11-29-10

Hey Dad,
It was good to hear from you. Did you get up before 6 to write me? I had an awesome Thanksgiving. I'll try to give good details, but this letter will be for Mom as well:) Actually, I picked up a cold Thursday morning so I just tried to sleep through my District Meeting over the phone. Then at 2pm we went to the church and had an early dinner with a couple families and one of our investigators came, Susan Nolte. Then we took some chairs to the Taylors and helped set up for their dinner with another family. I was stuffed by the end and I didn't even try that ham that was in front of me in the picture. That night another family invited us to play volleyball at the church with them. It was lots of fun, but I slept 13 hours the next night. And I felt crappy the next day so we didn't do a lot, but the Taylors invited us over for leftovers for lunch and we helped them set up Christmas lights afterward. They're so awesome. They'll do anything for us. It made it nice, because I really only get homesick when I'm sick or on holidays.
I'm so glad you all had fun. It sounds like Mark and Brandon made the most of their night as well:)
On Sunday I substituted the youth sunday school class with all the 14-17 year olds and Elder Williams taught Gospel Principles because Susan Nolte came. It went pretty well. I probably taught the same lesson as Mom about Ezekiel and the Good Shepherd. It's a lot harder teaching teenagers than adults. Even though I'm barely not one.
I forgot Matt Earl is going to Utah State already. I'm glad he's doing well at it. Especially the Pipe band, that's awesome. Matt Snow has written me and he sounds great too.
It snowed here for a day. Then it rained and washed it away so it's normal Ketchikan again.
I don't think I need anything for Christmas. I'm loving my XtraTuff boots. Maybe a cool tie. And actually, Elder Williams and I are trying to eat more healthy so we'd probably enjoy some fruit more than sweets. I left my multi-vitamins in my last area so that would be good too. Transfers are next week for me, so I'm really hoping I can stay here one more. Things are so good right now with the work and the ward. I'll let you know what happens as soon as I can. I love you so much and was happy to hear from you a little on Thursday.
Love,
Elder Bryce Wainwright

Thanksgiving

Thanks so much Mom,
Your letter made me smile. And I guess I'm even grateful that it was fairly long. It sounds like Thanksgiving should be a blast. Mark's birthday especially. I'll try and send him a package today. I'll send it to your house.
Yesterday was a great Sunday, but really lame at the same time. Our new investigator Susan Nolte' came to church and really loved it and felt the Spirit strong and we're teaching her again tomorrow. Treasean also came to church with the Taylors and we taught him again afterward. But, when we took him to his house to talk to his Grandma about his baptism she told us it wouldn't work because they were moving to Prince of Whales today. Treasean didn't even know about it, so it's kinda sketchy. The Taylors even went over there and offered to have Treasean live with them to finish out the year and get baptized, but I don't think it's going to happen. So that was sad to hear. Hopefully the missionaries there can still keep working with him.
This morning Elder Williams and I hiked Deer Mountain. It was pretty cold. 22 degrees when we started and there was some snow on top, but still worth it. We also combed one of the beaches last week for lunch and that was pretty fun. I'll have a great Thanksgiving here. A couple families are having it at the church so we'll go there. Hopefully we'll have one or two investigators with us too. Bruce probably won't do much of anything in Armenia. That'd be hard.
Mom, I just want to thank you for the wonderful mother you were. Not only were you so loving, forgiving, and willing to do anything you could to help me succeed and learn new things, you also managed to teach me discipline, how to take care of myself, and to develop my own testimony. Dad has taught me these things also. As well as how to work hard, make the most of every moment, and appreciate the outdoors. Most of all, I'm grateful for both of your eternal love and concern for me. Kinda like Heavenly Father's.
Anyway, thanks for making it possible for me to be here right now on my mission. I could never have done it without you. Or without all of our family, really.
I'll be thinking of you as well. Happy Thanksgiving! Love
Elder Bryce Wainwright

