2/16-3/14 Wanna Take Part in my Virtual Blood Drive?

 Hello again!

I hope y'all are having a good day/evening! As per usual, I am very busy haha. I'm currently doing at a minimum 40 hours a week of mission work, but that's a low ball since I usually spend a lot of time at home working on our social media accounts. This is on average less than what I was doing a few weeks ago, but I realized that I had been setting myself up for burn outs and so I had to adjust more time for me to decompress. You cannot fill someone's cup with an empty pitcher after all!

Here's an update on each location:

Heidi's Village Animal Shelter- Oh my goodness I cannot believe that I get to hangout with cats as part of my mission. I wish I could take pictures of each kitty I see, but that would distract me from socializing with them. For those wondering about Bugsy and Cricket from my last email (the blind cat and his caring brother), they got adopted!!! While it is bittersweet to see my lovely boys go, I'm so happy that they were able to go to a home that will cater to their needs. Another somewhat hopeful story is that of French Toast. He has been with the shelter for quite a while, he even went into foster care with one of the employees, but he's now back in a suite. French Toast is a very difficult cat to put it lightly. He hisses whenever he sees anyone, he has really bad digestive problems, and spends most of his time hiding from the humans. However today, I made eye contact with him, and he didn't hiss! He slowly moved back behind the towel hanging, but that's progress! He even ate off of the licky pad I gave him! I hope that means he's starting to trust people. All that distrust is probably stressing him out mentally and causing his physical illness. I know this story isn't as happy as my last one, but hopefully French Toast will have a happy ending eventually.

Gathering Humanity Refugee Warehouse- From what I've heard, the first wave of Afghani refugees is almost complete. Meaning that the second wave will begin shortly. And there is the looming possibility of Ukranians also coming. This past Thursday, my mom and I took three cribs to three different refugee families across Chandler with babies. I don't wanna say too much about the people, but I'm so happy I got to give these parents one less thing to worry about. I will say though that it was a bit tricky to get all three cribs onto my dad's truck bed haha.

Sequoia Deaf School- We were on spring break this past week, but for the weeks beforehand, it's been the same as usual. There were two weeks where there was a Deaf substitute teacher and while I was worried beforehand about my comprehension skills, I think I did pretty well. Some of the Hard-of-Hearing kids had struggles communicating with the substitute though haha. Nonetheless these children always put a smile on my face with how smart and funny they are.

Thursdays- So you know how I had to cut back on my mission work, Pioneer Village Blacksmithing is unfortunately what I had to drop. The place is an hour away from my house and so it was becoming too much of a stress for me. Now, Thursdays are my "admin days". I work on the mission social media, the mission choir, and my sister training leader duties. Speaking of mission choir, we recently performed an arrangement I made of the hymn Israel, Israel, God is Calling at a ward and it was fantastic! After the meeting finished, a lady came up to me and asked if she could purchase my arrangement! I of course told her that she can have it, but I wouldn't charge her. So that was quite the compliment :)))

Casteel Seminary- This past week was the last week until spring break so I won't see my students until April... But in these past few weeks I've had such a great time with these kids and I'm constantly learning something new from them. I've learned such fascinating things from how Tonga's monarchy works to not one, but two murder cases. A little brutal, but I can assure you that these students' testimonies are outstanding.

Now before I get to the pictures, please consider participating in my virtual blood drive. It only takes about an hour to complete a standard blood donation, from entering the building to leaving the building. I’m taking part in their scholarship program in order to get up to $1,000 and while it would mean a lot to me, it would mean the absolute world to someone needing blood in order to continue living.

So what is a virtual blood drive? Well, an in-person blood drive means that everyone donates together on the same day. Virtual means that everyone is donating on/at different days, times, and even locations, but it’s towards the same group effort.

Here is the link to sign up for my blood drive: http://blooddrive.themtn.us/

My blood drive is until April 30th. You can check Vitalant’s website for donation requirements.

Thank you in advance for your help!!! Now onto the pictures!

