Sain Baitsgaana uu!
Hi everyone! How are you all doing this week? So much happened this week and I'm still catching up in my journal writing haha so I apologize if this email is all over the place. This week, we had another Zone Conference (it seems like we just had one) and it was amazing! Our Mission President wanted us to learn about the same thing as last Zone Conference - how to work with members. I think that is something that the missionaries here struggle with because the Church is so new here and many don't know how to run things. But we had some amazing trainings including a training given by my sweet STL companion. My comp also shared a beautiful testimony with our Zone since it is her last transfer. Overall Zone Conference was amazing and I felt the Spirit so strongly. I love the countryside zone conferences because we never get to see any of the missionaries in other areas until transfers and conferences. It always feels like a family reunion.
After Zone Conference, everyone did a giant two day exchange. I got to do another exchange in Darkhan with Sister Vick from the MTC and we had so much fun! We also got to do it in person District Council for the first time ever! It was so cool to have everyone in the District together (except my poor companion who was traveling for the exchange). Sister Vick and I made cinnamon rolls for DC and we felt the Spirit so strongly when we talked about how to apply what we learned at Zone Conference. It was such a cool experience!
I also had a really big scare this week. One day, while my companion and I were teaching an Investigator at the church, a government inspector came and asked us what we were doing. For those of you who don't know, all American Missionaries in Mongolia are given visas to be English Teachers, so missionary work is kind of an "undercover" thing. It is legal but we are not allowed to say that we are missionaries or proselyte. Teaching investigators is legal but can easily be misinterpreted by the government so we have to be careful. Anyways, I started freaking out when the inspector found us teaching an investigator and my companion accidentally said that we were missionaries (she's allowed to say she is but not me) so I had to quickly jump in and cover. Thankfully our investigator was also one of my English students so I started talking about that. Then the inspector asked to see my alien card - which was really bad because my alien card is still in the city. I should have had it with me but the person in charge of the missionary alien cards disappeared for a while so I wasn't able to get it from her. Thankfully, I had a copy of my passport and with the help of Elder Gendendaram, we eventually convinced the inspector that I was legally allowed to be here. During this conversation though, I had to teach English - so I spent the entire lesson freaking out about whether or not I was going to be arrested. The inspector also decided to observe my English class the entire time so it was so scary. But he seemed chill by the end and took the copy of the passport and left.
This situation was a miracle for many reasons. First, it was a miracle for me because some government inspectors are a lot more strict and mean about us being here. That is why our Mission President encourages us to always be out of the church when one comes. This inspection was a surprise though so we didn't know. But the Lord was providing a way for me and he softened the inspector's heart. Another miracle was the fact that at the same time, 10 or so other American missionaries and our Mission President had planned to come to our church building to meet before the Zone Conference. But our Mission President had received the prompting to go to the other Darkhan church building instead. So the 10 missionaries who were with us all left to go to the other building only 30 minutes before the inspector showed up. If they had been there, then the investigator probably would have called many more police as backup and set up an entire investigation for us. So those were two really really amazing miracles.
After that scare, we went to the other Darkhan church building and had interviews with President. I love interviews with President so much! I always feel the Spirit so powerfully when we talk and he gives amazing advice! He has helped me so much and his interviews are like a spiritual battery recharge for the next transfer!
Our English class has changed quite a bit in the past week. We lost many of our regular students for some reason and gained 3 really awesome 11 year olds who speak better English than any other Mongolian I've met. They are so awesome but the dynamic of the class is so much different than it was. Our class has turned into a kids class which is awesome but difficult for our older students who don't want to learn with the kids. We're still working on expanding as best as we can. I designed a poster to hang in front of the Church advertising our class so once it gets printed, we can hang it. Hopefully that will attract more students.
Our investigators are doing well. Last Sunday we hit a record of 3 investigators and 3 new members at church! And the best part was that they are all becoming really really good friends. So now they all encouraged each other to go to seminary, institute, mutual, FHE, and sacrament together. They are all basically doing our job themselves haha. It is creating an amazing fellowship opportunity for all of them. The only downside is that I think some of our investigators are becoming bored of how slow they are progressing in the lessons so they want to do them less often. They are so active in everything else but when it comes to the lessons, they like to make up excuses or cancel last minute which has been disheartening. But I know that Heavenly Father wants me to grow my patience and my diligence. I know that through our continued faith, prayers, and diligence, He can help them see the lessons for the importance that they are. It just takes a little bit more work.
Other fun stuff that happened this week:
- We became friends with 3 taxi drivers during mine and Sister Vick's exchange together. We gave one of them our phone number and then he started calling us 4-5 times a day asking us to go to dinner with him. So we have since blocked his number haha. Another taxi driver became our Facebook friend and now he texts us random updates about his day
- Another taxi driver asked me how old I was and then said I could be his wife so....
- We had a fun stake wide fireside and one of the new American missionaries shared an amazing testimony about the importance of missionary work
- Today we had a huge wind storm - apparently they are common in the springtime here. We had to close our windows so they wouldn't break
- Sister Vick and I made tacos one night and they tasted just like home!!
- We had a relief society activity one day and I taught all the ladies how to do the Macarena
- We also celebrated St. Patrick's day with our English class which was so fun
Also Easter is coming up soon! Easter is not really commonly celebrated in Mongolia because Mongolia is a very Buddhist country so many of the Church members here don't know how to celebrate it or what its about. Our Mission President encouraged us to try to share an Easter message with all of the families we visit and teach them about how it is a celebration of Christ's Resurrection. We have also been correcting their title of Easter - In Mongolian, Easter translates to Улаан өндөгний баяр which means Red Egg Holiday. But we have been teaching the church members that the proper title for Easter is Христийн Амилалтийн Баяр (Christ's Resurrection Holiday). We've been really pushing the change of the title among our church members which has been amazing. We've also been trying to share more Easter traditions with them so that they can start to begin celebrating the Holiday and celebrating Christ! I wanted to share one scripture I came across this week in John 16:
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
I know that my Savior has overcome the world. Through Him, we can also overcome the world. I know that Christ lives. I know that He gives me peace and helps me when I am struggling. I know that through our faith, we can do many mighty miracles. I know that we can become perfect by following Him and by using His gift - the Atonement. This week, I invite you to prepare for Conference and for Easter by reading about Christ's Resurrection. My favorite recounting of His Resurrection is in Mark 16. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Potter
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