Hola!!!!

This week has gone by way too fast but I am super super excited for this next week. We got transfer calls and I am getting transferred to Huntington Beach!!!!! I leave for HB tomorrow morning. It is crazy. It is the richest area in the mission and I am super excited to go! It should be fun and interesting and I am eager to take on any new challenges that will come. There is no Spanish ward or branch but we cover about 4 wards (I think) and usually have to translate for any who don’t speak English. I feel like it will be a good opportunity to increase my Spanish. Also my new companion is Elder Vicenteno (there is supposed to be one of those squiggly marks over the second n but I don’t know how to do that) and he is a native Spanish speaker. I only talked to him briefly the other day just to get some info on where we live and stuff. He is about a foot shorter than I am. I am excited to meet him and excited to work in a new area.

Something also crazy… This mission has been downsizing a lot in the past six months. The total number of missionaries has gone from around 200 to down to 150. So they are closing our area and dividing it up between the other 3 companionships in the branch. It is crazy. The branch is kinda freaking out. haha.

This past week has been crazy. My companion goes home tomorrow morning so this past week has been crazy full of things departing missionaries do. We had to visit so many people and everyone wanted to throw a party (people here use any excuse to throw a party). I am excited to not have to deal with that next transfer because it feels super unproductive at times. Yesterday, there is a departure fireside where missionaries invite members, converts, and investigators for a final testimony meeting. They have all the departing missionaries bear their testimonies and have several musical numbers. There was like 25 missionaries going home which is one of the largest groups ever and so the building was so packed… I have never seen so many people packed into one area though. It was an awesome fireside filled with the Spirit, and I was sitting next to our investigator M_____ who was in tears by the end. It was an awesome meeting.

I am kinda sad to leave the Ximeno Branch and all the members that I have come to know. I am really the most sad at the fact that I can’t teach M______ anymore. She is amazing and I know that she will be baptized in the next couple months so I hope that I can attend her baptism. I am so excited for her.

This week I had my doctor’s appointment. The mission nurse set me up with an appointment at a family doctor which I didn’t realize. So when I got there they had no idea what to do with me. So they kind of just set me up for a endocrinologist in a couple weeks. The did take my A1C but they don’t have a tester so they had to draw my blood (super painful) and sent it into a lab so I will know the results in like a week… Crazy right.

We had a Specialized Zone Conference where our Mission President (President Tew) went to a meeting with all the other mission presidents in California and learned how to better the mission. Our mission is one of the most successful in all of Cali but there is always room for improvement. As a mission we are now focusing on how to ask for referrals from everyone. Members, Less-actives, Investigators and even people on the street. This is going to be our focus as a mission.

I don’t have much time to email today because we have so much to do because it is Elder Olsen’s last day. I will talk to y’all next week and tell you about my new area and new companion. Sorry my thoughts have been crazy and kinda scattered because I have so much to write and so little time. haha

Con Amor,
Elder Bryce