Great Highs and Great Lows

What another great week in Mongolia!!

This past week has been filled with some great highs and some great lows. Last Tuesday was a great day. I grew a lot spiritually. That day Elder Lu and I had a full day of lessons planned. We felt great. We were going to meet up with a member close to our home to go out to the lessons with us. His name Buyertzax. He’s 24 and is pretty famous in Mongolia. He does a lot of the EFY songs. Anyway, before we left our apartment to meet him, all at once our investigators burned us. It was heartbreaking. We met with Buyertzax anyways and told him the sad news. He was a little upset but quickly put a smile on his face. He said that we will visit some of the less actives that he taught when he was on his mission. So we went into the ger (Yurt moveable homes) districts that was right in our backyard. Man, it’s like a maze in there. We hiked up many dirt roads to many houses. It was a beautiful day out which was nice. We ended up visiting 5 people. At each house we gave a lesson. We really had to rely on the spirit to bring to us things to say that we have already studied. Our first visit was to a house. The man who answered was named Batjauv. He was watching his grand kids while his kids were in America for work. We had the impression to teach him about enduring to the end. Buyertzax is really cool. He gave me opportunities to speak during the lesson. I shared a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants where it says if you endure your afflictions well you will receive eternal life. I gave my testimony about this and he was really proud of me.

Buyertzax loves to hear me speak because I have the accent down really well for only being here for 2 weeks. He also loves to say my name, Hekok!! He said that's the sound a muskrat makes when he pops out of a hole hahaha. No wonder people laugh when I introduce myself.

Then we went to many other houses and at one, a kid answered and let us in. He said we could come in for a bit but that we couldn’t stay long because his mom will almost be home and she doesn’t like Mormons. So Buyerzax turns to me and says to the kid, “this is Elder Hekok and he has a very good accent. He will share his testimony see if you can understand him.” So I did. I gave my testimony and the kid started laughing.  He said he could actually understand me. In the past he had a hard time understanding Americans. So that was cool.

Then at one ger (my first time at a ger) we had the blessed opportunity to give the member’s mom a blessing. She was pretty old and was sick. When the member asked us if we could bless her, Elder Lu said, “I don’t have any oil.” And the member didn’t have any oil, but I had some oil. I almost forgot about it!! It was in my satchel! They were so happy I had some. So Elder Lu did the anointing and then Buyertzax gave the blessing. It was so awesome. It was like 110 degrees in that ger but I didn’t care. It was a great feeling. I left the ger districts very uplifted. I had the opportunity to share my testimony and some scriptures at every home we visited. 

By the time we had finished our work in the ger district, it was 6pm, so we made our way to our next appointment that was at 630 with one of the counselors in the bishopric. Since we were new to the ward and area, Elder Lu and I decided to visit as many strong members as we could and get referrals from them. The member we visited name is Natsigdorj. He is also pretty young. Late 20s maybe. He has 3 young boys and a baby boy. He and his wife both served missions and both went to BYU Hawaii so both of their English was pretty good. And guess where the wife served? She served in the Everett Washington Mission!!!!!!!! Can you believe that!! She served in 2001 to 2003 and was in Bellingham and the cities around there and she also served in Everett for a while. It was awesome. They also fed us pretty well. We had hot chocolate which was sooooooo good!! And then we had rice with meet cabbage carrots and potatoes on it. Man it was awesome. Then we shared a spiritual thought on missionary work and how members can be missionaries too. Then we asked if they had any referrals. They gave us a less active name Gan Baat. I’ll talk about him later. 

Elder Lu and I making pizza for lunch

Wednesday was a routine day. It’s hard for me to teach any lessons on Wednesday or Friday because I have English teaching training for 5 hours those days. So we had our studies until 12 and then we made lunch which was awesome. I’ll send some pics. Then we left for English. English was really good. Elder Cowles and I are really good teaching together. Everyone has a good time and goes home knowing more English. I’m really enjoying teaching English. I can see its true purpose and how really important it is. 

We made 4 of these. Homemade tastes better!

Thursday Elder Lu and I were on fire!!! Not because we did great work but because we got burned so many times!!! I do not know what is up with these people?! We had 4 lessons planned up for that day and we called them all the day before to remind them. They all said come on over. But right before we left, we got burned by all of them expect for the lesson we had with the bishop and his family. So with an open schedule we went to the mission home and met with Pujay. She was one of the first to be baptized in Mongolia. Her job is to give us one on one help with anything about the Mongolian language. The mission president wants us to meet with her at least twice a week. So I went to her and had her help me with my 42 principles book. She helped me so much and since no one was waiting after me and we had no lessons, we stayed for 2 hours. She said my accent is very good and I’ll be a great speaker by the end of my 2 years.

Then we got a call from a guy, who burned us earlier, that said we could come over to teach. We went all the way back to the ger districts and trekked around for a while to try and find his house and when we finally do, we knock on his fence and get no answer. We peek through the fence and can see inside his house. We even see him inside. So we call him twice and he doesn’t pick up. We sat there knocking and he wouldn’t come out. I was really bummed. Elder Lu got a pic of me that I’ll send. So we left and went to the lesson we had with the bishop. The bishop is pretty young too but pretty successful. He has an actual washer and dryer and it’s a really nice one. it’s the only washer and dryer I’ve seen yet. He has 3 young girls and they are crazy! HAHA We basically did the same thing at his house that we did at Natigdorjs house. We gave a short quick lesson on missionary work and asked for a referral. He said he will text us one but he hasn’t texted us back so we will wait and see. 

