Thanks for the memories

Hello everyone!

First and foremost, I just want to say that, for this month, you can still expect my E-mails every Saturday. My P-Day has not changed, so there is no need for you at home to make too many drastic changes to your schedule! Aside from this, there have been no other changes for my everyday life - not my apartment, my zone, or my companion. Our mission president was a lot more conservative with the changes he made this transfer (something which may or may not be just for this transfer), so there is not a lot in the mission which has changed - the only change at all in my zone is that my district leader is now training one of the new young elders. That said, there have been changes in the exercise program - I now have not one, but two new fellow coordinators, Elders K. Young (as with some other missionaries in the mission, his first initial is included to differentiate him from another Elder Young on the mission) and Vandenhazel. I look forward to meeting with them, and working with them to get this program running smoothly. So, I am spending another transfer here, which will be my sixth transfer in this zone. This means I will have been here for half of a year! Again, there are no huge changes, so there is nothing to worry about on that front.

As I am sure you all know, Thanksgiving has been this month. This is always a special time of the year, but this is especially so in the mission - this is because everything shuts down for the holiday for a couple of days. So, during this time, we have been doing a couple of other things to keep us busy. The day before Thanksgiving, things closed down at 5:00 P.M., so we did not have a night zone. Instead, all the young elders got together for a movie. President Fenn was also here, so before we began, we had a Q&A together - we ask him a question, and he would give his best answer. The questions asked were about gospel- and mission-related topics. This was awesome, better than your average fireside if you ask me! Anyway, after this, we watched our movie, "17 Miracles", together. I have watched it before, but it was still a great, moving movie. I would recommend giving it a view for those of you who have not!

On the day of Thanksgiving, we did our morning exercise a bit earlier than usual - 9:00 A.M. instead of the usual 6:45 A.M. The new coordinators were also there, and I think they are doing well - Elder K. Young has a lot of new exercises for us all, so we have been working with those as well as the stuff we had before. After exercise, we helped to set up a tables and chairs for a mission Thanksgiving dinner at the stake center where we had exercised. We then had an opportunity to go back to our apartments and work on getting them clean/studying the scriptures before the dinner. The dinner itself was excellent! The food was provided by missionaries (including young elders) who were either asked or had volunteered to provide food. I had not been asked, but I had spent some (not all, of course) of my day before this dinner making a loaf of challah bread, so I made a last-minute decision to donate that. It was good for us all to meet together over a bunch of good food! There is nothing quite like a good Thanksgiving dinner!

The next day, the young elders in the mission went on a hike through a park in the city. I had accidentally forgotten my water bottle for this activity, but most of the hike was in the shade, so it was okay. We had hiked about a total of four miles round trip, so it was a pretty good exercise. After this was done, me and Elder Argyle went out to get our shopping done, due to a service project which would be happening the next day (which would be today). On the way back from this, I found that I had to deal with noticeably more traffic than before. I was a bit confused at first, before I realized that this would be the day the lights at Temple Square turned on. So, me and Elder Argyle had decided we would walk through Temple Square a bit to see the sights. I have walked through the place a lot in our mission work, but we had never really taken the time to stop and smell the roses. While walking about, I had actually gotten stopped a couple times and asked questions about the place. I do not serve in the Temple Square mission, so I was not able to answer much, though I could point people in the general correct direction or refer them to the Temple Square sister missionaries. The lights were spectacular this year, and though the place was extremely crowded, it was still a nice experience to go take a nice little walk through!

Finally, there is today. Today was relatively less eventful, because a lot of the young elders (those who do not have Saturday as their P-Day) had to return to zone today. However, it was P-Day for me and Elder Argyle, so we did not go in this day. Earlier, I mentioned going shopping yesterday to accommodate for a service project. This service project took place at the Deseret Industries store on Welfare Square. There were several of us there, and I, as a driver, was assigned to drive one group of us there. For some reason, some of us had thought we would be getting there using the freeway, but the assistants to the president were able to plan a route which does not use that road, which was a nice relief. At Deseret Book, we did volunteer work to help out wherever they needed us at the store. Me and Elder Argyle helped with sorting donated clothes and putting price tags on products. Soon after that, we went home, ate a quick lunch, and came here to the library to do our P-Day E-mails. Later today, we will be going to another movie, "Savior of the World".

