Amazing Missionary Moments

Dearest Family and Friends:

Things went really well this week. The big news is that the trio is now just the lonely duo. We are getting through it. I think it is really good preparation for Sister Frost though, so she didn't have do all the changes by herself. After we dropped Hermana Jackson off at 4:30 on Monday we went to Wendy's and cried a lot. It was really hard. We were in a weird little funk, but since then we've been working hard and finding, finding, finding.

Some cool experiences from this week:

Cool Lesson Moments:

*We went to go see a Less Active/Part Member Family named Hermana Cruz this week, her husband isn't a member. Her daughter is 8 and hasn't been baptized. So we are going to teach them the lessons again to see if we can #1 prepare her daughter for baptism and #2 help the mom come back to church. The Hermana had told me before that her husband wasn't interested. But, we went over twice this last week and he sat in on BOTH of the lessons. It was a miracle he was even there! I had never met him in the 5 months I've been here because he works a lot. What are the chances? The second lesson we taught was the Restoration and we didn't even get past prophets until he started asking TONS of questions that he's had in the past. He told us that he has been to lots of churches and never felt anything, but that he wants to feel something. 

*When I was on exchanges last week the sisters picked up an investigator named Vanessa. She is really cool. We had an appointment with her on Thursday and taught her the first part of the Restoration. The next day we were in her apartment complex for another family we visit and she asked us to come over again because she is moving out to a rehab place where we might not be able to visit. We went over and finished the restoration. After we talked about the first vision she looked really pensive. I asked her what she was thinking or feeling. She said "I've never felt this before. I can't describe it; it feels like God is right here with us." We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and when we left she was already reading it so intently! SO COOL!!!! She said she would be baptized and that she had been praying for someone to help her change… and then we met her!

Coolest Finding Moment:

*A couple of weeks ago we met a woman who was amazing and wanted us to come over. This week we were able to actually have a lesson with her. She is excited for us to help her learn so she can teach her kids. She doesn't know too much about God or religion....especially because she called her catholic prayer necklace a 'Rosemary' instead of a Rosary. It was really sad because I showed her kids (probably ages 4-9) a picture of Jesus Christ and they had no idea who he was. She told us that she has never really talked to her kids about that kind of stuff but she knows she should. 

Tender Mercy Moment:

*This week Cynthia (a nonmember in a part member family we are working with) decided to go to seminary. Here the school year just started today.... so it was SOOO AWESOME! She had originally said 'no' to doing seminary, but yesterday while we taught the YW lesson, a young woman bore her testimony really strong about seminary!!!

It's been really really awesome here! I love it!!! I spoke in Sacrament yesterday....and 3 weeks before that. And 2 weeks ago Sister Jackson and I sang Grande Eres Tu (How Great Thou Art) together as well. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!!! 

Thanks for all of your prayers and faith! 

Love  Hermana Wright

One great experience after another...

This week was awesome! I love this place and I love my mission. This week went by like all the others, super fast, but super awesome! 

We got the chance to go to the Stake Missionary Correlation meeting. They wanted us to share our experience about working with Less Actives. He said that in January on average our stake had 18 less active members at church. But that in July our average was 53!!!! In our ward alone we got 23 Less Active members to church last week! SO AMAZING! The people here are so great! That really strengthened my testimony that we are doing what the Lord wants here in the Rancho ward! 

Lake Gregory

Cool experience

 

*On exchanges this week we went to go contact some people. At one house a man named Jason answered the door (not Julie, the one we were looking for...). We started talking to him about his religious background. He is Christian and then he told us that he receives visions. I asked him what his latest vision was. He said, "I'll show you". He went inside and we all looked at each other confused. He came out and said that one day at church he saw Jesus Christ extending his hands to the congregation. He then unfolded a paper that had..... Get this....the picture we have in all of our church buildings of the second coming (Jesus in white robe with angels surrounding him). We were all in shock. I asked where he got that picture. He said that he had looked online to find exactly what it had looked like and that was the one!!!! SO COOL! So hopefully the sisters get to work with him!!!!! AMAZING experience!

