stuff

- Futsal is ending today.  Ayden starts soccer on saturday by coaching some kindergarten kids.  it will be fun to see him do it.  i know he will do a great job.  he also gets a "coach's jacket", so that's cool.  he is attending a referee camp tonight- it's nice to see him develop skills like this.

- Tessa is starting to think a lot about what to do after high school.  one more year to go, and then she will have to know!!  very crazy.  i know whatever she does- she will do great.  she is such a good student, and also has a good attitude. 

- Pete is heading to Banff on the weekend.  it used to be so much easier to take off- when the kids were younger.  they didn't care about missing school- and we all didn't have jobs!!  plus soccer.  so i'm not really thinking the rest of us will go.  kinda sad, but then again i won't spend money either.

- my dry socket is finally healing.  soon it will have been a MONTH since the wisdom tooth drama began.  good grief.  what a rough few months i have had- i can't think of a worse period of time for a long long time.  it makes me feel terrible for people who feel terrible all the time.  on the plus side i have discovered that essential oils really DO WORK.  much to my shock!  and i love them!!!  i got an infection in the socket last week- and have been on antibiotics.  again.  YUCK.  i can't wait to be done tomorrow, start detoxing, and start the kefir full-time.  so sick of this crap!  another plus side- i have started doing some indexing.  i like it!

- Ben seems to be doing AMAZING on his mission!!  it sure gives us a whole lot of crazy mixed emotions.  so proud of him, he is such a good example!!!  can't wait to talk to him on mother's day.  it is really interesting to see how he's changing- in a good way.  strange to think about him just barely turning 19 this month.  i sure hope lots of people send him cards!!  he doesn't seem to be homesick or anything, but i know he would love the cards.

- and that's about it.  it is nice to finally see spring coming.  although it looks like snow is coming again on the weekend.  what can you do when you live here...sigh.  so we will have to take what we can when we can.



-

great letter

(maybe one of my favorites so far...)

Hello!  I am doing okay.  How are you?

1) Do you mean what time do we leave the flat?  With all my last companions it has been 10:00 on the dot.  With this one it looks like it will be 10:30.  I'm sure I will explain that later in my letter.

2) I got a call from President a few days before he got here saying he is a problem missionary and I need to help him out.  He is a great teacher, we worked really well together this week.  That is, when we did work.  He basically is super prideful, doesn't listen, and is in love with himself.  So, yeah.  Also, he was just released as district leader because he offended a lot of people.  Basically, something is not right with him.  That's okay, since he has a few mental issues, it doesn't really affect me because I don't need to change my diligent attitude and positive nature.  Also, he is from Coventry and speaks "proper English"   Just watch Ephraim's Rescue, and Thomas Dobson is just like him haha.  Also, he fake tans with lotion...  I just don't know what to say about that one haha.  Strange, strange, strange.....  I should add, he can't walk past a mirror without checking himself out...  I just don't know what to say...  Something positive... Ummmmmm.....  He does teach well!  I suppose.

I just realized how weird it is that we capitalize words like "English" and "Spanish" in our language.

3) Man, she is great!  Should be baptized on the 24th of May!  She is super, super cool!  We are really excited about her.  Well, I am excited about her!  And Margaret is still on for the 10th of May.  We have a lot of good things coming up this month!

4) We found 22 new investigators this week.  2 came to church, a rastafarian man named David, who is the nicest guy I have ever met, and another Jamaican, this one a girl, named Toni.  All the others are doing great, but the two main ones are Margaret and Chantal right now.

5)Clothing is doing great!  No concerns there thus far.

6) We went and painted some furniture for a less active woman in the ward.  I don't remember what else we did, the last week has been a bit blurred.  We taught a ton of people though on the streets.

Thanks for the music!  I always love getting new stuff in my dropbox :D.  You know, with all the space on there, you guys can use it for other needs as well, and I won't bother anything.  Also, the password just changed to beneng14 .

Wow, Cassidy is engaged?  Is it to the red headed guy?  It is crazy that people are getting married!  I was bugging Elder Pond (peace be upon him) about how he has to go get married now!  It's so weird! 

Man, everyone here LOVES Merlin.  I just don't know about it still, too cheesy haha.  Isn't there a new season of 24 starting soon?  I've seen a few cool animated digital poster things for it, it looks pretty cool!

I should tell you about our new District Leader as well, first off, my comp feels demoted since he has to answer to someone now.  He always talks about how he's the best missionary in the mission, so no wonder really.  But our district leader is named Elder Green.  He is the absolute coolest guy ever, and one of the most Christlike missionaries I have met.  I guess I mention this because my studies recently have been focused on Christlike attributes.  I feel the only way I can help a companion who is a baby about everything is just to be a Christlike example.  Sure, I tell him he is being a baby as well, but my goal is to be as Christlike as I can with him.  Which, I must say, is difficult at times.  But I am doing quite well at it thus far, and he actually likes me now because of it, whereas at first we didn't get along.  I still feel at odds with him, but I have a testimony of how important it is to be Christlike, even to those we don't like at all.  It is pretty cool.  Also, the Zone leaders have challenged us to re-affirm our testimony of the Book of Mormon by reading it in the next 6 weeks.  That is a nice distraction, and a great challenge.  Especially since I have been getting a little bored of my old testament studies haha.

Yeah, I am excited to Skype as well!  I don't know where I will do it, and I hope someone in the ward has a computer that can do it.  I will probably be at the Fowler's home.  I will probably do it in the evening here, because of church times and my companion will go first because he doesn't have to worry about time differences.

