August 25, 2014

Alo everyone!

So this week we've had a good mix of everything. And so much to write about!

We went to Yerevan on Tuesday, and while we were down there we met with F. She just came back from Iran! Yayy!!! She heard about the BYU schools and was super excited about them. She wants to go and get her Master's degree for Computer Science.So we helped to set her up a little bit. It would be SO awesome for her!! Hope she can, but visas for Iranians aren't one of the easiest things to get.

Our primary president has been on fire lately. She's G's mom, (G is the eight-year-old that we're teaching). We went over there one day to try and teach G, but he wasn't there at the time. So instead, we visited with N (the primary president/his mom) for a bit. She talked about how she wanted to really organize the primary, and asked how we did it in America. So we helped to show her the general structure for it. She was really happy for our help, especially since we were going to have a "super sunday" this week. All of Alaverdi, with all of their kids, were coming in for the week. (They were invited because the stake president, President H., was coming.)

And on Sunday, when they had so many kids there, and when the kids would normally be running up and down the aisles, they were all in the primary room! They taught them a lesson about obedience, and it was great. Normally there wasn't any form of music in primary, but as we were in the second hour, we heard them singing, "I am a Child of God." It was SO good!! 

Then, speaking of N's family, her boys LOVE us. When we came yesterday, the youngest, D, (as in D and Goliath--coding for names=the best!) opened the door, grabbed one of each of our hands and said, "Come in!! Come in!!" It was SO cute. All the boys ran in and said, "Are we gonna play a game?!" And we just said, "You'll find out!" We had a lesson on Enos. We had forgotten our picture book at home, and so instead I started drawing a picture of Enos and had them guess what was going on in the picture as I drew. They were saying, "It's a tree...It's an Indian!! He's praying!" It was so cute. 

And when I was telling the story, they were sitting so attentively and good. It was awesome!! I just love that family so much!! They're one of the highlights of my life here in Vanadzor.

Oh, and we got to clean up another part of Dimats park again! We've pretty much adopted this overgrown, large park, and the ward (and the missionaries of course) work on another part of it every month. 

So this month, we were focused on the playground part of them park. Somebody had stolen the swings a while ago (why anyone would steal swings is beyond me) and so this whole month the H's (our senior missionary couple) have been working with people to get them replaced. They were installed just a few days ago! Armenian swings are so different from American. They don't use chains, they use metal bars from the seat up to the top. Really interesting. They look so good though!

Another part of our service project was cutting down all the little trees by the big trees, and trimming small branches on the big trees  with a hand saw to give it a clean, well-trimmed look. (I was missing my dad's chainsaws.) 

Cultural side note: Armenians think that girls are not to do anything but housework and take care of kids. They don't think that girls should do anything other than that.

With that in mind, here I was with a hand saw cutting down trees/branches. 

One of the Elders' investigators comes up to me. He said, "Hey, give me that saw."

I said, "No! This is my job."

He laughed at me and said, "But this is a man's job, not a girl's job." 

"Yeah, right! I can do this!" And he proceeded to follow me from tree to tree, trying harder and hard to get the saw from me. I wasn't letting him take it though, because I knew I could do it.

But the minute I got to a sizeable tree that needed to come down (about 5 inches in circumference), I thought, "Hey, he can do that one." Hah Use your resources, right? So I let him get that one, and the next one. And yeah, he did cut it down pretty fast. But then he said, "See?? See, how fast I did that?? You should just let me do it."

All indignation returned, and I said, "Bah! Give me that saw." It was way funny, but also ridiculous.

On another note, I have been getting so tired lately. I could probably just sleep and sleep. That's just how missionary life is. It gets very exhausting. There are a lot of factors: warm summer sun, working outside at service projects, stress, and others. Overall, I am just SO SO tired.

However, last night I was looking at everything we had to do today, and I just prayed that I would have the energy and help from the power of the atonement to do it all. And I felt like I really was strengthened and that I would be able to go out and work today. I also read the talk, "Bear up their burdens with Ease" by Elder Bednar, and that helped strengthen me too.

Sometimes the atonement just needs to carry us so much. There have definitely been times when I have felt that exhaustion and discouragement, and then suddenly strength comes out of nowhere. I feel the spirit, and I know that it's the atonement working in my life. :)

We are going to work to get back on the enthusiastic side of life and make missionary work awesome!! :)

Love you all!

Sister Fielding

P.S. My straightener literally started shooting flames and sparks yesterday. There I was, getting ready for church. My straightener (which I have only used about five times) had been making suspicious buzzing/electrical sounds lately. I was still using it though. Go figure. All of a sudden, two inch long red flames started shooting out of the cord. Sparks popping out and everything! It's not like I screamed like a little girl or anything... Haha Yeah, amen to THAT straightener.

Pictures included. ;)