Miracle Moments this week.

Miracle Moments: 

Lewis and familia

Lewis- because we have been struggling to get him to come to church, we did a church tour with him. We showed him around the building so he would feel more comfortable and then ended in the sacrament room. We walked in and I asked him, "how do you feel?" And he said "I am feeling it right here" (pointing to his heart). He said it was really strong and he felt so happy. We shared a brief message and he said, "wait that's it? I want to stay longer." Really cool lesson! 

 
Hermana Mendoza: She is getting baptized this week!! I am so excited. She is such a great woman! Although her husband wants more time she asked us to pray about a date. We felt strongly that she should be baptized ASAP. So this Saturday !

I got to go on exchanges in RIALTO 4th… That is my first area!!!!  It was so fun to see members, recent converts and investigators that I know! See pictures below. I really love them! It was really cool to see that most of them remembered me too! I love these people! 

 

Super short and sweet today. I love this work. I know the lord is in charge. He has a plan, and when we chose his way we are ALWAYS blessed. We need to be more grateful for the blessings we are receiving. Sometimes we look for blessings that WE want, but if we really understand that the one who is ALL  KNOWING has a plan I think we would be safer to take his advice and be grateful for what he has given us. I love the Lord! Happy Easter!

 
Please take 2 minutes to watch the new Easter initiative Hallelujah, and then share it on Facebook and give it to a neighbor that isn't  member. 

https://www.lds.org/church/news/watch-and-share-2016-easter-video-hallelujah?lang=eng


Albertos Mexican Restaurant

Love you all! 
Hermana Wright 

This is an irreplaceable experience !

Well Folks, it is week 4 of the transfer. I will give a day by day run down....because there were too many interesting things:

Hoy (Today, Monday, Pday): Today we went on a little mini-hike. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Especially because it has been rainy, there wasn't as much smog. Pictures below. We almost died on the way up, but it was worth it. On the way down the trail ended and so we had to improvise, but we are all still alive and well :). 

Ayer (Yesterday): Yesterday at church we had one investigator come (Hermana Mendoza) she is the coolest ever. She and her husband were the ones that were going to get baptized 2 weeks ago. Obviously that didn't work out. Things have gone downhill really fast with the husband and he still is avoiding us. They called us the morning before their baptism and canceled. She however, is as strong as ever! What a woman. She is still on board for being baptized and asked us yesterday to pray with her for a baptism date. We also went to ward council and heard one of the coolest experiences. With all of the things happening to the Mendozas we have really had to rely on the ward's help. We asked a couple people to call and invite them to an activity, and some other members they know to go and visit them. Hermana Mendoza said that she was in her room praying to know if this was all true because she is facing so much opposition now, when her husband said someone was at the door. Some members stopped by and bore their testimonies. Right after the relief society president called to invite her to the activity, and then another member called her to see how she was feeling. WOW! She took that to be her answer!!!!!!!! What a ward and what a woman!!!!!!! 

Sabado: We contacted some people and went to the relief society activity. What a special experience for me, Hermana Mendoza, and all of the sisters. An ex-mission president's wife spoke and talked about how much she loved her mission. It brought tears to my eyes because I LOVE MY MISSION SO MUCH! It has impacted me so much, and I would never give up these experiences for anything!!!!!! 

Later we went to go help the hermanas (Yeager and Killpack) contact in their area. We exchanged and they both had mapped out areas they wanted to contact and walk in. I went with Hermana Yeager. It was actually really successful (I hope they thought so). 

*As soon as we got out of the car we talked to a group of people (it looked like there was a gang chillin' behind them....but we don't fear man!!!!) So, we talked to the people about the plan of salvation, but they weren't interested. So we walked on and crossed the street and in the middle we met a man who gave us his number and address. Then we walked through a park and met a family (recently made homeless) we sat with them and basically taught them a lesson about the purpose of this life. They committed to come to church the next day. By that time we needed to go re exchange back so we made our way back the same way. When we almost got to the car, a member of that 'gang' group flagged us down and met us by our car. We taught him the restoration and told him about the first vision, he was very impressed! He said he wants to change his life. We got all of his information. IT WAS SO COOL!!!!!!!! 

Viernes: I went on exchanges with my dear Hermana Clarke. We contacted a lot of referrals and investigators I had never met. It felt really good to just go out and DO things. We met a woman named Guadalupe who basically is going through the same thing Joseph Smith did. She said she is going to different churches to see which one feels right. SO COOL!!! 

Jueves: Taught our first piano class in the ward. About 8-9 ward members showed up. I taught them a really simple song on the piano and they were SO excited. It was one of those duets, and so I had to do it like 8 times because everyone wanted to practice it. SO CUTE!!!! 

I also realized I know NO Spanish vocabulary for music...  :) 

Miercoles: We found a man named Jose (surprise). He is looking to have a better relationship with God. He is really cool!!!! Hopefully this week we will be able to follow up with him. 

Martes: Went to go visit a current investigator Consuelo, when we walked in she invited her friend to come listen too. Turns out her friend seems a little more interested than her. Her friend is on date for the 17th of April !!! So cool!!!!! 

