Not a lot to report this week but it's been an okay one. Not too much worked out but it was alright. The older guy that fell asleep during the Joseph Smith movie did accept a baptismal date, that was a great moment. Idk about others, but as a missionary i keep going all over the place with baptism. sometimes i feel like its this life changing event that people have to understand completely and other times its just the door, and people just need to get through the door so they can understand the rest. well obviously its both, but ive struggled to find how to explain that balance to people. but with this man it really was that simple- the church of God is back on the earth, but you need to join it to gain a remission of sins and eternal life, not just because everyone should find a church. he got it- he actually asked me how he could be cleansed from his sins, and how to know which church God wanted him to join. it was great. unfortunately he dropped us this week, hes moving to Yerevan and still working so he just doesnt have time. but hes a great man and once he moves we'll try to get him set up with the yerevan center missionaries.
other than that we didnt find too many people to teach, but we did a lot of service for our members. to be honest i was super annoyed when we first showed up- we were the first elders here in 3 years, but instead of being excited about strengthening the priesthood, everyone was like "yay, now we can send the elders to give blessings instead of us going, or yay now the elders can come do my physical labor the sisters couldnt" but i realized that while thats obviously the wrong attitude, service is the way into the members lives. its a great ward here, but we havent gotten a single referral in the 3 months here. but we served, and tried to chat up their neighbors, kept mentioning the ward activity, etc etc. it didnt work out, but i know it was more effective than just eating their food and then asking for a referral, and also more effective than just saying we'll go get our own investigators, forget the members. so that was good. i've done more service in the past 3 weeks here than i ever got done in my 5 months in Char, so its been a good feeling.
i got sick this week, maybe from being tired with all the service and being out in the cold. but i actually took it easy the next day instead of going out in the rain all day like the last time i got sick. so im fine now, not flu ridden for a week, although my voice is struggling to come back. its making me sound super weird when i speak armenian. no one understands me, its like im back in march.
i was stressed out this week but i found some awesome council in pres eyrings message from this priesthood session- he gave the story of how the good samaritan could be "the overstressed EQP" but i've decided just to call it "the missionary" since every missionary is working super hard and it never goes as well as it should. this missionary was breaking up little kid fights after our activity/ before the sisters' baptism, and then trying to stop their moms from yelling at each other. but pres eyring gave three promises that i realized i needed a reminder- we CAN feel the love the Savior does for the people we serve, there WILL be others to help, and the Savior will recompense ALL that we spend in his service. those gave me comfort. the third one i think we focus on too much, but i decided to do something more than dream of my mansion above and get back to working hard so itll actually be there one day.
thats all i got from this week. theres only 10 days left in the transfer and thats crazyyyy. esp cause we're both new here so anything could go. the week didnt go much better, but theres some potentials here and there, and im committed to leaving this area better than i found it, so i can either recommit to another 3 months here, or leave it feeling at peace.
i love you all, hope halloween was awesome and fattening (did i mention im skinnier?) crazy how the time flies, the winter holidays are coming faster than i care to admit.
sirum em zez. Astvatc zez het
elder moore
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| sorry but i never get sick of ararat photos. theres some great ones from this week that im not allowed to send!!!! blegh. i love armenia, but not the fact that its in eastern europe. sort of |
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| action shot! i think if i had held the axe at the bottom my hands wouldve gotten less torn up. but then i probably wouldnt have been able to cut it. and then the 60 year old crazy grandma lady we were serving wouldve made fun of me like she did elder chojnacki (i wish i could send pics of her chopping. shes great though) |
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