Meetings Galore (Week 47)

Temple Trip brings Happiness!

Monday, August 3, 2015

Hey people in whom I love,

I don't really know where that came from, but hey I love you all, so I guess it works.

This week there was something every day that made it not a normal proselyting day. 

Monday: P-day;

Tuesday: President Interviews;

Wednesday: Online missionary work conference call;

Thursday: Weekly Planning;

Friday: Trainer's follow-up;

Saturday: Temple;

Sunday: Church. 

Most of the meetings were needed and I enjoyed them.  It just made it a different week.  I loved President interviews and trainer's follow-up. 

I loved the temple even more.  The temple is such a wonderful place.  It is hard to describe how I feel there.  I had some insights while there.

It also seemed like we took a road trip this week.  Trainer's follow-up was right across from the temple at the Orlando South stake center.  From our place it takes two hours to drive there.  That means in two days we drove eight hours.  Crazy.  It was really tiring.  However, it was worth it.  During the drive we listened to some John Bytheway talks, that were on the USB that the Elders left in the car.  He is so good.  I think my favorite talk we listened to was Christ Knows I am a Christian.  He talks about how people think that Mormons aren't Christians, because we believe in a different Christ.  He then shows how we do believe that we are completely saved by Christ and not by anything else.  At the end he says that Christ knows he is a Christian, so it doesn't matter what other people may say or do.

Connor our investigator is so awesome.  In one lesson he agreed to baptism and really wants it.  He also found out that when his son turns eight, he will be able to baptize him.  In another lesson, we taught him the Word of Wisdom.  We thought he would need to give something up, so we decided to cover it before other things, so he could have time to overcome any additions.  He said the Word of Wisdom was a no brainer.  He said he has never had any problems with it.  The lesson somehow was transitioned to the atonement.  It was such a spiritual lesson.  Connor has the best prayers.  He is just so open and honest.  The sad news is he switched jobs and he had to work on Sunday, so he couldn't come to church.  He said he was really disappointed, which if someone told him that he would be disappointed by not going to church a month ago, he would have told them they were crazy.

I am worried about Grandma (aka Sister Bianca).  Connor is renting a room from her and he calls her Grandma.  She is really old and she keeps passing out from having low blood sugars.  Connor thinks it is because she is sleeping more and is forgetting to eat.  They have had to call 911 twice and she went to the hospital on the second one.  I love her so much.  She is such a great missionary.  Connor would have never found the church if it wasn't for her.  I also don't know what Connor will do if she passes away.  He doesn't have anywhere else to go.

However, I know the Lord has a plan, so everything will work out.  I am really glad I went to the temple, so I was able to put Sister Bianca's name on the prayer roll.  We can call the temple, but I probably wouldn't have remembered.

At trainer's follow-up I heard that Alfred was baptized!  I knew he would be, but it was still exciting to hear.

Temple Trip with companions!

Miracle: I think Connor was a pretty big miracle, but that would never have happened without the miracle of the Holy Ghost.  The Spirit has such a big influence on people's hearts.  I can tell people whatever I want, but if the Holy Ghost doesn't enter their heart, then it is all for nothing.  I am really grateful for the Holy Ghost.

I love you all so very much!

~Sister Aurora Pack

Laughing with Flat Tires (Week 46)

Aurora at a Nature Preserve

July 27, 2015

Hey everyone, 

As the title says we got flat tires.  Yes, that was plural.  The first day it happened was right after we biked over the causeway.  Sister Skousen tire was flat.  I noticed so I stopped.  Sister Woolley had no idea since she was up ahead.  Sister Skousen walked her bike and I rode like mad to catch up to Sister Woolley.  Panera, our safe haven, was pretty close, so we walked there, bought a drink, and made some phone calls.  We ended up walking to Sister Cormac and chilling there.  We waited out a storm at her house and also got the bike fixed.  Sister Cormac's baby was sleeping so she couldn't take us to Walmart to get a tube.  The Elders were awesome and got one for us.  They also helped fix it.  Now that I have seen two tubes replaced.  I know I could do it if I needed to.  (Useful skill to have as a missionary.)  Also while at the house I tightened my brakes, since I don't have the tool for that.  We tried being diligent by making phone calls to potentials and formers in the area book.  We called all of them.  That isn't a lot of potentials and formers.  I am used to having a ton in the area book.

Okay the second time it happened was two days later.  It happened right after the miracle below.  Thankfully, the people we eat dinner with (the Jackson who are super amazing) offered to drive us home, so we didn't have to bike over the causeway at night.  We weren't going to take them up on their offer, but we kinda had to since the tire popped again (it was the same one).  They took us home Sister Woolley and I put our bikes away.  They kept Sister Skousen's bike and they went to the store and fixed it that night.  In the morning it was in the backyard.

