I wasn't planning on being this cold again in Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends, 

It snowed yesterday. I wasn't planning on being this cold again in Mongolia. I pulled out the scarves and layers again. It's not deathly frigid, but frigid. I love Mongolia! 

Yesterday at district meeting we set district goals. We set a goal to have 2 baptisms/companionship before transfers. We can do it! Our closest to baptism investigators are Tsogbaatar and Bayarjargal. They still have a long way to go, but I have faith in them. 

My favorite lesson of the week was reading from the Book of Mormon with Tsogbaatar and his family. His wife and daughter are members and his two sons are seven. He hadn't read his home work, so we read it together. It was a simple lesson--we read 1 Nephi 3 together, and discussed how we can follow Nephi's example. I don't know what made it such a powerful profound experience in my mind, but it was. There's just something about the Book of Mormon that makes me happy. I was especially happy because Tsogbaatar was understanding what he read and asking good questions. He fulfilled his other homework assignments through the week and he was excited to tell us what he had learned through reading other chapters in the Book of Mormon. He told us that he's definitely going to get baptized, but he doesn't know when. He'll get baptized this month if I have anything to say about it! 

Bayarjargal and Kuma are husband and wife. They are Tsogbaatar and Selenge's friends, and they conveniently live in the same place. Kuma is really struggling, and I don't think she has much desire to learn about the church. However, this week she did tell us that she likes to come to church because she can feel the Spirit. On the other hand, Bayarjargal is ready. He's reading from the Book of Mormon and praying. He comes to church every week and I think he genuinely loves the gospel. Unfortunately, this week he had a bit of an incident with alcohol at a party. In the words of Tsogbaatar, "My wife was there to help me choose the right, but this guy's wife wasn't there so he went to the party." Oh, yana. Apparently at the said party he forgot his bag and as a result lost his Book of Mormon. Don't worry we gave him a new copy which I hope he's reading. 

Unur keeps getting better and better. We're happy and busily doing the Lord's work. 

Love, Sister Magleby

We found this lovely graffiti wall on our way to English

Bring It On!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week we had mission conference. It was spectacular! Elder Rasband, Elder Gong, and Elder Allen came to Mongolia for a visit. I learned so much, and I felt the spirit even more. We talked a lot about the importance of a "vision." For example, when we meet with investigators we should vision them in white baptismal clothes and white temple clothes. We're only limited by our vision so we must dream big! Once we have a vision it's easy to set goals and make plans to fulfill the vision. According to Elder Allen missionaries just aren't good at setting goals and making plans so he attempted to help us. He was inspiring so I left with the goal to become the best planner and goal setter Mongolia's ever seen. I've got five week and according to Elder Allen it's possible to become a chapter 8 Preach my Gospel missionary in five weeks. Bring it on! 

So, Tsoo and Maa came to church for the first time almost one month ago. Maa hasn't missed a week since. A very zealous yet good intentioned member of our ward even started dragging her to SundaySchool and Relief Society every week and she still comes back! We gave them church materials in Chinese but haven't really met with them since then because of the language barrier. We hug Maa every week and I think she knows we love her. Ever since we met them I've had this desire to teach them the gospel, but I thought it was unrealistic until today. I got a message from President Benson that said they can get baptized here and we need to meet with them. What? I've been missing out on two golden investigators for the past five weeks? I guess this week we'll be on the lookout for a translator who can actually help us. There are two people in Unur that apparently speak Chinese, but they weren't much help. I'm excited about this!

We also inherited a bunch of other investigators so our days are filled with meaningful activities and we're happy. I love being a missionary! The gospel is true. It's worth every sacrifice we have to make because God more than makes up for our sacrifices when he blesses us for being obedient. As members of the church we receive countless blessings every day. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to testify of him and his atonement every day. 

Love, Sister Magleby

We created a five finger testimony object lesson for a family in our ward

We went horseback riding in our house :)

Idaho girls

My Name

Relief Society Picnic (mentioned in last weeks blog post)

Our District before transfers

Nothing beats a winter picnic!

Dear Family and Friends, 

It got cold in Mongolia. On Saturday Sister Royal was "the coldest she's ever been." It was cold, but I think she was just mostly unprepared. We've got to get that girl some winter gear before the winter really comes! 

