October 17, 2011

Hey everyone!

It was great getting all of your emails this week. I'm sorry again that last week was so crazy. But I've got lots to fill you all in on, as well as a lot of pictures to send out. I hope that it all goes through! It has been another amazing week here in Armenia. To start off, Louiza was baptized Saturday with her grandson Levon! It was such a good baptismal service. Louiza really is an amazing woman. Elder Cook baptized Louiza and Elder Smith baptized Levon and Elder Frye and I stood as witnesses for both baptisms. I had a really cool experience with this. Levon was baptized first so that Louiza could
watch and as he went back into the water I looked over to see Louiza's reaction, thinking she would have a big smile on her face. Instead I just saw tears fill her eyes and then she just put her head in her
hands. She never said she was scared of water but she just had a look of horror on her face. It was really sad. I didn't want other people to notice and make it a big deal, so I just inched closer to her and
started talking to her. I told her that she has great faith and that she has shown that faith so far, but that she needs to exercise that faith right now because we have to be baptized to live with our Heavenly Father again. I tell you this not because of anything special I did, but I truly felt like the Spirit was guiding my every word and that I said exactly what she needed to hear. It was such an amazing
experience. As I spoke to her she just picked up her head and told me that she was ready. That really strengthened my testimony of the Spirit and the importance of following the promptings when they come. Other wise I honestly would have had no idea what to say. We all know how I re-act to crying, just a smile and a pat on the back... not sure that would have worked out there haha. But it all turned out really well. Elder Cook was really quick with getting her down and up out of the water. And then she bore such a great testimony afterwards. I'm so happy for her! She had a big turn around from when we first met with her. In our first meeting it took forever to get her to accept a baptismal date, IF she found out it was true. But as we continued to meet with her and as she came to church each week, those concerns just melted away. It really was amazing to see the change that took place in her. The Church came out with these things called the fundamentals, which help us as missionaries focus on how to help our investigators receive revelation. The three things we focus on are revelation through prayer, reading the Book of Mormon, and church attendance. It was really cool because Louiza came to church every week since we started teaching her and just loved it every time. And she prayed
about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon and told us that she received an answer about them both and that she knows they are true (that was a really powerful meeting). But her eyes are really bad and
she was unable to read for the most part. She needed to buy a heavier prescription glasses but had no money to buy them. She had read maybe 5 or so pages in however many weeks we had been meeting. And she had been expressing her desires to read with us and we knew she was sincere because of the tears that she had in her eyes as she told us how much she wanted to read but we didn't feel comfortable with her getting baptized only reading that much. But she just kept telling us she wanted to get baptized with her grandson. So as we were meeting with her, I felt prompted to promise her that if she prayed to the Lord and asked for help and showed her desires for reading but reading 5 minutes here and there that she could get baptized that next week with Levon. We wanted her to finish first Nephi by that time. We knew it would be really hard for her but that she would be blessed for her
efforts and gain an even stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. And so she went ahead and got her interview and she passed but the missionary who conducted it said she needed to finsih first Nephi as well. But we felt really good about it all and we kept praying for her. And then when we saw her a couple days before her baptism, we asked her how her reading was going. And she told us that she had just found some glasses that were a heavy enough prescription for her eyes and she was a few chapters from finishing second Nephi! She then went on to explain with detail the things she had read. It was so cool. I know that that was a direct blessing because of her desires and faith. She kept telling us that she loves the Book of Mormon and how easy it is to ready and to learn from. Isn't she amazing?! I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to help such a prepared woman get on the path back to our Father in Heaven. I have been so blessed thus far in my mission. I'm not sure why but I'm so grateful for the things that I have learned from each of these people I have had the opportunity to work with. Sometimes I think I'm learning more from them than they are from me haha. I'm so happy for both Louiza and Levon and their desires to be baptized and follow Christ. Unfortunately, Louiza got sick and was unable to come yesterday. So she'll have to receive the Holy Ghost next Sunday. But I'll let you know how that goes! As for the rest of the work, things are going great! Christine is progressing really well and we are hoping for her to be baptized this month as well. I'll let you know how she is doing next week. We aren't sure if her interview will be this week or next but we'll know for sure by next week. Also, Elder Cook and I had a pretty cool experience this past week. So last week we were street contacting and we came across some teenagers that always mess with us. And I was just like oh
great, lets just say hi and keep walking. But Elder Cook stopped and started talking to them and some of them were listening but others were just saying stupid stuff. But we just testified, mainly Elder
Cook to be honest haha, and we got some of their contact information. I didn't think anything of it but we contacted them the other day and ended up meeting with them. We are focusing on their "ring leader" actually. He always gave us such a hard time and would just mess with us whenever we saw him, but when we met with him we just slowly saw their countenances change. It was amazing. We are going to try really hard to get them to be baptized. The "ring leader" actually accepted the baptismal invitation haha. I'm not sure if it will go anywhere but at any rate they like us now and don't give us a hard time haha. It is so cool how the Spirit changes hearts! And guess what?! This week I went on exchanges with Elder Steglich. I ended up going to their area in the city. Man, it is a different world
in the city haha. The work is going a little slower there so we spent most of our time on the street. Which is really good because being in Char most of our time is spent in meetings so I needed help in that area. It was really cool though because I got told a couple of times that I speak well. I was way pumped about that haha. I still struggle but it really meant a lot hearing that from an Armenian. But I had such a good experience with Elder Steglich. It was so great to be working by his side again. It was really interesting to see how much we have both made in this however long it has been. Time is just going by so fast! I can't keep track of it all. But it was really cool cause Elder Steglich was already a spiritual giant and amazing missionary but he has grown a ton since he became an assistant. And he kept telling me how much I've grown with the language and with leadership skills and what not. It was really great to learn from him again. We ate like kings there too! haha. They have Trix cereal in the city! I pounded a few bowls of that haha. The grocery store in the city is close to like a mini version of publix. Like a said, a different world from Charentsavan. haha. Anyways, it was really interesting the
differences between working in the city and Char too. It is a lot tougher in the city, but at the same time easier. It is easier in the sense that you don't feel like you are seeing and talking to the same people from the day before, as it is in Charentsavan haha. But harder in the sense that  people are a lot more liberal, for the lack of a better word. Like we talked to so many atheists on the street there, it was ridiculous! haha. It was really sad at the same time, cause you can just see that they are missing so much. I was glad we at least had the opportunity to testify to them that there is a God who loves them.
Another way it is more difficult is that the people are in more of a hurry and just don't want to talk at all some times. For example, Elder Steglich and I were walking to a meeting and I saw this guy and
his wife pushing their little kid in a stroller. And we didn't have time to stop them and talk but I was just like, I'm going to say hi to these people. So I looked at them and I smiled and I started to open
my mouth and the mom yelled at me in Armenian, "Don't smile, it's in vain!" hahahaha. I was a little shocked at first, but then I was just like alrighty then, I'm just going to keep walking haha. The charm
didn't work at all. Elder Steglich got a good laugh out of that one. I was just so surprised haha. Gotta love it. I hope I get to serve in the city at some point. I really enjoyed it. So overall, it was a really great experience to learn from and work with him again! And that is about it I think. I hope everyone is doing really well back home. I hope you all know that I love you and that you are in my prayers. You're all the best! I love you and can't wait to hear from you all again next week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough