Hey everyone!
I must apologize to everyone who's personal letter I thought I had to cut short because of the time limit. As it turns out, I actually have two hours to write emails to everybody. So, I will try and put some more personal flairs in each email. Of course, I will also use some of this time to work on some more of mine and others' genealogy. I should have plenty of time to work on all of that! If anyone of you has questions about FamilyHistory, or other genealogical research questions, be sure to ask me about them, and I will try to answer them!
I did bring my flash drive with my mission pics on it. Sadly, I have not been very good at photographing the mission. As a result, I do not have many pics, and most of the ones I do have were taken on day 1 of the mission. I will try and take more pics to share with everyone. I really should have taken some during conference. Oh well, at least I will have other opportunities in the future. Just let me know what you want pictures of, and I will give an honest effort to include them in my emails.
I feel like I am getting more used to this missionary lifestyle. I have been trying to learn how to best budget my money for when I go grocery shopping. I thought I did pretty well last Tuesday when I went shopping, but by the end of the week, I had run out of nice things to eat, and was surviving on Ramen noodles (not that Ramen is necessarily a bad thing, of course). I tried to do better this week, I bought a bunch of Hot Pockets to cover all of my lunch needs. I will probably begin buying more things in bulk next week, as well as go over my priorities a little better. Eating is hard to be able to do, but I am learning.
I have enjoyed being in the choir, and I do feel like my presence there is appreciated. I have been getting up at 5:00 every Monday morning to arrive at the JSMB so I can warm up for the early morning devotional. It is probably worse for Elder McElwain, though, as he is not in the choir. He seems to take it well though lol. Singing has been great for me, it is an opportunity for me to keep making music out here in the mission. It will also make my singing voice stronger than ever, which is also good!
I am not helping a ton of patrons at the library outside my more specialized assignments, or at least not as much as I thought I would. I guess that is to be expected, most of the help with research is outsourced to the research experts on the floor. These are the people who specialize in researching certain areas of the world, such as Asia. The missionaries mostly are assigned to help with people who are just getting started with their research, or have some other relatively basic library need. Needless to say, I am happy to help however I can, and I treasure the moments I do get to help people.
I am not only helping patrons at the library, however. The mission itself is a very large mission, though I believe there are less than 100 young elders in the mission. Everyone else is actually a senior missionary. As such, they sometimes need assistance with technology, which I am more than happy to provide for them. Even if the majority of my mission is spent helping other missionaries with technology issues, then I will be perfectly fine with that!
I did get to attend General Conference this weekend. I did get a free ticket to attend the Priesthood Session live, as promised. However, I also got to wake up early on Saturday (Me and Elder McElwain woke up at 4:00) and wait outside the conference center to get a ticket to attend the morning session of that day. It was a great experience, being able to attend such an event live and in person! As for the rest of the sessions, I watched them from the JSMB theater, where they were streamed live. The seats were not quite as nice as they are in the Evanston theater, but they were the next best thing. But I would have also endured the hard wooden benches of the Temple Square Tabernacle if I had to do that to watch Conference. It is that great of an experience, and I hope you all tuned in to watch it.
Well, that is it from me in my General letter for the week. I want you all to know that I appreciate the support you all have for me, it really does mean a lot to me. I am glad to hear you are all doing well back there, and I want to make you all proud! I do have a challenge for you this week. President Thomas S. Monson addressed us on how important reading the BoM is, and he advised we read it every day. My challenge to you is just that: read it every day. I would also advise you do so for at least 15 mintues, and preferably together as a family. As you read, study and discuss the verses you read, so that you may learn as much as you can from those scriptures. That is my challenge for you. Have a great week everyone!
From,
Elder Bryce Petersen
apartment kitchen ft. elder young, living in first apartment with us
creme brulee crepe at the nauvoo cafe on day 1
hail and farewell pic 1
hail and farewell pic 2
jsmb with family, day 1 of the mission
mission pic
the apartment
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