Week 91 (9/16-9/22)

22 September 2014

Overview: Hermine and Elin progressing, Hermine should be baptized
Sunday if her husband gives her permission, they both came to church.
Met some more of Maria's family, her dad has stage four lung cancer...
Had a great church tour with Dalar and her family, Souren still not
looking to get baptized. Started looking into/planning classes for the
winter semester at BYU. Last week of the transfer! Yikes.

Tuesday:

High temperature of 106

Pday - new no sports rule as of zone conference due to all injuries
throughout the mission. Went to GCC for emailing and lunch. Played
pool and ping pong. Went to the church and played monopoly deal and
other card games while we all baked in the heat of the church. Super
hot. Shopped.

Stopped by Hratch and Armen and gave them the cookies Debra had made
them. Armen then came over with us to drop off another plate that she
had made for Hermine and her family. Had guests over so we couldn't
talk with them for long. Went back to Armen's for fruit. Funny story:
Hratch answered the door without a shirt and as we were leaving Armen
tucked in Tavoian's shirt for him.

Visits with leadership - went with Brother Turley - said it is the
worst heat wave in 20 years that he has lived here

Lesson with Andranik & Margarit: Prayer and then answered question
about reading. We had a pretty good lesson and discussion with them.
When we first got there just Andranik was there. We had originally
planned to just read from the book of Mormon with them but unfunny
told us that he hadn't been reading because he.. Well he didn't give a
reason. But we felt like we needed to address praying and so we asked
him how his prayers were going and he began to describe that he says
the Lord's prayer. We taught him that when Christ gave the Lord's
prayer it was just as an example and he also taught us to not have any
vain repetitions. And so he told us that he would start praying
sincerely and from his heart. At that point Marguerite came home. We
told her we had to go but she told us that she had a question about
some of the things that she was reading. She asked what the name Nephi
meant. We told her that since we didn't have a lot of time we would
come back and talk more about that next time.

Lesson with Aghakhanyan's: how they feel about the savior. Recognize
spirit. History of church a bit; We had a really good lesson with them
tonight. We started off telling them that we wanted to talk about our
Savior Jesus Christ. We connected it with our lesson that we had with
them last time about to making promises with God to receive his help
and told them that we make promises with Jesus Christ to follow him.
We showed the Bible video for God so loved the world. After which we
asked the question how they felt about their Savior. Dalar had the
question of what a Savior was or what that word meant and we had
soaring describe that it was someone who saves another or in this case
how Jesus Christ died and was resurrected so we might live with God
again. We asked each of them how they felt about their Savior. Devon
said that he felt love for him because he died for his sins. We
started to teach from the restoration pamphlet and focused on how
Jesus Christ was here to help us and loved us. When we started talking
about the ministry of Christ Devon had the question of why people
would reject Christ if they would just receive a sign. Brother Turley
shared an experience of when he felt the spirit and from that feeling
and impression he knew that God lives and Jesus Christ was his Savior.
We also for our testimonies of that. We told them that to continue
having this testimony of Christ we needed to pray and read from the
book of Mormon. They had a question about where Joseph Smith was from
and how he ended up in Utah. So we discussed briefly the connection
between the Armenian genocide in and the Mormon persecution and the
exodus to the west. That was probably a bit much for them but it
answered Soren's question. We committed them to pray as a family and
to meet with us again Saturday morning for a church tour.

Wednesday:

GCC - originally we had planned to bring and hand out free bottles of
water because it was so hot but we didn't have a cooler :/ had some
great contacts though. One of the people I contacted last week, Maria,
now is learning from the Elders and has a baptismal date!! She said
she is coming to church on Sunday.

Online lesson with Rena: A few days ago she told us that she was going
through a lot of stress on Facebook from work school and not feeling
like she is doing enough in life. She told us she wished things were
easier. We offered some advice and told her briefly about prayer but
then she got off-line. Today we talk to her and followed up on how her
stress was. She said that she was feeling better and less stressed and
we shared an experience of how I used to get really worried and
stressed when I was younger and it made me sick. But through prayer I
felt an overwhelming sense of peace that God was telling me that it
would be okay. She said that she would try it out. We also invited her
to watch a Mormon message. She said we couldn't chat with her again
tomorrow and follow up on how the video was.

Lesson with Hermine & Elin: The lesson went good. The daughter was a
little shy. We taught them about the restoration and Jesus Christ. The
daughter does not want to be baptized because she is afraid of the
water. But we committed her to pray with her mother and to read from
the child's Book of Mormon. Debra sent us a text message after the
lesson while she was still visiting with them and told us that the
doctor after we had left went into her room with them and they prayed
together and she asked in her prayer if the book that we will be
bringing on Friday is from God. After the prayer she said that she
felt it was a yes!

