Mac, Cheese, Salsa & Muslim beliefs in Christ (Week 11)

Happy Thanksgiving!

First off, just so you all know, we have a Thanksgiving meal with one of the members.  The family we ate with last night also offered to have us over, so I am well taken care of.  Mom, you would love the family from last night.  I think that every time we go over there.  Sister Haz'kam home-schools her children.  They have a bee farm, and they are just super amazing.

Yesterday, after church, Elder Uber says, "Hey, Sister Pack.  I have something from your aunt and uncle."  At first I thought he was talking about Sister Taylor since she has an aunt and uncle living in the mission, but, nope, he was talking about me.  He gave me salsa made by Grandma Pack.  Well, that was nice of my aunt and uncle.  I tried to figure out who it was.  My guess is Aunt Mary Lynn and Uncle Nathan, since Elder Uber says he had big glasses.  Elder Uber also said he felt like it was a drug exchange, since they just left right after the delivery to the mission home.  I'm grateful it was quick since I don't plan to bump into family members.

November Zone Conference (I'm in the yellow blouse)

Zone Conference!!!!  I loved it so much.  There are a few things I want to tell you about.  First, we are doing a 70-day challenge to read the New Testament.  When I came they were just finishing a 100-day challenge to read the Book of Mormon.  I've attached a picture of what we are reading when.  We are suppose to finish Matthew tomorrow.

Our 70 day plan to read the New Testament!

We are going to use My Family booklets.  We don't have them yet, but when we get them we are going to fill it out for ourselves first.  Mom could you send me more information about my ancestors?   Right now I only have their names and the years they were born and died?  I want exact birth and death dates.  Also I want the places where they died plus their children's names and birth and death dates.  Could you also send stories about them?  I just want to fill out the booklet as much as possible.  As a missionary, we are going to set a second baptismal date with investigators.  The second one is to get them to the temple to do baptisms for their ancestors.

The Christmas Initiative the church is planning is awesome.  It doesn't start until after Thanksgiving, so I don't want to tell you much.  However, I am really super excited to use it.

Miracle: I can't think of a super big one, but I think this is a small one.  We talked with a Muslim one night.  He goes by Ragnak.  I found it interesting to learn a little more about what Muslims believe concerning Christ.  They believe Jesus was a prophet but not the son of God.  One of their reasons for believing this is that it is obvious that Jesus was obeying his Father (or God) and wasn't Allah (God) himself.  We tried to explain that we believe that Christ was the Son of God but was not Heavenly Father.  We tried to explain that Christ, Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost are separate beings.  However, I'm not sure he got it.  Anyway, Ragnak says that Muslims are looking forward to the second coming of Jesus.  He also says Christ didn't die.  He says he is still alive, because he has never died.  He quoted the Bible where Jesus said the only sign that will be given is that of Jonas.  He said, since Jonas was alive throughout his 3-day experience in the whale, that Jesus is also alive through the whole process.  I think he is taking the comparison too far.  Anyway, the miracle is that the next morning, while reading the New Testament, we got to the place that Ragnak was talking about.  Anyway, in the next few chapters Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to die.  So if Muslims believe everything Christ says (which Ragnak made it sound like they do) then they can't believe Christ didn't die.

Just so I don't end with how Christ died, let me say Jesus Christ rose on the third day just like he said he would and that he still lives.  He is there to support us when we let him into our lives.  I know he has supported me throughout my life, especially while on my mission.

-- 
~Sister Aurora Pack

P.S.  Sorry I didn't have time to write about the investigators.  Just so you know, I'm really happy and impressed by Jason.  He came with his two-year-old twins and his newborn baby to church without his wife.  She had to work.

P.P.S.  By the way, I ate mac'n'cheese and liked it.  I know -- weird.  Hermie made it, and I hadn't told her about my milk allergy, so I just ate it.  She is such an fantastic cook, I wanted to try it.  Anyway, she made it with real cheese.  I don't know which kinds she used, but it was a few different ones.  It tasted really good.

