Hello my lovely family!

It has been another glorious week in the work of the Lord, in the which he has blessed us greatly. My companion and I worked diligently and hard the past two weeks, however at the end of last week our overall impression was that we needed to be more humble and rely more on the Lord, so that is what we’ve been striving to do this week. The Lord blessed us greatly this past week in being part of the baptisms of two amazing people, Laura and her daughter Susi. They are wonderful people who have received a true conversion to the Gospel. He also blessed us in being a means by which 14 investigators attended church services yesterday. I feel very grateful! Actual its funny our ride fell through and we had to rent a public transportation van, so everyone could come. I’m sill working to recognize that success in this work comes from the Lord and rely on Him for guidance and strength.

Coming to this area, I’ve just felt blessed and full of energy and excitement to work hard and make the Gospel flourish here like it never has before. My initial excitement is what got me going, however the Lord has been showing me along the way what it is I need to do (change) to keep going. Being humble and relying on Him is part of it, now I have felt what I need to do is work hard to just really truly love the people and desire their salvation. I love the two people who were baptized yesterday and am so happy to see how the Gospel has made them happy! And that is my motive, that was (and is) the motive of Christ and His mission, the great cause of the Gospel.

When we allow pure motives (the well being of others) to motivate us to act (service) and we repeat these actions to the point that they become habits, our deepest desires become converted to that which is pure, righteous and godly. The strength, energy come as needed and God teaches us along the way what more we must do (change). What we love we will seek, and what we seek we will obtain.

I know that Christ lives and that He loves us. May we seek Him and His pure love and may it motivate us to loose ourselves in the service of God’s children even as He has done.

I love you all and pray that God will bless and keep every one of you!

-Elder Packer

¡Bienvenidos al campo misional! [Welcome to the mission field!]

Hola Familia,

Here I am, very happy out in Bautizaluca (Ixtapaluca)! [Pronounced eextapalooka. South-east of Mexico City.]

San Francisco is the name of my area which is a soon to be branch of the ward Los Heroes (which is the Assistants area). And it is amazing here! My companion, Elder Alacantar, and I are working harder than I have ever worked in my whole mission! It is his last cycle in the mission. He is a really exceptional missionary, we’ve been running in the mornings, studying hard together and have contacted thousands! Really I feel great and can say with 100% there is nothing more I could have done! I love being able to give that type of an accounting to the Lord at the end of every evening! And that’s what we’ll keep doing everyday!

Our district is the “dream team”; two of the best zone leaders are in my district as trainers. Ixtapaluca is the most successful part of the mission and President just wiped it clean and put in some of the best missionaries to just explode the place. It’s just nuts, nothing like this has ever happened in the mission before. Our district includes: Elder Carretero and Elder Padget in the Aylotl ward, and Elder Winters and Elder Cordova in the Izcali ward. [Bryce is the District Leader.]

“Todo por el Señor” [Everything for the Lord] is my theme for this cycle. I will stay humble and 100% focused and know that the Lord is going to support us in our goals and give us the strength and the inspiration to complete them.

Well, take care all, we’ve got to get back to working! I love you!

-Elder Packer

¡Hola mi bella familia! [Hello my beautiful family!]

Our area is going well, despite opposition. I feel like our companionship is strong and well. We have been working hard to keep our teaching pool full of investigators, elect investigators.

This week, Marcela is going to be baptized and she is a miracle! Her husband, Fernando, was baptized a year ago and because of it they have been separated for the past year, however we had been teaching her daughter, Fernanda, and she was baptized last week (by her father). During her baptismal preparations her mother was present, even though she wanted nothing to do with the church previously. The spirit has worked with her and a week and a half ago she asked if she too could be baptized. Her husband who has been a faithful and active member since his baptism last year will be preforming the ordinance. This is a hard work, but it makes it all worth it!

I am sad that I will be leaving this area and the people here behind! However I am very excited to have the opportunity to work all day long teaching the Gospel!

I hope you are all doing great and staying warm in all the snow you’ve been getting! I’m sure you haven’t left the house much, but make sure to be safe driving!

