March 10, 2014

Hello family and friends!!

It is a great day! I feel so happy and so good! I am just loving life right now.

We have been busy, and it has felt so good!!

We are super excited about N!! (One of our investigators.) She is FINALLY going to be baptized!! If she's not going to be baptized, then she'll be baptized next week (if everything goes as planned). We are so happy because we were able to go with her to get her marriage license with her husband! And she came ON TIME to church and stayed THE WHOLE TIME!! Woohoo!! Not only that, but her sister-in-law (an in-active member) came with her. AND our investigator's Mom came to church too! Chances are looking good that we'll be able to start teaching her.

PLUS, Narine's mom and Nune came to the Woman's day activity. Things are just looking up with that family. The ward has been surprised that they actually have a marriage license now, and that N is going to be baptized. N has been taught by the missionaries for a long time and so I think that the ward kind of lost a bit of faith in her. But NOW she's getting BAPTIZED!!!! YAYYYY! We are so happy.

And one of our member's MOM wants to be baptized!! She seriously has soaked up everything like a sponge! She was the first to meet with missionaries (my second cousin--Sister Tolman--to be exact). She just didn't ever get baptized. (She had bad eyes and so she couldn't read the Book of Mormon, but now she has glasses!!) What's cool is that because she met with the missionaries, she encouraged her daughter and son-in-law and all their kids to go to church. Her daughter and her whole family were baptized. And NOW she's getting baptized!! Yay!  It's so exciting! She asked us, "So, how many weeks do I have to come to church before I can be baptized??" We said that it was five. So she said, "So when can I be baptized?" And we said "April 12th!" Which was quickly changed to April 15th because it's her daughter's birthday. So she said, "Okay! Great!" We are so happy.

Really cool story, by the way. So we were walking here to our internet place, and we say this lady on the street. And so we said hello. Then it was crazy because the spirit just filled me up. We continued to talk to her for a little bit and then we went on our way. As we were walking away, I turned to Sister T and said, "Wow, I felt so good talking to her. The spirit just filled me up. I feel like she has a lot of potential." Sister T said, "I felt the same way." We paused and then Sister T said, "I think we should go back." I said, "I think we should too." So we went back to where we saw her last and got her number. She was happy to see us again and gladly gave us her number. She says that she lives in a faraway gyoo but we don't think that's a problem. That was such a powerful street contact! I haven't had one like that before. She has so much potential to be baptized someday. =D

Also, really crazy story. I felt like we were so protected this week by the Lord. There's this group of kids who are just bad news. They are around 10-11-ish age, and they're boys and girls. Last time that we saw them was probably 2 or so weeks ago. The first time that we ran into them, they were making fun of our Armenian and then they would toss rocks at us--mainly to try to scare us. It wasn't a big deal, and they were just being naughty kids.

Well we were walking to Vostan to go to an appointment, and up ahead we saw the kids! So we sharply turned to go another way, but we still saw them up ahead--waiting for us. Only this time, they were gathering BIG rocks. I would say about 4 inches long, two inches wide, and about an inch thick. They were only gathering them for one reason--to throw them at us. Um...scary!! So we were trying to think fast on what to do in this situation. Just then, these two ladies started walking by--both of them Armenian. One was probably in her 50's and the other in her 30's. Sister T said, "Let's stick with them! Those kids won't throw anything if we're with Armenians." So we quickly got a few feet behind them.

I felt like we had angels walking beside us, because I felt their strength and protection as we walked past those kids. Those kids tried to engage us in conversation again as we walked past (so that they could pull us away from the Armenians) but we held strong and kept walking. Because the Lord sent those Armenians, we were able to be protected from danger. The spirit confirmed to me, when we safely made it to Vostan, that we had just been protected. The Lord truly protects us. Phew. What a relief that we have the Lord on our side. =D

Well, life is so good in Artashat! So grateful we have the special blessing of being a missionary! Yay!

By the way, we finished our crazy word competition this week!! Man! I don't know how but I had 318 words when I was only supposed to learn 280, and so I ended up learning 294. Well...go me! Haha

By the way, family--who's idea was the glitter all over your letters??!!!? (I blame Brittany. Haha) Good thing we have a vacuum!

Love you all!!
Sister Fielding

P.S. WOOOHOOO Tyler!! You're going to Argentina!! YOu ROCK!!

1. "Why did the turkey cross the road??" Haha There were these random turkeys on the side of the road. SO I was like, "Let's take a picture!!!" Hah

2. These are ALL my flashcards for all the words that I CONQUERED!!

1. Me in Yerevan with some famous star's statues from the 60's or something.

2. Look! The house with the green truck in front of it is my first investigator's house. Hah Crazy!

3. Me at the ruins of an ancient city.

March 3, 2014

I'm really sorry that this is so short! I have next to no time.

