9 Months and Shots...

October 29, 2018

9 Months and Shots...

This week was pretty decent. It wasn't too adventurous, we had zone conference and a meeting with the general young mens president which was pretty sweet. And then in between we just met some people and did the regular stuff. I'm already missing summer, the winter and the concrete jungle of this city is kinda getting to me. Too many people, and too cramped. But it's alright I guess. This week though, I did eat some horse meat which was pretty interesting, if you would have told me it was beef I would have believed you. Tastes exactly the same to me. Other than that, we just did the usual, taught some really good lessons, this week. It's also the end of this transfer too, and its pretty nuts, this last 6 weeks has really gone quick. Next transfer I'm still with Perry finishing his training, but Rand is getting a new companion (his current comp is becoming AP). So Teasdale is coming to the ward with us which will be so fun. Teasdale is one of my best pals out here, so I am stoked. Here's my week though:

Wednesday: Hit 9 months this day which was really weird. It felt just like another regular day. I don't know, time is just going really quick. Perry and Sweetwood's comp teach together in the mornings so Sweetwood and I were together for a bit in the morning. So we were walking around the city, and I felt like I should talk to this guy. So I walk over to him and just say hi (really awkwardly, it was so weird) and he just says "hey what's up? do you know where this place is?" and so I say yes and he's like "thanks man" and just bolts haha. Then I got with Ponton and we headed to the school to teach. And the class was actually really good, they paid attention and engaged a lot which was helpful. Afterwards we went to the BZ to switch back and ran into Teasdale who was in the city for Zone Conference. Then we got with Rand and Lhagwaa and went to this members house who we meet with every week (sheep head dude). Got fed horse meat, and I just couldn't stop smiling while I was eating because I was thinking of dad always quoting that line from O Brother Where Art Thou about the horse meat turning. After dinner we played this board game with their family called Saboteur and it was really fun.

Thursday: We had Zone Conference today which was like 6 hours long. Pretty good, but still a really long time to sit and listen. Although President Harper gave some cool advice on how to improve personal prayers that I really liked. He told us to just sit and meditate about the day, and try and see what God wants for us, then pray to understand God's will, and ask for the things that He wants to give us or help us with. Afterwards we got some flu shots which were crazy. They are way different that the American Shot. I think there is more fluid in them or something because everyone's arm was so sore after. So then we talked to some Elders apartment who said they needed us to help them with a lesson because they were meeting with a lady, so we went to help them. And this lady never answered her phone, and we tried finding her address but we are like 85% sure its a fake address. So we just walked around, it was also so flipping cold that night. It snowed and the snow blew around and it felt like the tundra. Eventually we agreed that we couldn't find the address and because she wasn't answering the calls she didn't want to meet with us, so we just stopped and got some food then Perry and I went back to our apartment.

Friday: So back to that flu shot. It was out to kill me I swear. I woke up and felt like I had the black plague or something, probably Ebola levels of sickness. So I just got up and stayed awake for a while just chilling and thinking, which was nice, I did need a break to just sit and think. Eventually I fell back asleep and woke up in the morning just fine like nothing ever happened. It was weird. But I'm not sick so that's good. Ponton came over and we got together to go teach our English class. It went okay. It was pretty hard to teach because the students really didn't want to be there or want to learn. But it still went decently well, the second class was much better than the first. After English I got with Jesperson because of Perry's english class he teaches at night. So him and I got some dinner with Cox and Teasdale (they were together because Teasdale was staying with them for the young mens president meeting). Then we played some cards and talked and it was super nice. I really needed that this night. It was really fun. And during this time, Lhagwaa and Teasdales companion (crazy english splits again) taught this family who is all interested in the church! And they said it went very well. So that was awesome, I'm super excited to see that people really want to learn about the gospel, especially as a family. There is something really cool about teaching families. From teaching Galtorgil and his wife, its really awesome to see the love they have for each other and their family grow through the gospel. It's just a very cool perspective I'm extremely grateful to see and understand.

Saturday: The general young men's President came to Mongolia and had a meeting just with the missionaries that was super super cool. And there was a general authority 70 there too (Elder Homer) and it was a really interesting meeting. There wasn't really a topic of discussion, just a lot about life and about how the gospel integrates with life. Elder Owens (young mens president) said something I really liked though. He said "I have a wife, kids, and grandkids. And that's all it's about. Life is all about finding someone who you love, and can live the gospel with, and then having a beautiful family with." It was really cool, and it's super true. That's all life really is about. Just a really cool thing to hear. And it really made me grateful for my own family. Later that night Perry and I went to teach Chuka and her granddaughter Oiyunanden. The lesson went super well, she was super engaged and would actually look at me and stuff. And she said goodbye to us too which she has never done. So there is progress being there, just gotta take it all in strides.

Sunday: At church there was a ton of people. Myadag got a calling in the young women's as a teacher. And Oiyunanden and her brother came with Chuka to church. And the investigator family came too. So it was a super great week at church. After church we set up a lot of appointments this week and made some pizza. It was a really relaxing end of the day which was really nice. We had Cox and Lambert come over and we played some games and it was super fun. Nights like these really keep us going around here.

Monday: Perry taught again with Sweetwood's comp, but Sweetwood teaches too. So I was with Lhagwaa. We got bored and decided to make some breakfast burritos and man they were awesome. Afterwards we just studied, I studied Mongolian and he studied English. Then when Perry got back with us, we met up with Cox and Lambert and went shopping for our Halloween dinner which took us all over the city haha. Then we met Myadag at the church and taught her a new member lesson. Honestly it was probably the best lesson I've been in. Lhagwaa took it away and he is one heck of a teacher, and it was awesome. Myadag is trying to learn english and so Lhagwaa said that we could give her a blessing if she would like one, so she said yes. And Lhagwaa gave her a super cool blessing to learn english well and do good in school and stay strong in the gospel. It was a really cool experience. Then we taught her some english and it went really really well. Then we headed to our apartment (lambert and cox tagged along too) and she wanted to walk with us (she lives right next to us). So we talked with her for a while more which was super fun, then when we got to our place, we bought some ice cream and made a shake. Cox is determined to gain some weight back to be the poster child for why we need gyms, and body weight workouts don't work. So he begs me to make shakes to pump him full of sugar lol.Pretty good day.

And that's my week. Not too crazy.

Love you all,

Austin