(Joshua wrote about his day-to-day work for a week (week of April 6-13) to give an idea of what mission work is like in Mongolia. He sent a handwritten letter because they don't have that much time on a computer to email. That explains the delay. From his letter:).....
It was warmer, with the exception of a day of snow, and we were glad to shed our coats and work in suits. We wear no nametags, though, as my companion and I are both Americans, and we aren't allowed to wear nametags outdoors. I am still zone leader of the Ulaanbaatar East Zone. The other zone leader, not my companion, is a Mongolian I trained a few months ago. My companion and I serve in the Samsar area, which is pretty small. Unlike other areas where I have served, we have mostly apartment buildings in this area.
Last Sunday, we had five investigators at Church. Afterward, we met with a college student. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she seems to be understanding it very well. Then we met with a new member and taught her about how to apply to serve a mission. The two are friends who both live in Erdenet but are going to school in Ulaanbaatar.
Next we walked across the street to teach a new fellow we met while moving luggage on P-day; he asked us to help him stop drinking. When we met on Sunday, we found him to have great desire and he received our lesson well.
Then we visited a member family that had just come back into town. We shared a message and learned about a friend of theirs we might visit. Then we finished a lovely Sunday by visiting an investigator preparing for baptism. (She's pictured in a post from April 27). She and her husband fed us Mantuun Buuz, diced meat and onion filling inside a puffy dough dumpling and steamed. Since that was Fast Sunday, it was especially delicious.
On P-day, I taught English for three hours until 2:00 p.m. I teach at the Institute for International Studies. Since it was P-day (preparation day), we then got groceries, emailed family, and managed to do a little shopping. I was looking for Bibles written in Mongolian script. I was excited to find one for a good price.
On Tuesday, I taught English another three hours until about noon. After that, we taught another lesson to the woman preparing for baptism. She and her husband took us out to lunch, which was very nice. We had Japanese food (not sushi). That's not very common for us. We then taught three more lessons to three different people and took the man who wanted to stop drinking over to the Church's Addiction Recovery Program class. He received it well, and one of our other investigators was at the class, too.
By now it was 8:30 pm and we headed to the home of an investigator from Poland. His wife is Mongolian; she had been baptized 15 years ago by our mission president when he was a young missionary, but she had since fallen away. The man wasn't home then, but we said we would try again later.
On Wednesday, we had Zone training meeting. I think this is the 8th one I have taught. We taught about key indicators and building the Church from centers of strength. After that meeting, at around 11:00, we headed over to teach a new member who is doing very well and learning faithfully. We taught a new investigator about prophets and then went home for lunch. We made a tasty pasta and chicken dish, but we had to hurry so my companion could get to his English teaching assignment. He is a tutor for the children of his sponsor. Teaching English is probably the strangest and most unique part of this mission; it's quite an experience for all of us.
We taught another lesson to the woman to be baptized, and she and her husband cooked dinner for us. I'm learning to cook some Mongolian dishes, and I'll try them at home if I can. It might be hard to find horse meat, I guess, but I suppose I can use beef or mutton instead. We visited another family but they were unable to meet with us, and it was 9:00 pm anyway, so we went home to plan Thursday.
Thursday, we left at 10:00 to get to my English class. We usually walk the 30 minutes, but this time we took a taxi in 15 minutes. Any willing driver can be a taxi; they just pull over and give rides to people on the side of the road. The agreed upon fare is about 50 cents per kilometer. Today's 'taxi' driver was a Kazakh man; we had a very interesting conversation, but two American missionaries are not allowed to invite people in public to listen to the Gospel. All street contacting is also forbidden by the government. It's strange that being a missionary in Mongolia means we cannot testify in the streets. But we do get to teach in Church and we have lessons often, and that makes up for it. I'm glad we do a lot of teaching.
After my English classes, we had a weekly planning session and then went to Church to meet with a new member. She asked a lot of questions. That's good. While at the Church, which has a distribution center, we picked up a copy of Book of Mormon Stories [children's book] for an investigator's children. We then stopped at another home to teach. The family is learning and listened attentively, but I'm not sure if the kids (aged 11 and 15) were following things well. I realized I had the children's book in my pack, and so I pulled it out to give to them. They were really excited; the pictures help with learning such new and foreign concepts.
