Monday, June 10, 2013

lots goin on...kinda

Hey family and friends, 
  Last week I promised this week would be better. Cheest asats (truth told) it wasnt. Well kinda. But not really. I have a lot of random news, but ill start with actually missionary work. 
 Basically on Monday Armen (our BP, backbone of the branch and missionary work in Char) finally got a hold of an old referal and got him to come for a lesson. It went fine, not bad not amazing, he's kinda interested. But we were stoked, new referal, new investigator, everything good. That was the only lesson we had all week. Armen was busy the rest of the week with work and having to go to the hospital for spine problems. Our only investigators right now (3 men) are all his referals. The other man we found two weeks ago dropped us, and the new baptizee's son we keep trying doesnt want to do work, so he busied us all week. We had 3 lessons with our new converts, but other than that we literally walked the streets all week, with no success. We arent allowed to knock doors or do booths or anything, we walk around the tiny city and try to talk to people as they walk past. It was really hard. Obviously it was disappointing and discouraging, but its also getting really hot and we hit exhaustion. just pure tired. we realized we werent eating great (eating well is hard here) but were also just tired. elder marco and i are great friends, and very similar people. we had a lot of long talks this week about how to find motivation from nowhere, cause we didnt want to keep walking around. we talked about how while neither of us would ever go home, we were on our tipping points- we could either learn to push through and grow quite a bit, or we could pile out- meaning sleep a little later, take extra meal time, not study hard, not try, just walk around. stuff like that. we both agreed that was not acceptable and did a lot of studying and praying and just trying to buoy each other up. one big thing we learned was something weve always heard. this sort of thing (dedication, hard work, consecration) cant just be taught. there was no scripture or quote that was going to make us both go "ohhhh" and then start working harder. it has to be taught by the Spirit, through personal experience. thats why im happy dads recomitting to scripture study. i love 2 Ne 32 3- the words of Christ will tell you all the things that you should do. But I also love verse 5- the Spirit will SHOW you all the things you should do. they HAVE to go hand in hand. The spirit doesnt recite long lists of instructions- thats what God calls prophets and gave scriptures for. But just reading them isnt enough, we have to do them and then the Spirit will increase our understanding- that personal experience is when we grow. 
  By no means did we learn everything we need to in one week- we still have plenty to learn, and the work is still looking pretty rough here in Char. But i feel that we took steps down the right path, and even though i was disappointed we had no lessons and confused why this was happening to us when every companionship is supposed to baptize in June, i was grateful that i learned so much. 

  Other news- Happy Birthday to Alex! I told our members on friday it was your day- they acted like Armenians. (Armenians call down crazy blessings on you for your bday. they wish you health and sucess and good marriage and jobs and more health, over and over) and they told me to pass along the message (im not telling them mine is coming soon) 
  Lanie- do i know the Bachelorette? The only one im comitted to still watching is Seans. After that, eh. well see. People write me, people from Godwin and BYU and family. Sister Davidson is so great, she's the most consistent and always sends funny postcards- i need you (family) to tell her that i AM sending a letter to her to give to Albert Castanos. I emial chase, and right occasionally. He's doing awesome, read his blog as a fam every now and then. Armenians are light brown skinned, not too many are dark, a lot of them are a bit lighter. 
  thanks for keepin the blog going strong, uncle mike said to tell Alex to post more pics but that might be just cause i havent sent many home. Elder Maughan does have our address, he said fam and stuff has kept him busy lately so idk when he'll send the stuff. 
Ill do some studies on duty, and think of what to say to the ward and get back you next week.
  i love you all, have a great start of summer!
Elder Moore

me, elder kopsa, and elder marco- my new comp, he's on the right 

Sevan
the vank (monastery) at Sevan


Our district at sevan- elder kopsa, marco, maughan, and me make up the inside. elder yardley on the right, van blankenstein on the left. Charentsavan and Hrazdan

me from a good view from the other Char apartment 

Elder Marco tried Lemon Lime koolaid in oatmeal (the only oatmeal they have here is bland so we try diff things to flavor it- usually chai tea packets. 

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