808Blogs

Apr 30 - May 2 (week 75)

Another week down, time really flies too fast. The weathers warming up which means the drunks are roaming free. This week has been really difficult in that respect.

My new member’s husband beat her this week and left her with a nice fat black eye. We were in the area and we happened to run into her. She was an emotional mess and as we tried to console her, her husband showed up; a little less than drunk a little less than sober. She started screaming at him, and demanding that he return a bunch of things (they live separate). He went two hit her a few times but I imagine two 6 foot something thick American boys were more than a little frightening for the 5 foot little guy. He even picked up some decent sized rocks trying to intimidate us. I really wanted to just let him have it, but I’m afraid my little nametag held me back. In the end I got her calmed just enough to give up on getting her stuff back and I sent the bewildered little man on his away, before taking her to one of the member’s houses to chill. After talking to her for an hour or so and sharing quite a few scriptures we realized that we needed to go. It was 9:20 and despite the fact that we needed to be home at 9:30 and were at least 20 minutes or so from home I felt that we needed to walk.

As we walked we talked about how as Americans who grew up in good families it was out of the question to even think about hitting a woman. However our conversation was interrupted by the scream of a woman from about 50 yards up the road. My companion and I rushed to see what happening just to find some drunk guy trying to drag some girl along, as she desperately clung to a fence. As we approached yelling at him he stopped hitting her. He told us it was none of our business and that we just need to go away. I told him if I see anyone hitting a woman it’s my business and that if he didn’t stop I was going to take him to the police. He some how got her up off the ground and to agree to go with him. But my companion and I followed him just to make sure he didn’t try to hit her again. We kept our distance and for a few seconds they left our sight, in those few seconds we got worried so we rushed up the place where they went out view. When we got there we found the guy on the ground moaning with blood dripping down his face as he clutched his head, and the girl was gone. In the end it looked like she got him pretty good.

God seems to have blessed me with a great deal of patience and common sense. As much as I wanted to kill those two guys, I didn’t. Not because I was afraid but because I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. And while it probably would have made feel a lot better to beat the snot out of them, I have no regrets that I didn’t.

I also realized from this experience how blessed I am to have parents who love me and who love each other and have instilled in me correct values.

I could probably right a couple pages about all the alcohol related problems my branch has, my time is up.

Until next time
Elder Pitt

Apr. 20-26 (Week 74)

Aloha family and Friends,
Another busy week has flown by. I’m more tired than ever, but what ever that’s life I suppose. This week was as busy as ever with lots of service and other things to do. Work according to the numbers wasn’t great but I seemed to be as busy as ever.

Wednesday the priesthood went on a picnic which was fun. We traveled 10 minutes outside the city to the middle of nowhere, where we butchered a sheep and made a Mongolian dish called a Khorkhog. Which I think can best be described as a Mongolian imu. First they put a bunch of stones in a fire until it burns down. After which they put the stones along with meat and veggies (potatoes and carrots) in a metal milk can with water, cap it and let it pressure cook. It was really good, but man is mutton greasy. The Mongolian countryside really is beautiful, just miles and miles of endless nothingness. Monday after I emailed last my companion and I took the bikes and went out past the city to see what there was to see. My companion, who’s from the middle of nowhere Utah, said that it is a lot like where he used to live. I imagine it might remind dad of his childhood stomping grounds.

Friday my companion and I helped a family move; and when Mongolians move, they really move. We got to their house at about 10am and spent the rest of the day breaking down their ger and moving the hole of their possessions to a different property on the edge of town, and then building their ger again. It was pretty fun, the other set of elders couldn’t make it so my companion and I , with no said experience, were left to try to help two visually impaired short 40 year olds do everything. Luckily the older of the two has good enough vision that he doesn’t run into things and can tell who you are by looking at you so he was able to direct us a little, while the other fumbled around. It was pretty tiring to say the least.

Outside of that not much else of note happened. My companion and I have been going to the church early every day to watch conference in English. This conference was really good, but at sometimes it was almost a little bit frightening. Judging by the messages there’s a lot of hard work in my future in order to survive. I know I can work hard, but ability and desire are totally unrelated. I’ll do what I have to though. Conference seemed to be more meaningful than ever this time around. It seemed like every message was specifically tailored to me and an answer to the many things which I have been weighing heavy on my soul. Some of the talks humbled me while other, gave me the path I need to take to overcome obstacles that I have been facing, while others simply reminded me of and re-affirmed the truthfulness of things that I have always known. This conference I gained a stronger witness than ever before that our leaders are truly called by God and that God through these simple servants reaches out and gives aid to us his children.

Yesterday I sat by the river here, after having taught lessons to two of our new members there. Despite the tiredness that weighed me down I smiled. I don’t know why I smiled, but I felt a certain peace, that seemed to wipe away worry of the ticking clock and the tied tongue, and left me calm.

