American-Loving Armenian Cows

They had a cow :p I liked it.

Hello!

That's so weird that so few people showed up at the Young Women thing. There was an activity just this Saturday for the Young Women here at our branch and I'm pretty sure there were at least five of them there.

Wow, it's weird we're already talking about school and this summer. Bleagh. But yeah, I was planning on getting a job this summer before I go back at least. I was thinking about being a waiter or something. I would have rejected it before my mission, but I've grown in people skills since then. I have no idea though. What kind of pre-graduate jobs are out there right now?

In terms of housing, I would say just do it now. Housing gets really nasty, really quickly, so the sooner the better :p I'll just learn to live with new people. I've been doing it for two years now. :)

Okay, gross, done with that now. So this week was really crazy, there was a ton of stuff we did, but I probably won't be able to get into a detail of it all. It was a really good week though. We started off with service at our member's house. She lives way up in the mountains and has a decent size farm. So we came up and helped her till her ground so she can get it ready to grow garlic. Over there she has cows and chickens and pigs, and they wander wherever they want. So it was a little frustrating when the cow walked all over the work we had just done. But I liked the cow, I thought it was funny. :) It hates Armenians and bites them, but whenever Americans are over, it lets them hug it and pet it and get close :p

We had a meeting with one of our investigators Karo, and he's been having a smoking problem. So during one of our meetings, we just stopped and said "Do you believe in miracles?" He said, "Yes." We said, "Do you believe God can help you stop smoking?" He said "Yes." We said, "Do you believe God can help you stop smoking, right now?" He hesitated and said, "Yes." Then we said, "Then, take out your cigarettes. Put them on the table. We're going to say a prayer and then we're going to leave and the cigarettes will stay. When you get home, read you scriptures and pray for strength." And that's exactly what happened :) He hasn't stopped completely yet, but he's gone down from 60 a day to about 10 a day. :) Power of fasting. And he said he couldn't do it :)

On Saturday we went up to Alaverdi again. It was a great trip. Right now it's just starting to get pretty. All the wild apricot trees are starting to flower and it was like singing that one primary song about popcorn. The trees peppered the grey forests in the mountain cliffs and made it quite a scenic drive. Besides that though it was just a normal Alaverdi trip. It was Elder Wood's first time, so his mind was blown :) I don't think there's ever been a missionary who's gone there and hasn't loved it. 

Sunday was a mess. We had 115 people at sacrament meeting, because we tried inviting all the less actives and the Alaverdi group came down. It was pretty irreverent, but the worst part was joint Priesthood and Relief Society. They showed a video of Christ's death and resurrection and it was definitely not produced by the church. We enjoyed great scenes such as Judas hanging himself...Yeah...we talked to the branch president. 

Well after we got home on Saturday, we busted out the egg dyeing kit that you gave me last year, which was great. I'll send some pictures. 

Anyways, I have to write President Carter (the mission president) now, so I'll talk to you later. :))) 

Love

Elder Hammer

 

Our member's son

We did service for a member in our branch

Me and Serge

Me and Elder Wood (and Serge popping in again)

The end of our work

Anush making lavash traditional style :)

Us at Karo's house, eating Matzun (it's the same as that umer thing dad talks about) homemade, straight from their cow's udder...

Us and Karo and his mom (and their cow)

Me and Serge on the way to Alaverdi

Apricot Flower

All the white dots you see are all apricot trees.

Elder Wood mistook butter for cheese, so he had a niceeee big slice of butter on his bread

Us and eggs

Elder Wood's eggs :P I thought it looked like a dinosaur egg

Mine are the ones on the left of the carton