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.

 

 

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

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

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

January 25, 2016

SO exciting news! I had my first baptism on Friday! YES OTGONDELGER was baptized and it was an awesome experience. She was so happy and it was a nice service. After she was baptized we had her bear her testimony and it was the sweetest thing, I know you might think this is funny but i am not kidding when I say that she was glowing as she was up there speaking what she knows to be true. I felt so happy when I saw her up there. I am so grateful to have known her and to have been able to see her change little by little. I was reminded of the Sons of Mosiah and the type of mission which they served. When they began their mission they spoke of how their hearts were depressed and ready to turn back but the Lord came unto them and comforted them and told them to bear their afflictions with patience and he will give unto them success. This is exactly what they did. Even through all their discouragements and afflictions they did it with patience and because of this, the Lord was able to work great miracles through them. They were able to convert thousands to this gospel. Through their hard times they thought of the people and the bore their afflictions that they might be able to bring one soul unto repentance for how great their joy would be if they did this. I thought of missionary work in general and how it is not an easy thing. We face many challenges during this time but if we have patience and think of those we are serving, we will be able to face the challenges we are handed. I have been able to experience some of this joy that Ammon spoke of. There is nothing better than being able to witness someone come closer to Christ and partake of the necessary ordinances in order to do so. I saw the happiness in Otgondelger's eyes and that was all that I could ever ask for. This is why I chose to serve a mission. It is serving with all your heart might mind and strength so that you will be able to experience moments like these. Granted I will not baptize thousands of people while being on my mission but the few people that I am able to help is all that I could ever ask for. All I desire is their happiness and for them to realize what this gospel can bring to their lives! Even though I have faced a lot of hard days, those don't matter. It is moments and memories like these that matter and something I will cherish my whole life. The things that I have learned while serving here are things that I wouldn't trade for anything and I know that I am serving here for a reason. I am here to share the truths that I know to be true and that I hold dear to my heart. I am here to help share that families can be together forever. I am here to share of our Savior Jesus Christ and His atonement and of the sacrifice He made for us all. I am here to share of our Loving Heavenly Father who gave his only perfect son so that all of his imperfect children may return to him. There is no greater love then that what our Father in Heaven and His Son has for us all. I am here to teach of Joseph Smith and how just like them he desired to know the truth and so he prayed to God for an answer. I am here to share that they too can know for themselves and can pray to their heavenly father and receive an answer. I am here to share about the Book of Mormon and how it is the word of God and that as we read and abide by its precepts we can draw nearer to God, receive answers to our prayers, and receive blessings from our Heavenly Father. The message we carry is so precious and important and I am thankful to be a part of this great work.

Tuguldor is coming along. He has grown so much and desires so strongly to be baptized but until his dad gives permission or until he turns 18 he will not be able to be baptized: (yea he came to the baptism and enjoyed it!

Well it’s that time again! Transfers are this week! It is crazy to think that I will already be entering my third transfer! I know for a fact that Solongo will not be my companion but as to who will be staying in the Songono ward I am not sure. I have a feeling that I will be the one to leave because President likes to move the new missionaries around a lot but we will see. I definitely wouldn't mind staying in this ward :) 

So this was a pic of my area that i serve in. It was a nice day so I wanted to take a pic.

                                                                       







On our last p day we ate at burger king which is 100 times better than America and the place is a lot nicer too!



 They take better care of their restaurants here. Mostly because burger king is considered fancy here as opposed to America so that is part of the reason for that i guess. haha

Love, Sister Kerby

January 18, 2016

      Put Your Confidence in the Lord


Sain baina uu! (yes, that is how you spell it) I have been learning to text in Mongolian the past couple of weeks and they use our alphabet when spelling. it has been fun being able to learn that! it is crazy because first I am learning the Mongolian Language and then I have to learn the Scriptural Mongolian because of course it is slightly different and then I need to learn to text in Mongolian and I have also been learning how to write Mongolian in cursive... It is a lot to remember but is is so fun being able to learn it all! The language is coming along! I finally figured out how to pray for the most part! Yes I know... It has been 3 months and I am just now figuring out prayer :) haha, what can I say this language is a hard one :) but no worries as you can tell from what I titled my letter this week, you will understand as you keep reading why I wrote that. Anyways, the language is still coming along. We had our Zone Training on Saturday and they had us teach Repentance to another person and we had ourselves recorded so that during our next district meeting we will watch them and then go over what we did well and what we need to improve on and how we can improve. It has actually been helpful practicing like this. it makes it easier for when I actually have to teach it. So I don't know if I told you about this but we have a 42 principle notebook that President Benson has asked us to do which is all the principles that we are to teach from Preach my Gospel, the first being God is our loving Heavenly Father and then the gospel blessing families, etc. Anyways so in this book we have to write how to teach each principal. First it is in English and then we translate it to Mongolian. So president has asked us to have all of this done by the time our 12 weeks is over so I am almost done with mine. I just have a few laws and ordinances that I need to do from lesson 5 and then I will be finished. But anyways I finally finished my repentance principal and its translated and even has been looked over by a Mongolian so I know its all right ;) this book is a really good idea, because it helps with the language and then it helps you really come to learn and know the principal you are teaching. Not only do you learn it but as you are thinking about what to teach regarding the principal you thing about exactly why you are teaching it and why it is important. Then you think about how it will help you investigators life. It is really cool and has helped a lot. The point of this book is to get you started with your language and then throughout your mission you improve it and continue to make it better than before. You will add scriptures and personal experiences to it and this is what helps you learn the language and be able to teach better. This was President Bensons goal for it and it has been helpful. sorry I feel like I rambled a little bit about that, my bad. I hope it all makes sense. :)

YES OTGONDELGER IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!! WHOOOOO! I am sure you can tell I am excited about that. :) Her baptism will be this Friday and I can't wait. It is such a special moment and I am so glad that I have been able to teach her since the very beginning so that makes this even more special for me! I don't know who will be performing the baptism. I think it will most likely be a member.

To answer some questions from others, I won't stay in the same place my whole mission. I will definitely move around and during the summer is when I will most likely be sent to the countryside since that is when most schools are out for break. I don't need to be stationary just because I teach English.

The next group of missionaries won't be coming until March. Their group is about the same size as our group was. We have had a few Mongolian missionaries come in but that is mostly because they are waiting for their visas so once they get them they will leave for America. Other than that we don't get mew missionaries often. We sometimes get mini missionaries but they are only here for as long as President Benson needs them to be.

So this week has been good, it has been a leaning experience for me. I realized this week that I wasn't relying on the Savior as much as I thought I was. I thought that I was, but I was thinking about it the other day and I am not. I have been praying for His help and asking for some kind of guidance but I noticed that I have been relying too much on my own abilities and what I am capable of doing. And then I realized that I was so focused on what I could do and the things that I couldn't do but this isn't about me. I need to put my confidence in the Lord and rely on his abilities because he can do all things. He overcame the world and he was able to save us all. I am learning to truly rely on him and learn what it means to place my confidence in him.


Love, Sister Kerby

January 11, 2016

This week has been great! Our investigators are improving so much! Otgondelger was telling us how she is starting to feel like the church is true! She has been reading the Book of Mormon an has read it from the beginning and she is now in Mosiah! We are planning her baptism for the 22nd of January so I pray she continues to prepare and keep the commitments we extend! It is so exciting!




Tuguldor also has come a long way! We met with
him on Saturday and he was telling us about how

he is reading the Book of Mormon as well. We only asked him to read 1 Ne 2 but he read all the way until 1 Ne 13! When we asked him about what he read to check his understanding of the scriptures he understood it pretty perferctly! He told us all about  Laman and Lemuel and Laban and Nephi and it was so neat being able to listen to him speak about what he learned and what he understood! Later he even asked and talked a little about the tree of life and had some questions regarding some of the things he read. He was so curious and had such a strong desire to learn! We were teaching him about following the prophet and the word of wisdom and when I started teaching him about the word of wisdom he actually already know the things which he was supposed to avoid and listed them before I told him about it! It was pretty cool actually. All I did was talk about how it came from Joseph Smith and then the blessings we receive from following it and then he was already prepared for everything else. He was so willing to follow this commandment like he was like of course I will. He already had a desire to follow it before we even asked. It was awesome!

Solongo and I have been praying for this and praying to have our investigators understand and gain desire to truly learn more and they are starting to! They are changing so much. Especially Tuguldor! I have noticed a huge change in him from when we first met. It is absolutely amazing how this gospel changes people and how much they are able to grow when they start applying these principles we teach into their life! The Lord truly is able to work miracles and this is His work.

The Lord always keeps his promises. When He says He will answer our prayers, He answers them. Granted it is in His time and in his way but he does answer them. This week we were able to see those answers! We were able to witness first hand these miracles occur. What a privilege it is to be a part of his great work! It took a while for us to receive our answer but we continued with our faith and continued praying for his help and He gave it to us.





Sometimes we are just asked to have patience. Like the people of Alma in Mosiah 24. They had such heavy burdens but they prayed to the Lord and he made them light. Notice though that the Lord didn't take them away. They were still there, but the made them light and gave them strength so that they could continue and be able to press forward through their trials. They submitted patiently as well as cheerfully during their trial. How often are we happy during our own trials? Oh let me think, that's easy.... Never! haha. We have trials during this life. It is just a part of what we were asked to endure when we came here. But we aren't given trials to make us sad. The whole point of this life is to have joy. Trials are her to shape us into new people and we are only asked to endue it well. Be happy during this life. "Forever is composed of nows". Don't let your nows be full of doubt or worry. Let them be full of faith and hope that t hings will work out. Focus on what brings you happiness. This life is meant to be full of joy. Take each footstep in faith and make the best of your "nows".

Sister Kerby