Merry Christmas!

So, I'm not really sure where to even start on this email today... i guess I will just tell this week chronologically...

Wednesday morning at 3:30 am, I awoke to a drunk man pounding and screaming at our door. I immediately started to freak as he sounded angry and super aggressive (but thank goodness for good old Russian made doors... they don't budge!). I woke up my comp, told her to start praying, and then called the mission president. He said he would sent Batbold to get rid of him and so he asked me where I am living.... uh, ERDENET!!! He then said, oh yah, and told us to call the police. We called the police and began to wait and pray... and cry... that we would be alright. The mission president continued to call us and give us directions including;

-don't turn on the lights

-don't answer him and don't open the door for anyone! Including the police! (if the police want in, we were to call him and then deal with it then)

-grab a frying pan to protect ourselves in case he got in (yep, he wanted me to go all tangled on that drunk man, haha)

-and PRAY!

So, we followed directions, so I held that frying pan tight, kept praying, and kept quiet. It lasted for 30 to 40 minutes, but eventually he was gone (I think the police came and got him, but I'm honestly not sure, haha). This was definitely the scariest moment of my mission so far... ugh. I din't sleep the rest of the night, so I made Christmas cards and gifts instead, haha. So, to keep us out of harm for a few days, we were instructed to come to the city that day. So we took the bus, and left. We got in to UB, and stayed with Sister Westover and her new trainee. It was so great to stay with my MTC comp! 

Thursday, I went on a split with Sister Westover, which was hilariously awesome! The last time we had been together was the MTC when we truly were like deer in the headlights, and could barely bare our testimonies in Mongolian, let alone teach, haha. Well Thursday, we were getting ourselves around UB, teaching lessons and understanding everything and people were understanding us!!! IT WAS AWESOME! Such a big difference and we were so incredibly happy to have that completely opposite experience together. This was a testimony builder that God truly helps his servants and with his help we truly can become what he needs us to be! Missions are awesome! We also watched the Christmas devotional for comp study, which was great! If you haven't watched it, please do! You will learn a ton!

Thursday night, we had dinner with Sister Westover & her comp, Sister Hartley (also from my group) & her comp, and Sister Gardner & her comp. It was so much fun to have a Christmas Eve dinner with other sisters, and then we did a white elephant together (I got some sweet yak socks!!!), and went Christmas caroling. The caroling was hilarious, because that is not a thing here, so we had to call everyone to explain to them what it is and then get permission to sing to them, haha. And, as we would sing in the apt floors, people would open their apt doors completely bewildered at the weird Americans singing outside. But, it was a great experience and everyone felt the spirit so strongly!

Friday we had christmas!!!! And, I hit my half-way mark on my mission!!!!! Yep, that happened!!!! It's crazy to think that from here on out, I will have been out longer than I have left!! wierd shuu dee! 

Friday, all the missionaries spent the day together. We met at the Bayanzurch, made presents of soap, socks, shampoo, and candy, then half of us went to an orphanage and half went to a gir district to hand them out. I was lucky enough to be with the group that went to the orphanage and it was amazing! The kids were all so excited and so adorable! We started with Christmas carols, then they sang Mongolian songs to us, and one boy even sang a Justin Bieber song for us, haha. Then we each handed out gifts to children, talked and had fun getting to know them. They were kinda in shock by the number of white people speaking Mongolian to them, but they opened up and had a ton of fun with us. I talked with one little boy for a long time. He is 12 yrs old and loves to play and watch soccer! His favorite team is Real Madrid and his favorite player is Ronaldo. We talked about soccer for a long time, then sang some of his favorite American songs together and then took pics together (sorry everyone, because of privacy reasons, we are not allowed to post pics of the children to any website).

After that, all the missionaries had some time to chill or prep for the music program, and then we had an amazing Indian feast for lunch. After that we had our music program and the mission president and his wife spoke to us as well. It was such a nice way to spend Christmas, and we all learned so much about the true meaning of Christmas. Oh, and the president gave everyone their own jar of peanut butter!!!! We are all very happy missionaries now, haha :) 

Friday night we came back to Erdenet by train, then Saturday I taught English, we did studies, and moved apartments. All the missionaries in Erdenet had to move, so that the elders are now in our old apt, we are in the apt I was in before and the other sisters are in the elders old apartment... so yah, now the elders will get to deal with scary drunk men! 

