3rd Transfer...

Hey Mom,

This week was pretty good, kinda interesting, but as a whole a pretty good week. Nothing really new in Mongolia. We are all just kinda dying because of the monotony haha, so school starting up next month will be awesome. That will definitely help the days pass faster. Due to the monotony me and some other missionaries have gone off soda just for fun. They don't have Dr. Pepper out here so really it's not even a loss. The work was pretty slow this week. My third transfer here ends on Thursday which is crazy. That last 6 weeks flew by super super quick. I will be changing areas which is kinda sad, I really like American Denj, it's a great ward and the work is good. But I'll be going with my good friend Elder Rand in the Sukhbaatar ward. It will be really nice. But here's my week:

Monday: So I dont normally tell about my P-days, but this one was awesome. We got together with some other people and went on this hike up through these forests. We walked past these ger's way out in the middle of no where and the people were so shocked to see white people. It was super cool. So we talked with some people for a second, then just chose a peak to get to and started climbing. We made it to the top and then we decided to go to the forest, and we found some wild strawberries that tasted so so so good. So we fooled around the mountain for a bit, and that was it. It was a much needed day. 

Tuesday: So because of some weird transfer stuff, Garcia was back in the city and he needed to stick with some missionaries while his companion got to him. So he hung out with us which was super fun. We met with Batbileg and interviewed him and he will be baptized this Saturday! It's super cool, he wanted Garcia to do the actual baptizing. It will be a really fun experience to see him there. Then we taught this new investigator who came to church last week, he knows a ton about the Bible which is kind of intimidating. But we taught him, and it was an awesome lesson. We asked him to pray at the end of the lesson and afterwards his eyes were wet (teary) so he definitely felt it. It was a super cool thing to see. 

Wednesday: Not much happened in the morning. But we were asked by Elder Stoney and Rand (my new comp) to help them at a lesson. We met with Batsaagans family, my MTC teacher. It was awesome. His family is such a great group of people. So it was fun to chat with them and eat some food and play some games. It was a really good time. 

Thursday: So we really did nothing today. We were going to meet with a member of the bishopric but he said he got busy, so that didn't happen. So I got ready to go on my split with the Zone Leader (elder Stoney) and that was really it. Stoney and I just met up and made some food and chatted and then went to bed.

Friday: Because Stoney is leaving this Friday he needed to get some last minute things. So we went around the city and got some souvenirs and we actually ran into some Americans which was way crazy. It's nice to talk to people from back home. Then we got some lunch at this burger place and it was actually super good. The chef came out to talk to us and he said, in english, "oh hey missionaries! what do you want?? I'll bring it right to you, just go sit down and enjoy the day" turns out he's a member, but he's less active. But he's super cool, hes a DJ and a chef, so he has all these 90 rap and hip hop records on the wall of the restaurant, so we talked a bit about those haha. Turns out he also served his mission in Las Vegas which is nuts. But he's cool, he asked where the closest church was so maybe he will turn up there. Also, our hot water finally came back.  That was a long few months  I took a super long shower that night.  

Saturday:Today we really didn't do much either. We had district meeting and it was super fun. We told stories in Mongolian to practice our language and it was pretty funny. Then we just got some food and the sisters called us saying that we need to take a picture with Stoney because it's his last district meeting so our whole district went back to the church for that. And we ended up just chatting the rest of the night until we all needed to go back to our apartments. It was nice, just a really relaxing time. 

Sunday: Church was great this week. Odsuren (the bible guy we taught) showed up and he brought a friend and he read the Book of Mormon during the sacrament. He's so freaking awesome. I feel like he already knows this is true, he's a super cool guy. I'm sad to be leaving him. And earlier this week I called that girl I met on the bus and she showed up to church and she was taking notes during class and she asked tons of questions. The sisters will meet with her just because its easier, but she rocks too. I don't know, I'm really sad to leave this area. The work is good and the people are so nice and helpful and I feel like I'm just starting to really help out the ward. 

So there's my week! It was pretty empty it seemed like, but there was a lot of good which came from it. Just gotta look at the big picture and not get hung up over the little details. 

Love you all so much, 

Austin

The Buddhists build these rock things at the tops of peaks.  So you bring a rock up the mountain to add to it. 

 This is where we went hiking. It was so pretty.  The little kids just run around the gers and in the grass.  It's literally paradise. 

 Elders Stoney and Rand.  

 The view from the top of the peak. 

 District meeting.  The last one with Elder Stoney. 

See the ger in the video? The dog was their's.  We walked the dog back to them.  The dog was so nice.

The view from the top

Oh man, it was so steep haha.  But I hit my second wind after this.