Work moving forward

I am loving this area a ton and I think having Elder Hamilton as my companion will only make it better. This week we were able to meet with a person that is a syria hay(armenian). She is half Armenian and half syrian. She speaks Western Armenian so we can understand what she says, but I think it is hard for her to understand us for some reason. We got this referral from Z from the Arabkir branch and he had come with us to the last two visits with her. It is a big help when he comes with us because he translates into Arabic for her. She said that she has come to church a couple times before so we are hoping that she will be able to come to church this coming up week. 

We have been getting a lot close with the Iranian family that are our investigators and you can see the trust that they have for us. It was super funny when we were helping one of them learn some armenian and she told her teacher my pastor helping me with this. It is just cool to think that she recognizes us as her pastor and like she is already a member of our church.

Then at church E was able to give a talk and it was really good I don't remember the last time she gave a talk. I am going to give her a calling this coming up week as Young Women's President. Maybe that will be some motivation for A (Her daughter) to go to the Young Women's Activities in Yerevan. I would love for her to do that and it was a big help for me when I was a youth. 

Elder sproul

Involved in the work

This week was a really good week. This is the 3rd week in a row that K and E came to church, and this week E came with her family to church. K and E both gave really strong testimonies in the meeting. We are hoping soon that A who is K's wife can come back to church. She said that she found her peace from her daughter passing away in Christ finally and is not taking pills anymore to help her sleep. She is finally starting to realize that through Christ she can find her peace. She told us that she did not want to let him take her pain, and she realized that when she went to an Armenian church to pray and she ended up talking to the priest a little too. The priest ended up telling her that she was on the right path and that she is a strong believer in Christ and that she needed to stay on that path. It just helped her to realize that again and turn her to Christ for her peace and that she had just forgotten that a little bit. I think within the next couple of weeks we will see her back at church again. One step at a time. We can see the growth in Ashtarak and we are excited to work in this area. 

This week we picked up a lady that was half Syrian and Armenian. She was super excited to meet with us. She has been to church 2 times before when she was here 2 years ago and liked it. She has a problem with her eyes right now, but at the end of the month she is going to get surgery for her cataract to be taken out. We want to bring her some conference talks to listen to in Arabic. Then she said at the end of the month. Her family will be coming to Armenia and her grandchildren want a place to learn about Christ. They do not know a ton and I am sure we can teach the parents at the same time. It just feels like the work is moving forward in Ashtarak. I am super excited to work here and it is just really cool to see some progress with people and feel like I am helping the good in other peoples life.

I know that the Lord has His hand in everything and that when we put out trust in Him and do the best we can everything will work out according to His will. I have learned that we don't get to choose whether the Lord blesses us, but the blessings will flow upon us as we are doing what is right and following Him. I love all of you - try to trust the Lord andHis ways and your life will turn out way better that you ever imagined.

Elder Sproul 

Miracles!

This week was really good we were able to enjoy a lot of miracles in the Ashtarak branch. A few being on Sunday when President Bostrom came. I had both of my counselors come to church, 2 other less actives came back to church, and then 1 of our investigators came to church. We can really see the hand of the Lord in our work. I know that everything we do is in His hand and we just have to do our best. 

We can see the work moving forward and there is a lot of hope for the Ashtarak branch. We just need to work closely with all these people to make sure that they stay active because having these people at church will only help more people come to church. Sometimes it is hard to come to church if you don't have a friend at church and when it is all grandmas at church sometimes it feels like there is no hope in any of the members, but when other people come they get really happy and there is more liveliness. The past 2 weeks have been really good, but the 2 weeks before all we had were older women and it was hard to see that and still have hope. We love having the older women there, but we would like more people than just them.

A member was telling me that there was this member that was saying "why should I come for the Grandmas?" I know that is not the right attitude, but I can understand that it can be hard to come if you don't have any friends there. 

I know that the Lord is in everything we do and if we search for Him he will be there to lift us up. I love you all and encourage you to search Him out in all things.

Elder Sproul