..and a happy new year!

Hey everyone!

Well, the Christmas season has come and past. Days have been taken off due to the library closing down for the holiday, and gifts have been received. Now, it is back to business as usual for the mission. Honestly, I think that everyone is happy to be able to get back to work - the days where nothing was scheduled were quire uneventful. Mission leadership were unable to find anything for us to do on the day after Christmas, so the day was devoted to study, cleaning the apartment, and other such tasks. Things have returned to normal now, even though the library will also be closed Monday for New Years. I am not sure what exactly we will do that day, but I look forward to whatever they can schedule! Wednesday was quite interesting though - it almost felt like a second Christmas due to all the packages waiting for the young elders in the mail room! There seemed to be at least two for everybody in there, not including any envelopes or cards or anything of the sort! I had received a couple of packages from home myself, for which I thank the senders!

Aside from these smaller happenings, I feel I should talk about Christmas day a bit more. For me (as well as the other young elders), the highlight of the day was being able to make Skype calls back home. So, I got to go to the mission office and use a laptop to send a Skype call to my parents. They, along with my two brothers, were all gathered in for this. And it was great! I thought I wouldn't have too much of a problem with the time limit for Skype calls set by President Fen (30 to 40 minutes), but I ended up there for 45 minutes! (Don't worry, President simply said to try and stick to that time frame, but it was still perfectly alright if we went a bit over). But, talking to my family face-to-face was great! I am excited to be able to do it again this coming June!

Zone work has been interesting as well. A lot of my time has been spent either processing requests regarding the 110 year rule as well as training the new young elders for the job. I have also begun listening to conference talks through my headset when I am not on a phone call - such has been a great way to invite the Spirit into my work. Aside from the work I have been doing, there are going to be changes happening at zone - they want to put all the computers we are using in to a different room - it is just right next door to the room we are currently in, but it is still, nonetheless, a move... I don't know when exactly my desk is going to be moved there, though most of us are in this other room already, and it will likely happen soon to me. We also were not able to train this Monday as have have other Mondays (because of the holiday this week), and we probably will not do it this next Monday either for the same reason. But, I do look forward to getting trained on more things so that this zone will always have something for me to do!

This zone, however, is not the only part of the mission experiencing changes - President Fenn wants to make a lot of changes to how the Young Elders here serve their missions. However, there are things which not even a mission president can do in his mission without approval from one of the Seventy, or even one of the Quorum of the Twelve. For this purpose, not only has he gotten Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Twelve to speak to our mission in a special mission conference (at which President Fenn will seat us young elders front and center), but I also have heard from what I believe to be a reliable source that he will also be shown around the zones of the mission to see how we do things, and how the mission runs. President Fenn is doing this because he believes that the young elders are capable of so much more than we are doing right now, and he wants us to make the most of our missions. To me, I am flattered that he thinks this highly of us, though I also wonder if I can live up to this expectation. However, that is definitely something I can work towards - becoming the best I can be on this mission! So, the best I can do now is work to improve myself, and work to become the best man and missionary that I can be!

On that note, I also look forward to training my companion , Elder Beeson, to become the best he can be. I have now spent a week and a half with him as my companion, and things are going well on that front. He is a smart guy - smarter than me in quite a few aspects. There is still much for him to learn - just as with any new missionary - which I look forward to teaching him. I do have confidence that he will one day become a great elder in this mission. However, the thought of this improvement being my job is quite a concept - I have trained before, though there are unique challenges which come with every new companion, especially when he is brand new to the mission. I sometimes wondering if I am doing things the right way, though I am told that I am doing a good job, so I guess I'm doing something right. All I know is that the Lord has me in this position for a reason, and that he knew that I wouldn't be able to do everything perfectly. Of course, the Lord having anticipated my shortcomings is still not an excuse for becoming casual in regards to this task. The Lord has never expected perfection from us - only improvement. And that is the same thing as what I expect out of anyone with whom I have the privilege of becoming companions with.

Finally, we had our young elder temple trip yesterday. It has been too long since the last time we have done this, so it was good to be able to go again! I would like to attend the temple on my own time more often - when in my future will I have such an opportunity as I now have, to have a temple literally within walking distance of my residence? So, that will become one of my new goals - to attend the temple myself more often. It is a great experience of spiritual immersion which I guess I have been taking for granted a bit more than I should have. But, I want to change this about myself, and improve myself in this aspect, as well as others.

Anyway, that is my week for you. Though it has been a bit tough at times, it has still been great. The entire mission has been wonderful - I wouldn't trade any of my nine and a half months spent so far on this mission for the world! Thanks to all of you for the support again. Have a good week!



From,

Elder Bryce Petersen



Challenge: There is a Book of Mormon story in the 31st chapter of the book of Alma, in which Alma went out on a mission to reclaim a people known as the Zoramites. They had not forsaken religion, but rather, their practices were not in harmony with the teachings of the gospel. One of the problems they had was that they would worship God only during one day a week - aside from that, they "never [spoke] of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again" (Alma 31:23). This is one problem I myself had before my mission - aside from on Sundays, my belief was not quite at the forefront of my life. However, on my mission, I have learned that religion is not simply a once-a-week event - it is a daily way of life. My challenge to you out there is to be an "example of the believers" (1 Timothy 4:12), not just during the three-hour block of weekly church meetings, not just during Family Home Evening, and not just during Seminary or Institute class, but for the entire week. Now, this is not to say that all of your free time should be spent buried in the scriptures or in the temple, though both are wholesome activities. Rather, find ways to simply incorporate your gospel in to your everyday life. One of the ways I do it is, as mentioned earlier in this E-mail, is listening to conference talks on lds.org while working when I am not using my headset to take a phone call. It is also important to "pray always" (D&C 10:5). You can also use some of your daily screen-time to do some family history work. These ways, along with many more, are all good ways you can incorporate the gospel in to your everyday lives. Doing so will help you to feel the feelings which may have previously only come on Sundays, and your whole lives will be enriched.