Happy Thanksgiving

I'm afraid I did not have much of a turkey dinner this Thanksgiving. I ate Piroshki, chocolate crackers and chocolate wafers. As Thursday approached, I tried to think if there was any way I could procure for myself some manner of Thanksgiving dinner, even if it meant going to KFC and pretending chicken is turkey. But Thursday is a busy day for me, so it would have been hard. I realized, though, that I had much to be thankful for; the Lord blesses us with success and investigators and a good place to work. So I celebrated Thanksgiving by being grateful for all the Blessings the Lord has given me. 

I also celebrated by teaching my English classes how to use "I'm grateful" and "I'm thankful" and then had them share what they were grateful for.

I was grateful for an experience I had recently.  A few weeks ago, I bought a nice knit hat just to keep me warm. Ears get cold here in the frozen north. Well, last Tuesday I had said hat in my lap on the bus. The bus took a detour and skipped our stop, going one around it.  When we realized what had happened, we hurried off the bus so we could taxi home in time. Guess what didn't make it off the bus? My hat! The bus conductor later even saw us and said 'Hey you're the guys who lost your hat.' She didn't have it, of course, but I hoped some one found it who needed it and it's useful to them.

Well, the next day, after I lost my hat, I got a little packet in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Sims.  They had just returned from visiting family in Norway.  The package said on the declaration, "chocolate" so I thought 'Great! some tasty Norwegian chocolate,' and put it in my bag to freeze at home. That night I thought I'd open it up and see what was inside. Along with one bar of chocolate there was a great Norwegian hat! I was so grateful. It was just 24 hours after I had lost my old hat. It is no great or impossible thing, but I was thankful for such a nice surprise, both to the Lord and to Grandma and Grandpa Sims. 

We had a great Fast Sunday, and ended our Fast at the Branch President's yurt on some meat and noodle soup. I tried to explain chocolate chip pancakes (what my family eats every Fast Sunday at home) just for fun, but I'm not sure if they quite got it. 

Khailaast Branch

I got transferred this week!  I'm still the zone leader but in a different zone, and I'm serving in a fairly different area consisting of one apartment building and then a whole lot of little houses on very windy roads on a lot of icy hills.  It's fun, until I fall down.  The ice never melts in winter, and so everything is always slippery.

My new companion is Elder Norlund.  He's new and from North America.  Only, he's not here yet.  His visa didn't come through and so he is serving in Maryland until he can get his visa.  So, I have a temporary companion named Elder Unubold.  He's not really a full-time missionary but a ward member who is called to be a temporary missionary when visas are delayed.  He's great, but I do hope Elder Norlund can get here soon so I can train him.

I'm technically not the Sign Language Elder anymore, but there are so many deaf investigators and members in my new area that I will continue to use sign language a lot.

I finally bought a nice new coat to go with the weather. It will help me stay warm.

I had a thought from the scriptures this week.  It is about Nephi and hope.  We recall Laman and Lemuel and their repeated wickedness; it seems every time that after they repent and humble themselves, they go back to rebellion again and usually fairly soon.  Nephi knew about them, and he also had seen in vision that his nation would be destroyed due to unbelief.  And yet, for example, in 1 Nephi 16:5, we read "And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness."  Laman and Lemuel were a source of hardship for Nephi.  When they repented, Nephi didn't say, 'oh, well, they will be back to normal in a month or two' but instead had great hopes that they would walk in the path of righteousness. He didn't assume that something bad would automatically happen, but had hopes that good would continue.  Hope is really key here.

Life doesn't give us a set amount of good and bad experiences.  Life isn't fair, but in the end we aren't judged by how many good or bad things happened to us but rather by how we chose to use our agency and follow God regardless of how much good or bad happened in our lives.  We should not try to guess whether great things or bad things will happen to us next; this turns our faith into superstition.  God blesses us because he loves us, and He gives us hard times because He loves us.  We cannot tell beforehand when or how they will come.  We have only to be grateful for the good times, be patient in the hard times, and follow God all the time.  As Paul said, "I know how to abound and I know how to lack.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."  And when we want to wish away our hard times, then as Gandalf said, "So say all who live to see such times.  But that is not the choice we are given to make.  The choice we have is what to do with the times we are given."

If we serve the Lord at all times, we are using our agency well, no matter what is happening to us.

