December 27

P-DAY!!!!!! first one! so happy! haha over a week strait of no pday starts to get to ya! still lovin it though!!!
well mtc is great ! the learning concept is like drinking from a firehose! its crazy how much you learn here on a daily basis! food is wellllll ...sometimes okay! other times it can be a little wierd!! my companion is elder shipp! hes from lehi utah so just up the road and we both are serving in the same mission! pretty coolio! he struggles alot with the language though so when we teach our investigators (there actors) i tend to do most of the talkin but he seems to be gettin better and better each day!! my zone and district is full of some amazing elders!! we are already all super tight and it feels as if we have known eachother our whole lives! they all look so familiar too... funny how that works out! so in our zone the oldest district pulls a prank on the youngest district...its called "s.p.o.f."..(super power of foreigners) . so the first day when we all got here we got to know kinda everyone in our zone but this one kid ELDER DENNERT. before sunday night elder dennert acted as a slower kid with a funny speach inpediment who was a man of short words but asked huge questions and acted just super funny and not very intelligent and said random comments... all through out the week we all kinda were unsure about him!! elder guthrie and i (he has the coolest southern accent) kinda were wondering if he was slow or somethin was off with him so most of us kinda tried to avoid him hahaha sooooo sunday night came around and we had a little zone meeting and elder dennert was the one in charge so we all gathered round and listened to some wierd strange random story he told every body.. all of us newbies were confused and i was crackin up the whole time ... at the end of the story he switched into his normal voice and normal self hahaha we were all like what the heck dennert isnt normal like that... he said somethin like this at the end of his story .."to all you new elders ..elder Harper Smith im actually a pretty intelligent guy and kinda cool also" hahaaaa we wer all in shock the whole week he portraid some goof ball and thats all we knew him as and then at the end of the week he suprised us by turning into his normal self POWER TO THE FOREIGNERS! sorry for writing all this but it really lightened all the stress and emotions the first couple days here and now we are all super tight! a zone is made up of like 5 districts i believe of atleast 5 elders so everybody was in on this except us which made it even more funny!
Its been snowing for 2 and a half days now!!! how stinkin awesome is that!? woke up to 8 + inches of new snow this mornin! dad trist and tyler make sure and send me pics of your boarding trip!! the mountains are getting hammered! im really starting to enjoy the mtc alot more! christmas was a little on the rough side but still was amazing! what a blessing it was to be here but... all of us elders sure missed home! im lovin the language and am applying new stuff daily! tomorrow as a companionship our goal is too only speak spanish all day! (its gonna be a little quieter then usual) and ill be carryin around a spanish dictionary all day but we both figured its probably a great way to learn! every way i look i see lots of friends from mountain view! its really kind of funny! skylark tends to come out of nowhere! haha but we see eachother alot! we actually got to sit next to eachother on christmas eve! for like 4 hours! (so stinkin long for hard plastic chairs)! its great to have him here for sure though! elder bond also i see everywhere he seems to be doin great also!
Momma you wanted to know my schedule so ill make a little rough one...wake up at 630 have gym at 635 go back to residence shower get ready breakfast at 810 after breakfast we usually have classroom for three hours or langauge study or personal study it just depends on the day! after those 3 hours we have lunch at 1245 i think and then more study and then classroom 3 hours of language and we each teach our investigator every other day! then comes dinner then more study then at 930 back to the residence! and then we play dodgeball do rap battles about the book of mormon and some other fun things! my zone is full of hilarious elders! they make it so fun! and then 1015 is quiet time writ in your journal time and then lights out at 1030! then wake up and do it all over again!! i actually dont really mind it im enjoying having a shcedule!
Mail is what we look forward too well i shouldnt say all we look forward too but it does lighten up the day! it was great to hear from all of you!! love you all so much!!!!! the real question is when is june bug gonna right me..?? wellllll next email i promise will be more spiritual!! just know that my testimony grows everyday here! im lovin the spirit that is here and all the friends ive already made by the end of the nine weeks we will all be brothers!
-Elder Bryce Osmond Harper-Smith (yes that is a mouthfull to say !!!!!) love you all!

SURPRISE Merry Christmas

hola mi familia!!!! and friends!!!

well we had an amazing suprise here at the mtc this christmas day! elder Russel M. Nelson came and spoke to us... 2100 missionaries packed into the gym singing silent night and then to have him walk in and all of us stand up... the spirit has been so strong today and very comforting.

 MERRY CHRISTMAS! FELIZ NAVIDAD!

 

well i can honestly say that ive had a little rough time here at the mtc... they say if you make it to sunday then you will be fine!...ive made it to sunday and boy were they right! first couple days i had a hard time. It randomly hits me that i wont see you all for two years but i know this is where i need to be and what the lord wants me to do!! i have the greatest zone here at the mtc! love em all! weve already created amazing friendships! my companion Elder shipp is a solid guy! although he struggles a bit with the language its been awesome to be able to help him and others in my class.. its strange how the lord works. ive learned so much from all of my zone and district and i know the lords hand was in where i was placed and who my companion would be. Tristen..keep workin hard on that spanish! i promise it will bless you!

 here at the mtc they dont waste time! thursday was our first lesson that me and elder shipp had to teach in complete spanish to an investigator (i already love this language and am learning like cray cray) the lesson actually went extremely well we tought him of gods love for him and shared a scripture and invited him to come to church.... saturday was our next lesson... this time we even did better... started with a prayer and dove right in. we explained our purpose as missionaries and went over the book of mormon.. i beared my testimony of the book of mormon and that we can and will receive answers through it.. next we had him read moroni 10:4-5 moronis promise. he kinda got a little teary eyed! so BAM he went to church and is reading the book of mormon!! next lesson is manana!!

 welll my 20 minutes is up! merry christmas everyone!! i love you all! a mission is gonna be the hardest yet greatest years of my life...ive already been blessed with so many amazing experiences and feel the spirit so much! this christmas day i challenge you all to focus on what the savior sacrificed for us... hes given so much for us and to us. MUY ANIMADO! and am so greatful for this opportunity! !! love ya guys

 and feliz navidad!

  -Elder Harper-Smith

 

P.S receiving mail in the mtc is AMAZING!  p-day is on thursdays!!

Entering the MTC

Elder Harper-Smith was picked up from the airport from our uncle that lives in utah. He sent us some pictures that they took over the few hours they were together before he entered the MTC.

 

 

Thank you all for your love and support! I will post early this week hopefully when we get a letter! He loves you all! As he said before he left " I am going to give em all heaven" So excited for all the people whos path he will cross. Signing off- Elder Harper-Smith's sister... Ashley.