California Musings #4

We had our first Zone Conference, and the approach of President Pike, while different from President’s Dunn, was good and we learned more about teaching by the spirit and doing less “rote” teaching. Because of the number of missionaries, they do five zone conferences. That’s a lot of work! It was a day-long meeting from 9:00 a.m. to almost 4 p.m. with about a 30 minute break for lunch. One of the best parts was the testimony meeting at the end when all the departing and all new missionaries shared their feelings. Elder White (one of the Armenian elders) bore a heartfelt testimony and as I followed him, so did “the sign of the waterfall”. Oh well, maybe one of these days, I’ll eliminate the tears, but after 60 years, I’m not banking on it.

Missionary work continues to be interesting and rewarding. Friday (the 7th), we decided just to drop in on Ando Najaryan’s (from Ararat) family, as they hadn’t returned our call. Elder Chaney had sent the contact information to us to check out. We were expecting to find Ando’s brother, but instead found his niece, Tamara, her husband Andy and their little boy, Shant, who is almost 4. They were so friendly and we were able to share some pictures of Ando and Hasmik (had on our computer) with them and visited for over an hour. Apparently, we had Voskan’s (Ando’s brother) telephone number, but Tamara and Andy’s address. We exchanged more information and they volunteered to go with us to Voskan’s place as they said their English wasn’t that good and they could help translate. It was interesting as Tamara talked about the brothers, her father and Ando. She commented that Ando was so positive and always upbeat in spite of his trials and challenges, while her father was a bit of a pessimist and negative. I was thinking to myself, but didn’t say, that I think having a gospel-centered life and always helping and serving others is a key to a happier existence. We also had been given the name of Tamara’s brother, Vegan, but he is in Arizona, currently facing some immigration issues. The judge on his case is apparently a member of our church…Hope the results are fair and good.
May 8, 2010 was a Stake Helping Hands day at the Muir Elementary School. We all donned the yellow shirts and helped paint and landscape the school in preparation for Teacher Appreciation Day on Monday. All of the teachers will have their own garden spots planted with flowers and shrubs that their students and their families paid for (for the most part). Considering that about 45% of the students are below the poverty level, it’s pretty amazing. The principal of the school, Linda Junge, is a member of the church and her husband, Jason, is a returned missionary from Norway (just a little aside). We enjoyed dinner with the mission president and his wife and once again discovered a small world in the church. Stephanie Pike is a cousin to Vickie Taylor, and I could see some family resemblance. They also were well acquainted with Jennifer Hyde Young, daughter of Hope and Os, as the Pike’s children attended Provo High where Jennifer worked. The Pikes were also acquainted with Chipmans and Robisons (founder and partner of Caldera Engineering where Rog worked).
Mother’s Day was a wonderful day to connect with family (enjoyed Skyping and seeing most of the grandchildren and children). We also had another baptism within the Armenian group, so the numbers are growing…but not without challenges unfortunately. With the newness of the church to most Armenians, there is quite a lot of “hand holding, listening, encouraging”…not always bad, however.
I had another first. In conversation with a member who had been baptized about six years ago, she said she had been disappointed (haven’t heard since Armenia). She said she had been promised some help several years ago and nothing had come of it. I’m not sure exactly the problem (sometimes something is lost in the translation) but she considers herself no longer a member.
We were able to get together with more of the Najaryan family. We met Voskan (Ando’s brother) and his wife, Noura, daughter Anna, granddaughter Catherine, and mother. Tamara and Shant also were there. It was fun to get acquainted and share the photos of Ararat inasmuch as they had all lived there for a long time. In typical Armenian style, the coffee table was loaded with all kinds of fruit, cookies, etc. They would like us to help with a reference letter for the son to help with the judge’s decision regarding Vigen and also wondered if we could find out about the possibility of Ando being able to come over here to visit family, especially his mother who is 90.

We're continuing to work with the Armenians and are excited that next week we're going with a group of Armenians to the Los Angeles Temple and shortly after that we will be returning to Provo and then hopefully, Armenia. We'll keep you posted.