That's it folks. IT has been a really good week! Thank you for your prayers and support!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all! I love my mission! What a great place to be! I have learned so much that I never would've learned anywhere else! It is an irreplaceable experience!!!!! 

Love, 

Hermana Wright

 

MLC, Temple Trip, Exchanges and More...

Dear Family & Friends:

This week was quite the week! We had so many things happen:

MLC-- We had a great meeting where we talked about getting back to the basics as companionships. Every morning we need to be doing a role play to practice- asking questions of the soul, talking about our purpose as missionaries, teaching simply (teaching the restoration in 5 minutes), or inviting people to be baptized. Meetings tend to always be a great time to reflect and want to be better. I am excited to change, repent, and be a more effective missionary. 

Temple Trip-- This week we got to go to the temple which was AWESOME! Not only was it special to go and sit and think and feel the spirit, but it was so cool because Rialto 4th, my first area, was doing a relief society temple trip and I got to see some of the sisters: Hermana Larios, Hermana Rodill, Hermana Saldana, and Hermana Alfaro. Such cute sisters! It was reaffirmed for me this week in the temple that everything is going to work out. Take a deep breath and take everything one step at a time. 



Familia Padilla from San Jacinto

Exchanges-- This was a really good exchange! Not because we put anyone on date or anything, but because I truly felt like I was helping. I went with Hermana Killpack to Rialto 3rd ward (Spanish). She has been out for 11 months. From the very start when I asked what help they wanted, they said they needed help finding. There is a little trick to finding that I have learned, talk with everyone. That is how you find! So, we exchanged at 8:30pm and then planned for our next day. That day we found 4 people that were GOLDEN and they set a time for us to come meet with them! It was such a testimony to me that, yes maybe we are in rough spots, but sometimes we have the keys and answers, we just need to use them. Those sisters are doing such a great job. At the end I asked the sisters why they thought we did exchanges the way we did (meaning why Hermana Killpack and I were together in their area). I didn't really know the answer because I just prayed about it and felt impressed that is what needed to happen. But, by the end of our exchange it was very clear to me and Hermana Killpack. It was cool to see how the Lord works! 

 
Investigators:

Lewis is doing really great. However, he did promise he would come to church, and then he didn't. That was a little upsetting. He is really awesome and always says how he feels something different when we come over and when he prays. He told us a really cool experience of when he prayed and just poured out his heart. THIS IS WHY MISSIONS ARE SO COOL! We meet awesome people that are just hungry for the truth! 



Familia Reyes from San Jacinto

Hermano Flores is also another investigator that has been taught for a while. When I got here it kind of sounded like he needed some more time, and maybe that he needed to wait for some other missionaries when he would be more prepared. We had a lesson with him that for parts just seemed like an argument (we are trying to work on drawing not dragging :)). Finally I just said, Hermano, have you been reading the Book of Mormon? And he said no. I told him that the ONLY way he would know, is if he read and he wasn't reading. I told him that if he wanted to read we were there to help him recognize his answer, but if he didn't want to maybe he wasn't ready. Things got so much better and we set some goals for him to read every day. And guess what? We have called him every morning and he has been reading!!!!!!!!!! 

**Still haven't met all of our investigators, so I don't have a ton to say. But, just that this is a great place to be, with great people! 

I love you all! Thank you for your support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,   Hermana Wright

Transferred to ... San Bernardino

Hola Family & Friends:

Saying Farewell to Hermana Erickson

This email will be short, because, alas, we are running out of time. I have been transferred to . . . SAN BERNARDINO !!!! I love it here already! What a great place!! From the beginning of my mission I always said that I wanted to serve in San Bernardino and now I am here. I am so impressed with this ward, the Rancho Ward. It is such a great place to be! My new companion is Hermana Carbajal from Pasadena California. We are working with a great bunch of people!

I have taught the restoration so many times this week!! We are working with a man named Lewis who is golden and accepted a baptismal date for the 5th of March. We got a referral from the elders, la familia Mendoza, who will be baptized March 5th as well. And we are teaching a couple named Gus and Lucy who said they would be baptized if they knew the Book of Mormon was true. WOW! So  many miracles. We also had some teenage girls come out with us on mini missions. We had a great time talking with everyone!!!
I love you all!
Hermana Wright



Mini missions with young women
in the Rancho Ward. GREAT Time!



19 New Investigators !

With Mariah Melendez, a recent convert.

Things have really picked up here. In the last transfer we picked up 19 new investigators!! And that doesn't include the people we were already teaching. This week I will be working on writing more about each of them and how we found them, because each of them is a miracle!!

I love you so much!  Hermana Wright

One Year Mark

Family and Friends:

This week marked my year mark...that brought a lot of mixed feelings. It was a really good time for reflection. The whole day I thought about when I was going into the MTC, what it was like and how I was feeling.

