# 2

Barev dzez Itsenak!

Hello family! Inch bes ek? How are you? Things here at the MTC have been busy. Our Greeks ( the missionaries in our zone going to Greece) left on Monday for Greece. It was a little sad saying goodbye, because they are such great people but I know they have bigger and better work to do in Greece. New missionaries going to Greece just reported yesterday. There are three elders (Elder Martinez from Spain, Elder Johansson from Sweden and Elder Mead from England) and two sisters (Sister Nilsson from Sweden and Sister Blanchard from England). The sisters moved into our room, so there are now six of us in a tiny dorm room. But we make it work! Elder Webb is still our zone leader and district leader. We also have a cool zone face that we make...we all pretend to growl like a bear...it doesn't sound that funny, but let me tell you it is pretty intimidating in gym.

The language has been coming along well. Kuyer Jack and I have been learning nominative, genetive, accusative and genetive cases and we have learned all the numbers and basic phrases for teaching lessons. Yesterday we had our fourth lesson with Artak our "investigator" (Brother White) and it was our first lesson without any notes. It was our best lesson thus far! We had him read from the Book of Mormon and we also committed him to baptism. Even though it was a mock discussion, the Spirit was so strong and I think it was because we had to rely on the Spirit to get our message across...since our Armenian is very broken. Kuyer Jack and I also teach well together. Although we basically have nothing in common outside of the gospel, we work well when teaching and bounce off each other.

Our teachers are awesome! Sister Crawford is so amazing. She reminds us daily that we can learn the language. Because she is a sister I feel like she can relate a little bit more to us and also gives us good advice for when we are in Armenia.

Brother Carlson is so cool. He is great at helping us to remember and memorize phrases or important key words we need to know. He is great at keeping a straight face and having us decide on our own what is the best approach to take when teaching/learning phrases for our lessons. Although, yesterday I was practicing saying "The Holy Ghost helps us to recognize the truth" and I accidentally said a bad word in Armenian...that I didn't know was a bad word. He tried so hard to keep a straight face,  but his eyes got really big and he covered his mouth and started laughing...he then said, "You just said the worst thing you could possibly say in Armenian." Well, at least I got that out of the way in the MTC and not in Armenia haha. Brother Carlson also told us a cool story yesterday about using simple phrases to teach. His mission president when he was a missionary told him a story about a missionary in Russia who was preaching on the street. It was his first day in the field and so all he could say was "book true" as he held up the Book of Mormon. With that simple message, many people on the street came to be taught the discussion and many were baptized. What an awesome story.

Brother White is a great teacher as well. He is kind of like the Ms. Phinney of missionary teachers. He challenges to work hard...harder than we think we can. At times he is a bit intimidating, but it just makes me want to work so hard and make him proud. I think he is mostly the reason why we learned the alphabet in so short of a time and why we were able to give our last lesson without notes all in Armenian. NO ENGLISH ALLOWED. It bites. But it helps us to improve on our Armenian! Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to learn the language. It is hard!

I have to admit, I thought adjusting to no phones, free computer time, music players would be hard, but it's really not. I never miss my phone and it's weird, but I don't find myself thinking/humming pop songs anymore. Maybe it's just becuase I've been so busy here. I don't even miss the computer...it's not that great. Some computer time is nice though. I'm so glad I can write home!

For Easter Sunday, Bishop Cuasse of the Presiding Bishopric and his wife, Sister Causse, spoke at the MTC. I was able to make it to the room they were in, instead of one of the overflows and it was awesome to be there in person. That was also the first time that the MTC has done a MTC-wide sacrament meeting. (Normally, you just do sacrament with your branch.) One thing that stuck out to me during that meeting was Elder Causse quoting Victor Hugo and said "Love is a celestial respiration of the air of paradise." Neat huh?

Later on Easter night, we had a devotional given by Shari Dew! She challenged us to read Doctrine and Covenants 138 and Abraham 3 and ask the Lord how he feels about us individually. After the devotional, I had the opportunity to attend a film of Elder Bednar's "Character of Christ" talk given at the MTC a few years ago. (I thought it was extra awesome because I had met him the Saturday before entering the MTC.) But anyway, you should all watch that if you get the chance! He talks a lot about how when going through trials we would turn inward and focus on ourselves, but when Christ went through trials, he turned outward and focused on others. For example, when on the cross, he didn't plead to be taken down, but instead he made sure that his mother would be taken care of.  Elder Bednar also said that the greatest convert on my mission should be me...so that is what I am working on!

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to go to a devotional by Elder Ringwood of the Quorum of the Seventy and his wife, Sister Ringwood. They talked about setting the world on fire with missionary work! (My district and I also like to think of that as bringing baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost to everyone.) They also talked a lot about how the most important of the Lord's work will be done in our own homes. They asked "You want to know how you can tell you're a good missionary?" The answer: "Your grandchildren will be faithful members of the church." At a district meeting after the devotional, Sister Ormsby brought up the quote by Gordon B. Hinckley about mothers who served missions raising a "royal priesthood generation." I can't remember the whole quote, but I thought it is so applicable especially with so many sisters serving now. It also reminded me of mom :) 

Ah I am so jealous...I mean excited that you all went to NYC! (I'm working on developing attributes of Christ, so I can't be jealous haha.) I hope you all had a fun time even though BYU lost. Keep me updated on everything you do! Trevor and Asia, how are practices going? How is school? Heffalump, be a good example to your friends :) Mom and Dad, how is the new office? Are you adjusted yet? I have not seen Jeff yet, but maybe I will. It was his birthday yesterday. Wish him a happy birthday for me! Can anyone tell me if Liz Jensen is in the Provo MTC or if her VISA was approved and she went to the Brazil MTC? I have been looking around for her. Also, I forgot to write down Tyler's address :( Asia, could you send me kindle buddy's mission home address please? Also, I forgot a hoodie, flip flops for the disgusting bathroom floor and a camera cord to upload pictures. If you could send any of those, that would be lovely, but they're not essential so don't worry if you're not able to. Well, my time is winding down, but I love and miss you all!

Yes seerum em! Yes geetem Jesus Christosi seerum a!

Kuyer Morreall

P.S. LETTERS/DEAR ELDERS WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!! I get dear elders on the same day you send them...so that's awesome. Love you!

**Note from Mom**

We need to send out her camera cord ASAP for her to download pictures!
Thursday will be her p-day (prep day to do laundry, write letters, etc.) while in the MTC, so hopefully we'll hear from her every week.