Sain Uu Ger Bul ee,

It's been an incredible week with lots of stuff going on and lots coming up! This last week two former mission presidents, President Clark (1999-2002) and President Anderson (2007-2010) came and it's been incredible to hear from them how Mongolia was in their time and how it has changed. There was a special fireside last night and we went with the Clarks, the Andersons, and the Clarks to Baganuur and attended sacrament meeting. Baganuur is a small city 2 hours outside of Ulaanbaatar. The area has been open now for just over 10 years (the former President Clark opened it) and has just received the approval to build a new chapel! I was especially grateful for the opportunity to partake of the sacrament yesterday, in a humble, rented branch meeting house and to meet the members there. There's a different spirit in these small meetings and I am impressed with the faith of the members as they are literally building Zion from the ground up here! After sacrament meeting we went with Branch President Gantigchuluun to the spot of the new branch building. I've sent a picture of Elder Tuvshinbayar and I with the 3 Presidents.

Elder Tuvshinbayar, President Anderson, President Clark (current),
President Clark and Elder Jolley

Being able to see these 3 mission presidents all together gave me a look into the different personalities and leadership styles of all 3. President Anderson gave a constant flow of spiritual insights, President Clark (the former one) was a great example of faith and diligence, and President Clark is all of that! I can see the blessings that have come because the Lord sent these men to Mongolia at certain times and I'm continually grateful for the opportunity to work with President Clark! There's still nothing better than going out and meeting with people. I love sharing the Gospel with people, and so I was worried that I'd be living a "double life" between office and missionary work. But in this last week I've come to realize that if I choose, these can be one and the same in purpose.

This next week marks 1 year in Mongolia. I'm getting deja vu of last year and it's been weird to try and think that I'm entering the "last" of everything. This year I want to be more goal oriented, to be better at aspiring, attaining, and measuring progress. Part of that is improving my ability to recognize and act upon spiritual guidance. If you will remember, I bought that cool Moleskin notebook before I left and haven't done anything with it this last year. But I finally found something to do with it! Starting this week I'll be using it to record spiritual insights, blessings received and other thoughts. I got this idea reading a talk from Elder Richard G. Hinckley that he gave in April 2006. Read this talk! I've noticed that as I have been more careful to write down these small promptings, they have come with more clarity and more powerfully!

Sorry, no time for more. I love you guys! Thanks for the pictures, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Jolley

P.S. I thought you'd like to see Mongolia's newest grocery store, the "Well- Mart".