It's Cold Here

Elder Paswaters and I are doing very well with our success! We have been able to find many people. The struggle we are having is that the people we find tend to be elusive after our first meeting. It is very frustrating having appointments fall through and not getting through over the phone. Man I've left more messages on my mission already than the rest of my life!

But it's the one success that makes it all worth it.

We got to go up to the temple  visitor's center and help with traffic on sunday for the festival of lights. It was cool but holy smokes its cold here!

Well I hope that all of your Christmases are Merry and that there is love in the room from the floor to the ceiling.  Merry Christmas, happy holidays! (Nsync christmas anyone?)





Update

Bryce has a new companion named Elder Paswater who is quite the hard worker and is really excited to get started. Bryce is also glad he speaks English :)

"The last six weeks started very slowly and ended with a bang.  Elder Paswaters came in on a very rewarding note.  Ill relate a story that put the icing on the cake:

After transfer meeting, Elder Paswaters and I were street contacting in a parking lot for a bit.  We ran into a lady whom we set up an appointment with for Tuesday.  Yesterday we went to find her on 'Big Yankee Ct' She had given us the house number of 13913.  We could not find it anywhere! So we turned onto a different street and found the same number on that street.  We were not sure if she made a mistake or gave us the wrong address, but either way, when we knocked on the door, 18 year old Chante opened the door.  She told us she had been looking for a church to go to and invited us in.  We then talked to her and her boyfriend.  Right before we started teaching, Her 12 year old brother came out of no where into the room and asked us, "How do you baptize?" Devante just set us up for the easiest invite I have ever had.  All 3 said that they would be baptized and will be at church on Sunday.  We will see them again on Thursday.  

I started to play a game with myself.  Whenever I think of wanting to be home I just really put myself there and what I would be doing.  After a few weeks I would have to go to school and do homework, get a job.....do homework.  and other things like that! So that lifts me out of it every time.  No offense but I'm ok being here! I have to convince myself of that around the holidays.  :)

Thanksgiving was good.  We got to just hang out with Quinn and Raina.  Hanging out is nice.  Teaching is good too but sometimes its nice to be able to just chill."

Miracle

This email was sent to Bryce's mission as well as leaders in every ward in his mission. He sent it to us, just for fun:

"Dear President Albright,

We first met Blake on September 5th. Elder Gubeli and I were sitting in sacrament meeting at the Centreville Stake Center when we saw a tall man stroll into the chapel in basketball shorts and a T-shirt. He came in right after the sacrament so we did not have a chance to talk with him before the meeting started. It was a testimony meeting and we watched as Blake soaked in what was being said. There were a couple minutes left in the meeting when we saw Blake stand up. We thought he was probably just going to let someone through the isle. But we were oh so wrong. He walked slowly but surely up to the pulpit! He delivered a simple and humble testimony about the beautiful Spirit he felt in the chapel and how much he had enjoyed the members sharing their testimonies. The meeting closed and we jumped up and introduced ourselves! We led him to Sunday School and scheduled a lesson for that evening. Blake told us that as he went door to door as a salesman in the area, the LDS members kept inviting him to attend the LDS church meetings here at the Stake Center. Two families on one street both convinced him he should investigate the Mormon church. Blake’s dress quickly went from gym clothes to a shirt and tie with polished shoes. His countenance followed the same transformation. Blake became the newest member of our church yesterday Nov. 19th. What a blessing it was for me to be a witness of this miracle!

Thanks,

Elder Church"

DC Tour

Bryce got to tour DC for P-day this week.
Here's a few shots of the day:

Pass along card for the president.

Roomies: Bryce, Elder Bolos, Elder Obilisk, Elder Horton, Elder Chung

One of the Best Weeks

Portions from Bryce's latest email:

"Elder Chung and I were tracting and a little Asian woman opened the door. I talked to her first but then we found that she was from Hong Kong and Elder Chung jumped in with Cantonese! They talked back and forth and laughed....then I laughed because I didnt want to look stupid. Then they both looked at me. Then started talking again. She let us in and we had a really good Cantonenglish lesson. She likes us and wants to be baptized. Problem is her situation is that she is looking for a job here but only on the weekends for now, but we will stay in contact once a week and over the phone. I was texting her today. Haha that's kind of weird. Her name is Dina. That was awesome for Elder Chung! He got to break out and not have to worry about pronunciation. I let him do most of the talking, it was perfect.