So N, one of our investigators, can't read at all. We read leaps and bounds faster than her, and we're not even native speakers! She doesn't even recogize all of the letters. We've been working with her for a while. So it's been really cool because we gave her alphabet cards and asked her to practice her alphabet. We told her that the Lord would bless her when she tried hard to learn how to read. We had a really great lesson explaining WHY we were teaching her how to read  which is (a) we love her and (b) so that she could read the Book of Mormon. The spirit was really there. And it was really powerful! Anyways, we came back a few days later, and she has markedly improved!! We are so excited! It was wonderful to see how when you take those steps of faith, the Lord truly blesses you.

We also took one of our investigators to a baptismal service. He really liked it! It was a super spiritual and powerful baptism. =D Sister T sings opera, and so she sang at the baptism. It was beautiful!

Love ya!

Sis. F

February 24, 2014

Alo Barev Dzez! Vontz ek??? Aisinkin (In other words), "Hello! How are you?"

I swear, it is so wierd to me that nobody back at home speaks
Armenian. I mean, seriously. You're here in Armenia, and EVERYBODY
speaks Armenian, obviously, but only a tiny handful speaks English. So
it's funny because whenever we need to change our lesson really fast,
we just speak in English and say, "Hey, I think we should actually
change our lesson to this..." So even though you it was right there in
perfect hearing, they didn't understand a thing. You've gotta be
careful sometimes though with that (with speaking in English) because
sometimes they think you're talking about them. Could make for an
awkward situation... So we generally just speak in Armenian. =D

Anyways, I have been going crazy with learning Armenian words! It has
been insane! As a mission, we're doing this competition type thing
where we have to learn 10 words every day for the whole month of
February (in addition to some days in March). It all comes down to
learning and retaining 300 words, overall. The prize is that we all
get to go out to dinner in a nice restaurant, for free, in Yerevan.
Um, heck yeah!!

We're getting pretty close to the end. This is the most intense time
of the competition. If the whole zone (which areas consist of Hrazdan,
Artashat, Center, and Charents Shavon) doesn't get 96% or better as a
whole on their words, then no nice restaurant! It's intense. =)

We were in sacrament meeting, and I was translating for Elder and
Sister L in sacrament meeting (my first time translating in sacrament
meeting). The elders looked at me and gestured something along the
lines of, "You're translating today in sacrament meeting for Elder and
Sister Larsen." I was freaking out!! Translating is HARD! I was like,
"Noooo!!" They just laughed and gave me the headset that I had to
speak in. They would. Haha They're like my 2nd trainers.

But it actually went really great!! The Lord definitely helped me with
that. I was like, "Wow! I can translate sacrament meeting!!"

So a MIRACLE happened yesterday!! Man, the Lord really knows what he's
doing.  Well this week at church, one of our member's (a youth)
brought her mom to church. This family is from up in Vanadzor but they
have been living in Artashat for the past few years. The mom, the
daughter and the grandma had been taught everything up in Vanadzor,
but only the daughter and the grandma were baptized. The mother
couldn't give up coffee or something like that.

Anyways, we had a super great sacrament meeting. It was so spiritual
and so good. I was definitely so uplifted. Anyways, sometime during,
or a little bit after, the Mom went out of the meeting. President H,
the stake president was there, and he was talking to her. She was
crying because she felt the spirit so strong. Anyways, President H
comes and gets us and says, "N is here, and she has agreed to become
an investigator." We were like, "Wait, WHAT!"

So we go into the room she was in, and she's just so full of the
spirit. The spirit is just pounding on her. Anyways, we go in and
verify what President H just said. And she said that she does want to
become an investigator. She says that she knows it's right. So we get
the full story about what's just happened. So, in Vanadzor, she said
she just didn't feel anything when she went to church. It was kind of
vochinch, or whatnot. But our meeting in Artashat...was different. She
was just overcome by the spirit and it changed everything.

We sat with her in there for the last two hours of church, and helped
her understand what she was feeling. Gave her a baptismal date, and
helped to assuage her fears. She is scared about the thought of
getting baptized. It's all a lot for her right now. When we were
giving her her baptismal date, she was kind of evading the thought of
getting baptized on the 22nd. She didn't think that she would make it.
She seems to have a lot of guilt from past sins. Anyways, as we
continued to talk to her she said, "...Okay, I know that I would make
my date." And she kind of laughed a little bit. It was so great! The
spirit changes the hearts of the people. It was a MIRACLE! We are so
happy.

She's going up to visit her family up in Vanadzor for a few days
though. We are praying that she doesn't shy away from her experience.
She can do it!

Okay I'm out of time but I'm gonna quickly explain the pictures! The
first one, that's me when our rickety stool decided to collapse when I
was on it! (Splashing mint tea on my legs in the process.)

And the second, well, everyone who has lived in Armenia knows what
THAT license plate means. That's a cheetos car. (Cheetos is our code
word). In other words, that's a mafia car. Crazy!!

Anyways, love you all!!
Sister Fielding

February 17, 2014

Oh my word. I LOVE Sister T. She is the BEST. Seriously. I struck gold by being put with her. I love this companionship so much. We almost have too much fun together

We've been teaching more and more people lately. It's been great! Two of our old investigators, M and A, came back from a village that they were visiting. It was crazy because we were walking down the street, and we were about to pass these two girls. Suddenly, one of them is like, "Hey!!!" (Not really 'hey' per se, but I can't remember exactly what she said in Armenian--same type of idea. And I was all like, "Huh??" And then I looked closer and it was A! So we found out they were back. We scheduled a return appointment with her. 
We met up with them again, but we didn't have very much of a lesson. A friend of theirs was there, and when she found out that we were "Mormons" she was saying stuff like, "Oh, I heard that Mormons are bad." So were like, "Well, what do you mean?? What have you heard." But she didn't say. So we really didn't get much of anything in. But it's okay, we came another day and taught an overview about Joseph Smith and everything.

It's crazy what types of stuff they say about us here. There was this one girl that asked if we really did witchcraft stuff. (Which of course is ridiculous.) Then there are other people who seriously think that we murder people. It's ridiculous. But our rumors aren't as bad as the ones that people spread about the Jehovah Witnesses.

Then with B, (a member's husband), we met with him for the second time, and the lesson was completely different from his first! It was SO GOOD! He was about to start off with all this type of stuff to kind of test us and "bible bash" to an extent. But everything changed when I said, "Sorry, but can we start with a prayer??" And his whole countenance changed. He said, "Of course!! Let's pray." So we prayed. It set the tone to really teach. Next, we said that we wanted to watch a movie with them. He got excited about that, and he started getting the TV and everything ready for it. So we watched it, and you could tell that it really had such an impact. SUCH a miracle!! When we were finished with the movie, he said, "Wow, Joseph Smith was just like me! I have wondered why there were really so many churches too!" So golden. He was SO much more receptable to what we had to say. It was wonderful. =) We were so happy! The spirit was just so strong in that house. He was excited for when we could visit with him again. Plus, we're seeing him again tonight!

In regards to H, he has been dodging us lately. We don't really know why. The Elders are trying to help us to by trying to get in. He has been taught everything. He's read the entire Book of Mormon. He's come to church around 8-9 times. By all accounts, he could be baptized. But now, it's like he's lost all interest. It's intense.

But there was also a really exciting thing that happened! Sister H and I had had a street contact a while back. She just told us that she would call us back when it was comfortable. Usually that means that they're not interested but they're just being polite. But then she actually called us over!! She lives in a village halfway between here and Yerevan. She was super sweet, and her 15 year old was there too. They served us all sorts of fruit. They tried to give us Earl Grey tea, but then Sister T explained the Word of Wisdom super clearly. So that wasn't a problem. But then we went into the first lesson about Joseph Smith. They were very accepting! They were really excited for when we could come back again. So excited to teach their family!

So this week has been a combination of set-backs, meeting more people, and teaching former/current investigators. It's been a busy week! It's been good though. =)

I'm excited to go on splits tomorrow with Sister W! She's one of the Sister training leaders. It's going to be so great! I feel like I'm gonna learn a lot!
By the way, last P-Day, I got into one of my cooking kicks and made teriyaki chicken! It was from a slow-cooker recipe book. It was crazy because I left it to cook, and it COMPLETELY boiled over. I came back and there was a soy sauce lake on the stove. Haha It cleaned up really easily though. And MAN that chicken was straight from a teriyaki restaurant. SO good! I have a before and after picture. 

Then the other picture is me in Artashat. We walk down that street every day. =)

Love you lots
Sister Fielding

February 10, 2014

Hello family!! 

So this week has been an eventful one!!! Guess WHAT? I'm still in Artashat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wooooo!!! I'm here for the next three months! So great. =D Plus, I have the BEST companion. Sister Ten. came down from Vanadzor! We're actually friends on facebook. So you can see who she is!!!!!!!!! She's half Armenian and half Ecuadorian, but she was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. SO COOL! She is wild and fun, and so great. I can definitely see her Armenian roots in her. Haha Her dad though is from Syria. SO crazy! The funny thing is that we met over Facebook before she went into the MTC. We were both freaking out together over facebook chat about going to Armenia. Then, after she left, I followed her blog when she took off. SO funny.

Anyways, so we've been getting Sister Ten. all used to Artashat lately. She LOVES the people here already, and she says that Artashat is way different from Vanadzor. (Artashat is cooler, of course! Haha)

There was so much anticipation leading up to transfers. Man, we were trying SO hard to not think about it. But it was killing us not knowing. We went and visited our bishop and his family on Tuesday night. When we were leaving, the phone went off with President's special ringtone. Man, intense! We found out that Sis. H was going to Ajopniak in Yerevan, which means that she became a sister training leader. This is her last transfer, and she's leaving earlier so that she can go back to BYU this semester. So she was put in a trio with Sis. W. and Sis. K. 

