11/10-11/16 Gathering Humanity and their Wonderful Warehouse

Hello hello!!

The weather in Arizona baffles me. I wake up, I feel cold so I dress up warm, and then I end up sweating by the afternoon. So much for fall I guess. But then again, I don't like the cold anyways.

I know this week I'm supposed to talk about Gathering Humanity, but I actually didn't go this week. That's because I had to welcome my new companion! Her name is Sister Hill and she flew in from Mexico City last night. On that same subject, I've also been called to serve as Sister Training Leader! I'll get more training on it on Saturday, but for now, I'm still very new to the calling.

So anyways, here's the update on each service location before I go in depth on Gathering Humanity.

Queen Creek Performing Arts Center- The Christmas tree got set up in the lobby and Shrek is coming along. Opening night is on Thursday and I'll probably be ushering for the 2pm show on Saturday. Other than that, I'm actually moving on from the QCPAC and I'll hopefully be starting at an animal shelter soon.

Sequoia Deaf School- I love working at this location so much! I got to talk to one of the children about Godzilla and Pokemon for a long time and that was so much fun to do. They also got pizza twice last Wednesday so all in all, it was a great day with the kids!

Pioneer Village- I started at the dress shop with Sister Critchfield on Thursday. While I am really bad at fashion, I do enjoy the history behind women's clothing and dresses.

Casteel Seminary- I don't have many weeks left with my students, but I'm certainly having a great time with them! This past week we talked about D&C 129-131 as well as testimonies and careers.

And with that out of the way, let's talk about Gathering Humanity.

The whole goal of the organization is to set up apartments for refugees. When families come to the US, they require specific pieces of furniture in order to remain in the apartments. Beds, a table, chairs, etc. They are also given money in order to help them until they get a job. However, if those furniture items, as well as many other household essentials such as cleaning supplies, food, and whatnot, the family would have to use that money to buy those items rather than putting it towards rent. There's a whole lot of other points in this situation, but the general idea is that Gathering Humanity provides those items so that the family has a stable start in the US.

I've worked with the organization for years before I became a missionary and now I get to work with them weekly. I also was able to work on paperwork for refugees coming out of Kabul, Afghanistan in August with them. I've done both setting up the apartments and working in the warehouse, but my position as a missionary is exclusively as a warehouse worker.

So what does that entail? Well, I go to the warehouse in Tempe in the morning and work for about three hours reorganizing shelves, unloading donations out of cars, and doing what we call "pulls". A pull is when we prep for an apartment setup (usually the next day) by putting all the necessary items from the checklist onto a gondola (a bookshelf on wheels), color-coding it all, and then putting it at one of the loading docks for the next day before the family comes.

If you're interested in donating towards Gathering Humanity, you can find them on Instagram @gatheringhumanity. They often will post about last minute needs such as meals or their current Christmas stockings project.

Other than that, that's all for Gathering Humanity. Here's this week's pictures:

So the students at Sequoia made American flags for Veterans Day. 

They're pretty nice

Huh. Ya got the colors a little off there, buddy

I uhhh. Hm. Alright then

Ah yes. The classic flag of the United States of America. Perfection

And here's Sister Gardner looking cute at seminary on Friday

Oh? What's this coming into frame?

Elder Gloverrrrrr!

Poor Sister G!!

Well that's all for this week! God loves you!!!

11/3-11/9 A Deep Dive into the Queen Creek Performing Arts Center

 Hello again!

As promised, I will be explaining more in depth about what I do at each service location, one location a week. Before I explain my work at the QCPAC, I'll give a quick update for the other places.

Gathering Humanity- Today, I was able to clear off about two and a half shelves just by consolidating the dish sets into a more compact organization structure. I then did some unloading and working in the kitchen and cleaning area. I hope to do the same organization work to the diaper areas next week.

Sequoia Deaf School- The children were sad that the Halloween decorations are gone, but I know that they'll be excited for the holiday season really soon. We also moved from volleyball to kickball in PE and I managed to get a kid out. I was never a fan of PE when I was their age, but I'm certainly having fun there!

Pioneer Village- We had a school come through on Thursday and I was able to teach them about how school was in pioneer times. They enjoyed learning about the dunce cap and paddle haha! I then went to Elder Wells' place and I got to see his chickens!

Casteel Seminary- I'm getting along so well with all of my kids and this week we talked about dating. I enjoyed hearing about their perspective and what they want out of a relationship, both while in high school and while looking for an eternal companion.

Saturday Service- There was no service project this week, but my parents are out of town in the Carolinas so I had a lot of house duties to do and was pretty busy!

Sunday Church- I went to a ward all by myself for some scouting. I was able to bare my testimony about service missions and talk to people afterwards about what a service mission is like. I'm glad I was able to spread the word to other places about how impactful a service mission can be on the missionary and the community. I then went to my own branch to help out with the primary program practice and I'm so proud of how well the children are learning the sign language!

Anyways, onto the QCPAC! This is one of the locations that start a bit later in the day: 9:30am. But we head out at 9 because the drive is pretty long. I drive with Elder Johnson and Elder Tucker.

We arrive, sign ourselves in, and look at the list of tasks to do. Usually Elder Johnson has some computer work to do like creating marquee slides and stage manager duties. The rest of us (me, Elder Tucker, Elder Arnold, Elder Prendergast, and Elder Hansen who recently finished his mission) go around and do various tasks like painting, building, cleaning, organizing, and other manual labor. One of the biggest tasks we recently did was gut and reorganize the pit.

Here's the theater

Currently we have to climb down this set of stairs/ladder thingy to get into the pit

The ominous hallway to the pit

The pit in all her glory

We finish at about 2 and then head off for lunch together. I get home at around 3 and then have social media team at 5.

The current show going on at the PAC is Shrek, which I was a part of when I was in middle school so I'm having a lot of nostalgia while working on the show. In fact, here's me as a Duloc dancer

And with that, that's my update for this week! Until next time, God loves you!

10/27-11/2 Spoopy creppy Halloween

 It's Tuesday again!

I hope you all had a wonderful October! And whether you are a Thanksgiving purist, or a supporter of Thanksgiving being a sub-holiday/tailgate to Christmas, enjoy your November!

This past week was as usual, I worked hard and played hard. Here's what happened:

Queen Creek Performing Arts Center- The pit was put on hold as we prepared the stage and backstage for Shrek tech-ing. Elder Johnson has some super awesome computer skills and has been making slides for the marquees that are animated. 10/10 they look so good

Gathering Humanity- The Afghani move is on the way! I did two pulls today for apartments and I also worked some more on getting the warehouse ready for the high influx of refugees coming in. I'm so happy that these people can finally take another step towards a new life :)

Sequoia Deaf School- My students are great as always. We chatted about Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and their volleyball skills are improving so much. As for my signing skills, I'm basically at the point where I can sign fluently with the students, but I'm still struggling with signing with the staff, especially the ones who only sign. But I will get better!!

Pioneer Village- I finally started working at the schoolhouse and I had a blast. I did some research about how teaching in the US was back then, and I'll talk a bit more about it when I cover that location entirely, but basically, I found the differences between then and now fascinating.

Casteel Seminary- Unfortunately I had some health issues on Friday. Which meant that I was only present for about two classes before I had to head home. I'm feeling all better now tho!

Saturday Service- This past Saturday I went to a Halloween party!! The backstory on that is due to the lack of affordable apartments in the Phoenix area, refugees are being placed in hotels for the time being. The refugees all deserve a proper party since they're under so much stress, so I helped out at a Halloween party by manning the ring toss game. I didn't take pictures because of confidentiality, but the people there took pictures with me like I was a Disney princess or something. I'm so happy that I was able to give them a bit of joy during this stressful time of transitioning to the US.

Sunday Meetings- We had two 5th Sunday presentations where the whole mission does a Q&A about service missions to a ward. We had so many great questions! I may do a whole email about FAQs someday...

And with that, here are this weeks photos:

We had a mission spirit week for Halloween and here's the Western Wednesday pictures. Back row: Elder Perkes, Elder Tendick, Elder Da-Re, Sister Kriser, Elder Johnson, Elder Egg, me, and Sister Gardner. Front row: Sister McCook, Sister Conover, Elder Otey, Sister McCurdy

And then just the cowboy hats. Sister McCook, Elder Tendick, Elder Perkes, Elder Egg about to shoot me, and Elder Otey

I got a bonnet for my pioneer outfit!

I also have a jacket for when the weather gets chilly

Here's me in the dunce cap at the schoolhouse!

I was offering Elder Johnson a pumpkin cookie, and he took a picture of me and edited it for some reason

I'm pleased to announce that my Halloween costume this year was a ghost. Just a white bed sheet ghost. It was great

Here's the whole costume. This was Friday night at the mission-wide Halloween party

My comp, Sister Critchfield, also was a ghost

Which was awesome

Heck yeah comps

Elder Johnson was a bore and didn't dress up as anything

Boo what a loser

I took off my costume to eat and paint my pumpkin. Here's me with Sister Kriser as Eeyore

And me with Sister McCook, Sister Conover, and one of Sister Conover's many sisters

I also apparently photobombed this picture of Sister Daines after she won a donut eating contest

