Week 12.5

Hey!  

I got some extra time to email, so I'll tell you about the last few days!  Other than car sickness and the pollution, which is apparently not bad, I've been adjusting GREAT!  We work hard during the day and I sleep ALL night.  Other than being exhausted at 6pm, I haven't really suffered from jet lag.  

On Tuesday, I went to the top of a mountain with the new missionaries and President Benson.  We read the dedicatory prayer that dedicated Mongolia for missionary work.  It was a spiritual experience, and I loved looking over Ulaanbaatar and feeling such a sense of purpose here. I love being in Mongolia!  The rest of the day we had training at the church.  Then, we taught English Class at the church, and Sister Hansen and I taught about 40 people.  It went well!  

On Wednesday, Sister Wilkins had to teach English at the Medical University, where I'll be, and I went on splits with a different sister while she taught English.  The cafeteria at the university has these eclairs that I'm probably going to get fat on, but what can you do?  I went out with the most adorable Mongolian sister who is waiting to go to her official mission in Fort Collins!  I love her!  We visited some people together.  I met the childhood friend of my Mongolian teacher in the MTC.  I also bore my testimony in Mongolian and taught an investigator about missionary work.  The Mongolian sister, who was my companion for the time, taught me the colors while we were on the bus.  

Thursday was great because I went out with the Mongolian sister again while Sister Wilkins taught English.  We got some ice cream and went back to her apartment to study.  There, she taught me lots of words and phrases including, "Please help me" and "piano" and "volleyball" and other things like that.  Super random, but I loved it!  Then, I went to the church to do more English training before we taught a class that night.  Sister Hansen and I taught a different class of about 12 people, which we will be teaching for 2 more weeks while we train.  I love these people.  They want to learn English so badly, and I love being able to help them!  We worked on complimenting food, and then I had them get up and compliment each other.  They complimented me, too, and I felt so happy!  

I love Mongolia!  I feel really safe here.  I feel like this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.  Even though my language isn't great, I am trying!  I talked to a taxi driver yesterday, and it was super fun! I told him my favorite color is pink and that I like volleyball.  He laughed.  I said, "Do you have a family?"  And he said, "yes..."  hahah and then it was silent.  So then I said, "What KIND of family do you have?"  And then he told me he has a wife and a son on the way!  hahah I loved talking to him!  I love practicing my Mongolian, and when I tell people I've been here for 5 days, they say my Mongolian is great! hahahaha

My apartment was super ghetto, but we moved, so that's fun!  Our ghetto apartment was super small, and we slept on foam pads on the living room floor. hahahaha  Good times.  I did laundry, and in order to do laundry, you put your clothes in the washing machine and fill it up with water from the shower, using the shower head.  Then, you put the soap in and it washes kinda.  Then you drain the water, which is BLACK, and then you rinse and put it in a spinner.  Hahaha

Well, I'm out of time.  I love you all and will write more on Monday!

Sister Bottorff