Monday, October 29, 2012

Mary's mission Oct 29, 2012

Barev Family!
Snow!!!?? Yay! Everyone here keeps telling us to dress warmly so we don't freeze-and yes there are times when it is cold, but so far it hasn't been that cold-I haven't noticed frost on anything and we definitely haven't had any snow.  I always ask about when it will snow (since you all know how I love the snow) and everyone always tells me different things-I guess we'll see when it comes.  It sounds like you had a pretty good week-I'm so excited for all those who are preparing for their missions!  What a great thing! I can't wait to find out where they will all be going! Speaking of the Brandleys-doesn't Phillip get home pretty soon?  Are they ready for him?  Thanks for sending on the pictures-Camryn is getting so big! Wow! 
I love how the Lord always answers our prayers-sometimes in different ways and at different times, but He always does.  As I prayed about the way I was feeling last week and searched for a way to change the way I felt, I had several things that answered my prayers.  First-We had a meeting on Tuesday with all missionaries, one of the area counselors, Elder Snow from the 70 (that just got assigned to church history stuff) and then a few other church historian people-as I listened, I was reminded of a few things.  I have to diligently go forward and trust in the Lord, even if means putting my heart outside of myself putting myself in a position that may not be so comfortable.  (Necessary, since there's no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone-and growth is what I want and what the Lord expects).  We are serving the Lord.  I am serving the Lord.  I am not here for my sake-I am here to help the Lord's work to go forward and to share this crucial message with these people-so the way I feel is not the most important thing.  It was a good reminder of who I am as the Lord's servant.  Second-a meeting with a young woman (Sasma) that we met a couple of weeks ago on the street.  She looked like an American Punk; dressed in black, died hair, an angry face, and sending off a negative vibe.  What a blessing that Sister Beal looked beyond that and had a good conversation with her.  After trying to call her phone, that didn't work, we put her out of our minds.  Then we saw her again and she gave us her address. As we met with her and got to know a bit of her sweet spirit, I was chastised by the Lord for judging her so quickly and not even giving her a chance.  Who am I to judge?  We are all children of our Heavenly Father, no matter how we look or the vibe we seem to send off.  Third-just yesterday as we were sitting in a marshutni, this man kept looking at us and it was rather uncomfortable.  As he glanced back at us for the fourth or fifth time, I was just not thinking the nicest things about him.  In that instant, I was again chastised for forgetting that that man, just as I am, is a child of Heavenly Father and has the potential to become like Him.  As I sat and thought about his potential, I began to pray to see him in a better way and began praying for him, if only that he could have a good rest of the day, and to have his heart prepared for a time when he can accept the gospel.  Then this morning as I was reading from Jacob 2 I came across this in verse 7 "Think about your brethren like unto yourselves and be familiar with all and free with your substances that they may be rick like unto you"  I was just thinking about how truly rich we are to have the gospel and how I need to be better at treating others as I would want to be treated, better at gaining their hearts and confidence (vs 35) so that I can share with them the treasure that we have.  I love how the Lord teaches us, especially as we seek it.  It is truly a miracle and a blessing to be apart of this work.
One other thing, the last couple of times we have taught Anna, I've been reminded of Lehi when he has his vision, partakes of the fruit, and desires to share it, because Anna has so much desire to share the gospel with her children, to help them come to understand and feel what she is feeling.  It's so neat to feel that desire within her.
I don't have much else to tell this week-just working, walking, and doing all we can. Be sure to let the ward know I am thankful for them and give hugs all around.  I am so grateful for your prayers, your support, and your love.

Love you all!

Metz sirov

Qyur Broadbent


Oh and Mom-I already got my Christmas package-according to our office Elder it made it in record time-they don't usually arrive that fast-Thank you for everything! I'll try to be patient and not open any of them :)  Love you!


Note From Laurie - Wow!!  Cannot believe the package even got there let alone so quickly!!  And Mary's 9 month mark is Thursday!!  Time is flying!!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Mary's Mission Oct 22 2012

Barev Family!

