# 14

This past week was another busy one...and it was super hard! We have been in the process of finding new investigators this week and were able to find three with families.

On Monday, we met with Sona and Melanya, two potential investigators. They are really interested in the church, but they rent rooms in their apartment and can't meet with us at their apartment unless the occupants leave. We were able to meet with them this week though. We talked to them about the Plan of Salvation and families. In our next lesson, we plan on talking about the restoration and tying in commandments (especially the Word of Wisdom because they both smoke). 

After that meeting, we met with Ashken at the mission home. Her mother, two sons and nephew were present. With the help of Sister Carter, we talked with them about the Plan of Salvation, families and temples. She seemed really receptive. It really helped that Sister Carter and Ashken's mother were there to testify of the importance of families. We are hoping to meet with her this week to try and involve her husband in the lessons. We think that she is worried about talking to him about the church and because of that she feels distanced from him. We want to include him in the process of learning about the gospel if he is willing. 

For Prep day, we went with Elders Zachary, Wood, Woolley and Kopsa to the zoo. It was pretty fun! I had to laugh because they had American deer as an exhibit haha...just like they did when I visited Australia! Sister Clove and I then went to a Georgian restaurant afterwards and had delicious food called spas and cheese bread and dolmas!!! So good!

On Tuesday at our district meeting we talked about miracles that come when we are obedient and unified. We also spent some time getting to know each other in our district and sharing our goals so that we can be unified in helping each other succeed. 

Tuesday was also Sister Jack's birthday. I am now the only 19 year old sister in the mission.

We also met with our Bishop and planned an activity on Family History. We want to invite the florist and his family to come to that and to come to a Family Home Evening with the Bishop and his family.

Marine called us on and wanted to meet. We planned on teaching her the Restoration again (just as a refresher and so that she understands it clearly). When we got there, she had questions about the Restoration already that went right along with our lesson. This was the first lesson that I have been in where questions that an investigator had went exactly along with the lesson that we had planned...in sequential order. It was a pretty neat experience and it got me excited to explain more of the Restoration to her. 

We also met with Arus this week. Hayk (ward member) was present. We meet with Arus a lot and we had planned on talking to her more about repentance and baptism, but lately when we meet she gets distracted really fast. We weren't able to get through all of the lesson and planned on teaching the rest to her later. We are wondering if she is really progressing because the next logical step for her is baptism but she keeps avoiding it. I am going to personally study for her this week and see if there is anything else we can do to help her be baptized. 

After the lesson, we walked Hayk home and we had him stop and talk to people just like we do as missionaries. It was funny to watch him try and OYM people...but then I thought about how that was probably what I looked like when I first got to the country haha.

Wednesday was a tough day. All of our meetings fell through and so we ended up OYMing most of the day. I like OYMing and talking to people, getting to know them and sharing a gospel principle with them. It was extra hard on Wednesday though...we talked to only a few people who seemed interested. In my interview with President Carter this week, I told him about how Sister Clove and I decided to memorize the sentence "Help me find a family ready to make covenants with God"...when we said it and turned the corner and ran into a really nice family! We shared a short message with them and left a pass along card with our number for them. That was such a tender mercy from the Lord on what seemed to be a very tough day.

On Thursday after planning, we met with Rita (street contact) and her family (daughter, daughter-in-law, grandson). We established our expectations and gave the How To Begin Teaching points. We also taught a short lesson on families and the temple. We have been using the temple kit frequently in almost every lesson, especially with new investigators or OYMing on the street. It has been a great help and blessing to our companionship.

We also visited with Rima (member), who had served a mini mission with Sister Clove. She needed help cleaning her house and wanted us to help her prepare lessons from Preach My Gospel to share with friends. We did service and helped her clean and then helped her think of ways to approach her friends about the gospel and set up a study plan for her.

On our way home, we stopped and bought candy for the florist's kids...we are trying to bribe them with love. haha just kidding!

