Met a Shaman...

Hey Mom, 

So this week was good. We didn't do a whole lot because transfers sorta took up the whole week, between packing and everything. But it was a fun week. It's just so fetching hot I am literally melting. Everyone is dying out hear from the heat, I honestly don't know how the people in South America do it. But here's my week:

Tuesday: So we woke up, and we got a text from Batbeleg saying how he is going to be baptized in American Denj! Pretty cool, we don't know why he was going to the other ward for that one week, but he said he is coming to American Denj for sure. So that was super super nice. And then we were talking about how we could find more things to do, and I felt like I should call the kid again that came to church 2 weeks ago. His phone normally never connects to us, so we can never get a hold of him, but when I called him the call actually went through for the first time which was sweet. So I asked if he was going to come to church and he was super excited and he's like "yeah yeah yeah of course!" So it was cool, the work is picking up again thankfully. It's a huge blessing.  

Wednesday: Not much happened today. We just woke up and took care of some stuff we needed to do, like get food and everything. We were at the church and ran into the group of new missionaries. It's weird seeing the new people, the whole status quo of the mission changes when a new group comes in. But they are solid guys, so it'll be fun. They all have church visas though, so they will all be in the country side most their missions. Then we picked up some Book of Mormons to give out to people on Sunday and that was really it. We went back to the apartment so that Garcia could finish packing. He got sent out to the little village we went to a couple times. Lucky guy. Then later that night, our friend Okamoto (an Elder who left on Friday) called us for one last late night KFC run. So we did that and it was super fun. 

Thursday: We went to the church to meet up with Garcias new companion Elder Pickering (my old teaching companion at the University). But literally every elder in the mission was there haha, so we all got some breakfast at this little mimic american diner. There was literally 16 of us, so when you get 16 white guys, walking down the street in white shirts and ties everyone thinks some weird things. So we got some interesting stares. But it was fun. Then we met up with my new companion Elder Lambert at the Department Store and we switched right there. my new companion is good.  He's a crazy hard worker.  Which is super nice.  He is from North Idaho, like way North. He has been out as long as Garcia has been. Then for a while, Lambert and I moved all his stuff over to our apartment. And in the evening, Scrimsher and Lambert (they used to be companions) had a lesson to do that they needed to go to together, so I was with Scrimsher's Trainee for most the evening. We went to the departing missionary thing and saw Okamoto again which was fun. Then we headed to get some Mongolian food, and this guy legit goes "dang this food is amazing." Poor guy. Just wait, that food will be so bland in about 2 days. But yeah, then we just went to our apartment

Friday: We woke up to a text from another missionary in the neighboring area saying that he needs to shower at our apartment. But we still have no hot water, but he still came anyway. Well we got played good, because he brought 2 other mongolian missionaries who leave to the countryside on Monday, and they brought buuz. And let me tell you, buuz are no good. They are so greasy and oily and they have intestine meat in them. So yeah, we had those for breakfast with them. Then we just hungout for a little bit with the mongolians. It was pretty fun. Then I got my hair cut again, and man. That lady was crazy, she legit cut my hair in 90 seconds. It was terrifying. Then after that we went to the Church to get a members list, so we can find people to call and reactivate and stuff. Then we didn't have anything else to do, so I took out some money to buy a mongolian shirt for the holiday next week. The holiday is called Madam.  It's the festival of manly sports.  It's a national holiday, it's super cool.  They have wrestling and archery and horse racing. So we will all go to the stadium to watch them. So I bought that at the black market, then we went to go look at the buddhist and shaman stuff they sell there. That was crazy. In the shaman area, these old ladies sell these eagle legs with the talons and everything still intact, and you can buy dead porcupine, or wolf pelts, and other crazy animal parts. It's for the shaman rituals, it's pretty creepy not gonna lie. I picked up an eagle part and got some super weird vibes from it.  I can't really explain it, but yeah, you gotta stay away from those. You get some real strange and creepy feelings from these people. But I did buy a dope Buddhist bracelet from the shaman lady. So if our work suddenly disappears we all know why haha. But yeah, shamans are crazy. Some really gnarly stuff has happened with them and other people, so we have to stay clear of them. It's super cool, but ridiculously strange. I tried to get a picture of the eagle legs and porcupine stuff to show you, but the lady yelled at me that I couldn't take a picture and she acted really strange about me asking to take a picture. It was weird. That really was the whole day

Saturday: It was an elders birthday, so he invited us and alot of other elders to go to lunch with him at an american style mongolian barbecue place. So that was super fun. We got there around 11 and didnt leave until like 3. It was all you can eat, so we definitely took advantage of that. But it was super fun. Then we spent the rest of the day with all those elders, there was a baptism for someone at 6 so we just killed those 3 hours with them. It was pretty fun. Then we went to the baptism and ran into Garcia and Pickering which was neat. 

Sunday: Went to church. Church is good. We also did the long distance branch again which actually went well this time. The equipment and program is super sketch so sometimes it doesn't work at all. But it did this time which was great. At church this american guy came and he sat next to me. He said he was in the Gobi with some friends riding the camels around the desert for a week. It sounded so freaking cool. He showed me some pictures and yeah, we gotta go back there. It is amazing. The sand dunes are awesome. And Batbeleg came to church this week again. I swear this kid amazes me every time I see him. He went out and bought a nice button down shirt, church pants, and even nice church shoes. This kid is so awesome. And in the classes he would always answer the questions, and give insights and say every prayer. I swear, I haven't seen him in 2 weeks, and he's already a full on pillar of the church. He's a good guy. He asked when we his going to be baptized (seriously golden investigator) and his baptism is on the 14th of July. That will be super good. Also we ran into our PI (potential investigator) from 2 weeks ago at church. He's a funny kid. He doesn't live in our ward though, so we will pass him off to the other elders, but he really wants us to teach him, so we are going to teach him this week and then pass him off. Then after church we went home and went through our member list to find people to call, like part member families and people over the age of 9 who aren't baptized. So we should have lots of work. 

But yeah, that's my week, it was pretty good. Love you all so much!

Love,

Austin

The Mongolian Elders, and my new companion, that came to use our shower and brought us the buuz, Pronounced boads.

 The Buddhist bracelet I bought from the Shaman lady.

Legit Mongolian Script.  It's pretty cool the way they write this stuff. 

 Elder Okamoto before he went home.  He was a fun guy. 

 Buddhist stuff at the Black Market. 

My Mongolian shirt for the festival.  Plus my new haircut.