Letter #31: September is Here

Hello again family, this week has gone by pretty quick. I have had some fun this week. A lot of cool experiences. First was, on p-day we went and hung out at a member’s house. She is actually American and teaches English. She is super cool. We ate ribs and played phase 10. Soooo nostalgic.

On Wednesday we went to Kumamoto again for a conference with the mission president and Elder Choi of the Area Seventy. It was pretty interesting and spiritual. I got to shake his hand and talk with him for a little bit. Their testimonies are pretty great. We had this great feast during it, provided by the relief society of the Kumamoto ward. Japanese curry, fried chicken etc. It was cool. After the conference we went on companionship exchanges with the Nagamine elders. I went to Eikaiwa (our weekly English class) with Elder Harman (my previous comp) and I had fun getting to know some new people. The next day I split with Elder Takita from Provo, Utah. We had a good time. He and I were quite a bit alike so we got along well. He is much older than me though mission wise.

The rest of the week went by fast as we hardly had anytime to talk to people in our own area. With cleaning checks coming today we have to make sure our apartment is clean. We met with our investigator but we discovered that her boyfriend is married and she knows but still loves him. He won’t get divorced too. Big problem :( hope she will choose the right thing.

It feels like a great long time, and also short time since I first headed into the MTC. Long long time ago in what seems like a galaxy far far away (lol) but it is interesting when you look back and see where the time has gone and how much I have tried to change. At the first of my mission in the MTC it was a fun ride of learning a language that was fun and exciting while learning other things about the gospel. Then I got into the field and struggled a lot, over and over again. It was hard—real hard.

Then things got better gradually, the light came back and things became bearable again. I have recently been listening to almost every day President Eyring’s talk titled Mountains to Climb from April 2012.

He talks about how we all struggle with adversity and it always feels like we are climbing mountains. But through believing in Christ and having faith we can get through these trials. At some point I forgot about all of that and just focused on the bad things about the mission. Now I am gradually changing, remembering the better things.

The atonement is a really great thing that helps us gradually change to become those better tools. Elder Choi told us in the conference that we are all pushing a big rock. It may not seem like its moving at all but when our time for pushing is over and we realize that we have gained much more strength. It may be hard now but it will pay off later 😀

Anyway, I wish I had some pictures to send but there I can’t take the pictures off my card. I need an adapter thing. Will try to get one this week so I can send some pictures next week.

Thanks everyone for all your letters :) see you next week!

Elder Bryce

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *