Comp 101

August 29 letter

Well, Elder J is accident prone. We were playing a game of district ultimate near the cage basketball courts, and there are these big metal support poles. He went up for a a high pass, his shin nailed a support pole, and he got table-topped. He ate it, hard. Honestly, I think we spend more time in the clinica than anyone besides the missionaries who got parasites. (Which truly sucks for them, but we have been warned like a bajillion times not to drink the water without filters.) But Elder J is okay. Honestly, he has incredible luck, because the leg isn't even bruised that bad. But Ultimate is awesome, we're playing it a lot during gym time. The district is getting much better, though my disc has taken some serious knocks. Lots of dents in it now, and it's been on the roof probably 15 times. And not always the same roof either. 

Got sick on the 23rd and threw up. It was the spaghetti for dinner, I'm almost positive. Elder J warned me about it and I should have listened, but it just about wrecked me. Luckily it passed quickly and I was up and running full steam by the 24th. Our district has gotten pounded by illness though. Mama B might have bronchitis, and everyone else has suffered varying degrees of something or other. Except Elder J. He's apparently immune to sickness.

The food is crazy! One lunch we thought we had steak, but it was actually cow esophagus. Best meal we've had so far though. Plus curly fries (!!!??) so we're assuming President P had guests visiting that day and wanted to impress them or something. Monday night was a new low for food, I just had several bowls of cereal and a few bananas. (A brief aside- Elder R wasn't feeling good at all earlier this week, and someone told him bananas make you feel better. So he ate ten in one sitting. I wish I'd gotten a picture. He felt a ton better so who's to argue I guess?) But anyways, Monday night was chicken,. Usually not a problem, we have chicken a lot. But this night, on closer inspection, mine was covered in long curly chicken hairs. YEUUURG. Honestly looked like  human thigh. I would have gone to my other piece, but it still had feathers! Like full-on pinions! What! Is! Up! With! That!
Elder M ate the hairy pieces. Apparently it didn't bother him much. Then again, he's going to Chile so he should probably get used to unusual food.

Elder J is going to Lubeq Texas. Not sure if that's the spelling, but he is lucky, he's got a temple in his mission! Jealous. One of the other guys in our district is going there too, Elder B. (Though we pronounce it Elder Boot-lar.) Elder J is holding out hope that he won't be speaking a lot of Spanish on the mission. To be honest the thought has definitely been in my head, but you can't think like that or you won't be able to focus. The gift of tongues only comes according to the diligence you study for it, and thinking you'll be speaking Spanish the whole mission definitely lights a fire in you to actually focus and practice the language! Quote of the moment, from Praise to the Man: "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven."  Very true, I have felt God's blessings on me especially in the Spanish language, being able to recall vocabulary at the very moment I need it and surprising myself with the power of my words. The church is true!

Elder Wright

Pictures to go with the letter from Aug. 21

                                                             The District at the temple.

A "selfie" with Moroni

Just me.

                                  My sweet Mexican scrips cases. Note the improvised selfie.

                                                                 With Elder RJ Penate

An MTC comic by Isaac

More news from this week (August 21)

Devotional on Sunday was a recorded broadcast by Elder Bednar. He spoke on the importance of listening to the doctrine of the living prophets. He especially meant General Conference, and he was not mincing words! Takeaway quote: " If you don't know what the living prophets are saying, it's the same as not believing." Wow! Definitely going to be paying more attention in General Conference from now on. Our Area 70, President Johnson, was in town yesterday for a devotional as well. He talked about the difference between teaching and really converting, or ingraining, the gospel. He also warned us not to get too caught up in the numbers game of baptism. His words: "Your purpose is not just to baptize them, it is to save their souls." That was powerful! He was a good speaker.

So I am loving the Mexican LDS members here! Most of the workers in the compound are Mormon, and the're all really friendly. The best part is that Mexican parents name their children after prophets and leaders from the Book of Mormon! So far, I've met a Limhi, a Mosiah, and a Melchezidek! It's awesome!

Last story for a bit:

So we had a home teaching like thing with another district, where we had 10 minutes to meet with another missionary, then prepare a lesson that would help invite them to Christ. I didn't have time to prepare anything that great because we were teaching our investigator right before. So I said a fervent, hurried prayer as we wlked over, and decided on two scriptures that I could teach after my lesson: Enos 1:23 and Mosiah 3:14. After my lesson, which was pretty legit even so, I had decided to share my Enos scripture. I oopened to it, then recieved a powerful thought to NOT READ THAT ONE. So I read Mosiah, which is the scripture about putting off the natural man. The other elder told me that that scripture had been that one that changed his life and made him go on a mission. Very powerful feeling of the spirit.!

Elder Wright

Wednesday, August 21, 2013 letter

Honestly, the CCM is nice and I'm glad there's a high wall between us and the city streets, but after a while the barbed wire and constant routine make it feel a bit like a jail! But we had the incredible blessing of being able to go to the Mexico City temple this morning! We left on the buses at 6:45 (nice flashback to my seminary days) and drove out into the city. Mexico City traffic is INSANE. As one of the mission leaders put it, they are both offensive and offensive drivers. Seriously, people speed, merge, and make wide turns at every possible opportunity. It's kind of frightening! And the early morning city is interesting to see, I took a couple pictures that'll hopefully show you what I mean. Traffic was bad, so it took maybe two hours to get to there. That wouldn't have been too bad if the most annoying missionary I've ever met hadn't been sitting right in front of me. He would just chime in at every possible opportunity, challenge innocuous statements, and basically insulted the language skills of everyone else on the bus. It was early in the morning so I was a bit sour, so I shut him down pretty hard after I couldn't take it anymore. He read an Ensign for the rest of the ride. (Might not want to put that in the blog, but it's up to you here.)

The Mexico City temple is beautiful and magnificent, it has geometric patterns covering much of it and the design is reminiscent of the Aztec architecture, at least in my opinion. Following the temple session in Spanish was incredibly difficult, but I could feel the Spirit so powerfully throughout. And afterwards, bought some sweet scripture cases for my Spanish scriptures at the Tienda Zarahemla next to the temple. 

Email Isaac at: iwright@myldsmail.net