This week overall has just been filled with people packing and unpacking, seeing tons of members--saying goodbye to Sis H and then introducing Sis. Ten. It's been good.

Last Monday, we went to Khor Virap, which is a church where the founder of the Armenian Apostolic church lived in for 13 years. He was exiled there by the king. The place  was super pretty. Sorry, the computer is being difficult or else I would send pictures of the actual church.

Funny story, by the way, we went to this member's house over in Vostan village, and the mom answered the door. Anyways, they live in this TINY place. It's probably about 10 feet long and 5 feet wide. Well, with it being that small, both of the beds take up most of the space. Well. there was like this lump in the bed, and I was looking at it. And I was like, "What is that?" And, without thinking about it, I just go over and just poke it! Anyways, S, the Mom's 16 year-old pops up from under the blankets! Haha I felt so bad. 

Anyways, gotta go! Love ya!

Sister Fielding

1. Mount Ararat!

2. This is me about to go into the pit that Grigor L'Sovorich was in for 13 years. (Grigor L'Sovorich was the founder of the Armenian Apostolic church.) It took me FOREVER to actually get on the ladder. Heights are just not my forte

I was going to send this last week, but I timed out and so I didn't get the chance to send it. So here's another lesson from last week. Hah

The stuff between the quotation marks is what I originally wrote.

"My boots have officially died. On the hunt for other boots!

You can kinda see Mount Ararat in the background here. plus there's me in Artashat!"

February 2, 2014

So much try to write about!!

So this week is TRANSFERS!!! Aaahhh!!! Intense. I've been here in Artashat for three months, and I could very well be here for the next three. I have no idea where I'm going. We'll find out tomorrow!

H didn't meet his baptismal date for yesterday, but that's okay. He has been delving into deep doctrine, and so we felt like he wasn't quite ready. He agreed with us that he needed more time. We know that he will, for sure, be baptized though!

Yesterday, I had such an enlightening day. It was so great because I studied about fasting. When thinking about fasting, I realized that a lot of people fast for things that they need, or they just think about how hungry they are. But yesterday, I was thinking about that one talk (can't remember which one) which talks about how when we pray, we don't just pray when we really need something. We pray about everything--things we're grateful for, guidance, and also for special blessings. As I was studying, I read Alma 45:1 where it talks about the people and how they were so grateful that they fasted and prayed. So I realized that fasting is so much bigger than we think! We don't just fast for special blessings; we fast for gratitude, and for guidance! It was so enlightening, because I realized that fasting was almost like a day-long prayer to my Heavenly Father. Thus, making the fasting experience so much more meaningful. It was really so great. =)

Plus, all the snow is melting and it's been raining so it's been unbelievably muddy and wet here.So sometime this past week, I was walking down the sidewalk. There was some snow and wet leaves, but it was all good. We were avoiding the deep mud on the road. Anyways, I step onto the wet leaves, and I suddenly slip and end up on my back! Hah Don't worry nothing was hurt. I DID get mud all down my skirt and a little bit on my coat. Yep, I had the mortifying experience of walking all the way back through town with mud all over me. Hah Yep. It's cool.

Plus, it was so cool because there were SO many people at church yesterday! Blew my mind! There seriously were like 80 people there when there's normally 40. 

One of our new converts surprised us by showing us these puppies! They were SO cute! This random dog just had puppies in this abandoned house. In this picture, they're like a day old. It was funny, because when I saw them, I went right into puppy mode to try to help the puppies get taken care of. Hah kinda funny. They were so tiny!

Love you all!!

Sis. F

February 2, 2014

Mom--I feel SO BAD. I totally forgot to tell you!! I got my Christmas package!!! I got it about a week and a half ago!! It was so great because we were having sister splits, and so I was at the office. We get all of our mail when we go to the office. So when I saw your box, I thought it was just going to be the feminine hygiene stuff you sent. But then I opened it, and it was full of PRESENTS!! I thought that that last package was the only thing of presents that I was going to receive. But no!!!!!!!!!!! =D It was so exciting. I was all like, "It's Christmas again!!!" So I opened up all of them right there in the mission office. Hah

Plus, it's so great because we really can't find any of that chocolate here in Armenia. So it was SO yummy to have hershey kisses and all the other chocolate. I've listened to all the music (so nice), and I've already done about 8 inches of a baby afghan. Man, you guys know me so well. I definitely had the itch to make something. Don't tell Christa, but I'm making my little nephew a little blanket. It's already so pretty. =D

It was so much fun to receive that!! I wasn't expecting it, and so it made it that much more exciting. =D Merci!!! =D

Love you lots!!!

