# 34

Dear Family,

This week has been the busiest week of my mission thus far. Transfers were this week! I am now serving in Vanadzor, a village up in the North near Georgia and Russia. (I went on exchanges here with Sister L before). It is a lot colder here, but I love it! The people are way nicer here than in the city. It has been quite a change from being closer to the Iranian border in Yerevan. People here also speak with a different dialect, so I am learning some of that. There are also water hours here...so for parts of the day we have running water and other parts we don't. The mail also takes longer to get here and longer to mail out...so that's a little bit of a hassle, but not too bad. My area covers Vanadzor and a smaller village on the Georgian border called Alaverdi. It is BEAUTIFUL up there. It is up in the mountains and the village is up the mountain side. They have some cool terracing and mountain tunnels there too. But it is really unhealthy to live there because of the air, so we are only allowed to go up there every 2 weeks. My companion is Sister T (the Armenian sister that got called to Armenia...I talked to Mom before a little bit about her.). She came the group after me...the group I was supposed to be in. She is from NY and is studying at SVU. She rocks!! There are two other sets of elders in our district that come to our ward too. This is going to be a good transfer. It is interesting because there are 5 NYers here in this mission, and four of us are in the same district here in Vanadzor (me, my comp, and the senior couple here). We must have a reason to be here!

So anyway, here was my week: 

Monday, we Sis M and I had FHE with the less actives and investigators in Arabkir (still in Yerevan).

Tuesday, I had my last district meeting with the Ajapniak district. The new sister training leaders came...so that wasn't really news to us when transfer calls came. We also had T's baptism...she was an hour late to it. We were stressed out to say the least. But the ward supported us and helped out and T brought a huge cake like four times the size of a normal cake. Everything worked out. I also saw President and was hoping he would tell me what was happening for transfers but all he said was "Sister M pack your bags." And then he turned to me and said "Sister Morreall, pack your bags." Crazy! He didn't tell me where I was going, but they are whitewashing Arabkir after this transfer. 

Wednesday, we met with M (my baptizee) and said goodbye. She told me that I was family to hear and it was a pretty emotional goodbye. But she said that she will stay strong in the church because of the love the members have and because she knows that we are all brothers and sisters and a family. We then met with L (my baptizee) and said goodbye. We read from the Book of Mormon with her. She is so sweet. She always calls me her sweet angel. She's like a grandma to me. After, we visited with K (my baptizee) and her family. Sister C (my trainer) and her parents were visiting too, so I got to meet them and say goodbye to my trainer and to K. We then met with T (the new baptizee who was late to her baptism) and talked about the importance of staying active in the church. After we met with H (the boy Trev's age) and his mom and had a FHE with them and a less active and a referral. During the meeting I got my transfer call to Vanadzor! It was super hard to say goodbye to everyone, because I love them all so much, but I actually feel like I am needed more here in Vanadzor at this time. Elder V (the district leader here) and two members here told me that they felt I was coming here when they met with me on exchanges, so that was pretty neat.

On Thursday, we had transfers and I drove 2 1/2 to Vanadzor and we had time for one lesson. We are teaching a man "G", who is actually in prison right now. So we call him and teach him over the phone. Someone sent him our card while he has been in prison and he wanted to change his life around, so he called us and now we call him almost every night. He has done a complete 180 and wants to be baptized when he is released. 

On Friday, we went up to Alaverdi and met with a family there. Sister T has some connection with them and her family in NY, so we are going to really try and baptize them as a family. (I haven't converted a family yet to strengthen the church here, and I have been praying for that for a long time...we'll see if this is one that works out!) We taught them about the Book of Mormon, praying and attending church. We then came back to Vanadzor and taught a new baptizee and her non-member daughter and granddaughter about the Book of Mormon. They seem interested so we are going to keep meeting with them. We then met with A, who has been investigating for a long time. We taught the Plan of Salvation and set a date for him. We also have a ton of members, but two in particular, that come with us to lessons. The ward support here is great! L is one of the two that comes with us all of the time. She is 15 years old and reminds me a lot of Asia.

On Saturday, our district had a service project where we helped clean up a local park. A lot of ward members helped and many people in the community stopped to help. We really got our name out there and got a lot of OYMs. Service is going to be key in this area. Many people are generally nice to us anyway, but when they see us serving, that's when they really want to learn more. Later, we had our missionary coordination meeting. We need to work on involved and reactivation the ward mission leader though. Everyone in the ward is really active about missionary work, but he needs a little love and a little push. I also suggested that we get a ward council going. This is random, but there are also two little darling boys in this ward. One is 11 and the other is 7. They live in very humble circumstances. But they are seriously the highlight of my day. THEY LOVE THE SISTERS. I love them. The littlest one is so special. They have a unique story, I will have to write to you in a letter.

On Sunday, we had church and then after we watched the Work of Salvation in English as a district since this district hadn't done that yet. We then called G and taught about the Plan of Salvation.

Yesterday was our Zone Meeting with President Malm (from the Area Presidency). So the Gyumri missionaries came down for the mission tour along with President and Sister C and the APs and STLs. President Malm told us that our mission is leading out and setting the bar in every key indicator for the Europe East Areas...except for one...church attendance!! We really need to get our investigators to come and stay at church. He focused on having us read from the scriptures with them, teach them how to pray and why we pray and the importance of going to church and why we go (to gain a testimony and be edified by the Spirit). During the meeting, he called on missionaries to answer questions and he called on me a couple of times. One time, he asked me "Why are we nothing?" (as missionaries in relation to God) and I just said that I've come to learn that man is nothing compared to God himself, but that He loves us enough to use us as instruments for the Spirit. He paused and said "Elders and Sisters that is exactly right. did you feel the Spirit when she said that?" I was pretty much in shock that he said that... He later continued on and talked about the importance of working with ward members and going to ward council. After the meeting, President C said that President Malm only wanted to interview with two missionaries...and then he called out my name as one of them! I got super nervous. In my interview, he asked about me, where I was from, about my family. He asked if Trev was preparing for a mission and he interestingly asked about dad's calling in the church. He also asked me to tell when I decided to serve a mission. I told him I planned on it since I was young. He then asked what I brought to the mission. I told him that I just really love the Armenian people and I have learned so much from their example. He then asked what I wanted to do when I get older. I told him I might be interested in business or law, but I don't really know. He told me that I would have to be strong and know and apply principles if that were the case. I then asked him how he thought I personally could be a better missionary. Then he just told me "You have a strong spirit." He told me to speak up and share my experiences in meetings, to bear my testimony to everyone and work with ward leaders more. It was pretty direct...so I plan on following his counsel. 

After meeting with him, we met with other investigators...I will probably tell you more about that in my letter since I don't have time. But I love and miss you all and you can expect a letter soon!! Have a great week :) Keep me updated on everything...it was great to get an email from all of you this week (even though some people need an extra day ;)) 

Love and miss you,

Misa :)

*note from Mom*

We received an email from the mission office that Misa has been made a senior companion.