On Friday, we made some pizza before my English classes at noon. I like to experiment with pizza here; it's always a little different. One time, we covered the pizza with Korean kimchi. I don't think I'll do that again. After English, we taught one of the investigators we are working with. [These are all the same people I mentioned from the beginning of the week. I don't include names for their own privacy.] This fellow (the one with the drinking problem) likes to meet but isn't sure he believes in God. We're helping him find out for himself. We picked up another Book of Mormon Stories for the first family we intended to give it to and then went on a split with the other zone leader and his companion. We two zone leaders met up with the district leader and his companion to provide some training for them on how to make a good weekly plan. Then we went back to Church for a baptismal interview for our wonderful investigator. We then went to teach another investigator who will probably be baptized soon, and we met with the family we wanted to give the children's book to.
With an hour left in our day, we went again to the Polish man's home and found him there! His wife is a little wary of the missionaries, but she seemed to be fine having us there. We gave him a pamphlet about the Restoration in Polish and a Polish Book of Mormon. It's a little hard to teach him because I have to use a mixture of Russian, English, Polish, and Mongolian to convey concepts, but he is showing potential. He met missionaries once before in Germany. His wife offered us some soup, which was a pleasant surprise; we are hoping she is feeling less negatively about the Church. He is going to read while he is traveling for a few weeks.
Saturday we got to watch General Conference in English. We arranged for splits between native Mongolian speakers and English speakers so everyone could watch in their native tongue. We had to wait a week to watch because Conference happens in the middle of the night for us, so it just makes things easier to watch the recorded sessions during the day a week after the conference. I thought all of the talks were great, especially President Erying's talk about priesthood service.
After Church, we were invited by a returned missionary to teach his 90-year-old grandmother. She's hard of hearing and fairly set in her Buddhist ways. Many Mongolians are happy to accept Christ but believe that every religion is equally good and even the same. I think we managed to help her understand how Buddhism and Christianity are different and that the way she would worship Christ would not involve the same prayers and rituals she uses as a Buddhist. Her member children and grandchildren could help her. I'm not sure how easily she will accept Christ, but she said she was happy to meet with us again.
We visited a less-active member and showed him and his wife how to download conference on their iPad; they were glad to see how easy it was. On Sunday we watched more conference and enjoyed a missionary lunch of PBJ sandwiches. My companion and I provided the peanut butter and other missionaries contributed their fair share, as well. After conference, we taught a nice lesson to some of the investigators mentioned earlier. When we went to one home, there was a full, skinless, headless goat on the table. We were grateful he took the time to listen to our lesson before he finished the work of gutting and butchering the animal. We finished the evening with a farewell fireside for our mission doctor who leaves on Tuesday.
And that was a week in the life of a missionary in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I know the Gospel is true, and I know the Savior lives. In this world of confusion and falsehood, we can trust and rely on the Lord to be our anchor of Righteousness. He will bless us in this life and when we see Him hereafter, our faith will be vindicated.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Monday, April 28, 2014
Photo Update
I promised last week that I would try to send a photo today, so here it is. That's my companion, Elder Pappenfuss on the left, our newest member and her husband (who is already a Church member), and me.
Our mission scripture is 3 Nephi 5:13. I have it memorized in Mongolian, Russian, and English.
"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."
The Mongolian people are God's people, just like any other people on the earth, and it's a privilege to be here to help them find everlasting life.
Our mission scripture is 3 Nephi 5:13. I have it memorized in Mongolian, Russian, and English.
"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."
The Mongolian people are God's people, just like any other people on the earth, and it's a privilege to be here to help them find everlasting life.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Bacon
My companion and I found a person in the local market that had imported a bunch of bacon from Hungary. I told her that it was Americans' favorite meat! I hope that didn't make her raise the price on it before we bought it, but I cooked up the bacon along with some eggs and toast one morning. We had a real breakfast! It was great.
We had a baptism this week, the wife of a returned missionary. They asked me to perform the baptism, which was very nice. Our weather is nice and warm, despite some snow over the weekend.
