I Smell Like Beef...

April 11, 2018

I Smell Like Beef...

So this past however many days has been a blur. So let me try my best to recap. So Tuesday, we left the MTC! Pretty exciting stuff. Then we got on the train and rode it all the way to the airport, and hungout in Salt Lake for a bit, then flew to LA. In LA we had a fat 4 hour layover, but it was way nice because I called Kylie and my madre for a long time. That was the best thing of my life. Then in LA we got on the plane to Beijing. And that began the long trail of tears. The 14 hour flight was nuts. I slept most the way, and barely survived having to sit down for that long. But once in Beijing, after I got strip searched, Beijing airport hates Americans, its notorious I found out our plane was delayed for 12 fetching hours. So I found some benches and took a nap. Then Scrimsher and I got really bored and decided to cruise around the airport. We found they were playing some super Chinese Kung Fu movies, so we watched one. It was so terrible, but Jackie Chan was in it, so it was cool. Learned a couple of moves, not gonna lie. Then we tried to find an air face mask, you would think that in China they would have them, but they didn't! So that was dumb. But on our search, we freaking ran into RUSSELL WILSON. And yes it was him. I was like "Russell Wilson?" and he looked and me and said "yeah?" but him and his wife were legit running to their next gate so we couldn't get a picture. But it really was him. Really weird running into him. And for dinner, Scrimsher and I bought some ramen from a vending machine and cooked that up. And I bought what I thought was a Chinese pop, but it was the good Beijing Brew. So that was hilarious.

So the time came for our plane to take off, so we went to the gate, and found our plane got delayed another 2 hours. So Cox, Scrims, and I went to the airport lounge and used the massage chairs for a few hours. That was really nice. But eventually we got to Mongolia.

The real first day in Mongolia, we had to get our blood drawn. We went to this back alley hospital (I'm not kidding by back alley either). Then we went and got picked up by our companions and off to our apartments.My comp is Elder Garcia. He is from Colorado and has been out for 16 months. He's super cool. I'm really glad I got assigned with him. My area is called American Denj, its almost all ger districts. So we went and did some service. The people in the ger districts have to get their water from a well so we went and did that for a lady, her huge Mongolian bear dog (look it up) almost ate me though. But I lived. We also got some Mongolian food, it cost about 60 cents. Food here is cheap. But it had the mystery meat inside and now I smell like beef. The country here smells like Mongolian meat, very distinct smell. So that's fun. That was really all we did that day.

Saturday, we watched general conference. It was really cool to watch it twice, I picked up so many different things that glanced over me when I first watched it. So that was really nice. Then we went to the store and I bought some food and I spoke mongolian. It was cool.

On Sunday we watched conference again, and then after that we didn't do much. Sunday's are super low-key here. The auxiliary leadership is all Mongolian, but they do have some missionaries in the branch or ward bishoprics or presidencies. Some bishoprics are inactive out here so it's rough with the ward.

Monday we went to the post office so I could mail some stuff home. I have no idea if it will make it. That lady there just starting speaking Mongolian, put the stamps on and put them in a box. So we will see. After that we taught a lesson to one of the people who Elder Garcia (my companion) just baptized. I talked a lot and he understood me, but I could not pick up a single word that he (the new member) was saying to me. It was really cool to see him though. Its crazy that someone from another culture can learn and feel the same way about the same God that I do. It's very very very cool. I cant really explain it, but it's amazing. We teach some lessons. Like one a week. We have no investigators so we teach new member lessons, but we get burned a lot. The members do give referrals but its a lot of women. and we can't teach the women, the sisters have to, some rule. But the sisters are always crazy busy because the women are joining the church left and right and the elders are left to clean up the scraps. But I will get some investigators. It's just going to take a while

Tuesday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVA!!!!!! I hope you are making everyone serve you. And are making everyone make you steak or get you Canes. But we really did not do much yesterday, I had my training which took up most of the day. We did some service today. We helped the Bishops wife move from her 5th floor apartment with no elevator. She took all of her appliances with her too. It was rough.

I only teach at the University on Fridays. I teach at a lab and its only for 3 hours. I don't teach in the summer, so the summers are really slow everyone says. All the people here get their families and move to the countryside and live a party for the whole 3 months. It's like a family reunion for them but for the whole summer. It's actually super cool. But we stay in the city and just chill because there is literally no one living here anymore. The people who get the church sponsored visas get to go to the countryside and serve there. We don't teach English classes at the church either. The church visa people teach that class. It's hard here because we can't proselyte and we have very strict rules on how we can approach people. We have to get creative on how to find people to serve and to try and teach.

But that was it! I love Mongolia and all that is here. It's cool here, but really crazy. Like there's some stuff I'll have to tell you when I'm back because you would be freaked out. Like it's nuts here. But I love it. Talk soon mom. Tell everyone that I love them and miss them. Love you too. Talk soon.

Love,

Austin

"After 14 hours in an airport, a $1 tub of Ramen from a vending machine made me very happy." Photo cred to Scrim

Chinese Sprite

"The Chinese beer that I thought was Ginger Ale."

Plane from Beijing to Mongolia

Mongolian Airport

Bus ride to the mission home

"View from the first day. This is from the church building/mission home complex."

"I have no idea was this was. But it was super cool. The horses were tiny. I thought Grandpa Brent would love this."

"Got my blood drawn here in a very sketchy and unclean room with dog hair on the floors."

"Get district. They get their water from a well all the way up this road. And they have to carry 10 gallons by hand. The people that live in this area don't have cars."

"Mongolian Bear dog. Don't let his looks fool you. He tried to eat me. The people in this area burn wood or tires or anything that they can. This lady was tearing down her fence and part of her house to use as fuel to burn. I don't know how she is going to make it through the winter. She is literally tearing down her own home to stay warm."