Yeah I'm not sure whats up with email. I have no clue when what I'm reading was sent or anything like that, I haven't gotten anything from Tyler 2 or 3 weeks in a row now, Idk if thats an email issue or he's just busying getting married or something crazy I haven't heard. But thats alright. I've been feeling the need for a new page to be turned this week. The winter "break" period was a longg one. It's still cold, but its warmed enough for things to start melting and I don't wear a hat anymore, finally. There still aren't a ton of people outside but our efforts in less actives are starting to pay off so we're busier than normal. Theres about 3 weeks left in the transfer and I've just been feeling the need not to wait out and start the next one better. I want to imrpove things now and have that carry me through.
first off, we had some outright miracles this week, and i wanted to tell you about them. last monday we were walking in the other elders area (thats where email is, its literally the only time we arent in our own area) and a girl stopped us on the street- baptized member that got back from living with her mom in a town where the church hasnt reached. said she was going to come to church on sunday to find us, but found us randomly on the street anyway. turns out she didnt get to make it this week after all, so if we hadnt seen her it would've been atleast another 2 weeks. she's good though, she'll be a good member when shes fully active again that can help the branch.
during email time i got a referral sent to us from mormon.org- why is that a miracle? because it NEVER happens in Armenia. not enough people use the internet or know how to do that sort of stuff. addresses are a mess, the system of Armenia in general is a mess, but elder frey (zone leader) and I managed to actually find the place tuesday. cool guy, wanted a BoM to research, said he'd let us know in like 2 weeks if he wants to learn more.
then later on monday i got called and the person just said "cookien enk oozoom" (enk oozoom is we want) I thought someone was just messing with me, so i said "pechenny?" (russian word for cookie) they were confused and repeated themselves, when i finally realized they were talking about Elder Cook, who i never knew but know the name and know he served here. you put the IN ending on a name when its a direct object. basically they wanted elder cook to visit them again, and since hes not here they'll settle for us. we havent been able to meet yet since someone in their family went to the hospital, but they said theyll call us again.
we found another less active this week thats served a mini mission and everything, was just in Russia for 2 years working. but he's back, and just got married to a girl he's gunna bring to church.
finally we were visiting a member randomly cause he wanted help downloading mormon messages in Russian, and ran into the former branch president, whos freakishly tall by the way, like Chase's head will reach his shoulder id guess, who was over there for no apparent reason. anyway the guy hasnt been to church in like 3 years, but i think he just figured he wasnt wanted there since apparently he did a pretty bad job as BP. but we invited him and he came, and the members were all pretty welcoming.
And finally the family I told you about last week that showed up on the radar again out of nowhere we finally got to meet with this week. they still like us and the message, they loved the Joseph Smith movie, they just dont really get what it all means/why they need to join our church. they assumed everyone believed that God came from Heaven to talk to Joseph Smith, and gave him the Book of Mormon. they asked me "wait, don't people in the Armenian Apostolic Church believe the Book of Mormon?" I almost laughed out loud, they hate us. but i explained no and they were confused at why people wouldnt believe it. funny thing is they havent read it yet. So theyre in kinda an interesting situation where culture is just overrulling everything, but we're excited to get them connected to some awesome members in families just like them and we know they can be great.
so yeah! some pretty great stuff this week. We're working with a recent convert on preparing for a mission, he's doing well. we finally got all the in active member information sorted out and figured out who was in our area and now we're hunting them down. its nice, it gives you a place to walk to instead of just walking around and gives you a reason to chat with people if you cant find the address. most that we've found are in Russia, two people wouldnt open the door for us and another turned out to be crazy. but i was inspired by Chases email from this week about how things went- this focus on less actives for us is working, already 4 people are coming again, but its also showing the branch president and hopefully members they can trust us with anything. I think the miracles we saw this week was evidence that atleast the Lord had noticed that. as we care about His lost sheep, and study on what you actually teach someone who already knows the facts but doesnt want to come (harder than i assumed it would be), He's given us straight up lost sheep who are ready to come back and its awesome. and all in all we still have new investigators to help too. things are still plenty hard, and i'm kinda tired, but i feel good.
i love you all, i hope you have a fantabulous week and that no one gets sick. oh and shout out to Bo Bleyl! I knew his number was getting called soon but forgot the exact week, but it sounds like this is the one? so excited for him. man its a party.
k love you all bye
Love Elder Moore
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