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Missionary Dan Email #24 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

July 20, 2009 by rickety 2 Comments


Mongolian baby.

Mongolian baby. Photo by Daniel.

Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s twenty fourth email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.

It’s exciting that Derek and Sarah are coming. Speaking of Derek… that reminds me. Every time I show the Mongolians the picture of Bryson they mention about how big his eyes are. They say literally “He scary big eyes with,” which means he has really big eyes. It always makes me laugh. I’ve been meaning to say that for like 2 months now.

This week I got to build my first ger. That was fun to see how it was done and stuff. It is way cool to see how they put their houses together and how they can move the entire thing in about 3 to 4 hours. I didn’t get any cool pictures of it so next time I make one I’ll do better at that. I had the fun job of standing in the middle and holding up the pole while everyone put in the roof support things. It’s hard to explain. Anyway it was fun.

Lots of our less active members came to church yesterday. That was exciting as it always is to see them come. We have other investigators progressing towards baptism. Within the next 3 weeks or so they should be ready. Also the bishop really liked the ward member list my companion and I finished up this week. He said it will be very useful as did a member of the Stake Presidency.

I this week through out Mongolian through spoke. It to me good was. To me better speaking Mongolian through became. Because I good goals accomplished. This week through out continue more good goals will do. I joy with. I Book of Mormon from reading better accent receive can. I language rules (grammar) better study will. Sometimes to me confuse become but to me better speak becoming. Maybe to Jake and Paul Mongolian through teach will I. Language this like is kind of. Joy with! (bye) Ha ha. That fun with was.

To Mom

I decided that you can wait till my birthday to send a package. :) I don’t need anything. Thanks for the great letters you write. How is Byron doing? When does he leave? What is his address?

Love, Elder Willoughby

Related Articles

List of Daniel’s missionary posts.
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Filed Under: Daniel's Mission, Missionary Tagged With: Mission, Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

Missionary Dan Email #23 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

July 13, 2009 by rickety 4 Comments

Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s twenty third email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.


Nadaam Holiday..

Nadaam — the three games of men: Mongolian wrestling, horse racing, and archery.

Missionary Work

Thanks for all the emails! They are really exciting to read. The pictures are great as well. Thanks again. This week was great. My new companion Elder Henson is teaching me lots of great things and I’ve been accomplishing some great language goals. We had a good lesson with our new member’s husband. He isn’t a member yet but is working and improving. He has been struggling with alcohol so we are helping him to see the negative affects of it. He was really good to come to a fireside with his family. Later we set some goals with him on how he wants to improve. It was great and we felt the Spirit as we taught him.

We also have been working on contacting every member in the branch. With each missionary companionship contacting 10 or so members a week we’ll be able to contact them all this half transfer. It is always fun to go member searching to find out where they are. It is a big project but will be very helpful for the new bishop once completed.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Daniel's Mission, Missionary Tagged With: Mission, Mongolia, Nadaam, Ulaanbaatar

Missionary Dan Email #22 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

July 7, 2009 by rickety 8 Comments

Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s twenty second email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.


Independence Day in Mongolia.

Independence Day in Mongolia. Daniel center.

Independence Day

Looks like the parade was cool — we had our own little one at the American embassy. We went there on the fourth of July and had a party. They had hamburgers and hot dogs which is the classic meal for that day. I saw some of the elders from my MTC group and got a picture. It was transfers that day also and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Henson, he is from Michigan and is really cool. We have a lot of things in common and he has taught me a lot of things already. It is helpful for me to have him explain parts of the language and give some tips and advice. I actually knew him well before because his apartment is basically in the same place as mine and we talked about stuff.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Daniel's Mission, Missionary Tagged With: Mission, Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

Kaysville Independence Day Parade

July 5, 2009 by rickety Leave a Comment

Yesterday we watched the Kaysville / Fruit Heights Independence Day Parade. The weather was perfect, so cool. There were ominous dark clouds overhead but they didn’t rain on our parade. Just before the parade started four F-16s from Hill Air Force Base flew low overhead to loud applause from the large crowd.

Three of my children, Sarah, Paul, and Jake, were in the Davis High marching band when they attended high school. Also my niece Shauna and son-in-law Derek.

If you didn’t see the parade here are a few photographs of what we experienced.


Davis County Sheriff Officer

Davis County Sheriff Officer.

A Picture of the Past wagon

A Picture of the Past wagon. This is my favorite of the parade.

Family at the parade

Front: Adelaide, Steven, Paul, Shauna. Middle: Cheryl, Ashton, Susan, Kent. Rear: Melissa, Aurora, Jill, Connie, Mark.

Jill and Aurora

Jill and Aurora.

Help Rescue America Declaration

Help Rescue America Declaration of Liberty.

LDS Business College float

LDS Business College float.


Davis County Sheriff’s Posse Queen and First Princess.

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Filed Under: Parade Tagged With: Fruit Heights, Independence Day, Kaysville

Webcam Crawling

July 3, 2009 by rickety 3 Comments


Bryson webcam crawling

Bryson webcam crawling

The webcam is a marvelous device. Our webcam is regularly in use as we communicate with Sarah in Keller, Texas. This had me wondering when and where the first webcam was used.

The First Webcam

The Trojan Room coffee pot was the inspiration for the world’s first webcam installed on a local network in 1991. The coffee pot was located in the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The webcam was created to help people working in other parts of the building avoid pointless trips to the coffee room by providing, on the user’s desktop computer, a live 128×128 grayscale picture of the state of the coffee pot. On August 22, 2001, the camera was finally switched off.

Faraway Grandchild

Today we saw Bryson crawling for the first time over the webcam. That was a marvelous sight. Jill heavily praised Bryson, which brings a smile to his face. This elicits more praise from Jill which brings forth another smile from Bryson. I rather think this would continue all day long if not for Sarah saying, “OK, time to go.” And this is another great thing about the webcam. Because it is so easy to break off a conversation it makes it easier to start one, knowing you can sign off in an instant.

With five children it was rather inevitable that at least one would move away. On the bright side it did give me a reason to travel. Jill doesn’t need a reason to travel. She will go anywhere, any time, except to go to the kitchen to get me a snack — I have to do that myself. All I need now is a webcam on the chips so that I can cut down on wasted trips.

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Filed Under: Bryson Tagged With: Keller, Texas, Webcam

Build an Arc Welder from Microwave Ovens: Part 3

June 30, 2009 by rickety 6 Comments

The Story So Far

Paul obtained his microwave ovens, wired the garage for 220 volts, and extracted the first transformer. In this segment he replaces the old secondary windings with new, thicker wire.


Sawed off secondary.

One side of the secondary winding was sawed off with a hacksaw.

Bash out the secondary.

The secondary windings were in so tight they had to be knocked out.

Tear out the secondary.

Tearing out a few windings loosened the rest.

Secondary removed.

The secondary is completely removed.

Wire guides.

Using short lengths of 6 gauge wire as guides.

New secondary.

The completed secondary consists of 11 feet of 6 gauge wire wound in 11 turns.

Related Articles

Build a Microwave Transformer Homemade Stick/Arc Welder Learn from the experts.
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Filed Under: How To Tagged With: Microwave Ovens, Transformers, Welders

Missionary Dan Email #21 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

June 29, 2009 by rickety Leave a Comment


Ehx gerel baptism.

Ehx gerel baptism. Daniel on right.

Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s twenty first email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.

Thanks for the great pictures and the updates about the family. It is always fun to read about it all.

Missionary Work

Ehx gerel was baptized and it went well. She asked me to confirm the Holy Ghost for her. It was good for me to learn how to do it my first time in Mongolian and also first time ever. It went well and I felt the Spirit. She is a good new member with lots of friends.

