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!
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
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!
