Some Final Thoughts...

I'm writing this last email in my family's house, with a whole transfer under my belt as a transferred missionary. Now more than ever I've seen the truth in my mission presidents words, "You won't know the impact your missionary service had until long after your mission." Half of me feels like Mongolia was a surreal, out-of-body experience that has left me wishing I could go back. The other half knows that although my time being a full-time missionary in Mongolia has come to an end, I can build on the foundation that has been laid to make my life like my mission; and so these two ideas fight back and forth in my mind. So, this email is a running tab of realized blessings and an incomplete perspective on a life-changing start on the path of discipleship.

Right now I can't grasp the full impact of the last 2 years on my life, or the lives of those I was privileged to serve with- that understanding has been coming to me in small glimpses and promptings from the Spirit.

I do know that my mission has taught me the power of faith unto change and salvation only comes through giving of ourselves to Christ. I learned of sanctification as I saw the Atonement of Christ work in my life. I learned to love in ways that I never understood before my time in Mongolia. I learned that humility brings us spiritual strength and when we do what the Lord asks, He will always fulfill His promises. I learned to really pray to my Heavenly Father- and as I learned to pray in that way I began to learn from my prayers. I learned that no righteous purpose is impossible or unachievable to those who desire it and are willing to ask the Lord for help in accomplishing it. I saw that the work of the Lord is going forth boldly, nobly, and independently in Mongolia.

I do not understand why the Lord blessed me to go to Mongolia. It is a blessing I feel was and is far above me and I will be eternally grateful that I was able to serve among such a choice people. It is yet another testimony to me that our Heavenly Father lives, that His gospel is again restored to the earth, bringing salvation to all those who will come unto Christ.

Family and friends!

We're excited and grateful to announce that Elder Ryan Jolley
has returned from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission.

His Homecoming will be this Sunday, the 8th of July at 9 a.m.

We invite all who would like to attend to join us for Sacrament Meeting that day
followed by a light brunch at the Highland City Park.

The address of the church is:

5212 West Country Club Drive
Highland, Utah

The address of the park is:

10400 North Alpine Highway
Highland, Utah

Please comment if you have any questions

Love the Jolley Family

Delayed!!

From the editor: Not going to lie. getting a call from the Church Mission Travel Department this morning stating that Elder Jolley, Elder Wilson and Elder Huff were still in China and wouldn't be arriving home tonight was a bit of a blow. High winds cancelled their flight. They will be spending an extra day in China and, hopefully, will be arriving home tomorrow.... one more day!!

Ger Bul Mini Ee

Tsag maani er ni yachvaa? Daraagiin doloo xonogt yavlaa gexed itgemeergui bgaa shuu. Neg l bish ee! What a great time to be knee deep in the Lord's work, what a great time to be a missionary! This last week I've been in that stage where everything seems surreal, too good to be true. I'm trying to soak it all the feelings/sights/sounds in my mind and heart, I know that I'm in a place and at a stage that I'm going to miss like crazy in the next couple of months. So like you asked Mum, I'm not doing very good at transitioning my thoughts for the next stage, but Яах вэ? That'll come eventually.

I've now just hit the week mark with Elder Haas, but it seriously feels like we've been working together for months, things just clicked and have been going really smooth from the first day on in our companionship and work! We've been super busy with both of us teaching English and then showing Elder Haas the area as fast as I can. Transfers are this Saturday and so I've only got 5 more days to show him as much as possible! On top of that we've had a couple of incredible experiences finding new investigators. I'll share just a couple of the great experiences we had this week:

Friday we had another powerful testimony builder that the Lord truly does lead people that are prepared to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! We decided to head over to 13r Khoroolol a bit early and do some of our study outside the house before Elder Haas's English lesson at 10:00. As we were about to begin studying a man came, sat down, and started talking with us. He said to us, "I have a great job, a car, an apartment, but I'm not happy." From there we began talking a bit about the Gospel and then he invited us over to his house. The night before he had a dream in which a man in white clothes came to him and said that God's grace would find him, woke up not knowing the meaning of the dream. Then the next morning as he was going out to drink he ran into us. He knows that God can help him overcome his addiction but doesn't know where to go.We were able to testify of God and His restored church and arranged for him to start meeting the the missionaries in that area.

Saturday we spent most of the day digging a well for our a family in our ward! The hole started to get deep enough that they were starting to have trouble getting out! So we took the hole down to what I think is the "bed-rock," we started having trouble getting farther with the tools we had and water started to flow. I've included a couple pictures of that in the email!

Elder Jolley and Elder Haas. Well digging.

Then on Sunday we met a great, great new family! They have 10 kids! Most have all left home and are living separately. Their daughter is a member of the Church in Korea and sent their information over. They know nothing about Christianity apart from what their daughter has said over the phone, but are having a lot of struggles right now and want to have a strong, united family and have incredible faith that Jesus Christ and His gospel can bring that change. We both left that lesson just glowing, and the Lord is blessing us to find those who will be a strength to this ward.

I kind of mentioned this in my email to Mum, but Sunday was my last time attending the Enkhtaivan branch. The meeting was especially good. I don't know why, but I just felt uplifted, refreshed as I looked out on all these great Mongolian saints. Then to finish the meeting Bishop Damdin announced that I was leaving and we all sang "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again." Oh man! That was a hard dose of reality. I love these people and couldn't be more grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me to this place.

Now there is much left to do, but so, so little time. I love you guys, talk to you soon. See you soon!

Elder Ryan Jolley

P.S. I also threw in a couple of pictures...

Elder Haas and I planning in our wrestlers hats (don't ask)

Our meeting with Brother Purev and Sister Nyamsuren.

They have a temple date set for the middle of April!!!!! Baka.

New members from Sansar with Elder Newberger and Elder Jolley

Dear Family mini ee,

Happy Fathers Day Dad! Ta shuu!

I've been tempted a bunch to write an email to ya'll in Mongolian, but I'm pretty sure there's no Google translation for Mogol xel right now. But... don't worry, I'll make it up by rambling off in Mongolian to you guys. Tehuu? Nuguu Elder Jolley's email reminded me of that.

It has been a most excellent week. A ton has gone on!

We had a baptism.

I have a new companion.

A ton biz? So let me explain:

Monday after I sat in internet we went and met with Brother Byambsaikhan and Sister Otgonbayar and had a wonderful family home evening! Their family along with my companion wanted to learn to make pizza and so we made pizza together before the lesson. They are now attending church as a family each week and their oldest daughter also came for the first time in a while, they're an incredible family!

