[Editorial by Shayne. We got to talk to Bryce for an hour today. I called the number Bryce had sent at the planned time, and I conferenced the call to my iPhone. Then I added each of the family using the iPhone's easy-to-use conference feature.

Here are some notes from the phone call.

Bryce and his companion baptized a couple more family members of Axel Martinez Sanchez's family. His father's baptism is scheduled for 11th of January.

They baptized a man from Lima, Peru on Dec 23rd.

On Dec. 17th, the missionaries went with the Mission President to the Mexico City Temple. They had steak dinner afterwards — although it was thin and overcooked — still, it was steak.

The weather is 85 degrees in the daytime, and a cold 25 night.

The Wal-Mart store is expensive and nice; not the cheapest place in town.

Bryce expects to be transfered on 30th.]

Hello Family

English really doesn’t make sense, however I like it anyway (except when it comes to spelling, by the way I am a great speller in spanish)! So I don’t know what is going on as far as calling you all. Another missionary said we can talk for an hour and that I will call you real quick with the phone number to call (probably of a member’s house) and then you will call that number back. And it might be cheaper too for you to use a calling card? We will find out everything on the 17th when we go to Mexico City.  We are going to have a reunion with the Mission President and go through a temple session (which I am really excited for). I am afraid however that I will fall a sleep because we have to wake up at 3 am to go to Mexico City :/ because of traffic. Then we are also going to eat fillet minion in the Temple for an early Christmas dinner mmmm… real steak! Our preparation day is changed to the 24th so I will give you all the details then… and that might be the day we call too?

All is well here, it was a little tough the last week because it was the celebration of the Virgin Guadeloupe, which is a really big deal. Every day large groups on bikes, walking and in cars, trucks, tractor trailers (with framed pictures and statues of the Virgin Mary strapped to the front and sides) have been on a pilgrimage to a specific church in Mexico City.  So it was a little crazy the last week and people haven’t been too receptive to us because of the other religious events going on. Good news, however an old investigator who disappeared several months ago has returned (we were sure they had changed houses). It turns out that they were in Mexico City with their family for a while (3 months?). All of our plans fell through last night and we had nothing. We were searching everywhere and were close to this house, I had the feeling to go by and there they were, just returning that night with their suitcases and all. They were happy to see us and we had a short lesson to end the day. Pretty neat.

Well we’ve got work to do. I love you all so much and I am extremely excited to be able to talk to you all.

Bryce

Hey Hey,

Things are going well here, I’m glad that a lot of you were together for Thanksgiving. Not a lot of time, so I’ll start with the questions.

…Thanks for the list it makes it easier…or possible!

[I had asked Bryce the following questions. - Tanda]

[How did your baptisms go?]
The baptism was great though it was only one of the five. his name is AXEL Martinez Sanchez. We are working with the other 6 in his family right now, they have a lot going but they said they want to have their baptisms in this month.

[When are transfers due?]
Right before Christmas, I’m pretty sure I’ll be transfered this time

[Are you still with the same companion and in the same area?]
Yes which is good because I like him and the area, however I want to get down into Mexico [City] too!

[Any new investigators?]
Yes, every week, unfortunately not all of them are very interested. One of our new Families is a mom Dulce (candy) and her two daughters Dulce Maria, and Ana Laura

[Have you gotten to go to the Mexico City Temple yet?]
No, however I really want to, I don’t think it is possible unless I am in an area much closer to the temple.

[It must be getting cold there, have you gotten yourself a coat or sweater yet?]
Cold in the mornings and nights, like frost on cars and the grass turns white you can see your breath and of course in the afternoon its 85 degrees and I get sunburnt got to love mexican mountain weather! Yes, I bought a coat I haven’t really needed to use much personal money.

[How is your money holding out?]
It’s fine. By the way about sending packages I talked to other Elders and they said unless it electronics or really valuable you can send it normal USPS and it about $30 for 6 lb. or so and it takes about a month in total. Mail it to the mission office and they have never missed a package. So I guess if you want to mail something that’s the way to go, but really I can buy almost anything I need/want here including peanut-butter however its $3.50 a little expensive

[Anything on your Christmas wish list?]
Not really. I have everything I need…maybe some souvenirs from Mexico?

