December 26, 2016

Kristin and her companion with on a hike in the snow.

Hello Family and Friends!

So this Christmas has been a little different this year because we weren't able to get together as a mission like we did last year with everything going on, but it was actually a really great opportunity to take a step back and to see what the meaning of Christmas actually is. This Christmas we basically went to church and then we came home and made some delicious enchiladas but then after that we went and taught a family that has been getting the lessons. They are a great family. The other week we taught them about faith and it was such a great lesson. The spirit was really strong and it was one of those lessons where it was a turning point for them and they were able to see that this was something that they really wanted. They turned to us at the end and was like we are meeting tomorrow again right?? And then they came together as a family to church for the first time Sunday. Before they had just come to the stake conference together and so this last Sunday was their first real Sunday together and it was even better because it was Christmas so it was even more special :) But yea during one of the lessons they were just saying how they are really trying and preparing right now as a family to be baptized. They told us how their life has been changed since coming into this church and it was just really cool to see them and to know that they are finally ready. Their time is now and that is just so awesome. What makes it even better is that before they were living in the city, they actually lived in the countryside and they lived right by the church and every time the mom would see it she would just get a feeling inside of her that there was something special about that church and that it was meant to be a part of their life and then they moved to the city and where do they happen to move to? They literally moved right across from the church building and that was just a sign to them that there really was something special there. Their kids were the first to really start coming and then the mom and dad joined in together and now they are all coming together. It really is awesome being a missionary and being able to see so many people’s lives change through this message that we are sharing with them. We truly are the Lords hands at this time and we are helping him in this great work. He truly does prepare the people. That is one thing I have noticed about being here is that the Lord has everything figured out. He knows the beginning to the end and all of those details in between and so we can trust in Him completely. Then we went to one of our other investigators and sang some Christmas songs to her and brought her some cookies. It was really fun and she loved it. It was just a simple but great day. You really come to appreciate the simple things and to realize how much we have been given. This season is a time to really remember what is truly important in our lives.

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Kerby

December 13, 2016

Hello Everyone,

Another good week has come and gone. It’s going by fast especially with the Christmas season upon us. We have been really busy here with different things going on in regards to meeting with our people, English splits, and just getting ready for our Zone Conference that is this Friday. Well I was right, I am currently companions with Sister Lichtenberg so that has been fun being with someone from my MTC group. She has been teaching me the people in our area and so that has been fun getting to know them. We have a couple of great people that we are working with so that has been fun! Sadly I am not in American Denj anymore. I don't know what will happen but we have another mini transfer that is happening right after Christmas because the new Mongolian missionaries will be coming back from the MTC in the Philippines so they will start their mission and hopefully some sisters will be put back in American Denj. President might have me help out the next couple of weeks in my old area but we have to talk to him about it to see if that is what he wants us to do.

We had some cool experiences this week. One of them was we were going to meet with someone in our ward and it was a new person so Sister Lichtenberg had never been to their house before and while we were walking trying to find it, there was this old man walking near us and he was blind and was coming up to a spot that was kind of icy and looked like it would be hard for him to cross so I asked sister Lichtenberg if we should help him and so we went and helped him. While we were helping him get to his building he asked us where we were going and we told him that we were going to meet with a friend but we couldn't find their house. He then asked what their building number was and we told him and he pointed us in a direction and gave us directions on how to get there. After helping we said thank you and we started following the directions he gave us. After just a couple minutes of walking we saw the building we were looking for! We were just like Woah! A blind man somehow was able to lead us to this building. It was just amazing that he knew and he was definitely blind, he couldn't even really open his eyes. It was just amazing because we were planning to go in a different direction so if we didn't stop to help him then he couldn't have helped us. We wouldn't have been able to find it, well at least in the amount of time that we did if he didn't help us. It was really cool! It’s amazing how the Lord works and how he puts people into our paths. Sometimes we first have to help someone else before we are able to receive the help we need. Sometimes it comes unexpectedly but it just goes to show that when you lose yourself and look to helping others first, the help you need will be given to you in a way that might surprise you. I think we can sometimes in the end be the blind ones and forget to see what is around us so we must open our eyes so that we may be lead to where we need to go. Just something to think about! I could probably go on and on about this but I’m going to leave it short so I can share my next story with you :)

