Well, this week had a lot of ups and downs and crazy things that happened.  Our first two days this week, none of our appointments actually happened except one of them. So, it was really hard to plan for a little bit.  I went to Yerevan on Friday and saw a lot of my MTC buddies and they were all super happy.   Yesterday, we had the most people at sacrament than in the past; around 90 people, and we had one of our investigator families come and they were super excited and really loved it. The grandma who is 80 and doesn’t show emotion was super stoked to be there and see the baptismal font!  It started to feel like a hectic sacrament meeting at home which I absolutely loved!

This week I’ve learned so much about myself and that I really need to rely on the Lord for everything and not rely on my own ability to do everything.  My mission president and his wife are honestly like angels. They helped so much when we visited Yerevan and really opened my eyes on a lot of things.  

We had to drop my first ever contact because he said that he already knows everything about the Book of Mormon even though he’s never read it and he says he loves talking with us but thinks he's already found his way back to God through Hare Krishna.  It’s super hard and it was really difficult for me to make the decision to drop him because he is super smart but just doesn’t want to change.  I learned a really good lesson after that though, because I was being really stuck up after that and I was acting really prideful thinking that I knew everything and exactly what he needed.  The spirit wasn’t there, and it really hurt me because I thought I was doing what I was supposed to.  But then I learned the most important lesson I’ve learned so far, and that’s how to be humble, always.  I started thinking about how I can become better and not let my pride get in the way of people’s progress.  Since then, my last couple of lessons have changed because I didn’t judge them at all for their opinions and I was always keeping a prayer in my heart asking the Lord what these people needed, and they have been so much more receptive since then.  I know it’s hard to explain over email but the main point is the spirit is the real teacher and I need to do my best to not get in the way of his work.  Sorry that this email is kind of all over the place, but this week has meant a ton to me and I’ve met a lot of interesting people.  

Something that was interesting that happened, was yesterday a guy pulled over right outside our apartment and told us that he wanted us to come with him and his friend and they'd give us a ride.  I didn’t want to but we got in anyway and I found out that he was hammered drunk and they started going the opposite direction we needed to be headed, he wanted us to come over and pretty much party with him and he was swearing a ton but it was hilarious.  We eventually got back to the church and he drove off.  Hard to explain, but it was hilarious.  (Disclaimer:  Andrew’s mom doesn’t think it hilarious and will make sure he knows NOT to get into those situations again!)

The weather here has actually been awful and freezing.  It’s not warm at all and it’s always windy, but vochinch. 

I have one thing that I feel really strongly that we need to start doing right now.  We need to get all of our family's temple work done.  It’s so important for them, who have passed on, for us to do their temple work.  That is one of the reasons why we do missionary work is so that their families can have the blessings that we have.  I just wanted to let you know because it’s been on my mind a lot lately.  Good to hear that everything is going well at home!

​Sorry I don’t have a ton of pictures, I’ll try and get a lot more for next week, and I just can’t send the pictures that have different people in them

-- 

Elder Andrew Porcelli

(The scariest dog ever.... likely the

dog from the Sandlot)