[A spiritual thought or experience?]
Yes, I’ll get back to it next week

[It looks like from your pictures that you and one other elder are the only Americans in your district. Is that correct?]
Yes, but those pictures are old and right now the other Elder in my district is from Alberta, Canada.

[Describe how it is working with Mexican Elders.]
I love it! They have a little bit different way of doing things but its good to learn.

[I guess he was in such a hurry he didn't even sign it. But I guess that is it for this week.]

Hello Family,

Sorry I don’t have time to write but its not my fault!!! I really want to. Quickly, Happy Birthday Colby!!! I can’t believe how old you’re going to be when I get back!

You’ll never guess this. I was eating at a members house this week and they were saying they knew someone that was renting the apartment of President [Boyd K.] Packer (which had birds painted on the wall) when they lived in Utah in 1980-83. [Boyd painted them. He is quite an artist.] Then they said that the name of the family that was their friends in Provo is “Fugal” hmmmm…and he was studying Law and She was the Relief Society President. She helped René (the father) learn English. I asked if their son’s name was Spencer… they said yes and that Spencer and their son Parley (who was older) were good friends. Weird huh! It is the Family Valdez Rabi and they are René and Maria. They said to say Hi to Spencer and his parents. They are doing well, Parley is married to a woman named Vanessa and they have a daughter also named Maria

This week is the rededication of the Temple I am sooo excited!!

Oh I got the Bishop’s letter please tell him hi and thank you.

So…Not so funny language error that happen a few weeks ago… we were teaching and I was saying that Christ paid the “punishment” for our mistakes. Well actually I said “castidad” not “castigo” which means punishment. Casidad means chastity and I didn’t just say this once but 3 or 4 times without my companion correcting me :/

Yeah …ahhhh got to go… I love you all so very much!

Bryce

Hello my lovely family!

So I was working under the refreshments tent at the Mexico City Temple open house on Saturday, and I saw someone I thought I knew. Weird right, so I stopped and thought if it could really be this person and figured, should I go over and find out? sure!, If it’s not them they will think I am a weird gringo, esta bien [white man, but that's okay]. It was who I thought is was!  So I saw Bro. John Marin from Merrimack, he was my Young Mens President. It was crazy, and we were both a little emotional.

The open house has been really busy, but successful; and the Temple is really beautiful. ahhhhh I am out of time. The internet has been having problems today.

Lots of Love, Bryce

[Editorial: John Marin emailed Shayne and sent a couple of photos.]

We came to Mexico City for the Temple open house and ran into Bryce, what a surprise. I was a great joy to see him as a missionary. Here are the pictures we took with Bryce Saturday. I’ve subscribed to Bryce’s blog… John

Bryce and John Marin

Bryce and John Marin's family

Hello my lovely family,

Things have been a little rough, however successful this week. We had divisions [splits] with our Zone Leaders, I learned A LOT and we are working on applying what we learned. We have one really amazing investigator named Ramon. He reads everything we give him and then in the next visit we talk for along time about all of it.

He almost gave me a heart attack this week. We were waiting outside of the church for him and he was almost 30 min. late for his first sacrament meeting… we had talked with him that morning , so I knew he was going to come. When he went to get dressed he found that his suit was moldy, because he hadn’t used it since high school.

We also found a lot of families that we have been teaching this week. I think we are going to start focusing more on families. None of our investigators have been baptized yet, however 2 have a date for the 9th of November, and I believe everything will work out. We usually take a cab to church and we visit as many of our investigators as possible before, to remind them of their commitments.

[Kerry suggests that we should all specifically pray for these investigators and that their baptisms will go forward on the 9th.]

This week we are going to Mexico City three time to help with the open house, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I am so excited, however we have to work so hard because we have little time to work.

[The rest of this are answers to questions we had ask Bryce.]

I didn’t really have any culture shocks mainly the language. The thing that I’m not really comfortable with is that people minus the drive [I think what Bryce is trying to say is that they drive crazy and...] don’t use seat belts. The food is fine, However I don’t like checheron much… its fried pig skin… yummm.

I hope that will do for now All is well here. I love you all very much and hope that everything is going great!

Love, Bryce