Lucky Number 7 - November 28, 2016

"Happy Holidays from LL Bean"

                    Hello and Happy Monday friends and family and anyone else who has happened to find my blog through NHMM means (seriously, in the last month I have had two people comment on finding my blog trying to find stuff about the NHMM and now I feel obligated to write to a more general audience). Life has been pretty great here in Saco. The snow last Monday didn't stick and the temperatures have been in the 40's so I can't complain much. Actually, it did snow a bit on Thanksgiving but that didn't stick either so again, no room to complain. By the way, Thanksgiving was this week. I will tell you all now Sister Lescarbeau and I had a good time with good meals so need to worry for us there.

                    We also got to see a few miracles along the week and have already started to share the #LIGHTtheWORLD campaign with everyone! These next seven weeks are going to be super exciting and I am excited to tell you about this last one!

                    So last Monday a little miracle we had was we were finding people before a lesson we had at that evening. We went to the person we were originally trying to finds door (literally climbing over a little dog gate) only to get no answer. We then started to drive away before we both felt we needed to talk to someone we saw walking their dog on that same road. By the time we parked the car and tried to race after the dog walker he had turned into his house but we felt the need to keep walking and we did, running into someone who was taking a break from her personal assistance job. She was really friendly and asked us a lot of questions. It was a cool testimony of persevering in finding even when the person you originally tried to find isn't there.

                    Tuesday our biggest event was being able to teach one of our investigators named Kayla (remember, we have three) and as always answer questions about baptism. She is so cool! I will never regret asking to give her son a sticker!

                    Wednesday I surprisingly remember a lot more about, mostly because we did some really cool things. Like we felt really tech savvy by Skyping into our district meeting that was being held in Cornish. We then "left" early so we could have a Thanksgiving lunch with some members in an assisted living home. Clara (the one we ate with) was so excited to have us and the meal was pretty good too. While stopping by the apartment to get changed and borrow some rakes from our landlord, he showed us his basement food storage, and basically he is ready for the apocalypse. I know where I want to be if I am going to need food in the future. Or if the apocalypse happens within this next week I know I am all set. And then we raked leaves for a sister in the ward who needs a lot of help and we are teaching her care assistant so yeah. We also ran into Dave at the grocery store when we were grabbing some milk for the week. Wednesday was pretty busy.

                    THANKSGIVING THURSDAY was pretty cool. We started the day at the church we normally serve food at for Thursday dinners and served a community Thanksgiving meal. IT had a fairly large turnout for both guests and volunteers. They also served little boiled onions that smelled awful. But the rest of the meal seemed great! People were so appreciative of how above and beyond we went to help them. We didn't help there long though because we had our first meal at 1 with a less active member and her family and friends. Basically it was my first "non-member" Thanksgiving because when they pulled out the alcohol I realized sobriety sometimes isn't always a Thanksgiving tradition. But they were respectful when we said no. And we didn't stay long because we had another member meal appointment after that with a member, her mother, and husband. They were all characters and the food was great. She also has a really cool Christmas tree that has all animated ornaments and they can be synced together through the tree to light up with the music from one ornament. Truthfully, I missed Thanksgiving at home with the Macy's parade and family at the cultural hall but this was a pretty good last Thanksgiving as a missionary. Frankly I don't remember what happened much of Friday besides seeing Kayla again.

                    We were able to see another one of our investigators and his wife (who generally hasn't been interested in learning or even being around when we're over) and shared the #LIGHTtheWORLD video and they really liked it! They both really like helping people in general and want to help participate this December in serving others.

                    Saturday we decided to stop by some other investigators we hadn't seen in a while and invite them to church the following Sunday (our sacrament service was going to be centered on the basics of the church). After doing all we could this week we expected two of our three Kaylas to come but in the end only the investigator we stopped by on Saturday named Peggy came! She loved the service though and we were definitely excited to see her.

                    And that leads us up to today where we went up to Freeport for a doctor's appointment but somehow ended up by the LL Bean store and getting pictures of the big Bean boot... and stopping in Portland to get Chipotle... Just another fun P-Day I guess. Well I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving breaks and haven't had a hard time going back to the grind. Remember this Thursday is the world-wide day of service, so get some things planned today to #LIGHTtheWORLD! Have a good week!

Love,

Sister Wright 

"Comp photo"

"The big Bean boot outside of the LL Bean store in Freeport"

"Sister L was excited"

"Wicked Whoopies in Freeport. We didn't go in"

"My favorite...again" (Chipotle!)\

"Our friend Gremlin Cat"

"His real name is Snaggletooth because of his tooth"

"I cut up an old cereal box as an activity version of the Light the World advent calendar"

"So each day will open a door to a lifesaver"

Coming Soon: Turkey - November 21, 2016

"Zone Conference! We accidentally matched!"