That's about all for this week! I just want to leave you with this thought. In the Christmas devotional and my president and his wife also talked a lot about Christ's gift of His atonement. They all talked about how He truly gave the greatest gift of all. They all explained that because he gave us this, we can choose to not turn away from Him, but rather turn to Him and use that magnificient gift of comfort and love. We too, must be like our Savior, Christ. We too must live with an attitude of giving. We must look for and find ways to serve and give to others. We don't need to have money to give, but rather just have to be willing to sacrifice our time or talents or energy to serve others. I would hope that you would all look for ways to serve others this week., month, and comign year, and do it! Help, serve, give, and love those around you! Not only will they be happy, not only will you be happy, but God will also be happy with you. I love you all and I love this church and it's teachings. I know this gospel is true.

I love you all!!I'm praying for you all!

Reunited with Sister Westover at Christmas!

Happy 9 Months to Me!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! As for me, I am too. This week, we will go to UB for Christmas to be with all the missionaries, so I am definitely excited for that. And, I will get to skype my family too, woohoo!

ALSO... this week I hit my 9 MONTHS on my mission!!!! WHAT?! Yep, that is happening. I am half way! I can't even believe it. It seems so weird. But anyways, it's all down hill from here. I am finally at a point where I feel like I know what I'm doing, I can communicate, and I can really do this! I am determined to be the best missionary I can be, and am excited to see the difference I can make here in Mongolia.

So, last Monday  my comp and I had some fun and took companion photos at a studio (last p-day of the transfer, so we made sure to), then we went to a 3D museum where you could pose with the paintings and it looks 3d!

This week was transfers... and it happened... I GOT TRANSFERED!!!!.... To the other Erdenet branch, haha. When I first got here, I was in the 1st branch, for the last 3 or so months I was in the 1st and 2nd, but now I am just in the 2nd branch. Haha, and I moved back to the apt I was in when I first got to Erdenet, so that's fun. And the elders who were living there even left a shower curtain which was nice... last I lived here that was a challenge.

Anyways, I am no longer with Bolor-Erdene. My new comp is a mini missionary named Badamgerel. She is 19 yrs old and from Nalaik (I served there and bayanzurk when i first got to Mongolia), and has submitted her mission papers, but has not received her call. A mini missionary means she is a member, and has not been set apart as a missionary, but serves as my comp for a small time (she will either be with me for 3 or 6 weeks- her choice). Because she is a mini missionary I actually train her as I would any new missionary, so it's nice training for me if I ever become a trainer. She is very cute and works very hard. Her English is adorable and she has a dream to live and work in New York as a business excecutive, haha. She talks a ton and is always hungry and happy... haha. She is so fun!

Not much else happened this week as we had to go to UB to pick up our comps and then came back and moved and whatnot. I am excited for this transfer as we may have a few more investigators getting baptized  My comp and I are determined to work our hardest (all she wants to do is meet with people...very cute), and I'm sure we will see the results.

Merry christmas, and try to remember Christ this season. Do something to make someone else happy, something to serve someone, and try and share the gospel with someone! I promise if you do these things, you will be happier and you will truly remmber this season. I love you all! I know this gospel
is true, and I am so excited to be serving in such an amazing place!

This Week was Awesome!

So this week was quite the different week. For starters, Tuesday was our p-day, so we went to the black market! It's closed on Mondays, so we haven't been able to go, but this week we went and found ... CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!!! We bought snowflakes, tinsel, a santa cut out, a red bow, a Santa hat, and a crown. We then went home and decorated our apt, so it actually feels like Christmas!!! Oh, and we bought some awesome matching shirts, haha.

