Happy December...

We volunteer here every Thursday & have met
some GREAT people!

November 30, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving! And beginning of December. 

Bear with me as I do my best to remember what happened the last week or so.

Updates:

*We were just told that our transfer dates were pushed back a week so I am August 9th.



*Maria- Doing awesome. I have talked about her a lot. She is so awesome! I love her SOOO much. Really though, we are pretty much like family! I'm not just saying that...I mean it. We have had some really great lessons with her as of late. 2 lessons ago we talked about how the best way for her to help all of the other catholic people in the world is to do temple work. To help those who have already passed on without a knowledge of the gospel.  Yesterday we taught her (in our cars, through the windows because no one was in the church building :)) about faith. We read Alma 32. It was really good and we followed up with our last invitation, which was to pray about the baptismal date to see if it was when she needed to be baptized. She got an answer!!! She said that she felt like it was right.....BUT....now she is praying to try to convince God to give her more time :). Silly people! We talked extensively about it and she is now going to pray for understanding. It was such a great opportunity to share experiences when I have needed to demonstrate my faith even though I didn't want to, or even when I thought I knew better than God. She is doing great and will continue to progress!



Michelle, teacher at Braille Institute.

Brenda, student at Braille Institute.

 

*Mariah- Also doing great. She is also struggling with taking the final step of faith to set a date for baptism. We keep praying and fasting for her. It will be soon though, don't worry. 



* This week we gave 2 investigators to the elders. One of them was the library guy ;( sadly, but it will be better anyway.  We are also giving one of our miracle people this week to the Parkview English speaking sisters. It seems we are pretty good at funneling all the investigators to the right missionaries (no sass implied :)).



* MIRACLE-- Last weekend we got out of the car and talked to the very first person we saw, a woman named Sara walking with her son. We talked to her and eventually got her address. We went to go visit her and taught the Restoration, invited her to be baptized and got her a baptismal date of January 9th. WOOHOO! It was pretty cool. 

*We also have a new investigator named Ben (referral from a member). We had a great lesson with Kandyce Torres (who came out with us that night to some lessons). We taught the Restoration. He (Ben) loved it and cried about how he wanted to have more power in his life and how he wanted to leave his past behind. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes!!! So awesome!!! 

*Brendy is doing great! She is a newer investigator that is super awesome! She has the cutest little kid! She is super sincere about everything but a little skeptical. She is so cool! I will probably talk about her next week more. 



*Walking miracles. We always find little miracles when we walk and talk with everyone. Just this past week we were on our way somewhere and I just kept feeling that we needed to be somewhere else. We stopped and prayed and we decided to go to our area called Area 1 (I know...super original, you would think with my mom I would've come up with something more clever...). We walked and stopped to talk to everyone...all very cool people....but wait, there's more. We stopped to talk to this guy that was cleaning his car. We invited him to a Christmas concert. Then I asked him "If you had the opportunity to ask God one question, what would it be?" He said he would ask God why he and his wife can't have kids. Whoa...I had no idea what to say to that..... But, we talked about the Plan of Salvation a little and testified of the power of the Book of Mormon and that it would answer his question. When we went to ask for his name, his last name sounded familiar. So I asked if he knew someone name Brendy, and he said "That's my sister!"....So we found a brother and sister who live in 2 different cities, that both randomly know us and said they would read the Book of Mormon. Pretty cool. 

*Still cleaning out our pool of investigators. We have some people I just cannot let go of!!!! But, we are finding the elect. We are here to harvest the field that is white! Not to plant the field that is brown or cultivate the field that is yellow. 

Thank you family and friends!!! Love you! 

Happiest of Birthdays to my Joshy Poshy and Lyla Lou!!!!!!!!!!! 
 

Miracles happen!

Don't have time to write....

