MERRY CHRISTMAS! (Week 22, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Pajarin)

Well that was fast! its already Christmas! haha yeah that's all i got...i am just gonna dive into that week thing again :)

Monday- So we got another companionship in our apartment now and our area has been split! crazy! So now our area has been cut smaller which is kind of nice because now we are able to have our focus in a smaller area. This night was the first time I have been to the Bishop's house. And i have been here for like four months! We had an FHE there. it was good! we played games and like this game that would take to long to explain but everytime you lose, you get baby powder poured on your forehead. luckily i was one of the biggest losers and got to look even "whiter than sour cream" -White and Nerdy by Weird Al. 

Tuesday- We started work in the morning to teach Eyyyyy who is an eleven year old going to be baptized on Dec 30 and then we later did our studies. We visited Less Actives and it was pretty good. i did not write too much about it in my journal so i dont really know what to say about it. Oh i guess this the Syyyyy family (kind of less active) father didnt have vision in one eye and could barely see any light in one so was almost completely blind and saw me for the first time for real because he got surgery on his eye.

Wednesday- This day we had a practice for our christmas conference and that was dancing to songs. it was fun. its pretty lame but awesome and i got a video of it. I ate a mcspicy at mcdonalds which was delicious! and we taught Eyyyyy again to help her prepare for baptism. and then I taught ayyyyy and elder pajarin helped gxxxxx with receiving the preisthood. this was done at the same time to kill two birds with one stone when we were at ayyyy house. we basically just turned while we sitting in between ayyyyy and gxxxxx and gave the two lessons. After that it was amazing because the Spirit was really able to help Ayyyyy understand the Gospel and what she needs to do because she is still struggling. We also taught the Syyy.

Thursday- We had Christmas Conference so we met all together as missionaries and heard talks and saw talent shows and performed our dance thing that we practiced.

Friday saturday and sunday- I am running out of time. really what happened was we had a blitz and it was not effective and we tried to help Eyyyyy and Syyyyy be ready and on sunday we met a new family that i have hope in to accept the gospel. It was a good week.

Sorry for the email! but i want you all to know that i love you and miss you and hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Wright

Am I Cold? (Week 21, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Pajarin)

There have actually finally been some colder nights here! and when you have that with the fan blowing on you at night to keep bugs off you and it isnt worth it to go get a blanket...its actually pretty chilly!! im feeling the chillies! 

Monday- We met a guy named Mxxx who we havent been able to teach yet but he came up to us and asked us if he could have a pamphlet. that was cool! we later went to Gxxxx and [] we missed an FHE and man the guy is just having a rough time [], poor guy.

Tuesday- Had a good District meeting talking about leaving everything behind and following Christ. it was awesome! We ran into Mxxx again this day. 

Wednesday- We went out with Gxxxx this day to do work. We visited a potential investigator. We taught Ryyyy about not worshiping idols and she was very receptive to the lesson, and understands why she shouldnt. She still is going to her Catholic church and she asked us if it was bad if she went there. she wanted us to answer but at this point:

1.our lessons go WAY LONGER than they should and we need to get out of there

2.she needs to not put her trust in as missionaries but in God and ask him

3.she has strong enough faith i feel to find the answer herself

So i told her to search for her answer and we wont answer it for her...hahaha she didnt really like that hahaha.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA

Thursday- We taught rose again. We met with a less active and also visited Sxxxxx an old investigator who lost her child i think after she gave birth, so sad but she is open to listen to the gospel so we are wanting to go back there again. We ate dinner twice. the first dinner was delicious! sinegang...actually i have no idea how to spell it.

Friday- We taught Ryyyy again. also dxxxxxx an old investigator and his friend ken the plan of salvation and they were really receptive but they love to drink and that is one reason why danny never got baptized.

Saturday- Had a rough day Tagalog was rough it was rough but i think i was led to visit Brother Yxxxx by the spirit because i came to know concerns and problems he has that i didnt know he had. so we are gonna try to work with him and help him out. 

Sunday- had a good day working with members Gxxxx, Glxxxxl (future missionary) and Syyyyna (return missionary). we got a new investigator Jxx and then we taught Ayyyy, which was a good lesson and i hope she starts having more faith in christ and getting away from worshiping mother mary and idols. We also made goals with a recent convert family (Bxxx and Exxxx) to help them get to the temple!

