# 44

Dear President,

Wow, this week was awesome! It has been a very eventful week up here in Vanadzor. It was hard saying goodbye to Sister T, but so easy to welcome Sister J! I love both of them so much! I really think it will be a great learning experience for the both of us serving together again. We have already noticed how we both have improved since our time at the MTC, and we are learning a lot from each other already. We found out this morning that we will be getting a mini missionary so working in a trio with a native, will be an awesome experience! I am so excited and ready to learn from that sister as well. I think it is such a great opportunity to learn more about Armenian culture and how the gospel relates to everyone. Thank you so much for this opportunity!

                                                 

This week was a great one. It was a little difficult not having water, power or gas, but we made the best of it! The first night without utilities, as I was getting ready for bed I couldn't help but think about how most Armenians live in conditions like this all of the time. I was very humbled as I thought about the things they go without, but yet how they are still just so charitable and loving. They really are so Christlike.

During our first planning session together, Sister J and I set many goals for the transfer, one of which being improving on Christlike attributes. I had been thinking about that for a while (like during the no utilities time) and I just really think that when we increase in faith, hope, charity and the many other attributes, every part of life will improve and others will be able to see the light we have within us. We also talked about becoming exactly obedient so the Lord can work through us and we can better consecrate our time to Him. The elect will be drawn to these attributes that we discussed, and we can receive that light that God gives us when we strive to be like him. And that is what we want! It really hit home with me and I felt the Spirit and received some pretty key revelation on what I need to continue doing in my life and what I need to improve on to better serve the Lord.

After reading your latest email though we will discuss service and prayer as well. We had a great zone conference on light, love and loyalty.

We made a lot of progress with our investigators this week. The father who was in an explosion and his fmily all accepted baptismal dates! Right now the only roadblock we see is Word of Wisdom. The father tends to doubt that he can quit smoking, but we are trying to focus on the positive with him and show him the things he can do to increase his faith so that he can reach his goal and be baptized with his family. We know that his faith and desire has to come from within, so we are really trying to cater our teaching to his needs. This family also introduced us to another family who asked to meet with us this week. We made contact with them via telephone and are planning to meet with them this week. We also received another contact (a family) from this family! We also will be meeting with them this week. We are so being so blessed. I am continually amazed at the people the Lord is preparing for us to teach.

We also met with the other family that had previously met with elders. Unfortunately, the father is leaving for Russia tomorrow until May. In our last lesson with him, we taught about the temple and the priesthood and how it will bless his family. We wanted to leave him with a goal of what he needs to be progressing towards. We then pushed the family's baptismal date back to May (when he returns). He actually asked that unprompted. He said "when I come back in May we can be baptized together as a family!" It made my heart so happy! We found out where he will be in Russia and printed out a map of the closest meeting house there for him. He said he would take his Book of Mormon and read while he is away as well. Until he comes back, we will continue to meet with his wife and kids to help them progress towards baptism.

We met with a lot of new members and less actives this week. We taught a lot of the new members lessons and invited many of them to the Valentine's Day activity we are having this week. The goal of this activity to is bring new members, less actives, and investigators together to show and discuss the different ways we can express our love for others, and remember the love that our Savior has for each of us. I know that the Spirit will be felt all while having a fun time.

As for personal study this week, I have been focusing my studies a lot on the New Testament and Jesus Christ's life while on this earth. He has perfect faith! He so often talks about faith and not doubting, but to just be believing and think all work out according to our faith. Isn't that a beautiful message? Who wants to go through life just doubting and feeling negative all of the time? No one! If we just believe and put our trust in God, we will be filled with "hope for a better world". We can learn to have perfect faith in an imperfect world.

Thank you for your love and for the time, prayer and fasting you put into transfers.

I love you and Sister C!

Love,

Sister Morreall

Dear Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! I HOPE YOUR DAY IS AWESOME AND THAT YOU HAVE FUN IN MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA, OR WHEREVER YOU ALL ARE AT!

This week was crazy! Sister T and I had no gas, electricity or water for a few days. A gas pipe exploded and blew up a house in the village so it kind of put all the utilities on hold. President was going to have us stay in a hotel for a few nights, but many hotels didn't have utilities too and the closest one was like an hour away. Thank goodness for the warm clothes you all had given me and the hand warmers Aunt Cheryl sent! I said goodbye to Sis T companion on Wednesday, a day early, because the Georgia Sisters (who were with me in the MTC) brought Sister J (MTC companion from St. George, UT) down to stay in Vanadzor. It was fun to see all of them again and now I am serving with Sister J again. It's crazy to see how much we've both grown since our MTC days. I've been made senior companion with her and have been showing her around the area the last couple of days. 

I just found out this morning that we are also getting a mini missionary from the Center Branch (in Yerevan) who will be with us for a while. So we will be in a trio with a mini...super exciting! The elders that came to the area are also awesome. I've served around everyone before and we're all either just hitting our year mark or have passed it, so this district is going to be awesome! I realized during this transfer, Sister J and are are going to hit our year mark together so that is fun! And pretty crazy since time is flying!

I love and miss you all!

Love,

Misa :)