Back to Armenia #10

I forgot to mention when talking about the “Mother of Armenia” statue that it is on this site (at least nearby) where the country of Armenia was dedicated by Dallin H Oaks and Russell M. Nelson for the preaching of the gospel in 1991.

Some weeks just seem pretty ordinary…you know go to the office, read and study, teach some lessons, participate in teaching with the missionaries, dinner dates with husband and the other seniors, district meetings, laundry, but the big thing is we’re doing it in Armenia, ARMENIA.

We’re so grateful to be missionaries, to have this opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ whether by example or speaking. We love our Savior and want to be like Him.

The week of October 4th, was sort of “feast and famine”. My children know that there are a couple of things for which I don’t have a great deal of tolerance. One is flooding water in basements and the other is rodents, dead or alive. So, this week was especially rainy and I didn’t think too much about it until some boys came into the Institute wanting to play ping pong. I gave them the equipment, unlocked the door and returned to the office. Within seconds they were back indicating I should come with them. What I saw was very disconcerting…four rooms were mostly covered in an inch or so of water on the floor. The storage room had all kinds of equipment, decorations, papers, props scattered about the floor and now most of them were in a state of wet…boxes disintegrating with accompanying mildew and other smells emanating forth. The boys helped to stack and move things to higher ground…and then decided to play table tennis anyway in spite of the water. I guess the ball wouldn’t travel very far if hit off the table. Several more hours were occupied with emptying out stuff from soggy boxes and either salvaging or throwing. We put a fan we found to work and the cleaning lady spent several hours mopping up water and cleaning the floors. It’s still damp in places but we’re making progress. One of the bags I emptied was one containing ropes and gunny sacks and balls, we use for our activities. I grabbed what I thought was a grayish wad of stuff and discovered it was, you guessed it, a deceased mouse. I screamed and Elder Peterson who was down the hall, told the other missionary couple…”she must have found a mouse…that is a scream she only uses when she finds a mouse”. Aargh!

Elder and Sister Blunck came for a "stay over" for Conference

Thanks heavens for the feast. We were able to watch General Conference with the other Senior couples for a spiritual feast. I really enjoyed President Monson’s talk on gratitude and especially as we’re not long to Thanksgiving and Christmas (as an aside, I heard that there are only 75 shopping days to Christmas). I appreciated President Uchdorf’s advice that when we are experiencing adverse conditions, we need to “slow down and stay the course” and to focus on things which matter most. He said something else that I thought interesting, “any virtue when taken to extreme can become a vice”. It was a wonderful opportunity to get our batteries recharged and to keep going.

Izik Poghoysan playing the Saz

We had another cultural experience when we were invited to attend President Poghoysan’s 40th birthday party. We enjoyed wonderful food typical of Armenia and enjoyed hearing the President play his guitar as well as hearing great entertainment from Igit, Varuzhan’s father, as he played the Saz and sang for us.

This weekend, Yerevan was also celebrating its anniversary…its 2792nd. I was thinking WOW, but then I heard on the news that Jericho was celebrating its 10,000th anniversary of founding.