So yesterday we had to do a crazy English split and so I ended up being with Sister Nelson after we taught English and we worked in her area which is Han-Uul which is my old area and then we went to go check some houses and one of them was one of my new members who has kind of become less active because she doesn't go to church and Sister Nelson has tried meeting with them but they won't let her in and so she took me there yesterday and we were able to see them. The grandma which was the one I was really worried about wasn't there but her grandkids were there. One of which is also a new member and the other who wanted to be baptized but with the support not being great I didn't want to baptize her when I was there. I taught her once in a while but never gave a baptismal date. Anyways so we talked to them and they tried calling the grandma to come but she never answered and so without a Gerch we couldn't meet with just them so we only talked for a little bit but I straight up asked them about their grandma and what happened. They said she was just busy with work and can't go, but they won't meet with the missionaries there and so I was just like what happened. I was worried the grandma started smoking again and that was why she wouldn't meet but that’s not it. The granddaughter said no she isn't smoking so that was good! They would tell me if she was so that made me happen. So we made an appointment on Friday to meet with them. I wrote a quick note for them giving them a chapter from the book of Mormon to read from as a family by this coming Friday so I hope they do it. They were sad to hear that I won't be there. They were like it would be cool if you two came but I said I can't because I’m in a different area but I might be able to come Monday because I’ll be with Sister Nelson again during that time so hopefully I can meet with them and figure out what happened and to just help the best way I can to at least get them started meeting missionaries again. I love them so much! Ah it hurts seeing them not coming to church. So we will see what happens. It’s in the Lords hands. I know he will help us. These splits had to happen like this for a reason for English so the fact I get to be with Sister Nelson helping in her area means that something can happen :) it’s awesome! I love the work! It’s so awesome being a missionary and seeing these different things happen! I really am loving my life right now :))

There are about 60 missionaries in this mission, about 30 elders and 30 sisters. It’s pretty even. We are all here as English teachers we just have different sponsors and so we work at different schools but it doesn't matter whether you are elder or sister. Those missionaries also include the Mongolians. We are a tiny mission.... haha. I only have 6 sisters in our zone. The rest are in the other zone.


Love you all have a great week

Sister Kerby

December 6, 2016

Hello Family and Friends,


Hope that everyone has been able to have a great week! My week definitely went by fast and it was a really good week! I was able to have a couple of great experiences that I will share later on in my letter. Well transfers are indeed upon us this week and I won't know until probably tonight the full details of what will be happening but I basically know what is happening to me because last Thursday I got a call from one of the AP's Elder Filmore and he was asking me what I had planned for the day and I told him how we had studies and then our big plan and then district meeting and he asked when our district meeting was and I told him 3:30 and then he’s like oh good can you come sit in on our MLC and I was just like umm sure... MLC is the Mission Leadership Counsel... so they had me come sit in on the meeting and then President Harper was talking to me and he was like well I guess you know why you are here and what calling you will be having in the coming transfer. So yes I have been asked to be a Sister Training Leader :) I will most likely be with Sister Lichtenberg from my group but I don’t know for sure. So that will be fun. I will probably be serving in both American Denj and Sansar Ward. It will be fun! I look forward to having this opportunity. It will be great being able to serve the sisters in an even greater form. I love the sisters here so much! I am excited to help them in any way that I can so yea that is pretty much what is going on with me this transfer. I will be an STL for the rest of my mission and train the new STL before I leave so I basically have the rest of my mission figured out. lol.

Like I mentioned earlier, this week was really good. We were able to help some of our members out this week. We went and heart attacked one of our members door and when we went to go visit her this week she was so thankful! She even put the things we made in her book that she was making and she saved them. It was so cute. We had a really good spiritual lesson with her too. We just shared some of our favorite scriptures with her and bore our testimonies and she was so grateful to us for doing that. She just cried and said how she needed that. Her husband isn't a member and he wasn't really the most friendly towards us before, but after we did that, because he had seen it and when we were leaving their house he saw us and was really friendly. He said hi and shook our hands and was really nice and asked if we were leaving or coming and when we said we were leaving he was kind of like oh okay and sounded a little disappointed. I’m telling you guys!!! It truly is the little things that we do each day that make a difference. We never know how our acts that we do will affect others around us. We didn't even think about her husband and his reaction we just wanted to do something sweet for our RS pres. and to let her know how awesome she is and how much we love her and I think that this softened his heart some. It was really cool!

Our next thing that happened was we went to go visit one of our less actives. It was really good that we visited her that day because she really needed it. She really opened up to us that day and told us a lot of problems that she was having. And so we were able to share a message of faith with her and helped her be able to feel that she isn't alone and that there are people who care about her. It made me think a lot about how much the Savior really does look after the one. Whether it’s the one Samaritan woman at the well, the one prodigal son who returned home or the one less active who felt alone and unwanted. No matter who someone may be, the one is always the most important to the Lord and he will do anything to go rescue that person and we should be willing as well to go help the one in need. I hope that we all look for opportunities for when we can help the one person that we see. We can all be a helping hand in someone’s life. I read a talk today that talked about how it isn't coincidence that we are living in the areas which we are living and where we grew up. We are here for a reason. There is a part that we play, no matter how big or small that part may be, it is a part nonetheless. I am thankful for the ways in which I have been able to be an instrument in the Lords hands. I have seen countless blessings from it and am so grateful for it! I have seen a lot of great things recently and have recognized that I am playing a part. Even being with my mini missionary has showed me how much I am helping. She has been a great example to me and I love her so much. She will be one that I contact and talk to a lot after my mission. I am grateful to have served with her. She has been a great companion and a great friend and it is funny that we have no language barrier. I communicate perfectly fine in Mongolian with her and it has been a great blessing to see that I was able to do that. In regards to the mission and the gospel there is no language barrier. I have truly seen that this transfer. She tells me all the time how much she is learning from me and the example I have been to her and I can't help but think that she has been a great help to me as well.

