All Kinds of Fire!

Real Fire

This week we got tired of not being able to see in the bathroom, so we pulled out a candle only to realize we had no matches, so we used a lighter (it was too small to reach inside the candle to the wick) to light Q-tips on fire and then try to light the candle. So incredibly hard and did not work as well as I thought, ugh. In the end, we did not light the candle and our apt smelled of smoke from the many burnt Q-tips.

Make Believe Fire

Remember how we were going to visit the deaf man’s family this week, well that day we were almost to their house (which by the way is very far away!!) when someone from our apt building called us. They told us that they thought something was burning in our apt, and that our apt might be on fire. We were shocked and started sprinting to the closest taxi stop, got a taxi ... the taxi driver asked us, "are you sisters?" to which we said yes and asked how he knew - he almost got baptized in another area but moved and couldn't find the church, so we are going to teach him now- HOW COOL!!!!.... then we got home fast! The whole way home I was praying my English scriptures would be okay and my comp was praying that her shoes would be okay (one after my own heart). Our floor was smoky, but thank goodness it was another apt. Our apt was safe! I think God made that happen so we would meet that taxi driver because he is so prepared for us! 

Spiritual Fire

This week, the spirit has truly been with us. We have had amazing lessons and experiences. One of our investigators has been investigating for over a year (her husband and daughter are members) and I have been teaching her the entire time I've been in Erdenet.... well, she's GETTING BAPTIZED THIS FRIDAY!!!! I couldn’t be more excited!! This family will all be members now, and come a year from now, will be able to go to the temple together to be sealed as a family for all eternity! How cool is that?! AND, an investigator that my comp and I taught most of the lessons to, then gave to the elders because we were too busy, is ALSO GETTING BAPTIZED FRIDAY!!! AND, the new investigators just keep coming; showing up to church on their own, passed from city missionaries, meeting on the street and in taxis- we have so much work and so little time! Erdenet definitely needs more missionaries!

Other News

My STL and I

Our STL's came to town and we did a split, and I went on a split with the Mongolian STL (I taught her mom in my first area), and she was so amazing! I learned a ton from her and she said she is amazed by my language progress! woohoo! I got new boots- wow, my feet are apparently huge! My size almost doesn't exist here, but I found a pair and they are working well. The senior couple have finished their mission, so we had to say goodbye to our Erdenet American mom and dad... we will dearly miss their zucchini bread, kindness, and help in so many ways! Sunday my comp and I each had to speak for 30 minutes in both branches as there were no speakers - we were a success! I talked about Christ-like attributes, shared some scriptures, and  everyone kept telling me everything they learned from our talks! woohoo again! I'm keeping the commitment from General Conference to ponderize a scripture each week and it's going great! Transfers are next week, and my comp and I are getting nervous... we really don't want to leave. I think that's all for now! Love you all!

Our favorite soup

Ketchup on rice - it's a Mongolian thing.

A Mongolian door: you bang on them til someone comes out.

One of our awesome investigators.

Some of the ladies in the branch.

A wonderful family we are teaching.

No water, no light, we're sick, but it's alright!‏

This week was work work work. We have so many people to meet with, some of which are progressing really well! We have a few who may be able to get baptized in a few weeks... just after the transfer, so we are praying we won't get transferred... we want to see our investigators get baptized so badly!!! And, we keep having new people show up to church.. this Sunday we got a new married couple, 3 22 yr old guys, and a few other random people as potentials, just by the Lord leading them to our church on Sunday! It's so cool! And, we have so many investigators, that we had to give a chunk of them to the elders because we simply don't have the time or ability to meet them all--- so sad :( but the elders will do a good job...

On another note, this week was interesting: we have been living without water in our apt (it finally came back), 4 dead light bulbs in our apt (so it's quite dark, haha), and we both got super sick (but recovered quickly luckily). But from this came newly discovered talents- the ability to shower from a water bottle, getting changed properly without light and look decent too, and I can eat Mongolian food without struggle (because I was sick and couldn't taste anything). There truly is always a bright side :)

An exert of a conversation with my comp:

comp: "Do you ever get angry?"

me: "ummm, what? yes, yes, yes."

comp: giggling

me: "why?"

comp: "I thought you've never gotten angry before..."

-concluded with both of us laughing :)

I am taking this conversation as a compliment! haha, love my comp :) She really thought I don't get angry...

Also, I translated for and talked with a deaf man in one of our branches on Sunday. It was so cool!!! I only know a little of sign language, but it was enough to help, and we are going to visit his family this week! I'm actually excited to visit them, even though it will be difficult to communicate for sure, but that's where trust in the Lord comes in :)

Not much else to report. Feel free to send questions about anything! I love you all, and like I'm sure I've said a million times before- I love this work and I love these people so much. I'm so grateful for the decision I made to serve a mission. This is truly where I'm meant to be- serving God's beloved children in this special country.

