Missionary Dan Email #3 from Choibalsan, Mongolia

Those comics were way funny dad! I showed the one about Atlanta with Elder Weaver from my group. He laughed hard too. I like to say to someone who doesn’t recognize the name of a Mongolian person… you know the one with black hair and brown eyes. Of course everyone has that color so you get a good pity laugh. Also I think the one about eating goat’s stomach could get a little laugh too.

You may be wondering what all the money is in the picture. Well I had this brilliant idea came to me so I decided to do it. I took out the money in my savings account and exchanged it into Mongolian bills. I figure that when the exchange rate is better I can then exchange it back and get some good profit. Good idea eh? Well it would have been a good idea seven months ago because the exchange rate was 1.8 then but now it is 1.5. [Rickety note: What really happened is a banker allowed Daniel a few minutes with the cash to take the picture]

Missionary Work

This week we have plenty of time to do just missionary work. It was great! We met with lots of people and our investigators are progressing great. They think the church may be open again, but they don’t know for sure when. So like last week we went to all the church member’s houses for sacrament. This week we were able to administer it 10 times to 47 people. We started early at 8:30am, trying to catch our less active member before she went to work, but we missed her, just barely. Every other appointment went according to plan and we were busy the whole day. It wasn’t nearly exhausting as last week for some reason. I think because we had already experienced it. I shared the same spiritual thought 10 times. That was actually a really good experience. It was 3 Nephi 27:21. I asked, “What did the Lord want you to do?” I think that’s translated right. We got many answers but few said that the things Christ did He wants us to do as well. So it was a good teaching moment. I felt the spirit strongly and it helped me adapt the lesson to what the people needed to hear.

We made horse pizza last night too. I say that because the meat we used was horse. It was really tasty. Can’t say it tastes much different than beef, but I will anyway. Basically the thought that runs through my mind when I eat horse meat is, “Hey this isn’t beef… it tastes like horse.” I don’t know how else to describe it. So I had pizza for the first time in awhile.

We taught English at the church right before the church got closed. We also teach at the Red Cross center, or we are going to start teaching there. There haven’t been any English sittings allowed really so we haven’t taught. We just have been busy doing missionary work. I know it is Heavenly Father’s work and He is helping us every day. He lives and loves us very much. Thanks for the emails and support.

To Mom

The things that helped me prepare for a mission the most were the small and simple things we are taught to do every week and day. Scripture study, prayer, attending church, and opportunities to serve others. I am happy that I always liked going to church. I can’t really remember a day when I wanted to stay home and not go. I learned that from Dad and your example of always going yourselves. Also I don’t know how you taught me, or where I learned it from, but the discipline to wake up every morning is very helpful. I just remember always waking up myself with my alarm for school every day, and giving me that responsibility early was probably a good idea. That seems to be a struggle for some missionaries.

After turning 18 years old, going to mission prep class each week really helped. It made me want to go and got me excited about it. I learned a lot from there, especially how I like to take notes from teachers in that kind of setting, as in the MTC there is tons of things to take notes on.
Other important preparation was just the fact that I knew Dad and you loved me and always wanted to help. Sharing of your testimony and love for the gospel were all things that influenced me to get ready to serve a mission.

To Dad

I really like the comic idea. Those are really funny. I really like your character too. It looks just like you. I’ll usually send everything that I think is funny home. If I have some really good ideas I’ll send them your way.

Love Elder Willoughby.

Presented have been portions of an email from Elder Daniel Willoughby serving in the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.