Until next time,
Elder Pitt

Apr 13-19 (Week 73)

Aloha Family and friends,

Well another week has flown by. Life really goes much to fast. As I said last week on Monday I went to the airport to send off my old companion and pick up the new. It’s definitely different being with an American again. After being the only American in Murun for so long it is hard to remember what language to speak when. I think I’m going to just give up and only speak Mongolian. It was kind of weird to speak Mongolian with another American at first but I’m much to concerned about what little language abilities I have going to pot to care. It’s only been a week and I’m starting to notice it slipping. I guess all I can do is study hard and pray harder. I imagine The Lord will bless me when I really need it, so I shouldn’t worry too much. I’m just a born worrier, I guess.

Anyways, in other news I still haven’t seen conference in any language which is a bummer, but now the DVDs are in Murun so I should get an opportunity soon. Though I don’t know when I’ll get to see it in English seeing that there is only 1 DVD player at the church. I thought about getting a DVD player just to watch it, but for some reason they are really expensive here, so I guess I’ll just have to wait. And watch it over a few P-days or something.

The DVDs came with the new Branch President this last Saturday. He’s only been here for a few days, but he seems like he will be able to do all right. At least I hope so. He’s been a branch president before so it should be all right. This branch needs a lot of help so hopefully The Lord will bless him with the abilities necessary.

My new companion, Elder Alder, is a really good guy and he’s really falling in love with Murun. He’s a country boy to begin with; coming from a graduating class of four, and having grown up on a farm out in the middle of no-where, Utah. It’s hard not falling in love with a place like Murun where there’s just nothing piled up on more nothing. Now all the nothingness is turning green, and it’s turning into a real beautiful piece of nothing. We’re planning on taking the bikes and riding to the river next p-day,

Anyways,
Love you little less fatigued than last week missionary,
Elder Pitt

Apr 5 - 12 (Week 72)

Aloha Family and Friends,

It’s another beautiful week here in Murun. I’ve been sick which is always less than enjoyable. To be honest it’s been a less than enjoyable week, outside of being sick, I think I’m just burnt out. Last Monday the mission president came out and on Tuesday we had one conference, but despite all the words of inspiration being thrown around I just wanted to sleep. They left on Wednesday and since then everything has gone back to normal. I’ve been trying to work hard despite my cold, but my hearts not in it and as a result our works been less than successful. The branch president seems to have had a mental breakdown which doesn’t make life any easier. I got word today that he’s leaving on this next Sunday, which scares me. He put everything he had into the branch, the members love him and he loves the members. I think he’s just burned out, but the mission president diagnosed him with depression and he’s headed back to the city. I hope that is the right thing for him. I imagine depression could be a factor but I think we as missionaries sometimes just put too much stress on ourselves and it eventually breaks us down.

In other news transfer calls came last Friday. I’m staying in Murun, unfortunately despite President’s saying that my companion and I wouldn’t be splitting, I’m taking my companion to the airport in about an hour, and picking up a new companion. Don’t know much about him other than the fact that he’s fairly new and he’s American, which scares me. I liked being the only American missionary in Murun, even if my language isn’t perfect it certainly got better these last few months. Hopefully my language doesn’t go to pot again like the last time I got an American companion. I have enough to worry about I don’t need to worry about whether people understand me or not again.

Hopefully this cloud of darkness will pass with my cold, because to be honest I’m tired of it looming over me. To be honest I’m tired of being tired.

Don’t worry about me too much I’m probably fine, just need to take a nice long nap, maybe if there is still a bit of p-day left after I pick up my new comp, I’ll take the bikes and go down to the river for a awhile. I just need to relax, if I don’t I’ll probably break down as well.

Regards,

Your favorite fatigued missionary
Elder Pitt.

march 30- april 5 (week 71)

Aloha Family and Friends,
This week was particularly difficult for my district, and I’m not sure why. I ran exchange Thursday night and the other set of elders seem to be doing fine now. Then on Saturday I had interviews with the sisters and talked to or rather just listened to them for over an hour. I’m not sure what happened but I think everyone was tired, and needed an ear to pour their souls into. If the other sets of missionaries have been working like my companion and I have, then they have been going non-stop, taking no thought for themselves. I think everyone just needed to stop and take a breather. I myself have been exhausted lately, but despite that I kept pushing. It got to the point that I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t think and the only reason I did anything was because If I wasn’t working then I felt like I was wasting time. Not the happiest feeling ever.

Anyways from now on I’m going to try to take it a little easier. There’s no point trying to push if in the end it’s only going to have a negative effect on the work, and make me miserable, not to mention physically sick.

I’m still tired, but that will probably pass in time. I imagine that if I could have watched conference it would have been a nice refresher; however we don’t get to see it until after Easter. Even then I’m the only American out here so I might never to get to see it in English. The mission President is on his way here and we will be having mission conference tomorrow so maybe that will provide the spiritual refreshment I need. At the very least he will bring mail which is always nice.

