Mom Note - July 28, 2015

This is Priscilla's mom. I called her mission office today because we've been having trouble getting mail and packages to her. While I was on the phone with the sweet sister who answered the she told me, "We just love Sister Wright. She's our expert on familysearch. She's been teaching us all! She taught Elder Adams all about Pandora's Box." Made my mom heart so proud!

The Rabbi on Camelot - July 27, 2015

Here we are, another week in and still no pictures home. But hopefully I'll have time to finally get them sent!

Well I have finished my second week here in Manchester. I figured yesterday was the day I officially have spent more time in the field than at the MTC which is fun. It's also cool to finally get into the swing of things here. I understand better how P-Days/everyday work, I'm getting to know the area a little bit better, and I'm starting to get to know the members. For the most part Manchester is really nice, the people at the weather. Everyone else must think we're drowning because the weather always says it's going to rain but usually it's fairly sunny or overcast, and when it does rain it only lasts for five to ten minutes and then can go back to sunny in a matter of minutes. Luckily I've been inside a house or car anytime it has spontaneously rained.

List of Things I so far Love about New Hampshire:

1. No sales tax (I'm still super excited about it)

2. It's the granite state so they have granite everywhere and it is super pretty

3. Everyone is generally and sometimes bluntly honest. It shows in their street signs and notes they write to people. It's funny.

4. It's green (According to Sister Banda that is a good thing, I guess)

5. They love fluffernutters. I had one. It didn't really change my life but it was still good.

6. Because it's green there is wildlife like squirrels so I freak out everytime I see one.

7. The state motto is "Live Free or Die" and they post it everywhere

We do a lot of tracting which is still really scary but I have had some cool experiences from going door to door. For instance Saturday we tracted to a Rabbi's house on a street named Camelot. It was really neat to talk to him, discuss some of the beliefs we share, and encouraged each other to keep up the good work. The Camelot/Arthurian History themed neighborhood was really cool personally too. One street was named Arthur and not a lot of people were open or receptive there. So before we tracted the anti-Arthur street, Lancelot, I fervently prayed I would know that we were doing a good job and that we could share the message well. As we went house by house more people would just tell us we were doing a good job and listen to us. I was so filled by the Spirit in sharing the message of the Restored Gospel I can only explain it as "The Spirit of God like a fire is burning". Prayers are definitely answered.

We still get a lot of people saying they're "all set" but I still wouldn't call New Englanders rude. Only once has a door been slammed in our faces, and I think that brother was just having a hard day so we didn't worry too much.

I'm not going to lie, being a missionary is really hard. There have been times I thought I was going to die physically, emotionally, or mentally. But I can testify that Heavenly Father has given me the strength to go forward because this a work that needs to get done. Our loving Heavenly Father loves all His children and wants us all to return with Him. A quote that has taught me this is "Missionaries leave their families for 2 years [18 months] to help others be with theirs for eternity". May we all work to live with our families forever is my challenge for all of you listening.

Love,

Sister Wright

First Email from the Mission Field, Manchester NH - July 20, 2015

Sister Wright still hasn't been able to send pictures, but her companion/trainer sent this one to her mother who posted it on facebook. Love that smile!

Dear Friends and Family,
Just to start of I would like to say thank you for the love support I have received either through emails, Dear Elders, or prayers. It really means a lot because this transition between the MTC and New England has been really hard on me. It's really made me stop and realize how much bigger this mission is than me I wouldn't be able to do it without the support of family, friends, and God himself so thank you.
I haven't written a lot about the MTC since July 6 but not much besides parting ways happened during that time. For Tuesday devotional my roommates and companion dragged me to be in the choir so guess who got to be featured on the Jumbotron again? Yeah, so much fun. It did
turn out ok and I sat next to a sister going to the Arizona Tempe mission and brag about how awesome that mission is. Also the director of the choir told awesome stories during practice like about Cinderella so that was cool.

I did get to see President Packer's funeral service which was really nice. I loved how hopeful and happy the service was because we know this life is only temporary and what we'll experience in the next. It also made me remember that after this life is just a giant missionary effort for those who never got the chance to accept the gospel and I'm just getting a head start.

So I flew into Manchester last Monday and that was a long, tiring, slightly frustrating but overall good adventure because all 23 of us got there with all our luggage and in one piece. We were mostly tired because we left the MTC by 4 am and my companion got motion sick on the plane but we all pushed through and made it. Also the pay phones and phone card companies did not like us so that was way frustrating. 

From there we spent the evening in the mission home, getting to know President and Sister Stoker who are super sweet.

Tuesday was the big transfer meeting where I found out where I specifically serve for my first twelve weeks. As many of you have heard I am currently actually just in Manchester which is a really cool, old city. My companion/trainer's name is Sister Banda and she's super good for me as a Jedi Master.

