For Example, Sister Harker

So another week came, but my comps call did not. It's like I'm getting my call all over again! I am so nervous and excited for her and my district talks about where she will go all the time!!! We are going tot the post office today to see if it came!

This week was great!! First off, last Monday we did FHE with a family here that I just LOVE! I used to do FHE with their family all the time during the summer, but haven't in a long time. It was so much fun, they fed us food, and we talked and joked around a ton and then did a fun activity about God-given attributes and talents (everyone had to write nice things about each other...they especially loved to mess with my comp as she is new). It was so great, and felt like I was with my actual family - exact same humor!

I've been really sick this week but I decided there is no point in waiting around home, so we decided to go to work. It's been rough, but the members and investigators have been really nice and keep giving me hot berry water and this week we've been able to do some amazing work! We found at least 20 less actives, which is awesome! And they are almost all up for meeting with us too! 

First of all, one of our investigators named Amardalai who is 21 yrs old passed his baptismal interview and will be getting baptized this week!!! We are so excited about it and he has progressed amazingly and is so ready for this covenant!! He will receive the priesthood in a month or so and he wants to leave on a mission in one year!! We had a funny moment this week with him, as I was on a a split with my STL and we visited him. We taught him about missionary work and he kept saying, "for example, Sister Harker..." to understand everything we were teaching him. It was hilarious as he did it at least 10 times. Hear that, y'all  I am the example, haha. My STL has promised to start using me as an example to those she teaches and in letters to the president, and in meetings with other missionaries, haha.

We also met a member family this week who has a 2 yr old boy who always runs around naked and cant really talk. When we visited them this week he came over to me with a tiny beaded ring, and he tried putting it on me. I gave him my pinky but he refused to and grabbed my ring finger and put it on that one... yep, I was proposed to by a 2 yr old Mongolian boy... it was adorable! He even let me keep the ring, haha.

Also, while I was with my STL we were talking a little bit about my first area- Bayanzurkh. She is from that area, and I used to visit her family because her mom is an investigator and her older sister was inactive. Well, I was telling her about how I felt like I didn't make much of a difference there because I couldn't talk to anyone or understand anyone. She was shocked and then shared this with me; 

"You used to visit my family right? You taught my older sister right? My older sister is now very active in the church.. and how did she become that way? She sent me an email and told me that Sister Harker helped her. You said or taught something that changed her attitude and made her change. To her, you are the reason she is active again. You changed her life." 

Wow, right?! I had no idea at all! When she told me that, I was amazed! I had no idea that I helped her sister, but I did. At that time, I could barely speak the language and I felt like I was doing nothing, but I was. I helped someone and who knows who else I may have helped while I was there without knowing it. I thought a lot about this and realized that God truly does place missionaries where they are needed, places words in our mouth, touches others hearts, and helps people through us. It's exactly like Ether 12:25,27. We personally feel like we have a weakness (like speaking the language), but God gives us those weaknesses and through them helps others, and strengthens us as well.

This week we had cool experience after cool experience, and I don't have time to write them all, but I want to say I love this work and love all of you! 

WEEKLY QUESTIONS:
1. What do Mongolians think of your ability to handle the winter cold? They are all super impressed actually!!! And all worried about me too, haha

2. How does Mongolian school work? Do they go year round? 9-3pm? It's really confusing, the school year is the same, but the time of the day I do not understand. Every day seems to be different and different grade levels have morning classes and some evening  and some all days... I don't really understand and I continually ask the youth when their classes are, but they are patient and keep answering me.

3. Do many people have tv or computers? Lots of people have tv's, but they are the old box tvs, and usually pretty small. Most people don't have computers, but some do.

4. When is the next big holiday and what will it be? The next holiday is Zurgaansar (6th moon) and it starts February 8th here this year and will go for 1-2 or more weeks. Basically, no one does anything except visit families and friends and eat A TON of food and bring each other gifts and whatnot.