Sorry I can’t think of what else to write this week. Love you all,
~Elder Pitt

march 23-29 (Week 70)

Aloha Family and Friends,

Another week has flown by. I can hardly believe how fast time is flying. Last week as I was preparing district meeting I was looking over how my district was doing with the goals we had set for the transfer and it dawned on me that there was only two Sundays left before the transfer ended. I swear that it was just yesterday that I was picking up my companion from the airport and now it seems that it’s time for us to split. However we’re trying to use the best of the time we have left (little over a week). I don’t know if it was something I said in district meeting or if the rest of my district realized that our time is limited but we finally managed to get over 130 people to church. That might not seem like a lot but for our little 25”x 50” chapel it was more than we could handle. Children sat on parent’s laps and sometimes two to a chair while the many of the youth stood. We’re going to try our hardest this week to reach our goal of 150, but I’m not too worried about the goal. The most important thing is that those who came had an opportunity to renew the covenants they made at baptism. Some who came haven’t renewed that covenant for a very long time.

I’ve been so focused on fixing all the problems in the branch that I admittedly haven’t put as much focus as I should have on finding new investigators. However, this week I’ll get to see one of my investigators get baptized. She is a 12 year old little girl named Nyamdari. She’s been coming to church since before I came to Murun and has been more receptive to the gospel than anyone I’ve ever met. She’s a little irritating at times, but I suppose that come with being a 12 year old. Unfortunately, though her mom gave permission for her baptism, and is a very kind lady, she is always leaving to tend livestock so we’ve never really had a chance to meet with her. Her old sister was adamantly against her baptism, but after meeting with her she reluctantly accepted. My companion and I are going to continue to meet with the rest of the family. Hopefully her older brother who attends a different church will eventually hear our message. He said he’s going to start coming to the English class I teach so we’ll see.

Outside of that, all of our work with less active members is starting to pay off. We’ve started meeting with quite a few people’s relatives and friends, in turn giving them the opportunity to share the gospel. On top of that some of those who have started to come to church again are bringing friends on their own with out any nudging from us. I’m starting to see a real change in this branch, and in its members.

Anyways, that’s all for this week,
Elder Pitt

march 15-21 (week 69)

Aloha Family and Friends,

Not much to report this week. Meet quite a few people, taught quite a few lessons, and learned a ton. I’m really tired, but what’s new. Hopefully I’ll get a few minutes of shut eye today so I’ll be able to function for the rest of the week. Not really sure what to write today. I’m trying my hardest to become a better missionary and to actively engage myself in the work.

This week I just tried to engaged myself in doing good. I baked an apple cake, with a sauteed apples on top for one of my less active members, chopped wood at one member’s home when there was no male at her house and we were not able to meet with her, and made contact and checked up with many of our members and investigators that we were not able to contact by phone. Not to mention we went home teaching with my home teaching companion.

Um, outside of that nothing much new. I’ll send some photos off today, hopefully it will make up for my lack luster email.

That is all for now,
Elder Pitt

March 8-15 (week 68)

Aloha Family and Friends,

It’s been a long and eventful week. I really don’t have a lot of time to write so I’ll give you the highlights.

Monday was p-day and was spent running errands and generally not enjoying myself. That night my companion and I conducted family home evening. Then after that we had a really good lesson with one of our less active members. After which we asked her if she needed any help and she said she would really like to contact an American doctor about a disease her 3yr old daughter was suffering from. The mission doctor just happens to be a retired pediatrician so I told her that we would contact him and see if he knew any thing about it

Tuesday as I was preparing for district meeting I got a call and found out that my 12 year old wonder investigator was at the church crying, and complaining of severe stomach pains. She had been complaining of such stomach pains for the last several months, so I wasn’t surprised, but we ran of to the church to make sure everything was ok. We got there to find her with her head on the table crying and decided to give her a blessing. After which we took her to the hospital to see a doctor. The doctor told us it was a cold, which seemed a little farfetched, seeing that she had been complaining about it for the last several months. Anyways, it just added to my reasons to call the doctor. Later that day after a short not well prepared district meeting I called the doctor who was thrilled to hear that there was something that he could help with. After describing the symptoms of my investigator he determined that it was probably just a bad case of constipation that little kids her age sometimes suffer from, go figure. I also found out that the doctor had previously treated 3 patients with the same rare kidney disorder that my less active member daughter was suffering from and would be happy to talk to her. Remember when you’re helping your happy.

Wednesday we got a call early in the morning saying that a member needed help building their ger (Mongolian round tent house thingy), so we dropped what we were doing and ran and did that. After which we spent the rest of the day doing our planned work.

Thursday was uneventful

Friday was also pretty uneventful.

