Hey guys, Happy late Thanksgiving! I loved seeing all the pictures and I'm sending a few of my own with this email! Everyone looks so different!! Especially my Дүү's (siblings), but I loved all the family pictures. This week has had a ton of amazing experiences and I'm loving my time here in Чингэлтэй! About the pictures I sent, 2 should be of my new apartment, it's so classy!! It has 2 big rooms then an entryway and a nice bathroom and a legit shower which has been way nice. It's a bit farther off from Чингэлтэй because there are no apartments there, but well worth the distance. The are also 2 shots of the Choir Festival that was on Saturday (I'll explain more farther on), but that is our branch choir. Then the last picture is of the Elders in my district (also my roommates), my companion Elder Мөнгөнсор (glasses), Elder Нямбаяр (white shirt), and Elder Мягмардорж (green shirt), great Elders!
Ryan's new apartment in Чингэлтэй.
Here's a bit of what's been going on:
Monday was all house restocking and cleaning, it was low on food and full of trash! I've got super proactive Elders that I live with and we're already a tight district! I grabbed the rest of the stuff from my old apartment, made a huge shopping trip, got a haircut, those kinds of things- but it felt really good to get everything in order so we could focus on the work throughout the week. My companion has also been having some stomach problems so we took a trip to the hospital for some tests. We barely finished in time to head to English class so it was a busy day! That took up the rest of the night. This class that I teach Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday has almost turned into a tutor hour than a class time, I usually only have 2 students or so show up. Their English is really good though and so my lessons are really loose and mostly conversation, you all know how long I can talk so no worries there! I have a plan to ask my sponsor to give me a 6 week break when spring comes so I can go serve in the countryside for a while! That would be incredible and so I'm waiting till the time is right... hope it works!!
Tuesday we had a very powerful district meeting on the power of the Atonement and forgiveness in our teaching. Without those two things our message truly lacks the power to change people's lives the way the Gospel can! I love leaving these meeting ready to "soapbox" and refire for another week of work! After the meeting we spent another couple of hours at the hospital, but from the tests my companion is all good to go and the pain has stopped... so I hope that's the end of the hospital trips for my companion! My companion has been on his mission since May. Kinda shy, but has an incredible knowledge of the scriptures and he will whip out the perfect verse, unprepared, in the middle of our lessons, I love to use the scriptures when teaching investigators and together it's been really great to teach that way! There is such power in the scriptures when we teach. I realize this more and more that on our own we have little impact to change (especially with my growing Mongolian!), but if we focus rather on doing all to invite the Spirit the lesson can change people's hearts in a way that words can't! I've been studying up on the 2nd lesson and it amazes me that we have had this blessing... all of our lives! The Plan of Salvation is incredible... I found a couple of scriptures that describe my thoughts a little better- check out Alma 28:12-14 and Alma 24:14! After the hospital we were able to get a couple lessons in before English that night. Still trying to meet everyone in our area and all the new opportunities are exciting!
Wednesday was all about new members and our assigned less actives. We met almost all of people we hadn't met with yet and now have a really good start in helping and strengthening these members. With our new members there's very little we need to do for them. Our new members in this branch are amazing! I'm grateful for the example of the members in this branch. In thinking about the differences between my new members in Sansar one thing always stands out- a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon and study!! It's amazing to see the growth that comes in just a few months of a person's life as a new member from this.
Thursday... Thanksgiving! I pulled the classic "forgot it was a holiday" today.... completely spaced! I got a call from Elder Cardinal about getting a group together for a lunch and I took a while to catch on. But we ended up getting a group of Elders (mostly the 7 American Elders and their companions) together for a Thanksgiving lunch.... Eastern style! We pulled a "Christmas Story" and ate at a classy Chinese restaurant not far from the mission office, most Mongolians don't even know what turkey is and so a classic meal wasn't happening. Without the family Thanksgiving doesn't crack up to much... but it was still fun to meet up with those Elders and talk about what our families were doing back home, and grateful to be in Mongolia!
Friday my district leader got a call for help! The annual combined choir festival (which is a big deal here) was on Saturday and as of Friday our branch choir's mens section was 3 deacons strong! So we four agreed to sing in the festival the next day and went to the final practice that evening. Remember the investigator named Наранцэцэг that I told you about a few weeks ago? She was baptized Friday night! I met her my first few weeks here and then when I was transferred to her area we worked to get her husband to allow her to become a member of the Church.... She got permission the week I was transferred and we attended her baptism on Friday! A very cool experience to be there and to finally see her faith and patience rewarded.
Saturday I taught English in the morning and then after was all Choir Festival! Crazy day. It was a great opportunity to support the branch, but sad to lose a prime day of teaching. Our choir sounded terrible in the practices and I was really worried! No one knew the parts, partly because no one had seen the music before Friday! So after a few of us recommended we just sing melody we tried again... 15 minutes before the festival started! It sounded good and things worked out great in the performance.
The Choir Festival.
I'm outta time, but I want to quickly finish up with Sunday! We committed one of our investigators to baptism and had a great discussion with her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (PMG Lesson 3). Going along with what I said about the role of repentance and the Atonement, it will be a great experience to witness that first hand as Эрдэнэцэцэг prepares herself for baptism. We (my district) had dinner with one of the Senior Couples, the Fords last night. Straight up, classic American Sunday dinner!! I haven't had this since the MTC and I loved it! Chili, cornbread, legit cheddar cheese, and cookies and ice cream. Even better than the food was the opportunity we had to share a mini lesson on the Plan of Salvation after. It was a powerful lesson, each missionary shared 1 part of the Plan and the Spirit bore testimony to me again of the love of our Heavenly Father in giving us this plan!
I haven't gotten anything from ya'll this week... but now I'm super stoked for whatever is coming and I'll make sure to let you know next email... Thanks! As far as the Christmas package goes, I just love getting stuff from you guys, stuff that reminds me of home and so nothing specific for me as far as sweets or other stuff. I can't say thanks enough to all that you do for me and I wish I could send a package your way!! I gotta go, and I found out that one of the pictures failed to load, bummer... sorry, but I love you guys and I will see you next week!
Elder Jolley
Editors note: the picture that didn't come through was the one mentioned of Ryan with his new district. Hopefully we will get it next week. : )
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