Winter

So winter has hit Vanadzor in a hurry! This week was super cool. I love being so close to the mountains and 

seeing all the white all over the mountains. Definitely a perk of being in Vanadzor. One of the best areas in 

the mission. I really am blessed to serve here as my first area! 

One thing we did this week was help one of the members move to his new house and prepare for winter. 

His relatives were moving to Russia and said that he could live there for free during this winter while they 

are in Russia. We helped him cut wood so that he can have wood for the winter and not freeze. I felt like 

I was living during Joseph Smith times breaking wood and preparing for the winter! We had an ax and 

were chopping wood and we ended up breaking a ton of wood! It was cool to be able to help someone 

that we love and do something for him that he was not able to do!

In my studies, I have been studying how to endure to the end. In first Nephi it says to keep the 

commandments 23 times. If it says it 23 times in the first Book of The book of Mormon I would say that 

it is pretty important. So if you have a problem with one of the commandments go to the Lord. He is 

always there to help you and wants to help you. Just turn to Him and He will forgive you quickly and easily.

I love you guys so much and hope you have an amazing week! Sorry this email was super short, just know 

that I love you and always remember to turn to the Lord for everything. Think about how much you miss 

me and love hearing my letters. He loves you and wants to hear from you the same! So pray and read to 

find answers to your questions!

Elder Sproul

Elder Gray's Birthday

So this week it was my companion's birthday and we were actually in Aliverdi switching back off of a split that we just went on. So when we went to go back on the bus to go back to Vanadzor. I found out that I had the other elders cell phone in my pocket. So, we had to wait an hour until we got to the next city and go back up to Alaverdi. It was an unfortunate mistake because it wasted about 2 hours of time and it meant that we would not have time to go back to Vanadzor that night from Alaverdi. Alaverdi is about an hour away from Vanadzor normally, but they are fixing the road which will take about 3 years, so we have to go on a longer road which is about 2 hours. So we just had to stay in Alaverdi for Elder Gray's Birthday.  It was fun because we got to hang out with the other Elder. We made him a cake and I made some super good mash potatoes from scratch. Definitely something that I will make when I get home and it is super easy. 

We have been doing a lot of work in villages these past few weeks. One cool experience is when we were going out to a village we didn't have a male to come with us. In Armenia that is something that you need to always try and do because most of the members are sisters. As elders it is a rule that is we are going to see only sisters we need to bring another male with us. So we ended up just going to the village without a member present and were planning on seeing what happens. So when we got there one of the members was picking her potatoes and it was amazing. She just kept on saying "mernem qez" and "astvats ugharkel e dzez", which means that I die to you and God sent you. It was amazing that we were able to help her because we were picking for about an hour and half and we cut the work in half. God works in mysterious ways and it always blessing us. 

In my studies this week I have been reading out of the Bible still and to be honest it is getting a little difficult to read these parts. Not to say that anything is wrong with the Bible, but I am just trying to think why this part is in there. I am at the part where it is talking about all the laws that God gave to Moses and Aaron. It is talking about what they can and can't eat, What to do if there is a leper, and so on. So if any of you have some insight I would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you for everything you do for me always remember that God is just a prayer away and wants to bless us. We just need to close that umbrella and feel of the blessings that He is poring down upon us. I love you so much and have an amazing week!

Elder Sproul  

Week of Spaghetti

So this week was the week that I think that I did my favorite service that I have ever done! We ended up 

making spaghetti for this person in our branch. She made all of the dough and it was a ton of work to 

get all the spaghetti strings all hung up so that it could dry so that it could be cooked. It started out 

with rolling then cutting and then running to go and hang it up. All the strings that you see in the 

picture are ones that we hung up so that she could have that spaghetti for the whole winter. 

We also started going out to a village called Spitak and apparently there has been some work done it the 

past. We went out with a member of our ward that knew everyone in the village and was just showing us 

all the people that lived in the village.  It seemed that almost all of them turned into investigators. It really 

goes to show that if you receive contacts then that is when they will become investigators. So when we 

went out there the work went really well and our branch president wants to start bringing the sacrament 

out there. He knows that it will be hard for them to come in to the city so that is why he wants to do that. 

I mean the that is the whole reason we go to church. His end goal would be to start a group out there. 

It would be so amazing, but we just have to find a male that can run the group there. 

In my studies and watching conference I really thought about the importance of repentance and what it 

means to repent. We just need to make sure that we are going through the proper steps of repentance 

and in the end we will meet our maker and be prepared for that day. The steps of repentance are...

1.  recognize it is a sin

2. Fell bad for that sin or sorrow

3. We must forsake our sin or stop the bad thing

4. Confess our sin to god through prayer 

5. Make restitution or make up for the wrong doing

6. Forgive others 

7. Promise to obey the commandments again

If we do these things we will make it to the celestial kingdom. No matter how many times we mess up 

He will always forgive us. Even if it is the same sin. Just always go through these steps. I ask you if there 

is something that you have not repented for talk to someone, you will feel better. Alma 5 is a good 

chapter on this, you should read that. 

I love you guys so much. I know that this church is true and remember to always read the Book of Mormon. 

There were so many talks this last week about how if we read it we will gain a testimony. Try it out and see 

for yourself. I have done it and know that it is true. Have an amazing week. I love you and keep you in my 

prayers as always!

Elder Sproul 

The week of the village

This week we worked with members to be more self-reliant. The Armenian people have a hard time being 

self-reliant, at least the way I was taught.  We have been counseled to start these lessons where is would 

help them learn what they need. As missionaries we are now allowed to teach these people, but we can 

encourage them to attend these classes and stuff that can help them. I think it is a really cool concept 

because we are the ones that are seeing the members the most and they see us as examples.  We'll have 

to wait and see if we are making an impact on them.  

Then we went out to a village to see some of our members! I have not been out there for like 3 months 

to see these people because the sisters have been going out there.  It was a little hard remembering 

where everyone lived, but it was still super fun. There is this one person that got baptized out there 

that is blind and she has a super strong testimony! She has read the entire Bible in Aremenian Braile. 

It is super cool to see how strong of a testimony she has and she hasn't even read the Book of Mormon. 

I can not wait for the day that she gets to read the Book of Mormon in Armenian Braile. 

This week I have been studying in the Book of Mormon and I was reading Jacob 5 where is talks about 

grafting back the bad fruits. I was thinking about how converts are the same way. Let's say I have an 

investigator who is not obeying the commandments. If he starts obeying the commandments then 

that is when he will see the blessings. It isn't until you take away the bad that the good fruit can 

come into their lives. If you have something that is disrupting you from feeling the blessings, then 

stop it! I love you so much and have an amazing week! 

Elder Sproul