Nice Day for a White Wedding ...

I am so excited! It's the coolest thing ever in the world!

Yeah general conference was awesome! I was just loving it! So many good talks and I felt like many of them were aimed directly at me. A couple of focuses I noticed on a whole: Do temple work! The sustaining of the prophet. The need for personal worthiness. Standing true amidst the coming persecution. I really thought it was an awesome conference. My three favorite talks were Elder Bednar, who spoke about grace and the Atonement's enabling power. "The load is what gives spiritual traction." Interesting and needed perspective on trials and sufferings. I also loved Elder Christofferson's talk that was a powerhouse testimony of the Savior. The one that I felt like I learned the most from, surprisingly, was Elder Oaks' talk in Priesthood session. I'd encourage you to watch it too. He threw down on the priesthood, and very clearly outlined the power, authority, and keys of the priesthood. I learned a lot. I am very interested to hear the reaction of the Ordained Women Organization, because after that the only two real responses are to disband or apostatize...  I loved it what Elder Ballard said about owning and using Preach My Gospel! Something we are doing is working with active members to do the activity on pg. 172. We call it the Elder Arnold Thingy because he challenged us to do it when he toured the mission last October. 

Lancaster ward is great! (That is what it's called.) We are probably getting fed 5-6 times a week, which is pretty phenomenal. The ward is pumped up for missionary work, just not sure how to channel their energy. So we are helping. I can't remember, did I tell you about our awesome district meeting last Wednesday? I will now. We had it Wednesday night at the church, and all the Lancaster youth came. Something like 11 YW and only two YM. (All the rest were at sports, dang it!) But we did our district meeting as usual, just with the youth as a focus. So we discussed missionary work, what it is, how to be effective, and then we split into groups to role-play. That was the best part. Every missionary working with a couple of youth, just going through situations and teaching a lesson. You could really feel the Spirit and it was awesome. I feel like getting the ward more involved is what is going to get more baptisms and reactivations here. 

We have had a couple of cool experiences lately.  We have been teaching F, who is married to a less active member named J.  We taught about thePlan of Salvation and answered some really solid questions of the soul.  Then we asked how he was feeling at that moment, and he said he felt a calm and peaceful feeling.  We told him that was the Spirit, and he was like, “Wow! I’ve felt that whenever you guys teach!”  This was critical for him because he has had a lot of trouble recognizing the Spirit so far.  We set him with a date to be baptized on May 17th, a date we prayed and felt strongly about.  Yea!  We also met J and J, J’s siblings, they live at their mom’s house, who is active.  It took a lot of patience, listening and waiting for the promptings of the Holy Ghost, but we were able to teach them and begin to help them.  So things are looking up, as usual.  If God is with us, who can be against us, right?  That’s how I feel anyway.

OK and best for last... Elder Holland is coming to our mission May 22! I am so excited! It's the coolest thing ever in the world!

Elder Wright

Missionary Bingo

Slapping a T-bone in front of a baby and telling them to chow down...

It is barely becoming spring-y here in Lancaster.  The work is going well, we picked up a bunch of new investigators this week, which is exciting! But the devil always throws his hand in the works, tossing up discouragement and disappointment at us. A couple of people we've been meeting with have asked us to stop coming by, like the H family I was telling you about last week. So that's tough. But I'm not discouraged! Things are looking way up! 

We have had some great experiences taking members out with us this week, it helps us a lot but it remarkably helps them a ton as well. It can be hit and miss though! Yeesh! We were contacting referrals with Brother H, and he jumps in and starts bearing his testimony to this guy who opens the door. So we’re like, "Cool," but then he starts talking about how the government is trying to cover up the truth of the BoM and all these crazy theories so we have to hastily just redirect back to something else so this guy doesn't freak. Bro H was pretty solid though for another lesson we taught though, and afterwards his wife told us how much it meant for him to go out with us. It was the highlight of HIS week and that's good because he has some tough physical handicaps that make life misery for him; he has no feeling in his hands or legs. So that was positive overall. But we took out J, who is a recent convert as of Saturday! I'll tell you about him in a second, but anyways he is just pumped out of his mind to help us teach and he was super excited. He bears testimony like a boss. We were teaching J and Y, two teenagers whose landlord is a member. We were teaching the restoration and it was good, you could really feel the Spirit strongly. However, there was some member sabotage to an extent. Bro G, the landlord dude, was also there, and is just so passionate about the gospel that he just tosses everything he knows about the BoM out all at once, and you can tell it just blows these girls' minds. Have you read the part in the New Testament where Paul tells us to have milk before meat? Well, this lesson was akin to slapping a T-bone in front of a baby and telling them to chow down. And if you think it's hard to redirect a lesson, try doing it in Spanish when the guy's talking 500 words a minute! Yeesh! But despite this, the Spirit still testifies of truth when you let it, and they both accepted the invitation to be baptized. I am super excited. 

Something interesting is the effect that testimony can have on people. It invites the Spirit and can take a volatile situation and defuse it. People can tell when you have a genuine witness and they do feel the power of it. 

But anyway about J, he and his wife Y have been investigating the church for 5 years. They have seen scores of missionaries; they come to church more regularly than some active members, and are generally awesome. But they finally took the leap of faith to become members, so they were married Friday night in the chapel. (I'll send the details and stories in a letter, because they are many.) Suffice to say it was a lovely service and they are really an awesome couple. They had a slideshow of pictures, and the last was of the Washington DC temple, withe the words 'Our Goal" written next to it. They were baptized Saturday and confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday and that was a very cool experience. They were just glowing. It was awesome. He will get the priesthood in a few weeks so he can baptize his 8-year-old daughter, G. 

So the takeaway of this is that the Gospel does change lives! Sometimes it just takes awhile. But it does happen, and when it does it is wonderful. And it will impact this family for generations, hopefully, to come. Also, when we share the Gospel, we don't have to bury our friends in words, doctrine, and testimony. The Byron Elton elevator pitch is a valuable method because it is short, direct, testifies, and informs. That's all you need. Milk, then meat.

Love,

Elder Wright

Pics from Lancaster

           The iconic giant Jesus mural in Elizabethtown.

           There are a lot of funny marquees here.

          CCM reunion at Zone Conference.

Ceiling Tiles Keep Fallin' on My Head...

Wisdom and Great Treasures of Knowledge (Even Hidden Treasures)