Greetings from UB

Dear Family,

Well this week was pretty hectic to say the least. Too much to write, so I will bullet point it out!   Emailing home is different here than in Choibalsan.  I'm used to sitting in my church office and writing to you.  Today, I'm sitting here in a crowded internet cafe with six other elders, almost in tears reading about you guys doing the temple work for Purew Emee's family this past weekend.  That's so great that you got so much done.  I know she is grateful and so am I.  We just finished playing basketball at the Bayanzurkh building with a bunch of other missionaries, RMs, and members.  It was fun!  Sorry, I have no pictures of my new area yet, just a goofy one of me and the three elders I live with in our apartment.  The other pictures I'm sending are from Choibalsan and when I went on exchange.  Here goes.....

• My new companion is a Mongolian, Elder Bilgoon.  He has not been to the MTC yet, he will report in March.  He IS a full-time missionary though, not just a mini-missionary.  He is really cool.  I like him a lot already.  Pray for me that I can be the kind of Trainer that he needs.  It is kind of hard training a new elder who has not had that MTC experience to get him acclimated to the rigors of missionary life.  Interestingly, he was called the morning we became companions and asked if he wanted to come out and start his mission.  He said yes!  Then he went and was set-apart by President Benson later that day and here we are!  Isn't it great the way things work in Mongolia!  This is all part of Hastening the Work!
  
• The Sansar Branch is great!  I love it!   It is so big from where I came from!  There were over 100 people in Sacrament Meeting this past week!  Like I told you, this area is all buildings and high rise apartments!  Since I just flew in last Wednesday, I have only been able to actually work in the area for about a day, so I will have more to tell you next week.
  
• Our investigators are great!   A family was passed along to us from the previous elders.  They've already received the first lessons from them. They are a great family and they speak English.  They actually have a daughter who is a member and is a student at BYU-Hawaii.  The mother received some of the lessons in Hawaii and is super amazingly nice and ready, as well as a younger daughter, who is 16.  The 16-year old daughter is so ready and the father is great too!  Please pray for them as a family!  Also, as far as investigators go, yesterday in church we received four referrals and we were able to make appointments with all of them for this week!  I am super pumped about that!
  
• Elder Higgs and I, the other Zone Leader, went to a city called Bagannuur about 2 hours from UB on Friday and Saturday and did "exchanges" with the Elders there.  It was really good and I felt really good about my exchange.  I felt like I was able to help this elder a lot.  I love that feeling!  On the bus on the way there, we got stuck next to this gross drunkard who snuck on the bus.  It was annoying for the first 20 minutes or so, then Elder Higgs and I decided to talk to him.  He was interested in us because we were American.  He requested we sing him some American songs.  So we sang him Hotel California, something from Eminem, and some other songs that he requested.  It was funny.  We talked to him the whole way and taught him all about the Word of Wisdom. At the end after he finished his bottle of Vodka, he turned to us and told us he was Chingis Khaan, and that we had to kiss him.  Of course, we refused.  By that time, he decided it was time for him to get off the bus, which was a good decision!  It was funny.  Mom, don't worry.  I am alive and safe here in Mongolia!
  

Sorry so short.  More to come next week.

Love,

Elder Harris

Me on top of the tallest building in Choibalsan.  

The three American Elders in our apartment with my companion, Elder Bilgoon.

 On my exchange with Elder Memmott.