I burned a scrunchie for my 6 month mark haha

Here's me donating platelets! I only just started donating platelets rather than whole blood recently :)

A group of missionaries went to Castles n' Coasters a few weeks ago. Here's Elder Wells and I at the racetrack

My friend Isabella and I went hiking at hole-in-the-rock by the Phoenix Zoo. Here's the view

We helped a family move one Saturday. Here's Elder Washburn, Elder Arnold, Elder Delap, Elder Otey, and I in the moving van

We had a dinner at Elder Jones' house and while it was great, the best part were the cats. Here's Shadow, she's 16

And here's Moody, he's 17

And here's me, the happiest I am while away from my own cat, with both of them

This past Thursday we played soccer with some refugees. From left to right is Sister Knutson, Sister Hall, Sister Gardner, Elder Dunn, Elder Washburn, Elder Lott, Elder Tucker, Elder Egg, Elder Otey, Hash, Elder Da-Re, Elder Larsen, Milad, and Omar

Aren't my seminary student's so talented?

Some of us went hiking at San Tan mountain on Saturday. I know it's just me in the picture, but I promise others were there with me

I'm going with a group of friends to the Renaissance Festival this Saturday and we went clothes shopping today. I was trying to get a picture of a long sleeve shirt, but Elder Wells decided that he was more important. Thanks Elder Wells

And with that, I leave you until next time. Please be sure to check out my virtual blood drive, you don't have to be in Arizona to donate! Click on the link above and find a Vitalant location near you!

God loves you!!!

1/13-2/15 a week from today is my 6 month mark ah

 Happy Tuesday everyone!

It's been a while since my last email, I've just been incredibly busy with the mission grind.

Here's an update on each location:

Heidi's Village- I haven't been needed for a while in the kitten nursery, but I know the kitten season will be coming soon and that they will need me. In fact, the first momma and babies of 2022 are there! Did you know that a momma cat is called a queen? She deserves it considering the amount of babies cats tend to have in a litter. I can't imagine having four babies all at once. But for now, I'm mostly working in the meow motel socializing with the adult cats. All of them are so sweet (even the ones who aren't so snuggly) but I especially love the ones who I can carry around the kennels with.

Gathering Humanity- We're still housing many refugees from Afghanistan, but today I actually set up an apartment for a Congolese family. I love setting up and pulling for families with young kids because I try to get them fun items like a play tent, or mugs with characters on them, it's super cute and fun.

Sequoia Deaf School- There's not much that is new happening at the school, but I have most certainly seen my signing comprehension improve. I even went to a Deaf branch on Sunday and oh my gosh. It was incredibly exciting, yet somehow terrifying at the same time. I was honestly exhausted afterwards but it was one of the highlights of my mission so far. I definitely want to go back because immersion really is the key to learning a language quickly!

Pioneer Village- So far in the forge, I've learned how to make snake necklaces, wall hooks, and mini spoons. I feel pretty confident with those few things, and they sell the best because what kid wouldn't want a miniature spoon? It's really chilly up in north Phoenix (I know I know I'm baby) so I hover towards the forge for warmth haha. I've become much braver blacksmithing which is a great improvement since I've been a scaredy cat around fire my whole life.

Casteel Seminary- I got to meet my new students!! I love all my kids so far because they're so intelligent and talented. I can tell that I'm much much better at working with teens/managing a class since last semester. I started giving one kid for each period 5 minutes to explain anything they want. I've had students explaining watermelons to giving a violin concert to explaining self driving cars (wait that last one was Elder Johnson). I really love this idea because now I can learn more about them and their interests.

Social Media- We've shifted a lot of leadership around and so now I have a lot more responsibilities than before. I'm now part of the management committee meaning that I post things on time, write captions and hashtags, and just keep watch over our social media accounts. If you want to follow us, we're @az_tcsm on Instagram and Tempe Chandler Service Mission on Facebook.

A spiritual lesson I've learned is actually from the cats at Heidi's Village. There's a set of brothers there named Bugsy and Cricket. Bugsy had his eyes removed a few months ago and has upper respiratory problems. Cricket is his seeing eye brother and is probably the most selfless animal I've ever met. He meows at the door so his brother can have attention. He sniffs me out when I enter their room so he knows his brother will be safe. He even plays with the top string part of the toy wands so his brother can play with the bell part that makes a noise. Everything Cricket, a cat who is less than a year old, does is for his blind brother. Christ is the same way. Everything he did from when he was born to when he was slain on the cross, was for us. Now, I know it's a little crazy to compare a cat to our Lord, but nature was created as a resource to us. It can feed and shelter us, but it can also comfort and teach us.

Anyways here's the pictures I've gotten since last email:

Me at the forge chilling with Elder Wells who was grinding out a knife

Ooh sparks!

I reorganized the toy area in the GH warehouse. I think it looks very nice!