Saturday however, was eventful. Saturday morning we got a call saying that one of our members had to move at the last moment because of a misunderstanding with the owner of the property she was living on and that she needed our help. So the three other elder and I dropped everything we were doing and ran off to help break down her ger, and move the entirety of her possessions. This normally wouldn’t too much of a problem but it was an exceptionally windy morning. After breaking down her ger we moved it all via a big truck we hired to a members property on the other side of town. After which we started preparing a spot to rebuild her ger. However, as we are doing so the wind decided to pick up and turn into a giant dust storm. The dust was so thick at some points that we couldn’t see 10 feet in front of us. We struggled so for a while and then decide to take cover inside the member’s ger. Once inside we busied ourselves with inspecting our dust cover faces and clothing and washing out our dust filled mouths and eyes. As we sat and talked Elder Enkhbayar quietly bowed his head, and less than obviously began to pray. After a while I poked my head out to see that while the wind hadn’t stopped the dust had settled. Upon announcing the conditions Enkhbayar just smiled. As we exited the members house the wind started to pick up a little, but not deterred Enkhbayar gathered us all to say a prayer before we commenced in the work. The winds continued for the rest of the day, but after our prayer they never got so bad that we couldn’t complete our work, and the dust for the most part stayed on the ground. All in all it took us the entire day, and we weren’t able to meet with any of the people we had planned, but if we weren’t there with a two of the priesthood brethren there would have been no one to help this poor lady.

Anyways that was more or less my week

~Elder Pitt

March 2-8 (week 67)

Aloha Family and Friends,

Well I survived the holiday and things are slowly but surely getting back to normal. A lot happened this week so I'm not to sure where to start but we'll start at Wednesday.

On Wednesday my district took a long ride up to a little town called khatgal for the ice festival that takes place every year at lake khuvsgul, the biggest lake in Mongolia, so big that they call it a sea. The whole festival takes place on the iced over lake and it's quite the event. There are all kinds of ice sculptures, races, contests, and venders selling all sorts of odds and ends. Usually cars drive across the lake to get to the festival, but since there was an American in our vehicle (me), and the police had set up a post we decided it was best to get out and walk from the shore in order to avoid any silly fees. So the other three Elder's and I ended up walking/sliding the last 5 miles across the ice, while the rest of the members that had come along and the sisters went by car. I call it a car, but it is more of a Russian off-road four-wheeling twinkie shaped van. Anyways, it was really fun and I got to see all sorts of cool thing. I'll try to send some pictures today if the computers cooperate. Speaking of pictures I apparently showed up on Mongolian TV wearing my big fox hat. I don't remember being around any TV camera's but apparently they saw me.

Saturday was spent at the church running all kinds of different activities for Mongolia's women's day. My companion is the branch young men's president so we spent the morning with the young men putting on an activity for the young women in the branch. I made something like unto fried apple pies, and the young men decorated a room and set up tables with candy fruits and beverages. After that we got sucked into helping with the activity that the Elder's quorum was putting on for the branch relief society. It was a big to do with lot's of singing and food. Just about everyone was forced into singing a song, they called me up and tried to get me to sing, but unfortunately/fortunately I don't know any songs about mothers in Mongolian or English, and I'm much to stubborn to fake it.

Sunday night the missionaries put on our own women's/mother's day fireside . We planned all week for it and prepared a number of musical numbers, talks and recorded several members feelings about their mothers on my camera. My companion, and the branch president (my previous companion), both spoke. I originally wasn't supposed to speak or do anything, but at the last minute they asked if I could just share my feelings. Outside of that all the missionaries sang solo traditional Mongolian songs about mothers, except for me. It was a real touchy feely event, I don't think there was a dry eye in the building except for me, and the little kids who weren't paying attention. It's awkward being the only one who's not crying, makes me wonder if there is something wrong with me. Anyways, seeing that I was told at the last minute I wasn't sure what to share but at the last minute right as I stood up to take the pulpit I remembered how when I was little and Mom had stepped out for a moment while I was taking a nap, and how I woke up and couldn't find her and how thought I would never see her again. I don't know if that's my own memory or if I remember it because Mom and Dad told me about it later, but it's one of my earliest memories. I told how scared I felt and related it to the Plan of Salvation and how through the plan of salvation I never have to fear not ever getting to see my mother again, because through the plan of salvation I can live with her for ever. It was a good moment for me. Despite not being able to prepare I felt no anxiety and the words seemed to flow out of me easily. The spirit was truly in that meeting, and when it ended everyone quitely got up and left with same reverence and spirit. I kind of wish mom was here to have seen it, but even if she was she would have never understood any of it.

Anyways that's my week in a nutshell....
sorry it looks like I can't send pictures this week I'm out of time

White Month (week 66)

Aloha Family and Friends,
Dad's email about being sick must have been inspired as I was sick as a dog this last week with explosive diarrhea! I don't know why but I can't mange to not get sick some how over Tsgaan Sar. Such is life I imagine.

I spent all of Monday at a members house making buuz (meat dumplings). Tuesday I taught our district meeting and then spent the rest of the day chopping wood at a members house before going to another members house for bituun (Tsagaan Sar eve), of course they prepared a ton of food, and of course I got sick.

