Thursday, September 17, 2015

August 24, 2015- I kissed a cow!

Long week!!! Everything is good though. Monday, we had planned a little Preparation day activity with a girl in the branch. On our way out with her, we ran into another girl from the branch that has been super depressed lately. We've been trying to help her but she just doesn't know what she wants out of life, and her brother doesn't allow her to do anything. But we invited her to come (and just not tell her brother) and she did! We had a great time. The next day we called her and she sounded like a totally different person. She was actually happy! It was amazing the difference that it made for her to get out and be around some good people. I have a lot more hope for her now. Sister K and I got asked to go to a youth camp out for the stake this week and present a little devotional. It was so much fun!! It helped me realize the potential that Armenia, and Hrazdan, has. Those youth were so great! Of course, they were a little crazy.. But they had strong spirits and knowledge of the Gospel. I loved being around them! We taught about the temple and what we need to do to stay on the path towards the temple! And soon enough, we'll have our own temple here!! On our way home on the bus we met a lady that was obviously prepared to meet us. He son had died and she had a lot of questions about where he was, seeing him again and things like that. We basically taught her the whole Plan of Salvation on the ride back. I know she could feel the truth of what we were saying. The Gospel is really a message of hope! Who wouldn't want to hear it?! Not everyone is ready right now, but I know that the Lord is preparing people to receive this Gospel and to build up His kingdom here in Armenia. I also know that Satan does not want that. We met a contact from some other missionaries this week, and she really needs the Gospel. She's probably a little older than I am, has four kids under the age of 7, her husband is in Russia, she has no education and is in the process of moving right now. Her life is rough. We went over and had a great lesson about how church will help her with everything so much. And then her neighbor came in.... She's apparently some leader of another church. She was saying all these untrue things about the church and threatening Irina. She told her that if she didn't make us leave right then that the landlord would kick them out of their house. People are very blinded and just don't understand. And if that isn't sad enough, that have to come in and try to getin the way of other people's happiness. But the Lord is merciful and loves His children. He sent us to this young mother at this time because He loves her and knows we can help her through this. And she felt that. Got to do some awesome service this week bailing hay at a members house! I spent about three hours in this little storage thing doing squat jumps in the hay to compress it down... And then this happens: I'm walking by Elder P We pass a cow Me: what are the odds you kiss the cow Elder P: 1 to 11 Sister K: 3-2-1 Elder P: 7 Me: 6 .....yup And then there's branch conference... It was really cool to see a lot of people there. We didn't have any empty chairs! But a lot of those people were from the stake... haha. During the sacrament, I had a really strong confirmation that God is proud of what we are doing here. We've been feeling really overwhelmed trying to help the branch actually function, but I knew at that moment that our efforts were making a difference. I think the stake leaders were really excited to come in and give some counsel to our branch, which we definitely need right now. Our branch president is suuupper busy and trying to do everything on his own. Basically all of our other leaders, or anyone with a calling, is inactive. I just hope that the kick in the pants from the stake wasn't too much for him. I know he's trying. We've decided some ways that we are going to help him out, by trying to teach him to delegate and helping him get people active again. We've got a lot of work to do!