Maybe We Didn't Eat Enough Stomach

Dear Family and Friends, 

This week our hearts were broken. Multiple times. I love that we all have agency, but sometimes it makes things so difficult. 

On my first day in Darkhan an old investigator called us and wanted to meet immediately. Her name is Uka. We met that day, set a baptismal date, and then we've had a hard time getting in touch with her ever since. She rarely answers her phone, and when she does talk to us and agree to meet she never shows up. Heavenly Father is not giving up on her though--we run into her all of the time!! On Thursday we finished teaching English and then set out to check some addresses. We walked around the corner of a building right as Uka was walking out of a store. We talked for a bit while we continued searching for our address. She lies sometimes which makes me mad, but I tried to control my frustration during the conversation. We set up a time to meet the following evening, and guess what? She didn't come. Yesterday we were in the area near her home and our appointments fell through. Sister Eskelsen jokingly suggested that we could meet with Uka, but when we called her phone didn't work. We decided to head back to an area near our home and the church. We got out of the taxi, looked across the street, and Uka was waving at us. This time we took her to the church with us and taught a lesson. I remember Sister Largin once told me, "I don't believe in luck." And Sister Eskelsen is always exclaiming, "These things don't just happen!" It's taken me a while, but I'm beginning to really understand what they mean. Heavenly Father is doing his best to place Uka in our path because he knows that she needs our help. Quite honestly, we don't know what she needs, but I know that Heavenly Father will help us with that too. 

The address that we checked was the home of a less active member who happens to be deaf. I was kicking myself for not knowing more sign language! I used a little, but then in the end we just had a nice "conversation" on paper. I wrote the questions, passed her the paper, and she wrote the answers. Not that effective, but it was a fun experience. 

This week we started teaching our garden friend, Davaadulam, the gospel. We started with a message about family which she loved. Yesterday we started teaching about the restoration, and I think she loved that too. She asked when church was which seemed like a step in the right direction. Yesterday she gave us delicious home grown cucumbers and nasty fake ham--Mongolian salad. The funny thing was that right before we went to her house Sister Eskelsen and I were talking about how much we hate the fake ham. I ate some only to make Davaadulam happy. 

This week we met with two investigators, Doljinsuren (mom, Grandma) and Davaanyam (son). On Tuesday we had a wonderful lesson about faith and baptism. They both agreed to get baptized and they seemed so happy! At the end of the lesson they fed us stomach, intestine...it was all there boiled in the pot. We ate it, but we weren't too happy about it. On Fridaywe went back to their house expecting to have another great lesson. Davaanyam immediately left the house and Doljinsuren tried to give her Book of Mormon back to us. Her family is absolutely Buddhist and they apparently started giving her a really hard time so she won't meet with us. My first thought was that maybe we didn't eat enough stomach the last time. Maybe they got offended... :) We talked to her though, and she invited us to come back this week. 

It was a lovely week, but I hope that this week we can have a bit more success with our used to be progressing investigators. That would be nice. I hope that you all have a great week, too! 

Love, Sister Magleby