This has been a kind of tough week, since we’ve been really sick, with the flu or some fever and cold combination. My companion and I spent a day and several half days in the house, and that can get ya down.

Over that past while I have learned the great importance of being diligent in what I do, that consistency is necessary to be happy and successful… maybe thats why the missionary schedule is so organized.  Wake up time, daily exercise, scripture study, service, bed time… And when we don’t feel well we tend to let our consistency slip, which makes us feel worse and makes it harder to get things in motion again. Diligence is so important in our personal progress! …especially when its most difficult.

One of my greatest personal studies I have had happened this week… When I was sick, I still got up on time and I sill studied in the Book of Mormon. The Lord blessed me for doing so! I have been studying and pondering much about the “mighty change” and know that change is a product of constant righteousness. One of my favorite scriptures that I found this week is Alma 19:33 “… and they did all declare unto the people the selfsame thing — that their hearts had been changed; that they had no more desire to do evil.” I didn’t quite understand completely before that a mighty change doesn’t mean that you’re not tempted, but rather that you don’t give in to your temptations because the desire to sin is replaced with the desire to follow Christ. I understand that we need opposition, or in this case to be tried, and that even Christ was tempted, however He never gave in. I sincerely want this mighty change, or to not have the desire to sin. Although sometimes we feel along ways away, I know that the Lord will help us with this and that it will come over time as we put forth our greatest effort to be constantly righteous.

I love you all!

Have a diligent, productive week!

-Bryce

Well, there is lots to tell, seeing that everything is crazy different now. First off, I’m in one of the largest cities in the world! I am in a trio, which is pretty cool. My companions are Elder Olson (the old financial sec. who is training me) and Elder Muñoz (who is the material’s secretary). They are both great! Our area is right across the street from the temple!!! It’s amazing!!! Our church service starts at 2 pm. In my old area, it was at 8:30 am, so that will be hard to adjust to! I was so tired yesterday in sacrament meeting and fell asleep a few times. :/

First things first… ¡Feliz cumpleaños a Emily! [Happy birthday to Emily] I hope that it will be a great one! I know as an adult they’re not the same, but for me I enjoy reflecting on all the things that have past… and you have more of a past to reflect on than I do. he he he I love you, Emily.

This week has been well, I had a reunion on Thursday at the temple for mission leaders, which happens every 6 months. It was great. I went with Elder King and Elder Galiana and my companion worked with the missionaries in our district for the day. So there was only about 35 missionaries there and one of the area authorities came and spoke to us as well as the mission President, the director of the visitors center and the assistants to the Pres. I was also asked by the visitors center Director to share about the open house we held last month in our church and how we baptized one of the families that came and 2 other families came to church several times and went to the visitors center in the D.F. It is the only visitors center in Mexico and Latin America, so the area authorities are working to try and help us take advantage of this great missionary tool we have in our mission.

Elder Carbara, who spoke to us in this meeting gave a great example about repentance and how sometimes we grow accustomed to bad habits we need to change. Ex. Have you ever walked into a house where there was a little bit of gas leaking? You can notice the strong smell instantly, however if you stay in its presence your senses grow accustomed and you stop noticing the smell. When we allow ourselves to stop doing thing we should (like praying sincerely, taking the time to study the scriptures every day and enjoying it, going to church, etc.) we grow accustomed and stop recognizing that there is a problem. However, just because the gas is no longer smelt doesn’t mean that the hazard isn’t real, in fact with more time the gas collects more potent and is all the more dangerous. Is there anything that you can change in your life? Yes… of course there is! What are 5 of them? The first step to repentance (a sincere change) is to RECOGNIZE there is something wrong.

I pray that we can all better our lives by “awakening our senses” and looking for the things we need to change, and doing it. Repentance and change is one of the most spiritual experiences we can have. God is happy when we repent, we are happy when we repent, He will help us, the sacrifice of Jesus enables us to change. Without repentance we cannot accept nor apply His sacrifice in our lives. I know that repentance is necessary for our personal progress and is made possible through Jesus Christ!