Since Tuesday afternoon I've been working in the mission field, going to meetings and knocking on doors to find those who might need the love and comfort of the gospel in their lives. My first door I knocked on was at the home of an elderly man with a dog who really liked exploring. While we were talking to him the dog got outside and we thought he would stay in him yard but eventually we turned around and he was a quarter of a mile down the street. The man kept calling to his dog but he couldn't get him so Sister Banda and I decided to run after this dog. In our skirts. So yeah I had a crazy first day chasing dogs for people's salvations.

Since then nothing too crazy has happened. We tract a lot which means we going up and down streets getting one of three responses per house: 1. No one answered the door, 2. Someone answers, listens as we introduce ourselves and say they're "all set" (Fun Fact: New Englanders don't say they're "all good", they say they're "all set"), or 3. Someone answers and listens to us and give us words of encouragement or offers a bottle of water or even let us in (that happened Friday). Even though it may seem like we aren't getting anything done, in reality we are planting seeds and as one sister put it when she answered the door "sharing Christ". A lot of those who answer the door and are really encouraging but not interested are members of other local churches and they also believe in Christ and I think they feel the Spirit when they speak to us, even if they don't recognize it.

On Wednesday we went to go find some former investigators and at one home didn't find the investigator but did get her mother. She was a passionate Baptist and when she saw our name tags said "Jesus Christ" she got way excited and talked about how we share Christ. She then saw our Book of Mormon and thought it was an English Bible and took it. and wanted us to put her name down. on a list so we did. She was cool.

Well I'm getting pressed for time and need to log off. Hope everyone is blessed by the Spirit of God this week!

Love, Sister Wright

"First P-Day we got a frappe (New Englander for milkshake)"

Travel to New Hampshire - July 13, 2015

We were able to see a couple of pictures of Priscilla at the airport when another missionary mom posted them on the mission's facebook page. We also enjoyed talking with her on the phone from the SLC and Detroit airports. Love and miss her!

A Friend From Home! - July 8, 2015

We got a special surprise when our friend Sara Goodman texted us this picture. It shows her son Quinn with Sister Wright! Apparently Sister Wright was in the field east of the MTC for exercise time. Just as she was leaving to go back to the MTC she heard someone call her name. It was her old friend Quinn! Happy day for her and super happy day for us!

MTC Pictures

Update August 10, 2015: Priscilla was finally able to send pictures home today.  I added some of the MTC to this post. - Mom

I don't have many pictures so far of Sister Wright at the MTC.  She hasn't been able to send any pictures home yet. So the pictures I do have I received from other moms. I'm grateful for all of them!

Sister Wright with (L-R) her roommate Sister Dickson, and her roommates Sister Watson and Sister Rogerson

 "Most of us from my MTC district with our teacher Sister Smith"

"My work friend Allee!"

"The New Hampshire sisters that I roomed with (didn't plan on coordinating)"

Hummingbird by the Provo Temple

"My MTC district. The two companionships on the end went to Pittsburg and the other elders came out here (New Hampshire) with us"

Quail by the Provo Temple

"This view reminded me of when I went to BYU and would walk back from doing baptisms" (Back to her apartment from the Provo Temple

"Did I mention Provo is a second home?"

"Gotta love the temple"

"View from the classroom. You can see the SWKT, bell tower, and some Heritage roofs"

First Mission Email from the MTC - July 6, 2015

Dear Family,

Wow! For it only being my first P-Day you all have already heard a lot about my MTC experience! I would also like to thank you all for the Dear Elders! I really enjoyed hearing from you on Friday. I haven't gotten any letters from Saturday or Sunday though because Saturday felt the need to be a National Holiday and Sunday was Sunday so hopefully I'll get those letters later today!

I am sure you are all wondering how I am doing and the answer is GREAT! I was really nervous coming to the MTC that I wouldn't be able to handle anything but I've been really blessed. Every time I am exhausted physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually the Spirit gives me the strength to carry on and because of that blessing I have learned a lot.

Contrary to popular belief, that is not my companion next to me in Stephanie Nielson's photo, she is actually on the other side of the family. My companion is named Sister Dickson and she is super great. She has a fantastic testimony and every time we sit down to teach an investigator I realize she's doing most of the talking because she is just that awesome. I also knew I was going to love her when we were first walking as a companionship on Wednesday and she said "I'm really sarcastic".

Sister Dickson and Sister Wright

I have met most of the group of us going to New Hampshire next week. Our roommates are a set of sisters going with us and they're really cool too. Them and my companion are a lot girly-er than me (surprise surprise) and they're all from Utah so they all have a lot in common. So sometimes I feel a little left out but as Sister Dickson said one time: "All you need is the Spirit and we can all get along". All of the Elders, however, are all 18 and straight out of high school. I thought, and still sometimes think, they're pretty immature and need to learn they're not "all that", then I realized being around them reminds me a lot of seminary and I didn't think I missed those times but apparently I do. One Elder actually is from Trinidad and he's 20 but he's super nice too.