Tuesday we originally going to Nalaikh to conduct a baptism interview, but that fell through and we were able to attend our own district meeting. It was overcast and rainy and felt really good to be out in a suit coat. After eating lunch with the district we headed out with Bro. Byambasaikhan to his house and dug a well hole with our two district sign language Elders. Bro. Byambasaikhan could no longer get out of the hole that he had thus far dug and called us for help! So we took his meter deep hole to a good 2 plus meters. It feels nice to roll up the sleeves and do a bit of manual labor once in a while! Then Brother Byambasaikhan surprised us by making us a khorkhog while we dug. I'm definitely showing you guys this food when I get back. You make a khorkhog by heating up rocks in a fire, then throwing the rocks in with rib and leg meat, whole potatoes, carrots, and onions in water, sealed in a pressure cooker, and let it stew over the fire. Delish! I had tons of cool pictures to show you, but then the pictures were deleted.... so that was a bummer. After service we then went to companionship exchanges with Elder Bataa and Elder Davaadorj in Nalaikh; Elder Bataa and I were in Nalaikh and then Elder Davaadorj and Elder Tugsbaatar stayed in Enkhtaivan.

Elder Bataa is actually the older brother of a new member of mine in Chingeltei named Urangoo. We had an incredible day Wednesday! Elder Bataa's last 3 companions have been on their last transfer and he's really pulling at the reins wanting to feel that missionary fire in his companionship. No complaints here! So we spent all day Wednesday working like crazy and it was a great exchange for both of us. Having known him before his mission and he knowing me as a young missionary it was very easy to see the way that missionary work had changed us for good. I love how we are able to become the more Christlike versions of ourselves through the strengthening and enabling power of our Savior's Atonement. I have seen that change in myself over this last 2 years, and more importantly, I have found such joy seeing that change occur in other peoples lives- missionaries and investigators.

Thursday Elder Tugsbaatar and I settled back into work in Enkhtaivan, then things got shaken up on Friday! While we were doing our personal study Friday morning the assistants called and told us that President Clark wanted to meet with us at 9:30. So we rushed out the door and headed to the Bayanzurkh. In the meeting there were Sisters Oyun-Erdene and Uyanga, because of some immigration office issues in Khovd the 2 foreign missionaries there (1 Elder and 1 Sister. Amerik gesen ug) were being sent back to the city and Elder Tugsbaatar and Sister Uyanga would be flying out at noon on Saturday! With the baptism also coming up that didn't give us much time. So we spent the whole day  preparing for the baptism and packing up in between. I conducted the baptismal service and Elder Tugsbaatar performed the baptism. Khishgee Egch was nervous, but the service went great and she is a great addition to our ward! I attached 2 pictures that we took at the baptism- 1 is of Khishgee with Elders Tugsbaatar, Huff, and I (Elder Huff was the missionary that first met with Khishgee almost 2 years before), and the other is of a member that we are working to reactivate and his son is preparing to be baptized, Baldorj Ax and Taivansanaa.

Elder Huff, Khishgee, Elder Tugsbaatar and Elder Jolley

Baldorj Ax, Taivansanaa and Elder Jolley

So Saturday morning we had a sister in our district really ill and so Elder Tugsbaatar and I were at the hospital in the morning. We thought it may be an appendicitis, she was having a lot of sharp pain and couldn't leave the apartment and so we hopped in a taxi and got them over to the hospital for some tests. After they were situated we headed back, got packed up, and went to the Bayanzurkh Building.

I've saved all the info on my new companion for last. Elder Haas! He came to Mongolia with Elder Verdusco and I couldn't be more excited to work with him for the next two weeks! In this next two weeks he's getting training on being a zone leader and then with the next transfer will be paired up with a new missionary as the Bayanzurkh Zone Leaders. I don't have a picture of us together yet but I'll send you one asap. He has a lot of enthusiasm to learn and grow as a Mongolian speaker, as a missionary and a mission leader and so we're going to pack a lot into these next two weeks! I get excited every time I think about it, Elder Tugsbaatar was a bit bummed at first about his new assignment, but it will be a blessing to him and I learned lessons with him that I could not have any other way and I'm very grateful to him for that. After I met up with Elder Haas Saturday we had a weekly planning session, and still got out for 3 lessons before the day was over. It was a good way to start our new companionship off!

Then Sunday we attended Church (next week will be my last week in Enkhtaivan, the following Sunday, July 1st, I'll be in a companionship with the other departing missionaries and attending Church in Sansar). Khishgee Egch asked that I give her the gift of the Holy Ghost to her, then after we spent the day introducing Elder Haas to everyone! After the block we headed up to Nalaikh for that nuguu baptism interview. It was Elder Haas's first time conducting a baptism interview and it went great!

This week I'm finishing up Moroni in my Book of Mormon reading. I love the different perspective and new insights I've received from studying it in Mongolian. To close I want to share a small passage from the Book of Ether, Chapter 12:

1 And it came to pass that the days of Ether were in the days of Coriantumr; and Coriantumr was king over all the land.

2 And Ether was a prophet of the Lord; wherefore Ether came forth in the days of Coriantumr, and began to prophesy unto the people, for he could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him.

3 For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled—

4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

I love you all, and I love this work! What a great opportunity we have to submit our will to the Lords and to be then blessed and changed!

Elder Jolley

Dear family min ee,

Isn't it weird now that we've passed the June 9th mark? This week has been really rewarding and has gone by too fast! The highlight of the week would definitely be Zone Leaders Council on Thursday. It was a spiritual feast and the time went by way too quick. I had a lot of questions that I had been asking the Lord in my prayers and I was getting back to back answers throughout the day! We finished the council by having PPI's with President Clark, this was probably my second to last interview with him... I really don't know where the time has gone. I love this time I have to be a missionary.

This week our investigator Khishgee is getting baptized and we have 1 more baptism scheduled before I head home. Most of our work right now is with part member families and it's very rewarding to see the Gospel basics bringing joy to the lives of these people on a family level. It reminds me of a quote in PMG that goes something like this, "The study of gospel principles will improve behavior a lot faster than the study of behavior will improve behavior" (President Boyd K. Packer). A lot of times in our work, families, and personal lives we tend to focus on the problem, taking us only farther away from the source that would bring us relief. We are seeing this right now with Bro. Byambaa and Sister Otgonbayar's family. This family was inactive but have recently began coming back to Church because they have seen how not living the Gospel principles has effected their children. Now they are experiencing some bumps on the road as the try to get their family back on the Gospel track. But... as they focus less on the problems and more on Gospel principles their problems go away! As we look to our Savior we can see this change in our own lives. Whether it is doubt, anger, temptation, contention, the solution is the same, I really love what the missionary Aaron said about finding hope as we turn to God, In Alma 22:16 he says:

"...If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest."