We went to visit an ALA member on Wednesday who fed us milk rice, then old buuz... well those buuz were NASTY! My comp and I were each given a huge bowl, and my comp was struggling to eat it too. I ate some, but also kept a huge chunk in my cheek... my comp did too... but there was no where to spit it out - no garbage or bag or anything! So we each had a chunk of nasty meat in our cheek, and as soon as we left we spat it out but we had eaten a good amount and one hour later it hit ... we both got food poisoning! Ugh, it was awful! We thought we were going to die!!!! We went home for a few hours to try and endure the pain and other nasty affects of food poisoning .. but let's just say the next 24 hours were rough, haha.... oh Mongolian food :)

For Christmas, all the missionaries will be going to the city for the day and spend it together. We will have a concert of sorts so our zone will sing Away In A  Manger, then a Mongolian new year song with customized lyrics, and my comp, 2 zone sisters and I are learning a traditional Mongolian dance that we will probs do. Anyways, practicing for these things in our free time has definitely provided some entertainment! haha. My comp knows Mongolian dance, so she looks great, but I feel ridiculous, haha

This week at one of my English lessons, I only had one person come. He thought he was fluent in English and started talking to me in  what sounded like gibberish. I decided to try and teach him the ABC's, so I wrote them on the board and started with ABC.... after having him repeat after me for 15 minutes, I started asking him what they were... he didn't remember... so I decided to teach him using Mongolian equivalents... but he doesn't know Mongolian letters either!!! So I decided today he would just learn A, B, and C. I spent the next 45 minutes having him repeat and asking him, and repeat... Anyways, in one hour he learned.... "B." So yah, sometimes English teaching is like that haha. That was an experience I will never forget! 

In regards to the work here....Both our branches had over 80 people! Woohoo! They are really growing. It's amazing to see! All of our members are doing member missionary work. We give them all personal challenges to bring 1,2,3, or more friends to church... and wow, they really are! This week we had more investigators than members at church! It was awesome! Because of our members our teaching pool is growing exponentially. We have so many amazing investigators, and this week found new families to teach and all of these investigators are so prepared. They are so open to what we are teaching them and really believe what we teach them. They are all having amazing experiences with prayer, and it's strengthening my testimony so much! First of all, in order for the work to move forward throughout the world, we need members to be the missionaries. Secondly, prayer really is our opportunity to talk with God... and yes, He hears, and yes, He answers!!! He answers everyone, but His timeline is always different! 

Last, but not least ... We had three investigators get baptized!!!!!!! And the elders had one investigator get baptized, who I had taught for 3 months.... It was such an amazing baptism!! And one of our new members baptized one of them! And another 16 yr old boy got to baptize one of them as well (his first time baptizing someone). It was so cool to see! Everyone that came felt the spirit so strongly and our investigators' testimonies that they shared were so strong! These people are very special and very prepared spirits! I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to teach them :)

We have tons of investigators who are progressing really well, and the next few to get baptized are planning for the first week of January. But transfers are this week... I really hope I don't go, so I can keep watching the work grow here in Erdenet!!!

So, that's all for this week! I love you all! I'm praying for you all! Keep in touch please!!

God is Hastening His Work

Okay, so my email is a day late because we had zone conference yesterday in Darhan, so we are doing P-DAY TODAY :)  Zone conference was awesome! Sunday, our branch president and mission president's counselor drove us and the four elders to Darhan. Remember all those summer photos of the countryside... well now it's just straight white hills... all covered in snow. True Mongolian tundra, haha. We got in Sunday night and went to a fancy hotel where the mission president was staying. We each did interviews with him and ate gourmet pizza... it was pretty great! We stayed over at the sisters' apt, and ate huusher and yummy spicy meatballs and salad (one of the sisters is a chef). Then we spent all day Monday at zone conference. I learned so much from it! We talked about the 4th missionary, lock your hearts, fear not I am with thee, 1 Nephi 8, and 14 principles of following the prophet... all of which we read beforehand. We also each taught a 10 minute lesson on our best prepared principle and it was filmed and then reviewed. I taught repentance and the president sat in on my lesson. I was nervous, but it went really well. I taught from Alma 36:17-20 about Alma's repentance experience... and it went awesome! The president and the other sisters said I did great, that my Mongolian is getting really great, that I'm a great teacher, and that the scripture was awesome. It was an awesome confidence booster! And a really cool way of getting feedback. 

