Letter 39

Hey Everyone!

This week was an interesting one for sure. Unfortunately, Elder Dean went home this week but it is what he wanted. It was sad to see him go, but I know he will have a good time at college. Other than that, Elder Sanders and I have pretty much just been finding a whole lot and we are now teaching some people who we think will have some potential.

We want to keep finding though and really just stack up our teaching pool with people. We had a lot of meetings this week which was actually a lot of fun. I got to catch up with some missionaries I hadn't seen in a while and it felt like I was talking to people I hadn't seen in years it was great. 

It is such a blessing to be out here serving the lord, I have learned so much and I feel like I just keep learning more and more everyday. Things pertaining to the gospel and other important things that I may use later in life like breaking into my own apartment when I  lock myself out. I know that this gospel is really the best way we can change and become better and I hope you all have a desire to continue changing and becoming better. Have a great week!

Letter 38

Hey Everybody!

This week was pretty much just a major drop week for us unfortunately, but we are excited to get started finding again those who are prepared for the gospel. We just want to work with those who are ready for it and not spend too much time with those who won't change.

We have been focusing a lot of our message in the gospel of Christ and it has been a wonderful experience for me to learn about this doctrine. Truly by following the steps in the gospel of Jesus Christ we really do change and become more like him. That is all we are doing for people is inviting them to change and apply the gospel.

I would encourage all of you to study in 2 Nephi 31 as well as 3 Nephi 27 and find ways to change and apply the gospel in your life as well as in the lives of others. I promise that this truly is the way to salvation and that through Christ, you can change any behavior to become better than you were. Once you've experienced this change in your own life, share it with your friends.

There are people out there who need help understanding what the gospel is and it is up to us as members of his church to share that with all those who are searching for it.

I hope you all have a great week! 

Oh, by the way, transfer calls were last night. Elder Sanders and I are staying together but we are bringing in a third companion named Elder Dean. He is just one transfer older than us and it will be a lot of fun. He is actually a Spanish elder so that will be a big benefit as well for all of those Spanish people we contact. Nobody can pull the "no English" card on us now! I am excited for the coming transfer and I will let you know if we find any solid people this week!

Letter 37

This week has been a good one for sure! I was worried we wouldn't have anyone to teach but it has picked up rather quickly. We haven't set anyone with dates yet but we have many people now who want to learn and have potential for baptism. A few of them accepted a soft baptismal commitment and so we are hoping we can move those forward.

We had a crazy day at church yesterday and so many people showed up that we weren't expecting which was awesome. We were even able to have Armenian class and it was great. I always love Armenian class because I can get more practice and I understand a lot more in the class than I do talking with people.

Both of the new recent converts from last week are doing very well. Madlena wants to feed us dinner so that we can meet her family. She really wants to share the gospel with them which is awesome and Omid is very excited to start paying tithing. He says that he knows only good can come from it and I have never seen someone so excited to do everything he can to help. Both of these people will be a wonderful benefit to the ward! I am excited to see how things will go next week!

Pictured: I didn't have any pictures but I went to a seafood buffet and they had a lot of exotic food so naturally I had to eat it all. This is a baby octopus and I can't say that it tasted very good but I was able to swallow it. That was pretty rough. 

Letter 36

Hi Everyone!

This week was great! We had both baptisms go according to plan and it was a little bit stressful but we did get it all figured out. Madlena was baptized first by Elder Sanders and then Omid was baptized by Mosi and it was a great service! Both of them are super solid and after they got confirmed yesterday they said they felt really different and really good. It is going to be great to have them in the ward. Both of them were really golden and just wanted to find the right church and place to be and they found it. 

Now we are working on finding new investigators. They were so golden that I think they must have taken all of the potential from everybody else because everyone we find has gotten dropped pretty fast. However, we have been working with the members a lot more and they are starting to become a lot more missionary minded and it is great to see them all want to help the missionaries. These next few weeks should be pretty good! 

We also had another missionary get emergency transferred into our pad to be with the other elders so it is going to be a little crowded but a lot of fun. I hope you all have a good week! Here are some of the pictures sorry if they are a little blurry. Also shout out to my companion for completing Big Bertha to 4 pound burrito. He got lucky his was a little smaller. 