This week a lot of interesting things happened. My companion for the past couple of weeks has had problems with his eye. He has way bad eyesight so this week they did surgery to fix it. While he was at surgery I went to zone conference with a mini missionary. A mini missionary is a church member preparing to go on a mission. Depending on the circumstances they can do a mini mission for 2 weeks or so, where they are complete full time missionaries. It was fun to be with one at zone conference. Afterwards we went to investigator’s houses and taught a lesson while my companion recovered. Right now he is doing great and recovering quickly.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Daniel's Mission, Missionary Tagged With: Mission, Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

Build an Arc Welder from Microwave Ovens: Part 2

June 26, 2009 by rickety 2 Comments


220 volts source for the arc welder

220 volts source for the arc welder

220 Volt Source

After acquiring more than the necessary microwave ovens Paul turned his attention to a source of 220 volts. My electric range is plugged into the wall that separates the kitchen from the garage. Paul simply placed a 125 amp main lug load center in the garage side of the wall and tapped into the 220 volt source. He then ran a line to a 220 volt wall socket he installed in the garage.

Transformers

To power the arc welder Paul needs six transformers. At a cost of $5 for 33 microwaves, one transformer sets him back 15 cents. He dismantled his first microwave oven and extracted the transformer. Anyone need a used microwave oven? With school and work pressing in on him the rest of the transformers will have to wait.


The transformer on the right is all that is required

The transformer on the right is all that is required


The transformer on the right is all that is required

The 15 cent transformer

Related Articles

Build a Microwave Transformer Homemade Stick/Arc Welder Learn from the experts
Rickety signature

Filed Under: How To Tagged With: Microwave Ovens, Transformers, Welders

Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities

June 24, 2009 by rickety 1 Comment

The top ten foreign holders of treasury securities.

The top ten foreign holders of treasury securities.

China Buying Fewer Securities?

I have read in the news several times this year that China [is] Losing [its] Taste for Debt From [the] U.S. If that was true last year it appears that China has changed its mind. Chinese holdings of U.S. debt have risen in 12 of the last 14 months for an increase of 52% (see table below). Of the ten nations in the chart above, eight have also increased their share of the U.S. debt since April 2008. Of the 32 nations and “all others” tallied in the table below, their purchases of U.S. debt has risen a collective 26% in a year.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Money Tagged With: Treasuries, US debt

Missionary Dan Email #20 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

June 22, 2009 by rickety 2 Comments

Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s twentieth email from the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission. If anyone wishes to send Daniel a message, write it in the comments and I will make sure he receives it.


All the missionaries in Daniel's zone

All the missionaries in Daniel’s zone (Daniel second row, far right).

Insanity

That is insane! That is a lot of microwaves. With those I could cook 33 corn dogs in 1 minute. I heard Olive Garden cooks their food with microwaves. That is probably a rumor. Was it really 5 dollars? Sounds like a good project. It sounds like the summer is going great for everyone. Thanks for the continued support and love.


Mongolian countryside.

Mongolian sunset.

Missionary Work

We keep on working here. Yesterday some people in the ward were called to stake callings. I was able to talk to a member about patriarchal blessings. They all seem to be really excited to be able to get them. Right now we are still waiting for the stake presidency to submit a name for the calling.

The summer seems to be a slow time for missionary work. People are busy and are working. My companion and I have plenty of investigators that are progressing though. This Friday we have a baptism of a 17 year old. She is good friends with the people in the church and they contributed a lot in helping her attend church and have the desire to join. She was an excellent investigator and kept most of her commitments and is now regularly attending church.

Weather

The picture is of all the missionaries in my zone and one of the sunset we saw one day while returning to our apartment. It was a beautiful sunset that spread throughout the whole sky. We’ve had quite a few that have looked similar to this one.  The weather has been off and on of being cold and hot. On Friday there was snow in the mountains, but it was warm throughout the day.

To Mom

Thanks for writing about what you’re up to. Its great to hear about what going on. It is exciting that all the family is visiting and things. And right now we teach English in the churches, since most of the schools are closed down for the summer.

To Dad

Hey! It’s probably still Fathers Day. It is strange to think that I’m one day ahead of where you are. Anyway Happy Fathers Day! I love you Dad.

Love, Elder Willoughby

Related Articles

List of Daniel’s missionary posts.
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Filed Under: Daniel's Mission Tagged With: Mission, Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

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