The Easter Bunny did find me!  It was just creepy because no one was on the streets.  I think everyone went to Brighton and other such places.

Speaking of other places, I am almost positive I will not stay here after June 5th.  It has been to long in this ward.  Where am I going?  I hope to go far west!

The weather has been nice lately!  I have no complaints as far as April goes.  April is almost done!  Woah!  Crazy stuff!  I hope May goes that quick as well!  Time flies when you are having fun, doesn't it?  And I have to say, I had a lot of fun with Elder Pond, and we worked our butts off too!

Good luck to Ayden with coaching.  He will do great.  I liked the video you sent recently as well!  Ayden popping up at the end was hilarious to me.  But what was he throwing?

Thanks for all the pictures and videos.  They are all great!  :)

I saw 17 Miracles this week!  SO GOOD!

Thank you, it is good to know I am being some kind of example to someone.  And I hope you know, I am happy!  I hope you know, I am not trying to complain about my companion, I just want you to have an idea of what he is.  I hope you know, that I will never be unhappy when I am out here.  An area cannot make me unhappy, because I am excited to explore and see as much as I can and learn.  Rejection cannot make me unhappy, because if people knew we genuinely did represent the Lord, we would not face rejection.  Rejection is something to laugh about, especially when it gets your companion worked up.  A companion cannot make me unhappy, because I have learned this week that I can co-exist with anyone.  I also love people, even if I don't always agree, I can love people.  And I have learned even if I don't get along great with someone, I get along really well with God, and He is such a huge help.

I hope you also know you are all examples to me.  The examples I have had of service, learning and living eternal principles, cleanliness (Most important), love, and friendship.  So thank you for giving me a life I can certainly reflect on with a positive view.  I know of missionaries whose families send them anti-mormon literature their whole mission.  So thank you, for being excellent.

Love ya!

Elder Wright

happy spring

 just another regular spring day in Cardston.  oh why do i live here.

the other day i went to work and found some flowers left for me!  it couldnt' have come on a better day.  i had to start antibiotics that day for my infection- and because of what happend in FEB with all the antibiotics, it was pretty much horrific news.  i was terrified and very very down.  it's amazing how one persons' actions, can change how one feels. 

shelf wars 2

a better shot of Ayden's shelf

shelf wars

 so today Tessa ran in from the garage with some junky wood (literally from the pile going to the dump) and announced she was making a shoe rack for her closet.  immediately i jokingly asked Ayden to build me a shelf for my bathroom.   he proclaimed "shelf wars!" and ran out into the garage and came up with the above shelf.  it is made from parts taken off a sled.  they are both extremely clever.  who is the winner??

 and of course Pete has been making awesome shelving for our garage...which frees up tons of space in there.

Wisdom tooth from heck

okay...where to begin.  I dunno, maybe 10 or so years ago i had a couple wisdom teeth out.  horrible experience followed by 2 dry sockets.  terrible.  took me 2 weeks to recover.  i have been dreading getting this last one out EVER SINCE.  worse than anything else one can possibly dread.  really.
so anyhow, i've been having my last wisdom coming in for awhile now...and it had been really really hurting me.  soooo...i opted to have it out on April 7th.  pretty sore that day.  but i must say that using deep blue and some other essential oils really seemed to help. 
anyhow, stayed home for a few days suffering- but whatever.  i was SO PARANOID about dry socket i barely swished or spit or MOVED for DAYS.  but alas, dry socket it was.  i realized it on the thursday.  went into Leth on friday and had it packed.  that didn't really do much and so i suffered all weekend.  and if you have never had a dry socket- it is worth than being in labor.  terrible pain.  so i was pretty bad off on the monday, and i sought emergency help from dr. McMurray here in town.  he thought it best to scrape (yeesh) the socket and stitch it up, trying to creat a new blood clot.  OH MY WORD.  deathly.  i went to work and barely survived for 2 hours super drugged up!!!  thought i was going to die that whole night, and really really wanted to.  put out a call for stronger drugs on facebook, and a neightbor brought me some over. 
so anyhow- suffered again with HUGE PARANOIA worried about another stupid dry socket!!  sure enough, it hit me again on thursday.  good grief.  i did nothing wrong- i have read so much about it, and some people are just prone to them.  and certain circumstances in your body as well.  anyhow, so i've been highly drugged.  i called around to dentists everywhere on Good Friday (yesterday) but there were none to be found.  that's right.  ALL dentists leave town on every single holiday.  just trust me on that one.  i did actually finally find one here in town via the hospital and he spoke to me a bit about it and told me to call him this morning if i needed it packed. 
well, last night i ONLY woke up once with it- and didn't have to wait for painkillers to totally kick in before i could fall asleep- so i figured i was improving.  and today i've slowly been improving- although it still hurts.  at least i'm not AS doped up as i have been.
so i've spent FOREVER in mouth pain- and the last 13 days and nights in deathly pain.  worried to eat, feeling terrible on painkillers.  waking up all night, and listening to some meditation apps i have on my ipad.  in the middle of the night 2 or 3 times.  you just can't take your mind of that kind of pain.
really hoping the worst is behind me now- and i wont' have to have that again.  note to future self : never pull a tooth with a holiday or weekend coming up- and make sure you have 3 or 4 dentists lined up for help. 
anyhow, i'm feeling quite traumitized and bad for myself.  i need a vacation and some pampering.  in a bad way.  sniff.

a peek at Futsal