oh hi hi hi

Happy Naadam!

So yeah, Naadam was pretty cool. It's Mongolia's biggest holiday, and includes three sports: horse races, wrestling, and archery. We got to go see the horses race out in the middle of nowhere, and it had just rained and so everything was all green and beautiful! We ended up being in the very front, which was cool, but also kind of spooky cause all the people behind us were actually on horses. I definately got slimed more than a few times, it made my hair really pretty. Then we ate some khooshoor (sheep meat fried in little turnover things) I acually only ate two, the elders ate millions. My favorite part was the the race horses have little pony tails on their heads!

It's so cute. And don't you worry, I learned how they tie it up so when I get home I can make my own horses all cutsie as well. heh. whahaha...

We also got to go see some of the wrestling and the archery. The wrestling outfits are as follows, big boots, little speedos, a very small half jacket thing, and a pointy hat. I'll let you picture that in your head for a while now...

The achery was cool too, cause the target is actually a row of little wooden blocks on the ground. They're only about 5 inches tall, and whenever anyone hits them the judges sing.

OH!! and how could I forget, when a wrestler wins he does an eagle dance.
Waving his arms really slowly... I'm not gonna lie, it kind of doesn't seem to fit with the whole "large man in little speedo" thing, but... yeah...

Ok, so my district took the morning train to Darkhan today so we all got up and 4 am... and i'm got a major head cold... and i'm trying to tell you about me week and Naadam and such but i'm having trouble forming sentences.
To me correct sentence make much hard being. yak uu? neeree, be barag uxeg baina. So I think i'm just going to call it good for this week... I'll try and give you a better update next week, right now I kind of just want to sleep. Sorry this is random.

I lot of other cool stuff happened this week. I can't think clearly enough to talk about it. But that's ok and all will be well soon enough. Oh, I have an interview with President today, and zone conference tomorrow...

Speaking of random, did you know that marijuana grows wild in Selenge and Darkhan. It's pretty crazy. But none of the people really know what it is, so they just ignore it. That's a good thing.

Ok, I love you all and I'm gonna go take a nap now. Our work is good, and this week will be even better because now the holidays are over. I send my love!

Love always,
~Sister Rachy Warnickaa

ps- i promise i'll be more alive next week aight!

sain yy? uy baina?

So, this week has been... interesting. They have been having elections in Mongolia for the past two are three months now, and last week they announced the winner... only everyone got really mad cause the winning party cheated... and then UB went crazy. I only heard little bits of what was happening. But I guess there were some huge riots and big buildings got burned down, and people were, well, not happy. The missionaries in the city were not allowed to leave there apartments for four days...

But... here in Selenge, it is the countryside, and everything was just as peaceful as ever. It was kind of weird looking outside and seeing the few cows and people, and knowing that in the city everything was chaos. But things have calmed down a bit now, I think they're going to have a complete re-vote or something. I really don't know much about it right now...

Anyway, I'm sure things will be ok in the city soon because everyone wants to have time to get ready for Naadam, which is this week on the 11th. It's their biggest holiday, and I'm excited to see it. There will be horses and wrestling and archery... :) (you know, there is also an American holiday on the 11th... 7/11 that is, so don't forget to go to 7/11 and get your free slurpee!) Yeah, but i'll let you know how Naadam went next week!
What else, oh, we planned our own 4th of July party. We didn't have hot dogs, so I got these funny sausage things, and we didn't have buns, so we sliced bread... but we did have ketchup. It's kind of weird tasting ketchup, but it is red colored. We also got these little square cookie things that are the closest you can get to oreos.... Elder Humphries and I sang the Star-spangled-banner together, and then we sang it again in a lower octave cause man, that first time it got pretty high! But yeah, it was not like at home, but it was fun. :)

We are still having the crazy rain storms every once in a while. One second it's super hot and sand is flying everywhere... then one minute you're completely soaked! It's pretty funny. My companion had an umbrella last time it happened... but I didn't even bother to grab one cause it doesn't help at all, and there's nothing wrong with getting a little wet. If we're lucky it washes off all the sand that has been plastered to our faces. (if we're unlucky it just turns it to mud... heh)
We have been working so hard in the area, and we have been meeting with some really great people. The branch here has also been working together on a lot of different activities, and that's all very fun. Things here are really great, and it will be hard to leave at the end of the month. I still feel like I just got here... crazy how time is sometimes.

Well that's about all from me this week. This up coming week will be super busy with Naadam, and then next Monday I will probably be in Darkhan for another zone conference, so hopefullyI can find a good email place there. ;)
chadna baikh aa tiim ee? za za, ta nar shuu! khairtai shuu!

Love always! ~Sister Rach W.

There Was an Old Lady .....

... who swallowed a fly.