On Friday, we met with Lala (a street contact). We met her husband and son and invited them to join in the lesson. We established expectations and talked about the the difference between our church and other churches. We shared a short message on the restoration and families and invited them to church. I kind of got the vibe that she was just trying to marry us off to her son though...they do that so that way they can come to America haha.

We also met with Lala (our investigator we have been meeting with for several weeks). We brought her a book cover for her Book of Mormon so that she can read at home without her family bothering her about other religions. (She said that was the main reason she hasn't been reading...her family doesn't want her to read the Book of Mormon.) We also challenged her to keep reading three chapters a day. We have been reading along with her. We talked about gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She has been continuing to read and we are hoping to commit her to a baptismal date by the time she reaches Alma. 

We then met with Arus again at Hayk and Hariknas' apartment. We finished our lesson on repentance and baptism, but she still has not committed to a date. I will continue to study for her and we will decide whether or not we will continue meeting with her. 

Hayk and his mom, Hariknas

On Saturday we found and caught our first cockroach in the apartment...exciting right? We called Elder Zachary because we didn't know what to do about it...but he basically just told us to suck it up (in a nice way) because they had caught five in his apartment just that very same day. In honor of all of his help, we named the cockroach Elder Zachary.

On Saturday, all of our lessons fell through again, but we were able to OYM and talk with a lot of people. We also stopped by the church to help the ward members clean and we helped the assistants get ready for a baptism they had that day.

Sister Clove and I on Colleen's baptism day with Rebecca.  

Lala (our new investigator) brought her grandchildren to church on Sunday. We met with them and introduced them to many ward members. We are going to meet with them again this week to follow up.

Marine was unable to make it to church. We are not sure why yet, but will be following up with her soon.

On Sunday we met with Jess, Lance, Joe and Rebecca after church. The brothers received the Melchizedek priesthood. We talked to them about the importance of the priesthood and we also talked about keeping all of the commandments and enduring to the end. 

We OYMed and met Tigron, a young father who knows English. He went to college in upstate NY and was interested in what we believed. We are going to follow up with him this week.

We also met with Nane (a member) and her family Sunday night. Anahit, her sister-in-law, is very interested in the gospel. We met with them and their family and talked to them about the importance of church and our belief that families can be together forever. While there, I felt like they were family! I really enjoyed their company and there was a sweet spirit in their home. They dad, Gjevorg, and his friend, Sarkis (from Greece), are super funny! They gave us a ride home with their girls and they kept cracking jokes. They kind of reminded me of fun uncles haha. We are going to meet with their family again this week. 

This week in personal study, I have been studying for each one of our investigators. I love it! It has helped me to better understand where they are coming from and how different aspects of the gospel can help them. I have also been studying the gospel of Christ and how it applies to everyone.

I am grateful for the opportunity I had to meet with President Carter this week. It is his last week in Armenia as my Mission President, so he wanted to meet with all of the missionaries. This week was a particularly hard week for me and I just felt refreshed and rejuvenated after meeting with him. I had just told Sister Clove I was thinking about asking him for a priesthood blessing this week when he called and invited us to come in for interviews. Perfect timing! We talked a lot about my purpose as a missionary and he promised me a lot of cool things in my blessing. Afterwards, he said that he normally sends missionaries home with a hug, but he wouldn't be around to send me home, so he and Sister Carter both gave me a hug. I love the Carters! Mom, you should see if you can contact them when they get home. They are great!

So how is the family doing? I got all of your dear elders last week...right after I had written my email home so I didn't get to tell you that I had gotten all of your letters. It takes about two weeks for the mail to get to Armenia. It takes about two months for packages to get here though...people have asked me about that so feel free to spread the word about how long it takes the mail/packages to get here (like Lisa, Aunt Cheryl). Mom, if you would send some CTR rings that would be great! I was going to ask you about that this week because I gave mine away to some kids on the street, so it is perfect timing that you asked that! 

