2/19/12

Dad,

That sounds awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Im pretty sure if Bracken and I

ere there we would have gone down in a heart beat!  I was talking

about the mine with one of the missionaries and he said that he wants

to to out there and explore too one day because he has never done that

kind of stuff before haha.  Thtat all sounds really cool!!!!!!!  I

just remember the mine and all of the stuff that we did there!  I feel

like being out here is kind of like a trip to  the mine.  Exploring

new places and just looking at amples that look like a regular rock

with nothing special but once you grind it up and test it then you see

all of the precious metals in side or even just looking at the dust

through a microscope!  It is really the same with missionary work.  I

was wondering one day why we had a lot of wierd members and then i

realized that they were the most humble and the ones that were the

most like Christ.  Christ himself didnt hang out witht the "popular"

people but he sais that he was around the sinners and the publicans.

The people who were not liked by the regular crowd.  There really are

some odd but awesome people here!  I love the people here so much!

They are all just awesome!

Mom,

That is way awesome about all of the missionaries that i am hearing

about.  Mom if you could get me Jesse's adress and i will write him

that would be great.  I really really want to talk to him and just get

him to really get out here on a mission because i know that there is

nothing better in anyones life!  really I cant see what would have

happened to me if i had not been out here!

Only sister duke calls me that.  It is because thai people cannot say

our name unless they speak english very well and even then it is

really hard for them to say it hahaha.  I have a lot of different

names now because in my last area they all just call me elder Rafe and

here they call me a lot of different things so everyone is really

confused who i actually am.  Well i think that i will be moving this

moves.  I really dont want to ut i have a feeling that i am going to

be moving.  Not much happened this week but I did tell CC a really

cool story in her email so make sure that you all read that one.  I

would type it again but i am almost out of time.  The only thing that

i really need in starbursts and razor heads.  That is the only thing

that i need.

That is about all for the day.  I still have to email President Smith

and tody i responded to all of the emails!  By the way what kind of

stuff have you heard?  I have not heard anything so we are kind of

confused.  I guess it is not to big because we would have heard more

from the church but we have not gotten anything.

I love you so much Mom and Dad and everyone!  I really wish you were

here and could just work right along side me!  I love you all so much

and I will pray for you all to have a really good week!

Elder Bryce

2/5/12 and 2/13/12

 

hety Family.

I am very sorrybutthis oneis going to be really short this time.  Yes

Mom I gotthe package and thank you so much for the camera i just

started taking pictures again right when i openeed it.  OK thereason

why this one is going to be really short is because i hurt my wrist

playing dodgeball for pday but im doing fine i just cant type very

fast this week. hahahaha

Thiss week we were preparing a littlebit for the sisters that are

going to bei in the disrict next moves. we had to clean their house

and we started their area book so that everything is ready when they

come.

we were handing out english pamphlets that day with 3 members and an

investigator.  they were all really funny.  so who is that person you

were talking about?  I do not know anyone with that name at all.  It

ounded very spanish and not thai. I actually had a hard time reading

it becauseofthe romanized way they dothings in thai.

Hey Family and Mom and Dad!This week i can actually type so my letter will be a lot better this time hahaha.  My wrist still hurts a little bit but i think that it was just a little sprain or somethign like that .  Not a whole lot has happened this week.  We have been finding a lit of new investigators and some of them are really good but i will talk about those a little later.  

So this week was really awesome!  I wasnt with my companion a lot because he had to do some district stuff because he is a new district leader.  But while we were working in our area i just felt the spirit a lot.  One of the things that i learned is just doing the right thing and the Lord will prepare a way for his children to meet us.  If we are just being good boys and doing what we are supposed to do then we will have the spirit be with us.  One night we were wondering what we should do right before it was time to go home and we just prayed and we felt like we could do a little more inviting before we walked home.  We started giong and this one house a woman came out and said that she was not interested at all but right as we said what we taught is trure she stopped and said that her husband would want to talk to us.  We then made an appointment with him and he has been super prepared by the Lord.  He told us that when he realized that he was getting old he really wanted to know about life and the purpose of it.  He read what Budda really taught and he knew that all of the other ceremonies that they do were not ture and that men had distorted the truth.  He got all of the idols out of his house and was searching for someone to tell him the truth.  We taught him and he asked the best question ever!  he asked after he met with us and read the Book of Mormon and got an answer what he needed to do.  That is a question that every missionary loves to answer.  He really wants to know more about it all and the Lord put him into our path because we were just doing what we needed to be doing at the right time.

