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