Easter isn't really celebrated in Mongolia, but we did enjoy a nice meal at a member's home. The celebrations don't matter as much as the reason for the day. I am grateful for the Savior's Atonement and love to see people in Mongolia accept it.
We had a baptism this week, the wife of a returned missionary. They asked me to perform the baptism, which was very nice. Our weather is nice and warm, despite some snow over the weekend.
Easter isn't really celebrated in Mongolia, but we did enjoy a nice meal at a member's home. The celebrations don't matter as much as the reason for the day. I am grateful for the Savior's Atonement and love to see people in Mongolia accept it.
Monday, April 14, 2014
General Conference
We have to wait a week to see General Conference until it can be translated from English into Mongolian, but we watched it this weekend. I look forward to studying it out more, but I liked it.
I remember one talk about educating our desires. I once saw a photo of some graffiti that declared "Never regret anything because at one time it was exactly what you wanted." But this assumes that wanting something somehow makes it okay or better than something else. Yet as rational beings and as children of God, we have the ability to stop and think when we want something and, to the best of our ability, consider whether it will lead us ultimately to good or to bad. And if we realize a desire or pattern of desires that does not agree with God's commandments or we can otherwise see it might bring us down a bad path, we can over time change and remove that desire.
It's a simple reminder to use the example of a donut. If we see one and want to eat it, we can also take a moment to consider that tomorrow the "joy" of eating that donut will have gone away, but the poor nutrition of that donut will remain with us in negative ways. Realizing that, we can also realize we don't really want it, and we can avoid eating it. It's a good skill to develop.
I really liked President Eyring's talk about being a priesthood hero and Elder Oaks talk about the priesthood. There were other talks I liked, of course, but I need to study them more.
I remember one talk about educating our desires. I once saw a photo of some graffiti that declared "Never regret anything because at one time it was exactly what you wanted." But this assumes that wanting something somehow makes it okay or better than something else. Yet as rational beings and as children of God, we have the ability to stop and think when we want something and, to the best of our ability, consider whether it will lead us ultimately to good or to bad. And if we realize a desire or pattern of desires that does not agree with God's commandments or we can otherwise see it might bring us down a bad path, we can over time change and remove that desire.
It's a simple reminder to use the example of a donut. If we see one and want to eat it, we can also take a moment to consider that tomorrow the "joy" of eating that donut will have gone away, but the poor nutrition of that donut will remain with us in negative ways. Realizing that, we can also realize we don't really want it, and we can avoid eating it. It's a good skill to develop.
I really liked President Eyring's talk about being a priesthood hero and Elder Oaks talk about the priesthood. There were other talks I liked, of course, but I need to study them more.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Good Week
We had transfers this week, but I stayed in the Sansar Branch as zone leader with my companion, Elder Papenfuss. He's been in this area since he came to Mongolia 7 months ago.
We taught a good number of quality lessons this week and were blessed to have 6 investigators come to Church Sunday!
The weather has been wonderful, and we have even been able to walk around in just suit coats sometimes.
When things go well, I think about how important it is to make sure I try as hard as when things don't go well. The Nephites would always grow so much when they were humbled, and they would fall so much when they grew prideful. Imagine if they had maintained their spiritual growth the whole time they were being prospered as well.
This week, I came across Ecclesiastes 12:8-13:
"Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
To me, this talks about the excessive words of the "wise," which I take as talking about unimportant little doctrines. In response to endless analysis of doctrine, the preacher says we should remember the big picture, the only one that matters: Fear God and keep the commandments. Fearing God is to respect, worship, honor, obey, trust...all of those things. If we do these things, we will become more perfect and we will love God better.
Have a great week!
We taught a good number of quality lessons this week and were blessed to have 6 investigators come to Church Sunday!
The weather has been wonderful, and we have even been able to walk around in just suit coats sometimes.
When things go well, I think about how important it is to make sure I try as hard as when things don't go well. The Nephites would always grow so much when they were humbled, and they would fall so much when they grew prideful. Imagine if they had maintained their spiritual growth the whole time they were being prospered as well.