Wednesday was the first day of Tsagaan Sar, and despite the need to use run to the bathroom every 15 minutes I let myself be drag from house to house all day. I imagine I should probably explain a little of what Tsagaan Sar is for this to be understandable. Tsagaan sar translates into white month or white moon, and is the celebration of the lunar new year. Mongolian celebrate the holiday by dressing up in traditional clothing and going from house to house greeting relatives with a traditional greeting (do you have rest, are you renewing, is you calf becoming muscled.... not a good translation, nor is it complete, but that's about the gist of it). Apart from that every house is prepared to feed all that enter with a ton of buuz, and other appetizers. If you don't eat it's rude, and people prod you to eat until all the food is gone. Needless to say having a sick stomach is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

After being dragged around all Wednesday I was a little more than reluctant to go out again to say the least. However my companion gave me the biggest sad puppy look ever when i suggested that we just stay home that I agreed to give it a try, and try I did. I think that 5 trips to the out house the first hour along with my stomach backing up my unpleasant disposition with it's own vocal protest was enough to convince my companion that going home was for the better. So the rest of Thursday was spent sleeping and sitting on the toilet at home.
By Friday my stomach was fine and I was out and about again but I still refused to eat.

Needless to say at one point or another just about everyone of the missionaries in my district was sick, lots of fun!
unfortunately people still hadn't finished celebrating Saturday and Sunday, so they were same as the previous days, except this time missionaries couldn't play dress up.
Anyways that's last week in a nut shell.

Enough said,
Elder Pitt

Week 65

Aloha,

Really tired today, but what’s new. I almost all but gave up this morning and ended up staring at the wall for 20 minutes of my personal study time, before snapping out of it and diving back into my notes. Ever since last week I’ve been studying about light in the scriptures. Last week after I emailed you I went to lunch with a bunch of people from the local Adventist church, it was interesting to say the least. They are good people, but the light isn’t there. I looked into to their eyes and only saw only my own reflection. That indescribable spark that I see in the eyes of the members and investigators wasn’t there. I don’t know why but the experience made me start thinking about a lot of things. I wonder if when people look at me they see the same light I see in my members.

Right before going to lunch I had an opportunity to talk to Joseph, the only other foreigner in Murun missionary of the Adventist church, and he wanted to show a short video clip about his church. Seeing that I had shown him the restoration video, I figured it would be impolite to decline the invitation. I ended up watching a seven minute clip on how the mark of the beast spoken of in the book of Revelation referred to the day of worship, and that if you worshipped on Sunday you were breaking gods commandments and that you would in turn be destroyed in the second coming. It was a cheery little piece of propaganda to say the least. Everything about it made me afraid. The music was heavy, the pictures were chilling, and the words were damning. As I watched it all Joseph could say about it was how good it was. I wanted to say something, but the spirit was gone. Later that day I went home and opened my scripture and the first thing that caught my eye as I listlessly flipped through the pages was 1 John 4. I will not go into great detail about what is said in that chapter, but I’m quite impressed that these are the words that this man needs to hear. I hope when give the opportunity I’ll have the courage to share it.

In other news, the holiday has taken a big hit on our work, but it has given us plenty of opportunity to serve the members as they prep for the holiday. I’ve chopped more firewood, and made more buuz (meat dumplings, Mongolians make 1000+ during the tsagaan sar holiday) this last week than I have in the entirety of my mission. I was sick last year during Tsagaan Sar, and didn’t leave the house so this will be my first real Tsagaan Sar. The Elders in my district all made matching Mongolian shirts that we’re going to wear. I was going to wear my Del (giant dress looking thing) again, but I didn’t want to be the odd duck out.

In other news winter came back for round two, I almost thought I was going to have a snowless winter, but after several week of warm of weather it decided to snow and then get real cold again.

That all for now,
Elder Pitt

Week Who knows who cares (Week 64)

Aloha Family and Friend,

Another week has flown by. It’s funny I have only been with my companion for a little over 2 weeks but it feels like it has been forever. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

Mongolia’s big national holiday Tsagaan Sar is coming up here pretty soon and everyone is getting ready. I imagine work is going to be difficult for the next few weeks, but it’s not like you can stop a holiday or anything. It’s still a week away or so and sacrament meeting has already taken a blow. I imagine everything will be back to normal once the holiday ends. In the mean time I imagine that I’ll be forced to eat a lot of food. Such is life.

Works was decent this last week. We started teaching two little eight year olds. Normally when children turn eight they don’t need to meet with missionaries to be baptized, but both the families of these two are off and on members so branch president is having us make sure they can at least understand the gospel at an eight year olds level. Not to mention that by meeting with the kids we can inadvertently strengthen the parents. I feel like I’ve become a brother to 20 something little Mongolian kids. It’s a lot of fun.

We’ve also been working with some long-time inactive members and I’m happy to say that we’ve gotten two of the more inactive families to start attending sacrament meetings again. They’re not staying the whole three hours, but they are at least coming. I pray that they will continue to come and soon return to full activity. There are still many obstacles, but at least the obstacles are leading back to the right path and not away from it.

In other news we’ve started to work with the new members here. Murun has 60 new members that were baptized in the last year and more than half of them went inactive. It’s unfortunate but we’re taking the right steps to fix it. My area alone has 16 new members and out of those 16 we’ve started teaching about half the new member lessons and we’re trying hard to make contact with the remaining. Hopefully we can remind these people why it was that they became church members and bring them back into the fold so that they can be faithful to the covenants that they entered into at baptism.

