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

My Easter egg!

In a dome with my companion

I feel somehow closer to home

Great friends!

This sweet sister warms my heart

Jumping for joy!

It takes a lot of people to keep KFC clean!

The city within the city

Some fun places we saw around town...

Week 67 - What a wonderful week!

I am loving and cherishing every day of my mission! This week is no exception.  I can't believe how fast time is flying, and I have less than 4 months until my return home.  I'm trying not to think about it because I love Monoglia so much.  I'm going to miss it!  But I'm making the most of every day.  And they have been so full and rewarding!  

On Monday we took a trip to the Gandan, the Buddhist temple!  My companion braved the huushuur stand and ate her first huushuur and buuz.  I was so proud!  We loved the Gandan.  The weather was perfect and I just love walking around.  My companion and I are equally obsessed with walking, so it's been perfect!  Then I showed her the Narantuul Zah, the black market, which is always fun.  The vendors are all outside, and they sell literally everything, from clothes to office supplies to furniture to groceries.  It's loud and dirty and fun and adventurous.  I love the zah!  

Tuesday we had an amazing zone conference.  We were fed spiritually (talking about helping people in the best ways possible) and physically (the chicken salad sandwiches on croissants hit the spot and the cream filled cupcakes just about did me in).  

On Wednesday we went to visit my favorite grandma.  Words were spoken on both ends and not understood.  But love was felt nonetheless.  She always holds both of my hands and massages them.  And it makes me never want to leave.  I love her!  That night we went to the bishop's house, and we started to teach his relatives.  A whole family - mom, dad, and their triplets! :)  It's basically the best thing ever.  And I feel so blessed!!  We taught them about prayer and how Heavenly Father answers.  I felt such love for them.  I think that's the biggest thing I've learned about on my mission.  My capacity to love has been increased.  I think I know now, more than before, what love really is.  And I feel it every day.  I feel it from God and those who love and support me.  And I feel it for others.  This is at the core of how God works.  And I love it so much.

Thursday afternoon we shared a message with a sweet member of the ward who struggles with health challenges.  It was our first visit to her house.  After an unexpected challenge with the first message we planned to share, I quickly chose a different message to share.  I picked a Mormon Message on her phone that was translated into Mongolian.  I couldn't see it while she watched it, but I watched the tears roll down her face. I felt an overwhelming sense of love for her.  More tangible than normal.  I can't quite explain it.  But it was a moment that I'll cherish.  

General conference exceeded my expectations.  It was absolutely amazing.  Every single talk was so perfect in every way.  Here are a few of my favorite things: 

Elder Weath Clayton said "We will never be alone if we CHOOSE to walk with Him."  Christ is always trying to walk with us, but we have to let Him.  

Elder Holland said that we need to come as we are but shouldn't plan to say as we are. I loved it because God loves us always, but He wants us to be better every day.  

Sister Burton's talk about the women who were certain in their testimonies really hit home.  

President Uchtdorf was spot on with his talk about love vs. fear.  God will never use fear to get us to follow Him.  He loves us and that motivates us to change.  I have seen that truth work miracles in my life and in the lives of those I love.  

Anyway, I love my mission.  It's fast, but time just flies when I have fun.  Missions are fun! I love my companion and my people and my ward.  And every day I find miracles that God rains down from Heaven just for me.  And I'm so grateful for every one of them.  

I love you!

Sister Bottorff

My companion's first huushuur and buuz - the first, but not the last!

In front of the Gandan...

At the Zah...

With an awesome family!

Week 66 - Starting over...

This week was an adventure!  And after all this time I'm back in my area. But that didn't happen until Saturday/Sunday.  

Tuesday was really fun!  We had an appointment in the middle of the day in Unur, my first area, and I got to see some of my old people!  Well, they're not old.  They are just in my old area J  But then we had a birthday party for Sister Mason.  It was a real party!  Since there were only 10 sister missionaries in UB at the time, we were all able to be together!  We don't have enough parties, I think, but I'm pretty sure we will do more.  We sang happy birthday using Kazoos and ate tacos and cake!  A good time was had by all! 

On Wednesday we taught English.  We taught English on Friday, too.  Both days were pretty slow, so I got to catch up on writing in my journal.  Thank goodness.  I've actually written an entry for every day of my mission so far, and I've finished my second journal.  I'm pretty proud of myself since journaling has never been my strong point.   The students who did come to English were really cute!  They love playing the game Headbanz and talking about life.  They are so young and fun to be around.  They come in and stay for one hour.  We work on vocabulary from their book for 30 minutes and then they choose how they want to spend the last 30 minutes.  We all got a good laugh when the vocab word was "flatulence."  I just said it and it didn't register.  But then Sister Austin and Sister Wilcox started laughing and then it was all over.  It's a good thing I still have another 4 months here to mature....

Thursday we went to Songino and Unur and taught lessons, hiked mountains, ate bread at people's houses, and made terriyaki chicken.  I'd say it was a successful day.  Some kids we passed by on our way home from a grandma's house were so cute.  I wanted to give them hugs, but their mom probably would have thought that was weird.  But what can you do?  Most people here think I'm weird no matter what I do.  We also found out our new companions were coming from the US!  We were told that they'd arrive on Friday morning and we would pick them up on Saturday.

On Friday. since we found out our companions were coming, we prepped for that!  We got groceries and cleaned and did some planning for next week!  And I’m not gonna lie - we got a little nervous.  But then we went to a baptism for Sister Wilcox's former investigator in a former ward, and it was so fun!  Our new companions came in with the Harpers, so we got to meet.  We were all put at ease the second we introduced ourselves.  We didn't know, then, who we'd train, but we instantly loved them all!  

Saturday was so fun! We did a series of trainings with our new companions.  There was pizza and brownies and ice cream, so I'd say it was a great success.  The longer I'm here, the better I eat!  It's great! :)  And the trainings were great, too.  There were good reminders that I've forgotten since I was in training and super jet lagged.  So now I think I understand this mission so much better!  It's about time I guess.  We got my companion's things to our house and then headed to a district meeting.  Two elders from her MTC group are in our district.  It was a really good meeting – we talked about finding people to teach. We have to find people.  After basically not being in my ward for a week and having our 2 investigators get baptized and cutting down from two wards to one, I have to find some new people. 

Sister Tillemann-Dick is my new companion!  She's from Denver!  And she's so fun and willing to jump in and work hard!  We get along really well, and I'm excited to work with her!  She's so nice! I'm looking forward to this transfer!  We already have a strong companionship.  And the ward is excited to help us!  And we are going to have fun and eat a lot of cookies together.  So I'd say I'm set!  

Yesterday at church was really fun!  My new companion and I were asked to share our testimonies in sacrament meeting.  My companion did great!  She got up there and boldly talked about how she was so excited to be here and excited to serve.  I wouldn't have had the courage to talk and be so confident when I first got here.  The people in my ward loved it!  I got up and asked if we could visit all of their houses.  Then the bishop got up and encouraged everyone to have us over. And it was announced not once, but twice, in Relief Society, that the members need to help us and have us over and help us find investigators.  The ward is pumped! And we have a full calendar for this week.  I'm so excited!  

I hope everyone is happy and healthy!  I can't wait to watch general conference next week!  We'll watch in English and I can't wait! :)  I love you all!

Sister Bottorff

It's getting warmer, but the lake is still frozen

What a cutie!

This dry and dusty road reminds me of a song...

It's great to spend time with good friends!

Walking companions - like my companion and me!