Mission Office Address to send mail...

Joey Mentioned that he loves to get mail.  Here is the official address:

Missionaries love receiving letters through the postal service, so share the Mission Office address with others. We ask that mail be sent to the mission office, and we will redirect it to the missionary. When addressing the letter be sure to use your missionary’s full name as it is not uncommon to have two elders or sisters with the same last name. The mission office address is:
85-69 60th Dr.
Elmhurst, NY 11373

Elder Wright Day 2 IN THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD!! (Work work)

The much appreciated "he made it" photo with his Mission Pres Reynolds and wife.

Proof---he is in NYC

Wow! I can't believe I'm here!!! I love it so far!!! Everything is so packed and busy! It's so cool! I was super nervous at first, but I can definitely feel the Lord helping me out. It's awesome. 

Let's start with funny stories, shall we? 😂. Let's see. First day here, we headed off to District meeting. I went into the bathroom, and I had something on my shoulder. Guess what it was?? Bird poop! First thing that popped into my head? Welcome to New York. First day here and I've already been pooped on. It made me a little down in the "dumps," but I was able to recover at a "running" pace. Okay, that's enough with the poop puns. I will try to avoid the pigeons though. But that will be hard cause there are SO MANY!!! Another funny story. Well, sorta. This guy walked into the subway, and was letting off some very colorful language to no one. It was interesting. I already experienced a ton, and it's only been two days! Wow! 

Monday was crazy! We woke up at 3:30 to get to the travel office, and then went to the airport. I got to call my mom and dad though, so that was great! It was great to here someone's voice I knew and loved so dearly. That also helped the wait time go by. The plane ride was good. I had a window seat so I was able to get sleep pretty easily. It was nice. Then we met the President and the Assistants. It was awesome! I love President Reynolds! He is so kind! Sister Reynolds is awesome too. I feel so blessed, and I already feel like I can trust them with anything. I love them! We headed to the mission home and ate food. I hadn't eaten all day, so that was nice. I also met my new companions, Elder Brown (Deaf, Tongan, super funny and nice) and Elder Larson (District Leader, from Arizona, also very nice.) I think we will all get along great

One thing I am gonna have trouble learning is the Subway systems. Elder Brown is a pro though, so I will trust in him. That's for sure. And I will do my best to learn it. Tuesday, we rode the subway a ton!!!! Like, half the day. I didn't talk to a lot of people though. It's just scary. I'm working on it though! Trust the Lord and he will provide!

I met my first NYC Deaf member! His name is Jose Jimenez. He is a recent convert, and he needed Elder Larson to interpret so he could send a package. We walked through one of the Chinatowns (turns out there are like 5 of them, so don't think I was going to Manhattan. That's outside of the mission. We only go there on Sundays. Not joking. That's where the Deaf Branch is.) Anyways, Jose is getting the priesthood this Sunday! He is gonna pass the sacrament soon! It's awesome! I am super excited for him! It's so cool, and even though I couldn't really understand him cause he was signing so fast, I was feeling the Spirit so much. It's awesome. 

I am loving the city. We were headed to the Church building in Brooklyn (I think), and Elder Brown 
pointed behind me, and I saw an amazing view! You can see all of Manhattan, and Downtown Brooklyn. It is so cool!!! Oh that reminds me. I am in Brooklyn! That's where Captain America is from! I will send a picture with me at the Captain America statue (in your face Connor! Ha!) 

Anyways, i am really loving the people here. They are really cool, and there are so many different people, and people who look like they could and should be members! I love it! The people look sad though. I am trying to change that by saying Hi and smiling though! Some people react well to it! Others? Noooot so much... But some people look and say hi back and smile! I love it. 

230 Ocean Parkway Apt B4
Brooklyn NY 11218

That's the address I'm at if any of you want to send letters. Packages need to be sent to the mission home. So send ALL THE MAIL! I loooove getting letters and emails. 

I miss you all! Have a good week! Stay safe! 

Elder Wright
PS. Hamilton songs have been running through my head. And In the Heights. Anyways. Love you all. 

Here are pictures of the district:

The eyepiece dab is in reference to President Reynold's sign name

November 11, 2016

Hey Everybody! 

Elder Wright here! Wow. I can't believe its only been six weeks. It seems like only yesterday I was dropped off by my parents. Wow. Its even weirder to think that I will be teaching the people of New York in 4 days! What?! On the other hand, I don't really remember what my life was like before. I feel like I've been gone forever, but its literally been no time at all. But hey! Life moves on! 

