Needles, Stinging Nettles &Wild Dogs‏

So, I'm in Mongolia! It was a LONG trip, but we made it! We left Provo on Tuesday morning, took the Frontrunner and the Trax, then flew to Houston, 7 hour layover, flew to Beijing (15ish hour flight), then a 14 hour layover in Beijing (we got delayed), then to Mongolia.... we got here Friday morning Mongolia time. I am so done with traveling!

Friday we had to do some training stuff at the mission home, had dinner with Elder Wong of the 70 and the president’s family, and we went to a sketchy hospital. Let me just say I have never seen a hospital like that. They had to do some tests for immigration purposes, and they drew blood.... BUT they did it FROM MY HAND!! It was the worst, and the entire top of my hand has been bruised since then!! I'm trying to come up with a story about how I got it... accepting suggestions.

On Saturday, we got our companions and started our mission life. My companion is Sister Sneddon from Park City. She is absolutely amazing!! She has been out 18 months and extended her mission a month to train me (I'll have her for 5 weeks, then I'll be given a different trainer). We have two areas: Bayanzurkh and Nailakh. We have the biggest are in the mission, so we definitely have a lot of work to do. The areas are both gir districts, so the people we teach are extremely poor. It is so humbling to be in their homes, eating the little food they have that they give us, and walking around those areas. I love the people already and am so amazed by them. They will walk miles carrying their gallons of water that they get from a well... wow!

Sunday, we went to church at our branch. There were about 40 people. I was asked to stand and introduce myself and bear my testimony, so I did and they se

emed to understand, woohoo! I also had a couple conversations by myself with people... woohoo again! I don’t understand most of what is being said, but I can pick out words and follow along and give my input. I've even taught a few lessons and they more or less understand what I'm saying.

We went to visit and teach a less active family yesterday, and when we walked inside their tin fence towards their gir, their dog attacked me... I saw my life flash before my eyes... seriously though, and they are building a bashin (house of sorts) out of bricks, so there were piles of bricks behind me. I had my jacket in front of me ready to go all matador style on that dog (or monster I should say). Luckily, the kids got the dog in time and took it away, and we went inside their gir to teach. I was lucky enough to get away without a bite.

It's so crazy walking down these dirt roads. There are cows and wild dogs that wonder the streets. It is so different and amazing. I love it here.

This morning we went to a monument where Mongolia was actually dedicated for the work. It was amazing!! President shared these thoughts: When he was serving, a member of the 70 came and spoke, and during the middle of his talk stopped and said, "I feel impressed to share that the pure blood of Israel runs through your veins." God truly has preserved Mongolia for a special purpose. In Jacob 5, it talks about the lord’s vineyard and the 4th period is the gathering of Israel... that is happening here in Mongolia. I feel so privileged to be serving here and helping these people.

Also, as we were walking back from the monument, I stepped into a stinging nettle, and boy is it bad... I have a lizard-like bubbly foot now.. oh well. Tis the life of a missionary in Mongolia.

My first Mongolian meal!

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane... 16 Months & I'll Be Back Again!

I don’t have a ton of time to email today because we are packing and getting ready to leave, but here are the quick updates:

We finished our English teaching certification!! We went to the BYU ELC and observed and taught classes. It was such an amazing experience! I loved the people and it was so cool to see how much learning English was helping these people. They truly had a desire to learn English, and it made teaching all the better. We had the chance to interview some of the students in the hallways: one student told me that she is an industrial engineer and she was learning English so she could have more and better opportunities in her field (and she wants to get an MBA too), another student told me that he was learning English because he loves web design but all the coding is in English, and a third student told me, she hates the barriers that are created from not knowing English. I had never thought about it this way before... I am breaking down barriers for these people: with jobs, social groups, entertainment, and so much more! How amazing is that?! I am so lucky to be teaching English as a part of my mission!  

