Rough Patch

Hey Family and Friends,

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: 

"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".

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.

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. 

-Elder Clement