The Sass is Still Strong....

Yeah so it's getting rough out here, it's cold, the days are long, and we need sleep. Needless to say we all passed out in the temple today, we aren't afraid to admit it. Elder Balls actually started snoring and it was hilarious. 

Friday: Class was normal, except we made a sauna today which was way cool. Scrimsher and I designed it and now it works way better. So we were all in there, and then some American bound missionary ripped down our sauna and said "are you only going on a mission to use the Lords water on His time?" So I said "are you on a mission only to judge people?" Not my proudest moment, but now he won't mess with us anymore. 

Saturday: This was a pretty crazy day. I found out Scrimsher writes poetry. Which is nuts. It's like saying Dad writes poetry in his spare time. We were all shocked to hear that. So naturally we all started writing poetry to see who could write the best poem. Scrimsher’s a deep thinker. It's like Dead Poets Society level stuff. But I'm getting good too. He won the contest, but I wrote about dreams and how they are real and where they take us and what they make us feel like when we realize they aren't the reality we are living. Yeah your son is practically Walt Whitman. It helps pass the time and it gets you thinking deeper about things. So time has been going faster ever since we have been thinking about this. Kinda wierd, but helps pass the time.

Sunday: Sunday was really hard. They are really long days and they are very monotonous. Except we did watch the Testaments video and that was so funny. Whenever that guy Jacob and that girl would flirt all the missionaries would whistle and laugh and make jokes. All the leaders in the room would look around and think "holy chauss, these are the fools who have to teach the gospel." But is was a good way to end a long day.

Monday: We learned Mongolian cursive today and I've never been more confused in my life. Its crazy hard!! And thats all they use over there so RIP to me.

Tuesday: This is when it got cool. We had a devotional and Elder Holland came and talked to us. He didn't write a talk either. He just spoke straight fatherly advice. It really was things that you would hear your pops say right before you leave on your mission. It was almost verbatim everything Dad told me before I left, so heads up Dad you might be an apostle one day. You and Elder Holland are on the same page. Literally he told me everything dad told me. Like “You only do this once so don’t  let it pass by. Learn to be more Christlike and let the mission change you." It was exactly what dad said. Like I swear I could hear dads voice when he was speaking.

Wednesday: Yesterday was probably the hardest day yet. The language makes no sense, and yesterday I realized how slow I am in the language. It's really really tough, and I'm not making much progress. And our teachers are getting frustrated at us because of it.  We taught a lesson yesterday and I could barely get out one sentence. It’s hard to study because we really don't have a ton of down time. They give us blocks of time to study but we have so much other stuff to do like planning our lessons and eating our meals, that we don’t get much language study time. That's really what's frustrating me the most here. My teachers are just getting really frustrated because we aren't learning it as fast as they want us too, and because we don't have the time to study. Like we are all sorta depressed because we get harped on all day, go back to our room and can't sleep (i wake up everynight at 3:40 as does scrimsher and cox) and then do the same thing the next day. But it's fine I guess, just really really tough. Other than that it was just a normal day.

So the thing is if I get a school visa, i will never leave the city my whole mission. Which might be ok, but I might go crazy in the city for two years. They said in the boonies the emailing is very sporadic and the internet sucks so some weeks you don't get to email anyone.

I miss Easton a lot too, sometimes I still think I can text him something funny and then I realize I can't and I get sad. It's hard only being able to talk to him once a week. I hope he gets huge, he should be like 6'4" when I get back. I've already gained 5 pounds here, and I can't gain weight so that's significant. I have been thinking about Sami a lot and I was impressed to put her name on the temple prayer roll.  I’ve just been thinking a lot about her.  Tell both the girls I love them. 

Love you all so much. Thanks for all the support!

Love, Austin

 Supporting each other in all aspects.

 Mongolian cursive. 

 "I hope the kids like these.  They took FOREVER!"

 "Look who came to speak to us!"

 Kylie sent us a Fiesta package.  

 Elder Neilson in my Zone.  He is heading to Denmark.

 I had my hair cut by a girl that knows Shayla Frandsen

 Elder Gonzales from Mexico. He is going to Sweden.  He's a "cool cat."

"Neilson is gone!"

"Just an average day of Hey There Delilah in the shower."

Mongolian Testimony

The Infamous Sauna