Back to Armenia #13

Pumpkin Carving

Geghitsik getting her apple

We participated in our first branch activity since last June. It was a Halloween-themed party with apples on a string, pumpkin carving, cake walk of sorts, art table, dancing, and refreshments. Our young adult party planners, Tamara and Lia, helped with refreshments and dancing and CLEAN-UP. We’re glad for their efforts to help make the branch activity successful and fun. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t on Oct. 31^st as the Armenians don’t have that celebration in their list of holidays.

Sister Dibb and Lia, her translator

The weekend brought some visitors from Salt Lake (Sister Dibb, counselor for the General YW and Sister Larsen, counselor in the General Primary). They did a 2-1/2 hr training on Saturday on leadership principles and Elder Lawrence of our Area Presidency also spoke.  Sunday, they did a fireside for the mission and the chapel at the Mission Office was packed with listeners. There were several who came up from Ararat and it was so fun to see them. I got so many hugs and kisses that I think I can keep going for a few more weeks with all those expressions of love and caring.

November 15^th found us on the road to Antalya, Turkey via Kiev and Moscow to attend a conference for all the CES missionary couples. At first we were a little miffed about the travel distance…we live the closest, but have to travel the longest distance to get to Turkey…but with our layover in Kiev, we will be able to attend the temple and do a few sessions of temple work…so worth it, we think.

Lobby of Hotel

Peterson trying to skip rocks on Mediterranean

Elder Peterson at Fantasia Resort

The Petersons beside the pool

We stayed in Kemer at a wonderful, all inclusive resort called Fantasia on the Mediterranean Sea. The temperatures were in the 80’s, and the surroundings were beautiful…lots of palm trees, beautiful flowers and citrus groves. Fresh-squeezed orange juice was on the menu every morning as well as so many items to eat from several buffet sites. I finally had to skip a meal just to not feel so “stuffed”.

It’s been so exciting to be with so many other couples who are doing the same thing…working with young adults and seeking better ways to administer the programs and be successful with the charge that we have been given as CES workers. It was a wonderful, faith-building experience to feel of their spirits and hear their testimonies. We have learned so much and are grateful we had this opportunity to come and be together. I thought it was interesting to learn that with the 18 couples and 4 staff members, we had 133 children and 355 grandchildren. Of the couples, two were from Russia and one from Denmark, the rest from the United States.

The Petersons visiting ruins at Perge in, Turkey

While in Turkey, we were able to make a visit to Perge…the place that Paul visited and a site of ancient ruins from 3^rd and 4^th century B.C. The camera ran out of battery in the middle of our tour so we’re hoping some of the other seniors will share their pictures with us. We were able to get a new battery from off the tour bus, so all was not lost…just missed a few pictures.

The end to a great week was another wonderful experience. We were able to visit the Kiev Temple. The temple is such a peaceful place and to be able to serve and help someone with East European ancestry made it more wonderful. We had another “small world” experience. On the last session of the day, Elder Peterson looked over and observed, “that girl looks really familiar, but where do I know her from?”. It finally came to him and it was Annabelle and David Hyde. It was so fun to reconnect with them and talk and talk. They were kind enough to drive us to our red-eye flight so we were able to visit some more on the way. It was great to see someone from our Salem roots.

We were glad to be back in Yerevan even if it was 3:45 in the morning. We had pre-arranged with Erik to pick us up but he wasn’t there. We had lost the cell phone somewhere along the way between Kiev and Yerevan and couldn’t call to see what had happened. (It ended up that his van had broken down and was in the shop and had tried to call, but without our phone, who knew? It was just another adventure.)We finally arranged for another cab and were in our beds a little after 5:00 a.m.  A few hours later, we were on our way to District Conference. We watched a CES fireside with our young adults in the afternoon, and now we’re getting pretty tired as this day is winding down. … It is just another day in the lives of these Armenian missionaries.

Back to Armenia #12

Elder Thylin translating call letter

Pres Carter with Zara, opening mission call

Sometimes time seems to be moving so fast that I get to the next weekend and hardly can remember what I’ve done to make the time go zipping by.

One of our young single adults, Zara, received her mission call this week, and we’re so excited for her. She had really wanted to go to Temple Square in Salt Lake City…and someone must have heard her prayers because that is where she is going. She doesn’t know much English, so she’ll have to work hard to learn the language so she can be effective in her call.