January 27, 2014

Alooooo!!

This week has FLOWN! SO busy!

Last Monday, we had a district activity where we went up to Yerevan. It was SO fun! We went to this big Armenian church called Grigor L'sovorich. It's SO pretty. We had to take off our name tags and everything before we went in there though to be respectful and everything. I have lots more pictures, but I'll be sharing those when I get home.

Afterwards, we went to this really nice restaurant called pandok. SO yummy. I didn't realize that my dish had garlic in it until later though. It was SO funny. We were in the taxi after everything and our taxi driver said, "I smell...garlic." Haha At first I was like, "Wait, what?" And then I realized that it was coming from me! Hah Gotta love garlic breath. So grose. Haha

After we left pandok, we went to this really cool art museum. It's called the cascades. You go up these escalators and there were all sorts of glass-work/sculptures. SO cool. Below is a picture of a lion made out of tires! SO cool.

At the very top of the museum there was all sorts of "lights" types of art. There was this room full of all sorts of crystals hanging from the ceiling. SO cool. And so pretty! I've got a picture of that too.

Later on during the week, we had Sister splits!! (LOVE those things.) For our mission, we have them every six weeks. What they are is one sister from each companionship gets to go to another area to learn from another sister. This was the first time that I got to go somewhere!

I got to to go Malatia with Sis. N. It was SO great! I don't know why, but I'd had this image of Malatia being a place with super mean people and crazy members. I don't know, that was my impression. But when I went there, it really was such a great place. Sis. N and I went and taught the first lesson about Joseph Smith, and it was super great. The spirit was so strong, and the investigator was really interested.

Then later we went to a recent converts house. They were so sweet! It was a mom with her three teenage daughters and son. The mom was a bit distracted though. I guess that the Elders had had an investigator that they knew was interested in that mom. Then later, he just dropped off the face of the earth. So Sis. N tried to see what was going on. Anyways, this recent convert (she's a super open person) told us the whole story. It was like an intense drama story. Haha Roughly, he started investigating the church, he met her and liked her. Then he started to start staying close to the church because of her. When their relationship went south, he stopped meeting with the Elders. Sounded messy. It was intense to hear. Hah

We met up with H again this week. He was a bit offended by what we had read from Malachi about "trying God" to see if he will bless us. He put it along the lines of tempting God. It was intense. We brought a senior missionary couple again which helped us a TON. Man, I LOVE senior missionary couples.

Love, SIs F

January 13, 2014

This week has been SO great! Oh my word. SO many funny stories.

We were teaching this lesson to this old couple. They both have a hard time hearing. The wife in, particular, can't hear a thing! Not to mention that we think she's got dementia or something. So the husband wasn't sitting with us, and so it was just the wife. It was the most hilarious visit of my life! Oh my word.

At one point, we were just making small talk. They have all sorts of calendars on the wall. One of them had a picture of Jesus and the other had a picture of Beyonce. So I made a comment to her saying, "Wow, you have so many calendars. That's a nice picture of Jesus." Just small talk, you know. But she turns to the one with Beyonce and was like, "This picture??" ANd we were like, "Um...no that's Beyonce..." Hahaha We were dying.

Then later, I was giving the closing prayer. And I took her hearing into consideration, and so I'm shouting this prayer. Hahaha It was so hard to not start laughing! But anyway, I closed the prayer by saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Sister H and I look up, and she's still got her head bowed with her hands together. So we yell, "Amen" again. No response. We yelled it again. Still No response. We are both laughing SO hard because she continued to have her head bowed. So Sister H and I look at each other and then shout, "AMEN!" And then she looks up. Bahaha It was SO funny! Oh my lands.

Then we found out our new goals for the year. We are aligning our goals with the Stake's. We are shooting for 170 baptisms this year. President was so funny. He said, "So when we reach their goal in May..." Haha It was so cute.

Anyways, this week, I had to get my boots repaired because they were coming apart in some places. So there was a day when I was wearing other shoes. Man, it was crazy how much less traction I had! It was so funny. We were leaving a member's house, and I slipped and ended on my back--in full view of her crazy/funny ten-year-old. Nothing was hurt but my pride. Haha That kid just ran up to laugh at me. Haha Little punk.

Oh, one of our investigators just took off for Spain yesterday. SO crazy! She met this guy over skype somewhere. They've been talking for two years, they got engaged, and she's going over there to marry him. Kinda sketchy to me!!

Love you all!!

Sis. F.

January 6, 2014

That means "Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!!

Hello everyone!

We had an interesting week this week. Nor Dari is just its own element.

We've been visiting all sorts of people in the ward, and investigators. It has been rough to share anything spiritual with others because they insist that we just visit with them because it's the holidays.

