Glendale, California: Week 95

Well, Elder Spens is now off in Africa. We got up at 3:30am on Thursday to drive him to the airport (I'm still recovering from that haha). So now it's back to just me and Elder Stephens.

We also had some interesting lessons this week. For one, we met with our friend Jeremiah several times, and he is super amazing. He's had a rough past, but it's amazing to see how much he's learned about the gospel and how much that's impacted his life. 

We also met with someone named Micha and her dad Edward. They are Lebanese and speak Arabic, French, and English (no Armenian though). Well, this time when we went over they kind of got in an argument, and it got really awkward with us trying (and mostly failing) to bring back the spirit. They kept shooting heated remarks at each other in Arabic while we were trying to pray and read a scripture. And when we were about to leave, Micha pulled us aside and literally forced a $100 bill on us. At first she said "I'm just so thankful for all you guys do for us and for coming over," but we were like no no no, we definitely cannot accept your money for that! Then she said "just pretend I took you out for dinner or something, use it on food," but we were still like no, we don't need $100 for food! Then she started actually getting mad at us and was like "take the money, if you don't take it I'm going to cry," etc. So we just took it cause she was already in an upset mood. Anyway, we're still holding onto it trying to decide what to do. 

Yesterday at church was also a really cool experience. In the English sacrament meeting two Armenian members, Arayik and his son Artur, gave talks. And they are both incredibly faithful and amazing people. Artur talked about his conversion experience with the missionaries back when he was just a teenager, and how he decided to serve a mission, and ended up being called to his own home country (He was the first native Armenian to get called to Armenia). Anyway, it was amazing hearing their stories and testimonies, and really gave me a reassurance that the preaching of the restored gospel among the Armenian people is making a difference, even if it is a slow process. 

Finally, this upcoming Wednesday, I get to go to the LA temple with a bunch of other missionaries! I'm so excited! Like so many others, I haven't gotten to go in the temple for over 18 months. As a mission, we've been preparing by reading a lot of scriptures about the temple and about points of the gospel, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Have a good one!

Elder Clayton

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