Life is Good. Even when it isn't.

A poem, for when you hit rock bottom.

2011-07-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

"The Bottom of the Well" - by Ashley Mansfield

It's a beautiful and sunny day, the sky is bright and blue.

This is how life looks when things go good for you.

You are so grateful for the many blessings you have now,

happiness, joy, and laughter are easy to be found.

But this alone is not all that life was meant to be,

God said that there must be opposition in all things.

It is like we are standing next to a deep empty well,

when we are at the top things are going swell.

Then we slide down the rope a little when a hard time hits,

how far down we go can depend on our faith and the strength of our grip.

But there are times when God has more that He wants us to know,

deeper compassion, empathy, a test of faith, so deep down the well we go...

Down suffering in the darkness it is easier to forget,

that there is a sun above, and a purpose to this test.

It can be hard to understand why the illness, pain, or loss you feel

is not simply taken away, forgiven, fixed or healed.

When we first experience rock bottom it can be more than we can stand,

it may seem we are forgotten, that God surely doesn't understand.

But in your hands you hold the rope that can lead you out again,

if you don't have strength to climb out now, just cling to it as hard as you can.

For this rope is your faith and the gospel, and all the truths you know,

if you forsake it you are stuck down deep and have only darker places to go.

Cling to the rope with all your might when doubt and fear set in,

hold on until you are pulled out or have strength to climb again.

Though we may feel forsaken we are never beyond reach,

no matter how dark it is, no matter how deep.

We are not meant to suffer but we are meant to learn,

our understanding must be deepened for we have and a royal crown to earn.

He knows how much we can take and will pull us out in time,

but sometimes we need strengthening, so He gives us the strength to climb.

And oh how sweet it is when we again reach the top,

with renewed appreciation for what happiness is, and what it is not.

The sun is brighter, moments sweeter, blessings more divine,

you will think to rejoice everyday that you hung on and made the climb.

And if you are ever faced with such deep trials again,

you have been down there before, and will know how to get out again.

When horrible horrible things happen, I have seen people doubt God's love. I do know that sometimes it can be hard to trust and love God when He lets us suffer so much (sometimes for a long time), but I also know that if we turn away from Him we are turning away from our one true chance for real happiness. If we can summon the strength to keep hanging on, even if we don't have strength for much else, we will be blessed and in time we will feel the warmth of sunshine and His love and peace again. I don't know why things must be so hard but I do know this, and it has helped me to look forward to the future with hope.

Here we go again... ;)

2011-06-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hey! I kept writing here after I got back from Mongolia because it helped me stay positive about everything that was happening. It has been 20 months since I got sick, and we recently started up the doctor appointments and tests again because sometimes it feels like my pain is worsening. We are doing more tests to check the celiac disease theory but are now actually pretty sure that isn't the cause of my illness pain. We are checking for neurological autoimmune diseases now, I did have a very detailed MRI and luckily it came back normal. So we still don't have any answers, but at least we don't have bad answers. ;)

I never thought that this would still be going on, for years or maybe even permanently, so, to help myself make the most of this I want to start writing here again.

Even though I am not currently following a gluten free diet, I learned so much about it and I learned how many people it affects, so I want to share what I learned about celiac disease real quick. Chances are that we all know someone who has this disease, and it is helpful if we understand it :)

WHAT MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT A GLUTNE FREE DIET...

- Celiac disease is classified as an auto immune disorder, and gluten (even trace amounts, as small as a single crumb) causes the body to attack itself. It prevents the body from absorbing nutrients in the intestines, and can damage other parts of the body.

-It can take several weeks for the body to stop attacking itself after gluten is gone from the system, and can take even longer to heal. (this is why most ppl with celiac disease can never ever cheat and are so "picky" and careful about everything they eat. Even taking a bite off a fork that has touched food with gluten, or using a pot that hasn't been washed well, can cause pain and damage that takes weeks to recover from)

- Gluten is not only in wheat. It is in barley, rye, and some other uncommon grains. So anything that is malted (from barley) has gluten. Even oats, which are naturally gluten free, are stored in the same silos as wheat so they make special gluten free oats.

-By law food companies are required to say when a food contains wheat, but they are not required to say if it contains gluten. Just because something says it is wheat free doesn't mean it is gluten free.

- Eating out is so hard because even when you ask for a salad with no croutons, the cook that puts the croutons on the other salad uses the same hands to get your lettuce, and even that can cause a reaction.

- Things like tortilla chips and French fries are naturally gluten free, but in restaurants and fast food places these are usually fried in the same oil as things with gluten (breaded chicken, flour tortillas, etc) so they can't be eaten.

- Modified food starch is often from wheat, can't be eaten. This is in almost everything: candy, yogurt, popsicles, fruit-snacks, instant potatoes, ranch dressing, lunch meat, some cheese. So even when something seems naturally gluten free (like yogurt or lunch meat) it is really important to always check the ingredients.

Health

2011-01-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

Hey I found out that the thing they saw on my back is just a small cyst, and after further examination they don't think that is the source of my pain. We don't know why the cyst is there, but it is small and doesn't need to be removed surgically. This is actually okay news, we still don't know exactly why I am in so much pain but I really didn't want to have anything wrong with my spinal cord, so I am pretty relieved. I am trying a normal diet with gluten now because I hadn't noticed any benefits from following the diet the past several months, so we will see if eating gluten makes me worse. I had pizza hut stuffed crust pizza this week and it was even better than I remembered it ;) Thanks for the support!

Another health finding, maybe the real cause.

2011-01-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

Over christmas break I went to see a neurology specialist at the University of San Francisco, and after examination he noticed I have an area of skin that goes from my back on the right side and wraps around my right ribs that has sensory abnormalities, and he suggested a targeted MRI scan of that area of my spine. I heard the results yesterday, and they found a mass on the right side of my spinal cord at T9 and T10.

We don't know if it is a cyst or a tumor yet, it is a little smaller than a centimeter and luckily it isn't pushing into the spinal cord. It is at the base of some of my nerve roots, so that explains the severe right side pain I've been having the past year. We are talking with neuro surgeons on Monday to discuss options. This is actually good news, as we now know the source of the pain. It is also a good sign that I have been sick for a year and the tumor is still pretty small. They think it might have been too small to be noticed on MRIs I had done months ago, I'm very grateful that we decided to check for this. This also probably means that I don't have celiac disease, so I'm pretty excited about maybe getting to eat normal pizza again ;) I'll keep you posted.

A Poem, just in time for Christmas.

2010-12-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

Nativity

A babe in a manger, mother resting and tired,

animals looked on while the husband admired.

A few startled shepherds were surprised in the night,

angels above them sang beneath new star light.

Privileged they were when they headed the call

to run to the stable, at Christ's feet they did fall.

Miles and miles far in the east,

kings gathered and studied which way they should seek.

They wanted so badly to find the child fair,

but it took years of searching to finally get there.

In the neighboring inns more lay quite in bed,

not knowing who was born or the path he would tread.

Who would you be, if called to be there,

maybe the mother weary under her load to bear.

Too young and inadequate to raise God's begotten son,

but you have been chosen, His will, not your's, be done.

Then humble and trusting you prayerfully seek

for the strength to accomplish what's been placed at your feet.

Or are you like Joseph, asked to take a role that's not your own,

always standing by the ones you love, helping them down life's road.

Or has chance blessed you, like the shepherds that night,

you recognize God's messengers, leave all and hurry to the sight.

Perhaps you feel so far away from where you want to be.

The wise men searched the hardest, but the new born they didn't see.

It took years before the kings' righteous desire was fulfilled,

but persistence was rewarded, in front of God's Son they kneeled.

Or are you asleep, like those in their beds,

Do you know it was for you that the Christ child lived and bled?

So many blessings are yours to be found,

look and you will find God's love all around.

Like those in the Nativity, Christmas is different for all,

some get to see angels, some stay in lowly stalls.

Some must learn patience as they face years on the road,

others have loads they can't bear on their own.

No matter who or where you are on this year's Christmas Eve,

Let us all remember this: Christ came, died, and lives for you and me.

As I wrote this I realized I've felt a little like all the people in the nativity story. But the important thing is to remember and be grateful for Christ, and God's love. Happy holidays, and Merry Christmas to you all :)

SMA syndrome, and Gluten Free

2010-12-17T21:17:00.001-08:00

Sorry its been so long. I had surgery at the end of September to take out my hyper active gallbladder and check for evidence of celiac disease, but the main reason for surgery was to correct something called SMA syndrome. Apparently it is very rare, and it is caused by rapid extreme weight loss. There are certain fat pads in the body that help hold things in place, and I lost the fat pad that held up my superior mesenteric artery. It blocked my intestines, pinching off the duodenum right outside my stomach. I cant remember how much space there was but it was something like less than 8 millimeters. That is why I was never hungry and why I couldn't eat very much at all, unless it is surgically corrected it is permanent and gets serious, as you literally can't eat and you starve. I think it is a miracle that the doctor thought to check for it, he was briefing me for the gallbladder surgery and as I was walking out the door he thought to check for this, on the very small chance that I had it. Tests then showed I had it pretty severely, and I am SOOOOOO grateful that I didn't need to have surgery twice ;)

The surgery was a success but because my nerves are hyper active the pain was difficult to control, I was in the ICU for a few days for pain control and ended up getting an epidural. I always expected surgery to be tough but there are all these things you don't anticipate that made it one of the roughest weeks of my life, I feel for all those out there who have had similar or worse experiences. I'm grateful I didn't know how bad recovery was going to be or I wouldn't have been nearly as excited about surgery haha. I had to withdraw from school last semester, and have been focusing on recovery ever since. The Celiac Disease was confirmed and blood tests showed that I have the type that attacks the nervous system. I have been on that strict diet since October, I've stopped loosing weight (still not gaining), and can eat more than I could before. Surgery fixed some of my bad right side pain, but I still have chronic pain pretty bad. This past week I could tell my energy and physical endurance was a little better, and that is exciting ;)

It has been over a year since I got sick, and it is interesting looking back over the whole year, and see that I didn't "do" much at all. And even though I wasn't able to take classes, I have learned so much. It might be months to years until I am back to normal, but I now do believe that I really will get better. I will rejoice and thank God every day that I wake up without pain for the rest of my life.

So, i'm learning a lot about Gluten free diets! Apparently it is way more common, and its symptoms way more broad than doctors anticipated. The typical blood test is inaccurate over 20% of the time, if you or a loved one is struggling with anything from IBS to fatigue that can't be explained, maybe ask a doctor to think about Celiac disease, and do more than just one blood test. I love suggestions for meals or anything, and I hope in the future to be able to help those diagnosed with this. Hope you all have a great week and enjoy the holidays!

Health Update, and possible explanation (finally!:D)

2010-09-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

I received the results from a HIDA scan I had done on my gallbladder, and it was abnormal. Not in the typical sense of having a low ejection fraction, mine was 98% with normal being between 35-50%. The medical field is still studying what really high ejection fractions mean, but it has been the cause of severe pain for other patients, and when they get it removed the organ is diseased and many of their symptoms go away. So, I'm getting my gallbladder removed next week and I AM SO EXCITED!!!! There is also a chance that I have Celiac disease, (gluten intolerance) and that could explain every single other symptom I have, even the neurological ones (who would have thought?) Well -35 pounds and ten painful months later, we might have an answer. I am hopeful.

Why the hardships and suffering?

2010-09-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hello.

I feel bad, it is easy to be depressing when writing about chronic pain and its effects on life, but I really don't mean to be a downer.

I also don't want to paint a glossy and happy picture, one where faith simply conquers and hope never ever gives in to despair. I'm not saying that faith doesn't always conquer, because it does. Its just that no matter how much faith we have, we still get to taste a little bit of the bitter. And that's the way its supposed to be. "For if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet" (Doctrine and Covenants 29:39).

I've been in Utah for several weeks, and things are good. I'm a firm believer in having goals to actively work towards, it is when we stop trying that life really becomes meaningless. It is very refreshing to be taking steps forward again. The pain is still there, worse actually, but I suspect that is from being more active than I was at home. I came out here with the hopes of taking 14 credit hours and physically getting stronger and stronger as I walked to and from class. But after trying and failing, I now have a handicap parking pass that has become a necessity. I also had to petition the scholarship committee to let me take less credit hours, and I've very grateful that they approved.

I'm still working on getting to know people again, but it is hard when you look perfectly fine yet hurt so much. I've tried explaining it to a few people, but they see me from the outside and I don't blame them for not taking me seriously. I can barely shower and get to class, so going to all the get-to-know you social events is usually out of the question. And here I go being depressing again. Sorry!

The point is that life is just plain hard sometimes. Not just for me, for everybody. There is so much suffering that goes on in this world. And some poor strong souls seem to only get served the bitter. I have so much in my life that is sweet, no matter how much I hurt I have access to excellent medical care, my family, friends, a warm and comfortable bed, and plenty of food. I met many in Mongolia who have none of those things, PLUS serious and painful health problems. As missionaries the main message that we teach is that "God love us." But many people we taught had a hard time believing that. They saw all the hurt, loneliness, pain and evil around them and found it really hard to believe that anyone loved them, let alone a divine being, one capable of stopping all the hurt in their lives.

While trying to balance my knowledge of God's perfect love for us, and all the seemingly contradictory pain and suffering in the world, I've come to this conclusion. He must see and know something that we don't. He must know that the reward is so beautiful, happy, and perfect that it all will be so worth it. He must know that the lessons we learn are so valuable, so important, so impossible to learn any other way that He lets the hardships befall us. And He must know that we can do it. No parent wants their children to fail. When there is very little else to take comfort in, remember that God does not want you to fail. He won't give you more than He knows you can handle. I have seriously doubted His judgement at times, felt like I'm drowning under all the weight and pressure, but He has never let me slip under.

In His own words as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants,

"If thou art called to pass through tribulation;

if thou art in perils among false brethren;

if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;

If thou art accursed with all manner of false accusations;

if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age,

shall cling to thy garments, and shall say,

My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us?

O, my father, what are the men going to do with you?

and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison,

and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;

And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers,

and the sentence of death passed upon thee;

if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee;

if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness,

and all the elements combine to hedge up the way;

and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee,

know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee;

for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever."

- Doctrine and Covenants 122:5-9

Mission Impossible?

2010-08-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

I've realized several things these past few weeks.

1- My situation isn't changing, and might not for a long time.
2- That's depressing.
3- I can't keep life on hold or just wait for this illness to go away,
4- but I can't live life like I used to.

I mentioned a while ago that I was starting a new mission, separate from mongolia and full time missionary work. Before I left I was busy busy busy, working while going to school, volunteering for work experience, playing volleyball a decent amount, camping and hiking on the weekends. Then I started this blog as an energetic, totally excited sister missionary who had a crazy strong desire to serve the Lord and the Mongolian people. While getting ready to go I remember sprinting during every gym time and trying to get physically exhausted in order to handle sitting at a desk for the rest of the day studying. While in Mongolia I was lucky to have a companion who was williing to get up at 5:30 a.m. on preparation day so we could play soccer with the Elders. Then we would sometimes run to appointments so we could fit more lessons in a day. Some weeks we would stop by several homes on the way to church and pick up as many people as we could. We stood out enough in our skirts and everything, sprinting in the ger districts and trying to hold onto our bags I'm sure made people think we were crazy. ;)
Sorry about the trip down memory lane, its just that I didn't realize until now how much we define ourselves by what we do. Our accomplishments, our hobbies, how we spend our time and what we love to do make up our identity and how we would like the world to see us. I love being known as an athlete, it embodies what I truly love to do. I really enjoy working with people who have developmental disabilities, I value their friendship and it is a very rewarding and fun job. I love hiking, camping, being outdoors, and taking pictures of beautiful places. This is who I am. But now......... the things I do are vastly different. In a way I have lost what I thought was my "identity". (at least temporarily, I don't think my illness is permanent but it is definitely choosing to hang around longer than I'd like).
Its been a rough week pain wise, but besides that I was trying to understand why I was mourning so deeply and completely. I had lost some months of my mission and time in Mongolia, that was really sad, but I was lucky to have the time I did. I still have my wonderful family, and good supportive friends. I have knowledge about the plan of salvation and my Savior, so why was I so blue? Along with the things I've realized lately, I need to add that

5 - I am mourning for the loss of myself.

If we are defined by what we do, then I really don't like who I am now ;) (couches, movies, trying to sleep, pain control.) But that isn't how it really works, right? Each of us is more than just what we do. So i'd still like to write about my new mission; the mission to take control of this illness instead of letting it take control of me.

Mission Impossible? I think not, for with God all things are possible.

Living with the Point System.

2010-08-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

"Imagine that you wake up each morning with a certain number of points. If you slept really well and did nothing to make you sore the day before, you might have 15-20 points. If you had a rough night and worked a lot yesterday you wake up with only 5 points. On the average day you have 10 points. Each movement and action costs something. Showering = 5 points. Getting dressed = 3. If you put your shirt on backwards or want to try on something different, the 3 points are wasted and you need to use 3 more. On an average day showering and getting dressed uses up most of your points before breakfast. You realize showers aren’t necessary daily.

Breakfast means lifting the gallon of milk out of the fridge (1 point), carrying it to the table (1 point), getting a bowl and the cereal (1 point), you get what I mean. Putting breakfast away is costly too. Sitting up strait in a chair costs a point every few minutes, so things like responding to e-mails or working on a computer become difficult. Not even talking is free. As you run out of points you get short of breath and need to stop talking.

Walking drains points too. Anything more active than walking is out of the question right now, you barely have enough points to shower every few days. Pain keeps very careful track of the points that you spend so there is no cheating the system. When the points run out you have no choice but to stop and rest. That might mean having a chair in the kitchen so you can rest while you stir a pot on the stove, or finding the closest bench in a store and waiting until you have enough points to get back to the car. Resting can earn you a few more points. You learn to save them up for what you really want and need, just like you would save money for that new bike you really want. You save points so you can call and talk to your friends on the phone, make it to a doctor’s appointment, or paint for an hour. But each day there are things you really want to do that you simply can’t pay for. You can’t overspend, because it physically hurts and makes you weaker and poorer for tomorrow. The worst is when you really need medicine but you don’t have enough points to go and get it. Thank goodness for close family and friends at this point, calling out loudly and asking for help costs points too.

When you are in public and around others you worry about seeming rude and standoff-ish. From the outside you look fine, others can’t see the painful point system you are tied to. They wonder why you won’t play volleyball or join in the conversation. It is hard to focus on others when pain keeps bringing you back to yourself, and all your points go towards staying standing and composed. What you want to do and what you can do become two very different things. It is hard to meet new people because their first impression of you is so different than who you really are. But you can’t stay out long anyways, your points are almost used up."