I don't know what I was expecting with New Year's, but it has been rough! SO much food. SO unhealthy. 
We got a bit sick from all of it this week. I think that it was a combination of all the food being sugary, greasy, and old--and a lot of it. On Saturday, we went to go and visit some people, and my stomach was just rolling. I did NOT feel well. Neither did Sister H. So we decided to go home, eat healthy food, and rest. Well, after eating real food and getting proper rest, we both felt great! I felt like a whole new person. I gotta say, I am so relieved that Nor Dari is starting to wind down..  
We were able to do a lot of really great things this week too. We received a phone call last monday that one of our members was super stressed about Nor Dari. She works just about every day in Yerevan, she has two young kids, and her husband works on the Russian base (he is only able to come home every two weeks or so). So we was stressing because she had to clean her house, and make all of her food still. We were super happy to help her out! We helped prepare all of the food, take care of the kids, and clean. H, the member, was so grateful. It was so great that we were able to come over!

For our investigator, H, it was so funny because he tried to get me to drink wine! We were visiting him and his family, and they were serving us all the New Year's food. Anyways, he was all like, "Hey, you don't mind if I have a little wine, do you?" We were both like, "Naw, it's your choice, but we're not drinking it." Well after a while, he was just saying, "Aww, come on. What if you had just a little bit." We were like, "Uh...no." Well, he grabbed my glass and still put some red wine in it. Sister H and I looked at each other in disbelief. We were like, "we are not touching that!" Haha Crazy. 

Well, I love you all! Take care!

December 30, 2013

Hello everyone!!

I only have about six minutes to write. So this'll be interesting!

We had a great Christmas this year! We got together with all the missionaries in Armenia on Christmas Eve--having a Christmas dinner, and seeing everyone was so much fun! We went to an orphanage towards the end where we sang all sorts of carols and we had a Santa Claus come with us. It was SO great. Most of the kids in the orphanage here are mentally disabled and so it was a really special experience.

On Christmas, we caroled to some members (so much fun) and then went out to Yerevan where we had LASAGNA! It's been too long since we've seen Italian. Haha

We went to cinnabon later, and it was SO yummy!

Things have been crazy this week. We were able to get FIVE new investigators this week, and we are so excited. That is such a blessing because everyone is going crazy getting ready for New Years.

I love you all!! SOrry this is so short!!

Love, SIs. Fielding

Here's the picture of my tag!

Then the picture of that cave looking thing is the place where they found the oldest shoe in the world! The shoe was 6,000 years old. I took this picture from the car though. Hah

Then the church is Norovank! (SO pretty!)

December 30, 2013

Noravank is a church that was re-built in the 13th century. It was super cool!


Those were the SUPER scary/narrow steps that I climbed up. It was fine going up, but then I was paralyzed when I had to come down. Haha They were only about a foot and a half from the wall, and it was like a 15 foot drop. So I think my fear was understandable! Our awesome taxi driver, S, came up and saved me though. I was practically stuttering, kamats kamats!!!! Which means "Go slow! Go slow!!" Haha He just laughed at me, and said, "Of course!"

Then this is me next to the giant canyon!! It's right next to that church. So cool. :)

December 23, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such a great week this week!! Things have been super busy and super cold! Hah Super great. 

The power went out here in the internet place, and so I am trying to write as fast as possible to make up for lost time!

I made my goals for this oncoming year, and it has been SO great to do them!! One of my crazy ones is to read all the scriptures, the missionary library, and the Bible dictionary. It’s been great!! I’ve been reading 10-20 pages from the bible every day, and now I’m nearly done with Leviticus.

I also have a goal to read the Armenian Book of Mormon, the doctrine and covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. It has definitely kept me busy! I just have to read three pages every day to read them all in a year. I love doing these goals. I have a bunch of other goals, but it’ll take a while to write.

H (our investigator) is literally our shining star. It is so exciting because he is progressing so much! He is already in Mosiah, and he knows that the Book of Mormon is true!! Woohoo! We are so happy. We have been teaching him about baptism lately. He’s concerned because he thinks that he’s going to be condemned if he gets baptized again. He also has had a hard time with the thought of giving up wine, because he makes wine for a living. If we could get him to commit to be baptized, we know that he would go through with it. He keeps all of the commitments that we give to him. We have been bringing really strong and good members with us to our lessons, and it has made a huge difference. 

There was the biggest miracle that happened the other day too!! The Elders have been meeting with a lot of less-active members lately. Well there were these two brothers who had been baptized a couple years ago who fell away from the church. It was so great, because they were SO happy that the Elders had met with them. They knew the church was true and everything, but they had felt like the church had forgotten about them. On Sunday, one of them just came up, bore a solid testimony, and said that from then on, he would always come to church. Such a miracle!! SO amazing!!