Mongolian Lego Police. LOL

Saturday was a big day. We had zone conference. It was from 9 to 5 so it filled most of our day because we still had to do some studies afterwards and we had a lesson set up with Gan Baat. Zone conference was great. I learned a lot from other missionaries and even more from President Benson. The main focus of his teaching was using the Book of Mormon in your lessons. It was really cool.

The last 30 minutes of zone conference he turned the time over to us missionaries to bear our testimonies. He said we could do it all in Mongolian and all in English or a little of both. Well, all the American missionaries that went up gave their testimony all in English. I was surprised because some of them were missionaries who have been here for a long time. So it’s 5, and the president stands up and I bow my head waiting for the closing prayer, when he said, “Elder Heacock, will you bear your testimony for us please?” I should have known! I didn’t say anything that whole meeting so I should have known this would come. Elder Lu, right before I got up, said “give your testimony in Mongolian.” When I was walking up, I was thinking that all the other American missionaries even the AP’s gave their testimony all in English. Should I do it in English as well? I’m new. So I start out in English saying how I know God called each of us to this special mission and how blessed I am to be here serving these wonderful people. Then I turn to Elder Lu and he mouths “have confidence.” So I paused and under my breath I say, “Here goes nothing.” Then I go right into my Mongolian testimony. As I’m speaking I see Pujay in the back nodding her head and then I look over and see Elder Urness in the back raising his arms in the air giving me 2 thumbs up. I finished and walked over in silence to my chair. Elder Filmore gave me a high five and said that that was awesome. I was pretty proud of myself. It was cool to have the confidence to do that. Elder Lu told me after my testimony that I am in deep water now. I asked why. He said, “You were the only one to have the courage to give your testimony in Mongolian. That shows President Benson that you have courage and really want to improve your language. So he’s going to give you some task or position that will really make you stretch and make you improve. That was pretty cool. So when we were walking to the elevator, President Benson came up to me and thanked me for bearing my testimony and that he liked it a lot. Elder Lu laughs and said “Man, he is definitely throwing you in.” I laughed.

Made Pasta

Later that night we had a lesson with Gan Baat. It took us a long time to find his house but we finally found it. He owns a dethguur. So his house is attached to the store he owns. It was 8:30pm. So we since we were teaching a lesson we had to be back by 9:30. We lived a ways away so we made the lesson quick. But before we could start, this whole buffet of food comes in and he has us eat. We were starving so we dug in. Half the stuff I ate I have no idea what it was. Gan Baat is awesome. He’s 63 years old but has the energy of a 20 year old. He and his wife run the little grocery store and his wife said that their son served in Spokane Washington for his mission which was awesome. So we ate and ate and ate and then we had time to just go around and bear our testimonies. Elder Lu and I gave ours and then Gan Baat bore his testimony and it was awesome! Mostly because I understood it!!!! When we left, the wife let us take some ice cream home with us so that was awesome. As you can see I’m getting fed really well here. hahaha

This Sunday was Fast Sunday so we bore our testimonies. As I was giving my testimony all the old ladies in the front row were nodding and giving me the thumbs up hahah. It was a great fast Sunday. We had a lesson with a guy named Monk o Trith and his best friend Biemb Seren. They are both 19 and are about to be baptized. The sister missionaries before us were meeting with them so we just had to finish up their lessons. They are both getting baptized on April 16th so I’m super excited!!!

That night we had a lesson with the 2nd counselor in the bishopric who’s the youngest out of the 3. He is recently married. He served his mission in 2011 - 2013 in Mongolia. His wife is cool too. She served her mission at Temple Square in Salt Lake City and then for a couple months she served in Alaska. It was the same weather as Mongolia so she was used to it. She spoke really good English. She fed us Mongolian spaghetti and mashed potatoes and yes a salad!!! And it had apples in it!!! I haven’t had fruit since I got here!!! Fruit here is really expensive. So since 1. we are missionaries and 2. it was fast Sunday we ate a lot. She knew to make double of everything because we were coming over haha. It tasted so good! When we were about to give our spiritual thought, she comes out with ice cream!! Its Russian ice cream which is 3 times as good as American. And guess what else!!? She put banana slices in the ice cream! If only I had brought my marshmallows!!! We left that house with 3 referrals and full stomachs. Elder Lu and I love this area. He says he has never gotten these many lessons, referrals and meals from members in any of his other areas. I love Inktaven!

Elder Lu and I at Burger King on P-day

We are watching General Conference next Saturday and Sunday so we can watch it in Mongolian. I don’t know how that’s going to go. Hopefully they will have subtitles. Arionbothd is doing great we are still meeting with him we got him in our plan to meet him a couple times this week. I’m so blessed to be here and it’s awesome to walk everywhere. We walk around 2 to 5 miles a day. So when I get home, I’m probably will walk to a lot of places because walking is awesome!! I love you guys a lot and miss you!! 

Elder Heacock