April 14th 2014

Buenas Dias todos! Estoy muy agradacido para tener esta oportunidad para escribir una correo a ustedes!! It's really hard to believe that it has been a full week since the last time that I was sitting here for Preparation Day! ...I keep sayiing that I know...but things have just been moving really quickly. There is so much to do, and the time to do it all just slips out from under you!

On that note.......transfer calls come out this weekend...WHAT!?!?! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM!!!!!??????? ...ok, now that's over with....

This week has been really good! The work is still moving forward at amazing speeds!

The season as well has been just flying by!! Our 14 mile drive into town has transformed from a dull brown, to beautiful fields and vineyards full of green and colors! And when we aren't driving past the dairy and feed lots, it smells just as good!

It's starting to become really beautiful...not as I expected Washington to be, but in its own amazing way.

But to add to the rapid growth of the orchards, has been the need of laborers in them, to pick the flowers so the fruit is bigger and more spread across the trees. Although that is now a large obstacles with finding and teaching our investigators, we have found miracles each day as we still move forward and find, teach, and see progression!

It's a definite humbling experience to get to know many of the workers, what they sacrifice, and their overall attitude to it.

One of our investigators, Vicente Lopez, has been an amazing example for it. He has been living in one of the boarding trailers on the floor of the living room. With no job, he started having a really hard time finding a way to pay rent. I have seen just an amazing change in him as we have been teaching him. He is now a few days in another job, and as he was tending to sores on his hands from picking, he gave an amazing prayer! There was an amazing and humble Spirit that we felt as he gave great gratitude and excitement for his new job, us as new and close friends, and the ability to come closer to Him, our Father in Heaven. Orchards are one of the coolest things to pass by! Not only is it drop dead beautiful row after row, but you can hear excited talk, laughter, and singing from every one of the workers! Here and there you get the "Elders!!" and a wave of waves. It's just a really fun and cool experience! Riding the bikes make it that much better! With the lower miles, we do that more and more, in the country areas, and in the city. That, and recently with the necessity to bike more, I've strapped my portable speaker to my bag, so now we can listen to MOTAB just about everywhere; "conversation starter 101"!!!

But I'm learning a lot more that I thought I would with farming and such. I might even get to learn how to tend grapes, prune, and graft...need to ask around!

I never thought much of the details of tending orchards. One thing that has fascinated me has been pollinating through pallets full of boxes of bees.... More or less because while riding my bike down the hills, you hit an average of 20 or so bees...thank goodness for sunglasses!

One of the highlights for the week was the Specialized Training and interviews with President Ware, which happen once every 12 weeks. i always love being able to talk to President Ware! He is really amazing and has a very special love for this work and its missionaries. Along with the interviews, we participated in a really good training and discussion with the AP's, focused on the Book of Mormon and its role in the conversion process of ourselves, and those we share it with.

I just LOVE how Joseph Smith puts it: "The Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on the earth." That just makes me think...of all the books that we could have on the earth...had, have, or will have...the Book of Mormon is the most correct of them all. Of all the things that God would want us to know; that He knows would help us the most in this life to fulfill his purpose (to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man); He chose to bring about the Book of Mormon along with the Gospel library. WHA! It's really cool to think about.

We took an evening and visited a recent convert. We have seen an amazing Spirit that has been with her since, and the effects that it has started to have in her family (being the wife and only member of a family who's son died). She has such a strong testimony and has the faith and desire to share it with the whole family. We read out of the Book of Mormon, in the spot that she was:the book of Jarom. The smallest book in the Book of Mormon, and it had an amazing impact with her. One of the biggest impacts has been the personal messages that has fitted just for her and her situation. Sometimes, like Joseph Smith, one needs to read through a large portion to find what they may be looking for, such as he did to find James 1:5. 

I am grateful for the experiences that my mission has given me so far! It's getting warmer, so I'm excited to get out my short-sleeve shirts and get out there!! I'll be here, white shirt 'n tie, sharing the Gospel like nobodies business! "Man I love my mission!"

I love you all! Pray for you all! I'm grateful for everything and the support that I feel here in the WKM! Have a great week, dont forget to smile, and pray for opportunities to share this Gospel!

 

--

Elder Glen Wright Washing Kennewick Mission

Weekly Update

I am so excited to hear from all of you!

Things have been really good here! This week has been really busy and full of many amazing things! It's pretty crazy to think that today is P-Day, time to really get ready for this upcoming week.

The funny thing with this week has been the fact that we have been REALLY busy...but not much with appointments, more with everything else.
At the start of the week, there was a first-time conference for ALL district leaders and zone leaders in the mission...really weird, but it ended up being just a regular training. But it was set up really weird!