Yesterday i was able to see again the strengthened love of the Syyyyyy mother and father as the father is making steps towards baptism and ultimately toward the temple! it is awesome and beautiful! the gospel strengthens families!

I love you all so much and Maligayang Pasko!!!!

my distict

squid

if you look closely he is playing with a spider that is attached by its web to the stick...sometimes kids like to do that

baby duck

Chips and Mayonnaise (Week 20, Venezuela City, Gen T. de Leon Ward, Elder Pajarin)

A favorite of my companion's to eat is CHIPS AND MAYONNAISE hahaha maybe that isnt that big of a deal hahaha it really isnt but it is still funny that he likes that...

Monday- Gave myself a hair cut again because...who needs barbershops...and plus "girls like guys with good skills" - Napoleon Dynamite. And we did the normal P-day things like laundry and stuff. At night we went to do family home evening with the Syyyy family who are less actives with a member family and the wife of the member family was late so that was embarrassing, but it still ended up being good. she really was happy we came.

Tuesday- This day we went to the mission office and that meant we got to talk with President and Sister hughes! they are seriously the best! President Hughes and i had a great inspiring talk with him about doing an evaluation every night to see your progress, which was he does, so you can see what qualities you want to strengthen and see what your doing everyday and remember your progress. We taught Eyyyy this little girl we are gonna baptize and then we also taught Ayyyy and her kids. And then after the lesson she made us eat and i ate this [] soup that was corn crab and egg soup. let me tell you when you have a soup that tastes you put an egg in a can of corn (that is only the corn water liquid without the corn) and drink it...[]! it reminded me of when derek and i drank corn soda []! (shout out to my homie derek jones)

Wednesday- Today i opened my christmas packages and cried as i felt the love from those who wrote me letters and had some of my favorite treats sent to me. it honestly is the best when you feel like people still remember you when you are thousands of miles away. It was truly like the best christmas. Later we taught Bxxxn Sxxxl the word of wisdom and he had one last drink last night so we moved his bap date. After that we went to one of my favorite families, the Bxxxa family, to do an FHE! it was awesome they made this tilapia that reminded me of bacon the way he fried its skin! ooooo it was DIVINE!

Thursday- Today i felt pretty bad hahahaha thats what i wrote in my journal. My tagalog was not that good and i just had a off day...BUT that is okay because there is always time for things to change!  We had Missionary Correlation meeting and talked about the BLITZ ( all the missionaries in the zone "attack" one area and find Less actives with members). Also Ryyye is totally getting baptized!

Friday- We had a good weekly planning session and had made some good plans. we went and taught a former investigator of other missionaries, Dxxxy, and we ended up teaching his friend Kxxxn and it was a very good discussion wtih the Spirit there. We taught Eyyya again and then we went to the Gxxxa family's house and ate.

Saturday- Elder Pajarin and i fell off our game a little. We visited Ryyye and had a good discussion about the Gospel and Gxxx, recent convert was with us.We went back to Ayyy and taught her kids and had a long discussion and i dont feel like her kids are that interested which was sad.

Sunday- I finished up making covers of my daily planner i was going to send pics but i cannot with the computer i am at. We taught the Sxxxl boys and now all those who are not baptized yet have a bap date and it is exciting! We were supposed to go to the Christmas devotional but a problem came up with Ayyye and we spent time trying to help her out with her concerns. we later went to the Cxxxe family (less actives) and taught them about the temple (only a bit), the sacrament, then the restoration and then i think the temple again and there was talking about following God's way. it was a good discussion!

Truly Elder Pajarin and i are seeing miracles and it is awesome! the Lord loves his children and wants to do everything he can to help them or us but we got to do our part and put forth our efforts to receive his help or blessings!

I love you all so much you are amazing!

Love,

Elder Wright

BANAL BOYZ (Week 19, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Belnap|Elder Pajarin)

YEEEE we dem BANAL BOYZ. that is a little nickname we use for ourselves for our companionship of being obedeint because the word banal means holy in tagalog. Elder Pajarin and i seriously ghave so much fun together and it is awesome because we love each other and we are both those fresh out of training missionaries killing in Gen T. de Leon Ward Valenzuela Stake.

Its awesome because he is totally shorter than me but hes older than me!

Pretty much all Tagalog speaking now with Elder Pajarin

Tuesday- We said goodbye to people after we found out that Elder Belnap was leaving and i was really tired. those are the only notable things that really happened for me and i goit treats for my new companion and i to eat

Wednesday- This day we went to a transfer point to say bye and then i picked up Elder Pajarin with his luggage. Thankfully we werent too far away from home so nothing took to long and the travel didnt stink. Immediately the work started, we got home did studies and went out and taught Ayyy about prayer and then we got a ton of referrals.

