Hey!

Dear Family and Friends, 

  Hey! I love all you guys. Lots. 

 Not a ton to report this week. We ended up doing a lot of service for members. We're working hard to get hometeaching organized, thats non existent right now in Armenia. The stake president asked us to get it organized so that when we go to visit a member we can take the hometeachers with us and show em how to do it effectively. 

 Other news in the church here is this weeek I realized most of our priesthood holders, as great as they are, are super old. Like we're talking Papa Bleyl old (sorry just couldnt resist the shot) no really though Brother Bleyl is young and fit but these guys are old. Like discussing whether they were born in the 30s or the 40s haha. Okay theyre not just strutting around in walkers, they're all healthy for theyre age and arent thatt old. But this week we were given the records of all the young single adults on record in our ward and asked to invite them all to institute and an activity. Of the 121 YSA on our records, maybe 6 were active. Half had married and no one knew, the other half havent been to church in years. Apparenlty when the church first started here they were paying for kids books and tuition, so people just got baptized for that. thats a whole nother topic that really frustrates me, but the fact is the church does not have a foundation here, between people moving to russia and america and there just not being many young people in the church. so thats a problem. but it just makes me that much more grateful for the families like the one we baptized in Char, and reminds me to stay focused on that goal. 

  other news this week, I got to serve with elder marco again on tuesday. super good to get back with a good friend and old companion. we had a good time but he also set me straight. no surprise i was feeling super negative about the work and my companionship. he accepted things werent great, but helped me realize i had been super ungrateful and focusing on all the wrong things. Ironic, cause thats what i was wanting my companion not to do, be so negative. so this week has been better, from me but also from him. we're having a better time. the work itself continues to move slowly, we do have one man who likes the church. hes just not really focused and doesnt quite understand what he's supposed to do. he fell asleep while we watched the joseph smith movie haha it was noon! inch anenck (whatre ya gunna do?) but we have some decent potential here and there. 

  only other news from this week was jermuk! monday was super awesome. it took a long time to get there and back, but it was awesome. we left around 11, drove 1 1/2 hours to noravank, which is super pretty. the steps in the picture were actually scary, super skinny and tall. but way cool. from there we went to yeheknadzor (when we skype for christmas ill explain how to pronouce what youre reading) and had dinner with our crazy strong member. she tried to invite people over, and when they bailed she kept telling them crazy stuff (one day you'll regret this at judgment, sorry, I thought you wanted salvation for you and your loved ones, etc etc) shes a slight bit crazy, if she wasnt she wouldnt sit a van for 2 hours to church and 2 back. from there we went together to jermuk, which is absolutely beautiful. its a giant lake and waterfall, and it has a factory where they make the product (theyre famous for bubbly water- i hate it) and then they had these pipes coming out of the ground where the water is naturally hot, and they have it in different degrees- the hottest said it was 130 degrees farenheit. idk if that was true, but it did burn me haha. but people think it has healing powers, so they buy mugs and just drink like 95 degree water like its nothing. it was kinda gross, hot and metally. anyway it was a super fun adventure day. 

  i love you all and hope you have a great week! this transfer has about 2 weeks left, who knows where ill go/stay, but we'll see if i cant get something good going this week. 

this flower thing is a drain, when the waters high enough it falls down from all around you. apparently it feeds lake sevan

 

 

So thats the churches at Noravank

 

and this is me at the Yeheknadzor sign

the first letter is a Ye, when it starts a word

the second letter is a throat h

the Ye again, but in a word just a normal e,

then a G that sounds more like a k

then a N

then a A

the one that looks like a 2 is a dz

the arch thing is a O

and then an R

Eshuh tsehits hanum em

Dear Family and Friends, 

   eshuh tsehits hanum em means "im pulling the donkey from the mud" its how the armenians describe learning the language, they looove it when you say it. i usually follow it up with "i've pulled the donkey from the mud, i just need to clean it off" they think thats hysterical. 

