Even in Mongolia we celebrate Pioneer Day. A few weeks ago the youth of Mongolia experienced "trek." Our new member Shinechimeg attended the event, but she didn't know anything about the pioneers. Sister Largin and I considered this and then decided that we wanted her to see 17 Miracles. When we realized Pioneer Day was coming up we decided to turn it into a ward/ investigator activity. Due to lack of communication, it didn't quite make it to the ward level but we had a good turn out. Here in Mongolia, the ward members and investigators are pioneers. Many of them are the first church members in their families. We started the activity with a similar spiritual thought.The movie was in Mongolian and none of the attendees had seen it before. They were all crying by the end, and talking about how wonderful it was. It was a successful event!
This week we have had some pretty great experiences with our investigators.
--Myangad is getting baptized! We originally planned to have her baptismal interview next week, but during our visits this week we both felt like we could safely move her baptism up one week. She had her baptismal interview last Friday and she passed. Apparently, there is a conflict with her schedule this week so I'm not sure if she will be baptized this week or not. However, she is on the right track. She was the first investigator that I shared the First Vision and Baptismal Commitment with almost 2 months ago.
--We have two more progressing investigators with baptismal dates-Orantsetseg and Bolganjargal. They are both so eager to learn and live the gospel. If everything goes as planned they will also be baptized in August.
--Sumia is one of our newer investigators, and she is about 70 years old. This week we asked one of our ward members (who we thought was 74, but she is actually 80!) if she would be willing to be our witness during our lesson. We were shocked when she said yes. We picked her up one afternoon, and walked the short distance to Sumia's home. It was such a funny lesson because the two of them just talked and talked. I was lost for most of it, but apparently they talked about beading etc. I know Sumia appreciated knowing that people she can relate to also live the gospel.
The most bizarre/different occurrence of this week was another exchange with the Sister Training Leaders. And guess what, I stayed in the Songino area! I wasn't too worried about it until something went wrong and we ended up with no time to call investigators the night before. What do you do in that situation? I created a plan and a back-up plan like any good missionary should. The next morning (with some assistance from my companion Sister Enknomin) I called the investigators I had planned to meet with during the day. None of them were available so I started calling the back-up plan investigators. And guess what? None of them could meet with us either. That's when I really started to panic. Through the course of the day we taught English at the church, taught one "planned" lesson, and knocked on a lot of less active member's doors. By the end of the day we had also taught two "unplanned" lessons which were fantastic. Despite my panic and despair throughout the day it was actually a pretty good day. It's just unfortunate that the first day I experienced the "Oh no, what are we going to do today?" feeling was when I was in charge. That night when I was reconnected with Sister Largin she asked how the day was. When I finished telling her about the events/lack of events of the day she looked at me and said, "You grew a lot." I hadn't realized it before then, but I suppose I did. I now understand the stresses of missionary work, I talked on the phone (by myself!!), and I was in charge of leading lessons. It was a stressful day, but it had some good results!
Our phone has been broken since I arrived. We can only talk on speakerphone, and the entire back cover is missing. It's ghetto, but we'll live. Anyway, one night during planning we were trying to get a hold of some missionaries and investigators. We were able to call them, but they were all complaining that they couldn't hear us. We kept trying, but it was always the same response. "Bi sonsogui ban (I can't hear you!)." Well of course we just started yelling louder. I was laying on the floor laughing while Sister Largin and Myangad (our investigator) yelled at each other. I'm pretty sure our whole floor knew we were going to visit Myangad the next day at 2:00.
Some days are stressful while other days are funny, but missionary work is always worth it!
Love,
Sister Magleby
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