Week 45: Illness and Transfers - December 18, 2018

 Elder Wright said he donated a Gas Pass/Bus Pass at The Giving Machine in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Hello people! So, Christmas is almost here, which means that everything is going to go flawless, right? Wrong! Okay, I would like to point out that it's actually not that bad. In fact, I think why I'm even pointing these small things out is because things have been going pretty well for me. Anyway, the things that I would mainly like to point out is that 1. transfers is today, so that means I had to be quick with things, even though that's not too much of a problem, and 2. I was sick on Friday and Saturday, which is probably the bigger pain. Even then, it's not that big of a deal since it was just a cold, but it did make sleeping difficult for a little bit. That being said, I'm feeling a ton better now and I'm looking forward to next week with Christmas Skype calls!! I hope you all know that Christmas is a wonderful time to really show how much the people in your life mean to you, not just by giving gifts, but by giving service. Hope you all have an amazing Christmas and a happy New Year!!!

Till then,

Elder Wright

The Temple Square Christmas Lights as seen from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Some pictures from the mission's Christmas Devotional Lunch

Week 44: Shaking Hands With An Apostle - December 11, 2018

Mom: I was excited to see this picture on the mission Facebook page today. It was taken last Wednesday at the Family History Department Devotional. These are the young Elders of the Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission.

Hey friends and family! So, not much has changed since last week (if you are keeping track of how many times I've said that, there's another one to add to the counter). It hasn't snowed since last time, but from what I can tell it's starting back up again, so I'll have to deal with that now (sigh). 

Okay, now onto the title topic. Last Wednesday, the Family History Department got to have a Christmas devotional that was presided by Elder Renlund. My companion got there a little bit early, not early enough to realize that an apostle would be there. So anyway, we got to our seats, and this guy is going around the young elders and shaking our hands. People shake our hands all the time, so I didn't think too much of it, but after he walked away, an elder who was sitting by me said that that was really interesting. I asked him why, and he told me that we just got to shake hands with Elder Renlund! I didn't realize it was him when he shook my hand!! That was really weird, but at the same time I think it's kind of funny looking back. I guess I can mark myself down for shaking hands with 2 members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12. Well, that's all I really have to say. Hope you all have a great week and remember that Christmas time is a great time to give service!! Talk to you later!!!

Till then,

Elder Wright

Elder Wright also wrote to his dad and me that he has been taking a break from the AGES project recently, but he will start doing that again soon. He said, "I mainly just needed a break from it since I did a lot on it." And, "I have no clue how to pronounce any of the Chinese symbols nor do I know what they mean, so I just give them nicknames like 'tree house' or 'guy with swords.'"

He also told us that he sees the Light The World machines in SLC regularly. He was excited to hear about the machines here in Gilbert and wanted to know if our family had been there to donate yet. We plan to go this weekend. He told us we should donate a goat!

We also got this letter in the mail on Monday. We are so blessed that Elder Wright has these opportunities to serve!

Week 43: Teaching An AI Chinese - December 4, 2018

Hello from SLC again! So things have changed a little bit since I last wrote. For starters, it has finally started snowing. ARGH!!! Oh well, it hasn't gotten really bad, but it's still annoying to deal with. Another big change that has happened is that the Family History Library is now open on Saturday nights, meaning that we have to be working there during that time. Thankfully, though, I'll only have to be serving there every other Saturday night since they are planning on having the elders who aren't in the FHL to help out, since it would be unfair for one half of the mission to have a free Saturday night off and the other half to not have one, so we'll be alternating with them. Also, I forgot to mention this, but last Monday I gave a short talk in the Monday morning devotional that my mission has each week. It wasn't to interesting, but I feel like it is worth noting. 

Okay, now on to the subject that I named this email after. Recently, the young elders in this mission have been given this new project called the AGES project. This project, in basic terms, is teaching an AI the written form of Chinese characters. What happens is the AI will pull have an example picture of what the character looks like and a digitized version of it thinks is the same symbol. We then decide whether or not if the symbols are identical, different, or if the digitized picture is not even a symbol and just weird smudge. I've gone through 3000 pictures so far, and I'm having a ton of fun with it. I find it so exciting going through all these symbols and seeing how many I can do! Sure it might not be as cool as some might think, but I think it's great! Hopefully you are all having a fun time wherever you are this winter. Have a great week and remember why we have the Christmas season in the first place!!

Till then,

Elder Wright

Elder Wright also told mom that he's enjoying the Christmas lights on Temple Square and he got to go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. He's having so many exciting opportunities serving at the SLC Headquarters!

