The Church in Mongolia

I had a sweet opportunity to visit with Sister O. who is from Mongolia. She is a very quiet, sweet sister yet her testimony is tender and strong. I told Sister O. that Elder Lund and I had seen a show about Mongolia and I was interested to see the landscape and see the living conditions. I asked Sister O. how cold it got  in her home city. She said it was much colder than Ogden, about -30 degrees Celsius. Brrrrr, chilly. I asked where she lived and she said the capital city of Ulaanbaar. She then pulled out of her purse some postcards of Mongolia. The pictures reminded me of pictures of Russia that I had seen with many gray buildings side by side, each one having many apartments in them. She said she lived in one with all of her family. She said most Mongolians are Buddhist. I asked if she had been. She replied "No, she was atheist". I asked her to tell me of her conversion. She said that her family had been invited over to another families' home to hear the gospel. She just knew the gospel was true when she heard it. I asked her how many members there are currently in Mongolia. She replied, 7000. Wow! I couldn't believe it. Sister O's brother had been a missionary previously in the Utah Ogden Mission. He had served and returned home. Now it was her turn.

The longer I am involved in this mission, the more I am learning about the total global-ness of the Gospel. In 8 weeks, we will have another transfer and ALL of the missionaries will be coming from places outside the US....except for 1, who will be coming from Texas. I will write more about this when they arrive.

It is exciting to work with these young, strong members who have been converted for just a short time, yet left everything behind to come preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How are our testimonies coming? Is yours strong enough to leave everything for the service of the Lord? Are you teaching your children so they will have equally strong testimonies? I find myself recommitting daily to be a better person and share the gospel with anyone who will listen. I guess such is a missionary.