Another one is in Ciaras email and i am running a little short on time but i just had a really good week this last week.  I was also reading in the war chapters in the Book of Mormon and i really wnated to apply them to my life and i prayed and asked the Lord to help me see how it could help me and it was amazing the different things that i got out of it starting in Alma 50-63.  I loved it so much so i want everyone to read them and see the different ways that we can appy them in our lives.

1/29/12

 

That is really funny about Micah make sure that you tell him that i said hi from Thailand and that i will teach him thai when i get back.  I miss him so much. i just remember those day that we would get him really hyper just in time for his parents to come and pick him up hahahaha.  I love doing that with the thai kids here too!  They are so funny and they are just so innocent and just have to light of Christ in them and they are just fresh from Heaven!  It is so awesome to think about them that way is that not very long ago that they were literally with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ just a little bit ago.

 

This week just started but i felt like it was jsut yesterday that i was at the first baptism that i saw and that was almost 4 months ago!  Time just goes by way to fast for me to even get a hold on some things.  Dad i did here that it is really cold up there.  That is what allen was saying in this last email.  He siad that it started to warm up and that he could take off his coat for a couple of days.  hahaha i am very happy that i am in thailand where the coldest i get is in our room because of the AC.

NMot much has happened this week here.  I did haave a rough couple of days but i have a really good prayer with Heavenly Father and everything just seemed so small after that and that i had strength that i have never felt before just fush into me.  It was just so amazing that i had such a response from Him.  He really does care about all of us.  I just want to share this thing with everyone that i meet now!  I just love noticing how much the gospel has affected me in my life and how much Him and Christ care about all of us!

I love this mission and this people so much!  I love you so much Mom and Dad and make sure that you let everyone at hom that i love them 

1/22/12

We had a lot of fun at english class and people are really starting to bring friends and we are getting a lot of investigators who come to english now.  We even have some of them giving us their friends to teach.  It has been really awesome!  
 

Elder Mondragon has been here for over a year he actually dies the same month and the same time when Bracken does.  They were in the MTC at the same time.  But he didnt talk to any of the spanish Elders because they didnt get a long very well back then hahahaha.  He is way awesome and i have already learned so much froim him and we are just having fun!.

Well not much else had happened this week although he will probably be my last companion that is a district leader.  These next couple of transfers we are having a lot of people coming into the mission because we need them.  The Lord has finally descided that we needed more and that we were ready for it so we are getting more and mroe over time.  So soon i might be a trainer.  I really am scared because i feel like i jut got here yesterday and now they expect me to train someone how to do it.  It is not for sure that it is going to happen but it is just the thought of it that scares me!

  I have actually been focusing a lot on the mercy of God and Christ a lot lately.   

1/8/12

 

Hey Dad!

This week was kind of a funny week for us.  After we had emailed we went across Bangkok for a sports day that the missionaries wee having in another zone.  My comp got stung by a bee and we went to the hospital and he got an allergy shot in the bum.  It was really funny.  He had hives and that was about it.  But when they said that they would be doing it in the bum he started to sort of yell they are sticking me in the bum Elder save me! hahaha.  It was really funny and he is now all better.  This week we did a lot of really good work.  We had a baptism this week and we will be having another one next week.  They were both really really good.  We are getting a lot of new investigators and the work is really going well right now.  I get to go on switch offs today and tomorrow with a greenie in his area and that will be way fun!  He actually speaks the language really well and he is not afraid to speak like i was in my first 2 transfers.

Nothing really crazy happened this week but it sounds great about your calling.  From what you said it sounds like the ward is doing very well and make sure that you say hi to the bishop and his counselors for me.  Also tell Sister and Brother Hays thank you for the card and the money and tell them I will send them something from Thailand.

Hunting is already over?  I thought it was just getting started hahaha.  Time has been going by so fast here that I feel like i cant keep up with it.  This last year felt like it all just happened yesterday.  I love you so much Dad.  That sounds like it was a really great Priesthood session.  I love you so much and thank you for teaching me how to work hard.  Thank you for being the example that I look too every day while I am out here.  Thank you so much I love you so much Dad.