5. Do you dream in English or Mongolian? What do you dream about? I don't dream much, but when I do it's always about the mission, sometimes English, sometimes Mongolian.

One of my favorite youth.

My zone sistas - I'm the lone American but I feel like a Mongolian so it's ok. :)

My branch president's family.

Messing around because there were no taxis anywhere!

The Gospel Changes Lives

This week was just amazing!!! First of all, I had a moment this week, where I truly felt God's love and the love of these people. We sat in on institute this week for 30 minutes. I basically wasn't understanding anything and they kept asking me questions that I couldn't answer. I was kinda frustrated on the inside and just exhausted by this language. That definitely happens all the time! It's hard being in the countryside with only Mongolians, and spending every blinking moment speaking in Mongolian - it's great and helps a lot, but it's exhausting. Well, as we were sitting in institute  the guy next to me (who is trying really hard to learn English  but doesn't speak very well) asked me in very broken English if i understood. I told him no, and he then began, once again in VERY broken English, to translate the lesson for me. I almost began to cry as I was now on the other side of the language barrier and someone was trying so incredibly hard to help me understand this time. It was so kind, and i felt God's love so strongly through this kind member.

We are teaching so many amazing investigators now, and they are all progressing REALLY WELL!!! One of our investigators, Amardolai, is doing great! We finished teaching him all the commandments and also taught him about temples this week. He thinks everything sounds awesome and he wants to follow all of the commandments exactly! In one of our lessons, he seemed a little said, and we asked why. He then told us he thinks he shouldn't get baptized.... we were shocked!!! What?! We asked why he felt that way, and he told us, "well God gave us the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy and go to church every week. I want to follow it, but i'm from the real countryside, and when my college breaks for 3 months during the summer, I will go back to the countryside, and there's no church there. If I can't follow the commandment, I shouldn't get baptized." We were touched by his sincere desire to follow the commandments and then explained to him that Mongolia has a long-distance phone call branch that he can be a part of for that time, and when he comes back, he can come to church again, haha. He was so incredibly happy! He and his mom also loved everything about temples and being able to be together as a family for eternity. They really want to go and I think his mom might start coming to church now too! 

We also had 3 investigators get baptized this week!!!! Zumpurel and Serchmaa, and Battumur all got baptized!!!! It was such a  beautiful baptism, especially as 2 of our investigators' families are investigators too and got to watch. These three teenagers were so incredibly happy, and had light radiating from them as they participated in this amazing ordinance. They all told us that while the water was very cold, they felt strangely warm. They all shared amazing testimonies of how the gospel has and is changing their and their families' lives for the better. And it is so true, the gospel has brightened their lives and they have  a new found identity that is precious to them each! Missionary work is so amazing as we get a front row seat to Christ's atonement working in people's lives. Wow!

AND, we are now teaching friends and families of these new members! One of their dads is amazing and wants to baptized right away and take his family to the temple as soon as possible! Her older brother also listened to a full lesson yesterday and said the closing prayer (his first prayer ever!). He thanked God for sending missionaries to his family and helping them be happy!!! I love these people. I love this gospel. I love being a missionary!

Also, I'm pretty sure my companion is not Mongolian and I am for the following reasons:

1) I make Mongolian food and she doesn't

2) She is always cold and I'm not

3) She falls on a daily basis and I don't.

4) Yesterday, people gave us meat that I ate and she couldn't

5) and lots more, haha

Anyways, I love you all! 

Happy New Year!

It's now 2016!! So weird to think that I will be finishing my mission this year.... what?! Here in Mongolia, they love New Years!!! They all rest from work and school and eat cake (EVERYONE EATS CAKE!!!! Everyone has been walking around with cake boxes all week!). They also have lots of parties and eat lots of buuz as well! So, I too had to eat a lot of buuz this week... ugh. On New Year's Eve there was also a huge party in the town square with a giant tree and music and Mongolian Santa and Russian Santa and donkeys and what not. We stopped to check it out for a few minutes on our way home that night, so that was interesting. Then we got home and exchanged stockings of candy we got for each other, then the elders stopped by with a cake and gift for us as well!!! They are so nice. Then, we watched fireworks for a while! It was quite enjoyable! 

