June 8, 2015
Pictures from June 2015
Here are several pictures Sister Wright has sent us since she has arrived in Brazil. She is now serving in a city called Sete Lagoas. It is located about 2 hours north of Belo Horzonte.
May 11, 2015
Finally going to Brazil
This last Saturday I received my long awaited visa to Brazil. When I
was told this by President Craven I had a strange mixture of emotion
that I wasn't expecting. Even before entering the MTC I was dreading
being reassigned to a mission in the United States. That was the last
thing that I wanted to happen. I was so excited to go and teach the
restored gospel of Jesus Christ in a foreign country in a new
language. It sounded like an adventure that I had been longing for!
When I got my reassignment in December to Charlotte, North Carolina I
was excited to spend a little time out east then head to my ideal
destination in South America. I expected to stay here for 6 weeks then
be on my way to Brazil. Obviously, things didn't quite go according to
my plan.
My stay here in the Mission of Miracles has had some ups and downs but
I have become a much better person because of it and I wouldn't trade
it for anything in the world. At this point I'm a little sad to leave
it behind. It seems that whenever we get comfortable with where we are
God decides to change things around. One of my favorite one liners
that I've heard so far is "There is no growth in the comfort zone or
comfort in the growth zone." At the beginning I definitely wasn't
comfortable here. It's not because it was extremely difficult
adjusting to missionary life. It was because I wanted to be somewhere
else. I wasn't where my feet were.
This past transfer in Greensboro I fell in love with missionary work.
I have enjoyed all my time as a missionary but I gained a passion for
it here. I think that's why I'm leaving. Because I love this area, the
people, and my companions! God can't let me get too comfortable! :)
I expected to be much more excited about this transfer. I've been
looking forward to it since I got here! It's not to say I'm not
excited, I know it is going to be a blast in Brazil! However, I am
going to miss my home in North Carolina. This is where I learned to be
a missionary. North Carolina has changed me.
This is a bitter sweet moment. I know that I'm going where I need to
be though. I am excited for what the future has in store. I've become
comfortable here and so it's time for me to move on. I am so thankful
that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me enough to put me where I
need to be to grow the most. That is the point of this life. To learn
and grow to become like Him. I know that I'm nowhere near but I know
my potential and I trust His plan. If I've learned one thing so far
it's that it's always God's plan, not Sister Wright's. I am so
grateful for that. I have learned to accept what comes and love it.
I know that God puts us where we need to be for a reason. The people
that come into our path are there by divine design of a Father with
infinite love for you. We can learn so much and be he happiest in our
current circumstances if we simple look for what He intends for us to
learn.
I invite you all to go about your days for consciously. Happiness and
knowledge is all around you. It's placed there by your Father in
Heaven. You just need to take the time to notice it. It is your
choice. Choose to be happy and grow everyday!
was told this by President Craven I had a strange mixture of emotion
that I wasn't expecting. Even before entering the MTC I was dreading
being reassigned to a mission in the United States. That was the last
thing that I wanted to happen. I was so excited to go and teach the
restored gospel of Jesus Christ in a foreign country in a new
language. It sounded like an adventure that I had been longing for!
When I got my reassignment in December to Charlotte, North Carolina I
was excited to spend a little time out east then head to my ideal
destination in South America. I expected to stay here for 6 weeks then
be on my way to Brazil. Obviously, things didn't quite go according to
my plan.
My stay here in the Mission of Miracles has had some ups and downs but
I have become a much better person because of it and I wouldn't trade
it for anything in the world. At this point I'm a little sad to leave
it behind. It seems that whenever we get comfortable with where we are
God decides to change things around. One of my favorite one liners
that I've heard so far is "There is no growth in the comfort zone or
comfort in the growth zone." At the beginning I definitely wasn't
comfortable here. It's not because it was extremely difficult
adjusting to missionary life. It was because I wanted to be somewhere
else. I wasn't where my feet were.
This past transfer in Greensboro I fell in love with missionary work.
I have enjoyed all my time as a missionary but I gained a passion for
it here. I think that's why I'm leaving. Because I love this area, the
people, and my companions! God can't let me get too comfortable! :)
I expected to be much more excited about this transfer. I've been
looking forward to it since I got here! It's not to say I'm not
excited, I know it is going to be a blast in Brazil! However, I am
going to miss my home in North Carolina. This is where I learned to be
a missionary. North Carolina has changed me.
This is a bitter sweet moment. I know that I'm going where I need to
be though. I am excited for what the future has in store. I've become
comfortable here and so it's time for me to move on. I am so thankful
that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me enough to put me where I
need to be to grow the most. That is the point of this life. To learn
and grow to become like Him. I know that I'm nowhere near but I know
my potential and I trust His plan. If I've learned one thing so far
it's that it's always God's plan, not Sister Wright's. I am so
grateful for that. I have learned to accept what comes and love it.
