Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Week 97 (10/27-11/3)

3 November 2014

Overview: last full week. New people at church. Should have a
awesomely packed week this next week. Not going to send much more than
this email this week so I can get everything else done. Love you all
and I'll see you on Saturday! Flight #4753 arrival @ 4:14. PLEASE DONT
COME TO THE GATE! I want to see you all at once :) love you guys!

Monday:

Pday: cleaned the apartment, went shopping, went to GCC to have
lunch/play pool/email, went bowling on Glendale with the zone. It was
super fun and we had a really good turn out! I came in third the first
game and second the second game! Well.. At least between us Armenian
elders. After that I headed over to the Wilson building with a Elder
Cook to finish emailing and write the remainder of my stewardship
report. By the time I finished we had to start setting up for our
family home evening. Right before hand, Elder Tavoian and I went over
to Dalar and Devin's house to ask them if they could come to the
activity. They said they would and sure enough they came! Kind of
funny though. Their parents just dropped them off at the church and
didn't come. But they had a good time!

Family Home Evening: we had a really, really good turn out! Like I
said, Dalar and Devin came, the Matanyan's came with their kids, Armen
G and Christina A. came. Hratch and Armen of course. The Bradley's,
brother Turley and the townsends came over as well. Kristina and Arman
came. And even Ashot came! We had pizza, I shared a message from
General Conference about which way do we 'face' and then for the
activity we colored pumpkins! We started tossing them around
afterwards and at the end of the night Ashot asked to have Elder
Cook's and my pumpkins... Not sure why but whatevs. But it was really
good. Ashot said he was going to the temple Thursday and that we were
going to see him Friday for lunch at in n out.

Tuesday:

The zone leaders came downstairs and studied with us.

Went to GCC - survey, piano with Elder Adamson

Lunch @ GCC

Language study at central building

Stopped by McDonalds for an ice cream pick-me-up for some sugar

Knocking on Sonora - met guy who said the only God should be our
father (referring to our parents), met quite a few other Latino
families - Still not so good at Spanish, met a Hayastansi family that
gave us some walnuts.

Went to go pick up the other elders from Armen's but hit super bad
traffic on the way and had to have Armen give them a ride while we
fought traffic to go straight to Armineh's house for dinner.

Xorovac w/ Armineh & Family: 3 hours long, helped prepare everything,
cooked the meat while Simon started asking his bazillion questions
that were all about us and not the gospel. Mesha & Harut came over as
we finished cooking. Everyone came together to eat. Simon kept asking
questions. Wouldn't let us leave. Explaining his extent of knowledge
of our beliefs to everyone who had questions about it. Thought Tavoian
and Smith were bad eggs. They still wouldn't let us leave. Invited
more people over. We were talking to a total of 10 people in and out
of the conversation and kept answering their questions over and over.
Totally missed visits with the leadership all four of us did. Turley
came and picked smith and cook up to visit Christina A. We got a call
not too long after to rescue the sisters from a bus stop. Said a
closing prayer.. Simon said one and then asked Elder Tavoian and I to
say one as well. Mesha and Harut walked us out and apologized that we
were kept so long and missed our appointments. They were very sincere
and said that before I left we were more than welcome to come and
visit them at their house in balboa park by Granada hills to meet
their parents.

Pretty frustrating night. Felt super bad that we stayed so long and
didn't have the most on point lesson with that family. I hope they
still recognize our sacred calling we have and are willing to have us
teach them and they don't just expect us to only answer questions. It
was a positive experience for them. They have a good relationship with
us but we need to show we still are representatives of Christ. Good
news is we know that Simon has retained what we believe and can
explain it to others!

Wednesday:

Lunch at Taco Bell with other Armenian Elders

Dropped them off and went up to GCC to print off stewardship report to
give to President Villanueva

Interview with President Villanueva - asked about group, how to
request new missionaries (emphasis was placed on new sister
missionaries), review of email sent to President Yen, talked about
school briefly, asked me if he could keep me out longer, asked
permission to do registration and about exit interview and he said I
could do whatever I needed to do and that he trusted me completely,
said I just needed to let him know what I wanted to do for my exit
interview/last day and I could do it.

