12-7-09

Hey Mom and Dad,
Sounds like you've had a pretty good week. That's nice you got to see Grandma Snow. It's cool, any older person here you can just call dadik or papik (grandma or grandpa). There seems to be a lot of them. Especially poor old drunk men. They're so sweet though. Last night we gave a nice old man some money to get of the marshutni ( like 25 cents). Wonderful, poor people. Elder King is very compasionate. I need to be a better friend for him and be better at communicating like you said, mom. I'm glad you two have some nice time together, that's important.
That's cool you're almost ready for Christmas. I'd gladly climb on your roof for you:) What wonderful neices and nephews we have. I'm excited for their new years. We'll eat so much! I didn't get your little package yet, but Elder King thinks it'll still come. Speaking of Christmas, I need to get you the number to call for Christmas. I should have it next time. I hope it doesn't cost too much. That'll be nice though, to get to talk to you again. My favorite part about Christmas in America is how much people change. It really is wonderful.
Mom, sounds like you are really loving Sunday school. I like hearing what you are teaching and learning about. Tell Eric I said hi and am thinking about him, as well as everyone else. It'd actually be nice if you could get his email for me. That's cool that Summer came over to hang out with you. She's a great friend. And yes, the Blanc's will be here maybe this month, I believe. There's about 8 senior couples in both Georgia and Armenia. That's a lot. I'm not sure where the Blanc's are going though. Elder King will actually probably leave at the end of the month. That will be really interesting to see what happens.
One of the Area Presidencies came to our mission this week, which was pretty neat. His name is Elder Schwitzer. He is living in Russia and knows a little from being a mission president, which is impressive. He is pretty and a very sweet man. I really liked him. He went on a tour of Armenia and Georgia, so we got to go to two meetings with him. There was a very strong spirit, and he gave both people wonderful blessings. After his talks, I really wanted to deepen my studies of the scriptures and Preach My Gospel. There is precious truths in every part of both of those, and there's so much I have to learn. I could tell he has spent much of his life in the scriptures. I love our Mission President so much as well, he came too. President Dunn loves people so much and is very wise and sociable.
I also got to go to a meeting with Elder Lowe from my group this week when we were in Yerevan, which was hard but way fun. It was a nice mission conference. I got to meet some more of the missionaries here, which was nice.
The language is still moving forward. I'm starting to feel pretty confident, and I even starting translating simple things for the Van Dyke couple.
I'm doing good though. I love you and appreciate your love and letters. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas this year. I miss not seeing the Christmas devotional. Maybe we'll figure something out. Have a nice week.
Love,
Elder Wainwright


Jnl 12/3/09 Thurs
Yesterday was so nice. I felt really comfortable with Elder King, and we had some fun together. I really love Elder King a lot and am grateful for who he is. He loves to learn, grow, and be challenged. He also loves people and is very compassionate as President Dunn said. I like how Elder King studies and uses many resources to help him. He is studying from armenian poetry and from latin right now. He also tries very hard to make me happy. I wonder how happy I seem? I can do better at being happy. Elder King is also very creative and likes being resourceful.

Jnl 12/5/09 Sat
We have been blessed these last couple of days. Well... sorta. We also have been losing things like crazy. I read a nice talk from Pres. Eyring, though, where he said how important it is to somehow remember all that God has done for us. He would write in his journal every night something that had happened that day. I think I can for sure do that. That would be really nice. One example, yesterday Elder King left the phone in a taxi, which often means it's a goner in this society. However, the wonderful taxi driver happened to answer when Jirar called, got it to Jirar, and we happened to meet Jirar on his way to bring us the phone. It was a nice little blessing. Then we sat on the same marshutni as Lilia, the Apostate, which I'm not sure if that was good or bad, but she apeared rather uncomfortable. Then today, Elder King lost his poetry notebook that had a precious letter in it. Fortunately, on our way home we stopped the taxi driver so he could look where it likely fell. I didn't see it, but as I prayed that he would find it, we saw it in the street. It's nice that God wants us to have all we want and need. Little experiences like those are simple, but they build my faith and help me know i'm being watched over by a loving Heavenly Father. I know He will answer all of our worthy prayers.

"God bless us, every one."
- Tiny Tim