After last P-day came to a close, we went to visit our main family we are working with, Albert and Romina and their two daughters. We were short on time before we had to call it a day but we had quite a few visits/lessons with them this entire week. They really loved church on Sunday. We talked about a few questions they had but they really enjoyed the simplicity and the feeling of it all. Especially the people. Since we did have a little short of 50!
Tuesday not much happened. We met up with a former potential for a visit. They are the family from Lebenon who had a steel factory and was pretty well off. They let us in with open arms and couldn't stop telling us how happy they were to see us and how we are like their grandchildren. We didn't really plan it out well so it was kind of a dragging visit. But things got interesting when they fed us orange peels... which looked tasty and were glazed with some sugar type thing but.... they tasted absolutely disgusting. I can't even describe it but they had a mound of them and kept making us eat them. Finally Elder Dicus got smart and slyly would put them in a napkin and hid them in his pocket or backpack so when we eventually left we had a good pile of gross orange peel in our bags. BLEH. That afternoon our lesson with Melinda got canceled on account of some tests she was studying for. Hate it when that happens. Before our dinner appointment we stopped by another potential that was interested in meeting with us, Levik. But when we tried by the apartment where we met him, the old guy holding a baby said he didn't live there. So either we were confused or the old guy is not very honest... But off we went to the Mitchell's for dinner. Which was awkward because it was just us missionaries eating. The parents weren't home and the son was just chillin in the house. And of course we had to leave early for ESL and only saw the parents as we were running out the door. Literally. Which was a disappointment because we got to the church to find only Nvart (the arab lady that translates for Cheri). So we ended not having class and thus didn't meet with Olga either. She was just MIA this week. On top of that Albert canceled on us as well so we visited Kris Aristikisian to see how he was in his new apartment. Seems like any normal just-moved-in pad. Except for the roaches...
Wednesday was a special schedule because of our interviews with President on Thursday. So we had district meeting that was awesome. Not sure if Elder Dicus is just the man (which he is), or I was just in the zone but it was very beneficial. Gotta love references! Then we heard that the Frost's were cooking at GCC so we opted for free lunch again. Elder Dicus and I realized though that after having a good lunch around that time, we get the 1-4 sleepies. Which really means that after we have a lot of food we are very lathargic walking, talking and teaching until dinner time when all of a sudden we just wake up. Kind of odd. And so it was for the afternoon stopping by a guy that used to come to ESL class but hasn't in a while. We saw him out with one of his grandchildren and so we got to talk to him for a while. While his neighbor was telling us war stories against Afghanistan. Next we stopped by our almost 90 year old friend Nersees. As friendly as he is, he really is just old. He doesn't look like it but he definitely has trouble remembering some things. Or at least that is his excuse. We aren't sure how much progress we are really going to make with him so we are trying to going to meet with his kids who have kids of their own. We rushed off to dinner with Antonia and Bella which for the first time I think was satisfying. Not too much food and it was actually edible. The day before we got a call from a Sister in the Filipino Branch who has an Armenian neighbor so we met up with her. Again kind of the same excuse that most people have when asked if they'd like to learn from us. "I'm too old and it just won't stay up here (referring/gesturing to their head)". Tis the norm of Armenians. That is the thing that is a bummer.The old people are too old and the young people just don't speak that good of Armenian here and it is hard to find in-between. But finally we got to meet up with Albert and his family again. Ashot was supposed to come but got called into work. Which was a downer at first to the family but we got to enjoy some dinner with them and some wicked hot peppers. I don't mind hot but they put their peppers in vinegar and pickle them and these ones seriously singed my taste buds. Ouch. But after quite some time of visiting we taught them a bomb lesson about our purpose here in life and the word of wisdom. They knew this was coming and they have been complaining about it (mostly the daughters) but the parents took it/understood it well. It will be hard for them because they drink so much coffee. I mean, the daughters asked for hot water at the picnic last week. Seriously? Addicted much? But they are awesome.
