Things are going great here in the heart of Montana!

A dodgeball tournament?!  Seriously?!  That is awesome!!  Here is the picture:

Things are going great! We are meeting with Mike on Thursday! We won a dodgeball tournament this week! A bunch of missionaries & I entered a tournament and won! We wore our shirts and all wore green ties! We actually lost the first match. Each match or team we played was best 3 of 5. So we played a lot of dodgeball! We lost the first match and battled all the way back to the championship game. It was lots of fun! 

He looks really happy and healthy - I am grateful for that. I had shared a story with Jake about a member who made a comment about an investigator that came to church with us and as always Jake was full of wisdom to share with me. I love that boy! We had a conversation about  sharing the gospel with everyone and not just those people whom we feel would 'fit' what we consider to be the 'model' member.  Please don't get me wrong, I have no vision in my own mind of what the 'model' member would look like but I did have someone say to me, 'something is wrong with that person.'  I had to remind them that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father and none of us should stand in judgement of another.  This is what Elder Packham said to me:

 An area emeritus 70 spoke to us once and told us all to fill the chapel with people who smell like smoke. That's what we want! That's what Christ wants! Did Christ only talk to the people who looked normal and okay to talk to?! Obviously not. He talked to EVERYONE and has a genuine love for every one who has ever walked this planet. He taught to the poor, the lame, the weak. Sometimes people frustrate me. I'm glad that person wasn't with me on my mission when I've brought investigators to church. We'll be judged for how we judge others... Next time you hear someone unrighteously judge someone like that just let them know that they'll be judged by how they judge them.

I have given that a lot of thought. I know that there have been plenty of times in my own life where I have felt judged by others and it is so painful.   President Uchtdorf touched on this in an April 2012 General Conference talk and it is definitely worth a listen! None of us need to stand in judgement of another ~ it isn't Christlike and it is just plain not right!!!

It is a really great lesson in life to learn to not judge others and to realize that heaven will be filled with people who have made mistakes.  I am grateful for the gospel in my life and the strength it has afforded me in handling life's challenges.  I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that the Savior loves me and He forgives me of my short-comings.  If I have learned anything it is that life is too short to hang on to judgments and criticisms of ourselves or others.  Elder Packham is a great teacher and I know that he loves his Father in Heaven and his Savior Jesus Christ.  I am grateful that he is serving the Lord in Montana and I KNOW he loves the people of Montana.

Wow...so much has been going on

So the heading for this post was the lead off of Elder Packham's email on Monday, July 8th and I do not know if he meant that I have a lot going on or that he does - hopefully it was both!  I had given him a huge update on things at home and my trip to Idaho with Mikey.  Here is some of what he shared with me:

Wow, so much has been going on. Our 4th of July was incredible! I just sent you 2 letters in the mail today with tons of pictures. Let me know when your address will change!!! Let me know ASAP. I miss my Cunningham family! I miss them so much! I got an email from Levi and that was nice. I can't wait to get back and visit them. Tell Aunt Sheli and Uncle Ty I love them! Also thank them for everything they've done for me. And tell everyone that's getting married that I wish them well and I'm sorry I couldn't make it. Things are going great here in Great Falls. We have 6 or 7 investigators right now. We're focusing on diligence this month, Elder Cooper & I. So we figured we'd knock the door of an investigator we were trying to contact every day at different times each day and finally contact him. We still had no contact. When Tuesday came around we started again but actually got in the door on Tuesday! We taught him the restoration and he was pretty open and received it well. He said he'd be baptized if he came to know it was true. We invited him to the ward breakfast on Thursday, Coop and I actually planned that activity. He came to the ward breakfast and actually spent the whole 4th of July with Bishop and his family!!! He then came to church on Sunday. If we are diligent, put our trust & faith in the Lord, all things will work out. We will be teaching him again this week. He goes back to college in about a month & a half so we'll see how far we can get with him in teaching. We may or may not have to refer him on. I don't think we'll have to though.
How is everyone? Tell them all to write me! Kyle is home? I want to write him!
You met Al and Linds?! Hahahaha oh gosh. I don't even want to ask how that went. Lol how did it go?! What did y'all do? Did you like em? They're hecka nice so I'm sure you love em. You love everyone I'm close to (; 

So that was a brief update from a couple of weeks ago. I am really sorry to those following the blog that I am a bit behind on posts.  I have been really busy at both work and home and as a friend of mine says, "I feel like I am burning the candle at both ends."

