June 29, 2007 - Myagmarsuren, Maxi Jump & Mongo-Tacos

Yeah for baptisms! Altanbagana and her son Myagmarsuren got baptized yesterday! I can’t take credit for them. They were golden when the missionaries found them, and I didn’t even find them, but Sister Otgontuya have been teaching them ever since we got to Enkhtaivan so it was still exciting to have them baptized. Myagaa is hilarious and really, really smart. We’d give them homework to read before our next visit and when we’d check up on it we’d be like, “Okay, did you read 1 Nephi chapter 8? Did you understand it?” And he’d be all, “I think I did. So…Lehi wakes one morning and he’s all, ‘I have dreamed a dream,’ and so he’s standing there in this mist of darkness and this angel in white comes to him and asks him to follow him and…” So he basically quotes the whole chapter back to us, with the “and the angel said unto me ‘Look!’ and I looked’s” and all.

He was really fun to teach, but unfortunately not all 14-year old boy investigators are like that. The last one I had in Sukhbaatar Branch was named Batdaava. We were reviewing the same chapter and we asked him who in the dream didn’t partake of the fruit. He squirmed around for a minute trying to remember and then he blurted out, “JOHNSON!” Ouch.

Whew! Guess what I did last preparation day? I did the Maxi-Jump! I don’t remember what these things are called in America, but it’s the thing where they strap you into a harness and then you jump up and down really high on a trampoline. I’ve seen these things a dozen times in America and never had the desire to try it out. Why I decided to wait till I was in a third-world country to do it I know not, but I did it. I was content to just jump up and down and scream periodically, but we went with Erkhbilguun, the branch missionary who used to work at the Circus, and she was flipping around and doing all kinds of crazy stuff that made me want to buljikh just looking at her.

She leaves for the Provo MTC this Monday. The Enkhtaivan missionaries are all going to miss her. She speaks really good English already and her family is really great. They invited all the missionaries over (aw, that’s nice) to make them dinner (hey, what?) so Erkhbilguun could have some American food, so we made tacos? Yes, the Americans made Mongo-tacos. We were able to get ground beef and taco seasoning, which really is the most important part, but as for the rest…we used processed Russian “Chizborger” cheese slices and cabbage instead of lettuce. Anyway, it was a hit with the Mongols and, most importantly, I got to see the video of Erkhbilguun doing her performance and the circus. She really does spin around by her teeth.
Here’s a picture of the Enkhtaivan gang so you can start putting names with faces. President and Sister Bryner are the second couple in from the left in the back. They’re leaving this next week, and it’s a little sad. Last Tuesday Sister Bryner invited a few of the sisters over (on the condition that we take an hour out of our next p-day) to make cookies. It was especially fun because Sister Balli broke her foot! I mean, because she broke her foot they brought her in from the khuduu so I got to see her. That’s why it was fun.

Erhkbilguun (coming to MTC soon) is the 2nd from the right in the white shirt. She’s really tall. Like, maybe taller than Haley (gasp!). Our branch president, Batkholboo, is the little shorty in the front row next to the lady in pink. The saikhan gar in front is Khosbayar. He is the branch mission leader and he will be starting his mission in Mongolia in August.

Well, this isn’t my story, but I just have to tell it! Our elders ran into this guy from Dubai (let’s all call him the Dubai Guy, a’ight?) who doesn’t speak Mongolian, but he does speak a little bit of English. They’ve met with him and his roommate, a self-proclaimed Rastafarian with dreadlocks down his back, several times and the Dubai Guy is pretty interested in the church. He’s going back home in a few weeks, but they’ve given him a Book of Mormon and he said he’s going to keep reading it when he gets home. Most importantly, now Elder Hull and Elder Kunz can say they met a guy from Dubai in Mongolia.

That’s all for now from UB. Happy Summering!