Claire's Mission in Armenia: "Well the toilet paper here is scented"

Hello all my dear ones!

Well the weather is freezing, well technically it is beyond freezing, but after we get to -10 who's really counting eh? Well. I celebrated reaching month 3 of the mission. wow. 3 months since you left me like a dirty shirt on the curb of the MTC, hard to believe.

First off, I just want to say that the bread here is literally bread from heaven. it is so good you want to eat loaves and loaves and when you pair it with nutella you are just sure that is must be something sinful. my goodness all is well in life if bread is good. Also, I have recently discovered Bonchic Monchic which is like a beignet that is huge and covered in powdered sugar and filled with chocolate. so good. we got them after an appointment, with our dear member Siranush who comes to meeting after meeting with us and is so strong and faithful and just such a fun person!!! I LOVE HER!!! Also she calls me "Honey:" sister honey, better than hiney. haha.

This week was a bit of a turning point for me. I had a super hard time with the language and feeling like I was progressing, and as I was having a little pity party for myself, the Spirit whispered to me, "This is not about you. focus on others and the words will come." What a wake up call. This work is not about me or my needs of my abilities, this is about helping Heavenly Father's children return to live with Him. So I have changed my focus and it has really helped my attitude about others and about myself. Its been great. This week we met with our dear little 11 year old Armen, his mom is a member and so we have been teaching him and he is going to be baptized on January 26th!!!!! We are so excited and so is he. He loves the gospel and is just so excited to be a part of it. This is the true joy of missionary work, helping those we meet come unto Christ. I read several amazing talks from the last General Conference this week. My goodness the whole world would benefit from reading those talks over and over again. I just love love love them, especially Elder Andersen's talk on trials, and maintaining the proper perspective as we pass through them. Amazing, you should all read it.

Well mum asked a few questions about life here in Armenia so I will give you a little rundown. When we travel to appointments or meetings, etc, we usually walk if it is light out and if its not too far, or we take a marshutni, which are great. There are basically 14 passenger vans that have been remodeled and they smush as many people as you can on it and when ever you want to get out you just yell stop and they stop. its great and Sister Arslanian always makes me do the yelling, and its pretty funny for people to stare at me as soon as then hear me speaking their language. haha. Pretty startling to see a tall brunette with pale skin speaking this language I guess. haha. Also we take a lot of taxis. just your basic taxis, but there are tons of them and they are pretty cheap, so its great, its also a great way to talk to people because you have them captivated. haha. But our days are punctuated with at least an hour walking the streets talking to people which is great. The people here are generally very friendly and willing to talk with us. which is great and so we just smile and say barev and those who are willing talk with us, but lots of people are cold and don't want to stop on the chilly street to discuss their salvation, but its good, we talk and share and try to help and serve whomever we can.

Well it sounds like its been chilly at home, stay warm!!! We stay plenty warm, so no worries mom. My down blanket and jacket are a dream.

So there wer are. here i am in Gyumri Armenia, being a missionary. weird, I still can't quite believe that I'm here. But there are moments in each day when I get a glimpse of the work that he has for me to do, and its amazing, and more and more I am falling in love with this place, as cold and frozen as it is. I really love it, it helps that my favorite color is grey, because that's about all we have here.

I love you all soooooo sooooo much! This is the work of the Lord, as we focus on the needs of others He enlightens our understanding in amazing ways.

xoxoxox Sister Haynie

ps. we have an investigator who believes that she is perfect and everyone else is evil. hmmm, looks like we have some work to do.


NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.