I love you all so must and am truly grateful you are my family!

-Bryce

Okay, so changes [transfers] happen tomorrow and neither I nor my companion have changes…it will be the longest time I will have been with one companion, however I am excited, we are having lots of success.

Yesterday, we baptized a woman named Matilde Noyola and her 17 year old daughter Gabriela. They are great and have family that live near and came for their baptisms; so now we will start working on the family.

I love you all!

Bryce

Happy Easter everyone! It’s been an interesting week… One time I ate lunch and in less than an hour I saw it again… it was still identifiable …Now the real strange thing is about a half hour later I saw the cucumber…. the one I ate about a half hour before lunch!  You guys can try to figure that one out. So yeah, I was sick with the Mexican curse, however I’ve felt better today.

Yesterday [Sunday] we had to help with several baptisms… which involved showering at 4 am and going to the chapel to turn on the boiler and fill up the font…then take a quick nap and then conduct a baptismal interview at 6:45 and participate in the service at 7 am. When that was all over, we left to get our investigators and return to the church.

Later the missionaries from our district came to explain that their scheduled baptisms fell through because they were the children of a Catholic father and a mother who is a member. And the father decided that the children weren’t going to be baptized…So I went with one of the other Elders to the family’s house and we taught the whole family about the restoration and set a baptismal date for the father as well. We had several prayers…and then the whole family came with us to the church for their children’s baptisms. It wasn’t quite as easy as that! To say the least, we had lots of help!!! …Especially considering the father has never even been near our church building. However as mom says, “all is well that ends well”.

Other things that have been going on are… I don’t think that the zone leaders are greatly pleased with my district’s performance, and am feeling like we need to go on divisions [splits] with them soon. Oh well.
My “son”…Elder Nuñez (the missionary I trained) is in the district of Elder Reed (my cousin). Wow that’s a kind of Spanglish way to say that… I’ve really forgotten how to use the possessive “S”.

We had Zone conference with our mission President and he is the MAN. We reviewed what we’ve learned in our 90 day study of the Book of Mormon and he has tapped into another dimension of this book! The Book of Mormon is incredible, especially when you are looking for specific things!

Well until next week…

I love you all!!! And hope you are all very happy!

Bryce

It’s been a long week! Yeah, we got [more] elders to form our district again! …And I have my [mobile] phone again which makes my life easier and it’s a lot easier on my wallet! The new Elders are Elder Moke (who went to high school in Spanish Fork) and Elder Vazquez who was companions with my companion last cycle. They are really good and working hard. I am so excited for General Conference! I’ve been thinking about it every day for weeks. Our stake is going to be packed seeing though as we have 12 wards! We didn’t have any baptisms this week which is kind of a downer however we brought a really great family to church and they own an ice cream, popsicle shop and they are going to teach me how to make mexican ice-cream yumm …Next family reunion, I’ll show you all what’s up.

So I’ve been in the mission for 10.5 months which is almost year and holes are appearing daily in my clothes and shoes and my socks have been “open toed” for quite a while now. I can’t believe how fast time goes when you are always busy. …Mother’s Day will be here soon and I will get to talk with you again! I am very excited for that. This time I would like to have a chance to chat with Ceci for a little bit!

Well, I know its short however I am going to the Post office to mail you those disks of picture that I still haven’t mailed. Sorry!

I hope you are all excited for general conference, it’s going to be amazing! I know that you will hear and learn things that can help make life a little better and more understandable, we all will! I remember the talks in General Conference a year and a half ago (specifically the Priesthood session) that really helped me to make the decision to go on a mission… and this has been a huge blessing for me!

I love you all and pray and hope and know that the Lord will bless every one of you. Take care of one another.

Elder Packer

P.S. One other thing I’ve been thinking about a lot ,Mom and Dad, is how I really know very little about you two. Where, when, and how you meet, what that was like, etc. I would like it if you could write me about your selves, please.