About an hour ago we came in the library to email. We passed a man and I said after we walked by that we should've talked to him. So, we went back to the car to 'get something'.....but really I just wanted a second chance to talk to him. We gave him an invitation to a Christmas concert and a restoration pamphlet with our number on it if he needed anything. We sat down to email and 10 minutes later he came back over and asked if we could explain the pamphlet to him. So we taught him about the restoration. His name is Martin. He is super cool. We have a return appointment for Wednesday.

While we were sitting here, a random lady was sitting behind him listening. Later she came up to me and said, "Can you say a prayer for me right now"....and I was like ....ok.  So, we got her name (Sue) and number and she said she would call us to come over on Saturday!!!! It suffices to say that miracles happen.

Hermana Erickson & I with Nayeli Duarte

 

I am not getting transferred. Our whole district is staying the same.  I cover the same sisters in Palm Springs except now it is Hermanas White/Hall and Hermanas Ramos/Ipson.

Love you all !!!
Hermana Wright

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Church.

 

 

Temple Trip, Zone Meeting and Good Stuff!

TEMPLE TRIP... It was so great to
go with 3 of my MTC Companions.
The temple was great. It was nice to
have a little quiet time to receive
revelation and to sit and not necessarily
worry about what we needed to do. 

This week was a great week!!!! We had temple trips and Zone Meeting and good stuff!




There are 4 sister companionships in our zone (Palm Desert Stake) Left to right-- Hermana Nichols, Hermana Jimenez (Thermal Sisters), Sister Romrell & Sister Lewis (Parkview Sisters), and us , there is one more companionship that wasn't in the picture Hermana Killpack & Martinez. 

Funny Moment/Language Moment: In Relief Society yesterday they were talking about Missionary Work. The ladies got a little off topic when they started talking about how God protects his missionaries. They started talking about how some missionaries get killed in the field..... Hermana Erickson wasn't listening 100% until that part and she turned to me with panic and said "WAIT, her son died on a mission???" and I just started laughing so hard. You probably had to be there....but it was pretty funny. Also, 2 Sundays ago she was reading from the gospel Principles book for Sunday School. In the book it talked about the 10 tribes of Israel being scattered by a battle (guerra, pronounced ge-rra--as in get). When she read however she pronounced guerra as (gwuerra). That may seem small but she taught some false doctrine. She read that The 10 tribes were scattered by a white girl.... (PS they call us Guerritas in the stores and stuff). HAHAHAHAHAHAH! IT was pretty funny! 
 

All the Hermana's that went to the temple.

Testimony Moment: This week I learned (from all of my experiences) that God loves us so much. I have been really praying for our investigators Mariah and Maria that they will be able to baptized soon. and that we will be able to help them resolve their concerns. I really do love them so much. My heart hurts when I think about how much I love them. I tell heavenly father that...I tell him that I just want to help them and that I love them so much I want them to be able to feel the happiness that comes from being baptized. The answer I kept getting was, "Don't you know that I love them too?" I 'took' them to the temple with me to seek inspiration and I was told I need to let them work it out. They will get there. 

 Lesson Moment: This week we had a lesson with Maria with our new Branch President (President Jackman). We talked about the Book of Mormon and WHY it's so important in her knowing whether or not she should be baptized. She told us that her appointment got canceled 2 hours before our appointment and she decided she needed to catch up on her reading. She was so in awe at what was happening. She said she knows it is true and that she spent half an hour praying to know what to do. It was definitely a week full of progress for her!!!! We are still praying/fasting that she will be able to receive/recognize her answer!!! 


Veterans Day flags next to our house.