Thursday- We went back to Ayyy to teach her kids to help them accept the Gospel and that was good! We go hope for them. As we were coming out of  Ayyys and going back to go to our next thing we made alot of contacting and got some referrals! it was awesome! It seemed like people just wanted to talk to us and Gxxx knew people (he was with us) so we got to meet some people that hopefully things will work out with them! We later went to the Serranos house to eat dinner and they bought American food and it tasted American it was awesome! []

Friday- We had weekly planning this day and we also taught Ryyy the Plan of Salvation. After we taught her we extended a bap date and she accepted!!!!!!! That was a miracle she kept saying she would need time but she accepted! She seems to have settled down with her feelings for me whihc is nice to know *sigh of relief*

Saturday- We had a blitz in Valenzuela. Basically just the missionaries in the zone go to one area and work with members to find Less Active members in the church. It was a success! The stake President my companion did like all of the work whihc was good because that is the purpse of the blitz for members to learn how to be missionaries or do missionary work. I had this other companion Brother Paredes who is one of the first members here in the Philippines who was really touched with going out and working and was just a great guy. He said he would never forget my name. After that we did our studies. Oh i found out from President i might be leaving Gen T. soon. Also today we worked with a ward member Jxxx and then we went to La Mesa and we taught the Cxxx family. it was good.

Sunday- this day was a truly awesome day. Got to churhc and the i felt really strongly prompted to bear my testimony about the Savior and His Atoning sacrifice and about receiving healing. The cxxx family went to church again,some of them but that was awesome and some of another Less active family i am trying to help went to church which was wonderfuly andn the mom bore her testimony! i got a ward member to plan a family home evening with that family for monday night. Also later we went the Sxxx family and that was truly special. they got baptized about a year ago except for the boys and the dad and the dad is now wanting to change and is ready to accept the gospel and has been going to church and we set a baptismal date and it was so precious seeing the joy of the family and friends there!

Miracles were witnessed and it truly was wonderful. Elder Pajarin and i are working on being more obedient so we can be able to have the power with so that mircales can happen. This gospel is wonderful, the joy that it brings, the love that it brings and i truly am grateful to be a member and missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Love you all!

Elder Wright

My Tatay is Leaving (Week 18, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Belnap)

So tomorrow i get my new companion and i am done with training! but i am sad to leave elder Belnap, however i know i will love my new companion. He just finished his training so we are both new and will have some learning experiences together. I think that me and Elder Pajarin (my new companion) will have some good things going!

So sorry we had preparation day on tuesday because transfers are tomorrow.

Monday- this day was sweet! we spent part of our day doing some yard work which then turned into having fun hahaha. I had the opportunity to take down a coconut in a tree with a spear like thing made of bamboo! I also got to try coconut for the first time fresh right from off the tree! I got to cut it open with machete which was cool and then later proved my native skills by using a rock to bash open the coconut and drink from it...it was awesome! and it tasted so good! it weirdly reminds me of sprite...it is hard to explain. after that we had this thing called a Budal Fight or something like that.it was basically a bunch of food on palm tree leaves and we ate it without plates circling the food. (there was really no fighting happening).

Tuesday- We had zone conference which was really fun and then after that we got back late so we visited Gxx to read the Book of Mormon with him which is something we want to do with him to help him and Jyy [] to receive the blessings and guidance that come from reading the Book of Mormon.

Wednesday- Went to Ayyy and she has been having problems worshiping Mother Mary and doesnt see why it is against the commandments of God. So we were trying to help her with that and then after that they told me about how our investigator Ryyy (the one who calls us her guardian angels) likes me and wants the person to baptize her to marry her...believe me that ain't happening. I was shocked and that has gotten confirmed to me by a fellowshipper in our ward. he had a talk with her about how i am a missionary and stuff but still i just feel so weird around her now so hopefully things get better.

Thursday- I went out with a ward member and taught and then we helped Ward members with being missionaries. We had them go out and give a Book of Mormon to someone it was all a success until the one we tried to give out didnt want the Book of Mormon so that was funny to be the only people who couldnt place it. There is failure and there is success in missionary work.

