Final E-mail from Armenia

I am just going to dedicate this email to everyone....because I love you all,

Well, I am going to tell you all the truth, I am so happy I never have to write an email again as a missionary... it is fun but also really tiring recounting my life. So I think for this one I am just going to hit you all with some highlights from this last full week, and then I will just talk a bit about Armenia. I guess I will get started now because I've got some bowling to do in a little bit.

So we were super blessed this last week in terms of investigators. If you remember last Sunday, not yesterday, one of our members Venera brought a friend to church, Nelli. Well we went and saw Nelli on Tuesday, had an amazing 1st with her and picked her up as a New Investigator!!! Then Friday when we went to go see Nelli again she had invited her daughter-in-law over, Marietta, and we taught both of them and picked her up as a New Investigator too!!! Then for the last few weeks we have been inviting one of our English Students, Varam, to church and on Sunday he came, loved it and said he would come every week... another New Investigator!!! For those of you counting that was 3 new investigators for Elder Gull and I this week... needless to say we were pretty stoked! The Lord really blessed us this week, we have been going through some rough times, but in the end... the Lord poured out the blessings upon us since we did all we could. All of these investigators are really good too and we have high hopes for them.

Our family home evening went so good on Monday; we talked about missionary work and then watched "Up". Plus my No Bake Cookies were pretty tasty. Today should be really good too, I made Chocolate chip cookies yesterday, which by the way was really hard to do while I was fasting, plus we are going to be talking about temple work for the dead in honor of the Kiev temple opening at the end of this month... after which we will finish "Up".

Well this week at District Meeting we joined Elder Stutz's district and had a really good meeting with them. We talked about teaching a first and really got pumped up to teach the best first lessons ever, I think that is why Nelli's went so well on Tuesday because we had just talked about it. My favorite part of District Meeting though was "The Love Circle". It is this thing where one person is picked and everyone in the room says why they love that person... since I was almost dead, Elder Stutz put me in the love circle and everyone just said super nice things, I felt like I was walking on air afterward!

Another great thing from this week was that I got to go on exchanges with Stix! We had such a great time together; it brought me back to the Nork days. We were in Davtashen and I really just love being around him and am going to miss him for sure when I go home. I can honestly say that Stix is one of my close friends! We had a really good time and just pounded it together for a few days. It is actually really funny because Elder Gull and I have this tradition, when we get a New Investigator we dance that night... Stix and I danced on Tuesday in the dark with Glo-sticks and then on Friday Elder Gull and I danced in the dark with Glo-sticks! Missions are just a great place to make new friends and have a good time.

Church on Sunday was also a really great day. It was my last church in Armenian... it was hard but it was such a great Fast Sunday. Testimony Meeting was really good... almost all of the testimonies were really powerful. The best part was so many people who I have never seen bear their testimonies, like Sedrak and Lia and Smbat, did it and I was loving it. I also bore my testimony and I have to admit, I got choked up and almost cried. I haven't cried for a while I don't know if I ever really have since being on my mission, it was a really great meeting.

Well, those were the main things from the week so I guess I will just finish my mission reminiscing a bit about all the good times.

First off I want to tell you all how much I love and appreciate all the companions I have had and all that I learned from each one of them. They are all wonderful men and I am so grateful I got to serve with them. Elder Halcomb, Elder Harris, Elder Gull, Elder Grigoryan, Elder Garner, Elder Lystrup, Elder Ellison, Elder Carlson, Elder Simonsen, and Elder Gull (round 2). I hope to stay in touch with all of these great friends I have made on my mission and will always cherish the crazy memories.

For those of you who don't know too much about Armenia, it is a really special place. It is just a small Christian country in the middle of 3 Muslim countries (Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran). The history is filled with sadness and difficulties but they are still going strong. The culture is rich and the people are just wonderful. Plus, they have deep spiritual roots having been the first country to accept Christianity as its official religion in 301ad... they tell us that a lot, lol. It really is just an amazing place. Traveling around and seeing the sights you just get a sense of how much history there is here and just how old everything is. There are so many special places in Armenia, 3 of my favorites are Alaverdi, Vanadzor, and Yerevan (especially Nork and Davtashen)... I can't figure out why though, lol.

The people here are very special; they just have so much love. I have always been stunned my whole mission just how loving they are, it is going to be really hard to say good bye to so many friends who I love so much and who love me. The Armenian people even love complete strangers! You don't know how many times I have been invited off the street into someone’s home that fed me so much food and just wanted to show their love. An Armenian would give you their last piece of bread and die rather than think of not "guest loving" you (giving refreshments). They are such a great people, it is hard not to love them... maybe I feel like that because I was called here as a missionary and the Lord has blessed me with that love, but even getting yelled at on the street you still have those feelings of love and disappointment when they just can't comprehend our message.

I have learned so much in general and about myself over the last 2 years. Armenia has changed me forever, and has changed me for the better. I can't wait until the day I can return and see all my friends and experience all of these emotions again. I really will miss this place and a piece of my heart will always be in Armenia.

I guess I will end this email now, I hope you all enjoyed it and I hope that I will hear from you all again. Have a great week, and by the end of it I will be with you all in America.

Love,
Elder Piercy (soon to be just Michael)