Tender Mercy Moment: This week Sister Erickson and I went to the baptism of someone in our branch. The elders helped a Part member family baptize their 11 year old and 8 year old. We went because we are the only ones that play the piano. So as we were waiting for it to start, two other elders come in that are from the Fontana Stake (we are allowed to go to baptisms of people we taught). So one of them was talking with the elders and all of sudden Elder Juarez pointed at me. The Fontana elder turned around and said, "Did you teach the Ocampo's?" and I said yes, and my heart rate picked up. He said, "We found them and their Mom and Jonny are getting baptized." At that point I almost burst into tears. The Ocampos (Mario, Cesar, and Jose) were my very first converts. They got baptized and soon after stopped coming to church. A transfer after seeing them only a couple times they moved suddenly and we lost all contact with them. No one knew where they were and no one was able to contact them. Every time I see someone serving in Rialto 4th I ask them about the Boys..... I have been praying for them for a long time. As a missionary, things like that really eat at you! I can say that my heart was a little broken when that happened. I cried through the baptism as I thought about this tender mercy. The Boys were found and even better, their little brother and mom now get to join them! I am invited to the Baptism on the 29th of this month. I am so grateful!!!!!! My eyes even tear up a little when I retell the story! WOW!!!!!



At the River Mall on P-day.

Thank you so much everyone for all of your prayers. THEY WORK!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for praying for me and my investigators. THEY WORK!!!!!!!!!!! We are thrusting in our sickle over here, and we are making it a November and December to Remember!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!!!!!   Hermana Wright

Exchanges, Training & the Power of a Sneeze

Dearest Family and Friends: 

This week was full of eventful things....a few highlights to update you:

* We had to move Mariah's baptism to the 20th....but she is still going strong. She is so prepared it's not even funny. In our last lesson she asked if Hermana Clarke could come back for the baptism. I almost cried.  If you all don't already know....I miss that Hermana a lot. 

 *Did exchanges with the Hermanas in Palm Springs. And Sister Ipson stayed with me in my area. If you have been an avid follower in my blog, that name should ring a bell. Yes I got to be with my dear old Rialto buddy for a day. She is doing great with Hermana Ramos and they are working hard. 

*I went to MLC (Mission Leadership Council). IT WAS AWESOME!!!! Since it was the first time it was a little stressful....but it was so great. We talked about being ON FIRE to share the gospel. We talked about what that would look like and how to become like that. There is a lot more that I could be doing....so we all know what that means....repent and be better. So we are working on finding-talking with everyone and asking for referrals 100% 

* We finally got to see the Rodriguez family after 5 billion years. They are so awesome and we taught them the Plan of Salvation. We had come by the night before to have a spontaneous lesson but they couldn't meet with us. They told us how impressed they were with our diligence and never forgetting them. So they set up a time for us to come back the next day. When we got there the Mom had read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and basically taught it to us. We asked them to be baptized, they didn't say yes or no. We are going back on Thursday to follow up though. I love them SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!

*When I was on exchanges with Sister Ipson we were walking in this senior citizen apartment complex. We saw a lady cleaning up from the big yard sale they had and we offered to help. Her name is Blanca and she made me feel like I had no muscle. Maybe it's because she could lift the dresser by herself the whole 50ft we carried it without setting it down. But in the end she invited us over to share a video about Jesus Christ the next day. When we went over she said she was busy, but that we could come over on Monday. She said she would bring her other friend too. When we asked for referrals she gave us 3 people right off the bat.....it was so cool!!!!!!!!! 

*Also today, just now, when we got out of the Grocery store we were walking to the car and I sneezed. Some lady said 'Bless you!' and we started talking to her. Her name was Gloria and she kept telling us how we made her day. It was so cute.....so if you don't know how to get someone else talking, sneeze and they will say Bless you.....and look at that...they've already started the conversation! 

Well folks.... I wish there was more to share and tell, but that is it. I love you all! Have a great week. This week is Temple Trips...YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Hermana Wright

Alvaro's Baptism and other Great things!

Had to be home by 6:00pm on Halloween!

Hello family & friends!
Things here in San Jacinto have been relatively the same. It feels different only because we've been listening to Christmas music in the car. Also....we started November-- which is one whole month closer to Christmas!!!!! YEAH!
Interesting/ Highlight Moments:

*I forgot to tell you all, but last week we got the strangest call during Companionship Study. It was the Assistants to the President (AP's). They said "Hey Sister Wright we have your sister training leader assignment..." My heart literally almost came out of me. The first thing I thought was that I had a dream about this a few days earlier. So, turns out the AP's forgot to tell me at transfers that President called me to be a Sister Training Leader over the Palms Springs area. I cover two companionships (one Spanish and one English).  I just get to go on exchanges with those companionships during each transfer.



