I'm not your dad (Week 9, Venezuela City, Gen. T. de Leon Ward, Elder Belnap)

This week was a good one with a lot of things learned. but first i have cut baked goods and ice cream hahaha so funny and same thing with my kasama who has gained weight here. he is ready to get fit with me! it is so sweet! we do a good work out every morning and it feels good to get some good physical exercise in. i think it definitely helps with discipline in generally in the mission! but anyway about my week!

monday- the days fly by! i think this was the day my kasama and i went to McDonald's! it was just like america but the filipino food is better. when we got back to the apartment i planned to take an 18 minute nap and i ended up sleeping for an hour! hahaha my comp didnt even wake me up! but whatever hahaha it was pretty funny but i started studying after for an hour, tagalog and then my comp and i left to go to an investigator's house. I felt the gift of tongues working i feel like cuz i studied the language! i am still learning but it was nice feeling like i am improving in speaking and understanding, even though it is slowly. I just need to work harder.

tuesday- we had a district meeting which was fun to be at and taught about love and how if we love then we will become better teachers. So true. i also played the piano a bit which was fun too. On our way back we went to see Myarisel (an investigator with a bap date) but she wasnt there, so we found Rxoger, divine, and ayki. we taught them the first lesson and i spoke the first vision in tagalog to the best of my ability with i think some english but it was awesome and a great experience. we also met this girl named Kyaren and my kasama and i were so loopy that night and we shared a message and she still seemed interested because she said she had little time but kept staying outside hahaha she was cool.

Wednesday- We have this lady named tyina in our neighborhood and we will buy food from her a lot and she is a good cook and a nice lady! I invited her to listen to our message and she said yes it was awesome. also later that day my kasama and i gave two blessings to an old woman and a younger girl who were sick. later that night we ate at a part member family's house and i held a pigeon cuz they i think have birds and then eat them and the kid let me hold it. it was sweet! my first time holding a pigeon!

thursday- Thursday was awesome our investigator marisel was able to be taught and we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and about the word of wisdom again. She didnt stop drinking tea but we found out other things with the word of wisdom and yeah...BUT the plan of salvation i think put things into perspective and i was able to help explain to her the importance of the word of wisdom. and how we are asked to not partake of those substances cuz are bodies are temples and no unlcean thing should enter into them. Also, we need to have the spirit with us and we cannot have the spirit with us if we are distracted by other things and if we are not living the commandments of God. 

Friday- we tried looking for someone but we couldnt find him. my comp and i have also taken some serious goals for bap dates. we had a good weekly planning session. we will see what happens

Saturday- we had to go to a baptismal interview again and while i was there i was sitting down outside and this little girl named Syoarsya (SIR-SHUH) who was i think half filipino half white, probably like three or something, ran up to me saying "DADDY". you can imagine how confused i was as she tried to sit in my lap (but i couldnt let her cuz im a missionary) and i have no idea who she is. her babysitter and i think younger brother were there, so her parents werent there but for some reason she thought i was her dad. She wouldnt stop calling me dad and people loved iot ahha to be honest i loved it hahaha it was so cute. it happened two times where i went somewhere she couldnt see me and she would start crying and then see me and then say like daddy and get happy or whatever. it was so funny, but eventually i had to leave and then she tried to chase after me and was crying. i was heartbroken it was sad but i had to get over it.

Sunday- Had a wonderful sacrament meeting where i really felt the savior's love for me. it truly was a testament to how important sacrament meeting is. we remember the saviors sacrafice for us and we remake our baptismal covenants and become clean again and try better.

I really have learned greatly from the scriptures i learn so much about nephi and his great faith. like anyone else though you can see he had developed his faith and he did it by always fulfilling the Lord's commandments with no complaints. this was shown when he made plates for different records even though he didnt know why but the Lord commanded him. also he went back to Jersusalem to get the record of the Jews. A great man we can all learn from.

I invite you all to take deep study into the scriptures even if it is for just 15 minutes it can do a lot and increase your desire to be more like your Savior. I love you all and miss you! but the work here is great! i say these things in the name of jesus christ, amen.

Love,

Elder Wright

Rice Belly (Week 8, Venezuela City, Gen T. De Leon Ward, Elder Belnap)

Hey everyone! the philippines is still great by the way of course! i have had some great experiences this week but before i get into it...IM SCARED OF GETTING A RICE BELLY! I definitley think im gonna start watching what i eat more hahaha its hard cuz treats are so cheap here...2 pesos for the pinkamasarap (most delicious) things called crinkles. chocolate pastries with i think powdered sugar on top or is it flour... idk but they are so good. (50 pesos=1USdollar) so thats cheap also i found something else! A melon flavored slurpee at 7-11...so good! crazy how good that stuff is but i gotta stop hahaha :'(. Anyway i have also just eaten a pear and an apple from a vendor where there were ants crawling on the fruit but there werent that many and i didnt see any on my fruit...bu tanyway they were the best! SO much better than America it was insane! also buco juice or coconut juice here is AWESOME! not like whatever that is they give you in america! so as you can tell im liking the food!

