Apparently the Perfect Date - April 25, 2016

             

 "Because we're cute. We're asked if we're biological sisters a lot"

                    Hello and happy Monday people of the real world! I hope you all had a good week as we are wrapping up the second half of April. To all my friends who just overcame finals season BYU: Congratulations, you're still alive! Go treat yourself to some New England Ben and Jerry's for making it through!

                    Well this week in pre-summery-Somersworth we had some pretty neat experiences. As I've testified about before, the warmer weather definitely brings warmer hearts so we have been catching a lot of potential investigators and inviting them to learn more about the church or family history. No one is progressing towards baptism yet but they will get there! This week I'm going to write about a couple three experiences we had while trying to progress the work in Somersworth.

                    Starting with Tuesday, this week we made it a goal this week to pray for referrals since we hadn't received any this transfer after receiving and contacting 11 last transfer. Monday night we prayed for a referral to contact and low and behold, Tuesday we get a text from the elders with an address in Somersworth for someone who requested a Bible. Sister DeWidt and I could hardly believe it. We called her as soon as possible and asked if we could drop it off in a few minutes (we were already on our way to her house because we were so excited) and she said yes! We got her her Bible and she was so excited! What blew us away was when we asked her why she requested it she said she had lost her own copy and just the night before (so Monday night) she went online and saw she could get a free one from us. SO our prayer Monday night was definitely answered! And now another person has a Bible.

                    Saturday we were doing service at a food pantry where we help people bag their food and sometimes help them carry it out. I was helping this older lady who didn't know much English at all, we think she spoke Chinese, and helped her collect her food as well and carry it outside the building on her walker. Sister DeWidt followed me as I walked outside with her and her walker, pushing it up the hill that went beside the building because she didn't have the strength to do it. When we reached the top we all stopped at a bench where I assumed she would stop to get a breath before she headed home. Nope, she stopped and started unpacking all her bags on the bench. Sister DeWidt and I couldn't communicate with her so we just stood there going "??? Do you need help looking for something...?" Turns out she was looking for the eggs, and when she found them she bagged everything up again. It was funny because we really had no idea what to do. And we think she tried giving us her address but we didn't understand. So that was a cool experience to help someone but it was also just kinda funny.

                    Finally on Sunday the ward had the First Counselor to the Boston Temple Presidency and his wife come and speak about temples. It was way cool to hear the experiences they have had as they have served in that calling, even though they just started in November. He was also the former Ogden Utah Mission President so he spent a few moments with us missionaries in Gospel Principles. The best part for Sister DeWidt and I was they were sealed in the Mesa AZ temple and were so excited to hear "the sisters" were from Arizona. They talked about tender mercies and I could definitely say they were a tender mercy for us this week.

                    Well I hope you all enjoyed your glimpse into the week I just had. Enjoy this perfect date, April 25th, with just a light jacket! I hope you all are having great experiences and continue to pray for miracles, because I know they happen! I love and miss you all and see you next week!

Love,

Sister Wright 

"Basic white girls eating basic white bread"

"More basic white bread"

"Enjoying this 'light jacket' day"

"The trees have things on them"

"Popcorn popping"

"More living things"

I'm Not Creative - April 18, 2016

Some church members brought over red velvet cupcakes!

Hello and happy Monday friends and family! I trust you all had a good week enjoying the warmer weather. This week we had Zone Interviews and while Sister DeWidt had her exit interview I got to chat with Sister Stoker who lived in Mesa for 20 years and she showed me the weather for Mesa this week. All I can tell the Phoenix valley is we are finally catching up with the spring weather! The temperatures are above 50 so I don't even have to wear leggings! (Let's just say a year ago, that would NOT have been my reaction to 50 degree weather. The mission is truly a growing experience people). Also the bugs are starting to come out, or it is "getting buggy" in New England terms. Yes, I think we are officially out of "swing" and into spring. Good times good times. Well, I guess I'll tell you how Sister DeWidt and I are faring in Somersworth as we enjoy this warmer weather!!

We have been getting creative with our proselyting strategies now that people can go outside for extended periods of time. We have a couple of cemeteries nearby so we decided to take an hour to go "cemetery contacting" with a handful of familysearch.org cards and invite people to use familysearch.org. The results: None yet but it was refreshing to walk around and see some really cool old graves, most were around the 1800's. Around that same cemetery we took some chalk and drew the Plan of Salvation! No contacts from that yet either but at least people can learn a little bit about God's purpose for them!

Like I mentioned earlier we had Zone Interviews which were really fun. Sister DeWidt and I were the first in the day to be interviewed because Sister DeWidt needed to have her exit interview but my interview with President Stoker went really well. It's funny. I don't know why but before my mission I somehow expected to see the mission president like weekly but out here you're lucky if you seem him twice a month. It was good to spend time with him, let him know about some of my personal concerns, as well as my concerns for the area. Overall I feel like I got the guidance I need to make it through the next half of the transfer.

Besides that, this week we had no member meal appointments scheduled because we haven't had normal church services for two weeks so Sister DeWidt and I burned through gift cards and coupons exploring some of the local cuisine of the area. We had gift certificates for a Chinese Buffet that we ventured to on Friday. Sister DeWidt and I probably enjoyed ourselves too much, honestly. We both love Chinese food. We also got some Panera Saturday for lunch which really threw me back to home.

Overall we had a fairly mediocre week broken up with some pretty creative contacting methods. Not to quote a creepy YouTube video but when things get difficult, get creative! It's amazing what mixing it up a bit can do to your soul! I hope you all have a good upcoming week and maybe next week I'll have some more awesome experiences to share with you.

Love,

Sister Wright

Cemetery

Rocking out to BYU Vocal Point FHE Medley

District PDay

"Killing" Sister DeWidt/Avenging the death of Sister Banda (in Missionary Speak, this means that Sister DeWidt will be going home and Sister Wright was her last companion. Sister Banda was Sister Wright's trainer. And Sister DeWidt "killed" Sister Banda)

Sisters DeWidt, Wright, Mulford and Kauvaka

Dos Amigos in the Rain - April 11, 2016

With a member at Stake Conference

                    Hello and happy Monday friends and family. I trust you all had a good week post-General Conference. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology the Gospel Library app already has all the talks that I get to re-enjoy and first enjoy in the case of the Priesthood session. Shout out to President Uchtdorf's address in the Priesthood session by the way. I really feel like the way he chose to talk about families would usually be directed towards a female audience but the comments I hear from men about his address teaches me that we all sometimes struggle with our family relationships. Or they just really like Star Wars references. Well, this week was obviously more than just studying, including an interesting exchange with the Sister Training Leaders and Stake Conference with the Stokers, so let' so dive in.

                    I'm saying "dive" in for the reason that on exchange Thursday in Dover, NH it was pouring rain. Like, all day. Exchanges were just crazy for so many reasons. 1. We split Dover with the Portsmouth Sisters so we while we normally are supposed to spend the exchange in their area we were really in our area half the time. 2. Because miles aren't excused on exchange there was only one car that Sister DeWidt and Sister Pierce used and Sister O'Bryant and I walked in Dover, which wasn't too bad. Except for the rain. All day. It was actually really fun and not too bad to deal with. Especially since we started off the day with service at a thrift store (in our area) and met a lady who was a convert and was actually leaving in a few days to go to Switzerland to marry the elder that tracted into her. Crazy! To add to the craziness, since we were already talking about SwitzerlandI found out Sister O'Bryant's mom served in the same mission as my dad. Geneva, Switzerland Mission represent!

                    For lunch Sister O'Bryant and I went to a burrito place [on the Somersworth side of Dover] called Dos Amigos. Oh man, the food threw me back to Los Favritos back home with the eclectic style of Chipotle. So yes, it wins. The guacamole burrito was just like a Los vegetarian burrito and I was a happy camper. So happy that Saturday Sister DeWidt and went so I went to Dos Amigos twice in a week. #Arizonagirlprobs But when you find a good Mexican food place in New England you need to give it all your business.

