this week...

We were so fortunate to see part of the eclipse on Friday evening. We had gone to our buliding to baptisms which is out in the ger districts. After the baptism, we all went outside and one of the elders mentioned that this was the day for the eclipse and it should be happening right about now. The sun did look a little different. One of the members ran across the street and borrowed a welding mask and we all took turns looking through it. When I had my turn, the moon was about one thirdof the way in front of the sun. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I sure would love to have had a picture of it. We have friends whose family came to Mongolia and went on to Hovd where it was supposed to be it's best to see. We are hoping that they will have pictures when they come back through UB. After the baptism, we decided to ride the bus back into town, with Dr.and Sister Anderson. This was our first bus experience. and it was really fun. I felt safer on the bus than I do in a taxi. The bus costs 200T each, which is less than 20 cents. Taxi is apx 2,000T which is less than $2. Think of the money we could save by taking the bus! It dropped us off downtown at Sukhbaatar Square, near the building that was burned the first part of July when they had the rioting, and we walked on over to our apartment, which is about a mile or so. We walked the short cut down the river bank and across the foot bridge into the back of Sky Department Store parking lot near the Service Center. It was fun, really rocky and uneven, so you have to watch your step.We have included a few pictures this week. The first one our is the lady who sweeps the streets. She does this every day in front of our apartment and the service center. She works for the city of UB. She does a wonderful job. We have one of the cleanest streets in town. The next two are of dad and I at one of the prettiest flower beds on our block. We were taking these on the way to work one a.m. and these two women who were walking bylaughed and pretended they were taking each other's picture. Dad motioned for them to come and have their picture made. They were tickled. We hope to see them again and give them a copy. Most people here walk to and from work. We love living here in this apartment because we get to see so many of the same people every day and have become friendly with many of them. The next picture is of the neighborhood where we will be most likely putting one of the wells. It is called Zuslan. The neighborhood is on a steep area and is very heavily populated as you can see. They live in a combination of gers and houses and lean-to's. The next few are of a cemetery that we came across when we went over the mountain into the next community. It was one of the largest we've seen. The cemeteries here are on the outskirts of town in both directions, east and west. And the last one is of me carrying groceries home from Sky Department Store after along day's work. We have been doing a lot of roaming around in the car this last week, checking on wells that are in use and trying to get another site decided on. We are enjoying some real summer weather now. It feels almost as hot as Florida, but without the humidity. We understand that the weather begins to cool down quickly in September. We're planning a very busy week. We are having our first ever Mongolian youth conference Aug 7, 8 & 9 at a youth camp just north in the mountains. Dad and I will be there. We are having a service project of quilts, hats, scarves and school bags for an orphanage school in Darkhan. The youth will work on these items and then we will take them up and present them along with the youth and church leaders of the Darkhan area later in August or September. We just sent home a group of missionaries and welcomed the largest group of incoming missionaries ever. It's a very emotional time. We will get two new couples next week as well. There are so many things here and experiences that we have that we wish so much that you could be here to see these things and feel these feelings. There's no way that we can put it into words. It's the kind of things that you have to be here to know what we mean. We love you all with all our hearts and pray for you constantly. We pray that Heavenly Father will bless you and your families in everyway.