Ran errand to pad for the zone leaders Then biked like mad men to Hermine's.

Lesson w/ Hermine & Elin: talked about Halloween, Hermine said the
opening prayer, followed up with reading, taught about prayer, Hermine
had to tell Elin to not talk about so many random things, read from
Enos about prayer, she said the closing prayer and she is getting
better! Hratch kept going off on things when we'd pose a question to
Hermine.

Knocked Sonora: met a really nice lady from Iraq that said we could
come back, met another lady who I have met a few times out and about
who always asks us for pictures of Christ and finally found her
apartment!

Biked back to pad and had other Armos pick us up for...

Dinner w/ Townsends: steak and super amazing twice baked potatoes,
home made brownies and massive amount of ice cream, brother townsends
awesome mission stories - rough apartment complex, companion who
didn't ride a bike well, other Hawaiian missionary won French national
title surfing competition, furnace blowing up/mice and pidgeons. They
gave me my red book of pictures...

Went home, got bikes and raced to Helga's. Lesson w/ Helga: found out
Chris had a breakdown and caused some property damage and vandalized
some cars, arrested. Helga really upset - earpiece?? Read a part from
a talk 'finishers wanted' and taught about enduring to the end. They
gave us more food...

Thursday:

Studied - got in a wrestle with Elder Tavoian... I won.

District Meeting - MY LAST DISTRICT MEETING...topic was revelation
through prayer, shared experiences that we have had with people
praying and receiving their answers, how is prayer is essential to
conversion, etc. it was a really good meeting and had a good spirit
about it. I tied in with what I had studied from Alma 8 on what we
need to do this next month in order to prepare to baptize December and
January.

Lunch w/ other Armos

Language study at pad

Knocking: Justin - had one lady insist on giving us money after we had
given her our flyer for church. She was surprised when we said we
wouldn't take it but she said she'd try and come. Had a few other
Spanish speakers. Amazes me how someone can live in the US for 50
years and still say they don't know any English...

Knocked with Burbank 1st Elders - went with Elder Taylor. He asked me
a bunch of questions one of which was what was the hardest thing I had
done on my mission. And trying to look back I realized that yes it was
hard but the good/happy times drown out the difficult/trying times. We
knocked into this one lady that was obviously born again. She was
trying to bring up her concerns of what we had added/taken away to the
teachings/being of Jesus Christ when all she needed was Him, no
prophets or Book of Mormon. We had to explain why we had the Book of
Mormon and the restoration and apostasy of authority. She asked why
that authority was important and we explained that it was necessary to
have to do ordinances such as baptism. She the told us that baptism
was just symbolic and that we didn't NEED to be baptized to believe in
Jesus Christ. I quoted some scriptures which frazzled her and she said
she wasn't prepared to talk scripture or anything but we could come
back. So that was cool. Elder Taylor had a good question for her
though, "if you believe in Jesus Christ then why WOULDN'T you want to
be baptized?" She said we could come back and talk more sometime!
Found another awesome couple, Henrik & Melik, that for sure/promised
they'd be there for church on Sunday.

Dinner with Bradley at Panda since we are having dinner with him and
J. Logan Dicus on Saturday. But while we were there we were approached
by some armenian lady, Lucy, that wanted to know what we were and such
and once she found out we were missionaries of Christ she pointed to
her kids sitting and had us go ask them who their favorite person was
in  the world or something like that and they said God and Jesus. I
gave her a card and told her to call us to meet with her family which
she said she'd love to do. After we had gotten our food she came over
and asked if she could talk to me for a second. So she began to
explain to me that she was going to have a procedure on her brain in a
few weeks and she wanted us to pray for her and her family at that
time. She started tearing up as I told her we'd love to and she said
that it wasn't random that we had met her there but that it must have
been an answer to her prayers. She and her mother were amazed that we
spoke Armenian but they saw us as true disciples of Christ which was
cool. She gave us all her info and said to call early next week.

Dropped off elders off at Jerry's

Visited: Aylin & Zhorants - talked to Zhorants outside as they were
leaving; visited Ragned but wasn't home.

