Pink Football

Yalright? (A common English greeting),
Traveling and working is exhausting! We went to Coventry for mission Football. It was good fun! My Zone, Nottingham, came in second out of five teams. Our team wore pink because at the last football game it were the losing team. I had to play goalie most of the time.

We went to Peterborough an Exchange/Work over thing. Then from Peterborough we went to Leicester(my old area) for Specialized training. It was a lot of fun. In the morning, All the Peterborough Elders/Sisters and the Zone Leaders met in City Center and we did finding for a couple of hours. We got a lot of finding in and found a lot of new Investigators. Too bad none of them were in our area. Then that night we worked with Elder Seale and Mansfield. All the appointments fell through and it was pouring rain so we thought that it would be logical to just take all of our water proofs off and go riding in the rain. In our travels we found a place in a park that was like a trail through wooded area. It was pitch black so we had to ride through it slowly. We got quite wet and muddy but it was a lot of fun so it was worth it. We then went and visited some people in the ward.

For General Conference we went to our chapel to watch it. We got to see all the sessions but the very last one. I guess I'll just have to read about it. I really liked conference this time. Normally it seems like it kind of drags on but it went by so quickly this time. I guess it’s because I was enjoying it a lot this time.
I really like President Uchtdorfs talk on pride. I thought that it was really good. And I liked his talk on the "Fundamentals". Overall I just like how strong the spirit was. It was great.

Boston is where the Pilgrims left England from. There are a lot of references to the Pilgrim Fathers as they call them and the Mayflower and such. For some reason they love America here. Like one of the main roads is called John Adams way (he was a U.S. President) and there are trees planted in honor of America. It’s different from Leicester because there they didn't seem to like Americans all that much.

Like I said, we're in the Nottingham portion of the Nottingham-Leicester Zone. It was two zones that they combined last transfer. Nottingham is, as I'm sure you know, where Robin Hood takes place. We went to Notts to Stake Conference. It looks very different than the Disney Film. I didn't see the Sherwood Forest anywhere. There are a lot of references to Robin Hood in this area as well. I like it.

I think that I'm starting to gain some of the weight that I lost back. I thought that I was getting so fit but this area is so flat and there is a place down the street that sells deep fried battered Mars bars for only 50p. They are so good! I'm starting to crave one now. Plus if we go in at the end of the day he gives us free chips (French fries). Anyways I think I need to start to watch my diet more. Overall I have lost weight but its creeping back.

Did I tell you that I'm obsessed with classic Mini Coopers? I love those things. I take pictures of the ones that I see that are parked. I think I'll get one when I get home. Not as my main car though. It will be after the purchase of my truck.
Love ya all!
Elder Wright

P.S. some letters would be nice

Transfers

I beat Beth to Boston! Boston, Lincolnshire though, not Massachusetts. Funnily, I'm with Elder Dahl. He is from AZ and his brother Aaron was in the Preston Ward. Crazy! It’s a lot of fun being with him. The town of Boston is way smaller than Leicester and it takes ages to get here from Birmingham. Our area is massive though. It’s in the very corner of the mission. It should really be a car mission but we have bicycles. Well Elder Dahl does. Elsa died on me (pedals came off whilst riding). Elder Bedke insists that he is going to rescue her from the Evington Flat but I am pretty sure she's completely dead.
Boston is like 2 miles from the ocean or less! The boats come up the river and use the docks in the city. The river doesn't seem big enough for boats but I guess that it is. We want to ride out to the ocean sometime. Not that we get to go in but it would be cool to see. Boston is a way small town. Our area is massive though. We won't be able to work in most of it since we don't have a car. I was looking on the map of our area and we only cover a tiny portion of it. So far we have only been in Boston and the villages around it but we want to go out more. I think that we'll be going to Skegness at some point to do some finding. We live in a Terrace house aka row house in the states. It’s a complete mess inside but it’s bigger than my last flat so that’s good.

I'm definitely going to miss the people in my old area and especially the people we taught but I had to move on at some point. It was really sad when I had to say goodbye to Chipo and her daughter. Chipo bought me a framed "footprints" poem as a thank you. I kinda want to send it home because I don’t want it to get ruined but I'm poor so that probably won’t happen.

