Sister Magleby in Mongolia: I felt like I was driving through Yellowstone

Dear Family and Friends,

A few weeks ago, we got copies of April's General Conference in Mongolian. I, being lazy, decided that I would wait for the English copy to show up in my box so that I could really enjoy reading from it. Let's be honest, sometimes Mongolian just requires too much concentration. Well, this week I absolutely had to find a talk to share with a less active member and since I still didn't have an English copy, Mongolian was my only option. I was still kind of in a bad mood about the whole thing and decided that I would skim through my notes I took during conference to help me choose a talk a little faster. Man, I took some good notes. Not necessarily about the talks, but I wrote down promptings I received, and ideas of things I could do to apply the talks in my life. And I was pleasantly surprised to see this specific member's name written in the notes I took during a specific talk with the intention of sharing it with her later. Wow, that was easy. I'm also glad to report that when I actually went to read the talk, I understood most of it. I guess I don't NEED the English copy, but still, it would be nice.

According to my conference notes and Elder Ballard's talk titled "Following Up," I also decided to include a little tidbit from my study this week. This week we studied from the 11th chapter of Preach My Gospel which talks about helping people make and keep commitments. I was specifically impressed with the section "Promise People Blessings." My district leader pointed out that we shouldn't just promise random blessings. Rather, we need to promise people the blessings that we ourselves have received from living that specific gospel principle. Whether you're a missionary or a member it's important to take the time to realize what specific blessings you have received from living the word of wisdom, reading the scriptures, following the prophet...It's even kind of fun!

This week Sister Ackley and I went to Baganuur. I had never taken the trip during daylight hours before, and Sister Ackley had never taken the trip before. Needless to say, we were both very excited. We pretty much saw all of the wildlife that Mongolia has to offer: three camels (they were kind of far away, but definitely camels), goats, sheep, cows, horses, pigs...Ya, we were confused about that last one too. I felt like I was driving through Yellowstone. The little baby sheep were the cutest, the fat pigs crossing the road were the weirdest, and the camels were the most exciting.

Well, we got to Baganuur and the first thing we did was experience a super sketchy baptism. First of all, the Baganuur baptism font is basically a swimming pool. That was exciting to see. Then the sketchy part came in--there were no witnesses. I didn't have the handbook with the words of the baptismal prayer in front of me, but I'm not sure that they guy said the prayer right. Plus, that's not even my job. Elder Faber later told me, "Baptisms should never be sketchy." I probably should have called him immediately after, but I forgot. We got that all worked out yesterday morning though (before this poor girl got the Holy Ghost) and she'll be getting re baptized with proper authority in attendance this week.

This week we went to visit our investigator, Tsolmon, but she wasn't home when we knocked on the door. Her sister-in-law invited us to come into her house and wait for Tsolmon egch to get home. We went inside and we talked about the church for at least twenty minutes. Tsolmon egch eventually got home and we moved to her house for our lesson, but I gave the sister-in-law a pamphlet before we left. At the end of our lesson Tsolmon's son came running inside with the same pamphlet in his hand. "Mom, why did you throw this away." Tsolmon egch thought it was her pamphlet, but knew better. I didn't say anything--I just laughed to myself. Hey, at least I tried.

Love, Sister Magleby