Lesson w/ Margarita: going through rough time, deaths close to her,
has to go back to school, won't be able to take care of kids in the
evening.. Gave her a blessing. Said she felt our energy go into her
and it gave her the chills and relax. Gave her a plan of salvation
pamphlet and told her to read and we'd talk about it next time. Gave
us a lot of food.

Had to go rescue the elders from Jerry's and take them home.

Friday:

Ashot no go on lunch

Lunch at glendale market w/ Armos

Lesson with Hermin & Elin: forgot surprise, taught Priesthood/missionary work.

Went to Ralph's and made surprise for Elin at central building

Dinner with Mitchell's - drove zls, horse mask

Went to Mike and Brisgets to help hand out candy - dressed up, saw dicus.

Saturday:

Dicus picked us up a bit before 11 (he was borrowing Bridget's car)
and we went to Souren's house for our scheduled lesson... They weren't
home. Super bummed about that. We walked around because we were on
time but weren't home after a while. Figures.

Visited Jerry: Dicus is still his favorite missionary... Even though
Jerry forgot his name which was hilarious. But Dicus's Armenian is
still awesome and still has it! Just not quite as good of an accent as
he had...

Lunch with Ashot, Dicus and the other Armenian Elders. It happened!
Surprised Ashot came but glad he did. He was happy to see Dicus. Dicus
said he hasn't changed any since he left. I was surprised Ashot didn't
bring up the fact that Dicus never calls or anything.

Did some weekly planning at the church and then took the other Elders
to Armen's.

Knocked w/ NoHo zls: one lady's son was naked and running around, she
thought it was "awesome" if he peed on a bush and said "I hope there
isn't a child molester around here!" Probably one of the more
awkward/random contacts I've had knocking. We got a few potentials
that said we could come back though. No one super rude so it was quite
pleasant! It was Elder Ford and my last time knocking together. He is
getting transferred. It was a good run with them!

Met Dicus back at the Wilson building and went out to visit people.
Tried by Anita & Preni - they didn't remember who we were so didn't
let us in... Tried by Edwin, wasn't home. Then we went to Anahid but
she was still at school so said Roubik. Stopped by Hayrapet & Aregas
weren't home but we spoke with their neighbor and she said she'd be
willing to have the missionaries stop by and she even referred one of
her neighbors in the building that was going through a rough time! It
was awesome to work with Dicus again. He hasn't changed in how he is
spunky and a goof ball who is excited to do missionary work. We
stopped by Moses (the lady that kissed Elder Tavoian and I) but she
wasn't home either...

Dinner w/ Bradley's, Dicus, Mike and Bridget, Arman and Kristina

Lesson/Second dinner with Helga & Christina: made karmir plav -
Christine was questions why aren't they happy if they are being
faithful. Taught from Luke 18 or whereabouts about Lazarus and the
wealthy man.

Visited Simon an hour later than we said we'd come... and set another
appointment for next Friday. Their back house tenants were asking
questions to them in Armenian thinking we didn't know Armenian. Pretty
funny.

Sunday: LAST DAY AT CHURCH.

Townsends were out of town and so was Sister Turley. Met with Brother
Bradley, Dicus and other Elders to discuss the work. Sunday school we
had quite a crowd and some visitors and new people. Olga was there
randomly. Samvel was in town. Rita came despite her back pain. AND WE
HAD THE ONE COUPLE, HENRIK & MELIK COME TO CHURCH! I couldn't believe
it and at first had no idea who they were but then the spirit brought
it to my remembrance. Jerry taught the lesson on the word of wisdom.
And it was a pretty good, solid, straight forward lesson. Henrik &
Melik were well welcomed and the other wives took Melik to relief
society and I taught Priesthood. I was going to talk about the things
I learned on my mission but I felt inspired to teach Henrik about the
restoration so we just had a straight up lesson for the lesson! With
many members present! We walked through the restoration pamphlet as we
would any other lesson but I was more open with the questions to
everyone and got some great participation, especially from the
Armenian speaking members. Including the stories of Gagik and Samvel
and how their experiences were with the missionaries and what they
thought of the message of the restoration. Samvel took over for a bit
and went on to talk about his experience and how he didn't learn much
from the Elders but they opened the door to him reading and studying
more and more and soon he said he was teaching the Elders... But I
brought up baptism and he didn't seem taken aback at all so that was
good! Then sacrament and they stayed for all three full hours! I was a
bit bummed Hermine wasn't there with Elin but I'll see them this week.
I translated for the testimonies. Elder Dicus gave his and his
Armenian is excellent. Arousiak got up and started praising us
missionaries as usual, especially aimed towards me since it was my
last time. Gagik and his wife bore their testimonies. They are so
solid and awesome. Talking about them wanting to do their part and be
firm in the gospel for their kids. Such a great family. And then
lastly I bore mine again. I didn't know much else to say other than I
was thankful for them all. I didn't cry surprisingly, because well,
Armenian men don't cry! But I will miss them all. It was hard for me
to sing God be with you til we meet again. I got a bunch of pictures
with people afterwards. Samvel pulled me aside and told me he had a
dream that was a similar situation that happened with Mom and Todd
coming back to church with his parents and he said that sometimes we
can only do so much and the rest is up to the people's choice. Random
comment but, thanks Samvel for the wise/counsel?

