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—

Sain Uu?

So it's warming up (kind of)! I got through the whole winter without getting down with a cold,then I get hit right as things start getting sunny! It's funny because the thought of it being 30 degreesright now has me excited for this next week. Spring has hit in UB and it's been really windy off and on these past couple of days.

This week we've had a lot of progress with the work and investigators! Our companionship is doing great, Elder Quinton is growing and progressing, though we are both different personality wise we've been improving a lot as a companionship lately and I'm seeing the good "line upon line" growth that yields the success that we both want. We received a referral from Elder Wilson and Elder Call for two new investigators that are really going places! These 2 boys attended a Christian church in Darkhan when they lived there. We met with them last Friday and now Bumbayar (15) and Batbayar (13) have been attending Church, mutual, and meeting with Elder Quinton and I- now they have a baptism date set in April! That's two of the investigators that we have started meeting with this last week that I've been really impressed with lately. I know how much this Gospel blessed me- especially in that 12 and up range, I see them and hope that they can have the same! Elder Haas and Elder Buyanbat, the other 2 Elders in the Selbe Ward were transferred and in their place we got 2 Mongolian Sister Missionaries! I'm excited to have Sister Bolor Erdene and Sister Narangerel in our ward and we've got a few female investigators to pass to them as they start their work here. Over Tsagaan Sar I sent you guys a picture of our new member Tsetsegmaa and her family, well her husband is now attending Addiction Recovery Class at the Bayanzurkh Building with her! He wants to stop drinking and if it all works out this week we are going to begin teaching the lessons! We're starting to have success finding new investigators from our new members and that's been a big blessing.

Our district leader Elder Tugsbaatar called us up early on in the week and arranged a companionship exchange with Elder Quinton in our area for Wednesday. So Tuesday night I headed off to Enkhtaivan with Elder Tugsbaatar's companion Elder Stranski. He came with Elder Neuberger and Elder Quinton in October- has a great desire to study, learn, and excel and is really tearing up the language and the work! It was great to be with him and really soak up his missionary spirit, and both of us having that "hunger" really made it a fun day for the work! Little did I know but we were both up at USU at the same time, have a lot of the same interests and he's just a solid Elder. On top of that we're performing in the mission talent show this Tuesday so we skipped lunch and had much needed practice session. We're going to be playing the acoustic version of "I Can Do Anything Impossible" by Alex Boye. Neither one of us get close to Alex's "soul" voice but we've tweaked it a bit and now as long as we can kick the colds it should turn out fine! (But even now that I'm writing this I'm realizing how close it's coming up) So the mission talent show is the side dish to the Mission Conference that will be this Tuesday and Wednesday! It's going to be an incredible couple of days! Elder C. Scott Grow has flown in and he and Sister Grow will be attending/leading the conference. I'll have lots to include on that in next weeks email, the conference is focused on lessons 4 and 5 from Chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel and so that's been a big part of my studying this last week in preparation for conference.

So I've been thinking about something a lot recently, I've been thinking about the Book of Mormon. It amazes me as I read from this book of scripture that a book such as this, with all the amazing events surrounding it's translation and coming to be, has been given to us as a guide and a witness in our lives! And then I think about how lightly I have treated it in times past and I squirm. Neree. As members of the Church it's such an incredible blessing and opportunity in our life to draw closer to Christ through reading this book that there is a responsibility that comes with it; the responsibility to daily study, learn from, and apply the teachings in the scriptures. I
love the words that Mormon wrote to us in the 7th chapter of Mormon:

1 And now, behold, I would speak somewhat unto the remnant of this people who are spared, if it so be that God may give unto them my words, that they may know of the things of their fathers; yea, I speak unto you, ye remnant of the house of Israel; and these are the words which I speak:

2 Know ye that ye are of the house of Israel.

3 Know ye that ye must come unto repentance, or ye cannot be saved.

4 Know ye that ye must lay down your weapons of war, and delight no more in the shedding of blood, and take them not again, save it be that God shall command you.

5 Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up.

6 And he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead, whereby man must be raised to stand before his judgment-seat.