I really love the ward I am serving in.  It has to be the best ward I have ever served in.

Both of the times the tire popped we laughed a lot.  There wasn't much else we could do.  I mean, why get upset it won't solve your problem.  Laughing won't solve the problem either, but at least we are happy while we do it.  Good times, although I would have preferred to have been working, but it is all okay.  Even though we didn't get good numbers, I feel like we really tried our hardest.  We took members three times to go see Connor.  He wasn't home for any of them, but whatever we did our part.

The good news is that Connor did get into contact with us yesterday.  He was in Palm Bay all week working.  He called us on Sister Hull's number, so I am assuming his phone isn't working.  At least he isn't ignoring us.  Also Sister Hull told us they were all ready for church, but the car won't start.  That is good at least he still wants to come to church.

Alligators at the Nature Preserve

Last Monday a member took us to a nature preserve.  We saw lots of birds, but the cool part is we saw 9 alligators.  All of the pictures are from the nature preserve.  It was a lot of fun.

Nature Preserve - Birds

Miracle: One evening we wanted to either go heart attack the Piers Family or have a quick lesson with Connor.  We felt like we should go to Connor even though he was farther away and there was another reason why we shouldn't go there.  In my head I was calculating out how long it would take to bike there, teach him (even for a short time), and bike home.  It was clear that we couldn't make it back by 9:30.  We had said a prayer as a companionship and we all felt good about going to Connor's.  Logically it made sense to heart attack the Piers's.  They were closer and we didn't need to stay for a lesson.  We would probably make it home by 9.

Nature Preserve - Turtles 

With all this in my head, I was biking as fast as I could to Connor's.  When I stopped for a light, Sister Woolley said she just noticed a street that was where the people from the media referral we got that day live.  The address had said Melbourne on it, so we had discounted it since we don't cover Melbourne (the Elders do).  It turns out it was in our area, they just had the wrong city listed.  We turn back confident that was the reason we felt we needed to see Connor.  The media referral people just moved here from Colorado.  How awesome is that?  Way cool, right?  They were hoping we would get there in time to help them unpack, but we were a few days late.  They said they are busy unpacking the things they can't have help on, but they want us to come back later.

I think it is so interesting how God works.  He wanted us to see the media referrals, but he couldn't get us there unless he told us to go see Connor.  I am really grateful we have God on our side.  I don't think I could handle missionary work, particularly whitewash training without him.

~Sister Aurora Pack

Biking in the Rain - (Week 45)

New Trio Companions!

Monday, July 20, 2015

Hey everyone,

First let me tell you.  We got soaking wet two times this week.  It was fun and kinda scary to be biking in the rain.  One time it was super heavy and it was dinner time.  We didn't have a dinner at a member's house, so we were biking like mad to get to Panera Bread.  We then went into the bathroom to dry off before ordering food.  We left a huge puddle.  We felt bad, but there wasn't much we could do.

First day we got soaked in the rain!

Panera Bread bathroom, drying off.

Hot chocolate at Panera.

What you all wanted to know has arrived; my daughter's name is Sister Skousen.  She is awesome.  I love her so much.  She is the blond companion.  I also have another companion (a fellow trainer) Sister Woolley.  This is her last transfer, but she is going home in the middle of the transfer for school, which is why we are in a trio.  She is also super awesome.

Daughter, Mother, and Grandma

Aurora with her new companion and her trainer.

Daughters, both mommies, and grandma!

I am in Melbourne East.  We don't cover any of Melbourne, but we live in Melbourne.  To get to our area we have to cross the causeway, which is a huge bridge to let boats through.  We are then on the island.  We cover Satellite Beach, Indialantic, and Indian Harbor Beach.  I love our area.  Even biking the causeway isn't so bad.  I just don't know what we will do when there is lightening and we need to cross the causeway.  We have car share here, which means we have the car for one week and don't the next.  I don't mind biking; I just don't like how long it takes to bike everywhere.  It takes about half an hour to bike to our area.  The car share is also a bit confusing in this area, since we need the car to go to our district meeting every week.  There isn't any other sisters in the district to catch a ride with.  The Elders in our ward need the car every week to go to their district meeting.  It will somehow work out.  I don't know how though.

The first time we biked the causeway, it was raining.  There was no lighting, so we were fine.  It was actually really fun biking up it in the rain.  I love going down the causeway.

The beach (we just looked at it and then continued on our way)

We have a super awesome investigator.  His name is Connor.  He has a 7 year old son, Ethan.  Connor lives with a member who introduced him to the church.  He calls Sister Hull grandma.  I already love Connor.  Elder Honda just left our area and got transferred to the mainland side of the ward.  He told us that Connor wants to be baptized, but doesn't want to yet.