On Saturday the Relief Society sisters in our ward planned to go on a picnic. We arrived at the church at 10 AM (like we were supposed to) and nothing had really been planned. It was a mess. Should we go? Should we stay? What should we eat? Of course everyone had their own ideas so this was a lengthy process. We finally decide to go to the original destination--a home of a member who's house is somewhat "country like." We arrived and then everyone decided that they'd rather go to the tree filled mountains. At this point we were running low on time because we had to teach English. They absolutely wouldn't let us leave and so we drove thirty minutes to the tree filled mountains, took a few pictures and ate a little snack, and drove thirty minutes back to the bus stop. It was ridiculous, but a worthwhile activity. We met some new members and I was really surprised at the good turnout despite the snowy/rainy/windy weather. Nothing beats a winter picnic. 

This week we met with Nomin-Erdene and Jugder egch.Jugder egch didn't seem as excited to meet with us as she was last week. However, the both came to the picnic and were able to make new friends. We are praying really hard for them to both choose to accept the gospel. 

This week we had a funny experience at Sister Royal's sponsor's house. Enkhuchral was having his lesson and his little sister walked in with three pieces of candy in her hand. Well there were three of us, so I thought it was a nice gesture and that she'd give us all a piece. Wrong. She gave the first one to her brother, Enkhuchral. Then she grabs another piece of candy and looks at Sister Royal then to me, Sister Royal and then to me. Then she said, "I'll give it to this teacher," handed me the candy, and walked away. The three of us looked at each other and bust out laughing. To make it even better Enkhuchral (who knows practically no English) said, "My baby is stupid." It was hilarious! I love going to their house because it feels so homey. Sometimes teaching English is quite enjoyable. 

Love, Sister Magleby

I love the gospel, and I know it's true!

Dear Family and Friends, 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary in Mongolia. It's getting colder and fall like here. I'm loving every minute that I have to share the gospel to these wonderful people! 

So, remember the Chinese people that came to church last week? Last Monday we collected a bunch of church materials in Chinese, and we met with them on Tuesday. The purpose of the lesson was to give them a Book of Mormon and some pamphlets so they could learn about the church in their native language. They were appreciative of the materials and they promised to read. The translator they brought doesn't like Christians and at times was laughing at what we taught. I didn't like him. He probably didn't translate everything correctly, but I hope they got the general gist. We know our church is true! They came again to church yesterday even though they can't understand anything. I like to think it's because they know that's where they need to be. They are going to be miracle investigators when missionaries are sent to China. 

This week we had a little misunderstanding among our district members. They tend to leave Sister Royal and I out of the loop and I was particularly frustrated when they didn't even tell us that the Unur baptism service had been changed to a completely different day. We stayed and supported the Songino missionaries by attending their baptism. I felt the Spirit which helped calm me down a bit. I'm working on loving everybody--difficult people included. 

On Saturday we taught English at the church and then went home with our investigator, Nomin-Erdene and her mother. Her mother hasn't been too interested in the church, but supports her daughter. Unfortunately Nomin-Erdene just likes to meet with us because we're her friends. It wasn't working too well. We've been praying for Jugder egch, the mom, like crazy and this time she actually sat in the lesson! We were so happy. She couldn't come to church yesterday, but she said that they would pray together and we're meeting with both of them again this week. Now if we could only get her husband and son involved...

This morning I finished the Book of Mormon. As I finished I felt the Spirit so strongly. I know that the Book of Mormon is true! As I read this time, I was marking the doctrine of Christ. The entire doctrine of Christ is found throughout the entire Book of Mormon so it's obviously important. I think we sometimes underestimate the importance of the simple things: faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We can't go one day without faith or repentance. We only get baptized once in our life, but we need to remember our covenants every day. And if we're worthy we can feel the Holy Ghost at any time which helps us endure to the end. These things are most important. If we remember the doctrine of Christ we'll successfully navigate the difficulties of life and we someday we will receive eternal life. I love the gospel, and I know it's true! 

Love, Sister Magleby

Nomin Erdene drew a picture of the three of us together

Me, Nomin-Erdene, Jugder Egch, Sister Royal

We went to this family's house twice this week.
They love the missionaries!

