March 21, 2016- Spring!

This is a sweet view from a village we've been going to lately. 

And this is the view when we turned around...

Spring!

Everyday this man is doing some sort of sketchy work on this building. he's usually on some super wobbly hand made ladder. I guess the ladder was too much of a hassle this day. 

April 4, 2016- One Whole Year

Well this week was great!!! We had exchanges with our sister training leaders from Georgia this week! That was so fun! I learned how to pray in georgian, not that that will ever come in handy... But it's cool! We've got ourselves some great sister training leaders! And they've learned quite a bit of armenian already! They would say hi to people on the street in armenian and then when the people started talking they'd just look at us all scared because they didn't understand haha. We had a great time. We were less active hunting and we found a new investigator by asking this woman for directions! When we finally found the right apartment, the member we were looking for was just about to leave her house and it turned out to be perfect timing, or else we wouldn't have even seen her! She is awesome. She got baptized a long time ago with her daughter and son. They just randomly stopped coming when the kids moved out. But she was excited to see us and was very sweet! I love bringing people back. Less active work is very special. We've had a ton of people freaking out about the war. There is some fighting happening right now between Armenia and Azerbaijan. I'm not scared at all, because I know we are completely safe. I don't want the people to be scared either. I'm in the mormon chapters in the Book of Mormon and it's basically all war! Their country was being torn apart by it! Hundreds of thousands of people died. And it was all because they had turned away from the Lord. It pains me to see everyone hurt by the fighting happening here. I am incredibly grateful, however, that we have the solution! The Gospel of Jesus Christ will turn people's hearts once again to the Savior and He will give them peace and happiness through all the trials of life. I love serving Him and I love serving the armenians! It is service season once again! We went out to a village on Saturday and shoveled buckets of manure for hours! And to be honest, I really enjoyed it! Especially since it was followed by the best bread I've ever eaten in my whole life! Armenia is amazing. :) Two of my favorite girls in Armenia got their mission calls!!!!! One is going to Birmingham England and the other to Kiev Ukraine! I really believe that getting these youth out on missions and to the temple is the only way the church will be established in Armenia! So many lives will be blessed! I can't wait. Also, I've been in Armenia an entire year now!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe how much trime has gone by and how much I have changed. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ, who loved me, and each of us, enough to die for us. He granted us this wonderful opportunity to come to earth, have great experiences and become more perfected like our loving Heavenly Father. Their plan for us is perfect. And it is made perfect through Jesus Christ's Atonement. I love you all SO MUCH!!! Mets Sirov, Quyr Blanchard

Another super big Armenian church! This one is pretty close to our church. We pass it every day.

The view from our kitchen balcony! Can't remember if I've shown this before. It's so pretty!!!!

When you don't have a pot.

They gave us these hats because 1: no sunburns and 2: they're just so cute

When you don't have a door.

March 28, 2016- Happy Easter

I love Easter! In Armenia, they celebrate Easter all week. Last Sunday EVERYONE went to church. And all the women wear these wreath crowns and they get willows to right in the spring season. They make this special rice with dried fruit in it and eat fish and drink lots of wine. And they have a special mass type thing on Easter day. When you greeat each other, one person says something like "Jesus is risen from the dead" and you respond saying "Blessed is the resurrection of Christ." They dye eggs with red onions and they have egg wars. You pick an egg and you have to hit your egg against someone else's. Whoever's egg breaks has to give theirs to the other person. It's cute! I lost though... Sister Hutchinson and I read through the last week of the Savior's life before His crucifixion and resurrection. I have a deeper appreciation for the Savior now and I hope that it lasts all year! I feel so grateful for the sacrament. Every week we come and remember the Savior and our gratitude and love for Him increases. In other news, this week was great!! Things are a bit slow. It might be the holiday. We're not sure. But we do have one investigator that is progressing quite well! She is a member's daughter. She is 19 and she's been around the church for forever. She just never really had a desire to come or anything. All of the sudden she has this desire to get baptized! I know that the Lord really does prepare people for the Gospel and will always give people the opportunity to accept it. I am so excited for this investigator! She is so sweet. She even came to church this week! She want's to get baptized within the next month!! Being a missionary is the best. We met a lady this week that said she remembered how hard it was to be 20 years old. I just thought to myself how hard things really are in the world. I am so blessed to be here, forgetting myself, focusing on Jesus Christ and serving the Armenian people. I love my Heavenly Father and have a huge appreciation for everything He has done for me, especially in giving His Only Begotten Son so that we can be saved from this fallen world and return beack to our heavenly home one day. All my love and prayers, Sister Blanchard

March 14, 2016- Finding Forever Families

Hi everyone! I hope life is great over in the states or wherever you are in the world! And I hope everyone is adjusting well to daylight savings. We don't have that in Armenia. I'm not really sure why... We had zone meeting this week with our new zone! There's me and Sister Hutchinson and five companionships of elders. I like everyone in our zone a lot. They're great missionaries. We talked a lot about finding forever families! Most all of the converts in Armenia are referrals from members. And it's even better when the member's family! We have so many part member families here and we want to complete families in the Gospel! We have a huge list of part member families we want to teach, so it's going to be great!!!! We haven't been able to meet with a a lot of those people yet, but we did find an awesome investigator on the streets! We've been going to a village this week more than I ever have but we've met some cool people! We met this woman who was working in her garden and we just said hi and she asked if we had anything she could read. So we gave her a pamphlet and really didn't think a whole lot of it. But she called about an hour later and said she had read the pamphlet and had some questions she wanted to talk about! We went back and met with her and her mom. They have never heard of the church before. It was cool to think that the impression they have of the church was based upon the interaction they had with us. We taught her the message of the restoration. The lesson just felt a little scattered. But she said she wants to read the Book of Mormon to find out more. I know that I still have so many weaknesses as a teacher, but know matter what He is working with, God will make it enough. Other things.... I got us lost really bad this week. Only twice. But still. I've got a good grip on some places but I'm still very directionally challenged. In other good news, Tatik came to a church activity with us! She has such a hard time getting places. It took us 8 minutes to get up the five flights of stairs on the way home! It was worth it though she loved it! And best of all we had a baptism on friday!!! It was so great. Pretty much everyone was late and it was a little hectic. We tried to set the example of sitting reverently and being on time. Despite people being late, it went so well. I don't think I've ever taught anyone who had such a sure testimony of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our church. She came up out of the water and let out this big sigh of relief. It was adorable. I love seeing people that are making steps towards eternal life! That's all I got! I love being a missionary!!!!! And I love Armenia!!!!! Mets Sirov Sister Blanchard

March 7, 2016- AHHHHHH Transfers...again....‏

I has so many bitter sweet feelings right now. Last transfer with Sister Steele went by way too fast!!! After transfer calls on Tuesday we went and rode this fair ride down by our house to let out a little of our excitement. And some of my favorite elders and sisters went home this week... But I'm really excited about this transfer!! I'm serving with Sister Hutchinson in Center. We aren't in Malatia anymore, which is sad but also a huge load off our shoulders. And the Sister Training leaders are in Georgia now. That was kind of a sad day... But it's going to be so good! I'll just be focusing on the work here. Sister Hutchinson is awesome! This is her second transfer, she's from Wisconsin and, surprise, we were in the same mission prep class at BYU. Crazy. We are having a baptism this week!!! The woman that was being taught by the missionaries and then told her husband about the church is getting baptized!! We are so excited for her. She is so ready. We had the sisters from Georgia stay with us for a few days for transfers. We were all sitting on our bed looking at pictures. and the bed just breaks!! It like just comes apart! So it's like almost 10 pm and we are trying to hammer our bed back together. Our wonderful senior couple came and fixed it in the morning. It was a long night. I took Sister Hutchinson out to a village yesterday to visit some less actives. We took a bus out there. And what's supposed to happen is we're supposed to get off and walked down through this little valley and get to their street. But I guess we got off the bus too soon and walked down into the valley at the wrong part. The path was weaving through all these weeds and rusty run down fences. And we get almost to their street there's a gate... that's locked. I peeked through and it looked like a little path to the main road. So I, being the not smart person that I am, i flipped open the gate and we start walking through. And these HUGE dogs stand up from behind these bushes and start growling at us... And then this lady runs over and calms them down before they KILL US and locks them up. Apparently it was her house. She wasn't very happy. But we were just happy to be not eaten. That's all I got time for! I love my Savior so much. It's so cool to look back and realize how much I've learned of His love and redeeming power throughout my life. I am thankful for His sacrifice for me and everyone I've met and loved. His Gospel is restored upon this earth today. And the evidence of that is found in the Book of Mormon. Mets Sirov Sister Blanchard

February 29, 2016- No Leap Year?!

HEY EVERYBODY!!! This week was so fast. Do I say that every week? Maybe so... Fun things: Our district went to the zoo on Monday. We had a branch activity on the 23rd for National Men's Appreciation Day. Or something like that. The ice cream and flower stands are back out! So IT'S SPRING. A couple really cool things happened this week too. We got a call earlier this week from a member in Nork telling us to contact an old investigator. I didn't know the investigator. But Sister Steele has taught her. She said she is just amazing. She came to church every week, read every day, prayed and fasted and that she wanted to get baptized. But, she hadn't told her husband about the church. She stopped meeting because she didn't want to lie to him. We gave her a call and she said she told her husband and he is letting her come to church! We met with her and she said for the past few weeks she had been going to church in Nork with the member there. She expressed a real desire to be baptized still. She is still keeping all the commitments and she is ready. She didn't know if she could come to church on Sunday, but by some miracle, she made it! She was so happy. We are really trying to go by her needs and find out from the Spirit when she should be baptized. She has to have a surgery really soon and she is scared that she could die. She wants to get baptized before her surgery. I really hope we can decide what is best for her. This whole time, the Spirit has offered small assurances that what we are doing is right. I am so grateful for His guidance. Another small miracle. Monday night, we were going to a less active family's house for FHE. We knew we were going to teach them to make pizza, but we didn't quite know what to do for their lesson. This family is great, but they have a lot of financial and medical problems. Their daughter needs a surgery that is not offered in Armenia and is so expensive. They have a lot of sadness in their life. On Monday morning I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. I don't know where the thought came from but I had this idea to teach them about perspective. I had a very detailed lesson plan in my head and I just knew that's what we should teach. We got to their house and earlier that day, a distant relative had passed away. They seemed hopeless. We testified of the Lord's great and eternal plan for their family. I know that Heavenly Father knows His children and will help us to uplift them. Zone conference was this week. It was way long, but so great. We are working on having "divine companionships". We want the Spirit to be an even greater influence in all aspects of our work. I have turned to more prayer and attentiveness to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. There's no crazy huge changes, but the Lord is helping us to become better. I can feel that as I am a willing, qualified instrument, the Lord will use me in accomplishing His will. Also, in Armenia, they don't have a common way to say leap year... I don't know if they don't know what it is or what? weird, huh? I love you all! I'm wishing everyone a great Leap Day. Metc Sirov, Sister Blanchard

February 15, 2016- The Worst Valentine's Day Ever

HEY GUYS!!! Sorry no letter last week. We spent all day at the GYM. It was amazing!!!! On tuesday for district meeting, our senior couple made us a lunch and we met at their house. We die for them! I love our senior missionaries!!!! After that I went on exchanges with SIS KINDT! It was so fun to be together again. And it was nice because we were both so sore from the gym we understood each other's pain. We found an awesome lady and her daughter that had just moved into the area and said they had met with the missionaries years ago and they lost contact with them! They were so excited to meet with us. What a miracle! Now for the COWS. It started on splits. One of our members called us and told us she bought some cows out in the middle of NOWHERE and wanted us to come see them. I didn't know what to do so I just told her yeah like maybe tomorrow or something but we'll call you later. And she called us like 70 time every day about the dumb cows for the rest of the week. And we're just thinking, why the heck does she want us to see these cows so bad?! We tried to make it work but we have nothing to do out there so we just kept putting it off. We'll come back to the cows.... MEANWHILE, right after splits ended, a mini missionary came! She's about 24, served a lot of mini missions and we had so much fun! She taught us how to make bread and we taught her taco soup. She stayed until Sunday. AKA Valentine's Day. AKA the worst day of my life.... It started out great because the Toltons made us heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. But after that, everything way bad. First of all we went crazy and decided to make all of our members cookies. So we spent a crap ton of time making hundreds of cookies. It was terrible. And then we did member splits so that we could make it to both wards. I went with a senior couple out to Malatia. Our mini missionary's mom goes there, so I brought her things back with me to give to her mom. Aaaanddd.... I left them in the trunk of our taxi... With no way to get a hold of him. It was terrible. The mini took it really well be it was just so sad.. We still have hope we'll get it back. If not, she said it's just a trial and it'll be okay. I love her. And then Sister Steele forgot to pick up this tatik before church and now she HATES us. We wanted to go home and eat and unwind so we watched this like 30 min missionary movie and it was so lame. And now we're back to the cows.... She kept calling and calling and calling. We had to take our mini home anyways and she lives over there so we decided to just go see the dumb cows. It was already getting dark and we found out this member wanted us to get her out there. So we go get her, sit like 5 different transports to get to a whole different city and then to the veeeerrry end of the village. we park the taxi and it's so darkand we have to walk out through the mud and cow poop to get to this little shack to see two little black cows. We didn't stay longer than five minutes and then took our mini home and went home. Valentine's Day did end on a good note though. I think I've told you about our neighbor, Tatik. She is the CUTEST. She hears us coming home and waits for us in the hall. She informs us that it's Valentine's Day and that we should have boyfriends. She knocks on the other neighbors' door (two male students in their 20s). The guy comes out. And Tatik says to him: "You know, it's Valentine's Day... There's an event going on down at the park" And she's eyes the four of us all suspiciously... What are you implying Tatik?!?! Basically we almost got sent up on a date with our neighbors. Happy V Day. But really though, happy VDay. It was a hard day, but the Savior's love overcomes it all. I hope you can all feel that, no matter where you are. If you can't, get down on your knees RIGHT NOW and God will let you know that He loves you. I love you all as well!!!! Sister Blanchard © 2016 Microsoft Terms Privacy & cookies Developers English (United States)