Outside of that we have quite a few good investigators. It’s hard to explain but they almost shine, they are so filled with light. Every time we meet with them they just smile. I had a baptismal interview this last Sunday with a girl, and I swear I have never met a happier person in my life.

I’m tired, but it’s a good tired. If only it didn’t get in the way of my thought process. I wish I could focus my wondering mind, always going this way and that, but in all actuality going no where at all. Oh well, that’s life

Regards,
Elder Pitt

Week ?? (Week 63)

Aloha Family and Friends,

It’s been a busy week with a lot of running here and there. The weather is getting warmer here so we decided to fix the bikes, with the thought that it would help us do more work. While it does speed things up when the bikes are cooperating, they don’t play nice that often. I don’t remember ever getting a flat tire back in the states, but the tires here seem to pop faster than we can repair or replace them. We’re going to go pick up a few more replacement tubes tomorrow and hope that this will be the last time for a while. Its fun riding the bikes, but my legs aren’t used to that motion. I imagine that I’ll be used to it in no time though.

Been working pretty hard lately I thinking I’m wearing myself out. My new companion is so motivated it is ridiculous. I say that we need to go do something and he jumps up and is ready to go. I’m really learning a lot from him. He’s a really good kid I imagine that he’s going to be put to good use in this mission and eventually in the church here. I’d don’t think I’ve ever met a kid that loves the gospel so much and wants to do what is right.

I had the district set district goals last week. The problems with the sisters have finally seemed to have blown over and it seems like we’re beginning to become unified. All of our goals were centered on how we could help the branch. That made me happy. We can baptize all the people we want but if the branch is weak, and they fall away immediately then it’s worthless. There is so much inactivity here it’s a bit discouraging, but I have a good feeling that we’re going to start fixing that this transfer. It’s scary to see how quickly people can forget, we just need to remind them.

We have a lot of solid investigators right now and I imagine I’ll see quite a few of them get baptized. A lot of them have family and friends that are already members. It’s amazing to see people so willing to except the gospel, because they’ve seen the changes it’s wrought in others lives. Hopefully my companion and I can help them receive this gospel. I think the most exciting of all these is that we’re teaching a missionaries family right now. I imagine he’ll be real happy to hear that his family is being taught the gospel.

In other news I’ve sawed and chopped a lot of wood this last week. I imagine that it’s contributing to my tiredness. I don’t know why but I really like chopping wood. It’s almost comforting. Not to mention that it makes people happy.

That’s all for now,
~Elder Pitt

Week something or other (week 62)

Aloha Family and Friends,

It’s been a busy week here in Murun. First of all I took my old companion Elder Smith to the airport and picked up my new companion Elder Sukhbold. Since then I’ve been going non-stop. Sukhbold is an amazingly good missionary, he’s only really been on his mission for a week now and I’m pretty sure that he’s a better missionary than me already. Mongolians have the advantage of going on mini-mission meaning they get to go with a full-time missionary for a few days or even a few months while the full-time missionary waits for a new companion. So when Sukhbold got here he already knew what was going on. Anyways I seemed to have lucked out yet again when it comes to companions. It’s nice for the first time on my mission it doesn’t feel like I’m carrying some one or like I’m being carried.

I thought the new transfer would bring an end of problems in my district. Unfortunately I just ended up trading problems. I sent away one troubled elder just to get one troubled sister in return. I don’t know what her problem is; no one does not even her companion. She got here and immediately decided that she wasn’t going to work, and refuses to talk to anyone but the mission president, who is traveling visiting some of the outer branches right now. Not much I can do but tell her companion to be patient and wait for President to talk to her. Thus is life I suppose.
On an up note I got to see for the first time since I’ve been in Mongolia someone I’ve taught from beginning to end get baptized. Her two daughters have been church members for over a year now, and this last week they had a chance to see their mother baptized. They wanted me to do the baptism but I thought it was better that her long time friend and elders quorum president baptize her. At the service her two daughters gave talks, and my companion organized a last minute choir and prepared a musical number. It was a joyful occasion to say the least.

In other news I don’t think I mentioned it but since I’ve been here I’ve picked up a bit of Mongolian sign language. There is a deaf lady in our branch and the missionaries do their best to communicate with her with what little we know. However in my new companion, Sukhbold’s, group of missionaries there were two deaf missionaries and so when they went to the temple his group all learned to sign two church songs in Mongolian sign-language. Anyways, from those two songs we were able to learn a lot of the basic church words and my companion was able to some extent translate some of fast and testimony meeting for her. After church with my companion’s and my knowledge combined we were somewhat able to talk to her. She was so happy to be able to communicate with us, even if we really didn’t understand or respond that well.
Last but not least after a week of prayer and fasting I’ve finally decided that it would be best for me to stay in Mongolia until the later September date. Hopefully that is the right decision, I never did get that strong of an answer other than the feeling that perhaps it wasn’t of great importance, and so I followed my heart, and chose the later date.

