It's Time!

I received a call from Ryan yesterday afternoon from the MTC. There was much excitement in his voice. "Mom, our visas came! I am so excited!" Not only did his come, but Elder Huff's and Elder Reeve's as well. They all will be able to leave together. They leave today, Wednesday August 31st!

Ryan's plan was to finish up some packing (although he says he's been living out of his suitcase for the last week or so) and finalize details there. The three of them are to meet at the MTC Travel Office at 6:30 this evening. From there they will travel to the airport and get checked in. They will take the 9:45 flight to Los Angeles. From there they will have a 12 hour flight to Beijing, China and then a 2 1/2 hour flight to Ulaanbaatar (he was unsure of any layovers when we spoke, but we'll get further details from him). After they are checked in, Ryan will be able to call home this evening to talk with us. We are all excited to hear from him and visit for a while until he departs. What a blessing and tender mercy from the Lord that these visas are here for these amazing Elders who are so ready and anxious to go and serve their Heavenly Father and the beautiful people of Mongolia. The adventure begins!


This evenings phone call follow-up:
Our call tonight was awesome! We got to talk with Ryan for over an hour (which went by way too quickly). He sounds awesome and is excited and ready to go. It was so nice to just be able to chat and hear about each others happenings. He does have a couple of layovers— a 3 hour in Los Angeles and a 2 hour one in Beijing. Lots of love expressed and we wished him well and look forward to hearing from him when he arrives.

August 28th Letter Update

миний гэр бүи

What an interesting week it's been for all of us! I have dreaded this week since I first arrived here... "Visa Delay"... dun, dun, dun! I did not want to be that missionary and so when we found out about our visas not being on time, I was amazed that I was already at 12 weeks, but why would the next week be bad? I still get to prepare, I have a great new companionship and the Lord knows what's best! I was surprised then to be at this stage and still loving it and made the choice a few weeks ago to always keep it that way — and it's been a great week! On Monday, with Elder Wilson leaving the next day, we had the infamous "mission culture day!" I'll have to send some of the pictures, but it was awesome! We watched clips from Brother Cannons and Brother Margett's mission - saw pictures, learned more about the day-to-day life, wore a дээл (traditional Mongolian dress) and saw a bunch of other things that they brought back from Mongolia. It was incredible and re-excited us for our going to Mongolia! I'm pretty well packed up as of now and so we are just waiting for the visas to come. No new updates yet and we are trying to not annoy the travel office with our questions. On the other hand though, we don't hear anything unless we go ask ourselves. Both occasions when Elder Wilson received his visa and his travel plans they had been unable to contact him before our visit and so we were completely unaware. So we'll see what surprises we get this next week!

Thanks for the update on the family Book of Mormon reading, really make sure you all keep up with that, especially altogether! It is a guaranteed promise of strength and blessings that we can always use. Just like with our bodies, yesterday's meal is not enough to sustain today's needs. It is the same with our scripture reading. Thank you all for your prayers and support and know that you are in my prayers too!

Aхлагч жолий

August 26th email update

Hey Mom and Family,

What a week! I know things have been super busy at home and so I hope that things have started to slow down a bit now that schools back in business. How is everyone doing with teachers/classes and such? I'm officially on "Visa Delay" status now and this last Wednesday was the start of my 13th MTC week. In the last couple of weeks as I was thinking about being here longer I decided to, whatever the situation became, to approach my next few weeks with an attitude of growth- to see what the Lord wants me to learn while I am still here at the MTC, rather than get "trunky" to leave as it's said here. And how great of an opportunity that's been! It's been a week of great study and improvement so far and I've been able to see more of the Lord's blessings as I've put forth that effort. How grateful I am for that!

Thank you for the screen shot and pictures! From your last letters it sounds like Sky's about done with his eagle and Brayden isn't too far behind- cain bain! Also, again thanks a ton for the package and all the Scotharoos- I have half a bag left but took a fast from them the last few days (ha!) because I was pounding them down!