Today we are in Lincoln with the Elders here. We are going to go see the MASSIVE cathedral. I saw it as we walked in but we are going to walk up to it and then of course make a visit to the Chinese Buffet. 

Elder Wright

Here are a few pics. More to come......


This is me at the Boston Stump. The pic doesn't show you how huge it is. It is literally massive.


My "family". Elder Gama, Elder Smith, Me and Elder Davis who Elder Smith follow up trained so that makes him my "step brother". Ask a RM they will explain.

Bentleys and Porsches

Not a whole lot to talk about in missionary work but I will tell you about the city. All the houses are pretty much touching. That is called a Terrace house. It’s basically like they have in New York except they call it Row Houses there. For the most part the people are nice. Sometimes we meet some pretty rude people but they just look like idiots so they get their own. It’s not all that common for people to drive here. Most of the time it’s just the husband that drives the cars. And I haven't really noticed a time where, if both people drive, they both have separate cars. They just share. It’s weird. I couldn't live like that for very long I don’t think. The cars aren't as nice either. But they are a lot cheaper here from what I can tell. There are some nice cars. Like I see Bentleys, Porsches and nice cars like that all the time. But most of the cars aren't very nice! I guess the gospel is true no matter what you drive!!!

Elder Wright

This is the district photo the second one is in our flat with Elder Bedke and Richter. Elder Richter is going home today.

I am still here

Well neither of us got moved. I'm glad about that. I really like this ward and I want to see Chipo get baptized. We were expecting to stay here. There were only a few changes made to our district. But the mission as a whole had a lot of changes. They took it from 8 zones down to 6, so our zone now covers another zone. The zone leaders are way stressed about that and now they are going to be training a greenie. Everyone thinks that President has gone crazy.
Another change that is now in effect is P-day is being switched to Mondays, we are only going to have interviews and zone conferences quarterly now. I don't know when we are supposed to get our post. That part kind of annoys me because we already have to wait forever if someone sends anything to us. Maybe they will start forwarding our post like the other missions. I don't know though.

My teaching skills are getting better. Not the greatest still but it’s ok. As long as I am getting better I'll be happy with that. Last week was my "senior week". I was the senior companion for the week. It was fun and annoying at the same time but a great experience.
It has been raining all week. Well it’s off and on but the weather here is so weird, one second it will be raining then it will be sunny then it will be rainy again. We always have to take a coat with or at least put one in our bags. All the stuff in my bag got wet the other day. Nothing that was beyond use anymore but my scriptures and my preach my gospel are now a little water damaged. Nothing too bad though so I think that I will be alright. Now I have to keep everything in plastic grocery bags. It’s annoying when you are looking for stuff but I don't want anything to get ruined so it worth it.
Love you all!
Elder Wright

It's raining!

Nothing too exciting has happened. It has been raining a lot though. The weather here is crazy. It is hot and humid one second and literally within a few minutes it is raining hard. I got a new raincoat last P-Day. Last Saturday we had a full day of teaching. Or rather we were supposed to. People didn't show up for their appointments or gave us the wrong house number. But we were able to teach a few lessons. We only had two investigators at church. We had one Less Active there. That is one thing that we are really concentrating on. The Area President and Elder Perry have set a goal for the Europe area to double the Sacrament attendance in 10 years. This is going to be done through new members but also through reactivating Less Actives. Unfortunately this ward that we are serving in is not very good at giving us names to go see.

President Ogden is different from the Previous Mission President. The previous one was all about baptize, baptize, baptize but President Ogden is very much centered on baptizing and keeping members and also bringing back the Less Actives. So far this year there have only been about 20 baptisms in this stake (last year had 100) but the Sacrament attendance has already increased by 8%. The goal is 10% for this year.

Yesterday Elsa, the bicycle, had some issues. (Elder Bedke named her when he used her). It’s going to cost like £30 to fix. Kinda sucks but I guess I really don't have an option. I don't want to buy a new bike.

Our investigator Chipo is perfect. This week when we were going to commit her to baptism, she asked us if she could be baptized before we could ask her. It was great. She is so excited too. We went and saw her yesterday and she can't wait to get baptized. She has a really strong testimony in prayer. She loves us to come over and pray with her. The other day she had a Dr's appointment and wanted us to pray with her. We were in City center with a bunch of people walking around. She insisted that we say a prayer over the phone. It was so awkward but she loved it. She is 42 and a nursing student. She has a daughter that we want to teach the lessons too also but she is off at school or something. She said the prayer the other day. It was so intense. It was like one of those crazy prayers that you see on TV. It almost sounded like a rap but it was good.