                    Hello and happy Monday friends and family! Crazy to think this day as come again. This week honestly flew by and I blame it on Zone Conference in Exeter Wednesday. I truly feel like with zone conference we lost an entire day, as if it were exalted, and it is gone and I am lost by where we are now in the time-space continuum. It was all good stuff and we got to hear all about this year's Christmas program put on by the church, Light the World! We get to invite EVERYONE to feel the light of Christ this Christmas season by providing service, large and small, every day of December leading up to Christmas! We are so excited to take a chance every day and light the world by helping those around us! On December 1st the church is trying to have a worldwide day of service and have 100,000 shares of the #lighttheworld, not to break a record but to help everyone feel the joy of service! So if you are just as excited as I am already check out Christmas.mormon.org starting November 26 to see what activities lie in store and help Light the World this Christmas! And plan to help and share something on December 1st!

                    Back to my life though, excluding the exalted zone conference day, this week was pretty good. Monday we had a District Nerf War which Sister Lescarbeau was surprisingly good at so go Team Saco 2. Other cool things we did this week include stopping by a restaurant a less active member works at to catch her. Bonus: Asian food restaurant. She was so excited to see us there and invited us to stop by for

Thanksgiving lunch so I am of course excited about that. For zone conference we got to host the Cornish sisters for the night which was pretty fun. I also drove us all the way down to Exeter so I felt like an adult. Because of awesomeness we got to have a Skype lesson with Sister Lescarbeau's mom who is learning from the missionaries in Ohio. That was a really cool lesson because Sister Lescarbeau's mom is the perfect investigator and is progressing super well! We are way excited for her! Oh also it snowed a bit overnight and to reward myself for not going insane about it got myself a pumpkin hot chocolate. Things I am sure the world cares about.

                    By way of investigators: One Kayla (we are teaching three of them currently) came to church for the first time in this ward this week and really enjoyed it! Another Kayla was sick this week so we didn't get to see her but we didn't lose contact either. And the other Kayla we hadn't been in contact with for a while but we caught her Friday and set up a time to help her rake leaves with a member of the ward. And we weren't able to meet with Dave but the elders did because he needed to discuss some things he wanted to talk to the elders about so he is getting back on track!

                    We are always trying to find new people to teach and luckily we are still having some success in finding. And this next week is looking pretty successful, especially with Thanksgiving! Speaking of

Thanksgiving, in my personal study I was reading Ether 6 and if you look at what the Jaredites go through to get to the promised land, they have some pretty serious stuff happen to them like "the wind did never cease to blow" and "mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind". But those trials are what ultimately lead them to reach the promised land and in verse 12 "when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them." We should be thankful for everything, even our trials! I hope we can remember that is Thanksgiving! I can't wait to write you all about it (it meaning the food because honestly that is about 50% of my emails...) next week! Love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Wright 

Missed the Parade... - November 14, 2016

Originally she didn't send any pictures this week, but I talked her into sending a selfie before she had to sign off of the computer-Mom

                    Hello and happy Monday friends and family! Before I forget, an important PSA: Please clean your iPad case as often as possible so you don't clean it just when someone you know hasn't washed their hands since they went to the bathroom holds your iPad case and you see WAY too much dirt covering the Lysol wipe and you feel like you live in filth. It is horrifying so please just do that regularly.

                    Anyway, this week was pretty fun. We got 14 out of the 20 lessons Salt Lake expects missionaries to get so I feel pretty great. AND we had the woman I found by giving her son a sticker came to church and she LOVED it so good things in Saco 2! And the crowd favorite Dave has been reading (well, listening) most of the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. This has been coming this week because this week Sister Lescarbeau and I have been dedicating ourselves to REALLY helping our investigators keep their commitments. I mean really giving them my entire commitment so they can progress. So for Kayla (the mom) we had the member in our lesson invite her to church and be her ride. And we gave her some old missionary clothes so she can have church clothes when she came to church. And she did! Helping: It's real!

                    As far as this week goes in detail: Monday we had Korean food made by a member who served in Korea so we tried Kimchi. I will eternal regret not recording Sister Lescarbeau and my reactions because it was hilarious. But I feel like I could get used to it really quickly. Not too spicy so woo.

                    Tuesday our cool miracle of the day was we were doing service at the food pantry and we realized a woman we were serving was someone I boldly started talking to on the street a few weeks ago. That was really cool. Especially when (tangent) after hearing Kayla explain at church how we (the sister missionaries) found her by talking to her on the street. I will just always feel proud for talking to her because it is my call to talk to everyone!

