May 30, 2011

Hey everyone! How has everyones weeks been? I really enjoyed reading all of your emails. Sounds like you all are doing great. I'm so glad you had a great birthday mom! I love you so much! Things are going awesome here in Armenia and Charentsavan! It was another great week here. The Lord is really blessing the work in Charentsavan and I'm just happy I can be apart of it all. I'll start by telling you about our investigators. Well, we currently have 4 investigators with a baptismal date so I'll start with them. Ashot and Gayvork, the two 16 year olds, both went to a village for the week and said they would come to church Sunday but they didn't show unfortunately. They don't have cell phones or their address so we are really praying that we can get back into contact with them this week because they were so solid but there isn't much we can do. Then there is Armeek. We got here Tuesday of this week when she came up to the church one night with a member. Apparently, she was going to be baptized 5 years ago but then she became bed ridden so she didn't end up being baptized. We ended up meeting with her that same night that she came up to the church and just went over what she remembered about the Restoration and kinda retaught the first lesson to her. It was really cool cause we were following the lesson plan, Elder Steglich was teaching the parts of the lesson that I don't know very well but I was following along, and then I started to get a feeling that we needed to go a different direction and talk about baptism and at that very second Elder Steglich changed the subject and turned to the Book of Mormon and started talking about baptism. After we read a couple scriptures he turned to me and I gave her the baptismal invitation and she accepted. Pretty cool huh?! We actually went over the baptismal invitation earlier that day, thankfully. It was a real testimony building experience for me though. The fact that Elder Steglich had the same impression to change the direction of the meeting just showed me that we were in tune with the Spirit and made me feel good that we were doing exactly what the Lord wanted us to do. In that moment especially, we were being instruments in the Lord's hands, and theres not a better feeling. Unfortunately, she called us yesterday and told us she is bed ridden again. We are going to go meet with her this next week and try to give her a blessing. Again, hopefully things work out! I've learned that theres a point when there is just nothing more you can do, and its in that moment that you just have to have faith and turn it over to the Lord. And then there is Ando. He is 17 years old and he went to an institute class at the branch Saturday and said he wanted to learn more afterwards and so the branch president called us up. We met with him Saturday night and it went really well. He actually came to church yesterday and stayed all 3 hours which we were super excited about. We then met with him last night and watched the Restoration video. It went really well. There is such power in talking about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. He comitted to baptism and offered a prayer at the end of the meeting which was way good. He prayed to know if the things we talked about were true and he said in his opinion they are. We are way excited to continue to teach him. We are going to work really hard with him this next week. We also have another investigator who is doing really well. Her name is Knareek (I don't know how to spell these names in English haha) and I think I told you a little about her last week but she is an 18 year old girl. She is doing so so so so well. We had about 4 meetings with her this week and they were all so great. She is a solid investigator. She lives in Gyumri though and is leaving to go back June 11 so we were talking about her meeting with the missionaries there when she goes back. We also invited her to baptism earlier in the week and she said she wanted to but she didn't think her mom would approve. So we spent the rest of the week talking about faith and the importance of baptism and what not. She told us in every lesson that she really really really wants to be baptized. Those words literally, just in Armenian. And she told us that she knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and she knows this church is true. How awesome is that! She is already into 2nd Nephi chapter 8 after 6 days. She is going to talk to her mom today so we are really hoping and praying that that goes over well. She is really nice though. She made Elder Steglich and me these cards and she even laminated them. She said in both of ours just how much she appreciates us and how she will never forget us and that she is thankful for us. It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. I was just surprised she remembered my name hahaha. Also, a way funny story came from a meeting we had with her and her grandma this week (she is staying with her grandma who is a member). Her grandma, Ofeek, is at all of our lessons and she is way funny. I can't understand what she is saying but the way she says things and her facial expressions are funny. Well, she went off on a tangent during our lesson, I didn't understand a word haha, and so I asked Elder Steglich about it afterwards. Apparently, some guy last October came up to her and told her the Second Coming of Jesus Christ was going to be the next day. So she and a couple of her friends went to this place and sat and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited all day. (This is how she told the story, I didn't understand but she told it just like Grandpa Fairclough would, just to paint you a better picture) And she was so angry that this man had lied to her and what kind of man does that. Hahahahahahahaha! It was so funny. I can't wait until I can actually enjoy these stories as they happen and not 20 minutes later hahaha. But those are all of our solid investigators and we are excited for this next week and to work with them all. Well, as for other things from this week, everything has gone pretty well. I ate a lot of Armenian food this last week and I got really sick the other night. The food is way good though. They eat a lot of this bread called lavash, which is kind of like a tortilla but much more sturdy and strong. They put like all there food inside of it and eat it like that. Sounds like me right? haha. Well, unfortunately all the food didn't set that great. I woke up thursday or friday night with the worst stomach cramps and then a threw up a couple times. It was pretty rough haha. Elder Steglich gave me a blessing though and I'm doing a ton better. Its going to take a little bit for my body to adjust to their food. I talked to Elder Smith today and he said that he got pretty sick to so its not just me haha. I never really thought I had a sweet tooth until now but I think I do haha. Elder Steglich eats pretty healthy and every night when we get back from planning he has like a bowl of cereal with bananas and I have either a snickers or a bowl of ice cream. haha. The way I look at it, gotta treat yourself after a long day of work haha. I finally understand you dad and why you always had a bowl of ice cream when you got hom haha. Well, every couple of months we get invited to spend P-day in Yerevan at the mission home with President and Sister Carter and this week is our week so my time is a little limited. I'm actually at an internet cafe in Yerevan emailing you all. I love you all and hope you have a great week and know how very much I love you all!

Love,
Elder Fairclough

P.S.
Scripture of the week- 3rd Nephi 5:13
I love you all!