2 Months...

Pretty fast week last week, they keep going by faster and faster. I was just looking at the calendar and saw I have less than 2 months left now, just about 60 days. It's really crazy to me that I'm almost finished, I feel like I just started. Things are going good though, it actually snowed last week which was pretty fun. Snow in a big, loud city is a really cool thing. It's definitely something I will miss. Still haven't broken out the parka yet, we will see how long that will last. This week honestly was pretty average, nothing really super special happened so this email might be a bit boring.

English class has been going really well lately. On Wednesday my students came and asked about my Khovd trip. It was really cool they remembered and could ask about it. Their English skills have improved a lot since the start of the semester. A lot of people out here really don't like teaching English, but I really find it fun. For the students who care and want to learn, it's a great experience, and it's cool for me to see their growth and progress. A lot of times I feel like people get pretty down because they can't see the progress of people they are teaching the gospel to, so for me, I'm really grateful that I have English, because it's an easy way to see the rewards of the work you put in. 

We met with Baigalmaa this week and she is all ready to be baptized on Saturday. It's super exciting to see how happy she is for this. We brought a ward member with us who just put his mission papers in. He's a super good guy and luckily he knows a ton about the gospel. Baigalmaa started asking some super deep questions that I couldn't really fully understand. So the ward member started teaching her, it was cool to see. That was on Friday, on Sunday after stake conference, she messaged us and said that she has 2 friends who want to take the lessons. So we met with all 3 of them Sunday evening. That lesson was really good. We had Baigalmaa teach as much as she could, and she shared some really cool stories about how she found out the Book of Mormon was true. One of the biggest things for her is that at other churches they only have the Bible, but at our church we have 3 other sets of scriptures we actively use and read. So she read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, and felt a really strong peaceful feeling. It's always going to be very interesting to me that people can have the same testimony or beliefs as me, even though they live completely different lives, in a completely different culture and mind set. I still find it really cool. Baigalmaa asked us for a copy of Preach My Gospel too, she said she wants to serve a mission when she's able to. She's literally the most prepared person I've met.

Stake conference went really good. On Saturday I attended the Preisthood session. I saw some of the Khovd people there, it was funny running into them, good to catch up though. The Priesthood session was great though, they asked me to play the piano, good thing I can press the play button on the pre recorded hymns haha. I need to practice hymns more, obviously. The talks were really good, and they were all focused on the youth and strengthening them. The stake president said he is grateful to the missionaries for putting time in with the youth, but the members need to be doing more he said. He gave some good ideas and suggestions for all of us. It was cool being around all those guys though. I knew most of them pretty well from serving in their wards, or just through meeting them. They are some great guys, who are trying to help the church out. I really like being in a place where the church is so small and still starting up. It makes for a cool feeling knowing everyone is helping build this up for the future. We took a picture with all the people who came, I'll send it to you. The Sunday session was also very good. They held it in this auditorium called the children's palace, it's a concert and play hall, the chairs are super soft though so I'm not complaining. This was the first time my whole mission where I felt like I understood 100% of what was going on, and that was a really cool thing for me. It's sad that I'm just starting to figure this language out, and I go home so soon. I wish I would have more time, or would have figured it out earlier. After the conference we were chatting with people and I ran into Enhjin there which was really cool. She and her cousin who got baptized went to the conference, she also said she is still reading the Book of Mormon everyday and praying. She is a great member, it was very nice to see her and see she is still active and trying to learn more and more. 

Piano class is going awesome. I'm pretty surprised that the students are doing as well as they are, I'm having to teach them in a second language for me, but they are all really motivated and want to learn. One student who we started teaching when we started the class up, is memorizing a river flows in you. For only playing piano for 2 months, he is ridiculously good. He is Quackenbush's and my prodigy haha.

On Saturday we had to run to get a signature from a parent of a person who was baptized in our ward last month. I didn't know where they lived at all, so finding the place based off of their directions they gave me over the phone was fun. They live in a ger district, and those are almost impossible to navigate, we did find it relatively quick though. We got up to the ger and went inside. The mom greeted us and was so nice and kind. We chatted for a bit and introduced ourselves. She said that she is a member, it's just hard to get to church from where they live (which is true, it's a far place). It was good to chat and get to know them. We got the signature and left. As we were leaving, she came out side with us and started chopping wood for her fire place. I asked if I could help, but she said no and told us to not worry. They are a different breed of people here. Their lives are so much harder, but they have a lot of determination to make it through. They are just some people I won't ever forget. I think we are going to visit them one day soon, and bring them something for the holidays. 

The last thing that went on this week was a music program, it was probably the biggest thing of the week too. President Hansen had an idea to do some musical fireside for the members and investigators, so he put someone in charge and gave them the topic of God, and they ran with it. They had all the missionaries perform songs and piano pieces. The place was so full of people that there wasn't enough seats, so people were standing and kids were sitting on the floor. I've never seen this many people show up for anything before my whole time here. It was a very good program, and President Hansen gave a super good talk along with some Mongolian missionaries. I think the plan is to keep doing these once every month or so. It was a great way to get people into the church, and hear about God.

That was basically it though, love you guys. Enjoy fall for me haha

Austin 

This is the little boy that I met in Khovd.  I went to his hair cutting ceremony.  Elder Morales sent me this picture this week.  They shaved his head after they cut his hair.  

 At the Priesthood Session of Stake Conference. Some of the best guys I know. 

 Some of out piano students.

 I saw this little poster and just wanted to show you.  It represents people that I see everyday. The guy looking through the trash to find glass bottles to sell.  The man in traditional dress selling books on the street.  Typical scene in Ulaanbaatar. 

 The Bishop made this flow chart for the youth.  It tells them what they should do with their lives.  First, learn English.  Take advantage of the free English classes that the church offers.  Second, make sure you are going to Seminary.  Third, go on a mission. Fourth, apply to BYU Hawaii. And finally, get married.  I thought it was a pretty good life map. 

These are two of my piano students. They are preforming a traditional Mongolian long song. It's called a long song because it comes from people trying to talk to another get that was really far away, so they say words really slow and draw out and yell really loud, then turned into music.