A Special Baptism

We attended what we would call a special baptism in our little Nailakh Branch.

First, a little bit of background.

In a recent zone conference, President Andersen asked all the missionaries in the audience who had a family member who had been baptized, was being taught the lessons or been reactivated since they began their missions, to stand up. Over half of the group stood up, including two senior couples. Then he added that, ‘Your families are blessed when you serve a mission and he challenged each missionary to find and help bring to the Gospel, members of families of the missionaries who are serving. He asked the 23 new missionaries to stand and asked how many of them were the only members in their families. Nine stood up.

A little side note. Three of those twenty three also had siblings currently serving missions. Not bad for a little country like Mongolia!

About seven months ago, we sent out another missionary from our little Branch – Elder Amarbayasgalan. He was called to serve right here in the Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Mission. And he’s really a good young man, but like so many others who serve from Mongolia, he is the only member of the Church in his family.

Make that was the only member from his family.

As we mentioned, the recent Nalaikh Branch Baptismal Service was a special one. Elder Amarbayasgalan and his companion (who are serving in Ulaanbaatar) traveled to Nalaikh for that baptism with President and Sister Andersen (we had to be there early for a meeting and to feed dinner to the missionaries serving there!). That young Elder then had the special privilege of baptizing his mother, his older brother and his younger sister. It was the first baptisms he had performed as a full time missionary.

This is a picture of he and his family. Elder Amarbayasgalan is the one dressed in white on the far left. The three who were baptized are on the far right. That’s President Andersen crouched down in front and Sister Andersen standing behind him.

In that referred to zone conference, President Andersen also mentioned that approximately 1% of the Church membership here in Mongolia were currently serving full time missions. Now let’s see. If 1% of the entire Church membership were serving full time missions . . . how good are you at math?

One will need to remember that sisters serve for 18 months not 24 and that there is a constant rotation of new missionaries and returning missionaries during a two year period, but the result is that there would be about 200,000 full time missionaries serving at any one time – about 4 times the number that are currently serving. Come on folks! Everybody else has a bit of catching up to do!
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Eight-year-old, Non-member Missionary

We thought we would share another experience a couple of our missionaries had in teaching the Gospel.

They were approached by an individual on the street who wanted to know what church they represented (yup, the individual approached them, not the reverse). They explained who they were and this individual wanted to learn more. We don’t think he had to ask twice!

It took sometime but they finally were able to find the family at home. There is an eight year old boy in that family who let them know very quickly that he wanted to learn all he could. The missionaries gave the family some scriptures and this eight year old boy has been reading them every since.

And that’s not all. Everyday, he shares what he reads and learns with his family.

“And a little child shall led them.”

The Ding-A-Ling Choir

As part of our Christmas Conferences, the Senior Missionaries formed a Bell Choir. President Andersen and his wife have a set of bells that their family has used for years.
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We played three numbers at the conference on Christmas Morning; “Good King Wenceslas", "Coventry Carol" and "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel". We actually did a pretty good job! And it was kind of fun! Bells just seem to be an integral part of Christmas.We were surprised at how expensive the bells are. During one of our practice (video above), one of the choir members decided it would be fun to sort of toss his bell in the air and catch it at the end of the number. Both President and Sister Andersen simultaneously lunged for his bell as he did so! They apparently run $100 each and up!
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Missionary Work

We had mission conferences during Christmas Time. And, as usual, they were quite good and we learned much.

During part of those conferences, several of the missionaries were invited to share some of their recent missionary experiences. You know, success stories and how it feels to be a missionary. One sister (Sister Mansfield) told of an experience her and her companion recently had.

As they were walking through a ger district (gers are little round portable homes like those that are called yurts in Russia - about 15 feet in diameter), they came across an elderly grandma carrying water from a common well to her ger (there is no running water in a ger). These wells can be a mile or more from any one ger. The man hauling water in this picture is fortune to have a cart. Many do not.

Jumping to her rescue, the sisters helped her carry the water the rest of the way to her ger.

Along the way, they talked. And soon they asked if she would like to learn about Jesus Christ. After all, they are missionaries. She said, ‘yes’.

It would be helpful, at this point, to mention that older people here in Mongolia are most often of a non-Christian belief and generally do not readily listen to the Gospel message. For years they were ruled first by China (with their Buddhism and Shinto beliefs) and then by Russia (which demanded a non-religious environment under socialism). We have learned much about what socialism can do to a people since coming to live here. It has been . . . well . . . eye opening, to say the least. We are grateful to have been spared that experience and admire these people for their resilience.

But, as a result, it's largely the young who readily accept the Gospel message here. Those who were not tainted by socialism. The older generation seems hardened and sometimes even made cynical by the old socialist regime which many of them spent half of their lives dealing with.

But not always.

Before reaching the ger, these sister missionaries were able to make an appointment for a return visit. The appointed time came and when they returned to the ger, they found grandma and her 75 year old husband waiting. Grandpa had no teeth -- but he did have a lot of questions. Both were anxious to learn and listened attentively.

They were invited to church and came that first Sunday. They were 10 minutes late but they came. It’s difficult for people in their 70's to walk to church. Especially when a cane is the only help they have.

They haven’t missed a meeting since.

Even during the recent quarantine, when there were no large gatherings allowed, grandma and grandpa would walk all the way to the meeting house anyway. The missionaries had anticipated things like this and would always wait at the building to help those who came find a member home where Sacrament Meeting was being held. Grandma and Grandpa always came. They wanted to learn more of this new religion they had found.

But worship services are not all they have been interested in. One just has to mention any other meeting or activity and grandma and grandpa will likely be there. We wonder how many members back home would be that faithful and determined. And few of them have to walk – with or without a cane.

Their baptism date is set for a week from this Friday. We think that is one baptism we would like to attend.
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Merry Christmas

Just a really quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and to thank our family for a really nice Christmas morning! Got up early to open the gifts they sent us. Wonderful family!

More details later!

But we've got to go. They've started us in meetings at 7:45 this Christmas morning! Go figure!

VISA's Are Approved!

In a somewhat sudden and unexpected turn around, one government official indicated today that all of our missionary VISAs were being approved! We'll wait with baited breath for it to actually happen, but this is really good news!

It will likely take a a couple of weeks to round up all the missionaries who have been reassigned all over the United States and then to ship them to Mongolia, but they will be coming!

President Andersen is thinking that January 15th looks like a likely date. Yipppeee!

The best Christmas present ever!