I was trying to describe to a doctor how I could only do a certain amount of things a day and how sometimes i'm just plain spent, and the idea of points came to mind. Those that suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, auto immune disorders, chronic back pain, clinical depression, foot or knee injuries, fibromyalgia, or aging in general, experience the limiting “point system”. It is invisible to others. It has definitely made me more aware of what others might be going through, and I have no place to judge anyone. Even when people look “fine” and “healthy”, they can be battling with pain or disease. I’m going to try starting college again in a few weeks and that is going to add a lot of physically costly things to my to-do list, but I’m already marking out where the good soft comfy chairs are around campus so I can earn more points during the day ;)

So to all of us that aren’t limited, ENJOY LIFE!!!! :D. We might not always be so lucky, do all you can while you can. And to those of us that are limited, I can promise that there will be relief. Christ conquered death, and has promised that all of us will be re-united with a perfect, healthy, pain free body for eternity. Sounds so wonderful, and it will be a free gift to all of us :) (see Alma 11:44-45 in the Book of Mormon. If you don't have a copy of one you can access the bible and book of mormon from our church website, Click the link on Alma 11:44-45 to read those scriptures, seriously they are so good! (and give hope to all us hurting people ;)

Health up-date

2010-08-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

We still don’t have a name for whatever is going on with me, but the doctors have been great and have done a bunch more tests. More ultrasounds, blood work, acupuncture trials, and referrals are in for the next few weeks, i’ll keep you posted and let you know if we find anything out. My reflexes are still hyperactive and I have weird little muscle contractions and spasms throughout my back, ribs, arms and legs that suggest something neurological, and my pain sensors are still revved up, especially on my right side by my ribs. The neurologist said some infections and viruses can cause damage to the central nervous system, so maybe that happened. A GI doctor says my liver is very firm and might be enlarged so we are looking more into that too. We have ruled out anything rheumatologic we think. The plan is for me to see doctors at the University of Utah when I get to Utah in a few weeks, and maybe go to a pain clinic. At this point I am totally okay with us never finding out what it is as long as it goes away ;) We will see how college goes, I won't be able to have the life style I used to but I should be able to at least make it to class. Whether or not i'll be able to focus in class is pending haha ;) I'm excited to see family in utah soon! love you all!

joke and hope.

2010-07-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Did you hear about the circus fire? ........... it was intense! (in-tents).

Haha this joke doesn't work when you type it. I wanted to write a joke and this is the only one I can think of. More to come later, but for now thought of the day....

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

- Ether 12:4 (Book of Mormon)

About us. (a little reminder.)

2010-06-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

It is funny how we can take advise from ourselves as time goes on. We all hope to continue moving forward and progress during life, but sometimes it gets slippery, the trail gets hard to follow, or we simply run into a wall. And that can make us fall back. I've never been one to keep a journal. I admire all those who do, but I haven't been able to make it a habit. I end up writing when I am having a hard time, so if anyone found my journals they would think me a very depressed girl who liked to pep talk herself. I am usually very happy actually, but I sadly don't write about much else ;) I have heard that it is important to write down spiritual experiences or things you are learning because they can help you down the road. I wasn't much of a believer before. Now I am.

The following was written while I was in mongolia, I think I wrote it on a day that I had to stay home sick. I am in no way bragging at all, I was struggling a lot at the time so this was written as another pep talk. One of my friends in mongolia was an american who had also gotten sick and had needed surgery while on a mission. I was talking to her and she started telling me about faith, how God loves us and is there to help, etc, but then she stopped, hit me on the shoulder and said "you know all this! you just need to remember it." So this is to all of us who know this, and just need a little reminding. (including me.)

December 16th.

There is a quiet confidence that you are never alone. There is a grand plan in action with God Himself as the director. We don't know the whole story as it is only revealed in pieces, but that is okay. And we don't know how it ends because we probably can't even comprehend how wonderful it is anyways. There is definitely peace that comes from knowing the ending is too good to be true, but is true ;) And so each day we try a little harder. We see our faults and mistakes and desire to repent instantly. We love people more unconditionally, and desire to wrap everyone around us in the love that we feel. We despise evil and flee from it. We are aware of our own limitations and weaknesses but are not discouraged by them. They are necessary, and give us the chance to call upon the powers of heaven, and see God's hand in our lives. A desire to help others becomes a part of our very being, and we act on those desires. We do not fear, we do not complain, and we rejoice all along the journey because even hardships are seen as blessings when we know God is shaping and leading our lives, and is always right beside us. We are eager to learn anything that is virtuous, lovely, of good report, etc because we know the end goal is perfection, and we have a lot to learn before we even come close. We wear a smile because we know death is not the end, that we can be forgiven of our sins and mistakes, and that God is our Heavenly Father who loves us, misses us, and has given us our older brother to show us the way home. There are always many reasons to rejoice, no matter how hard the current circumstances, when these beliefs become more than beliefs, and truly become a knowledge that becomes an anchor for our souls. We know God lives and He loves, so we trust and are not afraid. That is who we are, and what we become when we seek to follow Christ.

Bad dream.

2010-05-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

My goal is to be able to start writing without needing to say that I am embarrassed. I am embarrassed that I don't have much positive to say about this past week, and it is my fault. Things health wise are getting worse, I spent some time in the ER and after seeing a neurologist doctors think I have some kind of long lasting virus, not fibromyalgia. It is a mystery virus, so the plan is to try and get me to one of the MAYO clinics where there are more specialists. But for now longer lasting pain meds, a free month trial of netflix, and a determination to pray and study the scriptures more should help ;).

I had a funny dream today (some impressive nausea kept me from church, and the nausea medication kept me asleep). For the past few months I have been a bit sad to wake up because I was healthy and in mongolia, but not this time. It was a really realistic dream, I was back at school with roommates and I was really really frustrated and upset. As the days went on, I couldn't get happy, and I was mad at life. Other than being able to shrink my car and fit it in my backpack, it was a really realistic dream and such strong negative emotions, (at least that long lasting,) were new to me. And then hallelujah, I woke up!

Although we can't control all situations, we do have control over if we are happy or not thanks to the help that is available. I hope to be able to write soon and say that I am very very happy, and enjoying life :)

These things are on my to-do list...

- Talk to my Father. (Better sincere prayer every morning).

- Serve someone. (A simple note to a friend, make a gift, etc.)

- Be more kind to and appreciative of my family. (I am not used to being the recipient of service, and I can accept it more graciously.)

- Do something productive. (No matter how small. Learn a few more guitar cords, or paint a picture.)

- Count my blessings. (And don't forget them.)

- Read good books. (The best are the scriptures.)

- Learn how to shrink a car, and put it in a bag. (Just kidding.)

Hope everyone's week was great!!

Lessons Learned.

2010-05-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

I am embarrassed to admit that I hit a low point this week, and felt pretty sorry for myself. Several of the past evenings it has felt like someone had mistaken my spine for their wet laundry and they were trying to wring it out, while both sides of my ribs felt like used punching bags, and my sternum and chest felt broken. I couldn't lay down or even lean against anything because of the pain, my muscles were cramping and twitching, and the pain medication wasn't helping like it usually does. My doctor noticed some unusual neurological symptoms and took me off of the medication that has been calming down my nerve's pain response until we could have a neurologist see me. I didn't think the medicine was helping much but now that I am off of it, I can tell it was. My pain receptors seem to be throwing quite the parties to make up for the for all the time they were blocked ;). So, I learned several things from this!

1 - Family support is so important.

My mom read to me this week like I was a little girl again. My brother set up movies on a bed to help distract me. My Dad prayed with me and blessed me. And my sister decided to do her school research paper on fibro myalgia so we can understand it better, and she has started listing all the treatments that have helped others for me to try. These things snapped me out of being sorry for myself, and instead made me realize how incredibly blessed and lucky I am. I am so incredibly grateful for my family.

2- Experience helps us empathize and increases our ability to serve.

I knew that a lot of people in this world suffer, but I had never experienced much suffering so I could only guess at what it would be like. This little sickness I have is nothing compared to what other people suffer from, but in a way I am grateful for this experience because of the new "eyes" it is giving me. I am studying to become a recreational therapist and we help all kinds of suffering people improve their quality of life. I hope I now will be able to sympathize with them a bit more, and be able to treat them a bit better. I also can see how important it was that Christ experienced all we do through the atonement. He can empathize perfectly, and is the most able to help and understand us.

3- When no other relief is available, Christ becomes essential.

I have seen how Christ and His gospel has added incredibly to my life up to this point, but for the first time I realized that without my knowledge of Him, I would go crazy. Literally. I wouldn't be able to put up with this, or see any purpose in life. I don't know how people who haven't felt His love get out of bed in the morning. And it made me want to share what I know all the more.

4 - So many have it so much harder than I do.

This is a short clip about one of those people. I first saw it on our church website, and this woman is a great example to me! If you have 8 minutes to spare, it is worth watching ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E&feature=player_embedded

A Poem. (not written by a poet.)

2010-05-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

I am not a poet. In fact the only time I remember trying to write poetry was when it was for a 5th grade project, and we needed to make our own poetry books. I thought it was a very difficult assignment ;) But I was looking through a study journal I used in Mongolia today and I found this poem I had written a night or two before I flew to Hong Kong. Our mission president had asked us to study consecration and sanctification and so much was going through my mind as the possibility of my mission coming to an early close was becoming more of a reality. In those late last hours in Mongolia, these words came to my mind. I think the Lord was and is still trying to teach me.

I am still realizing what it really means to be in the Master's hands, and to surrender all to Him. I have taken some pottery and sculpting classes and I love the messy clay covered rooms, if you have ever worked with clay you can probably picture a room or studio covered with lumps of clay similar to the poem below. ;) I am still not sure what this poem should be called.

A master in his studio looks out at his supplies,

There is clay a plenty to fulfill his grand design.

He picks up a piece of clay and attempts to start,

But is interrupted by a cry, “Hey I’m not your piece of art!”

This clay is hardened, cracked and cold, shapeless and ugly too,

Then the master kindly explains “I have great plans for you.”

“If you will let me sculpt you, and will be moldable in my hands,

I shall make you beautiful. If you could only see my plan.”

But the stubborn clay refuses and remains cracked and dry,

“I can not shape or mould you” the master softly cries.

“You have become too hardened and refuse to follow my will.”

He placed it on the table, it remains cold and shapeless still.

He moves on and starts working and things are going fine,

This clay is soft and allows the master to shape his design.

It comes time to remove little pieces, unwanted clay from here and there,

But once again the master stops as a voice fills the air.

“Haven’t I been shaped enough? You’ve improved me with your hands,

Now don’t pick or take anymore, this is where the sculpting ends.”

The master sighs and thinks “If only they knew,”

And then he kindly explains “I have great plans for you.”

“If you will let me sculpt you, and will hold nothing back,

I shall make you beautiful, in nothing will you lack.”

But try as the master might the clay refused to give

The pieces that obstructed the beauty hid within.

Then a voice called across the room, “Master, use me.”

“I am of no worth here on my own, I will follow thee.”

The master gratefully gets to work, the clay following his every will,

The clay couldn’t see the grand design but he trusted the master’s skill.

The clay patiently endures as beauty is revealed,

But sculptures tools are sharp, and pain the clay did feel.

“Must the process be so rough?” the clay meekly asked,

“Thou are poking, cutting, ripping, pressing. Is it necessary for the task?”

“Yes my child,” the artist replies, “ thank you for giving me your trust,

I only remove that which is unwanted, and cause pain only when I must.”

The master smiles and says “I have great plans for you.

With your humble trust in me, there is nothing we can’t do.”

The clay replied “I know thou lovest thy creations, and only want our best.

I do not know thy grand design, but I don’t need to know the rest.”

The master keeps on working and today is shaping still,

There is no end to what he can create when we give all and follow His will.

We too are in the Master’s hands, what will we each do

When the Master kindly says, “I have great plans for you.”

I know how I want to answer that question, but actually doing it and putting up with the pokes and pricks is a bit harder ;) But when we can remember the reason for the pushing, pinching, and purifying we don't become bitter or angry. I've sculpted things before and it is completely necessary to remove pieces and cut things away. God is the artist, and can see all the unwanted pieces. And if He wants to change certain things about me, then I should let Him. ;)

It won't last forever.

2010-05-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

I am laying on my bed while my lovely sister Tori is cleaning up our room for us. She holds up stuff and asks me where it should be put, and she cleans while I dictate. This is one of the hardest things for me about this new situation. I can’t clean my room by myself. And it is hard to unload the dishwasher, and to help my dad organize the garage. And mowing the lawn is now out of the question. I end up on a chair, or a couch, or a bed, and my family works around me. Now some might think that getting to lounge around and never needing to do chores would be pretty nice ;) And if you think of it that way i guess it is nice. But if you think of it as not being able to do the simplest of daily tasks without help, it is a little more frustrating.

I was talking to a friend last night and I mentioned how I just hope this won’t last forever and he immediately said “well we know it won’t last forever”. That is something my dad and doctors have been telling me since October, but as more time passed I found myself doubting that a bit. Last night my friend reminded me how comforting it is to remember that I do know that. I don’t just hope it, (well I do for the near future) but I do KNOW it. And thank goodness for that :)

A new mission...

2010-05-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

I am not exactly sure what to write. I am not sitting in a little internet cafe in Mongolia hoping that I can hit the send button before the power goes out, or we loose the internet connection. I don't have a week's worth of experiences teaching the gosple to people in their homes, trying to stop people on the street, or getting lost on the wrong bus. I don't have any interesting foods to report, and no funny language mixup stories to tell, so I have thought for a long time that this blog was done, and that I had nothing else to write.

But, I am still trying to get closer to Christ, and am having amazing experiences in the process. I am learning and experiencing new things, difficult things, and am realizing my blessings more than ever. I am not in mongolia, I am not wearing a black name tag with my name and Christ's, and I don't get up at 6:30 am, ;) but I started this blog so I could share my experiences about learning about Christ and helping others learn about him as well. And those experiences haven't, and will not, stop.

I am at home with my family in northern California (which is a beautiful and sunny state, the rolling hills and pure blue sky look so familiar, and are similar to mongolia). And I am sick. Well, kind of. I hurt a lot. I am grateful to know that whatever is ailing me is not dangerous, in fact I am quite healthy according to medical labs and tests. But this lack of definite results also means that we can't really explain what is going on, and we don't exactly know how to fix it. The current diagnosis is Fibro-myalgia. I didn't know much about this syndrom, and I am embarassed to say that at first I didn't believe it was a real thing. I asked my dad who is a doctor if Fibro-myalgia is even a real diagnosis, and He answered by saying " You are living it, you tell me if it is real or not." It is real. I am still impressed by how completely it can alter your life, and how a body can hurt so much without an obvious cause. Chronic pain is a monster. It stocks you, taunts you, teases you, and sometimes just plain controls you. I struggled for several months with some anger and depression, which I hear is quite common in chonic pain patients, but I know now more than ever that Christ is always there to heal us. It may not be a physical healing, but the soul is more imporant than the body anyways. Once we let Christ heal our hearts, we can experience peace and pain at the same time. Sometimes it is harder than others ;), but it is possible.
You know how little children hate taking medicine? They cry and scream, and can't understand why their parent would force them to drink something that tasts so bad. But we all know medicine helps, and it really is for their own good even though it tastes bad for a few seconds. I keep reminding myself that right now I am the kicking and crying child. My current situation tastes really bad, but a loving parent knows it will help me in the long run.

So this blog is now about my new mission. It is the same mission that each of you are trying to complete. The mission is to be worthy of the reward, happiness, and eternal life that Heavenly Father wants so badly to give to us, and to help those around us recieve it too :)

mission and health update

2010-03-15T10:54:00.001-07:00

Hello! I hope people are doing well :) I heard some news from mongolia, i got a letter from the senior couple that is serving in the sukbaatar branch, which is where I was when I left. They said that my grandma and grandpa investigator couple, the ones that were baptized while I was in Hong Kong, are doing great! They are at church every single week and grandpa is even wearing a suit now! I don't know where he got it, but it is exciting :) the couple said they were going to get him a white shirt to go with it :) And my mission president said that a few weeks ago a 99 year old woman was baptized :) It is never too late to hear the truth and be saved by it!!

in other news we still are pretty sure that we have the right diagnosis, reactive arthritis, which is an autoimmune condition that develops in response to an infection, and in my case it has got my body attacking my joints and places where tendons attach to bone. It is worst in my ribcage and spine. I am three weeks into the steroid treatment and it hasn't helped like we hoped, but with a stronger pain medicine the pain has become more manageable as we wait for this to hopefully clear up. I might start going to a university hospital to see if people there can help at all. So whether or not I go back is still not decidable, we need to wait for my health to return. But God has a plan, and loves us as always, and I know that "God would not require us to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for our personal benefit or for that of those we love." - richard g scott. so life is good :) - ashley

art

2010-02-20T10:49:00.001-08:00

oh and to try and keep myself sane during this I have started working on more art, and I've started a blog to try and keep me motivated ;) It is http://www.portraitsandplaces.blogspot.com/ and there are some pictures about mongolia, and probably a lot more to come considering that it is one of my very favorite places :) If you have a minute check it out :)

real update!

2010-02-20T10:32:00.000-08:00

Hey! I think we might actually have some idea about what this all is. We have ruled out about everything else, so we think that this really is what is wrong with me. My doctor was trying to decide what to do next and he remembered a patient who was a young girl and had a lot of bad, unexplained joint pain. They traced it back to a salmonella infection. He did a blood test to see if I had salmonella in mongolia, and it came back positive. There is apparently a rare complication of salmonella infection called reactive arthritis and reiter's syndrome. It causes inflammation of the joints and can inflame places where tendon attaches to bone and the vertebrae in the back. This could explain all of my symptoms and the time frame matches, so we think we have a positive diagnosis. Studies show people usually recover within a year. I have no idea what this means when it comes to trying to finish my mission, but it is very comforting to finally understand a little bit about what is going on ;) There are some medicines that can help and I will probably be starting those soon, so hopefully things will start going up from here!! yeah!! :)

ashley

I can't quite do this again yet, but hopefully I will be able to soon! ;)

a little bit of hongkong

2010-02-06T17:23:00.001-08:00

This woman is an angel! Her name is Trinidad and she was my "companion". She is a wonderful lady from the Philippines.

a few million people live in Hong Kong. This is how they all fit.

Big Buddah

my flight from mongolia was delayed so when I got to the airport i missed my connecting flight, they gave me a 12 hour visa for china and I stayed at a hotel close to the airport in Beijing. It was the first time I had been alone in 9 months, and it was in mainland China ;) (and mongolian sounds a lot easier after you hear chinese. I am really glad I had to learn mongolian.)

The Hong Kong Temple! We got to go twice.

more snapshots

2010-02-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

Man herding his sheep down the road. Mongolians are the cowboys of asia.

a view of the capital from a russian monument.

