The Mist of Darkness

The air in Ulaanbaatar has been very thick, heavy, smelly and just plain awful lately.
The coal smoke is so bad that it burns the back of your throat and irritates your eyes.
You can barely see where you are going, so you always find yourself looking down,
 trying to avoid falling or tripping over some hazard.
It is also cold and miserable because the light of the sun is blocked from view.
The smoke penetrates into your hair and clothing so that when you come in
 from outside all that you can smell is the coal smoke.
The "mist of darkness" even tries to creep into our apartment,
through any small crack or opening it can find.

We find that we need to protect ourselves from this "mist of darkness".

  We need to take preventative measures so that we do not have permanent damage
 to our physical health from having to go out into this cold and dark world.

First, we layer ourselves with warm clothing to protect us from the freezing air.

We bundle up good and tight.
We use a good coat, hat, gloves, socks, boots and a scarf to protect us from the biting cold.

The scarf is especially useful. It can be wrapped around your neck and it keeps the cold from going down your body.
You can wrap it around your face, mouth and nose to keep the fumes and the particulates out of your lungs and throat.

We also use face masks to help protect our lungs from this dark unhealthy influence.

We have "sealed" our apartment against the infiltration of the "Mist of darkness".

We have taped every crack trying to prevent the invasion of this dark, unhealthy presence.

After having been out in this bad air, (for we do have to go out in it) we take a shower,
 wash our hair, hang up our coats to air out, and wash our clothing.
We do this to try and cleanse ourselves from the after effects of being in this smoke.

I am grateful to be here in this "Mist of Darkness" and to learn from this physical experience.
It is helping me to ponder and understand the things I need to do
 to get through the spiritual "mist of darkness" that we all have to travel through in this earth life.

The spiritual "mist of darkness" are the temptations that Satan puts in our path on the way back to our Heavenly Father.

The "mist" is cold
.

 It tries to block us from the influence and warmth of the "Son",
our Savior Jesus Christ who is the light and the life of the world.

We need to protect ourselves from this "mist of darkness"
or it will destroy our spiritual life and our ability to return back to be with our Heavenly Father.

We can protect ourselves by putting on the appropriate clothing or the "Armor of God"

Let's put on the appropriate layers of "truth"(Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having you loins girt about with truth)
that will insulate us from the temptations of Satan.

We tell the truth, we are honest in our dealings with others and
 we seek to know the truth and live by the truths that our Savior taught

Next we put on the coat of obedience and righteousness
(Eph 6:14 and having the breastplate of righteousness)

We are protected when we keep our covenants and are obedient to God's commandments.
We are blessed when we obey.

Next we put on the warm socks and boots of knowing the gospel
(Eph 6:15 your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace)
We do this by reading and studying the scriptures, everyday.
This will help us to feel the spirit, to be at peace with our self and our family.

Now we remember the scarf, an essential item in curbing the cold and noxious mist.
This is the shield of faith.(Eph 6:16).  We need to have faith in Jesus Christ. 
Believe in him and Believe in what he did.  He atoned for our sins. 
Because of Christ we can repent.  We can have hope not despair.
Because of Jesus Christ we know that the darkness will pass and we will be brought into his light.

Next is the hat (Helmet) of salvation and the sword of the spirit. 

Now we will use the face mask of prayer. As we pray for guidance
 we will be led by the spirit through the mists of darkness.
We will not get lost, or fall if we listen and follow the spirit.  

Nevertheless, because we are human, we still sometimes make a mistake
 or take a wrong turn while we are out in the darkness.
When that happens, we do not have to lose hope or give up or think all is lost.
There is still hope.  Let us remember and use the great gift of our Saviors atonement and repent.
We do not have to be swallowed up by the darkness.
We can repent, we can be made clean again.

We also seal up our homes against the evil influence of the mist with the
same steps we use to put on the armor of god. 
We read the scriptures, we pray, and are vigilant in monitoring any entrance
or crack that leads into our homes and stopping the dark evil mist before it comes in.

May you have a Merry Christmas and bask in the warmth and light of our Saviors love!

Baptisms

We recently have been asked by our mission president, President Benson to cover two branches instead of one. The branches that we attend are Chingeltei Branch and Sukhbaatar Branch.  It really does make for a long Sunday but we are so grateful for the faithful saints, their beautiful smiles,and for their warm and welcoming embraces.  We leave here around 10:45 am, we walk a little over 3.5 miles to get there. We usually get home that evening around 6:30 pm.  The Mongolian Saints are great! We learn so much from them.  They are a grateful and humble people and are anxious to know the gospel truths and to share it with their friends and neighbors. They show so much concern for us, for they know that we do not speak or understand their language, but a smile is the same in every language.

The Sukhbaatar Branch recently had 3 different baptisms.

