Sister Sarah Bottorff: Week 12: I'm in Mongolia!!

Hey Everyone!

So I'm in Mongolia, and it's been great!

I'll begin back in Provo. Wednesday was great! It was so normal going to classes and teaching and eating as usual.

On Thursday the 17th, we began our big journey. We started the day with class and then packed and ate one last meal at the MTC. Then, we got our luggage all together and got on a shuttle that took us to the train station in Provo. It was quite a production to get the luggage on and off the train. 3 heavy pieces per person. Luckily our Elders are great and helped out a ton! Once we made it to Salt Lake, we got off the train and onto the TRAX, which is like a subway ish. It took us to the airport. We got everything settled at the airport and I called my family! It was so good to hear from them! The flight from Salt Lake to LA went really well! I sat by Sister Guild and we partied! Once we arrived in LA, we had to get our luggage, walk all the way to the international terminal, check our luggage again, go through security, and try to grab one last meal in about 1 hour or so. Luckily we made it! And I ate Panda Express. It was a great choice! :)

We boarded the plane and after taking some Benadryl, I fell right asleep. I'm pretty sure I slept most of the time because I woke up and they were feeding us a second meal. I slept through the first despite attempts to wake me up. I got up and walked around and just sat and enjoyed thinking about nothing for the rest of the flight. It was 13.5 hours total. We landed in Korea and it was Saturday the 19th!

On Saturday, we sat around in Korea for about 7 hours. They had free showers, so I gladly took one, ate Dunkin Donuts, Taco Bell, and some other snacks I brought from home. Then, we took the last hour in Korea to run over to our gate. It was in another terminal, and it was at the very end of the terminal. So we took all of our stuff over there only to find out we had to go back to the middle of the terminal, down about 10 gates, to get our boarding pass. We ended up cutting it pretty close, but then we got on in time. It was pretty stressful when I started hearing Mongolian over the speaker in the plane. I had a mini panic attack and felt really overwhelmed. I cried for a split second as I considered how little Mongolian I knew. But I sang a song and colored and felt a lot better. Three hours later, we landed in Mongolia! Customs went great, and I was the first in our group to get out of the airport. I was approached by a man who wanted to drive me in a taxi, and then, right out of nowhere, a man from the mission home came up and said, "Welcome to Mongolia, Sister!" We found the other missionaries in our group, and headed off to the mission home. It was a 30ish minute drive, so I got to see a lot of things! The city is crazy! No traffic laws, some awesome statues, and some buildings and lots of gers (yurts) cover the hillsides. Once we got to the mission home, we met President and Sister Benson, the Mission President and his wife, and their 5 kids. They are amazing! They let us wash up, and then we had dinner as a group. They catered Indian food, and it was super good! I forced myself to stay up until 9:30 even though it was a struggle. I stayed the night in the mission home.

When I woke up the next morning, I had breakfast, and Sister Hansen and I were picked up by two sisters, Sister Nelson and Sister Wilkins. We went to our first lesson! We traveled by meeker, a 10ish passenger van, to a ger district. Then, we walked around the neighborhood to find the ger of a really nice woman and her 3 boys. Besides a spider landing on Sister Hansen's shoulder, the visit was great! We talked about God, and I bore my testimony. We left and went back to the Sisters' apartment to eat grilled cheese sandwiches before church. I only went to Sacrament meeting because after that, I needed to get in line to have an interview with President Benson. Sacrament Meeting was great! I understood approximately nothing, but I felt good about it. Sister Nelson did some translating, and I just enjoyed picking out the few words I could catch. They speak really fast....But I love them! My meeting with President Benson went great! He got to know me, and he got me really excited to be a missionary! Afterward, we ate a quick dinner of leftover Indian food and headed off to our last lesson of the night. We met a family of 6 who is interested in learning more about Christ. They gave us this milk drink in cereal bowls. It was made of milk, water, butter, and salt and then boiled. Sister Wilkins kept looking over and saying, "Are you drinking it?" And Sister Hansen and I kept nodding and smiling, hoping to get out of it. But then about the 3rd time, Sister Wilkins told us that we couldn't start the lesson until we finished. Oops. We finished as quickly as possible and I understood most of the lesson! We taught about God and prophets and invited them to pray. The Spirit was strong! It was a great first day! We got dropped off to the mission home where we slept for the night. I was exhausted, but I loved my first full day!

Today, Monday, was also pretty crazy. Sister Hansen and I had pancakes with the Mission President and his wife. They are the best! Then, we got picked up and went to the hospital, which is an old Russian hospital, to get some tests done before we went to the Immigration office to get our visa paperwork finished. When we got home, I felt so car-sick! The driving was crazy and bumpy! I got to lay down for a little while, which was so nice! Then, some other sisters took us out to lunch at a local Mongolian restaurant. It tasted ok....haha After lunch, I went back to the mission office to finish packing. My new trainer picked me up. It's Sister Wilkins! She's super awesome! I look forward to working with her and learning all she knows! She and I met up with 4 other sisters and got Pizza Hut! And now I'm here! I'm not sure what's going to happen this next week. But I'm looking forward to it!

I am doing the best I can to get over jet lag. It's a struggle, but I'll do it. Everyone here is so nice! I don't ever wear my name tag because of some weird policies right now. Also, we are not supposed to speak Mongolian on the streets for now. So I haven't really spoken much Mongolian. I think it's making the transition easier! :) I'm loving it here, though. I know it's where I'm supposed to be. I'm looking forward to serving these people with all my heart!

Thank you, again, for everything! Love you all!

Sister Bottorff