This past Friday was a wonderful Zone Conference. It’s a way to be infused with new enthusiasm for the work we are doing here. There were some changes that will affect how we do things. Because the church is trying to do things correctly and not get into trouble with the government, we can no longer have housekeepers. President Carter indicated that about 40% of work wages are handled under the table and the church doesn’t want to get “sued” for being an employer and not paying taxes or having the necessary stamps to conduct business…so now we get to do our own house cleaning. I’m afraid I was getting a little spoiled from not having to clean bathrooms the past five months….back to reality. We also will no longer be able to have English classes, as that is not part of our Charter with the Government. We can still have interested people come to our Doctrine and Covenants classes and marriage class that are taught in English, but they have to understand they are religious courses for the main purpose of learning gospel principles and doctrines with the side benefit of learning some English.

We enjoyed a nice dinner with the senior missionary couples and some visitors from Russia and Ukraine. We again went to the Corner Café that has the best steaks in Yerevan and a place we have enjoyed a few other times.  We then went to the beautiful opera house and watched some wonderful Armenian folk dancers. One of the dances they did was just like the dance our youth had performed at the Kiev Temple Dedication.

Sunday, we had a wonderful Mission Council at the Mission Home and received more good news from visitors from Salt lake who are here doing a welfare audit. They are in the process of going through the government hoops to allow us to do the church’s ARP (addiction recovery program) here as well as additional programs sponsored by LDS Family Services. It’s pretty exciting what is in the works. There are also lots of Humanitarian projects that are ongoing. Our employment people also reported 72 job placements for the month which is more than they’ve had for the whole year thus far, so that is good news. We know that having jobs and especially good jobs is key to improving the economy and key in helping the church to grow.

Before I forget again, I wanted to let everyone know how excited we are to be having more grandchildren. Jana and Mike are expecting a girl in March and Sue and Zach are having twins in June. What wonderful welcome home gifts they will be.

Back to Armenia #11

Artur, Carman, and Tatev

In spite of being in a country that doesn’t celebrate Halloween, we managed to do a little on our own. We enjoyed a family home evening with the Pincocks, Artur, Lusine, Tatev and Carman. We introduced the concept of family home evening to Tatev and Carman who are not members of the church. Sister Pincock talked about Halloween and some of the things that are done in America to celebrate. We did a fun activity in trying to create our own “haunted houses”.

Artur, Carmen, Tatev and Lusine

This was also the week for the Young Single Adults to have their Halloween party, complete with decorations, costumes (at least those brave enough to do it), pumpkin carving, games (they love to play, but sometimes getting them ready and understanding what you want them to do continues to be a challenge), food (sandwiches and salad and cakes) and dancing. Disaster was averted early on when we went to pick up the bread and were told, “No, that was supposed to be tomorrow.” So much for communication.  Our taxi driver stopped at a shuka (small market/store) on the way to the party and we picked up 20 breads for sandwiches (in Armenia it’s called sandwichie hots, sort of Arm/English). Elder Peterson was able to order another 30 from the Georgian bakery right across the street from the church and we were able to put the sandwiches together and feed the masses on time. We still need to get more of them on the dance floor and hopefully when dancing classes start that will help.

Included in the activities was a visit by Brother Henry Kosak from Russia and Brother Hall from Salt Lake, our “bosses” with CES. We enjoyed the fireside and it was a calming conclusion to our activity. It was fun, but cleanup took a looong time as they had scattered confetti all about the room and the poor vacuum kept getting plugged up and one vacuum quit altogether. I think confetti needs to be banned. We are learning as we go. We really appreciate the efforts of the Institute Council and their friends who do so much of the planning and putting on of these activities.

We had a great experience hosting Family Home Evening for the missionaries and a couple of their investigators, Hasmik and her daughter. It is great to be involved with the young missionaries, too. They are so knowledgeable and have such a great spirit; it infuses us with new energy and commitment.

We had a fun class with our Young Adults on Saturday. It’s always nice to be with them…now if we could just convince them to date and marry…then we would count ourselves as effective leaders. They enjoyed the treats. Erik called them American cookies (they were chocolate chip, so maybe so).

I had to speak on Sunday about judging others. For me, it’s always a challenge to speak but I do get a lot of ideas about the subjects when I’m preparing, so now I have a couple of talks I could give (just don’t pass that along…because it’s not my favorite thing).

We discovered early Monday, that the Institute had been broken into and they were in the process of hauling sound equipment, computers, etc. when they were caught by the police. It’s interesting that one of the things they took from one of the offices was Artur’s haunted house. Those Armenians do have a penchant for sweets. Samvel said it was really funny to go into the police station and see the haunted house sitting on the desk as evidence of the burglary.

It’s been fun this week to reconnect with Elder and Sister Blotter. They have come to finish up or help with some water projects and will be here a week. They even brought us some “goodies” so we can still make fudge for Christmas.

We continue to learn and be amazed at all that goes on in Armenia. We love the opportunity to serve and hope the people are growing in the gospel and learning better how to serve one another. We’re looking forward to a night out with the Seniors as we attend the opera house and a production by Armenian dancers.