So Asia, I heard you got a cute lacy white dress! I want one!! Seriously though...if you see one that's cute and you just happen to think of me... haha Anyway, I bet you rock it! Trev, how is the ACT studying coming along? And baseball? I heard the two of you threw a party this Friday at the house. How did that go? I miss all of you! I hope you are having a fun summer! Any fun family trips coming up? Is school out yet? I love you all!!

Love,

Misa

Funny/cool Armenian things:

They have orange (yes, ORANGE...Asia), pretzel, mint, and dark M&Ms in stock her at all of the stores.

They use tissues for napkins.

They eat really salty cheese...I'm pretty sure Asia wouldn't even like this kind of cheese.

They carry everything in plastic bags.

They sell 6.5% milk here...and people drink it. 

I'm pretty sure they have the most safe capital city ever. No one ever parties at night because it is shameful.

We still receive calls and texts from that boy who wants to date us. He won't leave us alone.

When Armenians feed you too much and you don't want anymore...they think it's super funny if you tell them you're going to explode haha.

Their rock, papers, scissors is "Ching, chang, cho" haha

A member of our ward is on an Armenian soap opera...he is also the most shy person I have met here so far.

There are random Russian words/food/songs everywhere...and three letters of the Armenian alphabet are actually Russian!

They hate turning on the air conditioning because they think they will catch a cold...even when it's about 100 degrees...

# 13

Family,

This week we met with Merujan and Alvina (less active). Merujan is just recovering from being in the hospital and so we thought we'd stop by to see if we could help with anything. We learned that he was doing just fine, but that Alvina had questions about Christ's resurrection. She told us that she did not believe in a resurrection. We discussed the atonement with her and testified that Christ died, atoned, and was resurrected for us. I know she felt the Spirit during the lesson and she told us after that she has just been having a hard time recognizing the atonement in her life and the need for the resurrection, but that she knows Christ's atonement and resurrection is real.

We also met with Jess, Lance, Joe, Rebecca and Colleen to see how they were doing. The men all just got callings at church and so we discussed the importance of callings. We met with them later in the week to discuss more because of time constraints. 

On Tuesday, we met with Marine and discussed church attendance. She had a lot of questions about member relations. It seems like she has had some problems with people ignoring her and avoiding her at her previous church (she was a Jehovah's Witness) and she is very concerned that it will happen again. We talked to her about agency and how people have the choice to act how they will, but that we teach people to have charity and do what Christ would do. We invited her to the meeting this week, but she was unable to make it because of work. We are still working on getting her to church consistently. She has been continuing to read the Book of Mormon and pray.

We home taught Anna (a professional classical pianist) with Grigor. She is super sweet and kept feeding us yummy food. She gave us some delicious sunflower granola bar things.

We also met with Lala on Tuesday. Siranush was present and helped us teach the Plan of Salvation. Lala seemed really interested and asked a lot of questions. She comes to church every week and prays, but is still having a hard time reading the Book of Mormon everyday. We set a baptismal date of July 20 for her though. We are calling her and reminding her to read everyday.

Hyak and Hariknas are strong members that come to church every week, but last Sunday Hariknas told us that she did not feel like church was doing her much good because things in her life haven't been working out so well. We met with her and her son Hyak and gave them a lesson on hope and Hariknas seems to really take it all in. We also played a matching game on the atonement/commandments. It was a ton of fun! They are artists and they love to paint. Hyak is Trev's age and he told me that I reminded him of a famous painting by some artist...I don't know haha. But he kept asking me if he could paint or sketch me...He also told me that when I get married and pregnant he wants to sketch me because I will be "perfect" hahaha. Whatever. Anyway, we saw his mom this Sunday and she seemed really happy and told us that she has a lot of hope in her life now.

