Oh my Oh my Oh my!

I know I haven't updated the blog in a while - my apologies!  Elder Packham is still serving in Billings and doing really well. I have been watching the weather a bit to see if he is freezing! I know they are due for some serious snowfall but I also think that depends on where in Montana you are. 

I can not believe that it is the middle of November!  It seems so strange to me that we are headed into the holidays and Jake isn't here. I really do miss him a lot.  I try not to tell him that though because I know he is right where the Lord needs him to be and I have complete faith in that. I keep a countdown oh how long he has been out and when he will be home.  One of them reads, "Jake's Return with Honor" and today it says, 1 year and 83 days - big sigh.  I guess if I was being completely truthful though - the time has gone by fast.  It is hard to imagine that he has been gone as long as he has.  I know that it will continue to go by fast and before you know it - I will be hugging him in the airport!  I don't want him to be homesick and I don't want him to be sad.  We had the missionaries over for dinner this week and I was asking them if they have been sad and depressed on their missions.  I thought that they would not tell me but one of the Elders did say that when he first came out, it was hard for him because it was different then what he was used to but he said that quickly changed because he knew that he was serving because of his love of the Lord.  He also said that when he stays busy, he is the happiest.  I shared with him about all the opportunities that Jake has had to serve - which is awesome!  I always feel better when I am serving others.  The scriptures say this about service:

• Mosiah 2:17 - "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." 

So I think it challenges Elder Packham that there is so much he wants to share each week and it takes so long to type it all up!  This week I sent him a long email about Stake Conference... I know my emails get long sometimes too. 

Here is his email:

Oh my oh my oh my! Hahaha I hate this because I always have so much to say and typing it all would take ages. So many things happened this last week. Buckets.. Do I really have to type it all? My thoughts every week. Lol the Lord gives me too much to talk about (: I guess that's not a bad thing.

First things first... I went on district leader exchanges this last week. I went with Elder Burnham and his companion went with Elder Stinson my companion. It was only for 2 days. Elder Burnham and I saw so many great things but I will share just one of the many miracles. We were on our way to one of his investigators' houses and she lived in this really nice gated trailer park. As we were walking we saw this lady on the ground and blood on the ground and on her shirt. We ran over as fast as we could and asked what we could do to help and what happened. She had a porch connected to her trailer and it was about a 3 foot drop from the porch to ground level. She said that she was on the porch with her dog and the dog was tugging and pulling her. She said that she has had knee replacements and also hip replacements. So the dog was tugging and pulling her and her knee locked up and when the dog pulled again she fell the 3 feet to the concrete. She is an older lady in her 50's or so. We immediately thought that she had broken her hip because of the amount of pain that she was in. We got her elbow to stop bleeding. I asked her if she wanted us to call 911 and she said she would wait until her daughter showed up. I asked her for her number so that I could call and check up on her. She gave it to us and then asked if we were the home teachers! Elder Burnham who has been out 6 weeks was like "No, but we can be!" It was funny. She said that she has done a lot of research about the lds faith and she has a ton of lds friends. She said that she loves everything about our religion and if we wanted to come by and teach her a missionary lesson she'd really like that. When her daughter arrived we went to the investigators' house but she wasn't home. We went back to the lady on the ground and talked with her and her daughter and son. When the ambulance and fire truck showed up we learned that the driver of the fire truck was a less active member! We got talking to him as well and he was so grateful that we were right there after she fell to comfort and calm her. It is funny and interesting how the Lord places people in our path. I am so grateful for that opportunity that I had. Later that night I took Elder Burnham to the temple grounds so that we could say a prayer of gratitude for the experiences we had been given. It was a powerful and wonderful teaching moment for a not only a new missionary but for me as well. 

The scripture that has stood out to me was Hebrews 12:1-3, 5-12 and Also John 21:15-17 when Christ says to Peter, "Lovest thou me."