cafe lunch

On Friday, Dad and I attended a job fair at the Marriott. We had a plan to meet our translator, Kristina, at the fair at 13:00, and we were hurrying so we hadn't had time to eat, so we grabbed a quick lunch at the cafe in front of the hotel.

FHE

For FHE tonight we met the other 4 Senior missionary couples at the Afrikin Flat Restaurant in Yerevan. After a very good Armenian dinner some of us went over to Republic Square to see the fountain lit up, but it wasn't running. I did snap this picture of one of the 4 main buildings surrounding the square, which is touted as the most beautiful public square built in the 20th century.

Dad and I got caught in the rain tonight, walking from market to market on our way home, and of course we'd left the umbrella at the office (the top picture is of the Center Chapel / CES Building and our office is one of those basement windows, the other one is inside the office). It takes us about 4 or 5 markets to get everything on our grocery list, but it's fun and the merchants are very friendly and helpful. When Dad reaches into his pocket for change and holds out the palm of his hand to see what he's got, they often reach right into his palm and pick out what they need - it happens frequently in various markets. Bread dries out completely after one day, so we have to buy that every day; fortunately it is one thing that is pretty cheap. Most of the fresh produce is displayed outside the store and you pay a clerk right there on the sidewalk after he or she weighs it up.

We are trying to learn the language - not even a glimmer of a hope we'll ever be fluent, but enough to survive - but whenever either one of us uses a word or phrase in public, EVERYONE turns to look at us. I said "kargahnell" when we wanted to get off the marshrutny the other day and everyone whipped around to see who said that. When we got to the office I asked one of our Armenian friends what I should have said, and he assured me I'd said it right - he smiled and said my american accent was what they were reacting to - so I guess we don't exactly blend in. The marshrutnys are often crowded with not enough seats for everyone, but usually a man will offer me a seat and he and Dad stand crouched over since a marshrutny is just a 15 passenger van - certainly not big enough for a 6 ft man to stand up in - anyway, Dad hangs on and keeps his balance as best he can as we weave in and out of heavy traffic on often bumpy narrow streets. And the driver keeps right on stopping to let more people climb aboard. I'm not kidding, sometimes I actually laugh outloud it's so ridiculously packed with people. They must break world records. It is such a blessed relief whenever anyone gets off and we all adjust to more space, maybe someplace to put your left foot, or being able to sit with your tush completely on the seat instead of just halfway.

For the second time since our arrival, we about got shaken out of our bed the night before last with their 21-gun salute, which I guess is their custom to mark any major event or holiday. The first time it happened, at the inauguration of the new president, I seriously gained a measure of insight into what it must feel like to be bombed! Our old soviet-era apartment building shook with every blast! They do it late at night and it sure gets everyone's attention.

Friday

Dad's had a nasty cold, so we've stayed in our apartment for 2 days, but he's some better this morning, so it will be nice to get out into the sunshine today. We are attending a job fair at the Marriott this afternoon. It's sponsored by the American University of Armenia and the American Embassy as well as others. This picture shows the Marriott in the distance - it is a newly rennovated building, part of the Republic Square, formerly Lenin Square. We hear much of Maine is under water with spring flooding and also that Bill and Corinne Roberts are moving to Bowdoinham, ME where he is taking a job as lead draftsman. Have a great day, everyone! We love all of you and your emails and blogs!!!

Albert & Heidi in front of a government building in Sophia, Bulgaria.
April 23rd 2008

President Pieper said that missionaries serving in Europe East are more deeply touched than those who serve in the rest of Europe. He thinks it's because this area has remained in darkness so long.

Elder Pieper said they took a group of 50 people, journalists, scholars and government people to the open house of the Helsinki temple. Afterward an atheist conducted an interview on the media. He said that he had had an experience that he had never had anything like it before. He had visited the Mormon temple. He said the churches in Russia were dark. People came into them, knelt and there was no light. What he saw in the Mormon temple was light for a future, not only for the individual but for families including ancestors. He said that there is hope that a soul, even mine, and he pointed to himself, can receive salvation. Since his interview the media in Russia have changed.

The ancestors of the Russians are working on their posterity. There were 15 family history centers in Eastern Europe a year ago. Now there are 350. People are clamoring for them. They are having dreams, like a sister who said that her sister appeared in a dream and asked her to do her temple work. Twenty five million Russians died in World War II.

Elder Pieper and his wife befriended a couple a couple years ago. The man is a Colonel and used to aim guns at U.S. planes that came close. One day Elder Pieper felt inspired to invite this man to go with him to a youth conference. After the conference this Colonel said, "Now I have hope for the future of Russia." Eventually his wife called the Piepers to say she thought her husband was ready to listen to the missionaries. When he said he wanted to be baptized a young missionary looked him in the eye and said you can't. This tough old Colonel wanted to know why. The young elder said, "Because you are not ready." This Colonel was not used to having someone in authority talk to him that way and he was upset at the young missionary. However, the old Colonel spent the night in prayer. After that night in prayer he said the elder was right. He wasn't ready. He was baptized and this spring he said he wanted to go to general conference. He attended the Piepers and Elder Pieper sealed him and his wife in the Salt Lake temple and on April 3rd he and his wife had baptisms performed in behalf of their mothers, both of whom had died on an April 3rd.

The Europe East Area covers 11 time zones and extends from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. It's the biggest Area in the church. Elder Pieper has to cover only 9 time zones. He and his family have lived here 10 years now. He said the people in this Area have no hope except in the Church. Everything they have ever hoped for has never come to fruition. Those friends that were baptized wish they had known the gospel earlier. She wishes she would have had 8 children. The people in Eastern Europe love to see our families' pictures. They need to see that fathers are authorities in their homes, because in East Europe women traditionally run the house.

The newly sustained Seventy from the Ukraine is a wonderful man, Elder Pieper said. He was demoted twice by his company, because they didn't want someone with strange beliefs in a high position. Picketing and demonstrations formed outside their Branch meeting place.

Those are some of the things Elder Pieper taught us 22 senior couples as we sat at our tables in a Best Western City Hotel in Sophia, Bulgaria.

We've visited 4 of these Orthodox Churches, including the Armenian Apostolic churches now and they are really dark. They have no pews. People buy candles and light them. They really are like dungeons and the murals are ancient and dim. I'll see what we have for photos and attach one.