This week, we also had a strange moment when we found out that our new investigator (the one that was in jail) is actually a less active of 5 years - what?! Yah, and he doesn't know we know.... we are going to have to have a talk with him this week, but we are excited to reactive him, as our branch needs him!

One of our branches had a Christmas party on Friday and it was so fun! They don't do Christmas in Mongolia, so they truly focus on the real meaning of it. They got put into teams (young women, young men, priesthood, and relief society) and they all had to make a poster about the meaning and importance of Christmas... and to earn cool stickers for their posters, they had to compete in fun games, puzzles, musical chairs, karaoke, etc... it was so fun!

The work is seriously hastening here. On Sunday we had 98 people in one of our branches! We have found two new families this week to teach who are just amazing! One family, we visited and taught the father. When we taught him prayer and were talking about what he could pray about, he said he is grateful for us, wants to have a knowledge of God like us, and wants his family to be happy! The other family we met in a taxi and they came to church. They were all dressed in suits and dresses (that never happens here- it was so cute!).

This Friday we will have 3 baptisms!! A 22 yr old guy (whose name means prince) who is just awesome. A 20 yr old girl (whose name means snow candy) who is golden. And a 15 yr old girl who is also golden. We are so excited for these three. 

That's about all for this week. It's been amazing to see the hand of the Lord here in Erdenent. He is truly hastening this work and it's awesome to see! These people are being gathered in by the Lord, and they have all been so prepared. This is a special country and area. I am so grateful to be serving here! I love these people and this language and I'm even starting to love the food! haha

We found some Christmas trees!

Miracles are Real!

This week was great! So many miracles! We finally met with that taxi driver I had mentioned a little while ago... and his friend...twice! They are amazing! Mundag shuu! They really are great and I think they could definitely be great priesthood leaders here, if everything goes well! 

On Thursday  we were doing our big plan at the church, when a random 20 year old boy came in and started talking to us. He grew up without a family, but worked hard and found that he was blessed with musical talent. He sings, dances, and is a rock star on the piano! Everything was going well in his life, and when he graduated from high school he got a job as a waiter. But one time he got in a fist fight with a guy who came to his restaurant and he got sent to jail. He has been in jail for 2 years, but just recently the president of Mongolia released about 2,000 prisoners from jails around Mongolia, he was one of them. We talked for a long time, and he has huge regret for what happened and he truly wants to change his life. He seems to be looking for just this in his life. He comes to all the English classes as he knows it will help him better his situation. We also had the opportunity for his first lesson to have our branch president and the mission presidents' first counselor sit in on the lesson. The spirit in that lesson was the strongest I have felt it in a lesson before. When I taught about families and prayer, I didn't think about what I was trying to teach him... It just flowed. As I talked I knew it was coming from God. I wasn't having trouble speaking and he understood everything I was saying. He even began to cry as I taught him. It was probably the most amazing lesson I have taught on my mission so far!! Oh, and he brings us chocolate bars when he meets with us... God knows we love chocolate so he sent us this investigator, haha. Anyways, he is so amazing and so prepared! (Oh, and mom, no worries about him being in jail or whatever, we will always meet him with a priesthood holder as well)

Two teenage girls I have been teaching since July  are almost ready for baptism I think! Their phones have been off for a couple weeks, and when we checked their addresses no one was home and they weren't coming to church but I finally got a hold of them! We are going to try and meet every day this week and we are planning on them getting baptized next week! We also have 3 others set for baptism on the 11th. I'm praying everything goes well and nothing falls through. They are all so prepared and ready for this gospel. 

