A Week of Training - Week 15

Dear Family and Friends,

Oh my heck, this has been such a fun and crazy week here in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia! We have had quite a few training meetings and I have been able to spend time learning how to be a better missionary despite any language issues--that will come with time and faith. Mongolian is considered a hard language for a reason, to be fair, all languages are difficult to learn so my heart goes out to any single person trying to learn anything other than their native language. 

To begin the week, we had Zone Conference on Tuesday and it was WONDERFUL! It was a full-day event from 9 AM to 4 PM and all of the missionaries in our Zone were able to come together and be edified. Our Mission President is amazing at switchin
g between English and Mongolian (think of Popi with English and Spanish) where every missionary was given a headphone and had to take turns wearing it and taking it off depending on the language that was being spoken. President Benson is making our mission a dual-language mission, so all Americans learn Mongolian and all the Mongolians are learning English, it is really cool. So to begin, you will randomly be called to give a 3 minute talk and it needs to be in both languages, and about 10 people go through this. We then were spoken to about different subjects like Faith, Diligence, Learning to Find, and Being a Good Teacher. It was fantastic. To finish the conference, the rest of us who did not give a talk was asked to bear a 2 minute testimony (in both languages). It is nice because I was able to say most of it in Mongolian, but for the part where my thoughts became too complex for the Mongolian that I have learned, I was able to say it in English. 

I spent Wednesday with the Sister Training Leader on a split--this is where you spend the evening and next day with one of the STL's seeing how they work--and it was nice because you learn different ways of being a missionary. My trainer has an amazing ability to understand and have correct pronunciation in Mongolian even though she has only been here for 10  months, this is what is most important to her. The STL that I spent the day with (Sister Bennett, she also has a blog) has a different approach and is so stinkin' friendly with all of her investigators and speaks a little louder where I just had a feeling that she shows her love by being friendly with them. Right now, I feel like I mostly can only offer a smile, but in the end, I want to being able to ask questions and let them know that I really care about how they are doing. I love people by trying to be their friend. I don't know if that makes complete sense, but I want to make people happier than before we met. I want to be able to serve them a relieve their burden by any small degree, even if it is with a happy attitude. I loved it and am really excited for the different transfers that will be coming my way, there are so many personalities out here and I cannot wait to see what I can learn.

My favorite day of my entire mission came on Thursday, this was such a fun day! We started with the normal studies (about 4 hours every morning) and I was able to work with my companion about both of us contributing to the work, even though we are both still learning how to be good missionaries. The Lord's hand was in the work. I had two people who came to mind and as soon as we reached out to them, they were able to make appointments with us and or give us reference of who to reach out to. It was amazing! It was such a small thing, too. We also reached out to a Less Active member that we haven't been able to speak with for the past 2 weeks and she finally answered the phone and let us know that we would be able to meet with her. Right now!

So we basically went running out of our apartment because we still had to take that hour long bus ride. Off we went and had an appointment in the same area 3 hours later, so this was divine intervention that led us to call here out of the blue. The problem, though, is that we didn't know quite which stop to get off at because there may have been another stop rather than the one we usually take. It turns out, the bus doesn't stop twice for this little Gep district--we saw the town that we needed to get out at quickly fading in the rearview window of the bus--these buses also speed down these country roads. We were able to get out about 5-7 minutes (riding time) after the stop that we missed. We had some time, so we decided to walk it.

Oh my heck, what a decision to make. The wind was STRONG and we walked right into it--I saw this little brown finch trying to fly into the headwind and it was flapping it's little wings and made absolutely no progress. I thought that it was going to be a quick 20 minute walk because we didn't ride the bus for too long, but again, I was wrong. It was a solid hour walk into the wind and every time I smiled I probably swallowed a pound of dirt, I would estimate that we ended up walking about 3 miles. With the cold wind, it felt like an eternity, but we were in the country-ish, so it was absolutely beautiful. I would take that walk again. 