Other than zone council and a companionship exchange with the Baganuur Elders, this week has been pretty calm. I'm still teaching at the New West Hotel and they're especially having me do a lot of editing and translating on their company material before I head out. This week we have scheduled splits with the Nalaikh Elders on Wednesday, and on Tuesday we're going to dig a well hole with the Bro. Byamba that I mentioned above. There's a lot to do and very little time to do it!  Elder Wilson and I also spent the morning filming our MTC application videos. We taught a 10 minute lesson and now that will get sent into the MTC for evaluation.

I'll have to include pictures in next weeks email, I forgot the chord at home. But after what's been going on down South I'm just glad to have my camera... Elder Jolley must have gotten really skinny or something cause I wouldn't rob him! I have to put a little shout out to relatives and friends who have sent emails. Thanks much for sending word out here and please forgive an Elder for being so slow at replying!

Love, Elder Jolley

Hey Family,

Sain Uu. I've got a lot to write and so little time! Skyler.....you're 16! And you've got a license!

This week we've had opportunities to grow closer as a companionship. It's been a harder week for my companion and I have been praying for ways to help lift and bless him. My top two solutions have been patience and work! And so we've been doing a lot of that this last week. You heard from Brother Raal about our meeting on Sunday. What a cool experience! The world is a really small place eh?

Brother Raal and Elder Jolley
(Brother Raal was a missionary in Ryan's Dad's
 mission in South Africa) 

An update on the missionary visa situation. First off, my visa is set until September and so as long as I make it to July we should be fine! On the 1st of June, 4 of the Elders from our mission were scheduled to be deported from the country. We even met as a zone on Tuesday with President Clark to learn more about what was going on, at the time we had no way of keeping those Elders in country by our own means, and we began praying and fasting as a mission for this situation to be watched over by the Lord. Thanks to prayers by people in and outside of Mongolia- the legal action following this visa situation kicked in and though a solution has not been reached, the missionaries have been allowed to stay in country while the matter is solved. This came out of the blue on Wednesday and was another reminder that the Lord is watching over this mission!

Sorry, but times up.... I love you guys and I'll talk to you more this next week!

Love, Elder Jolley

Dear Family,

It's been an incredible week here in Mongolia! Right now the weather can't decide on spring or summer and so we're getting a little bit of everything throughout the week. How crazy is it that Elder Reeve is back?! This week was our last zone conference and so the week has flown by.

Monday Elder Tugsbaatar and I had an opportunity to meet with President Clark and among other things plan for Thursday's zone conference. I can't tell you how grateful I am for President Clark! I've seen over and over throughout this last year and a half how the Lord calls leaders with certain traits and abilities needed for the assignment. It was really cold and rainy Monday but we held strong and got a few hours of basketball. Since Elder Reeve was delayed Elders Huff, Munkh-Erdene, Tugsbaatar and I all hit up BBQ Chicken (a Korean Restaurant here) with him and had a great last preperation day with him.

Tuesday we had our first district meeting with our new district leader, Elder Usukhbayar. Elder Usukhbayar is a sign language missionary and so the dynamics of our district meetings have changed, but it's interesting to see how that doesn't interrupt the workings of the Spirit at all! We had a great district meeting focused on PMG chapter 1 and then headed over as a district to Bishop Enkhbaatar's house for lunch (the Selbe Wards Bishop)- his wife and daughter are in Utah right now, and he just got his visa and is heading over there to see a new grandchild. They're the family that are going to do the FHE with us and so Bishop came up and excitedly informed me that he'd see me in Utah Valley! He's great and I can't wait to introduce you guys to his incredible family, a true pioneer family in Mongolia's terms. We then had 4 hours and knocked out lessons with all of our investigators with baptismal dates- especially working with them on receiving their own testimonies through reading the Book of Mormon. It's so crucial to an individual's growth in the gospel and so we're really focusing in on that early on.

Elder Jolley and Tumen-Ulzii

Wednesday we had a very interesting service project. We spent the early afternoon sorting spuds at this underground vegetable storage shed! We all grabbed knives, sat around huge bags of potatoes and cut the nasty ones and made them "seedlings" and then repackaged the good ones. I taught again at New West because of zone conference on Thursday. They know I'm getting close to leaving and they're redoing all of their brochures and such in English and having me help them get their name out a bit on the web. I think they call in "storm chasing" back at good old Riser. We got back, the Baganuur Elders were scheduled to spend the night with us so we picked them up, headed home and prepared for Thursday.

Thursday. The last zone conference! We got up early and were at the Bayanzurkh Building by 7:30. The conference started at 10 but President and Sister Clark along with the rest of the zone went down to the International Intellectual Museum for a tour before zone conference started. It was founded by one of Mongolia's brightest minds and the museum holds all of his creations- carvings/puzzles/chess boards/etc. I included a picture with me and the founder, Tumenulzii Ax in the email. So I can send out more pictures I'm going to send this email in 2 parts.   Tur Baka

Part 2. Okay we're back. As you can see I put one of the Elders to work on my camera today and got a few basketball pictures on preparation day. Elder Tugsbaatar and I found a place with Derrick Rose jerseys for dirt cheap and so I bought him and I jerseys 2 weeks ago.

So back to Thursday. After the museum tour we had zone conference from 10-3 p.m., 5 hours filled with training on the message of the Restoration. We especially focused on helping the missionaries realize the importance of using Joseph Smiths own words when teaching about the First Vision. You cannot sincerely read/hear/recite these words without feeling the Spirit!

"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Joseph Smith truly did see our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. And the message of Christ's restored gospel, when sincerely prayed about, brings light and testimony. Applying the Gospel that this, the Church of Christ teaches, leads to the mighty change of heart that gives us the power to change our life! Elder Tugsbaatar and I had the special assignment to demonstrate the teaching of the Restoration, along with the baptismal commitment, to the rest of the zone. It went really well and it lead to a great discussion. Then to close Elder Huff, Elder Davaadorj and I, all leaving in the July transfer, had the opportunity to bear our testimonies to close the conference. The fact that there's only a month left still hasn't really hit me yet.... Following the conference Elder Wilson and I were invited to attend a translation analysis meeting with a Brother Tod R. Harris (from the Church's scriptural translation department) to review the current translation of the Mongolian triple combination scripture. Elder Lloyd and I were on temporary exchanges and actually ended up running around with Brother Harris from the end of the conference until the analysis meeting helping him get a Mongolian SIM for his phone. What a cool career! From what I understood he heads the Church department that oversees the translation of the scriptures around the world. Definitely a lot of traveling but it's got its perks! Elder Wilson ended getting caught up in some visa meetings and wasn't able to attend but Elder Lloyd sat in with me and we reviewed about 20 different scripture passages and compared them with the English translation. Cool! I learned from Brother Harris about a lot of opportunities within the Church for volunteer translation work and found out a few ways to keep my Mongolian up back at home. Also heard that he was on his way to Cambodia and so I sent a letter to Elder Mickelson through him. We'll see if it gets there!

