The View

This is the view from our bedroom balcony.  That is Mt. Ararat in the background.  It is the Mountain where Noah landed after the flood.  It use to be in Armenia, but is now just over the boarder in Turkey - just one of the reasons Armenia does not get along with Turkey!

Notice the grey splotch over the smaller mountain - it is not a cloud - it is the reason we bought a new camera!

 

I love the flowers that are on our walk to the office.  The wisteria reminds me of my mom!!

The Iris are just like the ones outside our window when we were living at Russ' home.

And of course - how could I not take a picture of the RED window display!!!

The Office

Everyday we take the 7 minute walk from our comfortable apartment to our office.  It is in this building that is owned by the church.  Inside are the Mission Offices, the District Offices and upstairs is the Arabkir Branch.

This is the Foyer to our Mission Offices.

 Elder Reese has a large desk.  Lots of things get left on it!  He is the 'go to guy' for everything here.

 He is responsible for the keys to everything!  On the right is the white board with pictures of every missionary and where they are serving.

 He is also responsible for all the mission money - makes him a very popular guy!

 

This is the reception side of my office - very tastefully decorated and comfortable.  The door behind me is to the Presidents office.  He conducts many interviews there.

 And this is where the work is done.  My computer skills have increased greatly - but it still takes me along time to get things done!

We leave the house everyday at 9:00.  We try to leave the office at 5 - but we rarely make it.  We also come most Saturdays to help with baptisms that are held here.  We go to the International Group on Sundays which is held upstairs.  So you see, we are here everyday of the week!

Memorial

In April of 1915 the Ottoman Government began the genocide of the Armenians living in their empire.  Over the next few years over one and a half million Armenians died, the few remaining were scattered to many different countries.  Every year on April 24th the Armenians remember those who died.  We arrived in Armenia on April 25th and went to the memorial that afternoon.

It is a long walk up to the leaning pillars.

 

Each person who comes to remember brings flowers to place around the eternal flame.  We were amazed at the amount of flowers.

 

 Many come to pay tribute to those who died.
There are many youth groups who take the petals off of the flowers and then spread them out to dry.  Then they use the petals in their handmade paper.  The paper is put into beautiful books that are set out for the visitors to write there thoughts about visiting the memorial.

 Visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial was a good way to start our mission.  It reminds us of the hardships that the people have gone through and their resilient spirit.

 

Welcome to our new apartment

These are the 3 flights of stairs that bring you here to our front door - and help keep us in shape!  You are looking into our entry hall and through to our family room.

The family room has a BIG couch - lots of room for visitors!  Beyond the couch is our study.  It has a table for both computers, an exercise bike and a piano. (YEAH!)

 

The kitchen is big with the dining room behind me there.  Yes, that is the washing machine in the kitchen!

The bathroom is nice.  Our bedroom is huge with a small balcony that overlooks a fairly busy street.  I know you love the orange flowered pillows on the maroon bedspread!  This brown, green & yellow home is a little hard for this red & black girl!  The closets were a challenge, the small one I'm pointing to was not quiet enough for my clothes - so I took both of the closets in the wardrobe.  That left Elder Reese with the hall closet that he shares with the attic storage and the storage cabinets! 

 

This apartment is comfortable and really centrally located.  There is a grocery store right below us and our office is only a 7 minute walk away!

Mission Home

This is a street view picture of the mission home.  It is in a nice part of the city and is 3 stories.  We are staying in the apartment on the bottom floor.

Our accommodations here are very nice.  We have a living room, 2 bathrooms, a large bedroom (with 2 bunk beds for when Elders come in) and here is my favorite room - the kitchen!

YES!!! Red floors!!!  They had just remodeled the room and I love it!  The next picture is Elder Reese hard at work in the living room with the door to the bedroom just beyond him.

The Mission President and his wife live mostly on the second floor with another apartment up on the third floor.  It is a lovely home and they are very accommodating hosts!

We made it!

After a whirlwind couple of weeks trying to get everything put together, we finally said all our goodbyes and got on the plane!  A BIG THANK YOU to all who helped!

We left on April 24th in the morning from the Sacramento airport.  We landed in Yerevan in the evening on the 25th and were greeted by the Mission President, his wife and the Eyres.  It was a happy reunion!

After stopping at Cinnabun for Elder Eyre's birthday - we went to the mission home, where we will be staying for the next 2 weeks.  We were able to go to bed and sleep well and when we awoke the next morning, we were right in sync with our new time.  We were very fortunate to not experience any jet lag!!!