Mongolian Sweat And Spit!

Hello friends!


This week has been awesome. We have had some real spiritual experiences with our investigators, specifically our investigator Sainsanaa. She is quite a pill when we teach her. She gets distracted easily and will answer questions with basic answers because she is bored. Last Friday, we got to teach her about temples, and as I shared a really spiritual experience in the temple, I felt the spirit really strongly. The grandmother of Sainsanaa and Sainsanaa both talked about how they felt the spirit.


The experience I shared was an experience I had in the Provo City Center Temple. I took a really recent family name to the temple. As I was sitting in the endowment room, I felt a really cold hand touch my arm. I looked around and found no one. I even checked to see if I was sitting under a weird blast of AC. I was not. I looked down at the name card I was holding, and the Holy Ghost touched my heart. I know that cold hand was Lisa C. Muntz.


We were visited by Elder Soares twice this week! He first spoke to all the missionaries on Saturday about joy and having joy despite our situations. It reminded me of something an elder in our MTC District said: "Joy is not situational; it's a choice." It was awesome! We got to shake his hand, and he asked us where we were from. We also got to get a huge group photo with him. The second time he was talking to all the Mongolian members in the city! He talked a lot about the temple that is going to be built here and how the covenants we make in the temple help bind us to Jesus Christ.


Now for the title of my email. The last few days have been getting pretty hot! With a high today (Tuesday the 21st) of 30°C or 86°F. With all the weather being so nice, all of the ice cream booths are opening up, and everyone is sweating with the heat. The buses are getting overcrowded with sweaty people, which is just plain gross. Sister Kartchner and I were walking along the road next to our house, right behind two other foreigners. We were playing our usual game by trying to guess which country they were from based on how they walked and how they dressed. All of a sudden, we passed a woman, and I heard a spitting noise, and my arm suddenly got a lot more wet. I turned around to see the woman walking and giving me the biggest glare. I guess she did not like my outfit or something.


I also got my Mongolian name! Your Mongolian name is kind of like a call sign or a sign language name. It is supposed to be special. Mine is an older name and is associated with the countryside more. My name is Долгормаа (Doth-gur-maa). The lady who gave it to me is in our ward and really likes to have the missionaries over for member meals.


Anyways, this week has been pretty cool, and I am so close to the end of my first transfer here in Mongolia. Only two more weeks! I have a feeling that I am going to stay in Selbe (my area), but who knows, maybe I will get sent out to the beautiful countryside.


With love,
Sister Vestel





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