Sorry for the lack of emails these last few
weeks. Its been a hard little patch, but one important thing I learned
is that I too have to endure to the end. I teach that lesson very often
but I realized I had to do exactly what I preached and do it without
complaint. Its amazing how fast the bad memories fade even if they
seemed extreme in the moment. The last few weeks were hard but I learned
a lot and I feel like a much better missionary because of it. I also
finished 'Jesus the Christ' and 'Our Heritage' during the last two
weeks. I am loving every part of my mission right now.
I just watched Conference this weekend. Because they
have to translate it into Mongolian we have to watch it a week late,
but it was awesome! All the Americans got together to watch it in
English and the Spirit in that room was powerful as everyone was
intently listening to the Prophet and Apostles speaking. The two most
talked-about topics in my opinion were 'Acting' and 'Womanhood'. Both
are awesome topics. With 'Acting', I think almost every speaker covered
it at least a little, if not a lot. So we just watched General
Conference, what are we gonna do? Are we, for a few weeks, gonna talk
about how great it was then forget about it til next conference, or will
we act on the many topics taught? In this Conference there were five
talks on Missionary work. M. Russel Ballard was one of quoted President
Monson by saying:
I can personally testify of the importance and powerful affect members have on brings people to the Gospel. In Mongolia because we cannot proselyte we rely heavily on the members. The investigators we get from members ALWAYS progress further and faster than investigators we get elsewhere. Please please talk with your families on how you can speak to your friends and allow the missionaries to meet with them."Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together … [and] labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work".
Alright here is a really cool experience I had a few days
ago. I was with an American for General Conference so over the weekend
we were a temporary companionship. His name is Elder Higgs. It was night
and we were had to check in on a ALA and get some groceries. We decided
to get the groceries first then go to the guys house (Which doesnt make
any sense now that I think about it because we would have to teach the
guy with food in our hands). We go to the grocery store by our house,
and were surprised to find out that it was closed. Normally it would be
open for a few more hours but today it was closed early. We decide to go
into another one. We get our food and decide to randomly go through the
beer isle to get to the register. We do so and meet a man named
Bayaraa. He begins to talk to us in broken English and after letting him
know we speak Mongolian we get to know him a little bit. We are talking
to him as we are buying our food and after we get it we say goodnight
to him and leave the store. We are walking away when we hear a
"goodnight!!", screamed a little louder than necessary. We turn around
and Elder Higgs tells me he wants to talk to him a little bit. Now we
have to be careful because we are NOT allowed to proselyte or talk to
him about our church unless he brings it up first. He likes speaking
English so I thought it might be a good idea to bring up our free
English classes at the church. We tell him about it, and he says "Oh
Jesus?" or "Are you guys Christian?" (People just call us Jesus here).
We tell him that yes we believe in Christ and he says "Mormon!?!". We
tell him again yes were Mormon, and the next thing he says blew our
minds. He says to us "I'm Mormon! I lived in Seol, Korea and lived with a
Mormon family. I'm Mormon!". We were super surprised and asked him if he
was baptized. He replied that he hadn't but he wants to be! We gave him
our number and he gave us his, and we talked for a little more before
both of us going home. Times like this are just little moments where God
allows you to see how in control He is. He knew this man needed the
Gospel in his life and God allowed us to meet with him. It was really
cool.
Another cool experience. So Elder Higgs and I were
together. He just got to Mongolian and I was the senior in experience
and language, something I was very afraid about. I knew that after
Conference we would have time to teach a few people and I was very
nervous because I knew he would depend on me to know what was going on
and lead the lesson. My language isnt the best and I was very nervous.
We walked into the lesson and began speaking with them and it wasnt long
before I began to understand everything. If asked I couldn't tell you
the exact words he said but I understood everything he was saying and I
was able to confidently respond. As I began to translate for and help
Elder Higgs, I realized the sweet blessing of the Lord by Him blessing
me with the Gift of Tongues. I began to feel Heavenly Fathers love not
only for me but also for this person who needed a specific message
shared at that very moment. I realized then that I was being used as an
instrument in the Lord's hands. It was very humbling and spiritual
experience.
As far as whats going on with me. Not much, I
have a new companion because my old companion got his VISA and will be
soon going to Provo, UT. We also just fused two places into my area, so
my area doubled in size.