Us at Naadam, the mongolian olympics!

Sukhkbaatar square, that big statue in the back is Chengis Khan.

Man who made the Mongols famous before they they became a beacon for the church in asia ;)

This is a view from a church member's apartment, we lived buildings like the big tan one. The russians built them when they were in mongolia.

Mongolian kids are born half monkey, they can climb on anything.

This girl was worried that I would get cold, so she taught me how to wrap my scarf. It was warm ;)

This is inside grandma and grandpa's ger, many people don't have power so we would teach by candle light, I loved it :)

This is our church!! it was so dark and smoky and the church was by far the biggest building in the area, and it was always lit.

update

2010-02-06T16:53:00.001-08:00

The update is, that we don't have much to update you on. Still no more definite results, still might be an autoimmune disease that hasn't manifest enough to diagnose yet, the rheumatologist thought it might be some kind of long lasting viral infection, but we don't know. We are waiting for the results of some more specific blood tests, and I am going to meet with a neurologist just to make sure we rule every other thing out.

i'm kinda going crazy ;) and am learning about faith and patience, even more than I did in the mission field. But my family is wonderful and it is fun to be with them, and my dad is still doing really good in Haiti! The Hospital is completely up and running and the operating rooms are busy. They are planning on being there for several months. That is all for now! I wish I could update you on how the investigators and new members are doing, but I don't know either haha, and of course they are in the Lord's hands ;) everyone take care!

my first area. I love this country :)

2010-01-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

update

2010-01-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

My good friend told me about a reality TV show called "Mystery diagnosis" and suggested I go on it, haha ;) But it is really kind of a mystery right now and the doctors are trying to be detectives ;) If they find any clues I will write them here if you want health updates. (I am so grateful for all of your incredible support and concern! :) Love you all!

I am meeting with a great doctor who is a member of our stake presidency and he is trying to get things done really fast to try and help me get back :) Chest x-rays, abdominal ultrasounds, and most blood work has come out normal, the only thing we have found so far is that the rheumatoid factor in my blood is elevated. That could mean many different things, but we are thinking that I probably have some type of autoimmune disease. I am going to meet with a rheumatologist and a neurologist, and have a CT scan done of just my right kidney as soon as they can get me in. I'll let you know when we find anything else.

p.s. - it is still very cold in Mongolia, but my mission president said the work prospers in the cold, so things are going very well there :) And when I was in Hong Kong I met members of the Asia area presidency, and they said that Mongolia was one of the fastest countries ever to get a stake after being opened for missionary work. Mongolia truly is a beacon to the nations!

Why I Love Mongolia

2010-01-14T00:26:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Grandpa

2010-01-14T00:23:00.000-08:00

Half Time

2010-01-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Family! (actually I can tell you all in person now ;) I am home. I am on medical release, and I actually left most of my things in Mongolia and the plan is to try and get back there as soon as we figure things out. It is like half time! Not many people get a mission half-time, i hit the exact half way point this week, and am going to try and finish those nine months a little later ;) I am liking the song "count your many blessings" a lot, it is so true and really helps! I still believe I am the most blessed person in the world, so life is good :) I am home and released at least for now, but like all members, always a missionary ;) Ashley

January 11, 2010

2010-01-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

Hello :)
Wonderful news!! The Grandma and Grandpa I have been teaching were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Friday January 8th, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. :) I was not able to attend, but my mission president and his wife were :) they said it was a wonderful baptism and that their testimony was beautiful :)
I am writing from Hong Kong, with an incredible homesickness for -40 degrees temperature, icy and dark streets, and the smoky gers of Mongolia. I had no idea I could love a place or a people this much. Good and bad news. The good news, everything on all the tests so far has come out normal. The bad news, I still hurt a lot and the pain is getting worse. So that combination of good and bad news is leading me down a path that I have been trying incredibly hard to avoid. I have taken every single detour I can find and have searched for any other available route, including going back and just toughing it out as many days as possible, but I am realizing that that isn't fair to the mission or my poor future companion, and that I’m really not as strong as I’d like to be ;)
So my wonderful family, unless the Lord changes his mind and lets a miracle happen in the next 24 hours, I will be seeing you all soon. (I’m sorry but it breaks my heart to tell you that) The Lord is a powerful teacher, ;) and I do believe that the most effective teaching method is experience) I think I have just been enrolled in the hardest class I have ever taken. Missionary work, learning the language, dealing with the climate was very easy compared to this. I'm sorry, I really am not complaining and I will be okay, I am just feeling the heartache now and the reality of it all is still slowly sinking in. But there are wonderful people all over this world that need to hear this message, my family I will be making good friends with our new neighbors upon my arrival ;) and any doctors we may meet along the way ;) my ambitions to master the Mongolian language and missionary lessons during my stay here have slightly failed because of my inability to focus, or face the fact that I might not be able to use the newly learned material as soon as I would like, and so I have instead spent a lot of my time plunking though a pocket size children's song book I found at the house where I am staying on their piano. There are wonderfully inspired songs in that book!! and the simplicity of the eternal truths that are taught... amazing! You could teach every one of the missionary lessons by reading from some of those songs. i'll have to translate some ;) if any of you are bored, flip through the primary children's song book. One song that I know well hit me again, you all probably know it too:
I feel my Savior's love. In all the world around me. His spirit warms my soul through everything I see. He knows I will follow him, give all my life to him. I feel my Savior's love, the Love he freely gives me. I feel my Savior's love, its gentleness enfolds me, and when I kneel to pray, my heart is filled with peace. I feel my Savior's love and know that he will bless me. I offer him my heart, my shepherd he will be. He knows I will follow him, give all my life to him. I feel my Savior's love, the love he freely gives me.

I think the Lord knows that I will follow him, and give all my life to him. Sometimes it is really hard to follow, and the road is reallllllly rough (to us, but in reality is nothing compared to the Lord's path or what many other people have to face) and we don't understand, but if we offer our heart his gentleness will enfold us. And family, I have never been so grateful for all of you! President Hinckley wrote about the things missionaries bring home from missions, and one of them was an increased love for parents. I know that is true. My father was able to come to Hong Kong and help me through most of this, dad I can never thank you enough. Mom, thanks for letting him come ;) Well, I don't know what is going to happen. (and I don't really want to think too far ahead, it hurts a bit. I’ll just hum some more of those primary songs and not think ;) so that is all for now. I will keep you posted on final arrangements, but unless that miracle happens things are pointing me home. Love you all!! sister mansfield

Hong Kong Update

2009-12-31T12:23:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone, this is Tori. First we would like to thank you all for your fasts and prayers, we know they have helped with Ashley's health issues. My dad was able to go over and meet Ashley in Hong Kong late last week. Ashley was delayed getting there staying in Beijing overnight. She has had several tests with more scheduled next week. Her return date to Mongolia hasn't been determined. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. We love you and wish you a happy new year. -Tori

December 21, 2009

2009-12-21T15:36:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone :) Merry Christmas!! time has flown, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, this truly is my favorite time of year :)
So it has been an interesting week ;) we had transfer calls, and I have been assigned to go to......... Hong Kong! Yeah so I didn't know that was part of my mission boundaries either ;) I know my family knows all this, but for others who are reading, I have been having stomach pains for about 2 months, have met with many doctors, and narrowed it down to a malfunctioning gallbladder that might need to be removed. I actually hope it gets removed, it hurts quite a bit now ;) So it got to the point where I couldn't work very well, so I called my president and told him as he was making the new assignments. I was worried about my area, I have come to love that branch and the many investigators we have been blessed to find, and being with a mini missionary there isn't a missionary to leave behind that knows the area or people. Phone calls were made, I had one interesting night waiting to hear what would happen (hong kong was a possibility, but the other possibility was going home, and no offense family, but after only 5 months in this blessed country, the thought of going home was heartbreaking). I do get to go to Hong Kong, and I will be leaving a few days after Christmas :) I am in a threesome with the new sisters in my area, one is a really good missionary, who is training a sister who just started this week. I get to introduce them to investigators, and try to teach the area a bit. White washes are hard, hopefully I can help a bit this week. So this has been a really good chance to grow in faith. I have realized that the Lord is realllllly good at testing and helping us grow. But I do know he loves us, has a plan, and I know he doesn't like to see us suffer, but he loves us enough to let us experience what will make us stronger.
So I get to go on a vacation to hong kong! That is a pretty cool way to spend new years huh? ;) and then if all goes well, in a few weeks I will be back here working. So that is the update :)
Our area is amazing, soooo many people to meet with and so many are reading from the scriptures, praying, coming to church or at least trying to, and I have found many reallllllyy good friends is this smoky, icy, ger district of mongolia :) the grandma and grandpa are wonderful, probably the most rewarding experiences I have had were with them. The grandma was the lady we found carrying water 2 months ago. Now their baptism is scheduled for the first of January, what a great day to start a new life! They come to church, pray, bare wonderful testimony, and are being blessed in return. They have been praying for their children to come and visit, (haven’t come in months, and they can't contact them) and we were able to help contact them, and they both came, brought food and clothes, etc. and our family of 3 teenagers is wonderful. These three kids are the bravest kids I have met :) I love them like siblings now, and they are also going to join the church in January :)
Yesterday was the first district conference in mongolia! we all met at a really big, nice theater in the city, and we had planned on taking 3-4 investigators that are closed to baptism, but as we were walking to our area that morning we met a group of kids I had just started teaching, all heading to the church. That was a sight to see :) 5 kids, (12-17) all carrying Book of Mormons and heading to church. We told them about the big meeting and they wanted to come, so we planed to pick them up at a bus stop after getting grandpa ;) when we pulled up with the taxi, there were 10 kids, from age 8-17, waiting for us. We piled some into one taxi and sent it, and the rest of us piled into another taxi, and my two companions and I went with a 70 year old grandpa with a cane, and 10 kids following us into this meeting. I felt like a mother/babysitter during the 2 hour meeting, but all in all they enjoyed it, and one girl said, "from now on, I am always coming to this church!" :) it was fun :)
Boy there are so many people that I want to tell you about! Each person has an amazing story and I am learning soooo much from them. There are truly many of Gods choice children living in these gers on these hillsides.
I hope and pray I will be back here working soon. Thanks for all your love and support, I have never been so sure that God lives, and that He loves us. I can now confidently promise with everything that I am, that there is a God in heaven. He has a plan that is personalized for each of us. He is ready, and waiting to let us feel his love. He cries when we cry. He rejoices when we do what is right, and He sends angels round about us to bare us up. I promise that. I didn't see Christ when he lived on this earth, but I know that I will. I know you all will too. Merry Christmas, love you all, and I’ll let you know how China is!!!
Sister Mansfield

December 14, 2009

2009-12-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, this is Tori. Ashley's email for the blog didn't come through today but we got a short note and she is doing well, although very cold. I will definitely post it if and when it comes though. I will also post some pictures she sent home on a CD soon as well. Thanks for the prayers and Happy Holidays!

Sister Mansfield with investigator

2009-12-07T10:04:00.001-08:00

December 7, 2009

2009-12-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!!!
Merry Christmas!! it really is starting to feel like Christmas, I can't believe how fast time is going!!! things are good here :) the church was open this week, and there was a baptism friday and six of our investigators were able to come! and then 10 of our investigators came to church yesterday!! it was really exciting :) we have about 20 progressing investigators right now and only half of them made it, but it is still amazing, we are close to baptism with the grandma and grandpa, and another awesome 15 year old girl :) and we area teaching a family of 3 teenagers that I am starting to love, they asked if we could come teach them everyday, we are getting to be really good friends, and it is exciting to think about how the church can bless their lives and futures.
English teaching is getting more fun! I know the students now and actually really enjoy it :) and this week several students asked about the church, and said they are interested!! That makes the teaching so much more worth it :) my companion is great, life is great, time is going by crazy fast, and I know the Lord blesses and helps us. I have never felt alone in this work and I am also realizing that the best missionaries don't wear name tags, we just teach, but the members really have the best ability to bring people into this fold. So this time of year, each of you please open your eyes to the opportunity to share the good news about Christ’s birth, and the fact that he still lives and is guiding us today. Sharing the gospel is so much easier than I ever thought!! I love you all, sorry not much else this week, my district went out to the country side today and got back late :) Mongolia looks amazing covered in snow :) love you all!!!! sister mansfield

November 30, 2009

2009-11-30T10:12:00.001-08:00

hello everyone!!! I am glad you all had so much fun at the cabin and with the
family! that sounds awesome, sledding at the cabin really is way fun, good child hood memories ;) and glad you made it back to California okay, thanks for the e-mails :)
Things are good here! it really was a cool week, so many little things
happened that I am really grateful for. We did a really fun family home evening at one of our investigator's gers, we brought 4 branch missionaries, and two other investigator families kids, about 15 people in all, and had a really fun time! lesson about Christ, and then some really fun games and it was cool to realize how easy missionary work can be, I have always loved to play ;) and one of the church members we brought was able to talk for a long time with one of the older brothers, 20 years old who we have invited a ton but was not really interested. He is way interested now! he is meeting with the elders, and even came and played basketball with us missionaries and some church members this morning :) and then our grandma and grandpa are doing great. we taught the word of wisdom this week and I was a little nervous, Mongolians drink tea more than the English, and it can be hard to stop especially for the older people, but we taught it and they agreed to stop! it may take some time, but they said they want to follow what God says. I think one of the most rewarding things is to see people have to faith to start living the commandments, and make changes in their lives. We also talk about Christ from the BOM picture book with them by flashlight, and they came with us to sacrament meeting at a member's house yesterday, and the grandpa actually bore his testimony about how he believes in God! and we started teaching the parents of a church member, the dad has a bad heart and has been bed ridden, but he received the message realllllyyy well, we have met 3 times and he has read everything we told him to, and as we taught the plan of salvation, I asked him how "we lived with god in heaven before we came to earth" seemed to him, and he thought for a minute, and then said completely confidently that it sounded correct. (the Mongolian word for correct is a strong word, I was excited to hear such a strong belief so fast. it made me realize that as we teach the gospel, we really are just reminding people of truths that they have already heard) and as we met with this same man yesterday, he was dressed, and out of bed, and had even gone on a walk outside! he said that since he started meeting with us he has felt better! he hadn't been outside in a long time and said he felt great, but that he got a little cold ;) (it was warm when he last left his ger;) Faith in Christ heals people!!
And we met with another great family we have been teaching for a few weeks, the dad is also really interested but he is usually working, but he was at home when we came. but so were tons of people, their extended family had come into town, and a lot of times the older generation doesn't like the Christian religion, and they have the most control and respect in the family so we were really hesitant to start teaching. I didn't want to leave, but didn't know how to start teaching. God helped us, their little girl, about 3 years old, came up and kept pulling on my bag asking to see a movie. we had showed the restoration movie a month ago, and she hasn't asked about a movie since. and our little dvd player was broken and wasn't working when we tried it that morning. but she kept asking and the dad heard, so we decided to try it, and it worked! we were able to start the finding faith in Christ movie, and his family was able to watch and then by the time it ended most had left, and we were able to meet with the people we wanted to, and had a really good lesson. they really want to get an answer!! it is cool to be able to promise people that they will get one :) sorry this is a lot of rambling stories, but little miracles are happening everyday :) I truly am amazed at all the tender mercies God gives us. I have no doubt that he Loves his children, and is ready and waiting to bless us.
My companion is great, I am with her for 3 more weeks :) and it isn't quite as cold as it was! still cold, but bearable :) oh and we had a fun thanksgiving lunch at the mission home (which is the main church building) with all the city missionaries, the couples did a great job getting together that much food! I love you all, hope you are well, and thanks so much for everything! have a great week! sister mansfield

kat, cate, and alyssa, hope you all are well! kat I got the letters and announcement!!!!!!!!! awesome!!!!! soooo happy!!! :) and cate you and morgan look great! (linds sent a picture ;) and alyssa thanks so much for the note! your work sounds really good, I will write more later but thanks again! love you all!