It's really tall. My head doesn't reach halfway up the second level

Mini spoons from the forge. One kid said he wanted to eat cereal using one of these spoons

One of the kids at Sequoia drew me. I'm the purple on and she's the red one. Don't I look so pretty?

The sisters went on a retreat in Flagstaff and here's me outside in the snow

Sister Hall, Elder Lott, Elder Wells, and I made a torch in the forge by dousing a dried baby wipe on a stick in oil and then setting it on fire

I had a face drawn on me in ash

Here's me with Sister Porter at the Deaf branch. She is a Deaf missionary in the Phoenix service mission

I donated platelets for the first time! I really enjoyed doing it and I will totally do it again sometime. Anyways here's my pale arm before they stuck the needle in

Here was a cat I found outside an elder's house

He had the tip of his ear snipped off meaning he is a fixed male. He also had a collar, but no nametag

He seemed to be well fed and was very social with us

10/10 cat needs a bath but is a good boye

Speaking of good boys, here's what I woke up to one morning

Hello Eli, you seem to enjoy laying on my stomach

Okay ow that hurts

I tried out week-long false lashes with my mom, but they fell off in the shower. I will try it again though because they look soooo pretty!

And with that, I hope you have a great time until my next email! God loves you!!!

12/3-1/12 Oh Look I'm Alive!!

 Hello everyone!

Oh wow it's been a while. The holidays are busy for everyone, huh? Well, I hope you all had a lovely Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, winter season, and/or New Year and that your January isn't too depressing with all the seasonal cheer being gone.

As for me, I've been doing really well, I have a new set of companions, Sister Gardner who I have known for a while, and Sister Fish who is new to the mission. They're both great and I know I will vibe with these ladies.

Let's get on to the locations!!

Heidi's Village- While I was dormant, I finally started serving at Heidi's Village! There's so many cats and I love each one of them, even the ones who hiss and scratch me. I currently have a kinda deep cut on my palm from a cat named Angelina Jolie there, but to be fair, she did make it clear she did not wanna be picked up. So I rightfully deserve it. I also fell in love with a sweet little boy named Gulliver and I got to see him go from a scared hissy gremlin to a lovely snugglebug who I could just carry around the meow motel forever. He got adopted about a week ago and I am so happy that he now has a great home to call his own. Unfortunately I cannot have my phone out while at this location (I even have to keep it in a locker and not on me), so I can't take pictures, but I'm pretty sure my trainer has a pic of me holding Gulliver so I will try to hunt that down to share.

Gathering Humanity- I've done two apartment setups for refugees since my last email, and both were with Elder J Johnson and Sister Critchfield. I even got to lead a setup for the first time!! I definitely have a lot to learn about that (it took 4 hours to setup the apartment when I know my mom would have gotten it done in half the time), but I really look forward to leading more setups!

Sequoia Deaf School- I know I say this every email, but I love these kids. I wish I could say more about these kids, but I don't want to break any privacy rules. I will say though that my Pokemon sweatshirt was a big hit today, so I guess I'm the cool adult now. It's also weird that I'm considered an adult here. When we learn the difference between "girl" and "woman", I'm being called a woman to these kids. I guess that's something I need to get used to if I'm going into education though haha.

Pioneer Village- Have I mentioned yet that I've started blacksmithing now? Yup. I've made the museum $18 so far and I am so happy that I get to wear pants now instead of a pioneer dress. So far I've made some snake necklaces and a wall hook. I'm pretty proud of myself considering I never thought I would get into this kind of trade, especially while on a mission, but I guess God wants me to learn how to mold metal using a coal forge.

Casteel Seminary- I haven't been to this location in weeks because of winter break, but before break, I had my last few weeks with that batch of students. I had such a great experience with them and I expect to have the same with the new litter of kid's I'll be mentoring this Friday. I'm really hyped to go back and start a new semester with new faces and new adventures.

Social Media- So just recently (as in like within the week), I was asked to be a part of both the social media music team, and the social media management team to replace Sister Critchfield (she's finishing her mission soon and I already miss her). My job is to make sure that posts get posted on time and have quality captions and hashtags. Now many of you who know my family knows that my sister, Cilla, majored in advertising and runs the social media for Forge Marketing (go follow them on Instagram), so I guess it's kinda funny that out of all the Wright children, I'm the one who gets to help manage a social media account for their mission lol.