                    Truthfully, I don't remember anything that happened Wednesday. But Thursday we had zone interviews and that went pretty well. And we taught three people on the street, one being a potential who came out of their apartment and sat on their stairs to talk to us about a concern he has with his current study of the Bible. So we are trying to help him with that.

                    Friday we had all intent to go to the Veterans Day parade but due to an appointment we thought didn't go that long and apparently small participation, we totally missed it. It was honestly pretty disappointing. BUT we then just street contacted asking people if they got to see the parade and we were able to hand out a copy of the Book of Mormon so never lose hope!

                    As far as this weekend the coolest thing, again, was Kayla at church! Woo! But we are having district P-Day now so I need to wrap this up but I hope you all have a good week! Miss you all!

Love,

Sister Wright 

Cleaning, Raking, a Bit of Both - November 7, 2016

Mom couldn't resist zooming in on such a happy face!

                   Hey there friends and family on this lovely November Monday. I can't believe we have already reached my 16 month mark! It really doesn't even feel real. Starting Tuesday people would ask how long I had been out and I would cringe. I really just need to say "A little over a year" because 16 months is ridiculous. But we had a pretty exciting week in teaching, finding, and service here in Saco. I even got to teach a lesson while wearing pants so fist pump there! I will explain that and more as you read on...(cheesy transition)

                    Monday was Deep Clean Halloween. Because this was formerly an elders apartment there were definitely things that needed to be deep cleaned like a closet full of clothes (literally full, as in, from floor to ceiling) that we assume an elder going home just shoved all his clothes in. Other notable finds include an entire suit (pants and jacket), a game of Risk (pieces and board), and a surprisingly large amount of space when you clear out the junk and trash. Sister Mann would be excited to know we cleaned the entryway (swept and took trash out) and decorated it nice with seashells and Mormonads. Good times for missionaries when they can't leave the apartment.

                    Honestly Tuesday and Wednesday weren't that exciting. We had some teaching appointments and meal appointments with members. I have I mentioned we have literally a dozen nonmembers we are working with to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ? It is so cool! We keep seeing so many miracles in this area and it makes me so excited. Like Thursday we extended a baptismal date to the woman I found by offering her son a sticker and she seemed really excited because it gave her something she could work to and in her words "no longer be a lukewarm Christian".

                    Another cool miracle was Friday morning during studies we were told that our morning appointment had to cancel so we planned to go stop by someone I knew was only available in the morning. About an hour later that person we planned texted and asked if we could come over and rake her leaves. We were so excited, got our service clothes on, and rushed to her home to rake those leaves. She also mentioned she didn't have a copy of the Bible or Book of Mormon so we were able to give those to her, share a message with her, and set up a return appointment for this week. Woo inspired miracles! AND to make Friday cooler we had another appointment fall through and so while we were walking back to the car I saw someone on their porch and then go into their home. Knowing I am commissioned to talk to everyone I told Sister Lescarbeau we needed to knock on this person's door so we went over, knocked twice and once we thought no one was going to answer the woman answered, we invited her to learn, and she let us right in! I was so pumped! It is easy to forget sometimes miracles like that DO happen in real life and not just in the Ensign in foreign missions.

                    We ended Friday with exchange in Yarmouth. I went to a member meal with Sister Knecht and had possible ground moose, possible ground deer meatloaf. It wasn't bad at all, just like any ground meat. Saturday morning we went to a garden Sister Mann and I had helped clean on exchange before but this time it was just Sister Knecht and I who didn't know really anything but the woman we were helping was super nice and helpful in getting us going. I used some big clippers to chop out some weeds and goldenrods which was a pretty fun, especially when I was finished with the patch I was assigned to clear out and could see it all done. Much like my favorite part of the mission, being able to see how far you have come.

                    Saturday night, because Portland is between Yarmouth and Saco, we almost met for dinner at Chipotle but went to the food court at the mall and I got Qdoba instead. So close. So. Close. Besides that, Sunday was exciting because of daylight savings, so one free hour of sleep. But now we get one less hour of light during the day, so boo. These are the things I miss about Arizona. Because Sister Lescarbeau wasn't feeling well I spent a lot of time reading in the Book of Mormon and I am currently in 3 Nephi 11-18. Words probably aren't able to describe how exciting it is to read those chapters like someone who doesn't know Jesus Christ or didn't know He had visited His "other sheep" in ancient America. I love being able to invite people to come close to Christ through the Book of Mormon and help them see if He loved the people in all parts of the world to visit them as the Resurrected Lord, He definitely loves us today. That I know.