This week, I came across Ecclesiastes 12:8-13:
"Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
To me, this talks about the excessive words of the "wise," which I take as talking about unimportant little doctrines. In response to endless analysis of doctrine, the preacher says we should remember the big picture, the only one that matters: Fear God and keep the commandments. Fearing God is to respect, worship, honor, obey, trust...all of those things. If we do these things, we will become more perfect and we will love God better.
Have a great week!
Monday, March 24, 2014
Catching Up
Some weeks just aren't all that exciting to write about, and so why would I take your precious time? But now it's time to catch up...
First if all, my family's Christmas box finally arrived! Just in time for Easter, I guess.
Our stake had some boundaries re-aligned this month, with some branches made into wards and some wards into branches--all in order to help every unit grow stronger and larger. So, I'm still the zone leader and haven't moved but am now serving in another branch. It's called Sansar. So I left the smallest branch, which became the biggest, and went to the biggest ward, which became one of the smaller branches.
One of the changes for me is that we have been serving in areas where most people live in the ger (yurt) district, and this branch is more in the city. Everyone lives in apartments. No more slippery mountains for a while.
Anyway, we met one of the members who told us her conversion story. She had been in some hard times and wanted some peace in her life, so she called the information hotline number and asked about nearby Christian churches. They gave her two church locations near her house; one of them was ours. When she came to our Church building, she thought it was so nice she decided that it must be the one. And she joined the Church! I've heard of member referral converts, tracting converts, converts who randomly walked into Church, but never conversion by operator!
We are meeting new people and doing a lot of follow-up visits, but things still fall through sometimes. We keep trying and hoping. I realize all I can really do is focus on being the best missionary I can be. The Lord knows how to save His children. All I have to do is be suitable to help where needed.
We met a man from Poland recently. Actually, he came to us, and so I think he has sincere desire to learn. It's hard for him to keep appointments, and he has some opposition at home, but the man is a nice fellow and I hope we can help him.
So, that's missionary work in Mongolia for now. The weather is getting a little warmer, and that makes us all happy.
First if all, my family's Christmas box finally arrived! Just in time for Easter, I guess.
Our stake had some boundaries re-aligned this month, with some branches made into wards and some wards into branches--all in order to help every unit grow stronger and larger. So, I'm still the zone leader and haven't moved but am now serving in another branch. It's called Sansar. So I left the smallest branch, which became the biggest, and went to the biggest ward, which became one of the smaller branches.
One of the changes for me is that we have been serving in areas where most people live in the ger (yurt) district, and this branch is more in the city. Everyone lives in apartments. No more slippery mountains for a while.
Anyway, we met one of the members who told us her conversion story. She had been in some hard times and wanted some peace in her life, so she called the information hotline number and asked about nearby Christian churches. They gave her two church locations near her house; one of them was ours. When she came to our Church building, she thought it was so nice she decided that it must be the one. And she joined the Church! I've heard of member referral converts, tracting converts, converts who randomly walked into Church, but never conversion by operator!
We are meeting new people and doing a lot of follow-up visits, but things still fall through sometimes. We keep trying and hoping. I realize all I can really do is focus on being the best missionary I can be. The Lord knows how to save His children. All I have to do is be suitable to help where needed.
We met a man from Poland recently. Actually, he came to us, and so I think he has sincere desire to learn. It's hard for him to keep appointments, and he has some opposition at home, but the man is a nice fellow and I hope we can help him.
So, that's missionary work in Mongolia for now. The weather is getting a little warmer, and that makes us all happy.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Stake Conference
Well, I got my voice back and am healthy again.
There were some changes in stake conference this week, where two branches were combined and one ward was made into two branches to better balance out the stake and the district. The goal is to create three stakes and begin the work to qualify for a temple in Mongolia. That is a great goal that would help so many people who otherwise have to make an expensive trip to Hong Kong to attend the temple. It will take a lot of work, but it can happen!
There were some changes in stake conference this week, where two branches were combined and one ward was made into two branches to better balance out the stake and the district. The goal is to create three stakes and begin the work to qualify for a temple in Mongolia. That is a great goal that would help so many people who otherwise have to make an expensive trip to Hong Kong to attend the temple. It will take a lot of work, but it can happen!
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