Thursday I was on exchanges with Elder Twelves. But it wasn't much of an exchange because for about 3/4 of the day we were around Elder Dicus and Crumrine. We had interviews that morning with President which was awesome. I talked to him about my studies a bit and how I can ponder more to make them better which I've been trying to do. But other than that, mine was pretty short and nothing super extraordinary was exchanged. Other than him saying I'm super blessed to be able to be with Elder Dicus. Which I already know. But after the four of us were done, President asked us to eat some Armenian food with him because he had never tried it. So we drove back down to glendale to our favorite corner market deli and then got to eat with him. He is just quite the man. Very knowledgable, powerful with words and you can just tell how much he cares about every one of us missionaries. So after all that we finally got to do our own thing.. which consisted of driving around contacting people in the First ward to remind people about the dental clinic that we had this past Saturday. So we did that for a few hours until we had dinner with the Bradley's and the other Elders again followed by ESL. After class the four of us and Ashot went up to visit Joey. The armenian friend who has his own car body shop and works on all the mission cars. It was really a good visit for once. He was telling us about his soon to be wedding in August. Hopefully we will be invited!
Friday was long. As usual. We went by Christine on our way to plan at the church but she canceled on us as we were just getting to her house. Weekly planning took too long as usual from getting distracted and such (being typical missionaries stuck in a room for a few hours). When we finally got done we headed up to Souren's for our lesson. Unfortunately we caught him when he was still taking care of some things so we had to go eat somewhere for a bit. We decided Rubios which was a bad idea. worst $6 I've spent on street tacos ever. they were maybe a little bigger than a quarter. Not really but it felt like it. But our lesson was awesome. We talked about the first half of the plan of salvation and when we got to Christ we gave the family ice cream but before they could eat it, Elder dicus had to do 15 push ups for every scoop they wanted. We didn't explain it to them so they didn't get it at first but pretty soon they didn't want any more ice cream but even if they didn't want it, Elder Dicus did 15 push ups so they could have some more if they wanted to. pretty awesome in my view. We gave them an invite and after some addressing why they wouldn't they said yes if they find out it is true. Love teaching families. Next we had a lesson with Albert. Ashot bailed on us again which was a bummer but we got to visit them for a while. They have been struggling to keep the wow but they are trying and know they can do it.
Saturday was interesting! We were at the dental clinic with our members translating for the dental students for half of the day. We got to see a bunch of extractions, cavity fillings and a bunch of people being numbed up by massive shots! It was great! even had the smell of a dental office. It was cool though. There were quite a few Armenian dental students there but only some of them spoke it well so we got to talk to some of them and plant some good seeds. If we had more time in the day we could have gotten a cleaning as well! Gotta keep these pearly whites clean! We got a referral from the Filipino sisters and stopped by him after we finally got done with that. His name is Serge. After not long he invited us into his house where in about 20 minutes we commited him to take the lessons and work towards the date of June 9... WHAAAA??? Not sure how that happened. That doesn't happen! So we are super excited about that. At the end of the day we stopped by Talia. She wasn't home but her Dad was and we got to talk to him for quite some time. He is a great guy and is very open to letting Talia make her own decisions and just guiding her to what makes her happy.
Sunday was not quite as crazy as last but every Sunday is just a new adventure. We had 10 non members at church yesterday which was awesome! Only half were investigators was the crazy part. After church we had a lesson with Mike and Bridget. Working with her towards a recommend and him coming to church for all three hours! We had dinner with the Townsend's after that and not much until we met with Edmond at the end of the night. Straight up he didn't know why we were teaching him and so we laid it out for him and he said he wouldn't change. So we kind of had a mutual drop. But we left it with a good relationship which is always good!
Overall, really good week. Excited for this next one. Can't wait to talk with you fam on Sunday! Talk to you then!
Elder DeBry
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