We have been checking addresses of less active priesthood holders, with very little success, but we found two this week who want to meet and contacted lots and lots of new people as well! We also have been working a lot with members... and we saw the results this week.  At church, we usually have 40 or 50 people come to each branch, but this week in one branch we had 67 people … and drum roll...... in the other 94!!!!!!! What!?! Yep, that happened! We doubled sacrament meeting numbers in one week - diligence pays off. It was amazing and there were so many new people there. We are making tons of goals to keep it going and make these branches grow into wards so that this district can become a stake. And if it becomes a stake... and if in UB they form 2 more stakes... Mongolia can get a temple!!!

I also learned how to make traditional soiban this week- and it was good!!! I can now make mantuu and soiban and soup and lots of other stuff... woohoo! For thanksgiving we ran out to a mini market of sorts and bought ramen, coke, candy, cookies, pringles, and pickles which we ate at 10pm, haha. It was fun though :)

THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS:

1. How are you handling the cold and is there much snow?

The cold is awful some days and bearable others- I bundle up (multiple layers of tights, scarf, jacket, hat, mittens) so it's doable. The snow mostly just gets packed down into ice, so we slide around trying not to fall. I have only fallen one time so far :)

2. Do you try to teach about Christmas much?

No, not really. People don't know much about it here, except that the church has a special program around Christmas.

3. Any new foods? What is the weirdest thing you've eaten recently?

Nothing new I think... nothing too weird I think... I don’t know. I'm finally getting used to this food and starting to like it!!! What has happened to my taste buds???

4. What do you miss from back home?

I miss salad... a lot.... and Christmas trees and lights and family and friends :)

That's about all this week. I love you all. I love this work! The church is true and this truly is God's work. I see miracles in people's lives each day that strengthen my knowledge that everything missionaries teach is true! 

White Christmas

It is seriously getting cold here!!! I don’t know how I will survive the winter... yikes!!!

Monday the zone came to Erdenet for zone training, so we had 8 sisters staying in our apt, which was awesome! (6 Mongolian sisters, me, and another American) Monday we got some sad news... Sister Royal, (the other American sister in the countryside) would be leaving her mission a month early because a new Elder needs her visa. She, like me, is lucky enough to have a church visa, and this other elder is having visa trouble, and needs to take hers :( So she will leave tomorrow :( It's sad to see her go, but it's good that our mission has the ability to get the other elder this visa. So, on Monday we ate goat head together, talked about mission favs and cool experiences, and made a music video to Glorious, haha- that was awesome!!!

Tuesday was the zone conference, and we learned all about love and charity and how to better love our comps and investigators. It was a really great training and we all set goals to better love and serve those we are serving with.

So, I was seriously missing Christmas this week... so i opened my Christmas package... sorry- I couldn't wait!! Thanks to everyone who wrote me letters! It was so incredibly great to hear from all of you guys! And then.. I found Christmas in Erdenet- there was a tree of sorts outside a chain store here!!! woohooo! 

Also, on Saturday, we did service for a family in the ward. They had tons of wood and needed it all cut, stacked, and stored for the winter ahead. So the elders did the chopping and my comp and I did all the stacking -- an entire shed!!! It was freezing, we were exhausted, but we did it--- and while wearing skirts (we didn’t plan for it, it just happened)!! The family kept asking me if I had done this before, to which I said yes! Thank you to papa for teaching me how at the lake!! Then my comp was reallly cute and said:

Comp: "I'm grateful you are my comp"

Me: "why?"

Comp: " Because you are Mongolian and can do everything a Mongolian can do"

It was so sincere and adorable! Sometimes, I think it's hard for the Mongolian missionaries to be with us because we struggle with the food and language and whatnot. But, in that moment, she was so grateful because I CAN STACK WOOD!! haha It was a great moment!

Also a funny language moment from this week: A new investigator asked me what I thought meant: "How well do you understand everything we say?" so I replied, "I understand everything fairly well."

He repeats his question, "Where are you from?" .... Wooops.... Guess I don't understand everything fairly well, and then we all laughed for a while :) So, I'm not perfect at this language, and I still have lots of moments like that, haha.

That's about all for this week! I love you all! I miss ya! I love this work and it is really progressing here in Erdenet! This place is so special and I truly see miracles in people's lives each day!

Making mantuu

It Almost Killed Us!!