This is all I have time for this week and hope you have a great week! Remember the blessings! Until next week.

Sister Kerby

November 29th, 2016

Hello Family and Friends,

I hope you all had a good thanksgiving. This week was fairly good. We were able to meet with a couple of people. We have a new investigator that was a referral from the Stake President here and her name is Buynzaya. She is 26 years old, is married and has a son. She is really interested in learning about the church and so we have met with her about 3 times this week. She is great. The second time we met her we were teaching about the first vision and it was really funny because I was trying to relate it to her and so I asked her if she wanted to know the truth just like Joseph Smith and if she had the desire to ask God if this church really is true or not and she just straight up answers No! It took me by surprise because that usually isn't the answer I was expecting and I was just kind of like wait what. And I looked at my companion and was like did I ask that wrong and my companion said no you asked it right. Turns out she said no because she’s like I already feel that it is true. haha. So that was a neat experience. I’m not sure if she will be able to act on it though because she thinks a lot and is now having troubles because her religion before was shamanism and that was a family religion and this is like completely different and so she was just kind of having some internal struggle with that and now she is in the countryside so hopefully she comes back soon and we can meet with her and try to ease some of her worries. Our other investigator Bat-Erdene is doing well. He has been busy with a lot of work but on Dec 9th is when he said he will become free and we can meet with him then. I look forward to being able to teach him again because he is awesome! So yea that is about all regarding the work here. It’s going good overall and I’m enjoying this area still. :)

School is going good. I’m enjoying teaching but it’s been a little crazy this last week because I have had to be with a different companion each time because my wonderful teaching companion, Sister Nelson, got hit by a bus!! She was on an STL split and because its winter and roads are slippery. They were running to catch a bus and she slipped on some ice and the bus came and ran over her leg.... Don’t worry she is totally fine. A miracle for sure though! Her leg wasn't broken at all. Her leg should have been broken and her foot crushed but they took an x-ray and she only has a dent in her skin and her leg is just all bruised so she has to stay off her leg for 10 days! So I have just been companion floating for English. She is doing really good though and is a real trooper! I still can't believe that happened to her! Talk about getting one of those crazy mission stories! But yea she’s fine. :)

Nothing crazy has happened to me so don't worry. I only had an older man talk to me and tell me how he wanted to set me up on a date with his 26 year old son. haha. He said that he really wants me to meet him and go on a date... That was awkward and I just told him no sorry I can't do that. Other than that, not too much has happened. My mini missionary is doing good. We have had some fun together. So this is how a mini mission works for those who are curious: They are of mission age and they basically send in an application to the mission president. The mission president reviews it and then chooses the best one that will work with that companion. They are then set apart as a mini missionaries and stay with that companion until we no longer need them. So I only have a mini missionary for 3 weeks probably because transfers are on the 8th and new missionaries are coming. She is basically a real companion though and has to stay with me always. Mostly people are always wanting and willing to serve a mini mission. We just ask around the wards when we need one and then people apply. So yea that’s about it.

My companion actually just got back from Japan. She was there for 2 years studying and graduated in international relations. She is waiting for her own mission call right now and hopes to go to America after her mission she wants to go to BYU Provo so she is trying to do that. She is 21 years old and sometimes is more Japanese than Mongolian. haha. It’s been an interesting transfer for sure... lol.

During my personal study I have been studying patience, of course again, haha and I realize that having patience is basically waiting faithfully upon the Lord. It means trusting in him and his promises. The promise that one day we will receive all that we are waiting for, but as we wait for those promised blessings. It doesn't mean just sitting around letting life pass by. We are sent here to have joy. Out of all the things we are meant to do here on earth. The biggest one is to have joy and sometimes I think that we lose sight of that. Sometimes we let the worries of life get us down and we get upset or lose hope because of the smallest things that occur. But when we have patience we are letting go of our own wills and desires and giving it all to the Lord and having faith that His will is what needs to happen. So how can we align our will with His? For that is how we will truly find joy. If our wills are always differing, of course we will be upset when things don't work out, but if we learn to accept his will and his timing then we will find that joy that is promised to us in this life. Heavenly Father desires us to partake of it, we just have to be willing to accept it and part of that means humbling ourselves, being patient, having faith, and just trusting. Now I know better than anyone that patience is hard and can frankly suck at times because we have been raised in a world where we want everything when we want it and the way we want it. We are so used to being able to get things whenever and whatever we want and forget that this is not how the Lord works. For the Lord works our patience and our faith and this is why we experience certain trials in this life but it is so we may learn what the Lord wants us to learn. We forget that as we go through different things that most of the time the heavenly virtue of patience is required. But first take a step back, relax, and patiently wait and hold on to the faith that all will work together for our good. The promise of a bright tomorrow is ahead. Each day will be better and better if we choose to make it so.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week :)

