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"But he that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved." Matt 24:13

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It is amazing to think that in two years of service here in San Diego, we are sharing our 15th post. I had hoped to do a bit better, but life gets busy, and our mission time has been no exception. We like to say we are busy in the best way and feel so blessed for the time we have here. I have received a few emails asking for an update and have had "blog" on my list many mornings. Here goes. Since our last post we have had the distinct privilege of welcoming our ninth grandchild, Van Meade Buttars, into the world on July 10. Armenay was fortunate enough to be there for his birth and to assist following the exciting event. This gave her opportunities for many fun times with Van's three older siblings. We picked apricots and made apricot jam, to supplement the other basic meals we prepared together in the kitchen. We attended summer camps for archery and science experiments and fun and most of all we celebrated Van who, at 23 inches long, wins the prize for longest baby in t...
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“My mother and my brethren are those which hear the word of God, and do it.” Luke 8: 21

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May 12, 2024 It has been a while. . . and we want to begin by wishing all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day! Not one of us would be here, without the gift of life our mothers provided to us, and we are always indebted to them for that gift. Today, I, Armenay would like to begin with a tribute to my mother, Meada Ouzounian, who passed away April 7. Her legacy is one for which I am thankful, mostly because, as the scripture that titles this post says, she was a woman who not only heard the word of God but attempted to both do it and live it.  Born to ranchers, the eighth of nine children and raised between Utah and Wyoming she was a woman grounded in the gospel. She was fortunate to attend college and also afforded the opportunity to complete a Masters of Nursing. For a period of time, due to an injury my father sustained, she was the primary breadwinner for the family, a family that, over time grew to include 10 children. While my mother was highly educated for her time and...
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"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13:35

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 Happy Valentine's Day! Your first thought might have been, "You're late." Or perhaps you thought, "Chocolate? Candy?" Hopefully, you also thought about Love. That has been our focus for the last month or so. Pure Love. At times, Christ's teaching to love others as the Lord loves us seems easy, other times difficult. This transfer cycle we have focused on God's pure love and how we can better feel and share His love with all those around us. We have shared scriptures, studied passages and stories and practiced charity. There is so much joy in loving others! Since we last posted, our missionaries all enjoyed a service-day at the beach. Normally the beach is off limits for missionary work. So this was an extra special day to experience as a mission. We began our beach adventure by picking up trash for 40 minutes or so. We then shared thoughts before enjoying some volleyball, football and visiting, all while downing donuts and hot chocolate. These were ...
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For unto us a child is born . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful . . . " Isaiah 9:6

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  Sending holiday wishes to our loved ones, friends and family. We pray you feel the Savior's love and light in your life this holiday season. The Christmas season is such a wonderful time to be sharing messages of Christ, and inviting others to come to understand His purpose. This transfer we are focusing on Christ His names and attributes. In addition to scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon we have relied upon The Living Christ , a wonderful document, written by modern Apostles, detailing much about our Lord and Savior. This brings such joy and gratitude to our souls. Norm has also prepared and each morning shares with the missionaries a different name of Christ. We share with you here an name, inspired by the departing testimony of one of our missionaries, titled, "Our Good Samaritan." " December 16, 2023   Our Good Samaritan - In his departing testimony, our own Elder Gudino referred to Christ as his   Good Samaritan . It got me thinking about this un-off...
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"It shall come to pass that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language." Doctrine & Covenants 90:11

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  Let us begin by saying thank you for your prayers as Hurricane Hillary blew through. We are happy to report all was and is well. We do have a clip below of our awesome missionaries out working in the rain, which turned out to be very mild. For some fun footage, watch this video! https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3111353299169063&extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&mibextid=HSR2mg&ref=sharing Here we are well into fall with the holidays rapidly approaching. It is high time for an update. Our September transfer was extremely busy. Normally transfers are six weeks long, but this transfer was reduced to five weeks to accommodate our attendance at the North America West Seminar for Mission Leaders.  During this 5-week period we received 31 missionaries spread over four separate days. Normally, we have one arrival day each transfer that occurs the same day as departures.  However, because of the longer training period for missionaries in our "small language" program...
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"Take ye heed, watch and pray:" Mark 13:33

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We have just ended a zoom call with our missionaries discussing the plan for Hurricane Hillary which is approaching Southern California. The storm has been weakening but will in all likelihood drop large amounts of rain in the region and flooding is a major concern. In addition, strong winds can down trees and power lines. We feel very fortunate, and see the Lord's hand in the timing of our efforts to update emergency backpacks that are kept in each apartment. Just this week at zone conference missionaries brought backpacks and while they trained, our senior missionaries emptied, inventoried and refilled the backpacks. Planning for this happened weeks in advance of any news of a storm. This is a great comfort to us and yet we know we are still in need of your prayers and appreciate any that you can offer on our behalf for the safety of our missionaries and all those impacted by Hillary. And now onto other mission news. The mission home is graced with the presence of fruit bearing t...
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