Now to the parts you guys have been wanting to read!

SO MY WEEK:

Monday was P-day that was nice we got 8 new investigators! my comp said that was the most he has ever gotten on a p-day! so that was sweet and they are a cool family! but we havent taught them yet again. only the grandma with her cool neighbors who we have taught and have invited them to come to know the truth.

Tuesday we had a district and zone meeting. it was cool and actually really fun! i enjoyed being there i got to know people in my zone and district more and i have made some new friends. The missionaries here are awesome! and i look foward to working with more! Also on that day there was a huge flooding!! it took a while to get home! it got to a point where my comp and i had to roll up our pants and taking off our socks, remove the soles of our rubber shoes and just go through the flood! BOY am i thankful for my long legs! i was able to get through the flood. it was a mighty march and meanwhile some kids were playing in the flood. oh i forgot to mention that i fell into the trap of those beautiful crinkles again. Later that day we tried to share a message of building the faith of 3 of our investigators who have bap dates to try and get them more serious about baptism.

wednesday: So we taught the plan of slavation to our investigator with a bap date Judy Ann but before that we taught a lesson to a guy named Jxxesus Pxxatriarcha or something like that. he was an interesting guy and had a lot to say. his beliefs were all over the place and i started talking to him alone while my comp was talking to others Jesus was with and i found otu that he doesnt believe Christ is a God but i still kept talking to him and tried to i dont know just understand him and i heard him say that God has no beginning or end and so i asked him he believes that God is unchanging and he said yes so then i talked with him about there being a prophet today. he liked what i said and we gave him a book of mormon and it sounds like he has been reading it and he asks questions!

Thursday: After experiencing a lesson where i feel like i didnt do my best in cuz i didnt focus on loving the people i knew i had to change so i prayed for help and found a new investigator named Tyyita she is a sweet older woman with stong faith and i hope she desires to learn more. Also we met wiht an investigtor myyaricele and she had so many questions! we answered questions and somehow talked about the work of wisdom and she drinks tea and loves it so i ferlt prompeted to tell her to read the book of mormon everytime she gets the desire to drink to tea and then until she stops. I hope she takes the invitation seriously cuz she accepeted a bap date we extended! she truly is awesome.

Friday: Elder Neil L. Anderson came and spoke to us it was awesome but im runniong out of time in my email. but it was good talking about christ and seeking out gifts of the spirit! I also finished reading the book of mormon which i wish i did beofre i came but it truly is a true book that brings you closer to christ and becoming like him if you follow the teachings you learn in it. 

Sunday: two investigators are struggling but we are trying to strengthen their faith and help them repent and be ready for their bap date.

May we all strengthen our faith and have faith like unto the brother of Jared who the Lord revealed his hand to him because how great his faith was (ether 12). Through this we will receive strength from the Lord and become more like him.

I love you all! and i hope all is well!

Love,

Elder Tama

A DAY WITHOUT RICE IS NOT PARADISE (Week 7, First Area: Venezuela City, Gen T. De Leon Ward, Elder Belnap)

HEY PEEPS!

Im so happy to finally be in the field! my first area is venezuela city in the Gen T.
De Leon ward. it is an aweesome place and the people are so kind here! people are crazy generous here.

my first day last wednesday was pretty rough with traveling with all of my bags without the convience of one car but taking different public transportation. a jeepni and a tricycle and walking around. keep this in mind my mission is tiny but it took us like what 4 hours when it shoudlve taken an hour hahaha it was sweet! i got a goodnights rest, thats for sure! once we got hjome i met Sister Edds and investigators, Gxxlen, jyyezreel, and eyyleanor. they are awesome! and glen is like my best friend! []. he fed us tuna omelets and rice. it was bomb!

So NO MORE TOILET PAPER!!!! WOOO! thats a blast...but actually not as bad as you think..seriously hahaha. kind of funny. So me and my companion Elder Belnap from idaho are both in a new area but half of this area was is first area so he knows the area and a lot of people which is good.

the study time is pretty long! by the time i get out i fiond myself sleepy and it makes it hard cuz ive caught my eyes closign and opening and reapeating during lessons where my comp is teaching and where i am listening xuz i can barely speak. not gonna lie tagalog is rough BUT the Lord has helped me and i have already made progress! i can understand a lot during lessons...it just is hard to speak but hey thats pretty good...am i wRIGHT? slowly but surely i am learning. some people think im pretty good at first, whicvh is pretty funny.