Elder Bryce

Hey Momma!

So I am very sorry but I really cant remember a whole lot that happened this week. hahaha I didn’t look in my journal but I will cover a few things.  First that is crazy that Kaylee is getting married!  Tell her that I love her and congrats and that I will send her a little note in the mail once I get her address.  Wait which Ryan are you talking about?  Are you talking about Ryan Barrett? And where is he going?  You might have told me but I really cant remember if you did.  Time has been going by so fast!  I can hardly keep up with everything that is going on.  This last week was actually really hot.  It is getting hot right now.  It didn’t get very cold this year but people start freaking out with it gets about 80 degrees here hahaha.  We taught a lot of new people this week and our district is doing really well right now.

We did have someone get baptized this week and that was a really good one.  We are really starting to work with the branch and things are actually easier when we do that hahaha.  They kind of do the work for us if they trust us.  We did meet this really good family this last week.  We met them again on Sunday and we took the branch president with us and his wife and it was a really good lesson.  They were willing to try out the gospel and they said that they would follow it if they see that their life will get better and they will be happier.  They are such a cool family.  They were there waiting for us when we got there and said that they all wanted to learn more.  It was really cool seeing the Holy Ghost do the work as we just talked.  That is one thing that I have learned is that I just do the talking and the Holy Ghost is the one that really does all of the work.  I don’t do anything if I don’t have the spirit.  This week I feel awesome.  I love the work. I love the people and I just love everything right now.  I love you so much Momma. I do have one last question before I go today and that is when did Jesse go into the MTC?  I could be a trainer when he comes in depending on how big his group is.

I love you so much mom.  I miss you and the whole family so much.  I know that Heavenly Father is watching over you for me and that He loves all of us.

Elder Bryce

1/1/12

 

Hi Mom!  Sorry this email is not going to be very long today because I am really struggling to type right now hahaha.  I have never had this much trouble typing in my life before.  It was really good to see all of you guys for Christmas!  It was probably the best Christmas present that I got that day!  Well just a little bit of news and some Thai customs.  Here they think that Christmas is just happy new year.  They don’t really think that it is anything else hahaha.  Well it was a little dangerous to actually be out during the actual new years celebration so we just studied in our apartment.  When there is a party here the Thai people get a little to crazy and it is kind of dangerous.  This year about 1500 people died because of the parties and stuff.  It is actually really sad.  The area that had the most was actually my last area.  It is really sad.  On a happy note we got to do something really cool this week.  We got to hand pillows and blankets out to people who needed them because it is the cold season here.  By cold season I mean about 75 degrees.  The people were so grateful for what they got from us.  We actually had an opportunity to teach some of those people.  Their hearts were very opened to the message because they knew who we represented.  Just going out and doing little acts of service for people just like Christ would do makes a huge difference in the lives of other people.  I am still loving it here.  I love You Dad and Mom.  I love you so much and thank you for teaching me the gospel and helping me keep the Commandments.  I love you so much!

-Elder Bryce

12/18/11

 

Hey Momma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I think that this will throw you off a little today but today they are turning off the power to our apartment so we needed to get out of there early today but we will come back and read emails later today after we play soccer.

Not much happened this week.  We just were doing more missionary work but my testimony has grown a lot in the past couple of days.  Things are really awesome right now.  Being comps with Elder Olive has been really awesome! He has had a lot of really cool experiences in his life that he shared with me and it was really cool.  Honestly there is not much going on but I will tell you a couple of things that I have listened to and have read that have probably changed my life.  But a few things that are going on and that have happened right now.

Elder Appleyard had to go home this last week.  He was having some really bad foot problems so he is going home and getting it taken care of and then he will be back in a couple of months.  It is a bummer that he had to go home.  I miss him already but he will be back in no time.  They just asked us to pray for him and his family so if you guys could pray for him that would be really good too.