 

On exchanges with Sisters in Crestline.
They live in a cabin on Lake Gregory.

I went on 2 exchanges this week. So that made things go by really fast. Sister Jackson goes home today so we are all a little emotional. But, she is amazing! I am really grateful to have had her as one of my companions! We have had some really fun and amazing times!!!!!!!!



Pioneer Day hats.

I love my mission! And I love all of you!!!
Hermana Wright

Crestline Ward Pioneer Day Celebration.

I LOVE MY MISSION!

Last Zone Conf...Me & Hrm Erickson

Hola Familia:

This week was really good! I love this place! I love my mission! Just some quick moments from this week:

 

Updates: 

-Eric, Kassidy's son (less active) we are working with...who is the coolest and I love her! She keeps her house so clean, we actually call it the Celestial Kingdom. She literally cleans everyday including baseboards!!!! She's an angel! She is going to help me figure out how to get ink out of my skirt.), Erik is getting baptized soon, he is 8. She is really excited and we had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation this week. There is no better way to help people see the importance of baptism than teaching them about the purpose of this life, which is to progress and make covenants. Her husband is not a member, but all of his family is really strong in our ward. In fact, at this point I think he is the only nonmember in all of his family. He is really liking that the kids are changing and we are having them memorize scriptures and recite them to him. His family is praying so hard that he will get baptized!!!

-Hermana Lopez is the cutest!! She is a Less Active as well. Yesterday we had a lesson with her and she told us, "Al verlas, voy a regresar a la iglesia." (Seeing you guys, I am coming back to church....it makes a lot more sense in Spanish....sorry). So awesome!!!!

-Hermana Vera is probably one of my very favorite members. She is Less Active but has come to church the last 3 Sundays in a row! She loves the Book of Mormon and is just hungry to understand. We are re-teaching her the lessons and reading with her to build her faith! She's amazing and has 11 kids, by the way. 

-Hermana Corona dropped us this week. She said she wasn't ready to make a decision yet. That's fine though. Hermana Frost was pretty crushed, but life will move on. We have lots of other cool people!

Hermana's Frost, Wright, Marler
Zone Conference

-We went on exchanges this week, I stayed here with Hermana Frost and Sister Bates (From the mountains). It went really well, it was a little stressful, as always, but it was really good!

Favorite Lesson:

-This week we had an AMAZING lesson with la Familia Lara. We had been wondering if they were really interested. We watched the Restoration with them and then we talked afterwards. They talked about how much they wanted to know which church is true. He was so worried about 'not feeling it' about the Book of Mormon, but with the spirit we helped him see that he WILL receive his answer!

 

Favorite Study moment:

-I studied a cool talk this week about Teaching doctrine by David A Bednar. A lot of times we teach applications when we should be teaching Doctrine. The doctrine is what motivates the people to act. Doctrines are like the Plan of Salvation , Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Atonement, etc.. Principles are how we apply those doctrines in our lives (ex. Faith, Repentance, and Baptism are all principles and are the only way to apply the Atonement). Applications are like motivating people to read the book of Mormon by offering them a candy at the end of the week.  Applications and Principles are still very important, but remember that "True doctrine understood changes thoughts and behavior more than a study of behavior will change behavior..." (not a direct quote). 

Random Miracle Moment:

- Palaez: This week I have been thinking about this random member family I have never met. We were going to go see them but ran out of time. At ward council a member brought them up and said she thinks they are ready to come back to church!

 

-Bianeyda: Found this cool former investigators teaching record. She sounded awesome so we went to go see her. Instead we found out she moved, but her sister told us how she just decided to take her kids to a church, before we could even ask, she asked us to come over!!!

That's it for this week!   

Love you all!!!!

Hermana Wright



Zone Conference.
Left to right. Marstella and Bates(Mountains sisters and our STL assignment),
Marler and Anderson (Highland Sisters and our STL Assignment),
Frost, Wright, ___, Dalton and Bates (our roommates),
Stalder and Erickson (Redlands and our STL assignment).

Elders Nickel & Craven serve in our ward and are the only ones whose names I know..