November 23, 2009

2009-11-23T06:48:00.001-08:00

Hello my family!!!!
Happy thanksgiving!!! time is going by sooo fast, I went to the huge market today with several sisters and picked fabric to have mongolian clothes made, really exciting, all the missionaries wear mongolian traditional clothes for Christmas. The holidays are coming so fast!! have fun at the cabin, if I could choose anyplace to have thanksgiving, (other than mongolia of course;) it would be at the cabin with you all. say hi to the family for me!!
Things are good here, I have a new companion again, a way sweet 19 year old girl. She can be with me for 4 weeks which will be really nice :) she joined the church 8 months ago with her whole family, and is a great missionary!! It is really fun to teach with her :) she is from a branch close to ours and work is going good! We have enough investigators to keep us busy and are finding a few more each week. I really am sooooo happy to be in a mission where we get to teach so much. The grandma and grandpa are still going strong, we told them the church is still closed, but then they told us that they went anyways just in case and knocked on the closed door. They are amazing! We will try and take them to a member's house next week. We are still doing sacraments in member's homes and it is a really neat experience. The young men in the ward prepare and pass the sacrament, very cool :) I have never realized how incredibly important the sacrament is! and I have been amazed by children again this week, two 8 year olds understood everything we taught so easily and clearly, I think the veil is thinner for them and the spirit touches their hearts really easily. I am really happy because these children can help their families which are also investigating this church. We were cutting wood for someone this week and as I was sitting on a log to hold it still it really hit me how cool it is to be sitting in mongolia, sawing wood with mongolian elders outside a mongolian ger, and looking at snow covered mountains and a little 2 yr old mongolian kid bundled up in hot pink clothes to the point where she could barely walk. (sooo cute!). I really feel blessed and have a lot to be grateful for this thanksgiving. :) and add the best family in the world, and I truly am one of the luckiest people alive ;)
It has been cold, it warmed up to 20 degrees a few times this week, it is amazing how warm 20 degrees feels after -20. Life gets really hard for people here in the winter, wood gets expensive and people need it constantly, many people don't have houses and will live in the man holes, and drunk people pass out and freeze before morning. We were walking one night and found a man fallen by a fence in the dark, he had been drinking, we were able to wake him up and after wandering for a while he was able to remember where his house was, and we helped him in. it is scary, a few hours and he would be dead, temperatures below 0 are hard. Alcohol becomes even more dangerous in the winter here. (he was a really cool man by the way! studied in russia and was a lawyer there for years, he showed us his degree and pictures once we made it home. we even sang some mongolian national songs together ;)
We are celebrating thanksgiving together this Thursday at the mission home, should be fun! :) I will keep you posted on our investigators, I hope we can see some baptisms before these 4 weeks with my companion are up! love you all sooooo much, things are well, and have fun with the family!! sister mansfield

November 16, 2009

2009-11-16T10:11:00.001-08:00

hello my family!!! boy I love hearing from you, I get really excited to get to the internet, thanks for the e-mails, you all sound good! Dad, send a pic of the boat cabinet! That’s awesome! and I can't believe it is almost thanksgiving, have fun in utah and say hi to the family for me!!!
things are good here, this has been an interesting two months, haha, I have had a new companion every 2 weeks ;) my other mini missionary had to go home suddenly so I was with another mini for a day, and then another starting on friday, and I am with her for a week and then I get another mini ;) usually it isn't like this, the Americans haven't been able to come, and right now I am the only sister with a mini because we are an odd number, and I think president wants me to learn faster or something because with all the changes of companions it makes me learn a lot faster, and make sure I get everything right because if I don't contact or teach these people, they won't get taught, I am getting used to it and have sooooo much to learn! it is funny I dream about our investigators and accidently missing appointments or forgetting to contact people and I wake up a little stressed haha, it is funny but things are good :) my new companion is ankbayar and she is almost a full time missionary! she goes to the mtc next week :) she is amazing and basically fluent in english, she taught herself english by reading the quotes side by side out of the relief society manual in english and mongolian. way good idea, just the conversation stuff, and she has made it her goal to make me sound like a mongolian, so it is soooooo great! I have learned so much so far and am going to learn a ton this week, she takes notes during our lessons of all the mistakes I make, and is really working on my accent, it is funny we walk down the street trying to make these throaty noises (and people already think we are weird haha ;) but it is helping! she really is a blessing! and I will have a new companion next week ;) things should settle down after this transfer.
our investigators are doing pretty good, a lot of appointments fall through but there is a lot of potential, and I am learning how to try and teach better and more powerfully. it is also hard with the church closed because we can't bring people to our meetings or teach at the church, but it is okay. we are still waiting to hear when the churches will be open, the flu is slowing down here so it should be soon. oh one of my favorites memories from this week was sitting on a rug at our grandma and grandpa investigators ger, and teaching the plan of salvation with little pictures by flashlight. so cool! they want to join the church :) and an 11 year old girl understood the atonement of Christ faster and better than anyone I have seen so far, I taught for about 2 minutes about why we needed Christ’s atonement and why we need it, drew a little picture, and then she started teaching us! and her 10 year old sister didn't understand, and she took over the teaching and explained the atonement perfectly. she also makes her whole family say family prayers every night, children really can be so amazing!
it is really cold here, it was kinda a wakeup call this week when some
appointments feel through and we were out in our area with about 3 hours to kill, and it was reallllllyyyy cold, it really makes us work hard to contact people and plan really well because it is hard to be out long without a house to go into ;) and any showing skin hurts a bit, so you can wrap the scarf around your whole mouth and nose, but then your eyelashes get all icy and almost stick together. you choose cold nose or icy eyelashes. but it’s okay! we are staying safe and warm :) our building is really warm, and people keep their gers really warm.
I think that is all for this week, time is flying, God is helping us, and oh! my testimony of priesthood blessings really was strengthened this week, I was sick, maybe the flu I’m not sure, but I got a blessing from the elders and I felt better, and then the next morning I was 100% again, better than I’ve felt in weeks! a miracle, really cool to sit on a little stool outside my apartment door and have two mongolian elders use God's priesthood and literally feel healed. very cool :) I love you all soooooo much, take care, and happy thanksgiving! we truly have so much to be grateful for! sister mansfield

kat- thanks sooooo much for the letters! I am soo incredibly excited for you!
and the pictures were AMAZING! I got all excited and was jumping around the apartment for you. just to let you know ;) love ya!!!
cate- you are an AMAZING photographer!!!! oh my goodness. pure genius. you got professional. soooooooo goooood!!!!! hope school is going well, and I think sarah wants you to take her senior pics ;) love ya and say hi to morgan!
alyssa!! how are you? what is your colorado address? hope you are well and love ya!!

November 9, 2009

2009-11-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

hey family!!
I am way out of time today, it’s funny the only thing I really want to do on
p-day is internet and we didn't get to it earlier, I will write better next
week!!
Things are good, they have closed the churches and almost all public places are closed because of the flu so we had church at a family in the wards, they broke unto little groups and we went to a ger with 15 branch members, and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had since I have been here! we had the sacrament, and then went around in a circle sharing testimonies and it was amazing, the Lord poured out his spirit on us and we were all crying, and the testimonies were amazing, I am actually grateful the church was closed, the mongolians have such strong spirits!!
we were also able to find 2 more families this week that I am really excited about, and 2 other women who have been going to tons of churches and didn't know which to join. I am really excited to teach them more! one lady was really cute and as we started telling her about Joseph Smith, she pulled out a notepad and started taking notes, asking for dates, places, names, everything! it was really cool! the Lord is truly helping us, I have never seen his hand in this work more than I have this week. I wish I had more time! My companion is great and fun, she helps a lot and I feel a huge responsibility now, but the Lord has also stepped up His blessings it seems and even with a busy english schedule, being not too familiar with the area, and the church being closed, we are finding people to teach, and they are starting to pray and read the Book of Mormon. So all is well!! and it did get really cold, it was -10 yesterday, I forgot my hat and I won't make that mistake again ;) I haven't been in weather this cold for a while, haha, it is fun ;) so I know God loves us, knows what we need, and if we let him he will literally guide our steps. thanks for all the prayers!! love you!! sister mansfield

November 2, 2009

2009-11-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

hello family!!! boy the weeks pass fast don't they, I am glad you all are good, have fun in washington!! if it has good outdoors I know I’ll like it ;) I hope the trip goes well!! mom that is way fun you are learning that Chinese game, when I come back I will be free and you can teach me ;) and happy Halloween! our branch put on an amazing halloween party, the youth were in charge and I was so impressed, it was really fun!
Guess what, I have another new companion ;) the American missionaries
haven't been able to come yet (6 weeks late) so it made for an interesting half transfer, my companion was needed somewhere else, and I think mission president wants me to learn a little faster ;) my new companion is a mini missionary, she is great and is actually waiting for her mission call right now, it should come this week :) so I am full blown senior with very limited language skills, but this really is good because it forces me to speak and call people on the phone, and do all the things that are a little hard for me ;) it is funny I thought my first few months would have been the hardest, and now I am realizing they were probably the easiest haha, but things are good :) it really is a neat experience to be asked to do something you know you can't do, and to just try to have faith and trust that God will make up the difference. it is a really big difference when it comes to me, but God is doing it ;)
So the work was really good these past few days!! I got my new companion on Saturday, and we were able to meet with some people, and 5 investigators came to church again, the really sweet grandma and grandpa and going strong and came to church, the halloween party, and the baptism on friday!! we also teach a sweet 15 year old who said she wants to join the church and be a missionary like us. and while we were waiting for a few minutes at the church yesterday a lady walked in, said she was interested in the church, and wanted to know how to get a Book of Mormon. amazing! Investigators are walking into our hands! :) God really is blessing us, and I met with Teresa from England again, and we were able to set a baptism date for the beginning of December. I love meeting with her! we watched the faith in Christ movie and cried haha, this church literally brings a light to people's eyes as they grow testimonies.
okay fam, you asked about a typical day, if I don't have English we get up and do our 3 study hours, eat, then get a micro-bus thing (mini-van that tons of people pile into, I’ve been in a mini-van with 24 people haha ;) and go to our area, then walk and try and meet with people who are willing. we walk a lot, it is all ger districts so dirt roads and huts and there is a lot of smoke in the air, and it gets dark about 6:30 now, but if we have people planned we can meet with people until 9:00, and then we go home. I’ve slept really good since I’ve got here, always tired ;)
that is all from me for now, love you all soooooooo much, thanks for all your prayers, they really do help :) love you all! sister mansfield

October 26, 2009

2009-10-26T10:36:00.001-07:00

hello family!!!
Thanks for the e-mails as always, but I love you all, I really think I could win "the most blessed person in the world" contest with the church we have in our lives, and you as family. Thanks! Dad I am glad work is slowing down, sounds busy but you are amazing, mom thanks for the e-mails and updates!! I want to see the "alaska" living room when it is done ;) hope you kids are also all doing good, sarah you have a byu account!! you all are growing up!
Things are good here, it was an interesting week for a variety of reasons, but things are good and I continue to learn :) I read in a conference talk that President Packer once said "I know exactly who I am. I am nothing. And you are nothing too. And if you ever forget it, the Lord will remind you of it instantly, and it won't be pleasant" haha, I laughed when I read it but it is so true ;) This week we stopped by a family that was investigating a year ago to see if we could teach them again, and we were sitting around their ger which was lit by a single candle, and I was trying to teach and talk and a visiting neighbor made quite a scene trying to understand my mongolian, it would have been pretty funny if it weren't for such important truths getting lost in transit, I am wanting to talk more and more and I have no shame anymore and don't get embarrassed to say the same thing, really slow, over and over and hope people understand. It was cute while the man was laughing a little girl in the family came over and whispered to me that I was speaking good mongolian and she could understand, it was really cute and sweet ;) We found some more new investigators this week that I am excited about, we found this adorable grandma and grandpa, the grandma was going to get water from the well and we walked with her and carried her water, then we went in and got to teach a lesson to her and her husband, who is a really old but really bright and alert grandpa. We told them about church and they said they would come, but I was still very happily surprised to see them walk in a little late to sacrament meeting, walking cane and all! they had made the trek up the dirt roads to the church, and stayed for all 3 hours and liked it! I am really excited to teach them! And Teresa is doing great, she is growing and learning and it is really fun to teach and be able to say what I need and want to. I will keep you posted, she is awesome!
It gets dark around 6:30 now but we are learning the area better so it isn't as big a problem, we need to meet a lot of people now because people aren't too happy about two strangers showing up at their door after dark ;) um I am trying to think if there is anything else, my companion is good and a hard worker which is great! oh and we smell like camp fires all the time, every home burns coal or wood fires so the air is always thick and smoky, it’s cool as we are walking around I keep being reminded of all the camping trips we have been on, its kinda fun ;) english is going okay, the director of one of the universities invited us to his office and talked to us and thanks us which was really cool, gave me and my companion some books from the school as a gift, and asked if I could stay the whole year ;) I am the first girl American teacher they have ever had. It was cool and these people really are hungry to learn english, it is a good opportunity for us to serve. I think that is all, we only threw rocks at a few dogs and I haven't had to wear the reallllyy big coat too much yet ;)
I know God hears our prayers, and knows exactly where His people are. It is cool to step back and see God's hand in our lives. Like how we made a wrong turn and got lost, but talked to a lady that lived there and then were able to teach her and some of her friends the next day. Not a wrong turn after all ;) or even the timing of passing someone on the street like the grandma getting water, or deciding to stop by a store where an investigator lives even though she said she wouldn't be free, and then finding out she was free and being able to teach. There are so many times that the Lord reaches down and directs us even without us realizing it. If we are humble and simply trying to do our best, the Lord can guide us. I look out at all the gers in our area, and I know the Lord could light up the houses of all His prepared people if he wanted to, and we could walk right to their door. This truly is an amazing work!! love you all and have a wonderful week!! sister mansfield

October 19, 2009

2009-10-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

hello family!!
Sorry not much time today, things are good :) my new companion is sister tingis (sea) and she is good and hard working!! she is also a relatively new missionary which is fun, we are figuring things out together and both want to work hard :) we found 7 new investigators this week, and 5 came to church which is always so exciting, I’ve never been so nervous at church before haha, every person that comes in you hope is one of your investigators ;) and when they come its awesome!! and I started teaching a girl from England this week!!! a sister found her and started teaching her out in the country side but she moved to the city and I am the closest American sister so I get to teach her, it is so fun, she is awesome and I am really excited to work with her. she has been living here for 3 years teaching English, and knows Mongolian but our church vocab is pretty different ;) I got all excited to teach her in english, it is incentive for me to learn mongolian better because I want to talk to all people like I can to her about the church.
And it did get cold. really cold. and it isn't even winter yet haha. we got more snow and it is consistently below freezing now so we have the ice, but it is all good, I bought a reallly big coat today from the market. reallly big. I’ll send a picture later ;)
That is all for now, we are learning this new area and only got off at the wrong bus stops a few times this week ;) God helps us in this work and it will go forth, thank you all for everything and love you all!! sister mansfield

October 12, 2009

2009-10-12T09:58:00.001-07:00

Hello Family!! thanks for the e-mails, I love hearing from you and you all sound good! I’m glad the new house is coming together and that dad got to go back to the operating room, you all sound good and are in my prayers too! Things are good here, it was an interesting week, my companion's legs started really hurting, so we weren't able to do much work. I want to take a moment and say how amazing all the Mongolian missionaries are. Many of them are the only members in their families, and many of their families have rejected them for believing in Jesus Christ. Their families don't understand missions or what they are doing, don't write to them or support them, but they still come on missions and serve so well! many are serving a few minutes away from their homes, it is like me serving in Provo Utah or down the street from you all, but they serve so well! they have learned so much about the gospel in just a year or two, and are powerful and selfless teachers, I have learned so much from them :) there are about 40-50 mongolian sisters, we have the most sisters of any mission other than temple square!! there are 5 of us sisters from America right now and 6 more on the way :) so back to my companion, we weren't sure what to do, I taught English but we weren't able to go anywhere else, she decided she wanted to finish her mission 3 months early so we met with the mission president and doctor several times, and things were all set for her to be released, but then she decided she wanted to finish her mission!! she is going back to work in the office and I am getting a new companion today :) I got to be good friends with sister Nemaa, I am really glad she will still be at the office :) My new companion doesn't know the area either, so we still don't know the area or members, but now we can learn. Hopefully this week we will be able to work a lot :)
oh and we moved to a new apartment, haha, our other one was really expensive so we had one hour notice, and then moved everything to a close by apartment two elders had been living in. We cleaned our old apartment for several hours, then came home to our new place and cleaned up after the elders haha ;) I washed dishes for 3 hours ;) but our new place is nice too and will be good :)
conference was amazing!!! we watched it with the American missionaries at the mission home, and it was soooo good! Elder Holland's testimony was unlike anything I have ever heard from conference, and each 2 hour session seemed like 30 minutes, it’s funny when I was young I never would have thought that I would wish conference was longer, ;) it was really good and really helpful.
I think that is all for now, this starting from scratch in an area is interesting, and the language is a challenge as always, but it is coming ;) So I am well, it is not too cold yet, I think there is still some Alaskan in me because even when my Mongolian companions are cold I am not. I actually kinda like the cold air :) I love you all, hope you are well and thanks again for everything!!! sister mansfield

October 5, 2009

2009-10-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

hey everyone!! That is great you are in the new house!!! please do send pictures, it all sounds good :) Have fun with the unpacking, you all will be very familiar with all our stuff when this is done ;) love you all so much!!
things are good here, i really like our new area, our branch is so strong! i heard it is one of the strongest in mongolia and i think that is true, the members are amazing and there a several branch missionaries that are really willing to work with us (which is great because neither me or my companion know the area at all ;) we went with some of them this week and it was really helpful! We are trying to get to know people and find our way around, so work was a little slow this week but with time it will get better :) My companion is great, she has a strong desire to teach and be a good missionary and i have learned a lot from her already. Her legs are really hurting her so we try and teach at the church when we can so we don't have to walk as much, she is way strong :) I am teaching english, i teach three classes at a univerisity called chinggis khan, three classes at a language university, and one class at the church. It keeps us busy for sure, but the students are fun to work with and are eager to learn. Our apartment is pretty new and really nice, quite a lot nicer than my previous one so i feel like i'm in a hotel ;) there isn't much more to say this week, we are learning the area and people :) oh and it hasn't gotten too cold! it was really cold for a while but warmed up again, this is supossed to be a really cold winter, but this will be a relatively mild month. The winter will be interesting, it gets dark really early like alaska, right now it gets dark by 7, and it is hard to teach in the dark because our area is all ger districts and there aren't lights, and it isn't necessarily the best place to be wondering around at night so we will have to be creative about how to keep teaching lots of lessons in the winter. But the church building is great and central and we can use that :) The language is coming as always ;) I need to repent, i am envious of the 6 months that the elders get haha, i only have a year left and i am just barely figuring things out ;) time really is going so fast. okay i'll write more next week, love you all!! sister mansfield
ps mom i am getting better at cooking! ;)
oh and we get to watch conference this weekend, i am really excited! i have never been so excited for conference before.

kat- oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am sooooooooooooooooo hhhhaaappppyyy for yyyyoooouuu!!!! ah!!!!! I wrote a letter and can hopefully send it today! i got your two letters and congrats!!!!!!!
cate- hope you and morgan are well and classes are okay! how is photography going?!
alyssa- i hope you got back to colorado okay! have fun with the family!!!