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Letter 35

This week was super great! We were able to go to the temple visitor's center with Madlena and it was super good. She really enjoyed it and she will be getting baptized this Saturday! Omid is also planning on being baptized this Saturday and so it will be a busy week but an exciting one! Other than that we are still just trying to find more solid investigators to teach.

We want to get the ward involved more and maybe that will help us find people with potential. We went out with the youth for a day which was a lot of fun. The boy who came with us is named Hesu and he is 17. Unfortunately we saw a lot of rejection that day. I hope he still had a good experience though. That is pretty much all for this week! Hope you all have a good week!

 

Letter 34

Hello Everyone!

I don't even know what to write this week. We have a 2 hour P-day extension starting today so it has been pretty nice. We have a lot of time to write emails but I just never have the motivation to do so. This will probably be a short letter because of that.

Elder Sanders and I have been having a lot of fun working together. We are still trying to find new people but that is a constant process. Madlena is doing super awesome though and we are going to go to the temple with her this Thursday. It will be awesome!

Omid is also doing well but he has becoming busier with his new job. He wants to improve though and we should be able to meet with him soon. Our new investigator who was put on date in the first lesson is named Gabriel. He is super awesome and it has been wonderful to see him progress.

Unfortunately, we found out his address is just one street outside of our ward boundaries so we had to pass him off to the AP's. I am sure they will take good care of him though! Now we are just trying to find others who are prepared for baptism and it is a hard search but the elect do come! That is pretty much it this week. I don't have any pictures again because I forget my camera so sorry about that. Maybe next week. Have a great week everyone!

Letter 33

Wow it has been a crazy week but exciting nonetheless. Here are some of the changes we have had:

1. This was my first week with my new comp Elder Sanders. He is a super good missionary and I have already learned so much from him (future AP). This is gonna be an awesome transfer! We have already doubled some of our key indicators because he is very good at setting return appointments with people. It has been amazing to see all of the changes in our work!

However, he does not speak Armenian and so every time we contact an Armenian person, It is just me and it is pretty difficult. He is learning though and my Armenian has improved a lot because of it and so I am really excited for this transfer.

2. Many of you have probably heard, but I will say it again anyway. We had a lot of changes in our schedule with the missionary broadcast this week. Our schedules are a lot different. Pretty much, we plan in the morning, studies can be any time of day (except for personal), lunch is only 30 minutes now, p day is 2 hours longer, and we have the option to go to bed at 9:30. I am excited for the extra sleep, but what is actually probably gonna happen is just pad hangout until 10:30.

We also had key indicators change and we only have 4 now. New investigators, investigators at sacrament meeting, investigators with a baptismal date, and investigators baptized. It will be interesting but I am excited! It will be very difficult for those hard missions though.

3. Our stake presidency changed and yeah. That was just yesterday so I don't really know what to say about that except for it was a big change.

We also set another person on date this week. A member referred him and we talked to him Wednesday. He really wants to change his life and so we set him on date right then and there for March 4th! Blessings! He is super awesome and is still progressing well along with Madlena and Omid. This week has been super great! I hope you all have a great week as well!

Letter 32

Hey Everyone!

This has been a super awesome week! Omid has his baptismal date for the 18th of February still and we found this awesome golden investigator! She was a referral from the Spanish sisters that we tried to get a hold of but she was always too busy so we dropped her. Well turns out, she really wants to know more about mormons and so she started attending church a couple months later and really likes it. She found our emails in the program and emailed us and so we started meeting with her this week and set a baptismal date for the 18th also. Her name is Madlena and she is Armenian but speaks fluent English. She is so awesome, most Armenians are very stubborn and like their old ways but she is very open and humble. We are very excited to teach her.

Also, transfers happened and I have a new companion! He came out at about the same time as me and he is from Hurricane, Utah! He originally came out as an English missionary but started his mission in Samoan work and his second area is Armenian work. He is a very good missionary and I am super excited to be working with him! He doesn't speak a lick of Armenian so this will be an interesting transfer, but I am very excited to see how it goes.

We have seen so many insane miracles this week with Omid and Madlena it is amazing! I know that this work will continue to go forward even in hard times. God is always watching out for us and he just wants us to talk to him. I can testify that God really does answer prayers "by small and simple means" and if you are willing to work hard with him, he can help you through any difficulty. Have a good week.

This is my new companion Elder Sanders. I look totally goofy in this photo and so it is so worth sending home.