We have had a great week filled with tender mercies!  I am continually amazed at how the Lord blesses us! I've always felt that if we look for the Lord's hand, we will undoubtedly see it, and I've learned that is so true!  Especially with these people-there can be two people who are in similar, difficult circumstances, but because of their attitude and whether or not they see the blessing of the Lord-it seems their lives are as different as night and day. We just have to open our eyes and minds to see the blessings of the Lord in our lives.  I've been trying to be more aware of those miracles and I feel so blessed! Last week (or the week before) we met a woman on a marshutni ride, we tried talking with her, but she only responded in Russian, so communicating was a bit difficult.  We saw her again walking on the street a few days later, greeted her, and continued on.  We saw her again a couple of days later and this time, we talked more with her.  She immediately invited us to her home to meet her two children as well.  So neat how the Lord places people in our paths.  

We had a really amazing experience on Friday-we had tried the night before to plan well for our day, according to the spirit, but no matter what we did, we couldn't get any meetings between 11 and 4.  We had a couple of addresses from contacts, but no phone numbers, so we determined to include those in our day.  After we did our power hour, we headed to one addresses, and the one we felt we needed to go to first.  On our way we talked to her neighbor, who said she was sick, but that we could still go if we wanted to.  We opted to still go and try, if only to see how she was and if there was anything we could help with.  When we got to her house, her grown granddaughter was sitting in her front room and was very surprised to see us.  After we explained how we knew her grandma, she told us that she was on her deathbed.  Sis. Beal (following the Spirit) asked if we could come in and say a prayer with her.  She agreed.  As we talked, there were a few other people that came- we again explained how we knew Emma (the dying woman) and one of the others that came in told us that she remembered Emma telling her about these 2 girls from America (Sis. Beal and Sis Bobzien) helping her to carry her bags and helping her up the hill to her home.  Neat! We were able to talk a little about the Plan of Salvation and asked if we could leave a pamphlet with them-they were very eager to accept and asked if we had more for them!  We closed our meeting in prayer, and the spirit was so strong! So tangible in the room! Both of the women were holding back tears and were very grateful for our meeting.  We went back again, only to find no one home, but we plan on going again.  I'm not sure what will come of it; I'm hoping for the best, for their hearts to be soft and open to the gospel, but whether or not they accept us and the gospel, I am so grateful for this tender mercy! That we were able to share this message of peace and hope with them and that if nothing else, they have felt the love of our Merciful Father in Heaven.

The Lord truly is aware of us! Every minute of every day! We recently met with a woman who believes in God, believes He answers prayers for others, but doesn't believe that He will answer her own prayers; she doesn't believe that He can help HER.  It just hurts my heart thinking about it.  I testify that God is our Father.  He loves us! We are His children! And He wants to help us-He does help us! Not only as a whole, but on an individual basis.  He knows us and loves us!  Maybe we already know that, maybe we have forgotten or don't know it at all, but will you all pray to really feel that this is true?  That God is listening to YOU, that He loves YOU, that He is caring for YOU and answering YOUR prayers?  I know you will feel it-He will answer!

I love you family!  I hope you have a great week!  I am so grateful for all you do! For your wonderful examples! You are the best family I could ever ask for!

Love you!  

Quyr Broadbent

Monday, October 15, 2012

Mary's Mission Oct 15, 2012

This is a picture of the Armenia Yeravan  missionaries except for 10 elders and 1 couple that serve in the country of Georgia.  Pres and Sis Carter are in the center front. There are 28 elders, 10 sisters and 5 couples - this was taken at the their zone conference (but was really almost a mission conference!)
Sept 2012

