Sister Sarah Bottorff: Week 34 - New experiences and new families in the branch!

It's been a crazy busy jam packed week! And I can't believe all that's happened! And I leave Hovd TOMORROW morning, and I feel like I'm in a whirlwind! haha

I'll start from Monday. We hopped in the Branch President's car and headed to the lake. We brought famous Hovd watermelons (which we eat nonstop...1 kilo is about 20 cents!) and ate and sat on the shore. It was really quiet and there was no other sign of life except birds and bugs. It was so awesome! I wish I could have gone to the true countryside more often. It's just so peaceful and beautiful. After the lake, we did an FHE (family home evening) with one of our grandmas and her grandkids. We colored pictures and sang and had a cute little lesson about obedience. Then we did another FHE with a wonderful member family and we watched the Restoration movie and ate sheep ribs. It was funny to watch the movie and then look over and see everyone mowing their sheep ribs. Haha

Tuesday was really busy! We started by serving a member who owns a little preschool. We washed all the windows and ceilings and walls and floors. It was hard work, but I loved it! Then we taught investigators. We had four great lessons and our investigators are progressing so well! I love them!

I got some cultural experiences on Wednesday because we went to our investigators house to find that they were killing sheep for the next little while. I watched them do it all. And I was really impressed that they use literally everything from the sheep. They cleaned everything and will eat it over the course of the next couple of months. We helped. I carried water around to everyone to help them clean out the intestines and stuff. I felt like a doctor. ha

On Thursday we served a member who owns a Seabuckthorn (does anyone know what that is?? I hadn't heard of it...) farm. We picked the berries off the tree for about 2 hours and I had less than 2 kilos to show for it. Oh well. We had fun helping! We had a district meeting later that night and had a great discussion about the amazing opportunity it is to be a missionary! I need to always have a good attitude about ALL I do because it's truly a miracle that I can be here and doing this work. I should never take a single second for granted, not even the super hard ones! :)

Friday we planned for the week and the possibility of 2 new missionaries coming to Hovd. We wrote about the different things new missionaries might need to know. Then we had 3 great investigator lessons. Our last investigator lessons with them! Because…

… on Saturday all FIVE of our lovely investigators GOT BAPTIZED!! I felt such an overwhelming feeling of love for them. I mean, I loved them so much before, but as I watched them enter the waters of baptism, I felt happiness I've never really felt before. I felt so excited and happy! They have come such a long way since I arrived in Hovd, and I know they have done the right thing. They are all so special to me. I will truly miss them. The baptismal service was beautiful. The little details that kinda went wrong that day didn't even matter when the service began. It was just perfect. And I felt so much love.

On Sunday all five of our NEW MEMBERS got confirmed. They are officially members of the Church! And they are all so happy! :) Also, the primary sang, and it was the cutest thing ever. They all screamed the words to Follow the Prophet and the congregation laughed a little. Some of the people even clapped! :) haha After church, we got a phone call saying we were leaving Tuesday morning, so ever since then, we have been running around getting everything ready. Packing. Visiting. Cleaning a little! We visited and taught our new members and they were so kind to give us parting gifts. Some watermelons, some chocolate, some snacks, etc. People are so kind and generous! I will truly miss them.

Hovd is such a special place. I learned and grew so much here. About myself, the Gospel, about how my will is not God's will all the time. About how if I just give up my will, God will give me much more than I ever thought possible. And that is the beauty of the Gospel message I get to share every day. I love being a missionary!

Love,

Sister Bottorff