Two of the sisters in our group have been reassigned to the California Irvine mission while they wait for visas. It’s a little sad that they won’t be coming with us right away, but we will see them soon I’m sure.

That's about all. Love you all and hope you are all doing well! Just want to leave you with a scripture. It's really great and I love it so much! Mosiah 24:14-16 -read it. This scripture is one of God's promises to us, that when we have burdens, trials or struggles, the Lord can help ease them and carry them. If we pray sincerely and with faith, and ask for the strength needed, the Lord will help us. We need to have faith and trust in the Lord's timing to receive these promised blessings.

Talk to you next week from Mongolia!!!!

Our Mongolian group

Climbing the walls (sort of), a request from my brother Tim!

ESL Training

We have been learning some pretty difficult Mongolian grammar this week like adjective clauses and verb connectors and so on. It's hard, but it's so cool when I kinda get it! I love this language! I don't know how to describe it, but there is something so powerful about the language, and I feel the spirit so strongly while teaching or praying in this language. I've thought about that a lot, and I think it all comes back to the thought that the Lord calls you to serve in the place you will touch lives, and the Lord calls you to serve in the language that you will preach the most strongly. Now, I definitely have a very simple grasp on the language, but it seems to be enough. Often simple is the best way to teach anyways. The foundation of the gospel is what people need to learn, and the foundation while most important is the most simple. Anyways, I love Mongolian!!!

Monday was awesome.. first of all, my teacher and I matched, so of course we had to take pictures.

We had two gym times (gym, lunch, and gym again), our schedule had given us two because we wouldn't get gym once we started ELC training... so 2 1/2 hours of volleyball it is! It was so fun!

Wednesday we had our four hour intro to ELC training. It basically reviewed what we had learned in the online training and prepped us for the classroom stuff.  Yesterday, we took a field trip to the BYU ELC center for the chunk of our training (we'll be doing that every morning next week). It was so awesome! We observed different classes as companionships. Sister Westover and I got to

observe a foundations prep class which is the lowest level there. I loved them so much! Those students were so enthusiastic and excited about English. They picked up on things fast and were just so fun to be around. I was very impressed at how much they already knew since they had just started this week. I could tell that they really wanted this and that English truly will change their lives. I can't wait to teach English in Mongolia! Oh, and we get to teach that class on Monday!!! It's going to be so fun!

I know this church is true and the Book of Mormon is the truest of any book on the earth. I have come to a real testimony of prayer while here. Prayer is so important. It is both a commandment and a gift from God, and I know that if we pray with sincerity, he will bless us and help us and answer us. I invite all of you to pray to God sincerely with questions and gratitude.

Love you all! Keep me updated on your life!

Heading out on our ESL field trip.

We've got our travel plans!!!!

My awesome international branch!

Some of our favorite elders.

Getting ready to call home on Mother's Day

I'm Never Leaving ...

MTC life hasn't really changed that much... we have class, class, oh and more class. And sometimes we get to eat or go outside, haha. It's crazy to think that in about 2 weeks, I will get on a plane heading to Mongolia!!! What?!!

On Saturday, we had our last in-person TRC visit. We taught an 18 yr old Mongolian that is here going to Timp High. He is a recent convert to the church and has a burning testimony... it is so cool to talk to him! For gym on Saturday, we got a couple zones together at the field and played a huge game of kickball! It was so fun and super intense! It was so hilarious though because our zone is full of missionaries from all over the world, and none of them had ever heard of kickball, so we had to try and explain it... they kind of understood, but it made for some funny moments :)

Sunday was fantastic!!! It was fast Sunday, so we had testimony meeting and all of the missionaries in our branch had such amazing testimonies to share. Sunday night, President Holland (Elder Holland's son, who is president of UVU) came and did a special devotional all about Joseph Smith. He told stories about Joseph's life and experiences, and the UVU choir sang hymns in between. We (the MTC choir) sang with the UVU choir at the end. We sang Praise to the Man... wow was it powerful!  It was such an amazing devotional, and it definitely strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith. I truly do know that he was a prophet of God, and that God did work through him to restore the gospel on the earth today. I wish you all could have been at the devotional... it was that amazing!