I have been blessed to run into other missionaries training here like Sister Ricks, Elder Welch, Elder Smith-Driggs, Sister Merrill, and Sister Stokes. I've also seen Elder Chamberlain from afar so that's fun. Seeing work friends at the cafeteria is also a great blessing!

As for the bats in the sisters housing, I think hat all happened before I got here and they shuffled sisters around to get them out of that building. Besides that that's all I know.

I'm SO SO glad you got to see Sister Nielson's instagram post! That was such a cool experience! Apparently our zone doesn't do our temple walks at 12:30 but we did yesterday and got the opportunity to meet Sister Nielson and her family! They were all super sweet and I gave her your email but afterwords I think I typed it wrong so you must not have got it. But I'm so glad everyone got to see it!
Another neat experience I had was the Fourth of July Devotional. To preface, I haven't really cried here at the MTC which is weird because that's normally how I feel the Spirit but I have felt the Spirit in so many other great ways. But at the devotional they opened with a few patriotic hymns and when the meeting started they had missionaries carrying flags either from they're home country or where they are going to serve. I don't know why but that made me start bawling, especially as we sang "Hark All Ye Nations". What a wonderful time to be alive where we can see the glory of the gospel reach every nation! After the devotional we got to see the fireworks from the Stadium. They looked super neat from where we were but I'm sure they were even more awesome actually at the Stadium.

One last good/funny experience I had was yesterday at the Sunday Evening Devotional. We had one of Elder Oaks's daughters, Jenny Oaks Baker, come to speak and perform with her family. I really liked the musical performances but now I can't listen to Amazing Grace hanks to my Sister companions. We got to the Devotional super early so we decided to sit as close to the front as possible which sounded like a good idea at the time until the first musical performance (Amazing Grace) when I quickly realized we were so close to the children's performance area which had extended off the stage and was a good five yards away from my seat. So I was apart of the performance whenever the cameras would point at certain angles and project my lovely background face on the jumbotrons for all the missionaries in the MTC to see. What made it worse was when every time that happened my companion and other NH sisters would giggle as I awkwardly sat there trying to look not-awkward. So I'm never sitting in the front for a devotional again.

I hope the trip home was quick and safe!

At the Jenny Oaks Baker Devotional

As stated before, I have been having a wonderful experience here and would love to keep getting your support through emails and Dear Elders. Love and miss you all!

-Sister Wright

Sister Wright on Nie Nie's Instagram - July 5, 2015

We got a wonderful surprise as we were driving back to Arizona. Mom was waiting for her turn to use the ladies room at a gas station in Page, Arizona so she checked her facebook. Our old friend Kelsey Thatcher Stevens had posted on facebook a picture of Priscilla! Priscilla had been for a walk to the temple with her district and ran into Stephanie Nielson and family of the Nie Nie Dialogues blog. Stephanie took a picture with all of the missionaries and posted it to her instagram. Kelsey saw it and sent it to us. Mom screamed a little right there in the bathroom!

 And here's a bigger picture. She looks great!

The MTC Dropoff - July 1, 2015

We left our hotel in SLC and drove to Provo, had a last lunch at SLAB Pizza, some ice cream at the BYU Creamery on 9th where we got to see Yanabah and her kids, and then headed to the MTC. They give very little time for goodbyes at the curb. There were tears because we're going to miss her, but also lots of tears because of how proud we are of her.  We wouldn't have it any other way!

Nick and Sister Wright at the Creamery

One last goodbye and family picture at the MTC

Her Last Facebook Post - June 30, 2015

I just wanted to share her last facebook post before her mission because I thought it was so beautiful.

"Well friends it's come to that time. Tomorrow I enter the MTC and begin my next great adventure.  By mid-July I should be already serving in the area of my 18 month mission, the New Hampshire Manchester Mission. I have a testimony of this church, this book (The Book of Mormon), and my Heavenly Father who I know loves me enough to send me to the people of New England.  I know it won't be easy but it will definitely be worth it.  If you would like to reach out to me (I would love your words of support and comfort!) I will be off social media for these 18 months and I can reply once a week via my new missionary email Priscilla.Wright@myldsmail.net. If you would like to receive the group email send my mom your name at marylenrn@cox.net. There will also be a blog updated weekly with the group email so you can email my mom about that too.  

Off I go to join God's Army!"

Salt Lake City Temple - June 30, 2015

We went with Priscilla to a session in the Salt Lake Temple the day before she entered the MTC. We were surprised to see Sister Jamie Ricks and her family from our stake were also there. A nice young man took pictures outside of the temple for us.

Missionary and Family Pictures -July 16, 2015

This is a little out of order, but we got pictures  to celebrate Priscilla's mission and also new family pictures taken by Katelyn Moore. We aren't sure when we will all be together for something like this again!