Week 51: Moving Again - January 29, 2019

Hello! Okay, so I'm keeping things kind of brief with this email because I got a late start and I'll have to finish around 3:45-3:50 so I can go to transfer conference. Anyway, I got a moving notice yesterday, so that means I'm moving again! I'm not bummed out, though, because I've been living in the same apartment for 4 months, so I'm fine with the change. I don't think too much will change for me. I hope I'm in the same zone with my current companion, Elder Luckau, but I have no guarantee on that. Other than that, not much has happened here. Hope you all have an amazing week and remember to have fun with all that you do!

Till Then,

Elder Wright

Other things we learned from his emails to us:

"I'm staying healthy. Lately I've been eating carrots for lunch and I can honestly tell that it's making a difference. Emotionally and spiritually, I'm feeling well also. One of the interesting things that happened lately is that everyone in my district got moving notices, not just me, so that's interesting. Well, Elder A didn't get a moving notice rather he got an eviction notice, since he's finishing his mission today. I was glad to have him in my district since he was a really stable point for me"

"We have this one senior sister missionary who is 99 years old, and lately they wrote an article about her in the latest mission newsletter!" (from mom: I got to read the newsletter. This lady sounds amazing!!!)

"Best part of the week: Elder K getting better with trying to follow the rules." (Elder Wright has really been working hard on helping and supporting this missionary who has been struggling)

"Most spiritual experience was receiving some personal revelation about not being a trainer yet"

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support!!!

Week 50: Mission Presidents, Moons, and Moses - January 22, 2019

I downloaded this pic from the internet, but it must be similar to what Elder Wright saw

Hello! Okay, there actually is a lot to tell you all about, so I'll get right into it. On Sunday was the Super Wolf Blood Moon (I didn't make that title up), so we actually got permission to stay up till midnight to watch the moon slowly get eaten and turn red! I would have sent pictures of it, but I haven't received any yet and the moon got pretty dark when it turned red, so you would hardly see it anyway. The next day was MLK day, but unlike most of the mission, I had to work that day because the FHL (Family History Library) was open! Even then, I didn't really work, I just "worked". By that, I mean I showed up and did nothing, but oh well, the CHL (Church History Library) people will be covering the FHL on President's day, so that will be good. Speaking of presidents, President Fenn recently announced that he has been invited by the first presidency to extend his mission here for another year, which he accepted graciously! I'm so happy that I'm going to have President Fenn for my mission president the entire time I'm here! Also, the night he told us this (which was last night) we watched The Prince of Egypt. It had some wonky moments with it's pacing and animation, but I feel like it gives it a bit of charm. It's music, however, is the thing that made the movie. In all, I loved it. Now, as for recent event, when a couple of elder, my companion, and I went shopping today, we got in a small fender-bender, but everyone is fine. The worse piece of damage was that the front bumper of our car came off. Other than that, nothing big happened. Even the driver of the car we bumped knew that it wasn't our fault, but rather it was the fault of the driver of the car that waved us through. So yeah, that was an interesting experience. Hopefully you all are having an amazing time. Have a great week!!

Till then,

Elder Wright

 

Some other things Elder Wright sent to his dad and me:

They (books at the Family History Library that need repair) are sent to the Collections Room on the 3rd floor to be repaired by one of the employees. The books range in all kinds of subjects, they all have to do with genealogy. They range from things like census records to deed records to military records to marriage records, etc. The spine is the main part that needs to be repaired, since a lot of the books were not originally books, but rather magazines, papers, pamphlets, records, and other things like that had been bound together to make it easier to store. The metal clip that holds the stuff together is glued to the cover, and over time that glue starts to not work anymore, thus causing the actual contents to not be connected to the cover. Most of them are the size of average books, although we do have Large Q books that have to be stored on their own shelf because they are very big.

 

The SLC temple is still closed, but it will be open on the 29th. I don't think they've started the actual renovations. They probably just have it closed to clean i up after the big rush of people who came for the holidays. They haven't made any changes to the temple grounds yet except for the removal of the Christmas decorations.

 

Elder Wright answered his dad's question, "This week we studied Luke 2 and Matthew 2 during family home evening. Is this also what you studied?"

That is indeed what we studied, although we studied that in our Sunday School class. Back at the apartments we just had a spiritual discussion which was pretty neat!

 

I have seen the snow up in the mountains, as well as right where I'm at. In fact, I spent a lot of time around it on Sunday because I got to go with some other elders to City Creek Valley to watch the Super Wolf Blood Moon.

 

I don't drive here because I don't want to have to deal with Utah drivers, city traffic, weather, etc.

 

He said the funniest part of his week was "watching Elders B and D dealing with the bumper that broke off the car we were driving for shopping.

 

He said the most spiritual part of his week was "discussion the gospel with my district members on Sunday"

 

And this week he learned "that when you don't know what else to do with someone who doesn't want your help, you just need to be a great example."

