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