Well today and tomorrow are Independence day in Mexico, so I have to be in the house by 6pm. We spent the morning cutting the grass in our very small back yard. It was good. On Wednesday we had a combined zone conference where we learned about positive affirmations in the mission from the church psychologist for all of Mexico. Affirmations are amazing.

[Tanda] I had asked Bryce some more questions (in italics). His answers follow.

Where in Mexico is your companion from?
San Louis… its north of here

Was he born in the church or is he a convert?
born a member

How many are in his family?
he has 2 brothers and 2 sisters he is the oldest

How well do you get along?
We are getting along very well (it is a process and a choice)

What is your daily schedule like?
leave the house at 11, work, eat with a member at 2ish, work, return at 9

What do you usually eat?
corn tortillas, soup, pasta, rice, tacos, enchiladas, etc; the tacos, etc. are very different here

Is the money you get enough to cover your expenses if you are careful?
yes, I am getting very good at budgeting

How is the Spanish coming?
poco a poco [little by little]

Have you taught any lessons in Spanish yet?
every day now, whether they understand what I am trying to say…?

What is the ward like where you meet?
very small …its a Ward

Have you had to speak or pray in Spanish at the church yet?
I spoke two weeks ago …every 3rd Sunday is mission Sunday

What is the Mexico City temple like?
it’s closed for remodeling, it will be rededicated in November I think on the 16th… the Prophet will be here!

Are the Mountains rough like the Rockies or more like the ones in the east?
Kind of in the middle, lots of volcanic rock, the mountains are big

Is the area desert or green? You said it rained a lot, but the pictures I saw on line looked like it was very rocky and dry?
its green, but there are rocky and earthy parts too

Are you happy?
I choose to be every day

Oh, Edwana Klaasesz accused me of having your face again. It’s a great face, I’m glad that we share it!
I AGREE! however I have your face, you had it first.

Well I’ve got to go. Love you all very much and thanks for all of your emails!

Bryce

[Tanda] I had written and asked Bryce a bunch of questions (in italics). His answers follow.

First question, who is your companion and where is he from?
Elder Cardenas de San Louis, from Mexico.

Bryce lives with just one companion. Elder Cardenas de San Louis.  They live in a house.
My house is nice, its small, big for two people in Mexico though and in a gated community called Pitahays we rent it from members that live in northern Mexico.

Bryce wishes he was sleeping in a hammock.  He sleeps in a bed that feels like a floor, but by it’s time for sleep he LOVES IT! They do not have a maid, cook or anyone to wash their laundry and shop for food.  In other words…
We have to do it all ourselves.  Its nice though we have a washing machine …kind of (I’ll send a picture sometime) and we eat with the members for lunch around 2-3ish and they don’t really have dinner in Mexico.  The clothes are line dried of coarse.

I looked up Panchuca it said that it is 8,500 – 9,000 ft high have you had any problems with the altitude?
Nope  but I live in the lower part of Pachuca… it was originally a mining town for 500 years.

I don’t drink the water,  but I’ve accidentally used it a couple of times… I’m fine and the natives don’t even drink the water!

It also says that Panchuca means “windy beauty” and that their is a constant wind out of the northeast and that it is one of the coldest places in Mexico.
Yep it really windy here and it rains ALOT!

I asked Bryce if he needed a coat, or long sleeve shirts.  He said that some sweaters might be nice every once in a while.
I am nice and warm.  I’m ok almost all of the time, the natives think I’m crazy when they all have scarfs and coats on when its cold.

Who are your investigators?
Agostin Piña who is 20 really neat person and has a baptismal date but we are having challenges actually getting him to the church… he came to the Temple Visitors center with us a few weeks back.

We are in a  ward. It is a new ward formed from splitting a larger ward and its very small. We have a new chapel which is very nice.

Do you walk?
WE WALK ALOT! and bus a lot too and vans and taxis also.

How much computer time you get each week?
I have one hour of computer time. However I have to write the Mission Pres. and secretaries in this time too and I type and read in Spanish really slow. How ever last week I got you DearElder.com [letter] from the 17th of Aug. and Kristi’s from who knows when and the end of your DearElder was cut off too.

Oh, please tell Kristi congratulations for me, I’m going to be an uncle! [for the ninth time]

What is your mailing address to your apartment, in case we want to mail letters, photos, etc.?
ONLY mail letters to the mission address.  You can mail anything there, but only single sheets through pouch, everything else through normal mail.

[The address of the mission home is on the Current Address page.]

