бүгдээрээ сайн уу! Sorry this is late! I forgot to hit send on pday
How are you all this week? My companion taught me an awesome Mongolian phrase this week (hence the fun email title). гэж наасан (gej naasan) is basically the equivalent of saying just kidding, but there's more too it and its really hard to explain unless you hear it a bunch of times from a native speaker. There's another phrase байхгуй уу? that people say ALL THE TIME. It also doesn't have a translation in English but after a very very long conversation with my companion and a lot of google translate help, I think I finally understand what it means haha. The Mongolian language has a lot of really fun language elements that are difficult to understand until you hear them in context many many times. But once you figure them out, people are so surprised because you sound like a native speaker when you use them!
Let's see, this week was very very busy! The work has been going great though! Our other investigators are doing well as well! Most of them are progressing very nicely. Sadly, one told us that she no longer wanted to take lessons with us, so we were sad to see her go. But the gift of agency is a wonderful thing and I am thankful that Heavenly Father has given us all the opportunity to choose to follow Him.
We also held a sports activity for our ward and invited my English class and our deaf friends to it and it ended up being a blast! We played volleyball and basketball with 30-40 people for 3 hours straight! It was so much fun! Afterwards, a few of my English students became good friends with the youth in our ward and then guess what?! One of my students showed up at sacrament the next day! Isn't that crazy! Despite not believing in any God, she felt the light and connection of the Church through the members at our activities and now she wants to be a part of it too. So she started taking lessons with us and we are so excited to have another investigator! Honestly, all of our investigators are doing amazing right now and progressing well. I am so excited to be a part of this work in this progressing area!
Another fun miracle this week: I was teaching English the other day and half way through the lesson, our taxi driver came! We always make an effort to invite everyone we meet to the English classes, but its unusual that one of them actually comes, so that was a pleasant surprise. Hopefully, he will also notice our church through the class and one day want to start taking the lessons. Please pray for him! English classes have been going well and our class got up to 11 people this week! Our numbers are expanding so much and there is such a difference in the atmosphere of our class now. The students are opening up more and wanting to talk to one another now. And they seem to be having more fun now that there is a larger community. Also, tomorrow I start teaching at Polytechnic College here in Darkhan which is a little scary. I'm not really sure what to expect but I am excited to begin teaching there nonetheless. I thankfully only have to teach on Wednesdays, so it won't be too stressful haha.
Other than that, not much else has happened recently. We've just been super busy running around all the time. But the work is awesome and I am finding so much joy in teaching others, learning from others, and strengthening my testimony of my Savior. This week was full of struggles in terms of communication with my companion but I have seen and felt the Lord's hand in my life helping me have patience and helping me understand better. One thing I learned this week that I wanted to emphasize is this lesson: Your best will not the be the same as other people's best and other people's best will not be the same as your best. Everyone is doing their best and it will look different than your best so it is important to not hold others up to your expectations or hold yourself to their expectations if that makes any sense. In the end, this lesson helped me and my companion a lot this week and we became a lot more unified after discussing and learning this together.
I also started adding conference talks to my daily personal study and it has been life changing! I came across so many golden talks this week but there was one in particular that helped me so much this week when I was feeling a spiritual low. It's called "Daily Restoration" by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf from the October 2021 Conference. Two quotes stood out to me:
"Do you want to change the shape of your life? Change the shape of your day. Do you want to change your day? Change this hour. Change what you think, feel, and do at this very moment. A small rudder can steer a large ship. Small bricks can become a magnificent mansion. Small seeks can become towering sequoias. Minutes and hours well spent are the building blocks of a life well lived."
"On our journey as pilgrims on the path of glory, we know how easy it is to fall away. But just as minor deviations can draw us out of the Savior's way, so too can small and simple acts of realignment assuredly lead us back. When darkness creeps into our lives, as it often does, our daily restoration opens our hearts to Heavenly Light, which illuminates our souls, chasing away shadows, fears, and doubts,"
I love both of these quotes because they helped me focus on the big picture a little more. Sometimes, we can become overwhelmed because we are not perfect or things aren't going our way and we just want to give up. When life becomes challenging, even doing the simple things like praying and studying the scriptures seem challenging and pointless. But they aren't. They are SO critical in helping us realign and refocus on our spiritual journey. I know that when we focus on realigning ourselves with Heavenly Father every minute, those minutes turn into hours, days, weeks, and then a lifetime. It is simple - don't focus on how hard the destination is to reach because it is about the journey. In the wise words of Brandon Sanderson - "[a person] doesn't change in one giant leap, but across a million little steps." Christ is with us every step of the way. He walked all of our steps already through His Atonement, so He knows and understands what we are going through. He is there to help carry us on our quest called life. I am thankful for my Savior and the hope that He gives me. He is hope and light. Turn to Him and He will brighten your darkest moments: that I can guarantee. I love you all and hope you have a magnificent week!
Love,
Sister Potter
P.S. To all my missionary friends - if you can, check out "Highs and Lows" by Hillsong - its definitely my favorite song right now
P.P.S. Here is the link to the talk 'Daily Restoration'
English link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/10/41uchtdorf?lang=eng#title1
Mongolian link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/10/41uchtdorf?lang=mon
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