General Mission things- So a restructure of our mission leadership was done, and now instead of STLs (Sister Training Leaders, what I currently am) being on the same level as DLs (District Leaders, Elders in charge of ministering to a group of other missionaries), they are now on the same level as ZLs (Zone Leaders, Elders in charge of DLs). If that doesn't make much or any sense to you, what I'm saying is that the sister missionary leaders in my mission are now moved up to being the same level as what most proselyting sister missionary leaders are at. We also received a new AP (Assistant to the mission President(s)), Sister Conover, who is the first sister in our mission to be in this position. I'm so proud of her and what she has done for paving the way for sister service missionaries. I know she will do a fantastic job in this position!!

And with that, that's about it. I'll post pictures, but other than that, have a great time until the next email!

Here's a "Thug Santa" that Sister Critchfield drew in seminary

A student brought his new dog to seminary. His name is Oliver (the dog, not the student)

I tested all my seminary students to fill up the board with what a good friendship entails, here's what they came up with

My students at Sequoia really like Pokemon so they asked me to draw some so that they could color them in. Did I do well?

Okay so long story. For the mission Christmas party, we had to get a gift for a white elephant. I thought it was supposed to be a gag gift, so I got this Barbie doll and decided to turn it into a "Sister Missionary Barbie" in hopes of a few laughs, but then I heard that we were supposed to do serious gifts and not gag gifts. So I tried to make this look as nice as I could and then hoped for the best. I expected people to not like it, but it ended up being a big hit! I think Elder Perkes has it right now (he had it by the end of the game, but then it got stolen by Sister Marshall. I think it's back in his hands though)

I somehow ran into my brother, Nick's, service mission leaders, the Pugmires. I recognized their name and asked how long they had been serving and when they said about 6 years, I asked if they knew my brother and sure enough, they were his leaders while he was in Arizona! How crazy!

So yeah here are the snake necklaces I've made at the forge. On the left is my first attempt, in the middle is my second, and on the right is my third. You can see how much better I had gotten over the course of two days working there

After forging one day, I went out with some friends for my first time trying hot pot. It was so good and I really wanna try it again sometime!!

My mom tasked me with assembling the cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve while she worked at the hospital. I think they look great, and they certainly tasted great on Christmas morning

Christmas evening we went to Schnepf Farms to look around and I got this picture of my parents. Elder J Johnson kindly edited the text on this picture and (despite my dad's goofy face), my parents look really cute in this

So there are a lot of stray cats around Sequoia and I usually see some each time I head out to my car when school is done. Here's one who got really close to me. I obviously didn't get too close, especially considering that this boy's left eye looked a bit goopy meaning he could have an infection, but I had to get this picture. If you notice, the top of his left ear is clipped off meaning he is 1) a male and 2) fixed. Despite his infection, he seems to be having a good life being a neighborhood stray

While at Gathering Humanity recently, I saw this bed set and had to take a picture because this is actually the same set as what's on my bed. I guess that means me and a refugee will be twinning soon!

Those are all my pictures. Talk to you later! God loves you!!!

11/17-12/2 Thanksgiving Week and my Signing Skills at Sequoia

 Hey! It's been a while. Sorry for not emailing last week or this past Tuesday. It's been a full week of family and service. But let's get on with what's happened!

Monday Service- I'm currently working on getting started at an animal shelter called Heidi's Village. Hopefully I can start there soon!

Gathering Humanity- The place is bustling as usual with preparations for the incoming wave of Afghani refugees. I've recently completed reorganizing the diaper shelves and oh my goodness there's so much to organize and yet we still need as many donations as we can to help these people. I'm hoping the holiday season and the Light the World movement will encourage more donations to come our way.

Sequoia Deaf School- My students are currently in love with Pokemon. I just remember my mom saying how she thought it was just a phase back when my siblings and I were kids and boy was she wrong! After 25 years, Pokemon is still going as strong as ever and I can see that in these students. They've brought both trading cards and figurines to school and even have asked me to draw some characters for them. Something that I love to do is to look up videos of how to sign the Pokemons' names. There aren't any official signs, so it's super fun to see all the different interpretations from people! One student loves to go through a list and tell me which ones she likes and which ones she doesn't like. I've also noticed my comprehension skills have gone up so much even from the 8 hours of immersion I get once a week. I'm remembering signs that I forgot from back in high school and I'm learning many new signs as well. Currently my absolute favorite service location!!!

