Week 24: Pioneer Day Celebration - July 25, 2018

Hello everyone! So, yesterday was Pioneer Day, and since I'm in Utah, that means that we had a huge celebration. I get that it's a big deal here because it's part of their heritage, but they kind of treat it like it's even bigger than the 4th of July. I don't really get why, but what ever, we got a day off, which is all I really care about. The main activity we had that day was a hike at Ensign Peak, which was pretty fun to do. Even though we have workout days that we have to participate in three days a week, was still pretty hard getting up there, even though the trail itself wasn't that difficult. I guess I should lay off the candy for a bit. One thing I should mention is that there woas a family or two who had set up a snow cone stand at the head of the trail, which was a really smart decision on there part, since it was a bit hot outside. I did make sure to buy one, and when they asked where I was from, I told them Chandler, which they said that they loved! I wish I could have talked to them more, but we didn't have much time, since we had more to do that day. We hiked all the way, and I got to say, if you haven't hiked Ensign Peak yet, you should if you are ever in Salt Lake City. The view is amazing!! I can understand why they used that point as the main spot to lay out the city. After that, we hiked down to our mission president's house, where we had a nice brisket lunch. When it was time to go though, we had a bit of a hard time getting back because a small brush fire had broken out near where our mission president's neighborhood, so they closed off the main road out of there. In the end, we all walked home baring a couple of the elders that would have had a hard time walking. By the time we started heading down, the cloud of smoke that we could see had thinned out a bit, and when we got a good enough of a view to see where the smoke was coming from, the fire was already put out. So don't worry, we were never in danger. After we got back to the apartments, we rested for a bit and then went to the stake center where we watched the first part of The Work and the Glory. It was pretty good, and I hope that I get to see the rest sometime. The only other notable thing that happened this week was the fact that we have new young elders in our mission! My companion and I are currently hosting two of them, and they seem pretty nice. They are still learning the schedule, but they'll get a hang of it eventually. Other than that, I hope you all have a great week and remember to have fun!

Till next week,

Elder Wright

PS: Transfers is on Tuesday, so be prepared to maybe not have me email next Wednesday.

From Mom: Pictures from lunch, I think. I'm adding these in January 2019 because we just got these pics from the mission facebook page. I do know it's from some mission meal in the summer of 2018

Week 23: Just Another Week in the Mission - July 18, 2018

Elder Wright didn't send any pictures this week, but he did send a cute video. So I took this screen shot. He was so happy with all of the other Elders!

Hey guys, I told you I would be emailing on the right day for once! Their isn't much going on here in the mission, so I don't have much to talk about. The only things that I can think of talking about would be some of the things that happened in the last 24 hours. First of all, my companion gave a Book of Mormon to someone! We were at Smiths, and while we were waiting for the other two elders in our district to finish checking out, we met with this nice lady that I'm fairly sure was homeless. She told us that she used to be in the church a while back, but then she moved to another part of Utah, which caused her to go inactive because she didn't like the place and she didn't do much there. Now she has recently changed her mind and decided to go back to church! She told us that she repented of the things of her pass and said that each day she was going to read three pages of her bible each day. My companion, Elder Petersen, asked her if she had a Book of Mormon, and she said no, so he gave her one! She was so happy and thanked us both, and I was so happy to see this lady being so joyful for the gospel! It just goes to show you that we should feel the same way when it comes to the scriptures. The other thing that happened recently was that one of Family Search's servers went down last night, which means that most of our zone spent the entire time taking calls from people asking why Family Search was down. It was hilarious at first, but by the end I was bored because I can't take calls yet, but I got to work on some family history work, so it's all worked out. I honestly don't mind these uneventful weeks on the mission because it makes them seem like they're going by faster! I just hope it continues to be like this. Have a wonderful week!

Till then,

Elder Wright

Week 22: Consistently Inconsistent - July 10, 2018

Elder Wright didn't send any pictures this week, so I thought I would add a picture of the Family History Library where he is currently working.

Well, it's p-day for me again. I swear, someday I will be having p-day when you expect it. Anyways, I don't really have much to talk about since last week, except maybe the 4th of July celebration. On that day, we hiked to the state capital and looked around the capital building. It was pretty interesting building, but it didn't exactly excite me. Afterwards, we hiked down to this near by park and looked around there for a bit. In one area I saw a ton of bumblebees, which was actually kind of cool since they're big and fluffy. After that, my district and a couple of other elders went and hiked this one trail in the park, which involved some pretty steep and narrow paths. However, it was pretty fun to do and I was able to talk to one of my missionary friends, Elder Coleman. When we finished our hike, we went back to the stake center to have lunch, which was BBQ provided by Bam-Bam's BBQ, and then went back to the apartments for some free time. I mainly played games with a couple of missionaries and my companion, and it was really fun. We then went back to the stake center to watch this one movie called Instrument of war, which was really cool and a great movie, even though I kept confusing the two main characters for most of the time. I also kept imagining the movie mixed with Hogan's Heroes, so I guess I wasn't taking the movie too seriously. We then had the rest of the day for free time, which I spent even more time having fun with the other elders. It was a really great time and I kind of wish we got one day a month that was like this. I hope you guys had a ton of fun on your 4th of July, and I hope you all remember the sacrifices that many have made to keep this country a wonderful place to live.

Till next week,

Elder Wright

Week 21: Happy Early P-Day and 4th of July

From Mom: I got a nice surprise text from a stranger this morning that said, "Your boys are doing well. Felt impressed to take their picture and send it to yo :) very nice young men. I got in my car and felt impressed to get back out and go take their picture. I told them I didn't know whose Mom needed a text today but one or both did. I think they thought I was crazy. I looked at my 12 yr old guy and thought I'd want someone to take his picture at Walmart too!"

And now on to his email:

Hey guys, I know this is a day early, but that's because tomorrow everything is going to be closed for the 4th of July, so my companion and I are having our p-day today. That aside, I've been having a good time here. I'm currently serving in Data Services, which is a non-patron-facing zone in the FHL, and we are mainly in charge of helping people with FamilySearch account problems, usually through email and on the phone. I'm still learning on how to do things here, but it's still pretty cool. I also hear that the elders in this zone stay here for a long while, which I'm very happy about because I would love to not have to move from my apartment for a while. My companion/district leader is Elder B. Peterson, and he's pretty nice. We get along alright, and he does a great job at leading our district. Other than that, I can't really think of anything else that happened this past week. We held a sacrament meeting for this one care center for old people, which that was pretty neat. It did take a while, but the people there were really nice, so it was all fine. I hope you all remember to care for your elderly, since they are full of wisdom and experience that we could use. Have a great week! 

From,

Elder Wright

We also got a picture and text on Sunday:

"Sister Wright, I enjoyed working with Elder Wright today as he and his companion helped the St. Joseph's branch of my stake today. St. Joseph's is a nursing home with about 90 members who cannot care for themselves. He helped collect the residents, pass the sacrament, and helped take them to classes and then back to their rooms. It is truly serving the poor and the needy of God's children and we are grateful for Elder Wright and his willingness to help.--Pres. Carson, Salt Lake Granite Stake"