And here's the whole gang. Back row: Sister Steadman, Elder Dowdle as a weeb, Elder Tendick, Elder Tucker as Dr. Doofenshmirtz, Elder J. Johnson, Elder Newton, Elder Perkes as a greaser, Elder B. Johnson as a Newsie, Elder McCurdy as Dwayne the Rock Johnson, Elder Steadman. Front row: Sister McCurdy, Sister Kriser as Eeyore, Sister Daines as a Lord of the Rings elf, Sister McCook as a referee(?), Sister Conover, Sister Critchfield as Kim Possible (yes, she did two costumes), Sister Gardner as a gardener (hehe get it?), an empty chair for some reason, Elder Otey as Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier (best costume of the night in my book), and Elder Arnold as emo Toby McGuire Spider-Man (funniest costume of the night in my book)

And of course, I had to do the Spider-Man meme with Sister Critchfield and Elder Arnold

Here's Elder Johnson, myself, and Elder Tucker posing with my painted pumpkin. Meet Pumpkachu!!!

And then we had a zone-wide Halloween party on Saturday night. There's Elder Johnson, Elder Tendick with his "patagonia" pumpkin, a floating pumpkin that I carved, Sister Gardner and her Kingdom Hearts pumpkin, Elder Wells as a vet with his pumpkin, Elder Tucker with his Owl House pumpkin, and Elder Otey with his pumpkin as well.

And then Elder Otey decided to establish who was boss

And then Elder Tucker died. If you look faintly, you can see his ghost leaving him...

That's all for now! Next week, I'll be doing a deep dive into what it's like to serve at the Queen Creek Performing Arts Center. Stay tuned and remember that God loves you! 

10/20-10/26 Insert cheesy mission email title here

Hello again!

I hope you all are doing well. I just got my email up and running (I have been using my blog for the past two weeks) so I'm becoming closer and closer to feeling like a true missionary.

Speaking of "true" missionary, there's been a new announcement for the service missionaries. For decades at the teaching missionary training centers, a video by Elder David A. Bednar would be showed to all missionaries going through there. And since many missions in my area have been the headquarters for the service missionary training center, we've been wanting to be able to show that video.

Well, we just recently got a personal email from Elder Bednar himself saying that he would like to give permission to premiere that video to service missionaries. This was such wonderful news to hear because that brings service missionaries as a whole one step closer to being considered on par with our proselyting elders and sisters.

Other than that, this past week has been pretty typical. Here's the rundown:

Queen Creek Performing Arts Center- I had to take my cats to the vet on Monday so I didn't end up going there.

Gathering Humanity- Today, my project was organizing the baby formula; consolidating all the packages into an area where the temperature can be better controlled as well as marking and organizing it all by expiration date. We did not lose any packages from expirations! A tender mercy from the Lord!

Sequoia Deaf School- Last week, we changed teachers. So I still have the same students, but a different teacher that I'm working with. These kids are so amazing I love being able to dive in and immerse myself into a new culture.

Pioneer Village- I didn't accidentally bring my key home with me this time around! This week, some guys came by the church because they're gonna use it to shoot a film about an outlaw accepting death. Sister Critchfield and I got to show them around and look at different shots they could do. We also discovered the "basement" of the church and someday I hope to go down there and hopefully not get bit by a snake or something. We'll see.

Casteel Seminary Mentoring- I got to see my kids after about a month of break and I was so happy to be able to chat with them again. A lot of the kids gravitated towards D&C 121:7 where Joseph Smith was trapped in Liberty Jail. You can tell that hearing from our Heavenly Father to have peace unto our souls gives these students hope during the struggles of what all of us can understand is high school.

Saturday service project- This week, we got to refurbish a house near downtown Chandler. We painted the house, we put new rocks in the yard, and we fixed up the plants in their pots. It was great getting to see these people experiencing poverty be able to get a new yard and feel like new again. Since this project was brought about by the city of Chandler, we were then invited to a party hosted by the city and we got new State Forty Eight t-shirts!

Sunday- I had a special musical number with Sister Critchfield, Sister Garder, Elder Arnold, and Elder Johnson. Usually, I'm singing and Elder Johnson plays piano, but this time around, I played piano, Sister Critchfield played the violin, and the other three sang. I was pretty proud of myself since that was the first time I ever accompanied. I've done piano solos and I've sung while others accompany, but now I've had the chance to accompany. With practice, I'm sure I'll get better. The other musicians did amazing as expected.

