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:
Lehi's Dream (meaning of):
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