We'll both be here in kearns through january 2011!!!

HELLO!

 

We had a great christmas in the field! We all went to the mission office for christmas eve, and the stakes in the valley had all provided gifts for the missionaries. I came away with 10 new pairs of socks!!! And 1 new tie! I never thought i'd ever get excited about a tie, but mission throws a different light on christmas. We also got overloaded on chocolate and candy. On christmas day we visited a whole bunch of families all over the valley from areas we had served in before. Elder usevitch and I sang some quick christmas hymns and shared a christmas message and went to the next one. It was a really fun busy day.

 

The rest of our week was awesome too. The day after christmas, one of our investigators, Ritchie Ramirez, was baptized. We had been working with him and his family for a little over a month. It was a little slow at first, but after a couple of visits he really started digging in and reading the scriptures. After one visit he had read the enitre 89th section of the doctrine and covenants without us asking. His wife asked us a week before the baptism how long it would take him to recieve the priesthood. They are a super cool family and his testimony is so strong and has lots of room to grow.

 

Neither Elder Usevitch or I were transferred so we'll both be here in kearns through january 2011!!!

 

Happy new year

Love,

Elder Wright

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas,

By the time you get this it's probably way past Christmas.  I hope it all went well and you got some time to take a break and relax a bit.  I got the slippers and pajamas today.  My multiple sets of pjs never fail to amaze my companions.  I also got the massive green shirt signed by the ward.  Tell them all thank you for me.  I'm especially looking forward to opening the package from the youn men.  Who knows what will be in that one...
This Christmas season has been flying by pretty quickly.  We've been pretty packed with appointments day and night.  We haven't had much time to relax much.  Food even sometimes gets left by the wayside.  A couple of nights ago, dinner consisted of dry Apple Jacks, Doritos, and  Oreos as we drove from appointment to appointment.  I think we need to take some time to catch up to ourselves.  Christmas will be good for us.  We had our Christmas Conference last weekend.  Elder Holland came and spoke to us for a bit which was awesome.  There were also a whole bunch of musical pieces.  Elder Usevitch & I sang 'Samuel tells of the Baby Jesus' from the primary songbook.  It was a little nerve racking in front of the whole mission, but we had a good pianist, which is all that really matters.  It sounded alright, but we could have worked on it a little more. 
Christmas this year will be a little different.  Most people that we visit struggle to put many presents, if any, under the tree.  We visit some families that don't have much in the first place, and any gifts the do receive they are so much more grateful for.  It is a lesson to me that Christmas isn't in the giftss and presents, it is in the gratitude for what we have.  Especially the gift that we have been given of God's son for us.  It is  through the gift of Jesus Christ that we can return to Him.  It is by faith in Jesus Christ that we accept the gift.  And by giving and sharing it with others we can share the greatest of all the gifts of God to all who will receive it.  This is my Christmas message.  Have a Merry One!

Love
Elder Wright
2 Nephi 19:6
D&C 14:7

We dropped by unannounced the other night

Hey everyone,
We were kept super busy this week. We had appointments back to back every single evening. Not to say everyone showed up for the appointment, but we were going nonstop the entire time. We have been meeting with a tongan family that rcently moved into the ward, the Tahes. They said they want to start working towards going to the temple. We found out the last time that brother Tahe had spent some time in prison (We're meeting lots of those lately) and he was supposed to be there for 120 days. He said he started reading the Book of Mormon his first day, and finished it on his 21st day, and the following day, they lifted his sentence and he was released. Their entire family is starting to take the gospel more seriously. We dropped by unannounced the other night and found them having their nightly scripture study. It totally makes the difference in the Spirit that was in their home. The ward is really starting to help out. too. Some of our other contacts have been taking a little longer. to accept the things we teach, but we are starting to see progress slowly.

I have come to realize that God gives us commandments for a reason. How important it is for us to understand that because they are there, we should obey them. It is simple. They arent just guidelines to live by, but commandments. When we obey we can receive Gods blessings. By disobedience we suffer the consequence of our actions. I hope that each and every day each of you take those simple steps of repentance that help us become more obedient, and more like our Heavenly Father.
Mosiah 2: 41
Alma 34: 32-33

Take Love, Merry Christmas,
Elder Wright

He knows first hand the difference between good and evil

HI!

Well We havent had a whole lot new this week. The weather has been warming up a bit, but that just means we get to wait for it to get cold again. The snow shoveling season will start up again.

President Miller came out to teach with us last week. He taught us some approaches to teaching more simply. he also helped us with one of the families that we've been struggling to work with. They arent being totally unified in the going to church and reading scriptures. It's been teaching Elder Usevitch and I a lot about the importance of unity.

We had a dinner appointment with a recently activated member, who was so awesome! He had spent some time in prison, and decided to turn his life around. He started reactivating his brother's family, and his nephews received he aaronic priesthood. He knows first hand the difference between good and evil, and is making sure all his family is making right choices. Sometimes, the humble people are the most ready, but at the same time, we've met a lot of people that are bitter at the church because of their circumstances.

we found an indoor soccer place and we were able to use it for P-Day. my companion likes tripping over the soccer ball. I forgot how awful i am at soccer. i like the dodgeball thing more.

anyway, Unity it's important

Mosiah 18:21
Love,
Elder Wright

we just have to bear with patience a bit, then suddenly a miracle hits

Hello everyone,

This week was awesome! We've had some crazy snowstorms this week, we had at least a foot of snow on Sunday. We've been trudging around in it all week and we are pushing people out of the snow every day. We're both starting to get a handle on driving in the snow too. We had thanksgiving dinner over at one of our bishop's house. We didnt overeat like we did last year. Not nearly as much pie. We also had a baptism for Koki Pace on Sunday. It was really a white baptism with the snow falling and everything outside. The entire baptismal service was in marshallese, so we had no idea what was really being said in the talks. The Pace family is slowly making it's way to the temple. We're going to try and help them out as much as possible. They say they are going to be opening a marshallese branch in the valley sometime soon too! Anyway, we see a little bit of everything here in Kearns. We ran into a guy named Leslie Whithers last week who was baptized in Kansas a couple of months ago, and he has a burning testimony of the gospel. He came back to utah when he realized he needed to help his family out, and we're helping him get to know the ward here a little better. he also has an unbaptized son who is 10 who we will probably start teaching here soon too. President Miller came out to teach with us last night, which was really cool, and we got some pointers on how to improve our teaching.

We've had lots of experiences lately, some up, some down. It seems that whenever we hit a low point, we just have to bear with patience a bit, then suddenly a miracle hits, and we can keep going. We are picking up several new investigators, and a lot of them are really interested and ready for baptism already. A few others have some challenges to overcome, but I've never been so aware of the Spirit and how it affects people. I've felt that when I first came to this area I was struggling to get to know the people and get down to work, but Elder Usevitch has kept me going strong, and I now I love this area. Nothing compares to seeing our investigators understand the principles of the Gospel and feel the spirit. It really does change people. 2 Nephi 32:5

Love ya much,
Elder Wright