I know that God puts us where we need to be for a reason. The people
that come into our path are there by divine design of a Father with
infinite love for you. We can learn so much and be he happiest in our
current circumstances if we simple look for what He intends for us to
learn.
I invite you all to go about your days for consciously. Happiness and
knowledge is all around you. It's placed there by your Father in
Heaven. You just need to take the time to notice it. It is your
choice. Choose to be happy and grow everyday!
April 20, 2015
We all need the help of others
Every week during our planning session we compile a list of members
that we want to involve in the work that week. After that it is a lot
of calls and voice mails before the real magic happens of laboring in
the Lord's vineyard with the members of our ward.
This past week we called a Sister in the ward to come out with us and
we were surprised with the response we got. She came up to us at
church and told us the voice mail we left for her about coming teaching
with her made her cry. We were a little confused by this. She went on
to explain how it has been years since she has gotten a call from the
missionaries for her. Her husband is not a member of the church and so
every time the missionaries called it was to see if ye could teach her
husband. She told us how she felt very used and unappreciated.
It was a great lesson to me of how easy it is to overlook some of our
Heavenly Father's precious children. I'm sure that the missionaries in
the past had their hearts in the right place. They wanted to unite
this family for eternity by bringing the father into the gospel fold.
Through this experience my attention has been heightened to the needs
of everyone in the ward. Just because it someone may be firmly planted
in gospel soil does not mean that we can over look them. Every single
person you encounter is a child of God who needs love and support.
None of us are perfect. We all need the help of others.
The structure of the church is divinely inspired in such a way that we
have many opportunities to serve each other. We need our brothers and
sisters. Heavenly Father often meets our needs and the needs of others
through acts of kindness from His other children.
I invite you to take the time to observe the needs of others this week
and then act. It doesn't take much exertion to brighten someone's day
and make their burden lighter. Pay extra attention to the person who
doesn't get a lot of attention. I can testify that when you do this
you will be the Lord's hands on the earth.
Mosiah 2:17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn
wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your
fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
Enviado do meu iPad
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
that we want to involve in the work that week. After that it is a lot
of calls and voice mails before the real magic happens of laboring in
the Lord's vineyard with the members of our ward.
This past week we called a Sister in the ward to come out with us and
we were surprised with the response we got. She came up to us at
church and told us the voice mail we left for her about coming teaching
with her made her cry. We were a little confused by this. She went on
to explain how it has been years since she has gotten a call from the
missionaries for her. Her husband is not a member of the church and so
every time the missionaries called it was to see if ye could teach her
husband. She told us how she felt very used and unappreciated.
It was a great lesson to me of how easy it is to overlook some of our
Heavenly Father's precious children. I'm sure that the missionaries in
the past had their hearts in the right place. They wanted to unite
this family for eternity by bringing the father into the gospel fold.
Through this experience my attention has been heightened to the needs
of everyone in the ward. Just because it someone may be firmly planted
in gospel soil does not mean that we can over look them. Every single
person you encounter is a child of God who needs love and support.
None of us are perfect. We all need the help of others.
The structure of the church is divinely inspired in such a way that we
have many opportunities to serve each other. We need our brothers and
sisters. Heavenly Father often meets our needs and the needs of others
through acts of kindness from His other children.
I invite you to take the time to observe the needs of others this week
and then act. It doesn't take much exertion to brighten someone's day
and make their burden lighter. Pay extra attention to the person who
doesn't get a lot of attention. I can testify that when you do this
you will be the Lord's hands on the earth.
Mosiah 2:17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn
wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your
fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
Enviado do meu iPad
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
April 13, 2015
Missionary Panel
Missionary Panel
This week my companions and I had the unique opportunity to
participate in a missionary panel at Guildford college. They have a
course in Mormonism and this past week they were studying missionary
work. We were talked to a class of about fifteen people with the
Elders in our area and answered questions the students had about
missionary work. The questions were all mostly about our routine and
why we decided to serve missions. But we did get some weird ones like
"what sort of guidelines are there for women's safety?" We told them
we just follow the Spirit and we don't have any problems.
They were all really fascinated with the white handbook. Apparently
they read through it as a class. What?! They were all pretty curious
about if we follow all the rules and who enforced them. We told them
that no one makes us follow the rules but we keep them all because we
love God. I think every person in the room scribbled that down on
their notepads!
It was a great opportunity to bear testimony to a captive audience. I
made sure that I bore frequent testimony and explained the Holy Ghost.