I posted some of Jake's pictures on Facebook but I will add one or two here as well.  It is good to see the pictures and know that he is well ~ I have that missionary mom thing going on at the moment where I miss him so much it brings tears to my eyes.   It doesn't help that Mikey is now gone too and Jorvik will be a Senior.  Halley keeps reminding me that they are all leaving me.  I promise you that I am NOT cut out for this stage of my life. I love my kids and it makes me sad to think that I won't even be a thought in their minds when they leave.  I am not going to be a crazy mom though - I promise. If they want to talk to me - great! If not - I will have to accept that.  All I really want is for them to be happy, healthy, and full of faith in God so they can endure the hard times.

Elder Packham mentioned before that President Mecham wants their mission to be one of the most obedient and it sound as if he is trying to fulfill that goal.  President Thomas S. Monson gave a talk in General Conference entitled, "Obedience Brings Blessings" and here is a little piece of that:

No greater example of obedience exists than that of our Savior. Of Him, Paul observed:

“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

“And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”¹²

The Savior demonstrated genuine love of God by living the perfect life, by honoring the sacred mission that was His. Never was He haughty. Never was He puffed up with pride. Never was He disloyal. Ever was He humble. Ever was He sincere. Ever was He obedient.

Though He was tempted by that master of deceit, even the devil, though He was physically weakened from fasting 40 days and 40 nights and was an hungered, yet when the evil one proffered Jesus the most alluring and tempting proposals, He gave to us a divine example of obedience by refusing to deviate from what He knew was right.¹³

When faced with the agony of Gethsemane, where He endured such pain that “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground,”¹⁴ He exemplified the obedient Son by saying, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”¹⁵

As the Savior instructed His early Apostles, so He instructs you and me, “Follow thou me.”¹⁶ Are we willing to obey?

The knowledge which we seek, the answers for which we yearn, and the strength which we desire today to meet the challenges of a complex and changing world can be ours when we willingly obey the Lord’s commandments. I quote once again the words of the Lord: “He that keepeth [God’s] commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.”¹⁷

I can testify to you that I know that obedience brings blessings.  This crazy world we are living in seems to be changing at lightining speeds and some days I do not think I am prepared for it or that I will be able to cope and that is when I remember these things that President Monson said.  If I will be obedient to God's commandments, I will be okay... in fact, I will be more than okay.

Oh and another thing...

So on July 1st I got this email from Elder Packham:

Oh and another thing.

Mom, Thanks for those Subway gift cards, it was truly a miracle from God. You must be hecka in tune with the spirit right now. This is what happened. The Richardson signed up for dinner on Saturday. They told us the Sunday before that they were going to be out of town and that they would send us each a subway gift card in the mail. So we gave them our address and hoped they would come. All week long we didn't get a Subway gift card. On Saturday, I got your card and in it were 2 subway gift cards. Holy cow! I was going crazy! I prayed that those gift cards would come the night before on Friday, and then I got yours on Saturday! You also sent a Superman card. Crazy as well, I just bought a cheap $13 dollar watch from Walmart and it's a superman watch from the kids section (:

I love it. I love y'all. Hope the family is doing great!

Loves,
Elder Packham

I love it too!  I love knowing that I am living my life close enough to the Spirit that I can be in tune with the needs of other around me.  It isn't just Jake either - I want to be able to be the Lord's hands in all the interactions I have with others.  If you are so inclined, here is an excellent talk on being the Lord's hands:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/you-are-my-hands?lang=eng

No matter if you share the same believes as Jake or I or not - I like to think we all care about each other. It is so important to reach out to others and when you feel prompted to do something for someone, whether it be a text, a phone call, a simple smile - DO IT!  Allow the Lord to work through you - it is amazing!