Friday- Belnap lost is baseball to an angry dog who snatched it as he rolled it at where it was and not past it. We also went to this part member family and the husband who is not baptized wants to change and go to church now which is a miracle because it has been almost a year since his family first took the missionary discussions.

Saturday- We had a blitz that day and all of the missionaries in the zone did work in one ward zone it was good work done for the ward. We later found out that night we had no water which was not fun!

Sunday- we still had no water. A lot of people showed up for church and then later we taught Ayyy.

Monday- We finally were able to get water back and had found out that someone probably turned off our water pressure outside. it is nice to be able to have water again, that was not a good time hahaha. We taught Ayyy again and we tried helping her with how we need to follow the life of Christ and also shared scriptures in the Book of Mormon about how we pray to only the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. She had a miracle from Heavenly Father helping her understand how she needs to worship him only and no one else and it was amazing. she is getting closer to the knowing and understanding the truth.

Love you all! sorry no pictures, the computer i am at wont let me send them!

love,

Elder Wright

Guardian Angels (Week 17, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Belnap)

i love it, an investigator, Ryyose, always calls us her guardian angels. it was so funny because she told us that we looked like angels when we first met her. 

Monday- Elder Belnap and i were riding on the back of a truck again, as usual, and as we were going along on the ride i looked down and right in front of me was a HUGE spider. and im not talking about your "HUGE" spider that your little sister will find in the bathroom and then calls for you to kill it and then you refuse and tell her to kill it herself but eventually you go and kill it and then say "that wasnt even that bad! haha" Im talking about a big giant long spider about probably bigger than a baseball and it had its long legs just hanging on the back of the truck right in front of me. i told elder belnap and he was shocked with how big it was! i tried to move away from it the best i could but there wasnt a lot i could do holding onto a moving truck so i eventually lifted my leg up and kicked it off the truck. it was awesome. my companion said he saw it move up the sidewalk in front of a family hahaha sweetest. Also gave myself a haircut, NO MORE BARBERSHOP FOR THIS MISSIONARY! the haircut was a success...sweet! (saying the last sentence in the voice of our beloved Napoleon Dynamite).

Tuesday- Elder Belnap and i might not be together for much longer which was sad to hear. Also, my comp and i planned a whole day to work with members...there was a ward thing going on sooooo our day was...yeah...but we got some members that had been reactivated from being less active to want to help us with less actives. [].

Wednesday- We worked with this ward member named Jxxeff or Jxxeppoy. He was awesome! i mean incredible and like coached our investigators it was sweet! he definitely helped with Ryyose. on a side note- Ryyose owns a door company and is making elder belnap and i miniature sized doors because i asked her too hahah hilarious.

Thurday- Elder belnap and i found new investigators. and i had the gift of tongues flowing through me like crazy i felt like. it was absolutely amazing and it was probably one of the best restoration lessons because they asked a lot of questions and i was just so happy that i was able to communicate and have the Spirit really helping me.

Friday- Trying to help our investigator gxxlen with reading the book of mormon [] we are gonna have to spend some extra time with him to help him

Saturday- missionaries in my zone have told me that my tagalog is pretty good so that makes me happy because sometimes i feel pretty bad. there are a lot of cross dressers in the philippines! thats just a little something random. Went to a stake christmas party...it was not a christmas party...[]. just a bunch of loud music and watching people dance. that was sad cuz it was called Christmas in November or something like that.

Sunday- this day i went on splits with the ward mission leader and this ward member Rxxandy. we taught two less active families and i did most of the teaching. the ward mission leader helped sometimes but i pretty much was taking the lead in my tagalog which was hard but i think it went okay because the Lord was able to help me through.

I love you all! Times here are rough and there are hard times but the Lord's hand is able to be seen if you try to see it. and His hand is also in all of your lives. We just have to choose to see it and we will see the blessings. we could all do more of that and it will help us be closer to him if we do.

Love,

Elder Wright

me drinking water at the church and just so thirsty

our pathetic christmas tree

me with a ward member that wanted to take a picture

someone's garden like place

me holding bananas

White Boys Like Chocolate (Week 16, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Belnap and Elder Cuenza)

This was an absolutely crazy week people...