We also started talking to a 17 soccer player from Peru named Gerson. He is awesome. His best friend committed suicide a week or so before we knocked into him. We thought we were going to teach the restoration but taught the plan of salvation. He loved it. I said after a while, "well, we don't want to take too much of your time...." and he said "No no, I want you to keep going." So we did. We taught about the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism. He is going to ask his parents when he can get baptized. I like this guy.

This was one of the best weeks of my mission, and whats funny is that it followed one of the roughest. Also I have been sick all week. Not bad, just nagging stomach, throat and head nonsense. I'm dead tired but I'm happy! And I think Elder Chung is too."

"The first step to the great succeed is the small succeeds" -Elder Chung

Quote #3

Bryce has a new companion who speaks Chinese and is slowly improving his English. They seem to be having some fun experiences together. This one made me giggle:

"Elder Chung's door approach the other day, that he thought was just so clever: (knock knok. door opens.) "Hi. we see that your flowers on your step are very beautiful. You want your life to be beautiful too? What you think?" One person laughed but the other two weren't so amused. haha! gotta love it. At least he is swinging the bat."

And few pictures:

Transfer #4

Oct. 13
"I will be staying in Centreville 2nd and....I will be training! Holy cow! I got a call from the assistants last night and I gotta admit I'm excited and nervous.Tomorrow I will go to the stake center to transfers early and I'll meet with the other trainers and president. Then the greenies will walk in and in a dramatic fashion one of the assistants will tell us who our new comps will be. Crazy.

My trainees name is Elder Chung. Straight from Hong Kong! He studied English there and went to BYU Hawaii for a year in an Asian community I guess, so his english is not bad but not perfect either. He is wonderful but it will be a challenge for us at first, thats for sure. He is 128 lbs and plays ping pong. He brought his paddles and balls, and, get this.......his uniform. ha!"

Birthday Boy!

Sweet Moment

Again, I apologize for the lack of posting. I guess that's what being in college does to you. Anyway, let's get to it.

Excerpt from Oct 6th

"A few days ago i had one of the sweetest moments of my life. I was tracting when I was on exchanges in Manassas with my trainer elder LaRochelle! Really fun to be with him again. We tracted into this black lady. She had just moved their a couple months back and was feeling alone. When we sat down one of the first things i felt needed to be said was that God loves her. With that I said he knows you. He knows what you are going through. You are one of his daughters and he misses you. We lived with him before and he cant wait to see you again. It went from there, but as i was saying this, Tiana's eyes teared up and when I saw this so did mine.

His love the first principle of the first lesson that we teach for a reason. Every other doctrinal detail is secondary to that fact. Whether you are being a good person or not, his love never decreases. He may be disappointed like any parent when you do things that are wrong, but the love is the same."

A Message to Youth (and everyone else)

Our ward asked Bryce to send a quick message to the youth. Something they should remember as they're working through tough times. He had a few answers but this one was my favorite. I think it's good for all of us to remember.

"Recognize your individual importance and the love that our Heavenly Father has for each of you. It is simple but it still takes time to fully understand. Jesus did not die for the whole world as a group. He died for the world in a process. He went through each person, saw their face, and went through their life. He knows every joy, every pain, every triumph, every struggle. He knows how you felt after that boy said that mean thing to you at school. He knows how you feel when you strike out to lose the game. He knows how you feel when you feel alone. In times when you feel no one can help you, turn to your parents because they have that similar love for you. And of course, always turn to your Heavenly Father. Talk to him like you are talking to a friend. Because that's what he is. Our best friend."

