# 38

1. Dear President,
2. 
   
3. We have been working a lot this week with the families we have been teaching. We invited one family to a Family Home Evening at Brother and Sister H's apartment. They taught the Plan of Salvation and the family was very interested and involved. Sister T and Sister W (on splits) later visited that family and taught them a first. We have extended baptismal dates to them every time we have met, but something has interrupted and the Spirit has been lost. We are praying and hoping that this week, they will be able to feel the Spirit strongly and accept a date to be baptized as a family. 
4. 
   
5. We also met with the other family we are teaching and have extended baptismal dates for them as well, and they have accepted. They sometimes have a hard time focussing on the lessons, and often times get distracted (...but to be honest, I remember some family home evenings I had as a kid that were like that). We have been discussing ways to help them focus more around the lesson, and start reading from the Book of Mormon more as a family. 
6. 
   
7. We also have been meeting with A, the investigastor who has met with several sets of missionaries before. This Saturday he was not baptized, but has expressed desire to still be baptized. An issue that came up and that we think may be a concern for him is what his family and friends will think. We are hoping to meet with him and his family in their home and get a feel for the situation. He is a great man though and we will be inviting him to help work at the kindergarden this week as a service opportunity. 
8. 
   
9. This week during splits, I really enjoyed being with Sister K (Sister Training Leader) in Ajapnyak. She is is very focussed on the work and I learned a lot from her style of teaching. 
10. 
    
11. 
    
12. Sister T and I are still working together in unity. I love her! She always has such a positive attitude and spirit. We are happy :)
13. 
    
14. Have a wonderful week this week!
15. Sister Morreall
16. 
    
17. Dear Family,
18. 
    
19. I love and miss you all! I responded to all your emails, so read them!! I'll send a letter this week. Can't wait to skype!
20. 
    
21. Love,
22. Misa :)
23. 
    
24. Cool/random facts:
25. http://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/the-gospel-in-armenia?cid=HPTU121013249&im=true&lang=eng
26. 
    
27. ^This is on the first page of LDS.ORG

# 37

Dear President,

Thank you for conducting interviews this week! It is always good to see you and Sister C! (I was spoiled when I was in Yerevan, as I got to see you both frequently.)

Vanadzor is doing wonderful! When I first got to this area, I told Sister T that I felt that I was in this area to teach families. Well this week, we found TWO families! An investigator introduced us to his wife and 7 year old son and asked that we continue meeting with them. We established our expecations with them, gave them Books of Mormon and a children's Book of Mormon as well. On Saturday night, we made phone calls and invited our street contacts to church. We met a man last week (taxi driver) who knew one of our members...he showed up to church on Sunday and invited us over to meet with his family afterwards. He has a very sweet wife, an 8 year old son and a 3 year old daughter. They want to begin learning from us. None of them have ever been baptized before. In 2006, the father was in an accident...he was in an auto shop when it exploded. He has severe burn marks and grafted skin, but he told us that it was such a miracle that he is alive and that he feels he that God has a greater purpose for him in this life.

We also went up to Vanadzor this week to meet with the new members and less active members there. We invited them all to church and had a great turn out on Sunday. Thank you for giving us permission to visit the family up in Alaverdi every week. We really want to see them progress and reach their baptismal date together. 

We have an investigator who has been investigating the church for a few years that has a baptismal date for this Saturday. This past week, we invited him to pray about his baptismal date and if it feels right. We got on our knees and were there for about 20 minutes. It was an awesome experience to hear him pray about his concerns. He acknowledged after that he felt good, but he just wants a more direct answer I think. We are confident that he is ready...he just seemed very non-committal because he wants an answer. So we are going to see how we can better prepare him and will let you know if he will be getting baptized this week.

On Friday, Sister H held an auxiliary training meeting for the women in our ward. We went to help translate and I thought it was very well done. The Relief Society, Young Womens and Primary presidencies were able to talk about concerns they have, ways they can improve and they scheduled dates when they can meet together as a presidency. We, as missionaries, are going to be working on reactivation less active members with them.

I love you! Have a great week.

Love,

Sister Morreall

Dear Family,

This week was a great one! You'll here all about it in my letter :)  Thanks for keeping me updated on everything. I was so happy to hear Mom's health has been improving. It sounds like everyone had a fun time with Lisa visiting. Can't wait to skype you all in a couple of weeks!!

Love,

Misa :)

Fun/cool things:

Armenian taxi drivers + snowy and icy roads = probably the scariest ride of my life

Also, some boys were giving us some trouble the other night (followed us into store/tried to follow us home and doing inappropriate things...) but we called the zone leaders (one of them is like 6'3") and they came to the rescue. We ended up getting in a taxi and driving around for a bit (so they didn't know where we lived) all while dancing to the awesome Armenian music the driver had!! But it was a little too fun, because the police pulled us over...and then we went home...everything is all taken care of though and we are safe haha :)

# 36

Dear President,

I hope you and Sister C had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know that Elder and Sister H hosted a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner for us, and the North Zone really enjoyed our time together reflecting on the many things we are grateful for.