Here is the rest of his email from that week:

Another week down in the books. 5 month mark is this Saturday. It's hard to believe that I've been out that long already. I feel like I just left home. I've seen so many miracles, I've seen God's hand work in so many things. These past 5 months have been some of the hardest yet most rewarding months of my life. No doubt about it.

P-days are crazy because we have so much to get done. President Mecham is making this the "Most obedient mission in the world." So there is so much to be done in what feels like so little time. That's okay though, the time goes by so much faster when you stay busy. Our investigators are going great! One of our investigators is moving to New Mexico. We referred her on to the missionaries down there and to the church as well. If she was staying she'd be baptized in 2 weeks easy. She's so prepared to hear the gospel and that's why it's hard to see her go. That's where faith comes in to play though. It'll all work out in the end I have no doubt about that. Lindsey, I have not heard about her mission call. I haven't heard from her in a long time actually! I've wrote and emailed her.

You have no idea how happy I am to hear about Halley going to EFY! I wish I were there to see her leave and come home. EFY is definitely a life changing experience. Some of my greatest memories growing up were the EFY experiences. I love hearing about Halley growing spiritually. What made her decide to go to the one in Columbia? Mike as well. It was awesome to get the letters from mike and to hear about his spiritual journey and to hear how he's doing. To walk through scriptures with him as well was neat! I just love it! Jorvik on the other hand.. I haven't heard from him at all!!!  Is Mike all ready for the trip to Idaho? What are you guys doing for the 4th of July???

I loved hearing about the temple trip. I don't think I've ever been to the Winter Quarters temple actually. I'd sure love to go though. I can't wait to get back home and go to college and just visit ALL the temples out west. I just love temples. So many blessings come from going to the temple. It's our sacred duty and obligation to attend the temple so I just can't wait to go. I don't mind doing the work for the living right now (: I love it. The work really is going forth. It's amazing to be apart of this historical time in the history of the world.

This week will be another good week in the books. We have a meeting with the Stake President tomorrow night to talk about missionary work. Him and his wife will feed us dinner as well. I'm really looking forward to that meeting and talking about where we want the stake to be on terms of missionary work and members. We are going with members to watch fire works!! We're allowed to stay out til 11. I'll take pictures!

He sounds good. I can't believe it has been 5 months already!   He doesn't always share the 'hardest' parts with me. I suppose he doesn't want me to worry but I am so grateful that he feels like it has been the most rewarding experience of his life.  I can't wait for him to hear Halley talk about EFY. She LOVED it!!! EFY really is life changing... I haven't been but Jake use to say that and now Halley is saying it!!  It is awesome!  We got Mikey to Idaho and he is settled.  I am proud of him and grateful that he will be able to enjoy his time with family and friends who love him SO much.  It will be refreshing for him to be in a place where he is not being judged in any way.  Jake has been a good brother to the kids - even while on his mission. He is such a rock star!

Elder Packham didn't send any pictures this week of the fireworks but hopefully next time.   I will do another blog post shortly.

Ummm...did you forget to email me?

I am quite behind on blog posts - sorry.  I am taking a couple college classes, etc., etc... and on Sunday night I was up late and thought, "I will write Jake's email in the morning."  Well, the storm hit and let's just say I wasn't able to email him.  He actually thought I had forgotten him?!@  Is that crazy or what?!  As if!

So transfers came on Monday and Jake is staying in Great Falls!!!  He said that he is happy to be staying in an area longer than 6 weeks.  I know that they are working with a couple of investigators and I hope that he continues to find joy in all that he is doing.  Here is how he said it:

        So things are going great. I am so happy to finally stay in an area longer than 6 weeks. I feel like I just got here to Great Falls. Now that we have people to teach and we're in a groove time seems to be slowing down. I'm happy with life right now. 

So I will try to capture some of the things that have happened and bring everyone up to speed.  If you recall, his mission had a mission tour and a lot of meetings.  Elder Arnold of the Seventy came to his area and Jake loved him!  The church office had told them that they would be in for a real treat with Elder Arnold and Jake said they were absolutely right!  While at the mission tour he got to see some of his good friends from the MTC.  All of us know how much Jake treasures his friendships and people so I can imagine this was a VERY good thing for him.