                    Back to the craziness of exchanges, so in the time of Sister O'Bryant and I walked after lunch we were splashed twice by passing vehicles. It was one of those things where you could laugh or cry so Sister O'Bryant and I laughed a lot. And could barely hear each other. But we had fun, especially when we came in and I dumped out the pool in my rain boots. We really should have grabbed video of that! haha

                    Saturday evening and Sunday morning we had Stake Conference. Sunday morning we actually heard from President and Sister Stoker who talked about preparing for a mission. I remember this time last year I had my mission call and knew where I was going to serve the Lord for 18 months. If you had told me a year ago who I would be now because of my missionary service I would have been shocked but even more excited for my call to serve. I came to New England as soon as I could and I have never regretted it. It may have been really hard at times but I don't know where I'd rather be in my life right now. I want you all to look where you were a year ago and see where you've come from. I know for some of us it's not a huge change but we all are different people.

May we all continue to become better, different people is my prayer.

Love you all,

Sister Wright 

With Sister Watson, they were roommates in the MTC

With her companion and the Sister Training Leaders

Sister Wright's district. And Moxie

A picture to commemorate being halfway through. She said she's a Stripling Sister

Missions Are Time Machines - April 4, 2016

                    

  Sister Wright with her "Hump Day" camel

                   Hello and happy Monday happy people. Today is already April 4, 2016 (which is mathematically pleasing to the eye, 4*4=16) and I can't believe I'm at nine months out already! Like, when did that happen? Probably because missions are time machines, you blink (and it is safe to blink on missions, my Whovian fan friends) and next thing you know you've gone from your first area to your third area and second general conference. Time does fly when you're on the Lords errand, and having fun along the way. Well I guess I'll update you a bit about my week as that is your purpose in reading this letter I hope.

                    Well the week itself was pretty long leading up to the weekend, probably because we were so excited for general conference. We decided to spend some time everyday showing our love for the members by "heart attacking" their doors and stopping by just to sing them some hymns. It all went pretty well and used up a lot of hearts. We originally used heart shaped post-it notes I had inherited in my first area but we burned through those quickly and had to color and copy a bunch to tape to doors. At the beginning of the week we tried our best to be anonymous but that was lost when a member took a picture of her hearts, posted it on Facebook, and then asked if we were the culprits. Of course we said yes and so the ward knew pretty quickly it was us. Oh well, we still went around giving hearts. And it was really fun!

                    Saturday itself was crazy because we missed regular morning studies for a volunteer breakfast/meeting for a thrift store we work at. We then had a teaching appointment at 10 and from there we had conference at noon. But conference was so good! I went to general conference with a few questions and I took notes on what stood out to me, especially by the Spirit and I feel just spiritually edified. I was honestly getting worried by the end of Sunday Afternoon that Elder Holland wouldn't speak but of course he did and blew it out of the park! Conference was just so great, there really isn't any better way to say it!!

                    Well, like I said, this week was pretty slow mostly in anticipation for General Conference. The weather was crazy as usual, it got up to the 70's one day and it's snowing nice powder right now. I got a real nice "hump day" package from my family for my nine month mark. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me on my mission, whether it was recently for my nine month mark or in the past. You all have really made the mission the greatest and I am grateful for all who write and pray for me. I am sorry if I never get back to you but know your time you take to write and encourage me is never wasted! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Next week will definitely be more exciting with exchanges and stake conference! Love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Wright 

She seemed pretty excited to get an Arizona Diamondbacks shirt! I wanted to remind her that no matter how much she loves New England, she is still an Arizona girl!

"Something Elder Hopkins in my District tried to do with the District. I got 30 points and sister DeWidt got 15" I thought this looked so fun!

"This is what happened over email time"