Found Mongolia...

This week went really good for me, there was enough stuff to keep us busy which we lucked out with. Things are still sorta slow right now, we aren't having much luck with investigators are potential investors. We actually called over 20 people on Sunday and only 2 were interested in meeting, hopefully things change though. So it was great to be able to have some things to do this week. There was a funny story from last p day I wanna tell you guys about. So we went hiking and here there are no trails. So we went back to the forest and hiking a good few miles deep into the woods. We climbed this hill and when we were coming down we ran into a dude and his wife. I'm telling you we were super far away from anything right now. 

The closest village, where I am assuming they lived, was 4 miles away. So it was nuts to see them out there. The guy saw me and didn't even question it, he just said "hey come here." So I walked over to him and he said "look at this" and he pulled out a bucket of blue berries he was picking. He gave me some and showed me where the bushes are and what they look like. So me and this guy picked some berries for a little bit. It was pretty cool, plus these blueberries tasted really sweet. They weren't the bitter kind like in America, these ones tasted really really good. It was hilarious though running into this dude out there. 

In the beginning of the week we went out to help with the ger project. This was probably the highlight of the week. The family we were in charge of lived super deep in a ger district. It looked super pretty, about like the countryside they all said. We helped them take down their ger and level out the ground for the insulated foundation. The family was super kind to us and really welcomed us in and treated us like we were Mongolian. They were pretty surprised when they found out I spoke Mongolian too. When their sons were doing their work on the ger the mom had me sit down and chat with her for a while about Mongolia and why I'm here. It was really fun. While we were chatting some of the neighbors heard and hopped over the fence and helped us out with the ger. It was such a Mongolian thing to do. They are always trying to help out each other when they can. I kept taking with the lady and she introduced me to her husband. Her husband is crippled and has to be in a wheelchair, so he just sat out by us and would mumble some commands at his son's telling them how to build the ger the right way. It started raining pretty hard core on us, so it slowed down the work, but we finished it all and got all the new reflective barrier put up. It was a fun time. The family was really cool and they were fun to talk to and interact with. We spent a good 5 hours with them doing it all. I'm really glad I was able to do this. Every now and again you find little glimpses of what Mongolia really is, and this whole experience with this family was that. They were very traditional and it was awesome to see. I really felt like I found real Mongolia. This week on Tuesday we are going to help another family as well.

The day after the ger project I felt like it rained a months worth of water in a day. There was a ton of flooding going on, and all the under ground parking garages flooded. We went up into the ger district to pick up some ties a member had made for us, and it was super muddy and boggy. It's pretty hard sometimes to see how hard the living conditions are here. The tie making lady is one of the nicest though. She made us some soup to have and we paid her for the ties. She was super grateful we have her do this. A lot of the missionaries have her make ties or Mongolian clothes, and she's very thankful for us. Her and her husband are saving up money to go to the Salt Lake temple with their family. They went to the Hong Kong temple 11 years ago and got sealed but they haven't been to a temple since. So their vacation they want to take is just to go to the temple in Utah. It's pretty cool to see how important they see the temple as. It's grown my appreciation for having one so close. 

From this crazy rain the most intense lighting storm came too. I feel like I say this every week, but really this one was nuts. Every 5 seconds for an hour at least there was a lighting strike. I was trying to call asleep when it happened but our house was lit up like the lights were on for a long time. It blew me away, I've never seen so many lighting strikes at once. 

I went on a split with Lutz this week. He is from North Carolina and has a southern accent and talks like a good ole country boy. So it reminds of being around grandpa Brent a lot. When I was with him we taught English at a hospital to some doctors. It was really humbling to see how much they respected us even though they are way smarter and older than us. One of the guys there was 50 years old. They were all very nice and wanted to learn a lot. The hospital is a charity hospital, so they work on poor and homeless people. It was really cool to hear about that. Mongolia is in desperate need for a hospital like this and I was very happy to hear that they are running one. It's a sweet program they have. We also met with an American family who works at the embassy here. They had us over for dinner and it was weird. I honestly felt really out of place the whole time. I was really uncomfortable for some reason. I forgot a lot of American manners and that was stressful. It was still and good meeting, I was just surprised at how out of place I felt there. It stressed me out to go back to America. 

We had our zone conference this week which went well. They asked us to teach our part on What would Jesus do. So we brought up a lot of Bible stories and showed a clip from Les Mis. It was kind of a boundary pusher, but President Hansen really liked the clip and actually said he wishes we all could watch the movie. The clip we showed was the part when the bishop gave Val Jean his most prized possession when he very easily could have thrown him in jail and done what the law says. I feel like it was helpful to some people. At least I hope so. 

That was really it for the week. On Sunday we had a lesson from Romans that was extremely deep. I barely understood the chapters in English so in Mongolian it was impossible. The bishop asked us for insights and I just had to say that I had no clue what was going on. He thought it was pretty funny and felt for us, he served in America so he knows about learning another language. 

I also got food poisoning this week so that was fun.

Love you guys,

Austin

I was taking this picture by these camels and this lady and her kid wanted to take a picture with me.  Must be the blond hair. 

 Check out the meat options at this hamburger place.

 The hospital where we taught English.

 The Doctors that we taught. 

 Helping set up the ger with the new heat barriers. 

Getting some lunch at the little market while we were setting up the ger. 

 This place is so pretty. 

 From our hike last P-day

 Picking the wild blueberries

View from my window