Home Improvement....

May 07, 2018

Home Improvement....

So this week was really awesome. First off, we had some people come to church who want the lessons! So we have two potential investigators, which rocks. Here is the rest of my week, really super fun stuff:

Wednesday: So this day we actually didn't do much haha. I still wasn't feeling the best so week took it easy and bought some much needed groceries and then used the rest of the day to study. So I studied the heck out of the Book of Mormon and the language. It really helped, and I also learned a ton more about the Book of Mormon. I love that I have so much time here to study the gospel.

Thursday: Today was my 100th day which sorta blows my mind. Some days it feels like I've been here forever, and other days it feels like I just started. But cleaning checks were today so we deep cleaned our apartment and got a call that some other elders needed us in a lesson to be other priesthood there. So we went to meet up with them, then the investigator burned us. So we heard that there is a place where you can get mimic vanilla cokes here, so we took a trip way out to this store on the edge of town and got the drinks and they were so trash haha. But it was fun. Then we had dinner and this drunk guy came up to me and asked if I spoke English so I just started speaking Spanish to him to throw him off and he legit responded in fluent french. It was really impressive. But then the security guard came out and threw him out of the restaurant. Its fun being blonde here because everyone picks on me and harasses me over my companion. So it's fun to play jokes on the drunks who try to mess with me.

Friday: Today I taught again at the University. It was really good, we taught a class of medical students and then a class of engineering majors. The engineering kids are hard though, they really don't want to learn at all. So they don't try and they don't care, so its hard to be motivated to teach when you are teaching people who don't want to learn. But then after class there was a graduation for the little elementary school kids and they were putting on this cultural performance and it was so cool. So Pickering and I hung around to watch it. The kids were so adorable, it was super super fun watching it.

Saturday. First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! Love ya you old man. So here is where the adventure begins. We got a call from another set of elders that they need help taking down a ger. So we get on this bus and go like 45 minutes out of the city and hike way up this hill to this little field and find two gers. So we talk to the lady and she wants us to first get her some water so we did. And of course, everyone left real quick with the small containers so I had to take the huge 25 gallon tank lol. So we went to go fill it up and then I had to haul it back up this hill, in the sand. It was rough let me tell ya, and everyone just laughed and took pictures of me. It was pretty funny. But I eventually made it. Then we took down this lady's summer ger and it was crazy cool. They take down their gers in a very orderly fashion which just made my OCD hit nirvana. Oh it was so smooth and planned out and it was great. So we took down her summer ger and packed it up for her and covered it with a tarp and that was that. Then she had a broken fence she wanted us to fix. But they only gave us a metal spike for digging. So we had to break up the dirt with this metal spike and then hand dig the post hole. It was gnarly. Plus the post hole had to be shoulder height deep. So we pretty much are pioneers out here. But I loved it. I loved doing hard work and actually having to do something difficult. I really felt like an actual missionary. I'm out here, in the middle of freaking no where in Mongolia, in a field, taking down this ladys home, playing with her little 3 year old son, and laughing and loving these people. It's an amazing feeling. Being a missionary is just the best. Even if we aren't really teaching the gospel, service is my favorite. I've been reading a lot of Jesus the Christ and it hit me how much Christ served compared to teach. He served everyone, and only taught a relatively few amount of times. So it really does prove how service is what Christ would do if He were here. Then after the ger and fence building we met up and had a cinco de mayo party with some other elders. It was awesome, I got some fajitas and loved life.

Sunday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMI!!!!!!! So we had church which was awesome! We had someone bring a friend to church who wants the lessons and we had someone else bring another friend so we have two possible people to teach! It's awesome! I could really feel the prayers of you guys this week. Then we went back to the apartment and I read the Book of Mormon and D&C and I came across D&C 3:4. It really hit me. I'll let you all read that one and think about it. But its a cool scripture.

Monday: Okay so now the real adventure begins. We woke up and Pickering and Teasedale said they needed some help out where they are. They are in this villiage out 2 hours away from the city. So we hopped on a bus and rode way out into the country side and I found true Mongolia. The bus ride was on a dirt road and it's horrid, but I feel like I'm in the movie Walter Mitty. I'm living the adventure, gosh I love it. There are yaks that walk around town and we just cruise around hi fiving all the little kids and petting the yaks and talking to everyone. It really feels like an actual mission now. I love it. So we taught an FHE lesson at the church and like 15 kids came who are around Sami and Avas age. So we played some card games with them and they were so funny! We were talking and laughing and I loved it because I could converse with them. Then they asked (as they always do) if I had a girlfriend so I said "Yup! I do! and I also have pictures on the computer." So they freaked out and asked to see. So I showed them pictures of Kylie and I and then of the family too. And they were so in love with these pictures. They kept asking questions and it was just a really fun experience. The kids here are my favorite. They are so adorable. Then we went and got some dinner and ran into more kids who we just talked to and hi fived and chatted with some random people on the road and its the best. Gosh I love this place. I hope I get sent out here tot his village. Its possible for me to. It was awesome.

So today we are still out in the village and we are going to have a grand day. We are going to the river and we made sandwiches and we are gonna find some yaks and goats and horses and its going to be freaking awesome.

The internet is sketch in this village so tomorrow when I'm back in the city I'll send some pictures. But I love it out here. It's my favorite thing mom. I'm so glad I came on this mission.

Also I won't be calling on Sunday for Mothers Day. We have to buy our internet time and we don't want to break the rules and spend money on Sunday, plus a lot of the internet places are closed. I will call on my P-day which will be Monday night to you. About the same time as this email. Can't wait to talk to you all!

Thanks for all the prayers everyone! I love you all so much!

Love,
Austin

Hauling water. Of course I got the 25 gallon barrel

Taking down the ger

Inside the ger

The lady's yard

The neighborhood where we were taking down the ger

The village of Nalaikh

Nalaikh

Mongolian wild horses

Just a cow in someones yard

Here is your yak Sami and Ava

More wild horses

We walked through this village that had probably 50 people living in it. It was nuts. Just way back in the mountains. We went hiking in the trees beyond the city.

This is the whole village

Hiking around in the middle of nowhere. Teasedale was in the tree and snapped this photo. We went hiking way out in the middle of nowhere. We had a taxi take us to this village and then we walked into the mountains and found this river. I loved it so much.