7 And he hath brought to pass the redemption of the world, whereby he that is found guiltless before him at the judgment day hath it given unto him to dwell in the presence of God in his kingdom, to sing ceaseless praises with the choirs above, unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, which are one God, in a state of happiness which hath no end.

8 Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set before you, not only in this record but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews, which record shall come from the Gentiles unto you.

9 For behold, this is written for the intent that ye may believe that; and if dye believe that ye will believe this also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them.

10 And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant; and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment. Amen."

I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I'm grateful for it's influence in my life, because it brings me closer to the Savior and as I study it I am learning to recognize and follow His voice.

I love you guys, talk to you next week!
Elder Jolley

Dear Family,

Sain uu? Where did the last week/month go?? It's been a big refresher to hear about you guys and your week. In my mission setting apart President Bangerter stated that "your family will be blessed in their endeavors" while on a mission. And now more than ever I have been amazed at the outpouring of blessings that the Lord constantly seeks to give to His children.

This week we had the other 2 Selbe Elders transferred to new areas and Elder Quinton and I are now the only 2 Elders in the ward! So as of Friday we've been working to get to know the new investigators/members that Elder Haas and Elder Buyanbat were working with. We were also blessed this week to find 3 great new investigators throughout the week and then 3 new golden contacts at Church. The 3 new investigators all attended church with a little bit of help on our part, have started fellowshipping the members, one of them even met a member who they had known from years back. That along with all of the great new people we met was confirmation that the Lord has been hearing my prayers as we strive to find those who are prepared to receive this Gospel! So that will bring a lot of strength to our work in this coming week. This week I've also been trying to work on really accepting the Lord's will in all things. Sometimes Heavenly Father gives us experiences that are simply meant to help us to stop being stubborn, and just trust and come to Him. Work in Selbe has been a real roller-coaster ride that way- but we're being obedient, striving our best and Heavenly Father is blessing us for that. So there's good, bad, everything-in-between and I'm grateful for that! We've had a couple of new member families who have gone from getting callings and really growing in the Gospel to now avoiding calls and canceling appointments with the missionaries and home teachers. We don't know why yet, I really love these two families and that's been on my mind a lot lately.

Thursday we had Missionary Leadership Council at the Mission Home! This included all the district and zone leaders in the city as well as President Clark and the assistants. It was a really good opportunity for all of us as leaders to really focus back on the basics. Especially in our zone I've seen the power and unity that comes from mastering the basic principles of leadership and service and the problems that come as we lose our focus on these things. Earlier that morning the Ford's headed home and the office has seemed empty ever since! We talked a lot about the upcoming Mission Conference in the middle of March. We've decided to have a talent show at the end of the conference and one of the new American Elders, Elder Stranski and I, are going to be singing an Alex Boye song and playing the guitar! If it works out we're going to try and get 2 guitars so we can both sing and play. As long as we both kick the sore throats we've got it'll sound really good! Today I ran by the mission office and scheduled a temple recommend appointment with President Clark. My recommend expires this month! One, I can't believe it's already been two years; and two, I can't wait to get back to the temple! After being in Mongolia and seeing the struggle and sacrifice to get to the temple the thought of it being so close to our home is hard to grasp. It's a blessing that can't be taken for granted! In these last 2 transfers we've run into many people, investigators and others, who are stuck in life because of a vice/trial/or hardship. That idea of giving up or giving in to a difficulty is not something that should be in the mind of any Latter Day Saint, because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ. Seeing this and comparing it with my life has helped me all the more to bear my testimony with conviction that true success, happiness, and salvation come through our Savior. I love the way that Mormon stated it:

"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise."

Faith in Jesus Christ is the principle of power that gives us hope in our lives. Christ has given the way, and has given the invitation for all to follow Him. The hope and the power to change that come through Him will help us to overcome any trial, find joy in the most difficult circumstances, and give us the peace that comes from knowing in whom we trust.

Love, Elder Jolley

Keys in Mongolia ?? (didn't receive any info for the pics...)

Elder Quinton and Elder Jolley enjoying some ping pong

Hamburgers in Mongolia! : ) Hmm.