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I'm so sorry I haven't written anything in a while. I'll add the stuff I wrote in my past two emails here and then continue on to this week's news:
Let's just say...this paast week was interesting. We had a lot of scary moments but thankfully the Spirit guided us through all the trials haha. There was one experience in particular I wanted to write about because it strengthened my testimony of the Gift of Tongues and protection of Heavenly Father. The story starts off with Sister Myers and I receiving a Facebook referral. We contacted her and she said she had some questions about Jesus. She wanted to meet right away and our other appointment fell through so we decided to meet her. We waited for her at the church for 2 hours and she kept calling us telling us she was on her way and to just wait patiently. After 2 hours the church building closed so we had to meet her outside. But we aren't allowed to proselyte in public so we called our Elders to come teach her (since one Elder in our ward is Mongolian and allowed to proselyte). They came and we gathered with our Facebook referral (she brought her whole family too) at a playground. Then Elder Unubold started teaching her about Jesus. For some reason throughout the meeting, Sister Myers, Elder Fuller, and I couldn't understand what the lady was saying. I didn't know why we couldn't understand or say anything until I realized that the Spirit was actually protecting us. The lady and her family turned out to be a group of con artists who were trying to frame the church and get money from it. Thankfully we couldn't understand or say anything so we didn't compromise ourselves and Elder Unubold carried the conversation. It was a scary experience because near the end the lady turned hysterical and started wailing about how we offended her husband (we didn't say anything) and then we found out that their son was recording us the whole time so we ran away. The Lord was protecting us though and since then we haven't heard from them since.
That all happened two weeks ago. Now on to what happened last week:
Last week was transfers! And great news! I got to stay another transfers with Sister Myers but now we have a third companion named Sister Stark. She is just the sweetest human being on the planet and I love her so much. We all work really well together and trio vibes are so fun! Sometimes it's weird being in a trio but it still works out great for us. I also became an STL with Sister Myers. We are the only STLs in the city which means we get to do exchanges with people all over the entire city! Yay!
In other fun news, we received a new Preach My Gospel and I was so excited to study it. It has wonderful resources in it about how to strengthen your personal conversion to Christ so I recommend that every member study from it. I love the shifted emphasize on teaching about our baptismal covenants. Our baptismal covenants are so important and by teaching those with more emphasis in our lessons, I think it is helping our investigators understand the importance of staying an active member after they are baptized. They are truly becoming converted to Christ and I can see the shift in PMG teachings helping them. I really love the new PMG.
English class has become soooo small recently but I'm blaming that on the fact that Mongolia's summer holiday Naadam is coming up. Everyone goes to the countryside for Nadam so it's hard to maintain a steady class here which is fine haha. Also, we officially have 5 American missionaries in this area alone which makes it kind of hard to teach English because we all want a turn teaching so we all get 10 minutes to teach haha. But more teachers also means more help for the students one on one which is nice.
Our investigators and new members are doing amazing! All of them are progressing so well and we have high hopes that many investigators will be prepared to be baptized soon. They are also so sweet and so dedicated. One investigator we were teaching was having a hard time keeping commitments and keeping the Sabbath Day holy so we had a lesson on the importance of the Sabbath Day. The next day, she came to church and she even bought a skirt for church. The effort she put in to dedicating herself to the Lord on Sundays was so inspiring to me. I love everyone in my area so much!
Other fun things that happened:
- Some English students saw us waiting for a bus in the rain so they drove us to our destination
- We got soaked in the rain and locked out of our apartment
- We made tacos!
Okay...so that was all a week ago. Now I will write about this week:
So our trio got a call last Wednesday from our mission President saying that a new Mongolian Sister who got called to England didn't get her visa in time so she was reassigned to the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar mission for the time being...meaning she needed a companion. So Sister Myers became her trainer and Sister Stark and I got shipped off to American Denj. Sisters haven't been in American Denj in several years so this was quite shocking news but we were excited! I also became a solo STL in the East zone of the city so it was a lot of new things all at once!
So on Friday, we packed all of our things and headed off to our new home in American Denj. Our move consisted of getting stuck in traffic, getting locked out of the apartment for 2 1/2 hours, waiting for a taxi for 3 hours, and dragging 5 suitcases for what felt like miles. Thankfully we became besties with this one really cute 10 year old kid who helped us hunt down a taxi. It was a tiring adventure for sure. But we made it safe and sound and kicked the elders out of their apartment haha. Also we are in the same ward as the APs (assistants to our mission President) so that can be a lot of pressure sometimes.
For district council this week, we all made a giant American breakfast together and wore our Mongolian traditional clothes. We also learned out to play this fun Mongolian dominoes game together.
Also today was the first day of Naadam, which is a big summer holiday in Mongolia! We all got to wear our deels and Sister Stark and I went to the opening Naadam ceremony this morning. There were tons of shops a markets all over the place and a few parades. Many people were wearing such cool costumes and deels. I bought a new deel last week and today I bought a traditional beaded headband and a poster with my name written in Mongol bichig. While out and about today, two old ladies stopped us and asked to take pics with us which was so fun. Naadam is a holiday celebrating Chingis Khan (Gengis Kan) so we watched a cool ceremony about him and Mongolia as a country. Lots of people were dancing and singing and riding horses and shooting arrows and wrestling. There was so much to see and do! We also ate lots of Mongolian food. The next two days will be a lot like today so it will be harder to get in touch with people and do actual missionary work but it will be fun to connect with people and the culture.
Other fun stuff thar happened this week:
- We dyed a sweet old lady's hair and did her laundry in her ger (hut)
- We dug a foundation out of the side of a mountain for this member who is building a ger there
- We made huushuur with an investigator in her ger for 5 hours yesterday
In my personal study this week, I was studying a lot about become truly converted to Christ and one scripture that I really loved was Omni 1: 26 -
26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.
I simply love this verse so much! And I know that becoming converted is that simple! All we have to do to offer ourselves to Christ. What does that mean? It means we need to give our Will to Him. When we let Christ lead our lives, we can receive promised strength to endure to the end until the time when we will receive eternal life. Only through turning to Christ can we gain that strength, hope, power, and love. Christ is my redeemer and my Savior. I am thankful for the role that He plays in God's plan for each of us. I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen. Have a wonderful week and I apologize for the long email!
Love,
Sister Potter
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