Love, Sister Kerby

November 15, 2016

Hello Family and Friends,

So another good week has come and gone. I am sad to say that my companion leaves me in the morning which is why I am writing to you all today. For this week only my pday is on Monday so next week I will be back to Tuesdays. It’s just been crazy because Ariunzaya will be leaving tomorrow morning. She got her visa cleared. She has been called to the San Francisco, CA mission. So we did part of our pday today. I am truly thankful to have been able to serve with her these past couple of weeks, it has been fun and we have developed a good friendship. The mission really is a funny thing and honestly none of it has worked out like how I thought it would but it has worked out the way it needed to. I am so grateful to be here. I had a couple of neat experiences this week. On Saturday I was on an STL split with sister Lichtenberg (from my group) yea I know weird.. all of my group is getting in leadership positions... Sister Bollwinkel and Sister Nelson are companions and STLs for the other zone. It’s really cool seeing how far we have all come. But anyways so I was with sister Lichtenberg in my area and it was great! It was literally a perfect day. We met with every single person I had planned except for one but you know how the Lord works in mysterious ways? Yea this was one of those moments. So the one person who said they couldn't end up meeting with us, well, I had a backup plan and the backup was an investigator who I had met with once who I was a referral. The Baynzurkh church has an English class and I actually met her there one time and so I knew her. Anyways I had met with her once but then turned out she wasn't in my area so I passed her to the other sisters. The other sisters are our STLs and so when I was on the split I planned to show sister Lichtenberg where she lived and try to meet with her because since I passed her on a couple of months ago they haven't met with her once. They haven't been able to get a hold of her because her phone wasn't working, so me being me of course was persistent because I just love this woman so much so I remembered where her house was and showed sister Lichtenberg where she lived. When we got to her house she ended up being home and so we met with her! It was funny because she was like wow you remembered where I lived, you have good memory, and I was like yea. But seriously though that has been a huge blessing to me on my mission being able to remember like everything! haha. So we met with her and her adorable one year old little boy and shared the lesson with her. She remembered fairly well what I taught her last time and is still interested and wants to meet again. I asked about her husband and she’s not sure so I asked if the other sisters could come and explain to him about our church and she said okay so we will see what happens. It was just a great blessing that she was there and I’m glad that I didn't forget or give up on the other sisters meeting with her. So that was one blessing from this week. The other blessing is the investigator that I found when I first got here has been meeting with us more. We met with her at the beginning of this last week and I extended to her a baptismal date. So she will hopefully prepare for the 31st of December to be baptized. :) We had a great lesson with her the other day and it was cool to hear her pray at the end of the lesson. You could tell how different it was since we first met her. It was more sincere and it was just really cool to see the difference. She is changing little by little and I don't know if I recognized that as much before in someone so it was cool to be able to witness that. The work really is amazing. I have truly come to love Mongolia and the people. I love the area that I’m serving in. They make me happy. It’s just this cute little ward and the people are really great here. :) I’m trying to be the best missionary I can be for them. I have learned this transfer about how much the Savior loves each and every one of his children. He loves with such a pure love and there is no judgment in his eyes when he looks on others. It is just this pure love that is unconditional and unchanging and I am trying to learn to love in the Savior’s way. To not judge, to not think thoughts about others but to just love and see them for the way the Lord sees them. It is a true gift to be able to see that way and so I am working to develop that. The mission is a great place to learn so many things not only about how to do things but also things about yourself and areas in which you can improve and strengthen. It has been a great experience and it has gone by so fast!

Everything is going well here. Tonight I will be getting a mini missionary who I will have for the remainder of this transfer. School is going good. The students are learning although they really have no English so we are starting from the basics. I teach at the university MW 8:30 to 10:10 and then F from 10:00 to 1:30 so the hours are fairly good. It gets light here around 8 and then dark at like 5 or 6ish.

It has been neat to see the changes from when I first got here to now. It’s crazy to think that I have been over here in Mongolia a year on my mission. I am grateful for the time I have spent here. Despite it being freezing again I am staying rather warm :) I will probably get more socks and what not because it’s cold! haha. Other than that I am doing pretty good though. It truly is a great work and I love it. :)

Have a good week!

Love you,
Sister Kerby

October 25, 2016

Hello Family and Friends,

Gathering for Womens Geneal Conference

This week has been pretty good! Transfers come out tonight and so I will find out what will be happening for this next transfer soon. It is crazy to think that it has already been 9 weeks! This transfer went by so fast! I can't believe I have been with Sister Austin this long already. It’s been good though, I feel like we have been able to accomplish a lot and it has definitely been a growing opportunity for me! I have been able to learn a lot about who I am and who I want to be and I have learned about what it means to be a leader and how I totally agree with a talk given last general conference or a few general conferences ago where they said that the greatest leaders are the greatest followers for sometimes before we can lead we must follow. Jesus Christ truly is our greatest example in all things. He was the greatest follower and he became the greatest leader. He followed His Fathers will in all things and through his example we must follow him to become a leader. I thought a lot about the Saviors example and how one of His greatest attributes is Charity. I was thinking that this is an attribute that I want to strive better at developing because like how the Savior was a servant, I also desire to be a better servant. It’s not an easy thing. We just keep trying and little by little we are able to develop these. Not much really happened this week other than school and meeting with some great people :) we have had some good meetings and have found a couple of new investigators. Not for our area. haha but we found some investigators for some other missionaries :) but yea it’s been a good week and we are keeping busy while at the same time having fun and enjoying it :)