District Meeting on Wednesday was fantastic! I don't know what President Carter was thinking when he put me with all of the missionaries in my district, because I definitely don't deserve to learn from all of them...but I am so blessed that he did! They are all such great examples to me. Elder Zachary gave a great lesson on having perfect mornings. It was just what I needed. I decided before my mission that I was always going to ask Heavenly Father in the morning what he wanted me to learn that day so that I could help somebody else. Morning devotional is the perfect time for that. And at night, I have been asking Him if my work has been acceptable.

We saw the Redlins! The senior couple I met in the MTC!

We met with Arus on Wednesday. She is still non-committal about baptism. We have been trying to decide why. She has been coming to church for 13 years. She reads the Book of Mormon. She prays daily. We have been praying to see what she really needs to hear. I think we may go over repentance soon with her and see if there is anything troubling her and talk to her about the redeeming power of the atonement. 

On Thursday, we met with Silva, Avetik and Sima to discuss temple work. They are active members, but their children are not. We really want to help them be sealed to their family. We are planning on involving them in next month's Ward (I almost wrote Branch!!) Activity on Family History and temple work and work with them on getting their family there.

We visited Surpuhi on Friday (a less active member) and invited her to church this week, and we helped her around her house, 

We also met with Lala again. Anahit was present and was really involved in the lesson. Lala hadn't read from the Book of Mormon recently so we sat with her and took turns reading about Lehi's dream. We explained the importance of baptism and are continuing to follow up with her on her reading. Arus also embroidered some handkerchiefs for us and gave them to us which was super sweet. She is very talented. 

We met with Sonia and Armen (members) and shared with them a message about enduring to the end because their family has been going through a rough time right now. I love visiting the members in the ward and getting to know them. They are so strong!

Sister Clove and I also made brownies for Artur (the florist by our apartment) and his family. We dropped them off for him and shared a quick message with them and gave them a pass along card. We are hoping to talk to all of them more this week and invite them to take discussions.

We had a Training Meeting on Saturday and we went over the goals for the mission. We talked a lot about planning, accountability and consecration.

On Saturday after the Training Meeting, we met with Arus again (unexpectedly). We had planned to talk on repentance with her, but we ended up talking about baptism with her and picked a baptismal date (July 22). She was unsure about the date and so we asked her to pray about it and we will discuss it the next time we meet.

 Zone Conference

Sunday was incredible! The Georgian missionaries came down because Elder Nelson (Apostle) came to our District wide meeting. Guess what? ARMENIA IS NOW A STAKE!! The first Stake in the Middle East area!! One step closer to a temple here. And now they have a patriarch as well!!

We also had the opportunity to meet with Elder and Sister Nelson afterwards with President and Sister Malm (area authority). I got to meet them! They told us that our group (50 missionaries) was just filled with light, which of course made us all super happy. Elder Nelson also told us that he remembered assigning some of us haha. But they also talked about continuing the missionary work and how angels are helping us. We are fulfilling covenants we made with God before this life by serving a mission. It was awesome. 

Sunday night we invited the Redlins to come to a meeting that we had with the Filipinos. We reviewed the Gospel of Christ lesson with them and talked about callings in the Enduring to the End section. We showed them different resources they could use when teaching and also gave them many tips. They had a friend at the meeting, named Canut from Dubai. His father is a Christian (Catholic) and his mother is a Muslim. He has always been interested in religion and so he listed to our message. Afterward, he told us that he felt really good in his heart and that it was different that anything he had felt before. We told him that it was the Holy Ghost and we invited him to meet with us again. We are going to follow up with him.

This week in personal study I have been studying the 12 tribes of Israel. There is so much to learn! I have been finding out new things everyday as I read. I love it. I am so glad Armenia now has a Patriarch so that others can learn what tribe they are in and the promised blessings they receive!

Thank you for letting me come on a mission :) Best decision ever! I love and miss you all! Keep me updated on everything! .I miss you all!

Love ya,

Sister Morreall

** Note from Mom **

The first three pics were apparently sent at the same time as her last letter, but it didn't come through until today.  This was when she was helping a member garden and pick mulberries.