Not that I like to refer to myself as an old lady, (but in a way it's true,i mean really, look at my black nylons... and the shoes....) but i did swallow a fly. And let's just say this was not your average every day housefly. It was like the mutant giganto fly you see in the movies. You know, the ones that can see everything with their huge eyes, and then they somehow got some power from outer space and they can also read your mind... not that I have ever seen that on the sci-fi channel... (coughnerd)... heh... ok, but that point is that it was completely disgusting. Here I was just minding my own business walking around and having a nice conversation with my comp. It was quite a windy day and all of the sudden I turned my head and- gulp. Then of course I try the recovery cough gag reflex... but alas, there was nothing I could do. And now I must find a spider... you know, to catch the fly...So Selenge has been super duper rainy. Like, it rained constantly for four days rainy. It was pretty funny, we were always soaked. But now it seems to be clearing up a little. But despite the rain we have been meeting with alot of new people, so that has been nice. I think people felt sorry for us and let us standing in our dripping wetness and so they let us in more often. :) Even the dogs left us alone. yay! After the rain we had a bunch of dust storms. My favorite comment was from one of the Elders here. He said, "Sister Warnick, it must be hard for you to have such big eyes, I bet the sand gets in them pretty easily." heh. Elder Humphries and I have been teaching English classes together at the Church here. It's been pretty fun. Last week the students wanted to learn about some American culture and how it is different from Mongolian culture. I started off the lesson by asking Elder Humphries to give me my bag. He threw it to me. Everyone gasped. (you can't throw things here, it's very rude.) Then I said thanks and set it on the ground. Everyone gasped. (you can't put bags or books on the ground here, it's very rude.) Then I stepped over my bag to walk across the room. Everyone gasped again. (you can't step over bags here, it's really very rude.) Then Elder Humphries got up and stepped over my bag. Needless to say, everyone gasped ever more. It was all pretty funny and the students had a great time. The whole class we talked about differences in cultures, and how some things that are ok in Mongolia are not ok in the US, and the other way around. "In America, you may throw things, you may not spit, you may point at people, girls may not hold hands with girls...." etc. We had a really great time and then we fed them all homemade brownies. They were a little afraid to eat them and asked us what kind of meat was in it....Ok, well my time is up again. But we are working very hard and the work is moving forward. ;)

I love you all and am praying for you always.

Love Always,

Sister Warnick

525,600 minutes....

How do you measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnight, in cups of khram?... tiim baikh aa...
Hi! So guess what, this week I hit my one year mark. Isn't that crazy? It's gone by fast and slow... it certainly is weird to think back on what i was doing at this time last year. I had only a few more days until i entered the MTC, and i was so excited, but i had noooo idea what to expect. I guess that part still hasn't changed much. :) I still don't really know what to expect, but that's what makes it exciting!

This week i will be taking another trip to Darkhan for interviews with President Andersen. That will be nice, he has been super busy and flying to Hong Kong and stuff so we haven't had interviews for a while. Maybe he'll give me a tip about where i will be going next transfer, (in July,) i have a feeling i won't be staying in Selenge... but i don't know.

Guess what, last pday we hiked to the top of a mountain. We could see the whole city of Sukhbaatar, and we could also see Russia again. It still looks the same is Mongolia... and when the Elders were a little ways off and not looking I may or may not have crowed like a rooster, and it's possible they were really confused about where the sound came from.... yeah. And there were these crazy rocks everywhere! They look pretty normal on the outside, like slate or something, but a little shimmeryish... but when you break them open they are full of glitter! Seriously, glitter like you get at a craft store... it was so weird. Maybe those are in Utah and i just never knew it before. Elder Humphries and I (the only Americans) were so amazed! We hiked up glitter mountain! Yay! Now all i have to do is find candy mountain... hmmmm.....
.... or marshmellow mountain....

All the pipes in my bathroom busted. Seriously, all of them. Water was squirting out everywhere. So we called the fixer man. He didn't come. We called him again. He didn't come. I really wanted to shower. We had been walking threw sand storms all day long. Then I used my brain and some duct tape and got the whole placed fixed up better than it was before. Sister Oyunbat was so impressed she said i should be a plumber. So then just as the water was running all nicely and i thought i would take a much needed shower.... the water got turned off for two days. Then I went to Church all grossy gross. Then the water got turned back on and now I am clean. :)

Our work is getting a bit better. It's been hard because in the summer so many people leave the towns and go out to the country. But it's ok, and we've found some really cool people to teach, so we'll keep working working. I say this every time i write, but the people here are just amazing! And the branch is so much fun, I'm going to miss them if i do end up leaving in another 6 weeks or so.
My comp and I are doing fine and I'm even getting more and more used to our 5th floor appartment and the 78 big cement steps it takes to get up there.

:) Sometimes we race up them. heh.

