10-24-10

Hey Mom,
:) Glad you liked the stuff. It wasn't much, but I thought it'd be cool. It was lame you weren't there, but it was actually a blessing she saw Brandon and Valorie. She enjoyed it, too. To get to the point- I'm staying here in Ketchikan. Elder Offley is going back to Anchorage. I'm getting Elder Williams. I don't know anything about him yet except he's from Idaho and fairly new. Tonight Elder Offley and a missionary who's going home leave, so I'm spending the night with the Prince of Whales elder(who's also a twin) until our companions come. I might get a little time to write you tomorrow, but I wanted to let you know what's going on just in case we don't have time. I hope I stay for quite a while. I love it here.
I told our landlord about the hole and told him I could patch it, but he hasn't looked at it yet. oop, gotta go. Love you lots.
Bryce

10-17-10

Hey Mom,
I'm glad you and Dad and Crystal were able to go up for Julia's birthday, except it totally threw off my surprise. I shouldn't say totally, because what happened is Vicki Taylor was going down to Utah for her daughter's seizures, and went to St. George to visit her sister. So she wanted to bring a surprise package that she could hand deliver to you and Dad. I was thinking you for sure wouldn't be in Salt Lake, because you were gone last week. But luckily, Sister Taylor's sister lives in Brandon and Valorie's neighborhood and is in their ward. So at church Sister Taylor recognized Valorie and talked to them and ended up giving them the package, so it worked out in the end. Thanks for telling me about how all the family is doing. I'm glad you were able to make Grandma's day.
This week we started teaching another really good investigator who is best friends with Helen West(who just got baptized) and she is awesome. She hasn't ever read the Bible, but she has church hopped a lot and has actually been taught by missionaries and took her kids to mutual about ten years ago. She also knows a lot of members besides Helen. The only disappointing thing is she didn't make it to church Sunday:( We have a lot of good things going on right now, so it's exciting. Oh yeah, we had interviews over the phone with President Dance this morning and transfers are in a week so it'll be interesting to see what happens. That also means I'll likely email Tuesday. Well, we found a racquetball court in the rec center here so we're probably going to do that today. Thanks for all you do. Hope you like the packages. The fish is some members gave us and the Taylors gave you some I think. Love you.
Bryce

PS- Here's some funny pictures. Yes, that boat is pulling the house ... somewhere. And the trampoline picture was me, trying to be smart by making my exercise routine bouncing from the trampoline to my bed. Except I bounced a little too hard and my bum went through the wall. So much for being careful.

10-10-10

Hey Mom
I'm glad you liked the pictures. I had fun taking them. I kinda wish I'd taken more. Mostly just of all the people I've met. It's actually quite amazing how many life stories you can hear in a day. I love hearing different peoples attitudes about life, and hopefully I've been able to improve a couple. Even if it's just by being there to let them think out loud.
In the video, Elder Offley was eating African Kayan Pepper which is like 10x hotter than normal kayan pepper. I'll have to eat it soon too. At a year most missionaries burn a shirt. I tried to burn a tie, but it didn't really burn. And I really have been trying to be safe. I haven't climbed up any buildings or poles or anything like that. And the flame thing was a trick photo shot. But I'll remember to be more careful.
Yesterday church was cancelled because there was another big storm and the whole town was out of power and a telephone line was blocking the church. North and South of town will be out of power for half the week.
We got 2 new investigators this week, which was a great blessing for us. And we would have had a third if we had church because Helen West was going to take her friend and she wants us to baptize her. Helen is already such a strong member and is working on her husband and kids too. It's sounds like you guys have had a busy and good week too. Tell Julia happy birthday for me if you're still there. I don't think I got anything for her, dang it.
So, I gotta go and I love you Mom,
Bryce

PS- I fixed the violin bow with a $3 piece so it's good

10-3-10

Hey,
That does sound like a fun conference weekend. The pictures are great too. The kids are really growing up. I miss them. Liam has a way funny character. I'll never forget the conference up on Gooseberry Mesa.
That reminds me. I really liked the talk about building character. Except I can't even remember who gave it now. Also, Jeffrey R. Holland's really stuck out to me. It was way different than all his previous talks and it was a good way to start out conference. You might not have heard it because it was one of the first. It made me feel content with where I'm at and that Heavenly Father is pleased. It was more just a good moment for me, than something he was specifically saying. I also liked Elder Uchtdorf's definition of humility as focusing less on yourself and more on others. Last night and the night before at dinner, we talked about our favorite talks so that kinda made up not getting to do it with you guys, but that's definitely my favorite part of conference.
Sorry, I gotta go. The computers are being used up here at the college. Hope I said everything.
Love you and always look up to you.
Bryce