Sister Sarah Bottorff: Week 69 - Kung Fu Panda and a head named Clyde...

This week was pretty eventful! I'll just tell you the stories…

Tuesday afternoon we went to the Museum of Mongola. It was really cool to see the displays of the history of Mongolia. It wasn't long ago that they became a free nation, and their history is rich. When we came out of the museum, the sky was orange. It looked polluted, but it was all orange. And after about a minute outside, I touched my face, and a layer of dirt came off. Gross. But the sky was ORANGE! It was so cool! We tried not to stay out in it long, so we got pizza and stopped by a market and picked up a dragon fruit. (My companion sang a new Drake song, and we renamed it a Drake-n-fruit.) We skipped out on the pig head that was staring at us on the meat counter. We just thought it might be a pain to get him home. But don't worry! Because we got another head. My companion wanted to try a sheep head (in the privacy of our apartment). So, since I'm the best companion any missionary could ask for, we went yesterday to the meat market and I got her a sheep head. And we named him Clyde. It was probably one of the funniest moments watching my vegetarian companion (who is eating meat here at member's houses) watch me cut the skin off of Clyde's face. And she ate a little of every part. The tongue was her favorite! :) The head was cooked before we bought him, so it just required a quick 2 minutes in the microwave! Easiest lunch I've ever made! :) Clyde lived a good life and was good to us.

Another great time this week was going to the Stake President's house for dinner. His family is the best! And his little 2 year old son is a genius. He counts, in English, to 100, and then he counts from 100 to 1. He can also recognize and write his numbers. I thought my little heart would melt. And it did. But luckily I've recovered a little and have the strength to go on.

On Thursday we decided to do companionship study in the little coffee shop by our house. The best part was the berry bingsu stuff we bought. It's a huge cup of layers of shaved ice, cream stuff, and berries. It's all topped with ice cream. And berry syrup. It's basically heaven in a cup. And I'm guilty of going back yesterday and getting one with Oreos. Oops. Sorrynotsorry. We looked out the window of the coffee shop after eating the berry goodness only to find a parade happening! So we quickly packed up our stuff and headed out to see everyone! I'm still not sure why the parade happened. But I do know that I met Kung Fu Panda and watched lots and lots of traffic all backed up waiting for the parade to end! It was a great time!

I also taught English. That was a good time. We stocked up on chips and cookies. And the students are adorable as ever. The most exciting thing that happened was that we walked into the lab only to find our 15 or so tables missing. So we just accepted the fact that they must have rearranged. And then half-way through one of our lessons, people started randomly bringing back tables. 5 or so every 10 minutes - haha. The school closed early, so we headed out early! :)

I met up with Sister Hansen and had a great split with her! It was like being back in the MTC minus the being stuck in one building part! :) She had to help out with a music thing, so we got to stay at the church for a while and play music. I was in heaven! In the end, I was asked me to play the piano in stake conference coming up. Should be a blast! I'll play the hymns and accompany the choir in 2 musical numbers.

My time with Sister Hansen was a blast! Basically, we spent our 24 hours talking non-stop - minus the 8 hours of sleep and the 1 hour of personal study. It still wasn't quite enough, but we made do with what we had. Together we went to district meeting and did the exercise where we went out for 40 minutes just to talk with people. Turns out I'm really awkward and can't talk to random strangers very well. Oops. Gotta work on that. But we rewarded ourselves with KFC and then attended a baptism that night for a girl I taught when I was in Han Uul. During the baptism, I thought about the changes she's made and the changes her membership in the Church will make over the course of her life. These changes are all for the best. And as I thought about it, I wondered what causes all of this change. Change is hard. And she did it. But while thinking about it, I kept coming back to the idea that we change when we feel God's love. Other sources, can, of course, change us. But the driving force behind good changes is love. She felt it that day. And so did I. I feel it every day. And I'm so very grateful.

In other news, my companion and I are teaching the sweetest family, and they accepted the invitation to be baptized. I'm so excited for them. As I teach them, I can't help but feel God's love for them. They are such a good family, and I know that through living the Gospel, they will be so much happier. I love the Gospel!

Other good moments this week were plentiful. One was when we were walking back from an appointment and we were laughing really hard. I realized I had to go to the bathroom and then I told my companion not to make me laugh anymore. But then she proceeded to tell me all these stories about people wetting themselves and then we were standing on the side of the road coming pretty close, ourselves. We made it safely, though. I also ate spicy food, and I didn't cry or want my mouth to fall off. Still don't love it, but the gift of eating is real.

So many good things happened this week! I hope you had a great week, too! Love you!

Sister Bottorff