Alright, that's it for now, i gotta get going. But I love you all and talk to you later!
~Sister Warnick

Visit from Elder Garn

Hello! it's been another week and it's been a pretty good one for that matter. Last week was zone conference again, they had it early because President Garn from the area presidency came to take a tour of all the branches in Mongolia. It was pretty cool to hear him speak, and guess what else. He had time enough to interview two missionaries in each of the areas,and i was able to have an interview with him. It was pretty amazing. he asked me about this mission and about Mongolia and bunches of other things.He also said he had two daughters serve missions and that they loved it and learned sooo much. I know that that is true.yeah, so zone conference was a good one as it always is. and on the way back the power went out at the train station so we couldn't buy any tickets. we ended up getting to drive home by taxi- which was sooo cool! it was about two hours of driving through the open spaces of Mongolia! So Beautiful! Everything is turning green, and the Elders in my car were laughing at me cause every other minute i was like "HEY! look at the goats! LOOK! look at all the goats! and the Sheep!!!" and then one minute later, "LOOKY! see the baby cows! and the GOATS!!!" ...it seems to Mongolians it's nothing new to see hundreds of baby goats... i'm guessing it would be like driving down I-15 in Utah and every other minute shouting with glee, "HEY! Look at the orange construction cones! LOOK!"... needless to say the furry animals were not all that exciting for them, but i sure liked them! :) Last week we also had the opportunity to do a little service project for oneof the members here. it was pretty interesting- she had a could of wells,and i still can't figure out how they made them- it was a vertical tunnel into the ground made of large tires, and it seemed to go down forever. Ourj ob was to climb down to the bottom and scoop out lots and lots of sand. and when i say "our job" i mean the Elders, for some reason they didn't want my comp and I doing that part. silly silly. Yeah, and it was pretty crazy cause it was super hot outside and freezing in the tire tunnel. Well.... anyway, pretty interesting to say the least.Oh, and the typhoid turns out not to be typhoid, but some sort of hand and mouth disease.... hmmmm....Oh! and there are puppies everywhere! that's right, wild puppies! My complaughs at me cause i name every one i see...Can i just say, i love this mission. I can't even begin to express in wordswhat i want to say. I love this country, as different and sometimes crazy as it is, and i love these people with all my heart. It frightens me to think that i am already one of the "older missionaries" and i still feel like i have sooo much i need to learn. This mission is by far the most difficult thing i have ever done, and the decision to come on a mission is by far the best choice i have ever made.Ok, well i'm out of time again, but i love you all and i miss you so much! Talk to you next week!

Love Always,
Sister R. Warnick

I saw Russia...

Helllllooooooooo! Well, I'm happy because we finally found an internet place that is open. I guess no one told us it was "every-internet-place-is-closed day"... but it sure is! :) So I just got back from looking at Russia. Yeah, we went to this littlel ook-out place and, you guessed it, looked at Russia! Funny, it looks a lot like Mongolia, only on the other side of the river... It was pretty fun though, the weather was nice, not to hot, not to cold, reaaaaalllly windy,but not the crazy dirt-filled wind. So that was nice, then we all had a picnic, only we were all to big of sissies to have a real picnic outside inthe wind and "nature" so we all went to the Couple's house and sat on the floor and ate. :) This week has been a little crazy. There's an outbreak of Typhoid here and so any children under the age of 16 are not allowed to group together in any sort of gathering. So the schools and mostly closed and we don't have a lot of the activities at the church. Everyone's hoping the whole sickness thing passes quickly, it's not too fun and everyone is being super careful. I'm getting more and more used to Selenge. It's a beautiful place and the branch here is really great. I think the hardest thing is still just the food situation... it's kind of the same as it was in Choibalsan. But it's different from Choibalsan cause we get bananas shipped here from Russia,(you know, the place that i saw today...) Yeah, so it's good and it's getting GREENER!!! that makes me happy indeed! The mosquitoes are out. Selenge is actually famous for it's many many mosquitoes, (since it's by a big river and such.) And the mosquitoes are out now, however, nobody knows that but me! But that is just because no one has been bitten yet... I, on the other hand, have 12 bites JUST on my ankles. Iknow, go figure. But it's all good, it just means, i don't know, my blood is nice...yeeeessssss. This week we spent a lot of time trying to find new people to teach. So far it's been a bit slow, but we will keep trying. We have one young lady we have been teaching for the past little while that is getting baptized on Saturday! So that is really exciting. :) She have been going to Church on and off for about 3 years, but hasn't had the desire to actually learn mor eabout it until now. It has been so great to see her change in just the short amount of time i have been here. I think the biggest change has been her view of who God really is- she had this idea that He was an angry god who wants to punish us because we're not perfect, which is completely not true.It has been so wonderful to be able to explain how much God truly loves us and that He wants to help us every single day.Well since it took us so long to find internet today my time is just aboutup. I must say it was soooooo wonderful to be able to talk to my family lastweek! i miss you all bunches, I'm so happy to know you are all doing well and being happy happy. Well since it took us so long to find internet today my time is just about up. I must say it was soooooo wonderful to be able to talk to my family last week!

The Best Mission in the World

That's right, i'm serving in the best mission in the world. And the Sisters even get their own bikes to ride! heh...