A Modest Goal

As it gets colder, I am buying new things to keep warm.  I haven't yet used the boots I brought from home, but the slippery ice will make wearing them a necessity soon.  This week, I bought a hat to keep my ears warm.  They are the first things to get cold as we walk up and down the Ger Horoolol (yurt district) to meet with investigators.  My goal is to get through the winter without frostbite.  I think I'll buy a warm coat this week.  We are generally below 0°C these days, and we'll soon be below zero Fahrenheit.

Our newest member is doing well.  She really desires to come to Church and learn.  We recently started teaching the husband of another deaf member; that is going well.  And our other investigator is progressing very well.  It is important for all investigators to read the Book of Mormon to gain a testimony of the Restored Gospel.  Most people here are Buddhist, and so it is a big change to learn about Christ.

An Area Seventy came to Mongolia this week to talk about Home Teaching.  It is very important for us to do our Home Teaching so we can help each other stay strong in the Gospel.  I hope we see improvement here now.

Only One Way

We have another progressing investigator, the father of one of our members.  He has been learning well and all, but he has hesitated about baptism.  He said he doesn't want to lie at baptism by going on afterward and breaking the commandments.  A lot of Mongolian traditions involve tea and alcohol, and so it is hard for new members to keep the Word of Wisdom.

We made a lesson plan to help this brother, to teach him about the purpose of our lives and the plan of salvation's results.  We wanted to talk about the three kingdoms of glory and how only in the Celestial Kingdom can we be with our families forever.  We planned to talk about how the only way to that kingdom is to start with baptism.  We planned to ask his daughter to bear her testimony about families, hoping he would feel the Spirit and develop the desire to be baptized.

We began teaching the lesson and, while we laid out the plan of salvation briefly, he said on his own that the only place he wanted to go was the Celestial Kingdom.  He said he understood now that he had to receive baptism to be with his family forever.  He told us that he really had understood the Plan of Salvation, and it seems to have changed him.  Then he told us that he wanted to stop doubting and set a baptismal date, and so we did!  I was so happy that the Holy Ghost reached out to touch his heart more than we could.  I had fasted for him that day, and I know the Lord answered our prayers.  I look forward to helping him prepare for baptism.

I remembered from this experience and others a talk that was given while I was at the MTC.  The speaker said that, like the brother of Jared, who saw the Lord's Hand touch stones one by one--stones  brought to the Lord by the brother of Jared--when we bring people unto Christ and He touches them one by one, we will see His Hand revealed.  I found that interesting at the time, but just now I have been having many of our investigators speak of the Spirit's influence when we don't even bring it up.  I see the Spirit's influence and I see the Lord's Hand revealed, one person at a time.

Change Your Destiny

I have good news! We had a baptism! Our deaf investigator, Odgerel, was baptized on Friday and confirmed on Sunday; it was very nice. The font water was even warm!  Odgerel told us later that when she went home she cried for joy of feeling the Spirit. It was a real testimony to me of the power of the Holy Ghost. 

It's hard for deaf members, but I hope she will be able to endure to the end. Meeting with us has improved her life in many ways. She has first off found the Gospel, her sign language has improved significantly, and it seems to me her confidence has improved a lot, too (it's hard being a deaf person that doesn't really know sign language).  I remember what a struggle it was for her to ever try to pray in the beginning. She'd sign "Dear Heavenly Father," and then bail out. It grew until she finally learned to pray and now she prays great. I'm grateful to have been able to help her... now we have the period of the new member lessons to lay a good foundation for her.

At our last zone conference, we watched Faith In Christ, the Church DVD about Christ's life.  At the end, it shows the apostles going off on missions that would last the rest of their lives.  I thought about these men, ordinary men living ordinary lives until something extraordinary happened that changed their lives forever.  Of course, they had been foreordained in the pre-mortal life, but they didn't know that when they encountered Christ at first.  

And did any of the apostles--when they were getting beaten and reviled or were alone or facing hardship--regret for a minute that this had happened to them? Meeting the Savior was a fantastic experience, but the only reasonable response was to serve him forever. It changed their destiny and put them on a path far different than what they might have lived. I wonder if Peter or anyone ever wondered what it would have been like to have lived a normal life. But that is only from a mortal perspective; their Apostleship changed not only their mortal destiny but their eternal destiny, as well. They will go on to inherit eternal glory, all coming from their being born in 1st century Judaea and following the call to "Come, Follow Me." 