 

11 Less Activites at Church - So AMAZING!!

I will keep it short and sweet this week. (It seems like I say that every week).  Basically, I LOVE MY MISSION! 

Yesterday was such a rewarding day. We had 11 Less Actives at church! SO AMAZING! And guess who the sacrament speaker was. Hermana Mendoza! It really was such a sweet experience for me (yes, involving some tears) to hear my recent convert speak in sacrament. She is the only one I've ever been able to watch. I just felt so proud and blessed to know such a wonderful person. 

Also the Elders passed us over a part member family that they had been working with. Cynthia, the daughter, isn't a member. A few weeks ago she said she wouldn't go to Girls camp, but we talked her into it and now she's GOING!!!!! YES! I have full confidence it will change her life and she will get baptized when she comes back! 

Things are going really well. I love my companions; I am in a trio still. We did exchanges this week. I just love helping people! It was really beneficial. 

Funniest Quote:

*One day, in my testimony, I used the word 'Dramastically', and everybody laughed...I actually had no idea that wasn't a word.

* This morning Sister Frost read a scripture that talked about how God stood in the 'midst' of his children (I think she was reading in Abraham), and she went on to tell us how we were all standing in the 'mist' together. Sister Jackson and I shared a secret chuckle! haha 

 Favorite Study Moment:

I just want to share something quick from my studies. It's from True to the Faith:

"A testimony of the plan of salvation can give you hope and purpose as you wrestle with the challenges of life. You can find reassurance in the knowledge that you are a child of God and that you lived in His presence before you were born on the earth. You can find meaning in your present life, knowing that your actions during mortality influence your eternal destiny. With this knowledge, you can base important decisions on eternal truths rather than on the changing circumstances of life. You can continually improve your relationship with family members, rejoicing in the promise that your family can be eternal. You can find joy in your testimony of the Atonement and the Lord’s commandments, ordinances, covenants, and doctrines, knowing that “he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.”  (D&C 59:23)."

I love this gospel! It gives us our purpose. The path God has shown us is made up of principles and covenants. If we follow HIS plan we will be guided back home. 

I love you!   Hermana Wright

New Mission President

Beloved family and friends:

This week was awesome! Happy Fourth of July!!!!!!

Funniest Moment and Favorite Lesson moment:

This week, we had a lesson with la familia Corona, they are awesome.  She has 6 kids. This time we finished the restoration and committed them to be baptized. Right before we asked them to be baptized the Hermana had the biggest smile, like she knew exactly what we were going to ask her. They are seriously the coolest family ever! All 6 kids are ready for us when we come over and they sit patiently through the lesson. And they understand!!

The funny moment came when we were waiting for her to answer the baptismal commitment, and she waited to answer.....so Hermana Jackson got out of her chair and knelt down on the floor where the Hermana was sitting on the ground and held her hand and promised her some beautiful blessings. Only bad thing was that it looked like an engagement....... But I guess it was an engagement… with God.

 One more:
This week while we were in the church, Sister Jackson tried to catch a baby lizard, but ended up killing it. We got it all on camera, she may or may not have cried. Haha!

 

Coolest Moment:

This week we met President Dixon, (our new Mission President) who is awesome.  We had MLC with him on Thursday.  Because Sister Frost was a little bitter that she didn't get to meet him, we invited him to our lesson with Hermano Mendoza. It was really great. President Dixon is so loving and supportive!

 

Things are going really well!  I LOVE THIS PLACE!  Have a happy safe Fourth of July! 

Love, Hermana Wright

 

Spiders, Spain and Super Lessons

Good Morning/Afternoon/Night!!!! Thank you for tuning in this week! Things are going REALLY well! We love our ward!!!! They are really pressing forward! 

