The Armenian Expansion.

8/10/14

I don't really know where to begin. I feel like I say that every week but it's a real thing this week. The majority of this week we were in Moscow. We had two splits and Mission Leadership Conference. So we were the tiredest girls in all the world by the time that was over. I was so happy to come back to Lipetsk. I love that place with my whole heart. President and his wife were visiting our branch this weekend so we got to spend the day with Sister Borders taking her around to visit members. I have had the opportunity to do that a few times on my mission and I love it. We actually have big news coming from the Lipetsk Town: Two people are getting baptized this weekend! They are a referral from a member (MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK IS REAL. DO IT.) They are the sweetest people I have ever met. A man and his wife. Both from Armenia. The Armenian people are just so ready for the Gospel. We had the opportunity to teach the wife this week and it was such a great lesson. She was so open and so accepting of everything. She is a hairdresser and just the most humble person. We will be meeting with her again this week to help her finish getting ready to be baptized. And she's going to teach us how to make Armenian food. We love her so much. It's really cool getting to be in Lipetsk because a lot of the time we are speaking in Russian and then that is being translated into Armenian. So many languages.We had the funniest thing happen this week. One of the children in our branch reads the Children's Book of Mormon everyday. When we were over at his house he told us the story of the Restoration. The Children's Book of Mormon is an old translation so Joseph Smith's name is Yoseph instead of Joseph. So the child in our branch says to us, "It's very strange, this Yoseph man has the exact same story as Joseph Smith." Hahaha. We died.  This week was miraculous in the fact that when we got home from Moscow we were so tired and yet had so much to do. But Heavenly Father helped us so much. Sunday was the most miraculous day. So many miracles. We had two people from English Group come to church and stayed to hear me translate Sister Border's talk. We had a recently baptized member come to church and receive the Aaronic Priesthood. We had all the Armenian babushkas there which was quite the feat. We had another member recieve the Melechizedik Priesthood and members get their reccomends for the temple. Our Primary president was gone this week so I taught Primary. Plot twist: all the children there only spoke Armenian. What an adventure that was. These children needed to be entertained for over an hour and a half and we didn't even speak the same language. Hahah. If a couple of years ago you would have told me that I would be teaching Primary in the Russian language in Russia to 8 children from Armenia I would never have believed you. But now it's just a normal thing. I just feel so happy to be a missionary and to be where I am right now. These members are the cream of the crop. So humble. So happy. So willing to live the Gospel. I am blown away by them everyday with their dedication to the Gospel. And their sassiness. The sassiest people in the whole world. That's it for our week. We are working hard. We contacted a family last week and I hope that we'll be able to meet with them this week. I love you! Love, Sister Harris