Sister Sarah Bottorff: Week 50

I'm not sure what happened this past week. Maybe President felt a little sick one day...but I'm a TRAINER! What? I still need to be trained myself!!! But anyway...I'll get back to that in a minute.

On Tuesday we went out and had suuuper good food. American food! I had a burger with bacon and fries and a milkshake. And I was in heaven! :) Don't ever worry about me. I have these little gems I've found all over UB. UB takes good care of me! :) Then we went home and packed Sister de Ruyter. I got the transfer call that night. Sister de Ruyter got transferred to America and I got a new trainee!! Woah.

Wednesday I went around with Sister D and got stuff ready for her. We took pictures and went to lunch with her sponsor (who fed us this magical meal of Chinese food) and we talked. Her sponsor and his wife are so smart and I pretended to understand all they were saying. It was all in English but I haven't spoken English or heard English like that in a long time. My typical conversations in English are either telling other missionaries funny stories or talking to my students loudly and clearly and suuuuper simply with huge hand motions. Like this (while waving my arms around) "Hello! Howww...arrrrre....youuuu??" And then I go home and talk like that too. So this lunch was pretty over my head. But it was so fun and the food was lovely. After lunch, Sister D had to move on to her leaving Mongolia stuff and I got to spend the night with Sister Guild, who is also training.

On Thursday I did some trainer's trainings and then met my trainee! She is super happy and fun and awesome! Her name is Sister Shreeve and she's from Gilbert, Arizona. She had to wait for her visa for 6 weeks, so she served in California! And now she's here! She's tall and has red hair! And we get along great! Which is really great because I have no idea what I'm doing. It's weird to think about having to do the understanding and the bulk of the talking for the two of us. But so far I haven't died. And nobody has gotten offended or anything.

Friday we taught some English and then we taught our first lesson together. The cute little investigator taught us to make food and then she proceeded to teach us the entire first lesson. Yes. Normally we do the teaching, but she taught US! She was awesome! She wants to get baptized. And I love her. I'm so excited for her progress. She's the one I taught in Hovd. And I love her more and more every day. She is progressing so well! It was the perfect house to go to for my first lesson with my new companion! :)

On Saturday we planned for the week and got my poor companion a coat. The poor thing didn't have one and she borrowed one that turned out to not be warm. So we got her a coat because I couldn't let her freeze in this cold. And she was such a good sport for never saying anything about being freezing. But then I finally got it out of her and took her and got a warm coat. She's SO much warmer and happier! Phew! Training is crazy. I bargained with the people to get her a good coat. And we had a blast. And we made new friends at the store. And I learned that perhaps I can be a little more self sufficient than I thought I could be. So thank goodness for prayer and amazing previous companions who helped me so much!

Yesterday was church. And I translated for the senior couple and it went well. We made more friends and lots of people are offering to go with us to lessons! I feel so incredibly blessed! That kind of thing doesn't happen every day, so I'm just so grateful it's happening now, when I have a cute new trainee! She loves Mongolia and the people!

I've been learning a lot about love. While I sometimes have moments where I freak out and wonder how the heck I'm supposed to get myself and a new trainee around UB, I take a second and stop to think about how much I love these people. When I forget about my worries and just focus on love, everything works out and my problems seem to be taken care of. Love is the reason for happiness. It's through love that we have a Savior. If Christ had said, "I think the task of redeeming everyone is too hard. I don't think I can do this big thing. Can I do hard things? Why do I have to do hard things?" then we would never be able to repent and be truly happy. Instead, Christ loved us so much that He turned outward and thought first of each one of us, knowing that through doing this hard thing, we could all be happy. And that's what I'm trying to do. Turn outward. Like Christ. And as I do that, I find myself so blessed. And happy! And I realize that God has given me everything I need to do all the things I've been asked to do.

As far as Lighting the World, I haven't been doing everything in order, but I've noticed that I've been so happy as I consciously make an effort to Light the World. I lifted burdens as I moved my companions in and out of my apartment. I have done other little things every day to try to be more like Christ, and as I do so, my life is happier!

If you aren't doing the Light the World activities, I'd encourage you to just do a little act of service every day. And if you are doing Light the World, you should keep doing it! It makes me so happy!

I love you all! I hope everything is great back home! Keep up the service and the turning outward. It's the best way to get into the Christmas Spirit!

Love,

Sister Bottorff