Back to Armenia #8

It’s always a small world out here. I was in our local market the other day and one of the workers in the produce (who was Armenian, but spoke some English) asked me where I was from. I said the United States…and she said, “I know that, but where?” I replied, “Utah, Provo, Utah”. She then proceeded to tell me that she had lived in Provo for five years and she and her children really wanted to move back there, but her husband did not, so here they stay, at least for the time being. She commented how she really liked Provo and how friendly and helpful the people there were. Way to go Provo!!! I think she has a favorable impression of the church and maybe even has some family that is LDS.

We had an opportunity to go to the airport to welcome home our returning dancers. They were so tired, but excited about the experiences they had had. One of the dancers was left in the Ukraine because she was late boarding and they had oversold the plane, so she stayed and I think had the opportunity in her delay to actually go to the temple to do some baptisms…an added bonus for her. She has sent off her papers to serve a mission and is waiting for her call. Another one of our cute sisters, Lia, is also waiting for her call. Lia has been serving as a “mini” missionary and so excited to serve full-time. Life really is about learning to serve one another, willingly and with a happy heart.

We had another opportunity to serve as we prepared a lunch for 30+ missionaries. We ordered rolls (kind of like hoagies) from our local bakery (not like the ones at home, I must say), purchased the other fixings (meat, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, mayo) sliced the bread, assembled the sandwiches, added, chips, grapes and juice and voila!, a lunch they all seemed to enjoy. The missionaries are participating in some training that is being done world-wide to help them become better teachers of the Gospel. This training is 4 days long and at the behest of the First Presidency. It is considered important enough that they are willing to pull the missionaries from their missionary work to receive the training.

September brought an additional assignment for Elder Peterson. He’s now the 1st counselor in the Yerevan Branch Presidency. The new president is Narek Tsatsuryan, and a returned missionary from the Ukraine of about 9 months ago. He’s been a member of the church for about 4 years, and has a lot to learn, but he’ll have an experienced leader to help him along. It was interesting to me that as we talked with Narek about his counselors, I was thinking in the back of my mind that Elder Peterson would be a good one…and then, I guess the Lord must have inspired Narek, too, because that is who he called.
We had a fun dinner appointment this last weekend…and we didn’t have to fix it. I did do a dessert and that is another story. We have an electric oven and I didn’t realize that is was set to only cook on the top…so the top looked cooked. but when I tried a little taste the bottom was still like cookie dough. So, I cooked it again (still not changing the settings, however). Then I commented to Rog about it and he noticed that the settings were wrong, set it right and I cooked the brownies for the third time. Less than satisfactory, but the missionaries who had invited us to dinner didn’t complain and enjoyed the brownie/ice cream dessert. We enjoyed the chicken enchilada they had made from scratch, using lavash, instead of tortillas. If they cooked like that every day, I’m sure they wouldn’t stay as thin as they are.

One of the things we miss as missionaries is personal face to face interaction with our families and friends back home. Skype is okay, better than e-mail, but not quite the same as in person stuff. We just received an e-mail from Alisa and she will have some great musical opportunities coming up in the next six months, and if any of you are in the area where she’ll be performing, maybe you can represent us with some hugs and kisses. She’ll be performing at the Lincoln Center in New York on December 19th as part of their Christmas program and makes her Carnegie Hall debut on March 14th singing John Rutter’s Requiem. There was also a fun article (http://issuu.com/philatknpr/docs/desert_companion_2010sept/58) about her that appeared in a local NPR magazine. We’re excited for her and I guess you could say, “busting our buttons”. While on the subject of family, we have one other request. Our oldest granddaughter has Retts Syndrome. There is an opportunity to register and vote every day at http://www.refresheverything.com/rettresearchtoreality . Pepsi is giving away dollars for research and we’re voting for a cure!!!

Hope you are enjoying life wherever you are!