March 26, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing this week?! It was great to hear from all of
you, as it always is. I had to laugh that you were all trying to read
between the lines of my email last week haha. Everything really was
good, just limited for time. I tried to type up the best letter I
could as fast as possible haha. But to make sure that doesn't happen
again, know that I am doing well this week and am as happy as can be!
Sounds like you all had a great week together. I loved the pictures!
Haha I do have to say, I have the two cutest nieces ever. Just
sayin...haha. But I'll go ahead and tell you a little bit about my
week.
Our investigators are doing really well! We had a cool experience with
Abraham this last week. We took him to a young single adult fireside
this last week where the CES director over the Eastern Europe areas
was speaking. He was a German guy but he spoke perfect English and
Russian as well. He actually just got called as a Mission President in
Germany and when he met Abraham he started asking him questions about
his baptism and what not. And then he told Abraham that after he is
baptized he should come serve as a missionary in Germany. We haven't
explained the missionary process to Abraham yet about how our Prophets
call us where to serve. So Abraham took it seriously and for the past
4 days all he has talked about is saving up his money to go to Germany
and serve God. Haha I thought that was pretty cool. He really enjoyed
the fireside though and is moving his way towards baptism! He's doing
great. We taught him the Word of Wisdom this last week and he accepted
it somewhat at first. He already doesn't smoke or drink alcohol, which
is extremely rare for males here. He doesn't even drink coffee, but he
did drink tea. As we explained it he agreed with it all but didn't see
anything wrong with tea. We explained the teas that he could drink,
but he still just didn't see why. So we asked him to pray about it.
Well, after church yesterday he said that the day before he was alone
at home and was hungry. He said the only thing he had in his house was
tea (the kind we can't drink) and he said he made it and when he went
to drink it he just got a really disgusted feeling. He was so
disgusted that he poured it out and said he will live the Word of
Wisdom. Pretty cool huh?! That was a real answer to our prayers. Aram
is doing well also. What a good guy. He was so close to making it to
church on time yesterday! He got there with about 10 minutes of
sacrament meeting left. We're hoping that we'll find some sort of
solution this next week. He is doing way good though. We taught him
the ten commandments this past week and we focused on keeping the
Sabbath Day holy. We had him write on the board the things that we can
and can't do on Sunday. On the things that we can do he wrote going to
the park and going to the zoo and some other stuff. We then taught
about how we don't buy things on Sundays and he got up, walked
straight to the board, and erased go to the zoo hahaha. It was pretty
funny. But he is determined to keep the Sabbath Day holy now. I think
that is about it as far as investigators goes for right now.
Something interesting happened this past week. So I woke up the other
day and my voice was a little scratchy and I kept joking to Elder
Rackham that I was going to lose my voice and that he was going to
have to do all the talking. I didn't actually think I would though.
Well, long story short, I haven't had a voice for the past three days.
And it is driving me NUTS. I never realized how much I actually do
talk. I'm sure these past few days have been pure bliss for Elder
Rackham haha. Poor guy. He's had to do all the phone calls and all the
talking. I think it has been really good for him so far though. It has
made him stretch and push himself a little more. I'm ready to have my
voice back though. Church was pretty funny yesterday. The members kept
trying to take care of me and tell me what I need to do to get better
haha. Armenians are such nice people. I'm not sure I trust a lot of
their remedies, but that's okay. I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll have my
voice again. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
I can't believe General Conference is already here again! I'm so
excited. I'm really disappointed in myself for all the Conferences I
missed and for not taking it as seriously as I should have until I was
at college. Even more so since I've been on my mission. It really is
an amazing blessing to have Prophets and Apostles on the earth today
that lead and guide us. I'm still trying to make my way through last
Conference's talks. We won't see conference here in Armenia until the
following weekend so I have a little bit more time to get through it.
But I hope you all know that I know that we have a living Prophet
today, President Monson. And that through him I have been called here
to serve the people of Armenia. I know this church is true and I love
the spirit and comfort that I feel as I listen to our modern day
Prophets speak. I can't wait to hear all of your thoughts about
conference and your favorite talks and what not. Know that I love you
all and am so grateful for all that you do for me! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough