It's Winter, Send Help..

Yup, so winter is here. I am going to die. 

But this week was pretty good. We didn't meet with as many people as previous weeks, but it was still really productive. We had one of our investigators get baptized. Because of school, everyone's schedules got changed, so it's kinda tough to work around them, but it's still possible. The public schools here are super different than America, sometimes they have lessons in the evenings so the kids won't go to school until then. It's pretty strange, they don't do the traditional American 8-2 school day. In other news, everyone thinks I'm Russian still. I'll tell you more about this later in the email, a super funny thing happened because of it on the bus, but I'll just say that the old people here are super racist. But here is my week:

Monday (P-Day): We decided to go hiking and enjoy summer while it was still sort of around. I actually saw this huge deer run in front of me. But it was hauling so I couldn't get a picture. There were also these ant hills as tall as me. If you don't believe me check the picture. It was nasty. If you get real quiet, you can hear all the ants walking around. I swear I'm on another planet. But we hiked up this mountain, only to find some super fancy summer homes. So we swung on the playground swings they had there haha, then we ran down the mountain and went back to our apartment. It was a pretty fun day, it was nice to get out and enjoy the mountains. Thats something I miss from back home. Nothing like the Rockies or Sierras.

Tuesday: So we got up and went straight to Huslenzaya's house. She’s the 9 year old girl that is getting baptized with her cousin. We taught her the rest of the lessons so she could be interviewed for baptism. She is a super solid girl. Then later that day we met with Myadag. She is 17 and getting baptized on the 15th (this Saturday). She is a super cool girl. Before she took any of the lessons she prayed to know if God is there, and she said she felt something. When she told us this I was blown away, I don't know what other 17 year old would do that. But she is great. Honestly just a golden investigator.  Then we had to go shopping, and we decided to pass through Gandan. It's the largest monastery here, it was really cool. We didn't go inside, but we walked around the grounds. Really cool stuff. Buddhism is a very interesting religion. Oh and before I forget, we were walking back to the bus stop with Myadag after our lesson with her, and this drunk guy starts talking to me, normally I just ignore them, but I've realized that talking to them is the most fun thing ever. He was a nice drunk. But he asked about Vegas and where I was from. And then all these people at the bus stop started yelling at him saying "leave the Jesus people alone! they are good people!" and then they grabbed him and drug him back to his house. He must have been the resident drunk because everyone knew his name haha. Also it rained so much. This is advanced rain though. It is literally 33 degrees Fahrenheit. I don't know how it works, but it is so freaking cold. And it pours buckets. 

Wednesday:  So we didn't have anything until the night time, we met with Myadag again. We finished teaching her the lessons, and then she was interviewed for baptism. And she passed!! So excited for her, she was super happy and glad that she could be baptized. She just kept wanting to meet with us as much as possible so she could get baptized soon. But yeah, so she will be baptized this Saturday, we are meeting with her again this week to go over some last things. It's gonna be good. Right after that Huslenzaya had her baptismal interview. She also passed. Her mom was so happy for her, and it was a very cool thing to see that. Her mom doesn't come to church, but now because of her daughter, she is coming again. However, on the bus ride home things got interesting. So people always think I'm Russian. I have no idea why. Must be the blonde hair. But we sat down, Cox and I, and started talking to each other like normal humans. And then these two old people (about 60 ish years old) started yelling at us and the guy said "shut up you dogs (the worst insult you could ever call someone here in mongolia) you're a stupid Russian. I hate Russians." in mongolian. But I said in my head “ No, I'm not letting racism win today." So we kept talking and I told him “ I'm not Russian dude, I'm American!" and they kept saying "shut up! do not speak english! stop it!" and this guy was actually getting pretty fired up over the whole thing which just made the whole situation that much funnier. Eventually people told him to shut up and he told them to back off. And so everyone except us and the old people and 2 others got off the bus because of him. But we stayed on to see what would happen, plus we were getting off on the next stop. This guy got so mad and started really threatening us and then his wife goes "oh don't do that, that's too extreme. That's too much" haha. So maybe she had half a brain in her head. But yeah, the racist old people here crack me up. He yelled at us until we got off the bus, all because he thought I was Russian. 