Wednesday- This day was my temple trip day. Preparation day (emailing day) is always monday. i forget to tell you guys when preparation day changes so i will do better at that. but we went to the temple in manila. That took up a lot of our P-Day so by the time we got back we emailed, did laundry and what not. Later that night we went back to our [] investigator Ryyose. We talked about the restoration of the gospel of jesus christ and about joseph smith. She LOVES to talk and always has so many questions. it's awesome. she is definitely a good one and she is hilarious, [] so we always have fun. After that Ryyose fed us Misaw. its a chinese noodle dish that was pretty good. After Ryyose we went home and that was the end of our day...so far the week is normal and good.

Thursday- We have two sellers on our street Txxatay and tyyina, (tyyina is my favorite because she is awesome and makes awesome lugaw) so i dont buy from Txxatay much and he always points it out. so i felt bad and finally gave in to buying txxatay's lugaw...it was a sad day. :( i spent five more pesos then i would have at tina...i shouldve been stronger. But its okay i got over it hahaha. Later i went to tyyinas and bought this one dish of food or ulam (anything that you put over rice) and then i went and also got this other dish that was literally all lungs and some veggies...WHY ON EARTH DID I BUY IT! i had some, a little more and was just like alright im done! so i took it and cheese grated that crap! cheese grating is when we throw out something past this metal gate that covers an opening in our patio and opens out to a bunch of trees. so i dumped out the lungs three stories (where are apartment is). After that we went to the Sxxabado family (they are less actives) but it looks like we got the daughter to come back. she told us she is busy and also she jogs so i told her that our spirit is like our body. it needs to be exercised and then i related it to i think going to church adn then told her i will see her next sunday and she has come since. but anyway we got referrals from them and talked. We finally got Gxxlen's sister, Ayyrlene, a bap date!!!

Friday- We went to Myyarisel but she wasnt there. We then went over to Jxxoelle this guy who owns a junk shop and taught/talked with him as he smoked three cigarettes. He is cool, he gave me a license plate which was a sweet souvenir. Went to ayyrlene's house and Eyylleanor was also there and she just probably wont ever get baptized, [] it's sad. 

Saturday- This day was ABSOLUTELY LOCO! it started off with us going to the place called Tibagan riding on the back of a truck for a bit. we got there this kid [] was calling me mom. we sat adn talked with this crazy old guy and elder belnap sat on this bench and the leg just came out so he fell. it was awesome! the whole time we were sitting there i had kids just talking with me and all over me and what not so i didnt really know what was going on. It then as we were walking around started raining pretty hard so Elder and i had to find shelter. his pants were soaked, even with an umbrella it was awesome. I thought today was gonna be good, i got out and was getting a bunvh of high fives from kids when i first got out and it felt sweet. and everything was still good until []. we headed out away from Santa Monica, we went there r tibagan in the bed of someones truck. it was sweet like everyone was looking at us as we rode through. [] I wish i could write more about it but the whole story would have to be later. [] Glen's sister is really good and she is really doing good things.

Sunday- We wetnt to this luncheon to see our investigator Ryyose. it was sweet the food was good. and we got some new investigators and found someone who really is looking for guidance and help. we think he could be good. Oh and miss otter pops left us...she dropped us because of family problems. that was sad. On better news i gave a talk in church on obedience! it was good Elder Belnap said i did good and the spirit was there and thats what i wanted especially speaking in tagalog. Also the lady who always has a resting frowny face told me it was inspiring so that made me feel happy knowing that my message was able to be received as i spoke tagalog. i know the Lord helped me with that talk to know what to write and to say. and i really hope that we can really help the ward.

so i like to end with saying some things from week or something that i learned and i think i will tie in a little something from my talk. my talk was really simple about obedience. i talked about the Why, what and how of obedience.

The Why's-first: God commanded us to be obedient

second: We made a covenant to keep his commandments when we were baptized and renew them as we take the sacrament

third:

Being obedient is how we show our love to God and in return he will show us love as we show him we love, NEVERTHELESS he always loves us. we just need to do our part so he can bless us.

Fourth: he will bless us as we our obedient. i.e. he will give us his spirit as our constant companion

The "what" of obedience is simple try your very best and keep the commandments. that is obedience. you dont need to be perfect. but you need to try your best.

the "How" or how to be obedient is dont be like Laman and lemuel and complain when God commands something. be as Nephi of old and say to God, "I will go and do the things the Lord commands..."

I'm sure we can all find ways to be more obedient. Especially we need to remember the importance of praying and reading the scriptures as families and doing Family home evening. and dont worry i will strive to be more obedient with you all.

I love you all. you are great people and i hope you all have wonderful weeks!

