2-14-11

2-14-11 The work was a little slow this week. We haven't been able to have consistent contact with our investigators. We're working with a woman named Kristine and her aunt that she lives with. Her daughter has some health problems and it is hard for Kristine. She seems to have a hard time trusting God, and her life revolves around her daughter. It can make it hard to teach her. She's a wonderful woman and she knows the church is true, but seems to not be ready to put her trust in God by getting baptized and fully giving up her will for God's. It's hard to know how to help her. We want to help her build her faith, but we can only do so much. I guess it's like what Joseph Smith said about leadership, we have to teach correct principles and let them govern themselves. We haven't been able to meet with Garnik, the taxi driver again, but we gave him the last conference edition so he can read it in his car. He's a nice guy, I hope we can help him. We also had a marshutni driver ( those van-like buses) that invited us to his house. He said he already had a Joseph Smith pamphlet. It might not work out with him, however.

Tell everyone hello. I miss you all and can't wait to sit and talk about good things. I love you so much.

Love,  Elder Bruce Wainwright

2-6-11

Yes, I feel like we are still being blessed in the work. I am really trying to do a better job at helping people "come unto Christ" and encourage them to really change their lives. That's why we're here. This is the only way back to Heavenly Father and to recieve peace and happiness. I'm trying to strengthen my understanding and testimony of the Atonement of Christ so that I can better help people. I read an article from the December Ensign about teaching children the Gospel. There were some good points in there and I feel like in a way that's what I'm doing now and what i will have to do in the future. I feel like I am really learning how to make a difference in the lives of others, or at least I would like to do that. It's not easy, especially to do it well. I want to try and learn from the example of Christ and his other servants in the scriptures and that we have today. Anyway, those are just some of the things I've been thinking about lately.

This week I had an interesting experience. When Elder Crawford and I were driving back from a Gyumri meeting, our taxi broke down and we had to wait an hour for someone to bring a car part. I started reading from the Plan of Salvation pamphlet to try and make use of the time, but started falling asleep. Our nice taxi driver, Garnik, got in the car and I woke up. I asked if he had one of the pamphlets from the missionaries. He didn't, so I offered to read it to him and he agreed. We had a nice discussion as we read it. He said he had invited Elder Cheney to his house, but it didn't work out. We planned up and were able to go to his house and have a nice meeting with his family. I felt like God gave us that opportunity to share some of our message with him and I hope we can help him and his family change their lives and come unto Christ.

This week Elder Blunck, the senior missionary in Vanadzor, has come to a few meetings with us this week. He is an amazing guy and has so much energy. He's pretty sparatic sometimes and loves to make people laugh. I really enjoyed spending time with him. I think there's a lot I can learn from him. It's been a good week overall, and I feel quite happy.
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