The ward here is just awesome.  Everyone loves us and is super friendly.  Everyone keeps telling us that the Sunday before we came the Bishop announced that the Elders were leaving, but Sisters were coming back to the ward.  Then the ward pretty much cheered.  Elder Honda said he felt pretty much unloved.  I am sure they love him, they just love Sisters more.

Oh also before I forget, we live in a house.  It is super weird.  In the fridge there were some eggs that expired in April.  Gross Elders!  They had black spots on the outside of the shell.  Let me just say Elders aren't the most clean people in the world.  Although the house could have been worse.

Miracle:  After we biked over the causeway while it was raining we stopped by one of the Elders' investigators.  The rain had pretty much stopped by then.  She wasn't home, so we talked to some of her neighbors that were out.  They weren't interested, so we started to go and the rain was starting again and then we saw lightening, so I pulled out my iPad to look at the maps to find a place we could seek shelter.  One of the people we had talked to saw us and invited us in.  We told her she was super nice, but she didn't think so.  She said she couldn't let us ride out in the weather.  We were able to talk to her.  She is atheist.  Her reasoning was that she is an archaeologist.  She is super nice and is tolerant of other people's religion.  We also helped her unpack her books.  She recently moved.  She was really grateful for our help.  A lot of her books look super interesting; there were even some history books.

~Sister Aurora Pack

Sister Skousen looking awesome with her bike.

Getting air in our bike tires.

Three beds for three companions!

Exciting Times - Becoming a Trainer! (Week 44)

Monday, July 13, 2015

Hey Everyone,

This week was crazy in so many different ways! We taught a lot, which is awesome.  However, we locked into the apartment while the phone was locked in the car, we lost my camera, Sister Johnston's had a wardrobe malfunction, the dryer broke, and we left the phone in members’ home.

Yep wonderful week, and to boot we found out we are no longer companions starting tomorrow.  (Yes my camera is still lost.  We are hoping Sister Johnston can find my camera and mail it to me. The photos I send to you please make sure you keep them, since I lost all my photos of Pleasant Hill.)

Yep, I'm leaving Pleasant Hill.  To answer my own questions, I'm a mommy.  My baby is coming tomorrow.  President called me Saturday night asking me to train and whitewash an area.  I said yes, so my baby is coming.  If you go onto the mission blog you can see the picture of me and my trainee sometime before Monday.  I don't know when they post it.

 Guess Who is Becoming a Mommy!

In the mission field becoming a mommy is becoming a 

trainer with a brand new mission entering the mission field.

(This type of picture is what the missionaries do when they become a trainer.)

Alfred is awesome.  He got a job promotion and he is moving to Bosie, ID.  We think it will be good for him, since he right now doesn't have good influence from his friends and he is making such a big change in his life that his friends aren't making.  I hope he can find a good Mormon wife up there.  I am sad that I don't get to be there for his baptism, but that is okay.  All is well.

Essix was really upset and she cried when she found out I was leaving.  I hope she will be alright.  Mom, can you let you know I love her and take care of her?  Thanks.  I love her so much. I want what is best for her.  I really feel that I came to Pleasant Hill to help her.  I really want to stay in contact with her.

Drugar is doing great.  We have his baptism set for when his dad comes into town.  I am glad his dad wants to be there.

Belinda is also doing great we were able to do two Face Time lessons, since she is on vacation.  She is a bit quite, but awesome.  It was interesting to do a Face Time lesson.

I love you all and I wish I could write more in detail about all the things that happened this week.  It was been so awesome and crazy.

Those four people are the ones we are working with who want to be baptized.  I love each one of them so much.

Oh and by the way, Charles was baptized.  He is Chris's father.  It was so exciting.

Miracle: Alfreds came to church!  He didn't come to Charles's baptized, so we were worried that he would drop off the face of the earth.  Alfreds also paid his tithing.  Also the fact that he is moving to Idaho is awesome.

~Sister Aurora Pack

Scripture Costume Dress Up (Week 43)

During weekly planning we made costumes to act out a scripture story

with Drugar and everyone.  I have the costume of the chief priest on.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Hi Everyone,

This week has been miracle filled.  People ask us what we are doing to be so successful and the answer is I don't really know.  I have some thoughts.  We work really hard and our faith is high, but I know from experience that working hard doesn't mean you see miracles.  Yesterday, we kept working until night.  We broke our fast quickly eating sandwiches since we were like 15 minutes early for a lesson.  Other than that we were constantly working yesterday.  It seems like everyone wants and can meet with us on Sunday.  I love it.

