Сайн байцгаана уу!
This week was so busy and so free at the same time. Many people were preparing for Цагаан сар (one of Mongolia's largest holidays - think of a week long Christmas/Thanksgiving combined) which starts tomorrow! People come together to clean their houses and make thousands (yes not hundreds, thousands) of buuz for the event. So this past week, most of our investigators and members were too busy for us to visit but we had lots of opportunities to serve so many people this week! We cleaned so many houses I can't even count them all. But it was so fun! The highlight for me was vacuuming the carpeted walls of one sweet Эмээгийн гэр. We also cleaned both Old Darkhan and New Darkhan's church buildings which took a while because they were very very dirty haha. It's good to have them clean again.
Yesterday, our Bishop's family invited us over to help them prepare and make buuz, so I learned how to make them! It was very difficult at first because I've never made homemade dumplings before but Bishop was a very patient teacher and then I figured it out. Making buuz also consisted of cutting up a giant skinned sheep but I won't add those pictures to this email because it was pretty nasty. We basically cut up the sheep into thousands of tiny pieces, cut up onions and garlic, then kneaded the dough. Finally, we put it all together and got to enjoy some delicious buuz afterwards. Also, my Bishop owns two quails so they were just zooming around the house the whole time which made it so chaotic but so fun! My buuz looked so bad when they were finally done steaming but what made my day was Bishop's youngest son finding all the ugly buuz I made and exclaiming "I want to eat all of Potter's buuz!" I'll attach a picture of him enjoying the 'Potter buuz' haha. He's officially my favorite Mongolian now haha.
This week has been great for many of our investigators - they all take our lessons so seriously and have such strong spirits. We also invite two of them to be baptized! Please pray for Bolorsuvd and Minjinsor that they will continue to feel ready to progress towards baptism in the coming weeks. They are both so amazing and inspire me so much with their testimonies! It amazes me how much faith the people of Mongolia have considering that the Church here is barely 30 years old and they don't even have a temple. Yet they are willing to make the commitment to join the church because they have the faith to know that it is true. Despite the lack of the temple and the newness of the Church, it is true no matter what, and they are so devoted and willing to give it their lives. I love the people here so much!
Other fun things that happened this week:
- I bought a ukulele and the first Harry Potter book in Mongolian (for language study on pdays haha)
- Our Mission President came to Darkhan to give an amazing devotional on the importance of the Temple - the spirit was so strong that I could not stop crying
- I made banana bread this week!
- The Senior couple in our area invited us over for Tacos and salsa! In a place where there are no tortillas, salsa, or taco seasoning, this was a big deal
- I taught my English class about Valentine's Day this week and they all made me Valentines - I love my students so much!
This week, I had some amazing personal studies. While preparing for one investigator lesson, I came across these verses in D&C 18:
10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
11 For behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh: wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.
13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!
I love how verse 13 is exclaimed - Christ has so much joy when we repent and turn to Him because He loves each of us individually. He literally suffered and died for you - so that you could have the opportunity to repent. And the most wonderful part is that Heavenly Father and Christ give YOU the choice whether or not you are going to follow them. Christ loves you so much that He suffered and died for you despite the chance that you might not choose to follow Him. But He wanted you to have that chance. That is why He has so much joy when you repent and turn to Him - because He gave you the choice. I encourage you to give your thanks by following Christ. He already suffered for you. Please return your gratitude by accepting His love and His sacrifice. Heavenly Father and Christ know you BY NAME. You are their favorite person. You have infinite worth and a divine destiny as Heavenly Father's child. You can only reach that true potential, though, through Christ's Atonement. I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Potter
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