With Elder Wilson gone now I have become a threesome companionship with Elder Reeve and Elder Huff. I was curious to see how we would do and very prayerful that we could continue being a strong companionship! The threesome companionship is infamous for having problems and I've been praying that I could be a blessing to these Elders rather than causing a "third wheel." And now, with some work and prayer on all of our parts, we are continuing to do well and strengthen our unity. Tuesday night we had another awesome devotional and Jeffrey R. Holland was our speaker for that night! He is incredibly passionate about missionary work and it was an awesome experience! In my letter I'll include some of the highlights, but that was icing on the cake for this week! We're going to go check in with the travel office tomorrow and see if there is any new word on the visa's, the guesstimate is around the 3oth of August- we'll see what happens and I'll let you know as soon as I hear- if you promise to answer the phone! Ha ha. I love you all and am excited to hear from you again!

Elder Jolley

August 20th Letter Update

миний гэр бүи

I'm almost out of this "fancy" paper" so soak up the speedy had written letters while we can - in a little while we'll be doing pouch mail! янзтай (means: "all kinds of cool!", my new favorite word in conversation).

Elder Wilson's visa is sitting in the travel office right now and so unless somethings changes, he's outta here on Tuesday. I guess the visas are classified as "in progress" or "invited". The latter meaning that you've been granted a Mongolian visa. Elder Huff and Elder Wilson's status reads "invited" and once you receive that, they mail your visa to you. Elder Huff's visa is "en route" and is hoping it will be here in time to fly. I had to promise the Sister at the visa office that I would not come in every day to check, but I'm hoping it gets approved or sent the end of this week or early next week. But for the time, being here is where I'm supposed to be and that's great!

Before I forget, last week Elder Wilson and I were released as zone leaders and Elder Slater and Clark were assigned to fill in. It's been a great opportunity to serve with the Elders in our branch and my hope is that the new ZL will take where we left off and run with it! They already are and so I'm excited to see what happens. Thank you so much for the love and support and with luck my next letter will have some updates on my departure schedule!

Aхлагч жолий

The Mongolian Group: the District, Elder and Sis. Ford with Bro. Anderson and Bro. Evans (English teachers)

The District • August 20, 2010

Things are in the works!

Ryan's email received early this morning:

Ger buth, Cain oo?

Oh man... these keyboards don't do Mongolian any justice. It's blowing my mind that school is starting! I can't believe that the summers over, but change is always exciting! Thank you for the pictures I love em! Any chances of some hard copies? Not a ton but love seeing them!

First off- Elder Wilson got his visa! First American missionary to get one in over a year! Woohoo! There approving visa's on an individual basis and so Elder Huff's was approved earlier this week and it's being shipped over "as I type." So this means two things... 1. WE'RE GOING TO MONGOLIA!!!! 2. Elder Reeve and I will probably not receive our's until after our Tuesday travel itinerary so we will probably be here for another week or so. But again, I can't believe how the Lord blesses us and so we are all incredibly excited. Since I am not sure when I'll be leaving it hasn't really hit me yet, so I'm trying to continue my studying and preparations at full speed and be ready for whatever comes. Thanks so much for the package! I got the socks (much thanks) and am steadily trucking through the Scotcharoos. I'm glad you got all the pictures- I had tons! I tried to edit them all for you so there weren't tons of extras... and I totally forgot about the video, go easy on me we were still super new then! But I'm glad you liked it and especially in the coming weeks I'll try to take some more good en's. For a interesting side note, my flight will most likely be to Korea! From LAX then once we land in Seoul it's straight to the UB.

I've got to keep this one a short email to try and catch up on some others so I'll fill in the rest in my letter. I love you guys and pray for you in your circumstances. Keep the Lord in mind, and more importantly I've been learning, make sure you take a step back and see the big picture. When we pray for strength in a certain area, usually God give us a trial to strengthen us. What incredible love that is! I think this is no exception. Look at this through that lens- our Heavenly Father loves us enough to gives us opportunities to be strengthened, in the way He knows will be best for us. I love you all and thank you for all your support, on the mission and off! Amjitht!

Elder Jolley

More Pictures!

We received a package of pictures from Ryan today along with his memory stick to empty out before he heads off to Mongolia. It's awesome to go through and get a feel of the experiences he has been having at the MTC over the past 10 weeks. A majority of the pictures are Ryan with his district as well as a number of Elders he has come to know while there. Here are a few favorites...

The Sunday afternoon "temple walk" What a cool sight!

The "Mongol" district with the Mongolian Sisters here at the MTC to learn Korean.

