9/28/09
Dear Family,
Mail was exceptionally snailish this week. I didn't get any this week because I got switched over to another zone. I don't think I'll be here for very long, but I wish I could stay for at least one transfer. The area is a lot smaller so we can actually get stuff done when we have to walk. We went to 4 Fast and Testimony meetings, Wooooooo....
I'm trying not to spend money, but Elders Lugo and Manjarrez like to go to Applebee's and....it isn't cheap. They make fun of me for getting a water and half a salad. And, I make fun of them for spending 20 dollars a piece. I'm trying to be frugal. I get another check probably Thursday or Friday so don't be alarmed if my account is looking a little low.
Pops, I got some active culture yogurt today, but it's not a cheap little venture. I'll try to keep eating it, but it's not that good either....I'm also keeping my journal daily which is tough with so much to do before bed, ie, flossing, mouthwash, athlete's foot treatment etc, etc.
All the bishops know I'm somewhat new because my shirts are still crisp. I had Chinese food today. Utah Chinese food is disappointing. Hot and Sour soup was pretty much Sweet and Sour. I practically live off the Jimmy Dean B-fast sandwiches. So good. I made eggs this morning. And, I got a bunch of scripture study supplies. Life is good.
Love, Elder Wright
(On outside of envelope: P.S. It's snowing 9/30)
Monday, September 28, 2009
This week was pretty cooooooool.
9/21/09
Hey Madre!
This week was pretty coooooool. I dont remember a lot of it... It's all becoming the same to me. We have 7 Investigators though, they all have baptismal dates for october, which I hope I can see some of them. It looks like I'll be in SLCS for a while though. I dont think many elders are getting into India right now. The last two sets of missionaries going to India have been waiting for a couple months now and I'm not sure if any are getting in at all. They told us to prepare for Christmas in Utah. At least I get a white christmas though haha. On Halloween we have lockdown, and our zone gets to watch movies cause there isnt much productivity that night. Same for Christmas. I also get to go to Conference next week, which is way sweet.
I'm on a temporary transfer right now with Elder Patterson. His companion was getting really sick so I'm replacing him until he gets better. We're in Sandy, and Elder Patterson has only been here 4 days so we are both trying to figure out what is going on in the area. We stopped by some Bishops and Ward Mission Leaders yesterday to try and figure out what we can do in the mean time. I feel that once I finally get used to the area I'll get moved back to Draper. It's a little pointless to get to know any of the members or investigators here when I'll be gone in a week. Elder Patterson is really cool though. I dont want to say he is better than my other companions, but uhhhh... he's a lot better than my other companions. He doesnt treat me like an idiot and actually answers questions I might have. I also get to sit in the front seat of the car! That's probably the best part of the whole thing. ok, maybe not, but i definitely like companionships a lot more than tricompanionships.
Love,Elder Wright
PS I think your snail mail got lost or delayed or my Zone leaders forgot to pick it up because I didnt get any. Peace.
Hey Madre!
This week was pretty coooooool. I dont remember a lot of it... It's all becoming the same to me. We have 7 Investigators though, they all have baptismal dates for october, which I hope I can see some of them. It looks like I'll be in SLCS for a while though. I dont think many elders are getting into India right now. The last two sets of missionaries going to India have been waiting for a couple months now and I'm not sure if any are getting in at all. They told us to prepare for Christmas in Utah. At least I get a white christmas though haha. On Halloween we have lockdown, and our zone gets to watch movies cause there isnt much productivity that night. Same for Christmas. I also get to go to Conference next week, which is way sweet.
I'm on a temporary transfer right now with Elder Patterson. His companion was getting really sick so I'm replacing him until he gets better. We're in Sandy, and Elder Patterson has only been here 4 days so we are both trying to figure out what is going on in the area. We stopped by some Bishops and Ward Mission Leaders yesterday to try and figure out what we can do in the mean time. I feel that once I finally get used to the area I'll get moved back to Draper. It's a little pointless to get to know any of the members or investigators here when I'll be gone in a week. Elder Patterson is really cool though. I dont want to say he is better than my other companions, but uhhhh... he's a lot better than my other companions. He doesnt treat me like an idiot and actually answers questions I might have. I also get to sit in the front seat of the car! That's probably the best part of the whole thing. ok, maybe not, but i definitely like companionships a lot more than tricompanionships.
