Happy Halloween! I remember how at this time last year when we were in the MTC. :)
We have been definitely trying to get better at finding, and doors have been opening! We were able to find two more investigators this past week. One was through our personal efforts, and the other was through a member.
President Bennett of the seventy came down unexpectedly this past week. It was awesome! We left our apartment at 6:30 to get to Yerevan on time.
I thought it was really profound when President Bennet said, "None of the promises of the mission will come true unless you find through the members." That made me think of what the promises were in the mission: the quadrupling of baptisms; joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction; miracles will happen; etc. It was a really interesting insight.
I don't think that I've ever been a bad missionary. I've always tried to be a good missionary, but I think that I can stretch. I think that I have a lot of potential to become better, stronger, and witness more and more miracles.
In regard to Sister B, she is doing good. :) She is trying hard. It seems really hard though still. I think that it might just continue to be hard for her for the whole transfer. From what I remember from my training, it was definitely hard that whole transfer. She's trying really hard to get her 10 words a day. The first week I was preaching a lot about how important her 10 words a day were. So she has made that a priority and has been doing good on that.
Speaking of which, my October word test is coming up on the 31st. Hopefully I'll get 90% or better! Last time I got 86% or something, which I was really bummed about last time. I plan on getting my words down really well today so that I can do well.
There were times during the week when I would suddenly get overwhelmed. It would sometimes just hit me in the morning. I didn't want to tell Sister B about it, because I don't want her to get more stressed with knowing that I'm stressed. I feel like it wouldn't have been productive to bring it up. As we got out and worked, the feeling would go away. Being a trainer is definitely stressful. With morning exercise, I feel like I can work that out. (I hope so!)
I'm definitely been trying to shift a lot of responsibility onto Sister B. It's a lot of work to be teaching the lesson and try to keep it 50/50. It takes a lot of patience to make it work too. I just think about one day when she will become a great speaker, and she will be helping and supporting her companions/trainees really well. She's just very new in the language, and is getting her feet under her.
In regard to our investigators, we are expanding our pool! We are looking at a lot of referrals that have the potential to become a lot of investigators! We are really excited about it. If everything works out, we could pick up nine new investigators this week!! Woohoo! It is gonna be a great week.
Exciting announcement of the week: L Tatik is getting baptized!!! (Tatik means grandma for those who don't know. They put it after their first name when they're older.) She had her interview last Friday, and passed. She is so happy. This is an example of success in missionary work through the members! The bishop called us up and told us that she wanted to be baptized. So we promptly visited her. She's one of our members' moms. She is one of the most sweetest, happiest tatiks ever. She is really excited to be baptized.
We will be having the baptism in Gyumri. She has a lot of difficulty getting around because of her bad back. So, as a result, there's no way that she could climb the ladder for our font. So that's why it wouldn't be practical to have it here.
We've also been trying to help A and T to get their marriage licenses. It is getting progressively more difficult to help them. T's mother-in-law does NOT want T to get a marriage license because they receive more money from not having one. T has two kids. It is a really difficult situation. Things were really intense last time that we met with them. We were trying so hard to show them how much more important it was to have a marriage license than to not. They weren't having it. Their faith needs to be strengthened. So from now on we will be helping them to build their faith in Christ by helping them to receive a testimony of the gospel.
We also had a very disappointing experience with A. Her husband is back from Russia and will be staying for a sizeable amount of time (maybe for the whole winter). There really are no things holding them back from getting a zaks. Nothing. Not the family. Not money. Not papers. They could go and get it today. The thing that is holding them back is the most important factor of them all: desire.
We have scheduled with them twice now to take them to the office. Both times they canceled last minute. When we call them up to confirm the appointment or to tell them that we're coming, A says, "Oh, I've got some work to do, actually. Maybe another day." Or she says, "Well, I actually have to go to the doctors today. I don't know what time, though." When we were coming back from President Bennett's meeting, we called them up to say that we were coming, and that's when she said that she had work to do.
When she told me that, a wave of disappointment washed over me, and I wanted to cry. We're trying so hard to help them, but they just don't care. Regardless that everything has practically been laid at their feet, they're not doing anything. She says that she wants to be baptized, but she won't put in her part. We will probably try one more time to help them, but if they reject us again then we probably are going to drop her.
So yeah, so there's a lot of different things going on right now. I hope I didn't depress anyone or make anyone concerned from this e-mail. :) This is just mission work, you know. Missionary work: amazing + hard.
Hopefully we'll be able to make a real difference here in Vanadzor. :)
Just another week in Armenia. :)
Love you all!
Sister Fielding
Hey, so I finally realized what I wanted for Christmas.
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