Ryan and his good friend Tyler Mickelson who is going to Cambodia.

Elders Reeve, Huff, Wilson and Jolley

I loved these next ones. First is a picture Ryan took on August 8th of the goals he and Elder Wilson have made for themselves. Then there is a picture of the blackboard of an area/map in Ulaanbaatar. The video clip that follows shows them working through giving directions through the city in Mongolian. Very cool!

Elder Jolley and Elder Wilson companionship goals

Their Classroom blackboard with a road area in Ulaanbaatar

This is a little video clip of the Mongol District. They are learning how to give direction through Ulaanbaatar. You can hear Ryan in the background. Pretty funny!

August 12th Update

Tomorrow after lunch a couple of cool things are happening: 1. I'm teaching the 4th lesson all in Mongolian and 2. Right after that we begin a week of only speaking Mongolian—no English! I'm excited to see a glimpse of what my first few months in Mongolia will be like and have a chance to really gauge some areas I need to improve. Other than that, we are still pluggin' away with the short preparation before us I keep hearing rumors about us getting our visas, not getting them, etc. So no new info at this time... and I'm really trying to have an attitude of indifference to all that. Not in a negative sense of course, but rather than getting "trunky" here at the MTC as to when/if I don't leave right on time — rather that I'm just working through and not worrying about a leave date because I know that what happens is in very capable hands and so no use worrying!

Each meal time we try to always SYL (speak your language) to get better at our language. Sometimes the Mongolian sisters have lunch at the same time that we do and it's really cool to speak Mongolian with them and slowly see our progression in conversation skills. Usually it's pretty difficult to convey emotion when you're fighting for conversation survival and so it's challenging for the Elders and I guess boring for the sisters.

I'll continue to keep you posted on the news I get and again thank you so much for letters and such. Love you and I'm excited to hear about your week — fill me in on what's new.

Love ya!
Aхлагч жолий

August 7th Update

Hey-oh миний гэрбүи!
Happy August! As you'll soon find out, this letter will get to you a bit late—our Preparation Day was switched this week (did I include that in my email?) and so i hope this one travels fast!

It's been a crazy busy week here! With our time in the MTC running out everything is going double pace, but it has also been a very satisfying and rewarding few days. The need for our EIL (English as a International Language) certification (in order to further our visa work) called for the class to be done all this week and it was a very eye-opening experience! The need for this BYU certified training came as a result of "problems" in the past and the relevance / usefulness of this class. So, we had the opportunity to be taught by some of the best EIL authorities in their field! They're both professors at BYU — President Norman Evans (also a branch president at the MTC) and Brother Neil Anderson. They put a ton of work and preparation into this week in making the past weeks course custom fit for our role in going to Mongolia. Both are incredible teachers and have compiled a ton of resources to help us in our continued study and for when we are teaching in Mongolia. After an hour or two of English study, I'm dying to go back to Mongolian — we know so little about our own language! It is an incredible blessing to be speaking English as a native because learning it is incredibly challenging and teaching it effectively isn't too far behind. I've loved having this week to gain that perspective and it has helped me to see this opportunity I have in a new light. We will be the first missionaries to come to Mongolia with this type of training and the government will definitely be looking to see what kind of a difference that will make... it is very crucial that Elder's Wilson, Reeve, Huff and I live up to that new standard because our actions have the potential to affect the chance of future American missionaries in Mongolia. With great blessings come a responsibility to become something that we did not see ourselves doing, to grow in ways that we do not see, at the time, as being important. But the Lord knows and as I see how weak we are in teaching English and our weaknesses and struggles — I am excited because I know that we are slowly becoming the instruments the Lord would have us be. I have never seen trials in this light before and it's incredible the love that God has for us. Elder L. Lionel Kendrick spoke to us this last Tuesday and shared a personal motto that "we can do hard things." Very simple, but it is a powerful statement. Am I willing to do the hard thing in order to have a greater joy and success as a missionary? Are all of us ready and willing to show the Lord that we have faith in Him by doing "the hard thing?" I have been working and praying that I will and that perspective has really opened up my mind to new things! I want to share it with you, not that I don't think you know this, but it brings us closer to God and has helped me a lot! That was a long way off the path to tell you that with our BYU certified EIL training certificate — our visas should roll forward now!