Lehi's Dream: 

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng

Lehi's Dream (meaning of):

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/11?lang=eng

# 12

Dear Fam bam,

On Monday, Sister Clove made me try a lamajo (sp?)...Best food ever. It's almost like a super thin pizza, but not. Sorry, that was a horrible explanation. We also bought some yummy fruit from the shukas here. At the end of Prep day, we went with Grigor (a member) to home teach Satanik. We shared a General Conference talk and the lesson went pretty well. It is nice getting to know the branch members. Arabkir Branch is the biggest branch in Armenia and there are only 70 members, so I have been getting to know everyone super fast.

On Tuesday, Sister Clove, Elders Wooley and Kopsa and I planned a branch activity. We planned jeopardy and other games with church questions and taught branch members along the way. No one brought any friends or investigators however, so we are working on how to get the members to involve their friends in church activities.

Sister Clove and I also got permission to go to Abovian (30 minutes away) and meet with Suzzana and Rozanna. We tried to do How to Begin Teaching Points with them, but quickly noticed that they were not that interested in the church...they just wanted to talk to some American girls. So we didn't spend much time there.

Anahit, a member, invited her friend, Suzanna, to meet with the missionaries. We met with them on Wednesday to get to know Suzanna better. We answered her questions about the church and were able to begin the How To Begin Teaching Points with her. We planned on meeting this week but she has been sick (and was unable to make it to church because of that). But we are planning on going with Anahit to visit or meet with her again this week.

We have been continuing to meet with Marine this week. We have taught her about praying and reading the Book of Mormon and she has been doing both. We met with her on Wednesday to discuss church attendance. She had many questions about church and was unsure about coming at first. We talked with her more about the important of church and gaining a testimony and she agreed that she should come. We invited her to church, but she gave us a soft yes. We were happy and surprised later in the week when she called and enthusiastically asked if she could come to church with us this week and next week to see Elder Nelson. We told her of course she could! We are working on getting her to commit to baptism.

Colleen also called and we met with her for her baptismal interview. We asked her when she wanted to be baptized...she said "How about tomorrow?!" It was awesome. While we were waiting for her during her interview, Hayk, one of the youth in the Branch was at the church so I showed him some pictures of home. He is 16 like Trev and he totally reminds me of Trev! And as he was looking at the pictures he was talking about how he wants to meet Trevor someday and how Trev is super tall haha. (Armenians are super short.) He was cracking jokes about the height difference. Mom, could you email more pictures of all five of us together? Armenians love seeing pictures of families. Thanks!

Thursday was an awesome day. We had zone conference. I thought the Zone Leaders did a wonderful job at preparing a lesson. They talked about obedience, unity and consecration. I really loved the discussion about consecration. In my interview with the assistants on my first day they asked me about goals that I had for my mission. I told them many of my goals, but the one I wanted to reach the most was giving 100% of my all to the Lord. I realized this week during zone conference the steps that I can take to work my way up to that 100% consecration.

Thursday night was Colleen's baptism. It was beautiful! I haven't had the chance to work much with her, but with the little time that I have known her I have been able to see how the gospel is blessing her life. The Spirit I felt at her baptism was amazing. 

On Friday, Sister Clove and planned for our week and discussed how we could help the branch members involve their friends. We thought of doing a Family History activity since most of our branch is old and seems interested in it. They could also bring their friends. We then had a meeting with President Melcumyan and discussed with him our idea. We also did service for him by helping him carve out a mountain. Literally. He owns a garden on the side of a mountain...He has dug out the side of the mountain so their are different levels and terraces (kind of like stairs) and then he has planted beautiful gardens. We helped climb down the side of the mountain and then chip away at the rock all while trying not to die. But then we helped him pick some mullberries from his garden and he let us eat some. They're not bad! I have pictures, but the internet here isn't super great so it will have to wait until another time.

