Mission Newsletter

“Give Fully to the Lord and Have a Plan”

Ukraine Kyiv Mission
31 Aug 2015

Quote: “And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.” Alma 23:6

Dear Elders and Sisters,

This letter is a smattering of different thoughts from our interviews.
Overall feeling: We have the best missionaries in the whole world! It was uplifting to meet with each of you.
Goal Setting and Planning: Everyone has room to improve, most stink at it. If goal setting and planning isn't something you look forward to as a revelatory experience, you are not doing it right. Even if you have a blank calendar for the next day, your daily planning should take 30 minutes and you should be seeking revelation on where to go and what things to share. Your weekly planning should be on a Thursday or Friday afternoon and should be 2-3 hours. We need you planning like Sisters Meyers and Payne before the new missionaries come. Leaving behind an area book and being an example of a Preach My Gospel missionary who can plan will be an amazing legacy to leave behind even if you are leaving this transfer.

Gossip: Stop it! The devil is its author and it is slowing the work. Only say good things about previous companions or other missionaries. "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all."

Consecration: If you can’t give your heart, might, mind and strength to your area and the Lord, you still have your landing gear down. This landing gear takes the form of talking about home, spending too much time on Preparation Day writing letters home or wasting time on the internet. The happiest most effective time on my mission was the time when I totally left home behind. Once at 10:15 PM, I forgot I hadn't called home for Christmas; I spoke with my family for only 10 minutes

so that I could get to bed on time.
Let the Little Things Go: I remember the day my life changed for the better in an incredible way. I was in a watermelon eating contest and watched as we all wasted time cleaning the seeds out of our pieces of

watermelon. I wanted to win, so I decided to just eat and swallow and not worry about the seeds. It was easy. It was amazing! I won the contest but I also won in life, because to this day I just eat the watermelon seeds and all. It is so much more enjoyable. It took a little bit of practice not to bite any seeds but now I am a pro. The same thing happened while fishing with the boys at Utah Lake this year. There were a million little bugs, what I thought were mosquitoes, flying

around in our eyes and landing on us. When I figured out they weren't biting and were just little flies, I just didn't pay any attention to them (like the watermelon seeds). I could have swatted and smacked and been miserable the whole time we fished, but I didn't and it was a great time. Did the flies go away? No, my attitude changed.

Love,
President Packer