Sister Sarah Bottorff: Week 68 - Tender mercies abound

Well this week was a total blast. I keep thinking my mission is supposed to be harder, but it turns out more and more fun. We sister missionaries went to the local photo studio and hd a bunch of pictures made. Some were with members of my MTC group, some were taken with my two trainees, and some were with my companion. What fun! The photo studio people fixed us up and made us look great. I love them. The people who work at the studio are our new best friends. After the photo session, we left the studio and headed to lunch at Broadway. The company and the food were so great. There's never enough time to catch up with everyone, but we sure take what we can get! After lunch Sister Olsen, Sister Shreeve, my companion, and I did a statue tour of UB. The statues here are pretty great, and it was the perfect end to the perfect P-Day. That night we had a good lesson with our new member.

Wednesday we visited our sweet grandma. She gave me my hand massage as she talked for an hour, nonstop, about things I couldn't understand. Literally I understood about one word, but I can't help but love her.

My companion had an English training on Thursday at the church. When we got there, we found that the pictures from Tuesday were in our mailbox. We took so many pictures that we couldn't pick them up that day, so you can imagine our joy when we finally saw the finished product! :)

Friday we taught English and people came during all the sessions. They are seriously adorable 16-18 year olds who are obsessed with anything we do and say. I just think they're cute! :) We went to the mission doctor's house for dinner, and it was the best! We ate Asian chicken and rolls and pineapple upside down cake for dessert. And then we retired to the sitting room where he gave us a presentation about health practices that are and are not approved for when we get sick on our mission. He leaves in a couple of weeks, so he was just taking necessary precautions to help us live during the month or so while we wait for the new doctor to arrive. He's so nice! :)

On Saturday we got to go to a baptism for one of our elder's investigators. I love baptisms. The investigator was so ready, and it was so happy to see him progress and gain a testimony and then get baptized. He looked so happy.

Sunday was Easter! My companion made me a beautiful Easter Egg and filled it with rhinestones. I was the happiest girl in the world! She is so nice! :) I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we tried our best to make it feel like Easter. Easter isn’t really celebrated in Mongolia. At church, my heart melted when I saw a 12 year old passing the sacrament and, his little brother came up to him and partake of the sacrament right off his tray. And then the little boy held his brother's hand as he administered the sacrament to the rest of the congregation. It made me think about how personal the sacrament is and how we can hold our Big Brother's hand as He helps us overcome trial and sin and hardships. Christ is always walking hand in hand with us, if we let Him. And it makes life so much sweeter. We didn't sing Easter songs, despite the fact that the Mongolian hymnbook has 2, but we came home and sang Easter hymns from my English hymnbook while we cooked eggplant lasagna for dinner! :) I read about the resurrection of Christ during personal study. I feel so blessed every day to know that my Savior lives today. And it struck me that He appeared first to someone who originally had 7 devils. Then the Savior cast them out from her, and they became close friends. Then He appeared to her. It comforted me to know that I can become closer friends with my Savior. He loves me, despite my imperfections, and through His love and grace, He can continue to be my closest friend. I love my Savior.

Yesterday we visited a sweet lady in the ward who just returned from Hawaii where her daughter is studying. We had a nice visit and shared a scripture and talked about her trip. But listen to this: Before Sister Bollwinkel went home, I told her that she should go to Costco and get those mini peanut butter cups. They were so good and I was craving them bigtime! And then what did this sweet woman give me to eat at her house AND to take home? You guessed it! The very peanut butter cups I have been craving the last few weeks! God is watching over me. You might think that God, who has a TON of other, MUCH BIGGER, problems to deal with, might just let me live my life without those peanut butter cups. It was kinda what I was expecting, and it was totally fine with me. But then, in His infinite love, He sent them to me anyway, just because He knew it would make me happy. That's how much God loves us. He's in the slightest details of my life. And yours. Just look this week. You'll find Him there.

Love you!

Sister Bottorff