I Am Like A Star!

Hello!!

...Speaking of Senior Missionaries, we just got a new couple this week. I'll tell more about them later. But I do agree, Senior missionaries are very helpful and provide a different atmosphere, but with a mission this new, none of them know the language at all :p

All 4 of us at our Iranian members' house :) Possibly their last time with us in Armenia.

So the temperature here is actually going to be going up from what I've heard. I guess it doesn't get too cold here, but who knows, maybe we'll get a cold streak soon. There hasn't been snow on the ground for about a week now though.

So this week:

The Taj Majal!

We officially moved into Little America :D It took the whole day to do it though, because we were closing down the old apartment. We had to clean everything, then clean everything out, then bring a ton of stuff to the main office, then we had to move all of our stuff over plus the area materials, then unpack everything. And then we had to plan for the week. But we're in and it is amazing!! We learned that it was a sisters house before us, then a seniors house before them, so naturally it smells amazing and is cleaner than a hospital. Pictures are included. It may not seem like much for any normal American looking at it, but to us, it was like moving into the Taj Mahal.

Interesting: So we were walking along looking for people to talk to when this one guy stopped us and politely asked us (in English) where we were from. We told him we were from America and he said he had learned English on the East Coast or something. We moved into Armenian then because it was easier for him. He went on to ask us why we had come to Armenia etc. He seemed really nice and very polite. He was about to leave when we told him that the Book of Mormon was another testament of Jesus like the Bible (assuming he was a Christian like everyone else here). He then stopped us and said "Oh, I'm actually a Satanist". We didn't know how to respond to that, so we just stood there open mouthed as he turned and walked away. :p I had always read about Satanists on the propaganda posters they put up here against Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses but I didn't think they were an actual group. Guess we found out :p

I guess we tend to attract weird people, because also this week, we (with the other elders) ran into one guy who came up to us, said, "Do you speak Armenian" we said yes, and then he went off for about 20 minutes how everyone has life energy inside of them and as you live, the energy goes to your own personal star. Once you have no energy left, that's when you die. Then he just turned around and walked away. Afterwards Elder Seegmiller looked up and said, "Hey guys, look! (pointing to the moon). That's my star!" :p

The baptism :)

We went to a baptism this week for an old investigator of Elder Peterson's. It was really cool because it was all in English. The person being baptized was from Northern India, so he didn't really know Armenian.

So the new senior missionaries, Elder and Sister Readings are now in our branch, so we got to go to their apartment (ours is better :p ) and help them get situated a bit with the area and the language.

But anyways, on Sunday, we were planning on having a nice dinner at our place with the other Elders. As we were walking towards the Metro though, I realized that my keys were missing from my jacket, along with about 900 dram in coins. Apparently while we were at church, someone went through peoples jackets and took a whole bunch of stuff. So we had to wait and call a whole bunch of people while the locks were changed on the church and at our house. Thankfully the Readings had just called and invited us over for dinner, even though they had no idea about our situation. :p So that was quite a bit of stress that ended up costing us 9,000 dram. :/  Guess I know not to leave my jacket on the rack anymore. Dinner was great though :) Sister Readings made chicken soup and banana bread for all of us.

So that's all :) Love you all!!!

Elder Hammer

A few notes from the letter Jared sent me:

...So yeah, the Sisters ended up moving out early so that we could move in, so we did :) We didn't get to stay in the mission home, but we did get to stay in little America, which I think is better anyways. :p  Honestly I think that our apartment here is bigger than the one we have in Santa Monica, almost. If it weren't for the fact that we have two full size bedrooms in the US, then the one here would be bigger :p I love it.

But yeah, New Years is over here officially now. :) It's kind of a bummer because now we don't have a topic of conversation to bring up as a starter, but now people have time to meet with us, so that will be really cool :)

We get the church magazines out here, but they come a little late because they have to go through the mail and everything. :/ but they do come :) I'll have to read this upcoming edition.

...But I love you!!! And I miss you :)

Elder Hammer