                    Oh and today we went to Reny's. Apparently its a Maine Adventure. Have a good week and I love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Wright  

"Sister Knecht and me"

"Exchange meeting!"

"Because Hood is a New England classic"

"Flowers we picked the last time I was on exchange in Yarmouth"

Many Pre-Halloween Treats - October 31, 2016

                   

        Sister Wright and her new companion, Sister Lescarbeau, at the Saco Ward Trunk or Treat               

                    Happy Halloween friends and family from your favorite non-costumed missionary. Because Deep Clean Halloween falls on a Monday this year we are basically in all day which as a missionary is fun but not at the same time. Hooray for clean apartment but boo not really contacting people. Oh well. This week before Halloween we had a lot of cool miracles or "treats" so I am basically going to start sharing them now:

                    Monday Sister Mann and I walked on Old Orchard Beach and collected a bunch of shells and even some sand dollars. Reason why Sister Mann is the coolest: She decided to have us walk down the beach and talk to this guy who had said he saw us walking around before and we invited him to the ward party this weekend. But she talked to him about his religious background and we just casually discussed the gospel. It was cool. And at dinner we were able to set up with a member to take us to a lesson on Thursday so we were really excited, it was a good day.

                    Tuesday I traveled again to the land of my inheritance, Manchester, to drop off Sister Mann and pick up Sister Lescarbeau (which is funny considering Sister Lescarbeau was just serving in Portland, ME). I cried way too much losing Sister Mann but I knew she was in good hands to travel home. And Sister Lescarbeau and I got to know each other a little better on our way back. Sister Lescarbeau is from Colorado Springs, Colorado and is basically my apostate music soul sister. Like, she even likes Train because reference. She's been out for 14 months (so a transfer younger than me) and knows how to get things done and relate to people really well. Someone told us Sister Lescarbeau looks like Miley Cyrus (obviously before she went weird). But yeah we are going to get good work done here in Saco these next five weeks if this week is any indicator. #miracles

                    Wednesday we tried a lot of finding. Everyone should be proud of me because I talked to two people randomly, one taking their trash out. And the other was on their doorstep and I was basically across the street. Both took invitations to the Halloween party so I felt pretty accomplished.

                    Thursday we had a really cool miracle of going to find a potential investigator we had been trying to contact for a long time and ended up running into her less active land-lady and sharing a message with her and setting up reading the Book of Mormon with her. So good times with that. We also got to teach one of our investigators Mark at work because when the only time you can meet your investigators is at the job site, you do it. AND we had the coolest lesson ever with that member from Monday night. She took us to the appointment with a returning part member family and we are mostly teaching the daughter (age 10) so she can be baptized! We tried to teach her really slow and establish a foundation of Jesus Christ and His earthly ministry. The member who took us was super awesome because she brought visuals like clay apostles and pictures to hold and we feel we might have had some information overload but overall it was a neat experience. And they came to church on Sunday! We were also supposed to have a lesson with Dave. It fell though so we will continue to try to work with him.

                    Another cool miracle came on Friday. We went out to lunch with a member and the waitress told us she had to tell us a funny story before we left. Turns out she has had this spiritual awakening starting on Wednesday when she watched God is Not Dead and saw two Catholic Nuns on Thursday. She said when she saw us and our name tags on Friday she really felt like God was talking to her and we were able to give her our number. She is also coworkers with another potential investigator of ours so we will probably hear from her again. We also were able to share the message of the Book of Mormon with woman we do service for weekly which she turned out to really enjoy! And another less active sister we do service for is the coolest missionary even if she can’t get out of bed because she invited her friend to learn and the friend is interested and we taught her Saturday! So we have found a lot of cool people this week!

                    Saturday was the ward Trunk or Treat and Sister Lescarbeau and I got to be cats. Some other honorable mentions include the Thayer family as the Skywalker family (Sister Thayer even as Padme) and the Guerrettes as the Jurassic World cast (the kids as dinosaurs and the parents as Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt). Another family I didn't know was Harry Potter themed and the dad was Snape. Overall it was way fun, especially the Mac n Cheese cook off. I was in heaven.

                    Sunday we were basically everywhere after church. But the highlight was when a member couple came with us to teach their neighbor and the husband shared his testimony of the gospel in his life and invited our investigator to ponder what he would do if he found out this church was true. And that was super cool because the investigator really latched onto it.

                    So good things are happening in Saco. I hope you all have a safe Halloween and are excited for November. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Wright 

"At the beach. We had a fun time"

"In Manchester"

A member posted this on the mission facebook page and Mom was able to steal it!