September 28, 2009

2009-09-28T10:12:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!!
thanks for the e-mails, you all sound good and busy, and settling into California and byu :) love you all and Jake congrats on blessing the sacrament! how tall are you now? ;)
Things are good. it was an interesting transfer, the Lord and my mission president know how to push us ;) I am in an area called sukbaatar, it is in the city in an area that is only ger districts. we live in another area that has buildings and "commute" to our area (30 minute walk or a shorter bus ride), there is a great church building and our branch is really strong!! President made me a senior companion, I am in a co-senior companionship right now luckily, the desire to serve is there but many skills are lacking, (especially language) and I feel a little inadequate (okay, a lot, ;) but I know the Lord helps us, and this is good because it makes me depend on Him more, and He is the one that does the work anyways :) We were also "whitewashed" as we call it, meaning both my companion and I are new to the area. My companion is amazing, 29 year old amazing missionary, her leg has been hurting so she has been in the office for a while but the president put her in the area because it needs some help. It has been a hard area for quite a while so president wants us to start over. It is interesting neither of us know the area, people, etc and the info in the apartment about the area is several months old, but it will be good!! we are excited and yesterday at church we met tons of people and already found a new investigator so hopefully things will all go up from here :) My companion finishes her mission in about a month, so I need to learn the area and people well because after she leaves; I might get what we call a "minnie missionary", a branch missionary who works like a missionary for a few weeks. My language also really needs to improve this next month..... boy.... this will be interesting, but good. The Lord helps us do things we don't think we can do :)
Badamgarav's baptism was great, she was so cute when she was in her baptism clothes she said she felt like an angel and was prancing around a bit :) it is so great to see the change and to hear her testimony! the baptism was also a little dramatic, her mother is a church member and has pretty bad health, she has had several strokes and gets these sudden intense pains in her head that are incredibly crippling, and she can't walk very well but as we were bringing a taxi to pick them up, we saw her walking down the street with her cane, and a huge smile on her face. we stopped and asked where she was going and she said she was going to the church :) (way far;) so cute!! but at the church her head really hurt, we gave a blessing to her in the elevator, she couldn't come into the meeting but she was able to wait in the baptismal room and see the baptism :)
And the bishop had all the missionaries over before the transfer and we ate some interesting food, they boil all the insides of a sheep, and cut it up and hand pieces to you and you eat what they hand you. I’ve now eaten stomach, intestine, heart, liver, kidney, spleen, fat (omentum I think?) rectum (yep, I didn't know what it was till I was chewing it ;), and maybe some other things I didn't recognize ;) for the most part it is do able, but you know how we always pray before we eat? I learned it can also be helpful to pray while you eat sometimes ;)
So that is all for now, I will keep you updated on this new area and how things go, I appreciate everything and all your prayers, love you all!!! sister mansfield

September 21, 2009

2009-09-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

hello everyone!!!! love you all!! thanks so much for the e-mails, love, and support :) time is flying!!! it is transfers this week, I have almost been in mongolia 3 months, that is crazy. (especially considering how little I can speak, haha, the language really hit me this week, I need to pick up my studying or my mission is going to be over before I can understand these wonderful people) I will let you know where I am next week, either me or my companion is going to a new area, we don't know who so I will let you know :) things are good!! the best thing is...Badamgarav is getting baptized this Friday! yeah!! it is truly amazing to see the change in her, and see how her faith has grown!! we told her one of us was being transferred and she wanted to be baptized before we left, so we taught her for two hours Thursday, 2 hours Friday, an hour Saturday morning, and then she had her baptismal interview and is getting baptized this Friday! so exciting :) you get to be really good friends with your investigators!! and her friend is doing really good too and will join the church in a few weeks :)
and it is now officially winter haha ;) we had December like snow storms this week, and it is September haha. It is the wind that makes it way cold, mongolia is so windy! but it will be good, the mongolian people know how to make warm clothes so it will all be good. We took 6 kids to an activity at the church Saturday night and trying to meet them all and walk to all their houses to pick them up together in a snowstorm was an adventure, these kids are troopers ;) and we went out to the countryside for a bit today as a zone and played soccer in the snow, it was really fun. really wet ;) but so fun!!
I hope you all are well, this gospel can change lives, even after we are already members of the church! thanks again for everything, love you all, and take care! sister mansfield

cate- hey thanks for the dear elders!! that is so funny about your new apartment door!! I sent a letter to your old address last week, sorry, and good luck with school and photography!! love ya!!
kat- my goodness I miss you! and volleyball!! haha ;) good luck with classes and hope all is well, love ya!! ;)
Alyssa- thanks for the note!! great to hear from you, miss you too! and that sounds good about school, and that is cool you want to work with kids with disabilities, they really do grow a special place in your heart don't they?!! are you living in provo this semester? love ya!!

September 14, 2009

2009-09-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

hey there family!!!! Thanks all for the e-mails, you all sound busy and good, jake is 16, crazy, ;), boy love you all!!
It was a really good week!! Seriously realizing I can't do this has helped so much, I always thought I had faith, I didn't realize that I had been putting my faith more in myself than I thought, and I know that God is way smarter, and knows far better than we do what we need to do. It has been fun to kind of step back, Let God take more control, have faith, and then just see what happens :) and great things have happened!! This week we had a good little breakthrough with one of the new members we have been visiting who doesn't like to come to church anymore, she doesn't even really like to meet with us (a sweet 12 year old girl), and it was her birthday last week. You know my memory, I can't even remember my best friend's birthday (cate;) sorry;) but a month ago she told us when her birthday was, and then I didn't think about it much, but on her birthday, we had ran home to grab something, and her birthday popped into my head! we put together a little present of a notebook I had felt to buy for myself, but whenever I went to use it, I felt to wait and we were able to give it to this girl with some other stuff, and it was such a small thing, but she has totally opened to us! is willing to try and come to church again, wants to meet with us, etc. This is a little story, but it was Cool to see how the Lord can work through us in ways we don't even realize! a little notebook and a remembered birthday (no thanks to me, thanks to the spirit) opened the door for us to help this girl :)
And something funny happened yesterday with badamgarav and her friend that we started teaching, we always meet before church and then go together, and they are always there, but yesterday they weren't we were worried, and finally got a hold of them, and guess where they were, at the church! and an hour and a half early! how cute is that! they got themselves there, and were waiting for us there :) So things are good, and we are teaching another great family, and the twins are doing really good, (going to seminary at 6:30 am and everything ;) So the work is going well and I can testify that if we step back and let God take control, everything is better :) love you all so much! take care!!
sister Mansfield
ps (I heard about BYU's win, go cougars! ;)

September 7, 2009

2009-09-07T10:52:00.001-07:00

Hey Family!!!!
boy I love you all!! hope school, work, and everything is going okay, and that Jake has a great birthday!~!!! happy birthday jake!!!! I can't believe you are 16 (actually I can, I thought you were turning 16 last year haha,) a card is on the way ;) love ya!! and go cougars!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the zone leaders sent a text, because yesterday I heard they won, that is awesome!!! I always loved byu football, but I didn't realize how much until I heard they one! I am soooo happy!!! hahaha :)
It has been an interesting week, first the good stuff, carothtsetsen was baptized!! It was wonderful, she is so sweet and it was a good baptism, me and my companion were asked to sing, and it is exciting to see the church grow :) and while we were teaching badamgarav her friend visited and we invited her to listen, and then she practically started teaching us about Christ’s atonement and how we can't get back to heaven without it, it was awesome!! She said she had always liked Christ but didn't know much about his church :) the Lord can lead people to us, she came to church and is already reading the Book of Mormon so that made my week :)
I started teaching english this week, I teach at 2 private schools, 3rd grade, 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, grade, and some teachers. I teach 10 hours a week, and I am trying to like it ;) its worth it if we can be here, and the kids really are great :) so cute and for the most part eager to learn. I realized something this week that surprised myself, and might sound surprising, but I swear it is a good thing! I can't do this. haha ;) but literally I realized I can't do this. I still can't talk or understand very much at all, I have a lot to learn about being a missionary, and now add 10 hours of english teaching and lesson planning which is the hardest because it takes time to plan good lessons, I am inexperienced, they don't have text books or a course outline, and I teach all different levels so each lesson is different, and I am trying to learn mongolian and we have to do our normal studies at all different times of the day because of english, etc. sorry this is rambling but there is a point ;) So I was sitting on a meeker (van thing) riding back from an appointment that fell through, and I thought "I can't do this". And the spirit seemed to confirmed "that is absolutely right" haha! I was really surprised that it felt so good to admit I couldn't do something. But then I realized that I am not doing this work, the Lord is, and He has given us something that we literally by ourselves cannot do. Before when something hard came up I would just think "you can do this, you can do this" and keep going. It got to the point where I can't do it haha. You know that bible story where the Lord says the army is too big, and he keeps making it smaller until there are just 300 people? but then they win!! because the Lord is with them, and they have to acknowledge his hand. So, I can't do this. Just like those 300 people couldn't win. But I am not by myself! So its awesome because I feel so much more able, realizing that I am unable, haha I am making no sense. Basically, I want you all to know that the Lord is leading and guiding this work, and He just asks us to have the faith to do what He says, even if we don't think we are smart enough, strong enough, etc. He makes up the rest. So That was my week :) And mongolia and the people are amazing and easy to love :) Love you all and thanks sooo much for the prayers. hope you all are well!!
sister mansfield

cate- hey! When are you getting a new address? I have a letter for you, when are you moving? :) you can send it to tori, love ya!!!
Kat-I reread your letter about tortoises and the biologist and it made me laugh so much!! love ya!! :) how are classes? could you facebook your address to tori so she can send it to me? love ya!
alyssa- how are classes? hope you are well!!! you are living with kat right?

Donielle Wolfe- there is a saying here that means "your the man!!" and it is chii shew. chiishew!! thanks so much for the letters! they make me so happy :)

September 1, 2009

2009-09-01T18:03:00.001-07:00

hey everyone!! you all sound good, thanks for the e-mails! I'm sorry I have no idea why some e-mails come and some don't, days later, oh! and we switched p-day to today because yesterday was zone conference, sorry about yesterday, this week today is p-day :)
Things are good here, still learning and still trying ;) time has flown, I have been here 2 months, that is crazy!! and we have a baptism this week! She is a sweet 11 yr old named saroothtsetsen, my companion started teaching her a month or two before I came, and we are really excited! her sister and her sister's husbands are members, so she has good family support :) I’ll send baptism pictures next week!
We met with jargathsaixan a few more times and tried to help but she is no longer interested, our job is to invite and then it is their choice, but it is always a little hard.
But I want to tell you a bit about Badamgarav, she is a 17 year old girl we have been teaching for a few weeks and it has been so fun to work with her and start to see a change! she has come to church with us three times, and sunday mornings are always a little crazy because we are meeting with people and trying to get them to come with us, last week we were trying to help the family with the boy with cerebral palsy to church, and we missed the time we had set to meet badamgarav so we ran to meet her but she wasn't there, (we look pretty funny sprinting through a ger district ;) (people already think we are a bit interesting haha ;) we ran to the road and got a taxi, picked up the first family but couldn't get a hold of badamgarav or find her anywhere, I was praying hard because church is far and she doesn't have the money to get there by herself, and as we were driving out of the ger district, we saw her walking home and were able to bring her to church! sounds like a good coincidence but if we had left a minute earlier or later, we would have missed her! God helps us even in simple ways. She had been waiting 45 minutes, then thought we forgot her so if would have been really sad if we hadn't found her, but we did! sorry long story, she is an awesome girl :)
I started teaching english today, school started and I teach at two schools, I’ll let you know how it goes! this morning was funny I showed up to teach and instead they had a little opening ceremony and some kids sang and danced, it was sooo cute and I had no idea what was going on but they had me stand in front with the other teachers, and then they said the american english would like to say something in english and handed me the microphone haha ;) I don't really remember what I said haha, but the principle of the school is the mother of one of the girls I taught my 2nd week here! she walked into the church and we taught her, and then gave her to the other ward's sisters. The mom recognized my name from what her daughter had told her about the church, and her daughter is getting baptized this friday! exciting :)
I know God truly knows where we are and what path we are taking at all times, and He loves us sooo much we can't even comprehend. I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful week! sister mansfield

ps grandma and grandpa thanks for the letter! say hi to the family for me, love you all! :)

August 24, 2009 a few days late

2009-08-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

Hey there again :)

Thanks for the e-mails!! Tori and dad hope moving into the apartment goes well! remind me what classes you are taking? Mom your seminary class sounds sweet :) We met a family with a little boy with cerebral palsy (they are not sure what it is, I am pretty sure it is cerebral palsy) and he is so sweet, it made we really miss the people I worked with before the mission, we are trying to help them get a wheelchair. Linds how are things in illinois? is the humidity manageable? any fun nursery stories? :) Sarah and jake let me know how school goes :) I have no idea about the pouch mail, if they say it is working it is working youm shiig (there are all these crazy convenient mongolian words I want to use, that means “seems like”) I got a dear elder last week so it is still coming :) and jake that was a crazy rafting story!!!! man I am glad you made it!
Things are good, I am learning a lot, about the people, culture, and missionary work in general. We are asking people to completely change their lives forever and it can be hard, but it is so worth it. I am just realizing that it can be an interesting process to help people realize that, and once they do realize that, helping them have the strength and faith to commit to it can be hard too, but the Lord helps us and His children :) missionary work is hard for a whole new set of reasons now, I know these people better and we want soooo badly for their success!! okay sorry I am rambling. Tamer and her two kids are still doing great, it is fun to teach people who are so ready to hear the gospel :) in our investigator sunday school class dashbelig accidently introduced himself as a missionary, it was really funny! several missionaries had just introduced themselves, and he copied, the mom's reaction was funny :)
um, a lady cooked a whole liver for me and my companion this week, I've had it before but this time it was rough mostly because of the amount. A liver is a decent sized organ even in a sheep and when you are eating half plain, yeah, I think love for people can actually help food taste better (or at least make you think it tastes better;) really its not that bad. We had a fun little birthday party with one of our new part member's families, these are some of my favorite kids!!
um I'm trying to think what else happened, sorry not many other stories for this week, oh! we stand out here right? I'm one of the only american girls in the area, maybe the only one, we are in skirts and carry scripture, etc, but the funny thing is that tons of people think my companion is from china because I am foreign. Mongolians and the chinese don't have the best relationship and she does not want to be chinese, people will ask her if she knows mongolian, and people will say "there go the american and the chinese again". We get a laugh out of it ;)
Thats all for this week, I love you all sooooooo much and think of you all often! take care!! sister mansfield

kat- thanks for the new address!! I wanted that! will you and alyssa send me your school one when you get it? have fun with the fam!!
cate- it was great to hear from you!!!!! love ya and keep having fun with photography!

August 17, 2009 a week or so late :)

2009-08-25T21:53:00.001-07:00

hey family!! thanks for the e-mails as always :) love hearing from you! my e-mails keep saying they are sent, and then they come back to me saying they didn’t send, I am not sure why, sorry, could you send me maybe tori's, lindsays, and the kids email addresses too and maybe one of you will get the e-mail ;) I'll try sending two weeks ago again, let me know what gets to you. haha I am having the hardest time typing, some of the letters are misprinted on the key board, and a p is now an r, and h is an n, and I haven't typed much so it is not as normal anymore haha, and yesterday we helped someone move some cement bags and my arms and hands are so spent haha! sorry, moving on, you all sound good! tori I can't believe you already go back to school! that will be so fun, and have fun with that sports pass! take pictures for me :) sarah and jake I'm glad band was cool, you will have to let me know more :) and have fun with the jet skis this week!!! it has been hot here, and I have missed the water a little bit ;) have fun!
Things are good here, this was a bit of a harder week, Satan is aware of this work too and sometimes he fights hard. Jargalsaixan, the lady who could hear, we were getting her ready for her baptismal interview and she was really excited, and then this week we met with her and she told us she had went to a monastery and talked to a Buddhist monk and asked what church was true and you can guess what he said, and now she said she doesn't want to be baptized and said she won't come to church again. It was really sad and out of the blue, she said she believes in our God too, but helping her see that there is only one God is hard, we are trying to help her receive her own stronger answer through prayer again, but she is pretty against it now. and we weren’t able to teach very much this week, we have started teaching so many people and have a lot of investigators, but this week everything kept falling through, work, or other things came up, etc. and I can't remember if I ever wrote anything about a funny drunk, but if I did I take it back, I don't think there is any such thing as a funny drunk, it is all sad. But all is well, a friend wrote me a letter in the mtc with a quote that said "the obstacle in front of you is never as great as the power behind you" and that is true, so all is well, or hopefully will be ;)
Tamer and the twins (dashnamjil and dashbilig) are doing great :) I accidentally told them that we need to do bad things during this life while trying to teach haha, and that it was really cool dashbilig's bike broke. I am learning ;) we do street contacts everyday and I can do one by myself now kinda okay, but yesterday I tried talking to a man and was talking about the church, and he thought I was lost so he started giving directions to the church, and my comp had to step in and say we were missionaries, it was pretty embarrassing. ;) I have a long way to go ;)
Time is flying!! in two months I only have a year left! I don’t know if I like being a sister ;) jk. It was half transfers this week, and I am staying in my area with the same comp for the next 6 weeks and I am glad :) I want to keep working with our investigators and my comp is awesome and fun, she is this fiery girl who is really happy (and she is only angry when it comes in handy ;) so she is way fun to work with, and a hard worker! I think we went to a departure devotional that was really good, a lot of missionaries are with "mini missionaries" for the next 6 weeks (branch youth who act like full time missionaries) because so many left. And Elder Godfrey, the tall one from my mtc group, is sick, he has a muscle disease that runs in the family, and had to go back to america this week, it was really sad, you get to be good friends with the missionaries in your group, but I think in 6 months he will be back! he has a great attitude. Now there are just three of us from my group here.
This week the hong kong temple president and his wife came and we went to a good fireside, the members here go to hongkong to go to the temple, trips are organized every year and the members sacrifice a lot to go, it is neat. someday there will be one here!!
I think that is all, Love you all sooooooo much, hope you are well and good luck with school and tori and dad have a safe trip to utah! say hi to byu for me
;) love you and best wishes, sister mansfield :)

August 24, 2009

2009-08-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello all, this is tori. Just wanted to let you all know that we haven't forgotten about this blog. We never received an email from Sister Mansfield last week and this week we only got a quick note. She is doing fine and getting used to the customs, language and the work. It seems she writes emails each week but the internet is shifty and for some reason they haven't been coming through very well recently. When we get something we will post it. Hopefully one day we will get some from the weeks that haven't come through. Thanks for your love and support and we are waiting anxiously too.

August 10, 2009

2009-08-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

hey family :)
The e-mails and pictures were great! holy cow sarah and tori you are cute girls ;) and jake is sooooo tall! crazy! Thanks it was fun to see you again ;) sorry last week's e-mail didn't come, let me know if you still didn't get it. Sarah and mom good job on the talks ;) sarah i heard you did great, you really are a good public speaker and sarah and jake let me know how band goes! Dad glad your boss is here and mom good luck with seminary :) califoria looks cool! That will be fun to come back to :)
Things are good here, each week feels more and more normal, I finally started dreaming about missionary work instead of you family and that makes it a little easier to wake up in the morning ;) we are teaching some people that are (this is going to be cheesy, but it really is kinda true) the light my life and when we teach them I get excited like Christmas haha. The first family we started teaching 3 weeks ago and have two 12 yr old twins, and a mom and they are soaking up the gospel, and have come to church 3 weeks in a row! We taught them two days ago and there was no power in their house, so we couldn't read 3 Nephi 11 like we had planned because we were sitting in the dark and couldn't see, so we talked about the word of wisdom, and it was really cute, my comp asked if they were ready to start following it right now and at the same time they said "ready!!" and the mom started following it too. They had offered us tea 20 minutes before, and have already stopped drinking it completely :) and we are teaching a way sweet lady named Jargalsaixan (don't how know to spell that
english...), but she is a little older, and can hardly hear, and can't see very well. We have been teaching her little short lessons, but this week she told us the coolest thing!!! this is a highlight of my mission so far...she said she didn't want to come to church again because she can't hear anything, but she decided to come one more time, and she could hear! "even soft sounds!!" she said. She heard all the lessons and classes, and then she said she even can hear and "clearly understand" me when we teach (and I don't speak clearly). Older people call most younger people their child, etc, (its really endearing, I love it) and she calls me "her daughter", and she said, I can even understand when my daughter speaks! clearly! haha :) she said "I’m not kidding, I can hear, and if I tell other people they will think I am crazy, but I am not kidding, its true!" she bore a great testimony, and said she is always coming to church, and is ready to be baptized :) we started teaching her my second week, it is so fun to see the progress. Miracles do happen! and we talked to a mom and a daughter on the street this week and started teaching them, they came to a baptism and to church so that is also really exciting. As always I wish I could say more, but the people are loving and it is fun to work with them! The language is like college, the more you learn the more you realize you don't know haha, but it is coming ;)
Today for p-day we went to the country side with our zone's missionaries and some of the branch youth and it was reallllllyyy fun, we went to this old monastery and the country side is sooo pretty, I will send pics next week. and then we hiked through this place that looked just like alaska!! Forget-me-nots and everything! I was kinda flipping out my comp was laughing, I felt like I was back in alaska ;) and dad I do play when I can ;) sometimes on p-days we play soccer, and I can't play soccer well at all but I run around and try because it is a sport and its way fun, and some missionaries started calling me the crazy sister (I don't think I’ve done anything crazy haha, don't worry;) but the youth have been fun to get to know and the branch missionaries are great here :) pretty much everyone is a recent convert so there're all really excited about missionary work.
um, other things..., my comp made fried chicken and a cake this week, that was exciting, our little oven was smoking like crazy but she kept saying "its okay its okay" and she was right, the chicken tasted great. oh and at the baptism this week a lady I don't know came up to me and talked and it took me a long time to figure out what she wanted, a few weeks a go someone took a picture of her with me, and she wants the picture, she gave me her name, phone number, and a huge hug and I am supposed to call her when I get the picture. Not sure how I am going to do this one ;) haha, people are so loving here, and love pictures.
k that’s all for me, sorry it is long, love you all sooooooo much, thanks again for the pics and I hope you all are well. love you!!
sister mansfield

kat- I got your dear elder!! thanks!!! you are awesome and hilarious, thanks again! made my day :) have fun sailing and hope all is well!
cate!- hello! :) hope you are well! I hear you are quite the photographer! good for you and that is sooo fun! :) love ya and say hi to morgan
alyssa- how is romania?! when do you get back? sounds like it has been quite the experience, love ya!!
grandma and grandpa mansfield- thanks so much for the letter! I got it last week, and it was fun to hear from you :) love you and the family!