Elder Faber and Elder Tulga with Barkhas.  This is a wonderful young man.  We have watched his testimony grow just in the few weeks we have been at Sukhbaatar Branch.  He has had the opportunity to baptize two other sisters. One two weeks after he was baptized and the other a week later. He bears his testimony every chance he gets.  The new members here are amazing.

This is Sonomchetseg ( I don't know how to spell her name)  She too has a great testimony and it was so fun to see her leading the music at the baptism a week after she was baptized. She faithfully attends her meetings every week.  She is a great new member

This is Otgonjargal.  She was baptized on November 29, 2014.  She has a great testimony also.  We are blessed to be able to feel the strong spirits of this brother and sister in the gospel.

Chingeltei Baptism

Chingeltei had a baptism on December 12, 2013

Baptized was Zulla.  She was baptized by a priest in the Branch.  Sorry I do not know his name. I am so impressed with the baptisms here.  For the most part, branch members perform the baptisms, speak at the baptismal service, and come out to the baptism to support the new member.  Afterwards, they have a short social (with some kind of treat) where everyone introduces themselves and welcomes the new member into the branch.

Elder Batbaatar, A priest who is a great young man preparing for his mission, Zulla, Elder Stanley

Elder Batbaatar, Zulla, Elder Stanley

I testify to you that the Lord Jesus Christ lives!  

That our Heavenly Father lives. 

That they both know us and love us.

  Because of their love they have provided a way back to their presence and to become like them. 

Because of their love and the restored gospel with it's ordinances 

we can be with our Families in the Eternities

 The pathway back is straight and narrow.  It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

It is taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

The way back is simple, the first step is 

Faith in our Savior Jesus Christ.

 Second is Repentance, 

Third is Baptism 

Fourth is confirmation and the receiving of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. 

We then need to obedient to the covenents we make with our Heavenly Father.

If we make mistakes (as we all do) we need to use the gift of our Saviors Atonement and repent.

The last step is enduring to the end.

Scripture: Mosiah 18:10 

Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

Creating beauty out of the cold

They are creating an enchanting ice sculpture behind Chinggis Khaan Hotel (which is right across the street from our apartment).  It is fun to watch the work in progress.  Inhabiting this magical ice world are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Mike & Sulley from Monsters Inc, Ariel, lots of big teddy bears, penquins, trees, reindeer and of course Santa (Old Man Winter).

 Scupting Snow White (Or is it Ice White?) Just kidding

 Creating Santa's Reindeer

 This is Mikey and Sculley from Monsters Inc. with Elder Nay

 Shrek and the donkey

 Snow White and the Seven little Men

 Going down an Ice Slide

 Cars character Lightning McQueen

 Hard to tell but they really are Penguins

 Gee Elder Nay, It is "Beary" COLD out Here!

 Ariel was frozen in the ice 

Sister Nay holding up a fat bellied bear

Scripture of the week:

Helaman 5:45

45 And behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, 

May you be filled with the comfort and warmth that the Holy Ghost brings when he testifies of our Savior's love and existence.

Searching for Chirstmas Trees

Last Saturday, us and several other Senior Missionaries went on a "quest" to find Christmas Trees in Mongolia.  Most Mongolians do not celebrate Christmas because they are not Christian, but they do celebrate New Years.  There are some decorated trees around, but they are New Year's Trees. 

However, our building is decorated with CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!

 We do believe in Christ and glory in his birth
 and celebrate His life and our Grateful for His love and His Atonement!

 

The Nativity Set in our Office

Elder Tulga and Elder Sims in front of the Tree in the Bayanzurkh Building

 

Isabella  and the tree by the Mission Office

LD decorating the Bayanzurkh Tree

 Sister Farmer and John is in the Farmer's office by their cute tree.

 Elder Nay all wrapped up for our walk in the cold. 

 Elder and Sister England

 Sister Linford. (She is not dressed nearly warm enough!)

Sister Stewart, Sister Farmer, Sister England, Sister Linford, Sister Nay

 Sister and Elder Stewart checking out the commercialism in Mongolia.

 The State Department Store

 Tree outside the state department Store

 Elder Nay inside the state department store.  The decorations were spectacular!

Sister Nay.  Did you notice that both Elder Nay and Sister Nay have red noses? 

 We now know how Rudolph got his red nose.

 This tree actually looks quite spectacular at night time.

Sukhbaatar Square

My you be filled with the light and love of our Savior this Christmas Season!
We testify that He Lives.
That He loves all of us and wants us to use the gift of atonement that he has provided for us all.

Scripture for the week: 2 Timothy 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

These boots are made for "walking" (In the cold )

I have never seen so many different types of boots before coming to Mongolia.  There is so much variety walking down the street it is just fun to see.  So here are some boots that I saw while in the Black Market on Saturday Dec 7, 2013

My new hat.  Very Mongolian don't you think?

Scripture for the week Isaiah: 57:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him the bringeth good tidings, that publishet peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that siaith unto Zion, They God reigneth!