11-15-10

Hey Mom,
Our investigators are still doing pretty well. It was kinda hard to go to Juneau for half the week, but it was good training and we still picked up another investigator this week from someone who went to the family history center with her mom and we gave them a chapel tour afterward and we found out they'd both read the Book of Mormon before, but the mom wasn't willing to be taught. That was actually one of the things we got trained on was chapel tours. We also talked about laying down our weapons of rebellion that are keeping us from being obedient. Something that I got out of it and from one of the departing sisters was that if I just love the Lord, and show Him my love everyday with every decision that I make, then it will be much easier to follow Him.
Our baptism for Brittnee Gibson and her sister Sheyann went great. I got to baptize Brittnee and confirm Sheyann. Treasean, Brent Taylor's friend, came to the baptism and we taught him afterward. Then he spent the night with the Taylors so he could come to church. He's doing great as long as he can stay strong without the support of his family.
We went out on the boat docks to buy some live crab to cook up and 3 more whales blew their spouts just past the docks. I think Tasia was right. I am on vacation. I'll show you some pictures.
No, I didn't get to see the leadership training. And I'm still a horrible story teller because I smile when I'm talking and laugh before I finish.
Well, I think that's it. Elder Williams wants to go fly fishing today. See you later Bryce

PS- I did get the Extratuffs. They're awesome! I almost forgot to say thanks for the Thanksgiving package. It was way nice to get a letter from everyone. I'll try and hand write them back. Did you get the postcard that is supposed to go to Fenja? Wow, this is a pretty long letter.

11/7/10

I'll have to be quick, but this was such a great week. We were incredibly blessed. We picked up 3 really good investigators who all are friends (or living with) members. One was an 11 year old, Traesean, who has been coming to scouts and church with Brent Taylor. He understands very well the gospel and we've set a date for him to be baptized on Dec. 4th. We also are going to have a baptism this Saturday for the 12 year old who's living above us. A cool thing that happened to Elder Williams and I with one of our new investigators was we were told to visit Susan Nolte quite a while ago, but we had been knocking on the wrong house. We had gotten the correct house, but still didn't have luck talking to anyone. Last night, we both thought to try her again, even though we hadn't even planned to see her. She answered this time and let us in and wanted to hear our message. She was prepared to hear our message of the Restoration, and she told us she knew we were sincere about what we taught and she wanted to come to church and said she'd start reading the Book of Mormon tonight! That was so cool to hear and I'm so glad we were able to hear the prompting to visit her and we listened. I just wanted to share that with you. We have the Matlakatla and Prince of Whales Elders here and were flying up to Juneau for the next two days for Zone Conference and training so that's why I gotta go.
I love you Mom and Dad and I'm doing great.
Love, Bryce

PS- That was a cool letter Elder Grigorian wrote to you.
We saw 2 humpback whales and 3 orca this week. SO COOL!
Later

11-3-10

11-1-10
Hey Mom and Dad,
I'm so glad you were able to have a fun little vacation with Grandma and Grandpa and you've put the fish to good use. The other week we helped a member in a wheel chair unload a raft engine from off his boat that he's living in. It was cool to see his boat and I had to climb down in his engine room for him too. It probably wasn't the same as the U.S.S. Midway tour, but it was fun. I'm pretty sure I don't use the missionary inflection, but it can be easy to fall into rote teaching or spouting out the principles and not really teaching the investigator. That might just be a visitor center thing.
I had a fun Halloween. They did a trunk or treat thing on Wednesday for mutual and we had a dinner party with the Taylors at another cool family's house. This was also a great week for missionary work. We were very blessed and were able to teach a lot. I don't think I've told you about my new companion yet. His name is Elder Williams from Blackfoot Idaho. He's a big time hunter, and he did rodeo and wrestling. He's served in South Anchorage and Wasilla like me, only he'd get there right as I left. He's a good hard worker and he's going to be a great companion. I don't have much else to say except Helen West's friend Valorie made it to church this Sunday with Helen. It was stake conference, which was interesting because it was broadcast up at Juneau. But I guess even back home they'd broadcast it to the other buildings. The church really is getting pretty big. Have a safe drive home and a great week. I'll be thinking about you all a lot these holidays.
Love,
Bryce