Week 9 I'M OFF THE GRID

Hey Everyone!

My first 2 weeks in Armenia have been crazy. I can't understand what anyone is saying, but I did get bit by a chinchilla and learned how to crack a walnut with my bare hands so things are happening for sure. My companion is Elder Soderquist from Weber, Utah. He has told me his life story about 5 times now but it's always in Armenian so I really don't know what else to tell you. Just know that he is awesome! He's a good trainer because he loves to put me in super uncomfortable situations all day haha. Sorry I don't have a picture with him yet, I'll try and snag one this week. We're living in a city about 20 minutes out of Yerevan, called Ashtarak. The people here are SO AMAZING. They are hospitable to the point that it's a little agressive. Got to love them! We have about 15 people who come to our branch sacrament meeting every week. It's different, but makes me excited to see so much potential for growth. I will tell you that the food in Armenia is CRAZY good. We eat a ton of fresh fruit and bread because it's so cheap. Everything so far has been really tasty so I'm not complaining! Most of the products in the stores here are in Russian so I'm actually learning the Russian alphabet right now, which is pretty sweet. The other day our landlord was driving us to a village about an hour away from our apartment in Ashtarak. Everything was fine until all of a sudden the engine made this super loud explosion noise and our car broke down in the middle of the desert. I cannot make this up. Our driver got out of the car, broke off a piece of chain-link fence from the side of the road, wrapped it around his engine, punched the hood of the car a few times, started the car again, and drove us away. In that moment, the thought literally crossed my mind that I should write a note to my family in case things went south. Sometimes I really do feel like I'm in a movie.

Some Highlights:

• New Missinary Handbook

• Teaching the members

• Going on a scavenger hunt in Yerevan 

• Elder Hans T. Boom's talk

• Seeing Elder Van Gijsel <3

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

I'm not sure why, but this week I have been thinking a lot about families. I've been thinking about why they are such an important part of God's plan. I heard this quote yesterday in our zone conference, "Putting the Lord first also means putting your family first." I love that. No matter what, we always do what we can for our families. Sometimes we fight with them, but we always fight for them. We never give up on our loved ones in this church.

Elder Brennan Larsen

Vratsakan # 5

0051 Yerevan

Armenia