Her email never did come from last week, hopefully we will get it someday and will post it :) Thanks for your love and support. -Tori

Mongolian Pics

2009-07-27T10:56:00.001-07:00

July 27, 2009

2009-07-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

My Dearest family!!!!! :)
Thank you sooo much for all the e-mails, it was fun getting last week's and this weeks, I had forgotten about you all not having e-mail, and last week the power went out while we were e-mailing so if it hadn't, I probably would have gotten your letters :) Thanks again, they mean so much, and it is fun to hear from all of you ;) california sounds good! the ward, and fancy pants lane, haha ;) hope the little house works until you can fully move in :)
Things are good here! better! it was quite the week, it started with splits with the training sisters. Splits are great, but I was reallllyyy nervous for this one because they wanted me to stay in my area, and have my comp go into the city. that means I would act like the senior comp, lead the way, etc. We had 5 lessons to teach that day, and family, think of how skilled I am with directions..... haha ;) put me in a rep district with hardly any addresses, or among a bunch of identical buildings, surrounded by people who speak a different language, haha, after being in the country 2 - 3 weeks, and I am pretty lost ;) I didn't think i could even find the houses of the people we were supposed to teach, let alone lead the lessons, etc. But, you pray really hard and that always helps, ;) and have faith that God knows what he is doing, and it was actually a great experience! The training sister is mongolian, and the first night she only spoke mongolian and when I didn't understand she would just look at me haha, (we got in the taxi and I couldn't even say how to get back to my apartment, I don't think I have ever felt so inadequate haha) so I was nervous but the next day she spoke more english, and was way sweet and so nice, and we were able to find the places we needed! knowing me, that is a complete miracle ;) we walked, and if it felt right and looked kinda familiar, we turned, etc. we taught good lessons, and as I kept apologizing when we went a wrong way or something, the training sister kept saying "we don't know, but God knows" and that is so true :) I learned a lot from it and have felt more responsibility for this work ever since. I think the split was what I needed!
oh! and it flooded this week! a lot! one of the biggest rain storms in years, we were in a rep district in an investigators home when it hit, I have never seen so much rain and there was tons of hail, people had to shovel it. It flooded the streets in front of our apartment but did the most damage in the rep districts where everything is dirt and mud, streets turned into little rivers and fences, outhouses, and roads were washed away. it was quite the thing to see, and the paths are really rocky now because all the dirt was washed away.
And the language is coming, this week one of the girls we taught asked how many years I have been in mongolia. I don't tell this to brag (I didn't understand the question so that shows I have a long way to go ;) but I do know that it is impossible for us to have learned as fast as we have without God's help. When my comp said I had been here 3 weeks the girl was shocked, I asked what was wrong haha, the Lord truly has blessed us, and it is cool to see how suddenly it gets easier to speak when we are teaching a lesson. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday, and I know I could not talk for 10 minutes from my heart, without God's help. it truly is a miracle.
Most of our investigators went to the countryside for the next 2 months, so we had to find some new people this week and we started teaching two new families that I am really excited about! This is hard work, but the people make it so worth it :)
um, I think that is all, the work is progressing and I am learning, I love you all sooooooooo much, and hope you have a great week!!!
ashley (sister manspield as it is pronounced here, I feel bad, it is really hard to say) love you!

July 20, 2009

2009-07-20T21:18:00.001-07:00

hello family,
here is a little about mongolia ;) the church is growing. and there are some really strong members, and it is exciting to see young families, and the first generation of mongolian children that will be raised in the church :) We keep busy here and not everything is successful, but some are and it is really exciting :) our ward has 10 missionaries (5 companionships) assigned to it, how cool is that?! that there is enough work in one area for 10 missionaries :) our area is broken into 4 areas, each of the elders have one and then the sisters cover them all and teach where ever there are women who want to learn. Each missionary companionship tries to talk to at least 10 people a day and invite them to learn more, and then we all send our referrals in and send them to the missionaries in their area so it is a good and effective system. We get a lot of referrals and it is really cool going from lesson to lesson :) Not every lesson follows through but we do get to teach a lot :) last week 2 girls (14-15) walked into the church just because they were curious and my comp and I happened to be there waiting for another investigator who never showed, so we got to teach these amazing two girls, then they came to church on sunday and it was really fun trying to talk with them even though I understand pretty much nothing, they already have a baptismal date and are so excited about the gospel! They are in the other ward's area so other sisters are going to be teaching them, but it was fun to help :) and the 19-year-old girl I mentioned last week moved so we don't get to teach her but I heard that she is an investigator in her new area so it is all good :) So you have the people that soak up the gospel, and then there are the families that you want sooo badly to accept it, and then don't. It is those times when I wish I could speak a little better, pray with them a little better, etc. But the Lord knows His children and is in control.
I am getting used to mongolia and loving it, each car/bus ride is an adventure and it is fun to see new things everyday, and to meet amazing people. And I am liking their sour milk candy that I thought was so gross two weeks ago haha, its really good. and we ate stomach. very chewy, but it was cut small enough to pretty much swallow it so it wasn't bad. I think that is about all, the field is white and we are working, I feel a little helpless sometimes but the language is coming and the Lord helps. I love you all, hope you are well, and hope to hear from you soon!
ashley (sister mansfield)

July 14, 2009

2009-07-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hello family :)
I am so glad you made it to California! That sounds like quite the caravan ;) good job driving everyone, I am glad the one tire blowout wasn't bad, and that you all are safe :) Thanks for the e-mails and updates, dad I am sure you will be missed in Illinois but I am excited for the huge hospital, that will be good :) sarah, jake have fun meeting people, I know that can be hard but you two are amazing, so I am not worried at all ;) Tori, one rule for you... you are not allowed to meet anyone too cool in the singles ward ;) swim a lot for me okay?! linds way to drive the huge truck, you were always the best driver of us kids ;) (so far that is, jake I am not saying anything bad about your driving skills;)
Things are good here. Been an interesting week, I think every day is going to be interesting from here on out ;) mongolia is awesome and the people are so amazing, I still don't understand much at all but I always needed to work on patience, and things are good :) one of the branch missionaries we work with told me "mongolian life is extreme sport" and it is kinda true ;) I always liked extreme sports ;) I got a little sick this week and lost my voice for a few days, it was pretty funny, combine a strong american accent, poor grammar, limited vocabulary with a really hoarse voice, and I was basically impossible to understand haha! ;)I tried saying a simple hello to a group of kids and they stared and one said the mongolian equivalent of "what you say?!" we all laughed when they found out what I was trying to say ;) I am actually grateful for losing the voice because now I am even more excited that I can talk, and it is helping get over the fear of talking.
We got to go to a youth activity, and the youth in our ward are amazing! the church is in good and strong hands here in the mongolian youth. We also have been teaching several kids, and it is cool to see how well they grasp the gospel. Some of the two strongest church members I have met are 10 and 12 years old. Their dad is drunk often (and a really funny drunk, he knows I just came from america so he tried to act out the conversation for me and it was reallllly funny) but the mom is a strong member as well. We also met a 19 year old girl who is related to a family we are teaching and I am really excited about her, she is trying to learn english so we were able to talk a bit more, and she loves everything about the gospel so far! The nomadic life makes missionary work kinda hard sometimes, people often move to rural country side, and have no way to get back in touch with them, but they know where the church is.
The mongolian hospitality is also amazing, for better and worse ;) most food and everything has been fine, there is this hot milk, water, and butter drink that takes some getting used to but isn't bad, yesterday I had some that was realllly old, and that was a bit hard to get down. It is the big mongolian national holiday this week, and we switched p-day and all missionaries got to go to the opening ceremonies and horse races (little bitty kids race! and it is the horse that wins, not the rider, it’s really cool) out in the countryside and it was really neat. I will try and send pictures next week. so a lot of people kill a sheep, and eat the whole thing this week, and we taught a lesson in a little rep a few feet away from a half gutted goat, a bowl of intestines, and the head and feet, it was kinda funny to look up while bearing testimony about God and see the insides of an animal ;) reminded me of alaska dad. oh! and I held a real olympic silver medal this week! A member had us to her apartment, and her daughter won a silver medal in shooting a few years back, it was so cool!
All in all things are good, it is a bit hard to want to badly to teach and help people understand and to be so limited but the spirit can help make up for it, it is good motivation to learn this language though ;) I love you all, and enjoy california! linds and josh, enjoy illinois ;)
love you, ashley, sister mansfield

July 7, 2009

2009-07-07T09:59:00.001-07:00

Hello family! :)
I am doing so good :) Dad thanks so much for the e-mail, you always know what to say :) it was funny last night I had a dream with the whole family in it, and we were doing normal stuff, and then this morning I heard city noises and mongolian out the window, woke up in a little bed, and was really confused for a minute, haha, it still keeps hitting me that I am in mongolia ;) But I am loving it!!! I am on the very west side of the city, in a ward (yeah we have a ward!) called onop. Most of our area covers a sprawling hillside of rep districts, it is so neat, I have never seen anything like it. it is really hilly and just dirt, and people put a fence made of about anything around a patch of ground, put a rep in it, kinda stick a number on the fence to symbolize an address sometimes, and it just stretches like that way far. My first night we tried to find some addresses of referrals and hiked all over it. People live in such humble circumstances, but they are happy and wonderful people! My companion is this amazing little mongolian sister named monktsetsek (eternal flower;) who is about 4 feet tall, and happy all the time and very patient with my endless questions. She speaks a little english, and knows a few words, it has been interesting communicating but we are figuring it out, and she is helping my mongolian a ton! :)
The language is interesting, I honestly don't understand anything. I catch words here and there but I can't even tell a sentence apart from another, and a lot of mongolians speak really quietly and it is hard to hear, and way fast of course, it has been humbling ;) the first day or two it was hard not to think about the language, it seemed impossible to learn but all is well, everyone keeps saying not to stress, this mission is not about the language so that is now what I believe. My companion can teach, I can add my simple testimony, and smile a ton. If the only thing I can help people know about the gospel is that it makes you happy, that is good enough for now. And I really am loving this! it feels so good to be working with real people even if I have no idea what they are saying and can't even remember their name, (mongolian names for some reason are soooo hard for me!) We have taught a few people so far and visited several, and done a lot of street contacting which is really fun, I really feel like a missionary standing on a street corner and talking to everyone :) it is funny I'll start the conversation and most people laugh when they hear me speaking (or trying to speak;) mongolian, but it is a good conversation starter, and then my comp takes care of the rest. I have been trying to talk a lot because that is how you learn, and a lot of times people laugh but I have no way of finding out what I said. My mission president said his biggest advice was "fear not" and I have been trying to do that. I seriously love this place so it is not too bad :)
our apartment is good, all the apartment buildings are really old and have no lights in the halls so it is pitch black until you can get the door open but we have a great place :) it is on the sixth floor right on the edge of town, we don't have hot water but I hear it sometimes comes on. Food has been fine, oily but totally manageable so far :)
um sorry I am rambling... the work is good here! our ward is so strong, I loved going to church and seeing mongolian youth pass the sacrament, and meet the relief society president (who is one of the most funny persons I have ever met, and I don’t even know what she said ;) and bishop, there were several investigators and the ward is so welcoming, I am glad I am here or the first transfer because I can't take very good care of the investigators but the ward does :) We went to a baptism (they have them every week in the city :) and it was really exciting, 5 people were baptized :)
boy it is hard to describe mongolia in an e-mail! feel free to stop reading if this is long ;) oh! Driving is crazy here. There aren't really lanes, and it is normal to be 3 inches away from another car or bus, the drivers are talented. and buses and meekers (mini vans that 20 people fit into) and fun. and you cross the street frogger style here, walk out into the traffic, wait, cross the next lane, etc, I admit that is the only thing here that has scared me a little ;) other random things, I love mongolian homes :) whether it be a small apartment with no furniture but a stool or two, a rep (which are amazing and homey and comfortable, they are a perfectly great place to live) or a closet under some stairs. Two of our members live in closet like spaces under staircases and they had covered the walls with all kinds of posters, cereal boxes, wall paper, etc and they looked great. And I love mongolian kids. have to be the cutest ever. And they are always willing to talk even with my poor mongolian.
All the mongolian members and missionaries here are amazing and so strong, this mission has I think the most sisters out of any mission because so many mongolian sisters want to serve! i love you all, thanks for your prayers and support, and good luck with the move!! sounds busy, please please drive safe, and know I love you! :)
ashley

cate, kat, alyssa, hi! I am out of time but love ya! (cate, I am sorry your dad got that new assignment! wish your family luck for me, miss you and you all are amazing)

July 2, 2009

2009-07-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

hello family!!
I made it to mongolia :) they are letting us e-mail to let you know we are alive and well ;) the flights were good and went smoothly, I am feeling the time change and jet lag a bit but it will go away soon, and we got here about midnight two nights ago. We have our transfer meeting tomorrow morning so we have been at the mission home until then, my mission president is amazing and mongolia in an amazing place, I don't really know where to start. We did what they call a Dan Jones experience yesterday, and they sent us out to street contact. I was with two awesome mongolian sisters and we went all over for 6 hours, and I can understand hardly anything. We went out to a rep district and taught a family there, (the buses and vans that are like taxies are a fun experience, driving and walking across the street is crazy here), walked around the city and taught another lesson, and I have a lot of studying to do, but I am happy to be here.
It is hard to explain what it is like but I already love the people, many live in such humble circumstances and the church is growing! I love you all, and I think p-day is monday so I might write again then from my new area, I hope you all are well and it was so fun to talk from the airport! This is truly a unique place and I have never been anywhere like it, this is going to be an adventure.
It is humbling not understanding anything or being able to communicate, but it will come! I am well, happy, and I love you all! ashley

Travel Update

2009-06-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hi, this is Tori. I just wanted to let everyone know that Ashley's visa did come in last week and she and her district left the MTC this morning. Right now she is on a plane to Korea where she will then fly on to Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia. We were able to talk to her on the phone and she sounds happy and excited. We will keep you updated with her travels and hopefully hear from her soon. When we learn her new mailing address, we will post it. Mongolia missions use the pouch mail system and dearelder.com is always a free option. Hope everyone is well and thanks for your care and support.

June 25, 2009

2009-06-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hello my family :)
oh my goodness you are moving next week! I hope it goes well! and thanks S000 much for the letters and awesome package!! those books are perfect, and thanks so much for the contact solution, and all the other great stuff, it felt like Christmas :) and that is perfect traveling food!! Grandma and Grandpa Mansfield sent a package too with great stuff so it was a really good week for our whole district ;) mom, I am soooooo sorry I didn't get a letter to you by your birthday! Time is really weird at the MTC and I had no idea what day of the month it was, the weeks go by like days, hopefully the little letter got to you by now, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! :)the German restaurant sounded fun, sarah should have played her accordion;) Dad hope you had a great father's day :) dad and jake I am glad the fishing trip was fun, sorry the catching wasn't that great but that is a way cool story about how jake caught a fish off a snagged line! Hey jake if you have time (and it is summer so I hope you do ;) write a dear elder or something about the trip, and the waterpark! did they have any of those 6 story drop slides? how does a water rollercoaster work? Sarah I got your letter and it totally made my week. thanks so much! I will write you today! tori thanks for the letter too, I love them :)
Things are good here, This is potentially my last p-day in the states!!! We are slightly freaking out haha, we might be leaving on tuesday. Mongolian districts have a history of being banned from the travel office because they go there so often ;) and we have checked on visas a few times so they told us not to go back until friday, so tomorrow we find out if they have them or not. Even if they don't have them yet it is a day-by-day thing, so even if we don't find out tomorrow we still might be leaving tuesday. Ah!! it is scary not knowing but its exciting, we got our "flight plans" last week and just seeing them was so exciting, we are so in the MTC mode it hasn’t seemed like we are leaving until this week. There is a phrase in mongolian that means "excited" and if you directly translate it, it means "it became a heap of holidays!" ;) when we get our visas, it is going to become like a heap of holidays haha.
The language is interesting, we all know we aren't going to be able to understand or talk when we get there so as one of the elders in my district put it, we are buckling down for the storm, boarding up the windows, and doing whatever we can to make the learning easier in mongolia, we are all making little handheld notebooks with grammar rules and really important vocab, etc. oh man! I am so antsy! (it that is even a word!) but so excited!
We had "culture day" this week with one of our teachers and it was really exciting, they brought in traditional mongolian clothes, games, tons of pictures, etc and got us all really excited. There is a game you play with sheep ankle bones that is so fun! I can't wait to teach you!
And funny fact, I was telling aunt kerry about the fermented mare's milk people drink before I left, and she thought I had said urine, and we were all laughing about it but I found out she was right! In mongolia, it is not unusual for people to drink their mother's urine (has to be their mother's) when they are sick. It is getting less common, but my mongolian teacher drunk it when she was little and my other teacher was offered it, haha. They also used to use a variety of animal urine as a cure for a sore tooth, craziness, stigma in eyes, etc. kinda interesting ;) Aunt kerry was right!
oh and language mix up of the week- shar = yellow, umce = pants, sharsan = fried, tumce= potatoes. I got a plate without french fries and we had the following conversation, "why didn't you get fried potatoes? I love fried potatoes!" but we were really talking about yellow pants. I totally understood what the elder was trying to say and didn't notice until elder godfrey asked why we were talking about yellow pants. it was funny ;)oh! and all the mission presidents are getting trained at the MTC this week! we have a special devotional tomorrow that we are all really really excited about :)
woah this is long, family I will send info about my flight plans and when I can potentially call from the airport. I love you all sooooo much, good luck with the moving and everything this week, thanks again soooo much for everything and all of your support. This gospel message is so important and so true. It is humbling to be a part of this work and to have already seen how the Lord blesses and helps us accomplish what He needs us to do. Hopefully next time I write it will be from mongolia! love you,
ashley (mansfield egch/edge)

grandma and grandpa mansfield- thanks sooooo much for the package!! my district and I love the candy, that is some of our favorite and that is the nicest toothbrush I have used! :) and thanks for the print out! :) love you both! and the shoes are amazing!!