Love,Elder Wright
PS I think your snail mail got lost or delayed or my Zone leaders forgot to pick it up because I didnt get any. Peace.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Snail Mail Rec'd 9/25/09-I'm getting better at tying a double windsor knot
Dear Family,
I have like zero time this P-day. I got most of this week in the email. I'm also sending pictures. I hope you like the red-tailed boa pictures. That's as close as I've decided to be to one.
Tell Remy he can play the trombone if he can get it from (aunt) Susan and takes good care of it. Let me know if he actually starts playing it and I'll tell you how to take care of it. It might be a little big for him....I'm getting better at tying a double windsor knot. I don't think I told you but my stopwatch magically started working during the MTC, but I still haven't had anything to use it for yet, ha ha. Keepin busy.
Love, Elder Wright
my bed
Whenever BYU or U of U play, nobody answers their doors.
9/21/09
I've been here three weeks now. We had our first babtism on Thursday, Joshua Edge, he was 9 years old and we reactivated his family in the process. We have several babtisms in a row coming up in October. It's Elder Manjarrezs' last transfer, so it'll be a good way to go out, with 4 or 5 babtisms. Sometimes we watch some of the LDS movies like the Testaments for lessons, and I'm starting to be able to quote them pretty well after watching them only a ferw times.
I guess one of the hardest things about this mission, is college football season. It's riduculous. Whenever BYU or University of Utah play, nobody answers their doors and everyone cancels their appointments with us. When BYU beat Oklahoma state, it seemed like everyone thought the missionaries needed to know. People would be driving by as we were tracting and stop to tell us. We dont really tract though, we have maps of all the neighborhoods and we know who is and who isnt a member.
It's tough on Sundays to try and get to as many of the wards as possible and check up to see if our Investigators are attending Church. about 6 or 7 people this last week said they were going to church, but only 2 did, so we have to push back some of their babtisimal dates until they can come a few times.
On friday we were driving to our dinner appointment and we saw some horses just kinda eating some weeds in someone's front yard, and we decided to help that family round them up. They turned out to be stubborn mules and it took us about half and hour to even get a hold of them and another 15 minutes trying to get them to go in their enclosure. One of them almost dragged elder Manjarrez through a bush, and he lost his nametag which we had to go back and find later. That was our good deed of the day.
It's interesting to see how families play such an important role in the Gospel. Whenever we teach peopel with strong family values, it seems so much easier for them to accept the message we have.The investigators that come from part member families and split homes struggle so much to understand how much our Heavenly Father love us. We are teaching a few 11 year olds, and their parents arent very willing helping us very much, even though their kids want to learn more and come to church. It's definitely a struggle for us to get the parents on board. We're working as hard as we can though, they'll come to eventually.
I'm starting to understand how everything interrealates in the gospel, and the different steps we have to take to come back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. It never really clicked before, but as I study it is beginning to help me understand more and more. As I have been learning, I can feel the Spirit work within me to help me teach our investigators. At first I would rush through and lesson or discussion, but my compnaions are helping me to slow it down and make sure I cover each principle of the lesson. Elder Manjarrez is definitely the best teacher of the three of us and I hope I can teach like he does by the time I leave my mission.
Transfers is this week, and there is a chance I could get moved out of the area, or either of my companions. I would hate to get moved to another area because I just started to get to know the people and the area. I could handle one of my companions getting transferred though... I wont say any names, but I can only handle so much. Tricompanionships are just awkward, and sometiems it's a lot of people to be teaching just one person.
Till next time, Elder Wright
I've been here three weeks now. We had our first babtism on Thursday, Joshua Edge, he was 9 years old and we reactivated his family in the process. We have several babtisms in a row coming up in October. It's Elder Manjarrezs' last transfer, so it'll be a good way to go out, with 4 or 5 babtisms. Sometimes we watch some of the LDS movies like the Testaments for lessons, and I'm starting to be able to quote them pretty well after watching them only a ferw times.
