Glendale, California:  Week 48

Well our new efforts in trying to find people through Facebook is already paying off! We joined a local Armenian hiking group that goes hiking every Friday, so we went to check it out. It was really chill, a nice little group of about 20 people, and we were the only non-Armenians (and the only people under 30), so lots of people wanted to talk to us and see how we found out about the hike, why we speak Armenian, etc. At the top of the hike, everyone laid out their picnic setup on the tables and started pulling out food, and we had a giant meal together. It was really fun! We talked to one guy for quite a while, and he said he'd like to meet again and talk about the gospel. So we met up on Saturday, got some lemonade and talked, then on Sunday he attended church and liked it! Crazy. It was all completely the Lord's doing, all we did was show up to the hike. 

That's really the only interesting thing I can think of that happened this week, but here's some pictures: Elder Christensen and I with the khachapuri an investigator made, the city view from the top of the hike, and a giant awesome truck in support of Armenia in the war.

Elder Clayton

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 Glendale, California: Week 47

A couple days ago everyone in the mission got trained and approved to use Facebook as a way of finding and talking with new people. We haven't done much with it yet, but hopefully it'll help us spread our FB page content better, and see what's going on in the local Armenian groups. Should be interesting!

We also had the opportunity to go over to someone's house and help them paint a bench and a swingset so that was fun.

Unfortunately, the investigator who was going to be baptized last week decided she isn't going to. It's really sad, she was so excited and happy for it, but she told her friend about it, who then told the church she used to attend.  And I guess some leader of that church came over to her house and told her she wouldn't be welcome back if she got baptized. From all the pressure from her family, friends, and church she's grown up in, it was too much stress, at least for now. But we are keeping in touch with her still, and she continues to add to our weekly church meetings. 

Love you all,

Elder Clayton

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 Glendale, California: Week 46

Well, Armenia and Azerbaijan are at war. I guess Turkey is helping Azerbaijan too? I don't actually know the details, but there are tons of Armenians outside with signs for Artsakh (The area being fought over), and collecting money and supplies for support. And everywhere we go, there are tons of cars waving Armenian flags. It's actually kind of cool, I like how patriotic Armenians are, they're all super serious about protecting their country and culture and stuff. It's sad there are people dying though. Many people we talk with are sad and angry and scared. Which is just more motivation for us to get out and share our message of peace and hope in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!

On a happier note, general conference was great! So many good talks about all the craziness going on right now. I love what President Nelson said about letting God prevail in our lives. If we give preference to God's will in all the things we do, that's how we can achieve the greatest happiness and biggest blessings. 

Finally, we met several times with someone who's been meeting with the missionaries for about a year now. So it's been a long process, but we asked her if she'd like to be baptized, and she said yes! So that's exciting. She's been attending our church meetings for months, and she fits in great with our little group. 

Well, hope you have a good week, bye!

Elder Clayton

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 Glendale, California: Week 45

Tomorrow AP Smethurst goes home. He's one of the coolest elders I know, and a long time friend of us Armenian elders. We'll miss him! We got to play a big game of soccer with him for the last time this morning. We also get 35 new missionaries coming into the mission this week, it's crazy to see how much the mission is growing. There are already so many young and reassigned missionaries, pretty soon I'll be in the older half of missionaries here, if I'm not already.

It's hard to believe it's already time for general conference again. It seems like just yesterday we had the last one. I still remember last time, quarantine had just started, and all us missionaries were wondering if any major changes were coming to missionary work. Anyway, I'm so excited! I would invite all of you to prepare spiritually and be ready to hear the voice of the Lord through his prophets and apostles this weekend. It'll be great.

We also had some nice lessons with people this week. One lady we're teaching is so close to being baptized, and we talked about how that would all work, and discovered she had some concerns about what she would wear and that type of thing. It was a good lesson, the spirit was strong. Also, it's funny, she always just calls us The Elders, so she didn't remember our actual names. So when I told her my name she thought I said "Elder Playphone" haha. 

We also visited a nice family who moved here less than a year ago, so they're in great need of some help understanding English. So we helped them fill out some English paperwork and stuff that they didn't understand. The dad is looking for a better job, and wants to become a firefighter, so we're also helping him look into that. That would be really cool if it works out. 

Have a good one!

Elder Clayton

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 Glendale, California: Week 44

This week we had zone conference, which was great. This was the first time we did it 2 days in a row instead of just really long on one day. I love the spirit that can be felt, and I always learn so much at these mission wide meetings, it's like drinking from a spiritual fire hose! 

I was also reading the book of James this week in my personal study, and even though it's not that long, it's got to be one of my favorite sections of scripture. Chapter 1 speaks of patience, blessings that come from enduring temptation, helping those around you, being a doer of the word and not just a hearer, and of course the famous verse 5 about prayer that led Joseph Smith to ask his question of which church he should join. It's not even that long of a chapter, but it's full of great principles.

Then in chapter 2, starting in verse 14, it talks a lot about having faith and works, not just faith alone. I love it so much, because "faith" often seems somewhat vague and hard to measure, and I find myself wondering how to know how much faith I actually have. But I know that faith always leads to action. What we do shows so much about what we believe. Anyway, I would highly recommend reading these chapters. I've learned a lot about how to show my love towards God, and it feels awesome.

As always, have a good week!

Elder Clayton

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I don't have any good pictures from this week so here's some of me with Brad Wilcox that I just recieved, from when he came and spoke during my first week here.

 Glendale, California: Week 43

Well California is on fire. Everywhere you go it smells like campfire and there's a bunch of smoke. Sometimes the sun is red, and the other day everything was tinted orange (picture attached). We went to the stake center this morning and the ground was coated with a thin layer of ash. Our president told us to be prepared to evacuate, which I don't think we'll need to, but it's still pretty crazy. 

In terms of meeting with people, this week was a bit slow, but not too bad. People are just busy recently. One of the people that the other elders are teaching bought us food at the place she works. It was my first time trying Khachapuri, which is made with bread and cheese and eggs, and tastes really good. 

We also got ahold of a very old list of all the Armenian members from back when there was a branch, because we're trying to figure out who still lives here. We talked to a guy who moved to Utah 8 years ago, and he was very surprised we still have his number. It's kind of unfortunate, it seems like all of the strongest Armenian members end up learning English and moving to Utah. It makes sense, and I'm sure it's a better experience for them over there, but it means the group here in California always stays small. But, it makes me so grateful for the people we do have here. I'm so glad I've gotten to meet them, and when we join online for Sunday school, hearing them bear their testimony is definitely a highlight of the week.

Have a good one!

Elder Clayton

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 Glendale, California:  Week 42 

Oh my gosh, it's so hot! Yesterday hit 115 degrees and our apartment has awful AC so we're basically dying. It feels like I haven't even left Arizona!

But besides that things have been good. We met with the new Armen who I talked about last time, and he's a really cool guy. He's been playing the drums since he was 3, and he played a bit for us on his huge drumset. He told us how 6 years ago when he was meeting with the missionaries, they created a bunch of songs together based on church hymns, and compiled it into cd's called "R-men and the Bros." And when he said that, Elder Christensen remembered that we have those songs downloaded in the computer lab in our church building! We had heard the songs before, but never knew where they were from. Now we know! 

Also, our Armenian online church meetings are going well. We average like 8-10 people each time now, which is definitely an improvement. Now that our ward has English missionaries as well, they started up an English Sunday meeting too, which is cool.

Well, have a great week!

Elder Clayton

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Pictures: we went to a kebab place on Wednesday, and some members brought us kebabs yesterday. It was sweet.