 

"The Reyes family. Mario is on the top left. He's my boy."   -Bryce

Quote #2

"Isn't it great that I don't have to worry about girls, school, or a job for two years? This is the only time in my life that I'll have that. 2 years may not be enough..."

Transfers

Sorry everyone for the lack of updates lately. We've been in the process of moving and haven't had internet for awhile. But now, we're back in business.

Here are a few highlights of the last couple weeks.

First of all, Bryce had his first baptism two weeks ago! Her name is Alina and Bryce said she's doing great.
He also got transferred last week and sounds really excited about this new area. He will now be in Centreville with a new companion, Elder Gubeli. This is not far from where he previously was so his address has not changed. All letters just go directly to the mission home.

A few words from Bryce:

(August 25th) "I will say this though, I wish I talked more specifically about the church with my friends at home. It is something that has been such a blessing in my life, and I want it to have the chance to do the same for those I love. I think that this chance that I have to be here and proclaim truth is wonderful. I am truly growing in my understanding of the gospel and God's love for us. It is the first principle of the first lesson, but it so simply complex!"

(September 8th) "This week was the best week as far as the success we saw for the whole mission. And on transfer week, that's pretty sweet, but it wasn't all us. No no. On Sunday a guy named Blake walked into church in basketball shorts and a t-shirt (It's actually nice as missionaries because it's easy to locate). He sat down in testimony meeting. Then about 20 minutes later he bore his testimony on the spirit of the meeting!! Unbelievable. He stayed the rest of church and 12 hours later, we taught him a lesson and he has a baptism date set for September 25th! (I know, Happy Birthday to me). That's actually one of two happening that day for us. The second story will come next week.

I am really learning how to stretch myself. It is so easy to just relax and take things easy because so many missionaries do. Peer pressure all over again. I have decided that I am no just going to make the mission a good experience or something that I learn things from, or think fondly of,  but something that immensely changes my life in perspective and knowledge of our savior's sacrifice for me. The mission is as hard as you want it to be. My goal is to have it almost kill me.Then how great will it be to live!"

Bryce says: "There are deer everywhere here! They come into the neighborhoods all the time and are actually considered pests because they're overpopulated. Ha."

"Secadas. They are related to locusts and are so noisy all the time."

Learning...

(taken from his latest email)
We are now teaching a family of five in Vienna! Sonia Ackerman is about 25 years inactive to the point where she doesn't remember much. Her three kids are 16, 14 and 10. They are solid. We passed out "For the Strength of Youth" to them and they liked it. But Sonia is actually the cleaning lady for the Burton's and one day Sister Burton just talked about church and it led to this. It's amazing how something so simple can harbor eternal consequences.

Something I learned in the last few weeks that makes so much sense to me is the real purpose for the spirit world. I knew before, but it was still a little fuzzy. Once as I was explaining it I started to understand and found this coming out of my mouth. Life is not fair, and death isn't either, but God makes it fair. And he does it through the Spirit World. Then I thought, oh ya that's true! There were some spirit led words no doubt. You learn when you teach.

The mission has been great for me. You see things through a different scope and I like it. I am grateful for my education because I think it has given me a greater perspective. A specific class I took about the development of humans has led me to see people for who they can be rather than who they are. This keeps me positive.

We have been great. The mission is difficult, frustrating and wonderful.

I know that God lives and loves us. That's all you need to know to get through.

I will leave you with the answering machine recording of an old black inactive lady in our ward: "Remember that God loves you and so do you I. Shalom"

Zone Conference Pictures

A Few Things...

(taken from his latest email)

One of the hardest things I witness here is the people who are too smart for their own good. They learn by thinking rather than feeling. It's hard because unless they quit, they won't allow the feelings they have to sink in. The thing our church has is the spirit of our Heavenly Father which helps us to remember what was before this life. It shows us truth. When things are talked about that makes sense or are true, we are able to feel that. It's funny when people bring up anti things they read, that is contrary to the church, and when asked, the feelings they have are not peace but confusion. If everyone would just take a second, breathe, and ponder about the truth that is being brought forth, the whole world would be baptized by September.

