The cows here eat greener grass, so their milk would be greener right?

Hello everyone!!

So this week was pretty good! I'm getting used to life in England and 

also life as a missionary! We ride bikes everywhere here in

Peterborough. I'm getting used to riding on the left side of the

road. One time though, I randomly switched into American mode and

started riding on the right. It was all good until a car was heading

for me and I quickly switched back to the left. Haha 

But yeah, everything is going good!

Our ward members are super cool! Well, there's one lady that is kinda

scary and we have a dinner appointment with her tonight. 

I'm kinda scared.

We went to dinner at the Casbon home the other day.

They're really cool people! But, they played a greenie prank on me.

They dyed the milk green. At first, I questioned it a little, but

didn't think much of it. I thought "Hmmm...must just be an England

thing." They mentioned that it was because I was a greenie...

 It made a lot more sense. 

It would make sense not to question it though right? 

The cows here eat greener grass, so their milk would be

greener right??? Haha just kidding;) It was kinda funny.

The people in town are cool! Of course there are the crazy ones. 

We have befriended a homeless guy. He calls us the "Jesus crew". 

Haha. But yeah, we talk to him about life every once in a while. 

He doesn't really believe in God and isn't interested 

in what we have to say, but he's a good guy. 

We met our first witch...and it was a he. We asked

him his religious views. He said, "Nothing really. I'm a witch though!

We make potions and lotions." Haha! Kinda weird.

 People listen every once in a while! Mainly younger people,

 and people from Eastern Europe (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia). 

Things are going great here in England! 

Hahaha sooo, funny story. 

We were street contacting, and we tried to talk to a

woman that just came out of a store. We said, "Hello! How is your

day?" And no joke, she HISSED at us. 

Like a cat! 

She was completely serious faced, and then started walking away fast. 

Hahaha! We were laughing for a while after that one.

The weather has been kinda bad for the last few days. Just non stop

rain. We get SOAKED when riding our bikes through it. It's a

fun experience! Being a missionary is really the best!:) 

We visited the Peterborough cathedral today. 

It was super cool!:)

 It's crazy to see such old buildings around here.

Homesickness is getting a little better! The other day, it really hit me hard. 

I'm a missionary! This is awesome!! 

I truly am happy and blessed to be able to serve our

God and find those lost sheep. I love you all! Good luck with your

lives! Thanks for all the support and prayers:) 

Cheers!

Elder Wright

(Oh, just a couple of names to maybe keep in your prayers. 
Michael Luciano, and Decio. Thank you!)

Can I get a drum roll please.......boom! I am serving in Peterborough!!

Hello everyone!! 

I finally get to write!! Yay! The rest of the MTC was great! We had a fun time, possibly too much fun...

 But we did learn a lot about how to teach lessons and all that jazz. 

They fed us a ton in the MTC! We definitely didn't starve there. We had an all you can eat pizza dinner one day, (So hell and damn are not swear words here) but after we ate, our teacher told the district "You guys ate a hell of a lot of pizza!" It keeps throwing me off. 

Haha Anyways, so yeah MTC was great. 

We then woke up early to drive to Birmingham. The mission home is in a small town next to Birmingham called Sutton Coldfield. That's when we took some mission pics, met with President Leppard, and learned our new assignments. We ate some lunch and then waited, and waited. Finally it comes. Can I get a drum roll please.......boom! I am serving in Peterborough!! 

My trainer is Elder Ashcraft. He's from California, super funny, and has been out for about 19 months. We're also white washing the area. That's when two new Elders come into an area not knowing anything about it. 

Usually they try to keep an Elder in the same area just to help with experience. 

We've spent some time getting to know the members, investigators, and just how to get around town. 

It is very much a biking area. Haha

We have also been doing a lot of finding in city centre. If you all want to check out where we're at, go onto google maps. Look up the cathedral in Peterborough. We're in that little city square next to the cathedral most of the time. 

Just to help you visualise where I'm at:)

But yeah, a lot of talking to people. A lot of people just really don't want to talk to us. I should say most people don't.
 But hey, if we can get one new investigator out of talking to 100 people, that one is totally worth it. 

My trainer said, "Get used to awkward situations, because as a missionary, your life is full of them." 

There are definitely awkward times when trying to speak to people.
But it makes it so worth it when someone really wants to listen! 

There are a ton of different cultures here in Peterborough. I thought we'd be teaching English people here in England...nope, that's not the case. Most of the people are from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Iran, Nigeria,
 Kenya, China, Japan, and many others. It's crazy! Lots of Muslims.
But we try to learn "hello" or "how are you" in all their different languages.
They love it when we speak their language. Of course, I don't know any yet, that's just what I'm told. Haha

There's a funny experience with someone we taught while sitting at a bench in city centre. 

We got pooped on by pigeons during the lesson! Both of us got pooped on at the same exact time!
It's like they were aiming for us. We just awkwardly sat there and then tried to wipe it off with some leaves.
That lesson didn't last much longer...

Our ward has a set of Elders and a set of Sisters. 

Funny enough, one of the Sisters (Sister Tenney) is from SNOWFLAKE of all places! Super small world. 

Accents are decent so far. Only a couple that I can't understand. A guy sat next to me in priesthood opening exercises. He started talking to me and I had NO IDEA what he was saying to me...so I just smiled when he smiled, and laughed when he laughed! Hahaha

I had my first dinner appointment on Sunday. It was actually really good food! We had roast pork, vegetables, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and some yummy desserts. 

Every house here reminds me of the houses in Harry Potter. We walked into a members house and I saw the little door underneath the side of the stairs and I told my comp, "Yay! Harry Potters room!" 

 The weather is really, really weird here. There was one day where it started off hot and humid.
Not a single cloud in the sky. Then at around 3 ish clouds rolled in out of nowhere. It started POURING.
We were riding bikes and got totally soaked. Then the day ended off with blue skies. Crazy crazy!

The ward here is great! Bishop is a good guy. A couple of members are from America. They recently combined the two Peterborough wards into one ward. There are 100 ish members I think. But yeah, things here are going great!
I am homesick... But I find that when I just put my mind to the work, I don't have any time to think of home.
I am super happy to be a missionary though.
 It has been a great experience to have so far! I will talk to you all next week! 

Cheers! 

Elder Wright

A Letter From The MTC!

Dear Family,

Your son will be departing the England Missionary Training Centre on Wednesday morning, 19^th August.  We want you to know how much we have enjoyed having him with us. 

Elder Wright is a fine young man and we are grateful for the opportunity we have had to work with him on a daily basis.  He is well-prepared for his mission and he continues each day to grow spiritually.  He is developing good teaching skills and is excited about the work.  He is ready for full time service in the Birmingham Mission.

We love this young man and are grateful to you for all you have done to prepare him for this wonderful time in his life.  Your love and continued support are important to his success.   Letters are always greatly anticipated and appreciated.  Please address all future mail to:

England Birmingham Mission

187 Penns Lane

West Midlands

Sutton Coldfield

England  B76 1JU 

United Kingdom

May you and your family be blessed as he continues to serve our Heavenly Father.

Sincerely,

President & Sister Preston

England Missionary Training Centre

P.S. Please see the attached photograph

PLEASE NOTE - Your son will probably not have another opportunity to e-mail home whilst still in the MTC. You may not hear from him again until his next preparation day in the mission, which in most cases is Monday.

I'm Pretty Sure The Leaders "Dumb It Down" For Us...By That I Mean They Slow It Down So The Yanks Can Understand.

Hey guys!! 

Thank you guys so much for the emails! 

Communication with the outside world is fantastic!

Sounds like things are going great. 

(And yes mom....the mug looks VERY British now!) 

Things are great across the pond!

My companion's name is Elder Wall. He is a pretty cool guy. One of the 20 missionaries from Utah. My district is pretty good. Kinda crazy though!  The first day we were all just super tired from the flight. It was the longest day of my life. Anyways...that night's sleep was beautiful. Simply beautiful. 

The food here is actually quite good! There is no shortage of food, but there IS a shortage of water! The second day of the MTC, something bad happened with the water plant close by so now we don't have good drinking water. One of the MTC people drove to a Costco in Manchester to get a ton of water bottles. So we just drink from a bunch of bottles. My district started out pretty good. Then, some of the guys just started going crazy and joking around and stuff, but we get work done so that's good. We're teaching our progressing investigators everyday now. We're learning how to find the needs of people we meet and how to apply the gospel into their lives. Tomorrow, everyone in the MTC is going to Manchester to street contact. 

I'm kinda nervous but excited at the same time! 

It'll be good to get out of the MTC and see something! 