We then wandered around the district for another 45 minutes trying to find her house, if you do not know the neighborhood, it is so easy to get lost. Luckily, none of the stray dogs were aggressive, I will have to take a picture some time of these dogs. Finally, we were just kind of standing there at a loss, when I saw this guy walking toward us and I had a feeling that he was going to be able to help. Well, he was probably a little tipsy, but he was able to help. We handed him the phone and the lady told him how to get to her house (directions are hard to understand in Mongolian) and so he led us along... except he held my hand the entire time. It is kind of a Mongolian thing to hold hands, everyone does it. I wasn't sure if I should have pulled my hand away, but I was wearing gloves (and looked like a goober with my hat and ear muffs), so I figured it was okay.

We made it and was able to share a nice lesson with the member. She is so cute and was watching her little 2 year old grandson, it was like being at home. With all the time lost between trying to get there, we could only stay with her for about 30 minutes before heading out to the next appointment. The next lady, when we got to her house, ended up having an issue at work and wasn't home, so we met with her mom, two daughters. and neighbor. Those kids made my day! I let the little one wear my badge and we played a game where they told me how to sat body parts in Mongolian (like eyes, chin, hands) it was really cute. 

I loved this day so much because absolutely nothing worked out the way that I thought it would, but I don't feel like a single moment was wasted. The Lord knew that we were trying with every possible way to fulfill our calling and I think that the full effort was what counted. We built relationships and I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Being a missionary is VERY humbling, but I am glad that I am here. I think that I am learning how to be a better person for it.

I love you all!

Sister Olsen

The Work is Starting

Dear family and friends,

So last week I ran out of time and wasn't really able to get as many pictures sent home as I thought, so we'll try again! I am starting with a plan to write my big letter and kind of planned out what I was going to say about this week--very missionary of me with even planning out my letter to you. :)

To begin, I want to let you know that I absolutely LOVE the ward that I am in! I work in two different Ger Districts and the border of the city--with both of the Ger Districts, one is more out in the country (about an hour bus ride) and the other is more on the border of the city and they both have such a different feel to it. The one out in the country is nice just because there is more room and you can see the mountains better, it has a very calm feeling to it. I just went to the one in the city and it is a bit more crowded and it feels like you are going on a little hike each time you visit because it is up and down hills. I am getting such a work-out every single day! 

One really cool thing that happened is seeing how the Lord really does let all things work together for your benefit. On Wednesday, we had a District Meeting and I was assigned to give the Spiritual Thought--they asked that it is about 5 minutes in length and my Mongolian is going out the window because my brain is so overwhelmed--so I put in a lot of effort to be prepared to convey my thoughts. It was amazing because in the meeting, there was a Senior Couple that had the meeting translated into English, so as I was giving my thought, I heard someone else making it into English; they understood everything that I was trying to say! Oh my heck, it was amazing and I felt so much more confident about it. Then that night, we had a last-minute appointment with a less-active member and called her, was invited over, and was on a bus within a 10 minute span; since this was a last-minute appointment, we didn't have anything formally prepared and it was going to be a getting-to-know-you sort of meeting. Well, I was asked to lead the discussion and even though I couldn't understand any of the pleasantries at the beginning of the meeting, I was able to share the same spiritual thought. More than that, I already knew that it was understandable in Mongolian, so I was more confident about everything.

You could see that the member was surprised when I started to talk because I couldn't communicate just minutes earlier. So the way that I learned Mongolian is that I learned how to teach gospel lessons and understand gospel terms, the rest will come by immersion and independent study, so there are large gaps in my communication ability at this point. It will come with time. The member was able to ask questions about different principles and I was able to use to Book of Mormon to help point toward answers. I felt like it was a huge success and the first real lesson that I had since coming to Mongolia in Mongolian. She like us so much, that she even offered us dinner--fish. It was a fish with whiskers and bones. I saw her chop the head off, but I ate it. The Lord really does bless you with a stomach of steel because this fish was given to us when she didn't have anything else, it wasn't from her abundance, so how in the world could I reject even a bite? Being here, I am so humbled by how blessed and comfortable my life back at home is.

The biggest change came from adjusting my expectations for the time of my training. I thought that I was going to be coddled every second of the day, but that is not how it is. I do not just get to shadow for the first 12 weeks while I learn how to be a missionary, but I have to hit the ground running. I have to work hard and be a contributing member to my companionship, even though I do not know what to offer. Even when you are in a new country learning a new language, you are still an adult. Before I came, I pictured my trainer completely different, but in all reality, she is still just a person trying her best to continue to learn the language and follow the promptings of the Spirit. What is even crazier is that they say that in the Mongolian mission, they want you to be prepared to be a trainer after the first 12 weeks and I will most likely be a trainer before my one year mark--just because the mission is smaller in quantity. Something like that, I just hope to learn as much as I can as fast as I can. My learning curve is still there, but I have only been here for less than a month, so I need to take it one step at a time. 