Researching God and Meeting Goals (Week 10)

Hi everyone,

Each we visit Sister Ferris since she is in a nursing home and she was reactivated by a previous missionary.  The plate she is holding is something her mother found years ago.  Sister Ferris thinks it might be ancient.  I think it was made recently.

Elder Gouch is our new district leader.  He is a Portuguese missionary.  He didn't change areas; they just added his area to our district, which is now the Metrowest district.  Now we have five companionships in the district.

Investigators:

Pastor Trobar:  Things didn't go well.  I knew the conversation was going to take place sometime.  Pastor Trobar disagrees with us on the Godhead, and he doesn't like that we say our church is the only completely true church.  I believe the other churches have truth and are good, but they just don't have the fullness of the truth.  Anyway, I don't want to say more about what happened other than I am grateful that we had dinner with the Morgarath family afterwards, because they are fun and cheerful, which is something we both needed.

Jason: He canceled his lesson, but he came to church.

Pauline: Moved back into Ocoee, so the same Elders are teaching her again.  She is getting married to someone from that area.

Alyss & Will:  Tried calling, but no one answered.  We have plans to drop by their apartment to see if we can get in contact again.

Okay that was all the sad investigators. [Dad's Note: I'd consider Jason a big success!]  On to the happy ones:

Gilan: We were able to teach him a quick lesson, but he wants to read the Book of Mormon more before we really meet.  He asked which book would be best for him to read.  We told him 3 Nephi, so he plans on reading that before we meet up again.  We tried explaining that he doesn't need understand everything before we meet with him.

Madelyn:  The appointment fell through, but we were able to set up a time to meet with her this week. :)

George:  Our district leader, Elder Gouch, accidentally called us. We called him back to see what was up.  When I heard it was just an accident, I was a little flustered.  This was wasting our time: we could be talking to more people.  However, because we "wasted our time," we were able to see George pull into his driveway.  We had meet George before, and we had tried to visit him, but he wasn't home.  We then proceeded to have a great lesson with him.

Jennifer:  We were able to have two lessons with her this week. She agrees with most things we teach except the authority part. For her, the Bible is the authority.  Anyway, we are meeting with her and her friend, who wants to learn more about our church since her son is a member, this week.

Keren and Rosa:  They came to church a few weeks ago with the Haz'kams, because Brother Haz'kam is friends with Keren's dad.  Keren is taking a comparative religions class, so she came because she picked to research the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We got to meet with Keren and her mother, Rosa, this week.  It turns out, as she researched, she became more interested.  Rosa is also interested in learning more, but she is very cautious about false prophets.  We are going to meet with them again after Keren has done her report, which shows she really is interested for herself and not just for her class.

This week we meet our goals for lessons with members present, other lessons taught, referrals contacted, and new investigators.  We were so exicted last night, since we got Keren and Rosa to schedule an appointment (making them investigators), thereby surpassing our goal by one.  We were able to have a lesson with Jennifer together with two of the young women, also one of our goals.  It was awesome!

Miracle:  This week on Thursday, during Zone Training Meeting, I somehow twisted my back.  If I stood up straight, it hurt.  It also hurt when I was sitting down.  Anyway, I got through the day, although it was hard to concentrate.  I prayed so much for Heavenly Father to help me.  I also laid on ice when I went to bed.  Each day the pain has been better.  Now my back is only sore and not painful.  I know the Lord has helped me.  I am/was worried about it, because if a missionary goes to a chiropractor five times (indicating a chronic problem), she gets sent home.  Anyway, I don't want my back to become a problem.  I have a great sense of peace about it.

-- 
~Sister Aurora Pack

Gobbling, a New Car, Stake Outs, and Miracles (Week 9)

Tom the Thankful Turkey -- Flyer for Gratitude Gobble

Hi everyone,

This week has been amazing.  Truly amazing.  I have seen so many miracles.  I'll try telling you as many as I can, but I know there will be some I leave out.

First, let me say today marks two months since I entered the MTC.  Time has flown by.

The Breakfast of Champions -- or, at least, of vegan-attempting missionaries!

