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!