Smith and I afterwards went to forest lawn to meet Armen and man has
he changed. He lost complete custody of his son a few weeks ago and
now he is just super... Humble. Very much more patient and
understanding. He was sincere and kind and it was much more enjoyable
to be around him. But I said a prayer and then we left, short sweet
and to the point.

Picked up the other elders and went to mikes parents house for the
xorovac they made me. We helped set up the grill and Varuj, Melina's
husband, cooked and so did Mikes Mom. It was delicious, we had some
good conversation about Melina/Melissa coming to visit utah. Melina is
still mind blown that we are normal, cool people. We tried this
pudding/sweet stuff from sugar and butter and flour that is only made
for times when there is a birth in the family or someone and it was
super good. Super Classic xorovac or Lola, hav, plav, pomedor, peppers
and ayln. And for some reason as we were ending Elder Cook got
pressured into wrestling Mike's Dad, Masis, who was the iran national
champion wrestler back in the day and the first Armenian to win a
title. Pit ended a tie but it was fun to watch.

Dropped off at the central building to finish weekly planning.

Lesson with Helga. All four of us came over. Shared Matthew 11 about
the yoke of Christ and the Armenian translation.


Elder Tanner DeBry

Week 96 (10/20-10/27)

27 October 2014

Overview: had a great week! Gave my last talk in sacrament meeting.
Picked up I mean in her family more seriously as investigators and
they seem to be promising. Not sure what else to say other then things
are good and I am happy and well!

Monday:

Pday: errands - suits to the dry cleaners, shopping at target, went to
Abril bookstore because of a clearance they are having and to get
Elder Tavoian a dictionary. Went to the church and emailed, played
basketball/Wilson ball. Didn't play much because I was fasting for our
group. We need all the prayer we can get! Worked on my stewardship
report for a bit. Drove the Sunlamd Elders Judd and Lim to la
Crescenta then went to...

Dinner w/ Townsends - awesome home made dinner. Sister Townsend made a
cake for Elder Tavoian to celebrate his birthday which was last
Friday. Shared a spiritual message from Alma 1:25 which was talking
about the members of the church who were getting down/hard hearted
about the difficulties they were having. The verse talked about
regardless our trials that we need to personally remain steadfast and
immovable in our testimonies, service and helping the church.

Lesson/hair cut with Armineh: we showed up a bit late because dinner
went long but we got there and there were quite a few other people
there in the back where her salon was. Surprised to see Simon in the
back cutting the youngest daughter's hair there as well. Armineh cut
my hair and while doing so Mesha came over and so we started talking
to him. Elder Tavoian started teaching him how to tie his kind of tie
with my tie that I took off. She did a really good job and I think it
was the first time I've gone to someone to cut my hair in over a year
maybe even a half. But anyways it was a good visit afterwards as well
because we sat around with the daughters (Rose & Tina), Armineh and
one of her friends whose name escapes me and they had a bunch of
questions for us about some of the things they had been hearing about
our religion since they met us. The daughters were fascinated at our
schedule we keep. Armineh had a question if we did plural marriage and
their friend asked if we could have massages and why we couldn't have
caffeine. So we explained that and how we believed it was a
commandment from God. It was just a very laid back conversation which
I think made them feel more comfortable with us being there. But I do
feel that next time we go over there we can have a bit more direct
lesson with Armineh especially. We had to head out and forgot to say
good bye to Simon as we were leaving and he texted us later and said
that since we didn't we owned him one time of him taking us out
clubbing... What a funny kid. On the way home from their house though
I just felt this overwhelming sense of love for this family though
because although they are a bit rowdy and different, they are still a
family. They come together and are able to feel love in their home. I
hope we can help them to realize what they have and how to better it.