I am learning about myself. I think it's important to know yourself before trying to teach others. Sometimes they happen simultaneously. More than sometimes.

more things:

-This one is scary. I called myself Elder Church for the first time on my mission. It's always been Bryce. I dropped something in the bathroom the other day and instead of saying, "gosh dang it Bryce!" I replaced it with Elder Church. Who am I?

-There are a ton of frogs here.

-I rode my bike for the first time!

-2 things that I say now that I have never said before: "Sorry ma'am, we don't work here..." and "Sir it's ok you can park your car there. We aren't in fact, cops, you can park here."

-The mission has caused me to retrogress to the peanut butter sandwich. Cucumbers and meat are too expensive.

I love you family! And everyone else who is reading, I love you too.

From A Place Where Everyone is a Minority

"Countries of people I have met so far:

Ethiopia, Iraq, China, India, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, Vietnam, Kenya, Ecuador, Japan, Peru, Somalia, Nepal, El Salvador, Afghanistan, Columbia, Honduras, Barbados, Turkey, Venezuela,  Morocco, Laos, Bangladesh, Iran, Tibet, Thailand, Russia, Mongolia, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Caribbean, Palestine, Puerto Rico, Burundi, Zaire.

Notice which continent is missing? Weird."

-Bryce

Updates and Pictures

Transfer week came and Bryce will be staying in Oakton where he has spent his first two months, but he will be getting a new companion; Elder Hougaard. Two wards are now being combined into one so they will be covering almost twice as many as before. This new area is struggling so they have their work cut out for them. He's pretty excited to get going.

Here are a few pictures of his weeks previous to the transfer:

Bryce and his first companion Elder LaRochelle

Breakfast with Missionaries

Haha, would you let these two in?

Quote #1

Bryce has an unique (or some may say odd :) way of describing certain feelings and ideas so I thought when I find them in his letters and emails I'll post them for all of you to enjoy. Hopefully they'll be helpful in some way but most might just make you giggle. Here's number one:

(after discussing a young member in a troubled family)

"I have had a pretty dang easy life, I guess that means I need to work hard so it's not so easy, and...so I can make it easier for others."

A Moment to Remember

(taken from his latest email)
I was on exchanges with Elder Ika in Herndon on Tuesday. We were biking through a town parking lot when a car stopped, called us over, and the lady said, "Can you teach me the discussions?" We at first thought she was a member and it was a joke, but after further questioning, she was dead serious. She said, when can you? We said, are you free right now? She said, sure! So we taught her outside her house and found out how she knew who we were and what "discussions" were.

She was in the military in Germany for a while and found missionaries there. They taught her at least three lessons but then she got injured while in Iraq and had to come home immediately. She had some minor memory loss, but still remembered the missionaries. Like many investigators say, she felt she was missing something in her life, my guess was the feelings she had when she was with the missionaries in Germany. She was driving home yesterday from DC and really thinking and asking God what she should do to fill that void. She looked up and saw a billboard on the freeway of the DC Temple. She kind of laughed and said, "Ok, if I see the Mormon missionaries I will let them teach me and bring religion into my life." She drives right by us before she even got home. Coincidence? I don't think so. We just happened to be in that area in the ten second window of her driving by.

This was a wonderful experience. It stinks that I don't get to continue teaching her, because I will be back in Oakton, but I'll get updates. Her name is Tery. Cool, huh? Elder Ika has been here for 20 months and said he has never had something like that happen and was hoping he would get the chance to be a part of something like that. The bike ride home after was very nice. Herndon is great for biking. Beautiful.

Thanks again to everyone for the help, prayers, packages, and love! Mosiah 28: 1-4. (end of verse 3 especially). That's how I try to look at everyone. Regardless of the earthly habits that have overtaken them and the appearance of struggling people, our Heavenly Father sees all of us as full potential and great beings. I try to look through this lens and see what he would see so that I am more motivated to help the whole world!

The product of DC humidity

The only way to keep semi-cool in the heat wave :)

Mission President

Bryce with President and Sister Albright.