Glendale, California:  Week 32

Hello all!

Wow, this week we finally hit... 100 days in quarantine! Well, not complete quarantine I guess, things have opened up a bit by now. In fact, I got to go back to church this Sunday for the first time in months! One ward in the stake began back at church this week, and we have someone we're teaching who wanted to attend some church meetings, so we got permission to attend that ward with him.  It felt good to be back, but so weird. Everyone was 6 feet apart, masks, no singing or piano playing, etc. 

Also I like this house we're staying at. The other day Elder Hubner and I were just making some phone calls outside because the weather was nice, and 2 tiny baby lizards showed up! We caught them and enjoyed their presence for a little while, then let them go. Next week is transfers so I may be moved out of here, but we'll see.

Have a great week! 

Elder Clayton

Երեց Քլեյթոն

Glendale, California:  Week 31

Hello!

This transfer is the last one with our mission president and his wife. President and Sister Wells have been awesome, really supportive and loving.  They've been a huge blessing to me in my mission so far, and I can't wait to meet the new mission president in a couple weeks!

Also, this week I read Acts 5, about Peter and John after they have been preaching of Christ, working miracles, and are arrested and brought before the counsil. The counsil, clearly not liking the message they're spreading, commands them not to preach of Christ, but the way the apostles react is amazing.

        "40  And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

        41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

        42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

Wow, now that's discipleship. Not only did they not stop preaching of Christ, they left the counsil "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." They knew so strongly that what they were doing was right and true, that when they faced rejection and persecution, they rejoiced. Testifying of the savior Jesus Christ is not easy, but when we are willing enough to open our mouths, teach what we know, and "suffer shame for his name," it's truly a reason to rejoice.

So that's a new favorite scripture of mine I wanted to share.

Besides that, nothing too major happened this week. Things are still going well.

Have a great week!

Elder Clayton

Երեց Քլեյթոն

Glendale, California:  Week 30

Finally we got some good in person contact! :)

This was a good week. On Friday we went on a hike to get some fresh air, so we got together with 4 other missionaries and started climbing a nearby mountain. And when we got to the top, there was already a guy up there. We got to talking with him, and found out he had moved here from Armenia 20 years ago. So we started speaking to him in Armenian and introduced ourselves as missionaries. He was really interested and started asking us questions about missionary work and the church, and we ended up having a ~30 minute lesson about the restoration of the gospel, right there on the top of the mountain. It was an awesome discussion! It's the first face to face conversation I've had with an Armenian in months! I understood practically everything he said too, understanding in person is definitely easier than over the phone. So that was my highlight of the week.

We also talked on the phone with a new person this week, who then agreed to meet with us at the church building. I guess we sound a lot older over the phone because when she saw us in person she was like "You're the ones I was talking to?? That's so cute. I thought you were like 30."

And finally, we got to hear a devotional speaker Elder Klebingat, which I enjoyed a lot. He talked for over 3 hours, and said too many cool things for me to list here, but my biggest takeaway was that I want to memorize more scriptures. I've always kind of avoided it, because it seems really hard, but having scriptures memorized is really useful and powerful. And Elder Klebingat has memorized over a thousand scripture verses apparently, not just the references, but the scriptures themselves. That's pretty insane. 

Have a great week!

Elder Clayton

Երեց Քլեյթոն

Glendale, California:  Week 29

This week we got a new Elder in our apartment, reassigned from Mexico. He's really cool, and I think this is going to be a good transfer because the 5 of us get along well and it's already been a lot of fun. 

More good news, restrictions on the quarentine are finally starting to lift a bit. Missionaries are allowed to go out and meet with people face to face for lessons now, as long as they aren't at high risk and they invite us over. We haven't gotten much use out of this yet, since most of the people we're teaching are considered to be at high risk, but it's progress nonetheless.

This week I read John 9, the story of Jesus healing the blind man, which is definitely one of my favorite New Testament stories. The first few verses illustrate a really important truth:

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

"But that the works of God should be made manifest in him." A lot of the time it's hard to understand why such big trials and difficulties are given to us. Being born blind for example. But God gave us our challenges and weaknesses for a reason. It's up to us whether we choose to look to God, allowing him to work in us, heal us, and help us progress. Jesus Christ not only provides physical healing, he can heal our spiritual blindness and allow us to see the light in any of life's trials. 

John 9 is a great chapter, I'd invite you to read it

Anyway, have a great week!

Elder Clayton

Երեց Քլեյթոն

Here's a possum we found in a tree in our backyard. Kinda cute, kinda creepy

Glendale, California:  Week 28

Hello! I hope everyone's doing well.

It's been a fairly good week. Our ward is talking about the logistics of opening back up for church, so that's exciting! Can't wait to get back to a (somewhat) normal sacrament meeting.

All this stuff with the riots though, we've got a quarantine and a curfew now haha. I never would have imagined all this stuff would be happening during my mission. Crazy times

It's hard not seeing our ward members (or anyone) face to face very often, but it's not all bad. One blessing I've noticed is in regard to our weekly Book of Mormon class. We've had it for a few weeks, and it just keeps growing. We have about 13 attendees now, which is double what we had in our old pre-corona BoM class. Since people can just join over zoom, it's a lot easier than gathering physically, so we get a bigger group. 

Also, yesterday night, we got in contact with one of our previous investigators that we haven't talked to in like a month. We didn't have plans to contact him, but Elder Hubner got an email saying that there was someone waiting to join our zoom meeting (we weren't having any zoom meeting at the time). It was our investigator's name, so we asked him if he was trying to join a zoom meeting. He said no, so it must have been someone else with the same name. But he got to talking with us again, and said he prayed earlier that day for the first time in weeks, just hours before we texted him. I know it's not a coincidence we texted him last night! He told us that he once again wants to strengthen his connection with God, and keep meeting with us. :) One of the coolest things about being a missionary is seeing the Lord's hand in people's lives. People's attitudes and overall happiness improve so much as they follow the commandments and genuinely seek to come closer to God, it's amazing to see.

Stay safe, remember to pray always, and have a great week!

Elder Clayton

Երեց Քլեյթոն