And there is my week in a nutshell. This was a very interesting week, I must say. I hope you have all had a great Thanksgiving, and I also hope you are all prepared for all the Christmas-related stuff coming right your way. Okay, I will see you guys next week. Have a good one!



From,

Elder Bryce Petersen



Challenge: The schedules which we had received for our "days off" were very specific - they even included that we should spend the mornings studying our scriptures, even though it is what we do every week. Scripture study is important for missionaries, but they are also quite important for anyone else. Studying the scriptures does to the spirit what food does to the body - it nourishes, strengthens, and energizes. However, just like feeding ourselves, this must happen every day, or we will spiritually starve. This must not be limited to simply study with your family, though that is important too - limiting your scripture study to just what you read with your family is like eating breakfast every morning, and not eating so much as a crumb the rest of the day. Personal study is one of the greatest habits one can develop. It is essential for a missionary to do his job, and, again, it is equally important for anyone else. If you have not developed a habit of personal or group scripture study, I would advise you to begin doing so today. Do not say that tomorrow will be the day - saying tomorrow will be just as easy the next day as it is today, and doing so will become a tough habit to break. Only a chapter a day will make a good start - finding five minutes will be easy. Then, when you find yourself consistently reading this one chapter, you can go on and read another, and begin looking more deeply. Soon, you will find yourself "feasting upon the words of Christ" (2 Nephi 32:3), and you will have guidance in your lives.

Month the 8th, or one third

Hello everyone!

Well, last Monday came a milestone for me - that day has marked my 8 month mark! Now, I have been out here for about a third of my allotted time to serve as a missionary. The months are going by quicker and quicker, and it almost seems like I will be packing my bags for the final time. Until then, I must make the most of my current opportunity to serve the best I can! Also, last Monday, we have had some new Young Elders arrive in the mission. We have actually had five new Elders this time, which is the first time since I have arrived on the mission since we have gotten an odd number of elders. I am guessing this is because we had a tri-companionship on the mission (which actually included my former companion, Elder McGrew), and they wanted to remove this. So, we have seen them around, and I am kind of looking forward to seeing who trains them.

Anyway, I am still in charge of the exercise program. I will soon be taking more charge of this. As I may have mentioned in my last E-mail, we are losing the other Young Elder exercise coordinator, so we should be getting a new one sometime soon. The senior exercise coordinator, Elder Boone, will meet soon with the assistants to the president as well as with President Fenn himself about this. I myself have given the issue some thought, and have a list of suggestions, but it will ultimately be up to President Fenn to make a decision. Either way, I feel I will probably stay as a coordinator, and will be training a new guy to help me out. I look forward to seeing who I get to work with here!

Speaking of seeing who I get to work with next, you probably know that, whenever we get new Young Elders, that a transfer conference is coming up soon. Based on my recent track record with holding on to companions, I may or may not get to spend the next month with Elder Argyle. I also may or may not be staying in the same apartment. I don't think I will be changing zones though - I think they want to keep me here for a while, to get the Young Elders trained into the zone if nothing else. I don't mean to brag, but I am currently one of the more experienced missionaries in this zone, and I think they will want to keep me to get less-experienced missionaries trained into this kind of work. Besides, I think our administrative supervisors want us to stay there for a while - they would prefer if we spent our entire missions there. Of course, President Fenn does not want to let that happen. Still, I think we will be there for a while. But, then again, there is no way to predict what will happen in the mission. But, I know that these transfers are inspired, so I will just hold on, and look forward to what the next transfer brings.

Senior mission conference also happened this week. As per the tradition, I attended this as well, due to my being in the choir. However, this senior mission conference was a bit different: the theme was service, and rather than just have someone in the mission presidency and his wife speak (which still happened), they also had some people who have led mission service projects share some thoughts on the experience. I feel like this was a good conference this month - but then again, it is always good. I always enjoy these mission conferences - the messages shared are as good as the opportunity to sing!

I don't have much more time to write today, but it is good to hear from you who write me. I appreciate all the support I get from everyone, thank you all very much! I will see you all again next week!



From,

Elder Bryce Petersen



Challenge: As I have previously mentioned, our senior mission conference happened this week, and the subject was service. Remember the Savior, and all He has done for us. His entire life was dedicated to other people, rather than Himself. Even to the end of His mortal life, He was more concerned about other people - even those who crucified Him - than he was about Himself. Finally, His ultimate sacrifice was given for all of us, and is the greatest gift we can receive. Should we then not return the favor? The best way we can try and do something for Him is to do something for someone else (see Matthew 25:40). Selfless service is one of the best ways that we can show our love to another. There are opportunities always around us in which we can work to make someone else's life better. This can be as elaborate as a service project, or as simple as a kind word. This sort of service is the best legacy which one can give - if you were to serve just one person in some way every day, imagine the size of the impact after a year, or 365 days, or 365 people's lives made just a little bit better. So, as we try and serve other people, we find that our own life is also blessed.

