Mongolian Summer...

This week was another good one. It went by pretty fast, things are going good here. There's a ton of tourists here now and it's really strange seeing all these white people. Seeing hair that isn't black is honestly weird now, I feel like those Asian tourists that come to America and are in awe a little bit by the people's hair. Every time I see a foreigner it throws me through a loop for a bit, it's kinda weird  But yeah it's all good. Last week we watched the world championship U18 3x3 basketball. They were holding it in Mongolia for some reason. We watched America play, and they beat Russia. It was awesome. All the Mongolians were losing their minds for Russia and going wild when they got the ball. And we did the same for America, but people got kinda mad at us for whatever reason. So it was awesome when America won against Russia and then Mongolia, and then went to win gold. We were pretty stoked to see America win. Also school is officially finished, which means people have left to the countryside, so our work is slowing down. It's all good though, we still have a few people to meet with. 

We had our zone conference this week about our new phones. President Harper pulled in everyone from the whole mission to the city to go over phones and stuff. It was President Harpers last zone conference, it's going to be weird without him. Him and Sister Harper have been awesome. But because they pulled all the missionaries in, our buds from the countryside wanted to play some ping pong with us. So they bought some stuff and we all met at the church and made some hand made paddles. It was pretty funny looking, we were just grinding away on some paddles. It was fun having the group back though. 

This week we met with Enhjin and finished her new member lessons. At the end she asked to share a story with us, so we said of course and she had a cool experience with prayer and church in general. It kinda hit me when she said it so I wanna share it with all you. So she started by telling about her life before she found the church. She said a month before she came to the church for the first time she had all her friends leave her and kinda turn their backs to her. She was going through tough times at school with all her friends picking on her and teasing her now. She didn't really want to be anywhere, definitely not at school or even at home. She felt like she had no where to go, everywhere she went she felt out of place. She came to church one with her relatives and all of the sudden all these people started being super nice to her and going out of their way to talk to her and get to know her. She was blown away by the kindess of people at church, and she said she genuinely felt love from these members. And that is what helped her get the courage to come to church despite coming alone. At the end of describing all this she said she felt God gave her this church on purpose. She said she wouldn't know how to get through life without prayer or the scriptures. It just really hit me. A 17 year old girl in the middle of Mongolia is being watched out for by God. And she treasured what this gospel has to offer. I think sometimes we take for granted things like prayer, or knowing what God is like. Those are super powerful things. I butchered the story but it was awesome. It just made me more aware of Gods help in our lives. It's real.

Also this week the power went out all day on Saturday. So Yorke and I were up in the dark trying to do stuff. Man it was rough. I had to read by a candle, carry one with me to see. I always thought the medieval ages would be cool to live in but the lighting would probably kinda suck, made me rethink my decision. 

So we got a new investigator this week. His name is Enhee. He speaks the best English I have ever heard here. I honestly believe he knows more words than me, it's pretty cool. So we teach him in English. He met with this other set of sisters before us, once we found out where he lives (our area) we met with him. When we met I asked if he had any questions about the other lesson the sisters taught and he said "yes, and would it be better for me to be straight forward and direct or more polite?" So I started getting excited, finally some questions to answer, most Mongolians don't ask questions when we teach. We had him just ask directly and his questions were sweet. They were super thoughtful and heartfelt. He asked why we even need a Book of Mormon because it seems like it's just a story, so what does it even do for us. He asked us do we ever feel awkward or left out because of what we can't do (word of wisdom stuff). It was the coolest thing to be able to share my thoughts and opinions and experiences with him. It was probably the most I've ever felt like a missionary my whole mission. He seemed very content with out answers and was super willing to give this all a try to see if it's true or not. His heart is very behind his reasons for going to church. The funny thing is, he said what started his interest in Christianity was seeing that the American President puts his hand on the bible when he is sworn in. So he thought it must be an important and worthwhile book. Kinda funny. Thanks Trump for giving us people to teach. 

And that was about it. We met some cool Americans at church on Sunday. There was a guy visiting his old mission in Russia who took the Trans Siberian railway to here. And a young couple who are traveling for the summer around Mongolia. It was sweet, talking to Americans is really interesting. They started asking about my mission and were blown away with all our restrictions and how different it is. Even the returned Russian missionary said Mongolia is way different than Russia. Pretty cool to be in such a unique place. I really love it here. I'm afraid leaving is going to be hard. 

Love you guys, 

Austin

This was right outside my apartment.  This guy was preparing his goat to cook. It's called khorkhog.  They cut the goat open, clean it out, stuff it with vegetables and the organs that they want to eat and stitch it back up.  They put it in a metal milk can with some water and place it over a fire.