Hola (That’s Spanish for Hello),

Wow… There is soooooo much I want to tell you guys. It feels like it has been years since I have seen you. The plane ride was great… there was about 25 Elders and 1 Hermana on our way to Atlanta, where we kinda got lost but made it to the gate right on time. There were a couple more missionaries there waiting. Then from Atlanta to Mexico City it was fun as we tried to communicate with the Mexican flight attendants. The Mexico City airport was interesting, none of us knew where to go but we eventually made it to a guy who was going to pick us up, but he only spoke Spanish so that was fun too. But there was this sweet bronze statue in the airport of a naked guy with wings and a bird mask.

The bus ride over to the CCM (MTC) was the most crazy thing I have ever experienced. We were on this yellow, old school bus. There was barely any streetlights or stop signs and when there were some most people ignored them. We were driving soooooooo fast and I thought I was going to die. Mexico City is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. The amount of colors, graffiti, and buildings that were pieced together made the drive awesome. I took a lot of pictures. Once we got to the CCM (pronounced say say em A) it was so peaceful compared to the city. There are two mountains on either side of us and they are covered with favelas (slum houses). I am not sure if that is what they are called.

You can hear fireworks, guns, and canons go off all the time, and sirens and cars honking consistently. Whenever I hear the canon go off it feels as if I am in the Hunger Games, people always whistle that tune and raise 3 fingers… its pretty great.

 

The food here is really interesting… They always offer one Mexican dish and one American dish. The Mexican food hasn’t really set well with me so I usually stick to the American stuff. They have a Mexican soda machine which is DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I usually mix different flavors together for one masterpiece, I still don’t know what each flavor is but they are good. The lemon-lime one is the best. It is even better than Sierra Mist. I wish I would have packed more snacks though. Like granola bars, fruit snacks, and candy. I also wish I would have packed hangers, a water bottle, and scripture marking pencils. But they have a store here and they give us 100 pesos a week ($7.56) to spend so I bought those things. They have some pretty cool stuff, so I might take out some money here to get you guys some souvenirs.

My casa (house) is nice, there are five rooms in each house, each with two bunk beds in it, a bathroom, and a shower. In my room it is just me and my companion  because the other two guys that were supposed to be with us were actually put in two different houses but they were companions so they choose to stay in a different house.

My companion. His name is Elder S. He is a funny guy. He is Samoan, plays football (offensive line) and rugby. He is about twice my size. He looks mean and tough but he is a giant teddy bear. He reminds me a lot of the guy from The Blind Side. He was born in Oregon, moved to Utah at 8, got converted and moved to Independence Missouri in his teens. He is actually really good at football. He is at a Junior College right now to get his grades up but he got offers from BYU, Utah, Mizzu, Iowa State, Iowa, Kansas, K-State, Auburn, and Alabama. It is interesting talking to him because we grew up in two totally different cultures.

The first full day, I was made district leader. My district consists of six elders (including me) and two Hermanas. Here is a quick summary. I’m dropping the last names for privacy reasons.

• Elder F from Georgia, looks kinda like our cousin Braden, loves to play the piano, enjoys classical music, writes his own music, likes Manchester City.
• Elder P converted two years ago when ~19, lives in Chicago, loves computers, studied Industrial Design (I mean engineer *cough cough* lol) for a year in college. Such a great guy.
• Elder S from Utah, played all sports in High School, loves to ski and hunt.
• Elder P from Pocatello Idaho, QB in High School.
• Hermana F from Wisconsin, really quiet and has a awesome testimony.
• Hermana H, a Hawaiian/Utahn… She is very outgoing.

Well, I am out of time, I wish I could right more and tell you more, but that will come next week.

I just want to let you guys know that I know the Church is true and I want to share it with all the world. I know Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and I know that he did see God and Jesus Christ. It is awesome being here, and there is no place I would rather be.

Adios!

With love,

Elder Bryce

 

P.S. Please email pictures with emails, it would be great to receive. I would’ve sent some pictures but my computer’s USB port doesn’t work and I was too lazy to go to a different computer :p