As little as I knew about the area so far, I was given a missionary to work with the day while Elder Trotter was gone to the meeting. But the whole day more felt like babysitting...:p BA!!! Although it was a little taxing, it was a whole lot of fun. All one can do in a situation like that is laugh, right! It was a fun...funny experience.

I was also able to go to a very special occasion for Elder Trotter, a sealing of one of his first investigators. It's really special as missionaries to be able to see the blessings really play out in others lives. As missionaries, we invite others to come unto Christ. And the greatest blessing is to see them come unto the Father. There wasn't a brighter smile there then them, it just shone!!!

And to think that wasn't enough, the day after, while we were riding our bikes, we stopped by a man pouring coolant into his car. We really got talking, and he really opened up to us. There were and are so many things and trials that he has been going through. But really all that we could offer was a prayer. Wiping away a small tear, he started going back to work a little bit, so we asked him if we could meet with him a week from that day...the only day open for him. He cant meet at his house, but he said to meet him at the park at 6pm.

The week went by until our appointment. We rode to the park and saw him there early and waiting for us in the same parking stall. After a really good talk, we had to go again, but we invited him to Church the next day...didnt sound super solid, but we were excited to see.

HE WAS THERE!!!!! And to add to that. a 3-month recent convert and his friend were the first to greet and completely take him under their wings. After sacrament and all the greetings from the members, the President asked if he had family and whatnot here...after a "no," president burst into a smile and said: "Well you do now here!"

It was really cool! Just how everything fits perfectly together. I know that this isn't our work, we were riding our bikes to another appointment and instinctively stopped to talk to him. It's just amazing to see the work in action.

Everything else has been continuing. The work is a little slower, but I see that it is really picking up each day, it's just making sure that we are in the right place and listening to the Spirit to do what we need to do to help as much as we can!

One of the more fun ways that we have been opening our mouths has been at the weekly Pulga (flea market) in town. We got with the owner and got permission to set up a booth "table" and invite everyone to the Daily Dose, which is free English classes. We only made about 40 cards, which, to our pressurize, quickly disappeared within the hour. We also were able to talk to many people about the church. And then see what a pulga is like! Really fun!
Also was the first time that I had lengua (tongue). And according to Elder Trotter, was one of theworst he has had...too bad. It was pretty fun though. It kinda looked like they just took the whole thing, grilled it, then diced it into quarter cubes...everything on it! 

But everything is going really well. I love the spirit that is felt as we are working in the Lord's Vineyard! There are amazing things that happen each day to help us on our way! I love Mattawa! I love the WKM, best mission in the world! I love you all and hope the best for each of you in your endeavors!

--

Elder Glen Wright Washing Kennewick Mission 

Happy St Patricks Day

I am so excited to hear from all of you!

Things have been really good here! This week has been really busy and full of many amazing things! It's pretty crazy to think that today is P-Day, time to really get ready for this upcoming week.

The funny thing with this week has been the fact that we have been REALLY busy...but not much with appointments, more with everything else.
At the start of the week, there was a first-time conference for ALL district leaders and zone leaders in the mission...really weird, but it ended up being just a regular training. But it was set up really weird!

As little as I knew about the area so far, I was given a missionary to work with the day while Elder Trotter was gone to the meeting. But the whole day more felt like babysitting...:p BA!!! Although it was a little taxing, it was a whole lot of fun. All one can do in a situation like that is laugh, right! It was a fun...funny experience.

I was also able to go to a very special occasion for Elder Trotter, a sealing of one of his first investigators. It's really special as missionaries to be able to see the blessings really play out in others lives. As missionaries, we invite others to come unto Christ. And the greatest blessing is to see them come unto the Father. There wasn't a brighter smile there then them, it just shone!!!

And to think that wasn't enough, the day after, while we were riding our bikes, we stopped by a man pouring coolant into his car. We really got talking, and he really opened up to us. There were and are so many things and trials that he has been going through. But really all that we could offer was a prayer. Wiping away a small tear, he started going back to work a little bit, so we asked him if we could meet with him a week from that day...the only day open for him. He cant meet at his house, but he said to meet him at the park at 6pm.

The week went by until our appointment. We rode to the park and saw him there early, andwaiting for us in the same parking stall. After a really good talk, we had to go again, but we invited him to Church the next day...didnt sound super solid, but we were excited to see.

HE WAS THERE!!!!! And to add to that. a 3-month recent convert and his friend were the first to greet and completely take him under their wings. After sacrament and all the greetings from the members, the President asked if he had family and whatnot here...after a "no," president burst into a smile and said: "Well you do now here!"

