Whiteboard Erasers

Hi all!

I am so glad to be able to email you this week! I really needed a break from Mongolian learning. This week marks seven out of the ten weeks here at the MTC, which means that hopefully (depending on when we get our visas) we will be headed to Mongolia in three weeks!

I am really excited to get there and have more things to write about in my emails, but I am also extremely nervous. The language is hard, and I really don't feel ready. On top of all those emotions, my district just found out that there is a really helpful grammar book on our Google Drives that the teachers forgot to mention. So for the last seven weeks, we have been trying to get the grammar structure of Mongolia down on our own. Yay (with sarcasm).

Anyways, here is a short recap of this week. The next/new Mongolian district arrived on Wednesday, and we have been getting to know them. They have ten Elders and three sisters. Those poor sisters... Anyways, we all got to introduce ourselves to the younger district in Mongolian, which was really cool. Kind of a confidence boost when you know only a little Mongolian but they think you are fluent. I gave a very brief testimony and, well, it was a confidence boost I needed.

Well, that was basically it, it was a basic week. Here is a spiritual experience that happened this week.

On Thursday around 9:30, I went into my room to journal, and it was really noisy. So, in a little bit of a passive-aggressive manner, I went outside to the hall to journal. Usually, there are tables near vending machines where people journal; however, the Tahitian sisters were all sitting and talking around the tables. So, I went to sit on the ground near a random closet. (Sorry for the bad descriptions; it will make sense in a second). So as I am journaling, I think about how stressful the language is and how bad I am at learning the language. I was just incredibly frustrated with my brain and how slow it was with all of the words. Anyways, I was thinking about getting a priesthood blessing and all of a sudden I had this immense sense of peace wash over me. It was as if all of my fear, frustration, and anxieties about this language were drawn on a whiteboard and all of a sudden someone took a whiteboard eraser and swiped it down the middle. The sense of peace started in my core and then filled my entire body. I looked up to think about what had happened (I usually look at the ceiling when I think) and on the wall right in front of me was hanging a picture of the First Vision, when Joseph Smith first saw God the Father and Jesus Christ.

I stared at the painting for a good 15 minutes and looked at the expression on Joseph's face. He was scared. I know, although it is different, Joseph Smith felt the same anxieties that I am feeling now. For me, it is about learning a foreign language, and for him, it was about which church was true. I know Joseph Smith was real and I know that he is a true prophet of God. He was chosen for the work he did, and I am chosen for this work. I might not be ready to speak the language just yet, but I am ready to share the gospel with those who will listen. I know that God not only loves us but he knows us. I know that he knew my weird little thinking quirk and he knew what message I needed that night. I know God lives and that his Son, Jesus Christ, was sent to die for our sins. Through Christ, we have the ability to live with our families forever and we have the ability to live with God again. In this, I bear my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.