We went on a split with the Sister Training Leaders

You Can Always Find Miracles!

Dear Family and Friends, 

Today was the first day of school. Hysteric children, stressed teachers...you get the picture. It seems as though none of the returning children spoke much English during the summer, so we're back at square one. I did get an enthusiastic "Thank you so much," from a new boy as I walked out of the classroom. It will be a fun two months. 

This week Sister Royal and I stayed very busy. We taught/prepared English, studied hard, and met with a few people. We set the goal to be grateful and positive everyday and I think we succeeded. Every night we share one miracle from the day, and we've been finding so many. When you look hard enough you can always find miracles! I think this was just a miraculous week in general though, so it wasn't too difficult. 

This week we've talked a lot about praying with faith. If we have faith then miracles can happen. Well, we've been praying very specifically and faithfully to find new investigators. One night we finished praying and immediately afterwards our district leader called and passed us two referrals. One of them had absolutely no desire to meet, but the other one is our miracle man. His name is Manlai. We called him on Saturday night to invite him to church. I was talking on the phone to explain who we were, why we were calling, etc. This was a two-three minute conversation and the only thing he said the entire time was, "Za/okay." It was weird. I thought maybe he hadn't understood, but when I asked him questions that needed specific answers he gave the correct answer so I just kept talking. Although it shouldn't have seemed promising, I somehow knew he would come to church like he agreed to. Right before sacrament meeting was about to begin we got a phone call from Manlai telling us he was at the church and wondering where we were. We ran out to the foyer just as a big, rough looking guy walked in the door. It was him! Later Sister Royal and I were talking about the fact that if we saw him on the street we would never pick him out as one interested in coming to church, but he actually came. He stayed for two hours and he seemed excited to meet with us on Wednesday. We're excited too. 

Yesterday we were greeting people at the door when two people I didn't recognize walked into sacrament meeting. I was just about to walk over and introduce myself when the relief society president leaned over and said, "You two should go talk to those Chinese people that just came in. They probably know English." They were the most un-Chinese looking people I had ever seen, but somehow the Mongolians all recognized that they were Chinese. Well, it turns out that Tsoo and Maa don't know English. Tsoo has been studying Mongolian since they arrived here three years ago. Other than that he and his wife only speak Chinese. We had a little conversation about the church, but mostly they just sat there. I don't think they understood most of what was going on throughout the meeting, but they were interested and happy to be at church. They both had their Chinese scriptures with them and whenever we would turn to scriptures during the talks they would open their books and read along. I tried to explain that it wasn't the same book, but he seemed to think it was...I don't know a lick of Chinese so it could have been a Chinese Book of Mormon, but I'm doubtful. I know it's probably unrealistic to actually teach them, but I want to help them find the truth. Today we're going to try to get our hands on some Chinese materials to drop off at their house.  

We were riding the bus to Sister Royal's sponsor's house when she frantically grabbed my arm and whispered, "He's listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir." Well, that was the craziest thing I had ever heard. She was right though. The man standing next to us was proudly playing, "Called to Serve." Of course we talked to him. He served his mission in Atlanta, Georgia in 2001, but now he is a less active member who didn't even know where the church building was. His reason for being inactive is laziness. His wife is a potential investigator. We gave him the address of the church and got his information to pass to the missionaries serving in Khan-Uul. I'm glad that he started playing that song so that we were able to recognize him as a member of the church and learn about his needs. 

This week we went to the Bishop's house for dinner and we took Naranerdene, a new member, with us. Naranerdene is 31 years old, and the only member from her family. In fact, her family doesn't know anything about the church because she's scared to tell them. We had a wonderful lesson about missionary work. We were running short on time, but Sister Royal and I had prepared a great message that we absolutely needed to share. In 1 Nephi 8 we read about Lehi eating the fruit from the tree of life. He eats, becomes happy, and invites his family to eat also. That is the spirit of missionary work. I felt the spirit so strongly during that lesson. It was my favorite lesson of the week! 

I hope that you all have a fabulous week. Look for miracles everyday and you'll be amazed at how often Heavenly Father helps and blesses you.

Love, Sister Magleby