Sorry I'm running out of titles for these things fast, especially when nothing super crazy happens during the week. We did handle the flies, the total count was near 100 and we stapled some netting to our window frames. And cleaned a little bit. This week I found an opportunity to get a nice suit from Turkey, that'll be exciting, and my pride got smashed! Haha many times. But that's what the Lord gives you when you're a prideful person at heart:
This week I said hi on the street to someone and he told me never to say hi to him again, because I'm destroying the world. That was a little excessive in my mind, so I asked him if I was allowed to tell him goodbye (they say "success" in Armenian for goodbye) he didnt like that. .
We met a kid that tried to trip us up by speaking really fast (it worked, kinda) I told him he had to pray about the BoM- he asked "I have to pray to this book?" but I heard "I have to pray about this book?" (they sound kinda similar, and he was flyin) so i said yes and he went nuts saying we pray to books. I didnt feel bad about trying to speak fast with him, he wasnt looking for the truth and just tried to make us sound bad, but Elder Marco handled it like a pro (for one, he speaks better than I do) he asked him "are you actually wanting to find the truth" and the kid said "yeah, but i wont go to your church" . I got ready to basically condemn him and walk away but elder marco cut me off, asked the guys name, made a joke, and wished him a good night. I want to be more like that.
The final one was Sunday, we met with a new family and were super excited. Then theyre neighbor came in and we instantly could tell she was of another faith that hates Mormons (we'll talk more about it when Im at home and its not going on the internet) the dad was like "hey, these are the elders, get acquainted" and she said "es tsanot em nrants" and not "es tsanot em nrants het" theres a difference in armenian, you can only be familiar with people, you have to be familiar "to" objects that cant be familiar back, like a city, process, etc. So she basically called us objects, but it also meant "im familiar with their ways" and not "I know who these two guys are" get it? It was insulting anyway. but we tried to be nice, i tried to apply what id learned during the week, and eventually she just left. it was comforting to see the family didnt really care about what she said. But i've been trying to apply Christs words, so that people can recognize we're His disciples by our love towards others. Its not easy, but if we try to see where they're coming from, and see them how God does, we'll be better about loving the person and not hating the actions.
Anyway the other story from teh week is the family I just mentioned. We had a slow week, our 3 investigators closest to baptism were busy, sick, and out of town. But we worked hard and realized we can meet with Vazgen during his lunch hour if we bring him food. So we're gunna do that this week and next, and hope Alena, the sick one, gets better so we can have two baptisms on the 17th. i think mom would like that. anyway we worked hard and on sunday it still wasnt looking good. then a man named mushegh (gh denotes a throat letter, it kinda just drops away) came to meet with Armen, who told him to talk to us till he was free. we talked, he was kinda interested but not enough to make time for it, then we finished and went home. then Armen called and said he had mentioned the temple, and now Mushegh was waiting at home with his family for us to come over. so we did. and we quickly found out they dont believe in life after death. I've never met so many people who believe in God but not in life after death. more in a sec. anyway we taught about it a bit, they said obviously they would like for there to be one, and we talked about how they would come to know. then we talked about the temple- armenians are very visual, so every companionship has a "temple kit" with pictures of the temple and the celestial room and sealing room. and we write their names on paper slips, and show that a legal marriage will seperate with death, but when the man holding the sealing power staples the slips, its bound for eternity. it sounds a little silly, but you should have seen the mother's face light up when elder marco stapled her name to her kids name. Pres Carter always taught us to offer people something they actually want. thats a discussion for later comparing faiths, but the fact is we offered this family something they wanted, life after death with their family together. and its true! thats the best part. they accepted dates for sept 14th, which will give them a year membership before the temple trip next Sept. it was a great day, and a definite miracle from the Lord. Even though the week wasnt awesome, we worked harder, and therefore we felt better, and then we saw great things.
Lanes- i love how you only mentioned the durstchis and then said etc. hmm. but those tapes sound awesome lemme know how they go.
Alex- of the three options, the job is clearly the best. get a job gurl.
Dad- hope the summer goes well and not too hectic. i think i wanna come home my first summer and do lots of stuff, like shooting and learning to drive stick and going to six flags. but well see. as for normal report, i continue to learn tons every day, continue to try to improve the language, and wade through some tough times. but the times are tougher for the armenians that actually live here and dont get to go home to america where the church is awesome, so i'll never complain. is my placque set up? its been a while i feel bad if its not.
ask me the religion question next week, sorry im out of time but its an interesting discussion.
i love you all, happy bday to tyler, have a great week and party safely
elder moore
but thats what happens when the church you go to doesnt teach anything, you just show up to buy a candle to burn. its kinda like a microcosm of the great apostast
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