We're going to the temple today so I'm really excited about that!

 

In the MTC, we have some elders from Brazil, Norway, local English, Germany, Sweden, and a variety from the states. I love it here so much! It's pretty crazy being a missionary. Super tired all the time, but I think I'm pretty well used to the time zone here. It's kinda cool to look at my watch sometimes and see what time it is over there. Kinda cool to think about what you guys are doing. You're all sleeping right now and we're just starting off our day! 

The weather here is exactly like how everyone makes it to be. The other day, we were all playing football (soccer) out on the field and it was really hot and humid. We were all sweaty and stuff. By the time we got inside, cleaned up, and left to the district room, we looked outside and it was cloudy and raining. Super crazy!! But the weather has been surprisingly good over here! Lots of times the skies are blue and the sun is shining. Other times you wake up 

and it's a cloudy dark day. 

The countryside is beautiful. Its fun to look outside and see the hills and little towns. The "wrong" side of 

the road still kinda throws me off. 

I fear for my life every time we enter a roundabout. 

I'm kinda getting used to all the accents but I'm pretty sure the leaders here dumb it down for us, and by that I mean they slow it down so the yanks can understand. We walked past the stake center one time and overheard some of the youth talking, and it blew my mind. On top of the thick accents, they talk really really fast. A couple of the natives here told me to "have fun with the accents in Birmingham" haha I'll learn eventually. 

I got to play the piano once! That was super nice!

Anyways, I'm running out of time. We started emails late and were about to leave to Asda (equivalent of Walmart) to pick up some things. I love you all! I really REALLY appreciate the emails. Keep them coming!! 

Cheers!

We just got back from Asda! 

I have a tiny bit more time. It was nice to get out and see England!...even if it was just for a few minutes. Elder Wall and I got to sit in the front seat of the bus, which for us, is usually where the driver sits. It was super weird. I got some tic tacs, shampoo, and some kinder chocolate. 

Even the walking here is different. You'll be walking on the left side in the store and if you want to pass someone, you pass on the right. Everything is backwards. But they still use miles per hour here for the roads so that's kinda nice!:) Well, I sure love you guys and miss you!! Those notes in my bag were fantastic, thanks so much. 

You guys are the freaking best!! Love you! 

I dont know about P-day next week because we're leaving into the mission field either on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

I'll email you AS SOON AS I CAN! Love!

Elder Wright

Warms A Mother's Heart When She Sees The Smiling Face Of Her Missionary!

Daniel is standing in the back 

of this awesome looking group of missionaries.

His group is so big that they had to divide the 

missionaries into two separate pictures this time!

I'm looking forward to hearing from him tomorrow!

"These People On This Flight Don't Need To Fear"!

Hello everyone! 

So we arrived safely to the England MTC!! Its really beautiful here. Very cloudy and wet just like all the stereotypes say. Haha! But very green and cozy. We have a huge group of missionaries in the MTC (and by huge I mean like 70-80). I surprisingly don't feel too, too tired from all the flying but definitely feel it coming on. It keeps hitting me over and over again that I'm a missionary and am going to be out here for two years! Crazy! It is very different to walk around and have just regular people speaking in British accents. I befriended a couple of English elders so it's been cool talking with them. And yes....the teeth are very bad. It's so true. Almost all that I've seen have had crazy teeth. Haha! I got my bunk all situated and some of the stuff unpacked. We're going to have a meeting tonight where we'll get our MTC comps! There are some pretty cool elders here. WAY more than I expected. And we all met up in Jersey. We were joking around cause there were so many elders on the flight. Were like, "these people on the flight don't need to fear. The Lord protects His missionaries and there"s about 60 on this flight" It was pretty awesome. The driving on the roads is totally weird. And I did see a bunch of sheep on the side of the road. It was cool. The houses here are all the same....those small redbrick red roofed houses all bunched up next to each other. Super pretty here!! But yeah MTC is going to be fun but I'm excited for getting out into the field! Like I said, I keep realizing that I'm here for two years. Kinda freaky at this point.....but I think it'll be better once I rest up. The jet lag gets worse and worse. I slept a total of probably two hours on the flights here. Those airplanes man...not super comfortable. I dont know when P-day is, but I guess you guys will find out when I email you next! They just wanted us to let you know that we got here safely. 

I sure love you guys!! Thanks for all the support! Ill talk to ya laters!!

Elder Wright