We have a new car; it has about 200 miles on it.  The assistants came and swapped it with our car.  The car we had before had about 55,000 miles on it.  The church usually sells its cars at 50,000.

Our new wheels!

 

 

Investigators:

Jason:  He didn't come to church, because he was working.  We committed him to live the Word of Wisdom, so we'll see how that goes.

Pauline:  We weren't able to meet with her this week, since she was at her boyfriend's house.  He lives in another ward.  The Elders visited him, so they taught them both the first part of the Plan of Salvation.

Alyss and Will:  We haven't been able to meet with them this week.  We called a lot to try to set up an appointment.  She typically doesn't answer.

Madelyn: We were out with Sister Selethen to visit some other people, but they fell through.  We saw Madelyn outside, so we went to her place.  Sister Selethen and Madelyn clicked even though they are 30ish years apart.  We probably wouldn't have taken Sister Selethen to visit Madelyn, who we had met once before.  It was a  miracle the other appointments fell through, so they could meet.  Madelyn has 7 children, 5 of whom live with her.  She is working at nights and is working during the day to get her business up and running.

Pastor Trobar:  See Miracle.  He had a stoke a little bit ago and is recovering, so he is in a wheelchair.  He says it is God who helped him recover as much as he has.  He studies the Bible a lot.

Gilan:  He was the person we gave the Book of Mormon to who was smoking outside.  We have been trying to see him again, but every time we swing by he isn't there.  We went to try again.  Sister Taylor had the impression we should call people and update the iPad in the car for a little bit.  Later, we saw Gilan outside.  It was a miracle.  Sister Taylor said she felt like a creep  (#InvestigatorStakeOut).  We quickly got out of the car and went to talk to him.  He hasn't read the Book of Mormon yet, but he still wants to.  He said he had a lot of papers to grade which he just finished, and he planned to read it over the weekend.  We set up an appointment with him for later in the week.

Instruction Sheet for the Gratitude Gobble

We baked cookies this week for something we wanted to try with the ward members.  We are calling it the "Gratitude Gobble."  It's where, once someone has been Gobbled, then they pass it along to someone who hasn't been Gobbled.  They take the person a treat along with a message about something they are grateful for.  We don't want it to be a doorbell ditch--but a verbally passed message.  We shared our gratitude for the Restoration of the Gospel twice and, to another family, that we are grateful for Jesus Christ.  We encouraged the families to pass gratitude along to two people.  We also encouraged them to keep it something that truly matters, like family or the gospel--not something shallow like food.  I would give you all a treat, but I can't through email.  However, could you start the Gratitude Gobble in your area?  Mom and Dad, I expect you to do it.

Baking cookies for the Gratitude Gobble

Miracle: As I've said there were a lot, so it is hard to pick one.  I'll pick Pastor Trobar.  We were biking, going to some houses.  No one was home, or they didn't want to talk to us.  Anyway, we had some extra time to get to the library, so we decided to go a longer way and talk to people along the way.  We were about to pass some apartments, and Sister Taylor stops.  She asks me if we should go on to the library or knock in there.  I hate knocking, so my first reaction is no, let's go to the library.  However, I heard someone's voice, and I thought we should talk to him.  I told Sister Taylor that we needed to talk to someone in those apartments, so we went in.  We both kept walking forward.  I was going toward the person I heard, and Sister Taylor was going towards the person who she saw that she felt we should talk to.  That person was Pastor Trobar.  He knew we were sent by God to share a message with him.  The lesson was long since he likes to talk, but it was good.  I know the spirit was present when we shared with him a scripture from the Book of Mormon.  I know the spirit guided us to the passage to share, since it reminded him of a part of the Bible he really likes.

--
~Sister Aurora Pack

The Elders like to swap ties right before transfers.  This bucket belongs to one Elder!

Snow White and the Good Fairy (Week 8)

Hi everyone,

This week has not been the best.  We planned for more lessons with members present, but then most of the lessons this week cancelled.  We got two new investigators, but they cancelled their second lesson on Saturday; however, we have rescheduled to Tuesday.  Another way it is hard is that people sometimes give us fake phone numbers.  Why can't they just say they aren't interested?

