Week of July 22nd update

Email received early this morning:

Mom,

I got a chance to come to the laundry center early today and mix up my P-Day a bit. What an awesome week this has been! We are starting to SYL (Speak Your Language) in Mongolian a lot more and it's really helping our ability to speak improve, I'm still working on being 100% in all that, it's a very weird experience not being able to express yourself because you don't know the words! We've had a couple amazing devotionals, most recently Gene R. Cook, an Emeritus of the quorum of the seventy came and taught us. Then on Tuesday, Elder Wilson and I come in from studying and there is a Mongolian sister in our classroom! Her name is Chookaa ("choke-aa" it's hard to do her name justice without Mongolian characters) and she arrived straight from Ulaanbaatar earlier that day. She is going to be here for 12 weeks to learn Korean, doesn't know very much of that language right now and also doesn't speak any English! I decided then to never whine about any tough time I was having here - I can only imagine how difficult it must be. We were able to speak with her for a while and it gave me a glimpse of the situation I would be in when I get to Mongolia! With our limited vocab. we were able to talk with her but it was slow and concentrated. Margetts Ax came in shortly after and hearing them speak was incredibly humbling!!! But nonetheless it again refocused the district and I on what all this language study was for and our excitement to get to Mongolia!

This week I've really been focusing on always having a positive outlook on this work and my progress here. It's very easy to focus on where we want to be: spiritually, mentally and if we are focusing wholly on the progress we haven't made it can quickly lead us to doubt and then discouragement rather than seeing the progress we are making and being content with that! It has really helped me to continue to grow and love this time of change in myself as I try to bring myself closer to Christ. I hope you all see your improvement too, I know I do from your letters and emails and it's exciting! And if not and our growth seems very pointless, those feelings aren't God given and it's definitely not what He wants for us.

Also, this next week I begin my EIL training! We now have to be certified through BYU to teach English and our 3 week course begins next week- the countdown begins! I love you all and am praying for you.

Elder Jolley