22 February 2016
Dear Harris Family,
This letter is to inform you that your son, Elder Michael James Packham , has been assigned to fill the position of Zone Leader in our mission. Elder Packham has the responsibility to train, lift, inspire, and motivate the missionaries in the Prados Zone.
There are high expectations of your son in this new assignment because "as go the zone leaders, so goes the mission". A Zone Leader must be the leader of the zone in every regard; in his work, in his own area, in his worthiness, and in his obedience. The missionaries of his zone will follow his example and I'm sure that it will be a good example. I'm confident that your son will inspire his zone to follow his lead and to rise to the high expectations and standards that the Lord has for them as His representatives.
I congratulate you on having such a fine son and thank you for having helped prepare such an excellent missionary. Please continue to pray fervently for him so that he will be able to fulfill his responsibilities in a manner pleasing to the Lord. Know that your son has my full confidence, love, and support as he continues to grow and develop as a servant of the Lord.
Sincerely,
President Todd Titensor
2/15/16 - Miracles In Our Zone
So this week was a super week for our zone! Our zone leaders had a family that made the decision to get married so that they could get baptized. It was super special to see for myself such a big miracle in the missionary work this week. Also something truly special happened the Elders that are in my district and the Sister both baptized so we have 5 baptisms in one day! It was super great to see how truly happy they are to have made the change in there lives so that they might come closer to the lord. Ohh and we got invited to banana splits in an ice cream shop that was pretty awesome!
I want to share with
you all something that I learned this Sunday. We were in our ward
council and we were talking about what we needed to do so that we could
visit the members better as an Elders Quorum. To be honest I got a
little frustrated because we have been talking about this same talking
for about 4 weeks and I haven't seen any progress. So I shared my
testimony and stated the need that we had in the ward and why we had
that need. One of the sister missionaries invited me to read 2 Nephi 31
and see how many times it says things lovingly. I got the message
clearly that I wasn't showing enough love I felt bad and to be honest my
natural man said to get upset and not listen. I tuned out my natural
self accepted the advice and as I participated in the sacrament I knew
without a doubt that I could change and I will change.
My
feelings during testimony meeting were real I know that I might not be
perfect or even close but I have to do my best to try. I love the savior
and all that he has done for me and each and everyone of us. I know
that it might be hard that we might be super critical of ourselves but
that doesn't mean we are to far away from the savior for him to help us. I
know that in our weakness we will be made strong. We all are sons and
daughters of a loving heavenly father that doesn't put conditions on his
love. Never in this life are we alone it doesn't matter where we live or
what we are doing.
Forgiveness. Forgive
ourselves and then forgive every single other person that has ever
offended or hurt us. That's a statement and an invitation if you didn't
catch that. I love you and the savior loves you and we both are going
to forgive you for what you have done to us, to be honest the Savior
forgives faster than I do but I'm working on thinning the German
resentment haha. Never forget to forgive and you will live a happy life.
All he love that I have,
Elder Packham
2/8/16 - It's Not About You
So we had our first service project as a district and it went super well! We helped paint a house in the sisters area and it was literally the whole house. So about the title this week we had a training and presidents wife shared this song and I absolutely loved it! Its how we feel as missionaries the more we work the more that we lose ourselves in what we are doing the greater we find the lord in our lives.
I
want to share with you all that I know that with faith all things are
possible when we have faith. I was reading in Exodus the other day about
the time when moses was leading the people and the lord sent poisonous
snakes to bite the people and help them learn a powerful symbolic
lesson. The only thing that they had to do was look at a staff where
moses had placed one of these snakes and they would be healed, something
super easy. Yet due to the easiness of the way many died and refused to
be healed.
Something really simple that we can do to help
those around us is to serve them. We can be the little miracle that they
need to keep on going. I would like to testify that its probably the
people that its hardest to serve that need it the most. ITs not about us
in the least its about the impact that we make in the lives of those
around us. I remember what it was like when my dad passed away it wasnt
the great accomplishment that had people come to the service it was the
service that he had rendered in his life.