Cate- hey there friend! love and miss ya! congrats on the Sunday school teacher calling! ;) it is scary but you and Morgan really are both great teachers, you will do great! hope work is good! and you are sooo right, I don't feel anymore at home than when I am at the temple too :) love ya!

alyssa- thanks so much for the letter and blog post, wow that little boy sounds amazing and it would be so hard to see him leave! It is so comforting to know God knows and loves each and everyone of us, especially those little orphans in romania. love ya and keep up the good work!

kat- hope the vegas heat isn't killing you! hope the internship is going good and that you have found some volleyball buddies :) love ya!

Pictures From the MTC

2009-06-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

June 18, 2009

2009-06-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hello my family!!!!!
love you! thanks for everything as usual, mom thanks for typing that letter while dad was gone and thanks for the e-mail :) It is so good to hear from you. Linds thanks for the letter too, I can't believe you are in nursery now! woah, just as you were loving primary, but i know you will do a really good job, and good luck with everything.... ;) Thanks for the update on dad and jake's trip, that sounds so fun! I'm glad they get to go to a waterpark too, man water is one of the things I miss the most ;) but no worries, in mongolia there is no water, and if there was it would usually be frozen ;) when are you all leaving illinois officially? have fun with your day trip to your home town mom :) I keep forgetting that it is summer and that everyone is out of school, and good luck with the moving.
Things are good here, I can't believe it is p-day again already! I don't think I realized how little I would actually know when I left the mtc, 2 weeks is so short a time, and that is all we have left! We are still studying hard, I guess I just hadn't thought it out, you don't become even slightly fluent in a few months ;) we watched the restoration movie in mongolian yesterday and my teacher told us we would be able to understand it, I caught about 5 words, and never even understood a sentance. Me and the elders are pretty humbled ;) But not discouraged, faith and fear don't exist at the same time so we are trying to erase the word fear from our vocabulary, lets just say it is going to be incredibly humbling when we get to mongolia. I am trying to get at least the lessons down so I can say what I want to about the important things and add my simple testimony as we teach, but I think that is really all I will be able to do for a while. but I really am excited!! This message is so important and we are not alone in this work!! If the Lord wants us to learn mongolian, we will be able to learn it.
In the mean time however and with this "speak your language" thing, we have said some pretty funny things. I kept a little list this week.
"my potatoes are talking!" (suppossed to be "discusting")
"our bodies, are like dogs" (“sacred” - this was a funny one, an elder said it while we were teaching and dogs are about as low as you can get in mongolia, big insult)
investigator- "We can pray to God?" me- "no, we can't". (this was bad!i missunderstood the question, we definitely CAN pray to God;)
"I ate the shepherd that was killed." (sheep. they sound similar ;)
"are you drunk?" (ready)
"What is that?!" (who is that)
Thank goodness we have teachers, they read through our lessons and we had accidently said some pretty bad false doctrine:
"saturday is the sabbath"
"we can shop, and do whatever we want on the sabbath"
"we should desecrate sunday"
- and something to do with using a word that meant friend instead of spouse, and when teaching the law of chastity that is not a good mix up ;)
Learning a language is a fun and intersting thing, at the RC yeaterday I was trying to read a lady's name and I looked at it for 5 minutes and couldn't fingure it out, finally I asked someone and they told my it was Ethyl, I had been pronouncing it mongolian style (sounded something like 'ethoolth" with some spit). I also got to call a lady I talked to last week at the RC to follow up, she lived in an area where they didn't have missionaries but we are able to send some from another area, and she had had a really good talk with them, was going to church, and was so excited about the book of mormon, it is amazing how easy it is to share this message! She kept saying, "did you know joseph smith was only 14? its amazing!" :) ah I love missionary work!! and I keep telling myself I love the mongolian language ;) (i really do;)
My companion left for figi, she was such a great companion! I am with the indonesian sisters now who are great too, I've been lucky and have been with amazing sisters this whole time. things are good and still no word on when we leave, hopefully things will be on time ;)
love you all, and have such a good week!!
ashley / sister mansfield

cate- thanks for the letter, hope work is going good! I wrote last week but forgot to mail it! I am going a little crazy ;) love ya and hope you are well!

kat- thanks so much for the letter too! I'm glad you are liking the internship and I hope you have found some volleyball buddies ;) i forgot to mail your letter too! love ya!!

alyssa- thanks so much for sharing that story about how you went on splits with the sister missionaries! that was so great! wow thats cool you get to help with the missionary work in romania too :) I hope things are going good, sounds like quite a unique experience, love ya and I hope things are going good! (and that was so funny you had accidentally been cat-calling the kids! gotta love learning languages ;) love ya!

June 11, 2009

2009-06-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hello my family :) (rep booth;)
Thanks again for the letters, it is so fun to hear from you all, I am really glad the trip to utah when okay, that sounds crazy busy! We have made that drive a lot haven't we, glad it went okay. Mom thanks for the e-mail, how does it feel to be done with seminary? Dad and jake, have fun on the canoe trip! take lots of pictures, I would like to see them dad, thanks :)I love stuff like that, you will have so much fun! Linds, I heard the volleyball day was a total hit!! Donielle said her daughter loved it, way to go! :) and thanks for your letter, love ya and miss ya!!!! tori, thanks for the letter too, you always make me laugh and it was so funny, you know our family well, I could picture everything you were describing :) And sarah!! you got your patriarchal blessing! I am so excited for you :) That can be a huge blessing and help to your life, I’m so grateful Heavenly Father gives us our own little piece of personal scripture :)
Things are good here, we leave in about 20 days!! These next three weeks will be interesting, we as a district decided to SLY (speak your language) for the last three weeks, we really need it and it will force us to learn better and start thinking and speaking mongolian. Yesterday was our first day, and it was so hard! I don't think my head has ever hurt so much, haha, it was really an interesting experience, my brain was working so hard every minute just to try to communicate and it was funny, my district was so tired yesterday, this language stuff takes it out of you! we are usually so energetic at gym but we were all so beat, but it is good :) it is refreshing to be thinking in english as I write this. It makes you realize how much you don't know but that is exactly why we are doing it, better to get as much of the language shock out of the way in the safe MTC ;) my companion and roommates have been very patient, I say things in mongolian and then translate for myself, it has been an interesting experience, and we are getting better at charades. I think I took communication for granted, it is hard to not say what you want to, but then again it is a miracle we really can get around with just mongolian, I hope the learning curve increases these next few weeks.
Elder Bednar spoke at devotional this week and it was sooooooo amazing! You could feel the power and love coming from him as he spoke, we truly have God's chosen apostles leading this church. And calling people from the Referral Center is still great, it is exciting to share the happiness we have :)
The flu is still going around but it is not a huge deal, they are having missionaries leave as long as they are healthy, my roommate, sister going to Indonesia, got the flu and is in quarantine, so far the rest of us are good, we caught something else but it hasn't turned into the flu yet and I don't think it will so all is good.
Um, i can't think of any funny language mixs up this week though I am sure there have been many, my elders have found the advantages of speaking a language no one else knows, they go up to people and talk in mongolian all friendly, and they really are just using every mean adjective they know. They think they are pretty funny and i should be more mature and not laugh but it is pretty entertaining ;) it is funny how they learn the mean and teasing words faster than the basics, but it is all in good taste (usually ;) and gets them speaking!;)
No word on visas yet, they say we won't know until right before we leave. The english teaching has been good, we made some neat friends from Korea and mexico :) this is our last week of the english teaching training. It anyone knows any fun games or activities to teach english as a second language, I would love ideas and suggestions! mostly conversational language. And family I have a big favor to ask, could you look for a small and simple english grammar book? I don't know, maybe they have one of those "english for dummies" books, I realized I didn't pay attention in school and I don't know how our language works! If not that is okay but if you have time it might be helpful.
um, thats all, thanks again for everything, I love you all so much! I am doing good and still trying to work hard, my brain is running a marathon that has just begun, but it is a good, exciting, and important race! Love you!!!
ashley (mansfield egch)

June 4, 2009

2009-06-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!!!
I hope this finds you all well! thanks again for the letters as always, I love hearing about what you are doing, Mom and dad you are probably driving to utah right now, hope you travel safe and good luck with getting ready for the move!! Wow dad you sound super busy, campout to utah to campout, that canoe trip sounds so fun, hope it goes well:) and I got the packages!! linds thanks so much for yours, I love love love those granola bars and everything else you sent ;) and mom and family thanks for the package, the speakers are perfect! just the right size and work great :) and thanks for the soap on a rope! I am so excited about those, and Tor thanks for the wedding pictures!! grandma and grandpa sent me some too which was great so I got to see some, thanks! :) you looked adorable and Cate was gorgeous!! Linds, the v-ball day sounded like a hit!! way to go :) thanks for the dear elder, I think i did get it the same day :) tor when you sent me that card in the package i thought mom had written it, so when you started talking about playing in the mud and sliding around, i was picturing mom doing that and was like "go mom!!" haha :) that sounded like fun on memorial day, way to get muddy! :)
things are still good here, the weeks are flying by now and we leave in four weeks! With how fast the weeks go, that might as well be 4 days! we are getting really excited but a little nervous about the language, starting next week we are only speaking mongolian until we leave! our conversations will be interesting ;) Um, wow the week went by so fast I am trying to think what happened... oh! we started our english teaching training. We are required to teach english in mongolia and I found out we actually teach in universities and colleges, so i am glad they train us in how to teach english as a second language. We observe classes for missionaries who are learning english, and we taught two english classes this week. I like about everything and I didn't think there was a subject I didn't like, but I found one, English grammar. During our training I realized I don't even know my own language haha! But it is actually fun to teach because we get to teach these really cool missionaries from all over the world and we get to know them :) we teach a few more times this week and next.
The flu has also made things a bit interesting here, It is not a huge deal, there have been some cases of swine flu here, and they have a quarantine area on campus for all those that are sick, many people just have the normal flu but it is not a big deal. we are not allowed to shake hands, hug, etc and the new missionaries that come in have to leave their families at the door. They actually cancelled all flights for the next two weeks just so they can make sure the flu is under control. My comp was supposed to leave in a few days but is still here, I feel the worst for the Finnish district, they had been here 12 weeks and were all packed and ready to leave monday, but now have to stay two more weeks. I hope it all gets worked out by the time we are supposed to leave. But I and the majority of the missionaries here are healthy and well :)
Me and the sisters going to indonesia got off campus yesterday and got permission to go to the mall with our branch presidents wife, we had some things to return and needed a few things, it was funny to ride in a car again after 2 months ;) the elders asked us to bring back rocks from the real world haha. In my hall are the missionaries going to indonesia, figi, tahitti, madagasgar, samoa, tonga, and people learning hattian creole (no idea how to spell that) It is funny we are with all these tropical islands, and then there is mongolia right in the middle ;) It is really fun being with all the polonesians because they are soooo good at volleyball ;) we are still loving gym :)
So life is really good here, we get to hear amazing devotionals each week, (oh and tori, susan easton black spoke in relief society and it was awesome!!! :) and it is so neat and humbling to be a part of this work. I cannot wait to get out there and to start teaching what I know, even if it is in really broken mongolian :) I love you all so much and good luck with everything at home!!!
love ya!
ashley (sis mansfield)

ps I got my new name tag with mansfield written in mongolian, I will have to send a picture :) and we learned our names in old script and it is the prettiest language ever!!! love you all!!!

May 28, 2009

2009-05-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!!!
Thanks for the letters! mom thanks for the e-mails, dad thanks for always writing, linds it is so fun to hear from you, you sound crazy busy!! Good luck with the v-ball day and movie, I am excited to eventually see it ;) and good luck with girl’s camp! let me know how that all goes. Thanks for the package family! I got the first one, and my companion, district, and roommates and I have loved the food ;) I hope you are all doing well, tori good luck with packing help and sarah and jake, congrats on being done with school!!! enjoy the summer! woah it just hit me that you all are really moving, this is going to be an adventurous summer ;) mom and dad, are you making a trip to utah? Good luck with it all. And I am so glad you got to go to the lake!!! way to go on the wake board, I didn't know our jet skiis could pull one of those, that’s awesome! and sarah, you can waterski!!! yeah!! :D
Things are good here, we are over half way done with the MTC! We are only going a little crazy ;) (my teacher said we hit the crazy point that most districts don't hit until their 10th week) but we are still working hard and having fun. The new teaching system is soooo much better, we are learning a lot, and I am getting more used to the mongolian pronunciation, I spit and say my L's funny even in english now, our goal as a district is to be so good at mongolian that we become really bad at english ;) The weeks are pretty similar, lots of studying, great devotionals, etc, I am trying to think of what happened that was different.
The mongolian lesson went well last week! We taught about the plan of salvation, and I don't like how our lessons are one way (we talk and our "investigators" listen, smile, and nod,) so I asked if she (a really cute lady from mongolia) had any questions, and she went off in mongolian, it was funny, it took me about 10 minutes of asking poorly pieced together questions to figure out what she was asking, and when I finally did I poorly pieced together an answer but at least it was an attempt, I’d rather get used to this process here, because it is definitely going to happen in mongolia. (and it makes our lesson longer, haha :)
We practiced buying things before our lesson and in mongolia a lot of the markets don't have set prices so you barter for the price, and we practiced that before the lesson. we had just learned the money system but I thought I had it, so I was discussing prices with a lady and she kept laughing at what I was saying, saying I was "very good", etc, and it turns out that while I thought I had been changing the price by Dollars, I was really only changing the price by cents. So I seemed like such a stickler, it was way funny! ("I won't buy it for 20 dollars but I will buy it for 19 dollars and 95 cents, etc ;) I need to practice the money stuff.
My district invented a new sport this week, so you know how I said we are going a bit crazy? well we study a lot, any spare time, but we had 30 minutes of personal time before a meeting this week, and we played some intense badminton. Complete with a little featherything as a birdy, mongolian dictionaries as rackets, and headphone cords across chairs as a net. we played some intense 2 on 2! I swear we really are focused, but we all agreed that was the funnest 30 minutes yet (and I am still a recreational therapist at heart, play is important ;) we are limiting our games to once a week.
This gospel really is so amazing and I love getting to study it so much, I have believed in this church my whole life but it keeps hitting me more and more powerfully how real, and how important our message is. I talked to a man in the referral center for 45 minutes yesterday who has a sad story, divorced, his kids stole his credit cards and put him 30 thousand dollars in credit card dept, now he lives in a shack and works three jobs to play off bills he didn't create, etc, very lonely, and sees no way out. We just called to see if he got his DVD, and he said he never answers when he sees unknown numbers call but something told him to pick up the phone. He listened to our message and is meeting with the missionaries, and I am going to keep in touch with him, and I was so humbled at the realization of the power that our message has to improve and change lives. I was able to promise him that God knows him, loves him, and knows what he is going through. His situation seems so impossible to get out of, but it was powerful to realize that I know 100% that if he has faith and trusts God, then somehow, I don't know how but somehow, God will take care of him, and bring hope and happiness back into his life. How comforting it is to know that we are in the hands of the Lord! Who better to take care of us than the God and Creator of all things? Miracles are at His command, and His greatest desire is for us to be happy. This life is hard sometimes and things happen that we don't understand, but Christ is waiting to 'encircle us in the arms of His love', and will take care of us. I don't mean to go on about this, I am just gaining a greater desire to help all people know what Christ has done for them, and what more he is waiting and ready to do. My goal was to say "God lives and he Loves" in mongolian and I can do that :) I think that is the most important thing we can learn in this life.
I love you all so much! hope you have a great week, good luck with everything, and you all are in my prayers!!
love ya, ashley (sis mansfield)

cate- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! um pa pa um pa pa happy birthday happy birthday, lalalalala. (I wish I had an accordian ;)

alyssa- it is great to hear you, good luck with everything, it sounds hard but i am so proud of the work you are doing! what an amazing and hard experience. good luck with the language and the children! love ya!!

kat- every time I play sand v-ball at gym I think of you! hope your internship is going great ;)