Thanks for your letter mom! It really made my day! I think about you all and pray for you a lot… were going to have to make up for lots of time when I get back.

Last Lunes [Monday] I went to Mexico [City] to immigrations for the last of my visa stuff. I got to ride the metro there; it is insane! I’m sure people die. And I got to see Elder Covington (my old companion) and Elder King my old roommate in the MTC. that was very nice. And today the whole zone went up into the mountains to a campground kind of thing and played soccer and cooked food. It was awesome. Well I’ve got to go. I wish I could say more.  I Love you mom, and all of you.

Bryce

[Here's a short note to Shayne]

Hey Dad,

I read your letters last week and this week. It sounds like things are going well. You are an awesome dad and a great grandpa. you can help me out to when I have kids.

love, bye, Bryce

All is well with the MTC. They finished cleaning the temple so I get to go again today. I’ve been looking for Elder Mann but have not been able to find him so far. 

Starting today I have no teachers so most of my time will probably he spent in the Media Referral Center, which is an amazing experience. We answer and follow up on the TV ads as well as host the online charts from Mormon.org. I get to make calls in Spanish, too. Its great. I understand about 1/8 of what’s being said, but they are so patient and receptive to the message. We also might start teaching the younger districts, too. That’s always fun.

El himno por este semana es #146, “Tengo gozo en mi alma hoy” [The hymn for this week is #146, "There is Joy in My Soul Today"] y the quote is “obedience simplifies, sin complicates”. Hope your all working on your Spanish, set a small goal of what to learn every day!

I mailed a short letter earlier so you should get it in a few days. I hope things are going great and look forward to hearing from you all.

Love you all very much!

Bryce

Hola everyone,

I just mailed letters, but I want to let you know all is well. Things are going great, the Manns should be here tomorrow I’m going to try and find them. [Bryce's cousin Justin Mann is going into the MTC.]

So I’ve been thinking you guys have a Spanish Himno [Hymn] book and that you should sing in Spanish for family home evenings, I’ll send you the name of one of my favorites every week. Ceci can help you guys out with this, they are so beautiful and help to learn Spanish. This weeks is himno #42 “Jesus es mi Luz” [Jesus is my Light]. I hope you enjoy it!

We had an amazing fireside on Sunday about repentance, how it is the best gift made possible by the Atonement and how it shouldn’t be a bad or negative thing that we need to feel sorry but that we should enjoy repentance and repent often. As taught in Mosiah 4:5-7, repentance should be motivated by the goodness of God. This has helped me to have a new outlook on our ability to change and be forgiven. In fact, the original Greek and Hebrew words for to repent mean “to turn” “to have a change of mind: a fresh outlook about God, oneself and the world”.

Well time is up. Thank you all so much.

Love you,

Elder Bryce Packer

Hola me familia ¿Como estan? ¿Como le va?

So I’m supposed to be in Mexico in 6 days! however the visa thing isn’t looking too well. All is well what ever happens though!… maybe I’ll get to see the Manns when Justin comes in next week.

So a typical day for me starts between 5:45 and 6:30 depending on my schedule for the day. I have three 1 hour study blocks personal study (spent studying the scriptures, my patriarch blessing, and writing talks), companion study (usually spent practicing teaching lessons and reviewing principles in Preach My Gospel) and language study (grammar, looking up vocab for words I’ve been trying to say,translating question and principles for lessons, translating talks,etc.) as well as some Missionary Directed time to study what ever I need the most that day.

Sorry if my spelling has gotten even worse, because it is so easy to spell in Spanish and its got me a little confused!

So a lot of days I try to speak only in Spanish, but for the last week(s) I am only speaking in Spanish. It will be more of a challenge and I know it will help a lot.

I have gym five days a week for 50 min. (every day except preparation day [today] and sunday) and we have 4.5-5 hours of classroom instruction split between our two teacher Hno. Sáncheznd Hna. Mears. Preparation days I get to go to the Temple except today, because it is closed for cleaning, also every Tuesday night we have a Devotional, usually be a member of the Quorum of the 70. Everyone in the CCM looks forward to this! sunday nights we have a fireside as well which is usually a little more casual.

On the forth we had a special fireside where we played songs on chimes made from pipes it was neat w/ 3000 missionaries. Then we watched the BYU fire works from the parking lot, they were neat with my glasses off : ) Oh I don’t know if I mentioned my companion is District Leader so we have stuff to do with that. AHH my computer time is up. I love you all every much…I’ll try to write a letter today if I have more time. Thank you all for your letters.

Love you,

Bryce