Lesson with Maria & Peter: They were unable to meet us at the church
as planned but after some rescheduling we were able to meet with them
later that day and say a prayer with them. We met with them in front
of their apartment again. Maria asked us if we were the Mormons and we
said yes and she asked what we were all about and said that her Mom
was confused and said that we weren't Mormons. We explained that we
believed in Christ but he only difference was that we believe in the
Book of Mormon to be the word of God. She asked what the Book was
about so we explained pretty briefly what it was about, why we had it
and how if we come to know that it is God's word then we also come to
know that Joseph smith was a true prophet of God. She asked off we had
a prophet today and we told her briefly of President Monson and said
that we could show her more next time. Peter came towards the end but
we said a prayer with them. Maria asked if we could give a blessing to
her Dad and we said we could and schedule it for the next day. She
also asked and said that she still really wants to be baptized into
our church and we said that we would talk more about what she'd have
to do in order to be ready and when she could be baptized.

Late dinner - started busting out laughing (probs because I was so
tired) about how plain our apartment kitchen is.

Exchanges with Elder Ward - from long beach, fun interesting kid.
Great dedication and faith.

Thursday:

Lesson with Hermine: We had a wonderful and very productive lesson
with her. We got straight down to business with her and explained and
taught how she could receive more blessings in her life from keeping
more of God's commandments. We had her say the opening prayer and she
mentioned and asked for more answers to help her with her questions
and doubts so we took that as a sign we needed to ask what was up. She
said she felt that maybe she didn't have quite all the information and
maybe that was why she was feeling that way but she felt that she was
having doubts as she continued to read from the Book of Mormon,
specifically why we needed more scripture and what about the scripture
that says we shouldn't add or take away from the Bible. We firstly
addressed that she needed to continue to read and pray and ask God if
the Book was true. She said that it was clear it was from the way she
felt and how she feels when she reads but she had certain questions
like the scripture in Revelations that makes her second guess. We
assured her that as she continues to read and pray she will receive
more answers and even more questions but with enough study she could
come to know that it was the word of God. Then we bluntly taught what
the scripture really meant. Once that was addressed we taught the Ten
Commandments. Emphasizing the sabbath day and the law of chastity.
Which she didn't know what some of the Amrnian words meant for some
key points but she understood it well and committed to live them and
said she had already been doing so at least with staying faithful and
clean. We asked briefly at the end if she had talked to her husband
and she said she had a little but he didn't really seem to listen.
Keep praying for her!

Finished studies/lunch with other elders at Chipotle

Tried to have lesson with Rena online: She was pretty busy at work so
her responses were slow and not very into the conversation. We
followed up on if she had prayed and watched the video and she said
she had and that praying helped and the video almost brought her to
tears. We shared a scripture about prayer from John 16:33 about Christ
giving us peace and the assurance that we can overcome our trials.
That is about as far as we got with her.

Knocking Glendwood

Lesson with Max: He was finally home when we stopped by. He didn't
have a lot of time but was happy to see us. Told us his health
situation was still bad and was a bit venting of some of the things he
was having to deal with. We taught how this life was all about how
well we can exercise faith in Christ and live his Gospel so we could
live with God again the his kingdom. She said he wouldn't be able to
church this Sunday but next Sunday 28 he said he would come if he was
healthy enough. He is still smoking and ashamed because he promised
he'd stop.

Other North Hollywood/Burbank potentials - no one home...

Gave Maria's dad a blessing - Stopped by The massive house of the
sister's where Maria's dad is being taken care of by a full time
nurse. He has stage four lung cancer. We gave him a blessing while the
rest of the family who were there went about their business making us
feel like we were just another Armenian priest there to do his duty
and leave. The family was grateful we came. Maria texted us later and
told us she would like a blessing and to be baptized to come closer to
God and change her life.

Dinner with Bradley @ Panda

Everyone we tried wasn't home...

Friday:

Meeting with Nate - planned out classes for winter semester/planned
out major and minor- finance w/ either a language minor (Russian or
Chinese) or Econ/looked into applying at the MTC. Went to lunch at El
Sauz. Tavoian got backed up into by a police officer driving a Prius.

Lesson with Hermine: We had a most excellent lesson with them. We
followed up with how their prayers have been going together. Elin said
that she really enjoyed praying with her mom. We introduce the book of
Mormon again and brought the children's copy of the book of Mormon
stories for Elin. We briefly reviewed the restoration to see if she
remembered what we had talked. She remembered that we have Jesus
Christ to be happy, their profits talk to God and help Jesus Christ
and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We read with her from the
children's book of Mormon from the first chapter and she said she
enjoyed it. We invited her to read and she said that she would. We
then went over the plan of salvation. We had Elin draw out what we
were telling her. She seemed to really enjoy the lesson and followed
along well. When we asked her what kingdom she would like to be in she
referred to the celestial kingdom. And then we asked her what we
needed to do in order to get there and she said the five things that
we had talked her and the name of the faith repentance baptism so on.
They said that they would be there on Sunday and Elin seemed excited
to go to primary. We told them about the new family that had moved in
and that they had a daughter the same age as Elin. They committed to
come to church and have a lesson with us afterwards.

Biked to referrals in Burbank - top of sunset canyon which is a beast
of a hill. Feel bad for the Elders that have to bike it to get to
church.