Anyways, here are the pictures from this week:

One of the stinky students at seminary photoshopped Elder Otey's face over me when I was showing them their weekend assignments

Elder Wells and I twinning at the Saturday service project. He had to teach me how to rake and to keep my mouth closed so I don't taste dust

Me, Elder Wells, Sister Critchfield, Elder Tendick and Sister Kriser painting the house

Some of the other people from Saturday. Elder Johnson, Sister Gardner, me, Elder Wells and Elder Tucker sitting in front, Elder Otey, then Sister Kriser

Me, Sister Gardner, Sister Kriser, and Elder Dowdle filling up some pots for the plants

The whole group after the project. Top row: Elder Tendick, Elder Newton, Elder Dowdle, Elder Millet, Elder Davis, Elder McCurdy, Elder Perkes, Elder J Johnson, Sister Steadman. Middle row: Elder B Johnson, one of the volunteers who wasn't a missionary, the kind gentleman of the house (I think his name was Terry), Sister Gardner, Sister McCook, Sister McCurdy, Sister Conover, Sister Critchfield, Elder Egg, me, Elder Tucker, Elder Wells, Elder Steadman. Bottom row: the son of the lady mentioned before, Elder Otey, the two ladies of the house, Sister Kriser, and then two other volunteers who I think aren't missionaries.

Elder Tucker, Elder Wells and I after the church meeting on Sunday

Rosie after her vet visit. She's perfectly healthy despite being a few screws loose

Eli was so brave for his visit. He has yeast infections in his ears and needs medicine to fix it :(

Our charcuterrie board today at a picnic with some missionaries, there's meat (chicken tenders), cheese (munchie's cheese mix), fruit (pomegranate), and chocolate. Perfect right?

I hope you all have a wonderful week! God loves you!!

10/14-10/19: School Break!

 Hello everyone!

It's been another week of serving and socializing. If anyone would like to join my mission email list, be sure to send an email to amanda.wright@missionary.org. Preferably with a cute animal picture attached.

So this week, both of my school locations did not happen. Sequoia Deaf School was on fall break and Casteel High School rearranged their schedule so mentoring could not happen this week. So instead, I helped out at the QCPAC (Queen Creek Performing Arts Center) on Wednesday and Feed the Children on Friday.

Here's a short update about each service location from this week:

QCPAC- We've been working on completely gutting and reorganizing the pit (area below the stage). It holds costumes, props, and headwear for shows and we need to see what should be thrown away or donated. It's coming along pretty well and I'm pretty confident it will be an effective organization! Sister Critchfield has been in charge of the whole project and she's been such a wonderful lead!

Gathering Humanity- My current project is to reorganize the toy section. Currently, there's girls toys, boys toys, infant/toddler toys, and then sport balls (most commonly, soccer balls/footballs because of how universal the sport is). We're trying to streamline it so there's dolls for the girls, matchbox cars for the boys, smaller toddler toys, and then soccer balls/footballs. So I have to gut the whole set of shelves and prep for the new process.

St. Vincent de Paul- I had my last week there! I originally started there to fill in for a sister missionary who just finished up her mission (shoutout to Sister Skousen <3), but it ended up being too much for me. I would work at the Gathering Humanity warehouse on Tuesday mornings and SVdP on Tuesday afternoons. I loved working there, but I needed a free afternoon to myself. 

Pioneer Village- So I accidentally brought the key to their church home with me this past week. I promise it won't happen again. I may also try seeing if I can start working at the school house and teacherage. I think it would be fun and ever since I saw the teeny tiny teacherage house, I fell in love with working there.

Sunday- I had a special musical number on the piano and it was pretty good! Only a few mistakes! Oh, also on Sunday, I went to a YSA devotional that had the one and only ELDER SOARES FROM THE QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. It was so amazing to go there and hear his guidance. I feel so blessed to be able to go and see him in person.

As usual, here's the pictures from this week:

Me at Gathering Humanity organizing the girls toys

Feed the Children on Friday. Me, Elder Otey, Elder Perkes, and Elder Tendick

Us afterwards at Manuel's for the best shrimp tacos ever. My mom, me, Elder Perkes, Elder Otey, Elder Tendick, and my dad

My mom and I at the Vincent Van Gogh Immersive Experience in Scottsdale. It wasn't what I was expecting, but fun nonetheless!

Elder Wells and I at a mission birthday party for Sister McCurdy and Sister Steadman (happy 20 something birthday to both of you). We got soaking wet and got paint everywhere and had a blast!

This was at the first ward I went to on Sunday. Elder Johnson had the special musical number there and rocked it! In this picture is Elder Johnson, Elder Tucker, Elder Davis, Elder Da-Re, Elder Otey, me, Sister Gardner, Sister McCook, and then Elder Perkes on Sister McCook's phone

Anyways, I hope you have a great week. Be sure to email me so you can be added on the email list. God loves you!!!