Earlier picture

So it was my companion’s birthday on Sunday and we went to a return missionaries house because he invited us over and he lives with his parents who are not members and so we met up with them and they fed us soooo much! and his mom is vegetarian. She had vegetables and fruit! It was so good and made me so happy :) haha. So yea it was her birthday so Saruul got her a frame with her last name written in Mongolian script! and he gave her this one bone game that he made which was really cool! then he comes back and he’s like I just had to get one for you too since you’re her companion so he gave me a frame with Kerby written in Mongolian script! so cool! and he gave me the
bone game as well. It was so sweet of him to do that! So yea that was really nice.

Then last Tuesday for pday we were with sister Kofoed and sister Wilcox and we decided to go to a museum and as we were trying to find it this guy approaches us and asks us if we need help. He speaks really good English and so we let him help us. He goes on to tell us that he is a fighter and famous nonetheless which we are just like sure you are... but after being with him awhile he takes us to this cool Buddhist museum with the Buddhist temples and shows us around and when we enter in, this lady looks at him and in Mongolian is saying how he looked so familiar and that she wasn't sure it was him at first and then she asks to take a picture with him! haha we were just like no way... so yea turns out he is famous and has been in a couple of Mongolian movies and owns a gym where he trains people how to fight. So yea that was pretty cool! So this famous guy spent about 3 hours with us giving a tour of the Buddhist museum which was supposed to close but the kept it open an hour later than usual for us. Then he took us another place which had a map of Mongolia and he basically told us the history of Mongolia, It was so fascinating and so much fun. haha

Today for pday we are going to this dance stadium place where they have traditional Mongolian dancing so we got permission to do that tonight! That should be fun. Wish I could send some pics but we all know what happens when I do that... haha.

Also, Bat Erdene one of our investigators who is awesome but works too much! I called him last week to see how he was doing and he said he was great. He said that his rest day might be Sunday and that if it was he would call us. So Sunday afternoon as we are heading out to church we get a call from him and he’s like hey today was my rest day so what time does church start so we told him when it started and he came! Our first investigator to come to church. it was a great feeling :) haha I know it’s nothing big but coming here to this area and literally having no investigators but being able to find people like this has been a great blessing and even though he is busy and works a lot, it is still cool that he will call us and come to church because he is that interested. You don't find people like that all the time so it was great.

School is still going great. We are using the BYU lessons that I helped create over the summer and they are working so well! The students enjoy them and they are so convenient to teach from its really great! Sister Austin doesn't use the BYU lessons because she is working at an English Lab so she basically just helps students with work they need to do and pronunciation and some conversational things so it’s really different from what I do. She enjoys it though. Most Mongolians if they have the opportunity do go to college. It’s kind of like America in that regard.

Picture from an earlier P day.

Regarding the weather... it is freezing! :( It’s officially winter and snowing. It’s cold but I survived it once and I hope to do it again :)


Well that’s about it for this week!

Love Sister Kerby

October 18, 2016

Mission Conference

Hello everyone,


Hope that everyone has been able to have a good week, if not then make sure you make this one better :) For anyone feeling stressed out or having a lot on their plate right now please take time to step back from it all and do something FUN! haha trust me it helps and makes things so much better. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in all the many things that we have to do but let’s be honest there will always be little things that we have to do or need to get done but remember to just slow down and enjoy the ride :)

So this week was pretty good. Not much to really report on. We have a lot of potential investigators that keep popping up. Sometimes they lead somewhere and other times they don’t, but that’s just missionary work. It’s exciting when it does lead somewhere though. It is actually a great opportunity being able to introduce the gospel to them for the first time so even if nothing happens, a seed is being planted and Heavenly Father was giving them a chance to be able to hear the gospel and then they had their agency and were able to choose whether or not to accept it. So yea I think a lot of seed planting has been happening this transfer which I am actually becoming okay with. That is more than some people get to do. We actually get to meet a lot of new people each day and to be even able to teach them the first lesson and introduce it is a great opportunity. Before I would get sad and disappointed whenever it didn't work out the way I wanted it to but even though I am sad about it, I don't get discouraged anymore. I just keep trying and wait for the time where it actually does work out and they are prepared to hear our message:) It truly is a great work!

Choir Practice for conference

So yea, we still haven't been able to meet with Bat Erdene. Most Mongolians work long days and they work every day. He is an electrical engineer. Not sure exactly what he does at his job each day. I just know that he is an engineer for some place. Most people I’m not quite sure why they work so much. I never really asked why the hours are so long. But they definitely work more than the 40 hours a week and sometimes their job is just far away so it takes travel time as well which is why we are like never able to meet.