Elders arrive to take us to meet the mission president.

So, this week was crazy! Monday night, the mission president, his counselors and the AP’S came into town without notice, we then threw out plans we had and went on all kinds of splits and visited others instead. I went on a split with Bayarjav Ax- the president’s 2^nd counselor and his wife. We visited a way less-active, super offended, young couple, and had an amazing lesson... but that couple refuses to forgive and move on. The husband especially was touched by things I said, and I think, given time, they will come back. Then we visited another family and the experience was awesome! Working with him and his wife gave me a whole new outlook on teaching... they truly recognize needs and teach to needs- and they relate their own experiences so well!

Teaching a member family

This week, in order to visit all of our investigators we did quite e few splits, and one day we did an entire day split with members. I was comps with a “preemie” (she’s working on her mission papers). She has a huge desire, but doesn't quite know how to teach everything she wants to say, so I taught everything and it went amazing! I didn't have any language problems!!! What?!?! Yep, that happened. All the people we visited understood me well and were touched by what I said! I was able to teach the lessons without fear and I felt a strength. I truly felt God strengthening me as I taught. It felt like the many missionary stories in the Book of Mormon. They always say that they were able to do what they did because God strengthened them. Well it's real, and God does it for all His missionaries!

On another note, yesterday we went to pick up the blind lady again and her children had untied their dog. So when we arrived. he came running at the fence (seriously the scariest dog I've ever seen!!!) and THEN when the blind lady came out, the dog came running too. My comp and I were sprinting through the snow praying the dog wouldn't kill us. I got around the corner and out of sight of the dog and waited and prayed. My comp had opened a random unlocked gate and jumped into someone's yard and then closed it a moment before the dog got to her. IT ALMOST KILLED US!!! We called the lady and asked her to take the dog back (which took a long time because she couldn’t find the dog or her house)... so we waited and froze in the snow. Eventually she did it, and we got her and left. Boy was that a scary experience!!! But I lived to tell the tale!

Additional info: I have asked Emily to take a photo of the dogs but she never has and even replied that she can't because she's too busy running away! Here are two photos of common breeds in Mongolia (Bankhar & Tibetan Mastiff), I don't know if these are the same as the dog in Emily's story but it is quite possible.

Me and my companion

Yup, winter is here!

Layers, layers, layers!

Beautiful Mongolian people! (Gers are hot inside)

Having fun with the elders

Transfer Week Came .. Where Did I Go?

So I know you are all waiting for the big news on the transfers, so here's the low down....

Transfers was Thursday, so Wednesday, we were given the big transfer news... which had been prefaced by jokes by our ZL'S and DL's on the few days before... so annoying! Transfers is not something to joke about!! Seriously!

So, the greenies came and the transfer was BIG! Lots of people got transfered and far too! My comp (Sister Solongo) got transferred to a branch in UB and she is training on of the new American missionaries! Quick shout out to my MTC comp, Sister Westover who became a mother this week!!! yep, she's training a newbie... she rocks!!! Mundag shuu!

As for me... I'm STILL IN ERDENET!!! woohoo! I'm so lucky!! AND I still get to work in both branches, so I don't lose any of my investigators! Seriously lucky! And my new comp is Sister Bolor-Erdene. She is from the real countryside in Mongolia, but was in UB the last few years for school and work (she is a teacher). She is 23 yrs old and also from my GROUP (we will get to be together for our half-way mark at Christmas). Also, do you remember my 2nd mission "mom" Naranzulth. Well she was Bolor-Erdene's trainer as well, so that makes us step sisters in the mission (Naranzulth was my 2nd mom "step-mom").She was trained in Erdenet, and when I came here, I took her spot and now she is back! It's awesome because I don't have to teach her the area, she knows lots of old investigators who she has already contacted and we will begin meeting with again... so our teaching pool has grown even more!!! I love her so much! She is really awesome and we get along great! We are going to do great work together- I can already tell. We both looove this area and these people and it's going to show for sure :)

Oh, and Erdenet has 6 missionaries now! 4 elders and us. One companionship of elders works in Erdenet 1 branch (both American), and one works in Bulgan and Erdenet 2... but we work in both!!