Tuesday:

After studies we were supposed to have a lesson up at GCC with the guy
that we met a few weeks ago but he canceled again so we tried by a
part member family up right above GCC who are supposedly members of
the Glendale first Ward. The wife was there and we spoke with her
briefly but she was just about to put her kids down to a nap and she
said that her husband was very closed off to the church right now and
would not want anything to do with it including helping us in our
language abilities. After that we were invited by the other Armenian
others to have lunch with Armand. His mom made us some pasta which was
actually pretty good. We went home and did some language study and
then went up and knocked on Western.

Knocking: threatened to have the cops on us. Tons of Spanish people.
One guy who said he would refer his friends.

Helga invited us over for dinner and we had a really good visit with
them. Helga told us about a recent family reunion that she went to and
how it was causing her some stress because of the poor relationship
she has with her family. We shared some scriptures from Elma and how
Wendy members of the church where feeling discouraged they strengthen
their faith in Jesus Christ, or patient in their trials and where more
humble.

Visits with the leadership works pretty slow. We talked with the
leadership about upcoming events and members and then I went out with
brother Bradley to go try by some people in Burbank. We tried by Anita
and Pedro but they weren't able to have us over. But we had a lesson
with high repent and audit Gus where I taught the restoration. They
probably won't progressed too much but we can always try and get some
referrals from them for their family.

Wednesday:

After studies we biked up to the central building to do some FaceBook.
Got in touch with Chuck Stapel and we are going to see him tomorrow.
He asked "Don't I owe you a knife?"

Knocking Thompson: got kicked out of a building by a Jewish guy, not
much else happened.

Tried by a less active Aivazian on w. Allen past the freeway. Talked
to an older Armenian lady there named Moses. She was very nice, had
lived there for 30+ years. Said that no Albert lived there but her
neighbor had a Persian boyfriend. She asked us some doctrinal
questions inquisitively about our belief of the Godhead and she said
she would try and come to church sometime and have access take her. As
we were going we shook her hand and she gave us a kiss on the cheek.
Tavo didn't know what to do and tried to hold his ground but she won.

We biked to go try by some other less active members that I don't know
and I noticed that surprisingly we had some on Milford and Myrtle, two
streets that we have recently knocked and I thought it was pretty
random we chose there but it was probably so we could be in the area
more to find those lost sheep! We saw Simon (Armineh's son) as we were
biking past and asked him for some water and he let us in the back and
we got to talk to him, Tina and Armineh for a while and answered his
questions he had for us more about our lifestyle as missionaries. I
told them that I would be speaking on Sunday and Simon said he would
come! He said we might have to break down the door and pull him out of
bed but that we could come get him! He also said that he would visit
me in Utah AND he said to his Mom, "I think I want to be a Mormon!"
And she kind of laughed and gave him a look like he was weird. They
are a super cool family. We scheduled another day that we are going to
come over and make xorovac with them next week too! And we also told
them that next time we come we will actually teach them more about
what we believe instead of just their questions which they were fine
with, including Armineh's question of why bad things happen to good
people. She didn't think there would be an answer but we said we did!
And she perked up to listen and wanted an answer then but we are
making her wait. Then the other Elders came to pick us up and we
introduced them and then left. Love that family.

Dinner at Los Gringos Locos w/ Elders Cook & Smith.

Picked up our bikes from Armineh's house, asked them how long an
Armenian viewing was and they said it would be between 1-2 hours but
that we HAD to wear black. They thought we were again crazy that we
were going.