I’m not sure why they stopped having us go to the secondary school to teach. We do have a couple of more classes but it’s basically the same. We are not teaching the teachers anymore. We are just teaching students. It’s been fun.

It’s getting colder here :( I pulled out my thick tights again and boots. Goodbye fall hello winter:( haha. But it’s not too bad I guess. I’m staying warm so that’s good :)

Well I hope that you have a good week!


Love, Sister Kerby

October 11. 2016

Hello Family and Friends,

Picture from a couple of P Days.
Kristin's SD Card got a virus so not
many other pictures from her anymore

Yet another week has come and gone. It was another good week and I am feeling a whole lot better this week. My cold is better and so is my stomach. For the most part I haven't eaten too much... Although the appointment we had last night was interesting. haha. We were visiting a potential investigator last night named Narandelger. It was an interesting but good lesson. Before we started she ended up going next door and grabbing some food from her mother who lives there to give to us. It was horse meat with potatoes and some flour thing. Horse meat is pretty good but then she told us to try this one part of it that she said was her favorite. After eating it I was like umm what was that? Because it tasted gross and was like dang, what did I just eat. haha. Apparently it was horse intestines... yay for that experience. My poor companion ate more of it then I did. hahaha. But she’s new and did fine :) don't worry I’m watching out for her. In fact after we left to get home it was dark and as we were walking a drunk man approached us and was messing with us. Probably the first time on my mission where I was seconds from punching someone but I didn’t. Just know we were okay and nothing happened that we couldn't handle. It happens and so I knew how to handle the situation. We were okay, and were being watched over. Then to make the night even better as we were walking home, we were walking under some trees and there were a lot of birds that were being loud and so I looked up and luckily I looked back down because I kid you not, seconds later I felt something wet hit my head... Yes. I got pooped on.... My night just kept getting better and better. But yea that was our adventure for this week.... haha. On the bright side we got a new investigator from that so that was awesome. I feel like we are finding these great people but they are so busy with work that it’s hard to meet with them. Like Bat-Erdene for example started work again and he is so busy and doesn't get home till like 9. But even though we may not meet with them a lot I do feel like we are planting a lot of seeds in this area and one day I do think something will come from that. He came from the countryside but not the far countryside. He is only about 3 hours from the city so it’s not too far so he luckily doesn't have one of those weird accents that I’ve come into contact with before. haha. I’m just trying to have a good attitude about it all and know that I’m doing my best and that it will all work out according to what the Lord has in mind. But Sister Austin and I are doing our best so that is what matters and we will and we have seen many blessings from it. Well everything else seems to be going good. Students are good and I love teaching them. I continue to work on having a positive attitude and most importantly not think about myself but to really look beyond the mirror and see those around me. I think I have been so focused on my problems and different things that are going on that I’m only looking at myself but I have been able to see other sisters having a hard time and so I have reached out to them and it makes me feel so much better. It is so important to look beyond yourself and to focus on others. That is where we can find true happiness, being in the service of our fellow brothers and sisters. I have found that I am so much happier when I’m helping someone else and so I am trying to do more of that and look for more opportunities for how I can do so. But yea it’s been a good week.

I invite you to reach out to those around you this week and to see opportunities for where you can help someone in need. Even if it’s in the smallest way. Serve each other. Serve a neighbor; Serve a spouse a sibling, a friend, a coworker. Look for a way you can help someone else and I promise it will make your day better. There is nothing like looking beyond the mirror and seeing someone in need and going to their aid.

Love you,
Sister Kerby

      Example of what the virus has done to 

                    Kristin's pictures :o(

October 4, 2016

Hello,

Our P Day spent at the Genghis Khan Monument

This week was truly a blessing, we have a new investigator who is truly awesome and has been prepared by the lord. He was a referral from some other sisters who told us he had come to church that week and then wanted to meet with the missionaries. Ended up he was in our area and so the sisters gave him to us. His name is Bat-Erdene. He is 21 years old and is in the city for work now. He told me how he used to go to church when he was little and went for about 5 years and wanted to get baptized but because he was young he needed permission and his parents wouldn't give it. So now he is grown up in the city now (was from the country) and is working and wants to become a member. We have met with him two times and just finished teaching the first lesson this past time. During the last lesson, at the end, I extended to him the baptismal invitation which he has accepted :) The spirit was really strong during that lesson and it just felt right. So I said it and he said yes :) We are planning to help him work towards baptism for the 20th of November. We have had such great lessons with him and I am truly excited for him to continue to progress like he is! We are meeting with him tonight and will teach him the plan of salvation so that will be another great lesson. The Lord truly does work in his own timetable and I am slowly beginning to understand what that means. We need to learn to accept his own timetable and stop working according to our own desires of when we want things to happen. The Lord will do it His way and His time and in the end it will turn out to be the best way possible. Sometimes it is easy to forget that, but the Lord is definitely helping me learn this lesson this transfer. We have also been able to meet with our new members and less actives this week and it has been a good week. They are doing well and I am truly coming to love them.