Old friends, new challenges

 Hey everyone!

First off, happy Veteran's Day! 

So, things in zone are coming along quite nicely. The basic training for the zone is finally finished, and we will be getting trained further in the weeks ahead. The new missionaries in the zone will begin training in account-related cases (the ones that the contact center specialized in before the changes). In the future, we will all be trained on other types of cases as well. I also think the zone wants to train the other Young Elders in helping out new Stake Temple and Family History consultants get started with their new callings (we call this "outreach support"). For now, a few of us who have already worked doing this type of work, including myself, have been accepting phone calls again. I feel a lot more productive doing this than I have in the past couple of weeks - training is important and all, though it is much more gratifying to actually be helping people with their problems. I do look forward to getting trained into doing other types of cases though.

We have had our Young Elder mission conference this month as well. I don't remember if I ever told you about the standard model for these mission conferences: after starting off with an opening hymn and prayer, we get a message from the assistants to the president. After that, we hear from some of the senior missionaries who work with the Young Elders in some way or another - this month, it was the Browns, who are finishing their service as Young Elder coordinators. After that, we hear from the wife of the member of the mission presidency who has been assigned to speak at the conference - this month, it was Sister Fenn. After this, we get a short break to stretch our legs and even enjoy some refreshments; then, we get an intermediate hymn. After this, we hear from the member of the presidency who's wife had just spoken, in this case President Fenn. This usually lasts from about twenty to thirty minutes, and it was no different at this conference. He spoke to us on the priesthood, it's importance, and how it works. After this, we get our closing hymn and prayer. So, this conference was great, just as it always is. It is nice to hear the messages which are shared, and try and apply them to better our missionary service. I look forward to this every month, and it is a pretty good experience for us as a mission.

We have also had our Young Elder temple trip this last Friday. Some of you are probably thinking that it is a bit early in the month to be going on a temple trip. Yes, it is pretty early, but there are a couple of good reasons for this. First off, transfers are coming a bit early in the month, and we usually base our temple trip off of that. Second, due to the holiday coming this next week, we have had to move it back a week. So, we went to the Salt Lake temple again. It's nice to go there: it is truly a great temple, and it is convenient to not have to wake up so early in the morning to catch the bus. I was able to take a name in my own family tree through too - a name which had all his temple work stop in May of 2003 - this was a couple months before I started kindergarten. Imagine, waiting those long 14 years! The temple is truly a blessing to go visit, and I am glad that I can attend the temple (almost) as often as I want!

I may have mentioned before that I had been asked to play guitar at transfer conference. Again, playing guitar is usually not allowed on a mission at all, but when the mission president approves it, then it's alright. Anyway, it has been approved for this purpose, and I have gotten my instrument earlier this week. One of the senior missionaries in the training zone had talked to her daughter about this, and she was able to loan it out for me. It is currently back at my apartment. Some of you have probably already guessed by now that I have put some extra miles on that, and let me tell you this: I do not think I have fully realized how much I have missed this! I have not let it get in the way of the important stuff of course, but it feels great to be doing my thing again! Of course, after transfer conference (which, by the way, is the Tuesday after next Tuesday), I will likely have to give it back. But, I will enjoy it while I can!

Well, that is my week for you guys. Thanks for all the support, I appreciate reading your E-mails. Have a great week everyone!

From,

Elder Bryce Petersen

Challenge: I have heard said once before, "Put the Lord first, and everything will work out". As you likely can tell, this is a way of saying that if we remember to keep the important things as our top priority, then everything else will fall in to place. I understand that not everyone who receives my E-mails may be a member of our church, but even if you are not, there are still things which are more important than others, things like family, for example. However, how often do we make compromises which put these things lower on our list of priorities? For example, we may argue that we simply do not have time to attend the temple, or we may want to go straight to bed without saying prayers, or we may skimp on scripture study. One such compromise can lead to another, and then another, until these things become not as important anymore. So, to remember to keep the important things first, the best thing to do is to simply start small. If you simply cannot find the time to do these things, you will have to make time. Remember, if you put the Lord first, everything will work out. Also, you do not have to try to make one big change - doing so at first will be difficult, and may discourage yourself. Instead, start out small - just read one chapter from the scriptures, for example. By remembering to keep the Lord and the important things first, you will find that it is not as hard as you initially thought. You will still be able to get everything else done, and your life will be much better because of it.

