April 30, 2012

Dear Family,

How's everything going this week? I hope all is going well back home!
Things are going great here! Armenia is really pretty at this time of
year cause everything is starting to bloom. You walk outside and you
can't help but be happy haha. Also, big news, this last week was the
memorial day here in Armenia commemorating the genocide. Everyone goes
to the big memorial here and throws flowers in by this fire that
always stays burning. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to go during
their memorial week, but we are hoping to go sometime soon and pay our
respects.
This last week was pretty crazy but went really well. It was my
busiest week here in Erebuni meeting wise since I got here. It seemed
like we were just running from meeting to meeting. Which is always a
great feeling. Like they say, a busy missionary is a happy missionary.
We also had our mini missionary serving with us for most of the week,
which turned out to be really great. His name is Sahak and he came to
us Wednesday and left Saturday night. He currently has a mission call
to the Arcadia, California Mission, where Elder Buel is serving.
Armenians are so great though. It was really interesting cause they
think way differently than we do, which I knew before, but living with
an Armenian helped me to see that even more. He was able to help me
out a lot with the language and also with helping me to see the
Armenian viewpoint on things. Sahak also became really good friends
with Abraham. It was so great to see them both talk about missions and
serving and what not. Overall, another great experience to remember!
Also, Abraham was able to pass the Sacrament at church yesterday! It
was so great to see. I wanted to pass with him but I was translating
so I got to just watch. He is really doing so great. He found a job
this last week which I was happy about. The Lord is blessing him for
the things he is doing and he recognizes that. In applying for the
job, the only day he asked to have off was for Sunday. I was so happy
when he told me that! So we probably aren't going to be seeing him
quite as often but I'm glad that he was able to find some work!
This last week we pick up 4 new investigators. Unfortunately, for us
at least haha, 3 of them live in the other Elders' area. A lot of
times we have to meet the people that we find on the street in our
church because a lot of people are embarrassed about the homes that
they live in. So we meet all these people at church and then found out
that they live in a different area. It got funnier as it kept
happening. I'm looking forward to this next week though, so that we
can find some investigators that we can actually teach haha.
Our investigators are doing well though. Haik is probably our most
solid investigator at the moment. He's the one we got from the
Assistants. We met him again yesterday and taught him the Plan of
Salvation and it went really well. We set a baptismal date with him
for June 16th.
Greta is also doing well. Her baptismal date is for May 26th but she
still struggles sometimes to get to church so that is what we are
focusing on with her. She really wants to be baptized though so we
will see where it goes!
We also had a really great lesson with Angin this last week. We taught
the Plan of Salvation to her as well and it really hit home with her.
She has been in a wheelchair state for the past 8 years and we can
just see how much it has weighed down on her. But as we taught the
Plan of Salvation you could just see the peace that she felt and she
kept saying how much it all made sense. I'm so thankful for the Plan
of Salvation and for the peace and comfort that it brings. It truly is
God's plan of happiness for us and is the "do-it-all" band-aid that
covers up ANY wound.
Well, I'm running out of time for this week but I want you all to know
how much I love you and admire the testimonies that you have. You
strengthen me so much and I appreciate the love and support that I can
feel from you all. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough