Well, this week was really fun.   We had a baptism and i had the opportunity to baptize her. 

We had lots of experiences to help us out.  I'm doing pretty good right now.  It's still been rough with investigators not answering or meeting with us. but, we will overcome the problems. lots of answers to prayers and its been magical.  we had a baptism this week and we made a new key indicator, "the right place at the right time" the requirements are you need to do what you are supposed to do, and then you randomly meet awesome people. we've been learning tons of patience, but we think that the ball will start rolling quickly.  missions are a super blessing because you get to spend two years along side the Lord, all day, every day.  i was reading Moroni 7:45-48 and also 1 Corinthians 13, all it talks about is charity, which is the greatest of all.  it doesn't just mean giving to the poor or caring for the needy, its a lot more than that.  It says in PMG that we follow the commandments because of charity. what? i started thinking about it and charity has to do with everything, why do you think it says charity is the pure love of Christ? because He gave up everything that He had, for us.  i still don't know a ton about charity but that is something that is essential for the kingdom of heaven.  I hope all the missionaries that are in the field, leaving or are preparing to leave are prepared for the greatest time of their lives! shout out to my buddies who hit the year mark last week! love you all

 

Edward and Bella in Armenia... ha ha!

 

This week was pretty crazy.  For the first couple of days we were doing super well.  We went to zone training and we were all pretty bold about everything.  We decided that we need to change everything in our missionary work, again.  We got the Spirit for the first time since the start of the transfer and it changed everything that night! then i got sick... and we went to Lake Sevan with the ward and didn't get home until 11:30, we had khorovats and went and saw old churches.  on Saturday i got really sick again, probably because I didn't take medicine and ate whatever i wanted.  but, yesterday we had a record of less actives come to church! we had ward conference and its a big deal in Armenia.  it was really good for the ward to hear that they need to help us in missionary work if they want a temple here.  then we went to appointments with the other elders and while we were walking home i talked to a Papik on the street and invited us over to eat.  so, he gave us vodka and cold soup.  we ate the cold soup and he drank most of the vodka.  i asked if we could pray for him and he said no.  so i pretended to be sad and he asked, "why are you sad?" and i told him " i just want to pray for you and your family and make sure that you are happy." so he said,"when I'm dead, then you can pray for me." so that was really funny and a highlight of the week.  apparently a flu is going around the mission.? but i talked with the zone leaders today and we talked a lot about what we can do to pay the price and then me and Elder G received tons of revelation just talking with each other.  so pretty much, we are starting to understand why missionary work is still hard when you are doing your best you can.  its awesome, we are feeling more confident and at peace now.  but, that doesn't mean that you can rest! my perspective on missionary work is changing a lot! its really fun and doesn't need to be overbearing.  

• 2 Nephi 28:30

• 30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him thatreceiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.
• He will give us over time and will help us along the way.  He wont give us too much for us to bear! we will all learn from our mistakes and press on!
• look what we found in Sevan

Well, this week what do i say? ive learned a lot about patience and the trials of our faith.  i know that it is hard to be in the middle of a trial and to still be happy all the time, believe me. but, God wants to know what we are going to do, if we are going to press on and accept His will, or give up and not live up to the potential that we have.  I went on a split with my good buddy Elder Kay.  we talked a ton about the things that i used to do to get work rolling, i realized i hadnt done that at all this transfer.  We also talked about what this work needs and what did we come up with? the Spirit.  it is the hardest thing to be in a lesson and not have the Spirit, and its even harder to have the courage to leave if its not there.  this week was just odd in the sense that we couldnt feel the Spirit at all in our meetings.  we didnt know what was wrong, if we sinned, or if God is just doing this.  we were obedient, we prayed a lot and asked for the Spirit.  But, i guess God had a different plan for us, He wanted us to learn something and that thing is this,  " what are we willing to give up, to pay the price.  To help this work press forward.  what is it going to take from us?"  so, we are changing all of our missionary work again. it will all work out and i strongly feel that way.  remember to always keep your head up in the hard times, there is a reason and a lesson to be learned! if you dont believe me, read the scriptures! thats all its about.  

First Week in Gyumri, by Russian Military Base

This week has been a very fun time! I’m getting used to the Gyum's.  The only thing that sucks is travel time.  We have to travel everywhere and it takes forever.  Other than that I love it.  The people here are way different though! They actually joke around but are also way more Russian in their pride about everything.  We have some good work so far and we are doing our best.  Its super stressful up here but its going to be worth it.  There isn’t a ton of news from up here. Oh, we don’t have food.  hahahah but we have been eating a lot of ramen.  We are going to learn how to make chili so that is exciting, it is from the land of my forefathers... funny thing is its not from Mexico! Anyway, we will be living on that for a while.  I want to give a special shout out to Parker Freeman who is having his farewell talk soon, he's going to slay it! So listen ahhah.  Just remember that God loves you! We are lucky enough to live in His promised land.  Trust in Him!!! Independence is awesome! We decided to re-draw the American flag with Utah as apart of the "14" colonies

Transfers and New Companion

Well transfers just happened.  I am now out of my first area and into a place called Gyumri! I always joke with other elders that I know up there that they are in banishment and now, I am there ha-ha, it’s not a coincidence.  Its definitely going to be a tough time because my companion and me are white washing, which means that we are both going there without knowledge and have never served there before.  It’ll be fun; it will take some getting use to.  There are a lot of elect investigators that we have the opportunity of teaching, which is super nice.  There hasn’t been a lot of success here in the past, but that’s about to change! I am definitely going to miss Vanadzor but rather get it over with now than later.  I hope that you all know that nothing is a coincidence and that everything happens for a reason and it’s to make you into the person who you are supposed to become.  Rely on the Savior always and it will be great! Proverbs 3:5-6

5 ¶Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

I love you all.  Good luck wherever you are and recognize the Lord in all things! I will give you more next week! Great khaches and view of Vanadzor

 

Great Week - gorgeous weather and then rain storms!

Well this week was really good.  My companion and me felt that this week we learned a lot more about the spirit and that we taught more by His influence.  Remember how important it is to have His influence in our lives. He testifies of truth and he also warns us of danger.  He also prompts us to help others who need it.  We all need to be humble enough to accept His presence and we also need to be humble enough to heed those promptings to be an example to others.  I hope you are all having an amazing summer, whether you are on a mission or you are at home.  Have the time of your life, we do not have much time here so be happy that this gospel is here and that is has been restored! Make sure that you are all loving each other.  The tree of life in Lehi's vision represents the love of God! The rod is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it fills you with joy that is incomprehensible! For those of you who just went on origination or who are now on it, recognize how lucky you are to witness the beauty of the Gospel and how much the Lord's people have gone through to let us have this opportunity to share it and gain a testimony of it.  When you have time read this talk, "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson.  It is an amazing talk.  Be safe and make sure you are doing the will of God and not the will of man.  Only one way to get back to Him and that's why we need to do it His way! Love you all; sorry it's a short letter

Elder Porcelli

Pictures:

They found baby chicks! 

lunch in a gorgeous field, then caught by a storm, if they lick their plates clean = they will have beautiful wived (Armenian Tradition)

 

Birthday and Baptisms

Well, this week was a week of lots of confusion, blankness and relief.  We had a very interesting start of the week.  We had a jump start to the week, thanks to two past missionaries from America who came for a couple days and helped out.  We had a baptism on Wednesday without my companion, because we had to do splits and our investigator said he was going to Russia so he needed to get baptized as soon as possible. (We made sure he was ready of course)

So, after the very early morning baptisms, three, we had a nice long ride up to Gyumri.  Low and behold our taxi driver tells us he has been smoking since he was 10.  And then we tried to teach him, but he said that he couldn’t... so we said that he can... and then he said he can’t and then I said do you believe in Christ? And he said, how can I not?  So I said, if you believe in Christ, all things are possible.  And he said that's right, and so I said you can quit smoking, so he said again, I cant.  Very interesting how people don’t understand at all the Atonement or Christ's doctrine.  People are too scared to take a leap of faith into the darkness because they've never experienced the power of the Atonement.  When we take that leap of faith saying, "I trust you and know you will help me" there is always a hand there to guide you.  I definitely know that.  I don’t think I really understood the importance of the Atonement until my mission.  

Lets just say first, that I have learned 90 percent of my knowledge that I have about anything on my mission.  So go, if you are worthy to go, go.  Anyway, the atonement is involved with everything in our process of perfection.  We cannot become perfect in this life, but the power of the atonement is what makes it possible to receive the gift of eternal life, in which we will become perfected.  I am still learning a ton about the atonement and I am definitely by no means or even close to perfect.  

Just because I am a missionary doesn’t mean I magically get a free pass from sin for two years, I would say it is even harder on a mission! Satan has worked a lot harder on missionaries and me that I know than he ever has before, and do you want to know why? Because he knows what we can become.  Don’t ever destroy your potential or you hopes or dreams or attitude or character as a servant of Christ because of Satan’s lies.  He wants us to feel like there is no point of return, but there is always a point of safe return in this gospel.  I would challenge you if you have 15 spare minutes in a day or night, to read or watch, President Uchtodrf's talk "Point of Safe Return." I think I have listened to it 10 times this week.  There is always something new that sticks out to me. 

I do want some suggestions on what you all want to hear about missionary work or what you want me to write about next week, I feel like my letters start out short and then they always become over-bearingly long.  Anyway, it's awesome here in Armenia! The people are pretty much the same.  It sucks not to be able to swim, because it’s hot.  I will have some pictures next week. Love you all and I love my bros and sisters who are serving out there in the world!