Rex, the guy that was baptized a few weeks ago, was supposed to get the Priesthood the last 2 weeks but he didn't show up either day. We have seen him and he sounds like he is excited to come to church but from some reason he doesn't show up. We are a little worried that he has gone back to drinking but doesn't want to admit it. We'll see though. Stanford, the little boy that got baptized the same day as Rex has moved away to Cheltenham. Hopefully I'll get transferred there sometime.
That’s all for this Week!
Elder Wright

The work continues

This week has not been very exciting in the Evington Zone. After a rough start to last week, we were able to find some new investigators at the end of the week. Three of them were able to make it to church. One is a Chinese man who is extremely hard to teach because he doesn't know English too well and he has no belief in God. Our other Chinese investigator does have a belief so it’s easier. Then we have an African woman that we are teaching. The DeMontfort Elders found her on the way to church and had her come with them. But turns out she is in our area so we are teaching her. She loves to pray. We are going to ask her to be baptized today. The other woman is a Caribbean (there are a lot of Caribbean’s in England), she is not as promising but she at least came to church.

Rex was supposed to receive the Priesthood on Sunday but he was a no show. It took us a while to get a hold of him but we finally did. He seems to be o.k. so we'll see what’s up with him when we see him in a few days.

The weather had been good. That was until yesterday. It rained all day. I thought that the stuff in my bag was alright but it was all wet when I got into it this morning. Oh well. Turns out that giant coat that they told me people wear in England is not really what they wear here. I think I'll be getting a less ridiculous looking one today.

This is a pic of the outside of our flat. The one is a pic of the building that our flat is behind. We have to walk through the big black doors to the Stables. I think it said it was built in the 1800s. Pretty much all the houses here are connected like that. There are a lot of people in small areas.

3 weeks out!

Things are going good here in Leister. It’s hard to believe that it is my 3 week out in the field. Sometimes it seems like time goes super slow but other times it seems like it is going super fast. It seems like I just got to the MTC. Walking and cycling around all day takes a lot out of you. I don't think that I will ever catch up on sleep. Almost every day at lunch I fall asleep on the couch or on my bed. Dinner or "tea" would probably be the same but we are usually at someone’s house for that. This is a good thing because we get food, but sometimes it would be nice to just relax. I like it though.

Right now our teaching pool has gone down since Rex and Stanford were baptized. We still see them but they aren't investigators. We have a Chinese couple and another Chinese man that we are teaching. It’s hard to teach them because their English is not too good and because they do not have any Christian Background. The couple has committed to be baptized. We think it will be at the end of August so I may be out of the area then. It’s more likely that I will stay in this area though because Elder Smith has been here a while and will probably be transferred before I go. But you never know.
People have asked about our flat. Like I said it’s literally stables that they turned into a flat. You walk in and it’s the kitchen/family room/office area. Then there is a bedroom with a bathroom off of that. The problem is that the walls do not go all the way to the ceiling. Not a big deal for the bedroom, but for the bathroom it’s a little gross. With no top on it the sounds and smells of the bathroom are shared with the entire flat.

We only get letters every couple of weeks when we go into the mission office. We went in last Thursday for zone conference. Elder Kopischke of the 70 was there. He is the Europe Area president. It was a really good conference. He was able to answer a lot of questions and give us some good insights to missionary work.

The trains aren't so bad. The first trip I had on one we didn't get a seat so we had to stand for an hour or two. It was just inconvenient. In this area we only ride them to Birmingham. But some of the other areas have to ride them to go shopping and stuff. I'm glad we don't have to do that. The hills are getting better. I still don't like them. Going down is still a lot of fun though!!!!

Baptisms

The teaching is going ok. I'm still a greenie but I can kind of be involved in the lessons now. I really just need to make sure that I have the spirit with me and then my teaching skills are not all that important. I've done exchanges a couple of times. They were both uneventful days but the one kid is from AZ and so we had a little more to talk about.

