Hola Familia y a todos [Hello family and all],

¡Feliz año nuevo! [Happy New Year!] It’s been an eventful year and I know this one will be too! New Year’s Eve we had an activity where we evaluated what we had accomplished and set new goals for the remainder of the mission. It was a really special experience, which helped me to know how many blessings I have really received throughout the past year. I would like to make modified version of part of this activity and invite each one of you to do it. I promise that it will give you direction and greater success throughout this next year.

1. Make a list of the accomplishments/results that you REALLY want to see happen this year. …While doing so ask yourself how you are going to respond when someone asks you, “What were you able to accomplish during this year?” Focus on results that have to do with others rather than just your personal progress. So I guess the question is better phrased, “What were you able to accomplish for others during this year?”
2. After making this list share it with someone else (who is also participating in this activity).
3. Go over you own list again and revise and add to it following the inspiration you received from your partner’s list.
4. Next, make a list of your accomplishments from the past year.
5. Add to it a list of the reasons you were able to accomplish what you were able to.
6. Next, make a list of the things you would need to do to be able to have more success.

From this activity you will be able to make several goals that are in harmony with your desires for this coming year. I feel that the most important is that of service!

You can also add prayers and singing hymns and reading scriptures to this activity which will help to invite the spirit and conduce personal revelation.

Well, times up. Have a great start of the year and do what is necessary to make the whole year that way!

Love
~Bryce

It was great to be able to talk with all of you! It was an experience that has enlarged my joy and renewed my determination to do my best. I truly feel blessed to have such an amazing family!

This has been an unforgettable week! I have had several special experiences that have helped me to remember all of the great blessings that have come because the Savior and the decisions I have made to follow Him. One of them was being able to spend the evening with President Bulloch and his family; another, which I feel is the greatest, was being able to share the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ with many willing hearts that have been softened to His good word. This week we worked hard and were blessed to find and teach many who have been prepared to receive the Lord into their lives. It has helped me to remember how the Lord has snatched me from my lost and suffering state and lead me to the still waters, and how we have the power to do the same for others. Could I have received greater joy from any other gift? No! I love the Lord and being part of His glorious work!

May the Lord bless us all with more determination and success is my desire and my prayer. I love every one of you so much!

~Elder Packer

Dear Family & Friends,

It is a great pleasure and a nearly an impossible task to try and communicate what I have experienced in the past year.

As a missionary and a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ I have struggled to know Him better, and what it is He expects of me. Central in this process has been sincere personal prayer and a daily study of the Book of Mormon. Through the written word of God and personal communication with Him I have been able to understand more fully what the Savior has done for us and what it is that He expects of me and each one of us. And for that I am profoundly grateful!

“With saints of old in joyful cry
I too can testify:
This is the Christ.
This is the Christ,
The holy Son of God,
Our Savior,
Lord,
Redeemer of mankind.
This is the Christ,
The Healer of our souls,
Who ransomed us with love divine.”

We can choose to accept the great gifts He has to offer us, and obtain great hope, peace and even eternal life as we seek to follow Him, as we repent and obey His commandments and are washed clean and born again through baptism.

One of the greatest truths I have learned this year is that this really is a choice, it’s voluntary. The Lord has given us our free agency and will never obligate us. He has said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.”

My prayer and invitation to you, is that in a season when we tend to reflect upon that which is good, may we do more than reflect, may we answer the Lord´s call and “open the door” unto Him, that He may abide in us and us in Him.

With great love,
Elder Bryce Sterling Packer

Querida Familia y Amigos,

Es un gran placer y una tarea casi imposible de realizar el comunicarles todo lo que he experimentado en este año pasado.

Como misionero y representante del Señor Jesucristo, he luchado por conocerle mejor, y por saber que es lo que Él espera de mí. La sincera oración personal y un estudio diario del Libro de Mormón han sido centrales en este proceso. Por medio de la palabra escrita de Dios y la comunicación personal con Él he sido capaz de entender mas plenamente que es lo que el Señor ha hecho por nosotros y que es lo que Él espera de mí y de cada uno de nosotros. ¡Y estoy profundamente agradecido por eso!

“Con santos de la antigüedad en gritos de alegría
Yo también puedo testificar:
Este es el Cristo.
Este es el Cristo,
El Santo Hijo de Dios,
Nuestro Salvador,
Señor,
El Redentor de la Humanidad.
Este es el Cristo,
El sanador de nuestras almas,
Que nos rescató con amor divino.”

