Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Week 22 - A new stake in Mongolia!

I had another great week!  What else is new? :)

After emailing, Sister Wilkins and I shopped and came home and cleaned.  Then we rewarded ourselves with some KFC! :)  And then we did a Family Home Evening with our investigator.  It was really fun.  We taught a little thought about making good choices and then played some basketball afterward.  It was super fun, and the weather was perfect.  They live by a lake, so it felt like my favorite summer nights.  

On Tuesday, we had an English meeting and found out we will be teaching English teachers this June.  Our classes at the University end this week, and then we will pick up teaching teachers next week.  We will teach 3 days a week.  We will give the teachers ideas of how to teach English.  It should be fun!  Then, we went to our English class.  I love the students!  It has been fun to get to know them and their lives.  They are truly amazing, and we can't wait to have an end-of-the-year party with them this week! :)  Sister Wilkins and I are making cookies! :)

Wednesday was funny because nobody came to English.  So we sang songs and planned our party for next week.  Then, 45 minutes into the class, a girl walked in, so we talked for a few minutes.  If we taught the lesson, we would have to reteach it next week.  So we talked and learned more about her.  We had to make up some language study time, so we had to study that night.  It seemed like it was taking forever.  So we went outside.  It wasn't super warm, but we just decided to do it anyway. 2 minutes after we sat on the bench outside, we decided to go back inside.  On our way back inside we met some cute little boys.  They were playing with "walkie talkies" they found in the construction debris (made of 2x4s).  They were super little, but they were so cute!  They were playing police, and we decided to stand nearby and just listen to them.  Then, they approached us.  The one asked if we were Korean or Chinese.  We said we were from America, and they asked us why the heck we were speaking Mongolian!  They asked us if we were twins. haha  So we asked them, too!  One little boy said, "yeah, but he's way shorter than me."  They started measuring themselves to prove who was taller.  And neither of them came up past my waist.  haha They were both 6.  And so cute.  They said they were playing a police game, and they arrested us and escorted us to the storefront in our complex.  They said that in order to get free we would have to buy them something.  We didn't have money, so they started chasing Sister Wilkins.  It was hilarious to see 2 tiny little boys chasing my companion with 2x4s.  Kinda scary but mostly funny.  We all became friends when we decided to go back to our apartment and grab some bouncy balls.  They thought they were the coolest things.  Basically that was the best language study ever.  I practiced speaking and made two new friends! :)

On Thursday, I taught a brand new investigator.  She also lives at the top of a mountain, and it was so awesome to be there.  Not as awesome to climb the mountain in a skirt, but hey, you win some and lose some.  The lesson was amazing.  She is such a wonderful woman, and her children are super sweet.  They have such pure, loving spirits about them.  I can't wait to continue meeting with them.  

On Friday, we did our weekly plan and then met with a cute little grandma.  She is awesome, and she is super hilarious.  We taught her about prayer and prophets.  Then, we taught another couple of lessons.  My very favorite thing is to tell people that God loves them.  Their eyes light up.  And I feel the Holy Ghost.  I know that God loves and knows every single one of the people in Mongolia.  He is mindful of them.  That night, we got caught in a crazy dust storm.  When I washed my face, the water was pretty gross.  I pulled a few rocks out of my eyes. haha  But I'm ok!  Don't worry, mom! :)

On Saturday, our investigator had her baptismal interview! :)  She will get baptized on June 5, and I couldn't be more happy! :)  She is so ready, and the Gospel has truly changed her to be better.  I also got to meet with a really nice lady who is inactive. She very kindly fed me cow liver.  And it was kinda gross but I prayed and God helped me eat it.  Yum.  And I also got to teach my cute new member girls!  They are always awesome to be around.  

Yesterday was AMAZING!!  It was warm and beautiful.  And Mongolia got a new stake!! 2 members of the 70 were there to create the new stake.  Many branches were turned into wards.  And we felt God's love as the stake was created.  And some amazing talks were given, and I just felt so happy.  We also got to meet with our cute new investigator family, and the mom has already read 40 pages of the Gospel Principles book on her own.  She is awesome! :)  And so kind.  We taught her about prophets and prayer and Jesus Christ.  She truly wants to know the truth.  And we brought a cute ward missionary who kept ooh-ing and ahh-ing after every sentence I said because she was so proud of my language skills.  We will be taking her to more teaching appointments! :)  

I have seen some truly amazing miracles this week.  I am so blessed to be a part of this great work in Mongolia.  I have been so blessed, and I cannot help but see the hand of the Lord every day.  I love you all!

Love, 
Sister Bottorff

------------------------------------------------------------

Some fun pictures from this week:







0 comments:

Post a Comment