Just a couple of guys being dudes...

So this week was pretty neat, and crazy at the same time. Although we still don't have any investigators to teach, just the new members, but that's okay, it's still fun out here. 

Wednesday: So this was probably the best day yet in Mongolia. There was an emergency teaching thing at the other school, so my companion had to go there in the morning, and with all the splits going on I ended up with Scrimsher for a super long time. Which is crazy, we've only been here for about a week and a half and they left us alone to roam the streets. So you know life is gonna be awesome. 

But first we went to sit in on a lesson. It was so cool. This lady lives in this house that I can't even stand up straight in, and it's a one room house way out in the ger districts. She fed us lunch and I felt so bad the whole time. She gave us all the food she had. She cooked some pine nuts for us (which are so dank) and then some soup. She used all her meat, and all her rice, and all her water on us. She didn't even make enough for her 3 year old daughter or herself. It was so touching that she gave us everything she had. It was awesome. Then after tha,t Scrims and I went to the black market (thats the American name, it's not really a black market although most the stuff is stolen). So we got so many funny looks. The two whitest dudes in the country, speaking Mongolian, and fighting with the vendors to get lower prices. Scims wanted a backpack so we split up and each took a vendor and talked them down as much as we could and then tell each other what prices we got. It was so funny to see two dudes who have been here one week fighting with the vendors, so the language is going well. It's awesome out here. Then that was the whole day. 

Thursday: We had zone conference and that took up like 8 hours of the day so nothing much happened other than that. There are only 2 Zones in the entire mission/country and only 49 total missionaries. But, Elder Bednar is coming here in May which will be dope! 

Friday: I taught again at the Univeristy and it was so weird. Because we teach at the University, a teacher usually shows up and teaches for 15 minutes then we go and teach them how Americans would say what they learned. But the teacher never showed up, and these kids spoke no English. So we had to teach them how to say hello, what's up, and stuff like that. So this one girl started asking me get to know you questions and she's like "are you married?" and I was like "um, no" so she responded "well why do you have a ring" to which I say "well, it's from my girlfriend." and she legit looks so confused. So she never could understand what the ring was, so I eventually just said "yeah I'm married." And then she got it and congratulated me on my marriage. That was the highlight of the day, Pickering was dying, he thought it was so freaking funny. 

Saturday: Today we started out doing some service again. We got water for the lady in the ger districts again and it was pretty cool. The ger districts are my favorite. Then we taught our new member again which was good. I just started talking and I honestly have no clue what I said but he just nodded so it made sense, so I just went with it haha. Then we went to dinner with 4 other elders at this sports bar place, it's super cheap so it's nice. And they saw 6 americans walk in so they start playing American music. They played location by khalid, and signs of the times, and I swear I reached Nirvana. That music was so fetching nice. It was awesome, plus they had a huge sub and huge speakers so I just soaked it up. Awesome stuff. 

Sunday: Sunday was church, after church I started talking to a member and he's like "how long have you been here?" so I told him 2 weeks and he's like "WHAT YOUR MONGOLIAN IS SO GOOD?!" So that was a nice confidence booster. 

Monday: We didn't have anything so we walked freaking everywhere. I mailed some more stuff home. Then we went around to some cool bookstores and just explored the back roads of Mongolia. It was really fun. 

We don't have any investigators right now. And we can't do anything about it either so that's hard. But they will come.  We just have to wait for referrals.  Not being able to proselyte makes this a weird place.  But it's fine. I don't mind not having people to teach, we are still serving people. Also, Pickering had to go to the dentist, the water here destroys your gums. So I'm trying to be safe, but everyone has gum pain. Dad you would have loved the place. 

That was my week! I love this place, it's so freaking cool. Love you all so much!

Love,

Austin

"You seriously wouldn't believe this place.  I wish you could see the ger districts."

 "Chillin' on a bench people watching."

 "The beauty of Mongolia.  I wish I had my paintball gun, this place would be prime.  And yes mom, people live in that shack.  It's becoming normal to see that, which is odd and heartbreaking."

 "Some Buddhist something."

 "Now this is a normal bus, not like the last pic I sent."

 "This was in the AP's apartment.  You can tell we get along great."

 "The Dentist office.  Don't worry mom and dad, it's fine.  Jesus is protecting us."

"This taste EXACTLY like rainbow chip cake frosting so it's the best ice cream in the country."

Riding the bus

"I was covertly trying to video the lady's apartment that fed us lunch.  I wanted you all to see it."

The following pictures were sent to me from Sister White who is a Senior Missionary in Mongolia.  They are from the Zone Conference.