It is hard to be completely outside of your comfort zone, but the minute my feet leave the apartment, I completely forget about myself and love what I do.

I love you,

Sister Olsen

Week One in Mongolia

Dear family and friends,

So it has finally happened, I made it to Mongolia, can you believe it? I have been looking forward to this since August 29 when I opened up my call--some moments in dread and others in pure excitement-- and now it is here.

The trip here was insane with so many stressful moments! We made every flight, luckily, but the one actually taking us to Ulaanbaatar was the closest call where we were basically running back and forth in the Korea airport trying to get the boarding pass--the craziest part was that this was the airport that we had a 6 hour layover. We missed some important details like where to pick up the ticket; such a rookie mistake, for anyone else travelling, be smarter than us. Make sure that you are at the gate at least 2 hours early because we thought we could get everything done in a hour and had some major learning lessons. 

However, we are here and that it is the important part. I instantly fell in love with the people and the city from the moment that we walked out of the airport and met the missionary personnel to take us to the mission home. I think this was such a tender mercy because approximately two days later on Monday night, I had my first encounter with a drunk Mongolian man and fell out of love with the people. On Tuesday morning, I would have come home. As the day progressed, I taught my first English class realized that the Mongolian people as a whole are amazing and giving, minding their own business, it is just the off-shoot that is a little awful. Throughout the week as I was able to interact with more people, I have learned how to recognize and avoid the odd ones, but I love it. 

This was the ger I was in yesterday! 

The air here is very polluted at night, it clears up at the day, and then gets bad again at night. We have these masks that keep it clean for the most part, but it will be nice when the weather really warms up and people are not heating up their homes as much because there is a lot of coal and wood that is burned. 

I went into my first ger yesterday for dinner and I loved it. In the area that I am now serving in (crazy enough, I have only been here for a week and we had a transfer, so I am in my 'second' area without ever having been at the first), it borders the end of the city and it is like a mini countryside. The mountains are beautiful, the air is so much cleaner, and the people are so loving. I went to church yesterday and depsite the language barrier, I know that I am going to love them.

This is going to have to be a short letter, unfortunately, as I am going to meet others for a mini hike (expect some cool pictures), but I will try to write more next week.

I love you!

Sister Jessica Olsen

Random cow walking around

I am in Mongolia!

Hi Family,

So I made it! I am in Mongolia and I absolutely love it, the people are wonderful and they smile at me a lot because we really cannot speak (due to a lack of language on my end). The church meeting reminded me of the Spanish ward growing up where everyone chats together before church, after church, and there are little kids everywhere wandering around throughout the Sacrament meeting.

The jet lag is insane, I am so tired right now that every time I stand still for longer than a few minutes, I can feel myself start to sway to fall asleep. This morning during personal scripture study I had to get up and walk around every 5 minutes to keep myself from falling asleep. The Bensons, my mission president and his wife, gave us the request to stay awake until 9:30 PM to try to get over the jet lag faster by acclimating as quickly as possible--I was knocked out last night by 9:35 PM and he told me that he called at 11 PM (Mongolia). I know that I am going to sleep like a champ tonight and I think tomorrow is P-day where I will be able to give more information about my flight and the crazy ups and downs. I am so glad that President Benson was able to call home and let you know I made it.

Hahahaha, really quick, though, there was this rumor going on at the church meeting that I attended where everyone came up and asked me if I was from Hawaii because that is what they heard and they said that I had a very pretty face. I told them that my face came from my mom and that I am from Colorado. It is so great being here, even though I can only catch a single word in a 20 minute conversation, I am really happy and I love all the people; I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. :)

I love you! 

Sister Olsen

PS - I ran into Sister Harker and gave her a huge hug! I will be seeing a lot more of her (hopefully), so I will have to take a picture, now I just need to find the Sister who is visiting Mongolia until next week and taught us at the MTC