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How is everyone doing? I hope you are all well and preparing for General Conference! For those of you who don't know, General Conference is a time when everyone in the church gathers to listen to our Prophet and other church leaders teach us according to the revelation they have received from Heavenly Father. They teach us how to improve ourselves, our families, our wards, and our testimonies. I am sooo excited for General Conference, especially because this year, the people in Mongolia will get to watch it translated on Sunday. This is the fastest the Church has ever translated talks into Mongolian so we are all excited! The missionaries have been actively spreading the good news to all of our wards and branches and it is so cool to see all the Bishops and Branch Presidents step up to coordinate a way to watch it together (before it kind of went under the radar especially in the countryside). General Conference is one of my favorite times of the year because we get to hear many wonderful and inspiring messages.
Now this week has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Our area goes through periods where it is so slow because none of our investigators or members have time to meet so we have nothing to do - literally because we can't go streeting or knock on doors or anything else. On those days, it's hard to remember that I am a missionary because we can't meet and teach anyone and I feel so unproductive. Our district has been trying to come up with ideas of what to do during those days where there is no work but it's really, really difficult. We usually just end up planning extra English lessons and doing extra personal and language study. We had many moments like this this past week and it was really hard, not gonna lie. Sometimes you have these thoughts that you are not a good missionary because you have nothing to do or that you are not fulfilling your purpose because you aren't teaching anyone or reaching out to anyone. And I know so many missionaries in other missions feel this way too. It's the less glamorous part of missionary work and it makes things a struggle. But I know that Heavenly Father gives us these experiences and these days for a reason. So I have really been trying to discover why Heavenly Father gave me each of those days this week and it has helped me a little. I can also testify that Heavenly Father will give you tender mercies when you sincerely ask in faith and if you have hope for them. I have experienced many tender mercies this week even during the hard moments and I know that the Lord is watching over each one of us.
This week also had a few highs that were amazing! Firstly, we had 5 strangers come to church on Sunday. They just walked into the church building because they saw people go inside and they wanted to check it out. We got to introduce ourselves and get their contact information because two of them said they want to become investigators. Hopefully, we can convince all of them and start teaching them this week!
Elder Wooley and I also started advertising our English class on Facebook a little more and it has helped us out a lot! We had 4 new English students come to class yesterday and our class is so big now that we were able to start splitting it into a beginner and an intermediate class which is so fun! I teach the intermediate class and it's my favorite time of the day. Also, this past week, my English class at the Polytechnic College in Darkhan had an awards ceremony and they invited me to attend. I got a VIP seat to watch all the awards and talents displayed including a fashion show, dancing numbers, and a singing concert. Afterwards, the culinary students served us all their projects over the course of the semester which was so awesome. It was a really cool experience to see first hand the culture of education in Mongolia and appreciate all the talents and development of my students. It was such an amazing experience! Overall, English is expanding a lot in this area which is great because that means more opportunities to serve others and invite them to church!
Our investigators are doing well for the most part. Like I said earlier, they have been very on and off with our lessons but they have remained steady in coming to sacrament and mutual and FHE and all the other activities we have for church. I think right now, they are all just really really busy with school and work. Also, two Sundays ago, we put together a little choir in our ward and included 3 of our investigators in it. During sacrament last Sunday, we all sang "Nearer My God To Thee" in sacrament which was awesome because that song was recently translated so not many people had heard it before. The Spirit was so strong when we sang it together for our ward and I could tell everyone was touched by it. Last Sunday, our ward just felt so much more powerful and stronger than usual which was so wonderful. We also had 40 people come to church which is more than I have ever seen in Darkhan before. We definitely saw the effects of taking the time to individually minister to and invite each ward member to church. By dedicating a lot of our efforts to the ward members themselves, I can see them becoming more involved in the church and they are beginning to experience their own mini conversions back into activity. It makes me so happy to see such wonderful people coming together and becoming stronger each week.
Overall, with all the highs and lows, I have been learning so much about how the Lord works in our lives and how doing the simple things like ministering, studying the scriptures, and having hope pay off. This week, I paid special attention to studying about the importance of hope. Hope is so critical in our lives because hope leads to faith. Hope is the foundation of happiness and without it, we cannot find the joy or fulfillment life has to offer. One scripture that has helped me so much this week is found in Alma 22:
16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.
I love the gift of hope. I love that we have something to hope in: Jesus Christ. Alma 7: 12 teaches:
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
Through the Atonement, Christ felt all our pains and all our struggles. He felt these for us so that He could help us perfectly. He also knows how to strengthen us through our difficult trials. I can testify that He knows you and He knows how best to help you. I love Christ because He gives me hope. Through Him, I find the confidence and the strength that I need to push forward every day, even when the days are difficult. I could not do this mission without Him. I am so thankful for my Savior and for the hope that the gospel gives us. This week, I encourage all of you to turn to the Savior and heed His words. If you do so, I promise you that you will receive the hope that you need to push forward each day. It will be just enough to help you along. I also invite you to prepare for General Conference by coming up with questions you would like to receive answers to. I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Potter