Love,

Elder Wright

bird house

otter pops

catholic church

before elder english left

HAPPY HALLOW ------- wait hold on.....SCRUB-O-WEEN (Week 15, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Belnap and Elder Cuenza)

Sorry i am emailing you all so late! i had my Preparation day today because we had the chance to go to the temple.

Here is the week of Elder Wright!

Monday- I can't remember what we did and i forgot to write down the things we did before hand but this day was p-day. i think we hung out at the chapel with some of our zone..? oo our investigator that i met Ryyose has been doing research about mormons and is really interested to hear our message.

Tuesday- we had zone interviews. they were good! i love talking with President! he gave us this challenge to simply do 30 Invitations to act everyday and he said that as we follow this goal that we will receive blessings, so we have been tracking our invitations to people. we taught investigators and then had to go home because we had power scrub on halloween. so we spent the rest of the night scrubbing away listening to christmas music.

Wednesday- we had curfew again that night and we did more power scrubbing.

Thursday- Before elder belnap and i had decided to make a birdhouse in our apartment because we have had birds fly into our apartment so we made it out of a water jug, an ironing board and our christmas tree to add some flare. not gonna lie it's pretty sweet, i will send a picture. i think this is the day that we went around with the ward mission leader and visited some less actives. (they didnt come to church).

Friday- we visited Lyyope but he wasn't there again! rats! but we taught his daughter and she seemed really interested in the gospel. we are trying to teach his whole family.

Basically we had a rough week with investigators except for Ryyose and Myyarisel our investigator we thought we were gonna have to drop turned around.

Elder Belnap and i created this plan called family first that tracks Family prayer x7, family scripture study x7, FHE, are still paying full Tithing and if they went to church every week to help strength families in our ward because the families in our ward struggles with obedience. it is based on what elder bowen spoke to at a mission conference that faith in christ + obedience = miracles. and its so true. i really have been reaffirmed the importance of created a strong gospel centered family and i invite you all to check these thjings weekly

Love you all!

The Fudgee Bar Diet Lady (Week 14, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Belnap and Elder Cuenza)

We know a lady who went on a fudgee bar diet (almost like a hostess product) and stopped eating rice to lose weight...that lady is Ayyrlene. We said goodbye to her last night because she wants to focus on her company that may go abroad. We think we will see her again though hahaha we dont think she will last it staying on the down low but whatever ahah.

Monday- We went to this place called Pure Gold it is alnmost liek a mall but not that cool...BUT we had waffles filled with chocolate and shawrma, its like one of my favorites. Later that night we went to a member's house and ate and just laughed at her big bellied 6 year old daughter who is just suich a crack up and is so weird.

Tuesday- This day was sweet because we already have a sweet apartment but it got even better. After the district meeting we got a couch because the billadeau couple had one in their truck and elder belnap called dibs on it so it was sweet but not as sweet as taking it up to the third floor. on the bright side it couldve been a lot heavier, the stair way was just tight. We went to this old guy txxhomas who had a stroke and has a hard time moving and has a little bit of what we call mongo here which is where they dont speak clearly. and we saw that he STILL smokes! crazy! hes pretty prideful he could stop by himself so elder challenged him. (he didnt make it the next day). Our investigator Myyarisel is struggling and because she hasnt been doing what shes supposed to do she questioned like everything and basically sounds like she forgot the lessons and why things are important so we had no idea how to help her but really read the book of mormon because she doesnt get into it.

Wednesday- We went to our investigator Ayynn. Ayynn how do you describe Ayynn. Well when she saw us she was like what do you want? its not sunday yet?. But i guess shes joking cuz she loves us. and we love her to because she holds the ONE of the keys to happiness in life...OTTER POPS! she gets them shipped from America along with other things like kool-aid and caprisuns, its so sweet and she sells everything for SO cheap! 2 pesos for one them bad boy otter pops (50 pesos= 1 US dollar).On top of that she is an awesome investigator and has already been a tool for missionary work! Remember Lxxope? the happy leg slapping sweet old guy...LXXOPE IS BACK BABY! We went by his house and found him there and he happily let us talk with him and we found out that he doesnt want to be baptized because he has[n't?] forgiven the guys the beat him up a couple years backl and he wants to be worthy for baptism. So we talked and he confirmed that he still sleeps with the book of mormon! hahaha awesome! After that we headed over to Gxxlens house and taught about the importance of reading the book of mormon. he has been hearing a lot of people making comments about him being mormon and it reminded me of the vision of the tree of life. People in the great and spacious building would be making fun of people on the path and as they were at the tree to discourage them and some fell away. but those who held on to the iron rod (the word of God) did not fall away.

