Answers to questions
Editor’s note: Bryce’s mother, Tanda, sent Bryce a set of questions. Below are his answers.
Thanks, mom, for the questions, after a tiring week it helps the not so creative mind.
1. Your place in Mexico City was very nice it seemed. What is you housing like now?
My apartment right now is nice, its very small, however clean (now) and in a very central location I my area, which helps.
2. Do you live with 1 or 3 other elders and who are they and where are they from?
I only live with my companion, Elder Alcantar, who is great! He is from Torreon, Cuahuila, Mexico.
3. What is your area like now? poor, wealthy, middle class etc.?
It’s a little pueblo on a hillside, next to the volcanos. There are lots of dirt roads here and adobe houses. It’s nice, I would say it is my favorite area of them all. So many of the people here are receptive to the Gospel.
4. We are hearing lots of information about violence etc. tied to drug wars have you seen that type of things going on?
Nope, thats all in the north of the country like in Ciudad Juarez.
5. What did you buy for your birthday?
To be honest, I spent most of the money sending that package home. 
However we are having a shirt and matching rings made, and I will probably go to Mexico City my last week to buy a couple of keepsakes.
6. Do you need some more money? if so about how much?
Well, because of the package, it might be nice to have some money to buy a couple things at the end as well as some stuff for the family. If you could send a little for that I will pay you back.
7. Where do you email from now?
An internet cafe close to the house.
8. Are you on foot now?
yep 
9. Who are your investigators and how are they coming along?
Well, we just had a baptism yesterday of a sweet old woman, Maria, who is 80, however she is still sharp. It was a very special baptismal service. This week we are going to be baptizing Luis, the son of a recent convert who didn’t want to go to church before, but now is very excited about the gospel. Axel is a youth who is super intelligent and reading the Book of Mormon and bunch (we have really seen how the gospel has brought a brightness in his countenance); and we also have Cynthia and Sandra who were supposed to get baptized yesterday, but fell off the face of the earth over the week end, so we’ll see what will happen with them.
10. What are some of your duties as district leader?
There are not that many really, the most important are baptismal interviews, which are a lot gratefully. Then district class, receiving and giving key indicator reports on Thursdays and Saturdays, delivering pouch on Sundays.
11. How many companionships do you have in your district?
My companion and I and two other companionships, so 6 Elders, 3 companionships.
12. What are your worries this week?
Not finding Cynthia and Sandra for their baptisms this week.
13. What gave you joy this week?
Maria’s baptism, not being sick anymore (my companion and I had bad colds for a few weeks), and my district class went well.
14. Do you get to watch General Conference live or as a rebroadcast?
Live in our chapel, because it’s the stake center. The chapel is kind of far away, its the same word, but in another area.
I hope that keeps your curiosity tied over for the week, I’m looking forward to reading all you letters!
Well congratulations Emily beforehand on your deliver date. you asked me about my release date… Well, I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you but since I was in the offices still when they bought my plane ticket, I am coming home on Saturday, May 15th… and if I remember correctly, I fly into Dulles around 3:30 pm.
…but we’ll worry about all of that later!
Love you all! Have a fantastic week!
-Elder Packer
Welcome back to the mission field!
¡Bienvenidos al campo misional! [Welcome to the mission field!]
Hola Familia,
Here I am, very happy out in Bautizaluca (Ixtapaluca)! [Pronounced eextapalooka. South-east of Mexico City.]
San Francisco is the name of my area which is a soon to be branch of the ward Los Heroes (which is the Assistants area). And it is amazing here! My companion, Elder Alacantar, and I are working harder than I have ever worked in my whole mission! It is his last cycle in the mission. He is a really exceptional missionary, we’ve been running in the mornings, studying hard together and have contacted thousands! Really I feel great and can say with 100% there is nothing more I could have done! I love being able to give that type of an accounting to the Lord at the end of every evening! And that’s what we’ll keep doing everyday!
Our district is the “dream team”; two of the best zone leaders are in my district as trainers. Ixtapaluca is the most successful part of the mission and President just wiped it clean and put in some of the best missionaries to just explode the place. It’s just nuts, nothing like this has ever happened in the mission before. Our district includes: Elder Carretero and Elder Padget in the Aylotl ward, and Elder Winters and Elder Cordova in the Izcali ward. [Bryce is the District Leader.]
“Todo por el Señor” [Everything for the Lord] is my theme for this cycle. I will stay humble and 100% focused and know that the Lord is going to support us in our goals and give us the strength and the inspiration to complete them.
Well, take care all, we’ve got to get back to working! I love you!
-Elder Packer
A busy week
Good morning my family,
I hope you are all doing well and are happy. Christmas time is coming soon and with it a new financial year… so I’m really busy making lots of reports and closing out the finances for the year. I got a letter from Heather and a package for the family, however I haven’t had a moment to look at them.
I went to the airport on Sunday night to pick up a missionary and I spent the night with Elder Fillerup (the assistant), because his companion finished his mission two days before. One Monday we picked up the other new missionaries from the C.C.M. (MTC in Mexico) and then spent hours in traffic going to the mission home. We trained the new missionaries, and the next day in changes meeting we received a new companion (Elder Lopez Hernandez) to replace me. Just kidding, to replace Elder Lechuga (the Visas secretary). I knew before hand, because I make all the financial changes, like who gets the rent, etc. ahead of time so I usually know what’s going to happen with the changes a few days before. However, all my companions were surprised.
We also had the Zone Leaders council yesterday, it went really well. I’ve been getting the feeling that I’m going to be in the offices for a long time. But that’s okay. I am learning lots and working hard. It really makes me treasure the time I have to proselyte.
