The elbow...

We received a couple of mid week correspondences from Bryce this week about his elbow injury from his p-day soccer game. The first letter is in response to questions from his dad and then the last one is after he went to the doctor on Monday...

Sunday's letter:

To answer your questions: 

1) Range of motion: Not great. It won't straighten all the way, and I can't bend it all the way to my arm either. It's just sitting in a sling right now, and that's the most comfortable position. I can twist my forearm though fairly easily.

2) It only really hurts when I try extending it out all the way or bending it all the way. When it's bent half way it's fine, like how it is in the sling. 

3) It doesn't look too weird, from what I can tell. Just swollen. The reason I thought it was dislocated is because it felt like it just had to get popped back into place and it would feel a lot better. I think. I'm not sure. 

Hermana Warner (the nurse) has got me on ibuprofen and we're just icing my arm right now, but we're going to wait until Monday to decide if we need to make a trip to the hospital or not. But yeah, that's about it. Let me know what you think! 

Also on another side note, my comp Elder Mortensen has strep, as of yesterday. So basically right now we're pretty useless. Haha. 

Tuesday's letter:

Alright... Got the x-ray. Looks like nothing bad at all, the doctor said my elbow's just inflamed right now. And I'm already feeling a better range of motion, hopefully by Saturday it feels fine cause we're going to go golfing for p-day! Hopefully. Here's the x-ray results too:

So I'm not like a professional doctor or anything, but I think it's pretty normal. Let me know if it's not normal... I guess. 

Another week in the office

Hey family! Sounds like you're all having fun down there in Lake Powell! Except WHY IS JAYSON WEARING MY CLOTHES? Not cool. I guess I will permit it, as long as you don't wear my tanktop with the Stormtrooper on a surfboard. Off limits, that is (Yoda voice). Anyway, looks fun. Glad to see that Amaya's wearing the Boca jersey too. AWESOME STORY! Going off track a little bit. We've been doing a lot of cleaning in the offices/our pension this week, and yesterday Elder Romero and Elder Solomon were cleaning out Elder Romero's office, and they found a SUPER DOPE jersey that they just gave me for free. I have no clue why, but I love it! It's like an original jersey (so normally it would be VERY expensive) from the team called Racing. I think I'm still going to be a River fan, but this Racing jersey almost made me change my mind. It's definitely my second favorite team here now. Anyway, looks like a lot of fun down there. I miss that place. I probably would have even gone fishing. Fishing always seems like way more fun at Lake Powell. 

Alright, I'll be honest: I can't hardly think of anything that happened this week. That's one down side of the offices. I mean, basically my whole job is just making sure missionaries get their money when the need it. And I guess I did that pretty well this week. Elder Mortensen is awesome, he's teaching me a lot. There were a few days this week though when he wasn't here, which was a little stressful. Elder Romero, the pensionista (he's in charge of all the apartments in the mission and making sure they have the stuff they need) had to go down WAY south, to the part of the mission called San Rafael, Alvear, and Malargüe. And Elder Romero can't drive, so when he has to travel to certain parts of the mission, he takes someone who can drive. I'm hoping I can be one of those people soon, once I learn how to drive stick shift. Anyway, he took Elder Mortensen this time, and they were gone for like 2 1/2 days. So I was by myself, which was a little stressful at times. Cause ya know, I've only got like a week and a half here. But, everything turned out alright. I think by the end of 6 weeks I'll have this down easy. 

Hmm... I'm struggling of what else to write. Maybe I'll introduce you to the rest of the Elders in the offices! I'll try to get a picture today too. We've got the asistentes, Elder Child (Utah) and Elder Vallecillo (Nicaragua); Elder Solomon (Utah) the historiador, he does all the baptismal records and stuff; Elder Romero (El Salvador) who I already explained; Elder Lawrence and Elder Benedict (both from Utah) the secretaries, me and Elder Mortensen obviously; and then the nurse and her husband, the Warners. I'll try to get pics. Another thing I need to tell you guys though: we're thinking about making t-shirts/jerseys for the offices. And I have no idea how much personal money I have right now. I just know I didn't have very much. But I really do want this t-shirt, it's going to be super dope. So let me know on that, por fis. 

I still haven't gotten the driving permit yet, but that might be because we haven't gone to get the mail yet. Hopefully I can start driving soon. 

Well, that's all I can think of to say. So I'll talk to ya'll next week!

Elder Bingham

We are finding all kinds of weird stuff in this deep cleanout we're doing. I don't know what me and Elder Solomon are wearing.... And that's Elder Warner in the middle. 

Ummmm... Self explanatory. Not sure why this happened.

check out my nasty bruise from soccer today! We've been playing like all day, and then this happened!

and also more battle wounds.... The bruise and the hand injury happened after falling really hard trying to stop a latin from scoring. I'm currently icing the hand, but I also think I dislocated my elbow. I'm typing this with one hand currently. But hey, there's that cool jersey I told you about! I'm still working on figuring out how to pop my elbow back into place. 