Friday was our weekly companionship exchange day. Elder Lloyd and I had already planned splits for Friday and so after the translation meeting we split and headed off to Enkhtaivan while Elder Call and Elder Tugsbaatar headed to Bayanzurkh. Elder Lloyd and I had a great day of work! We found a new family who has heard a lot about the Church from relatives who are members and began meeting with them. The wife, Sister Gereltuya, was especially excited about the opportunity to pray, and asked us if she could pray about everything we had talked to her about. (OF COURSE!)

Saturday we spent most of the day doing service with members of the Enkhtaivan ward. June 1st is Children's Day in Mongolia and their was a primary activity in which the primary presidency decided to make pizza and asked me if I would head that effort. So we popped out 4 pizza's and then headed off with a less active family of ours to their лагерь (that'll make sense to no one... it's like a cabin home outside the city?) with our district and helped them till and plant their garden. I sent a couple of pics that we took while working. Then at night we met with Sister Unenbat and her husband, Brother Amaraa, who's struggling a lot right now to kick his alcohol addiction. His wife's example and faith is really helping him to want to have that change!

Sunday we spent the day meeting with less actives and new members in our ward. Our ward has not fully applied the "home teaching" principles and so we are really working with the members to fulfill that responsibility. Right now there are a few visa issues going on, but nothing too specific as of yet. But unless something else comes up my visa is fine until September! So that's a big blessing. Some other missionaries aren't in the same boat right now so please keep them in your prayers. Love you guys!

Elder Jolley

Dear Family,

Sain Uu. Has it already been a week since we talked? It was too good having that time to talk together, I can't believe how blessed I am to have such a family! Neree shuu. This week we were blessed to find a bunch of new investigators, a total of 8 comprising of 2 families and then a great young man named Tulgaa.

I've always heard stories of missionaries that have that "glow" about them (Alma 5:14), and had a cool experience with that last Sunday with this new investigator Tulgaa. He was introduced to us at the Stake Conference last Sunday by a member friend then on Tuesday as we met with him for the first time - he remarked that though he had investigated many religions and a lot of different Christian faiths, many of the people he had met did not have the change in their lives that he believed should follow their faith. On Sunday as he met with us he commented on how he saw a light and a countenance in our faces that was the "change" he was looking for and is very enthusiastic about learning more. I have seen similar things throughout my mission - most of the time what we say stands small in contrast to the light in our countenances that comes from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is undeniable evidence of the joy that comes into our lives through the Atonement and it has a great effect on those around us:

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all theenergy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. (Moroni 7:48)."

That is a gift that only comes through continued faithfulness and obedience to the Savior and His teachings - and it gives us a strength that can not be found anywhere else. I've been relying a lot on that strength a lot this week, it's one of the greatest blessings of my mission and I'm grateful for the opportunity to draw closer to my Heavenly Father.

As things start to warm up in the city we've been able to get out and do a lot of service. We were up in Zuun Ard Ayush fixing Sister Unenbat's fence on Wednesday and then Saturday we helped a less active family tear down a shack next to their house. We have so many great great people to work with in Enkhtaivan. The field truly is white!

This next week I'll be sure to get a few pictures out! My times really short this week - love you guys!

Elder Jolley

Here's a few pictures. I'm feeling super lazy on the emails today.... sorry but it's true.... after talking with all ya'll the emails feel super lame!

Love ya!
Elder Jolley

Sister Unenbat's baptism on May 4th

 

 Elder Jolley and Elder Tugsbaatar

 These last two pictures... Elder Jolley with some of his Mongolian friends

Dear Everyone,

Sain uu? The internet cafe I'm at has lost power 3 times and so this email keeps getting shorter and shorter.... that just means more for next week!!! I've got a scheduled time for 9:45 Monday morning (6:45 Sunday evening your time) for the family Skype call.

It's been an incredibly fast week! It was a very special 21st to have a baptismal service and 3 investigators baptized. The two brothers Bumbayar and Batbayar, that Elder Quinton and I met with back in Selbe were baptized along with Sister Unenbat, an emee sister that Elder Tugsbaatar and I have been meeting with. Her husband is also our investigator but isn't quite ready for his baptism yet. The baptismal service went great, all the new converts shared very powerful testimonies and now look forward to growth as they start down this path as followers of Christ!

Elder Jolley, Sister Unenbat and Elder Tugsbaatar

Tuesday and Wednesday we did back to back splits with the Enkhtaivan and Bayanzurkh Districts. On Tuesday I was with Elder Nyambayar, a sign language missionary and spent the day teaching in Mongolian sign language! It was a really cool day. I've been able to pick up enough sign to survive and teach simple lessons and it's interesting to see the Spirit work on people in the same way, but without words.

After the baptism on Friday the bishop and 1st councilor from Selbe took me and the district out for a quick "birthday dinner." It was all by surprise, but a really nice, low key way to finish the night! Sisters Gillen and Bolor-Erdene made a cake and the district gave me a birthday mug with our district picture on it. Very simple but I couldn't have asked for a better gift, to be on a mission in this great land!

Out of time.... I'll fill in more next week WHEN WE CHAT!

Love, Elder Jolley

Happy Birthday Elder Jolley!

We love you

Manaix aa

Sain uu? How's everyones week been? I'm a week behind on emailing so I'm going to be filling in a lot! First off a big shout out to Skyler. I had just a few minutes to read about last week and you've been in my prayers! The Lord is really looking out for our family and I was grateful for that knowledge this week. Don't pull anything too crazy from now until July ya? I need you off of bedrest by the time I get home bud!

Dad, happy birthday on Tuesday! I miss having the joint birthday parties! Can you believe you've hit 45 and I'm turning 21???? It feels like just yesterday that we were doing the 40/16 birthday celebration.... crazy. But I can't tell you how grateful I am for you,your example. Last Conference we heard a lot about our responsibility as priesthood holders and I was grateful to have seen those principles in action in our home! Have a great day! Let me know next week how the big day turns out!

This has been a really really fast paced week. I love these opportunities to share the Gospel! With the end of the month coming up Elder Tugsbaatar and I have been working to conducting companionship exchanges with all the district leaders in our zone before zone leaders council this Thursday. This last Wednesday we were up in Baganuur, then tonight we're going on exchanges with the sign language Elders in the city. These have been great experiences, I love working with these Elders! But I'll get on that in a minute....

