Some People....

This week we had new experiences. The first thing was that we had to meet with this person who 

almost died. She is about 75 years old and she has pneumonia. I do not know if I spelled that right, 

but you know what I mean. So we went to her house trying to get her to go to the hospital, but 

she would not go. We tried a lot of things to get her to go because we knew that she needed to 

go. We even called the ambulance to take her to the hospital, but she wouldn't get in. We have 

been really worried about that and her health condition. She was saying that she did not want to 

go because she did not want to leave her cat alone. It really is annoying because she is just getting

worse. She needs to go to the hospital, but she just wont go. I guess everyone makes their own 

decisions and no one can be forced to do anything. Sometimes it would be nice if we could make

people see it our way, but it just isn't that way. That is a gift from God that no one can be forced 

to do anything. The only thing we can do is love them. We do not have to support their decision, 

but their is no help in yelling at them or getting mad at them for their decision. I mean in the end 

we just have to think what would the Savior do? If we always keep that in mind everything will be okay. 

So some other things happened this week too, but that is the main thing that I learned this week. If 

there is anything I can do for you let me know. Prayer is more powerful than any of us know. So use 

the Lord in your life. It says in Alma 37:37 that we need to counsel with the Lord in everything we do. 

So put that to the test this week.

Elder Sproul

Back door blessings

This week I wanted to talk about back door blessings and some things that I saw this week. We 

were talking to everyone on the street and we were not really seeing any success on that front.  

But that does not mean that it is for nothing. We can't think that if something is not working 

that it was for nothing. God is ready to bless us and our job is to do our part. As long as we 

are doing our best he will show us miracles. So even though we were not seeing success on the 

street we definitely saw some other miracles.  One miracle that happened was that we received 

some referrals from 2 other missionaries. One of the referrals was a family. We did not have a 

whole ton of hope when we were going to visit them because this man is in the Arabkir branch 

and was super drunk, but we decided to go over there anyway. When we got there, we actually 

rode the elevator up with this guy's daughter. It was a little awkward that we were going to her 

house and she had no clue why. But the man invited us in and the daughters were very interested. 

Then the other referral was someone that Elder Ebbert met on a marchutni. I do not think that we 

would have received any of these blessing if we would not have talked to everyone on the street. 

This has helped me when something does not work out is to just move forward and that God will 

put other blessings in your life. This is what I saw this week and it is what keeps me motivated to  

continue talking on the street even when it is not working out. 

So if something is not working out in one aspect of your life, see if you are being blessed in some 

other way you do not realize. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and look at the whole 

day and do not just stay focused on that one thing. Look at other aspect of your life and see how 

you have been blessed. I love you all and keep working hard in every aspect of your life. There are 

8400 seconds in a day and make the most of it. 

Elder Sproul 

Right Mindset

This week I found out something that will help me the rest of my life. It is all about the mindset. I came 

into the area excited to be in the area, but when we got into the apartment there was the bulletin board 

that had their opinions on it and they were telling us a lot of things about the area. I feel like it was 

putting prior mindsets that they were trying to throw on us as a companionship. So this week I realized 

that if you think the area is the worst area then it is going to be the worst area. I have heard so many 

people say that about this area that is was one of the worst areas in the mission.  But, I have decided that 

it only is the worst area if I think it is. This is something that I want to work on; my mindset that people 

want to find the church and that the branch will get better. I want to work on correcting my attitude so 

when we find new people, we can have optimistic goals. Hopefully, when the next set of missionaries 

transfer here they will be able to be in a good mindset because that is the feeling we have left here.  

Something else that is related to this that I wanted to talk about it talking about your area. I want to 

try to never say anything negative about my area. When you say bad things about your area other 

people find out and then they do not want to serve there. Basically the same thing, but just a few 

things I want to work on. So this week try to be in the right mindset. If you want to find work then 

think you can find work. Basically if you want to anything, think that you can. 

I love you so much and have a good week! Never waver on your testimony and lean on what you 

have felt in the past! Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.

Elder Sproul 

Back to normal

This week was a lot better than last week. At English class this week we started talking to a man who has been 

coming for a while, but we just never talked to him about the church. We wanted to talk to him because earlier 

last week because we read his teaching record and found out some cool things about him. So, after English we 

asked him to stay for a min and we talked to him a little bit, just wanting to see what his desire was and where 

he was at. He said that he wanted to read the English Book of Mormon during English class, but we told him 

that we couldn't do that because of the law. I think that this a big step because he said that he kind of lost 

connection with the church when the stake fell and I think starting with this meeting is a step to coming back. 

As far as I know the reason why he did not get baptized was because he did not get a marriage license. So 

that is something that we will have to work on. I have found that English class can be a very big help here 

in Armenia. Due to the fact that we can not openly proselyte it is super nice being able to teach English.  

We can always invite someone to learn English. You are not proselyting there and you are just teaching English. 

This gives them an opportunity to feel the spirit and get acquainted with us a little bit. So right now that is 

our biggest finding tool. 

 

My face is back to normal and everything is fine. So if you are worried about that you do not have to be worried 

about that anymore. I am sorry if I worried you at all but I thought I should let you know. I love all of you and 

everything you do for me. Read the scriptures everyday and pray to our father in heaven. There is no better 

comfort that receiving and answer to a prayer and you can not receive answers until you ask. So if you have 

a question ask God,  and he will answer you. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but he will answer you. Have an 

amazing week!

Elder Sproul

The week of the swollen face

So this week I spent a lot of time out of my area because I was going to the dentist and had to go there 3 times. 

Do not worry when you see the pictures because I am back to normal now, but it was scary for a little bit and I 

did not know what was going to happen. Eventually they just cut a little hole behind my tooth so that the 

infection and puss would be able to drain out and my face would turn back to normal. When you see the 

pictures you might not think I am the same person, but I promise that I am the same person and nothing 

too serious happened. One thing that I will be getting this week is a root canal it will only be like 42 bucks

instead of the 800. I am thinking about getting all the dental work that I need to get done before I go 

back to America just because it is so much cheaper here. 

Other than that I realized this week how bad people have it here. I mean I knew how bad they were living 

before, but I went to this place that was probably the worst living place that I have ever been to. It just made 

me realize how bad people really have it here and in other countries other than America. I mean people 

have it bad in America, but not compared to other places outside of America. So it just made me want to 

help people later in life so that they could get out of this situation. So God gives me the ability to help 

people that is something that I want to do later in life. So I want to invite all of you this week to do 

something for someone that is less fortunate. It can be anything just something that helps them and 

it doesn't mean it has to be money, because we do not want to give handouts, but we want to give 

hand ups. So do something that will help them have a better life in the future. 

I love all of you and have an amazing week!