Week 7: FHL Stuff - March 28, 2018

I saw on Facebook that the family of one of Priscilla's former mission companions, and they actually lived in Gilbert AZ at that time, was visiting Temple Square. I half jokingly asked Dave to find Elder Wright and send me pictures. I was super surprised and happy when Dave sent these from the 3rd floor of the Family History Library! Elder Wright had never met them, so it may have been a little weird for him, but mom was thrilled! Thanks DeWidts!!!

 Now on to his letter home this week:

So it's P-day again, and that means it's another email from me. It's a bit different having a P-day on a weekday than on Saturday because we have to be a bit more cautious with time since we have night zone at 6. On the other hand, it was kind of a blessing last week and this week because I got to talk to my parents the day after transfers and because I didn't have to give up my P-day for Conference. Yep, if you have a P-day on conference, you basically have to reschedule the important P-day stuff (laundry, emails, and shopping) or just plan ahead. Thankfully, that was not the case for me.

So I have been serving in the FHL for a week now, so I probably should explain more about that. My district is the Help Services District, which is a patron-facing district on the 3rd floor of the Family History Library. In other words, if you are in or around Salt Lake City and want to set up a Family Search account, you would come to us for help (or you could just come up and say hi, that's cool too). Things are going okay for me, but it has been a bit hard being in a place where I'm expected to be able to teach people how to use Family Search when I lack the skills to do so. In the end I hope I can make it to next transfer.

One spiritual thing that I've notice this week is something I read in Mosiah. Though it was just the story of how the people of Mosiah, Alma, and the people that Ammon (not the one that cut off a ton of arms, its the guy before him) discovered, became one people and how they were able to get along so well despite them not knowing each other for long. I hope that we can all have that kind of spirit in our lives.

Till next week,

Elder Wright

PS: My next P-day will be next Friday, so watch out for that.

Week 6: Transfers - March 21, 2018

 Elder Wright sent this picture in his email to Mom. Yay!

Okay, so I may have forgotten to mention that transfers would be on Tuesday, so I'm letting everyone know now: Transfers were Tuesday, and I have been transferred to the 3rd floor of the Family History Library (FHL). What does this mean? This means that 1). My P-day is now on Wednesday now, 2). I have a new companion named Elder Eppich, and 3). I now have a calling that has me working with random people. That's pretty much it, since it has only been 4 days since I last emailed. One spiritual message I would like to bring up is something that I read in Mosiah. During King Benjamin's speech, he mentions that since the poor have nothing, then they should have the attitude of "If I had anything to give, I would give". I remember when I was working at Save the Family how I would meet people who had that kind of attitude. I hope that we can not only have this kind of attitude, but since we do have things, we should also give as well. Have a great week!

Elder Wright

PS: Here's a picture of my apartment keys

I'm not sure why he sent this! Crazy kid!

This is Elder Wright with his previous companion, Elder Walker. Love that smile!

Week 5: Sleep, Ben Franklin and Indiana Jones - March 17, 2018

Well, it's that time of week again. So as you might have guessed from the title, some things have taken place. For starters, I am still having a hard time with sleep, but don't worry, because the nurses here are trying to figure something out. Next up, last week was daylight savings, which disturbed me as an Arizonian, and since Ben Franklin invented that, I have been cursing his name ever since. As for Indiana Jones, my companion and I were walking back to our apartment when we saw a guy on a bike wearing a jacket and hat that looked like Indie. We really wish vine was a thing because we would have loved to make a video of that while badly singing the theme song. It's been a strange, but enjoyable week, and I hope that all of you remember that we have these great days because of our Father in Heaven. 

Till next week,

Elder Wright

PS: Shout out to the Meeker family because I saw them this week.

PPS: It's snowing today, so I'm disappointed.

Week 4: Sick Week - March 10, 2018

We got a surprise Saturday morning. We were waiting around for Nick to email and suddenly Mom got a text from an unknown number. It was McKay Chamberlain's mom. McKay was in marching band and drumline with Nick in high school. Nick really loved McKay and they have skyped since McKay returned from his mission. Apparently he and Nick ran into each other, and McKay sent this picture to his mom who forwarded it to me. She said that Nick was doing well and really enjoying his mission. So happy to hear that and to see his big smile!

Later, we got his weekly email.

So, another week, another email. As you can tell from the title, sickness was a big part of the week, however, I was not the one who was sick. During the first half of the week I had gotten no sleep until I talked to the nurse, who gave me benadryl. As for my companion, he go sick on Thursday and had a follow-up appointment afterwords. In other words, it wasn't that bad.

