We have been on our mission for seven months now. Every week I learn or do something new, sometimes exciting, or scary, or thrilling, or, or, or.... Never routine. Always we are protected and blessed and I feel the comfort of the prayers of family, friends, and members all over the world praying for the missionaries. Here are few items from the last week or so, sorry not many pictures.
FUNERALS
We had a person die in the apartment right by ours. There was a couple of HUGE standing flower arrangements outside the apartment as well as the casket lid standing upright. Apparently the body was in the house, I didn’t know that until later. It was very cold outside but people stood outside talking for hours and the casket and flowers stayed out all night long and were there when I left the next morning.
This is what I have found out about burial practices here.
"Armenian funerals generally take place three days after death. Prior to the burial, relatives and close friends gather at the home of the deceased; the men might stand and talk while the women take coffee and pastries together. The body is kept at home until the burial, and the coffin lid is placed upright by the front door of the house as a sign to neighbors that there has been a death in the family. The grave is visited by close friends and relatives on the seventh and fortieth days after death and on the anniversary, as well as at New Year. Until the visit on the fortieth day, male members of the family are prohibited from shaving. Food, alcoholic beverages, and flowers are common offerings for the dead."
INVESTIGATOR
A couple of days ago a lady, Hasmik, just randomly walks into Bob’s office and says she wants to join our church. He was instantly suspicious, because people don’t really do that, do they? However she was genuinely interested and so we called the Sister Missionaries and got her name and number. She wanted to give me a copy of her passport, library card and other important information. Maybe to make it seem legitimate to us??
SO I gave her some pamphlets in Armenian and a Book of Mormon. Turns out one of the pamphlets was on Chastity. (oops) I thought it was the Plan of Salvation or something. Well she read them before the Sisters even got to her house a few hours later. She came to church today and has had two lessons and still says she wants to join the church.. This is wonderful and amazing that even with Elder Jones and I lack of missionary experience, we didn't scare her off.
We will be having her and her family to Family Home Evening soon!
FOOD
A few days ago over 20 packages arrived at the office. Many missionaries Christmas gifts finally arrived, but sadly not our lone lost package from Brianne. However because missionaries are always sharing and I had a sad face when they showed me stuff like taco seasoning, candy etc, I got one package of taco seasoning, a cal
endar, coconut (actually purchased in Armenia, long story). It was fun discussing everyone’s gifts. It felt like we were living the law of consecration with all the sharing going on!
I have found Brown Sugar here. It is shipped from Great Britain and is like the USA kind. That is really wonderful news. Tonight Sister Cr. called and offered me Ranch Dressing mix, but I have some and now that I know how to buy sour cream, life is good. It was really hard finding the sour cream…. It said in English “sour cream.”
Well I saw the meat delivery truck the other day pull up to a store. It was a flatbed trailer with a canvas top and flaps at the back. The unwrapped meat laid on wooden two by twos on the bed of the truck. The meat was probably a ¼ cut. Not too much blood was dripping underneath the wooden slats.
Two days latter, same truck same store, ooooowwwweeee! Gross.! Big bloody gobs of meat. I have been eating chicken every day since. (Thanks for sharing Sister Jones!)
A WALK!
Where is the shoring, caution tape, safety glasses, steel toe boots, inspectors, safety vests, and hard hats? Oops I think the one guy had a hard hat on. Oh me oh my! Where is OSHA when we need them?
