Mission update 1/26/25

Last Sunday evening we had dinner with Tyler, Marie and kids and Marie made me a beautiful (and delicious) birthday cake. Great way to finish up my birthday!

Amazing Cake!

After a lovely, relaxing day on Monday we got back to work on Tuesday, setting up interviews and packing up all the 40 years of choir music that has been collected. We filled 32 tubs and sometime this week the facilities department will bring them all over the North Office Building where we will stack them in an empty room until the Joseph Smith Building opens back up and our mission offices get moved back there. We also made a couple of trips up the hill with random things that didn't fit easily in the bins. Hopefully the Pack Moving Company can now shut down!

Not beautifully stacked but we made it up the hill without losing anything

Gary is a facilitator for the Leadership Pattern Journey class and this was the third week. After a couple weeks of figuring everyone out and getting to know each other, it feels like the group is beginning to gel and this week's class was great. We loved the class when we took it last year and it's fun to see the different insights we get this year from the different leadership principles. 

Thursday in our zone devotional we heard from a couple who came on their mission recently. They talked about getting ready to serve and how they started with plan A, then B and by the time they actually got their call they had completely lost track of what plan they were on because of various challenges that came up in the process. But, they're here and life is good. We love getting to know the missionaries in our zone as they share their experiences and challenges and it helps us through our challenges as well.

Friday we had dinner with Elder and Sister Johnson (the ones we started with in Pathway who now serve from home in Las Vegas). We had so much fun catching up with them and eating clam chowder at Market Street Grill. 

Johnsons and Packs Together Again!

Sunday evening we had our monthly Pack sibling dinner with Gary's siblings who live in Cache Valley. We had a great time with everyone and are really excited for next month when we get to hear about the trips two of his brothers are taking, one to Asia and one to Africa. We love traveling vicariously!

A few of the siblings catching up 

This has nothing to do with our week in the mission but this picture of four of Gary's older siblings was shared in the family chat this week and we love it so much. Gary's mom started all the kids on violin (and taught violin throughout Cache Valley for years). For any of you who play violin, this is from a slide and came out backward, they were actually holding the instruments on the correct side. The other fun thing about this picture is that the two girls in the middle are wearing dresses that were made of material from a Nazi flag that Gary's dad brought home from WWII.

Oldest Four Pack Siblings - A Long Time Ago!

The number of students needing interviews seems to be picking up again so we're buckling down, taking our vitamins and being really grateful for the missionaries who are helping us. It is so exciting that so many people all over the world are working to improve their life and their family's lives through education. 

We keep loving our mission and our opportunity to work with BYU Pathway Worldwide!

Have a wonderful week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 1/19/2025

This week started off with a great devotional from our mission leaders. President Craven gave us a challenge to start the year off. There are 5 steps: 

Get a new copy of the Book of Mormon

Record your testimony

As you read, focus on and mark things that refer to The Doctrine of Christ

Finish by Easter Sunday

Record you testimony 

What a great way to prepare for Easter and it's fun to have everyone in the mission working on it at the same time. The Prison Ministry missionaries even had tons of extra copies of the Book of Mormon for everyone to get so we didn't even have to walk the extra block to Deseret Book!

Our choir assignment got a tad more complicated this week when we found out that the choir storage area has to be moved. We have to pack everything into the bins provided by facilities and then they'll move it all over to the North Office Building where the mission office is (and where we work) until the Joseph Smith Building construction is done. Fortunately we have till the end of the month so we'll get some help this week to get that done.

So much choir music!

Tuesday we went to the Bountiful Temple and then on Thursday we went with Elder and Sister Smith to the Layton Temple. We didn't mean to go twice but sometimes things work out that way and it is not a bad thing at all.

We were wimps and took the picture from the underground indoor entry area

With the Smiths and a beautiful glow from the sun set

On the subject of temples, we also loved this from I 215 heading south. All of a sudden, the Taylorsville Temple is just right there!

Interviews this week were very hit and miss. We had some great ones where the students were on the ball, the connection was good and we were able to clear them to continue on. Others were just a battle all week just to get a good enough connection to talk with them. We also ran into a bunch one day who showed up in the wrong section of endorsement requests so they have to go back and try again which is something no one likes to hear. The roll out of the new computer system has gone amazingly well but, as is always the case, there are a few glitches and they are driving everyone just a little crazy. But, they'll get fixed and things will go on.

Primary was fun today and we think the kids might have understood the story of the first vision, more or less. They did like the fun picture they got to take home so that's something. We sure love these adorable kids though.

This next week we start with a holiday Monday. Last year at this time, I remember thinking we'd just work through those Monday holidays because we needed to get interviews done and we were missionaries who don't need vacations. This year, we are missionaries who need a vacation and those Monday holidays are life savers!

From Gary:  Today is Sylvia's Birthday!  Happy Birthday Sister Pack!

We are still loving our mission and all that we get to do!  When we were at the Bountiful temple this week, our first Mission Leaders were there, so we got to hug President and Sister Holmes!  They have become eternal friends as we served together! We are still amazed at our daily opportunity to share the gospel with non-members and members all over the world because of our Pathway assignment!

Our son Adam and his family live in Minnesota and church got cancelled this week because it was well below zero!  We have had an amazingly mild winter compared to that!  At the same time we have Jeremy sending us pictures of flowers blooming in California and Kendall excited that Arizona came close to freezing so the citrus there could sweeten up better!

Have a beautiful wintery week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 1/12/2025

 It was good to have a normal week, with no off days. We had a really fun devotional on Monday with Emily Utt, who is a historic sites curator for the church. She started off talking about city planning--how the saints built Zion in various places. Then she talked a lot about Temple Square, how it started and how the progress is going now. I think everyone would have been quite happy for her to go on for another hour, she has such a great way of talking about historic buildings.