This week was a bit of a hard one for us. We had to give back two of our investigators to the Lord. They just weren't progressing, but we've left them with encouragement and love and hopefully one day soon they will be ready to act.

Most of our lessons during the week were spent working with less actives or new members. We had a ward council meeting this week, in which the Bishop expressed his concern for new members and less actives. He really wants us to strengthen the people that have already felt a spark in their heart and have already been converted. As a result, we have met with many of the new members in our ward and we went with Elder and Sister H to visit a less-active family. It was pretty amazing how we found their house...they lived in an unfamiliar area and after walking a bit, we got in a taxi...the taxi driver was friends with one of the family members so he drove us right to their house! We talked about temple in the meeting, and found out that the father is not a member, but he stayed for the whole lesson. We are going to try and re-activate this family and work with the father so that he can make the covenant of baptism. We took the same taxi driver home and he also seemed interested in our message and asked to meet with us sometime. That was a miracle as well.

We've been fasting as a district for our investigators as well and for finding new people to teach. One of our investigators, who has been having a hard time keeping commitments, came to church and stayed for all three hours. Then, he met with us for a lesson...our member present really hit it off with him. They exchanged contact information and are planning on times when we all can meet. She will also be following up with him on his commitments. We also set a new baptismal date for him for December 28. He has missed previous dates in the past, but I feel like if he is really committed this time, and acts accordingly, he will be able to reach his baptismal date.

This week during a lesson with our investigator who is in jail, we read Alma 42 with him over the phone. We talked a lot about the atonement, repentance and mercy. I felt that this really helped him personally, with some of his personal shortcomings. He has expressed his desire to be truly repentant and wants to be baptized after he is released. (He lives in Hrazdan though, so I am not sure if those elders will need to follow up with him and then commit him to be baptized there?) As a result of our discussion with him, I felt prompted to study repentance and mercy. Mercy is yet another blessing from the atonement. Because of the atonement, we can use Christ's perfect sacrifice as our own if we truly repent. Heavenly Father will accept Christ's sacrifice for us, and will exercise mercy over us. That is how He is justified in forgiving us and extending His mercy to us. Linked closely with that is grace, or the divine help and strength and the Savior offers us to help us overcome our trails and shortcomings. His grace helps us to become who He wants us to be. It helps us on the pathway of repentance and change. I know that if we even just have a desire to change for the better, He will provide us with the strength to do so and help us along the path. He is a source of strength that I will be forever grateful for. It will help me as I strive to become a better missionary and a better person after my mission here in Armenia.

I know that Christ's atonement has been a strength to my family as well. I heard this week that my mom's white blood cell count was low and that she went to the hospital for more testing. My dad may be emailing the office if he finds out any more news, just so you are aware. But my mom continues to be strong and both my parents and siblings are continualy strong examples and a source of strength to me. Thank you for your kind words in your email about my family. They mean a lot to me.

I wasn't going to bother you with this this week, but last Monday and Saturday I was sick...Elder and Sister H think I had food poisening...but I was still able to go out and work. I just thought you might want to know because I know you had concerns about sisters being sick. I am fine now, so no need to worry!

Thank you for your love and dedication to the Lord's work.

Love,

Sister Morreall

 

Dear Family,

 

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. It was great to get emails from all of you this week! I had a great Thanksgiving at Elder and Sister H's with my zone...so no need to worry about that! We all went around and shared the things we were thankful for. It touched my heart. I am serving with some amazing people....seriously...some of God's choicest. And the members and investigators here are amazing too. I will write you about them in a letter I'll send. I love and miss you all!

 

Love,

Misa :) ...I almost signed that as Sister Morreall...haha I am getting into that habit.

 

Fun/cool stuff:

A new member bought me and my comp rings this week....yeah we were like ahh we can't accept these, but she was getting all teary-eyed so we took them. (I plan on bringing her a CTR ring next lesson.) Anyway, later that day I took my ring off when I was getting ready for bed and it fell in between the floor boards and the wall!!!!! I was soooo sad. So we called Elder and Sister H and the next morning Elder H came over and ripped up the floor boards to get it back. It was AWESOME. I have some sweet pictures! And he put everything back perfectly...the landlord will never know haha.

 

Also, water hours stinks...especially when bucket flushing the toilet...

 

The mountains here are beautiful! There is a ride here on a lift that takes you from one peak to the other...it;s in Alaverdi...we plan on riding it sometime...although I heard it falls over sometimes! That would be crazy haha!