For Family Home Evening, we invited some of the Young Singles over and had a most enjoyable time. And besides which, we learned how to make Borscht (a soup that has meat, carrots, cabbage, beets, potatoes, onions, a little tomato paste, bay leaf, salt and some water). Most delicious! Everyone who had been on missions shared experiences or things they had learned so it was a wonderful evening.
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| Sister Peterson (Patti) and Lusine preparing borscht |
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| Artur, Lusine, Karmen Sironush, Erik, Sister P, Elder P, and Sister Pincock |
March 8th is a special holiday in Armenia. It’s called Woman’s Day (maybe this is in place of Mother’s Day…I don’t know). You are supposed to give flowers and chocolate to the women in your life. Well, the man in my life did give me chocolate and we received flowers at the Pandok (our local close-by restaurant).
March 9th was another wonderful South Zone Conference with some Georgia elders added in. All the sisters and elders are such wonderful missionaries and the Conference is just what they need to get a boost of energy in their missionary work. We love the elders and sisters.
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| Elder Jonas, President and Sister Carter with scarves and ties for birthdays |
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| Missionaries, old and young at South Zone Conference in March 2011 | | | | | | | | | |
March 11th, we went with Lia to the Embassy first thing in the morning and she finally got her visa, but she’ll have to pick it up next week and we hope in time to catch her flight for Salt Lake. At noon, we loaded up Erik’s van with some young adults and went to Gyumri to make some visits to less active YSA’s, share a spiritual thought, put in a “plug” for YSA Conference, play some games and have some refreshments. Not just punch and cookies this time around, but kebab and a fancy cake. It was a nice time.
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| Young Single Adults playing "Telegraph" in Gyumri |
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| Playing Games at Gyumri |
Monday, when Lia went to pick up her Visa, it wasn’t ready and they told her to come back on Wednesday evening…but her plane was leaving in the morning. After explaining her dilemma, they said they would call her on Tuesday to let her know if she could get it….and with a lot of prayers, she did get it just in time for her to be set apart as a missionary. President Carter gave her a wonderful blessing and we know she’ll be a great missionary and we’re hoping we’ll be able to see her on Temple Square when we return. Lia left on Wednesday and arrived safely in Utah. Go Lia!
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| Lia Harutyunyan (love that smile) and her Dad |
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| Senior Missionaries with Lia and her Dad at Lia's setting apart as a missionary |
Wednesday, the 16th, we left early in the morning with President Poghosyan and Lusine H, headed for Tblisi, Georgia. We went to the Hingali House and tried Hingali (sp) in many varieties (meat, spicy meat,cheese, potato, and mushroom). We did not go to McDonalds (it has more than one unlike Armenia which has none).We enjoyed getting better acquainted with young single adults there and met with them to discuss the upcoming YSA Conference. We attended their Institute class taught by Senior missionary, Sister Southwick, played some games and enjoyed light refreshments.
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| View of Lake Sevan on our way to Georgia |
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| Reflection of the Mountains in Lake Sevan viewed from the highway |
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| Rog loves rocks, view on road to Georgia |
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| Young single adults, investigators, missionaries at Tblisi Institute Class |
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| Playing "telegraph" after Institute class |
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| Playing a game of "wink-em" after Institute class |
We spent the night and left the next morning for our return trip back to Armenia, stopping in Alaverde and Vanadzor along the way. We’re looking forward to a return trip in May with our Institute Council.
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| We visited Zara who was feeling under the weather at her home (pretty humble circumstances) | |
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| Zara's 4 year old nephew |
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| Marchutkas (public transport) all ready to go in Alaverde |
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| Typical sidewalk market, this one in Alaverde |
We do manage to keep busy teaching (mostly Elder Peterson) a couple of Institute classes a week and one movie/activity night each week for our young single adults. We also keep in regular contact with the other seniors serving here and feel blessed by all our interactions.
Really great photos; you'll have to cook that stew for us, I'd love to try it!
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