We started choir up again this week after almost a month off and were pleasantly surprised to have many people come. We're singing a fun version of The Lord is My Shepherd for tomorrow's devotional that is fortunately one of those pieces that sounds really cool but isn't that hard to learn.

The Leadership Pattern Journey classes started up this week and since Gary is the facilitator for one of the groups, we both get to attend that again. It will be good to review all the material and see if there are new goals we need to be working on at this point in our mission.

Classes started up this week for the students and there are still some who are stuck and trying to work through issues with either the new system or their own problems (grades, tuition etc.). We try really hard to be as sympathetic as we can be but also we have to tell them that we are unable to solve their problems and they really do need to work with student support (not the answer they want to hear).

One of our devotionals this week was on Willard Bean, also knows as The Fighting Preacher (a 2019 T. C. Christensen movie currently playing on Prime). I'd heard of the movie but never connected the fact that his last name was Bean, same as one of my great great grandmothers named Nancy Bean. Turns out he's my first cousin three times removed since he is the son of Nancy Bean's brother. So, obviously we watched the movie this week and we loved it. 

Willard Bean

Of course we went to Logan this week to check up on our new granddaughter--they grow fast and you don't want to miss it! We also enjoyed some beautiful canyon views on our way to Logan.

Primary today was the usual fun and challenge. In a class of 3 and 4 year olds you don't get much discussion. But, they enjoyed playing the game where they had to freeze when the music stopped. Of course we also discovered that my gospel library app has decided to play A Child's Prayer in some foreign language but that didn't seem to bother the kids. 

This week we become the choir coordinators (instead of assistant coordinators). This means no more passing the buck which is really quite a challenge!  

From Gary:  The Leadership Pattern Journey is a series of lessons designed for a 12-week course to teach participants how to "Lead like the Savior."  The Church loves to train their managers using this course and we as missionaries are allowed to take the course too.  We took the course many months ago and are now leading a course for the next several weeks.  We all have lots to learn!

We have had an amazing couple helping us with our BYU Pathway work.  Von and Sheila Kunz are from Blackfoot Idaho and found out Von had ALS at about the same time as he was released as the Stake President there.  When the General Authority came and gave him a blessing as he was released, he was told they should go on a mission as soon as they could.  They quickly went through the process and were called here to the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission.  They were assigned to the Church History Library, and then assigned to help us part-time with our BYU Pathway Ecclesiastical Endorsements.  They have worked hard and have absolutely loved their opportunity to serve the Lord!  They especially loved their chance to call these BYU Pathway Worldwide students all over the world!

Von's health has been going downhill ever since he got here, but both he and his wife have been amazing examples of service and love for God's children everywhere!  They have faced this challenge with absolute faith and love of their Savior.  They were sent home this week so he could be home and go on hospice with his ALS.  We will miss them terribly, but will be forever indebted for the eternal friendship we have forged with them with our mission experiences together.  They have asked that we continue to send them a few names so they can continue their service from home going forward.  We love them with all of our hearts.  Their example of faith through this amazing trial will forever be known by all that have seen their work here.

God loves us all!  He gives us each challenges to push us to our limits!  Life is short, but oh so full of joy when we learn to serve and love God and our neighbors.

Have a marvelous week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

Mission update 1/5/2025

 Happy 2025! We actually have some snow on the ground finally so it really is feeling like winter, sort of. Of course we're also complaining a bit about the cold and the ice on the sidewalks so apparently the world will never be perfect. Oh well.

We had a lot of students to interview this week and we were able to keep the missionaries who help us stocked with students as well. Classes start tomorrow and there are still many students who need their interviews but fortunately for everyone, the endorsement holds have been lifted from student accounts for now. That means that students will be able to register for and get in to class even if we haven't gotten to them yet for their interview. However, next term the hold will be there so they'll need to get the interview done soon. This also means that if students are having trouble registering, it is not our fault. It's always nice to pass the blame somewhere else :)

I had a major (for me) victory this week when a student I was helping actually was able to get her endorsement request submitted correctly and we were able to get her cleared. There are many ways that students can mess up their request and helping them get that fixed is something we try to do a lot of. We've decided that agency is very over rated when it comes to students filling out their paperwork!

We went to the Taylorsville Temple this week with the Smiths and loved spending time with them there. We've had trouble getting our schedules to work lately so we've missed our trips together.

Taylorsville Temple with the Smiths

We had a great New Year's Even party in Logan where we called it midnight at 8:00 pm, made tons of noise and then went to bed early. Best kind of party and fortunately none of the grandkids minded the early hour. New Year's Day was pretty quiet and a great start to 2025.

Happy New Year 2025!

 The best event of this week was the arrival of our 21st grandchild on Friday. Her name is Artemis and she was born to Blaine and Deanna. She took it fairly easy on her mom as far as the delivery went for which everyone was quite grateful. We love her long black hair! As far as we can tell so far, her two older brothers have mostly accepted her into the family.

Grandpa with Artemis at 8 hours old

We're looking forward to a week of meeting the new batch of senior missionaries coming into our mission, planning a devotional or two and talking to many more students.

From Gary: There is absolutely nothing more miraculous on the earth than the birth of a new baby.  The hand of God in the process to create and bring new life on this earth is obvious and incredible.  We were witnesses again to this marvelous and amazing moment with beautiful Artemis being born!  Nothing can open the veil to heaven more than when someone arrives on the earth as a newborn baby!  I feel so blessed to have been a witness to this miracle on so many occasions!

Just finished puzzle!

We got a puzzle for Christmas that Adam had somebody put together of one of our really old family pictures!  We just finished this today!  Oh my we were young!  Now all of these amazing kids have families of their own!  

Have a wonderful week!

We love you all!

Elder and Sister Pack

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