  anyway thats kinda how the work feels right now. we had to drop our investigators, it was sad cause they didnt seem to upset about that. havent found too many people to teach lately. there are always people with potential but that need a lott of work. and thats fine, but they dont really want to do the work or make the time or something like that. so its tough. we've been trying to increase our efforts to strengthen the ward but they've been busy. its weird, it seems like people in armenia are all busy at once and then all free at once. maybe its just me. 

  anyway thats about it. the works been tough. i've been here two months in artashat and even though theres a good ward set up its still been a rough start brining elders back for the first time in two years. my comp and i are struggling to stay on the same page, esp with attitude. a negative attitude is killerrr to missionary work. and regardless of how close to home you are, the time will drag on until that day if you dont use it right. I love being a missionary though and love the people and i know if we work hard the Lord will bless us as we finish up this transfer. 

  today we're visiting a member who lives in Yeheknadzor, which is 2 hours away from artashat- im not really sure how she found the gospel, i know she comes here occasionally, but shes one of the strongest members in armenia, holds a stake calling, and comes 2 hours each way for church atleast twice a month. its crazy what some people will give up for what is important. we dont get to see that a ton here, but when we do see it its inpsiring. anyway we're using pday cause on the way to her house is Noravank, a sweet church, and then we're gunna go to Jermuk with her which is apparently gorgeous. and she's gunna try to set us up with a meeting or two. it seems crazy, but if we can find people who will take the trip with her to come to church, the gospel can slowly spread there and eventually itll be big enough for missionaries. here's to planting seeds. 

  anyway love and miss you all tons. love hearing from home, give everyone my love and good tidings (is that weird? i have no handle on english phrases right now)

love elder moore

meow

Dear Family and Friends,

  I haven't meowed in a while. Actually I have, there's plenty of cats out on the street, but I've found it difficult to incorporate meows into the Armenian language. I'll work more on that. Starting meow. 

  So anyway, when I said I didnt want to hear about conference that didnt mean dont write me! Ha guilt trip. No worries, good stuff this week. And I did get to watch conference. Watching 6 hours with an hour or two break is kinda rough, and then 4 the next day with no break, but it was still awesome. I personally loved the talk on meekness, the one (priesthood?cant remember) about being a better teacher, I liked Elder Bednars tithing talk, really loved Elder Scotts about the people of Ammon, and LOVED all the first presidency's talks, especially Pres Monson. So inspiring. and of course i noticed the focus on missionary work- i felt like 2 other speakers mentioned it well, and then Elder Ballard came in and crushed it. His was so good. Anyway Ill try not to preach, but the need for member work is very very real, and i love what he explained about people not understanding that their duty is to just get people to the missionaries. I wish I'd realized how much better missionaries are suited to teach the gospel to my friends that had questions. i know if we can live good examples, people will notice, and when they ask, as long as we arent super weird in introdcuing the aspect of meeting with the missionaries, they'll accept. Anyway I also noticed 2 apostles addressing the role of women, and heard there was some craziness around Priesthood session related. Its sad that has to happen. 

   Not too much else going on in Artashat, but this week my testimony grew about the Love of God, and I wanted to share a lil bit. Armenias tough, no bones about it, its tough to help people accept the gospel and missionaries face a lot of negativity. there are a number of older missionaries in our mission who havent faced that in the right way, and its weighed them down, and now theyre really negative and its sad. i caught myself being too negative lately, not loving everyone, and thinking of ways to just make them understand. but in my studies i hit verse after verse that God loves all His children, and I realized i needed to develop greater love and get back to that focus. two weeks ago I was studying and read the classic verse in Matthew that we need to love our neighbor as ourselves, and I realized something new from that verse- if we can't love ourselves, how can we possibly love others? if we look hard we realize those that are hard on others, at their cores, are harder on theirselves. i suffer that all the time. in looking for ways to love others as God loves them, i realized i needed to remove the obstacles in my own life to feeling His love more. Sometimes we just need to give ourselves a break, because we're far from perfect, and a work in progress. I love what Pres Eyring said once "we never need feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord's service because we never are" its true, we should be able to feel loved regardless of what were doing, but we're constantly taught that if we serve others and lose ourselves we will feel that love so much more. i have a testimony of that. 

