24 February 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

10 February 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!"

2 February 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

27 Jan 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

9 December 2013

No time!! Yikes!! Lo siento. I have so much to write about, and NO time to write it. Ha

So this week has been SO GREAT!!

About a week or so ago, we were on our way to go to an appointment, or we were just walking, (I can't remember which) and we saw this man in his driveway. We came up to him and started talking to him. We left him a Restoration pamphlet with our names on it. He had talked with sisters before who had already given him our number, but he had never met with them before. Well this week he called us up and would be interested in meeting with us.

So we met with him, his brother, and their mother the next day (Friday). The lesson was SO good. It was so great because he's super smart. He had read the whole pamphlet and came with question after question. Hah We had to tell him that we would explain some things later. He is just so amazing. We are pretty sure that he has a photographic memory, because of how well he remembers SO many things. He has read the entire bible, and knows it SUPER well.

We met with him the next day and watched the Restoration movie. We taught the tripod (reading the book of mormon, praying, coming to church), and he and his Mom committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray to see if it was true. They also promised to come to church. In those first two lessons, the spirit was SO strong. It was wonderful!!

Then on Sunday, he came to church!! His mom didn't, which we were a little sad about. But it was SO exciting that he came. He stayed for all three hours, and just loved it. He knows people from the ward, and they were all just so amazed at how well he knew the Bible. We can already see that everyone in the ward has accepted him, and welcomed him in. My companion and I are both SO happy!! We are going to try to extend the baptismal committment this week for December 28th. We think he could really make that date.

So that was SUPER exciting. We know that he's going to be so great.

Plus, super great random thing. I found out recently that they have found all 12 tribes of Israel in Armenia. How crazy is that? Our relief society president is from the tribe of Dan  and her husband is from the tribe of Asher (Or vice versa). SO crazy. It's been super cool to hear about those types of things though. We really are gathering the 12 tribes of Israel!! :)

Yesterday was so funny too because it was so random.

So in the second hour of church, the Stake was going to teach the ward. We had, overall, 4 new investigators come to church. So for some reason, the stake leaders had all of the missionaries take our investigators to another class. So Sis. H had to teach a lesson with no warning...for the full hour. So she just taught about the Plan of Salvation. It all turned out to be a great lesson--especially considering that Sis. H had NOTHING planned.

What makes all of this funny is that the RS counselor did the same type of thing! Hah When we finished the opening prayer, she turned to one of our members and asked, "So, can you teach the lesson today?" Bless that member;s heart, because she got up and gave this great lesson on charity. It's amazing what the spirit will do to help teach the people--even if you're not prepared at all.

Another random side note: On Saturday, I wore my white skirt, and my winter green coat, and a winter coat and scarf. It was super funny, because I guess I looked super Christmassy, because everyone was calling me, "Santa's Little Helper". Haha So funny!

Love you all! Choose the right!! =D

Sister Fielding

3 October 2013

Hello everyone!!

This week has been great! We got to sing in the Relief Society broadcast this last weekend, and it was such a great experience. It was the first time I was actually in the conference center, and hey, I was in the choir! It was super crazy to sit where the Mormon Tabernacle choir sits, and see the entire first presidency walk in front to sit down. After the broadcast, it was crazy because there were all sorts of families who were waving to their daughters who were in the choir. A lot of the girls were crying because they would see their families. Some of the Moms out there even had binoculars. Haha NO joke!! It was so funny. 

As we were leaving, the entire general relief society presidency hugged all of us and told us how proud of us they were. It was so genuine and super nice. We saw them every day the week before, because they came to every choir practice--which started at 7:30 am. That's not even counting the fact that they had to travel an hour from Salt Lake to get here. They were so nice!! During one of practices, all of them went through the entire choir--talking to all 364 of us sister missionaries. 

