Half Way Through the MTC!

Hi everybody!

This week has been great! We started our English teaching training. In Mongolia, in order to obtain a visa, the missionaries have to teach english 12 hours a week. So this week we got about four hours of training and observed some of the ESL classes. The teacher in the class then assigned us a topic to teach the class. In the class we are in, (me, my companion and two other sisters) there were four Elders, one from Chile, one from the Marshal Islands, one from Honduras and one from Mainland China. So the Elders got a lot of one on one time practicing with us. I was paired up with the Chinese Elder and I asked about him how he joined the church. He said, in is very broken English, that a cousin introduced him to the church and he travelled to Hong Kong to be baptized. He has been a member for two years and his parents are not members. There are 10 people that are members in a small southern town in China. I was amazed that there are any members in China. He said that they don't have any church buildings but they meet at someone's house to have sacrament. Someday that mission will open up and it will be amazing! He is going to England on his mission. We taught the elders this week how to bear their testimonies in English and it was a great experience. I'm excited to teach English in Mongolia.
So this week at the RC our district set a goal to get 7 referrals, so to send missionaries to someone's house. Usually we have a hard time getting people to pick up there phones and we usually just get answering machines. But today we had a ton of inbound calls! When we got to the RC, the teacher who helps us out told us to hurry and get on the phone because inbound calls were coming in like crazy! Almost everyone calling was wanting a free Bible, so some of our Bible commercials must of been playing. After an 1 1/2 we had 41 referrals!! I don't know how we did it but it was a wonderful experience. I think we have become bolder in what we say and in bearing our testimonies of the church to people.
I talked to one lady who called in for a bible. After getting her information I asked her what prompted her to get a bible. Usually they just say, "I say the commercial and I need a new one." But this 50 year old lady said that her grandmother had died two years ago and it had really humbled her. She was now going back to God. Before I finish the story, I had told myself that I would ask or say anything that popped into my head because I always had a hard time thinking of things to say that's why I think I'm shy. So the first thought that popped into my head was to ask her if she misses her Grandma. I was a little afraid of asking that question because it sounds nosy but I asked it anyway. The lady said that she missed her grandmother so much and that she was really close to her. It was really hard on her to lose her grandma. I then testified to her how we believe that families can be together forever after death. I then asked her how that would make her feel if that was possible. She said that that would be wonderful! She loved her grandma and would love to see her again and live with her forever. I then mentioned the BofM and how it testifies of Jesus Christ and how it is companions with the Bible. I asked her if she would be interested. She said that she would love to learn more about different religions. I told her that missionaries in her area can come drop the Bible off, give her a Book of Mormon and tell her all about how families can be together forever. She seemed really excited and appriecative about it. It was wonderful to have that experience and to learn more about how to ask good questions and to listen to the promptings of the spirit. But I also talked to some really nice people who were really religious and seemed like they would be golden contacts but they weren't interested at the time. They told me that they could be interested in a few months.
Some funny translations from Mongolian is sugar. If it is directly translated from Monglian it means "Sandy Candy". If box is directly translated from Monglian it means "Love time". That made sense to us missionaries because we love our packages!
We had a great experience teaching at the TRC this week. We had so many volunteers that they had to pair up. I taught the girl I met at the capital when I went up there to help the Mongolian deligation. At one point I said in Mongolian, "We do remember the pre-mortal life." They played around with us and said "You remember the pre-mortal life because we don't." I then realized my mistake and corrected how I conjucated the verb. It was quite funny. But they asked a lot of questions and made it seem really real.
Sister Marta just graduated and is no longer teaching us. Sad day!
The church is true!

Sister Sumsion