Week 2

Hey everyone!Time here at the MTC seems to fly by, it just goes and goes and goes! It is hard to believe that it is already P-day again. Tomorrow I have to teach the first lesson in Mongolian so pray for me to be able to do it! It should be a very interesting experience and I am sure the Spirit will help me know what to say and how to say it. That is my hope and prayer anyway. So I think I might just do what I did in college and give an update on what I learned or did everyday this week and let the letter flow from there. I hope everyone get the letter that I sent to them today - I sent one to family, Grandma Hughes, Aunt Karen, and then Elder Taylor and Elder Hord. It was a crazy busy morning full of writing and now just started the wash and have time to email.So last Thursday we went to the temple and it was amazing, it always is and always will be to me. Just the Spirit that you feel at the temple is incredible and always is a highlight to my week, whether here at the MTC or when I was at BYU or at home. It just always lifts me up and lets me feel of my Heavenly Father's love for me. Friday we taught the first lesson in English to people who had served there missions in Mongolia previously. They asked all kind of interesting questions that I had never thought about and that I took for granted. Like having a Heavenly Father, how the Atonement works (as simply as possible) and other questions. You truly have to start from the ground up in order to teach them the gospel and it is an incredible experience. It helps me to remember how simple the gospel really should be and how that how powerful the Spirit can be when we just focus on the simple things and bear testimony to them. Word to the wise - it is an extreme offense to set a book down on the ground or slide a book across the table to a Mongolian. They have such a love and respect for learning. You can only hand books to them using your right hand and it has to be open palm - otherwise you aren't showing enough respect to learning and knowledge that books contain. It just shows me how much we take for granted here especially books and learning when they truly are a blessing and should be given the proper respect and cared for. Saturday we started to translate the first lesson into Mongolian and let me tell you that English and Mongolian are about as far apart as you can get - different alphabet, different sentence structure, different grammar rules, different conjugations, just everything. But I was able to get it done (with a lot of help from my district, my teachers, and the Lord I can assure you). It took me three or four days though to get my entire lesson outline translated and now I know it is still not simple enough so I need to go back and simplify it some more before I try to teach it tomorrow. Sunday is one of the best days of the week because all we have is meetings and no class. And the meetings are all blessed with an abundance of the Spirit if you take the time to feel it and to reflect on all the words that are being said and taught. Sunday is also movie night and this week I got to watch the Testaments! What a great movie that is! I could watch it 100 times over and still have an amazing spiritual experience and have my testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement and the truth of the Book of Mormon strengthened by watching it again! We also had a fireside Sunday night where we got to learn from one of the missionary department people of the church and he told us to keep the gospel simple and to teach like Preach My Gospel teaches us to teach.Monday was back to a full day of class and translating and trying to get Mongolian down enough to speak it. It is amazing how far I have come in just two weeks and I know the Lord is helping me as I study it and try me best and hardest to understand it. I still have an awfully long way to go though. Brother Marghetts, one of my teachers, taught us a game on Monday night that was really fun. We tossed around a ball and said a word. Then the person who caught the ball had to relate that word to the gospel or the first lesson and teach us a truth or bear testimony or something. Man, does it make you think fast! When I got the word "kangaroo" the only thing I could come up with was that kangaroos have a pouch to keep their young in and to care for them and protect them. Much the same that our Heavenly Father tries to keep and protect us from the world in the gospel pouch. But it is our choice whether to stay in the pouch or to leave it. That was the best that I could come up with, but it was a fun game nonetheless. A good break from Mongolian!Tuesday is a great day because we get to go to the Referral Center and there is a devotional on Tuesday night. I made two successful calls in the Referral Center about people receiving their free movies or Book of Mormons or whatever. It felt great. The devotional was about the need to do missionary work using the Book of Mormon because it is the book God has given us to testify of the truth of the Restoration. And what a powerful book it is. We learned that missionaries need to stop "hopskotching" around and need to start teaching from the beginning of the Book of Mormon. And not to be afraid to have investigators read a lot of pages as an assignment so that they can truly feel the Spirit before we come back to visit them again.Wednesday was a great day as well learning the language and getting along! My companion and I also got two new Elders in our room who are going to St. Louis, Missiouri and will be with us for three weeks because they are only speaking English. They seem to be really cool and I look forward to getting to know them each night and morning when we see them! Sad thing that they come and leave really fast compared to us though, we seem to be here forever! I love being on a mission and the decision I made to come! It has been one of the best decisions I have ever made so far and the Lord has blessed me in so many ways that I don't feel I really deserve. I just need to keep working hard and I am sure the language will come! I am so happy to be here and having the time of my life. Who knew being a missionary could be so much fun?!?Mom - there were a lot of questions you had that I answered in my letter home to you. My BYU password though is rh and then the 6 digit number that I always use. Don't worry too much about me, I am doing great and loving being here! It is amazing!I hope everyone is doing amazing and loving life just like I am! I pray for all you guys and know the Lord will bless you as we follow His commandments! All letters and dear Elders are greatly appreciated and I will respond to what I get every Thursday! Please send pictures too of what is going on!I love you all!Elder Ryan Leroy Hughes
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