Barev marev Family jan-
That is exciting news for all the future missionaries in our ward (and throughout the world) who are now preparing for missions! SO WONDERFUL! As I've thought about it, I have to say, I am very grateful for the timing of the Lord in that regard.  I would have completely gone on a mission at 19 had the opportunity been there, but I am so grateful for the many experiences that I had between 19 and coming on a mission-I feel like many of them shaped me more into the person I am now.  
Congratulations to all of the cousins who will be having new additions! That is so exciting for them all! What a surprise to hear about Jen-what a blessing it will be though!
We have many wonderful missionaries serving here and I am so grateful to be amongst them and learning from them.  I have much to be grateful for and much to work on.  I am feeling a great need to do more and be better, especially after being fed from general conference.  First, I have to say-I can't begin to describe the power of the spirit that I felt as I listened to President Monson speak to us.  He truly is the prophet of God.  I know he speaks with our Heavenly Father and Savior in our behalf.  I don't know if it's because I testify of him and our Savior on a daily basis, but I have never felt so strongly in my life that the words he speaks are truly God's words.  WOW! On that note, I feel like I learned so much from conference, so many things that seemed to go right along with many of the things I felt and learned at zone conference.  I have much I need to be doing.  I feel there is a great urgency to this work-there are so many of our Father's children we need to reach and I need to be doing a better job.  With humility and the Lord's help I know I can become who the Lord wants and that I can help to reach those children He wants me to reach.  There is always more to be done; a work in progress.  I'm praying I am moving forward and doing as the Lord wants.
Just an example of the wonderful elders we have in our area.  Earlier this week, Sis. Beal and I were in a meeting, when one of our members that we had planned to take with us to another meeting began calling us, multiple times.  Because we were in the meeting we put the phone on silent.  As we finished our meeting we forgot to take the phone off silent and forgot to call our member back (because our other meeting hadn't worked, we didn't need to take our member with us, but we had a surprise meeting, so we were distracted-no excuse can excuse us from calling our member to let her know that the meeting didn't work out).  Over an hour later we were in a meeting with a member when our member's phone rang.  Sis. Beal and I realized that our phone was on silent, checked it and realized that we had missed many calls-not only from our member but from the Elders and from Pres. Carter.  We were so embarassed when we realized our little slip up! When we called our District Leader, we were touched with the concern that he showed, as he expressed that he thought something bad had happened because no one could get a hold of us.  I am so grateful for the leadership positions of our Elders and the love they show as they lead and try to help us serve more effectively.  It is so wonderful to be serving with these Elders, to be learning from their humble leadership and service in the priesthood.  
Just a little tender mercy I want to share-we've made more of an effort to talk to people while we are on marshutnis(they are our primary source of transportation here, these van things that we stuff full of people as we drive up the street)-sometimes it feels a little awkward to start the conversation, just because the normal way on marshutnis is complete silence.  As we've gotten to know some of the people on the marshutnis and talked with them about the gospel, we've had multiple times when the person we are talking to pays for our ride.  As little as it is-I feel so blessed and amazed to be serving amongst these humble people, who themselves often have so little, but are willing to serve us.  It has been a reminder to me that the Lord truly does care for His servants.
In answer to some of your questions-Vanadzor is a lot bigger than Artashat-it is actually a city-maybe in comparable in size to Ogden (I don't know, really).  Because we are settled in the mountains, it is already pretty chilly-the leaves are changing and we've had rain every day the past week (that means the real cold will be here soon) From talking to members and other people, it sounds like we'll probably have as much snow as we get in a good snow year at home.  You know how I love the snow, so I'm looking forward to that :)  Ani leaves for her mission the end of November-she is AMAZING! I just love her! 
I'm having a great time getting to know Sis. Beal-she is adorable, has a great sense of humor, loves to laugh, and is a wonderful teacher.  She has many qualities I am learning from-I just love her.

I love you all family!  Thank you so much for all you do!

Have a fantastic fall week! Enjoy the colors while you can!

I love you!

