First Transfer Done!

So this week was super good, pretty dang fun, but just as equally as hard. But it was overall a good week. I've had a lot of time to think about life and why I'm even here, and what I want to do after my mission and how I want to be after my mission. So it's been a very introspective week. Which has been interesting. And I got your package Mom! Thanks so much for it, the box was a bit beat up haha, but everything survived. Thanks for the stickers and the notes and the circus peanuts lol. Those notes from Sami make me laugh so much, thanks for those Sam. Alright but here's my week:

Monday: I got to talk to my family! That really was the big news, really nothing else happened that day. But it was awesome to see you guys again, everyone changed so much already it's freaking crazy. I've only been gone 4 months this Thursday and everyone has changed so much. It's gonna be wild seeing you all when I'm back. 

Tuesday: So we had planned to go hiking, but then the weather turned on us and it got super super cold and windy. So we just went to this really cool mall and walked around and looked at stuff. Really another lowkey day. I also printed off all of the talks Elder Bednar asked us to read and I read those and they were so good. They really changed how I approached praying and learning the gospel. Really good stuff. 

Wednesday: So Wednesday was a really really good day. We taught our investigator again! And let me tell you this kid is freaking awesome. He reads the Book of Mormon everyday and he comes to church every week and he is really just a great kid. He's 22 years old and just awesome. We found him because he is really good friends with this returned sister missionary and she brought him to church and wants us to teach him. And there's clearly something there, like this girl really likes this guy so she is always with him at the church reading the Book of Mormon together haha. So she is a huge help, that flirt to convert is a real thing. But we taught him and then I asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes! I was a bit taken back because I didn't know how to respond so I just said "oh sweet, nice job, thats awesome." So he's gonna be baptized on the 20th of next month. Thats really really the coolest thing. This guy is just awesome, its the neatest experience to be able to see people progress and come to know Christ. Its awesome. Then we were walking back to our apartment later that night and I passed this kid who was like 23 and he was walking with a cane. It broke my heart mom. these people have no medical attention out here. I really want to come back and help them. Like this kid hurt his knee and now he won't be able to walk correctly the rest of his life. It sucks. 

Thursday: So I officially finished my first transfer today. Freaking crazy, time goes so quick. So today the sisters needed us to do a baptismal interview for their investigators. So we got on a bus and went way back into the ger districts and went into this ger and the two kids (the investigators) played games with us and it was so fun. Then they wanted me to show them how to jump rope and stuff. It was so fun. The kids here and great. As we were leaving we got a call that someone wanted to meet with us at the church later that night. So we went and got lunch and I read some talks by Elder Holland, and they were awesome. More good insights. Then we went to the church and this lady started talking to us, and surprisingly I could catch a lot of what she was saying, my language is improving a lot and it's really cool. So her husband is in Korea right now and there's some Mongolian people in that ward taking the lessons but they don't speak Korean and the missionaries don't speak Mongolian so it's hard for them. So they had us record our testimonies and share a scripture with them and we emailed the video to them. It was pretty different, but pretty cool. We really are on the short list out here for languages, we have to step in a lot in other missions because no one really speaks Mongolian. 

Friday: So Elder Bednar was supposed to come today, but his plane got delayed. So the Area Authority came and spoke to us and it was really cool. He talked about what do we need to bury in order to better receive the spirit and the word of God. It was really cool, he related it to the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. That really was all we did that day. I also am done teaching at the University for the summer. School will start back up in August again. A lot of people have left the city for the countryside.  Our ward is smaller too. 

Saturday: So today Elder Bednar came! First things first, he's pretty short. Like he honestly is as tall as Kylie, but he looks tall on the video, but he's a small guy haha. But he spoke to us and he let us ask him questions and it was so cool. One thing he says that I liked was that he only knows as much as us. He gets his information from all the same places as we do. So we all have the potential to learn and know as much as the apostles and prophets. Really cool. Then after that we walked down the main road. They shut it down for a race, but then after the race we could all just walk the road and it was so fun. Then we had to help some elders for service. So we met this lady, and got on a bus and went clear way the heck up into the mountains. It was like an hour long bus ride. And we helped her clean up her summer home and put wallpaper up. It was fun, she made us food too. But it was so gorgeous! I really want to come out here in the summer and stay in one of these houses with some friends. So we put up the wallpaper and it took like 5 hours but it was fun. Really cool. 

Sunday: So we had church which was good. But later that night something crazy happened. We looked out the window and we saw some clouds coming over the mountains so we were hopeful it would rain. But then we went outside and we were so wrong. It was a dust storm, like they have in Arabia. It looked like a huge bank of fog set on the city but it was dust, and it was blowing so hard you couldn't open your eyes, and my skin was brown from the dirt when we got back inside. It was wild. So those clouds were dust clouds, I swear I'm on another planet. 

Monday: Today we didn’t have much to do.. I got my package though! Thanks again. That was really nice.  But we were on the computers and I saw Danny was on too, so we emailed a little bit. It was really nice. I miss that guy. 

But that was my week! I love it out here, thanks for all the prayers and support. Love you all!

Love, 

Austin

Playing games with the kids.  The game pieces are ankle bones from sheep. The milk in the cups on the table is called hiram.  It smells like baby throw up, I'm not kidding.  It's disgusting.  It's milk, water, and salt.  They boil it all together and it's nasty.  

 This is literally where they get their drinking water. 

 Third grade recess skills coming in handy.

 The lady's summer house where we were hanging wallpaper.

 The view from her yard.

 Dinosaur fossils in the mall. So crazy. 

 There was a Beginning of the Summer Light Festival last week.  It was pretty cool.

 Dad I found your new fanny pack.

 These are the rugs that the Mongolian people hang in their gers. 

This lade gave us free food.  She is so nice.  She loves un English teachers.  

 This is the main street in UB.  They closed it down for a race.

The following pictures were sent by a Senior Sister Missionary.  They were waiting for Elder Bednar to start the meeting.