I'm On Za Front!! (EP)

Dear Everyone,

My new mailing address:

Elder Jacob Packer

159 Conway Rd.

Newport, WALES

NP19  8JU

First thing is first, my 1st area is the city of Newport, Wales! My area is officially called "Newport B" (It covers one half of Newport while another team covers the other half. They are Newport A). The two Elders in Newport A are both from Utah as well; Elder Neff and Elder Albrechtsen.  I'm in the Cardiff Zone. Cardiff is another city in Wales. 

I'm so stoked to be here! My Companion is Elder Eppel. He's from South Africa, and basically is the greatest missionary in the mission! He's been out for about 21 months so far.  One cool thing is that it's his first time in Wales too. He has been serving in England until now.

I am disapointed because last time I meant to send a bunch of pictures. Unfortunately the email only sent one of them. And now I have even more pictures to send. I'll try to send them this time for sure. Sorry about that.

Now I shall just sort of list my experiences:)

Elder Packer and Elder Eppel in Newport (or Cardiff?), Wales

The MTC was so great, there should be pictures of my district. I love those Elders. Helaman District! The teachers were incredible. Brother A. Loynes and Sister Willis were my teachers. I have a picture with Brother Loynes but not of Sister Willis.

I've had the best dinner appointments ever with old couples in the ward.  Mom, you were right, the custards here are amazing. Haha and one family made Mexican food so that we (Elders from Utah) "would feel at home".  It was very good. 

I bought a bike! It's the red one in one of the pictures. unfortunatley I have to either cover it in black tape or spray paint it black.  Otherwise it will have a much greater chance of getting stolen.  But its all good:) 

The accent here is awesome! I can't understand a lot of what people say and I'm pretty sure they have a difficult time understanding what Elder Eppel says because of his English/African accent. Everybody seems to understand me though. American accents rule! And now each time I hear an American accent we're instant friends. Unless they are drunk... Then they don't really respond to anything...

I had no idea how hard it would be to talk to people! And then, I had no idea that it could be so easy.  Bearing testimony to people has made me realize how much of a testimony I actually have. Who knew?! 

Meeting the ward yesterday was great. We were welcomed like crazy. Of course the last speaker hadn't shown up so OF COURSE we (all of the 4 Newport Elders) were asked to introduce ourselves for 2-3min each. It was good, I got the whole "are you related to THE Elder Packer?" question taken care of. :) It's awesome, we are here to serve the ward. Members are the greatest resource to missionary work EVER! (besides the Book of Mormon of course). So go visit those people you know who are less active or nonmembers. Let them know you care about them.

I can't believe its only been 6 days. It feels like I've been doing this for a month at least.

Oh and mom, you'll be proud of this. When we got to our flat the only food was frosted flakes and frozen mini pizzas:) We'll be buying more food today though, don't worry.

Love you all! I'll be writing letters soon!

Elder Packer