Metz sirov,

Qyur Broadbent


Friday, October 12, 2012


Mary refers to some pictures in this letter, however she has sent them in an odd format and the only way we can view them is to open them and find a program to view them in!  Until I can figure out how to change them into a jpeg file or have Mary resend them I won't be able to share them - sorry!  Also, when she types out the Armenian I have no idea what they mean!!  She has to type it in the Armenian characters for me to translate them!  Barev means hello but I have no idea what the rest of the opening line means!!


Barev dzez im sireliner!

WOW! We heard yesterday from one of our members about the age change! At first we didn't believe it, but what great news! A HUGE surprise! But how wonderful it will be! I think it will take a while to work its way into our mission, considering we already know many of the missionaries that will be arriving in Armenia in March-but maybe it'll start with the group after that.  So exciting! And what a way to help the Lord's work go forward! I feel there is even more urgency in the work with the age change! 

It sounds like the Hatch family is doing well! What a miracle for Matt and Melissa! That is SO exciting! And pretty soon Brian and Becky will have their little boy too, right?

So half way through this week I had a big change-I was transferred to Vanadzor with Sister Beal! It is SO different from my little hot Artashat! My first full day I was wearing tights, a sweater, and a rain coat.  Cold.  We'll probably have snow pretty soon here-were nestled in the mountains of northern Armenia and it is gorgeous! The one picture is a picture of some of the many mountains that surround us! I was so sad to leave Sister Tolman and Artashat-I feel like my home is there and I feel like Sister Tolman and I made a lot of progress together and that I grew a lot with her.  I am very excited to be here though!  

Sister Tolman and I were able to visit a member of ours before transfers that lives over 2 hours away by bus.  We had planned with her in advance and told her to invite all her friends, when we got there, she said she had invited everyone, but they all were working or busy.  While we weren't able to share the gospel with her friends, we had a wonderful meeting talking about service and missionary work and things she can do to help share the gospel in a way that is appropriate.  It was really good, but the best part was when she proceeded to tell us about her experience with prayer.  She said she had just been praying for ways to share the gospel and she felt very strongly that 2 missionaries would come and visit her.  A few days later a couple of missionaries from another church showed up at her house.  They talked for a bit and she thought that was her answer, however she immediately heard the Spirit tell her to be patient and that these 2 men were not the missionaries the Lord was talking about.  So she continued to wait.  And then we called her to tell her we were coming and she immediately felt that we were the answer to her prayers.  I am so grateful that Pres. Carter gave us the direction to go! I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it feels to know that between his direction to go and the opportunity we had to go, that we were the answer to her prayers. I hope I am always in the position to be the answer to other's prayers!  I want so badly to help this work to go forward and to truly be the Lord's hands and servant! I know I have a lot of room for growth-a lot of things I need to do to become who Heavenly Father wants me to become, but I want to be that person.  I hope I am allowing the Lord to mold me into who He wants.

Vanadzor is so different! There is such a different kind of beauty here in the North!  I already love the branch! They are so great and have a wonderful vision of how the work needs to be! I am excited to be with them.  I love Sister Beal! She is so humble and such a great teacher! I know I have a lot to learn from her-I'm trying to soak up everything I can from her! She has such a big heart-so much love for these people and for the Lord and I can feel how she wants to help this work progress-I feel so humbled and blessed to be serving with such a spiritual giant.

There were a  couple of things I was reminded of while reading the words of our dear friend Nephi-First-1 Nep 16:28-29-we also have a liahona of sorts-the Holy Ghost as our guide.  And it works the same with us-it works according to our faith, diligence, and whether or not we heed what has been given to us.  I need to be better at heeding when the Spirit prompts me.  Second 1 Nep 19: 7-I was thinking abou myself-if I am giving heed to the counsels and the voice of Christ then all is well.  But if I am not-I am trampling Christ under my feet.  What a terrible and saddening thought.  Everytime I think about all the Christ went through and how the people persecuted Him, I just hope and pray that I am in the crowd that is fully following Christ and not in the crowd that was persecuting Him.  Once again, a reminder that I need to do better.

