The food was great, we love the people but it was very strange to be at this point.

I had a bit of a miracle with a student this week. Dayo had his interview and we found out that he had joined the church in the past year. So, we sent him the information to get his membership record number attached, making it possible for him to be sent through the member interview track instead of the non-member track. He worked on that but by Friday was still not getting the help he needed. He has a part time job working for Pathway that is contingent on him being a student and classes start this week so he was pretty stressed. I contacted the office but hadn't heard anything by the time we left in the early afternoon. But, shortly after we left the office I got an email from our favorite Pathway employee telling us she had seen his information come up on her computer and was able to get it straightened out. I let Dayo know and shortly after that he sent me a screen shot showing that he was all set for an interview with his Bishop, going through as a member. This seems like a kind of small miracle but one of the biggest issues we face is trying to help these students who have joined the church get their records corrected so it was a huge thing! It was a great way to end the week.

From Gary:  We see miracles every day in our family and in our mission assignment!  This has been a week of MANY miracles!  A new granddaughter!  Pathway students preparing for, and even some getting baptized!  Family miracles galore!  

I think all of us need to be better at writing down where we see the hand of the Lord in our lives every day.  I know I need to be better at that.  I am so glad that Sylvia shared the above little miracle with us all!  We have 30 more days here in SLC as fulltime missionaries.  I will write down 30 miracles for the next 30 days.  Does anyone want to join me in this quest?

Have a wonderful week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack