Preach My Gospel: Chamkarmon

Hello everyone,

It's been a quick week and much has happened.

I finished out my days in Baku, including a farewell party thrown by the Baku members on Wednesday and a few last goodbye's on Thursday. On Friday Elder Horn and I spent our last day together in Takhmao. We got a few good lessons in, and Elder Horn gave me tips as I would be assuming the new leadership position in Chamkarmon. Saturday Morning I took my bags to the Mission home, and met up with Elder Bostrom.

Elder Bostrom is a cool guy. He's 20 years-old, born and raised in Washington, and we have some things in common. He's been in the country for only a couple months and has already learned a lot. I have appreciated his assistance as I figure out my new responsibilities and become acquainted with the new area.

I've basically been assigned as the cook of the house now, so we eat pretty healthy and rice has been eliminated from the diet. We went to the market and purchased meat, eggs, various vegetables, and other staple food-items this morning. Now that i'm a senior companion and with an american, I'm really excited for a "Healthy" transfer. Despite the hassle of preparing my own food, I get to choose what I eat, which makes me happy.

The new district is great. It's just 4 of us: Elder Bostrom and I, Sister Fife and Sister Dy (Pronounced like the letter "D"). I haven't officially seen the sisters since arriving to the area. I was concerned when we didn't see them in sacrament meeting, so I called them and found out that one of them had dropped something on their foot and they weren't able to proselyte that day.

The new branch is nice. The Branch president seems kinda quiet, and maybe a little scary even, but i'm excited to work with him. The members are nice, they like to call the elders and involve us in the branch activities and fellow-shipping efforts (which I really like and haven't seen much in previous areas).

My new house is really small, but it's very manageable and clean. With only two elders in the house the dishes miraculously get cleaned after every meal, the floors stay swept, and the laundry gets done. Although the larger elder's houses are always a party, I'm really enjoying the peaceful feeling of the new house. The Vietnamese elders live right next door. They are also pretty quiet, despite momentary visits now and then.

Since arriving in the new area I've made an effort to familiarize myself with all the people we teach, their names, and locations of residence. With the help of the CBR books, we've located and met with a few investigators and some less-actives.

Sunday night we went and met with an older chinese couple. It was my first time teaching Chinese people, and it was an interesting lesson. The man was from china but had picked up a bit of khmae, so we communicated in our common language. The wife knew a handful of khmae, but not enough to carry on a conversation for long. We asked the man if we could read a scripture together and he went to get his scriptures. I noticed a refrigerator under his house and I was curious, (refigerators are nonexistent of here, only ever seen in elder's houses) the house had no electricity and I didn't know where the power could come from. He then opened it and pulled his chinese Book of Mormon out of it. That's when I realized that he keeps his books in the refrigerator, not food.

He asked us to find the scripture for him, so Elder Bostrom and managed to find it ...in the Chinese Book of Mormon. It was a challenge, but we managed to find it in less than a minute. It ended up being a good lesson and we even learned a bit of Chinese.

I'm enjoying the new area and the new people I get to meet everyday. I'm especially enjoying the message that I get to share everyday, which is the message of "The Restoration of The Fullness of The Gospel of Jesus Christ." It's a message that I have great confidence in and I'm proud to be able to share it with others. It is a true message.

Have a great week,

Elder Zierenberg

Last day with Elder Horn