Changed at the pad. I had to borrow Elder Cale's black suit because
mine is at the dry cleaner.

Went to Maria's father's viewing at the forest lawn in Hollywood.
THERE WERE EASILY 1,000+ people there. Easy. It was super funny,
driving up was just lined with black, white and silver Mercedes, BMW,
Audi and other sports cars. Then we get to a church and there are 100+
armenian men outside the front door just smoking. we go inside this
massive church and it is standing room only where we are and EVERYONE
is wearing black and is Armenian. The Priest sang some songs, gave a
eulogy, some other lady spoke but couldn't hear her over the very poor
attempts of Armenians trying to whisper with their really deep voices
and people in and out for their smoking break. But it was only about
an hour and a half and then we walked past the body of Serjik, Maria's
dad. Elder Tavoian and I were trying so hard to have a mourning face
on... Didn't work so well. But we saw Maria sitting with her family
and she waved. Then that was it! We had to wait around for a while for
the other Elders to pick us up so we took pictures of statues around
the grounds.

The other Elder's dropped us off at the top of pacific and we walked home.

Thursday:

District Meeting - finding. Elder Ward did the first part of the
lesson and I thought he did an excellent job, he was well prepared and
deliver his message sincerely. Talked about believing blood and
finding the elect. In the words of President Becerra "We aren't here
to plant seeds anymore but to get in our John Deere tractor and reap."

Serjik Keshishian's funeral service (Maria's dad): drove back up to
the Hollywood forest lawn and yet again were lines and lines of cars
to the same old church. Not quite as many people today but still way
more than I would imagine. They had another shorter viewing for
probably those who didn't make it the evening before and we did
another walk by of the body which is kind of weird then waited outside
for the burial. And who did we run into? MARKUS! So we talked to him
and whatnot and he said he'd try and make it to church on Sunday for
my talk. But we talked to some other guy that was talking to Elder
Tavoian's Eldridge knot of his tie and he compared the group of
Armenians in Glendale to that of the Sopranos TV show in a way and I
can see how that is true with just how they hold themselves in
comparison to Gagik for example who is newly from Armenia and very
humble. Anyways we followed the procession to the grave site and it
was quite a ceremony with two armenian priests singing and praying,
dozens of white doves being released in the air, the close family
dropping roses on the lowering coffin and then everyone being invited
to shovel the dirt. At that point once everyone was baking under the
noonday sun the priest announces the 'hogechas' or the after funeral
luncheon which everyone was invited to at Anoush restaurant hall in
Glendale. Then quite hastily most of the people left including us
because we were hungry. So we drive there and wait around for people
to come. Saw a super nice rolls Royce being driven up and almost
valeted by a young looking kid.  We get questioned by this Armenian
priest who is there about who we represented and why we were there and
who we knew and such. But at that point we got a message from Armineh
that she needed us to to do service with Simon.

Service with Simon: surprised we weren't in prose, cleaned side of
house, organized some things he had in his backyard, planted some
flowers, ate some pizza and set up some lamps that had speakers in
them.

Visited Chuck Stapel. Has a knife for me but it isn't quite finished.

Dinner with Bradley's. Watched church's video they produced on the
temple garments and clothing which was awesome.

Visited Margarita with Cook - wasn't home, picked up by Bradley to
visit Anita and Pedro - Anita was still at school but talked to Rubik
the husband. Stopped by Armineh's again because Simon told is the
lights weren't working - showed up and he had already returned the
lights but introduced Bradley to the family. Then we stopped by Dalar
who was going to bed but I told her I was leaving soon and would speak
for the last time at church this Sunday and she said that they would
come and that I needed to come tomorrow at 7 and she said "don't be
late!" It was one of the most adorable things ever.

Friday:

Lunch at the pad for once... Picked up my dry cleaning. Forgot how
awesome it is to have creased pants!

Weekly planning at the Central building... Didn't get too far before
Nate showed up and we went over more class planning and prep for when
I can register for classes next week. It's getting real! Should have a
pretty good schedule planned out if all goes well. But that took
longer than I thought it would as usual.