So because of transfers, Wednesday night we didn't sleep much as my comp packed and prepped to leave. Then Wednesday, we rushed like mad women to get tickets for the 10 o'clock bus to UB, went to seminary to say goodbye to the youth, got her glasses at a member's house where she left them, finished packing, and left. We got into UB around 4, then sat in a taxi until 5ish when we got to the mission home. We met a couple of the newbies (they are so scared... was I like that?), I did some errands really fast (got things we can't get in the countryside), then at 6 left with my STL's, one of their new comps (a mini missionary) and the new Erdenet Elders for the overnight train back. My comp was serving in Darhan, so at about midnight the train got into Darhan, dropped off the sisters and picked up my comp, then we all continued onward to Erdenet. And we got back Friday, cleaned, unpacked, planned, and met people! Woohoo! Lots and lots of traveling in very little time!

Also, news on our work here in Erdenet!!!

1) A very cute couple who Bolor-Erdene taught when she was here, and who I have been teaching ever since will finally be able to get their marriage certificate today!!! Which means, if all goes well, that they will do their interview this week and get baptized next week!!! They are so ready... they have a rock solid testimony and will be amazing leaders here!

2) An investigator who Bolor-Erdene taught all the lessons to and even did and passed his interview, but then went to the countryside is BACK! We are meeting him today and he too should be able to get baptized soon! 

3) Another golden investigator is almost done with all her lessons, and if everything goes well will be baptized with the couple next week!

WE HAVE TONS OF OTHER INVESTIGATORS AND FAMILY WHO ARE PROGRESSING AMAZINGLY!!! The work in Erdenet is definitely hastening and I'm so glad to be a part of it! My previous comp and I did a lot of finding and teaching and now, with this comp, we get to do the reaping (well, the Lord does the reaping, we are merely his tools to do so).

On a different note, I think last week, I told you guys about the blind ALA lady here, right? Well, yesterday we left 2 hours early to pick her up and take her to church and then brought her home after. She was so incredibly thankful and kept talking about how God was using us to answer her prayers and bless her life. This experience truly felt like what the scriptures talk about when they say we should leave the 99 to find the 1. This is missionary work. This is what the Lord desires, that all his lost sheep may be found and brought back to the herd. It was an amazing experience, and we will be doing this weekly now, so that she can come to church :) I love her and I love this work!!!

Let me know if you have any questions! I would love to hear from all of you! Miss ya! Praying for you all! 

ADDITIONAL INFO (an email 'conversation'):

Mom: Do you think more missionaries in UB get to become trainers because there are more people that have to stay in UB because of their visa/English teaching requirements?

Emily: Yes, lots of people in UB become trainers because almost all American missionaries teach at schools so they have to be trained in UB (there are only 8 church visas - teaching English classes for free at the church like I do). It's possible that I could train a Mongolian because they can go anywhere. My visa is a blessing because the mission president has full freedom of where he can send me... no restrictions!

Mom: How many missionaries are in the mission total?

Emily: There are only Americans and Mongolians in this mission (Americans of different ethnicity, but Americans). Right now I think there are just under 60 American missionaries here. The other visas are all schools or organizations- universities elementary, high school, some private schools, some organizations, etc.

Mom: Did you get a new older couple?

Emily: No new senior couple but a new mission doctor and his wife arrived this week, woohoo!

Mom: What?

Emily: Yep, there are two missions in the world with a doctor and ours is one. Something about the food and conditions here means we have to have a doctor. Missionaries are constantly sick here, so there is a real need. In fact we had another elder leave 3 weeks ago because he was sick :(

Mom: What kind of sickness?

Emily: A lot of it is digestion stuff. The food and what not here is sketch... we have to bleach veggies and filter water and take vitamins and use special sanitizer and so on.

Mom: You're just telling me this now!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????

Emily: I think I told you before... most missionaries get diarrhea at least for a while and some people get way worse. I’m fine so don’t worry about me at all!