Сайн байна уу!? Энэ бол Ахлагч Огдэн! That means how's it
going this is Elder Ogden! Anyways, thanks for all of the letters, packages,
and dear elders! It makes my day when I get them.
Answers to your questions. The food is awesome. I try to
stay healthy by eating salad and fruit every meal. For exercise I do 3 sets of
pushups, crunches, and pull ups a day and then finish it off by playing
volleyball. My teachers are awesome. There's Battsagaan and Der Bletter and
they are so kind, spiritual, and helpful. Der Bletter is a girl by the way. She
served in Mongolia a few years ago and Battsagaan is from Mongolia. His name
means firm white holy man. My Branch President is awesome and has a lot of good
insights. He's also pretty cheesy and it's funny. This morning and last
Thursday we did endowment sessions in the Provo temple and I always love going
there. Probably the highlight of my day. On p-days we go to the temple, email
and do laundry, then hangout and do other things we need to do. Sunday’s are
awesome! Felt the spirit super strong and bore my testimony.
P-day was pretty nice but for some reason I didn't like it a
whole lot. Probably because I'm used to being productive 24/7 and not having
anything to do felt like a waste of time. But it was a nice break and I was
glad to get back into the swing of things later that night. Then on Friday we
were at dinner and the sisters in our zone were asking volunteers to teach a
fake investigator in front of all of the new missionaries coming in. So my
companion Elder Scrimsher decided to volunteer us, but I wasn’t done eating my
ice cream. He explained to me that someone taught him to always volunteer first
for anything. I could see it meant something to him,
so now I always support him when he volunteers us for things, even if I have to
risk not eating any ice cream. haha.
Next big thing we had was fast Sunday and testimony meeting
in sacrament meeting. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my last email, but me
and Elder Scrimsher got called to be the sacrament coordinators. All we really
do is prepare the sacrament and call people to bless and pass. So in testimony
meeting I was ready to give my testimony in Mongolian until the Branch
President told us to only bare them in English. I was a little frustrated
because I wanted to practice my Mongolian but I decided to bare mine in English
anyways. I talked about how I was excited to get called to Mongolia because I
would be learning a crazy language. Well Heavenly Father taught me something
else. I need to want to learn Mongolian not because it would be cool, but
because it will help me bring other people unto Christ. So every time I'm
learning Mongolian and get discouraged, I just keep in mind that this is for
the people in Mongolia and I get back to work.
After sacrament meeting we went to priesthood and me and
Elder Scrimsher had the lesson on the Creation and the Fall. It was a good
lesson but I learned a lot from the first counselor in the Branch Presidency.
He said, "Average is the best of the worst and the worst of the
best." He made me realize that I don't want to settle, but to always be
trying my hardest in everything I do all the time. I know I will be blessed
with miracles if I get through those headaches and times when I just want to
sleep and instead memorize a few more Mongolian words and read one more chapter
in my scriptures.
So Monday through Wednesday were about the same. We have
exercise in the morning where you can workout and play volleyball and
basketball. I like playing volleyball more because there is more people
involved which makes it more fun. Then after exercise we get ready and have
personal, companion, and language study along with lunch. Personal study I
usually read my scripture and write a talk, companion study we plan lessons,
and language study I have been memorizing a prayer and my missionary purpose in
Mongolian. I was so excited and grateful when I was able to say a prayer in
Mongolian without any flashcards because I feel like I'm getting somewhere.
Then we go to class and teach lessons in Mongolian and learn. It is pretty
nerve-racking but also so exciting at the same time. The hardest part is
answering their questions because they usually speak kind of fast and use words
we haven't heard yet. So thank goodness for sign language! When they see that
we have no clue what they are saying, they have pity and start to use hand
motions to help our understanding.
Alright, so the purpose of my subject title for this email
is part of a funny story. One of our teachers names is Battsagaan and he is
Mongolian. We love him so much and started to call him Battsagaan Xaan which
means King Battsagaan. Our district (usually just me actually) salutes him
every time he wants us to do something or enters the classroom. It's so funny
because he gets all embarrassed. So we actually also met two elders from the
capital of Mongolia that are going to Pittsburgh. They have been teaching us
Mongolian and taught us how to call someone old. They know Battsagaan and told
us to call him old. We then told Battsagaan that he was old in Mongolian and he
just rolled his eyes hahaha.
Anyways, I love all of you guys so much and hope you guys
are all doing well in your lives. Remember that our Heavenly Father loves us
and knows what's best for us.
-Ахлагч Ogden
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