I guess one of the hardest things about this mission, is college football season. It's riduculous. Whenever BYU or University of Utah play, nobody answers their doors and everyone cancels their appointments with us. When BYU beat Oklahoma state, it seemed like everyone thought the missionaries needed to know. People would be driving by as we were tracting and stop to tell us. We dont really tract though, we have maps of all the neighborhoods and we know who is and who isnt a member.
It's tough on Sundays to try and get to as many of the wards as possible and check up to see if our Investigators are attending Church. about 6 or 7 people this last week said they were going to church, but only 2 did, so we have to push back some of their babtisimal dates until they can come a few times.
On friday we were driving to our dinner appointment and we saw some horses just kinda eating some weeds in someone's front yard, and we decided to help that family round them up. They turned out to be stubborn mules and it took us about half and hour to even get a hold of them and another 15 minutes trying to get them to go in their enclosure. One of them almost dragged elder Manjarrez through a bush, and he lost his nametag which we had to go back and find later. That was our good deed of the day.
It's interesting to see how families play such an important role in the Gospel. Whenever we teach peopel with strong family values, it seems so much easier for them to accept the message we have.The investigators that come from part member families and split homes struggle so much to understand how much our Heavenly Father love us. We are teaching a few 11 year olds, and their parents arent very willing helping us very much, even though their kids want to learn more and come to church. It's definitely a struggle for us to get the parents on board. We're working as hard as we can though, they'll come to eventually.
I'm starting to understand how everything interrealates in the gospel, and the different steps we have to take to come back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. It never really clicked before, but as I study it is beginning to help me understand more and more. As I have been learning, I can feel the Spirit work within me to help me teach our investigators. At first I would rush through and lesson or discussion, but my compnaions are helping me to slow it down and make sure I cover each principle of the lesson. Elder Manjarrez is definitely the best teacher of the three of us and I hope I can teach like he does by the time I leave my mission.
Transfers is this week, and there is a chance I could get moved out of the area, or either of my companions. I would hate to get moved to another area because I just started to get to know the people and the area. I could handle one of my companions getting transferred though... I wont say any names, but I can only handle so much. Tricompanionships are just awkward, and sometiems it's a lot of people to be teaching just one person.
Till next time, Elder Wright
Monday, September 14, 2009
Snail Mail Received 9/19/09-I'm still on the floor, but it's alright.
9/14/09
Dear Family,
This week went WAY quicker than last week. My email I sent covers most of the eventful stuff that happened. I'll just answer some of your questions. We live in South Jordan, bur right on the other side of I-15 is Draper. I'm feeling better now. Last weekend was the pits though. We spent 3 hours in our tiny little basement kitchen for weekly planning and I think my system just couldn't handle it. My first night here we had that double dinner and some desserts just because people wanted to feed us. We also got doubled up for dinner this last Friday. That's really rough especially when the first meal is really good and the second one is straight up terrible.
I'll try to send more pix home, but I don't get a lot of opportunities. I don't think my companions would be very willing to take pictures of me every 5 seconds. I get $128 a month, for whatever. I need to be a little more frugal. I'll get the the next half this week. I shouldn't be needing any extra if I spend it right. I'm still on the floor, but it's alright. I'm sleeping fine. We play racquetball occasionally, but not a whole lot. We're getting kicked out of here in a month so we are asking the stakes for a new place to live. Good job on surfing, ha ha. What choice timing too, at the end of the summer, right at the start of school, ha ha.
Love, Elder Wright
Dear Family,
This week went WAY quicker than last week. My email I sent covers most of the eventful stuff that happened. I'll just answer some of your questions. We live in South Jordan, bur right on the other side of I-15 is Draper. I'm feeling better now. Last weekend was the pits though. We spent 3 hours in our tiny little basement kitchen for weekly planning and I think my system just couldn't handle it. My first night here we had that double dinner and some desserts just because people wanted to feed us. We also got doubled up for dinner this last Friday. That's really rough especially when the first meal is really good and the second one is straight up terrible.
