Off to Armenia we go!

THE FOLLOWING IS US TAKING YOU TO ARMENIA WITH US AND ALL OF THE IN BETWEEN PLACES WE EXPERIENCED.

 Here we are leaving the MTC for the Salt Lake Airport for Armenia - via New York and Vienna, Austria.  We are on the second bus to leave.  You should have seen the first bus which was very plush!  Oh well.  We were happy to be getting started on this 18 month journey across the world.  You can see Larry in the bus among the other missionaries (who were going to Korea).

In New York, we are ready to leave on this Austrian Airline bound for Vienna.  Some man, not Larry standing in front.

Here are some pictures of a very old Cathedral in Vienna -

This is a very beautiful art museum called Belvedere Museum (This Baroque masterpiece shows the world's largest collection of paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka).

 I think Elder Eyre is having way too much fun!

 The grounds are so beautiful and yet it is wintertime.  Can you imagine what summer would look like?

 The following pictures Elder Eyre took inside until he was told not to take pictures!

At night when we exited the museum

Here are some pictures of what we saw as we walked through parts of Vienna:

 WE COULDN'T AFFORD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM HERE BUT WE ARE SURE THE MUSIC WOULD ADD ALOT TO THE EVENT!

                                                    

                                                       A Restaurant where we ate lunch!!!

 Remember, they speak German in Austria

 Outside a church

This is our little apartment in the Mission home.  The Mission home is where President and Sister Carter live.  It is a three story place.  Actually, it was a three apartment building (one above the other) at one time.  We are staying on the floor level and here are some pictures:

We have really enjoyed our time here so far.  It took a day or two to feel like we could hold our heads up!  Oh, so exhausted and tired!  We were given instructions from the Mission President.  He is such a wonderful person along with his wife and have helped us really feel the Spirit of the work here and how wonderful it will be as we seek to follow the Spirit and listen to the Spirit.  One of the things that I was most excited about is that we get to teach the gospel to the Armenian people in our home along with the missionaries.  So, even though office work is important and we will be doing that all day every day, at night we get to help teach!

We had Thanksgiving dinner here but the food is very very different and nothing taste's the same.  Even the turkey tasted different.  The ingredients that you would use to make a pumpkin pie is not here!  Like evaporated milk.  Here we are eating Thanksgiving dinner with the missionaries in one of the districts (the day after we arrived here):

It is not hard to get caught up in the spirit when you are with missionaries such as these.  We have been told that the strength of those in the latter days would be great and these Sisters and Elders certainly exemplify that prophecy.  You will note that one in the picture is not a missionary.  That is Eric, an Armenian, he is a driver for the humanitarian couple who are sitting at the other end.  The humanitarian couple go all over Armenia looking for and setting up charity and humanitarian projects.  Like restoring water to the villages, building nurseries, and neo-natal units and it goes on and on.  

We hope through some of the future pictures we share that you may get a sense of being here and get to know the Armenian people through us.

This is truly the Lord's work.  Many of the senior couples will teach a lesson and bear their testimony working through a translator.  Rare is the occasion that those hearing the lessons do not feel the spirit even though they do not understand the words, but they feel something and they want to know more - all from the feelings put forth by those speaking by the Spirit.  That in itself is a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  We want to learn the language and it will take some time.  We know and understand that without the Lord's help we will not be able to.  We know the Book of Mormon is another testament of Christ.  We love reading and studying it.  We know that Jesus lives and is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.  We hope and desire that you too may feel a little of that as we share with you the work we will be doing here and the many experiences we have that are truly blessings of the Spirit. 

We love you.  We love Armenia!

Elder & Sister Eyre