 P Day

This mission really has been a huge blessing for me and has changed my life. Even though that may sound cliché and most missionaries say that but it is true. I wouldn't be able to be where I am today if it wasn't for this mission. Maybe I would have been able to get here but definitely not as soon as I did by being here. The lord has strengthened me and shaped me into a better person. The mission is definitely worth going through all the difficult times but I guess that the same can be said for life as well. Life is hard no question about it, but in the end it is worth it. We will be blessed beyond our understanding as we continue on this path. And despite the hard times we face we will be able to find strength in the Lord. He will help us overcome any struggle that we face. I have gained a strong testimony of that! I am happy to have been able to serve here. I have gained a stronger testimony and have come to love the culture and people here and they help make all these hard times worth it. We will always have good days and bad days, they just come with life but those bad days just make the good days we have so much better! But it’s also how you decide to deal with those bad days that make the difference as well. How we choose to react in the circumstances we have been given can either make or break us. The easiest and best choice will always be to react with a positive attitude which of course is easier said than done but it is also in the end, the best and easiest way. Because if we have a good attitude then we can get through those hard days and if we look for the blessings in life then in the end we will be so much happier. And eventually things will be better but until that time in order to be happy we must choose it. We have a choice. We can choose to be happy. And then remember that it’s in the Lords hands. This whole plan that was created for us and the whole reason we are here, all began with a choice. The fact we have the fullness of the gospel on the earth today began with a choice by a young man who chose to pray. The choices we make affect future generations. Our choices affect our families and those around us. So choose this day to be happy. That is my goal for these coming weeks and encourage
you all to make similar goals. :)

I started school and its going great! The students are awesome this year and so it will be a good year teaching wise. I enjoy it and look forward to seeing my students. With Sister Nelson and I understanding Mongolian now we are able to understand our students better. They know we understand but we won't really speak to them in Mongolian because in order for them to learn English they need to speak it all the time so if they get used to us translating in Mongolian it won’t help them as much so we decided not to speak it.

I hope that you have a good week! Love you all and until next week!

Love Sister Kerby

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

August 29, 2016

Hello,

Well transfers happened. I was very surprised to hear what happened, I wasn't expecting it. So.... I’M

TRAINING! haha yaaay.... and I am WHITE WASHING! yaaay.... haha. So I have a new companion and a new area which I have never even seen. I am serving in American Denj now and I am also in a new zone. I have always been in the east zone but now I’m in the west zone. So I don't really know this area too well but it’s alright. We are surviving and doing well. Actually it has been great! Sister Austin is my new companion and she is really nice. She is from Utah... and is 19 years old. We kind of have the same sense of humor so it will be fun. She is nice and I look forward to getting to know her better. Being in American Denj, we are also now in charge of the Long Distance Branch so the elders and us hold the sacrament meeting for them and call them each week to see if they can sit in the sacrament meeting or not. This is all done through the phones so it is fun getting it all together! I’m excited to help out with that. Sunday was good, we were able to meet the members and get to know the ward better. We went to the ward council because they invited us to it so we were able to

get to know the leadership which was nice. Then we had actual church and it went well. We actually got a couple of new investigators that came to church for the first time and said they might be interested and so we will meet them this week and see. But something really cool happened last night. So Sunday night I was calling people and trying to meet with them. I went on a split with sister Nelson for about an hour and a half so she could kind of show me the area on Friday and so from that I knew where like 3 people lived so Sunday night I tried calling those people but of course they didn't pick up so I decided to call other people. One of our investigators with a baptismal date picked up and said that she was "cleaning nuts" haha but that we could come over. I had no idea where this lady lived but I looked at the teaching record and saw the "address" and so I was able to find a bus to take us up there but I had no idea where to get off and so I was asking everyone and so from that I was able to find the bus stop that I needed to get off at. When we got off I had no idea where to go so I called our investigator and her husband picked up and I asked him if he could meet us at the bus stop and he asked if a Mongolian person was there to talk to and I’m just like nope. And so he’s like okay I’m leaving now. When we met him the first thing he asked was like why do you have so many switches? He didn't understand why new missionaries would come. He’s like you are like the third ones that we have had so I tried explaining that it happens every 6 weeks and that we are just called to serve in different areas sometimes. I asked him if he was a member but he’s like no. I’m Buddhist and then started talking about how he knew about Christ and the cross and that he has read the bible some and talked about Adam and Eve and Eve being created by Adams rib and how they ate the fruit because they were tempted by Satan and that kind of thing but that’s about all he knew. But he said his daughters and wife have freedom and agency to take the lessons if they want to. He said it didn't matter; he wants them to take them. Then we finally got to their house and they were literally cleaning nuts like they said. The husband used to be in construction but work stopped and so he hasn't been able to get new work so he has been going up to the mountain and getting pine nuts from the trees and then he brings them down and they clean

