February 23, 2015

So many funny things to write about this week!

First off: You know you're in Armenia when the Bishop decides to start giving out baby/kid blessings practically throughout all of sacrament meeting. The little kids in the ward--from Alaverdi and Vanadzor--were all lining up to get blessings this week. They seriously gave NINE baby blessings, but to little kids. They said, "Well...if they're younger than eight!" We were all like, "Are you serious?!" It was hilarious though because at the end, the Bishop called up Ren, our recent convert, as a joke. She got up, and he burst out laughing saying, "No no! You have to be under 8 years-old." That was funny. She's like their adopted daughter since all her family is in Russia.

It was adorable because Bishop had this little four year-old give the opening prayer to sacrament. SO adorable. 

Other than those highlights, church was torture this week. All of Alaverdi came down, and then there were our members. We were sitted in the upstairs sacrament room for THREE hours. After a while, we stole the Alaverdi Elders planners and started writing all sorts of funny things in them. They stole ours too. Elder P. started drawing an American flag on one of my pages, and then totally forgot what it looked like. So below is a picture of how it turned out. He called it the hick American flag. Haha

By the way, I'm writing a lot later in the day because I had to go to the mission office in Yerevan to renew my residence card. 

It was SO funny because we were about to turn on to Vratsakan street when we see Sister Carlson crossing the street. We were all like, "Hey, we should call over something to her!" Sister Ber. said, "Dang girl, the back of yo head is ridiculous!" --Reference to a youtube video. Sister Carlson wouldn't have been able to hear her, of course. Anyways, Gri who was in the front seat heard that. He was one of the two people next to a window that could open. Anyways, we pull up close to Sister Carlson and said hi. Anyways, Gri, not understanding Sister Ber's phrase/slang but still trying to repeat it, said, "Hey, your back hair is gorgeous!!" Bahaha 

Sister Carlson was all like, "Uh...what??" Hahahaha I'm still laughing just writing it. Classic.

This week during zone conferences we got to watch, "Meet the Mormons." I was so excited!! They said that they had a surprise. After lunch, they said that we would be watching "Meet the Mormons." We were all like, "No way." I haven't watched a real movie in FOREVER. I think I've watched "17 miracles" about five to six times on my mission. And I don't even know how many times I've watched "The phone call." :) The next time someone goes on a mission, I'm gonna lend them TONS of church movies to watch on their mission. (Tucker I'm thinkin' of you, bud!)

We have a surprising amount of investigators out in Tashir. It's crazy. That area might have some potential of opening up some day. Although, we happened to schedule appointments on the day that it snowed super hard. We might have done a 180 degree fishtail spin on our way out there. But everything is all good and everyone's safe!

Sometimes it's super annoying to be an American girl in Armenia. All sorts of boys/men try to hit on you all the time. (They go crazy for blonde hair and blue eyes.) But sometimes it has its perks. We were walking from this one place in Vanadzor called Jungliner and were going to Dimats. We were hoping to grab a marshrutni (a small bus) to take us there. But until then, we were walking. Anyways, this marshrutni comes up, and we flag it down. We were the only ones on it. 

Well the driver would be stopping in Bazoom, waiting for ten minutes, and then would head to Dimats. So we're on this bus, and then when we got to Bazoom, we just decided to go the rest of the way by foot instead of wait. So we tried to pay the driver the 50 cents that it costs. He said, "No, no. Don't worry about it." We were a little confused. So we said, "No, we're paying you for the ride we took." He said, "Hey, if you wanna jump on that marshrutni, then you can pay him. But you don't have to pay me." Then it clicked and we were like, "Aww yeah!!" It's nice being a girl.

Anyways, we're walking for about 10 minutes or so, and that SAME marshrutni honks us down. So we're like, "Okay cool, we'll hop on it again to go the rest of the way." Well, when we get to our stop, we tried to pay him again. He whispered because he didn't want the other riders to see, "No." So we just let him. Haha Free bus fare. Heck yeah! It drives the Vanadzor 1 Elders insane. Haha

Anyways, that's my week!

Man, I can't believe that there's only six weeks left in my mission! What the heck? Where has the time gone? I feel like I have this big fat timer over my head. Crazy.

And why can't Armenian be a more common language, eli?! (eli means seriously.) I speak Armenglish like nobody's business. Nobody's going to understand me when I get back. And how on earth do people say prayers in English anymore? A year and a half of it being in Armenian, and you just can't go back. So wierd.

Anyways, love you all so much!! Astvats hetnerud. (God be with you!)

Love, Sister Fielding

Here's me by one of the Armenian churches in Vanadzor.

Elder P's American flag (the word below means "flag")

Me at the jazz cafe getting a milkshake thing. SO yummy!