Also, here is Elder Wright's Christmas ornament this year

Week 42: Thanksgiving Fun! - November 27, 2018

Hello friends, it's time for me to do the emailing thing again! Okay, so I actually do have stuff to tell you about. Obviously, we had Thanksgiving last week, so that makes up the majority of it. 

Okay, so we actually started having our time off on Wednesday night, in which we spent our time playing games like Smash Up. On the actual day of Thanksgiving, we actually didn't have much free time, since they kept us pretty busy. We did get to sleep in an hour, though, so that's cool. We then went to work out like usual, but unlike the other times we actually got to be with all of the mission rather than just the rest of the FHL side of the mission. That was pretty fun since I got to spend some time with people that I hardly see any more. After work out, we had to help set things up for the actual dinner in the cultural hall, which took a couple of hours. We then went back to the apartments for an hour, then we went back to have Thanksgiving dinner/lunch. It was being catered by this one restaurant along with any missionaries that wanted to contribute, so the food was really delicious. It was great because it reminded me of my family's Thanksgiving tradition of having Thanksgiving at our church building. After we finished eating, we went back to the apartments for an hour or two, then back to the stake center again to watch a movie. The movie we watched was "Rudy", and I really liked it, even though I'm not much of a sports person. The main reason I liked it is because it shows that you can reach your goals as long as you put in all of your effort. You don't have to naturally be talented at something, as long as try your best, which it has to be your best, you can accomplish anything. 

The next day we had the same kind of work out thing that we did the day before, but without the set up part. After that, we had a ton of free time, which my district used to go shopping and to, as I put it, scavenge the remains of Black Friday. This plan, however, kind of fell flat because 1. we didn't realize that stores usually keep things well stocked, even after the initial stampede of Black Friday morning, and 2. we didn't really see anything that we wanted/needed/could use. It would have been cool to get something, but every time I saw something that I would usually want, I just didn't feel the desire to get it. I do feel like that was for the best, though, so it's good thing. That evening we watched another football movie called "Remember the Titans", and it was alright, but I still liked "Rudy" a bit more. I did like how it showed how people can easily get along despite their different races, but it had a strange pace to it and the little girl that's supposed to be the one we're seeing these events from just comes off as annoying and a bit unnecessary.

The only other thing that I know to tell you all about is that we had transfers last week, so I guess I can talk about that. The only thing that really changed is that we got a different elder in my apartment now, and his name is Elder Gale, who is a former district leader so that means he knows what he's doing. Other than that, nothing else affected us. All I have left to say now is that I hope you all had a great time with your Thanksgivings! Have a great week, and remember to do your best no matter what you do!!!

Till then,

Elder Wright

  

Week 41: Fun Visit from the Fire Department - November 20, 2018

Hey friends and Family! Yep, it's that time of the week again, and I bet that title got your attention. Just so you know, everything is fine, nothing was harmed or anything like that, but I'll explain more later on. Okay, so first things first, today is transfers, but from what I can tell, nothing is really going to be changing for me. My companion and I didn't get moving notices, so we are probably going to be with each other in the same zone for another transfer, which is good. I'm just happy that this will be my first time that I'll be completely unaffected by what happens in transfers! 

I guess now is a good time for me to explain what happened with the fire department. Okay, so this morning I was working on my laundry, and since we have the laundry room right next to our apartment, I can just easily keep our apartment door open and still be within sight and sound. However, I didn't take into account that my companion was cooking eggs on the stove, which makes a lot of smoke. Now, if the door was closed, the fire alarm in our apartment would have just gone off, which is an easy fix since we can just open a window, turn on a fan, and so forth. However, since the door was open, that meant that it set off the fire alarm for the entire apartment building, meaning everyone had to get out while the fire department shows up just to see that we burnt some eggs. There wasn't any danger, but it did cause a bit of a nuisance for the other elders in that building. The smoke alarms here are very sensitive, so it's not like we had a pillar of smoke or something like that. All we had was the minimal amount to set off the alarm, so you could easy see everything and breath just fine. Oh well, I can laugh at it now, and I think this will be a great learning opportunity for everyone involved. I hope you all have a great week and remember to turn on your stove vent when cooking!

Till next week,

Elder Wright

PS: I still have no clue on what we are doing for Thanksgiving other than a Thanksgiving dinner at the stake center and watching a movie, so don't bother asking what we'll be doing

 

Elder Wright also sent this:

 Q: What does a typical Sunday look like for you?

A: I wake up at 6:30, fall asleep on the couch till about 8:30, then eat breakfast, take a shower, read the scriptures, and talk with my fellow district members in my apartment until about noon, in which we have lunch and get ready for church. We have church from 1 to 4, and then we head back to the apartment until 5:15, which is usually when we have dinner appointments. After that, we either hang out at our apartment till bed time or we go to a fireside if Pres. Fenn has one planned.

