Ger Blessing, English Teaching...

December 02, 2019

Ger Blessing, English Teaching...

I had a good week this week, there just isn't too much to write about. We planned a ton of meetings, but all except 2 canceled on us which was a bummer. We did still find some ways to stay busy though, and it ended up being a good week. It also warmed back up to the teens so we put away the parkas for a couple of days which felt really nice. It's crazy that I'm saying the teens is warm. Last p day was pretty cool. We did the Chinggis Khan, turtle rock trip again. The only other time I went, it was summer, this time there was a lot of snow and it was definitely worth going again. The monastery looked really cool all covered in snow. We had a pretty friendly taxi driver who we found out went to jail for about 15 years. I asked him why and he said that he killed a Russian man. But he doesn't kill anyone anymore so we are good. Crazy, but he was a nice guy though. I also got to ride a camel for the last time probably. It was really cool, the camels here are seriously the coolest animals. Their fur gets like 5 inches long on their humps. So if your hands are cold you just bury them in there and you're fine. It was a super fun p day, I'm glad I was able to go one last time.

So I said we had a lot of appointments set up, but they got canceled. So we were on the way to a house when they canceled, but then we got a call from someone telling us to go to their home as soon as possible. So we got there and met some other people, and they asked us to be in a video for the Christmas program. So this Christmas program is huge though. People from all over the country come to the city to watch it. The church rents out the biggest culture hall in the city, and has about 1000 people come to this to watch, and there's a ton of non members and less active people who come. So I found it funny that I was the one they wanted for the video. They had us get in a car with a bishop from another ward, one who I know, and act like we drove up to an investigators house. We got out and introduced ourselves and went inside and I taught a lesson with the bishop. It was funny, but now this video is gonna be in the Christmas concert. It was done by the people who do the church advertising here, so it's pretty professional. This whole thing just made me laugh.

For Thanksgiving, a senior couple, the Hills from Alpine Utah, had all the city missionaries over to their house and we all brought food to eat. I made a ton of food thinking there wouldn't be enough for all of us. We ended up having like 16 pies or something crazy and so much food we all took home rice cooker pots filled with leftovers. It felt like an actual Thanksgiving, it was really really fun. All the Mongolian elders loved it too, so it went very well.

We went out to visit Haliun randomly, she is the less active youth I'm pretty good friends with, and we went to her house and she wasn't there. It was kinda a bummer, her grandma said she was coming back from school and could be home at any time. So we walked back towards the bus stop to make it to our next appointment. I was checking the bus routes, to find a bus that went where we needed to go, so I was pretty focused in on that. Someone came up behind me and said "hey? what are you up to right now?" I was pretty surprised that someone would walk up to me and ask me what I was doing, but when I turned and looked, it was Haliun standing there. Last time we went to go see Haliun she was super reserved and wouldn't really talk to us. So to have her come up to me shocked me, and we talked with her and told her about this young woman's activity going on the next day. It was really cool to run into her, and it showed me we were doing exactly what we needed to be doing. Pretty cool feeling.

Another day, we didn't have anyone to meet with during the day time, and we were heading to a bus stop near our house after getting some lunch. On the way to the bus stop I ran into Myadag, the girl that I baptized over a year ago. It was insane to run into her, and she was excited to see me again, and we chatted real quick but she had to run to school. It was just a great thing to see her again.

After church on Sunday we had this lady come up to us and ask us to come give her grandchild a blessing. So we went with her to her ger way back in the hills, it was deep. We go into her ger and gave her grandkid a blessing, and after she said "okay now bless this one." So we did, and then she said "okay now me." We gave quite the rounds of blessings that day, and after I noticed there was a kid in their around my age. So I asked him what his name was, and he was very nice. His grandma interrupted and said "He goes to another Christian church, but he's an amazing member there." So I asked him if he reads the Bible, and if he likes it. He said yes, so I said we have another book like the Bible that he should try out. I gave him a Book of Mormon and explained it real quick, and he was super thankful that we would give him another set of scripture that would let him learn more about God. Pretty cool huh? During church we had someone come in off the street and I didn't get a chance to give him a Book of Mormon, so I left church kinda mad at myself, and I said I wasn't going to go home without giving it out, and luckily this opportunity presented itself because I was going to resort to proselyting haha. It made me feel a lot like a missionary though, that's a cool feeling I don't get much here. It's also really cool to me how open the Mongolians are to another set of scripture. In other places people feel like the Bible is all that is needed for some reason. But here, with Buddhism having its own set of scriptures, and shamanism having its scripture like things, they are always open to us having another book. They don't get thrown off, and they are actually grateful for it. To them it just kinda makes sense to have a second book. It's really cool.

Other than that things are going good, we met with our investigator and she is still doing well and progressing. I don't know if she will be baptized before I leave, but that's okay. English is going really well, we actually helped our law students out with some of their debate stuff. It was cool to hear their opinions on stuff and compare them to ours. I think we are indoctrinating them to be American Conservatives though haha. Piano is also going really well, everyone is progressing super fast. Its a cool service I'm really glad I was able to provide here. It really helps people out, and eventually will bless their wards.

Love you guys,

Austin