them and take all the dirt of and wood pieces from the tree that came off because they sell for more money so I offered to help them clean and they were really happy about that so we helped them clean nuts and I just talked to them and got to know them. They have 4 daughters and then she is pregnant with a son who is due in December. She has been an investigator for 3 years and she heard about the church because her husband’s sister ended up being a member and actually most of his family is. She liked that it was a family centered church and the husband made a comment and was like I’m Buddhist but my family can believe in Christ and he’s like Bolno te? Which is like that’s okay right? That’s allowed right? And so I told him its allowed but just like his wife said we are a family church and I told him it would be so much better if they were all members. The wife knew we had to be home at a certain time and so after about 30 minutes of talking and serving them we had to leave but it was great getting to know them and just helping out. We prepared a scrip but I felt like we shouldn't share it. I just wanted to get to know them. and before we left she told us come back tomorrow or the next day and we will have a cool lesson and we will get to know you better and hear your lesson and the family will sit. I then looked at the husband and was like will you all sit including you and he said okay! He then took us down to the bus stop and we were talking again. And this is where the true blessing happened. As we were talking he was saying how he wants his daughters to be members and to serve missions. He said this is such a nice church and everyone is always so happy and full of joy and nice and he wants his kids to have this. He said we don't smoke and we don't drink. It’s a good church but it’s hard for him. I told him that it would be much better if he was a member with them and that he could bless his family by doing so. I said that he could be an example for them and show them the right way. Before we left I asked him about his wife. She has been getting the lessons right and he said yes. Then I asked if he ever sat in the lessons and he said no. He said he would go outside and smoke. I then told him that this gospel is such a blessing and I asked him if he would take the lessons and if he would sit in with his wife and hear them. He said he doesn't know, he has work and what not. So I asked if he is home will he just sit, listen and see and find out for himself what we have to offer. AND HE SAID YES :) It was so awesome! It was seriously the best night ever! I understood everything they said and they understood me. They said I speak Mongolian really well and were impressed and so it was a huge blessing. Heavenly Father was helping me that night. This guy is ready to hear this message. I can just feel it! I hope he will be there next time! It was a great experience and gave me the confidence I needed. I felt like I can do this! I love them so much already! I have been praying to love this ward and I already do! Love is the key to everything. It is the driving force that leads to action. When we love others we want the best for them and will do anything for them. We do things that we don't normally do so that we can help them. The work is GREAT!

I hope you all have a good week! Love ya! Enjoy the pics :)

Sister K

My Old District

Genghis Khan Memorial

August 22, 2016

Hello Everyone,

Picture for Zone Conference

Well it has been a great week! Transfers are actually going to be this week so I will let you know next Monday what happens! I have a feeling that I will finally be leaving Han-Uul area but honestly who knows. haha. I could be here for the next 9 weeks. It’s going to be winter soon. It is already starting to get colder and I think it will start to be winter really soon which makes me a little sad but oh well! It was nice having the sun for a little while at least! But yea like I said it was a good week! Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with Dulguun. He was busy with work, we really aren't sure what to do about him other than just keep trying to meet with him and then hopefully one day he will realize how important this is. As for Enkhbaatar's family they came to church again this Sunday so it was good to see them! The work is going alright right now. I don't really have much to say. My companion got sick so we weren't able to do a whole lot. So this letter might be short. I need to start keeping track of things that happen so i can tell you more things. The lady who we helped with the water has been really busy so right now she isn't too interested. I think once winter hits there will be a lot more people able to meet with us. Right now everyone is in the countryside or at their summer house.

I was reading President Monson’s talk and I love the poem which talked about the man who had a candle and how he came across another man whose candle was out and so he gave him some of his light. Then when times got hard and trials came this man’s way, his light burned out but then came this same man who had given him of his light and he was able to restore his candle to its burning flame. We too must always be prepared to light another’s candle whose light has gone out. We must be doing all that we need to do for when those times come, we will be ready to share what we have. Whether it is our smile, our time, our service, whatever we need to give in order to reignite that flame that burned out. As we do this, our light will continue to shine and continue to burn before those around us and they will see it.

I won't send pictures unless there is time to go to another internet place because the one we are at won’t read my drive. Anyways, you will be sad I didn't send pictures because today I got some really cool pics! My companion and I went to the huge Chiingis Khan statue which is in Nalaikh, the closest we can get to what the countryside is and guess what we did before we went to this giant statue!!!! I also got to hold a golden eagle, an eagle owl, and a vulture, and I got to sit on a camel!!!! It was so awesome! It didn't even cost that much because I can speak Mongolian and was just talking to the guy that owns them and he was impressed that I spoke so well and so he only made me pay 4000 toigrogs which is about 2 dollars in American money! It was so nice of him. It seriously made my day! It was the best pday I’ve had by far! When I go back and you guys come with me, I will take you there. What was even cooler was this guy believed in God and went to a different church and so we asked him if he would be interested in hearing about our church and sitting in a lesson and he said yes! So we passed him to the Nalaikh elders to meet with. It was a good and fun pday :) Hopefully if not today, I will send you the pics next week :)) This was just a reminder to me that there are little moments that we can always take an advantage to share the gospel because you never know who is interested! We just need to open our mouths and invite.

Have a good week!

Picture Taken at the Beginning of Spring

Another Picture Taken Earlier

Sister Kerby