Finances

Hey family! It's been like so long since I've written you guys... Like 5 days. I do kind of like this new p-day! Except now you guys have to write on a different day of the week if you don't want me to read what happened to you guys like a week ago. Anyway... So yeah. I guess not a lot's changed for you guys. It was fun getting like 2 letters this week. 

It was fun calling you guys though! I bet that was a surprise. It was for me too. We had like the most brilliant idea after you didn't answer the first time... I hung up too early. We were going to leave a message from me that just said "Hey Lynette, this is Bryce. Just give me a call back when you can." I think it would've been really funny. But then you answered the second time, so that idea failed. Anyway, so yeah. I've got to get an international driving permit now. As for the dates you need, I suppose the departure date would be whenever you send the permit, and the effective date put something in like a week or something, when it actually gets to me. I guess. So you'll have to lie just a teensy bit. And yeah, don't tell them you're forging my signature. Also send it by express mail so it gets here in like a week. But don't feel the need to do what Elder Benedict's parents did (the new secretary, and my comp next transfer) and spend like 100 dollars to get it shipped by the US directly to the office super quickly. The nice part is he's already got it, but it should get here just fine if you just mail it by express mail. So yeah, I'll be driving soon! I'm excited! And I'll get to learn to drive stick shift!

I'm learning a lot of interesting stuff in the offices, besides that. Like everyone here knows how to do a Rubiks cube too, so I'm learning that. And one of the biggest and most interesting things I've learned in the offices? THE CHURCH HAS GOT BIG MONEY. Like geez... I've only been here like three days and yesterday I took a 20,000 pesos to deposit in the bank, not to mention I'm like moving boat loads of money to like a ton of missionaries like every day. It's ridiculous. But I'm doing great! It's actually not as hard as I thought it would be, yet. And there are many perks to being in the offices, as I've already mentioned. To add some more, we have a WAY nice phone compared to everyone else in the mission, I have access to a computer every day, I get to meet all the missionaries coming through the offices, I get to talk to all the missionaries in the mission when they call me, and we basically never have to worry about being low on money. Well, maybe a little bit. I mean, we obviously can't just go on shopping sprees and pig out, but every week we get the money we need for the week, and stuff. I still don't understand everything about this whole system yet, but it's great. Plus right before I got here all the elders in the offices went and bought themselves memory foam pillows, so I'm sleeping like a champ. 

Alright, last story: So, we can't really get out and proselyte too much, because we don't have too much time. Lots of times we get stuck here in the offices until like 7ish. But yesterday we actually had a super great lesson! We contacted this guy like one of my first days here, and we set up an appointment for yesterday. He's REALLY poor. He literally lives in a partially constructed building, in this tiny little room that he's closed off to keep the heat in. Basically there's only room for his bed. That's literally it. Anyway, continuing. He lives on the second story of this building, and there's still only scaffolding on the building basically. We thought we were going to be climbing up, like he did, so we went to this part of the scaffolding where he told us to go. Little did we know we were standing on an elevator. Elder Mortensen (from Willard, UT, by the way) my comp started to climb when the little elevator started going up, and I had to like pull his legs out off of the scaffolding into the elevator when it started. He almost DIED. Or almost had his legs severely crushed. It turned out okay though. We laughed at the top. Anyway, we had a super great lesson with they guy. The first lesson too, so we taught about the Restoration, he was super receptive, and we even put a baptismal date super easily! August 15th. He was like "Yeah, I want to do it!" Or something like that. And he lives like 4 blocks from our office/chapel. So, he's like golden! Basically. And he doesn't even have problems with the word of wisdom or the law of chastity, from what we've been able to pick out. SO, who knew it would be possible to get a baptism in the offices? I'm having faith. This should be GREAT! 

So yeah, I'm having a lot of fun here I guess! Not nearly as bad as it sounded at first. I hope you guys just have an awesome week in Lake Powell and stuff!

Elder Bingham

Holding the sun in my hands! We went to the dam place again last p-day, with my old district. Many great photos to come.

Familia Bravo! I love this family. Eloisa the 9 year old girl we were teaching was unfortunately at her grandparents' house when we went to go say goodbye to them. Cause FUNNY STORY! They closed our area in Pocito, and just left the hermanas there. This happened on Tuesday, right before I left. And so we spent that whole day moving all the crap from our pension into the pension of the hermanas. And now the hermanas have the whole gigantic area of Pocito to themselves, on the bikes. I felt really bad about it, but they should be fine.

district pic! 

Plank! This is especially for Hailey, cause  I had a brilliant idea this week! Once you leave on the mission, we're going to start a planking war! 

another plank :)

The hermana Analia, who cooked for us like every day in Pocito. She's super awesome, I will miss her. 

Sermon on the mount? 

I've never held this much money in my life.

Posterity pic! This is Elder Trelease and Elder Mortensen. They're both super great! Elder Trelease is my grandpa financiero, and Mortensen would be my dad. 