It’s sad to hear that 808blogs went down, not much that can be done. Just leave it alone I guess if it doesn’t fix itself there isn’t much anyone can do.

Until next time Elder Pitt.

Transfer week (week 61)

Aloha Family,
Hope all is well. A first thing first, this last week was transfer week. Luckily I’m not headed anywhere. I’ll be staying here in Murun as district leader. My trainee is heading to the city, and I’m becoming a trainer again. The best thing about this transfer is that I’m going to become the only American missionary in Murun, perhaps the only American in Murun all together. It’s going to be tough, but I imagine that my language will go from good to great. I saw how much it dropped when I got an American trainee. If everything is relative then I’ll get to see a lot of improvement. Not to mention that the missionaries that are getting sent out here are super sweet. I’m looking forward to going out to the airport to get them tomorrow.
I still haven’t decided when to come home yet. I’m going to have to pray about it. I’ll try to have an answer ready next week. It’s a tough call to make. My heart says stay longer, but I feel a little hesitation, and I’m not sure why. Definitely not something I can decide on my own.

You said I sounded down last week and I’m not too sure that’s the case. Time is a ruthless opponent. No matter how hard you try you can’t beat it. I’m realizing that my time isn’t unlimited. I recognize that I’ve grown exponentially, but at the same time I have sadly wasted many precious opportunities. I know there is no way to retrieve them, all I can do is move forward and try not to miss a thing from now on. Just need to push a little hard from now on. Start living life like it’s the final countdown, and not like its halftime.

Not much else to report, no drunks attacked us, no super special lessons, not much of anything. I did teach priesthood this last week, which wasn’t that bad. It was the intro lesson in the manual. I used dad’s example of how holders of the priesthood have more authority than the Pope, the Dalai Lama, and even the President. They seemed to like it, and I think it helped them understand the magnitude of what they hold.

That’s all for now

~Elder Pitt

Week 60

Aloha Family and Friends,

Not much to report this week, still alive and still kicking. Transfers are coming up this week which is always exciting.

I was up at 5am this morning to attend a burial service, which was interesting. Not the most fun thing to be doing at 5 in the morning but you got to do what you got to do. I really want to sleep today but I have to go sort out all the districts phone bills which should be fun. Somehow my bill came out to 80$’s which is ridiculous seeing as I never call anyone unless I absolutely have to. I’m praying that that’s wrong, and that I don’t have to spend all day trying to figure out why it’s that high.

Oh yeah I just got my options for my release date. I can either leave August 11th, or September 20th. I really want to stay until the later date. It is such a crummy decision to have to make. You said last time that school started on September 17 meaning I would miss the first two weeks or so if you account that those dates are only the farewell fireside dates, not the actual departure dates, and you still have to account for travel time. All I know is that I don’t want to leave until I absolutely have to, even if it means going into the winter semester instead of fall. I don’t know. I don’t want to start school late nor do I want to leave the country at the earlier date. It’s a toughie I’ll have to consider it with prayer.

It’s not fun to think the time is counting down. It’s been over a year and despite a lot of hard work and effort I still don’t feel like I’ve become a missionary. I swear I’m anomaly of unsuccessfulness in such a successful mission. It’s not getting me down or anything. It’s just with the realization of the fact that my time is limited; I’m getting frustrated with my self. Why do I still have apprehension sharing the gospel, why is my language not amazing, why haven’t I baptized anyone, why do I let myself get distracted, Why am I not more productive? I wish I knew what was holding me back. I’m trying my best to figure it out. I’m trying my best to do my best I just feel I could be doing better. I guess all I can do is, try harder.

Anyways look forward to hearing from everyone next week.

Best regards,
Elder Pitt

Sorry I'm late (Week 59)

Aloha Family,

Sorry I missed you on p-day my district hiked a mountain in the morning to see the sunrise and by the time I got to the internet cafés they were full or the internet was down. It’s hard when you are in a town that only has a few internet cafés to begin with.

We tried making time for email yesterday, but a missionary from the local seventh day Adventist church stopped by and we ended up talking to him for a few hours. Real interesting guy comes from the Australian bush, and is here helping build a new church. His father actually met with the LDS missionaries when he was a kid and despite gaining a testimony of The Book of Mormon never joined the church. He was real interested and actually asked if we had a movie we could show him, so we showed him the restoration. After which he ask that if he couldn’t find his BOM if he could have another. Don’t know what will happen with him, but it was an interesting experience.