For those that don't know, our church meetings are 3 hours long.  We have sacrament, then we have Sunday school, and then we have either Relief Society, Priesthood, or Primary. For those of you who do know, you might find this funny:

We were in meetings for 9 hours yesterday. I got thinking about previous to the mission and when I got to serve and meetings. I remember thinking how long church was. Heck, now I think church isn't long enough. Average meetings usually last between 4 and 5 hours for us. Today we have a zone training and that will probably last 4 or 5 hours.

Jake shared with me a bit of his meeting with President Mecham. He said that President Mecham is so inspired and that he really loves him and respects him. I am so glad that that is a wonderful relationship. I didn't doubt that it would be but I love hearing the way Jake talks about him - so much love and respect!

Jaime, Bowman, Matt - WRITE JAKE! LOL

Kate - Jake says you will an exceptional missionary! He said that his Bishop's son just got back from Honduras...sounds a bit 'exciting.' ( I suppose that is the best word) Be careful girl! He says that he heard that there are no driving rules there and that you become an extremely offensive driver to keep yourself safe. He also says you owe him a letter! LOL

So... did any of you watch, "The Work of Salvation" missionary broadcast?  IT. WAS. AWESOME.  A little fun fact - the missionary who gave the opening prayer.... Elder Ludlow....Chris Ludlow...was in Jake's EFY group!!!!  How awesome is that?  I can't even imagine how nervous he must have been!

Pictures!

  Thumbs Up!

  He has been doing A LOT of service......

  These sore hands mean he has been doing good things for others!

   Great Falls

  My handsome Elder Packham

  My handsome Jake!

  Hmm.......................

  Great Falls, Montana

  Elder Packham w/Great Falls in the distance

Miracles

I've seen many miracles this week! 2 of them in particular I'd like to talk about. The first technically started at Smith's grocery store. On Thursday all the missionaries in our stake had an appointment with the stake president and his counselors. We were just there to talk about missionary work in the stake and what not. We were at Smiths to carpool from there to the stake presidents house, trying to save miles. While we were at Smiths we saw this super jacked guy. We were like, "wow it'd be cool to baptize that guy" and thought nothing of it. When we tried to contact a less active lady the real miracle happened. We found the house that matched the address given to us and knocked on the door. The same jacked guy from Smiths answered the door! It was kind of funny, we immediately went into a tracting approach. He said he was Presbyterian or something like that and only believed in the bible. His little boy was standing by him and he mentioned how hard it was to raise a family in today's society, we talked a little bit about families and just made small talk with him. He said he's originally from San Antonio, Texas but went into the Air Force and got stationed here in Great Falls. He said while he was in the Air Force he wanted to stay out of trouble so he started lifting weights. He plays football for the semi pro football team here in Great Falls. Check this out though, He's a running back, the head coach of the football team is one of our progressing less actives! We invited him to play ball with us on Mondays and he said he would. He said he'd dunk on all of us white guys though. We then asked him again if we could just borrow 5-10 minutes of his time (It always works, I mean just 5 minutes right?). Always say 5-10 minutes, then of course it goes longer, it always works. So he said yes and we got his information and we gave him a mormon.org card with our number on it. As we started walking away he asked if we would like to fill up our water bottles and I said yes. I was dying for water. So we walked in and his grandma or his wife's grandma? Someone's grandma was there basically. She was from Japan! It's crazy how he's from San Antonio where dad served and the girl was from Japan where grandpa served! His name is Matthew, he has 2 cute kids ages 2 and 9 months.