We started SYL (speak your language) this week. Its when we only speak Mongolian. It's hard, but very helpful. It will definitely help make the transition to Mongolia a bit easier, and we are learning a ton as we try and communicate in just Mongolian. So weird... I can speak Mongolian.

On Wednesday, we had our first TRC Skype apt. We skyped with a sister from Mongolia!!! She was so incredibly sweet and wonderful! She is a member, she is widowed, and she served a mission in England!! How cool is that! She was so kind and said that we actually spoke very well and that we will be great missionaries. How cool is that?! I loved it, and I can’t wait to get to Mongolia! Also, we had a plot twist with Haraahbaatar. He has moved to the country (happens a lot in Mongolia), so we won’t be teaching him anymore. Instead, we taught a member referral. I can't remember his name, but he believes in Shamanism, so that made things interesting for sure.

Yesterday, we had language assessments. Who knew you would be tested in the MTC?! We had to talk to an RM who used to teach here for 15 minutes each. He asked us questions, had us teach him, bear our testimony, and read to him while he evaluated our language. We also did a written assessment as well. I hope it went well. We also played a Mongolian game with sheep/goat knuckles. I don't know how to explain it, but it was pretty fun! We played with bones, haha!!

Well, I'm out of time, but I want to hear from everyone about your lives!!! I love this gospel, I love the Book of Mormon, and I love being a missionary!

Just doing laundry at the MTC

Message from our teacher: Good luck, you all rock, I love you!

Quick Updates

This week was pretty fantastic! We've had absolutely beautiful weather, and we get to go to the field across the street for gym time, so that's fantastic! I don't have a lot of time, but here are the updates:

-I'm glad you go the Mongolian candy I sent...it is dried milk curds. The white ones are goat milk, and the yellow are horse milk. Yep, no lies!

-All us Mongolian missionaries and Sister Enkbaht from Mongolia performed a musical number in sacrament on Sunday. We sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Mongolian to a special arrangement a Sister in our branch created for us... it was so BEAUTIFUL!!! It's moments like these that help me to realize the gospel is just as true and powerful in every language :) I love Mongolian!

-Lessons with Choka, one of our investigators are going awesome! We have taught him almost everything at this point, and he is getting baptized next week! He has really developed a happiness and excitement for this Gospel. We didn't even have to invite him to church this week, he just said "See you at church sisters!" How cool is that?! He has also stopped drinking and is working on his relationship with his wife and 2 yr old son- they are separated. This gospel is truly changing his life for the better! I love teaching him!

-Some of our closest friends here at the MTC left this week for their missions, so that was difficult. It's sad to lose them, but it's so happy and exciting what they are leaving to do. It is really amazing to see friends all united in purpose in all areas of the world!

-I saw a few friends from wards at BYU this week at the MTC!!! It's so great to see them; it really feels like tender mercies from the Lord.

-The MTC president sat with us at lunch a few days ago, and we got to talk to him for a while. He is such an awesome man, and has so much to share with us. He gave us some great advice and it was fun to get to know him as well.

-It was our teacher’s birthday this week, so I made him a gift. I bought a mini Book of Mormon- he loves the mini ones- and our district marked our favorite scriptures in it for him, with a sweet message as well. It was so great to give back to someone who does so much to help each of us.

-Elder Hallstrom spoke to us on Tuesday. He is a president of the seventy. He told a lot of great stories and gave some great advice. One of my favorite things he said was that disobedience can become a barrier between a missionary and the spirit. That is why we have so many rules and strive for exact obedience.

-We got a new group of missionaries in our branch this week, so that was awesome. They are from all over the place; Tonga, Samoa, China, South Korea, Cambodia, Philippines, Sweden, and many other places too! They are so awesome and have so much to share with us.

