Man I miss bad lip reading videos. It's not really party time in Armenia, but I did buy a super funny shirt and super fake Beats headphones for very little money, so that was exciting.
No news from transfers yet. We were kinda hoping to hear last night, but oh well. We'll be hearing tonight or tomorrow. I honestly have zero clue about what the future holds for me. But as hard as it will be to potentially leave Charentsavan, if I do I know itll be for the best, and I feel that I can leave the city in peace.
Yesterday in church Elder Marco gave a talk cause he's pretty sure he's leaving after just passing his 8 month mark in Char, but then I also had to give a talk because the person who had been assigned to speak on keeping the Sabbath day holy didn't come to church. So that was ironic. It went fine though.
Our investigators are doing better. The family we've been working with accepted the Word of Wisdom this week- Mushegh is the father who had been told by a doctor to smoke. Apparently the doctor also told his wife to drink coffeee to help her heart. I'm not sure if these doctor degrees just come in bags of Russian cocoa puffs or what, but its ridiculous. Next to our church is a dentists office, and the dentist is blind in one eye. Idk maybe Brother Anderson could still do good work with an eyepath, but it would def not instill confidence in patients. Anyway his wife said she'd quit though, she's doing super well. She reads the BoM from 2 to 3 AM every day cause its the only time she has time to, but she's loving it. Mushegh still doesnt think he can quit, but he has a month and he's down to a few a day. Not sure what the mix up from last week was, but he def has to quit to be baptized. So many people in our branch have gone back to smoking post baptism. Pres Carter had to do a crackdown to make sure none of them were being allowed to pass the sacrament. So he def has to quit, for a good 2 weeks so we can be confident he'll stay that way.
We met with the family who's son i danced with this week, they were accepting and liked the message. their mother died a few years ago so they loved learning about the temple.
we also met another new investigator this week, but i dont like her. Her names Emma, she's 18, and she's pretty. Shes the first girl ive worked with thats not under 10 or a mom. im not a fan of it. The first lesson was super awkward, i felt like elder marco and i were on a blind date with her and her member friend (which is not a good feeling when teaching about baptism) and our branch president laughed/ got mad at us for being so timid. elder marco was much worse. its gotten a little easier now that the get to know you is out of the way and i can just be an elder and teach about the gospel. shes doing pretty well, but the members she lives with are not very good examples so that makes us uneasy.
Hope everyone had a good day Saturday. We didnt get to have our baptisms, but it was a pretty good day. i was super grateful for sis andersons book she sent me, i read that for a bit at night. it was a hard day, especially with no one around to call or hang out with, but i ultimately think it was better cause i turned to the Lord.
Loving all the stories from home, especially the ones from driving school. Armenians are crazy as a people, not like legit insane but just so different from America. but its hard to find crazy people like you do in the US. no one has tatiks (grandmas) like we do here in Armenia though. Theyre seriously my favorite, theyre soo strange. its really hard to explain but ill talk about it for a few hours when i get home. here in Char i have names for my favorites- zombie tatik has no teeth and makes weeird noises at us, but shes always happy to see us. bearded tatik and praying mantis tatik need no explanation. stuff like that. they're great people though, so genuine and caring.
my final note for this week is patience. i studied about patience this morning, and read the stroy of the people of Alma the Older under bondage to Amulon for like the 60th time, but it was still awesome. they relied on the Lord constantly, and He didnt take their burdens away- He made them stronger to bear them. Then they had testimonies that the Lord takes care of His people, in His own timing yes, but He takes care of them. And then they could be examples to others about that fact. I feel that at home i would always hear about how people would run out of patience and snap, and i was no different. But I feel here its been the opposite, because I've relied on the Lord. The tests of my patience have gotten worse as the transfer has progress, and ive grown stronger to take them- God has given me what I could handle, if He gave me what I got yesterday at the start of the transfer, I wouldnt have been able to handle it.
Yesterday I got spit on. Some punk teens followed us asking dumb questions and wanting money, nothing new. when we ignored them, they spit at us. nothing particulary horrible, but one caught me across the face from behind. it was one of the more unpleasant experiences ive dealt with, but i managed to still walk away silently. i honestly dont know if it was a trial meant for me, or just dumb people using their agency. Im not sure why i needed to learn to be able to take that and not react. but i know my patience has increased and my pride has dropped, a lot. and i know if nothing else i now have a stronger testimony that God will strengthen us through all the junk we endure, and that will be meaningful to me forever. and now hopefully i can help another missionary keep their cool and patiently endure.
I love you all so soo much and hope you have a great week in every way.
Love Elder Moore
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