January 19, 2007

Hello all!

Strange happenings in Mongolia this week. We're coming up on the coldest part of the year and yesterday as Sister Hunt and I were about to cross a street something caught our eye that made us stop in our tracks: the road was wet. As in...melting. Things just don't melt here. Its been practically warm around here! I hope it's just a phase. I won't be satisfied till I've been out in -40 weather.

If that's where the strangeness ended it would be fine, but even stranger things have been happening. At the end of the night last night we were getting on a meeker to go home. When we got inside it was all...clean...and new looking. It had some seats facing sideways and it had captain's chairs. Something strange is also happening to the people. After our last appointment the husband walked us down the road to our meeker stop. Mongolians don't usually exhibit manners, but he was really nice and even flagged down a meeker for us. Also, the day before yesterday we were walking down the road when this group of middle aged men approached us. One of them broke off from the group, came over in front of us and started doing a little dance. He put out his arms like he was going to hug us and then just patted us on the shoulders, and then moved on. The craziest thing is he wasn't even drunk. I mean, when a drunk comes up and does something weird it's like, "Huh, must be Tuesday," but as far as we could tell this guy was sober. Bizzarre.

Just to give you an update, Sister Hunt's arm is doing fine. She's learning how to get along with the cast, and she's even helping out around the house now. The first week I was helping her put her contacts in, making all the meals, and helping her get dressed, but now she's practically self-sufficient. All in all this whole broken-arm thing has been a good experience, and the coolest part was that I got to help put on her cast. The mission medical center basically consists of a single room with tons of supplies and not a whole lot of equipment. After discussing with Dr. Plunkett the pros and cons of various casting methods we decided on a sugar-tong splint as opposed a circumferencial cast, and then I got to help apply and mold the plaster, making sure, of course, to secure the joints above and below the broken bone. Pretty much I'm a doctor by now.

We don't usually run in to other missionaries when we're out doing work, but the other night we happened to get on the same meeker as these two elders who work in the bordering district. The one elder, Elder Spencer, was in Sister Hunt's MTC group and his companion is this sweet little Mongolian, Elder Tumur, who is in my group. We were both running a little late (Sister Hunt and I were stuck in the RS president's ger for over an hour while she talked 100 miles an hour about who knows what) and were discussing how best to run when the area you serve in is pretty much one big skating rink. Elder Spencer turned to Sister Hunt and said, "Actually the trick is just to train your junior companion right." He grabbed Elder Tumur's backpack, leaned back, and said, "Later!" and before we knew it Elder Tumur ran off into the night with Elder Spencer skating behind him. I told Sister Hunt to not even think about it, and we went on at our slow but careful pace.

Whenever Sister Hunt and I feel we've been particularly good and are particularly homesick for American food, we, ironically enough, go and grab a bite to eat at the new Mongolian Barbeque they have here in UB. I guess the guy who owns it finally realized that it was kinda dumb to have a "Mongolian" restaurant without any actual connection to Mongolia. They have a big sign out front that says they're the first American chain restaurant in Mongolia. The workers inside are all Mongolian, and they seem constantly confused as to why this restaurant exists in the first place and why they say they make "mongolian" food when really it's hardly anything like real Mongolian food. It's kind of expensive, but they have brownies and ice cream so it's all worth it.

The new church building they built in our area will be opening this week. We have a stack of about 200 flyers that we've been giving out the past few weeks. We have to be careful about actually having conversations with people before we give them out so as not to break the "no proselyting" law. It's not that hard, however, because people are always curious about two white girls walking around UB with strange tags on. It's usually other people who start the conversations, and before they know it we've whipped out an invitation. Once the new building opens our work is really going to pick up. I just hope we can survive the three days of open houses they have planned which we have to stand around at all day long.

I hope all is well. Here's a shout out to the animations kids: What's the story? And I don't mean "what's up?" I mean I want to know the story you guys picked!

Remember, many are called, but few are frozen.
-Sister Johnson

Answers to Questions:

• I have seen Sister Balli a few times. On p-days the internet cafes and stores are usually crawling with missionaries and so we always see someone. She has a Mongolian companion and seems happy.
• We have a "laundry machine" in our apartment. The washer is just this thing that spins and you have to pour the water in yourself using a bucket from the tub, and the dryer is just a not-so-glorified salad spinner, but it gets the job done.
• We have plenty of hot water in our apartment and a filter on our kitchen sink so we can drink water without boiling it.
• We have a choice of several not-so-great grocery stores within walking distance of our apartment. Right now our favorite things to eat are grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato juice with pasta in it. They also have good bread, and peanut butter isn't hard to find.
• We go to the mission office about once every two weeks. It's one of if not the nicest buildings in UB and members from all over are always gathering there for baptisms and firesides.
• We do have a phone, and I only rarely answer it when I can be fairly sure that the caller won't be speaking Mongolian.
• I just got my debit card in the mail from the mission office. They put my name as "Sister Johnson" on the card and we called in to make sure that was right. Apparently they don't care if its your real name in Mongolia.