Will you all looks for ways you can be Christ's hands this week?  And make an effort to follow the Spirit so you can be the answer to other's prayers-knowlingly or unknowingly?

I love you all family! Thank you so much for all you do! I can't begin to express how grateful I am to have you! LOVE YOU!

Metz sirov, 

Qyur Broadbent

Monday, October 1, 2012

Mary's Mission Letter Oct 1, 2012

Hello Family!
What a week we've had! I feel like it was pretty crazy, but now
sitting down to write, I don't feel I have that much to say!
 It sounds
like your week was good-we didn't get to watch the RS broadcast, to be
honest I didn't even know it was happening.  I don't think we'll get
to watch it, so I guess I'll wait for the Ensign. 
 I was sad and
surprised to hear about Pres. Cottle.  I hope the family is doing
ok-be sure to give Betty a hug for me. 
  I can't believe this is Joe's last primary program! He is a goof-sweet little
boy! 
 That is so exciting about Brittany! It's always neat to see that
change come into people's lives.
Gayane was baptized on Saturday.  It went really well and we had some
good support from our branch.  She was so nervous to be baptized, but
when we talked to her after she said that she felt so calm and
peaceful afterwards.  She will be a wonderful addition to the branch.
We're now working with her daughter to help her also reach the waters
of baptism.  I love seeing the change that comes over people-I feel
like Gayane has made some rather noticeable changes since meeting with
us-and there's now just more of a light in her eyes.
  I was also thinking about Anik-how her demeanor has changed and she's become more
calm and confident.  I also feel there is a noticiable light in her
eyes and I just love seeing the way the gospel changes people.  I
would hope that I'm also giving place for the gospel to change me more
into the person that Heavenly Father wants me to be.

Zone Conference was good-so powerful.  We actually met with all the
missionaries in Armenia (which is still so few compared to other
missions, but I love how small we are).  Pres. Carter had asked us to
go to it fasting.  It was a great experience to be all together.  We
received a lot of direction on how to be better.  It was really good
to feel and learn about the changes I need to work on to better use
the Lord's time.  As we discussed it, we talked about how we are
obedient, doing things that we need to do, but there are many little
things we could be doing better, many things we need to do to use the
Lord's time more effectively, and to become more consecrated.  I was
reminded of the quote by Pres. Benson(?) that says "When obedience
ceases to be an irritant and becomes a quest, then we are endowed with
power from on high"  It was really neat to feel the spirit work in
me-as we discussed things and as I felt more of a desire to be more
consecrated-I noticed how I began looking for those little things-that
obedience feels more like a quest instead of being content with where
I am.  I love seeing and feeling how the Lord works in our lives-how
He gives us those gentle reminders that help us come to be more
aligned with His will.  Sometimes the changes may be hard-often they
are, but they are so worth it.  Learning by example-I've learned from
you and from others-that if we'll just accept those things, work to
change, and do it with out complaint-then the Lord truly strengthens
us.
We also received some new mission standards of excellence-goals that
will definitely require us to have faith in the Lord and completely
rely on Him.  As Pres. Carter presented them he told us "These may
seem impossible, like you can't do them.  And you can't...alone.  But
with the Lord's help you can."  I am so grateful for a wonderful
mission president! I'm grateful that he receives revelation and
direction for us!  And that he reminds us of the potential that our
Heavenly Father sees in us.
On that note-I am also very grateful for our living prophet! For our
beloved Pres. Monson.  How blessed are we that we'll hear from him
this next week!? (Or at least you will-we still have a couple weeks
after that to wait...) That we'll receive direction from him-hence
that things that Christ Himself would tell us if He were here! WOW! I
know Pres. Monson really receives revelation for the world-the things
we need to know, the things our Heavenly Father wants us to know.  I
know he, as well as the apostles are called of God-that they truly
hold His priesthood power and keys!

I love you all!  Thank you for all you do! I couldn't ask for a better family!

Love you!
Sis Broadbent