It was really cool! Just how everything fits perfectly together. I know that this isn't our work, we were riding our bikes to another appointment and instinctively stopped to talk to him. It's just amazing to see the work in action.

Everything else has been continuing. The work is a little slower, but I see that it is really picking up each day, it's just making sure that we are in the right place and listening to the Spirit to do what we need to do to help as much as we can!

One of the more fun ways that we have been opening our mouths has been at the weekly Pulga (flea market) in town. We got with the owner and got permission to set up a booth "table" and invite everyone to the Daily Dose, which is free English classes. We only made about 40 cards, which, to our pressurize, quickly disappeared within the hour. We also were able to talk to many people about the church. And then see what a pulga is like! Really fun!
Also was the first time that I had lengua (tongue). And according to Elder Trotter, was one of the worst he has had...too bad. It was pretty fun though. It kinda looked like they just took the whole thing, grilled it, then diced it into quarter cubes...everything on it!

But everything is going really well. I love the spirit that is felt as we are working in the Lord's Vineyard! There are amazing things that happen each day to help us on our way! I love Mattawa! I love the WKM, best mission in the world! I love you all and hope the best for each of you in your endeavors!

--

Elder Glen Wright Washing Kennewick Mission 

Hello everyone!!!

Yup. I'm still alive here up North! Transfers went really well, although it was a long day of driving around. We had to go up to Yakima, picking up a bunch of others, then we headed into the middle of nothing...then to Othello. From Othello, I met my new companion, Elder Trotter, then we headed back to that "middle of nothing" spot, which seems to be Mattawa.

I LOVE MATTAWA!!!

Holly cow, this is such an awesome place! Basically, Mattawa is all vineyards, orchards, and fields, which need a lot of labor, so the town must have grown for all the workers to live there and work. The awesome thing is that all the people here are really cool! I love walking around (especially in an area I haven't been in before) and just talk to people! With the season coming, but still mellow, we are able to find many people around...but I dont really know what's going to happen when the harvest and growing seasons start up. The trees and orchards are starting to bloom, so it might start up soon, but for now, it's just super pretty and cool to look at. Most of the fields are owned by members, so we are wanting to get a couple Weekly Planning meetings in the vineyards and fields...cool pictures like that!!

I really like my new companion. He's pretty cool. I feel that I am really able to test my abilities and participate more with Elder Trotter. My Spanish is still coming, but there are many that say that I am really starting to sound very good. It feels a little better to say things, I've been trying a few different ways to speak, and each time, it's further improving. Now I just need to find a really cool ascent to copy...one from a really cool country!

We are living with another member...who is actually the mother of the Bishop here. She is really nice, but we dont have as much contact as we did with the Blogette family. But we do have the whole basement instead of a room, so it's pretty cool! Darts, pool table, ping pong, the works. She was done a lot for the missionaries, so it's really cool!
But there has just been a lot of problems with her and the missionaries getting alongwell...for whatever reason beats me! As far as I know, it was really just with making things look nice and not making a complete mess of everything...ya know, like sloppy teenagers.... But I kinda went in there with the intent to flip that all around. Today, we spent a good portion of the morning deep cleaning everything. Making everything just really nice. I'm pretty happy at how it looks, I could rearrange and clean for hours, but little by little it's looking so much better!!! 

The area in the past has been really amazing, but it has been slowing down quite a bit. One of the other members of my MTC district did a lot of time here, but didnt get too much done. The past few days, I feel that we have been picking up on some teaching style errors...so I'm hoping that we can really work here and help as much as we can. There's a lot of work to be done, but I'm really excited to get started!!

One of the cool things that I'm really looking forward to is the Pulga!!! There is a good-sized one here that only goes on Saturdays!! (YAY! Not Sundays!!) But we have plans to go there and set up something for English Classes that the Church sponsors. And it's a great opportunity to meet and talk to new people!

Well, everything is going really well. I am really loving the work that I'm able to be a part of here. The Spirit is such an amazing thing, I love to be able to have it each day, and share it with other people!! Smiling is such a great (and funny) way to make a day. They just wonder what and why you smile so often...and we do indeed have a good reason to smile!

I love you all! Thank you for everything! I promise to get some pictures in the coming week!

Con amor,

--

Elder Glen Wright Washing Kennewick Mission 

Transfers

Hola y buenos tardes!!!!!

Ojala que todos estan bien!

This week has defiantly been a really great one! A lot has been happening that is really moving the work forward. I am really loving the work here though! Well....."here" is the next question to bring up....