-Sister Westover and I were made Sister Training Leaders, so we are now in charge of the sisters in our branch/zone. We currently have about 10, but we are supposed to get 20 more next week, so we will be busy. We help these sisters a lot during the first few days. We guide them, teach them, nurture them, and just make sure they are doing well. I am so excited to help these sisters and hopefully be a good example to them.

-I don't know if I ever shared this, but I just thought it was cool: the word for gospel in Mongolia actually translates to Good News. How fitting is that? The gospel truly is good news. It's the Lord's good news, and I get to share that with people for the next 18 months!

-We have a pretty awesome group of Mongolian missionaries here, and we have definitely gotten to know each other well. We have had some seriously funny moments and stories come out. Well this week, we found out that after high school, one of the elders in our group spent 3 months alone in the sierra nevadas. He only took a water bottle, a knife, a garbage bag, a watch, and some rope. How nuts is that?! 3 months alone and he seems to be okay, haha. He really is awesome, but we were just all amazed that somebody would do that and survive. He definitely had some good laughs over lunch about that, haha.

Helpful Advice?

I've been here over a month now. Only a few more weeks, and I will be heading to Mongolia! On Saturday, we started our online training for ESL certification, and it's so cool! I am so lucky to be going to the only mission in the world where English teaching is a part of our call, and how we are getting into the country! What a special thing! I am so excited to teach the people English and help change their lives in that way.

Our teachers have been sharing a number of stories about Mongolia with us this week. Here is what we have learned. There are a lot of drunk people, and they often want to fight the elders or kiss the sisters, so there are some options: 1) Let your Mongolian companion punch them (yep, our teacher said the Mongolian sisters are that LEGIT) 2) Split and walk around them... they will be confused and won't know who to follow 3) Teach them about the gospel... one of our teachers street contacted a drunk guy when he was new to Mongolia-- he didn't know the guy was drunk, haha. Also, there are wild dogs there that are HUGE and will attack you. Here are the defense/offense options: 1) According to the Mongolian sister here, you just have to be faster than your companion. 2) Also the Mongolian sisters advice: sit down in a ball, and cover your face so they can't bite your face or legs.

3) Teacher's advice: pick up a rock and pretend to throw it. The people there throw so many rocks at the dogs, that most of the time the dog will be scared and run away. 4) If that doesn't work, actually throw it. 5) And if that doesn't work, actually kick it... as hard as you can! Our teacher said its not like kicking a dog, but like kicking a monster! And the last piece of advice: when walking with your companion, do not separate around poles, people, or anything else. You walk with them! It's rude to separate, so just follow the leader.

Mission life is hard! I definitely have had my struggles, as does anyone else, but I know that it is all for my benefit. The mission is meant to stretch me and make me better. Each day is it's own battle, but I, along with thousands of missionaries across the world, just take it one day at a time. Like our prophet has said, "Life by the yard is hard. Life by an inch is a cinch." That's what I'm trying to do. When I get discouraged about the language, or I miss friends and family, or I doubt if I am strong enough, I just look at it as one obstacle to climb over... then onto the next one. I think life is like that too. We aren't meant to fly through life. We are meant to take it step by step, and when we slip, just get up and keep walking. There are so many amazing people here, and they are such great examples to me as well. I love my companion, my district, and my branch! All these missionaries are so amazing! I love being a missionary even when it is hard. I have never been this incredibly happy all the time. There is just a pure joy in being on the Lord's time and errand. There is a joy in bringing others unto Christ. I know this church is true and that it has the fullness of the Gospel on the Earth today. I have a testimony that Christ lives and because of Him, we can repent and live with God again. I know the scriptures are true and that we can find comfort, strength, and guidance in them. I know that if we follow the pattern found in Moroni 10:3-5, and read the scriptures and pray with real intent and a sincere heart to know if they are true, that we will come to a knowledge for ourselves of the truth.

