Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s thirty third email from 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.
Birthday
This week was great! My birthday was awesome. It was also my old companion’s birthday, Ganbileg. The whole zone came in the morning and we had cake. It was good. They sang happy birthday etc. Then I went on a split with Elder Warner (on the left in the photograph), he was in my MTC group. We went and taught English where they also sang to me. It was really fun to teach English that day because the class simply talked to us and we didn’t have to teach much. It was fun teaching lessons with Elder Warner as our language is close to the same. It made both of us happy to do more of the talking during the lessons.
Missionary Work
Sunday was even better. My companion called up a referral and invited him to church. He said, “Yeah, I’ll come and I’ll bring my two friends too.” So on Sunday he brought two friends. It was great. Also one of my investigators asked a lot of questions and then said the closing prayer in priesthood. The bishop mistook him to be a member.
My companion and I also had a special fast for one of our investigators that hasn’t been able to join the church for about 3 years. Complications with her marriage certificate caused the problems, she didn’t have one, and her husband refused to get another one. This Sunday though she said her husband is going to go with her to get it. My testimony of fasting and prayer grew a lot. It has great power. We were very grateful for what the Lord did for Sister Nyana.
Let Them Eat Fruit
Elder Romney had his birthday this Sunday. We talked about 2 months ago if we were still both in the area that we wanted to have a party together and eat fruit. We just both really wanted to eat fruit for some reason then. So we got some fruit and also a bunch of candy and celebrated our birthdays together. We at first were extremely excited to eat all of the good stuff we bought. Afterwards though our stomachs hurt bad. It was still worth it though. Fruit is kind of expensive so we don’t eat it very often, eating it was a real treat.
Cold Weather
Then today we went out to the country side. We made a snowman and played soccer. It was fun too. The weather got cold really fast. One day we had short sleeve shirts on the other day we had to get our medium size coats out. It is kind of funny that I have a medium size coat and a large coat. I guess that just means it is going to even colder. Right now it’s probably 30 degrees, just cold enough to start snowing.
To Mom
Yeah I got the package. Thanks for sending it. It came really fast it seems, but no I didn’t get a letter from any primary kids. I haven’t gotten a paper letter in so long I can’t even remember the last one I got. I really do enjoy reading the emails though. I get lots from all the family and I’m very grateful.
To Ada
Ha ha, yeah there is a ger inside the fence. If you look closely you can see the fire place pipe. We actually don’t do anything to get people to come to English. I teach at universities. Most of the people in the classes are my exact age. The only qualification I have to be a college professor is that I grew up learning English. It is fun when the classes are good at English and we can have a real conversation. They laugh really hard when I say some words in Mongolian and then I say in English I don’t know Mongolian. Thanks for the letters.
This week was awesome with everything that went on. It seems we had parties, but it also was one of the better missionary work weeks. Thanks for the support.
Love from Elder Willoughby
Darrell Burns says
Belated Happy Birthday! That’s amazing that entire zone came over. Sounds like you have a really close group of missionaries. It’s really cool that you have been teaching English.
I think my mission companion was the driving force behind me really getting into the work. The Lord puts us with the people we need to be with, and I know I needed that extra help at that time.
Thanks for sharing that faith-building experience about fasting and prayer. It’s great to see the faith you have and how it is blessing the lives of those you teach. Keep up the good work.
Brother Burns
Melissa Lee says
This is not necessarily for Daniel. But I am glad he had a good birthday! My name is Melissa and I went to high school with him and ran track. My friend is currently a Mongolian missionary awaiting his visa in Montana. Justin’s Mom saw Daniel’s Mom at the post office sending him a package. We’ve gotten different answers from different people about how long it takes. About how long has it taken your packages to get to him over there?
I love reading about his experiences and his pictures are really fun! I’m glad he’s doing well!
Jill says
Not sure when Daniel got the package, but I mailed it on the 2nd of September and he got it sometime before he sent his email on the 21st. I was concerned about customs as my son that served in Mexico had a package held up for a couple of months.
I am just happy he got it as the previous DHL package I sent to Mongolia cost $94 for 2 pounds. It got there in a week. This package was 2 pounds and cost $18.66 to send.
rickety says
Darrell and Melissa,
I email Daniel comments directed at him (or about him). He should be able to read them on Monday and reply the same day.
Melissa Lee says
Thanks so much!