All my love!
-Elder Packer

We’ve been having a great week and have been really blessed. It’s been raining a lot (and we’ve been having lots of challenges like I wrote last week), however we’ve been working hard and being obedient to do our part with faith that the Lord would do His, and that’s what’s been happening. I know that difficulties mean blessings are close if we keep our faith.

Today we have a baptism and we have two for next week (one of which will be completing a family) and in the weeks to come we have several families that will be getting baptized. I feel so blessed to share the joy these people have, now that they have embraced the restored gospel. I can see the changes in their faces daily. I pray that we can all continue in our adversities with faith and patience!

I love you all and thank you for your prayers, I need them!

-Elder Packer

I wanted to share the letter I wrote to President Bulloch.

We’ve been having some pretty difficult days where our appointments have all fallen through, and I’m not going to say it wasn’t difficult. Especially so since we’ve been working hard every day these past weeks to become “misioneros de exito” [missionaries of success] and not just working hard and being exactly obedient, but going the second mile, hablando con TODOS [talking with ALL] testifying of the truths of the restored Gospel, exercising at 6:30 am on preparation day, etc.

Yesterday all eight of our lessons fell through, however we contacted in the street, knocked doors, asked for and contacted references, even visited part member families… and at the end of the day—nothing. It was frustrating and I thought maybe we’ll go eat tacos or I’ll go to bed early, I was a little discouraged and ready find a little comfort in something.

After a comment my companion made, I remembered part of the letter I wrote myself: “Trials come that they may prepare you for the blessings or spiritual experiences you are working for. After the blessings come trials, that we may be prepared to receive again greater blessings.” As missionaries, we teach every day that one of our purposes in life is to be tried, to prove to the Lord that we are really His children. Isn’t it the same as missionaries? Now I know it. If we are obedient, working hard and love the people when everything goes well, great! Who doesn’t? However, I believe it’s when everything goes wrong yet we still give our best, that determines if we are truly “misioneros de exito” and representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know that the Lord has great blessing in store for me, blessings that He cannot give if I don’t pass the test. I’m going to do it!

-Elder Packer

Happy Thanksgiving… kind of late. mmmm… pumpkin pie, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, homemade rolls, gravy… I ate tacos dorados.

These weeks have been the busiest of my life! It’s the end of the cycle which is when I have lots of work and it’s the end of the month which is also when I have lost of work. Plus we’ve been driving all around the mission delivering new beds and other supplies through out the mission… Then I got the dreaded email from the financial director for all the missions in Mexico saying I have to close out all the finances for the year (Jan-Nov) this week and have all the reports turned in. I’m not sure if I explained that as a non-prophet organization we need receipts for EVERYTHING and that makes a lot of reports. So I’ve been busy!

That’s exciting that Kerry is back and will be with some of the family for Thanksgiving. I realized at about 7:30 am that it was Thanksgiving Day and that mom was probably in the kitchen preparing dough for the rolls or pies, then I quickly changed my thoughts.

Really quickly the things I am grateful for are:
• my Family (I state it every night in my prayers)
• the Restored Gospel
• and my country  ;)

I love the tradition of giving thanks, because when we recognize all that we have been given, we are happier. We focus less on gaining more (what we don’t have), and more on giving what we do have.  It is the opposite of materialism and selfishness, and materials can NEVER bring us happiness. Giving thanks is an act of humility, and humility is a sign of strength. Like exercise, it is hard, but as we develop it we become healthier, stronger, happier and more beautiful.

I believe that sincere gratitude (including expressing it) is essential for our health and well being. It is sad to see how we sometimes allow ourselves to be deceived into believing that happiness and self-worth are determined by or possessions.

¿Do we measure our own wealth on how much we gain or on how much we give? Giving, especially through service, is the true way to express one’s gratitude and to obtain real wealth.

I love you, my family, and am truly grateful for every one of you, your love and support, and sacrifices on the family’s behalf. I pray that you will continue to humbly serve one another.

-Bryce