September 19, 2016

Hello family and friends,

So I figured I would start by telling you that I am feeling a lot better this week! After 4 days of feeling like I was dying I am a lot better now :) My stomach still hurts whenever I eat and I will probably have that the rest of my mission and hopefully it will get better when I get home but for now that is something I will just have to handle.
I have been doing okay. Because I was sick like this for 4 days, it made work really hard this week and it was a struggle but by the end of the week I was feeling a lot better and yesterday I rededicated myself. We had a really cool zone conference on Wednesday where President Funk from the Asian area presidency came to speak to us and he shared a lot of great insights with us. It was something I really needed to help me keep going strong. Right now the work is hard and we have no investigators at the moment. The one cool PI that we met with the other week isn't interested anymore. We met 3 times and then she told us that she doesn't want to meet anymore. So yea we don’t have any investigators but it’s okay, we are meeting with new members and less actives and I am looking for every opportunity to find people we can teach. I have a lot of cool experiences where I have gotten to be an example and to help others. I may not have the best work right now but I am trying my best and that is enough. The lord will bless us in our efforts. This is the Lords work and as long as I’m trying my best and being diligent, the lord will bless us in our efforts. It’s been a big learning experience for me. I love it here and I want to make these last 6 months to be great so I am going to try to do that! Ahh missions.... they really are crazy rollercoasters. haha.

Picture from previous outing

As for English, yes its suppose to start this week but I haven't heard anything. We have asked about it but they haven't said anything regarding it so I’m just going to wait. Sister Austin teaches at a medical university, so it’s a lot nicer! They are doing a new thing called an English Lab. Way too much to explain over email so ask when I get home :)

The long distance branch is doing well. It could be better, not many people are sitting in sacrament like before but it’s okay. We call them every week to see if they need any help and then we call to see if they will be able to sit in on sacrament meeting Sunday so we contact them each week about it.

Yes, today I went back and held the falcon this time. He put it on my shoulder! It was so sweet :) I wish I could send pics but my sd card has a virus and I don't know how to fix it. I hope it’s okay, it will be a shame to lose all those pics. But yea not much I can do about it. It was awesome though. Pujee the owner of the birds like loves me. haha. I got a pic with him that I will try to send later, hopefully when my sd card is fixed. Anyways he let me hold his birds for free and he gave Sister Bollwinkel, Sister Austin, and Sister Ulsen discounts because they were my friends. But he let me hold his eagle again and then he put the falcon on my shoulder and I got some sweet pics of that and he let me pet his falcon. Then I got cool pics on the camel again. except this time he had the camel stand up, I didn't ride it because we aren't allowed but he stood up and it was kinda scary but really cool so I got cool pics of that then he let me just hold the camel by the reins and I got a couple of fun selfies. haha. It was really awesome. I will try to send pics next week. But yea if we do plan to come back here during the summer, I will take you there and introduce you to Pujee :) he’s really nice.

Another outing

One more cool story! So I ran into an old member from Songino and I asked him about Tulguldur! My first investigator when I got here! Remember him? Anyways, turns out he moved but guess where he moved to! MY AREA! So I am going to try to get his information and meet with him! I will keep you updated on that! It was awesome :) I would love to teach him again! I would consider that a huge blessing! But yea that’s it for this week!

Love you all :) have a great week
Sister Kerby

September 12, 2016

Hello,

Well it’s been a busy and long week! It has gone by really fast and I can't believe it is Monday again already. Well things are going fairly well. I’ve been sick as well this past week so it has made it really hard. I had a cold but then I don't know from what but I got super sick last night. It wasn't fun... My body is not the same anymore. It has been hard and has made the weeks long. I am still working hard though. The area is getting a little better. I am starting to find my way around a bit better too. We don't have a lot of investigators here, like pretty much none. But we had a cool experience this last Thursday. We had a last minute lesson with a member and it turns out that her sister was here. Now her sister came to church this past Sunday but when I talked to her she didn't seem too interested and she wasn’t understanding me very well. Anyways on Thursday she happened to be at her sister’s house and I’ll be honest I didn't want to really talk to her. Mostly because I was like she doesn't understand me this is hard and she wasn't really interested but after talking to the member a little bit more I finally decided that I really needed to talk to her sister. I asked about when she went to church how did she liked it and she was just like I don't know. So then I asked if she would be interested in

talking to us and meeting with us one time so we could teach her a lesson about our church and she said yes, so then I noticed we had time so then I was like well can we teach you right now and she said okay. So we taught the first lesson to her. She wasn't understanding well. Like not just because of our language but she also didn't even understand her sister when she explained it. haha. Everything is just new to her. She has no religious background whatsoever so that is why she wasn't understanding. So yea it was cool, we were able to find another investigator from just being bold and asking. It was a cool experience. We are meeting with her again tonight so we will see how that goes. :)