Pioneer Village- I'm starting to appreciate the nice weather and I'm dreading the coming of winter. I know those reading this email from colder climates think I'm whining about 60 degree weather, and to that I say: you're quite right. I'd just rather be baked in an oven than frozen in a freezer. At least I don't have to scrape the sunshine off of my car windows. I've been serving at the schoolhouse (meaning I have school on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays) and I'm always excited to see how energetic these kids are to learn about how the education system was during Pioneer times. I had a gentleman today who clearly was not from Arizona wonder why all the plants here are still alive even though there hasn't been rain in months... sir, cacti and other succulents are used to the lack of water... I just told him that a lot of the saguaro cacti he's seeing are easily as old if not older than these hundred year old buildings here and know how to survive in a desert.

Casteel Seminary- Some kids are sad that I probably won't be their mentor come 2022 (because we're switching mentor groups for the new semester) while others don't seem to mind haha. I'm baffled I only have three more weeks with these kids. I feel like I just started to get to know them! I love how willing they are to listen and make comments and form friendships they wouldn't normally make with other kids in our group. I also found out that mini tootsie pops seem to be a huge winner in the treat department so I have a big bag that should set me up for a while.

Saturdays- These past two Saturdays have consisted of ushering for QCPAC's Shrek Jr., family photos, and Organ Stop Pizza. Alongside that, I've been doing a speedrun of Stardew Valley in my free time. The most common speedrun in that game is to complete the community center in one in-game year. My goal is to complete it as soon as I can because it is quite a struggle to do it in a year and requires a lot of skills and straight up luck with items such as a red cabbage and the rabbit's foot. There's also a difference between a speedrun within the game's internal clock and with real life time. I'm obviously doing this speedrun with the former method because it would be way too much time to do the other method. I'm not that crazy I promise.

Sundays- November 21st was our branch's primary program and I got to lead the kids in two ASL songs. They did incredible and I'm so proud of how they were able to carry through with a primary program that had no singing! Such inspiring kids!

With that out of the way, instead of giving you a schedule of what my day is like, I would love to explain a little bit about Deaf culture and how the hearing community can best help Deaf and HOH (hard of hearing) people.

So when meeting a deaf person, one of the most polite ways to communicate with them (besides knowing sign of course) is to use paper and pen to communicate. If an interpreter is there, try to look at the deaf person rather than the interpreter considering you're having a conversation with them and not the interpreter. You shouldn't say things like "Can you tell them ___" to the interpreter because if you're having a conversation with the deaf person, you'd want to give them as much respect as you would if you were having a conversation with anyone else. Another common misunderstanding is that ASL has the exact same grammar structure as English. There is a form of signing called SEE (Signing Exact English), but if you plan on learning ASL, don't expect it to be easy.

I started learning ASL because it looked really cool, but as I've learned more and more, I've come to recognize it as an incredible form of communication because it gives some of God's children a way to speak out that they wouldn't have otherwise. Not only is there beautiful Deaf poetry, but every person I've met who signs has turned out to be an incredible person.

Part of Deaf culture is name signs. Instead of fingerspelling out someone's whole name, it's usually easier to give that person a sign that represents their name. I did not have a name sign before I attended Sequoia, so when I was introducing myself as Mandy (Sister Wright would be way too long by ASL standards, plus I can't get too religious at this location) and as a missionary, the teacher and I realized that the sign for missionary uses "M" as the handsign and would be a simple enough sign to use as my name sign. So my name sign technically translates to "missionary". I mean, as a disciple of Christ I'm quite honored to have that name.

And so, I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about ASL and Deaf culture. Obviously I don't know absolutely everything about the culture, not even half of it, and I still have a lot of the language to learn, but I'm loving being able to serve these kids and staff as best I can. 

And here's the newest pictures:

Ah yes, my favorite animal: the pijn

At Gathering Humanity, we had some items to sort out that was in a Modelo box... quite a fun donation to receive (no alcohol was involved at all)

There was a kitty cat at the Ace Hardware on boxes of acid. He was the (second) sweetest boy ever (first place goes to my own kitty Eli)

I got to hang out with my friend Ellis when he came over from NJ for Thanksgiving! We made bagels with Elder Wells and Elder Tucker

A picture from my family photo session :)

A group of missionaries after Sister Daines' launch talk. Elder Otey, Sister Gardner, me, Sister Daines, Sister Critchfield, and Sister McCook

And lastly, I wanna promote my mission Christmas concert to anyone in my mission area

Until next time, God loves you!!!