Love you! Miss you! Hope all is well! I want to know how everything is going for everyone. Till next week!

Almost Halfway

Today is day 24 @ the MTC! It is so weird to think that I have been here over 3 weeks now! Tuesday will be our halfway mark in the MTC... then it's all downhill from there... except not. The MTC is great! It's fun to meet missionaries from all over the world doing the same thing I am! I've also been learning all kinds of phrases in different languages. It's great to have a set schedule with so much time to learn and grow as a person and as a missionary, although I'm done with MTC food!

Saturday, we taught at the TRC for the first time. It was such a cool experience! The Mongolian TRC is very different from the English TRC. In the Mongolian TRC, they aren't role-playing, they are just being themselves. It is more for practice talking in Mongolian than teaching in Mongolian. We get assigned a room, and we don't know who we will be talking with. Our first room was a Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission RM (return missionary) named Isaac. He was very nice and helped us out if we couldn't think of the words or the phrasing. We talked about where he was from (Wilsonville!!!!! what a small world!), where he's studying, his mission, our favorite scriptures, and we bore our testimonies in Mongolian. We were nervous, but the 20 minutes flew by! After Isaac, we went to a different room where we talked with Josh who is also a Mongolia RM! At this point, I was more comfortable, so we were able to just chat and the words seemed to flow. We shared scriptures, and chatted about life, and so on! It was so amazing! #thoughtididntknowmongolian #butido

Sunday was our first normal Sunday here (we had fast Sunday and then general conference). Missionaries come prepared to speak a 5 minute talk on a designated topic. They will announce two speakers from the pulpit, and they are followed by a visiting. Sunday was about Faith in Jesus Christ. The branch president stands up to announce the speakers, and of course I was the first one. I honestly don't remember much of what I said, but I know that I shared some thoughts from Hebrews 11 (that chapter talks about the faith ancient people in the scriptures had), and bore my testimony in Mongolian.

BYU Men's Chorus came and performed on Sunday! They were so great! They did some awesome numbers! After they finished, I got to talk to some friends from my old ward that are in it, so that made my day! #shoutoutto171and172wards

We have taught a few more lessons to our progressing investigators, Choka and HapaaHbaaTap (naranbatar in english), and it is going great. I made a goal to not bring written out sentences into lessons, so all I take is a note card with some words, and a note card with our plan... then I put it together myself. Overall, I think I can say what I need to say and they understand. The spirit is strong and we are really good at bearing our testimonies in Mongolian, so thats good. I've also started only saying my prayers in Mongolian, it is so powerful! There is something about praying in this language that just speaks to my heart... if that makes sense.

Elder Zwick of the 70  and his wife spoke on Tuesday, and they said so much that I just loved!!!! It is so special being able to learn from General authorities on a weekly basis here at the MTC. We are so incredibly lucky! Also, it SNOWED on Wednesday... and for real! What is that about?! It is the middle of April!

This week, our district started a wall of no return. We write English words on sticky notes if we know them in Mongolian and put them on the wall. We can no longer say these words, and if we do then we have to carry this big heavy rock we found. It's been a good way to transition and to watch what we are saying. It's definitely gotten a lot of attention around the MTC though. Everyone asks us why in the world are we carrying around a big rock... and then we try and explain, but a lot of the words we want to use we can't say anymore, so that makes things difficult, haha.

Our beloved Mongolian sister left this week for her mission :( BUT, we also got a new sister from Mongolia in our branch, and we are getting another one next week!!!! It's so fun to get to know these girls and talk to them in Mongolian and about Mongolia! I seriously love this people and the language!

I am constantly amazed by how much I am learning. I love my companion and my district and my branch! Our teachers are fantastic! Life is great! I love being a missionary and I love this Gospel!!

All the missionaries going to Mongolia

Temple walk is the best!

Snow in April?

My desk in my room.