I know that the
lord sees me and you personally. I have no doubt in my mind that he has a
plan prepared for you. DyC 78:17 states that he has that plan for us.
Sometime we like to think that we know what he is going to do or how he
is going to do it but thats not true like it says in the bible his ways
are always higher than our ways.
I love you all so much!
Elder Packham
2/1/16 - Never Been Taller
So literally I seem super tall here in mexico sometimes! However thats not when I put the title that I did. This week I went to my knees, its not something new for a missionary but I poured out my soul to the lord more than ever before. The lord answered louder than ever before, we have seen an outpouring of miracles these last few days. Maybe they dont seem to big to other people but they have been a world of difference in our lives.
I would like to start by talking about one of the
miracles that we witnessed in our service this week, please see attached
fotos. We were able to help this sweet family change homes. After doing
so quite rapidly the neighbor said I feel impressed that I should speak
to you when can you come by our home. That ladies and gentlemen is a
miracle I dont care who ya are haha.
Things here in the
mission and in life change so often but the lord and his ways are always
the best for us. I would like to invite you all to read the story of
Jared and his brother this week and think about yourself in the "boat"
of life. Sometimes the same wind and waves we experienve are bringing us
closer to the lord.
I would like to share the real love that I have for you all!
Elder Packham
1/25/16 - 1 Year
So I feel like I kind of left everyone hanging last week with my letter. Some days are hard on the mission but they are as hard as you let them be. Its really about perspective. In my last letter I mentioned that we don't always wake up eager to share the gospel and do missionary things but that changes by the time we finish giving the lord a sincere prayer. I truly know that the lord didn't create us so that we could have anything less then complete and real joy in our lives. 2 nephi 2:25
I
want to testify to you that when we are doing our very best to do our
very best the lord is helping us. I know that sometimes we get
discouraged and feel like we arent making a difference at all but thats
not true, every decision that we make has an impact at least on
ourselves. I really want you all to know how much the lord can do for us
if we let him do it. This week I was thinking about the plan that we
have in mexico for all of mexico as a church. A large part of this plan
is preparation and what we are doing so we might come closer to the
lord. In Doctrines and Covenants 38:30 it says,"...if ye are prepared ye
shall not fear." I believe that applies to all things in our lives.
If
we would do what it takes to be prepared for the lord to lead us and
help us be a happier people he will take us there without fear. I truly
love that the lord only invites us to do things that he knows we should
do. He will never force us to change anything just wait patiently
confident in our ability to do the right thing. The lord gave us a
promise after he invites us to prepare he says, "And that ye might
escape the power of the enemy, and be gathered unto me a righteous
people, without spot and blameless."
The lord has great
blessings in store for us. All we have to do is try our very best to
give him what we can in exchange. I trust in the grace that the lord
gives freely i know that it isnt a cheap experience that doesnt require
anything of me. I know the true grace that the lord offers us gives the
power to not only be free of our past but to hopefully look and work
toward a better future.
Something that I hope every week is
that you can all feel the love that I have for you. However I hope its
more than the love that I can offer I hope you really feel the love the
savior can offer you.
All my heart,
Elder Packham
1/18/16 - He Will Lift You and Carry You
To be honest I´ve been struggling with a few things the last few weeks and its been interesting to see how the lord has helped me to overcome them. Sometimes in our lives we like to think that we know what we are capable of without even bothering to ask the lord we think, I know me Ive known me my whole life. We forget that our father in heaven knows us since before this life!
Some tender mercies that I have seen this
week... First is that we had two new investigators come to church and
two sweet sisters helped them the whole time without us saying or doing
anything unusual to facilitate it! The Second was that I really felt
wiped out and that I couldnt teach our gospel principles class but
before you knew it the lord had me in his arms and was doing everything
through me. I really felt the spirit so strongly in this moment.