Rex and Stanford were baptized this Sunday!! It was really great to see them be able to do it. We were a little worried about Rex because the night before he said that he was worried about it. But he went through with it. He will be confirmed on Sunday in sacrament. He said that he felt like he was flying when he was done. It was great. Stanford is a cool little kid. He was so happy to be baptized and confirmed. His dad was really funny because he really didn't know what he was doing when it came to the blessing part of the baptism. We were entertained by it.

Another guy that we are teaching, Siyuan, said that he would be baptized this month. We are a little worried about it because he is Chinese and his English is not that great and we don't want to go too fast with him. So far his wife hasn't joined us for any of the lessons but they both came to Sacrament meeting this last week but they didn't stay. Hopefully this will all work out.

The weather is a not too hot but its waaaaay humid. If it weren't for that I would be fine. And no one has AC's or even coolers in their house. Just open the windows. It really doesn't cool them off that much. Our flat gets really stuffy because we don't really have a window that we can leave open while we are out. It’s only rained once or twice while we have been out. It looks like it may rain today though. Our district leader, Elder Sinclair laughs at the rain coat that I have. Apparently they really don't wear those here. He is from Chester in England.

The roads here are really small. It will be amazing if I don't get run over on the cycle. It’s crazy how close people get to us but they are better drivers around here then back home.

Our area is VERY Muslim and we can’t really talk to them so it’s hard to go out walking and trying to talk to people. We can talk to them but we aren't allowed to baptize them because of the danger that it puts them in, in their culture. Then there are a lot of India Indians, not "red Indians" as ours are called, they are hard to talk to because they are either Muslim or Hindu so they don't want to hear it.

We did meet a Muslim lady on the street who did not look Muslim at all. We have been to her house twice and she has fed us twice. We weren't planning on it either time. She said that her husband is Christian and that is why we went by but he was not interested at all. At least we got some good Turkish food from her (she is from Turkey). Her mom is also visiting from Turkey and kept saying that she loved us and that we were sent from Allah (God).


Not sure what else to write. Love you guys!

Elder Wright

This is a pic of our flat. It is literally stables turned into a flat. The one pic is the vine, Steve, that is growing above our desks. The other one is me with my trainer, Elder Smith and Grandpa (his trainer, Elder Richter from germany). Elder Smith has blonde hair and Elder Richter has dark.

Bicycle+Hills=Death of Elder Wright‏

Things are going well here in Leicester (said lesta). The members feed us pretty much every night. Which is great because I doubt our food would be nearly as good. Our self made lunches definitely are not that good. But the only problem is that the members think we have all day to just hang out. We don't and we are only supposed to spend an hour for dinner. I doubt if we have been out in an hour thus far. But the ward has made me feel very welcome so that is good.

Brother and Sister Browns are great members in the area. She is the one that picked up my bags at the train station so that I would not have to carry them as we walked to our flat. She's crazy. They have 2 cats and a dog. The dog I loved but the cats not so much. They were all over us (asthma was fine). Then I looked over and they were on the table which had already been set. The food sister brown made me was all green since I'm a greenie. The chicken was not green but the salad, potatoes, and other stuff was all green. I even had green utensils

This Sunday should be really good. We have to Baptisms. Rex and Stanford. I think I told you about Rex. He's a good guy. We were a little worried about how his interview would go but he passed. Stanford is a 10 year old African boy. His parents are both members but for some reason he was separated from the dad while he and his mom were is Africa. I don’t know the whole story. But they will both be baptized this week.

Biking is not my favorite thing to do. There are some killer hills. My companion goes up them like they are nothing else but I'm lagging behind on the hill part. I'll tell you this much I should be in good shape by the time I get back. If my knees make it that long.

Well the work is going good. Not too many rude people so far. Love ya.

Elder Wright

My first day out in the field

I'm am officially out in the field. My companion is Elder Smith from London. I really like him thus far. Last night we went out once we finally got to our area from the Mission office. We are in the Evington area in the city Leicester. It's a really nice area. The city is...culturally diverse. Lots of Muslims and Hindus and people from all over. Last night we taught a lesson to a progressing investigator who is planning on getting baptized two weeks from Sunday. He was a very interesting fellow. When Elder Smith and his previous companion, Elder Davis stopped him on the street he was a alcoholic who smoked 40 cigarettes a day. I've only met him the one time but I can tell that he has made a huge change in his life. He is so thankful that they stopped him. We have some other investigators too. I haven't met them yet but I will over this next week. We have met quite a few people on the street too. I'm hoping that I will be able to teach and that I'll be somewhat of a help. So far I feel like I'm just along for the ride but I know that as time goes on I'll improve and be able to teach also.