Funniest Moment: 

* So this week was full of funny moments. There was one night where Sister Frost freaked out because there was a large spider in our room. So Sister Jackson and I rushed in. Immediately, Sister Jackson starts screaming and crouches in a ball in her bed. I, being the brave one, killed the spider (and only threw one thing at Sister Jackson to quiet her). The best part is that it is all on camera. (In hind sight, it was really not that funny.....but it was hilarious in the moment. Maybe it's because it's so hot… we come home sweaty and mostly delusional...and at that point EVERYTHING seems funny)

*There was one day that we were packing up to go out and Sister Jackson told me that if I were any other race I would probably be from a country in South America, Spain probably. We laughed for a good little while. And now we are working on our Geography in Companionship study. 

Spiritual Moment: 

*Yesterday, Brianda came to a lesson with us to teach la familia Lara. She was so excited to bear her testimony. She cried and the spirit just filled the room. She was beaming. She couldn't hold in her excitement!!!! 

*We also had a lesson with one of my favorite Less Active members. Cassy! She is SOOO awesome! We talked about Eternal families. She confided in us and told us how unworthy she felt to wear her garments and come back to church. We got to share some scriptures about how god doesn't expect us to pay anything back to him for the years, months, or days we have gone astray. He loves us so much that he just asks us to start today. Just like if you haven't been paying your tithing, he doesn't ask you to pay the money for the times you missed, he just asks you to start paying your tithing now. It's SO much more than money! It's SO much more than paying him back!!!!!! He wants us! That's it! With all of our imperfections! She started to cry softly. They committed to come to church. When she came to church on Sunday   1) she was wearing her garments and    2) the Primary president came up to us and said, "I don't know what you are doing with Cassy, but keep doing it, because it's working." Cassy's husband is not a member, so we are hoping to start working with him. 

Favorite Lesson Moment:

*This week we taught our favorite investigator family, la familia Corona. THEY ARE SO AWESOME! The Hermana has 6 or 7 kids...I don't remember exactly. When we came to their house they were all ready, all 6 kids! Sitting there.... WOW! We taught them the restoration and it was awesome! The Hermana said that she was willing to keep her mind open. So we will see where that goes! She told us that she has seen a difference in how her kids act when we come over. The spirit is AWESOME!!!!!

Most Interesting Moment:

*So I have neglected to fill you in. A couple weeks ago we got a referral for a woman at the Patton State Mental Hospital. The first week we went over and had to get background checks.... the next time we went over we taught a lesson through the telephone and glass (YES THE KIND YOU SEE IN MOVIES ONLY....except I EXPERIENCED THIS ONE IN REAL LIFE!!!!!!!!). This last time, we taught her the Restoration and we actually got to have a 'contact visit' (That's prison vocab friends...yes I am already up to date with all of the words!!!!!!!). It was a really interesting lesson, and experience. I will keep you updated! 

Well that's it for this week folks! I love you all! Have a great week! Keep living the Gospel, smile and wave at someone today! 

Love you!

Hermana Wright

Temple, Exchanges and Hot HOT HOT

 Dearest Family and Friends:

This week has been a really good one! We got to go to the temple with Brianda and did baptisms for the dead (we watched). She was so excited!!!!! 

It has been EXTREMELY HOT HERE!!!!!! But, I guess it's probably hotter in the desert. But, I love it so much! 

This week:

*Went to the temple

*Did 2 exchanges--1 in the Mountains with Sister Bates and Marstella and 1 with our roommates who cover our same area but in English (Sister Bates and Dalton). They went really well. I have absolutely loved being a Sister Training Leader. It has really forced me to become the missionary/person that God wants me to be. What a blessing. I really have relied on my calling so much more than I thought I would. It is cool to see how our personal experiences in our area is helping those we serve.

*Armando came to church again! I probably haven't talked too much about him.... He is really interesting. We haven't been able to a have a lesson with him recently. He is the one whose brother in law is a member. He was really argumentative in our first lesson and I had to whip him back into shape. :) just kidding. But then he came to church the day after that lesson. Yeah, that's Armando. I am pretty sure he will get baptized, but we will see. 

*Sister Clarke goes home tomorrow!!!!! and President Van Cott leaves this next Monday !!! 

*The ward had a father's day fiesta. It was really awesome and fun! 

It has been a fun-filled, hard work week! I love it!!!!!! Thanks for all of your support! Keep being the great members you are!!!!

Love Hermana Wright