Apparently there are these people here in Artashat that have three pet bears!! It was so crazy! We took some pictures. That picture is me with the baby bear. Probably the closest I'll ever get to a baby bear without running for my life. Haha

But anyways, we will be having Christmas Eve with all of the Armenian missionaries. It is going to be so much fun. And we're going to be doing a service project at a local orphanage. Then on Sunday, we're getting together with some Senior missionaries for Christmas. So excited!

Love you all! Merry Christmas!

Love, Sister Fielding

P.S. That fly is the LONGEST living fly ever. He's been our pet for weeks and weeks. We have no idea why he's still alive. Haha We've named him Norbert though. Kinda random, but I thought it'd be funny to throw him in here.

First draft of the 2013 Christmas card

December 15, 2013

We taught H, our new investigator, three more times this week. We taught him about the Tripod, Plan of Salvation, and about Prayer. He has a bunch of concerns about the Word of Wisdom, and about other conflicting beliefs with the Armenian Apostolic church. The lesson on prayer though was SO good, because we took one of our members with us. She was GREAT! She helped teach him about a lot of his concerns, and bore a powerful testimony on prayer. Plus, she already knows the family! Hah It was super great. He didn't come to church this sunday though because he had to go to Yerevan for work or something. He had a really good experience last time though, and so we are confident that he's going to come back.

For one of our other investigators, we found out some troubling news. I guess that she is super poor, and one of our members had told her that she should join the church so that she could get money. Soo....yeah. We have to be really careful that she's not just joining the church to get money. We haven't been able to meet with her since that first meeting nearly 3-4 weeks ago. Both our member and our investigator don't have phones, and so we can only plan at church. Sometimes even when we plan up with I (the member), M--our investigator isn't there when we get there. Such a bummer, but we're trying!!

We met a new family this past week who were SUPER cute. It was only a contact, but I'm super excited. We might just start teaching them later.

We met with a member and her husband twice this week. The first time was super sad. We came in and H (the husband) was laying down because his heart was beating super fast. I. (the member) was crying, and so we tried to make her feel better. Plus, their building's power went out and so it was super cold in there. We gave them some no-bake cookies as a gift. Then the second meeting was a completely different experience. They were both happy and cheerful. We taught about how miracles are happening even today. They committed to reading the Book of Mormon together that day. I just love them! They are so great.

Sorry that this letter is so brief. I have like NO time.

THis is a picture with our Christmas tree though!!

Plus, it has snowed a ton here, and we all look like little eskimos. Haha

Love you all!

December 15, 2013

From Mom:

We are just sitting here waiting for you to get on and we caught you!

Dad says that he really misses you but he is thrilled when he hears how great you are doing because your mission is a perfect fit for you. (He does say that to everyone too!)

I woke up with pink eye today and I was bummed cuz i really did want to go to church- so I missed my birthday cupcake that they give on b days :(  Courtney accepted it for me and all the girls said, "hey, you better not eat it!"  and courtney smiled and said, "I cant promise that...."  lol  she's so funny

From Ambi:

Hey Happy birthday by the way!! Love you!!

Oh, and I'll be calling you when it's 8:00 pm on Christmas Eve there at home. I'll be skyping and it'll be for an hour! I'll need to get your skype information. :)
P.S. I sent home three letters that are your Christmas presents. You might not get it for another two weeks or so.

I just got all of your letters, and they were SO great! Haha They made me so happy.
P.S. Don't feel bad that I didn't get your weekly letter. It happens. :)

Love you!! Gotta go!

Sister Fielding

P.S. Armenia money is going to be changing to Russian money. Crazy!

December 13, 2013

Hi Ambi

I just wanted to let you know that there are 2 different packages coming plus G & G Clark told me to put $25 in your acct for you to buy yourself something in Armenia.

So, just so you know to be on the look out!  I do hope you get them soon and definitely before Christmas.  I don't know how to send through the pouch but I'll figure it out so you can be more comfortable with your fem hygiene stuff. Was there anything else?

Did you read that Tyler got put on a visa wait in the Denver Colorado South mission?  I think you probably read his last letter.  Isn't that so crazy?  But at least he gets to have an American christmas and avoid the hottest month of the year in Argentina.  Dec Jan and Feb are like June July and August here (we'll actually like Texas weather cuz it's gets up to 110 ) - soooooo he'll have to do that next Dec Jan and Feb but he'll more acclimated to the temps by then.....  So, it's all good and he seems very excited - he's just so happy to be out of the MTC.

Well we are finishing cleaning the house. Every day I've been choosing a room or a big spot in the house that is groady, and boy, the house is sure looking good!  yay

well i'll write more later!

Love you!

Mom

Mom, 

Wait what! He's on a visa wait?? Crazy! Well that'll be cool to go to Colorado.

I am SO Excited to get packages! Hah It's okay if I don't get it before Christmas.

I don't think that there's anything else.

Love you!!

Sister Fielding

December 2, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

So this week has been crazy!

