Teachers Day...

This was a good week for me, things are starting to pick back up here. We got lucky this week and were able to fall into some extra appointments, that was a big blessing. It's starting to get really cold here. Most days are below freezing now which honestly isn't fun. The fall weather was nice but that really only lasted a week, I don't want to use my parka though this winter because I don't want it to get smoky, so we will see how long that lasts. In our mission we just got the area book app so a lot of this week was spent taking all the information from the paper records and moving it over. It's a bit of a hassle but when it's all finished it will be really nice and efficient.

English class went really well this week. There was one class we taught that we were able to see their improvement from the beginning of class to the end. It was pretty cool, when we started they couldn't say much, but now they were asking about our weekends and stuff. It's cool to be able to see the difference you are making. I still think that teaching at a university is really fun, I'm glad I got this opportunity. Our school also had a small Fall Celebration that our students wanted us to come to. It was a talent show sort of, and each class of students (like a high school home room class) competed with each other. It was fun to watch, there was a lot of traditional Mongolian stuff they did. It was fun to see how excited our students got when they saw us watching. I was talking to someone and they said that a lot of Mongolians feel really insignificant. There's a lot of other countries with a huge global influence, so Mongolians feel really small, and like they don't ever have a win on the global scale. So when they see some foreigners come and appreciate their culture and appreciate them, they get really excited and get a sense of pride about their country. So going to these events are really good in my mind, the students see how much we care about Mongolia and what we think about it. It creates a good relationship I think. 

After class on Wednesday, our other companion was teaching, so we went with another missionary who is with our comp's teaching partner. He had some service to do, so we hopped on a bus and rode way out to the countryside. We got off in the middle of nowhere and everyone was so shocked to see some white guys get off at this stop. We went to a members home and helped her chop some wood. She lives in a ger and is a guard for this lot that has a lot of old machinery and a warehouse. She basically just makes sure no one breaks in. She needed some wood chopped into small pieces to fit in her stove, so we helped her with that. She has a ton of small pallets lying around that she had us break apart and split up. It was really fun, Scrimsher and I had a great time. It was crazy to me that people live like this, she just watches over an area of dirt, and gets her water from a hose. It was fun to chat with her and help her out. 

We taught two of our investigators this week. One of them is super solid and asked to come with us and help teach the lesson to the other one. The lesson went really well, and they both referenced some scriptures they had read which was cool, I've never had people do that before. They are both going to be baptized on the 26th and they are excited for that. We may not have many people to meet with, but the difference we are making with them is what counts. They are both super good people and I'm excited to see how things go for them. 

Later that night on the ride back home, I got a message from my piano students, it was teacher's day and they had sent me some messages over Facebook. They said they were very grateful for Quackenbush and I teaching piano and helping them out. It was touching. They really support teachers here a lot more than people in America do, I would definitely take that back to America. I think we all need to be a little more appreciative of our teachers. In the same ride home, I just mentioned I would literally die to have a bowl of cereal, so Scrimsher and I went home and made a Texas sheet cake instead. Turned out pretty good. 

On Saturday we really didn't have much to do, so we went address checking. We didn't really know who to meet with, so we found a few people that some other people in the area before us had met with. Only one had an address though. We hiked around this ger district for about 2 hours before we could find the address. We knocked on the fence and found out he doesn't live there anymore. Finding the house in the first place was a success though. Ger districts are ridiculously hard to navigate. When we headed back to the bus, I stopped in a little store still in the ger district to grab a drink. The people running it were 2 sisters who must have been 13 and 10. The store was tiny and I had to duck my head a little to fit in. I started talking to them and asked them for a water, the older sister was dumbfounded that I spoke Mongolian, but she couldn't understand me, so the younger sister kept yelling at her "he's saying this!" It was so funny to me, they pulled their mom in and and I talked to her a bit. Her daughter still couldn't understand what I was saying, I don't know if I just sound weird or if she was still just blown away. It was a funny experience, I don't think a white person has ever visited their store before haha. 

That really was the week though. Not much else happened. I saw a guy buy a puppy from the window of a Prius. And at the bus stop near our house they were selling dog meat again. It's fun being back in the same place as I was before. The people are very nice and kind compared to the city people. 

Love you guys, 

Austin 

Back in the ger district. I love it. 

 The lady that we chopped wood for. 

 It was too cold to grab the metal on the axe without gloves.  The lady we were helping handed me this.  Her homemade glove.  It was so great. 

 This is the ger where the lady lives that we helped with the wood.  

 Russian building

The little store that we stopped at.  Look at the chubby naked baby.  haha