I'll try to send more pix home, but I don't get a lot of opportunities. I don't think my companions would be very willing to take pictures of me every 5 seconds. I get $128 a month, for whatever. I need to be a little more frugal. I'll get the the next half this week. I shouldn't be needing any extra if I spend it right. I'm still on the floor, but it's alright. I'm sleeping fine. We play racquetball occasionally, but not a whole lot. We're getting kicked out of here in a month so we are asking the stakes for a new place to live. Good job on surfing, ha ha. What choice timing too, at the end of the summer, right at the start of school, ha ha.
Love, Elder Wright
"We have lots of work to do."
I've been in the Mission field exactly 2 weeks now. We have lots of work to do.
Thursday we did some service for an older couple near our house. We originally
planned to wash their windows but we ended up putting some stepping stones in
behind their house. I put those wonderful shovel skills I learned over the
summer to the test. They fed us lunch after wards, which we later regretted. The
grape juice did all of us wonders. On Friday we had 5 lesson appointments set
up, but 2 of them didn't show up and 1 cancelled. Then we had 0 appointments
Saturday so we tried contacting less active members. It was really funny when we
would see people walk into their house after they had seen us coming down the
street, and then nobody would answer the door when we rang the doorbell. I think
that happened 3 times that day. We also have some primary aged investigators,
but it's difficult to get them to church when their parents wont go themselves.
Our hard work paid off though, when we got a really sweet referral Sunday.
Pretty much, this lady has read the book of Mormon, wants the lessons and wants
to be baptized. It's really cool when they just come in like that. All three of
us spoke at one of the wards yesterday. I was given about a 2 hour notice of our
assignment, but I think I did a pretty good job for a talk prepared on a sticky
note. We have one baptism coming up this Thursday and possibly two next week. I
seriously think the hardest part about this mission is remembering everyone's
name; less actives, recent converts , investigators, bishops, ward mission
leaders... I'm keeping up though. My favorite part of my day is my personal
study. An hour a day is not enough time for me to get in all the stuff I want to
study. I hope my visa comes soon, but I also hope that I get to stick around for
some of these baptisms.
Love
Elder Wright
Monday, September 7, 2009
Snail Mail Letter-Received 9/11/09
September 7, 2009
Dear Family,
I'm not sure if the emails are going through, which is a little frustrating, but I'll try to keep in touh as much as possible. I'm slowly getting into the groove of missionary work. We cover the south end of Draper, right on the border of the Provo Mission. We cover 2 of 117 stakes within the mission, the Riverview and Mountain Point stakes, 16 wards in total, and it's really hard to keep track of all the bishops and ward mission leaders. They feed us lots of referrals though, which is really nice. 85% of the baptisms in the mission are member and media referrals which really shows that if members can find the people to teach, the missionaries don't have to waste their time trying to find. We have teaching appointments every evening along with visits to less active members and re-activated memebers. We aren't doing much tracting cause it's a little pointless when half the neighborhood is already members. We go all the way across the valley to the Jordan temple on Tuesdays. I also got way sick on Friday and puked several times, including at a members house. Elder Manjarrez got sick Saturday, and made good use of that Immodium medicine. Elder Lugo is still feeling some of the effects of it.
Food is also real nice in the valley. The members feed us all dinners. And there are lots of discounts at certain places for missionaries. Gandolfos is FREE and Jamba Juice is 50% off for missionaries. I'm so happy. A member fed us the most legit Italian food I've ever had last night. Oh, and the dry cleaners is free too. The pictures I'm sending are all of the MTC, I haven't taken any of the Salt Lake Valley yet... I'm outta time this p-day. Stay tuned next time for the next episode of Rudy's Mission.
Love, Elder Wright
A beautiful day in front of the Provo temple.
