Monday, February 22, 2016

February 22, 2016

















Sain uu?

Wow so many questions from everyone this week:) haha anyways I hope this letter finds everyone doing well! So this week was great! This coming week we have our baptisms! Yay! We were able to meet with Turmunkh and Munkhsaruul's parents and explain to them about this gospel and about what baptism is and the commandments that need to be kept. They were both very understanding and supportive with what we shared. So now that we have explained to them about everything that they need to know and are willing to support their kids, they can be baptized! Munkhsaruuls mom actually came to church the other week and she is now interested in hearing about our church! Muckhsaruuls brother also wants to hear about it. Now we just need her dad to be interested and then we will be able to teach her whole family! It is so exciting being able to teach families because this is what our work is all about! So President Benson didn't talk to them, it is our job to talk with the parents. He was just telling us how we need to make sure the parents are aware before we baptize them.

This week everything has been going well! Nothing crazy happened! I will be getting a new companion on Tuesday because my companion leaves on Tuesday for the Provo MTC!

Hope you are all well, keeping cool, and staying healthy!

Love, Sister Kerby

p.s. buuz are like dumplings but a little bigger. (I talked about them last week when I got sick)



Here are a few pictures from last week.

 

 

Monday, February 15, 2016

February 15, 2016

Sain uu!

Earlier Picture of Kristin in 1st area. This is the deel clothing.

So this week was an adventure especially with it being Tsaagan Sar and everything. I took some great pictures. Unfortunately the internet place we are at this week has no USB port so I can't send you the pictures so you will have to wait until next week to get it! Sorry:/ I was excited to share them cause I know it has been a while since I have sent pics! And yes it is the traditional clothing that is called a deel. Today Jargalsuren and I are actually going to look for the material to get one made, not that the holiday is over the material will probably be on sale:) 

So my companion got her Visa! Today we will find out when she will be leaving and when she will have her interview with the American Embassy! I am so excited for her! If she leaves during the middle of this transfer then I will most likely be getting a mini missionary! That will be fun! haha. The girl in the one pic that I sent from last my last area from LA, her companion was a mini missionary too, she was from Mongolia, all mini missionaries are from Mongolia. Also white washing means that both missionaries are new to the area. It means we both don't know the area or the investigators or anything about the place.

So like I mentioned this week was fun, on the actual Tsaagan Sar day we weren't able to teach anyone because they were with their families which was too bad so we pretty much spent all day doing studies. But the rest of the week we were able to meet with some members and investigators and it was so fun being able to really experience their culture and some of their traditions. I learned how they great and what they say to each other. It was so fun! Plus it was cool because everyone was wearing their deels so it was fun! It is an interesting but beautiful culture here! It was a great week except for the part where I got food poisoning.... yea.... I don't know if it was the 20 buuz that I ate in one day or the Mexican food that they feed us at the church that killed me but either way I was out for 2 days and couldn't do much at all! It was awful! But don't worry! I survived and am alive to tell the tale! However, I am crossing that off the list and hope to never experience that again! lol.

Our investigators are doing great, we have 2 baptisms coming up at the end of this month so I am so excited for them. It is Munkhsaruul and Turmunkh, they are both 15 year olds, girl and boy. They are so cute! We met with Munkhsarruls family because President is really serious about the parents needing to know this gospel just as well so that they can give the necessary support that they need to after their kids are baptized. They need to know about baptism and the commandments so that they can fully support them. It is a really good idea because family is so important and the main influence and if the kids don't have this then they are less likely to stay active so we have to make sure that everyone under the age of 18 really has their parents support, permission and a fairly good understanding of our doctrine so it was good that we met with them! Her family actually came to church this Sunday so it was great! We hope to begin teaching them the lessons! I would love to see them baptized as a family!

Anyhow that is all for this week! hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Kerby

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

February 8, 2016



Sain uu! I hope everyone is doing well this week! So I told you that I would write about Tsagaan Sar this week but it actually doesn't start until tomorrow so I will have to tell you about it next week:) I am excited though, it is a time where families all come together and eat! What a great tradition right? Yes they dress up in their traditional clothing, I was actually going to have one made for me but it didn't work out so I will have to wait until Nadaam to get my deel made! (it is a Mongolian holiday in July! It is another huge tradition)

So I am loving my new ward, the members and our investigators are awesome :) Jargalsuren, my new companion was in the ward before I came so she didn't transfer. She knows all of our investigators and the members so it has been nice not being white washed this time. In Songono we were white washed so that was hard, but this time I have someone who knows the area so it’s great! I love my companion, she has been helping me a lot with the language. I am thankful that I was given another opportunity to be with a Mongolian companion! The Lord really blessed me. There really is no better way to learn the language then being with an actual Mongolian. The language is slowly but surely coming.

I actually had an amazing experience this week during one of our lessons. We are teaching one of our investigators, Munh-Orgil and he is a 13 year old boy. I was teaching the Restoration for the first time and it was a little bumpy when I started but once I started sharing the first vision it changed. I memorized the first vision so as I was saying it to him, I was holding up the pamphlet so he could see the picture of when Christ and God appeared to Joseph Smith and I just felt the spirit so strongly. This is the first time that I really felt the spirit as strong as I did during a lesson. It was amazing and my pronunciation of the words was better and afterwards I bore testimony to him and told him that he could know the truth too. I asked him what he needed to do in order to know the truth and he said pray. So I then invited him to pray about this church, about joseph smith and about the book of Mormon. It was such a great lesson, I don’t know if he was able to feel the spirit as I did, but I am thankful for this experience. I know it was heavenly father showing me that I can do this and that he will help me. This was the first time I experienced part of what the gift of tongues can do for us. My tongue was loosed during this lesson and helped me teach the restoration to this boy. It is so wonderful seeing how the Lord works and how through our imperfections and weaknesses, he is able to help us be strong and give us the ability to do his work.

I have been studying the fourth missionary this week and I have come to learn that it is possible for me to be that fourth missionary. When I first read this talk I was like how can I do that, but this time around I was filled with a greater hope. It is possible to be the fourth missionary, it is all up to me. I have a strong desire to serve the Lord with all my heart mind might and strength and I know that as I try to do so I will be able to little by little. We aren't perfect, the mission is hard, sometimes I will be discouraged but that doesn't mean that I am not the fourth missionary. I know that as I continue to strive to be better each day and have the desire to surrender my will to the Father, then eventually my will becomes the Fathers will and I will only desire to do that which he wants and not try to do what I want. The only thing I can give to my father that he doesn’t already have is my heart and mind and I hope that I will be able to do just that.

Have a good week! I will write next week about Tsagaan Sar and show some pics. Sorry I don't have pics this week, be safe, stay healthy

love, Sister Kerby

Thursday, February 4, 2016

February 1, 2016




Sain uu!

So I was officially transferred this week:( I am no longer in the Songino (which means Onion in Mongolian) Ward. I am sad to have left. This was a great ward and I am going to miss my investigators so much! We had found to new investigators that week and taught them the first lesson and they are so ready to hear this gospel. I am sad that I won't be able to teach them the lessons but i know the Elders who replaced us are great so I am leaving them in good hands. I know the Lord is directing his work so I know that I am meant to be wear i am now. So as you are probably wondering, I am now serving in the Han-Uul Ward with my new companion Jargalcyran. Yes, I have another Mongolian companion which I am so grateful for. I know that I will learn a lot from her and that we will be able to help each other this transfer. She is actually not called to serve in Mongolia. She is called to Temple Square mission but she is waiting for her Visa to come in so now she is just serving in Mongolia until she gets it. She came to the mission the transfer after I did. So I am actually training her right now. I am doing the second half of the 12 weeks training with her so it will be fun being able to train her and help her in any way that i can. I was a little overwhelmed at first with the idea of being a trainer since I don’t know the language very well but I know there is more to being a trainer than speaking the language.

I am actually not sure what I want to write about this week. haha. I feel like so much has happened but at the same time not really. We have just been so busy with transfers this week because this transfer was a big one. Solongo ended up going to the country side and is serving in Hovd right now. We were all surprised because they haven’t sent sisters there in a while so it means that she is meant to do some great work there. I will miss her a lot! I learned a great deal about myself and I grew a lot from this companionship. I hope that I continue to have experiences such as this so that I can continue to learn and grow.

  Next week is Tsagaan Sar which is a major Mongolian Holiday so I will write about it this coming week! Here are pics of my new apartment. It is one of the nicest in the mission so I am lucky! Would have been nice to get it near the end of my mission but oh well! It is nice because it is super close to my school like I can walk to my school from my apartment so it saves a lot of time! Also these were the sisters I was living with in my last apartment. Sister Ruu the other white missionary is from LA. We got really close and have already planned some road trips :) she also attends BYU so I will see her at school! 






One last little spiritual thought I want to share. Even though we face moments in our life that don't go according to our plan and how we want it to turn out, it’s okay. Even though it wasn't how we wanted it to be, just know that it is His plan. Everything is working out according to His plan and He is in control. Never worry about that. As we are faithful in following His commandments and keeping the covenants we have made, we just need to put our trust in Him and it will all work out. Press forward in faith and He will direct our paths. Heavenly Father sends us assurances to help us know it will work out. Look for those assurances in your life and you will find them even in ways you may not expect. These assurances help us know that one day we will be delivered out of our trial. Maybe not when or how we expect it to be, but the lord assures us he will. I know he will, I bear testimony that our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ are mindful of us and the challenges we face. They will give us the strength that we stand in need of. Don't worry, you can overcome them because like He said to Joseph Smith, Your afflictions will be but a moment and if you endure it well, it will be for the benefit of yourself.
Have a great week!

Love, Sister Kerby