I thought you would enjoy seeing some of the modern conveniences we have here in our apartment. Next week you will get to see my infamous stove.

This is the freezer in the bottom of our refrigerator. It has doors and a drawer in the bottom. On the door is instructions on what is to be kept in each department.

This is our washing machine. You put the clothes in the metal basket, clamp it closed and shut the lid. However once it is shut and running you can not open it again until the cycle is finished. It takes about three hours or longer to run a load. The water is very hard and full of minerals and we have brown hard water stains where ever water sits.

We have no dryer so we have to hang our clothes on a drying rack.

They have all the pipes on the outside of the walls. They have great toilets though,they flush with the little button on top of the tank and when you flush it I think the water goes clear to the ocean it flushes with so much water and force. America could take a lesson from this.

The bathtub and washing machine are in one room and the toilet and sink in another. These are the pipes in our bathtub room and they are warm so we use them for towel warmers. High Class aren't we?

Here is our shower and tub. It is quite an experience taking a shower in it. The hot water heater hangs on the wall and is an inline heater. It runs by propane fire so you when you turn the hot water on you have to make sure it fires. Then the water is scalding hot but if you get to much cold water in the pipe then it is freezing. So you have to keep adjusting until you find a temperature you can tolerate. You can not appreciate the shower hanging on the string until you have stood under it.

We got to take a visa run with 8 Elders from our mission but not for 10 days to Spain, it was for 7 days to Yerevan, Armenia. The same city we were first called to. We stayed in a hotel and just had a mini vacation, we did go help some Senior Missionaries for 3 days. We had a fun time in Armenia, it was warm, the people smiled at you on the street and the food was good and not nearly as expensive. The big plus was we got to hang out with the Elders they are a bunch of great young men. They taught us a fun card game "Scum".

Here is a picture of Mount Ararat taken from our hotel balcony. It is 16,946 feet high (the Grand Teton is only 13,770 feet high). Many people believe that Mount Ararat is the place where Noah's Ark landed.

Here is a quote by Marco Polo I found on the internet (note the spelling and the year).

THERE IS A VERY TALL MOUNTIAN ON WHICH, IT IS SAID, RESTS NOAH’S ARC. THIS MOUNTAIN IS SO HIGH AND WIDE THAT, IT TAKES MORE THAN TWO DAYS TO WALK AROUND IT. THE DEEP SNOW ON its PEAK REMAINS YEAR ROUND, NOWBODY CAN CLIMB IT. ONLY THE LOWER SLOPES…..THE VEGETATION (PLANT COVER) IS SO RICH AND PLENTIFUL THAT, IN THE SUMMER, ANIMALS FROM NEAR AND FAR COME TO FEED, BUT THE SUPPLY (SOURCE) IS NEVER EXHAUSTED.''

Marco Polo, 1295

We visited the Armenian Genocide Museum, dedicated to the millions of Armenians killed by the government of Turkey during the years 1895 to 1915.

This is the Monument at the Armenia Genocide Museum and the "eternal flame of remembrance".

This is the building next to our hotel in Armenia notice the laundry hanging on the balcony. One year when our family was on a trip to Mexico we hung our laundry on the balcony and the hotel called and told us they didn't do that there. So I guess our family would fit right in with the Armenians.

This is the "Cascade Monument". It was built in remembrance of the independence of Armenia from Soviet rule (communism). It is said to have 800 steps to the top, I started counting them but kept forgetting my count so I will just believe what they say.