This place is so big but so small! hahaha its weird! eveything is so close together except there wiull be houses in one area and stores and markets in one so we have to travel a lot and a lot of the time when you are traveled you are squished together! so the arm's length rule of being next to the opposite gender cant always happen here hahaha. 

So many people call me and my companion guapo or handsome...its pretty funny. even Gxxlen does hahaha that weirdo. but yeah a lot of filipinos love us because we are american so thats a plus.

My comp and i have gotten four bap dates for Gxxlen, Jyyudy Ayynn, Jyyezreel and Eyyleanor! so excited! PLEASE pray for Eyyleanor she is having a rough time with her parents because they do not weant her to be baptzed :(. I think things will work out. Gxxlen told me yesterday that he was nervous to get bvaptized anmd so i told him that that is okay! i told him if he wasnt nervous then he wouldnt care annd he wouldnt realize how important being baptized is.i told him that our purpose is to baptize converts not just people and he told me that he would regret it if he didnt get baptized so that was awesome! sp stoked for him!

I love sharing the gospel with what i can in tagalog! it is awesome nad i have seen how the Lord has blessed me! being here is awesome and i am so lucky to share this gospel with people and to teach them the importance of being baptized in our church because we have the priesthood authority. i explained like this to investigators. Baptism is kind of like this. so you can have a car but what good is it if you dfont have the keys to the car. you arent able to unlock it, to work it, there is no authority. just like wiuht baptism if you dont have tyhe priesthood keys, you dont have the proper authority to baptize to be able to unlock the gate that leads to the path back to the presence of our heavenly father and promised blessings he willl give us if we are worthy of them (i didnt get to the promised blessings part in the lesson but i said the other things) and it is so true. its why this gospel is true. i love it so much and i love being here.

I love you all so much. Take Care!

Love,

Elder Tama (Right)

PS my comp has gotten told he looks like MR BEAN, elvis presly and ben affleck

I have gotten James from twilight...the dark haired one, Ansel Elgort or agustus wateres from the fault in our stars and justin timberlake....Can you guys confimr this hahahahahaha????

ts already chritsmas season here

inside of a trike

a street

my apartment

a mouse in our apartment that we had to kill

gxxlen and eyyleanor and maybe jyyezreel is in there i couldnt tell

Also cut my roomates hair before i left!

September 6, 2017 New Arrivals (Week 6, MTC to Quezon City North Mission, Elder Belnap)

PHILIPPINES QUEZON CITY NORTH MISSION
Zabarte Rd. cor. Ilang-Ilang Street, Almar Subdivision
Camarin, Caloocan City

7 September 2017

Joy Varner

16 Pickering Circle

Ladera Ranch, CA 92694

United States

Dear Sister Wright,

Sister Hughes and I are excited to have your son, Elder Wright, with us in the Philippines Quezon City North Mission.  He completed his training in the Philippines MTC and is now officially working in the mission field.  We had the opportunity to meet with him and get acquainted.  We were impressed with his testimony and desire to serve the Lord.

We feel that Elder Wright is well prepared to serve the people here in the Philippines.  He will have the privilege of changing the lives of many people as he teaches and takes them to the waters of baptism.  His life, in turn, will also be changed forever through his experiences here. 

We would encourage you to follow the advice of Elder M. Russell Ballard and obtain a copy of Preach My Gospel.  Tell your missionary that you are studying it and ask him to share with you the things he is learning as he studies.  This will bless your family and your son.  We want him to be a “Preach My Gospel scholar.”

Missionaries serve with an “eye single to the Glory of God.”  Their entire focus, therefore, needs to be on their work and ministry.  Help and encourage him to do this. Please do not mention how much time is remaining for him, or special events you may have planned for him on his return, as this will only act as a distraction to his service.  With your encouragement, he will mature and progress beyond your expectations.

We have enclosed pictures taken upon arrival.  Please make an extra special effort to keep in contact with him through email or letters of encouragement and support. When missionaries receive letters in the mission field, it is the highlight of their week.  Please encourage your missionary to be obedient to the mission rules. Being obedient to these rules will help ensure the spiritual and physical safety of your missionary.

For your information, Elder Wright’s release date has been set for 03 Jul 2019, to coincide with the mission’s transfer day schedule.  Please be assured that we will do our very best to make this a wonderful and fulfilling experience for him.  Thank you for your support.

Sincerely yours,

President Stewart F. Hughes