Dear Family,

It's been a week of a lot of cool experiences and.... Cold! The weather is finally starting to act "normal" here and a legit Mongolian winter is on it's way! Remember that thing we always heard before I left about buying coats in Mongolia was better because the stuff at home wouldn't cut it? Lies! Nothing too special about the way we dress for winter, just lots and lots of layers! Of course right now it's not too bad, but when the sun goes down you really start to feel it. But the fun is yet to come! This week also marked the official 6 months since being set apart as a missionary! I still can't believe that I've been a missionary for 6 months and how fast the time is flying by. I sent Dad an email about Skyping for Christmas so let me know if that time works and if there's anything else I can do on my end, but I'm crazy excited to be able to see you guys for Christmas, and I feel incredibly blessed to be always in contact with home and with you!

We have an official arrival date for President Clark. He and his wife will be here 2:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday! We've been sending our weekly emails to him since receiving his call and now I'm excited to finally meet him... and have a permanent mission president! I don't know if they fully realize how much of a blessing their arrival will be to this mission. But I'm very impressed at the Lord's timing in all of this and very grateful for President Powell and his wife. Did I mention before that Sister Powell knows a lot of the Jolley's? She knows you too Dad. From the Covey days I think... but I was talking with Sister Powell this week.

I don't have a ton of time today, but I want to share a couple of really big things that have happened this week. First, Erdentsetseg had her baptismal interview on Sunday and will be getting baptized this week! We've been meeting with her every other day or so and she is ready! Also, we found a family last week that had previously met with the missionaries, have been meeting with them ever since and the father Lxawgsuren and his son Chinguun (I'll type the Mongolian names next week) committed to be baptized on the 21st of January! They have been taught a lot of the lessons and have a great understanding of the Gospel. The dad has a bit of a drinking problem and that will probably be our biggest concern in helping him to prepare for baptism. It's something that will take a lot of the Lord's help and I'll talk about his progress in later emails. I extended the commitment to be baptized to them and realized how much of a change that truly is in their lives and I'm excited for the opportunity to continue to meet with them. A half-transfer is coming up, I think on the 25th, and I really hope that I will stay in Chingeltei! I love the people here, the ward, and the progress that has been made. We'll see what happens! One thing that has really stood out to me this last few weeks is the power of reading the scriptures with investigators! We've been focusing on shorter, more frequent visits, with some visits reading a chapter from the Book of Mormon and then discussing what we learn. There has been more understanding and blessings that have come, both to us the missionaries and to the investigators as Elder Mungunsor and I have done this! Nephi says this about reading from the scriptures:

And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold
fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction. (1 Nephi 15:24).

I love this scripture and I know that by making a better effort to read from the Scriptures we can feel an increased influence of the Spirit come into our lives.

I'm excited to here back from you, and for the Christmas call! Time flies eh? I love you guys!

Elder Jolley