A Marvelous Work and a Wonder

At the Houston Temple

Elder Niklaus and I at the Houston Temple

Elder Poteki and I at the Houston Temple

Hello World,
Sorry it took me so long, some things came up. I'll start with the exciting stuff:
WE HAVE A GIRL WITH A DATE.
That is all.
So we got a referral and contacted her and her name is Karen. She's 21, black, and has 21 brothers and sisters all from the same father. Yeah. It's real. And she has a baptismal date set for March 16th. She has a testimony of Joseph Smith and is reading the Book of Mormon. It's pretty dang fantastic.
Elder Aidukaitius of the 70 came and talked to us this past week and gave us great insights. However one of the insights that changed my perspective on missionary work was this: You're a father, and you have 5 kids. 3 of them go to church every Sunday and are fully active. One of them works on Sundays, and the other wants nothing to do with church. How many of your kids do you want to come to church? Exactly. 5. So that's pertaining to where your goals are and how to establish goals that are in line with Heavenly Father's will.
A lot has happened this past week, but I feel as though I have talked a lot about how great this work is. So I'll share with you why it's great in one example. We met with an investigator this past week in a small smoke filled apartment, and our investigator is a former drug user who spent the majority of the lesson telling us about her prison days and preaching about the end of the world, and quoting bible verses and there's dog pee on the couch that we're sitting in and we walked away smelling like cigarettes and scarring the member we brought with us. So why is this fantastic and not terrifying? Because my companion and I only really thought about that after the member we brought with us was so shaken. Yes, we do deal with this on a daily basis, but more than anything, what is so marvelous is that because we have an understanding of this Gospel and God's plan for us, we did not see that. We saw her as a daughter of God and as someone who was earnestly seeking to do better and to get on the right path. None of that mattered because at the end of her ramblings, we were able to share a scripture that brought her to tears, and bring her closer to Christ. That is why this is so great. Because everyday we see people not as they are but as they will become and because we can just be a small doorway on their path to salvation.

Love y'all
Elder M. Wright

This is Sister Bolton setting up our new phone for us.

And this is Elder Poteki. He's 6'6 and 360 lbs, and we like to take pictures together. Oh and Elder Gilbert is in the background we also love burritos.

A less active lady gave me a warm up suit.