Monday we had a big cool off in the city. Elder Tugsbaatar and I met up with Elders Wilson and Sugar, Nyambayar and Myagmardorj, rented a court out and played some basketball. My companion is completely addicted to basketball! And though he's smaller and older he plays incredibly well! Elder Tugsbaatar, Elder Sugar, and Elder Myagmardorj played against Elder Nyambayar, Elder Wilson, and I for a good 2 hours. Then we had a couple of problems come up before I taught English and that took up the rest of the day. Tuesday after having a great district meeting Elder Tugsbaatar and I hopped on the bus and headed to Baganuur. It's a good 2 hours out of UB and so I took this time to take apart the new April Liahona. The bus was loaded but I was able to have some of the best experiences receiving personal revelation that I've had on my mission! The whole two hours I was filling in the margins of my Liahona as fast as I could write it all down. I was studying a speech that Elder Bednar gave at BYU in 2001, I'll share a section of it with you:

May I suggest that the Book of Mormon is our handbook of instructions as we travel the pathway from bad to good to better and to have our hearts changed. If you have your scriptures with you this morning, please turn with me to Mosiah 3:19. In this verse King Benjamin teaches about the journey of mortality and about the role of the Atonement in successfully navigating that journey: "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the HolySpirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord" (emphasis added).

I want to stop at this point and draw our attention to two specific phrases. First, consider "and putteth off the natural man." Let me suggest to you that President McKay was fundamentally talking about putting off the natural man when he said, "The purpose of the gospel is . . . to make bad men good." Now I do not believe the word bad in this statement by President McKay connotes only wicked, awful, horrible, or inherently evil. Rather, I think he was suggesting that the journey from bad to good is the process of putting off the natural man or the natural woman in each of us. In mortality we all are tempted by the flesh. The very elements out of which our bodies were created are by nature fallen and ever subject to the pull of sin, corruption, and death. And we can increase our capacity to overcome the desires of the flesh and temptations, as described in this verse,"through the atonement of Christ." When we make mistakes--as we transgress and sin--we are able to overcome such weakness through the redeeming and cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As we frequently sing in preparation to partake of the emblems of the sacrament, "His precious blood he freely spilt; His life he freely gave, A sinless sacrifice for guilt, A dying world to save" ("How Great the Wisdom and the Love," Hymns, 1985, no. 195).

Now, please notice the next line in Mosiah 3:19: "and becometh a saint." May I suggest this phrase describes the continuation and second phase of life's journey as outlined by President McKay. "The purpose of the gospel is . . . to make bad men good"--or, in other words, put off the natural man--"and good men better"--or, in other words, become more like a saint. Brothers and sisters, I believe this second part of the journey--this process of going from good to better--is a topic about which we do not study or teach frequently enough nor understand adequately.

If I were to emphasize one overarching point this morning, it would be this: I suspect that you and I are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming power of the Atonement than we are with the enabling power of the Atonement. It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us. That is fundamental and foundational to the doctrine of Christ. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us--not only to direct us but also to empower us. I think most of us know that when we do things wrong, when we need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives, the Savior has paid the price and made it possible for us to be made clean through His redeeming power. Most of us clearly understand that the Atonement is for sinners. I am not so sure, however, that we know and understand that the Atonement is also for saints--for good men and women who are obedient and worthy and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully. I frankly do not think many of us "get it" concerning this enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement, and I wonder if we mistakenly believe we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities.

Brothers and sisters, the gospel of the Savior is not simply about avoiding bad in our lives; it also is essentially about doing and becoming good. And the Atonement provides help for us to overcome and avoid bad and to do and become good. There is help from the Savior for the entire journey of life--from bad to good to better and to change our very nature."

And another.... mai:

"As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who "act" rather than objects that are "acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:14)."

The speech is entitled, "In the Strength of the Lord." by David A.Bednar. I encourage you to look it up later and study it. When I was reading this talk I then remembered that I would be viewing these devotionals live in a few months!

We arrived at about 7 and visited a potential pre-missionary with the Baganuur Elders. I would be working the next day with the district leader, Elder Amartuvshin, and my companion worked with Elder Anar, a temporary missionary who's now waiting to receive his call. Elder Amartuvshin is one of those Elders that I can see a lot of myself in, a hungry young missionary and it was a huge boost to work with him! He had a lot of questions about his new responsibilities as a district leader and so when we weren't teaching lessons we were usually going over his responsibilities. Needless to say it was a fast day. Then to make it even better, Baganuur Elders have bikes! I know that sounds weird, but I've never been able to bike around on my mission and so Tuesday was a blast! It always amazes me that even out in the countryside of Mongolia there are tons of people that have connections or past experiences with the Church. While we were biking around we helped a 10 year old boy get water back to his ger from the well (the cart he was using to lug the water barrels around broke), and so we put the jugs on our bikes and headed to his house. When we got there we started talking with his uncle who had been in Salt Lake City 10 years ago and he asked us about temples and some other things about the Church that had impressed him, but he had never found out more about. They were a really great family and I'm keeping in touch with the Elders in Baganuur and we'll see what comes of it! We met back up with our companions around 5 and then Elder Tugsbaatar and I caught a taxi back to the city.

Most of the rest of this week has been working with Sister Unenbat and Brother Amaraa. Sister Unenbat has a baptism interview tonight and is scheduled to be baptized this Friday. I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday! She is planning on being baptized as well as the 2 brothers, Bumbayar and Batbayar that Elder Quinton and I began teaching in Selbe. I'm really excited for this Friday!! Brother Amaraa is still struggling to keep the word of wisdom and so his baptism is still a little ways away. The cool thing is, I first contacted Brother Amaraa when he was working in Khailaast last June (when I was serving with Elder Verdusco). He had been coming to church for a few months and then one day moved. He came back from the countryside this last week and he commented that he remembered seeing me at the Khailaast church building before. He's been struggling lately with going to church and stuff and meeting with him again helped him remember the Spirit he first felt when he was going to Church and he's been doing considerably better this last week. These are just a couple small examples of the many ways we've seen the Lord preparing people to receive His gospel!

The last of the 3 pictures I included this week should have a few familiar faces. This last Friday Brother Purev and Sister Nyamsuren's youngest son, Enerel, was baptized! Now that he's been baptized they have set the goal to be at the temple in one year! Elder Neuberger and I were originally meeting with Enerel, but because of all of his training (he's a professional acrobat???) he wasn't able to be baptized with the rest of his family. It's great to see the gospel influence now working in the lives of those around them!

 

For Mothers Day. Let's plan for Sunday evening Tehuu? We've got a lot to catch up on! I'm still not sure where this last year went.... it hit me this week really hard. Where'd my "20th" year go?? Definitely don't feel old enough to be coming on 21 or to be near the end of my mission... so that's something I'm still in the "denial stage" on. I love you guys, I am grateful for the Savior and His atoning sacrifice in my life. This Gospel is the way to receive faith unto change in this life and salvation in the life to come!

