Life is going great! Faith to Move Mountains!

“Faith precedes the miracle. It has ever been so and shall ever be. It was not raining when Noah was commanded to build an ark. There was no visible ram in the thicket when Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. Two heavenly personages were not yet seen when Joseph knelt and prayed. First came the test of faith–and then the miracle. Remember that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other. Cast out doubt. Cultivate faith.” 
( “The Call to Serve,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 48–49.)

If you are following the blog then you know that Elder Packham is in a new area. I got my first email from Great Falls on Monday and I am happy to report he is doing great!!!! 

Jake sure knows how to put a smile on my face~ he is awesome!

I am just going to re-post his email because I want you to have the opportunity to experience it like I did.

Mom,

Life is going great! I'm training Elder Cooper and I absolutely love it. We're living with members.  They are so awesome and this is the first time 5th ward has had members all to themselves. the area split from 4th and 5th ward to just 4th and another just 5th. The family we are living with are so awesome! they got us beds, and they're memory foam!!! We sleep so good at night. Our floor is like a rainbow it's covered in all these different colored foam tiles, its cool. We got doubled in, I'm training a vw, and we have no car or bikes, I was told that the area will go really slow. So I said yeah right. In 3 days we got 6 potential investigators and I had the most productive week of my mission so far. This last week was great! So the bishop is gone getting his son whose getting off his mission from Peru. So we met with the 1st counselor before church. Our church starts at 1 as well. The first counselor was SO impressed with our progress record. Then one of the high council members from the stake walked in and was also incredibly amazed. So he said that during his talk he'd call us up to introduce ourselves to the ward. He told us how grateful he was for the work we're doing. So he called us up at the end of his talk and was going off about how amazing cooper and I our and how this ward will grow so much, he was saying all this stuff. He turned the time over to us to bear our testimonies. So i went first being the senior companion. I bore testimony, recited D&C 121:6-10, and also D&C 18:15 and challenged the ward to bring people to church! I totally felt like I was giving a motivational speech. The spirit was so strong. Elder Cooper got up and he bore testimony, talked about a scripture or 2 and he too invited them to action. It was incredible. After sacrament meeting all the members came up to us and told us how they've been waiting for us, the right missionaries to show up. It was so great to see the members get excited about doing missionary work. We made a dinner calender and that got filled up so fast. I've never seen a dinner calender filled up within 20 minutes. 

I've really been focusing on acting on revelation. Especially now more than ever as a trainer. We filled up our schedule top to bottom with unofficial appointments with LA's. Just people that we could stop by and see. The entire day was filled, every slot, top to bottom, with back up plans. So we went about our day and followed our plan. We were so blessed to see so many people! I think Saturday alone we gained 4 potential investigators. We kept getting rejected. I told Elder Cooper that we just needed to pray. So i said at the end of this driveway we're going to pray. So I said a quick prayer, simply asking our Heavenly Father to bless us as we have been diligently trying to find his children, to bless us to put us in there path. 3 houses down we found one of our most potential investigators Curt. We left that porch and Elder Cooper told me "Way to go Packham, Thanks for praying." My testimony about planning has increased so much. If we simply plan, and actively open our mouth to share the gospel our Heavenly Father has limitless blessings to give us. I love this gospel.

So as a mother you want certain things for your children. The things I desire most for them is that they are happy and have Faith in the Lord. I am incredibly grateful to hear that Jake is exercising his Faith- it makes  my heart full. 

For myself I decided when Jake left on his mission that I would strive to have my own relationship with the Lord strengthened. I can testify to you with all surety that if you immerse yourself in the scriptures each day you will develop a very personal relationship with God. He knows me, He loves me, and He wants to bless me. I know this is true for all of us. 

I love you Elder Packham and I am so proud of you!!!  

Here is my scripture/thought for you:

It is our faith in Jesus Christ that sustains us at the crossroads of life’s journey. It is the first principle of the gospel. Without it we will spin our wheels at the intersection, spending our precious time but getting nowhere. It is Christ who offers the invitation to follow Him, to give Him our burden, and to carry His yoke, “for [His] yoke is easy, and [His] burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).

There is no other name under heaven whereby man can be saved (see Acts 4:12). We must take upon us His name and receive His image in our countenance so that when He comes we will be more like Him (see 1 John 3:2; Alma 5:14). When we choose to follow Christ in faith rather than choosing another path out of fear, we are blessed with a consequence that is consistent with our choice (see D&C 6:34–36).