Mountain Man...

December 10, 2018

Mountain Man...

Dear Family,

This week was pretty good. Mainly because I bought my new work boots lol. Well not really, but that was a nice part of the week. They have fur on the outside and give me an inch and a half height boost which is pretty nice. Honestly they are the best Christmas present ever. I also bought a new fur hat. It's huge so when I wear it with my fur boots everyone thinks I just got back from Siberia haha. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY EASTON! Miss ya man, enjoy being 17, it goes real quick. Other news, its been freaking cold lately. Last week there were a few days that hovered around -20 F. Honestly can't really even describe that cold. It just hurts and is cold. But other than that, not much else has happened this week. We tried to meet with everyone, but life got in the way and between emergencies and family matters they weren't able to meet with us. It was kinda a bummer because we only had one appointment this week, but some other cool stuff did happen. This week is also transfers and I am staying in Sukhbaatar with Teasdale and we are getting put in a trio with Elder Ponton which should be super fun.

So we met with this girl, she goes by Cici, and her sister Maya. A while ago Cici's aunt, who is a member, asked us to give Cici a blessing. She had some huge migraines and something really hurting in her head for a long time. We gave her a blessing and then went our ways. Then last week at church we saw her aunt and she said "Cici is completely healed, and she wants to meet with you and take the lessons." That was honestly really crazy to hear. So we met with her this week and she really paid attention to the lesson and asked a lot of good questions. She is 18 and her sister is 10 and they both want to join the church. It was a super cool experience to see them both wanting to hear what we teach because they saw what God can do for them. It was pretty sweet.

When I went to buy my boots I met the coolest guy in my life. He is literally the Mongolian Ron Swanson. We were waiting for a bus and I saw that he was wearing a lot of fur and had a mink hat (super super super expensive fur) and some fur boots and a deel that was made from sheep wool on the inside and more mink fur trim. He was about 70 years old and looked like the toughest dude in the town. Teasdale asked him about his deel and hat and boots and he responds with "My deel is mink trim. I made my hat myself. I trapped some mink back in my youth and turned them into my hat. For my boots, I killed a bear. Took it, ate well for a while, and turned him into my shoes." If you couldn't already picture, my jaw was dropped and I was asking this guy to teach me everything he knows. He said he grew up Khentii province which is gorgeous. It's all mountainous and full of green forests. He told us how the city just sucks compared to Khentii. So I got his number and he said to call him if we ever want to see "real Mongolia." Not gonna lie, I've been very tempted lately.

Also this week, I helped draft the English version of a company's new regulation. The company is the largest oil company in the country, and a member here works for them. She found us and asked us to help translate the regulation from Mongolian to English. So we tried our best and got it all worked out. But if there is ever a lawsuit because the English and Mongolian don't match up exactly, it's on my head lol.

There was also a baptism in my district. It was for the sisters and the investigator wanted me to baptize her which was pretty cool. It was a good experience.

Another cool thing that happened was after church. So the same lady who is Cici's aunt has a friend at her work who she was talking to. And the lady's sister is really sick so she asked if we could give her a blessing. We went to their house and started talking to the lady. She lived in Korea for 10 years and went to a Christian church out there. So she knows a lot about God and Christ. We gave her sister a blessing and then talked more with her. It blew me away. Very few times in my life have I ever met a person with as much faith as this lady. I can't really describe it, but it was just a crazy cool meeting with her. She really blew me away.

Finally, teaching this week was super fun. For the last half of class my students wanted to have us teach them some Christmas music. So Ogden and I were standing up and singing our hearts out for these people and they were laughing so hard. It was hilarious.

But yeah, that is my week, pretty fun one. Perry is headed out to Khovd which is literally as far away as you can get. He is pretty stoked for it. Thanks for everything everyone. Love all you guys. Enjoy the mountains and lakes for me, I would give anything to be sitting up in the pine trees and cold air.

Love,

Austin

This is why everyone calls me Siberian.

My Christmas present. Be jealous Dad. They are legit dog fur. The word for dog and coyote in Mongolian is the same, but I'm pretty sure it's dog. And before you say anything, the dog lived it's life. He served its purpose. Now it's keeping my feet warm.

So this is a fake Canada Goose coat. The white part should be a map of Canada, but because it's made in China, they put their own map of China on there.