Week 6 The Lord's Hand

 

Hmm... Do I really want to get my Mongolia drivers license?

We had our first Come Follow Me/Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults.  We had a few show up and the Spirit of the meeting was great.  We were mostly understood, and we had one of them

asked to translate for us.  Fortunately, many of them speak pretty good English.  We had a good discussion about the Savior's visit to the America's and how after he spoke with them he asked them to ponder and pray about the things he had taught.  They were inspiring.  We played a get to know you game that was enlightening.  The "Gathering Place" where our meetings are held is great and has created a space where the YSA can come to feel the Spirit and hang out together. 

We attended a couple of baptism's this week.  The young man is Tuguldur.  He is amazing and has a wonderful spirit about him.  The young lady is Indra.  She recently moved to Ulaanbaatar and is studying music.  She has an amazing voice.  She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.

We had the opportunity to meet with the Corporal of the traffic police in the city.  He asked us to come and teach English to his officers and some of their family members.  It was an amazing meeting. The teachers that live the closest were definitely the right set.  Once the Corporal found out that one of the teachers spoke Mongolian, the mood of the meeting changed and the older teacher of the two had him smiling.  The first lesson was a success.  The photo was taken after about half of the class left for the evening.

The days and especially the evenings are getting pretty difficult to take.  The air quality has deteriorated considerably.  They have told us that it's usually February before it clears up.  The city is heated primarily by coal and all of the surrounding Ger districts burn coal as well.  Being surrounded by the mountains it creates quite the inversion for most of the winter.  You can kind of see the smog in the blue light.  Carrie thought the N95 mask was in her past, but no, here we go again.

The District challenge this week and the theme of our post was to write down experiences and other ways where we have seen the Lord's hand every day.  It really wasn't very hard when you just pause and consider how blessed we are.  It would be a good exercise for us all to do often.  It's pretty clear that we are never alone as we look for ways to serve all of God's children.

Thank you, Phoebe Greene for the Coloring 101 course.  It seemed to work out the first time around.  It's all downhill from here.  I guess you do what you have to do when you're 6334 miles (10194 km) from home.

We are loving this experience and continue to learn from the Mongolian people.  We were walking to the office the other morning and followed a couple little boys.  It was around 15° F, with the wind chill below that.  They were dressed in their school uniforms.  They were obviously brothers and the older, probably about 10, had the younger brother, probably about 6, by the hand.  As we came to the crosswalk and were waiting to cross one of the busiest intersections in the city, the older brother placed his hands over the little brother's ears to warm them before they continued. We see the simple acts of Christlike love everywhere we go.  It's apparent that this is very much like the Savior, as he takes us by the hand daily and warms our hearts as we trod the busy roads of life.

Have a great week as you look for HIS hand in YOUR life daily.

Khairtai shuu,