Week 72  Lock down

Well, this has been a very unexpectedly interesting week. Kicked it off with going to Lilo, which is the 3rd largest bazaar in the world. Talk about a maze and a lot whole lot of crap. Didn't find what I wanted, but ended up finding it at our normal bazaar . We went to go find some members that lived over there and that turned out to be a major goose chase. So these inactive members phones numbers don't work so we went out to go see if they even still live there. Well for one, we went back and forth and asked a million people if she lived there. W never found her so went to another member and again the same thing. A lot people told us to ask the market people, so for future reference if your in a small town ask the market people...they know things! FYI, never found them so no success. Tuesday was...interesting. We headed down to armenia for a mission leadership conference with the zone leaders. President Picard want us to now go by public transport (instead of highering a private driver). We were going to take a marshrutka but that was full. So we took a van instead which was already pretty packed. They put all four of us (Elder Whittaker, Elder Crapo, me and Sister Mercer) in the back. Which, by the way only had three seats. So we crammed all 4 us in 3 seats. So that was a fun 6 hour drive. Once we got there we met up with some Armenian sisters and went to a meeting. I guess word got around that I know how to say my testimony in Persian so they asked me if I could do so. Of course I did. It was super cool actually, cause my memorized testimony in Persian, was on the very things we were talking about...that God loves us and hears our prayers. So looks like I'm a Persian missionary now😂. Wednesday was the meeting and it was interesting. Basically only talked about Armenia. They have 37 missionaries which means more problems I guess. We never really got to talk about Georgia and our missionaries needs. But, I am going to talk to president about that. We are all thinking about how we need one meeting like this specifically for Georgia because yeah we are the same mission but we do live in 2 different countries speaking two different languages so of course we are gonna have different problems. We have zone conference this coming week which was planned at the very last second. Sister Mercer and I are giving a training...yeah for STL life😑. Well, they made us stay til Thursday, instead of just Wednesday in Armenia. Sister Mercer got real sick during this time so we ended up taking a taxi back. More room so that was nice. Since we got back we have been inside really, since sister Mercer has been sick. Exchanges were canceled. We did some branch work and went to game night. We tried to have some meetings but we were advised not to because of illness. The Isani sisters were also sick so Sunday morning sister Mangum (senior missionary) called and said it would be best for all of us to stay home and not spread the sickness any further. The children activity was canceled yet again. I haven't been sick so I dodged that bullet. But the rest of all the sister got sick. So basically the whole weekend we were on "lock down". Nothing to crazy to report besides that. This week is zone conference and sister Mercer's birthday so that will be fun. Hopefully everyone is feeling better by then.

  

Spiritual thought: something I've been thinking a lot recently is how god prepares us for things so that later down the line you can use those learned skills another time. I have seen this countless times on my mission. Even before it too! Before my mission I was called as a gospel principles instructor which pushed me, but helped me a ton for my mission. Being a solo missionary in the MTC helped to prepare me for my mission even more so. On my mission I have experience that helped to push me so the next time something like it comes up, I'm fine and I can do it. What's so cool about this is that gods plan and the way he helps to push you and help you learn/ or prepare you is so personal. My experiences were for me, not for someone else. God knows us so well, and knows when to guide us and how yo push us. It's pretty magnificent if I say so myself. 

Well that was the week, til' next time!

- და ჯენსენი