Mongoth row yava xoo?‏

Alright, let’s catch up.  Two weeks ago we were supposed to get our travel plans, but were told that we would be delayed at least a week.  Since then we've checked with the travel office at least twice a day to the point where they probably aren’t too fond of us.  We were told at the end of last week that 4 of the visas had been approved; however, President Clark (our Mongolian mission president) didn't want us coming in separate groups.  So we continued to wait. 

We got news through the travel office on Friday that they thought that we would leave by Tuesday or Thursday this week. Naturally everybody got extremely excited over the weekend and Monday was highly anticipated.  Then on Monday we made our way to the travel office to have them tell us that there was still no news.  They said that the visa process was going really slowly and that if the second set of four visas didn’t come by Friday that President Clark would probably want us to come separately.  HUGE LETDOWN! They told us don’t come back till Thursday and there may be some news.  Last night when we made it back to the residence halls we had a district prayer, asking for the opportunity to leave as a group no matter the timeline. 

Well, today is P-day so we woke up at 5:30 to do our laundry and then made our way to the temple around 10.  All the companionships went to the temple at different times this morning so we were all separate leaving the temple.  Elder Call and I ate lunch and then made our way to the mailroom to check for any mail before we would write our emails home.  We found an ecstatic Elder Lloyd literally running down the hall through a mass of people with 8 blue slips.  We were supposed to report to the travel office as soon as possible.  You've probably guessed by this point in the story, but yes .  .  .  WE"RE GOING TO MONGOLIA!!!!  We got our travel plans and we leave tomorrow at 8:12pm.  We fly to LAX and then to Beijing and finally to Ulaanbaatar!!!!!!!!  By this time on Friday we should be in the President’s home.

Naturally the events of the day make it extremely hard to remember anything that has happened outside of an hour ago, but here’s my best effort .   .   .

This week because we had no idea when we would be leaving, we had culture day.  Pretty much 6 hours of learning the history of Mongolia (amazing history),  learning about the culture and all of the religions that exist (99.3% Buddhist).  We learned all of the social taboos which are a ton including take your glove off whenever you shake anyone’s hand no matter the temperature.  A lot of really random things like the proper way to eat and drink and politely decline which I will have to review on the plane.  We also learned a lot about really different Mongolian remedies for illness which frankly almost always included the urine of various animals.  It’s interesting that they can diagnose diabetes and appendicitis and yet still feel that fox excrement will heal them.  I still think I'll head over to the real doctor on these occasions, but that’s just me.

We also dressed up in all sorts of Mongolian clothes and took a lot of pictures.  Hopefully I can attach them in my first Mongolian email.  That was extremely hot. 

This all took place on Saturday before any of the crazy roller coaster of emotions. Then yesterday we looked through a lot of pictures from our teachers’ missions as they related some incredible stories.  I can’t wait to have some of my own stories and pictures.

We all got incredible letters from one of our teachers (Brother Margetts) which brought everyone pretty close to tears.  Leaving our teachers is probably the only bad thing about heading to Mongolia.

This past Tuesday we heard from another apostle, Elder Richard G. Scott.  His message was on prayer and real intent.  A lot of his talk was a Q&A session with the audience.  Except for that he was doing the questioning.  We weren’t seated in a place to get to the microphones, but that’s OK because we were in the fourth row!  It’s been amazing to be in the presence of so many general authorities here at the MTC.  Rumor has it that we may here from another tonight at our last devotional. 

The Lord answers prayers.  Not in our time and not in our way, and sometimes when we least expect it.  He will never give you a challenge to great (you know the scripture :)  )  In the times that we are brought to our knees we can learn the most.  As my relationship with the Lord has strengthened here in the MTC I have more profoundly seen his hand moving in my life.  Pray always.  And never forget to give thanks.  Prayer is a fantastic gift. Use it.

I love you all soooo much.  Your letters and encouragement mean so much to me.

Love ,

Elder Neuberger

PS  Kramers, your package and card were both amazing!!!!