The second miracle came after dinner. We were upset because we had dinner at a members house (the 1st counselor) and he invited over one of his friends to hear the gospel. He dominated the whole lesson and we had to keep bringing it back. After dinner we just told them we'd walk home even though we were offered a ride. For a reason we didn't know at the time, we just felt like we needed to walk home. As we walked home we saw this odd looking family outside but we kept walking. The next house there was a lady outside on her porch. Elder Cooper felt prompted to say hi, so he did. Just kept walking though. She called us back, "Hey guys come back!" she yelled. So we went back to talk to her and she's like, "My neighbors need help, they smoke marijuana and shoot up drugs. They need God badly. They're messed up (she used a choice word though)." So we told her we'd stop by, but then we asked her if she "needed God" and she said yes. She said she's been actively searching for God and for a good church for awhile now. She said she just got remarried and her husband loves her so much. As she showed us the huge diamond on her hand. She said that they're moving to New Mexico in about 2 weeks. We offered to help with the move and she absolutely loved it! She said they'd pay us each $50 or so but we graciously declined the money and told her we work for free. Then she offered to feed us! We accepted that because dinners with investigators are huge! We'd be able to teach them a lesson after dinner as well. We exchanged information after that and went about our way home. As we were walking home I was frustrated because We'd have to refer them to missionaries in New Mexico. We were talking about contacting the bishop in her area in New Mexico so when they get there members will help them move in. When we got home Elder Cooper and I were talking about who we could call to invite to church the next day. We decided we'd call the lady we just met. We called her and invited her to church. She was very grateful for the invitation but declined. She said she'd go to a different church with her mom this week but next week she'd go to our church! This is a miracle because next week is stake conference where a general authority will be present, as well as President & Sister Mecham and the Temple President! She was very willing to take the discussions. At the end of the phone call she asked us to contact our church in New Mexico to help her and so she can go to that one.

Do you believe in miracles?  Do you believe that things happen for a reason?  I told Jake that I felt like the connection with San Antonio and Japan was a tender mercy from the Lord.  Elder Bednar has said:
           We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance (see 1 Ne. 1:20).

I guess I don't really believe in coincidence.  For me, I believe the Lord's hand is in everything.  It is awesome how the Lord works.  I am grateful that Jake can recognize miracles and/or tender mercies in his life - it will serve him well.  There are mighty miracles and there are smaller miracles - each have their purpose.  They teach us to have faith in the Lord and to recognize the spirit in our lives.


And sadly... Jake has a very busy week coming up.  He said:

We have 24 hours of meetings this next week. That's a full day! We have 6 on Saturday, 6 on Sunday, 7 on Monday, and 5 on Tuesday! It's gonna be a great weekend! Crazy but great! I will be in Helena for the 7 hours of meetings on Monday. I'm still curious as to who will be there from the authorities. I will get to see a lot of the missionaries I came out with so that'll be extremely exciting. Monday is a mission tour. So some of the missionaries that served here a year or 2 will be here. Usually an apostle comes to these as well. So that's exciting! I won't be emailing on Monday though because of that. Helena is like 130 miles away.

That means I won't be getting my email tomorrow - sad, sad, sad.  It's okay though - I know he is doing great!  I love him and I am proud of him.

Q & A Session

So my update is slow this week. Sorry.  Last week I decided I would send Jake a series of questions to answer for me.  I think that sometimes my questions get lost in his email and do not always get answered. So... here ya go:

Do you have any investigators? 2 right now!
Any funny stories this week? No not really. Oh yeahh.. There was this homeless guy walking and Elder Cooper goes, "Just walking home huh?" and he responded, "yeah I just live under the bridge over there.." Hahahah so funny. Elder Cooper felt so bad. I can't believe he said that.
Any spiritual stories to share? Yeah I'll share in a second
Any word on Elder Cooper's visa? NO.
Do you need anything? No.
When did you have your last haircut? 2 weeks ago I cut it myself with some members' clippers.Can you either mail home a memory card so I can have the pictures or can you upload them?  I will upload them today
Did Bowman email you?  No I have not heard from bowman. Give him my email.
Have you written a letter to Bishop to share with the ward? No I have not. I'll do that this week.

Jake also had something sweet to say to me.  That boy...he sure knows how to make his momma feel good.  Being a good mother is so important to me and knowing that I am teaching my kids the right things is my number one priority.  Here is what Jake had to say:

Yesterday we taught Young Womens! Hahaha it was great! We made em cry (: There were only 3 of them, our ward is super small. The lesson was "What are the keys of the priesthood?" The lesson could have been better in my opinion but I'm a perfectionist! One of the counselors asked us "What are some examples of women in your life that have helped you fulfill your calling and duty as a priesthood holder?" I had never really thought of that before. I loved that question though. I mentioned you and Alli.