About being a district leader it’s not too bad. It just means I need to play babysitter for all the missionaries in my district, conduct a few meeting, teach a lesson in district meeting, get weekly numbers from my missionaries, and conduct baptismal interviews. I’ve only had one problem so far and that’s with the Elder who caused me to be a trainer and a district leader in the first place, because he keeps screwing up, and instead of trying to fix has decided to just be a drama king. I asked him to lead the song and prayer in next week’s district meeting and he snapped back at me “no” in a real belligerent tone. The sisters started getting on his case right away, and instead of trying to diffuse it I just asked him why he was being so difficult. He said that he wasn’t being difficult he wasn’t going help do anything in district meetings, and so with out thinking I took the childish route and said that it’s his choice if he doesn’t want to be a member of this district he didn’t have to. Definitely not the right choices of words, that’s for sure. Anyways after everyone left he took me aside and tore me a new one. Luckily I was patient enough to just sit back and take it. Lord knows I had enough things to fire back at him I could have destroyed him. I almost started laughing when he said I would never be a good district leader, as if I was taking pride in this position that I’ve been asked to fill. Learned a lot from the experience I imagine I’ll think a little more before I speak, regardless of how difficult the opposite side is being. I also imagine if that was the only thing I learned it would be enough. Rereading that I sound really judgmental. Probably should work on developing some more charity.

Don’t have much time as I’m already 2 days late and there’s work to be done.

Til next time,
Elder Pitt

Week 58

Aloha Family,

I had just written a nice lengthy email when the computer decided to die on me. So I have to try to summarize everything real quick. Monday was the Christmas party, lots of chaos, not as much fun. But hey, on an up note my cakes were a real hit. My district leader continues to screw up so President Andersen called me on Tuesday morning and told me that I was going to be taking his place as district leader. Yay…not! Oh well, take what comes and love it. I’m now in charge of all kinds of stuff. Hopefully I don’t fail too much. I’m most afraid of having to do baptismal interviews, but I imagine with a little fasting, a little prayer, and some assistance from the lord I’ll be fine. In the midst of all the chaos I managed to get sick, but I guess I’m not too special seeing that all of Murun seems to be sick right now. Speaking of colds it finally decided to get cold here. It snowed on new years which was welcomed and then decide to drop quite a few degrees. Murun is hanging around at about -30 degrees Celsius (that's, what, -25f). I don’t know if I mentioned it before but I got one of the coldest apartments in the mission. It hovers around 50 degrees f if we don’t plug in the electric heaters and barely reaches 60f with them. I think I must have thick blood because it doesn’t bother me too much.
Umm I had a bunch I had written in the other email, but I don’t have too much time so I guess that’s it for today.

~Elder Pitt

New Years (Week 57)

Aloha family,

My companion and I just got done making 21 cakes for the Christmas party that was an adventure. It took us the better part of 2 days. Not much time to write today as I have to make up another batch of frosting, and help finish setting up the for the Christmas party. So I’m attaching a punch of pictures in place of the lengthy letter. Don’t laugh at my Christmas pictures too much I decided I was going to look like a gangster so I never smile =P Went around with one of the priesthood brethren who was playing Santa and took pictures. I have to say the pictures don’t do Mongolian Santa’s outfit justice. It was a cross between traditional Mongolian and traditional Santa. Lots of fun lots of insanity, and in the middle of it the kid who was the cause of the emergency transfer last time is throwing a hissy fit so we’re in for even more fun in the days to come. Ah, let what may come and love it (name the speaker to get a point). Oh I almost forgot I brought back 3 kilos of bbq sauce from the city…mmmmmm…. Bbq sauce….

Akhlagch Shonkor (my Mongolian alias)

Lost track of the weeks where are we again? (Week 56)

Aloha and merry Christmas family and friends,

Well believe it or not it still hasn’t really snowed up here in Murun, if I wasn’t headed to the city tomorrow I’d say that I wouldn’t get a white Christmas. Luckily the city has a decent coat of snow from what I’ve heard. Hopefully Murun gets a decent coat some time soon because I’m tired of cold dust storms. This winter has been really warm for some reason. Perhaps all that global warming mumbo jumbo was true!

Anyways, like I said I’m headed to the city tomorrow afternoon by plane. Wednesday we have mission conference and Thursday is our Christmas party. It should be fun. I’ll try to send some pictures. I get to call home on Friday morning before heading back to the airport and flying home at 10. I’m planning to wear my traditional Mongolian clothing for the party this year since I got them after Christmas last year.

In other news works been getting better, but training an American has really taken its toll on my language. I can tell it’s getting worse and worse by the day, and I really don’t know what to do about it. I guess I’ll just have to start talking to myself in Mongolian or something, maybe see if I can steal some of the general conference DVD’s from the church or something and listen to them to keep my listening comprehension up. I don’t have the best language skills but I’m quite fond of what I’ve gained thus far and I really don’t feel like loosing it now, or ever at that. I’m hoping that maybe next transfer president Anderson will ship my companion off and send another Mongolian out here making me the only American in town. I was talking to the general manager of the fanciest hotel in town the other day, and she was saying that there is going to be 4 peace corps worker coming up pretty soon which should be pretty interesting. From what I can tell other than a 2 or 3 Russians, one Korean preacher and some random American guy I’ve never seen , my companion and I are the only foreigners here. It makes for a lot of staring to say the least.
Anyways that’s all folks

~Elder Pitt