If nothing else I wanted them to know that God answers our prayers
through the Spirit. Judging by the amount of notes that class took on
what we were saying I'm not to worried about that point being missed.
The teacher provided us a copy of the syllabus for the class and one
of the Elders noticed that the Book of Mormon is not part of the
required reading! None of them have a copy. We remedied that very
quickly. I have never seen anyone so excited to receive a copy of the
Book of Mormon as these college students! I wish everyone we talked to
had as much enthusiasm! We also distributed the pamphlets we use for
teaching. It was a great way to give out a lot of media.
The best part of the panel was that we found a new investigator. She
is so sweet and she is getting baptized next month! It just goes to
show that you will find people prepared to receive the gospel no
matter where you go! If we simply follow the promptings of the Holy
Ghost we will be given opportunities to share the gospel of Christ.
I invite you to make an effort to recognize the promptings of the Holy
Ghost. I testify that when we do follow the promptings God gives us He
will give us even more and we can come even closer to Him.
Enviado do meu iPad
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
This week my companions and I had the unique opportunity to
participate in a missionary panel at Guildford college. They have a
course in Mormonism and this past week they were studying missionary
work. We were talked to a class of about fifteen people with the
Elders in our area and answered questions the students had about
missionary work. The questions were all mostly about our routine and
why we decided to serve missions. But we did get some weird ones like
"what sort of guidelines are there for women's safety?" We told them
we just follow the Spirit and we don't have any problems.
They were all really fascinated with the white handbook. Apparently
they read through it as a class. What?! They were all pretty curious
about if we follow all the rules and who enforced them. We told them
that no one makes us follow the rules but we keep them all because we
love God. I think every person in the room scribbled that down on
their notepads!
It was a great opportunity to bear testimony to a captive audience. I
made sure that I bore frequent testimony and explained the Holy Ghost.
If nothing else I wanted them to know that God answers our prayers
through the Spirit. Judging by the amount of notes that class took on
what we were saying I'm not to worried about that point being missed.
The teacher provided us a copy of the syllabus for the class and one
of the Elders noticed that the Book of Mormon is not part of the
required reading! None of them have a copy. We remedied that very
quickly. I have never seen anyone so excited to receive a copy of the
Book of Mormon as these college students! I wish everyone we talked to
had as much enthusiasm! We also distributed the pamphlets we use for
teaching. It was a great way to give out a lot of media.
The best part of the panel was that we found a new investigator. She
is so sweet and she is getting baptized next month! It just goes to
show that you will find people prepared to receive the gospel no
matter where you go! If we simply follow the promptings of the Holy
Ghost we will be given opportunities to share the gospel of Christ.
I invite you to make an effort to recognize the promptings of the Holy
Ghost. I testify that when we do follow the promptings God gives us He
will give us even more and we can come even closer to Him.
Enviado do meu iPad
 |
| Guildford college |
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
April 1, 2015
Trust in the Lord with all Your Heart
I've been struggling a little bit lately with trusting in the Lord's timing. I have been waiting on my visa to Brazil for 4 months now. I have absolutely loved my mission so far but I hit a point where I just wanted to go. I was really disappointed in myself for feeling this way so I decided to start studying faith and hope during my studies in the morning. I also focused my prayers on aligning my will with the will of my Heavenly Father.
I learned so much over a the short period of time that I did this. The biggest thing was that I became much more aware of the love that my Heavenly Father has for me and His purpose. He does everything for the benefit of His children. Everything. Once I realized that I began to rethink what it meant to align my will with His.
I testify that everything that our Heavenly Father has us go through is for our benefit. Our circumstances allow us to become the best person we can be and become like Him. He wants us to be happy like Him. I know that wherever God calls me to serve is the place where I will learn and grow the most. It is also where I will be the happiest. All I have to do is work hard and choose to experience the happiness the my Heavenly Father is offering me.
I know that this principle is true in all of our lives. We always have the choice to be happy no matter our circumstances by shifting our perspective to that of our loving Heavenly Father. I promise that He knows you and loves you more than you can imagine.
I invite you all to take an inventory of your attitude right now. Are you choosing to accept happiness that God is offering you in its fullness? He will never force anything on you. It is your choice to be happy so do it!
March 16, 2015
It becomes so easy in life to slip into a mind set of simply
completing activities. This is no different in activity in the church.
Going to meetings, serving others, reading scriptures, and praying
daily can become habits that we don't think twice about when we do
them. In order to grow from these things we must take an active role
in reflecting on them.
God gives us all things for our growth and benefit. However, it is our
choice whether we accept and act upon these things. In order for them
to truly change us we must have the right focus.