We had transfers this week. And the call came that I will be transferring to Matua. I am to believe that it will be a zebra area (both English and Spanish work). It isn't the smallest place in the world, but I am told that it is very...out there. But there are a lot of people that are spread out, so I'm excited to get started! It does also happen to be one of the more questionable areas, but as a missionary, I know absolutely nothing will happen. If anything, I will get more fun stories to Email back home...XD

I will miss Kennewick...it has been an amazing area, and I would not mind to return. But I am really looking forward to what Matua is for me, and I know that there is someone who need me there. AND I'm only an our or more from Kennewick, so I should be able to come back and see the baptisms of all these amazing people here! I'm just SO excited for all of them. I know personally the blessings that the Gospel has, and being a part of this discovery is an amazing blessing. I am going to miss all of them.

That has been the hard part so far...saying goodbyes. Something I really suck at, and never like to do. But I guess that it will just widen all the amazing people I know and all the friends that I have made. Both in the Branch and with our investigators. Argh...........this is the hard part of being a missionary. But I am SO excited for all these amazing people, my Brothers and Sisters. It truly is an amazing thing! I will defiantly miss them...and Costa Vida! XD

Church was really awesome!!! We gave a church tour to an older sister named Maria. She has been having a very hard time looking for the correct church, just bouncing to many. She has been looking for just the right one that also fits in with her teenage grandchildren that live with her. Just everything that she was looking for, Spiritual and temporal/technical fit exactly with what shehas been looking for. As we moved through the tour, the Spirit was just SO strong! A really amazing experience for me, I just knew without a doubt that the things that we were sharing, both around the Church and through our lesson on the Restoration afterwards, was true. And I was able to see a change in this sister. In an instant, something that seemed lost, was found, it was physically seen. It was really cool! And when she got into church, one of the older sisters jumped and quickly made friends. It's just amazing to see everything just fall into place as we go through and try to help others. In her words to this sister, she said: "This is exactly what I have been looking for." And her grandchild that was with her seemed to like it just as much.

Everything else is going really well. Today will and is a little crazy due to the fact that I have to pack everything in two suitcases...XD So far, I am amazed at how good I am with the game of Tetris! But another fun thing that's happening is another Elder is going home, so his companion...happens to be Elder Larson, will be with us for the next few days. This is going to be a fun trisum for the last bit!

Well, Thank you everyone for your love and support! It's crazy to think that this month marks my quarter mark.... I just cant even start to think of how fast that the time has gone. I have learned so much so far, and every second is worth so much!

I love you all!! Thank you and have a great week!!!!

 

--

Elder Glen Wright Washing Kennewick Mission

Wow.... March already. This has been a very fast moving few months! I'm almost into my quarter mark...now that's pretty crazy!!

This has been a pretty good week. But it has left me very tired. I'm just very glad and feel blessed to have a Preparation Day to get everything ready for this week. Mentally, Spiritually, and Physically.

The work is moving along well. This week has been full of very good lessons, and happily hasn't yet brought mind-blowing things that just add stress! HAZA!

One of the major highlights to the week has been our Zone Conference. Where we as a zone come together and discuss the work with President, attend workshops, and do a bunch of role plays! Everything with the conference really boosted our enthusiasm to work, and we were defiantly edified by the Spirit! President Ware is really awesome! And the work is really moving forward...it's really something!

This Sunday was also one that has been long awaited! Luis and his whole family of 6 came to church!!! ...although they were about an hour late...But they came!!!!!!

In priesthood, Luis really took everything in! I was excited to see everything just clicking as the Spirit taught. Church is really cool!!!

That and that day, the primary were giving out their CTR rings, so all the kids got one! They were SO excited for that!!

We have a lesson with them tonight on the Plan of Salvation. What a fantastic lesson to do tonight! They have really loved each aspect of the Gospel, and knowing that they can be a family and enjoy those blessings for eternity just is an amazing blessing.  That is one thing that I have really come to love. Our plan that God has prepared for each of us. The amazing thing is that it's not just a generic plan that sifts through people, but it is there individually for each of us, each of our different and unique selves, to live and have success in this life, and return to live forever in the presence of our Father in Heaven and our families! What an exciting thing!!!! I am just so grateful to be here to help them as they learn this again!

Well.... Sorry that this one might be a little shorter or jumps...this week has been a fun one...XD I hope to get more crazy stories this upcoming week! well...there are transfer calls coming out this Saturday. We shall see where that goes.

I love you all! Have a great week!

sinceramente,

--

Elder Glen Wright Washing Kennewick Mission