Lesson with Hermine & Elin: it has been a while since we had seen them
both with them not being able to come to Church last Sunday for some
other things they had to do, they came to the picnic but I don't think
we have met with them for a while. Anyways! They were glad to see us.
Elin was waiting for us outside when we came. Everything seemed to be
the same school/family wise and we followed up with prayer and
reading. She had read the assigned chapter from the Book of Mormon.
They had been praying together and Hermine said Elin had been saying
most of the prayers (I don't think willingly) but they said they
hadn't really talked about or prayed about a date for Elin's baptism.
Elin was asking a TON of questions about everything which was kind of
funny but harder to keep short and on topic. We reviewed with her why
we read the Book of Mormon because she was feeling as if it were
homework. She was funny and asked why we were having her read the
children's Book of Mormon when she was able to read the regular copy
saying she was an adult and whatnot. We told her our lesson applied
into how we can make reading more exciting. We read about Alma the
younger and the sons of Mosiah becoming converted, fasting and praying
and King Mosiah asking if they were ready to go out on missions. We
applied it to especially Hermine and how she just like King Mosiah can
pray and ask God if Elin is ready to be baptized. We committed them to
look over a calendar of the next few months but Hermine was still just
determined in waiting to see when Elin would be ready and not be
pressured by a date.. Which was a little frustrating because I'd like
to be here for the baptism but I am just happy that they are still
progressing and doing well.

Tried by some potentials/referrals we had received from the Spanish Hermanas.

Lesson with Haik: was a referral from the Hermanas. We had met him
before on the corner of w. Thompson. But he invited us in and said he
remembered the sisters and told them a joke that when they gave him a
picture of Christ he said "I already have a picture of Christ in my
heart, but can I have a picture of you in there?"... Ohhh dear these
old Armenian men. Funny weirdos. But he was rather nice. His wife
wasn't so much so and kind of made a fuss that we were there at first
and she kept coming in. Haik wasn't the most interested but he said he
believed in Christ so we taught him the  restoration. Spirit was
there. Elder Tavoian got to teach a good chunk. Left him the pamphlet
to read. Said closing prayer and he recognized it was a wrong prayer
but he said he said it anyways because of others around him.

Tried by another potential Ani - met her as she was washing her car.
Very nice middle age woman. Said we could come back next Tuesday
evening.

Dinner at Chipotle

Stopped by church and the zone leaders needed the car (we were using
theirs). We helped set up some Halloween party stuff with the other
first Ward missionaries then used the zls bikes to head to a lesson
with Aghakhanyan family... They weren't home. Headed back to the pad
to pick up our bikes to have locks and tried by someone down the
street on riverdale. Didn't answer.

Called Helga to see how her talk was coming for Sunday. Chris.
Christine guilt. Bad things happening. Wants name removed.

Drove elders to their exchange so we could have the car.

Saturday:

We were supposed to do something with Ashot but he bailed on us again..

Finished weekly planning at central building

Knocking with NoHo zls - knocked up in the cabrinis - didn't get any
potentials out of both companionships... Planned on teaching their
zone next week armenian 101.

Went and got Elders Cook and Ward from Armen's to then go to Mike and
Bridget's. Walked over with them and Pinkie to get little Ceasars -
pretzel pizza with crazy crust... Super delicious. Shared a mormon
message about God knowing us personally. Invited them to the Ward
Halloween party and Mike was all excited to bring his nephews Leo and
Chris.

Went to the Glendale 1st Ward Halloween party - Eligio dressed up as a
missionary which everyone thought was hilarious. The young men didn't
show up so we were asked to participate in their haunted house part of
the evening and so we got to put on masks and whatnot and scare
people! Had a few kids that were crying, some of the youth said it was
pretty scary and I lost my voice somewhat. So it was pretty exciting
and fun for us. It took forever though so by the time we finished up
we just stayed and cleaned up.

So to end the night Elder Tavoian had received special permission to
be able to skype in on a special baptism back home of his Dad
performed by one of his older brothers. So we did that and that was
pretty cool to see. It was a short service but Elder Tavoian was able
to see some family members and close friends so it was good for him to
see and his Dad really appreciated him being able to receive
permission from President Villanueva.

Had planned on stopping by Armineh's but the other a Elders had to use
the car to finish their exchange and get some gas.