Thursday- We had 7 Weeks in training so we went to the mission office and i got to see my cowboy homie, Elder Lowery! Man i missed that guy he is the coolest! The President talked about the importance of pondering because it is by pondering that we receive answers, that joseph smith later came to know there was not true church on the earth and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and it is how Alma the Younger came to know that the visitation he had of the angel was true because the spirit testified it to him (i forgot the scripture but alma writes it his account). The Holy Ghost is the ultimate testifier of truth and we need to seek after it. The Assistants to the President also told a story about a boy who told someone that he had two wolves inside of him fighting one wolf was full of misery, sorrow, guilt, hatred, regret, fear and greed and the other was filled with love, joy, charity, happiness, benevolence, and faith and the boy asked i think it was to the chief or his father which wolf would win the fight and the man said simply, "The wolf that you feed". 

Friday- We had another meeting and the Mission President has big plans for the mission! Like BIG PLANS. So we all are gonna have to work even harder. we found that out during a meeting and elder belnap and i still had to do weekly planning so we didnt get out until later. After that we taught a Less Active Sister Kyying and taught the importance of taking the sacrament. We later talked to Lxxeo the [] guy who loves Americans and we got a little convo about the Gospel but it totally didnt go the way we wanted hahaha.

Saturday- We visited Less Actives this day and it was so funny as i walked by this little girl i looked at her and she was just like "woah" when i saw her hahaha some philipinos are so funny with americans. we went to Lxxope again and saw he was drinking coffee so we whipped out the word of wisdom and he is done! it was awesome! he has strong faith and we invited him to go to church. earlier in the day i had two kids holding my hands following me down for a bit it was funny. Our investigator Eyyleanor got offended by someone and wants to postpone her baptimsal date but she still went to church which was good.

Sunday- Many people we invited didnt come to church. but Lxxope still came...yeeeeeeeah. We met this new potential investigator Ryyose who is awesome! We met her and she told us we could talk in english so we did and we taught a bit about the restoration in english which was cool and then she found out our first names and doesnt want to call us elder wright and elder belnap, that was pretty funny. It felt like i took the lead on helping out a less active we visited which was a really good experience. Then we visited Ayyrlene and said goodbye and she gave us fudgee bars in remembrance of her.

Good things happened this week and i really had testified to me again the importance of the Spirit because there were moments where i didnt know what to say but as i asked for the Spirit to be with me then God gave me the words to say. God really does guide us when we seek after his guidance. I'm still learning how to rely on him fully but the mission does help me learn and it has strengthened me. I love this gospel and i am grateful for this opportunity to serve.

I love you all!!!!!!!!! SO MUCH! I really hope you guys are all doing okay and are striving to have the spirit in your homes and lives.

Love,

Elder Wright

My Arm Hair Is Gold (Week 13 Venezuela City, Gen. T de Leon Ward, Elder Belnap - First Baptisms)

I might just be a leprechaun but except without a pot of gold i just have a sleeve of gold arm hair. The kids here in the Philippines love it, it's funny they will feel my arm and one kid during a lesson was rubbing his forehead on my arm hair hahaha. So i guess if you catch me you don't get gold but my arm hair is worth just as much to these kids probably.

so here are the other things that happened this week.

Tuesday- this day was our pday because of transfers. this day was not the best, the day started out with me playing basketball and totally taking a painful rolling of my ankle. Not only did i get wrecked by the Pinos who love basketball but i actually wrecked my ankle that day. I continued to play but as time went by it was killing which stunk because i walked on it until we got back home and i just slept and we didnt leave the apartment that night because it hurt too much to walk. But Gxxlen our investigator brought food to us which was nice.

Wednesday- My foot still hurt but there was no way i was gonna stay in and plus i could use, it felt better than it did. We taught a less active named Txxeng, he said he was happy with his life but i dont know how much of the truth he was telling when we asked him how he was and stuff. But we taught him the importance of tithing before we left cuz that was one thing he said he stopped doing. After that we taught Gxxlen's sister Ayyrlene and Elder Belnap and i are just wanting things to pick up because its been too long so we asked her about her assignment and she isn't really learning anything in her heart she will hear what we teach and it enters her mind...sort of hahaha but it doesn't enter her heart. I invited her to read 2 Nephi 31 and  we also invited her to pray about truth and if she should be baptized after her reading. With our investigator Eyylleanor who was supposed to get baptized this last saturday but had to have her date pushed forward, we really feel like that she doesn't understand the importance of repenting before baptism or the sacredness of the covenant we make with God when we take upon the name of Christ and promise to always keep his commandments...so we had no choice but to really crack down and we whipped out a scripture that got really serious about being clean. It was good and hopefully we can  help get her on track so she can be ready for baptism.