So, I'm pretty much a prophet

Hey family! Are things finally more tranquilo over there? Sounds like all the wedding chaos is finally cooling off. Looks like you guys had a fun week. Kyla got to go to EFY! That's fun stuff! Glad to hear you had fun and also about all the cool spiritual experiences you had over there. Try and remember that stuff. Your guys' FHE sounded fun! I liked the pics. Sounds like you guys are doing a lot of fun things actually... I didn't even know you guys were going to Lake Powell next week! JEALOUS. Did we do this many fun things last summer? I can't even remember any more. Anyway, hope everything's tranquilo over there. 

So, getting to the subject line: it's really not as apostate as it sounds. So about 2 weeks ago I had a dream that scared me a little bit. It involved me in the mission offices... Working with the financial secretary. And for this whole transfer after that I've kind of been scared that I'd go to the offices next transfer as the financiero. I even mentioned this to President Goates in interviews next week, which might have been a bad idea. Cause guess what? I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED! To the offices! As the financiero! Not even kidding! Looks like I know where I'm going to be for the next six months... Doing finances for the entire mission. Kind of a depressing thought. More or less. Not that the offices don't have their perks, but still. I'm not going to be doing very much proselyting for the next six months, it looks like. This actually changes many things: First, my pdays are now going to be on Saturday. So I get to write you again this week. Second, this will actually make it a lot easier to go and get Mom's package. Third, well, just to tell you: my comp is Elder Mortensen, who's the financiero right now. He'll be training me. Fourth, I'll be in the offices like all the time with like 6 elders like every day. I'll probably be seeing President a lot more as well. And... That's all I can think of right now. I'll be sure to tell you guys all about my first few days in the offices on Saturday. And kind of a scary thought: I've heard that messing with the church's money is one of the fastest ways to get excommunicated in the church. Not that I'll be doing that, but I hopefully I don't have to many problems moving the church's money around. So yeah... Life's going to be great these next 6 months. 

At least I had a great last week here in Pocito! The familia Bravo finally came to church this Sunday, even though only 12 other people including us came this week. 15 in attendance this week. Awesome. Anyway, besides that: we had a few cool milagros this week I suppose. We had entrevistas this week, as I mentioned, but while we were there the assistants gave a really cool training on doing our daily planning. I realized I've been doing it wrong my whole mission! We started using Preach my Gospel a lot in our daily planning, and our planning just seems to work so much better! Our plans usually end up working out when we do it the way the Lord wants us to, I suppose. Not a lot of really specific milagros, but just our plans seemed to work a lot better this week. It was kind of cool. I think I finished my time in Pocito well. I just hope that the familia Bravo keeps coming to church so that Eloisa gets baptized! 

Well, I won't tell you guys too much more, so I have things to write about on Saturday. I'll talk to you guys then!

Elder Bingham

Another spray foam war! This is pday last week. A lot of fun... Again.

Dead dog! Probably the most dog gore I've ever seen in my life... Enjoy.

A little view from the middle of nowhere: Pocito. You will be missed.

Umm...Can't think of a subject line this week

Hey guys! How are things? I had a much better week here, I suppose. But I'll get to that. Sounds like you all had fun at the family reunion, even though it was really short. Haha I enjoyed the bumper boat pics too! It looked fun. And I guess next year I'll be getting back right after the next one, unfortunately. Whatever. And Amaya and Charlie got back from their honeymoon? Send me pics! Or at least the few you did get. And where are you guys living now anyway? Close to BYU or something? Mom mentioned apartment but didn't say where. So... Yeah. And Kyla's off to EFY? Have tons of fun! That was a fun week. Haha that reminds me... I've probably listened to way more EFY music on the mission than I ever did at or after EFY. But good luck Kyla. You'll enjoy it. And Mom and Dad are teaching Primary? You guys told me you got a new calling but you didn't tell me what it was... That's exciting :) Those Mathie kids are crazy... Good luck. 

So, first of all, WE GOT OUR BIKES BACK! Finally. Wednesday, being the beginning of the new month, we got our money, so we immediately went and bought a bike tire. I was really really happy. Cause last week was kind of dreadful, to be honest. I don't like not being able to visit any of my investigators. And we finally could do that this week. Still didn't have a lot of lessons or anything, but we could at least visit some people. We've almost finished teaching all the lessons to the 9 year old non member girl of the less active family we've been teaching. It was frustrating not being able to visit them last week, cause they live REALLY far away. It's also frustrating because they haven't been able to make it to church this whole transfer, and she can't get baptized until they're active because of her age. So, prayers would be appreciated for the familia Bravo and their daughter Eloisa. They need to come to church! 

Saturday was interesting. It was the final of the Copa America, or the soccer final for all of South America, and Argentina made it to the finals. So logically, this makes all of Argentina really crazy, so on Saturday after our zone meeting we had to stay in our pension the whole day. It was kind of boring. I still haven't even asked anyone who won. So that made for an interesting saturday. At least we bought ice cream. 

And... Not really sure what else to say for this week, so I'll be writing next week! With hopefully some exciting transfer call news! This transfer flew by... Holy crap. Anyway, see ya'll!

Elder Bingham

Two pictures that the Hermana Workman just gave me. Enjoy. 

We went to the indian head thing again for p-day last week... Here's the pics.