Sister Sarah Bottorff: Week 32 - Another great week of service!

Another great week is over! Whoah! I have 2 and a half weeks in Hovd! I can't believe it! And I've been a missionary for 7 months! Dang!

We stayed really busy this week. And we were healthy - that is a plus! :) Monday was pretty relaxed. We cleaned and lounged. And I loved it. Then, we had a Family Home Evening with our investigator and her grandkids. It was a success! We taught that Jesus loves the little children, and then we had them color a picture of Jesus with children. And we sang songs in Mongolian, English, and Russian! :)

On Tuesday, we taught a cute lady about the importance of choices and shared Thomas S. Monson's most recent conference talk. Then we taught another investigator about testimony. She will be baptized on Saturday, and I'm so excited!! We taught our grandma after that, and we asked her the baptismal interview questions. She answered them so well, and she's adorable! After that, we met with some members and they fed us well. People are so good to us! :)

Wednesday was busy because we met with people, visited a baby in the hospital (who is fine now), had institute (youth class), and visited people. Our list of church members here is kind of crazy and everyone moves all the time, so we began our quest to find out where everyone is and organize the list. It's quite a feat, but we are up to the challenge.

Thursday we called everyone on the list that we don't know. We marked down the phone numbers that don't work or that belong to other people now or that have been changed. Then we met with two wonderful grandmas and a less active girl. We had district meeting after that, and I taught the lesson. I taught about how we need to remember the Savior all the time. It's sometimes hard to do since we get caught up in the little details of life, but if we take the time to remember our Savior and all He has done for us, we will be able to relax and not worry because He is in charge. I'm so grateful for that. It's the only thing that gets me through the hard times, and it makes the easy times so much more fun! :)

On Friday we planned for the week and then taught a lesson before we went out and got to work serving. We went back to the goat farm, and I fell in love with the view again. I'm getting SO much better at milking the goats! I'm much faster than before. And as I sat there milking goats, I thought about how I was waiting for my call letter to come this time last year. And I could have NEVER imagined that I would be sitting in the middle of nowhere in Mongolia milking goats. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Saturday was so cool because our investigator passed her baptismal interview and will be baptized this coming Saturday! She's ready! And I'm amazed to see how the Gospel has changed her life. Then we went to our cute grandma's house and taught her about families. It was so fun to talk about how she can go to the temple to be eternally married to her husband.. She can be with him again! Afterwards we taught another lady about repentance, and then sat down and really organized our branch list so that we can check addresses more effectively. We have organized every person by address. And it's awesome. After checking addresses for almost 2 hours, we took our weary little bodies over to a member's house. They so graciously fed us and we watched Finding Faith in Christ together and talked about all that Christ has done for us. It was a great day! :)

Yesterday 11 investigators came to church! 11!!!! That's amazing!! Then we had lunch with a member. Stomach buuz. And then we checked addresses again for 2 hours. By the end we were dragging our feet. It was hot and tiring to walk up and down streets looking for houses. We didn't actually meet any of the people, but we got some of their new addresses and phone numbers, so it was a success. We met with a member for dinner, and they didn't disappoint, thank goodness! I was starving!! And then we met with our cute grandma's granddaughter and mom. We taught them about God and prayer. They are such an awesome family, and I look forward to getting to know them better! When we got home, we planned and went to bed. All that finding is exhausting!!

This morning we went to see the natural spring water just outside the city. We walked for about 30 minutes with a member. It was absolutely gorgeous. My pictures don't do it justice, but I just kept looking around and thinking, "Whoah. This is Mongolia! I'm in Mongolia!!!"

I'm amazed every day to be here. And I'm so grateful for this opportunity. Thank goodness God is in charge. I couldn't have gotten here and had these amazing experiences if it was all up to me.

I love you all!

Sister Bottorff