Apparently this area has older people in the ward. Its a good thing though because we have a dinner appointment pretty much every week. Sister Brown picked up our luggage at the train station and then we walked to our flat. It is the stable of an old house. Its pretty nice inside but when I first saw the stable sign I got a little worried. Its on Haynes street. You should Google Map it. I don't remember the number though.

Its weird to think that the MTC is already over. Some days felt like they went so slowly but now looking back it went by super fast. I'm really going to miss my M.T.C. District. They were all really great and we got really close as time went on.
President and Sister Ogden were both really nice and I can tell that they will be great. They said that we will be their last group that they will see all the way through for the full two years. I'm glad that we will have the same one.


Keep sending letters!!

Love you,
Elder Wright

Leaving the MTC

We are going out to the missions tomorrow! We are all really excited and can't believe that our time in the MTC is over. Love you all, I'll write you a letter and let you know more.

Forget yourself and go to work

It has rained quite a bit here. It was raining today on our "Church History Tour". It was a really cool tour. We went to a park that is by the River Ribble which is where all the first baptism in England were done. It is such a beatiful park. I'm going to try to send some of the pictures. We then went and saw the front of President Hinckleys first flat when he was here in England. It was the one where he wrote his dad and said that he wanted to come home and his dad wrote to him to get over it. It was cool because I was thinking of that story the other day when I was frustrated with the teachers and some of the MTC stuff. After that we went to Downham Village. The village is kept the same way that it was at the beginning of the last century. It is really cool. There is a lot of church history there if you want to look it up. A lot has happened this week. Our days are litterally full 24/7. It can be kinda frustrating but I just go with it. Some of the teachers can be really a pain in the butt. Its really hard to not say something to them. But like I said I thought of the story of President Hinckley and it was alot better. We got to go tracting at Manchester Picadilly Train station. Most people were pretty rude but it was cool to see some people that were interested. This week we are going to go door to door in Preston. For the tracting thing we took the train to Manchester and then just tried to talk to as many people as possible.

Love ya, Elder Wright

MTC

The flight her was incredibly long. I cant sleep on airplanes so that did not help anything. I didn't sleep at all over the Atlantic and only slept a little over Ireland. Once we got through customs, they put us on a bus and sent us to the MTC. They had no mercy on us at the MTC and made us do a full day of orientation stuff. The first couple of days of Jetlad were killer but I think that I am finally over it.

The MTC is on the Temple Grounds. There is also a stake center and a couple of other church buildings. Its all so green and beautiful. There are tons of plants and flowers and stuff like that. Around everything is a thick forest. Its fun to walk around with all our spare time. (sarcasm, no such thing as spare time here). I've taken alot of pictures of the grounds. I'm hoping that I have enough time to send them in another email.

The Spirit is really strong here at the MTC. I have learned so much and I am enjoying going to classes. We got our "allowance" yesterday. But half of it is already gone to buying postal stuff. Its going to be wierd getting used to the pound (£) system. It kinda stinks because right now the dollar is really weak to the £ so it takes more money in dollars.

We were told that the people telling us that the British missions aren't high baptizing were wrong. And the Birmingham mission is the highest baptizing mission in England right now.

My MTC companion is Elder Clark from Boise, ID. Our roommates are Elder Tonga, a Tongan from Tonga, he is our District leader and his companion is Elder Whitehead from Montana.

Today is Pday so we went to the temple and got some stuff done. Well my time is running out.

Love Elder Wright

Called to serve Him, heavenly King of glory,
Chosen e'er to witness for his name,
Far and wide we tell the Father's story,
Far and wide his love proclaim.

Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
Forward, pressing forward, as a triumph song we sing.
God our strength will be; press forward ever,
Called to serve our King!

Called to know the richness of his blessing—
Sons and daughters, children of a King—
Glad of heart, his holy name confessing,
Praises unto Him we bring.

Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
Forward, pressing forward, as a triumph song we sing.
God our strength will be; press forward ever,
Called to serve our King!