Sister Clove and I met with Rina (a less active member) on Saturday. We discussed the importance of tithing with her. We know that she is struggling with funds right now, but we talked about the blessings of tithing with her. We plan on meeting with her and her husband, Armen, sometime this week as well.

We also supported Sisters Broadbent and Enriquez and Elders Wooley and Kopsa by going to the baptisms of their investigators that day. Karen (the elder's investigator) was so happy after his baptism he was hugging everyone...including us...we didn't know what to do as sister missionaries so we just awkwardly stood there. Armenians are like that though. They like to hug and kiss on the cheek. I have been kissed by so many tatiks (grandmas) I can't even count.

We have been OYMing in between our meetings this week. We have met many people who seem interested. I have also been practicing using the How To Begin Teaching Points during OYMs. One OYM was with a boy who seemed interested, but we found out later that he was just interested in American girls haha. A lot of boys here are super nice to us because everyone wants to get married and get visas to go to America. But Inch anek? (What can you do about it ?haha)

On Sunday , we had four of our five investigators come to church. Arus (passed to us from the elders), Marine (the members really welcomed her and involved her in the lessons), Lala (walk-in), and Alisa (street contact). Suzanna did not come because she was sick. Colleen was also confirmed at church! Sister Clove and I went to the English branch for the beginning of church to show support. 

I also gave a talk on Sunday...so scary. I wasn't really that nervous at first, until I saw that President Carter came to our branch. I ended up speaking on the importance of member-missionary work (kinda like dad did at Stake Conference) and then right after Sister Clove and I sang "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet" in Sacrament Meeting. I was really nervous, but President Carter spoke afterwards and commented on my talk and it made all my nerves go away. I seriously have the best Mission President in the world. Also, his wife is super nice and knit me a scarf for the winter time. So sweet right?

We met with Arus yesterday and had a lesson on the tree of life/baptism and the joy we receive from it. Arus has been reading the Book of Mormon, praying and coming to church. She just has a few people holding her back. We talked about the people in the spacious building who will try to stop us from receiving true joy. We are hoping to commit Arus to baptism soon.

We also met with Jess, Joe, Lance, Rebecca and Colleen yesterday. Elder and Sister Reese came for the lesson and we discussed the Restoration and the priesthood line of authority. They accepted the message well and the men are working on getting their papers with their line of authority. They also made us this delicious dessert made out of pudding and corn topped with nuts. Weird right? But yummy!

About my personal study last week, I learned that Almight God and Jesus Christ are just different names for the same person. I am studying why there was a need to change the names in the baptismal prayer. 

So how is the family? Mom, thanks for sending me that email about the Armenian facebook news! Dad, could you please send me your priesthood line of authority? Trev, how is studying for the ACTs coming along? Trev and Asia, how is softball and baseball? Did you all get my package from the MTC? How are the Yankees doing this season? Asia, did you know your name is super common here in Armenia? Armenians have like 15 traditional names, and they are all named the same thing haha. But anyway, Asia is one of the girl names. I was also thinking about changing my name to "Maral" on my name tag because it's a super common one here and it means like beautiful animal or something. What do you all think? Also, HAPPY EARLY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!!! Will you please watch the "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father" mormon message? It reminds me so much of you! Thank you for all that you do. I love you!!!

Funny/cool Armenian mission things:

They sleep in wool beds and every once in a while they take the wool out and beat it on the street to fluff it up and clean it out.

They listen to random Indian and American music EVERYWHERE.

Their playground equipment is really exercise equipment for kids. haha tricky tricky

They honk after weddings...every single car that is coming from the wedding.

Bonchiks are delicious donut type things. Mom, look them up!!

I am learning so much from the people here and I have such great respect and love for the Armenians.

Have a great week,

Sister Morreall

PS. Oh yeah, Russell M. Nelson is coming to Armenia this Sunday and all 50 missionaries get to meet with him! 