We finished teaching all our PI (Progressing Investigators) and our MAPIs (Missionaries As Progressing Investigators) It was really good. Manny was a great source of frustration though. He would not open up to us whatsoever!!! Ugh. It was so frustrating. But it was also good help for me learning how to love the people. It was awesome! 

The Sunday Devotional this week was AWESOME! Jenny Oaks Baker came and played songs for us and gave messages. She has incredible talent. And her whole family. Her 10 year old son came out and played the guitar like a pro. It was so cool to see her whole family participating with her, and you can tell that all their efforts have made their family grow. Its awesome!

I am going to miss the teachers here so much!!! They are my favorites! We had prolly one of the best lessons I've ever had in my entire life the other day with Brother Featherstone and Sister Rice. It was about the Atonement, and was probably one of the most enlightening lessons I've ever had. It was amazing. Ever since I got here, my testimony of the power of the Atonement has shot through the roof. The Atonement is real. We can use it whenever we need. We should use it everyday. Whether or not we use it, Christ still suffered for everything we've gone through, so if we don't use it, it is wasting the gift Christ gave us. Use it! Repentance is not a bad thing! It is the greatest thing in our lives, and using it WILL bring us happiness. 

OH MY GOODNESS!!! THE CAFETERIA SERVED US REAL MASHED POTATOES FOR THE FIRST TIME! I FEEL SO BLESSED! It was an amazing experience. Especially cause the potatoes they usually serve are fake and have the consistency of Moon Sand. Like, you could sculpt Michaelangelo's sculpture David. Then they'd put that in the museum. You all think I'm joking, I'm sure.

Yesterday we had In-field Orientation. It was helpful, but sitting there for all that time with no break? Yeah, I'd rather not go through that for the rest of my life. Thanks. Oh well. It still was helpful to me.

I love you all! Keep it up! Remember the Lord our Savior, Jesus Christ died for you! Not as a group, but individually! He loves you! I testify of that! 

I love you all! When I talk to you next, I will be in NYC! Woot woot!

Elder Wright

Me and Elder Wallace's fresh cuts! Aw yeah!

Me and Elder Wawro!!! I forgot he was coming soon, so this was an awesome surprise!

Me and Brother Gines! So happy I saw him!

October 28, 2016

Hey Everyone! Elder Wright here! Wow. I can't believe its already P-day. Time travels really fast here. But also really slow. Its a paradox. But this week has been great!!!! The language is coming a long great, and things with my companions are getting better! We have been doing really good companionship study, and that has helped us learn how each other sign and has really helped us get unified. Companionship study is really important!!! USE IT! If you're married, do it with you spouse! Take an hour every day and just study with each other! I promise it will bless your life!

Alrighty! Daily rundown!

Saturday: We didn't teach anyone today, but it was still a long day. 9 hour days are hard because often study time becomes "study sleep habit time" If you see what I mean. Staying awake for personal study is really hard. I'm praying everyday for energy, but it is still hard. Oh well. I just need to get used to the fact that "good nights sleep" doesn't exist for the next two years. But today we played a really fun game called "Energy Ball" It would be a really good game for warm ups before acting. It involves classifiers (ASL term. You use them to show how big something is, or describe something that doesn't really have a sign or you don't know the sign for it) Anyways. It was really fun. I loved it. And I was really able to get into it

Sunday: Good day! Guess what? I'm the new district leader! Yay! Although its really not a super big accomplishment. There are 3 elders in my branch, and one was already District Leader, so it was a 50/50 chance. But hey! And I can already see how much of a blessing this calling will be in my mission and in my life. I am really enjoying it! 

Sunday devotional was awesome! Elder Allen of the Missionary Department spoke. It was so good. I loved it! He taught us about.. well, everything. He said what the spirit told him to talk about. He had us say a prayer so he could recieve inspiration. It was soo cool! He answered a loooot of questions. Also, to all you thinking about serving a mission? If you do, DO THE MTC CHOIR!!! IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!! So yeah. Brother Eggett is awesome.

Monday: Brother Peck was sick. So it was really hard to focus. But our gesture lesson went well. IT was hard but good. Gesturing is so hard. The person you're teachign can't really express if they understand anything, but that is why the spirit was important. We said bye to all the Malagasi Elders so  that is sad. Elder Alvarez (Abby Barrett, you know him. If you ever read this....) is really awesome. I'm gonna miss him. Besides, he listens to Hamilton.... So we have a connection there. 

