Anyone Can Change

This email is coming to you from our mission doctor's apartment. Why, you might ask? Well, I managed to drop a heavy glass bottle of water on my foot, resulting in a trip to the hospital for x-rays (no break luckily) and crutches, meds, and a boot for the next week... so yah, there's my excitement for you guys!

On another note, we had a baptism this week!!!! Ariunzaya, our golden investigator got baptized!!!! She is 15 years old and so incredibly prepared for this gospel. She lives with her aunt who is her legal guardian and her cousins; all of which are members. She has a very strong testimony of this gospel and faith in god, and was determined to move forward with her baptism despite the MANY fiery darts of Satan coming her way. She even fell on some stairs the day before her baptism, scraping up her face and knees pretty bad. But the trooper she is, she still showed up ready to make this important covenant with God with a smile on her face! I love her so much and it was so amazing to see her aunt and cousins come and support her. She even had two boy cousins come who we are teaching as well, and they were very touched by the spirit present there.

At that baptism, there were two other people baptized, not our investigators, but I would like to share their stories anyways. 

One, is a wrestler here in Mongolia. One of our AP's (president's assistants) is a wrestler here as well, and guess what... they competed against each other before his mission. However, our AP was a great example to him and our AP found him, began to teach him all the lessons, then passed him to the elders in our area... and on Friday, he was baptized by his wrestling buddy... our AP. 

The other is a woman around her 60's who was a shaminist priestess her entire life. When she was 5, she was chosen by a shaminist priest for her body to be used for spirits. So, they would invite spirits into her body, and later she became a shaminist priestess who would go up into the mountains and do it herself....sketchy stuff. Well, anyways a lifetime of this, but her children went to America, joined the church, and introduced her to it. She began coming to church, taking the lessons, believed this gospel, eventually with the encouragement of her missionaries and a priesthood blessing was able to renounce shaminism. She finally took the step of baptism this week, and she is so incredibly happy.

Now, what I thought was amazing from these 3 stories is how they came to know of the church. It wasn't from a website or from the missionaries, but all from family members or friends. Please remember how big of an influence you can have. If a shaminist preistest can renounce her life and follow her newfound truth, so can anyone else. Any family member or friend or person on the street. We are all children of God and all worthy of hearing the gospel then choosing for ourselves if we believe it. 

I love you all and I am very excited to skype for mother's day!!!