Are you focusing on completely theses activities or becoming more like
Christ and serving God's children continually? Consecration is when we
dedicate our thoughts, words, and deeds to the Lord.
We learn in Corinthians 3:16-17 that we are the temple of the Lord and
in D&C 109:12 that the temple is consecrated to the work of the Lord.
We should be striving every day to further God's work on the earth
like the temple. We should be in the world but remain unchanged by it.
I invite you to write down one thing that you will do differently this
week to become more consecrated to the Lord. I know that this will
bless you and you will see heaven's light more clearly on your life.
completing activities. This is no different in activity in the church.
Going to meetings, serving others, reading scriptures, and praying
daily can become habits that we don't think twice about when we do
them. In order to grow from these things we must take an active role
in reflecting on them.
God gives us all things for our growth and benefit. However, it is our
choice whether we accept and act upon these things. In order for them
to truly change us we must have the right focus.
Are you focusing on completely theses activities or becoming more like
Christ and serving God's children continually? Consecration is when we
dedicate our thoughts, words, and deeds to the Lord.
We learn in Corinthians 3:16-17 that we are the temple of the Lord and
in D&C 109:12 that the temple is consecrated to the work of the Lord.
We should be striving every day to further God's work on the earth
like the temple. We should be in the world but remain unchanged by it.
I invite you to write down one thing that you will do differently this
week to become more consecrated to the Lord. I know that this will
bless you and you will see heaven's light more clearly on your life.
March 11, 2015
The LORD always provides a way!
This past week was a week of miracles. We were able to see a lot of
progress in the people that we had been working with. Unfortunately
because some of our plans fell through we were not going to be able to
meet out goal for lessons with a member-present. We weren't extremely
upset about this but we kept working hard to get two more lessons in
hope that we could meet our goal.
On Sunday we had accepted that we would not make our goal and we were
a little disappointed. However, during Sunday school one of the women
from the ward asked if we could stop by that night to teach her two
young nieces that were not members of the church. We were very excited
and quickly agreed to stop by later that night to share a message with
them.
After church we went to the home of another member for dinner. We are
really spoiled here and we get fed by the ward nearly every night
during the week. We planned to talk to them about incorporating Preach
my Gospel into their family studies and to commit them to invite some
of their nonmember friends over for dinner the next time we come. We
had started eating when the daughter told us that she was expecting
some of her friends to come over to eat and hear a message! She had
invited them earlier that day. We quickly changed our lesson plan and
were able to teach another member-present lesson!
We had two member-present lessons handed to us today and we're able to
meet our goal! That just goes to show that when you work hard to
achieve a goal God will help you. I testify that He is mindful of us
and when we set goals He helps us achieve them. When we set goals
faithfully we invite divine assistance.
I invite you all to set a goal this week to become a little bit better
in some aspect of your life. It can be big or small. Then pray for
help and guidance that you will be able to achieve it. I know that our
Heavenly Father will help you because He loves you. He rejoices when
we set righteous goals that help us draw near to Him.
1 Nephi 3:7
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and
do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord
giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare
a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth
them.
progress in the people that we had been working with. Unfortunately
because some of our plans fell through we were not going to be able to
meet out goal for lessons with a member-present. We weren't extremely
upset about this but we kept working hard to get two more lessons in
hope that we could meet our goal.
On Sunday we had accepted that we would not make our goal and we were
a little disappointed. However, during Sunday school one of the women
from the ward asked if we could stop by that night to teach her two
young nieces that were not members of the church. We were very excited
and quickly agreed to stop by later that night to share a message with
them.
After church we went to the home of another member for dinner. We are
really spoiled here and we get fed by the ward nearly every night
during the week. We planned to talk to them about incorporating Preach
my Gospel into their family studies and to commit them to invite some
of their nonmember friends over for dinner the next time we come. We
had started eating when the daughter told us that she was expecting
some of her friends to come over to eat and hear a message! She had
invited them earlier that day. We quickly changed our lesson plan and
were able to teach another member-present lesson!
We had two member-present lessons handed to us today and we're able to
meet our goal! That just goes to show that when you work hard to
achieve a goal God will help you. I testify that He is mindful of us
and when we set goals He helps us achieve them. When we set goals
faithfully we invite divine assistance.
I invite you all to set a goal this week to become a little bit better
in some aspect of your life. It can be big or small. Then pray for
help and guidance that you will be able to achieve it. I know that our
Heavenly Father will help you because He loves you. He rejoices when
we set righteous goals that help us draw near to Him.
1 Nephi 3:7
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and
do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord
giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare
a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth
them.
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