May 21, 2009

2009-05-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hello my family!!
how are you all doing? Thanks so much for the letters, mom and dad thanks so much for keeping me posted with things at home, you all sound good and busy as always ;) Your letters really help :) Thanks for the pics of josh's graduation! you all look good, tell him conrats, and lindsay, I love your dress! ;) And sarah, dad told me about what happened this past week and I have something to say to you, How could you?! how could you be so darn smart?!!!!! haha my sister is amazing! congrats on the test score :) I am so proud of you and not surprised at all ;) I'll see you at BYU when I get back! :) Linds thanks for the letter, your primary kids sound sooo cute and sweet, for relief society this week (we have it with all the sisters at the MTC, the MTC president's wife is the relief society president, and it is great!) they always get really great speakers like Sherry dew, and Sister Cook from the Young Womens presidency, and this week we heard from the General Primary President. It was a great message about the opportunities there are for us as sisters to teach the children specifically as we are teaching families, and she told some great stories of the faith that children have and it made me think of your primary music time and the truths that you are teaching them :)
I hope you were/are able to get the jet-skiis! Play a little extra hard for me ;) Jake, it is now your obligation to be the driver that knocks people off. Keep me posted ;) Tori hope you are having fun at home!
Things are going good here, all is well :) I can't think of much to write this week, no real funny mixups or anything, so this letter might be a bit on the boring side ;) Dad you asked about visas, and they sent out for them a few weeks ago. They had to wait until it was closer to our departure date to apply for them, the past two groups have had problems and were delayed, so we will see what happens, I really hope they come in on time! We are scheduled to leave July 1st, and one of the biggest mongolian holidays starts the following week, its called nadaam and it is like the Olympics of mongolia, huge traditional sporting competitions, etc and the missionaries got to go so we really hope we get there in time for it. I had forgotten to type up a resume to go with my application (I don't remember seeing I needed to write one, oops) so my teacher let my use his laptop to type one real fast, hopefully it was what they wanted.
Our teacher Brother Cannon has been thinking about the mongolian curriculum a lot, and he is deciding to make some changes, and I am so glad! Usually we teach a different section/lesson each friday in mongolian, and so we have to spend the whole week working on it, and neglect everything but our lesson. We cram for our lesson all week, and then go back to class and immediately start translating our next lesson and trying to learn that. It is frustrating because it feels like we are constantly cramming and memorizing just to spit it (literally with mongolian ;) back out in a lesson, and then we move on and never really cement what we learned. My teacher has been talking to missionaries in mongolia and found that they leave the MTC burnt out rather than pumped up so he made some changes. Every other week we teach in english so we have two weeks to prepare lesson, and so we can take the time to learn the lesson well, work on teaching skills, and know what we should from preach my gospel. It also gives us time to work on general conversational stuff, which we really need. So things are better and it feels less like school, (cramming just to pass the test, or teaching appointment). This is a crazy language, but it is fun :) we can have really broken conversations with each other and I am still butchering the pronunciation, but the words are sticking a little easier now :) A return mongolian missionary said to treat learning the language like drinking a cup of hot chocolate, Don't rush it or you will burn your throat, sip it slowly and enjoy it. There is an incredibly sense of urgency with missionary work, but the language will come when it does. :) I am still loving this and working hard.
Thanks again for all your love and support, I am so blessed to have such a great family! I hope you have an amazing week, and good luck with everything!

mansfield egch (or edge, as the elders now call me, it is spreading so I now answer to the mongolain word for "mother")haha, love ya!

alyssa- thanks for the letters, it sounds like you are having quite the experiences! it sounds hard, keep it up, you are amazing and even if it doesn't feel like it, you are helping those kids!

steve, ashley, and jake- thanks so much for the cookies and letter! that was awesome!! and I am jealsous of the hiking, and falling into the water was inevitable, thanks for being the one to do it steve ;)

kat- hope you are liking your internship! thanks for the letter!

cate and morgan- hope you had a wonderful trip!!! :)

May 14, 2009

2009-05-14T15:39:00.001-07:00

Hello my family!!
In mongolia the greeting for "what’s up?" is literally asking " what is new and beautiful in your life?" so what is new and beautiful in all of your lives? :)
Thank you all sooooo much for the letters, I love hearing from you! I got the pictures of sarah at prom, and she looked gorgeous!!! Some elders saw the pictures sarah and they asked for your address, I told them you were a bit young for them, haha, but seriously you looked so beautiful! I love the dress! Linds thanks for the letter, that is fun you painted the house and I laughed so hard about the chopped snake! That is gross! Say welcome home to josh for me, I’m glad he is back and that you all had a safe trip. Tori thanks for the wedding update! Oh my gosh I wanted to be there so bad, I was thinking about it all day
saturday, it is a good thing that this church is true and that missionary work is really important, or I would have had a hard time not being there! I would love pictures, printing some and mailing them would be the best if you are able to do that, thanks sooooo much! I'm so glad you were able to go! have fun back with the fam! Jake thanks for the letter! You and sarah do sound super busy, good luck finishing up school. And dad, you are amazing as always ;) Mom happy late mother's day! sorry I didn't mail the card in time for sunday, hope you had a good one!
Things are going really good here, its crazy I have been here a month, the time is flying but its a little scary only having 17 months of my mission left! I have so much to learn. But the language is coming, we taught last week and our lesson went really well, it is so cool to bare simple and pure testimony about God's love for us, the need for a restoration, and the truthfulness of this Gospel. Elder Pickett and I taught for 30 minutes in mongolian and you could feel the spirit and what we said is true! Even if it is said in poorly pronounced mongolian ;) This week language has been a bit hard, we are teaching about the plan of salvation in mongolian tomorrow and it had been hard translating all we want to say with the new vocab and I was a little frustrated, but I was lucky to have a really good experience last night. My elders are zone leaders now and had a meeting so I got my teacher from mongolia to my self, and she sat right in front of me and said she was a mongolian investigator and told me to teach her. So I did! I talked with her about God, prophets, scriptures, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, prayer, and Jesus Christ in mongolian for 45 minutes! It was cool, it was the first time I taught without using a "script" of memorized lines, she would ask questions, I would try to answer and it was really broken mongolian and I broke a lot of grammar rules I’m sure, but it was so cool to realize I could share what I know about God and explain it, in mongolian! Wow the Lord has blessed us, there is no way I could talk for 45 minutes in another language after 4 weeks without his help. :)
My weeks are pretty much the same, so I want to take a minute and tell you about my teacher sister Marta. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met! She is mongolian, and joined the church in mongolia 8ish years ago. When the missionaries found her there were only a few chapters of the Book of Mormon translated into mongolian, but after reading those few pages she knew it was true, felt the Church taught the truth, and joined the church as a young women with no family support. She decided to serve a mission even though her family was really against it and she left a really good school opportunity in Mongolia. She served in the Colorado mission and learned english, and finished reading the BOM for the first time on her mission in english. Her sister joined the Church, and after her mission her parents joined the church, and now her family and extended family are members and strong in the church in mongolia, and some have served missions. She is now here blessing our lives and she has such a strong testimony! She just graduated from BYU, and majored in Biology in her second language! She has been away from mongolia for 5 years, but is going back next year so I will hopefully get to see her in mongolia :) She tells us that she is the product of missionary work :) If I can find one "sister marta" in mongolia and help them join the church, all of this will be worth it!!
Our teachers are way more available now so we have been getting taught regularly and it is great :) Some funny language mix-ups from the week are …
"God Gave Joseph smith a new shadow" - elder in my group
" So do you eat God?" - said by me, to our teacher (ah!)
" What is your favorite leg? which one?" - I asked our mongolian volunteers this by accident while trying to get to know them, it was really funny, she pointed to one of her legs and said it was her favorite ;)

We have been playing way fun softball games in gym, it feels so good to hit and field a ball again! My companion played on the BYU hawaii team, we have a lot of fun!

okay, funny story of the week...
The elders at the mtc are all super nice, and always hold the door open for us sisters. This week, I saw the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life, and I don't share it to be mean, it was just so classically funny, and shows how great the elders at the mtc are. Me and 4 other sisters were walking out a building and there are glass doors inside at the top of the stairs to open to go down them. An elder was at the bottom of the stairs but saw us coming and wanted to open the door for us, so he sprinted up the stairs but tripped, and fell right into the glass door a foot in front of us. His face squished the glass and he slid to the ground with his face squished on the glass. It was soooo funny, but he popped right up, and still opened the door for us! it was amazing! It totally made my week :)

K, I am out of time, I love you all and wish you the best! have a great week!!

ashley (sister mansfield)

cate- you are married!!!! thanks for the letter! love ya!
kat- thanks for the letter, good luck in vegas!
alyssa- keep up the amazing work, you are amazing!
britt! I am soooo excited for your mission call! love ya!

May 7, 2009

2009-05-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

hello my lovely family!
Things are still going good here, the weeks fly by but at the same time the days last forever, we have been here three weeks now. Only nine more to go! :) It actually doesn't seem like a long time to be here anymore with all we have to learn, a new group of missionaries going to indonesia got here (class room next to ours) and it seems like after a week they know what it took us three weeks to learn in mongolian, different languages have different learning rates i guess, the mongolian is coming, slightly painfully but its coming ;) We taught in mongolian last week! It was a very one way lesson, we didn't understand much what the "investigators" said, but it was good practice and a good experience. I accidentally told them during my testimony that the book of mormon killed God's true gospel. ah! I'm glad we have the MTC to figure stuff like that out, I mixed up the words for contain and kill. For the record, I know the Book of Mormon CONTAINS God's true gospel ;) The funny language mix ups are just beginning, one of the elders keeps accidentally calling people his mother, it’s funny, but now some of the elders in my district call me their mom on purpose now, (they say that’s what I am to them, don't know why haha) (edge = mom, egch = sister). Speaking of the mongolian elders, one of our elders went home this week, he had a back injury not long ago and has been in constant pain so he had to go home to get surgery. We miss him but he is planning on coming back to mongolia when he is better. So there are 4 mongolian missionaries now and we are one of the only legit MTC 4-somes, 3 elders 1 solo sister.
um, i'm trying to think what other questions you have asked, My P-days are good, we have been able to get to the temple each week which is so great! I saw Connie Todd and his wife (dad's cousin?) in our temple session! It was cool and they say hi :) My companion is amazing and really likes volleyball and softball too which makes gym really fun, (you are right dad I do play hard that hour, they were inspired to let us have that hour of gym ;)
Elder M. Russel Ballard spoke at our tuesday devotional!! It was amazing to hear from an apostle of the Lord, he spoke on desire and gave some really great advice and guidance. He told us to write home and thank our families and parents on behalf of the first presidency and Quorum of the 12 for helping us and letting us serve missions, so on behalf of the first presidency and 12, thanks mom, dad, and family :) I really am loving the MTC :) We teach in mongolian again tomorrow and we are a little better than we were last week, hopefully it goes okay.
The three new sisters in our room are great, we had a birthday party for one sister last night complete with oreo cake (pile of oreos) and birthday crown (made out of rolled napkins and colored with dry erase markers). The other sister missionaries here are all so great and make good friends :)
Okay that’s about all, I send my love and best wishes to you all! Happy Mother’s Day mom! (I don't get to call home from the MTC, sorry, but I do get to call from the airport when I fly out, so I can talk to you in July :)
take care! mansfield egch

Caitlin- Oh my goodness!! have a wonderful wedding day! I have been getting the dear elder letters (thanks so much!) and I sent a letter to the address on the dear elder letter, i hope you get it! love you! read the last 3 lines of 4th Nephi 1:16, and change the word ppl to "couple", and that is how I feel about you and Morgan :) love ya!

Alyssa- thanks for the letters! romania sounds crazy but amazing, i'm proud of you and good luck! i love hearing from you!

Kat- have fun at the wedding!!! be enough of a bridesmaid for the both of us ;) love ya and good luck with your internship next week!

Dan- thanks for the message and best wishes to you!

I'm off to the temple! love you!

April 30, 2009

2009-05-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

hello my dear family!!!!
Thank you all so much for the letters, they have been great. I got the written one, the dear elder letters, and mom's e-mail :) thanks everyone! It sounds like things are doing good at home, I didn't think it was possible but I love you all even more now that I am out here! :) I mailed letters to you all and I hope they find you well :)
Things are going great for me, time is so weird here at the MTC! Each day seems so long, but the weeks absolutely fly by, i can't believe it is thursday again! I think it is a blessing, we have a lot to learn each day so they seem long, but the weeks fly by so we don't get discouraged, its great! :) I don't feel like a new missionary anymore which is exciting, the 3 sisters me and my comp were with left for Indonesia on Monday and last night the three new Indonesian sisters came :) I helped show them around with the zone leaders and the MTC really is kinda feeling like home (it better, i will be here a while ;)
The new sisters are nice and I love my companion sister Soli! She loves to play volleyball and softball too so we have fun at gym (which is absolutely glorious, getting to run around for an hour is amazing! especially now that we can go outside!) The elders in my district are doing good too, we know each other well by now and have fun, they work had and offer comic relief ;)
The Mongolian is coming, it is a crazy language Sister Marta (mongolian) has been teaching us a ton and as one of my teachers put it, she blows our faces off with words. Haha its like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant but we are getting some of it! Funny language mix ups keep happening and I am sure they are just getting started, one of the elders accidentally introduced himself as the savior and it was really funny. It is cool hearing so many languages around campus, and my elders wanted to sound cool and fluent in mongolian so started saying random words, names of letters, and conjugations to each other when walking. They act like they are having an intense discussion but really they are saying "soft sign! hard sign! past tense conjugation, present progressive, mine, yours, sister, and future tense!" it is really funny, especially sense everyone is really impressed with their "good" mogolian ;) We are teaching the first lesson for 30 minutes tomorrow in mongolian! ah! It will be interesting, we translated all of our own sentences this week and I am spending the rest of the day trying to memorize it and I will let you know how it goes ;) Its funny, by tomorrow we are supposed to teach someone to pray, and we can't even pray very well yet! We don't know how it will happen, but we know it will happen and we will somehow learn this language ;)
The spirit at the MTC is so strong, there is a peace and happiness that comes from just being here and being a part of this work :) We got to go to the RC yesterday (call center) and answer phone calls for an hour and it was so fun!! It is so exciting to be talking to real people about the message that we have, and it is even more exciting when they want a Book of Mormon and the missionaries to come! I got to talk to several nice people and a family yesterday :) God Lives and He Loves!!! Everyone deserves to know that and if my mission is going to be as fun as that hour talking to people on the phone, these next 18 months are going to be amazing :) Jake you would be proud of me for this, a man called yesterday because he couldn't get his DVD of the Lamb of God to work, he had just bought a new TV and everything but couldn't figure out the remote so he called us, it was so funny, as you know I am totally technology illiterate and I can't even turn on our TV at home, but somehow we talked through it and I helped this nice man get his remote to work ;) he was really excited when it started, but put it on pause and let me talk about the rest of the message we have. Um, I can't think of any other stories, but all in all things are going good, we are studying A TON, and I am happy :) we have so incredibly far to go, but I try to look at where we have come instead of where we have to go when thinking about the language and it helps :) If the Lord wants us to be able to speak mongolian, we will speak mongolian! I don't know how it will happen,but it will :) I love you all soooooo much and thanks again for your prayers, love, and support. You are in my prayers and I think of you often!
love sister mansfield ;)

p.s. the dear elder letters are working great, i don't get much time on the computer so it is nice when you send them through dear elder so i have more time to read them :) i love the hand written ones too! and tell donielle wolf thanks for her letter! she makes me laugh and is so great :)

pps ; alyssa i hope you made it to romania okay!! thanks for your letter and I hope you are well! good luck!

take care everyone! God lives and he loves :)

April 23, 2009

2009-04-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!!

The MTC is great, i am loving it. I do admit the first few days were interesting, I swear those first 3-4 days felt like 3-4 years, not that anything was bad there was just a lot of adjusting, and realizing what I got myself into ;) But the spirit here is amazing, the sisters in my room are so great, we have had awesome devotionals and I am past the shock phase and I really am happy and ready to work really really hard! I am a solo sister, 4 elders and I make up the whole mongolia district and they are great elders. We all balance each other out well, serious, funny, hardworking, goofy, etc, it is a good combination and I already feel like I know them really well, we will be able to get a lot done. My companion is sister Soli, from hawaii and she is going to figi! She is great :) The language is actually really fun to learn! A few days ago we had learned just enough to realize how far we had to go and it was a little intimidating, but not anymore. Its amazing how you can feel small and inadequate but not be discouraged at all!! I know that with the Lord anything is possible so i am not worried, it just seems like he is going to have to do a whole lot ;) and he already has! We were reading mongolian within the first few hours of our first day, and we don't have problems with pronunciation anymore :) I can make spitting sounds pretty darn well ;) its funny to say thank you, it sounds like "bi-irthhh-la" and I see spit coming out of my mouth when I say it, I need to learn how to say I am sorry right after I say thank you because I usually spit on the poor person holding the door open, etc ;) It is a fun language to learn, I already accidentally throw in a mongolian letter now and then when writing in english, its exciting :) And I go by Egch now, haha, it means sister and since i'm the only sister in my district the Elders just call me Egch.
So life is good, I am happy and honestly loving this now, and I think I am learning how to get as much as I can out of the MTC. We have an interesting teacher situation, one quit yesterday (she has been here over 4 years) and they are trying to hire another one, and one is on vacation for a week, so we have just one teacher next week, which means lots of "missionary Determined Time", which means we are going to have to be really good at pushing and teaching ourselves, but it will all workout. We came up with a "Master Language Learning Plan!" last night and it should help. It is great to get to study the scriptures and preach my gospel so much too.
Oh and we got to work in the reference Center yesterday! It is where ppl call to request a free movie, book of mormon, etc from commercials and pass along cards and we call and follow up, make sure they got their item, etc. Basically it is missionary work over the phone, it was kinda weird because we were in cubicles with a head set calling people, and when someone answers we follow up, and then bare testimony of what we believe. It was actually really scary, like going up to bat, last inning, full count scary, but mom, Romans 1:16 came to mind ;) It is amazing how I can love someone I don't know over the phone, I got hung up on once and lots of answering machines, but I got a hold of a guy whose grandma had ordered something and he didn't hang up on me so I talked to him for a bit, and then just rambled off a heart felt testimony over the phone, he was quiet but let me keep talking, I'm sure I was making no since but I was being totally sincere, and he said he wanted a Book of Mormon! we mailed him one :) I placed my first book of mormon over the phone :) This really is a message of good news!!! It is exciting to be a part of it :)
i am running out of time, any family can e-mail me back at this e-mail address, I will use it my whole mission. there is also something called dearelder.com, you go there, find mongolia mission and my name, write letter as an e-mail and they print it at the mtc and give it to me for free. If the siblings want to do that it might be easy ;) I love you all soooooooooo much, thank you all for your support, I know I have the best family in the world and it was so hard to say goodbye to each of you because i was also saying goodbye to each of you as my best friends! Love you and hope you all are well, Ashley (Sister Mansfield)

Email: ashleymansfield@myldsmail.net

While we wait for Ashley's 1st email

2009-04-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

Skiing at Brighton

Family day before MTC

Family and Friends at Setting apart

At MTC in Blizzard.

Pam and I wanted to thank everyone who helped us get Ashley to the MTC. We had a wonderful 5 day visit with family and friends prior to the MTC. Jake, Ashley and I spent Monday skiing and snowboarding at Brighton 2 days before the MTC. To all her roommates, thank you for your wonderdul support and friendship to Ashley. Apparently, in honor, on her trip to the cold country of Mongolia, she entered the MTC in an amazing spring blizzard in Utah. We had to clear 4 inches of snow off of the car after 2 hrs in the MTC. Thanks again to everyone, and it will be fun to see what this amazing sister accomplishes in Mongolia! love John and Pam

MTC Pictures

2009-04-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. We just wanted to share some pictures from the day Sister Mansfield went into the MTC. Hope you enjoy :)

MTC Mailing Address

2009-04-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

This is the address you can use to mail things to Sister Mansfield at the Missionary Training Center until her departure date which as of right now is July 1, 2009. We will eventually get something up on the the side that will let you know her current address once she has gotten to the country. Thanks for your love and support.

Sister Ashley E. Mansfield

MTC Mailbox #91

MON-ULA 0701

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT 84604-1793