Personal narrative, final draft.

Daniel Stephenson

English 150

Lori Steadman                                                                 

12/1/11

                                                Lessons from Batsaikhan

            There she sat, a large woman, wearing a brown fur coat that made her look almost like a grizzly bear.  She was in her mid-forties, but could pass for a woman much older.  Her hair was unwashed and matted.   I looked at her through the window of the mission office as she sat in the foyer on the couch that had been placed there for people waiting to have an interview with the mission president.  She caught me looking and got a huge grin on her face as she motioned frantically for me to come out and talk to her. I had heard about her before from my companion.  Her name was Batsaikhan, she always came into the mission office when we were too busy to blink, saying that she had just walked 5 miles to meet with the president.  She never set up an appointment; she just came and expected us to drop everything so that she could have time to talk to President.  The problem was that President did not speak Mongolian, so each interview with a Mongolian required either me or my companion to sit in and act as translator.

            I threw a frown at my companion and slowly opened the door and stepped into the foyer.

            “Hello, Elder.  I need to speak with President,” she said as I walked up to her.  It had been long day of interviews and constantly answering our cell phone to find out about some new problem that missionaries thought they needed our help with.

            “What do you need?” I asked curtly.

            “I need some help from president” she exclaimed.  I knew what she meant by ‘help’.  What she wanted was money.  That is the only reason she EVER came in to talk to the president.  She hardly had enough money to ride the bus into the center of the city usually. 

            “President is really busy right now.  We have 4 other people who set up appointments to meet with him still waiting to get in.  You will have to come back some other time” I said, in an annoyed tone.

            “Oh, just tell him I will take 5 minutes” she said with grin that revealed only 15 teeth or so.  I nodded at her and turned to walk into the office.  I knocked on the door of the separate room that was the mission president’s office.  He opened the door a foot and poked his head out.  I had obviously interrupted something.  He looked at me expectantly.

            “President, Batsaikhan is here, she said she needs to meet with you really quick.  She said she would only take 5 minutes of your time.  I can just tell her that we are busy and she needs to set up an appointment for some other time” I said, trying to show that I didn’t think we had time to meet with her. 

            “Send her into my office in 10 minutes” came his reply after a 10 second pause. 

            I turned and walked towards the foyer.  I had no idea how in the world President ever expected to get all of his work done if he met with her.  I opened the door to the foyer and poked my head out to tell Batsaikhan that President would see her in 10 minutes. 

After close to 30 minutes of Batsaikhan going on and on about her financial troubles, I escorted her out of the office.  She had an extra 50,000 Tugriks (approximately 35 dollars) of President’s personal money in her pocket, and she was happy as could be.  President went back to work; he didn’t seem bugged by her begging at all.  I walked into my office, baffled by his lack of irritation, and feeling like I had a bit of soul searching to do.

One month later I walked out into the foyer in front of the mission office to get a drink.  On the couch sat Batsaikhan, wearing the exact same outfit that she had been wearing a month before.  “Hey Elder Stephenson, How are you?” she slurred through her toothless grin.

“I am doing great, how are you?”  I said as I sat down across from her on a chair. 

“I have been, okay.  My daughter has been really sick though” she said as her mood dampened. 

“Oh no!  What can we do to help?” I said.

“I need to meet with President, and ask him for help.”

“I will get right on that!” I said as I stood and walked quickly back into the mission office to ask President when he could meet with her.  I returned shortly thereafter to inform her that president could talk with her in 5 minutes.

After about 30 minutes of the same, sad story filled with financial trouble, I was once again escorting Batsaikhan out of the mission office.  President returned to his work, unfazed.  Batsaikhan was smiling big, this time with 20,000 tugriks, (approximately 15 dollars), in her pocket.  I walked back into my office, thinking about what had just happened.  I sat down behind my desk, and sighed loudly. I was feeling pensive.  My companion walked in and asked me how the interview went.

“She sure needs a lot of help.  It is great that we have a chance to help her, isn’t it?”

My companion grinned at me.  “Now you’re getting it” he said.