I
would love to invite all of you to think about in what ways you can
change to be more like christ. Something that we always talk about as
missionaries is preparation and how we can better prepare. I know that
if you can see what things that you need to change and do all that you
can to be prepared the lord will change in exactly the right moment.
There
are days in our lives that we wake up and we dont have a huge smile on
our face ready to tackle a new day. Does that mean that we have failed?
No! That means that we are human, there are days that missionaries wake
up and the first thing they want to do is go back to bed. Its on our
hard days that we show the lord how much we love him, if we can feel
super happy we can do all in our power to help someone else.
I love you all so much. Rely on the lord,
Elder Packham
1/16/16 - Different
I want to do something different today than I have done before. I want to tell you that its been an incredible week and I have learned so many wonderful things. Instead of telling you all what I have learned this week I want to invite you all to share with me what you have learned. I really love you all and I think of you all often.
I will share with you a little thing that has really stood out to me this week.
Abraham 3:23
And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst
of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among
those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said
unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou
wast born.
This is a scripture that has been on my mind a lot
lately. I hear a lot in the mission that I dont feel ready for this that
or the other but I think this scripture is a great answer to that
feeling that we may have. The lord has been preparing us since before we
were born we just have forgetten it. We were and are good souls and
have made the right decisions to be here on the earth at this time. I
hope that you all know and understand your divine potential and what are
your right to have a conversation with him.
The lord loves
us so much thats something that I can testify to with all my heart. You
are all loved sons and daughters of a father in heaven who knows who you
are down to the hair of your head. I loved a talk that I heard from
Elder Holland called,"bitter cup and bloody baptism." He described God
as a surgeon that the more he loves us the more he goes on cutting and
cleaning so that we can be physically and emotionally clean and live
healthy lives better than we were before. If he didnt love us or didnt
care he wouldnt keep cutting and cleaning. The lord heals us like the
world cant.
I love you all so much,
Elder Packham
1/11/16 - Letter from Mission President
11 January 2016
Dear Harris Family,
This letter is to inform you that your son, Elder Michael James Packham, has been called to fill the assignment of Trainer in the Mexico Mexico City North Mission. He will have the responsibility to train, lift, inspire and elevate his new companion, Elder Avalos, to a level acceptable to the Lord.
“And if any man among you be strong…let him take with him him that is weak, that he may be edified in all meekness, that he may become strong also.” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:106 emphasis added)
I cannot over emphasize the impact a Trainer has on his companion. We congratulate you on having such a fine son and thank you for having helped prepare such an excellent missionary. Please continue to pray fervently for him so that he will continue to seek, find and follow the guiding influence of the Lord.
Sincerely,
President Todd Titensor
1/4/16 - A New Year
So this is 2016 What are you going to do with it? Thats something that has been on my mind a lot this week. I will spend this whole year in the lords service what will I do with this time that I have? I know that I will do my very best this year so that in the next year I will have nothing to look back on and regret. I know that even if I make mistakes and am not perfect I will have perfect help from the only perfect person that ever lived.
I really want to share with you all something
that I have learned this week. I have been doing a lot of thinking about
what is love. These dates mark 15 years without my father in my life, I
dont exactly know why but this year I was more aware of it than ever.
Maybe it is because Ive heard it said that as missionaries we are the
only father figures that people will have the chance to see in there
lives. It was a day filled with a lot of emotion and I couldnt help but
think about the idea of love and what that really is. In the mission you
learn to love. I can say that with my whole soul you learn to love the
people, your companions, the members, and most importantly the lord.
My
heart has been changed this past year and I know that it will keep
changing. I hope that all of you can think about what you can do with
this wonderful gift we have, another year. The lord loves you all so
much! As you set goals this year I want you all to remember that the
lord doesnt expect you to be perfect just try your very best.
I
really want to send you all fotos but I left my camera in the other
pueblo where we live so that will have to wait till next week.