Lesson with Margarita: She wanted to know why her life had so much
disturbance and was making it uneasy for her. Explained that the
adversary places tasks on us to draw our thoughts away from God. We
used the example of pharaoh placing task masters on the children of
Isreal so they wouldn't be able to go to church. Invited her to pray
and make those things a priority, invited her to church and FHE.

Tavoian had his first bike crash. On same ride home a car almost ran
into him. Don't worry he is alive.

Saturday:

Church tour/lesson with Aghakhanyan's: We had a really awesome church
tour with them. We walked over to their house and brought some donuts
for them. They were already to go and so we drove back over to the
church with them. Saw her and said that he remembered coming once
before. The children recognize the building because their grandfather
goes to the park nearby. We started off by showing them the primary
room off of the courtyard and explain to them how the children comes
together, seeing and even give some talks. Dollar pretended to get up
and give a talk to us. We then showed them the gym and then made our
way to the foyer. We reviewed the gospel of Jesus Christ with them and
the kids remembered what that was as soon as we gave them a few hints.
Dollar said her favorite picture was the one of Christ in his red
cloak and when we asked why she said because from that picture she
felt that he was real. We moved into the chapel and show them the
hymnbooks, explain to them that we sit as families and then they asked
what the trays were for sitting up at the front. We explained to them
and taught the importance of the sacrament and how it is a renewal of
our baptismal covenant. Soren asked who was it that sat up on the
stand and he explains about our leadership being non-paid and we
explained the services that happen each Sunday we committed them to
come to the church and the kids seemed excited about it but Soren not
so much. He then showed them the baptismal font room. The kids thought
the baptismal font was really cool. We showed them the picture of the
baptism of Christ and began to explain the importance of being
baptized. Both of the kids new and understand the reason why Christ
was baptized saying that he was the example for us and that he was
even baptized by his cousin. We explains the need for authority and
then explained and showed the video of the restoration. We asked how
they felt about the video and dollar said and had a hard time
describing that she felt from the video that it was real. Soren had
the concern of why he needed to be baptized again. He wasn't sure
there was a need to be baptized a second time. We invited them to be
baptized and the kids seemed receptive of it but Souren said he didn't
know. We invited them to come to Hermine's baptismal service. He still
just doesn't seem very interested even though he can see his kids are
feeling the truth.

Lunch @ Los Gringos - ZL's

Knocking w/ Burbank 1st - slow

Contacting @ park - introduced Tavoian to some Armenian culture of old
Armenian men playing Nardi

Last minute dinner w/Brown's from G2 - drove them home afterwards to
highland park. I had forgotten how ghetto it is down there.

Tried by: Andranik & Margarit, Aylin & Zhorants and Rostome -
Rostome's brother in the hospital and not sure why.

Sunday:

Church- Hermine & Elin came! Called Dalar and Devin but they said
their dad was asleep... Kristina Avagyan taught relief society, Rita
came! (Found out she quit her job that was making it hard for her to
come to church.

Lesson with Hermine & Elin: right after church we took them back into
the baptismal font room to show Elin the baptismal font. We took Elin
down into the baptismal font and we showed her how the baptism would
go. We taught her that baptism was a commandment from God and that we
could be happier and closer to him by being baptized. She still told
us that she was afraid of the water and didn't want to be baptized.
Debra invited Hermine to stand in the baptismal font to get a feel for
how it was but she replied saying she wanted her first time to be when
she is baptized. She told us she wants to be baptized and that she
hope she will be on Sunday but she still hasn't talked to her husband.
We committed her to meet with us tomorrow morning so that we can
continue to help her and review some of the baptismal questions.

Gave Gerry a blessing with Brother Turley

Helped Gagik move more furniture

Had good talk with Brother Turley - talked to me about some
internships and programs his company has for undergraduate students;
he advised me on what I should minor in.

Pie at the Carlins/gave shaina a blessing - some of the best apple pie
I have ever had.

Dinner with Sister Slade w/ Eligio - Eligio to be baptized 22 November...

Lesson with Maria: she called us during our dinner appointment and
said she needed prayer. She told us that she was sorry she wasn't able
to come to church but she told us that it was because of her
medication that she slept in. We met with her and prayed and she asked
specifically that we pray that she might be able to be healthy and not
have to use the medication that she is currently on. She told us that
the reason why she was on medication is because she is schizophrenic
and bipolar. She feels that she is healthy enough to not have to be on
medication and so she wants to see if God can help her. We told her
and committed her to continue to keep the Commandments, pray, read the
book of Mormon and come to church. We taught her that by doing those
things our faith can build and we can see miracles. She said she was
hesitant to read the book of Mormon because she only follows Jesus
Christ but we taught her that we can come to know Jesus Christ more
closely through reading the book of Mormon. We invited her to pray
about the book of Mormon specifically and she said she would. We
showed her a video by Elder Bednarz about discerning revelation and
how she could come to know that's when she feels compelled to do good,
has a thought come to her mind that seems familiar or a feeling of the
Spirit then that meant that it was from God. She said the closing
prayer and asked specifically if the book of Mormon was true and if
this was God's church.


Elder Tanner DeBry