Slip Sliding Away and Loving It

Hello!!!!

Things were a bit different this week because I went on exchanges and a lot of things will be changing soon. 

The Shengavit sisters moved out a while ago because two of our sisters are heading home and they just opened a new area in Artashat. They're going to have to close one more area soon, unless they get a mini missionary until the new sister arrives. But anyways, we were told that we now have Shengavit in addition to Center. We were also told that we'll be moving out of the apartment in Center and moving into the sister's apartment in Shengavit. We're way excited, because their apartment is nicknamed the 'mini-America' so no complaining from us :p It's also right next to a metro stop so we can quickly get back and forth from Center. 

I went on exchanges this week and during exchanges, we actually helped one of our members in Erebuni move his belongings from one house to another. We had to go down to a village called Kharbert which was interesting because it's higher in elevation than Yerevan. It actually ended up snowing right when we left, so it was crazy cold and it snowed a whole ton. When we got up there though, we found some kids sliding along the ice in the road, so we joined in. All five of us slid along the road together, all bumping into each other. :p I think the kids were aiming for us though :p

We heard a pretty spiritual story from one of our member families this week. They told us they were so poor at one point that there was no food or water. They went to church though and said they prayed and had faith, the sacrament bread and water would fill them. They went on this way (all four of them) for several weeks. It's amazing seeing what kind of miracles happen out here based on faith. 

So we're used to the gangsters on the street laughing and trying to mess with us, but now, with the coming of Winter, they are armed with snowballs. So naturally by the time we get home, we're covered in snow from head to foot. :p I do love Winter, though. People here complain about it, but I, growing up as a California beach bum, love waking up in the morning and seeing everything turned to white :)

Anyways, that was my week :) Love you all!

 

Elder Hammer

And a snippet from my letter:

I'm so excited for this Christmas season, you have no idea. It's going to be so weird because December 25th will pass like no big deal here, but then everyone will go nuts on January 6th. New Years is actually going to be a bigger deal here. It was actually part of the Soviet's plan to destroy religion. They made New Years a week long party from December 31st to January 7th so that Christmas would be covered up. They succeeded in a sense. People here don't focus on Christmas as much because they're too busy partying New Years. But we'll change that :)