Love you so much,
Elder Packham
12/28/15 - The Christmas Week
So this week has been super neat! I got to see my family that was amazing! Also I learned a bunch of things from the members and the missionaries that I never have thought of before. I hope that you all had a merry christmas and were able to show your thanks for the savior in some special way. Something that my family does that I really love is every year we think about what gift we are going to give to christ. I want you all to think about this invitation and see what you might be able to give to christ.
So this week I was given the opportunity to
teach our gospel principles class about agency.
Something that I found
that I really liked was a scripture in Revelations 3:15-16
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
I
believe that this refers to us as people. We decide what kind of
temperture we are going to be whether it is hot cold or somewhere in
between.
Its a short letter this week but I hope you can all ponder about what temperature you are as a member.
I love you all,
Elder Packham
12/21/15 - Jesus the Christ
So this week was a truly wonderful week not because of the things
that I did but because of the things that I have learned. I have learned
so much throughout my mission but this week was special for a couple of
reasons. The first was something that I learned from the spirit and how
when we feel something we must act up on it. So something that I felt
this week was that I needed to prepare a talk for church but I thought
that the bishop would call me or I would hear about it from something so
I started to put it off. Then Sunday came and after the sacrament the
bishop asked me to get up and give a talk. I hadnt prepared something on
paper but it had been something that I had been thinking about. It was
amazing to hear that the bishop had felt a prompting and I as well had
felt it and in that moment we could see the lord working.
One
spiritual experience that I had this week was visiting a family that
had recently returned from the hospital with there grandfather. One of
his grand daughters was there and we started talking to this 12 year old
girl and she expressed that she wasnt a member but she wanted to be.
Her father wouldnt let her, we didnt want to be insensitive to a
delicate situation so we congradulated her and invited her to keep
preparing. As we finished the lesson with this family we asked her to
say the prayer I have never heard a more genuine and moving pray in my
life. I hope to one day she we see this dream she has come true.
I
want to share with you all how much that I love you and how much the
lord loves you and is in your lives. Sometimes we think that he doesnt
know whats going on or is picking on us but that isnt the case. I love
in Mosiah when it talks about the people of Alma who didnt have there
trials removed until after they were strong enough to carry them. Thats
how the lord will work not for what we think is best for us right now
its what he knows will be best for us in the long run.
I invite you all to watch this video about the birth of Christ.
https://youtu.be/xCxV9CbC180
Love,
Elder Packham 12/14/15
So I love it here its a lot of work for us to do but I have faith that we can do great things here. I know that the lord puts us in our areas because even before we came into this world he was preparing people for us to visit in every area. Here there are a lot of people that have talked to us before but this is the first time they have talked to US and thats all im focusing on haha!
We really have been working on as
a mission to find out what we can do to be consecrated and be better.
This week really helped me to understand how because we got to witness
the dedication of the tijuana temple and wow what a cool experience that
was. I want to share with you all my testimony about the temple I want
you all to know that there we can be healed we can find something that
doesnt have any equivalent in the world today. What makes to temple so
special for me is that I think its there we can find true light or
truth. In a world where there is so much false light that can
attractively seem like its something that we need to temple provides us
with a perspective that is outside of all that.
I want you
all to watch this video. I could feel the spirit from the very beginning
of this short but powerful clip. What would the world be like if the
savior wasnt born? Thats something that I dont even want to spend to
much time thinking about, he has come and he has saved us from the
finite grasp of justice.
I
hope that you all know how special christ is to me. I was worried that
this time of year would be super hard for me not being home and to be
honest it has been a little bit difficult but I want to share something
with you. I have never felt the spirit so strong as we have talked about Christ in every contact these last few weeks. Wow how incredible it is
to think about the implications of that moment on my life. I really
would not be the person that I am today if it wasn't for that moment in
history and what that little baby would do for the lives of every single
one of us.
I hope that you all are having a great christmas
season! I want to invite you all to study the new testament these weeks
and see how you might feel different this christmas season.
All my love,
Elder Packham
No comments:
Post a Comment