Alfred is still on track to be baptized.  On Saturday when we walked in he was listening to Mormon Tabernacle.  He found it on his own.  He called us up on 2nd and told us he got off early from work, so he wanted to meet with us.  He also had the 3rd off, so we meet with him on that day too.  It really shows his commitment, since he wants us to come everyday we can.  He came to church yesterday.  He didn't like testimony meeting.  I have to admit there were some really weird testimonies.  We tried warning Alfred the day before saying sometimes people say strange things so if you have questions please ask.  Brother Farid shaved his beard, because he is working in the temple, so Alfred thought he would have to shave his beard.  We told him he didn't.  Alfred also didn't understand why someone was crying as she bore her testimony.  We explained that it was because she was emotional since she is moving back to Utah.  Also sacrament meeting started really weird.  The person who gave the prayer had it written out and it was super political.  Not okay.  One, prayers are not suppose to be written out and two, the church is political neutral.

Alfred did tell us that he liked the other church meetings.  Third hour was Bishop reading the church's letter about Gay Marriage being made legal.  For those of you who don't know what it says it pretty much says that men cannot change God's laws.  God's laws are still the same.  However, we should be nice and civil to everyone, even same-sex couples.  I totally agree with all that.  I heard that some people said some really strange things in that meeting.  Alfred was okay with it though.

Sister Johnston and I weren't able to attend the third hour.  A mother with three children came to church during the second hour.  She was looking for help since she is homeless.  She needed to wait until after church to talk with the leader who could help her, so we took her children to primary and told her she could stay with them.  We knew what was going to happen with the third hour and it isn't something someone should go to for the first time when visiting our church.  We stayed in primary with them singing songs like Follow the Prophet, which lead into a brief explanation of the Restoration after church.  Perfect.  We and the other people she talked to felt she was sincere, so Bishop was able to help her for a week.  I really hope everything goes well.  We also stayed with her for two hours after church until things were figured out.  We showed the children a lot of videos to keep them entertained.  The home fronts are perfect for that.

Fourth of July was awesome.  We got to teach Alfred in the morning.  Go to bishop's house with the other missionaries for lunch.  We surprised Essix with a gift, since she wasn't able to watch the fireworks. :(  Then we went to the lakefront park and found and talked to less-actives.  Nearing the evening we were able to teach Drugar about the Word of Wisdom with a game we made up.  We then got to watch some of the firework show before we left.  President gave permission for missionaries to be out until 10, so we could spend time with people watching the fireworks.

Even though we left early we got back at 11pm. :( We were not happy.  We wanted to get to sleep.  Other people also left early, so when we pulled out of our parking space we then waited about 45 minutes without moving.  First off the cars leaving on the street were jerks and didn't let anyone in.  Second, we think there was an accident, since we saw an ambulance just up the street.  Anyway, fun mission story, right?

Also during the week, this random number texted us, calling us Sisters (so they are probably a member) and asking us to call.  We did call and it was this guy named Mo (yes it is a man).  He sells the Living Scriptures and he met with a nonmember who is interested in having missionaries come by.  He asked if we could meet that day.  We worked out our schedule so we could.  Ernie was just about to leave, but we gave him a Book of Mormon, testified of it, prayed with him, and set up a return appointment.  So boom a new investigator.  This was also the same day that the miracle below happened. 

This week was just crazy and I loved it.  We did find out some bad news about one of our investigators on the fourth, but it is just a set back the person will still be baptized.  When I don't know yet, but I have faith that with Christ the person can will overcome the problem.

Miracle: Belinda wants to be baptized!  This is a miracle I didn't think I would see.  I had faith that she would be baptized, but I didn't think it would be while I was here.  We were teaching Stan outside the church waiting for Hugo (a member) to show up so we could give Stan a church tour.  We are really hoping that the church tour will increase Stan's desire to come to church.  I think it did help him a lot, even though he didn't come to church.  I am seeing progress in him though.

While we are talking to him, Sister French (Belinda's grandma) keeps calling and texting us begging us to call her.  We thought she was mad at us so some unknown reason.  The conversation died down, so Sister Johnston talked to Stan while I talked to Sister French.  When she told me Belinda decided to be baptized I couldn't believe my ears.  Back story on Belinda: her family was less-active, but about a year ago they started coming back and all of her siblings were baptized, but she decided not to.  She had some concerns that kept her from doing it.  After girls camp during spring break, she said before she didn't want to be baptized, but afterwards she didn't know.  Obviously, the Lord worked with her since Girl's Camp.

They wanted to get Belinda baptized that Saturday, before they leave on a three week vacation.  We had to explain that she needs to have her interview at least a week before her baptism.  She also hasn't been taught the lessons for a long time.  We feel that it is best for her to receive all the lessons again.  They weren't too happy about it, but there is nothing we can do about it.  We really want to make sure we keep the fire burning during the vacation.  We plan on trying to set up Face Time lessons.  Belinda said she would do that.
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~Sister Aurora Pack

 Sister Johnston has the custom of Nephi.