Vestel, Abigail T

Hello friends and family, Welcome to Sister Vestel's last email. New things: I am now in Darkhan serving with Sister Bean on a week-long exchange. I am not going to go into details about what happened. Just know I'm here and I'm proud to be here. I absolutely adore Sister Bean, and am loving our last few days serving and meeting with members. I am really sunburnt. I got a lot of sun this past Saturday, so I am treating my burns with lotion. Yayyyyyy! Last email thoughts: I love all of you so much! And I love my mission so much. I am so happy that I was called to be here. My mission has definitely been a hard one. That's the truth. But I have made amazing friends that have supported me through my trials. I feel as though God has prepared the path that I need in order to be His messenger is not one that I would have made for myself. But I needed to grow. I needed to be uncomfortable. I am excited to start my life after the mission, and hope that I will be able to look bac...

Hello Everyone! This is my second to last email and I feel so weird about it. I don't think it really set in until now that I'm going to be leaving this beautiful place. I have made a ton of friends that I'm sad to leave, not to mention the amount of places I want to see. However, with 10 days left, I am starting to pack up my suitcase and am looking forward to seeing my family again. This past week, as the title suggests, was Nadam. The more dedicated of my readers might remember my second and third transfers last year when I talked about Nadam.  This celebration is basically all of Mongolian tradition, sports, and four in a two week period, with two days being the most concentrated for celebrations. For missionaries, these two weeks can be daunting because we don't have any member meetings or teaching lessons with investigators. However, our Mission President really encouraged us to enjoy Nadam! So we got to see so many awesome things at our local sports center. We sa...

Hello Everyone, this week we had zone conference, so I thought the title was appropriate. We left for Darkhan on Sunday and had our interviews with our Mission president Sunday night! It was so awesome. Definitely my best president interview yet! We stayed over with our STLs and then had Zone conference the next day. This was my last zone conference, so I was able to bear my testimony in front of everyone in my zone. I wish I could have spoken more completely or more eloquently, but I think my message came through clear enough. I was also so lucky to hear from three of the other sisters who are leaving with me. After zone conference, we drove to Erdenet and crashed with the sisters there, and on Tuesday we finally made it home. Today is the start of the summer festival here in Murun and all over Mongolia! Everyone gets dressed up in their traditional clothes, goes to events such as horseracing and archery, and we are lucky enough to join the crowds. That's all for now, I love you a...

Jacob 3:1 "But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction." It's been a hard week. The work for my companion and I was slower this week. A lot of people are on vacation, and so we have not had a lot of meetings. However, we have had some fun. On Monday, our ward had an activity. Sister Horne and I thought we would not be able to go since we had an English class; however, after some peer pressure from our Branch President, we posted a sticky note on the door of our church saying English class was canceled. We went with the ward, and we made a fire pit and cooked Kharkhug (I have no idea how to spell it, sorry ). It was awesome! Kharkhug is like a beef stew with potatoes and carrots! This stew also has large rocks in it. These rocks help the stew ...

Hello Everyone! This week's email will be short. Almost all of our investigators are on vacation in the countryside. But wait, "Sister Vestel, aren't you in the countryside?" Yes, yes I am, but even the countryside areas have a "countryside" to run away to for an impromptu vacation. Or sometimes just to avoid the missionaries. So this week was very contact-heavy. We called almost all of our grey dots and have sorted them out. That's all for this week! I am at 31 days till I'm officially off as a missionary. I love you all! Have a good week! Love, Sister Vestel

Hello Everyone! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and summer is in full swing here in Murun. Oops, I guess I ruined the surprise. For my last transfer, I am staying in Murun with my companion Sister Horne! Exactly what I wanted. I'm careful about saying what I want or what I think will happen for transfers—mostly for my own self-preservation, but also to not set up expectations. But last transfer, I flat out told Sister Horne that my last transfer dream would be to stay together in Murun. She, of course, said the same thing. We have grown so close together, and we honestly work so well together. Not to mention we have so much in common with all the places we have lived, our music tastes, and our general views on gospel principles. Anyways, I'm getting on a rant  This week was awesome! We had such an eventful few days over the transfer day and the travel day. One day we texted over 40 grey dots for contacting, and three people texted back that they were intereste...

Hello Everyone, This week's email is going to be short. This week was slower. All of our investigators have exams this week, so we are getting creative with our address checking. We met with a couple members this week, including a less active church member named Sister Tuyatsetseg. She is a cook for an eye hospital. She was so happy to see us. We shared a little video with her and explained how following the prophets is important. She has such a deep understanding of the gospel. We asked if she had any questions, and she asked what it meant to "think celestial," which was an invitation given to everyone by President Nelson. It was so cool to talk to her about how we prepare now to live with God. This week's spiritual thought can be found on my Facebook page. It was about 2 Nephi 2:5–8. Go read it. That was about all this week. We are getting ready for transfers. We find out the news tomorrow and leave on Thursday.

Hello good people of Earth. How is everything going? Is everyone ready to hear about the adventures of Sister Vestel? Great. This past week we had zone conference. Wednesday – Rode in two separate taxis for a total of 9 hours to get to Darkhan. It was quite awesome! Thursday – Sister Horne and I had such an amazing exchange with our STLs (Sister Bean and Taylor). Sister Bean and I walked a total of 14,000 steps address checking in Darkhan. I absolutely love her. Being around her always reminds me of what I need to strive for in life. We ended up finding some root beer extract in their apartment and making root beer. Friday – AWESOME ZONE CONFERENCE. It was President Namgur’s last zone conference with us. But we had awesome talks about diligence, teaching with pictures, and a new set-up for first lessons! It was also so awesome to see my MTC group. Saturday – Travel back to Murun and doing a lot of contacting. Sunday – Children's Day. Celebrated here in Mongolia, Children's Day ...

Hello Everyone, It has been a week. I was sick for most of it, so there is not much to announce. I am officially less than 2 months till my end date (July 25th). Needless to say, I'm really psyched. This week we are moving to another apartment, but of course, we waited till the last minute. I'm a last-minute mover. We have zone conference tomorrow and therefore have to get everything done today. Yayyyyyyy. Anyways, I love you all and hope you have a great week. P.S. The title came from one of the Elder's investigator who was making friendship bracelets with me, my companion, and our investigator. Peace and Love, Sister Vestel P.P.S. Sorry I look like a pilgrim in the picture below.