Q: Are you excited to be so close to Temple Square with all the lights for Christmas- I am assuming that you'll get to see the lights? Any other activities that you may be participating in for Christmas?
A: It will be interesting to see all the lights on Temple Square. However, I don't know of any upcoming activities that we'll be doing other than having Thanksgiving and Christmas off.

Q: Do you have a warm coat and gloves to keep you warm from the cold weather?
A: It's not my arms that get cold, it's usually my face and hands. I did get a scarf and a beanie recently, so that will definitely help. I also have a pair of gloves that I'll probably be breaking out soon.

Q: What's your favorite food to eat for Thanksgiving?
A: Turkey! I love having turkey, because after you eat a ton of it you just end up falling asleep wherever!

Hope this answers the questions that you all have been wanting answered! Shout out to Sister Crawford for these questions!

And he sent this in his email to me and I thought I would share:
1. The best part of my week was hearing how much my zone leader & the assistant zone leader appreciate me.
2. The worst part of my week was finding out that I'm not going to be a trainer this transfer.
3. The funniest thing that happened this week was the thing that happened today, which you should already know about from my mass email.
4. My most spiritual experience from this week was the talks given during the sacrament meeting at Temple View, which was the old person's place that we helped out at on Sunday.
5. I learned that if we recognize when God is testing us, we can use that as fuel to go through that test and receive the blessings that he wants to give us.
6. Pray that we can realize that being grateful isn't something we have to do one time a year and that we can be thankful all year round.

Week 40: Cold Weather Is Stupid - November 13, 2018

Hello, my fellow youth. So, not much is different from last time I emailed you (If I had a dollar for every time I said that in an email, I'd probably be able to buy something expensive). I will say, though, is that it's definitely starting to get a lot colder around here, and I'm not to fond of that. The weather here is probably what Chandler gets to at it's cold time of the year, and the temperature is still dropping!! I'm thinking about getting a scarf and/or ear muffs to stay warm, so that will be fun to deal with. Other than that, not much else is happening. Zone work is still the same as usual, and apartment life is also pretty much the same as well, so I have no interesting stories from there either. Hope you all had a more fun week than I did! Have a great week, and remember to always strive to have The Spirit with you!!

Till then,

Elder Wright

Week 39: Daylight Savings Is Still Stupid - November 6, 2018

Hello friends and family, it's me again. As you might have guessed, not much has changed between the last time I emailed and now, except for one thing: daylight savings recently happened. Yes, that stupid thing has happened again, but thankfully, this time it is the good kind, which is the one where we move the clock back so we get an extra hour of sleep. It was great having that extra hour, but that still doesn't change my opinion on how silly daylight savings is. Oh well, I only have to deal with this one more time before I go back. The only thing that I feel is even remotely noteworthy for today is that we went shopping at Sam's Club, and they have an exclusive flavor of Mountain Dew, so that's neat. I'll let you know if anything else happens in the near future. Have a great week, and remember to do some temple work if you can.

Till Then,

Elder Wright

PS: Here are some pictures of me from Halloween.

Elder Wright also sent this to our former bishop, who forwarded it to me. I loved it so much that I wanted to include it here!

Hey Brother T,

I'm really glad to hear from you! It's always nice to hear from you and I'm glad to get your emails. I'm doing pretty well here, since things aren't going crazy right now. My companion is doing really well so far. This is his third month on the mission, and Library Services is the second zone he's been in, so I'm doing my best to make things great.

Okay, so here are my answers to your questions. The best part of being a district leader is that you feel like what you do matters, so you actually feel useful when you have to do something like make decisions on what the young elders do in the zone and all that stuff. The worst part is that you have to deal with stressful situations, like counseling other district members and having to deal with any problems that happen between missionaries. I don't personally interact with the mission president that often, but we do have leadership meetings with him about once a week and a mission conference once a month, so somewhat often. The thing that I think is most important to teach to the future missionaries is the importance of daily scripture study, specifically out of the Book of Mormon, as well as the importance of the Book of Mormon. As for advice for the future missionaries, I would say to prepare mentally. It's not just about staying off your phone, video games, internet, etc., it's about keeping you mind focused on the goal of the mission, which is to bring the spirit to all. If all you talk and think about is the worldly stuff like pop culture, sports, politics, etc., then you won't survive a mission, because you have to gain a love for the gospel and a love of learning and sharing it. The mission isn't a time to continue being iffy on your religion, it's a time to be all in! I know that might be a little bit long winded, but I do think it is something that needs to be taught. I hope this helps. Have a great and enjoyable week!!

Sincerely,

Elder Wright