 

He and I discussed the Old Testament a little bit. He said, "There is gospel truth in the Old Testament, but it's like panning for gold: you have to sort through a ton of stuff to find it. The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, is like a gold brick."

 

And that's it for this week. Thank you if you read this far! And thanks for all of your love, prayers and support!

 

Week 49: Improvements - January 15, 2019

New Years Eve Picture

Hey there! So, as you can tell from the title, there isn't really much going on here that is different than before. We have gotten back into a routine, and I'm very happy to have that. That is probably one of the biggest improvements, because even though having time off can be fun, there is only so much free time till you start to feel like you could use some stability. The other improvement would be with me, in that I'm starting to feel like The Lord is giving me a lot more strength to overcome the challenges that I come across. That doesn't mean I'm perfect with all that I do, but even then I get right back up, repent, and keep on going. The final improve would have to be with one of the young elders in my district. I can really go too in depth about it, but what I will say is this: He has been struggling for the past few months while being here, but now thing are going really well for him and he's starting to actually try at being obedient to the mission rules! In all, things are looking well, and I hope they continue to do so. Let me know how The Lord has been improving your life lately! Have a great week!

Till then,

Elder Wright

 

A couple of other things he told Mom and Dad:

"As for Ancestry.com, it's a great thing to use, but good luck if you ever have to call them, because their support staff for calls are TERRIBLE. That's why any elder who has been in Data Services will shake their fist and yell, "ANCESTRY!" as they pass by the Ancestry building on the way to Smiths."

 

"One thing that has happened over the last week was that I found TONS of books that needed to be sent in for repairs. So many, in fact, that they said not to turn in any more books for repairs till next month! I know that will be a lot of work, but I'm still proud of myself for that."

Elder Jensen

Elder Luckau

"The picture of the Risk board is when I beat everyone in my apartment at Risk, however we later realized that it  was not actually possible for me to do what I did to win"

Week 48: New Year, Same Mission - January 8, 2019

This picture is actually from June at the Manti Pageant, but we just got it. He's so happy!

Hello friends and family! Wow, it feels like a whole year since last time I talked to you all (ha ha), but none the less I'm happy to talk to you all again now. So, as you might be wondering, yes, we did celebrate the new year, which was quite fun. On New Years Eve, my apartment had fun playing games and eating pizza! On New Years day, however, we didn't do much other than eat food and play some more games while also relaxing. That night, though, we had a lot of fun because we had food provided by J Dogs and watched the original Ben Hur! This wasn't my first time seeing it, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. After that, things have just gone back to normal, which I'm really happy about since I kind of missed having a routine. The only other thing that I feel like I should mention is that yesterday it snowed, which I didn't like except for the fact that the snow that fell looked like actual snowflakes! I thought that was just what they looked like at a microscopic scale, but they can actually look like the typical snowflake at a visible range! I guess that's the typical thing that happens when you grow up in a desert all your life: you're amazed at things like this. I hope you all had a great New Years and I hope you all enjoy having this year that The Lord has given us. Have a great week!

Till Then,

Elder Wright

 

Elder Wright also said the following to his Dad:

My beanie has become my best friend. It hasn't been too snowy, but it'll probably get worse. As for the two hour church, what have you guys been doing for the third hour? I would suggest leading some kind of spiritual discussion, because that's what we did in my district on Sunday, and it turned out great!

 

He and I also discussed the Family Home Evening lesson that Mandy gave to Dad and me on Monday night. We talked about the lineage of Christ and how it is important for us to know our own lineage and how that influences us. Elder Wright said, "It's important to know that the Lord kept His promise to King David that Christ would be born from David's lineage, even though David obviously didn't live to see that happen because it was a long time after the promise was made! The Lord keeps his promise, no matter how much time passes."

Some pictures of the Elders from New Years Day

Week 47: In Between Holiday Stuff - December 31, 2018

Elder Wright with Santa (President Fenn)

Hello everyone! It's a bit weird doing emails on a Monday, but it was the only time that I was able to email you all until 2019 (ha ha!). Anyway, I had a great Christmas! We had both Christmas Eve and Christmas free, so we spent a lot of time having fun, mainly by playing board and card games. At least, that's what we mainly did on Christmas Eve. Christmas day, on the other hand, was a bit hectic because I had to deal with scheduling exchanges and stuff like that so that everyone could do their Skype calls, so Christmas wasn't a complete break. I did, however, get to talk to my family, and I had a blast!! It was really cool to hear their voices and talk to them face-to-computer monitor! After Christmas, things have just gone back to the way they were, but since today is New Year's Eve, my apartment is going to have so much fun! I hope all of you get to have the same amount of fun as well! Have a great week!!

Till then,

Elder Wright

The Senior Missionaries put together stocking for each young Elder. Every Elder had to find their stocking around the tree in the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Mom close to the iPad to enjoy every minute visiting with Elder Wright

And the family gathers around

Traditional kid Christmas picture

Christmas Day the Elders had a tie exchange and a dinner

Snow on Temple Square