As for other news, I have been settling into my routine fairly well. We have been getting good food and working real hard, but other than what I said before, nothing out of the ordinary has happened this week. Hopefully things improve next week. 

Finally, for a spiritual message, I would just like to say that on Sunday we had a devotional with our mission president, which was pretty interesting, but he was also dealing with some kidney stones at the time, so if that isn't faith and determination, I don't know what is.

Talk to you next week,

Elder Wright

PS: My mission president recently had surgery. He is now the proud father of either 3 or 5 kidney stones.

Week 3: Mysteries Abound - March 3, 2018

So as you might expect from a title like this, it has been an interesting week. For starters, it didn't snow at all, which makes me very happy. On the other hand, some strange things have happened as well. These include a button mysteriously coming off my jacket to never be seen again, a random room check despite the senior couple telling us that they set an appointment with us, my security badge mysteriously being deactivated, and my church email (no, not this one), being deleted because it wasn't renewed. Most of these problems have been solved, but it has just been kind of weird. 

For those of you who are wondering what a schedule is like for an elder here, this is what it is: 

6:30 Am: Wake up

6:45 Am Tues, Thurs, Sat: Work out at the stake center

9:30 Am: Be at zone

9:30-12: Zone work

12-1 Pm: Go back to apartments, lunch, go back to zone

1-4:30 Pm: Zone work

4:30-6:30 Pm: Dinner

6:30-8:30 Pm: Mon: District meeting, Tues-Wed, Fri: Night Zone, Thurs: Research Essentials

8:30-10 Pm: Apartment time

10 Pm: Sleep

This has been a pretty good schedule, and even though I'm still adjusting to it, I'm really liking it. 

For a spiritual message, I would like to say that I had a great time doing a endowment session at the Salt Lake City temple. It was a different experience than the Gilbert temple, as well as doing names for the dead rather than yourself, and I would encourage those who have not been to the temple recently to go and doing something to help those who have passed on so that they too can receive their eternal blessings. 

Have a great week!

Elder Wright

Week 2: Why I Hate The Snow - February 24, 2018

So I finished my second week, and you can probably tell by the title of this email, it snowed. It snowed Monday and Friday, but even two days is too much for me. It is definitely too cold for me, but missionary work waits for no one, so I keep going. Thankfully my suit is able to keep me warm and I have gloves for my hands, but it still is annoying to have to keeping taking gloves on and off while also managing an umbrella. Hopefully it will let up.

As for more important things, I have finished up training and I have been assigned to my first zone: special projects. This zone does various things, but the project that I am currently working on is called the Liahona project, in which we look through digital copies of the old issue of the Liahona magazine and look for the names of missionaries and record them and a small profile on an excel sheet. It's not the most fun thing to do, but it's not the most boring thing either. I also got a new companion/trainer, Elder Walker, and he's pretty cool. He has only been out for two months, so technically, I have been on my mission longer than he has. None the less, we get along real well, and we talk a lot about the gospel, Star Wars, and Pokemon. I am so grateful that I have been able to have nothing but great companions for my entire mission so far.

All in all, I know that even though we may be surrounded by challenges, such as snow, we can find the good in everything. Thank you all for your support and talk to you all next week.

PS: All the elders in my mission got to meet Elder Duncan from the quorum of the 70, so that was pretty cool.

First Week - February 17, 2018

We were super excited for his first email home!

Hello, this is Elder Wright. So I'm almost done with my first week here in the Salt Lake City Headquarters mission. Many of you have been wondering what exactly I would be doing. Well, so far I have been doing what is the equivalent to MTC, but only a week long so they are keeping us fairly busy. We have mainly been learning how to use family search and touring the various zones throughout the mission. All the zones are indoors, and they either involve helping guests or doing computer stuff in the back. It has been pretty interesting though. My companion and I are part of a group of eight starting missionaries here, so we have plenty of people to ask for help on. Our mission president is President Fenn, and he is really well versed in the gospel. He does have a tendency to go on teaching past the ending point, and he does like to preach very loudly, but he is a great mission president and it is really fun to listen to him. One interesting thing that happened this week is that it snowed Thursday morning. That was really cool, but it didn't snow for long. In all, I would have to say that even though it has been tough sometimes, I know that as long as I keep faith in the Lord, that I will be able to continue to have a great time here.