Eating the roof of a goat's mouth

New Year's Day, we visited a few families who made us eat and drink and eat and rink so much! So many buuz and meat and goat head and mantuu and milk and seabuckthorn (okay, I actually love that drink though, haha). It was fun and the families were so excited to share this holiday with us :) 

 In regards to our work; it is going fantastic here!!!! We are teaching tons of lessons and our investigators are progressing very well! We have 3 investigators set for baptism this week (Serchmaa and Zumperel who are 13 yrs old and Batumur who is 16 yrs old) and 1 for next week (Erdene Chimeg who is 20) and 1 the following week as well (Amardolai who is 21)! It's so exciting to see them all making this wonderful choice that will truly change their lives!  

One of our investigators, Erdenechimeg is amazing! She is my age, and we are basically best friends, haha. She has a cute little boy, and is currently a single mom. She has a huge desire to change her life and repent of all that has happened in the past. Everything we teach her she immediately accepts to follow! She says that everything we teach her sounds amazing and is exactly what she needs! She just like every Mongolian really loves tea, but this week we taught her the word of wisdom, and she immediately resolved to follow it. She said that God loves and knows her, and he gave her this body, so she will do as He asked to treasure this gift- okay, how amazing is she really!!! I am so excited to see her become a wonderful member here. She always has plans to entire the temple in a year!

We also have another amazing investigator Amardolai. He is 21 yrs old and from the real countryside (like where you live in the middle of nowhere and milk cows and herd goats and make aruul- oh and he makes really good aruul!), but he is living here for a year with his mom and he studies. He is so incredibly humble and has a huge desire to learn and follow what we teach him. His mom also believes and prays to God and she definitely raised him right (but she worships the 7 star gods and earth and whatnot). She basically taught him to live God's commandments without her knowing that she was. We taught him this week the word of wisdom and the ten commandments and the law of chastity. And everything we taught him something new, he was like, "um, of course we don't do that... of course we need to respect women and be true to them.... of course we don't lie... etc" It was awesome! And his mom completely supports him and might want to start meeting with us as well! Oh, and we had a funny moment the other day with him. We visited him and his mom at their ger, and we were talking about where they are from and what not... and then he asked me (just me, haha) to go with him for two weeks to visit his whole family in the countryside.... hahaha, I then kindly explained again about missionaries... he was kinda embarrassed but then we had some good laughs about it later :) But he really is such a fantastic investigator!!! He will be a great missionary!

We had a really cool experience this week as we met with a new investigator for the first time. We taught about god and prayer and asked her to pray, and she said sure. So this adorable 50 yr old lady then whispered "dear Heavenly Father" and then was silent for 10 minutes. But, she looked like she was praying on the inside so we waited patiently, until we all made contact and she asked if we were going to pray... haha. But, a cool thing happened. She told us that during that quiet time, she saw a vision of a white man with a beard in white robes... we showed her the pic of Christ at the second coming and she said it was exactly like that! She was then amazed that she saw Christ! It was an amazing experience and she is so excited about prayer now.

No taxis anywhere! Brrr!

This week we also went to a tiny little community an hour away called Bulgan. There is a group of church members there. They are part of the long distance phone call sacrament available here, and since there are no missionaries there, we went this week to help them with sacrament and then we visited with some members and less actives there. It was so nice even though 4 people came. We found an old gramma later to meet with who my comp actually went to the temple with years earlier! She was so cute and excited to meet with us! Her son was there yelling at me, "American go get me beer!!!" But that's okay, we shared a message with her and made plans to visit her next month! The members there are so faithful as there are so few of them, and it was incredible to recognize their faith! 

Well, I'm gonna finish up now, but I want to say Happy New year! I love you all! Please keep writing me emails and letters!

Bought myself some Mongolian slippers.

New Year's celebrations

Acting cool with the graffiti

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!