Elder Ryan Jolley

Sending Birthday Wishes...

Next Friday, May 4th will be Elder Jolley's 21st Birthday!

We can hardly believe it!

For this coming Sunday's email that we will send him, we thought it would be fun to compile "Birthday Wishes" from family and friends and put them all into one email.

Just send your "Birthday wishes" in the comments. We can send them both this week and next.

Thank you all for your continued love and support to both Elder Jolley's. : )

Mom, Dad, Family,

Sorry... I wish I had a lot of time but it's been one of those days/weeks. I'll have to explain next week. Love you, I'm doing great and I love this work that I'm in.

Tell Skyler that he's in my prayers.

Elder Jolley

Dear Family,

I really enjoyed getting your letters this week- thanks for all the love and support you send through those emails! I loved the package, thanks for getting those last minute requests in there. My companion and I made the mistake of setting the candy on the study desk and so it didn't last long, but it was tasty!

Yesterday was my first Sunday in Enkhtaivan. It had been two weeks since I'd been to sacrament meeting because of conference and it was a great blessing to be there. I had made plans to do better at getting acquainted with the members of this new ward, but I ended up translating for a Bro. Leichty, who was giving a talk that day and spent time up on the podium. A blessing in disguise l daa, Bro. Leichty is an engineer working for Rio Tinto from Cedar Hills! His son was in my graduating class; and it was a cool opportunity to talk and hear from him about home.

Our work this week was really good! My English classes are kind of on and off right now so we were able to get a lot of good work done. The field truly is white! My companion is now on his first week of being a zone leader, and it's been a bit difficult for him, he feels the weight of the responsibility to be an example to others and truly does want to be that example. Having said that, the work and our companionship has been really great! He had a rough couple of days over the weekend, chatted with President Clark about it and now is feeling refreshed and ready to dive back in!

I've taken this last week with some ups and downs in our companionship- to really take a better look at and learn from the example of the Savior. I have the testimony that every experience that I've had on my mission is a God given opportunity to grow closer and become more like His Son and I am grateful for the growth opportunities!

Today has been a lot of basketball! My companion lives for basketball at the Bayanzurkh on Monday's and so after the interview this morning with President we played there for a few hours. I can't tell you how grateful I am for our mission president. I talked with him a little after my companion's interview and am always impressed by his ability to love and the fair way that he looks at everything. He gave me a lot of great advice, something I was really looking for!

Do we know when Mother's Day hits this year? Let me know in next weeks email and we'll all arrange a time from there. How does Mother's Day Evening sound? The way we've been doing it for the last little has worked out well.

So were at a 2-0 score for pictures, I'll make sure I get some pictures with my new companion and the new area for next weeks email!

Love, Elder Jolley

Hey Family,

So where's April going?? Conference/Easter Weekend flew by sooooo quick, but it was amazing! I received plenty of nudges by the Spirit on what I need to be better at and that's one of the reasons I'm so grateful for Conference. Then you add in all the inspired counsel and whala! I was impressed with way too many talks to narrow it down....but I noticed I received a lot of specific instruction on the work I'm now involved in and a lot of advice for the next adventure.

My new companion. We're going to have such a great next transfer! I lived with him for the 6 day run I had in Songino, and then he's been my district leader for the last 3 months and so we've already got to know each other really well! Elder Tugsbaatar is from Erdenet, he's 26years old, and has been on his mission since October 2010. I feel like the difference in age and assignments gives us the unique opportunity to learn lots from each other. Because of conference Elder Wilson and I were on splits for Saturday and Sunday (until the evening to view the conference sessions) so Elder Tugsbaatar and I haven't had a ton of time together as of yet. We differentiate in age as well as size- I've got a lot of height on him, but after we played basketball this afternoon there's no worries about me having the unfair advantage! We're both excited to take our responsibilities as zone leaders to the next level this transfer and there will be more to come on that. I don't think I ever told you guys this, but I've had a thing the last 2 years about wanting to serve in Enkhtaivan. Ever since I went on splits with Elder Cardinal and spent a day there I've loved the area and the feel it has (not to mention it has both city center and ger district)- so this last transfer showed me once again that God knows me too well and now I'm excited to dive in this week.

Don't have a ton of time today, but I want to share a couple of thoughts. The loving service we often show to others, in and out of the Church, often (as we think) goes unnoticed. That's terribly untrue. The service we do, the love we show to others, may take some time to sink in, but it will always have a profound effect when done under the guidance of the Spirit. We can see this in everything, from a missionary's service to the ministry of our Savior. I think of how Christ's mortal ministry, to the mortal eye, had such humble beginnings, but has effected the world for good ever since man has been on the earth; both to those who lived before His ministry and thousands of years after. Bi odoo yu xelex geed baigaa yum be gexleer. I saw just a small example of that in my mission this week. Way back when I was in Sansar with Elder Amgalan we began meeting with a Brother Dulguun and his family. Brother Dulguun served a mission in Utah, but a few years after his mission fell away into inactivity. I was a brand new missionary when we first met, but I remember the meeting we had with him distinctly. I was transferred shortly after, but we passed them along to the next missionaries so they could continue to meet with him, his wife, and two daughters. When I came back to Sansar the second time his wife was being baptized! But Dulguun was still not coming to Church. Then throughout all last year I've been meeting with Bro. Dulguun and Sister Delgermaa, have really really grown to love this family, and sometimes sad that they had not been able to yet take the step towards activity as a family. Yesterday Elder Wilson and I ran into Sister Delgermaa and Bro. Dulguun at General Conference! Sister Delgermaa (between Elder Wilson and I we taught her the lessons) was beaming, just looking happy as she told us that Bro. Dulguun was now going to Church. Keep working with, loving, and serving those around you who may be off the path. I gained a stronger witness that as we offer service, our love and time and efforts, and give those around us the opportunities to exercise their agency they will respond!

Next week I'll make sure to send pictures of the new area and my new companion!

Love, Elder Jolley

Dear Family,

Sain Uu? Happy April Fools. The only thing I had for a good prank wasto not write an email this week... but yax ve? No but really it's been an amazing week here and lots to write about!

