# 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.