Monday, March 11, 2013

Whole New Ballgame

What a great week of transitions and excitement.  I left you last week on the brink of it all and I feel like so much has happened from then to now.  Let's see if I can't bring you up to speed in the next couple of minutes.  So last Monday night after taking a picture with our zone it was off to the office to meet my new companion.  The trainers for the new transfer are me, Elder Boyd, Elder Lloyd and Elder Bayartsogt.  As we walked into the President's house for the meeting it was half deja vu from a year and 4 months ago and half "where has the time gone?" After a small talk with the President we paired up and I'll be training Elder Muldowney this upcoming twelve weeks in Sukhbaatar which is going to be and has already been a  wonderful experience.
 
Elder Muldowney is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The 9th in a twelve children family.  I can't say I quite pass the test on remembering who is who yet but I'm working on it.  Straight out of high school he was 18 when he got to the MTC in December.  So humble and ready to do great work.  He's thinking about being a horse trainer when he gets home.  Just a great guy, already feel like we've been friends forever.
We've been moving along quickly this week as we try to learn the entire area from the sisters who leave this upcoming Thursday.  That's had us at at least 5 houses a day meeting and getting to know people.  The area is massive so I'm not sure if Ive got it all down yet, but we're hoping we can get close and fill in the gaps as we go along.
 
We are actually living with the Khailaast elders for the time being and it's been crazy having four in one apartment, but been great to be with Elder Williams.  There's only two beds, so we are on the floor, but we have great heart to hearts before passing out each night. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep mid sentence last night. 
The coolest part of the week had to be Saturday when we took a taxi 45 minutes outside of the city to a little collection of houses in our area.  There's a few members and an investigator out there so we go about every Saturday. It was gorgeous and the air was so clean. 
 
However, the best part of the week was probably the first house that we went to on our very first day with the sisters.  We met with a sister who has just been called to be the new visiting teaching coordinator.  I think that's probably the most difficult calling in Mongolia.  She was talking a little bit about selecting counselors and trying to figure out how to get started.  As we shared a spiritual thought I felt impressed to share out of D&C 8:2 "Yea, behold, I will atell you in your mind and in your bheart, by the cHoly Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart." and then I talked in part about how the Lord will tell us spiritually in our heart and in a real and very physical way through our mind.  The most important part of our seeking revelation is that of our own personal effort.  We are far more likely to receive personal confirmation on an idea that we have studied out in our mind than an epiphany of what to do.
 
After we shared the scripture the sister said, "That's exactly right! That's exactly what happened. I prayed for confirmation about an impression I had and I thought I felt the guidance of the Holy Ghost...but then you shared that scripture and I knew that I had felt the confirmation of the Holy Ghost through what you described."  It was a great moment and a moment where I could truly see the Lord put into my mind what to be said.  It was also a demonstration of the principle that the Lord will only bring to mind that which we have studied or ponder out before hand.
 
There are about a thousand other elements to the week that made it so awesome.  Not the least of which was seeing so many people I know from the Khailaast Ward and about half my MTC group at the baptism on Friday night.

I'm pretty sure that my letters probably come off all rainbows and butterflies which of course is not always the case, but I feel so blessed for the people I've met and the relationships I've formed.  If Elder Wilson were to make a top ten for hardest missions in the world this one would probably make the top five, but that also makes it number one for most rewarding!

Have a wonderful week,
Elder Neuberger

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