The Lords Hand Is In All Things

I had so many amazing experiences this week! First off, earlier this week we wanted to meet with our investigator but she went to the countryside for the day, so instead we visited a member whose grandson is an investigator (but we knew he probably wouldn’t be there). I shared this scripture

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it. – Mosiah 2:41

and then she proceeded to tell us that her son and wife had lost their child that morning. It was so hard for her but she told us God always looks after her and today he sent us to her and shared that scripture with her. How amazing is that? She was so touched and felt so loved!! God’s hand really is in all things. Secondly, we have two new 15 year old girls for investigators and they are amazing! They are hungry for the gospel and to learn more. They read everything (pamphlets & the Book of Mormon) and they take notes on what they read and then tell us what they learned and ask us questions. In closing prayers they thank God for us and for the opportunity to learn from us. In a lesson earlier this week, we asked about their prayers and how that’s been. They then shared their answers to prayers and that was amazing too!

Another day this week we were going to meet with a different investigator but he didn’t show up to the church – so as we sat and waited, I noticed a man bike riding back and forth in front of the church so I went to talk to him. Turns out he is interested and had been to FHE before. Somehow his number had been lost and contact never made. I invited him to a few church meetings/activities and I’m praying something will come from it. 

That same day, after visiting someone else, we were walking home and a 16 year old boy walks right up to us, starts talking and asks how he can become a member of our church and asks if he goes there right now can he meet the missionaries … well we told him “ummm, we are missionaries!” and set up a time to meet! He wants to get baptized before he goes to China in August … I’m praying we can teach him and get him ready quick enough.

And last but not least!!!! The young mother is getting baptized!!!!! Yep, my first baptism! She is absolutely amazing and so ready! She passed her interview with flying colors and our district leader said she is so faithful and after the interview she even asked if the elders could give her son a blessing (he was sick). Of course they did and she was so happy!

This week was full of small miracles and I have definitely seen the Lord’s hand in my life as well as those we teach. I love you all! 

Yep, I Ate That!

I spoke too soon Mom when I said we were lucky and didn’t have to eat that head … we went back on Monday to do FHE and guess what they cooked for us! Yep, the sheep’s head, kidney, liver, stomach and all kinds of lovely stuff. It was a struggle but I ate it and some of it wasn’t all that bad actually. My companion ate an eyeball (she loves them) and an ear & roof of the mouth! I wouldn’t try those, but I had some tongue, stomach, kidney and I’m not really sure what else because it was all in a big bowl that we all ate from.

I went on splits this week with a Mongolian sister who serves in Darxan and that was quite the struggle. She knows absolutely no English, so some stuff we would just give up on explaining … you can only try for so long until the point doesn’t even matter anymore. Haha. It was fun. We also did mutual this week and taught about missionary work, then played missionary tag and some other games. It was so fun!! The youth here are amazing! Two sisters here who are inactive brought two friends to mutual and now we are teaching their friends! Their friends are awesome and so faithful. They come to everything. As well, we had zone training this week in Darxan – about 5 hours away by train. It was so great and I learned so much! We took a taxi on the way back and it was the most beautiful drive through the countryside … so so so beautiful! I would love to wander the country and just enjoy the beauty.

I taught my first English class here this week and that went great. We taught on Saturday for two hours and had about 20 people show up, including some investigators, woohoo! I teach with the other American, Sister Cleveland, and the senior sister, Sister Hill. It went pretty well and was so fun.

We have the most amazing young mom who will have her interview for baptism this week – pray for her! If all goes well, next Friday we will have her baptism!

This week I was reading a talk by Elder Uchtdorf in the newest Liahona (church magazine) about the pioneers. Everyone should read it! It made me think about a lot of things but one thing I realized is while we are trekking across the plains, we are all pioneers in our own way and we all have our own treks. I realized that my mission is my own trek and I truly am a pioneer – I am 1 of 13 American sisters serving in Mongolia right now, 1 of about 60 missionaries, and 1 of 406 missions in the world!! I am the second child in my family to serve and the first girl to serve. I am one of the new 19 year old sisters serving throughout the world. I am in Mongolia teaching the gospel to the Mongolian people and because the church is so new here, every member is a convert – EVERY. It’s so cool to see their faithfulness and desire to learn. It’s a common question to ask when someone got baptized and who their missionary was. These people, this country, and this work is amazing! It is changing people’s lives here and throughout the world for the better. I know that this is the true and full gospel of Jesus Christ once again established on this earth. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that through him, we have the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is true, in every language. It is our guide and help in this life and I know that if we live its teachings we will be blessed.

WEEKLY QUESTIONS:

1.     Where do you attend church and how many people go?

The church building is just up the street and the last few weeks we’ve have about 30 people (everyone was gone for Naadam) but this week we had 68 people in sacrament! It was awesome!!

2.       Are there any elders in your area? There are two elders (district leaders) but their area is two hours away. They have two apartments – one here and one there. They are in Erdenet for a few days a week for district meeting and p-day.

3.       How are the clothes holding up? They are fine, just starting to look a little worn. It’s the shoes that are dying! The pair I’m wearing right now will probably only last another week or so.

4.       Do you hear any news about other parts of the world?Not really, only church news that we see on lds.org on p-days.

Naadam!

