Claire's Mission in Armenia: "of pits and planting seeds"

Dearest dear ones, 

This week was swell, just swell. With the marriage proposal from the icecream vendor down the street or the one from the drunk papik sitting by the bus station, I was walking a little taller in my shoes and holding my head a little higher. haha. 

Last week's P day was a lesson in Armenian history. We ventured out of the city to Khor Virap where Gregory the Illuminator, (the forefather of the Armenian Apostolic Church) was held in a pit (which we entered) for 13 years because he was preaching Christianity in a pagan nation. Anyways, there is a long story about him being fed by angels and such and if you are interested I am sure that wikipedia has a semi accurate telling of the tale. It was very interesting and it was right next to the Turkish border and very close to out dear Mount Ararat. We took the train home and it felt like something out of Anne of Green gables, a forest green train with wooden benches. haha. 

Tuesday was FHE and it was a great lesson from our dear Senior couple and then we had a musical number by the elder's investigator who is obsessed with the Beatles. So it was a nice little bit of entertainment, despite the fact that he sang in Russian, and I recognised a few tunes. 

Fall is beginning to fall and I love it. The mornings are a little more crisp when we run and the smells in the air are starting to change. One sad thing however is the fruit is starting to go out of season. We bought one of our favs, Yemmish, which is basically a cantelope-honey dew mix which is wonderful. Pretty sure we don't have it in the states, too bad. 

We met with some intersting people this week. One woman told us about a book she was reading and took to be scripture because the man that wrote it was able to predict the time of his death to the minute. Another woman thinks she would like to move to Alaska because she has heard that you can just walk around and pick up gold off of the ground. I think that is one of my favorite parts of being a missionary, all of the interesting people we meet. seriously the world is fully of them and Armenia has it's fair share. 

We taught our lovely new converts about the temple this week. We brought an amazing member who this week gets to go to the temple again for a week and is ecstatic. There are only two groups a year that go and it is a big deal. Our member said something about her first time to the temple that I just loved she said that it was when she first entered that she realised how much she missed her Heavenly Father and how much He missed her. I loved that idea. We are truly just visitors here in this mortal life. Our place is with our Heavenly Father and as we come to know Him we realize how much we miss Him and how much He misses us and how everything we do in this life either brings us closer to him or further away. May we choose always to draw closer to our Father in Heaven who is doing all He can to help us come back to Him. 

Sometimes in missionary work you are able to reap the harvest and sometimes you just plant seeds. We met with a contact this week who loved us at first but got real nervous when we pulled out the Book of Mormon. She asked us almost goadingly, "Well, is there anything about Baptism or the Holy Ghost in there?" I nearly fainted with happiness. OF COURSE I said, and shared with her 2 Nephi 31. The Book of Mormon is amazing. I have no idea where things will go with her, but now I know that we have helped plant the seed in her of the fact that the Book of Mormon is truly a testament of Christ. Sometimes we plant, sometimes we nourish and sometimes we harvest. The Work of the Lord is moving forth, may we ever do our part to help that work help bring Salvation to the souls of men. 

I love you all so much!!

Sister Claire Margaret Haynie

At Khor Virap, we hiked a little hill behind it. 

in the pit. sorry its sideways. 

we found a donkey by the side of the road on our way home.