*This last week we went on exchange with Sister Peterson (been out for 1.5 transfers) and Sister White (been out for a year). Sister White and Sister Erickson stayed in our area and had a great exchange. Sister Erickson was so pumped when I got back. She got a great confidence boost because she was paired with someone who knew less Spanish than her. That is part of the reason I chose for her to stay. Sister Peterson and I had a great chance to talk about the different ways to do missionary work. She has been a little concerned because she has to adjust to all of these new ways to do missionary work. I hope that she got the idea that missionary work simplified is just love. You don't have to have the same approach at every door or with every investigator. If you treat them like a real person then your approach SHOULD be different every time. She is trying too hard to be the best missionary she can be and she is doing such a great job. We had a really great time. 



*Yesterday we found a less active member named Manuela. She has not been seen by anyone from church for almost 7 transfers. We have knocked on her door probably 50 times because the members keep asking what happened to her. A couple of weeks ago the English sisters were walking and Manuela went up to them and told them that the hermana missionaries were looking for her. The sisters told us that she pulled out a wrinkled, signed paper dress that Sister Clarke and I had left on her door in July. She had been carrying it around with her since then. So last night when we knocked and waited she opened. I literally almost cried with joy. We had been walking and a lot of our plans had fallen through. I said, "We should try Manuela...." WOW! It was such a miracle. She is so awesome and we are going to be best friends forever. That is literally what I told her.....:) She is so so so so awesome! 

*On Thursdays we do service at Braille Institute (where blind and partially blind people go and basically take classes to relearn how to do things). We help out in the ceramics art class. I literally Love those people SOOO MUCH! They know us by our first names and they have to recognize us by our voices. My favorite thing is when they do recognize us and they remember who we are. Lots of times they call us "the girls" or the "the Mormon girls". Last week I was helping a woman named Margie (just turned 100). She was having a really hard day and started to cry when I asked how she was doing. She was having some family problems and didn't really want to talk about it. So we went on working on her project. When it was time to go, I told how awesome she was and gave her a hug and she kissed me on the cheek and teared up and said thank you. It really touched my heart! What a sweet lady!!!! I love all of the people there. Hopefully I will have a picture to show you in the next couple of weeks. 

Alvaro & Monchis

 *This last Saturday was Alvaro's baptism!!!!! It was adorable!!! Alvaro is such a cute kid and his brother Lehi (aka Monchis....don't ask about the nick name....that's just what we call him) also got baptized. They are the special needs kids that we have been teaching. When Monchis got baptized and they tried to get him out of the font he kept saying, "wait, wait, wait, let's do it again."  And before they could stop him he went back under and started trying to swim. It was so cute!!!!! Alvaro is such a good kid! He finally smiles back when I smile at him from the stand. 

 

Baptism of Alvaro & Monchis

*We got to teach Lucas on Saturday because we were in a trio with Sister Romrell (Sister Lewis went to another baptism in Yucaipa). Lucas is the most adorable old man you will ever see. We have been trying to finish the Plan of Salvation with him for the past 7 lessons. But, we run out of time because he asks all of these random unrelated questions. Finally I just told him that he would be able to see his sister again and live with her forever. He paused and told us really sincerely how he liked that and felt good about it. HE IS SO CUTE!!!!!!! He couldn't find his regular reading glasses so he had to use his prescription sun glasses to read. :) We wanted to give him a baptismal date goal but he told us he was leaving for Mexico for 3 months. He doesn't know when he's leaving, so hopefully we will figure something out. 

That's it folks. I love all of you! Have a great week! 

Happy Birthday to my dearest Sarah, Olivia & Grandpa Wright, !!!!!!

Love,   Hermana Wright

Ward Halloween Party