March 9, 2010

Hi everybody,

We had a great p-day last tuesday. We went to the Ogden Temple at 6am and then at 12pm we went to Maddox for the Mongolian Delegation Luncheon. It was about 1 1/2 hours long and I can tell Elder Onon had a great time. He was in da zone! I ended up visiting with the employees from Utah State cause everyone else only spoke Mongolian. Elder Onon talked to them the whole time and I think he enjoyed it. He said it was a little weird for him cause he hasn't spoken Mongolian like that for a long time. They gave each of us a pin from Mopngolia to put on our jackets which was kinda cool.
Today we went to the Odgen Temple again for a session. It was way early so I'm pretty tired. After that we went to Wal-Mart, and now we are here doing emails. After this we might go have a Nerf War with some other missionaries, and then later we are having dinner with the Illum's. They are a sweet family...pretty young with a few kids, we are looking forward to it.
We had 2 baptisms this weekend. Bridger Eddings, 9 yrs old, got baptized on Saturday and then confirmed on Sunday. Lily Picket, 9 yrs old, got baptized and confirmed on Sunday. They asked me to do the confirmation which was cool. Elder Onon baptized her. We were also able to attend an 8 yr old baptism on saturday...one of our ward mission leaders kids. It was a big day for his family because one of their kids got baptized, they blessed their baby, and they had one of their kids sealed to them in the Temple...all in one day. Cool huh? So overall we were able to participate in 2 baby blessings, and 3 confirmations all in one weekend. It was awesome. All of the services were very nice and the Spirit was strong. We have 2 more baptisms coming up on March 27th. One of them is named Brayden Hunsaker, he is 19 yrs old, and the other is Jon Bishop. He is about 60 yrs old. We committed him for baptism the other night, it was way cool. When I got into this area, everyone told me not to push him or pressure him, and that he only wanted to meet once a week. His wife is an active member, and I guess he's been involved with the church for 40 years. He has been coming to church for months and has been meeting with us. A while ago he went on a church history tour with some member friends, and I think that is what really got him, and what really built his testimony. Anyway, Jon has been ready to get baptized for a long time, and I wanted to commit him. Elder Onon and I talked about it, and we decided to commit him for baptism. We told the fellowship ahead of time that we were going to do it, and when we taught the lesson we did it. Something you need to know is that during the previous lesson, I knew he was ready, but Jon didn't think he was. We decided to go over the baptism interview questions with him, and I think that helped him realize that he was ready. So back to the last lesson where we committed him. We taught the Gospel lesson, and during the baptism part we talked about the interview questions, bore testimony, and committed him to get baptized on March 27th. When we asked him, he said, "Okay lets do it." We were so excited! Ahh!! Haha. It was a miracle. His wife was way excited too, and the next day in church he was telling everyone about it and how he was gettin' baptized. We are working with some other people to help them reach baptism but those are the 2 that are the closest. I'm lovin' it.
English lessons with Elder Onon are going okay. It's hard sometimes because he is kind of set in his ways about how he wants to study. I think I've been able to help him but there is always room for improvement right?
Transfers are a week from tomorrow so don't send anything to the house until after I find out what is going to happen. Interviews are tomorrow so hopefully President will tell me what he's thinkin'.
We haven't had a shower in our apartment for almost a week now. Every time we want to take a shower we have to go upstairs and use the members shower. It's not very convenient, especially since we can only do it during certain times. The Barkers are having some work done in the basement and are having some sheetrock replaced around the shower and in the kitchen. Because of what they are doing, the threshhold of the shower is torn apart so we can't use it. The whole thing really needs to be re-done, so the Barkers are trying to find someone that can do it for them without spending a lot of money. We are going to do some painting for them after everything is done getting worked on. Hopefully it will get finished soon cause I want my shower back lol.
Hahaha that's funny that you made a green dinner for the greenie in the ward. I never got one of those, that's cool though. You guys will have to make sure you break 'em in and keep dem missionaries busy!
I've got a new motto. "Pray for it, expect it, work for it." Elder Onon and I pray for miracles every day and they happen. We have a miracle every day, and it's because we pray for miracles, we expect miracles (which goes along the same lines of having faith), and we work hard for the miracle. As we do those things, miracles happen. It amazing. God loves us so much, and he wants to and is willing to bless us, but we have to hold up our end of the deal if we want him to hold up his end of the deal.
Well I better go. I wish I could write more, I'll have to try and write some letters later today. Tell Jenni and Dad I'm sorry for not emailing back today. I'll write letters and get 'em in da mail tomorrow. I love all of you so much and I miss ya. The church is true! Spread the Gospel. Pray for missionary experiences, not just opportunities! Miracles happen every day. "Pray for it, expect it, work for it."

~Elder Micheal Watts