Claire's Mission to Armenia: Week 6
First and foremost and very happy thanksgiving to all of you! It is supposed to be P day today as well, so I was up at 5:23 doing my laundry with 200 of my closest friends. haha. Well hopefully there will be a nap coming my way today. There is also an Apostle coming to speak, how exciting! Don't know who but when I send my letter to mum tomorrow I will tell you!
its been a great week all in all. Getting over a bout of cabin fever, been here 6 weeks and though the time has passed quickly, it is still a little hard to be on one small campus day in day out. But all is well, the language is progressing, this week we memorized the first half of the First Vision in Armenian! Very exciting! I recite it every night before I fall asleep, and while I am holding plank in P90x. But yesterday was amazing because all of our teachers, (including a new teacher Sister Crawford, who reminds me so much of Sis!) gave us a cultural workshop on Armenia. We learned all about the Genocide, the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church and watched a youtube video called 8 minutes in Armenia, you should all watch it! I was just filled with a love for these people and I really can't wait to go and meet them!
This week we enjoyed learning for so many people in Devotional a firesides. Elder Pieper of the 70 came this week and talked about the importance of agency and said, "all learning, growth and progress depends on choosing to act in accordance with true principles." I love that, we must act according to what we know, its all about integrity. We also had a presentation fro one of our MTC presidency, PRes McIff who showed us "Helping Hands" a video about the church helping in NYC, its amazing, I cried and I think its available of the Church website, you should find it and watch it. But the best was movie night, we watched Elder Bednar's talk, The Character of Christ, it was amazing. The whole thrust of the talk was that the Character of Christ is that "He turns out in service, compassion and love towards others when the natural man in you and I would turn in." We must be like Christ in that we must turn out in service towards others even when we think we can't or we don't want to. if we are to become more like Christ, we have to do what He would do, quit thinking about ourselves and constantly be converted. Its amazing. If you can find it online watch and learn.
Teaching this week has been great, one of our investigators accepted the baptismal invitation which was very exciting, I know its just pretend but the Spirit is still very real and being able to teach in Armenian is so very exciting. I had an interview with my teacher this week and it was so enlightening, we really have the best teachers here. Brother White interviewed me and just told me that I am doing well, that I am going to be a fine missionary and that I need to stop worrying about comparing my growth to others. Comparison really is the thief of Joy, we have to be so careful. So I have some things to work on, which is great.
Well on this Thanksgiving I thought that I would express my thanks for All of you. having the support of friends and family through letters and prayers really makes all the difference. My time here is coming swiftly to a close and it really is hard to believe that I will be in Armenia before I know it. I am thankful for this Gospel for the joy that it brings in my life. It is the difference between happiness and joy, because I know that God speaks today, that He loves me and that He is mindful of me. He has given me the chance to be His representative and share that joy with others and I am so grateful for that. I love you all so much! Have a wonderful thanksgiving! My blessings from the Lord are innumberable and my knowledge of that makes all the difference.
xoxoxoxoxo Sister Claire Haynie
its been a great week all in all. Getting over a bout of cabin fever, been here 6 weeks and though the time has passed quickly, it is still a little hard to be on one small campus day in day out. But all is well, the language is progressing, this week we memorized the first half of the First Vision in Armenian! Very exciting! I recite it every night before I fall asleep, and while I am holding plank in P90x. But yesterday was amazing because all of our teachers, (including a new teacher Sister Crawford, who reminds me so much of Sis!) gave us a cultural workshop on Armenia. We learned all about the Genocide, the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church and watched a youtube video called 8 minutes in Armenia, you should all watch it! I was just filled with a love for these people and I really can't wait to go and meet them!
This week we enjoyed learning for so many people in Devotional a firesides. Elder Pieper of the 70 came this week and talked about the importance of agency and said, "all learning, growth and progress depends on choosing to act in accordance with true principles." I love that, we must act according to what we know, its all about integrity. We also had a presentation fro one of our MTC presidency, PRes McIff who showed us "Helping Hands" a video about the church helping in NYC, its amazing, I cried and I think its available of the Church website, you should find it and watch it. But the best was movie night, we watched Elder Bednar's talk, The Character of Christ, it was amazing. The whole thrust of the talk was that the Character of Christ is that "He turns out in service, compassion and love towards others when the natural man in you and I would turn in." We must be like Christ in that we must turn out in service towards others even when we think we can't or we don't want to. if we are to become more like Christ, we have to do what He would do, quit thinking about ourselves and constantly be converted. Its amazing. If you can find it online watch and learn.
Teaching this week has been great, one of our investigators accepted the baptismal invitation which was very exciting, I know its just pretend but the Spirit is still very real and being able to teach in Armenian is so very exciting. I had an interview with my teacher this week and it was so enlightening, we really have the best teachers here. Brother White interviewed me and just told me that I am doing well, that I am going to be a fine missionary and that I need to stop worrying about comparing my growth to others. Comparison really is the thief of Joy, we have to be so careful. So I have some things to work on, which is great.
Well on this Thanksgiving I thought that I would express my thanks for All of you. having the support of friends and family through letters and prayers really makes all the difference. My time here is coming swiftly to a close and it really is hard to believe that I will be in Armenia before I know it. I am thankful for this Gospel for the joy that it brings in my life. It is the difference between happiness and joy, because I know that God speaks today, that He loves me and that He is mindful of me. He has given me the chance to be His representative and share that joy with others and I am so grateful for that. I love you all so much! Have a wonderful thanksgiving! My blessings from the Lord are innumberable and my knowledge of that makes all the difference.
xoxoxoxoxo Sister Claire Haynie
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