A similar thing happens in our lives, when we are born into this time into families with the Gospel. It sets the course of our lives, putting us on eventually a very different course than our fellow men. Being members of God's church and partakers of His holy temple covenants puts us into a different track than our peers.  This difference does not only affect our mortal lives but our eternal destiny. If at any time the responsibilities we assume by having the Gospel seem difficult, we can remember that our eternal destiny will be one of everlasting Glory.  And it is our responsibility along the way to help others get off the "normal" track and onto the eternal one, to change their destiny forever and find the joy of the Gospel. 

I had this thought in the first place in connection with books I love to read. We read of countless Chosen Ones in literature. Think of Harry Potter, who was chosen at his birth to live a life very different and full of difficulties, but ultimately of great importance. Aragorn was born into the birthright of Isildur, which brought many hard tasks into his life, but he saved Middle Earth and became King of Gondor. We are called by God to enter into His Covenant and, if we endure it well, inherit His Glory, for which we should be eternally grateful and ready to serve Him our entire lives.  

A poem

A Chandelier hangs overhead
in UB's old enkhtaivan Church
Its twenty light bulbs light the room
suspended from their lofty perch.
Some weeks ago, I wryly thought,
the lighting piece did exposite
Mongolian Church Membership:
of twenty, only 4 were lit.
And in defeat I bowed my head,
and worried for the woes at hand.
When will this country rise above?
When will a temple grace this land?
Well, just today, while at the church,
I glanced again and saw the light.
To my surprise, all twenty bulbs,
were lit and each was burning bright!
Recalling what I 'ere had thought
Repented me of my regret.
For while I know not when nor how,
This land will build a temple yet.

For as late Elder Maxwell prayed,
this land must be a shining light
to nations near and far, he said,
Exemplary of truth and right.
And though at times things may look dim,
The day will come when we shall see
That strength foretold, in all its might,
in this land for eternity.
It may seem strange to put such hope
in Prophecy by Maintenance,
Yet I admit this token pinned
a smile upon my countenance.
What's more I trust Prophetic Prayer,
that promised us the blessings sweet,
that I shall see when I return
and with the faithful converts meet
Upon a freshly templed mount,
some stately hill not far from here.
Amid Hosannas I'll recount
of my oracle chandelier.

--Joshua Sims, October 2013


When people join the Church, it can be hard for them to maintain the same conviction they had at first.  They face persecution for their choice, life gets in the way, and they find keeping the commandments hard.  Like the friend that I wrote about last week, these converts may know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true but they may not feel it strongly enough yet to attend weekly meetings.  And when they don't do that or the other things important to daily Gospel living, their light begins to fade and they forget, as it were, why it was so important to devote themselves to following Christ.  Mongolia is no different than any other part of the world, and so we do struggle here with less active Saints.  My poem helps me remember to have faith that dimmed lights will return and new light will be added so that the Mongolian Saints can shine brightly on a hill in the future.  

The Work Moves On

I'm always so happy when the Lord gives us investigators, like last week when two 19-year-olds accepted the opportunity to hear more about the Restored Gospel, but the Lord also gives those same people agency.  A lot of people we meet wind up not so interested in the end.  But we keep moving forward.

Sometimes this helps me appreciate some Bible stories more.  I might feel badly if an encounter that seemed really good in the beginning went nowhere in the end.  But think of Saul or David ... they started great, the were the Lord's Annointed.  And they went bad in the end.  Just because an investigator doesn't get baptized or stops meeting with us doesn't mean we weren't blessed to meet them in the beginning.

We read in Alma that "the wicked remain as though there were no redemption made" because the only thing that can reverse the Infinite Atonement and its effects for an individual is that individual's agency to reject it.  And so even people that the Lord gives to us to teach can reject our message, avoid us and give us false phone numbers.  They have their agency, their right to choose how to accept God's gifts, and this is truly important.  But the Lord will not cease to bless us as missionaries.

God wants us all to receive an infinity of blessings, but we cannot if we don't obey His commandments.  I shared this recently with a member who has not been coming to Church much, and he bore his testimony that he knows the reason we go to Church and live the Gospel is so that we may be saved.  It isn't just a matter of tradition or convenience or social gathering.  But the Lord will not force us to accept His gifts.  We have to come to Him.