-Mom, could you please write me about your side of the family’s' conversion story? Dad, could you also write me about what you remember about the missionaries that baptized your family? I’m going to try and write Grandma, too. But we had a fireside and the woman committed us to all go back to whoever those missionaries were and find out where it started for our family, so to speak. So that would be wonderful! Thank you!
-Mom, could you buy another copy of that Ensign and save it for when I get home? I LOVE this months' Ensign and I already have notes all over it. I think I will really want a copy when I get home and I don't think my copy with survive, or at least come out of my mission in good condition. thank you! I LOVE IT!
-Could you send me the weather report for Ulaanbaatar now, or when it gets closer? I need to plan what I’m going to wear or need for the plane trip and for when we first get over there. They told us to expect middle-of-Utah's-winter temperatures, and that it's probably going to have snowed when we get there. Uh. Kill me now! Just kidding. But seriously, I feel so unprepared for the cold!
-Mom, I’ll be sending home that letter with the inventory list today so you can get stuff sent off that needs to be, since I think you will need to do it within the week if it's going to get there in time. If it doesn't, that's ok, but if I get sent out to the countryside, I know that some areas of the mission only get mail every 3 months or so!! :) I’ll be fine whatever the case, but it would be great if the box is there at the mission home while I’m there. I think we will be there the first 2 or 3 days in the country before being shipped off to wherever.
Well, things are still going very well! We started speaking "only Mongolian" for the remainder of our time here. I say "only" in quotations because only 4 of us sisters are speaking Mongolian, the rest just do as they please. And even then I confess I could be a lot better.
It is SO HARD when everyone else is speaking English, when we can clearly understand each other if we revert to English. Of course, there's always discipline that is required with speaking a foreign language. It's been hard, of course, but I can already feel it coming a little bit more easily, the more effort I put in.
On Monday I thought I was going to explode! Or at least my head was going to explode. I had the telltale signs of trying to speak a language you don't really know: my mouth and throat and tongue and jaw hurt, my head felt like it was going to burst, and it got to the point where even the simplest sentences had to be repeated two or three times before I was able to understand what anyone was saying.
After a couple of hours of rigorous class instruction, the teacher gave us a break and Sis. Ellison and I went out into the hall. As she went into the bathroom, I started singing (I’ll try and anglicize this:) "Nass-baraj-ban, nass-baraj-ban, la-la-la, nass-baraj-ban."
Of course that means nothing in English, but in Mongolian it means "I'm dying, I'm dying, la-la-la, I'm dying!" I also had this fabulous little dance I was doing with it. Great stuff. Of course Sister Ellison laughed, and I took it to mean that she thought I was a total weirdling, but then I turned around and saw my teacher had come out into the hall and witnessed this little performance. If I wasn't dying before, I was now...I fell on the floor laughing. SO EMBARRASSING!!
It wasn't half an hour later that my comp was making faces at another sister across the room or something. Very mature.
I asked what was going on, and in Mongolian she said, "None of your business." I just laughed, but the teacher asked what was going on, and I said nothing. He persisted since we were laughing, so in my broken Mongolian I meant to say, "My companion said, "none of your business." Instead, I just said, "None of your business!"
Of course the whole class was in shock, as was I, so I tried to backpedal and explain myself in Mongolian. I think my teacher knew what I meant, but at any rate, he just laughed it off like he did the dancing incident. Fortunately, he's a really good sport and is very mellow, so I doubt he cared much. Me and my big mouth!
On a more spiritual note, I think everyone should read this month's Ensign! I haven't finished it yet, but Pres. Uchtdorf's talk is just wonderful. So is Elder Holland's talk about Liberty Jail and trials...he has such a beautiful way of putting things.
One of my favorite quotes from Elder Holland's article is "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." I LOVE THAT. I feel like I'm constantly being pushed outside of my comfort zone here, and we are still in the MTC!! I am going to get to Mongolia and feel 100%, completely out of my element. I'm going to be pushed to all extremes--the language, the culture, the FREEZING COLD. But I know that it is those times that I am most humble; it is times like those that I am most meek and willing to submit to God. So I have a testimony of that statement by Elder Holland, and I am so grateful that God loves us enough to give us trials and to succor us and help us learn and grow. I just pray that I will recognize my extremity as an opportunity to grow and become closer to God, and that I will not become hardened or headstrong in such situations.
Give God the opportunity to mold us and help us grow!
Another quote that I recently read (I think from Neil L Andersen's talk last fall—also excellent) is from Bruce R McConkie: "Sacrifice is the crowning test of the gospel." I love this quote, too, because it reminds me that when we are asked to sacrifice, it isn't just an inconvenience or something we have to endure or something like that.
Sacrifice is how we prove ourselves to God; it is how we prove that we are willing to follow God even when we feel no one is watching; even when we feel we have been "left in the dark," so to speak. It's like that quote by Joseph Smith--a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things is not sufficient to make souls worthy for salvation. I butchered it, but you get the idea.
One last thing...Sister Infanger, who used to teach here and now volunteers at the TRC, pulled my comp and me aside last week after she'd been one of our investigators for the word of wisdom.
I thought the lesson had gone well and I actually had a lot of fun with it, but she said, "I noticed that even though you did well, you hesitated a bit. But I want you to be FEARLESS. THAT is how you will be a great missionary and not just a good missionary."
Well, I've been striving to be fearless since then. To jump in with both feet. It is hard! And I know it will get harder once I get to Mongolia. I want courage, and I'm working hard to get there. If anyone has advice on how to have that even in terrifyingly new situations, let me know :)
I love you! The gospel is true!!
Love,
Kristen
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