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| Elders Odd, Boyd, Neuberger and Muldowney with Sister Farmer |
Looking back at this week in my planner, it's jumping off the page, not so
much in the form of days, but in the form of five individuals with which
we had wonderful experiences this past week. Let's see if I can recap
it all . . .
Starting way back on Monday with our new member Narmandakh
who is now two weeks past her baptism and strong as ever. We've been
working on teaching the new member lessons, but it's been difficult
because of her curiosity on other subjects the latest of which was the
atonement. In efforts to prepare for the lesson I spend my entire
personal study time reading from True to the Faith, the conference talks and Preach My Gospel. It was easily the most prepared I've been for a lesson in my
life. (Believe it or not that even includes deacons quorum lol). Just in
case, Elder Muldowney had also prepared another lesson on service. It
ended up that we spent an hour talking about the atonement and marking
scriptures. I've never met anyone with such thirst for gospel learning. Inspiring!
The second came later that same night. We had planned to
meet with Naranchimeg, the friend of the bishop's wife at 7:30, but a
disappointing text had come through while we were meeting with Narmandakh that she wasn't going to make it and had gotten busy. Then
miraculously we got a call at 7:45. She said she knew it was a little
late, but if there was anyway that we could still meet. Our member who
was coming to come to the lesson was still in the church building, so we
assured her that there was still time and that we would wait for her to
come. When she made it a short time later we quickly moved into
the lesson because time was no longer on our side. We started into the
Plan of Salvation and it just went wonderfully. Our member was so
in tune and shared wonderful insights from his own life as well. The end
of the lesson had us speaking of changes that he had seen in his life
as a result of the gospel. Then after we finished she began to tell us
that she felt she had seen some of the changes as well even in this
short time. She told us that earlier that evening she had cancelled with us
because some friends had invited her over to a party. When she entered
the party (where the environment fell a little short of "For the Strength of Youth"
pamphlet) she politely told her friends that
she needed to leave and meet with someone, and that's when she called
us. I'm pretty sure I ran home to write in my journal. The Spirit from
the meeting was such that it was like you wanted to trap it in a jar and
save it for later.
The third great encounter was an ALA that we've been trying to meet with for awhile and as it turned out he was home alone when we showed up on Sunday afternoon. A member of 10 years, he was the first to join the Church in his
now mostly active member family. When they moved to our branch from Sansar Ward
last year he had found it difficult to continue going to church. As we
stepped in the ger we just began to talk. Turns out he watched the World Cup as fanatically with his friends as I did with mine and we talked
about sports for 20 minutes. Then as the topic of conversation moved
more spiritual we spoke of his conversion and the courage it took to
become a member without his family and also about what was making it difficult
to return to church now and what it would take to come back. There was a
moment where we were pretty much quoting line for line the talk given a
few conferences ago about a less active member who was struggling to come back, worrying about friends and who will remember you and what people will
say. We were able to help him see, as Elder Bednar used to do with less
active members, the blessings that he was forfeiting by remaining on the
sidelines. What struck me the most was his comment that even though he
had distanced himself from the Church, he new (just like those who were
shown the plates and later fell away) that it was all true. To end it
on a happy note we have challenged him to come and meet with the branch
president on Sunday.
On Saturday we were able to go with one of the members in our
ward to do his home teaching with him. Because of the low percentage
of home teaching in Mongolia we counted this as a great success and so
did the member. But adding to the success was the genuine caring of the
member. He wasn't trying to just cross some small item off a "laundry list." He
went with the vision and the heart to serve. He asked and sought the
needs of the families and then responding to them he organized the service
projects the next day at church. Included in the success was the
attendance of the other member and his wife at Sacrament Meeting on
Sunday. As we left the house Chimed Ah (the member) openly exclaimed
that he hadn't felt happiness like that in awhile and that he felt he
had done real good, something of real purpose and value. Home teachers
like missionaries are truly on the Lord's errand.
The last event was one that I was not in attendance for but I
was able to hear about from several sources over the following days.
Sometime on Sunday morning I received a text from Elder Williams that
my new member from last year from Sansar was bearing her testimony in Sacrament Meeting. I knew that it had to be Sister Nymsuren who was Elder Jolley and my
convert from my first couple of months in the mission. I heard later
that she spoke of her conversion story and the love and concern that
Elder Jolley had shown during the teaching process. She spoke of how
they had for a time become a little less active, but they were ready to
come back and that they had set a temple date and were working toward it. All because I was blessed enough to run into her on the bus.
The Lord asks most of us, except for a very precious few, to go about his
work in very silent, very unextraordinary ways. And yet the accumulation
of such seemingly small acts is in the words of the Lord "the foundation
of a great work"
Have a great week of wonderful foundation laying!
Elder Neuberger
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| The final fan dance at the 20th Anniversary Celebration |
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| Taking a bow |
oh my favorite missionaries :)
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