gratitude

Tis the season of thanksgiving: Sister M and I have decided to take this American holiday and bring it to Armenia. It has been a great success. We have printed off a lot of President Uchdorf's "Grateful in every circumstance" talks and have been doing little family home evenings with our members. We give them a copy of it, read Alma 26:37 and share what we are thankful for. We then invite them to do the same thing. It's been so great and everyone has loved it!!!! Just because this is an American holiday doesn't mean we can't be grateful in other parts of the world.

The ups and downs of blood pressure: We visited V again the other day (the old man with one tooth). He told us that his blood pressure was high because of the elevation. He randomly then walked out of the room and came back in with a blood pressure cuff. He then told me to roll up my sleeves. (He didn't believe me that my blood pressure was normal). He took my blood pressure and was very surprised to see that my blood pressure some how was normal. How about that. Then later that same day we went to our Relief Society President's house and for some reason she wanted to take my blood pressure as well. According to her device I have a high blood pressure. So I'm not really sure what to think. Is it high? Is it low?

Armenians have a different sense of humor: Sister and I were walking home from our last appointment of the day when we stoped to OYM (open your mouth) an old man near a little fruit stand. He was asking us the typical questions like why are we here, where are we from etc. He walked us over to the little stand that he told us was his and asked us what he could give us. We told him we didn't want anything really. The lady inside the stand looked irritated. She then told the man to leave and he sort of just walked away saying things under his breath. I then asked the lady if she knew the man and she said no. So this man was just trying to give us free stuff from someone elses store. It was really funny actually. The lady didn't think so.

Some things that I am grateful for:
1. This gospel
2. My family
3. Armenia and Armenians
4. My friends and support group back home and here in Armenia
And many more things

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sister K

Hike up to another old abandoned church. So Scary. So cold. So cool.

There's an Armenian saying, "Pulling a donkey out of the mud". Look up what it means.

Delayed miracles

Momma,
Charentsavan is so great. I have been here for 4 months and I never want to leave. Transfers are weird this time around because they're sending missionaries home before Christmas but we're not bringing in the new group of missionaries until the middle of January. So we're not really sure what's going to happen. A lot of moving around. I am praying that I stay. I'm not ready to leave Char.

Another stressful/blessed Sunday: Yesterday was great. We had R come to church again. She didn't want to stay for the last 2 hours but she promised that she would stay for all of church next week. V promised he would come to church but didn't show up. I was heart broken to say the least. We did have a lot of less active members come. It was amazing. It was adorable because a few of our inactives who came yesterday came up to me and asked me if I was proud of them. I love them so much and I'm glad that they know that I'm aware and miss them when they don't come. They all had huge smiles on their faces.

Delayed miracles: A few sundays ago Sister and I fasted that we would be able to find the people who don't know God. We worded it that way but unintentionaly. As you know, Armenia is very Christian. So we have never come across an athiest. Ever. But we found V. V is a rough old man. He argues with everything and likes to tell us that we have silly ideas while he smokes his cigars that he roles himself. But he LOVES us. He is rough on the outside but has the softest heart. I asked him if he would come to church with us and he said he couldn't because he wouldn't be able to go 3 hours with out a smoke. I then asked him if he was happy. He said yes but he wishes he had teeth (he only has one tooth on the top right in the middle). I told him that I couldn't buy him teeth but that I would buy him applesause..... (i promise I'm a good missionary but desperate times call for desperate measures). We then promised him that we had the one thing that would make him happy. It took some convincing but he eventually considered that two little 20 year old girls may be able to help him find happiess. I can't wait to show him.
God answered our fast as we found the one Armenian who doesn't believe in God.

Jam time: Sister and I have this ringtone on our phone that is so great to dance to. So we started putting random, meaningless alarms on so that we can have jam sessions everyonce in a while. It's great for relieving stress.

Sorry about no pictures. Both of our cameras aren't working now. We'll figure something out.

Some counsel: I recently started a study journal. I should have done that at the beginning of my mission but I didn't. But since i've started, I love it. I write about why certain scriptures mean certain things to me at specific times. It's really cool to read back over.

My favorite lesson in PMG: I LOVE teaching a first(The restoration). I sound so missionary right now but I get so excited when I know we'll be teaching a first. It's so great.

I love you!!!!!
Love, Mads

Hastening

Momma,

We have been blessed lately with people just popping into our lives. Member referals, former investigators, old tatiks randomly coming up to us on the street asking us when we're going to come to her house to teach her. The Lord is hastening His work and He isn't letting anything get in His way. The work here is incredible. I love every second of my mission. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world.

R came to church yesterday! Which is a big deal because we have been trying to get her to come to church for a few months now. She is an investigator of ours who belongs to a chuch called shabataba. Their sabbath is on Saturday. She loves the doctrines that we teach her but she has a really hard time with the fact that our sabbath is on Sunday. But she is progressing really well and I know she'll figure things out. She seemed to enjoy her experience at church yesterday. I was REALLY nervous to say the least. I was praying the whole time that at least one member would be nice and talk to her after church. Our members have a hard time with that. My prayers were answered as our Relief Society President and a few others came and introduced themselves. It was more than I could have asked for.

I love you momma!

Mads

First snow

Momma,

Sister and I are just doing finding right now.

Listen to the spirit: A few days ago we were just walking from member to member's houses giving spiritual thoughts and asking for referrals. We were about to go to the church to take a break when I had a former contact pop into my head. We had knocked on her door a few times a she was never home so we kind of just forgot about her until that moment. We went over and a girl my age opened the door and invited us right in. We walked in to see a few other people none of which were the original contact. We sat down and asked them about themselves. We found out that they were our contact's daughters. They were very friendly and just loved us. As we were talking to them about our purpose slowly more and more people filtered in. By the end all 4 of her daughters and their kids were in the room listening intently to us. They were really excited about why we were there and agreed to meet with us and receive the lessons. They didn't come to church yesterday... :( but they're golden.

This week was great and I love my mission!
I love you!!!!
Love, Mads
P.S. Our first snow was last night!

First snow!

Bright red lipstick was all we could get away with for a Halloween costume