Good times on the mish

Familia!

There are some days on the mission when you want to be a missionary forever. As a result there are some days when you want to quit and be done with the mission. But I want to focus on the first type...those times when one wants to be on the mission forever.

Super Cute Child!

This week was truly incredible. 

Wednesday:

There were many times today when I was just touched by the spirit at how amazing this mission experience is. My life and the culture and living and everything seems very normal to me. But today I realized that there are lots of things that would be a big shock to family or friends back home, such as living conditions, bugs, rain, the food...but mostly there are times that I just want to be able to remember forever on the mission, that I will never be able to capture on film. For example, the every day things that happen, when we´re sitting outside on a dirt log and teaching humble people about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It just doesn´t get much better than that. Or when we´re walking down a long street in the country side and mountains and in the middle of no where...walking as missionaries to serve and find people to teach. But I love just sitting outside, teaching people in the humblest conditions. When we´re sitting on logs, or under the rain, or we cram into their tiny house as the rain comes to get out of it, and they have a dirt floor, and I don´t know how to begin to describe it. Now adays these conditions are normal to me, and I love them. I just wish I could capture so many on film to remember forever. 

Wild Pigs...just walking on our way
to church...totally normal.

Really, I love being a missionary. I love losing myself in the work. This really is a privilege to serve and I am grateful for it.

Friday:

Tonight we also had our futbol activity en la iglesia. We are playing soccer each friday night to animate and get the jovenes excited. We teach a short lesson before we play and invite them to come to church before we play, so that way there is a purpose in the activity. It was a success. And I LOVE this activity. I get to play soccer every friday for an hour...the best. 

Futbol on P-days

Saturday:

I went to the temple sealing of la Familia Lino with Hermana Dominguez. 

The sealing was beautiful. It was short, but really beautiful and the spirit was really strong. Not to mention that it was neat to sit there and see the beautiful walls my mom painted that just added to the experience. It brought so much joy to watch them be sealed as a family for eternity, and not just for this life. They were all super happy and I know it was a really special experience for them. I love that family so much. We took pics after and then rode back on the bus. This gospel is true and really amazing. I know that families are meant to last more than just this life, and I´m grateful for the knowledge I have that they are eternal. And I am ever so grateful for the opportunity Dios has given me to be part of these experiences. The mission really has changed my life. 

Temple with Familia Lino

Sunday: 

This afternoon we went and visited Humberto. Well, I remember very well my first few visits with him. He´s about 60 years old and requires SO MUCH patience, he loves to talk, it´s hard for him to understand lots of things, and it was hard to really see him progressing at first. But we kept going back for some reason. Well tonight, he accepted to be baptized this coming Saturday. He said that he believes the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that this church is true. I was floored and amazed at the goodness and miracles of God. Super happy for the miracle that we´re going to have a baptism this month. And just amazed at really, how much Humberto has progressed and how while it appears that it´s hard for him to understand, he really actually just gets it. The gospel is very logical and he just gets it. He was like, "well yeah, there have to be more books than just the book of mormon.." ha, and we were like, yep, you bet. It´s just amazing. He´s very humble and willing and ready to learn. In his final prayer, it was very sweet and he thanked God for sending us and for learning more about His work and it was beautiful. Hermana Paredes and I left that house with the biggest smiles and so much joy and happiness. God is so good. 

Then tonight we went to visit Claudia. We decided going into this visit that we were going to leave with another baptism date. Well, sure enough, we had a heart to heart convo and it was amazing. She told us how she wants to really serve God and be an instrument in His hands. She told us that she has seen His love and she has felt good. She told us that she got up at 3am and was praying. She said she started reading the Bible and then the Liahona, and that she has just realized that God has been guiding her and leading her and she wants to be able to be with her family all together at church. She told us how she didn´t go to her church on Saturday (Jehovah´s Witnesses) and she didn´t feel bad about it at all. She said she has seen changes in Josef (her son who´s 12 and is a member) since we´ve been meeting with her, and she has seen these things. I testified that these are all manifestations of the spirit and they are answers to her question and petition that she has been begging for for these months. She agreed. I then handed her a calender with this last week of August and for September said, "So, when are you going to be baptized?" She said she was thinking maybe in February on her birthday. Then we told her not to postpone it and gave her the calender again. She was smiling, and knowing that she had to choose a date. She looked up and said, "How about the 14th of Septembe" I was dying inside I was so happy. And said, "that´s perfect." We have worked so hard with her. We have been visiting her like crazy, sacrificing whatever thing, getting up at 3am each morning to pray for her for weeks (because she wakes up to pray at that hour because it´s quiet), and always thinking and talking about her and how to help her and what is it that she needs, etc. I love this woman so much, it´s unbelievable. We left there with the biggest smiles on our faces. I just wanted to cry I was so happy. It just doesn´t get better than this. Yes, I´ve felt happy eating ice cream with my friends, or going to the movies with a boy, or winning a really important soccer tournament game. And yes, that´s fun and made me happy, along with lots of other things in my life. But this gospel...this is true joy and happiness. It is different, and yet amazing. It penetrates the heart and really just sinks in. It´s the best. Why? Because it´s eternal and everlasting. And because it´s real.

On the temple steps after the sealing ceremony.

I am amazed at how good God is. He truly is amazing. Yes, we worked hard, we have been doing everything we can and have been working on increasing our faith. But these results are not the results of our work. They really are just gifts from God and fruits of His work. We are just instruments in His hands, and lucky and blessed enough to be a part of it all and watch it all unfold before our eyes and God moves this work forward, preparing for Christ´s coming. Love it. 

I love this work. I am ever so grateful to be here and lose myself in the work of the Lord. 

Thanks for the amazing support and love yáll send me. I feel it always. 

Love,

Hermana Wright

Pedicure last P-day...totally necessary!

And the work continues...

Familia,

Que tal? I hope all is going well in your various activities and walks of life. I am praying for you each always and love you lots and lots. I know that I´m not always the best at writing each of you individually each week. But I love you more than you know. Keep me updated and posted on the things going on your life, I love getting updates and hearing how everything is going. Love you lots.

This week my companion turned 22...we had a little surprise party for her one night. Go team go. 

The craziest thing happened this week. So last Saturday we made jello and we put it in a big pitcher to put in the fridge because there wasn´t another container. Well in these days we had just eaten a little bit here and there and taken it out. Well we all know that Jello doesn´t change it´s form, and that if you take a big spoonful out of the jello, when you come back you still have the spoonful missing. So our jello had been all eaten at the top and big spoonfuls, so it no longer had that perfect, glasslike surface. Well we pulled the jello out of the fridge today to take a couple bites and we looked down and it was perfect. Perfect, glass like surface, no marks or divits. Nothing. What the what? That doesn´t happen. Seriously, so crazy. Haunted jello? Absolutely. No but really...how does that happen?

Birthday Party!

 Apart from haunted jello, not too much craziness to report this week. I love my companion a whole lot, can´t believe that this change only has two weeks left. Praying that I get to stay in this area with Hermana Paredes at least one more change. I need at least one more change here with her. And I need one more change in this area. Two would be nice.

Oh, and I got news that la Familia Lino from Ahuachapan, their parents were inactive, but we reactivated them and baptized their kids Jorge and Johanna...well this saturday  they are going to the temple to be sealed as a family. And we asked President and he gave me and Hermana Dominguez permission to go! I am so excited! So Hermana Dominguez and I will be reunited and get to spend this glorious day with them in the temple. So neat.

"Jesus"...cutest old man I know.

Aside from that, I love you lots and pray for you always. 

Thanks for your love and support. 

Love,

Hermana Wright

Cow bone soup.

Busy week. Full of miracles.

Familia!

An amazing week. Full of activities, but amazing.

We had our consejo de lideres (leaders council) con Presidente, our ward activity and a temple trip for investigators.

For our ward activity we had a Gastronomica Festival. Each organization chose a country and made a type of food that was typical from that country and they had some dances typical and it was really great. As missionaries we chose USA and made rice krispy treats...super easy and delicious! It was a hit and everyone was asking me for the recipe. Go team go.

 For the temple trip they chose Hermana Leal and I to teach the plan of salvation. It was really fun actually. I like teaching in these temple trips. The spirit is really special, and it`s neat to be able to see all these people coming through and learning more. Oh and I got to see Mirna and Paty and Elizabeth from Juayua! The best!! (Another advantage of teaching in the temple trip)

One time this week we went to visit a less active family and they had a friend visiting, who`s a man. When he went to shake my hand, he grabbed me and pulled me in to kiss me on the cheek. I don`t think I have ever felt so awkward in my life. WAY too much personal contact for a missionary.

5am waiting for our investigator
 before the temple trip.

With Claudia is was a week of a lots of progress. Wednesday we had the saddest most heartbreaking lesson with her I`ve ever had (in my life). Long story short is she`s having some hard times. Ask me for details after the mission. But we all cried during this visit. We visited her each day after that. Made french toast with her one night to enjoy some time together. And yesterday she came to church. Yesterday we went to visit her again and her whole rostro y light in her eyes has changed. She has really felt the spirit this week and sheh told us that she has seen the love of God through us and other ways and that today in the church she felt like she wanted to cry at different moments and she felt happy and peaceful. She has really felt the spirit and she knows now that she needs to change some of her expectations, her expectations de Josef and herself as well. She knows she`s demanding, but she has the best heart. The truth is, I love Claudia so much, it`s incredible. I just want to spend time with her, help her with her progress, and really I would give everything for her. It`s amazing how much you can come to love someone so quickly. Especially on the mission, and really see that the love of God is immense. It`s unfathomable. It`s really truly is amazing. God loves us so much. So so much. And he`s really a part of the little tiny details of our lives. Each and every detail. I love seeing the miracles unfold before my eyes and being grateful for them, and then watching for more. I love the manifestations of God`s love for me personally, but also for each one of his children. And I love seeing the manifestations of God`s love for them, por medio de nosotros (through us). It`s really truly amazing.

Look who I found in the temple!
Mirna, Paty and Elizabeth from Juayua!! The best.

Mom would be sew proud!

I love the mission. It`s really truly is the best. (I heard missionaries say that a million times throughout my life...but I never really understood it until now that I am living it).

The church is true. Don`t forget that.

Love,

Hermana Wright

las colochitas

Familia,

Good week. 

We did interchanges one day this week and when we got on the bus to head back to our house, we ended up getting on the bus going the wrong direction. Yep...so 30 minutes later we had taken a tour of Santa Ana and we're back at our starting point heading the other direction. Adventures.

Aside from that, the work is moving forward and I still love Hermana Paredes more and more each day. People have started calling us las colochitas (I think the translation is something like "curly haired girls"). 

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BRUDDER NATE! 

Friday night we got to play soccer. The elders came up with the idea to play soccer to get the jovenes (young people) excited and animated and because lots want to play against the missionaries. We asked our zone leaders and they said it would be alright. So we played from 8 to 9pm that night. It was great! Dreams do come true. And we had some less actives and investigators show up.

Today we had a neat lesson with Salvador. We met them by contacting his son outside his house and when he saw us he said, "Pasen." So we passed and taught them. His wife makes tortillas for her work and they have a son named Jonathon. Some things he thought about our church from rumors include: that we don´t pray, that we worship Joseph Smith (for any that are confused...we don´t, we only worship Jesus Christ), and that we don´t believe in the Bible. Well now we have explained our real beliefs and invited him to pray and ask for himself. And as he prayed to God, to ask Him if this is true, he now  knows very well that this is true. He just needs to trust in God and move forward with his answer. He knows he needs to increase his faith and confidence en Dios. It was really special and powerful. I love that part of the mission...as we watch people pray and receive their answer and seeing in their eyes the light and the change...you can literally see the change...watch them and seeing that they now know. Then we just try to help them gain the confidence and faith in God to act on their answer.

Apart from that we are working with Julia and Miguel to stop smoking. And trying to help Claudia and Julia prepare and accept to be baptized as they know this is true. Prayers appreciated.

Apart from that it rained and we got soaked last night as we left our umbrellas in the house. (a common occurrence). I love that. A lot. And I really love the mission. It is truly amazing!

Love yáll lots and lots and lots. Thanks for the prayers and support. Yáll are the best!

Love,

Hermana Wright