Redlands, CA Temple

Miracle Moment #1:
Every Thursday we do something called Weekly Planning. We set goals and plan lessons for the coming week. This week we set a goal, a relatively high goal I'd say, for lessons with a member present. In the past we have usually gotten about 2 or 3. But this week we set a goal of about 8. But, a few things happened this week and pretty soon we began to lose hope at being able to come even close to meeting our goal.  This week we had exchanges, MLC (a leadership conference), and a mission conference.....so I was literally hardly here. I was so worried about keeping our area afloat. So by Friday we had only had 2 lessons and none had been with members present. The next day,  Saturday, we had our Mission Conference and Leadership conference. I thought for sure we wouldn't be able to meet our goal, but that night alone we had 3 lessons, all with members present! In the past we haven't even gotten that many in a week!!!!!!!

Miracle Moment #2:   Susy. Do you remember a while ago when we met two people at the library on P-day? Susy was one of those people. She asked us to pray for her. The other p-day we saw her again at Food For Less and she said she would call. This week she called us and asked us to come over and help her. So yesterday we did. She is now a new investigator! After the library experience I had been really sad that nothing came out of it. The man we taught disappeared and no longer had the same telephone number. And we had the wrong number for Susy. But now I know that everything happens for a reason. Always open your mouth! That is our baptismal covenant!

Review:
This week was a really good week. I feel like I was barely in my area. The beginning of the week I went on exchanges with Hermana Frost in Indio. It was really fun. The sisters in Indio work in the new Ward that they made from part of our branch. So I got to see a member family that was in our branch before (the Lemus). When we went to eat dinner, the husband was asking about the MTC. Turns out I knew his niece in the MTC. 


Me with Hermana Frost

We had some really really great meetings! At our Mission Conference, we had Elder Hamula of the Seventy come. It was so great! He talked a lot about our Divine Nature. Later that day we had a Leadership conference, and it was so powerful. He helped us analyze how to make our mission become the best it can be. He said that we are a great mission, one of the best he has seen. He said the final frontier for us will be unified consecration. That was really powerful to me. Consecration. We can be great missionaries and keep the rules and have baptism.....but without full and complete consecration we are not becoming disciples of him. This morning I studied consecration in the scriptures. Literally every missionary/disciple of Jesus Christ there ever was had to consecrate themselves. Lehi and his family left everything they owned. Alma was chased out leaving behind everything. The sons of Mosiah gave up the judgment seat. It really caused for some great pondering. What do I need to give up? What is keeping me from being a disciple of Christ? What great questions we ALL need to ask ourselves! What lack I yet?

I know this church is true! I know the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When you read it, you will feel it. It is true!!!!!!!! If you don't know that, read it and sincerely ask if it is true.

I love you all so very much! Have a great day!
Love, Hermana Wright

Another week of miracles!

Can you believe this HUGE lemon?

Dear family,

This week my email is a little different. Yesterday my neck got a little hurt, not sure how. I think it's a pinched nerve..... Or something. So due to the necessity for rest..... Sister Erickson wrote my email this week. I made a few edits, but yes it was her.

Thank you so much for all of your support. 

"Ok, we had a week full of miracles! To start off, on Monday night we were contacting a potential investigator and some lady who lived there answered and invited us in and then we taught her a lesson! She is a new investigator now named Maria, of course. She is super eager to learn and really awesome!

Also on Monday night, we did what we have been dreading for a long time. We dropped Maria (a different Maria). It broke my heart and it was really hard, but we will not be going back. She basically forgot about all of the things we have ever taught her. She is just so stuck in her ways and there was nothing else we could do. It was sad but she just isn't ready. But right after we dropped her, we got like a million new investigators!

The elders sent us like 5 and then we got like 2 more. It was crazy.

H Erickson y H Wright

Another miracle: We went to read with a less active family and when we got there, one of their friends was there! We read with him and it ended up that he had a lot of questions about the plan of salvation that we were able to answer. We set another appointment for this week, so we are excited to teach him more! He is a super interesting person. He is 20 years old and it is kind of weird, but still good. Very interesting guy... we are excited!

Another miracle: everyone remembers Ben right? So when I was in Palm Springs on exchanges this week they had a lesson with him where he said he felt so good in the church building and when we come over, but that he wasn't sure about what his answer was. Sister Wright left him with the part of a pamphlet about recognizing answers and we were going to talk about it when we came to the next lesson on Saturday, but when we got there, he was like "so I have been reading this pamphlet, and in the back here, it says that the fruits of the spirit are peace, etc.... And so I think that this is my answer. I know this is the right path for me." HE IS SO COOL.

After he said that we were both a little shocked, (this NEVER happens). It was amazing. He is one of the most prepared people I have ever met. He says he has been praying to

know the truth and now he knows. Really, it is absolutely amazing. It usually takes a LOT of explaining to get anyone to understand that even a little. Wow it was so amazing. So yes, he will be getting baptized! He said that morning he had prayed to know if he should be baptized. He said that whole day that he felt really peaceful and that he knew that he wanted to be baptized. Plus, he has the coolest son ever, named Israel."

Beautiful San Jacinto, CA

Hope you enjoyed the new perspective on things from Sister Erickson.

Love you !  Hermana Wright y Hermana Erickson