This last Saturday transfers came out. Elder Quinton's off to my old stomping grounds of Khailaast, he'll be Elder Reeve's last companion (what???), as he is leaving a transfer before us. I'm heading to Enkhtaivan Ward! They meet in the same building I'm in now so it's not going to be too drastic of a change, but I really love the area and am excited to dive into the work there. It's got the Western half of the city center mixed in with a bunch of ger disctrict- ever since I
worked there on companionship exchanges with Elder Cardinal back inthe day I've been wanting to serve here, and now it'll probably be my last area. My companion is a Mongolian Elder from Erdenet named Elder Tugsbaatar (Elder Perfect Hero gesen ug). He's 26, an incredible artist and a great basketball player! On top of all that he's a really great teacher, I've always been really impressed for his passion in the work. He's been my district leader for the last little bit and I'm excited to now work with him. For the last little while the zone leaders and assistants have been going solo, but with this transfer there will be zone leader and assistant companionships again- so I will remain zone leader in Bayanzurkh Branch and Elder Tugsbaatar's coming in as zone leader as well. Most of all, I've got a native companion! Super excited. That means 24 hour Mongolian and I couldn't be more excited for that.

This week we did put out a lot of effort to find some of the lost sheep in the Selbe ward! We went to a lot of different places, and had some success in meeting and working with some of these brothers andsisters. Elder Quinton and I are especially looking for less active Melchizedek Priesthood holders. We found some living among the people we were already meeting with, but because of their work and etc. we didn't know they were there! These things require more than a quick stop in at their house, much of the time it requires a lot of love and patience but I'm glad that these efforts have been started again.

This week I had an interesting experience with prayer that I would like to share. I've mentioned to you before Will, our American investigator. He is swamped with work throughout the week and so we meet with him each Sunday afternoon. He takes a really sincere approach to learning about the Gospel and yesterday we followed up on the commitment we gave him to read Moroni's promise and pray about the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. He came back having read and prayed, but did not receive the answer that he was looking for. He was really impressed with what Moroni says concerning a sincere heart and real intent. He prayed, but didn't feel he had the sincerity and the intent he knew he needed and we had the opportunity to share with him more about prayer. I really like what the Bible Dictionary says concerning prayer:

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."

Growing up in a different church, we were able to share with him a lot on the purpose of prayer and the opportunity that it presents. It was a great lesson! As we understand truth and apply it in our lives the difference in results is like night and day. It was also a great opportunity to see Will's example of really looking at our prayers, realizing that we are speaking with our Heavenly Father, and then working to make our prayers sincere. It truly is an incredible gift that the Lord has given us and it does take work to do it right!

Love, Elder Jolley

Sain uu,

What a week! We have spring coming on in full swing here! I remember last year how great 30's felt and I've learned on my mission that "good temperatures" is all a mind game that all depends on what you base "cold" off of. Yamar ch gesen, it's really warm right now! Today after email we're pulling out the frisbee and going to go play with a few of the Elders to take advantage of the nice temperatures.

So this week we've seen a ton of progress with investigators. Bumbayar and Batbayar are now attending seminary and mutual, and ar eprogressing towards their own baptismal date (the 20th of April). We had two investigators, Nyambayar and Itgel, who we haven't been able to meet with as much lately, start coming back to church and meeting with us again.

I reread Jacob 5 this week in my reading of the Book of Mormon in Mongolian, and so the first transfer here in Selbe was slow, a lot of digging, pruning, and cutting, but lots of little branches are being put forth! I'm grateful that these things are done in the Lord's time and not my own. We've got transfers coming up on the 7th of April (right before Conference!!!), and I'm not sure of what will be happening in the next couple of months from that, but that will really decide where I'll be for the last portion of my time in Mongolia and so this transfer really has a bittersweet feel to it. My plan: just keep working as hard as I can, go as fast as I can, and then I'll have time to think over all of this later! I've been given a year and a half to gain experience, sharpen my skills, and by continuing to use them to the best of my abilities, while still relying on the Lord is one way I can show gratitude to Him for all of the amazing blessings I've received on my mission.

I wanted to share a great experience that we had on Thursday. We had the opportunity to go out with Bro. Jared Armstrong (a member of the ward who's here working for Oyu Tolgoi, a Rio Tinto mining project) and do some home teaching. Our main purpose for going was to show him the house and translate, but if needed, I want to do this with every priesthood holder in the ward! As home teachers we don't understand how important this work is! We have hundreds of examples, success stories, and Liahona articles that tell us so, but somehow we think that ours is a different situation. IF you're reading this email and you're not on a mission- go and do your home/visiting teaching. Those families will be blessed through your service! Okay, off the soap box and on with the story. This family is one that we've met with a few times, trying to activate and heard a lot about them (hometeachers), but now they were excited to have a home teacher of their own! The message was simple, but it brought the Spirit and again I was grateful that after my mission I'll have that opportunity. The final part of this story is another testimony of what we here in Preach My Gospel over and over and over again: while we were there it just so happened that some relatives were there, recently moved from the countryside, and they sat in on our lesson. We were then able to share with Erdenegerel and her 3 children about God and prayer, and they are now taking the discussions! Sister Erdenegerel closed the lesson with her first prayer, and all 3 of us were really impressed by her sincere desire to learn and act to come closer to God. I walked home that night really grateful to have seen the Lord's hand in our work.

May's coming up quick! Someone mentioned the possibility of a 3 way call, I'd be all for it! Take a look at it and let me know what you find out. I love this Gospel, I love this work, and I am proud to be a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! To close I'll share a favorite section of the Doctrine and Covenants:

" Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth! As the dews of Carmel, so shall the knowledge of God descend upon them! And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed.... Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free. Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!"
(D&C 128:19-24)

Love,
Elder Ryan Jolley

Sain uu?

Hey family, what a week! I love missionary work in that as you do it right, there's never a wasted moment, we have the opportunity to always be about our Father's business.

To start off I sent you a bunch of pictures, there all shot's that were snapped at the mission conference talent show of Elder Stranski and I. Then the last picture is one of the view outside our kitchen window, not too much to explain about them, but they'll add a lot to this week's email.

View outside apartment

Talent performance with Elder Stranski

This has been a week with a little bit of everything! Monday we went out and got some pizza with a few Elders and then Elder Stranski and I took 30 minutes and went over the song a few times. At this time both of our voices weren't top notch, but the practice session felt good and
we were both confident that we had put in enough practice. After we fought some crazy traffic over to New West and I "taught the night away." Ha. The manager of the hotel has been using me lately to proofread their website and help their hotel get booked on some international sites to help get their name out there, then when I'm not doing that I'm teaching the staff. We got back that night, I ironed the shirt, cleaned the suit, and got all ready for mission conference! I love mission and zone conferences! If you can go in there really seeking to know the Lord's will, and wanting to know your standing as a missionary and how to improve those are two great opportunities to find out. And this time there wasn't the stress of all the behind-the-scenes work and that felt good.