I love you guys! I hope you have had a great week and with the Pia's coming I hope for an even better one to come! tell them "Hi" for me aight? I pray for you and success in your day to day life — keep up the good work! I read your letters and see all the growth and I love it!

Aхлагч жолий

August 5th Email Update

Hey oh!

What a great week! (Especially the rain!) Things are flying by and more than anything it's crazy that we've reached the 9+ week stage of our MTC experience and in a few short weeks we'll be leaving! Elder L. Lionel Kendrick was here on Tuesday and gave the missionaries a great point that we should wake up in the morning and wonder "how in the world am I going to get everything done?" And I'm happy to say that it's been a very busy week!

(picture of Ryan and Elder Wilson courtesy of the Malaysian missionaries!)

So the EIL training that we are doing right now is going good- we've taught two lessons so far to a class of international missionaries and we have a 30 minute lesson to prepare for tonight. When I left high school I was stoked that I'd never be worrying about English grammar again!!! Now I'm teaching it.... I continue to see new ways the Lord needs me to grow and learning to teach English has given me a cool perspective on learning Mongolian. I wrote last week and said that the class was going to be a 3 week version of a BYU class, but we found out that the Mongolian government won't move the visa's forward until they have our EIL certification in hand.... so now it's a 1 week, most of the day class! That means that we'll have our certification by the end of this week though and hopefully get the wheels turning again on our visa applications. The forecast at this time is anywhere from 3-6ish weeks on those visa's? I'm guesstimating but that's going off of some of the previous missionaries experiences. Exciting! In a few short weeks I could be sitting in a chapel.... no one speaks a lick of English.... in Ulaanbaatar! I love it and it pushes us to work harder to prepare to teach the Gospel to the Mongolian people.

Because of class this week we've switched our Preparation Day to Saturday, so I'll write all my letters then- they'll be a bit late though. I got all of your's yesterday- thank you for the great letters! I love hearing about everything and all of your growth! I'm feeling incredibly excited for the field but I love having this time to prepare and grow, so this next few weeks will be interesting to see what happens! I love you guys and hope you have a great week!

Elder Jolley

At the TRC (Teaching Resource Center) with Brayden and Kevin Olsen • July 22, 2010
Brayden and Kevin volunteer every Thursday at the TRC and have had a couple of opportunities to see and visit with Ryan and his companion.

Ryan and Brayden at the TRC • July 22, 2010

Week of July 29th

Hey Family!

This week the Provo Temple opened back up again (woo-hoo!) so our zone if going to go do a session this afternoon. I'm very excited to go again (it's been closed since the 2nd week i was here), but it cuts down on the very precious time known as "p-day", so I apologize if my letters are shorter today—ha! but you can't be "angry" because it's the temple!

This week we met a Mongolian sister named чyлyyhxyy (as mentioned in my email). It was an incredibly cool day and our district looks forward to every chance to see her1 Elder Wilson and I have been teaching a progressive investigator in the TE (teachers evaluation) for the last 4 weeks and this week we committed him to be baptized in 3 weeks! Even with the role-play the spirit was very strong as we bore testimony of the simple message of the gospel. It was a very good day!

On Tuesday Elder Wilson needed some alterations on his suit and we were able to walk to the BYU Dry Cleaners... outside the MTC! It was the first time we'd been out and so it was awesome! One of the pictures I've sent is of our monumental walk!

Tomorrow we'll teach our 4th Mongolian-only lesson and we are starting to see the small steps of transitioning from a few memorized phrases to having an actual conversation in мoнгoлbiн xэл, slowly but surely. Tэp aмaap сaйн! (It's "scary" cool!)

Other than that we are just trying to soak up as much language as possible for our rapidly approaching departure date. Continue to pray for the visas to come through and I'll let you all know what I hear!

Love ya!
Elder Jolley

P.S. Ran into Elder Mickelson a few times and he's doing great (of course), but SO good to see him! I know his companion Elder Fauht from USU—a stud!

Elder Travis Johnson, Elder Cody Stirland and Elder Ryan Jolley • July 18, 2010

The Malay Sister (Sister Lim & Sister Wong) and the Mongol Elders • July 25, 2010

Elder Jolley and Elder Wilson "outside the gates!" • July 27, 2010