Snow in Mongolia, but Potatos Warm and Dry- Sept 20,2009

Dear Family,

Well, you guys wanted stories, this last week was pretty full of stories. There 
were a lot of different things that made it so good but I guess the best part 
was just how well the Lord provided for us as we did what He wanted.  This week 
I called President Andersen to get special permission to do extra service.  It 
really was worth it I feel.  They were saying at the beginning of the week that 
it was going to snow on Saturday and so we needed to harvest all the potatoes.  
Some members were having trouble getting everything harvested in time so we went 
over to help them.  On Friday, there were still two members that weren't able to 
get all the potatoes harvested and Elder Dawkharbayar called me to ask if we 
could go serve them.  We had already done a lot and I was really looking forward 
to a full day to go teach lessons and find new investigators.  It was looking to 
be a great day!  On top of that, it was like...75, 80 degrees! Nevertheless, the 
forecast said it would snow tomorrow.  So, I went into my room, knelt in prayer, 
and asked if we should serve.  The answer was yes.  So, we put on our service 
clothes and went to work.  There were a LOT of potatoes to harvest for these 
families, and when everything was said and done, the sun was set, the day was 
over.  I was really hoping to go and teach some lessons but the day was done.  
Anyways, we had done what was right so I felt good about that and went to bed.  
The next morning as I woke up at 6:30, to my surprise, everything was white!  It 
had snowed during the night and continued to snow the entire day!  Had we not 
spent time and harvested those potatoes, the next day many of them would have 
been lost to the cold and frost.  I'm very grateful that we followed the 
promptings of the Spirit and served on Friday.

As a result, Saturday was a crucial day.  We hadn't had much time the rest of 
the week due to English, Choir, and Service, to do as much work as we would have 
liked.  On top of that, my bike has gone completely to pot and so we spent a 
considerable amount of time trying to fix it and get new parts for it.  In 
District Meeting we had talked about Faith and having faith to meet all the 
standards of excellence.  I told them all that if they would have faith, they 
could reach the standards of excellence this week.  In saying this, I myself had 
to have enough faith to do so.  So, we prepared, and we went out, and the Lord 
worked miracles for us! It was a really cold day, maybe like 25 degrees or so, 
so a lot of people just stayed in their houses.  We went all the way out to the 
very farthest street in our area and met with one Part-Member Family.  They live 
in a really small house right now so it was really crowded, but in this place we 
read out of 3 Nephi 11 and talked about what the Spirit says to us.  As we did 
this I asked, "What is the Spirit saying to you?"  He replied, "It's telling me 
to follow what's right".  "Well, one of those right things is to get baptized.  
May we set a baptismal date with you?"  And just like that, we set a date for 
him to get baptized.  His job requires him to go out to the countryside for long 
periods of time, but in the winter, his works stops so we'll be able to meet 
with him, and get him to church a lot more frequently now.  His name is Purev, 
or Thursday.  After that, we went to their next door neighbor's house and met 
with an investigating family of ours.  To our surprise, as we came in, the dad 
was there!  Using this dad also works in the countryside with heavy machinery 
but he had come in just recently.  We met with them all and shared 3 Nephi 18:21 
about praying together as a family.  To close, we asked him to offer a prayer 
for his family and his work.  He was very shy and nervous, but with the help of 
his wife, he was able to pray!  RIght after that we went to another neighbor 
house and showed the Restoration video to a couple.  The wife is named 
Amarsaikhan and she's been going to church and what not.  However, the husband, 
really didn't like us at all to begin with.  Every time we were there, he 
wouldn't let us in the house!  But then one time, he let us in and we got to 
introduce ourselves.  It turns out he had a completely wrong understanding of 
our church and by talking to us, he realized we weren't that bad of people!  He 
even confessed some of his weaknesses, he smokes and drinks and now, at age 45, 
he's got 15 years to wait until he can retire and get money from the government, 
but he can't find any work.  The movie really helped him to understand why we do 
what we do.  Then he was really hesitant about coming to church because he 
smokes and drinks.  We talked to him about it and then suddenly, he turns to his 
wife and says, "Should we go tomorrow and check it out?"  "yea, lets do that"  
"Ok, we'll go tomorrow"  Now whenever he talks about us, he calls me his little 
brother.  Hopefully as we continue to meet with them, we'll be able to help him 
overcome his doubts and weaknesses.  From those 3 wonderful lessons, we went 
alllll the way to the other side of our area and met with one of our 
ALAs(Inactive members).  He's been having trouble with his marriage and we 
talked about Charity and expressing our love to family members.  We committed 
them to just say "I love you" to their family members (something Mongolians 
don't usually do).  The dad (who is exactly like Dad) was really hesitant.  
Finally, they committed and he came to church the next day.  All in all, 
Saturday was a great day!

~Elder Cappuccio