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| Charentsavan |
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| Walking a dirt road |
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| Larisa and Elder Fairclough |
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| Elder Fairclough, Sister Carter, Larisa, President Carter, & Elder Steglich |
Larisa was baptized this past week! It was such an amazing baptismal service. President Carter came to Charentsavan Tuesday for her interview which was a really cool experience. Normally the district leaders just interview baptismal candidates but since Larisa was a special case President Carter decided to come do it. I'm so glad he did too cause it meant so so much to her and her family. Elder Steglich translated for it and he said it was such an amazing experience. -Funny story, after she passed her interview President Carter asked her who she wanted to baptize her (she just calls us both Elder cause our names are too hard haha) and you want to know what she said? She said, "The small one" haha not cool. I mean I was flattered and happy she asked me to baptize her but there are so many other ways to describe me! haha. Plus I'm bigger than just about every Armenian here. I blame Elder Steglich cause he's like 6' 2 and making me look small haha. Anyways, the baptism was such a great experience. The Spirit was so strong and Larisa had such a huge smile on her face for the whole thing. I am so happy for her. She kept telling us that she feels really good which made us both so happy cause we know she was feeling the Spirit too. She has such a good heart. She got the Holy Ghost yesterday in Sacrament Meeting too which was a great experience as well!
Unfortunately, Ando wasn't able to pass the Sacrament. He didn't have a white shirt. I thought we had extras at our branch but we didn't. We are going to try to get him one from the mission office this next week though so he can pass next Sunday. I'll let you know how that goes.
Lusine, Tadevos, and Tigran are all doing great. We were able to meet with them about 4 times this week which was really great. They are just doing so amazing. Elder Steglich and I are so blessed to be able to teach this amazingly prepared family. They are all so needed in our branch as well. We don't really have any Priesthood holders that are serious in our branch right now. We have a lot of Priesthood holders but they don't quite get it. But Tadevos and Tigran are so serious about things and have already pointed out how they don't think its right how the other men and young men don't take it seriously. They are going to be such great examples in this branch once they are baptized. We are hoping for them to get baptized the first week of August. But they are all progressing really well and coming along great!
Now for some exciting news...
Since the work has been going so well here in Charentsavan, President Carter and the Lord have decided to send another set of missionaries here! Transfers aren't until Thursday but he filled us in about a week ago cause we needed to find another appartment for them and get things ready. We are way excited for it though. Charentsavan is a pretty small area, we can walk straight through the middle from end to end in about 30 minutes, so we will be seeing the other missionaries a good bit probably. But we are excited to see some new faces and have some help with the branch. Our branch is one of the biggest here in Armenia so it will definitely be good cause now we can help the members here a little bit more too.
Now for some other news...
After Larisa's baptism on Saturday President Carter called us into his office. I just figured he was going to talk to us about the new missionaries coming to Charentsavan or something. But then he started talking about all the changes that are about to be made in our mission with missionaries leaving and then with new missionaries not coming until August. (A group of missionaries go home this Thursday so that they can make it back for Fall semester of college. Normally they wouldn't go home until the new missionaries come. But that is why transfers were held off until this week). But he started talking about that kind of stuff and he turned to Elder Steglich and was like the Lord has told me this last week that you are supposed to be a zone leader once this group leaves. I wasn't surprised at all cause I figured he was going to leadership when we were done being companions. But then he turned to me and said that the Lord had also told him that I was to be the other zone leader and his companion. I think my jaw dropped to the ground. haha. I was definitely not expecting that. Especially cause I still have 3 weeks of my training left. But as he extended the call to us, President Carter just bore testimony that the assignment came from the Lord. I could feel the Spirit so strong. It was an amazing experience to be a part of. President Carter said the exact things that I needed to hear too. He told us both that the Lord qualifies those whom he calls. He then went on to tell me that even though I'm still being trained and I'm not satisfied with where I'm at with the language, that as I work hard and serve, the language will come. Seems simple and obvious but it really made an impact on me. We officially start being zone leaders this Thursday. This is going to be a great opportunity for both Elder Steglich and me. I'm way excited to work with other missionaries, even though I have a lot less experience than most, I know that as I rely on the Lord and just do my best I'll be able to know how to help and strengthen others. This is going to be a great opportunity for me to learn from other missionaries and learn how to become a better missionary myself. Not to meantion, I am way happy that I get to stay companions with Elder Steglich for however much longer. Usually you don't get to stay with your trainer for very long after your training but I think the Lord sees how well we work together and support one another. But we are both pretty excited to get to work and get the ball rolling. I'll have to let you know how it all transitions next week. I'm still not even quite sure what being a zone leader entails. haha. Thank goodness for training. But all in all it has been a very eventful week.
On a little bit of a lighter note, Elder Steglich and I went and played basketball before doing email today. Man am I out of shape. haha. I work out with dumbells every morning but that does absolutely nothing for trying to run around. Also Charentsavan has some crazy elavation. It felt like when I used to go to camps out in Utah and that first day I would just be sucking wind haha. We played a game to 11 and we were both about dead. It took us both like 15 minutes to catch our breath haha. It was so much fun though. I forgot how much fun I have playing basketball. I'm just hoping the new elders who come to Charentsavan this week know how to ball. haha.
I want you all to know how thankful I am to be a missionary. I am having the time of my life and enjoying every second of serving these amazing people and serving the Lord. I learn something new from the kindness and sincerity of these people everyday. I truly am so lucky to be here in Armenia for my mission. Besides our family, nothing has brought me more happiness than seeing some of these Armenian people change their lives and grow closer to Christ and their Father in Heaven. This is such a great work and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. I love you all very much and am so thankful for your support and love. I hope you all are doing great and know that you are in my prayers daily. I hope you all have great weeks and if you're lives start to get stressful or tiring, look to lift another who's hands are hanging low and remember that your Father in Heaven loves you and is watching out for you!
Love,
Elder Fairclough
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