5-23-11

Well, my trainee is here. We're in the same area, and the zone leaders are now the two district leaders that were serving under me. Funny, huh. And now I am one of their district leaders. Elder Smith is his name. My trainee. He is a great missionary. He has a lot of excitement and is very diligent. He is diligent both in the language and with the work. He really wants to love the people and make a difference. I think he'll grow up to be a fine missionary. He's going to be speaking the language very well very soon if he keeps working at it like he is. I liked your advice to make sure to have time to laugh and enjoy ourselves. I'll try and do that. I think it can take people a while sometimes to understand my sense of humor. I think we're going to do good work together, though. He's willing to put himself out and teach, even when it's hard. Understanding is still pretty hard, but it'll come. I forget how hard it was to strain to differentiate words from each other, let alone understand what they're asking or saying. It really does take the Holy Ghost for us to be able to understand each other.

This is interesting, there have been three branches (or six I guess) that have been merged together in the last month or so. Alaverdi is now part of Vanadzor. I think it's going to be a big faith tester for the members, but I hope it will help them grow stronger and try even harder. If they come, it has to be on their own bill, which won't be easy. President Schwitzer and the Eastern Europe Area Presidency have counseled to focus on centers of strength. That's one of the main reasons why they did it. President Carter is trying to lay the foundations for a stake in Armenia. There's a long way to go, but I can see how it will help.

Anyway, better go. It's been great. I'll have to tell you how things are going next week. Love you so much.
With much love,
Elder Bruce Wainwright

5-1-11

We met some really nice people this week. One of them is Karen who is an intelligent less-active man that we visited. Elder Crawford said Karen is his favorite less-active member in Armenia. He's a quiet man who likes to think and talk about people and try to solve the problems of the world. He's a little sick, but is starting to exercise and is trying to prepare to receive a calling. We want to try and do some service for him this week. I like him a lot.

We also met with two sisters who are preparing for baptism. They are wonderful women. Both are very happy and very pleasant. They are so willing to change. Elder Crawford taught about the Word of Wisdom last lesson and they had quit drinking coffee before we met again, because "if a prophet asked [them] to do it, then [they] better do it." One of the sisters had met with missionaries before, but didn't feel right about it and she said this last time that she realized God wanted her to wait for her sister who is less spiritual and who was here for a month or two from Russia. Elder Crawford is really excited for them, and I am too.

We decided to do a deep cleaning in our house today. It needs it pretty bad. We got a good start already this morning. This apartment has been a Zone Leader apartment for at least three years, so that means a lot of missionaries have gone home from here and over the years the things they've left behind have been gathering. It's a nice apartment, but it will be much nicer when it is de-junked. It will be nice.
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Well, that's what's happening here. I'm way excited to be able to talk to you next week. I love you so much. Thank you for everything and for being so great. Tell Gary to take care of himself. I don't like scary dogs either. Now I know why Ionut is so afraid of dogs. Wild dogs running around on the streets are not the same as well taken care of dogs. Love you.

Love,
Elder Bruce Wainwright