A Tiny Rock

Hello!

 

You know, there are Boy Scouts here, sorta....but they're kind of the left over of Stalin's students or whatever they called it in Soviet times and it doesn't really exist too much anymore.

 

In terms of youth in the branch I'm in right now, there are no young men and I think one young women, so not really too many activities. They hold a seminary class up in Charentsavan, but that only happens once a week I think and it's just for that city. There are a couple college age students, but they're scattered over Yerevan and they don't really put together too many activities, ever. I think they had one for Valentines day (nudge, nudge), but that was for the whole country. There is an institute class down at the Center branch every Thursday but I think attendance is minimal. But yeah, we're working on getting more youth.

 

So this is the second time I've actually heard this in Armenia, so I'm wondering where it came from, but we were walking on the street and we met a 1 in a million guy that didn't really believe in Christ. He said that Christ never died and actually immigrated to Japan, where he died after having two sons. I have no idea where this theory came from, but apparently it's common. :p

 

Found out yesterday the middle finger IS in fact an international insult. :p

 

We went to a baptism on Friday which was really amazing. It was a son baptizing his mother. He had been set apart for his mission two hours before the baptism, so technically his mother was his first baptism as a missionary :) It was kind of funny though because he actually had to do it three times because she didn't go completely under the first or second time :p But she was a good sport and took it with laughter :)

 

Also, they changed the rules AGAIN concerning email, so now I can't even open emails from other people (what I used to do is print them out and answer by hand) so if anyone else emails me besides immediate family, I'm not allowed to open their emails, starting from today :/

 

One day this week I had a rock stuck in my shoe and it bugged me the whole day. At the end of the day I took the pebble out and it was realllllly tiny, but my feet were all red and scratched up. It kind of reminded me of that comparison with little sin. It's better just to get it out right away than let it bug you forever :p

 

So just a little about Elder Smith: He's from Utah (South Jordan?) and plans on attending the Air Force Academy or some other college in Utah. He played football and lacrosse in High School and did a semester at a community college before leaving on his mission. He connects well with people on the street, especially the younger generation.

 

Anyways, that was pretty much my week. I love you all!! :)

 

Elder Hammer

Little part from his letter to me:

...Still, it's nice here, it's just hard to feel like I'm doing any good. I'm pretty sure missionaries from other missions wouldn't be able to handle Armenia. I think us 40 were specifically called to this country because we can handle all the crud that goes down here and the lack of constant work. I'm doing fine, it's definitely a challenge though...