Dear Family,
I'm not sure if the emails are going through, which is a little frustrating, but I'll try to keep in touh as much as possible. I'm slowly getting into the groove of missionary work. We cover the south end of Draper, right on the border of the Provo Mission. We cover 2 of 117 stakes within the mission, the Riverview and Mountain Point stakes, 16 wards in total, and it's really hard to keep track of all the bishops and ward mission leaders. They feed us lots of referrals though, which is really nice. 85% of the baptisms in the mission are member and media referrals which really shows that if members can find the people to teach, the missionaries don't have to waste their time trying to find. We have teaching appointments every evening along with visits to less active members and re-activated memebers. We aren't doing much tracting cause it's a little pointless when half the neighborhood is already members. We go all the way across the valley to the Jordan temple on Tuesdays. I also got way sick on Friday and puked several times, including at a members house. Elder Manjarrez got sick Saturday, and made good use of that Immodium medicine. Elder Lugo is still feeling some of the effects of it.
Food is also real nice in the valley. The members feed us all dinners. And there are lots of discounts at certain places for missionaries. Gandolfos is FREE and Jamba Juice is 50% off for missionaries. I'm so happy. A member fed us the most legit Italian food I've ever had last night. Oh, and the dry cleaners is free too. The pictures I'm sending are all of the MTC, I haven't taken any of the Salt Lake Valley yet... I'm outta time this p-day. Stay tuned next time for the next episode of Rudy's Mission.
Love, Elder Wright
A beautiful day in front of the Provo temple.2nd Week in the Mission Field-We have Dinner Appts. Every Night
Now for this week
I'm going strong. We have lots to do and are keeping very busy. We serve the River View stake and Mountain Point stake, the most southern area of the mission bordering the Provo Mission. We get almost all of our contacts from members and media referrals. We have 6 baptisms coming up in the next month and a half, and we also teach some less active members and a few 8 year olds. I'm still not a very good teacher. Elder Manjarrez has been out 22 months and he has lots of great analogies. I also suspect he doesn't like me very much, but we get along alright. Elder Lugo is quiet and get the job done. I got a pretty bad Flu bug on Friday, which put me out of commission for all of friday evening, and then Elder Manjarrez caught it Saturday and Elder Lugo caught it Sunday, which definitely slowed us down. Over all it was a pretty 'sick' weekend... I can also see how missionaries can gain weight in this mission. We have dinner appointments every night, and lots of food places in the valley serve missionaries for free. Monday night we had two dinner appointments and three desserts. That was my very first evening in the mission field. We go to the Jordan temple on Tuesdays even though the Draper Temple is right up the street from our apartment. I attached one picture of me and riley at the MTC but I'm sending the rest home in a letter. Got to go. Dont miss me too much.
Love Elder Wright
(Cousin) Elder Riley (Harper) and I pointing to our respective missions on the
I'm going strong. We have lots to do and are keeping very busy. We serve the River View stake and Mountain Point stake, the most southern area of the mission bordering the Provo Mission. We get almost all of our contacts from members and media referrals. We have 6 baptisms coming up in the next month and a half, and we also teach some less active members and a few 8 year olds. I'm still not a very good teacher. Elder Manjarrez has been out 22 months and he has lots of great analogies. I also suspect he doesn't like me very much, but we get along alright. Elder Lugo is quiet and get the job done. I got a pretty bad Flu bug on Friday, which put me out of commission for all of friday evening, and then Elder Manjarrez caught it Saturday and Elder Lugo caught it Sunday, which definitely slowed us down. Over all it was a pretty 'sick' weekend... I can also see how missionaries can gain weight in this mission. We have dinner appointments every night, and lots of food places in the valley serve missionaries for free. Monday night we had two dinner appointments and three desserts. That was my very first evening in the mission field. We go to the Jordan temple on Tuesdays even though the Draper Temple is right up the street from our apartment. I attached one picture of me and riley at the MTC but I'm sending the rest home in a letter. Got to go. Dont miss me too much.
Love Elder Wright
(Cousin) Elder Riley (Harper) and I pointing to our respective missions on the world map in the MTC. Elder Harper has been called to serve in the
Chile Concepcion South Mission.
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