Thursday- We stopped by our investigator Myyary Ann that seemed promising and there was no answer and our investigator Gxxlen thought he saw signs of people there, so that was a bummer. We went to go teach this lady Jyyona but she ended up having work so that fell through. We decided to go to our promising 70 year old giddy leg slapping pal Lxxope, but we think that there is something up. We got a letter from his neighbor saying that he doesn't feel ready to change religions and his faith and all this stuff that was written in someone else's hand writing. Elder Belnap and i were shocked! It was crazy! THIS IS THE GUY THAT TOLD US HE SLEPT WITH THE BOOK OF MORMON NEXT TO HIM!!!!! he would sometimes slap our legs silly because he was excited to learn and he had a bap date and wanted to get baptized. Elder Belnap and i want an answer from him though because we don't know if his family is just maybe doing stuff or if it is him to but nevertheless we want to find out from Lope so we are gonna try and visit him. After that we went to Myyarisel and she has a bap date but she had a problem with the Word of Wisdom so we have to now push her bap date forward! That was a bummer! She is really struggling with other things and it is rough. That day was a rough one.

Friday- So after Thursday, weekly planning was just not the same. We dropped Myyary Ann because we don't feel like it's right and during the middle of it we didn't know what to do or how to help people so i felt that we should get up and go outside to Lyyope and see what's up. We didn't find him but after that we found two potential investigators which was good! This day most of our plans fell through again but we had a pretty good lesson with a partly active member and her nonmember husband. We visited another investigator who had a bap date but wasn't married and has birth certificate issues so she cant get baptized yet and we taught about personal revelation. After that we ate at a member's house and got stereotyped that Americans are carnivorous beasts that don't like vegetables.

Saturday- I had the opportunity to baptize Gxxlen and since he became friends with a general authority Elder Schmutz because his daughter messaged him on facebook one day, he came and visited which was cool. He is a nice guy. Gxxlen had made a joke that i was going to drown him because he's so small and i didn't bend down when going to baptize him and i had to made sure i got him all the way under so it took not a long time but yeah hahaha. it was an awesome experience though. After we taught a lesson to the person we found Lyyeona when we went to find Lyyope. We taught her and invited her to come to church. Later we ate at Gxxlen's sister, Ayyrlene, [] After we taught her and really got serious about baptism and almost got a bap date but she said she will get baptized but she doesn't know about a specific date. We also found out we got a new temporary companion. Elder Cuenza! He came out in the field with me and is a trainee too.

Sunday- This morning i helped get a cat that looked like it was stuck up on this wall thing. it was bigger than kitten but not too big. And it was scared as i was trying to pull it off the wall i had to struggle a bit to get its claws to stop holding on to whatever it was grabbing without hurting it. Lyyeona came to church and after church we went to the apartment to plan what we will do. Elder Belnap went with Gxxlen to teach and they got a new investigator and i took Elder Cuenza to La Mesa and we taught Txxoto (the guy we gave a blessing to because he has a tumor in his head and after the blessing felt strength) and we hadn't taught him in three weeks because his only free days are sundays. but we gave him the Book of Mormon and told him to read it. When Elder Cuenza and i asked him where he has read up to, he has read all the way up to 2 Nephi!!!! *jaw dropped* that was incredible!!! It was the best! He is able to feel happiness when he reads and loves it. We taught about Lesson 1 and he felt so much joy! the spirit was strong and i am so excited! He definitely will get baptized! 

The week was pretty rough with teaching but the lesson with Txxoto really helped. This gospel is a message of hope and Txxoto is an example to that. I have really been having some struggles while Im here but as i feel the spirit i am able to feel the true happiness of the Gospel and everything is good. May we always strive to have the spirit with us. Mahal ko kayo. Alam ko na ang ebanghelyo ni jesucristo ay totoo. Ibinibigay ng ebanghelyo ni jesucristo and maraming biyaya.

With lots of love,

Elder Wright