** Note from Mom**

Misa also forwarded an email she received from her mission president after she sent her first weekly letter to him which made my momma's heart swell with pride:

Our dear Sister Morreall,

You have no idea how your letter lifted me. It sounds like a letter I would be reading from a missionary who's been here a year. I see how you've just jumped in with both feet and your whole heart. If only your mother could see you now!! But Heavenly Father can and does and I feel his satisfaction in the committed heart you have brought to this great work. We are so blessed to have you with us!

Love,

President Carter

# 11

Dear family,

I love being a missionary! This past week has been one of the best weeks I have ever experienced. I am fully willing to consecrate myself to this mission and work hard and to the best of my abilities.

I am serving in Arabkir (google it), an area of Yerevan. It has the mission office and the mission home in it. Sister Clove is my trainer. We are so much alike. She is very organized and likes getting things done the best possible way she can. She is great at planning and very personable. Our district has Elders Zachary (district leader) and Wood, Elders Wooley (zone leader) and Copsa, Elders Conoway, Smith and Olsen (Assistants), Sisters Broadbent and Enriquez (Sister Training Leaders). They are all awesome.

This week, Sister Clove and I started off visiting Merujan, a member who recently just got out of the hospital. 

We also visited Jenia and Vanik, members of the ward. We talked to them about families and temples. I was able to bear my testimony and talk about temples to the best of my ability.

We went to visit Rafik Papik and his wife, Tacuhi (members). Rafik Tacuhi was not there, so we visited with his wife and granddaughter. I got to know them and we shared a message about families. 

We were unable to meet with Lala (investigator) this week because she is in Georgia. 

Sister Clove and I visited Arus, the elders' old investigator. We talked with her about baptism and agency. We explained that it is her choice to be baptized and that we know that it will bless her life. 

I am amazed at what these people live in. Basically little college dorms...it's a big living room, maybe a kitchen and a bedroom. No bathrooms. Little food. But they always offer things to missionaries though. For example, Arus lives in a small dorm like room, with one sink...no fridge and no bathroom. She cooked meat and made herbal tea for us. She also asked if I liked flowers and jewelry. She is an artist and insisted that I take a bracelet that she made and some flowers from her garden. She is so sweet! I keep the plant and wear the bracelet as a reminder of the charity that these people have.

We met with the Branch President and talked about the priesthood, service, ward activities and potential baptisms. He is very friendly and even though I couldn't understand him, I am very grateful for his willingness to meet with us. I asked him when I could give my first talk and I will be giving a talk next Sunday on missionary work.

We also met with Marina (investigator) and talked to her about reading the Book of Mormon, praying and going to church. She had a lot of great questions about the Book of Mormon and Bible together. We discussed with her how the Book of Mormon supports the Bible and how we need to read them together in order to receive the fullness of the gospel. She told us that she would begin reading the Book of Mormon. I had heard that she was unwilling to pray in lessons before, so I told Marina that I would pray in Armenia (because it's a new language for me) and asked if she would pray at the end of the lesson (it is something that is new to her). She agreed and we were able to listen to her pray for the first time. We talked to her about coming to church this Sunday, but didn't have much time to talk about the importance of church. We will talk about that with her at our next meeting. I have a special place in my heart for people named Samvel, Hovo, Marina and Gago, because I taught them at the MTC...so I really want to work hard with Marina and get her to come to church.

I loved Sunday! I don't know half the things that were said, but that's okay! I felt the same Spirit this week as I would at home or any other church meeting. I bore my testimony this week in sacrament meeting. I am also getting to know the ward members...it turns out I know the Avenasyan's son. He's the one I met at the MTC and he is going to NY on his mission, so we are just trading places! I am enjoying getting to know the ward members. I also met Zorap's (man who would volunteer at TRC) mom. She is super sweet. Oh, and I met a lady who reminds me of Aunt Cheryl!! She smells like her. I was able to meet President Hansen (in the mission presidency) this week as well. The building we meet in has the mission office, the Armenian branch and an English Branch (for members who work at the embassy or only know English - like the Filipinos we teach - more about them later).