Pictures of  Kristin's new area

As for the long distance branch, that is going pretty well. Sister Austin and I gave talks last week for it! The Senior couple is in charge of finding people to give talks for it. So yea that was good. They don't meet in a building or anything. This happens in their phone. They are so far from a church building because they live far out in the countryside and so that is why they call in. If they have priesthood holders in their home and have received permission, then they can bless the sacrament in their home and partake of it that way. But yea it’s just a regular sacrament meeting, they are just on the phone while it is happening. It is interesting.

Well everything else is going pretty good. My companion is doing well! Sorry not much to really report this week. I’m still not feeling a 100 percent so I’m not exactly sure what to write about because I can't really remember what happened. haha. Right now we are basically just meeting with less actives and new members and I really love them so even though the work doesn't seem like a whole lot. We are able to meet some great people here and it’s been good!

Spiders do exist here!!! Ahh!
(I'm surprised Kristin got this close to the spider, kinda proud of her. :o)

I’m glad that you were able to pull some off from the senior couple site; it was a lot of fun. We got together for our year mark :)                 No, Sister B and Sister Nelson aren't in my zone anymore but we got permission from president to go on our hike. It was fun! Sister Kofoed is in my zone now though which is fun because I haven't seen a lot of her on my mission so I’ve gotten to know her a lot better. She is also training so we have been a good support for one another and can talk about everything.

Well hope you all and have a good week!

Love,
Sister Kerby

September 5, 2016

Hello,

Well another week has gone by and it has been good. I love the new area, the members, investigators, and just everyone! It has been great! I am still getting used to the area and still don't really know where anything is but it’s going well. I am finding it and doing my best and so far it is working out pretty well I think :) Don’t ask me why it’s called American Denj. haha. I have no idea. Denj is hill in Mongolian and that’s about all I know regarding the name. Things are good with the companion. No.... she hasn't been here a transfer, she just came this transfer. I picked her up her second day in Mongolia so she has officially been in Mongolia a week now. Things are going well, she is great and really sweet. Although she can be sarcastic and sassy... so pretty much just like me. It has been fun, she keeps me from getting too stressed so that’s good :) haah just kidding, I actually don't really get that stressed. Things are going great and I am really loving my mission. As for the long distance branch... I wasn't in charge of it before like I am now. I only participated in the long distance branch meaning I gave a talk for it once. Now I am in charge of calling all the people and seeing who can sit in on the sacrament. It’s been fun. The people who sit in for it are throughout all of Mongolia so it’s cool speaking to other people who are living in a totally different province.

A trip to the Mongolian  Countryside

The work is going well. I haven’t been able to meet with the one family who gave us the nuts. We have been busy and meeting with others but we plan to meet with them this week. Yea they were pine nuts and they were really good! Let’s see nothing too exciting happened. We have just been meeting the members and getting to know them and then we have had a couple of lessons with less actives and some new members so it’s been fun. My poor companion had no idea what went on during these lessons. haha it just brought me back to when I first got here and couldn't understand anything. IT’s been kind of cool though because I have been able to see how far I have come. Man, it is really great here. I just love it! I am truly happy, it’s been a great experience.

School will be starting on the 15th of September. Don’t really know what to expect for it. They are making a lot of changes when it comes to English so it’s pretty cool to see. It’s one of those things where I will just have to tell you about it after the mission. it’s too hard to explain it all on an email.

I am planning on going next week with sister Bollwinkel and taking my companion to the big birds again to do something cool :) so maybe I’ll get a picture with the falcon this time :) hehe. I apparently don't have enough cool pics with the birds of prey so I need more.


Have a good week!

Love, Sister Kerby

Other Pictures of Our Outing. 

Elder Sutphin, Sisters Bollwinkel, Austin, Kerby Wilcox, Nelson & Bennett
Sister Olsen, Sutphin & Kofoed