Our First Work Week

We arrived last Sunday, it is now Friday evening. It has been quite a week. We slept some on Sunday and then had dinner at the Mission Home with Pres and Sister Carter. They are very nice, they are also just about as new as we are. On Monday we spent a few hours with the Sister Missionaries, Sister Crego and an Armenian Mini Missionary. They helped us identify some products left in the apartment. All of the labels are in Russian. We didn't know what to wash dishes in, as it turned out, we didn't have anything. We then walked to the nearest large grocery store, which is small by our standards. After that we walked back to the Metro (underground train) and went to the Central Church. This is the building where the Institute is located and also the place where we will be attending Church. We then got back on the Metro and went to the end of the line where the Mission Office is located. After spending an hour or so there, we got back on the Metro and headed home. The Sister Missionaries got off along the way because they had something they needed to do. We were now on our own.

We got back to our apartment with very little trouble. We decided that we needed to go to the store and get some things. I was pretty sure that I knew which road it was. The traffic circle that is by our apartment has 7 roads coming into it. We went down the road....We walked and walked and walked. No store. We must have been on the wrong road. Backtracked to the circle and tried another and then another and then another....No store. We hate to give up, but we both had jet lag and were worn out. We had some food that Pres Carter had left for us.

The next morning we headed out for the office. No problem because the Metro stop is that last one and everyone gets off. That is what we did. With the Sister Missionaries we caught a bus right outside of the Metro stairs and took it up the hill, a little over a mile. We go to the road and no bus. We waited and waited....no bus. We walk up the hill. We walked and walked and walked. We were looking for a landmark so that we could turn right and go about a block down the hill to the office. No landmark. Pretty soon we ran out of road. The one that we were on T'd. We were really lost, not just disoriented, but lost. Fortunately, we had a cell phone and called the Mission Office. We got a taxi, called the Elder and he told the driver where to take us. The driver got lost, but we finally got to the office. The one hour trip had taken about two hours. The President heard about our plight and took us in his car and we found out the follies of our ways at the Metro station, wrong exit and wrong road, and also to get to the store. We had picked the correct street, we just didn't walk far enough.

We can now get to work without making any mistakes. The real test will come on Sunday when we have to find the correct stop for the Central Church.

Wendy asked for a description of what this place is like...

Yerevan is a large and very old city. There are probably a million people here. The buildings are not very tall, maybe 5 or 6 stories. Yes the roads are paved and there are cars every where. We think there are more taxi's than private cars. Driving here would be something. They don't pay attention to the lanes. We walk to the subway (Metro) each day. It is underground. Our stop is under a very large traffic circle with perhaps 7 streets coming into it. There is a market under ground by the Metro. There are a lot of narrow walkways with shops on both sides. It is very crowded. Each shop will sell one type of item, for example sun glasses or nail stuff.


Once we get to the entrance to the Metro we pay and take an escalator down, perhaps three stories. The escalator is the fastest that we have ever been on. The train cars are old, but clean. It is a great way to travel. We are the only Seniors that we have met that have used the Metro. We reverse the process at the other end. The market is not nearly as large. We then catch a bus to go up the hill, a little over a mile to the street where the office is and then we walk one block to the office. In the evening we don't catch the bus, we walk down the hill to the metro.


There are stores all over the place. We don't think the notion of a department store exists. The outside of everything is pretty rough. The insides are nice. Look at the outside of our apartment vs the inside. There is no grass. If there is a yard, it is just weeds. There are a lot of buildings that are not being used, they are in various states of being torn down or decay.

It is a wonderful place. The people are the prettiest of any country I have ever been in. They are very nice. It is very old country, lots of people standing or sitting outside visiting. Just like pictures of old New York.


We are going to love it here. We get to know more about it each day. We are continuing to try and learn the language, with what energy we have after the trials of learning a new job.


Elder and Sister Rich