One of the presidency, (she has brown hair to her shoulders but I can't remember her name) met me. When I told her that I was going to Armenia, she was so happy. She had lived in California--near a lot of Armenians and she told me about it. I felt so much love from her when she talked about the Armenian ward she used to know. I knew that she loved me too. You could just feel it. :)

Anyways, I have finally adjusted to the missionary schedule. I now get tired at 9:30 pm and I am so wide awake at 6:15. I feel great! 

My apartment has made it a competition at who could take the fastest showers. I am proud to say that I managed to undress, shower (including washing my hair and my body), and leave the bathroom in just two minutes and fifty seconds. Oh yes, I am proud. Haha 

It's wierd that we're already in our fourth week here at the MTC. The saying is so true when they say that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. Everyday is so jam packed with everything, but then suddenly three weeks have gone by. SO wierd. 

Although, I am SO glad that we are done with the first week. People aren't kidding when they say that the first week is the hardest. All the missionaries out there should know that after the first week, it only gets better. There is hope!! Haha

It's so much to fun every wednesday to see all of the new missionaries. They always look super unsure and intimidated, and you can always pick them out. Hah But they are super cute. I feel like the English speaking missionaries are here and gone so fast. We meet them one day, and then the next day they're gone. So we make good friends with the 6-9 week missionaries.

Oh! By the way, I met my second cousins' second cousin this week! SO random. I was getting soup or something, and I caught a glimpse of this red head sister missionary's name tag. It said "Sister Tolman." Knowing that we have second cousin Tolman's, I had to talk to her. She is related to Justin Tolman, our cousin. SO crazy!

I'm almost out of time, but I loved hearing that Aaron got his mission call to Paraguay. Woohoo! Congrats cuz!

Oh, and one of our super awesome teachers, Brother Carlson, stopped teaching at the MTC. We were SO sad. He was such a great teacher. But he was replaced by Sister Boyle, who went through the MTC with Camille Tolman--our cousin. So much fun. =)

Well I'm out of time. I love you! Talk to you next week!

Love, Sister Fielding

January 20 2014

This week was so great! We were nice and busy, which felt so good. I feel like I really am hitting my stride, and missionary work feels super natural now. I'm helping more in lessons, and we are loving the work we're doing. Life is good in Artashat. =D

The most exciting thing about this week is that H IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! He has finally accepted a baptismal date for February 1st. He is so great!! Plus, he has read the entire Book of Mormon, and knows that everything that we have said is true. We are so excited and happy.

So for our last lesson, we brought a senior couple with us, which was SO good. The spirit was so strong in that meeting. Senior couples really do bring so much into our meetings. Their wisdom and strength helps us SO much. When we were in there, I just had a feeling that this was the time. This time, he was going to accept an invitatiom to be baptized. Towards the end, Sister H extended the baptismal invitation, and he accepted! It was such a happy day. He asked us, directly, if he was going to be okay if he was baptized again. We assured him that it would be. This gospel changes lives!! It really does. He is a different person now. He knows that these things are true. It is so great!

The ward is doing well. The biggest factor is that everyone is getting sick! We have like 6-7 people in the hospital right now from our ward, or something like that. One of members had had a stroke this week. In regards to him, he is starting to say more words, and so we are hoping that he makes a good recovery.

By the way, we were visiting with some members, and the teenager got on Facebook. It was fun because she wanted to look us up on there. So there I was, expecting to see my cute little picture that I'd left up there, when I saw Tucker!!! What the???!! I was like, "What the heck is Tucker's picture doing on my profile picture?!?" Haha It was so funny.Ahem, Tucker, is there something you need to confess?? I expect my picture to be replaced... Haha

By the way, I received my Christmas package!! It was so great! I attached a picture. Plus, we got some more things in there. Haha It was so funny! So the Armenian postal service searches every package. So when someone searched my package, they accidentally put someone else's book and letter. I was super confused at why Mom would send a really heavy book. Haha We've got that person's address though, and so we'll send it to them!

Plus, I got five letters this week! SO happy!!

Love you!