An Effort of Once and For All

Dear Family and Friends, 

I'm not sure, but Mongolia may be the only place where the church takes a summer vacation. Hardly anyone comes to church, and not many people do their callings. It's sad. The Mongolian people love to leave their homes and "go to the country." Even the people that live in the country leave their homes and "go to the country." When they return, they usually have a few neat pictures on their phone. Sister Eskelsen and I always ask people where they went, what they saw, etc. There's a beautiful waterfall somewhere out there that I'd love to see one day! This whole country phenomenon makes our missionary work a little difficult, but I try not to complain. We keep ourselves busy by meeting with the people that recently returned from the country that we haven't seen for a while or the people that are content to stay at home. 

This week we had a zone conference/activity. We met at the church at 8:30 and divided into two groups--Elders and Sisters. The sisters, all six of us, first met with President Benson. He taught us that our most important responsibility in this life is motherhood. Then Sister Benson (via Skype) told us the story of how sister missionaries came to be. I had never heard that story before so I was intrigued. Then we all headed outside to board the bus to our mysterious destination. Seriously, no one except the bus driver knew where we were going. We ended up at the banks of a river. It was so hot outside. We ate lunch and then went to a variety of stations where we learned about working with the members and church leaders to do missionary work. That is our goal and focus for the upcoming year. President Benson said that our focus of the past year was creating a culture of obedience. We've done that and now our focus is going to be creating a mission culture of working with the members. As we focus on this I know that the missionary work in Mongolia will be blessed. After our learning stations, we played for a bit and then headed back to Darkhan. 

This week a member invited us to her home for lunch. Her husband is less active. They have been to the temple multiple times, but he hasn't been coming to church for a while now. We had a good time talking to them and getting to know them better. Normally I would have asked him if he would come to church on Sunday, but this time as we were walking out the door I just said, "See you on Sunday." He started to say something, but I just kept walking out the door. Well, I didn't think anything of it, but yesterday he actually came to church! His wife was so happy. Unfortunately she wasn't happy enough to give up her chair in the front row that "she's been sitting in for the past ten years" to sit next to her husband who chose to sit in the back. We were happy to see him at church though, and I hope that it was a good experience so he chooses to come again next week.

We tried to meet with Bolormaa, a new member, this week, but it didn't go so well. Her two sisters were investigators, but they have made the decision to never come back to church. They wouldn't even talk to us while we were at their house. Bolormaa was the only one who would talk to us, but even she hardly said a word. All she said was that since her sisters won't come to church she won't come to church either. It was really sad. We talked to the Branch President about it and he said that he'll go over their at the end of August to talk to them. In his opinion, they went to a family reunion and got poisoned with shamanism information. He said that they'll forget about it soon and then they'll start coming to church again. But did they go to a family reunion? They won't talk to us, so we don't even know! What are we supposed to do until school starts and they forget? Sister Eskelsen and I enjoy being persistent missionaries, so we'll keep going to her house. One of these days she'll have to say something, I hope. 

Our mission theme is 3 Nephi 5:13, "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his words among his people that they might have everlasting life." We say this everyday in companionship study (or if you live at our house--sing), and at all of our meetings. This week I was reading from a conference talk and found this quote by President Ucthdorf, " Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not an effort of once a week or once a day. It is an effort of once and for all." I'm not just a disciple of Jesus Christ while I'm a missionary in Mongolia. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ for the rest of my life. We're all disciples of Jesus Christ. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is a continual process, and we can never stop progressing. As we become disciples of Jesus Christ we will become more like him and we can do so much good in the world. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to serve my mission in Mongolia and for the experiences I have that help me learn how to become a better disciple of my Savior Jesus Christ. 

Have a wonderful week! 

Love, Sister Magleby

Sister Eskelsen and I at the river

Sister Zaya (my STL companion), and Sister Lonjidpil