Week 27: Bees Game - August 14, 2018

 Elder Wright said, "I promise I was super happy at the game, even though it looks like I'm not. I was just focused on eating my ice cream cone!"

Hello once again to the people who reads this email. So as you can tell from the title, my mission went to a Salt Lake City Bees Game (that's baseball, by the way). It was pretty fun since we got all be together and watch a sports game, and I hope we get to do it again next year. Let me know if you want any more details on it. The only thing that I can think of that was really interesting about the game was that the Bees lost 4-3, and that one elder from our mission, Elder Buttars, showed up on the jumbotron at one point during the "Dance Cam" section, so that was pretty cool.

The only other thing that I feel like I should talk about today is the fact that two days ago was my six month mark for being out here, and tomorrow will be my ten month mark for my mission as a whole. It's a bit strange to think that I've been serving for almost a year now, but I'm so glad that I have been and I will continue to do so to the best of my ability. Have a great week and remember to do some family research!

Till next week,

Elder Wright

Here are some other pictures I was able to save from the mission parent's facebook page

Week 26: Stuff and Things - August 7, 2018

Hello my fellow youth, remember how I told you I might have a different p-day? Well, this is it! Tuesday is now my p-day, so that is pretty cool, I guess. So not that much is different here. I know I say that a lot, but honestly I am blanking on anything that is any different than last week. The only thing that I can think of is the fact that I have been improving in my zone, so that's neat. Other than that, there isn't much that has happened within the last week. I do remember one thing that I forgot to write about last week. So, my companion and I are assigned to serve at St. Joseph's, which is a senior care center, and their was this one guy that we had to bring the sacrament to in the rehab center. The only catch was that his room was under quarantine, so we had to put on yellow gowns and gloves before we could go in, and then afterwards we had to through the cup for the water part of the sacrament into a bio-hazard bag rather than the tray. It was a pretty neat experience and I'm surprised that I forgot to tell you all about it. As for things to come, the only things that I know of that's coming up is the mission conference and the Bees game that we are going to on Saturday. For the mission conference, I have know clue what is going to be said, other than being told that we need to clean up our rooms because only three apartment were ranked as Celestial when they were inspected. As for the Bees game, that is the nice little activity that they have planned for us, and I'm a bit excited. I'm not much for sports, but I do actually enjoy watching baseball games when I'm at the stadium, because the atmosphere is fun and baseball is actually easy to understand. Well, hope you all have a great week, and make sure to email me if you have any questions. Honestly, I wish you would so that I know that you guys are actually reading this. Oh well, have a wonderful week and remember to serve those around you.

Till Then,

Elder Wright

Week 25: Same District, Same Comp, Different Apartment

Hooray, I'm emailing on the day you are expecting me to email! So, as I told you all last week, transfers were coming up, and now they have come and past. If you read the title of the email, you will probably understand what happened to me. Yep, I'm still in Data Services with Elder Petersen, but I'm now in a different apartment. In fact, I'm in a two-man apartment, so that's pretty neat. Other than that, not much else has changed. I'm still learning how to do stuff in Data Services, but one thing that is kind of interesting was that we had a pizza party in Data Services on Monday! We got the pizza party because we had the goal for all of us to get our ambassadors, which means we pretty much helped each other find names on our family tree to take to the temple. It was pretty cool to do, since I got to do a little bit of actual family history work for my companion. I would recommend doing a little bit of family history work sometime, since you might actually learn something about your family and realize how big of an impact they might have had in your life. Have a great week!

Till then,

Elder Wright

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"