Sunday:

Met with the elders early at church to plan for our coorelation with
the group council to go over the member list/notes to download my
brain before I leave.

Church: we had a good group there today! People were slow getting
there but we had about 31 people there during sacrament meeting!
Including: SIMON, MARKUS AND ASHOT! It was so awesome! At 11 Brother
Clark drove Elder Tavoian and I over to Armineh's house to wake up
Simon but we knocked and someone answered the door and told us that he
was already up getting ready! Which was a super big surprise to us
because he said he usually gets up at 3 or 4 after a night of partying
(that is with getting home around 4 or 5 in the morning)... But
anyways it was awesome he was ready and excited to come with us. So he
drove us over there, he had to make a drive through stop at Starbucks
to get a morning drink to wake him up and have a few cigarettes to
wake up as well. But we got to church and the combined relief
society/priesthood had already started and so we caught the end of
that and then went into sacrament (after he took another smoking
break). A recently returned missionary from the stake came and spoke,
Scott Grey, who served in Mexico and gave a great but long talk. Then
I gave my final talk as a missionary which was pretty hard but a
little relieving to know that I still have two weeks until I really go
home. I was a bit bummed though because Scott took so long on his talk
that I had about less than 10 min. But whatevs. I said what was
important... I hope. After church I took some pictures with people and
whatnot.

Correlation with Group Council: right after church we got together and
went over our official member list and all those armenian last names
that had been given to us from the stake. We gave all the notes that I
had been passed from generation to generation. It was a pretty long
but a needed meeting to move forward to meet with the stake presidency
in the next few weeks to discuss the group.

Dinner @ home.

Knocked Milford - got into this first one really big apartment
building and got some good potentials and referrals. Including one
part member family that I remember visiting when I was in G2.

Biked over to see Dalar and her family but they weren't home so we
stopped by Aylin & Zhorants and they were home! Just heading out
though but we got to talk to them for a minute or two and invite them
to family home evening and then Sunday... Went down after that to go
see if we could say Hello to Ragned but she wasn't home either! Rima
and Raymond were again and we invited them to stop by tomorrow for
family home evening and for my last Sunday next Sunday and they said
they would.

Got a text from Simon saying he had some people over at his place that
wanted to learn more about Mormons! So we biked all the way over there
and there sure enough were 5 people we hadn't met and one of them had
seen the copy of the Book of Mormon that we had given him during
church. So we explained the basic beliefs of the church organization,
apostasy and restoration and need for evidence and those truths that
were lost. Clarified some other questions they had and then they left.
But that left us to talk to Simon, Simon's friend Mel, Tina and
Armineh was in and out while she was dying Rose's hair. But Simon was
explaining to Mel about the word of wisdom so we were explaining it to
her and Simon asks "so if your bodies are a temple and a gift from
God, what is your view on plastic surgery?" It was a perfect question
to explain to him that it wasn't needful that we be instructed all
things but that through personal revelation using prayer we can know
and ask God those questions for ourselves. Simon said he had never
really asked any questions to God nor had he given thanks through
prayer. We established that they all believe in God and that Simon had
felt the promptings of the spirit at a time when his car was getting
jacked and before that he said he "had a gut feeling he was going to
be robbed that day and took all the valuable out of the car." So we
explained that God was our father and wanted to give us answers. But
then the question arises why wouldn't God intervene when he was
getting robbed and we talked briefly about agency and said we'd talk
about that later (aiming it mostly to Armineh since she had the
question originally. But Simon said that made sense and so we went
back to how we can receive answers through prayer and it would come
individually so we used the example of the first vision. Mel wasn't
paying attention at one point so Simon repeated what we had just
taught about the first vision to her perfectly! Which was awesome.
Armineh said she still didn't believe that happened and that God
didn't have a body. But we told them to pray about it and we'd follow
up. We invited Simon to say the closing prayer and HE DID! I had to
say an example prayer but he did and said he was nervous and his heart
was pounding right before. So we had a really good lesson with them!
They are coming along quite nicely.

Biked to the church and synced our area books. Biked home. I beat
Elder Tavoian again. He took a wrong turn when he was in the lead.


Elder Tanner DeBry