Music in my soul

 Hey everyone!

In the excitement for all the changes which happened at zone, I forgot to talk about a musical performance I got to participate in. This happened a week before last Monday in my mission branch's "Aloha Dinner," an event intended to recognize the missionaries joining and leaving the mission for this branch, if I never explained it before. This may sound similar to a "Hail and Farewell" dinner I have previously talked about, and that is because the only differences between the two are which branches they are for (the mission has two branches), and the month on which they are held (each dinner happens once every two months, and they alternate so that there is a dinner every month). Anyway, I was asked to perform a special musical number at this branch with a couple other Young Elders. The event was great, and multiple people have commented on the performance. Aside from that, I have also gotten to sing for another special number last Sunday, "Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy," in a quartet for sacrament meeting.

I do have a couple more musical performances planned. One is not until December. The other is one I am very excited for. At Transfer Conference this month, they want me to help provide prelude music. This is made up of instrumental covers of hymns, mostly done on piano and violin. However, the music coordinator, Elder Kellogg (I may have mentioned his name once or twice before) not only asked me to help perform - he got President Fenn's permission to let me use an acoustic guitar for this! So, we are currently working on getting one for me so that I can practice with the other people performing for this, and I must say, I am very excited to pick up a six-string again! This will be my first time in a while, so I will have to work to brush off a couple of cobwebs, but I really do look forward to doing my thing again!

So, you are probably wondering what I did for Halloween. Spoiler alert: I did not go trick-or-treating. However, we did get out of zone a bit early today, so that we could celebrate the holiday. We did this by enjoying snacks and a movie called "The Best Two Years," a movie which, if you haven't heard of it, describes missionary life in a nutshell (for proselyting missionaries, anyway). It sort of shows that, although this mission is definitely different than the one in the movie, things are actually quite similar in some ways. The purpose of this E-mail is not to write reviews about movies, so all I will say is I recommend checking it out, at least to see what it's like if nothing else. 

Not a ton has happened in zone - we have mostly just been training with recorded videos of the aspects of serving in this zone being taught to other missionaries. There is a lot to take in, but then again, there is a lot which I already have experience with from my last four months in the zone. Honestly, it gets a bit boring at times. Luckily for me, the training is somewhat self-paced, so I can occasionally get up and walk around a little bit. It is also convenient that there is a break room in the library, though it also requires one to be careful with how they use their wallet - the stuff in the vending machines looks tasty. I haven't been bad with my money though, so that's not a problem. I plan on being done with this training by this time next week, though we will see how things go.

I have also added a couple of photos to this E-mail - some old, and some new. I do not know if I have sent any of these earlier, but I tried my best to pick where I left off from the last time I sent pictures. Either way, allow me to describe them: the first is the conference center when I attended the priesthood session of General Conference. The next is me and Elder Lindsay showing off the hats which we had knitted for that service project I have talked about. After that is a picture of some pizza which I made and ate at President Fenn's house back when we had that pizza party. Next is a homemade flan which I made earlier this week. Last was taken just a moment ago, a picture of my companion Elder Argyle. I will try and be better about sending pictures in my future E-mails.

Well, that's what I've got for you this week. Again, I thank everyone for the support. I'm happy to hear from you back home. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

From,

Elder Bryce Petersen

Challenge: One needs to look no further than the name of our church to know the center of our faith - that is Jesus Christ (2 Nephi 25:26). Our goal in this life is to learn of and become like Him in all that we do. So, how do we become like Christ? The simple answer to that is to develop Christlike attributes, and do what He would do. So, how can we develop Christlike attributes? The missionary handbook titled Preach My Gospel does a great job on covering some of these attributes, and how we can develop them. Of course, you may be able to identify a few of your own, and that is not only a good idea, it is encouraged. My challenge to you is to work to develop these Christlike attributes in all that you do. In your daily life, look for ways you can become more like the Savior. Becoming more like Him will make life less stressful, and will also bless those around you. To learn more on the subject, click here to read the chapter on developing Christlike attributes in Preach My Gospel.