Sunset from the apartment

Finding Families

So this week was AMAZING in all aspects! We watched general conference, went to a zone training in Darhan, I got my birthday package, we played volleyball with the YSAs, I read the most amazing talk during personal study this week (becoming a consecrated missionary---read it!), and we found new families to teach. Seriously an awesome week!

Monday, we played volleyball with the YSA for FHE, and it was so incredibly fun! Most of them had never played before, but they all play basketball (Mongolians looove basketball), so they picked it up quickly, and it was an awesome game! I'm sad to say I have lost whatever skills I had from daily practice in the MTC, so sad :( haha

This week, we went to Darhan again for a zone training, and it was the best zone training I've had so far! Instead of focusing on how to teach a principle or whatnot, the whole training was on believing in ourselves and our potential and encouragement... it was basically like women's conference for missionaries ("you rock" "you can do it" etc) I learned a ton from it. At every zone training, 2 or 3 missionaries are chosen randomly to give a talk on a topic everyone prepared for... this week was about patience. And of course, I was chosen. My head injury had really tried my patience this last month or so, and one day (when my head was the absolute worst) for personal study I felt that instead of reading the BofM, I needed to read the august Liahona (church magazine). And in that Liahona was the answer to my prayers - a talk on patience in which the author shares an experience very similar to mine and then gives wonderful insights on the topic. I would encourage everyone to read it again. Anyways, I shared my experience at conference and my testimony and the spirit was so strong, and some told me that was exactly what they needed to hear. The Lord not only uses missionaries to strengthen and help members and investigators, but other missionaries as well.

Also, general conference was amazing! I had to wait to watch it because the translations had to be done for Mongolian, but I watched it this weekend and learned so much from the speakers and the spirit as I watched. I loved Russel M Nelson's talk on women, and it made me think about the kind of woman I want to become; when I get the Liahona I'll make lists and goals to do so :) I also loved the idea of ponderizing a scripture a week, and have committed to do it at least throughout my mission, and hopefully my life! I already chose my first scripture!

We are the luckiest missionaries on the planet! In Mongolia, since we can't proselyte, finding investigators can become very difficult, but my companion and I have been so blessed as of late. People seem to be coming to us! This week we found to new FAMILIES- yep, families, woohoo! Both of these families were found the same way- a teenage daughter came to church on her own and told us to meet her and her family. Both families seem just perfectly ready for the gospel and expressed their strong desire to belong to our church and that our teachings are exactly what they want in their lives.... um, how cool is that?! We are sooo lucky!

Anyways, that's about all for this week.I love you all!

Enjoying birthday treats!

Groupies - we came out together and are serving in the same zone. 

Zone selfie

Zone leader & AP pretending to be me and my comp

General Conference is Almost Here

First off, I just heard about the incident at UCC this past week, and I want to say my heart is home in Roseburg right now as so many are struggling with loss. I know a few of those hurt and killed and I am praying for their families. Things like this are very difficult, but I'm so grateful for our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and that we may see those loved ones again. I know this gospel is true and that we truly will be with loved ones again after this life. God loves each of His children and He created this plan to bless and help each of us.

As for this week, the work is coming along. We have many investigators and got even more this week, but because we spend all of our time with investigators, I think the ALA's have been a little neglected and numbers are dwindling in sacrament, but we've set goals to help them and we pray that we may be the Lord's hands here in Erdenet.

One day this week we were wandering around a gir district when we heard quiet cries for help...we looked around and found two little puppies. One was hurt, bloody, and couldn't move, just crying on the ground. The other was standing guard of what I assume to be its brother. Lots of people passed by, but no one would help. We wanted to take them and help them, but there's really nowhere here to take stray dogs (no pounds or clinics or such), so we went to a dilgur (mini mart of sorts), bought canned sardines and water, went back to the dogs and fed them the fish and water. We stayed for a while feeding them, then said a prayer for them. We stayed with them for a while, but had to leave eventually. It was so sad.

Also, I don't remember if I filled everyone in before, but about two weeks ago, I was walking down the street, looking down and ran into a street sign. I hit the top back of my head pretty hard, creating a mushy indent and have had pretty bad migraines since. Last week I got a blessing, which calmed my mind and spirit about it, but this week it was too bad and I had to stay home one day. The struggle to stay home is real when you want to be out working! Anyways, the mission doctor prescribed intense medication, and I'm back up and running again! It still hurts, but it's better now and will heal in time! 

In regards to language - it's coming along. I'm learning more and more Mongolian and sign language and I'm doing a lot more translating now for the senior couple, which is a challenge but kinda fun!  Today we are going to play volleyball with the YSA. I'm so excited! 

QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

1. How, when & where did you watch General Conference? I will go on a split with the senior couple sister and watch it at their apartment next weekend. Mongolians watch it a week later because of translation. I can't wait to listen to the words of our living prophet and apostles!

2. What kind of building do you meet in for church in your area? Is there more than one building? It's a normal church building, but just the one here.

3. Tell me a cool story about English class. The students are great and they really love learning tongue twisters, so feel free to send me any you know!

4. Are there malls in Mongolia? If so, what are they like? If not, where do you buy clothes and stuff? I wouldn't say malls, more like markets or personal vendors. There are lots of options and fairly cheap until they see you're American, haha.

5. Do you feel ready for winter? If not, why? I think so, the cold is a nice change and I'm excited to endure the Mongolian winter I dreaded pre-mission :)

Snow ... in September?

Emily’s reply to this week’s emails: First of all, hearing about David leaving and seeing the photos, got me crying... that’s embarrassing when you are sitting in an internet place that’s full of people, that already look at me cuz I’m white and now because I’m the white girl who’s crying, haha. But I got my act together and am okay now. 

So last week, I was telling my mom that it’s fall in Mongolia, tights and jacket time... well, just kidding that didn't last at all! Tuesday came the freak snow storm, and it's been freezing ever since. Mongolia skipped fall and went straight to winter!!! haha, I guess this is what I should have expected of serving a mission in Mongolia, but it's real now :)

On another note, I have about 25 people coming to my English classes now, and it’s going really great! My cooking skills are seriously improving. We had almost nothing in our fridge yesterday, but I made a delicious carrot soup out of what little we had... so good! I've been doing a fair amount of translating for the senior couple here, so that's been a help for my language. Oh, and I've started learning Mongolian sign language!!! There are quite a few people here who know it and a few deaf people as well who are teaching me. I can already sign basic stuff, and it’s actually helping my Mongolian a lot as well! I really

  

love it! I think when I get home I might try and learn ASL as well.

This week we met with all the new people that had showed up to church last week, and a few of them are golden and we met them 3 times this week!! They are awesome! One is this beautiful girl who’s my age, she studied chemistry, and she decided to pick a church and came to ours. We've taught her the first lesson and she is great! She had never believed in any religions before, but she basically told us that she trusts us and will believe anything we tell her... which we then had to reiterate the principle of knowing for yourself but she is great! She is reading everything we give her, taking notes, asking questions, coming to all church activities... truly golden! Another is a 17 yr old boy whose older brother it turns out is ALA. He met us 4 times this week, came to all kinds of activities, has received the most amazing answers to his prayers, is reading everything, going to seminary, wants to serve a mission, and wants to study at BYU Hawaii! What?! Is this for real?! He's awesome and so prepared! God truly prepares people and puts them in our paths.

We also had an awesome opportunity this week in Erdenet! Elder Toronto of the area seventy came and spoke Saturday night as well as at church on Sunday. He said amazing things about miracles, and even used me as an example, telling everyone what a miracle it is that an American sister can come here and learn and teach in this language and that they can still feel the spirit as I try and explain simple concepts in broken Mongolian. He explained miracles and that God truly performs miracles in all our lives and that the greatest miracle of all is that we - imperfect humans - can become like God through the amazing gift of the atonement... it is a miracle! It was so amazing to see all our investigators listen to him, then tell us all they learned and felt... so amazing!

I love this work and this country and this people! I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve my Lord in this great work. I know this gospel is true and that God truly works miracles in our lives. I love you all! Keep me updated!

6 Month Mark

So our work is going great … actually too great. We have so many people to meet and not enough time to meet everyone (which is weird for my experience so far here). Yesterday, at church, we planned our entire week. We literally have no open slots to meet with anyone else this week and we still have others we want to meet! It's hard, but so exciting. At church yesterday we had tons of random people show up who are interested and we are meeting this week!

This week was just a lot of teaching, teaching, teaching. On Saturday, we were planning and couldn’t find anyone for 6:30 but for some reason we felt we should stop trying... so we didn’t plan anyone. This is really weird for missionaries, especially in a mission where you can’t proselyte. Well, we taught someone at 5:00 at the church, and as we were about to say the closing prayer, a miracle happened! A lady I had previously been teaching walked into the room and then we taught her at 6:30! She told us she didn't know why she came to the church on a Saturday night, but she came anyways. Well, we know why, the Lord directs His work, and He directed us to not plan anyone and her to come at that time. It was an amazing lesson! God truly loves His children and provides a way for them to be helped.

I also had another cool experience this week. We were visiting a member family with one of our investigators, and quickly realized the members needed the lesson more than the investigator I couldn't really follow everything that was happening or being said, but I know that they were talking about receiving answers. The mom was saying something about having doubts and struggles in her life and not recognizing an answer, and I had a thought about an experience when I was at BYU with receiving an answer. I shared the experience and the spirit was so strong in that lesson, that I was kinda crying and the family also started crying. It was amazing, and while I didn’t understand all that had happened, I understood the spirit and followed the impression I received. IT WAS AMAZING! 

THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS:

How often do you get fed at members? They don't do dinner calendars like in the states, but when we visit people they pretty much always give us snacks, if not a meal. The people are very giving here and they give of what little food they may have, or the coat on their back (for reals).

What do you make for breakfast and lunch and dinner when you are eating at home? My comp and I like fruit & toast for breakfast or oatmeal. We cook lunch before we leave for the day- usually soup or rice and stir fry. We don’t eat dinner because people give us snacks and food, so we aren’t hungry. But I learned how to make 2 minute microwave brownies and they are awesome! Our new favorite planning snack!

What is your favorite thing to do on p-day? We don’t have a lot of time, so we clean, do studies, do email, get groceries, and then stuff around the apt, and if we have time we try and go somewhere cool or cook something fun or take cool photos.

I love you all and am thinking of you, oh and my 6 month mark is this week, what?! I'm a third of the way done! Time really does fly on the mission. I didn't believe it at first, but it's so true!

Almost at 6 Months ... What?

So this week was pretty great. We have three investigators that if everything goes well will be getting baptized the end of this month! We have had some AMAZING lessons with all of them about repentance and I really think they are being prepared fully for baptism. We also had an investigator who had previously said never call me again, show up and ask to start meeting with us again, so that is awesome I really hope he progresses.... boy am I praying he does!

We also got to go to UB again for mission conference, and the second counselor of the area presidency, Elder Wong, came. I learned so much about missionary work, teaching, and how to help our instigators. Here are some awesome statistics for you guys: Right now in our Asia area, there are 28 stakes (in India, China, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Pakistan, etc), anticipated 27 more stakes by 2019, and total anticipated in our Asia area in 2019 will be 55 stakes!!! The hastening of the work is real! Right now, in Mongolia, there is only 1 stake, but they want there to be 3 more in Mongolia in the next 4 years. This is the focus right now in our mission, we need to grow the Mongolian branches/districts into wards and stakes and with that will come the opportunity for a temple! It is amazing and I think we can do it, but it will take some hard work on our end and the missionaries to follow us. 

My favorite things I learned from the conference were these quotes, "the process of conversion is not just baptism" and "repentance is a process, not an event." These are so true and so incredibly important that our investigators learn before they are baptized. We all aren't perfect, and we all sin daily, and therefore we must repent daily... we must use the atonement daily. 

We took the train home again with all the other country missionaries in our area, and something crazy happened. Two of the elders got off at their area around midnight, and less than 5 minutes later they were calling me saying something about being attacked by drunken men. We were on the train so there was nothing we could do except pray and pray hard. We all did for a while until the elders called me with the update. A drunk man tried to rob the elders at knife point, threatened to kill the American elder, followed them home with one elder at knife point so they could give him money, then the elders jumped inside and slammed it shut on the man, the man was yelling and banging and broke the door handle, but eventually left. Both elders are safe and sound, but it was crazy!!! That will definitely be a story they tell to their grandkids :)

Friday, we went on splits with the STL's in our area and I had a really cool experience. We wanted to meet investigators, but I kept having the feeling that we needed to meet with this member who I had met with one time two months ago. So, we went, and the gate was open, but there was a dog and no one answering. I don't know why, but we started walking in to check the house, even though Mongolia dogs will kill you!! We get close and she comes out!! woohoo! We visited her and found out that within the last month, her son's very pregnant wife lost her baby, this ladies' mother past away, and her older sister pasted away! She has been struggling and that morning, she had just been praying and praying that God would send people her way. She told us we were the answer to her prayers. I then shared an experience I had recently about a friend passing away and a scripture that helped. And by the end of the thought she was crying and thanking us and telling us how much she needed us. This truly was an amazing experience for me, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that God led us to her through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. 

Saturday, we went with the youth of one of our branches for the day. The idea of this activity was for the youth to form friendships and support now that school is starting so that they may stay strong in the gospel. We all hiked a mountain here, played games in a field, we taught a lesson, and played more games. It was a difficult trek and many of the youth were struggling physically, but they all did it and it was awesome to see them helping each other the whole way. People would wait for people, go back for others, hold hands, and even carry some. They were amazing and the activity was so fun!

Also, two of my favorite investigators are attending and they really want to learn and study so yesterday, I surprised them with scriptures that I got while in UB. They were so incredibly excited and grateful that they started to cry and wouldn't stop hugging me. They want to learn so badly, and this was something they had been hoping and praying for. I love them and they are awesome! 

This says Erdenet - the name of my area.

Isn't Mongolia beautiful?