Update on investigators

Jason:  We weren't able to get a lesson scheduled this week.  He had to work on Sunday, so he didn't come to church. :(

Cassandra and Horace:  We had a lesson with them.  They are really nice and polite people, for which I am grateful, but they are content in their own religion.  They said they might be interested in the future in having another discussion.  They were really caught up in the Godhead vs. Trinity and the end of revelations.

Alyss and Will:  These are our new investigators.  When we went over for our scheduled time, Alyss had to go into work, but we were able to teach them a quick lesson.  The spirit helped remind me to say a prayer before we left.  It wasn't a formal lesson, so it would have been hard to remember to do so.  Will thanked us for the prayer, so I know it helped a lot.  Later, they cancelled on us, because Alyss was at work and Will wasn't feeling well.

Pauline: She was living in Ocoee and going to the Ocoee ward, which goes to the same building as the Winter Garden Ward.  The Elders were sad to give her to us, but they had to since she is now living in our area.  Pauline found out the Book of Mormon was true six years ago when she did as Moroni directed [and asked God if it is true].  There were some complications that kept her from being baptized then, but she has been learning about the church on her own.  She has never taken the missionary discussions, which one needs to do if one wants to be baptized.  She has a deep desire to be baptized, so she is finally going to take the proper steps to do so.  The Elders said they thought she was a member already since she acted like one and came to church.  I'm not sure how they found out she isn't.  Sister Taylor has meet her before at an Ocoee and Winter Garden Wards service project, and she said she thought she was already a member.  Pauline is super awesome, and her personality is amazing as well.  Her age is mid-twenties; her personality matches mine a lot.

On Halloween, we meet with Pauline for the first time.  She came over to Sister Berrigan's house.  We had dinner, and then we had a lesson.  The lesson was like talking with a member about the gospel.  Pauline was dressed as a fairy.  Her costume was a mix of different things.  She said she got the wings a few Halloweens ago, the dress was one she wore to prom, and the shawl around her waist was part of her sister's costume a few years ago. 

I love dressing up, so I dressed up as Snow White.  I wore my hair in a bun.  I wore my light blue shirt with my yellow skirt.  I wore that shirt/skirt combination on my first day at the MTC, and Elder Pace said I reminded him of Snow White; other people agreed.  When I told Pauline who I was dressed up as, she said she was wondering if I did it on purpose.

Pauline as a fairy, Sister Pack as Snow White, and Sister Taylor in Halloween colors.

This week is transfer week.  Sister Taylor and I are both staying in Winter Garden South.  The only one from the Ocoee District that is leaving is Elder Nakatsuka.  He is our amazing district leader.  He is from Japan.  He is going to BYU-Hawaii for the spring semester (he goes home in December), so the Rackleys should look out for him.

Ocoee District before transfers

Mom:  Could you send me some vegan recipes, preferably healthy and fast to make?  A lot of my mail is coming in chunks, so just sent it all at once.

Mirth:  I love your costume.  Thanks for sending me the picture.

Dad:  The desert was good, and it was still soft enough.  Thanks for sending me the church music, but the disks are bad.  They won't play; I don't know why.  Maybe if I get the MP3s, I can burn it on my own CDs.  No, I am not having internet withdrawals.  I didn't in the MTC, and now I'm getting more time with Online Proselyting.  Hopefully, this week we will be able to teach someone online, since he is right now out-of-town for work.

Marie and Jacob:  I hope Jacob's leg gets better.

Miracle:  To be honest the miracle this week was having Pauline move into our area.  As I've already said, I was having a rough time.  We desperately need investigators.  Being able to teach Pauline and having her want to stay in our ward instead of the Young-Single-Adult ward lifted my spirits.  I have this extreme feeling that I am supposed to be here for Pauline.  There is something I'm suppose to do to help her prepare for baptism that no one else could do.

--
~Sister Aurora Pack