Friday, May 29, 2009

Remembering Truman G. Madsen

Truman Madsen passed away yesterday. He was our Mission President in the 1960s. I vividly recall sitting in a District Conference in the old Bangor meetinghouse on Center
Street, daydreaming through the session, as 10 year olds sometimes do, when my eyes passed over President Madsen, who was addressing the congregation - he was glowing - I mean really glowing. A light from within. I remember it well, because at the same time the spirit witnessed to me in a profound way that what he was saying was absolutely true and that I was to pay attention and listen carefully. He was testifying of the reality of the Restoration of the Gospel and the sacred role that the Prophet Joseph Smith played in its coming forth. It was a pivotal event for me.

Thursday, May 28, 2009



Last night our young women made dinner for the Branch leaders. Here pictured are Diana (an investigator), Reima, and Ani - they are sisters.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

This is the Chobanyan family on the day of Astrik's baptism. The parents are Armen and Gayane (our YW president). Astrik is often the only child at Primary on Sundays - she and I have a good time doing activities together between Sacrament Meeting and RS. She is very bright and understands some English - her Dad has very good English skills. I am one of Gayane's visiting teachers - they live in a village outside of Yerevan. The last time we were at their home, we were served ice cold apricot nectar. It was so delicious, I made the mistake of exclaiming how good it was - then she absolutely insisted I take a big 3 liter jug of it home with me - and now she has promised as soon as apricot season comes we will have more - so generous of her! Great family!


These are our missionaries, Elders Larson and Ellison - the guy in the middle is Iranian - great guy! We like him so much! Elder Larson had a lung collapse in the MTC in March - but he recovered quickly from the surgery and came with his group as planned. We love our missionaries - they have several investigators at Church every week!!

More pictures from T'bilisi - the top one is the Parliament Building - many protestors there in the evenings. I don't know what the other building is - I just thought it looked interesting.


We went by this McDonald's while in T'bilisi Georgia a couple of weeks ago - I just had to snap a picture!