Hi Everyone,
I'm so excited that it is P-day! I'm not allowed to write letters or emails on any other day. The first week has been a crazy roller coaster. First day I was on the verge of tears all day. Thursday and Friday were better because I was getting to know my sisters better. There is six sisters now and seven elders. The most sisters they've had going to Mongolia has been three. So we shattered that record out of the water. The first couple of days I wasn't really talkative but I decided that three months of being quiet was going to really stink so I decided to say whatever came to mind. On Friday, I had started to talk alot more but the ice breaker was my awesome movie quoting skills. I don't know how we got on this subject but Sister Turner (from Washington, an only child, adopted, and of polynesion ancestry who loves to laugh at everything, and never stops smiling and who is not my companion) was quoting one of her favorite lines from "She's the Man" and then I told her my favorite one, "Suck it up and be a Man!" Well, after I did that all of the Sisters burst out laughing. I still have the skills.
Saturday was the hardest day because there was so much classroom time where we learned Mongolian and our brains were starting to overload. After the afternoon class, our Mongolian group or district, went to dinner. I guess girls relieve their stress differently but we were laughing at everything and anything. It was awesome! And then you look at the other end of the table and the Elders all had a "I can't learn Mongolian, and I'm so depressed" face. The sisters all laughed about that too.
Sunday and p-day will probably become one of my favorite days because there is no class and on Sunday there is alot of spiritual activities like a fireside, church, district meetings, studying, etc. It was a great stress reliever. But over the first three days I was still thinking about my lack of teaching ability and my knowledge of the gospel. But my prayer was answered on Tuesday at the Devotional. A former 70s member spoke about missionary work and testimonies. It finally dawned on me that all we need is a testimony to preach the gospel. A testimony will bring the Spirit and the Spirit does the converting. The rest of teaching requires practice and study which I will have three months to do.
On Tuesday, me and my companion, Sister Adams (from Beaver, Utah; went to Utah State and is studying Economics; I'm about a foot taller than her; long brown hair) taught a short lesson to one of our Mongolian teachers, Brother Cannon. He told us that we will have to teach differently than we would a Catholic. The Mongolians know nothing about Christ and Buddha is their God. So we have to teach a primary-like lesson and define alot of words like Atonement, Prophet, Priesthood, Apostle. It went pretty well and I wasn't nervous which is a first but I stumbled over my words and cried when I read the First Vision in our lesson. I hope those tears come in handy when I teach to the Mongolians because it seems that I won't break the habit of crying everytime a say something spiritual.
Learning Mongolian has been hard but it amazing to see the Lord's hand in the work. My second day we learned the alphabet and by Sunday we could sound out words even though it would take longer. But after a week, we could sound out words faster and bear our testimonies in Mongolian. Next Friday, we're going to teach the first lesson in Mongolian. The Lord will have to show some miracles because that will be tough.
Yesterday we went to the RC where people call in about the commercials on TV and we ship them DVDs and Book of Mormons. Yesterday we made outgoing calls where we make sure people get their shipment. That was pretty frustrating because some people got angry at me because we kept calling or they weren't interested. We are asked by the MTC to try and bear our testimonies to them but I couldn't think on my feet on what to say next. It was quite frustrating and I still hate being that way.
(Mom my watch broke, I think it was one of the links, so I will ship it back to you and the other links that were taken off are in the envelope I gave you.)
Love you all,
Sister Amber Sumsion
(D&C 128:22)-The adventures of Sister Sumsion in Colorado; the new Mongolia!
"Happy Birthday"
Trip to temple
First baptism
First Baptism
Giant Valentines from Family
My new comp: Sister Hamilton
ABOUT BLOG
My mom will be posting all of my weekly emails and pictures I send home. If you have any stories from my letters I send to you, please email her (lsumsion@gmail.com) and she can post it. I would love for everyone to experience or at least see through my eyes what a mission is like. I am very excited to serve the Lord and the people of Colorado and I want to get letters from all of you;)
Mailing Address
My mission address
until Jan 2011
Sister Amber Sumsion
Colorado Springs Mission
4090 Center Park Dr.
Colorado Springs, CO 80916
until Jan 2011
Sister Amber Sumsion
Colorado Springs Mission
4090 Center Park Dr.
Colorado Springs, CO 80916
Fun Facts about Mongolia
* Mongolians never put their books on the floor because it contains knowledge and they respect it.
* The church has found all twelve tribes in Mongolia, at least one from each tribe. It seems their blood was mixed up when Kengis Khan took over almost the whole world.
* The Mongolians LOVE free things. When they were ruled by the Soviets, they were given everything so they are use to it. My teacher said that they have to carry a ton of referall cards around because if they give it out to one person, everyone will want one. He said that he'll be talking to someone on the bus and give them a referall card. Someone will notice and they sneak a look at the missionaries and talk among themselves. Then they'll come up to him and ask for a card. And he can't just give a card to the parents but every person in the family has to get one. Some people will ask, "Can I have one for my kid?" and my teacher would think, "He's a 6-month old baby?! Why would he need a card?" but he would give him one anyway. Most of the time they don't read them but it makes it easier to give away. They don't like to give BofMs out in public because everyone would want one and most people wouldn't read it.
* The church has found all twelve tribes in Mongolia, at least one from each tribe. It seems their blood was mixed up when Kengis Khan took over almost the whole world.
* The Mongolians LOVE free things. When they were ruled by the Soviets, they were given everything so they are use to it. My teacher said that they have to carry a ton of referall cards around because if they give it out to one person, everyone will want one. He said that he'll be talking to someone on the bus and give them a referall card. Someone will notice and they sneak a look at the missionaries and talk among themselves. Then they'll come up to him and ask for a card. And he can't just give a card to the parents but every person in the family has to get one. Some people will ask, "Can I have one for my kid?" and my teacher would think, "He's a 6-month old baby?! Why would he need a card?" but he would give him one anyway. Most of the time they don't read them but it makes it easier to give away. They don't like to give BofMs out in public because everyone would want one and most people wouldn't read it.