Tuesday. The devotional was awesoeme! Also, Brother Eggett taught me more about the Atonement than I have ever thought of in my life. Once again... TAKE MTC CHOIR. 

The devotional was good! Elder Natress spoke. He was ordained in 2016, sooo he is a pretty new Seventy, but he did really good!!

Wednesday/THursday: Class, class more class. But some really really funny things happened!!!! That is for sure. Including Elder Martinson acting out the stripling warriors with gesturing. That was so good. Also, brother Featherstone is really good at telling stories! Its so cool! Oh my gosh!!:) He is a genius.

The language is coming, thats for sure. Its hard, but very rewarding. I can't wait to come home and be fluent! I am thinking of being a teacher at the MTC! Brother Peck told me to talk to him about it after the mission, so here is hoping.

The epic games of Volleyball are awesome. But not quite as awesome as at the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Nothing quite compares to that though. Still. We have fun.

The one thing i miss so much? Acting. And music. So I guess that is two things, but still. I miss it a lot. I can't wait to do community theater when I get back. And I'll be a pro after doing ASL for two years, right?! :) Lets hope

Well, I love you all! The church is true! Press forward! Till we meet again! Choose the Right! Now let us rejoice! Okay, now I'm just naming hymns... Love you all!

Elder Kronk (Thats what all the elders in the districts call me. They even convinced Brother Featherstone to have that as an optional sign name... I'm cool with it though. Kronk is one of my favorites)

Elder Wright

NOV 4 2016 MTC

Hey everyone! This has been a crazy week! So much has happened, So I won't do a daily rundown. But I will tell some great things!

Halloween: Halloween was so good! Oh my goodness!! :) Hopefully you can tell from the pictures. Elder Cherry's mom (she has sorta become our district mom. She sends goodies and stuff. Its awesome. She also writes full letters for our district. I love it so much!! So for halloween, she sent a HUGE (cha) (thats an ASL thing...:)) box that was full of costumes and candy. I got a fake mustache and a fireman's hat. It was epic. Also, Brother Featherstone's faces are pretty fantastic in the pictures we took. It is seriously the best. Haha I love my teachers. For TRC later that night, Brother Featherstone wore the dinosaur hat the whole time. He became very attached. Elder Cherry let him keep it. :)

Devotionals/choir: Okay. literally the best part of the week. Sunday's devotional was good. Richard N Holzapfel spoke. He is the President of the BYU YSA 1st Stake. He was really cool. He gave a lot of good insight, and he was a very emotional speaker, which made it really cool. So for choir this week we sang Praise to the Man by Mack Wilburg. So that is cool. Brother Eggett (As usual) gave a lot of really good insight to the Restoration. It was awesome!:) Tuesday was even better. Choir was really really good, and then guess who came and visited??? President Russell M Nelson!!! It was so awesome. I can't even start to describe. He also gave us a message from President Monson. President Monson told us he loves us. So thats awesome. It is awesome to see the pure love that the Apostles show us. It always makes me happy :)

Sooooo funny thing we learned. Apparently there was a trend going around that is #foreheadselfie. It is where people do the peace sign on their forehead, and post it cause they think it is cool. I just want everyone to know what that means in ASL. When you do the peace sign on your forehead, it means stupid. No joke. In fact, some Deaf people sometimes tell hearing people that that actually means hello in ASL so they do it to other people. We all had a really good laugh about that in class :) ahhh good times.

ASL is coming. I had a lot of struggles this week. I just feel like I'm not progressing really, and that is hard for me. But as long as I try as hard as I can, the Lord will bless me. 

Frustrating thing this week: The Tongans and Samoans in our branch are really laid back, so they don't really follow the rule about 10:15 quiet time and 10:30 lights out. Last night they were being really really loud. Ugh. Oh well. Just remember, President Nelson told us that exact obedience brings miracles. True fact. And repentance works. True-biz (another ASL thing. It means fo' realz. or fo' sho'

I love you all! Have a great week! CTR! 

Elder Wright

PS. I love getting emails and mail. Just a hint. :)

Halloween, Christmas Tree Lights, Our Bananaolantern, and me as a Fireman missionary! Happy Halloween!

My teacher Brother Featherstone

Banana-lanturn