Monday, February 23, 2015

Zone Conference. No Pictures. P. Rassmussen. (EP)

Hola!
 
Another legendary zone conference in my beautfiul city of Leicester. I just love Leicester Zone. I saw Elder Severe which was fun. Oh it was good to see some of those Leicester people, even though it has only been two or three months since I've seen them. Namely Elder Ammon Harris. I love that guy.
 
On other random news, we had a crazy district meeting followed by an intense game of chair-ball at the Nottingham 4 chapel in Long Eaton. The zone leaders were there so with a combination of Elders Battles, Lindquist, DeBeikes, Alldredge, Winder, Packer, Nogueroles, Tupou and Sisters Pascua and Thomson, we had a battle in that little cultural hall. I was laughing nearly the entire time because of the crazy things that were said and done.
 
That is what happens when you keep missionaries cooped up too long. We didn't even eat lunch (mostly because we forgot to bring one) because we went straight in for the football (soccer).
 
The reason I said "No Pictures" in the title was that I don't have my camera today so I cannot show you the pictures from Zone Conference.
 
Elder Battles nearly broke his foot on Friday night. I received a call from Elder Lindquist saying they were on their way to the hospital. He landed on it wrong while playing volleyball with some investigators. Luckily it wasn't broken, just sprained badly. He should recover soon.
 
Scott is doing amazing. Sadly, he wasn't able to come to Stake Conference with us, but he was super willing. He just caught the flu beginning on Saturday.
 
Ola is great. I'm so glad he is taking the lessons. He is such a good man and his family is so perfect. They will love the restored gospel!
 
President Rasmussen Story:
 
President Rasmussen is an inspired man. Until now, I haven't really felt like I've had a personal relationship with him. On Saturday night we had the adult session of Stake Conference, President Rasmussen was there and spoke along with Sister Rasmussen. I was on exchange with Elder Lindquist for the day and we came a bit late because of two teaching appointments. We missed the pre-meeting hugs from President Rasmussen. He always goes around and hugs all of the Elders and shakes the hands of all of the Sisters. After the meeting he got out of there pretty quickly so I didn't ever speak to him.
 
My companion and I went to the bus stop to go home. We were standing there waiting when President drives by out of the parking lot. We wave goodbye to him. Suddenly he pulls over and gets out of the car jogs over to us while shouting, "Elder Packer, you're the only missionary I didn't get a hug from tonight!" He came over gave me a hug. He asked us when the next bus was, luckily it was soon. After a few words he jogged back to his car and drove off. It was pretty cool, I definitely feel like President knows who I am. His words in Zone Conference, Stake Conference and in the District Leader Training meeting that I went too all witnessed to me that he is an inspired man of God.
 
Elder Alldredge and I are accidentally stalkers:
Pre-miracle explanation: Elder Tupou and I taught a random guy named Paul on a bench two weeks ago. He didn't give us his details but he agreed to meet again.
 
I also went on a sweet exchange with Elder Alldredge. He taught me a lot. He is one of those missionaries that kind of intimidated me a little bit. This was my second exchange with him and it was legit. He is such a humble guy, he works hard and we had some success teaching lessons together. Oh and while we were on exchange we saw a miracle.
 
We had a lesson scheduled with this guy named Paul for 11am. He didn't give us an address or phone number so our lesson was scheduled to be on The Bench. I just named it The Bench. It is just an ordinary bench that is next to the river behind our flat complex. He flogged us. We waited 15 minutes. He never showed. We placed a leaflet there with a note in case he showed up later. We left, and did our missionary thing. We came back to the flat for a late lunch at3pm. I walked into the kitchen and looked out the window. Guess what I saw. The Bench. Guess who was sitting on it. Paul.
 
We are such stalkers.
 
We went out to meet him. We didn't tell him that we lived close enough to see him from our flat. But we played it like we just happened to meet him there. We taught him a lesson and set up a return appointment:)
 
-Elder Packer

Monday, February 16, 2015

V-Day P-Day (EP)

So today is P-day.
 