Tuesday morning we got ready and took a taxi over to the Bayanzurkh Building, everyone was required to be there at 8:30 and we got there just before 8 to run over the song with Elder Stranski; they hadn't arrived and so we got everything set up and then greeted all the missionaries as they came in. It was awesome seeing all the missionaries from the countryside in, see good friends and old companions! Early that morning the Elders and Sisters scheduled to
finish their missions in May met with President Clark and then came down to the chapel and announced that their departure dates had been moved up to the April 8th transfer! That's Elder Tuvshinbayar's group and all the Elders that we've "grown up" with. That means they'll be
done in 3 weeks! Lately I've been getting a lot of reality checks like that... So those 7 Elders leave in April, Elder Reeves heads home May 21st (he has to report to the Marines by a certain date and will be home a transfer before we are).

9:00 rolled around and we all separated into zones in preparation to greet Elder and Sister Grow. Elder Tugsbaatar (our district leader in Enkhtaivan) and Elder Stranski were the only to Elders missing from the Bayanzurkh zone, and their phone was turned off! I did not want to be the Zone Leader with missing zone missionaries and so I was praying that they would get here soon as I was rounding up the other districts! They ran into the Bayanzurkh Building within a minute of Elder and Sister Grows arrival, we got them in place and then shook hands with Elder and Sister Grow! It really is a special opportunity to learn from and spend time with a general authority, especially in a mission setting and so I really try to learn from their examples, their personalities and so from that time on I was really watching those two closely! Elder C. Scott Grow's parents served in Mongolia 17 years ago and so they had the opportunity to go and visit a lot of the people his parents worked with after the conference. In D&C 11:21 we learn about having the convincing power in our work, I am always first and foremost impressed with the power of God in which the general authorities of the Church speak! We spent the morning talking about teaching with that convincing power and broke down verse 21 in Section 11. The agenda had us planned to study lesson 5 "Laws and Ordinances" from PMG most of Tuesday. But with talking with the mission in the first hour or so of the conference Elder Grow took things in a different direction and we talked about our investigators that have committed to be baptized! Again, I'm watching and listening intently to the lesson, the comments being made, and the actions of President Clark and Elder Grow and they saw different needs and went with it! And from then on the Conference departed from the agenda as we focused on the needs of our mission. At lunch I had the opportunity to meet with Elder Grow for a few minutes concerning the mornings training, we had a quick lunch, and then gathered in for the second half of Tuesday's training.

After lunch we had a few more hours of combined training, and a few of the zone leaders and the assistants gave assigned talks that mapped out a few of the main topics of discussion. I gave a 10 minute talk on the missionary purpose and real growth, we would present and then Elder Grow or President Clark would lead out a discussion. For me it was hard trying to get it all down on paper fast enough! We received a lot of great training and I received a lot of great insights into how I need to grow as a missionary in the next few transfers. For the last hour before dinner the Elders and Sisters split up, the Sisters headed up to the mission home (on the 5th floor) with Sister Clark and Sister Grow and the Elders stayed in the chapel with Elder Grow and President
Clark. If we're thinking General Conference, this was priesthood session! Elder Grow came up to me and asked that I translate for him, and then Elder Huff translated for President. We received a lot of powerful instruction concerning our role, as missionaries and as future leaders in the Church, as priesthood holders. Elder Grow shared with us to close a scripture that I really liked from D&C Section 67:

10 And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am—not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual.

13 Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, continue in patience until ye are perfected."

I felt good about the translation and more than anything grateful for the example of President Clark and Elder Grow as righteous holders of the priesthood! Starting foremost with Dad and working out, I've been surrounded by these incredible examples of men who hold their priesthood worthily and what an effect it's been in my life!

After that we had dinner and then the talent show. It was a blast! Our mission's got talent shuu dee. We even had some now producer RM's film the whole thing and so I'll save the details for July and show you the DVD. But we had a full 2 and a half hours filled with Gospel, Mongolian
culture related talent! Bayanzurkh Zone started things off and Elder Stranski and I were 4th on the list. I want to wait until I see it on tape, but we played without mistakes, and it felt good. I really miss playing the guitar and so this was a unique opportunity, our song was able to uplift, saikhan bailaa! The Talent Show ended at 9, we had to fly over to the Selbe building and lock it up and then headed home, hit the sac.

Wednesday we had training until lunch with Elder and Sister Grow, and then they headed off with Batbold to visit friends of Elder Grow's parents. Then for an activity we had a test-your-knowledge game from the Church Handbook about the basics of ordinances in the Church (I
know to anyone but a missionary that sounds like the last thing you'd call a game!), we played as districts. It was written in Mongolian and by default Elder Quinton and Stranski toned out (couldn't read fast enough), and the Sisters aren't too competitive. Elder Tugsbaatar and
I are! So we teamed up and rocked the house, we were super close to winning, but ended up tie-ing with Elder Wilson's district. Ahhh..... After that we had dinner and then Elder Quinton had English the rest of the night. We spent most of Thursday, aside from our weekly
planning session, teaching English, but Friday is where the week started getting interesting!

Thursday night Elder Quinton was feeling under the weather, bad cough and really nauseous, and Friday it was still a concern so we went to visit Elder Martin, the mission doctor in the afternoon. I didn't hear the diagnosis, but he either had the flu or streppe and the doctor
loaded him up with anti-biotics and then put him on bed rest for 36 hours. We didn't leave the house until Sunday morning, and instead of investigators I got to serve my companion better this week! I cooked up my classic chicken noodle soup and then he slept pretty much all day Friday and almost all of Saturday, getting up just to eat and drink. So I tore apart our Area Book, reorganized that and was able to also do some studying. I was grateful for the quiet time and got
through most of 2nd Nephi in my Mongolian Book of Mormon reading. Because the members feed us so well in Selbe I haven't cooked much lately and so I marinated some chicken (we ate it after my companion got better), baked some banana bread, made some no-bake-cookies. After
sleeping away Friday and Saturday Elder Quinton woke up, was feeling a lot better; we ate dinner, he went back to bed and was ready to go Sunday morning!

Sunday we had 5 investigators at Church! Not a ton, but really good for us lately. With not having been able to meet with many people before Sunday it was a great thing to see them there and then we spent Sundayevening meeting with a few investigators and new members. It feels good to be out and teaching!

To close I'll share a scripture that I've been really impressed with this week, I've been re-studying the Christlike Attributes and found this scripture in connection with virtue:

3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things thatpertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." (2 Peter 1:3-9)

Love, Elder Jolley

P.S. Have you guys ever heard of Seabuckthorn juice (Chatsargana)? It's really big here in Mongolia, and I'm curious to see if it's in the States.... will you guys let me know?

Received a bunch of extra pictures this week from Ryan from Tsaagan Sar—