This week was pretty awesome! The missionaries here (my companionship & the other sisters) conduct/teach the young single adult FHE (family home evening) and mutual (youth night) for the teens. This week we did both – it was super fun and the people are great, but I’v e realized one of the hardest things to do in Mongolian is play games. Ugh … it’s a real struggle, mostly because I don’t know the random vocabulary for games. Everyone was so nice to try to explain them in broken English haha … that’s a game in and of itself. It was funny to see that they actually play a lot of the same games as youth in America. Once I knew the gist of what was happening I could figure out what game it was.

We had a church service project this week. We all piled into a meeker – a large van (I stopped counting once we had 25 in it but people kept coming), and drove out to this beautiful green field. We were given bags, gloves and masks and we went to work picking up trash. It’s so incredibly sad to see such a beautiful place like Mongolia covered in trash (it really is everywhere). The activity was a success.

We are teaching some of the most amazing people right now! A young man showed up for church last week, stayed all three hours, then asked us to teach him a lesson after church … then he came to YSA FHE and we taught him a lesson after … then he came to mutual … then we taught him on a different day … then he came to the service project! He is awesome! He is smart too – he’s 17 and graduated from high school, studying at the Mongolian university. He knows old Mongolian, taught himself English from songs & tv shows, and more! We are also teaching the sweetest couple. They are faithful and read & pray every day. We have finished their lessons but they are having trouble getting a copy of their marriage certificate so we are waiting for that before they can be baptized. In the mean time we read the Book of Mormon with them.

Okay … NAADAM!!!!!! Naadam is a Mongolian holiday with horse racing, wrestling and archery. Everyone wears traditional Mongolian clothes. It last 4-5 days and families get together and eat lots of food … it’s just awesome! We went to the opening ceremonies and I got to shoot arrows (the guys were way impressed with my skills), held an eagle, took pics with horses & camels, and ate Khuushuur (meat pastry). It’s pretty cool. :)

I love Mongolia and am having so many amazing experiences here. My testimony grows every day and I know this is where I need to be. I love the people so much! I know that God loves and knows us perfectly and he truly wants to help us. If we sincerely pray to God, I know He will answer us through the Holy Ghost.

I had this traditional vest made for Naadam.

Enjoying the meat pastries with the other sisters.

Some of the military parade.

A member's brother.

The people here are wonderful!

All us sisters with the senior missionary couple.

Hey Everyone!

So big stuff happened this week!

ONE … my first trainer, Sister Sneddon, finished her mission, so she's home now- so sad.

TWO… I got my new comp. Her name is Sister Naranzulth, and she is AWESOME! She is from Mongolia and is the sweetest soul I've ever met! She is 25, graduated in family psychology research, and she will finish her mission in 6 weeks... yep, I killed my first trainer, and now I will kill my second trainer. She is so kind and helps me so much with the language, while I try to help her with English.

THREE... Transfers! Did I stay or did I go? Well, I went. Wednesday night, I found out that I would be transferred to the country! Yep, the Mongolian countryside. So after packing all night Wednesday, I got it down to one suitcase and was ready to leave on Thursday. I am serving in Erdenet (NW of UB). We took a 12 hour train ride there on a sleeping train (there are little beds that you sit/sleep on - 4 beds in a section, two above the other two). We traveled with two elders who were coming out here as well, and they were hilarious -  haha, we had so much fun. Although, I have got to say it was weird sleeping next to Elders... how many sisters have that experience? haha

So I’m in the country now, and it's way different. I live in a super ghetto Russian apt with a ton of broke stuff, but it’s okay. People here are a lot harder to understand but so kind! It looks like we have may have quite a few baptisms planned for the end of the month, so I'm praying those happen. As for English teaching, I will be teaching at the church, and I basically have full reign over what I want to do when I want to teach, and so on. I will probably start after Naadam. Oh yah! Naadam is this week! I am so excited for it!!! (It’s the biggest festival of the year for Mongolians. It runs for three days in all parts of the country and highlights the greatest athletes in horse racing, archery, and wrestling – google it, it’s awesome!)

Missionary work is amazing. This gospel changes so many people’s lives for the better and I've definitely seen that here. My mission is definitely changing me too. I am growing and learning sooo much! This is the hardest thing I have ever done, but it's so worth it, and I wouldn't change my decision to serve if I could.

RANDOM QUESTIONS:

1. What kind of cars do most people drive? And does everybody own one? All kinds of cars and mostly the rich own them or taxi drivers. All the people I teach don't own one.

2. I think you get a new companion this week, were you nervous? Are you still the junior companion? I was sooooooo nervous! But, she is great! Yes, I’m the junior comp because I'm still being trained.

3. How often do you eat with members? What do you usually eat? We don't have set up meals with members, but every time you visit someone they feed you--- at least hot water or hyrum and bread things, if not a full meal. We eat all kinds of Mongolian food... and the meat is so hard for me to eat! I just want a salad! (They don't have green salads here)

4. Do they have TVs and movie theaters just like us? Do you see advertisements for current stuff? Some people have TV's but watch Mongolian or Korean or Japanese tv. And they might have movie theaters somewhere, but I don’t know where.

Playing games on the train - Mongolian cards are different then we're used to.

A view from the train.

Part of my new area.