V-Day was two days ago. Natalie's B-Day was on Friday the 13th and Andi's before that!
 
Yesterday was nuts. We had 4 people come to church! Two of them are now on baptismal dates and one will be soon. Then we got this random note from the first counselor in the bishopric saying that he just got a phone call from a man named Robert who wants to get baptized. He said something like this "ElderPacker knows me and has my number. Tell him to give me a call.". Naturally the counselor just expected me to have it.
 
I don't even know who this guy is!? What the?
 
Pray that I'll remember Robert. And find his phone number. Possible baptism!
 
Pray for Ola, Scott, Lucy and Martin.
 
Elder Nogueroles says "Hi". Lydia, he likes turtles. So much so, that I took the time to show him the pictures you sent of the tortoise you received. He knows everything about turtles. He wants to be given charge of all the turtles in the Celestial Kingdom.
 
Being bold with people helps. Telling people you want them to get baptized and setting a date for it is essential for a successful conversion experience. It makes the awkwardness in lessons disappear. It creates a constructive environment to teach and commit, and makes it safe to bring up questions.
 
Elder Packer
 

Picture of Ossie, the Ward Mission Leader and Dean. The Sickest Recent Convert ever. (with Elder Winder)

Monday, February 9, 2015

What kind of stuff do you want to know? (EP)

What kind of stuff do you want to hear from me?
 
I ended up doing a whole bunch of random splits this week. I was with Elder Tupou twice, Elder Battles for a whole day and Elder Nogueroles once. The cause was this: Everyone in our district was sick except for Elder Winder which is messed up. In order to make appointments work and get some work done in both areas we did a couple of needed exchanges, even if they were just mini ones. Hopefully it ended up being more productive than it would have been otherwise.
 
Oh and we had zone meeting which was nice. There are a few new people in the zone. Sister Ellis and Elder Haynie came up from Leicester zone so I get to be with them again.
 
I'm not sick. I got really strict with myself and didn't have any sweets or dairy for the entire week and bada bing I'm healthy.
 
Our flat is disgusting. We need to clean it. Yuck.
 
We got a media referral named Samson. He is really cool, we taught him the first lesson and got a return appointment in two weeks. I know it is a long time, so pray that he will get an answer that the Book of Mormon is true in the meantime.
 
Keep up the prayers for Liz, she is opening up with members and asking them questions. That is a good sign.
 
Pictures are of last p-day in Notts City Center.
 
-Elder Jacob Packer

P-Day in Notts City Center #1

P-Day in Notts City Center #2

Monday, February 2, 2015

I'm still in Notts 2B and I'm loving life (EP)

JOSH! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
"150 Dude, and still young!"
 
Yep, nothing in our ward changed, Elders Tupou, Nogueroles, Winder andPacker are still here.
 
In Nottingham 4th ward however, there are two new missionaries (Not greenies, just new to the area), Sister Thomson (Morgan,UT) and MY BOY ELDER LINDQUIST! He came straight from Westcotes up into my district! I'm so excited!
 
This week we've found some awesome people. We have 3 new investigators from Sunday alone and more on the way. Elder Nogueroles and I were on exchange from Thursday to Friday and we got like 5 return appointments on day.
 
We have finally started teaching our good friend Ola. He is awesome, we'll see him next week at church. He is a great man.
 
Keep praying for Liz that she will have a soft heart. She and Stephanie are doing fine health wise. They are a miracle.
 
We have new guy from yesterday named Elijah. Plus another guy named Faith. Both have a specific chapter from the Book of Mormon to read before our next return appointment. Pray that they will both read it and pray about it!
 
Thanks family/friends.
 
Today we are going to eat at some chinese buffet in city center so I'm excited. I just made my stomach grumble on demand.
 
Elder Winder and I stay up talking at night way too much. Blasted spongebob quotes.
 
Love,
 
Elder Packer

Still in Nottingham...Yeah! (Not sure who everyone is except Elder Winder and Elder Packer on right)

Elder Packer has collected bugs from the time he could walk--no doubt a good find in Nottingham!