Podemos elegir aceptar los grandes regalos que Él tiene para ofrecernos, y obtener gran esperanza, paz, e inclusive vida eterna a medida que nos esforcemos por seguirle, que nos arrepintamos, que obedezcamos sus mandamientos, que seamos limpios y nazcamos de nuevo a través del bautismo.

Una de las verdades más grandes que he aprendido durante este año es que esa realmente es una elección, es voluntaria. El Señor nos a dado nuestro libre albedrío y nunca nos obligará. Él ha dicho “He aquí, yo estoy a la puerta y llamo; si alguno oye mi voz y abre la puerta, entraré y cenaré con él, y él conmigo.”

Mi oración e invitación a ustedes es que en esta temporada cuando tendemos a reflexionar sobre lo que es bueno, hagamos más que solo reflexionar, que podamos contestar la llamada del Señor y “abrir la puerta” a Él, para que Él pueda permanecer en nosotros y nosotros en Él.

Con gran amor,
Elder Bryce Sterling Packer

Happy Thanksgiving… kind of late. mmmm… pumpkin pie, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, homemade rolls, gravy… I ate tacos dorados.

These weeks have been the busiest of my life! It’s the end of the cycle which is when I have lots of work and it’s the end of the month which is also when I have lost of work. Plus we’ve been driving all around the mission delivering new beds and other supplies through out the mission… Then I got the dreaded email from the financial director for all the missions in Mexico saying I have to close out all the finances for the year (Jan-Nov) this week and have all the reports turned in. I’m not sure if I explained that as a non-prophet organization we need receipts for EVERYTHING and that makes a lot of reports. So I’ve been busy!

That’s exciting that Kerry is back and will be with some of the family for Thanksgiving. I realized at about 7:30 am that it was Thanksgiving Day and that mom was probably in the kitchen preparing dough for the rolls or pies, then I quickly changed my thoughts.

Really quickly the things I am grateful for are:
• my Family (I state it every night in my prayers)
• the Restored Gospel
• and my country  ;)

I love the tradition of giving thanks, because when we recognize all that we have been given, we are happier. We focus less on gaining more (what we don’t have), and more on giving what we do have.  It is the opposite of materialism and selfishness, and materials can NEVER bring us happiness. Giving thanks is an act of humility, and humility is a sign of strength. Like exercise, it is hard, but as we develop it we become healthier, stronger, happier and more beautiful.

I believe that sincere gratitude (including expressing it) is essential for our health and well being. It is sad to see how we sometimes allow ourselves to be deceived into believing that happiness and self-worth are determined by or possessions.

¿Do we measure our own wealth on how much we gain or on how much we give? Giving, especially through service, is the true way to express one’s gratitude and to obtain real wealth.

I love you, my family, and am truly grateful for every one of you, your love and support, and sacrifices on the family’s behalf. I pray that you will continue to humbly serve one another.

-Bryce

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life! I hope everyone took some time to reflect on and give thanks for the amazing and wonderful country we live in. … I do every day.

Things in Mexico are well, we cleaned the house for the first time in over a month. I think and it needed it! Several frogs have gotten into our house and we don’t know how…. there are lots of frogs now with all the rain we’ve been having.

Yesterday we had a nice baptism; her name is Fatima Zepeda. She’s been coming to church for a while because her older sister, Rosa, is a member, who found the church in Chili while she was living there for a year.

Yesterday were the political elections here and I am so happy they are over!!! They are nuts; they pay people for 2 months to drive around with banners on their cars and megaphones strapped to the top playing the jingles of all the political candidates… that’s not to mention there are at least 8 major political parties here. They also paint their signs on the walls of the houses and buildings along most of the streets and post banners and stickers and give dispenses of food, clothing, hats, bags and any other thing you can think of. One of them in particular is Jesus Tolentino representing the “PRI” party, and I always have his song stuck in my head… “…Mas calles pavimentadas, agua potable, drenages tambien. Chimalhuacan votara para ti Tolentino…” [More paved roads, potable water, drainage, too. Chimalhuacan voted for you Tolentino.] I guess where ever you go politicians are the same.

I really like it here, mainly because of the people (because it’s not a very pretty place). However, I feel like I’ve worked about everywhere possible, and next cycle a change would be nice, however we’ll see what happens.

I love you all! Have a great week!

-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