I think that I told you about one of our investigators that was really awesome.  The one where we were starting to teach her daughters and everything.  It turns out that she is not in our area so we have to hand her over to the Elders in the area next to us call Bang Kapi.  It is gonna really be sad but really good too.  She is really ready to be baptized and so are her children.  They really have a desire to know if it is all true.  They all love Jesus Christ and they all have a desire to follow him but they will just have to be baptized in another area and I really dont have a problem with it.  They are a really good family and I really don't care where they are baptized as long as they are baptized and endure to the end I am just happy with that.  Its not like it is my baptism hahaha.  Sorry that is a joke with our district right now so sorry if you don't think that it is very funny.

I did just hear that we are going to be getting a missionary coming back into the mission.  He went hom about a year ago and he just came back today to take the place of Elder Appleyard in Bang Kapi.

Ok just a couple of things that i need to tell you about my facebook.  There is a member here who has been taking a lot of pictures of us and she requested me as a friend on facebook.  If you could accept her request that would be great and then you cna have a lot of pictures of me and some of the members.  There is one picture on there that is me eating a really gross Thai fruit called turien.  It is the worst thing that I have ever eaten in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They all said that it was going to be really good but it smells really bad and when I ate just a bite of it I wanted to vomit.  They took a picture right when I ate some and my face is really funny but it was really gross.  It really tasted like poop.  Other than that I haven't eaten anything else weird.

This last week I got to go on switch offs with the greenie.  He is way good!  He has a really good spirit and he is just willing to get out there and serve.  I learned a lot from him but that day was the weirdest day of my mission.  The lessons were not very good and we didn't get into a single house but we still had a lot of fun and talked a lot about really cool things in the gospel.  It is really cool to see how he is growing.  I haven't really seen the difference in me but seeing him and being around him really helps me see how much I grew.

Ok so yesterday was really awesome at church.  All of the talks were on forgiveness.  One of the members that spoke has had a lot of problems in his life and he has had to repent a lot for the things that he has done.  He gave a really awesome talk and then after church he was given the preisthood.  He is now getting ready to serve a mission.  After church we just had a really good corolation meeting where we finally got to sit down with our mission leader and ask him what he needs us to do and to ask him for help in the work.  Ever since the flood his life has been pretty crazy so he hasn't been able to meet with us at all but now things are all good.  The Branch President here is really awesome and so is his wife.  Their son is on a mission now in California and his son loves it there but they only have 3 people that they are teaching.  They let us read his emails all of the time and it is really fun to do that and hear about what a state side mission is like.  I am pretty sure that those are some of the hardest missions in the World.  Everyone knows the church and just put up walls.  I have noticed it here.  When ever we meet a foreigner they always know who we are and what we do.  Now Thai people are starting to know who we are. haha

Well I want to tell you about my experience that I had yesterday while we listened to some talks.  A talk that really helped me was one from John Bytheway.  His talk was all about building people up and becoming a builder and not a reckor.  It was a really good talk!  It was just about building up the Lords kingdom by building up the people in it.  Just never saying bad things about other people and jsut always looking for the positives in others and just being like Christ.

Another talk was about the Book of Mormon that I heard.  The guy proved that everything in the Book of Mormon was true.  That some of the early settlers of New York found a lot of lime substance on the surface of the ground at Cumorah which only comes from thousands of bones that used to be on the surface.  They also found millions of arrowheads and tons of stone tools around the hills and surrounding areas.  The French found trenches where they found the bones of thousand of Men women and children were burried.  They found forts and other things there and more stuff that points to an advanced civilisation that was there a very long time ago.  Then he talked about the translation process and everything was just way cool and it really opened up my eyes.  At the end of his talk he said that all of that stuff did not matter.  But the only way that we wil ever know that the Book of Mormon is true is to read and pray about it.  That is the only way that we all will ever know of the truth of the Book of Mormon and after that we will know who Christ is and that He is our savoir.  Joseph Smith is a prophet and that this Church is the only true church on the whole earth. It was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you all so much and thank you Mom and Dad and Ciara and Cassie, Matt,  Adam, Steph, Rachel, Maija, Micah, and even little Savannah.  I want you all to have a Merry Christmas and one thing that Sister Smith said is to keep in mind the really meaning of Christ-mas.  I love you all so much and thank you for everything that you have done for me.

Mom I will be skyping you guys about 6:00 pm your time on your Christmas.  It is going to be a the 26th at 8:00am here in Thailand.  I love you Momma and Dad.

Elder Bryce

MERRY CHRISTMAS