Then Do What is Right

You can’t force spiritual things, as we know, and I’ll tell you the honest truth—every time Elder Scott came into the room (a meeting with just missionaries, the kitchen where I was helping to get his dinner on, and where he was so gracious and gave me a hug, and the big meeting with all the members from here and Georgia) I just felt encircled in pure sweet unforgettable love. I’ve talked to many members who were able to shake his hand and have a personal moment with him—-I think time may have stood still for him to have contact with every one there. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Soon after that we went to Tsakadzor for the best Young Single Adult Conference I’ve ever participated in. We were the parents for the week of the Georgian group—mostly new members, and serious investigators who we hadn’t known before. If you remember my pictures from our first two, you’ll appreciate that we not only had hot water and a clean bathroom, but clean sheets and wonderful accomodations in an old Soviet resort which must have been decorated by an old Soviet hippie. Art everywhere, green plants everywhere—-and maids and food servers with frilly white aprons and caps. We didn’t come on a mission to take a shower. But it was a nice surprise to have a charming place to stay while we tried to keep up with all the workshops, dancing, and very well-planned activities.

The thing that’s on my mind is that there’s always the rest of the story. (I hope not with Elder Scott’s visit—that was perfect). I’ll tell you, Armenians, much as I love them, know how to pout. Literally. We have a man & his wife who have turned in all their church materials, & are not coming to church anymore, and are pouting hard because they weren’t invited to Tsakadzor. We have a grandma and a YW President who are pouting because our darling 12-year old branch chorister couldn’t go to the District Youth Conference with the 14-18 year olds. The young woman is fine—she seems to be resisting the pouting lessons she’s getting from her elders.

We all could learn from Seda. When things don’t go her way, she fasts and prays and looks for the good in every one. Her reaction to our sulking couple was great sorrow and a day of fasting for them, before Fast Sunday, even. Her reaction to her husband’s six years of inactivity (honoring his mother’s demands that he not have anything to do with the Church) was to tell her children that they were going to love their grandma and their dad and treat them with the greatest respect, and then she went to work fasting and praying and serving with all her might. And now when she sits in the congregation, and when she looks at the men sitting on the stand, she sees her husband sitting to the right of the Branch President and serving as his first counselor. Elder Scott’s main lesson to us was to do what is right. It works far better than pouting.