I’m really excited to get to talk with all of you at Christmas time! I keep forgetting that it’s coming so soon.
I love you all!
-Elder Packer
I’m in one of the largest cities in the world!
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. :/
We live really far outside of our mission boundaries, like 40 minutes. It’s in the West Mission, that’s because we are in the Church/Mission offices Monday-Friday 8 am – 3:30 pm, From there we drive to our area (about an hour with traffic) and work our area till 9 pm then go home (another 30-40 minutes). There are also two other missionaries that are secretaries, Elder Livingston and Elder Lechuga. They also live with us… so our-house is HUGE and about fifteen minutes from the offices. We have our own washer and dryer, two bathrooms, workout equipment, and bunch of other stuff.
The mission home where the Mission President lives is also about 15 minutes from the offices. The offices and our houses are in the downtown of Mexico City! I am actually in the offices right now at my own desk. 
(We have permission to use our own computers to write home and all that is pretty sweet)! We are the only mission with our offices in the church office buildings, which means I am in the same building as the Area Authorities!!! …And yea, we have fans and air conditioning in the offices.
Also you need to know that you need to write me earlier in the week because, as secretaries, our Preparation days are on Saturday! Another crazy thing is I am going to be getting a Mexican drivers license… and driving our huge mission van all over the mission! Mexicans are also the craziest drivers, the whole country is covered in speed bumps (including some of the highways) it’s the only way they can keep people from speeding too much and to stop at intersections. So that will be another adventure!
We also had a funny experience my second night with the secretaries. We were waiting for the assistants outside of their house, in our big white van (you know the sketchy type that mobsters use in the movies) when the Mexico City SWAT team came with several squad cars and their SWAT van and surrounded our van. They all got out in their bullet proof vests with their big guns and all and we had to all get out…we thought we were going to get stripped down, but luckily my adventure didn’t go that far! We explained who we are and why we were there and that was all. (I guess there are some problems in that area and someone called the police.) Afterwards we took their picture, hehehe.
Well, I am sure there will be much more to write later.
I love you all and hope you are doing well!
Bryce
Oh yeah, I will also get mail faster, because it comes right to where I am, and I found out that you can’t mail stuff through FEDEX because they charge a bunch of taxes, however the US postal services comes fine.
¿Quen sabe donde estoy?
¿Quen sabe donde estoy? [Who knows where I am?]
Entonces ¡cambios eran un poco loco! [So transfers were a little crazy!]
So I am in Ciudad Alegre (friendly city) which is in Chimalhuacán in the state of Mexico in the outskirts of Mexico [City]. It is very different here, however that is good! There a lots of people and guess what… they whitewashed [two new Elders] our area so both me and my new companion Elder Tadeo have no idea where we are! The first day we got here we walked from our house to the church to figure out where it was and where to invite people. The second day I had a leadership training and the rest of the day we pirated, that is we were working out side of our area or in the area of other missionaries. Oh well, it’s been fun learning and being lost together.
[Editorial note: Bryce is now a district leader, after being in Mexico for only 6 months.]
Our district is a newly formed district too, so thats another new thing to learn. So the real bad thing that happened, as a leader I get a cellphone right and my second day I lost it in a taxi! Sorry I think it’s $30 and I have to pay for a new one, however I think we will be able to accomplish a lot more with a phone.
My companion is great; he is from Oaxaca, y se una persona muy buen [and is a very good person]. We were in the same district my first cycle and he is also from my same generation.
Okay well there is much to be done. We are going to try to go into the city to get my new cell and a fridge (because we don’t have one right now). I love you all so much and look forward to reading your letters, thanks for always writing!
Love Bryce
[As always, you can contact Bryce using the methods on the Current Address page.]
Transfers :)
A sigh of relief that this week is over! We had a great baptismal service yesterday for a family of five, they are amazing and already have a very strong conversion. I think the father will end up being a bishop! … By the way dad I am trying to type with my hands on the home keys, its kind of funny.
Okay, so last night I found out that I have transfers tomorrow, I don’t know to where, however, we have to be in Mexico [City] at 1 pm and I am going to be a District leader. Pretty crazy huh? I am excited to have a change and I am less than a week short of completing a half year in this area.
A new companion will be nice too, however, I will miss Elder Nuñez! So today is all busy, busy packing and visiting all of our converts here. By the way, no I haven’t received the package from Kristi or you yet, however tomorrow is when all the mail comes.
Yesterday one of our converts gave me one of his homemade hand-painted didgeridoos (the instrument from Australia). It is sweet! He made it from a plant called “maguey” which is like a large aloe vera plant that they use here to make funky moonshine and they also fry and eat the grubs/maggots that live inside. They call them called “chinicuilis” yum… So I’ve been practicing with my new instrument. It will interesting to see how I will end up transporting it seeing as it is around 1.5 meters [about 5 ft] long. That’s okay remember the time I brought an arm chair on the airplane? I’m sure this will be easier!
Ahhh, I am going to miss the people here so much!!! Oh by the way because of transfers I won’t be able to mail the DVDs of photos till next week. I am glad to here everyone is doing well …and that everything is getting resolved Heather! Oh yea I got to spend some time with Parley (Horacio) Valdez, the childhood friend of Spencer, who claims he taught him how to ride a bike, ¿Is that true Spencer? any ways he is a really neat person and he wants to get in touch with you Spencer, don’t worry he speaks prefect english, actually he is an english teacher… The first time I met him I thought he was a gringo.
I can write more in less time which is good, so I guess this is the way to go.
I love you all so much and thank you all for your love and support.
Elder Packer