On Sunday, our district had a testimony meeting and broke our fast together. We fasted to find more people, specifically families, to baptize. There are amazing missionaries in this mission. As I have been getting to know the missionaries in my district, I have noticed what kind of people they are. They are strong examples and leaders to me. They have such desire to teach and share the gospel. I am trying to learn as much as I can from them and from the help that my Savior is giving me.

Sister Clove and I were unable to meet with Coleen (Filipino investigator) and she has not been interviewed for baptism yet. Joe and Rebecca did not make it to church, so we scheduled a meeting with them last night to see how they were doing. We were able to meet with Jess, Lance, Joe and Rebecca (the Filipinos who speak English) yesterday. We taught them about temple work and family history. They were all really excited about it! Joe and Rebecca cannot wait to be sealed. We told all four of them about lds.org and Family Search. They need to get their membership number to start their account, but Sister Reese is planning on helping them find them. They will start doing family history as soon as they set up accounts. 

This morning we met with Karo (23 y.o. male) and Astghik (60 y.o. woman). They attempted to meet with someone late last night at the office as Sister Reese (office sister) was closing, so she had them call us. This morning we met with them. They are from Syria and read Arabic, but they are Armenian and know Armenia. They have also lived in America and know some English. They have read the Book of Mormon before but Astghik said she wanted to read it again. She had many questions about baptism (infant baptism), Christ and Nephi's family. We answered her questions and will be meeting with her sometime in the next week.

During personal and companionship study this week, I was studying baptism before Christ and then Christ's own baptism. In Alma 18:13, Alma baptizes people with the authority of the Almighty God (instead of Jesus Christ like it is today). I was thinking that if that is the authority that people had before Christ, it would make sense for Christ to be baptized in God's authority. It wasn't until after Christ's own baptism that we could baptize using His authority and in His name. I was thinking then, did Christ gain His authority after His baptism? Right after is when He started His fast and ministry and we only know of the things He did after He was baptized. Sister Clove and I were discussing all of this during companionship study. I will need to study that more. Any insight you have would be awesome.

This week, I have passed off the first two teaching points, read from the Book of Mormon in Armenian, Read from Preach My Gospel in Armenian, memorized 7 words a day and wrote down at least 20 words from church. This upcoming week I will focus on memorizing one of the How To Begin Teaching Points each day. 

During our OYMs (Open Your Mouths to people on the street), I have been trying to initiate more conversation. I get nervous and sometimes fumble over what I am saying, but I really have been trying to work on improving me OYMs. On Saturday, I had a goal of initiating and carrying the conversation for 5 OYMs and to also get at least one phone number. By the end of the day I had reached my goal! I've already realized that I just need to be willing, confident and happy and that people will listen. I will continue to work on that throughout the week.

I hope the family is doing well. I love getting dear elders (you can dear elder here) and your emails. I am super close to the office so getting mail here is really easy. We must use this opportunity while we have it :)

Funny/cool things about Armenia:

They graffiti in English "I love you" "Party Rock" and "NYC for life"...no swear words. 

They drive like mad men in vans called marshutanis with no seatbelts and they pack as many people as they can in them. 

The women dye their hair super purple or super red haha.

They always like to say random English words to you if they know you are American.

They have random American things in the stores here...that people probably smuggled in.

They eat what they call Lecho on top of rice...it is like pasta sauce but not...it is super delicious. Google it.

They also eat Sharma (wrap)...look that up too. 

The meat and dairy products aren't that good here...

Everything either smells spicy or just bad here hahaha Hopefully I will get used to the smell. 

I would love to get dear elders from you all.

I love you!

Sister Morreall


**Note from Mom**

In a separate email Misa said that it's easier for her to respond if people send her letters in the mail or through dearelder.com rather than emails.  She only has a small amount of time to respond to emails so if she can read letters ahead of time, it works best for her.