 i was doing a baptismal interview this week for a 9 year old kid, who acts like a 6 year old kid, with the terrible 2s. Basically he's one of the more char (evil) kids i've met in a while. but his mom just got baptized, and he wanted to, and the sisters told me he was doing a lot better and being a good kid. trouble is, he's kinda scared of me, and had just come from karate, so he was nuts. he refused to pray, gave me all the answers i didnt want to hear, and told me he didnt want to be baptized. i knew he did though, so with a lot of patience and some help from his mom i got the right answers out of him (he told me for a good 15 minutes that he was going to drink tea) and then they left the room for me to decide. as straining as the experience was, and my pride kept telling me just to tell the kid he couldnt get baptized, just to "win", as soon as they left I felt the love of God for this boy. (I wont type his name, but it literally means "piece of fire") and I felt the love of God for me, and that God was happy that i had sat patiently, and that PieceofFire was getting baptized, because that's what all His children need so they can come back to Him. 

  I love you all, i love this work, i love the gospel and Savior, and I love the country and people of Armenia, as well as all the great missionaries who labor here with me. Its crazy how love changes people

have a great one

Elder Moore

Oh yeah
so crazy story- our washer was messed up and wouldnt open. i pulled the door release without realizing i needed to drain the thing first, then tried to drain it and some other stuff happened, long story short there was water all over the floor. like atleast 5 gallons. after 3 towels didnt do it we didnt have anything else, and we were going to yerevan for 2 straight days the next morning and didnt want to leave it wet, so we decided we had to leave the door to the balcony open all night and let it air out. its gotten to be winter here, and i still dont have a blanket cause it was so hot notlong ago... it was a long night. 

winter time

Dear Family and Friends, 

  Its certainly not the extent of winter that it will eventually become in Armenia, but it did get cold overnight. im continuing to hold out, wearing long sleeves until its cold enough to put a suit and a winter coat on. idk how bad it will get here since we're so far south, it wont be the north with 2 constant feet of snow and zero temps. but it will get cold its looking like. anyway

   this week was a hectic one, we had zone meeting in yerevan tues, wed i was in yerevan on exchanges with our assistants, then thursday pres carlson came to artashat and did interviews. saturday we were in yerevan at that giant flea market all day. i didnt take any money on purpose, and i was glad i did cause theres awesome stuff. but im amassing a list for the end of my mish that will only cost a few thousand dollars.... 

 other than that not too much happened. the investigators we have arent progressing, they dont understand the importance so they dont show at meetings a lot, but you cant explain the importance if you cant meet. its a frustrating process. we found two new people to teach, a nice older couple, and their neighbor seems interested too, but they only want to listen, they dont want to go to church. we'll keep working with them for a bit though. thats kinda been the theme for the first half of this transfer- good people with potential to be solid members, but they just require a lot of work and you can see it from the start. and thats fine, but they're all busy. 

 Pres Carlson has started asking the missionaries to all join him in kneeling prayer at 10 every night, and especially to pray that we will find new people to teach- its been the main struggle of our mission, and while every number is a soul and child of God, it is kinda a numbers game. the more new investigators, the higher the chance some of them will make it to baptism. so as a district we're working hard to make sure we do everything to actually make those prayers happen- talking to everyone has been a struggle, and asking for referrals. PMG says it like 15 times (i counted, to prove it in district meeting) to ask EVERYONE for referrals- then when you get one, ask for another haha. but its just so clear that this work has to move through friends, members or non, because its so much easier to start off through someone you know than to meet 2 crazy americans on the street that are shivering and dont speak well. the armenians have a connection with each other that ill never be able to describe and will never see between americans. its amazing to watch it work in meetings. and sometimes it means theyre too close and get in fights. but thats exciting too. 

 anyway thats all, the works moving a little slow but im still progressing as a person and appreciating every day i get to be here. love you all