A bunch of people have been leaving town for the month to spend the month with family, and then return just before New Year's. It's crazy! I don't even know what they're going to do, because their Christmas isn't until January 6th. But a ton of people do that--either going to Russia, or to other parts of Armenia.

We also had an AWESOME Thanksgiving. Every missionary companionship brought something. We brought this amazing fruit salad (it was seriously the best fruit salad I've ever had). But yeah, we had the whole traditional feast! We had turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, and everything else. It was also super great because we were able to get together with the two southern zones, and our mission president. It was so fun!

Also, one of our new investigators just committed to baptism! Yay! It was super exciting! The lesson itself was crazy, but we were able to pull it together at the end.

I say that it was crazy because we had brought over two members with us, and they were constantly interrupting us and talking about random things in the gospel. We had to try super hard to take over the lesson again. Then there were other parts where they were talking to each other, answering their phones, and other things. Then when we were talking about the first vision, one of them gets up, has our investigator write something down for them really fast, and then sits down. We were both thinking, "Okay, this is getting ridiculous."

It was a crazy lesson. You just gotta love Armenians though. Hah Well, it all turned out okay, because we were able to bring the spirit really in, and she was really accepting with everything that we were saying. At the end, we asked her if she wanted to baptized, and she said yes!! So she's going to be baptized in the coming weeks. =D

Well I love you all! I just wanted to end with testifying that it is so important to work hard in everything that you do, and remember that the Lord is always there. Remember that the Savior understands everything

 that you're going through. He loves you. Remember that "God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son." =)

Love you!! I love hearing from you!!

Sister Fielding

P.S. They don't have any cookies and cream candy bars here. If any of you would like to send those, I would be SOOO happy. ;)

Love you!

December 1, 2013

So, it is SO true that Armenians are just obsessed with pictures. They look at them during sacrament meeting. Whenever you meet with someone for the first time, they love seeing pictures of people.

Well, I have a bunch of super old pictures from like 2010, but I don't have any recent pictures. Could you send me a recent family picture that I could show people??

That would be great. Plus, I'm sending home a light-weight/awesome present. So expect to get that sometime! =)

Plus, if you would like to send your daughter something, then I would REALLY like that. It's up to you though.

Love you!!

Sister Fielding

November 24, 2013

Alo im untaniku! (Hello my family!)

Another great week in Armenia. =D I have so much to write about, it's great! =D

Well, first off, can I just say how funny it is how crazy Armenians are about marriage?? Seriously! Just about every house that we go to, the people ask if we're married. Haha When we say that we're not, then they say something along the lines of, "That's great! Then you can marry our son, right?" Half the time they're in their thirty's or forty's or something. Haha SO we say, "Um... no." To which they say, "Why not?! He's great!!" EVERY HOUSE. I swear. It is hilarious! It's a good thing that we're missionaries, or else we'd be in trouble. However, that doesn't mean that we still don't get proposed to. Nearly every sister missionary has probably been proposed to about three times out here. It is definitely a different world out here. Poor Sis. H. was nearly kissed one time too. Yep, all the old grandma's yelled at him for that. Haha

But it's all good! We've been walking all over Artashat lately. I found out this week that our area has a bunch of villages in it. It's kind of crazy because just about every three neighborhoods is a village. It's crazy to me, because it just all feels like a small town all together, but it's cool.

This week has definitely been different. We would have days when all of our lessons would be super great and awesome. Then on all the other days, all of the lessons would just fall flat! I seriously don't get it sometimes.

In one of our new members house, her boy was seriously super wild. He had a box of small fireworks that he was playing with. They were like little fire crackers. As we were teaching the lesson, he started pushing some of those fireworks into their wood-burning stove, and they started just exploding in there. Um, yeah, Sis. H and I were freaking out. Good thing that stove door was closed or else it could've gotten bad. We left pretty soon after that, especially since he was lighting them IN THE HOUSE. So that lesson didn't exactly go as planned. Haha We were safe though, and we love that family. It just got a little wild...

It's been crazy how many investigators we've been getting lately too. One lady just showed up to church one day with her friend and was super excited to meet with us. Another was a member's husband. Plus, last night, we were walking around the streets of Artashat and we were just getting contact after contact!! It was so great!

One in particular was this funny old man who kept pinching my cheeks and calling me a Russian doll. Haha So funny.

Well this week we're all super excited because we're gonna have Thanksgiving with the two southern Armenia zones. We are SO excited!! We're bringing a fruit salad. It's gonna be so much fun! I can't wait.

Well I just wanna say that I am so happy to be here! It's been crazy to be in this other world. I still don't know what most of the people are saying, but I'm trying to work hard and speak (with my limited vocabulary). =D I am so grateful to be here, and I know that angels are helping us to do this work. I am so grateful for the gospel, and I know that the most important thing we can ever do is bring others to Jesus Christ.

Love you all!!!