Thursday: After being harassed by my mom and the AP's, I decided to make cinnamon rolls. So I woke up early and made them, by hand without a mixer, and they turned out so good. They tasted awesome, not as good as moms though. American products make a huge difference haha, but they were still amazing. We had our district meeting and ate the cinnamon rolls. Then we got ready for our baptism this night. Huslenzaya was baptized and it was a good experience. Her mom was crying and just so happy for her daughter, it was really touching to see. Afterwards, she came out of the font and into the hall and she hi fived me and had a huge smile on her face. She was going to have me baptized her, but she wanted to be baptized by the same person as her cousin, so that guy did both baptisms. But she had a great time. It was a really great thing to see. Afterwards they had some snacks and let me tell ya, Mongolians know how to celebrate. They had so much cake and desserts. I still don't know why people in America don't go this hard for celebrations. 

Friday: So we did have one lesson planned for today, but we called him to check where he lived (we knew the area but not the specifics) and he never answered, so we waited for a while and ate at a pretty questionable little food place (they are called tea places if you translate them, but they serve all the

same food: buuz, huusher, prishki (my favorite) and stuff like that for super super cheap) After a while we just went back to our apartment. We could never get ahold of him, we still can't actually, and he didn't come to church. It's like his phone is dead because the calls won't go through. Hopefully he comes next week and we can figure everything out. But we started to clean our apartment, and then Pickering said they need us to come to a lesson with them. We headed over there and found that the person cancelled on us, so we just got some dinner with them and called it a night. 

Saturday: We met with Oiyunanden in the evening. She is Chuka's granddaughter. When we met with her she was way more open and talkative to us which is a good sign. But she is still very shy. We taught a super short lesson, and then as we were leaving I asked if she is coming to church on Sunday and she said that she would and she was smiling (I've never seen her smile before) and actually answered me. So things are looking up for her. 

Sunday: Church was good. We had Oiyunanden show up! It looked like she made some good friends in the ward and she seems to really like church which made me super happy. Myadag was also there and we announced her baptism and everyone after sacrament meeting talked to her and congratulated her for making the choice to be baptized. It was cool. Our other investigators all got busy with either work and beginning of school stuff so they couldn't make it. But we called them and set up times to meet with nearly all of them. After church we helped this old lady in the ward move some of her furniture. She got a new apartment, just right above her current one. Then we had dinner with a senior couple in the mission. That food was so dope. Then we had a fireside about the translation of the Book of Mormon into Mongolian. I ran into that lady I met in the MTC. She actually helped translate it which is super cool. Pretty busy day actually, but it was good.

So there's my week! This next week is going to be super busy too, so we are pretty stoked. I also read this quote the other day from a prophet that I found very interesting. It essentially said that as children of Deity, we have, inside us all, germs of Godliness. We have seeds of His attributes and characteristics. Inside us all, we have the beginnings of God like mercy and patience, and love and charity. To become perfected, all we have to do is cultivate and grow those germs. I don't know why this hit me so much, but it was a very very cool thing to read. When we have those times where we should express that God like love and patience, if we do, we will grow into becoming more like Him. All we have to do is follow those instincts inside us all, and stay in tune with the Holy Ghost and we will eventually become perfected. I did a horrible job of explaining the thoughts in my head, but still pretty cool. 

Love you all so much,

Austin

On our P-day hike

 The ant hills.  It's frightening. 

 The summer homes we found on our hike.

 Chilling at the church. 

 I am freezing to death right here. So freaking cold. I forgot my coat.  Stupid mistake. 

 I was going to baptize Huslenzaya, but then she wanted the same missionary that was baptizing her cousin to do it.  That's why I'm in my white clothes. 

 Huslenzaya's baptism

Huslenzaya and her cousin. 

Gandan Monastery

At Gandan the monastery. 

Running down the hill from our hike.