Missionaries

This picture was taken when Elder and Sister Nelson were here visiting our mission.

100 year old Buddhist woman

This is one of the recipients of wheelchairs at the nursing home in Batsomber. She's 100 years old and devout Buddhist. She gave us her blessing that we would live to be 100. You see the graffiti on the wall. Aab is "Father" in Mongolian. Interesting the things people write on walls! We've seen rebroadcasts of this interview and our visit to the nursing facility several times on TV. On that trip we also gave a Buddhist Monk a ride back to the city(90km). As you know, when Dad gives someone a ride he gives a first class ride. He drove the monk right up to the door of his apartment and wanted to carry his three very heavy boxes up the stairs. But, thankfully his companions showed up and carried them. Dad also gave him my soda that I'd been saving for the trip home. So he was well taken care of. As he left, he gave us his blessing, and said that he would continue to pray for us. Several months ago we were given a blessing by a Khazakh Moslem woman who was 101. So, you can see how grateful these people here are. They are also very tolerant of other religions. They have gained great respect for the church, we think because of all the humanitarian work that it has done. Also, the people who have joined the church have become very strong in their families. It has really made a difference for so
many people.

Tsagaan Sar

Everyone is celebrating Tsagaan for three days. We've had invitations yesterday and today and have another for tomorrow. We've attended celebrations in a brick home, 2 gers and an apartment. The celebration is the same at each. Most people are dressed in traditional clothing. They are gorgeous with their fabrics and fur hats. One picture is mostly American missionaries taken at the Bayanzurkh Building. We took it this morning while they were gathering to go out to their different celebration appointments. Today, Dad and I went to Dalaijargal and his girls ger. He told us that he wants to be baptized. One of his daughters was baptized a few months ago, and the younger one will be baptized next month. They are doing very well. Oyunga, 14 years old, made the food for the celebration, since their mother has passed away. She did very well. We ate booz (pronounced bohdz). They are little meat dumplings which are steamed. We also had carrot salad and sprite. Then we went next door to visit their neighbor who is a young single mother. She had a huge pile of roasted sheep on her table, which she had covered with a cheese cloth. We had fruit juice and sat and talked. We had eaten so much at Dalaijargal's that we couldn't eat another bite. The tradition is to visit many people during the day and eat at everyone's house. We've tried to pace it and have only accepted a few invitations and eat very little when we go. The children don't eat until after the company leaves. So, we eat just a little and hope that the children get the rest. They have so many wonderful customs. They are a loving and humble people. They don't have the pride that many Americans have that gets in the way of being close to people and sharing their lives. They are so grateful for their homes and families and they want to share anything that they have with others. Any missionary who gets called to Mongolia will forever be grateful for this experience. We learn what's really important. We learn how to make do. We learn to do without. I hope we never forget.

Tsagaan Sar Celebration

These pictures are from today's Tsagaan Sar Celebration at our driver Baatar's house. We went as a group with President & Sister Andersen and all the in town senior missionaries. The bread is a display with odd number of stacks of bread with candy and hard cheese on top. They don't eat any of the display until Tsagaan Sar is finished. In most peoples homes they eat out of little plates like these or bowls. They drink out of bowls too. We had little short glasses yesterday. Today we will be going to Dalaijargal, Oyunga and Enkhtsetseg's ger for lunch celebration. He came to the office on Tuesday with a written invitation to come for a meal. We baked brownies this morning to take. Tomorrow we go to Azbayar and Bat-Ulzii's for celebration lunch. They are Directors for the National Anti-Drug Center, one of our non-government partners on area initiative projects. They have joined the church since they started partnering with DIC in 2003.

The child in these photos is Baatar's grandson. He sang for us. Most Mongolian children are talented and have no fear of performing in front of audiences.

Red Cross Celebration and more...

First part of the week, we went to celebration of 70 years for Red
Cross in Mongolia with President Enkhbayar.
On Thursday, we went to Batsomber to visit the only nursing/retirement home in Mongolia. It houses 160 residents. We presented wheelchairs and several people sang, then they had a dance. Dad was very entertaining. The director of the facility said that the women were so excited to have company coming that some of them changed clothes several times before they found just the right thing to wear. One of the men cried when he heard that we were coming. He said that when he was young, he was able to go out and visit and shake hands,and now he never gets to shake hands. Dad and I made it a point to go around and shake everyone's hand. Many of the women wanted to kiss us on the cheeks as well, especially the ones who were bedridden. We took chairs to them in their rooms. Many of them cried, knowing that now they would be able to get out of their beds and rooms and go out into the big room to visit with other residents. These chairs are the most wonderful gifts. They dramatically improve the quality of these peoples lives. The last two pictures were taken as we left the little town. This is a very isolated place...50 km off the highway, about 90 km from the mission headquarters. The air is so clean and fresh. Lots of snow. We've had a wonderful week. We love being here.

Mission Conference

Hey, thought you might enjoy seeing these pictures that were taken
yesterday. Elder Nelson is visiting this week. We've had a wonderful
conference, and will have Fireside tonight. Do you realize he is 84
years old? We love his wife, Wendy. She's very special. We love you
all and pray for you always. We appreciate so much your prayers for
us.

Shastin Hospital

We visited Shastin Hospital this week in preparation for our vision
clinic which will be held in the Spring. Dad got to go into the
operating room during surgery.
This is a 6 story building, very large hospital. The ophthalmology
department is on the 6th floor. Of course, the day we went the
elevators were not working. So, we climbed 12 flights of stairs up,
then four flights down to visit the out patient optometry section.
Then four more flights down to visit the operating suites. Then eight
flights back up to retreive our coats and hats.
We caught a taxi to take us over there and then caught one to come
back. All this in 39 below 0 temperature.
Then we repeated that whole process the next day because we needed to
have them fill out some paperwork and we needed to take pictures of
all of their equipment for the specialists who will be coming in the
spring.

Staying warm!

This is our winter picture underneath our sign by the front door of
the mission headquarters. We're staying warm and well. We've been
busy. We're driving to Darkhan tomorrow early am and coming back
tomorrow night. Pray for no snow. Batbold is driving and he's the
best. He's the other counselor in the mission presidency. We hope
you are having a great weekend. We're doing very well. Let us hear
from you.

The end of December- a little late

Hey.....We got back from Khovd this afternoon just before dark. It
was a great trip. It takes 3 hours and the planes only fly 2 times a
week. We flew out Saturday and came back today. We got there just in
time to enjoy their Christmas Party with them. It was a great
experience. They did a Nativity Pageant with teenagers as actors. It
was a very spiritual experience. It was great see their perception of
the story from the scriptures.
Dad and Batbold did some leadership training on Sunday and we checked
on a couple of projects Monday. The branch of the church in Khovd has
built new toilet and handwashing facilities for one of the
kindergartens and we purchased a washing machine and presented it this
morning just before we left. We also made arrangements to ship 10
wheelchairs to the hospital early 2009.
Four of Batbold's Mongolian friends picked us up on Sunday after church,
and took us out into the mountains. It is sooooo cold in Khovd....39
below 0. As you can see, Dad had on his suit and pj's underneath.
Neither of us was really prepared for how cold this area was. We'll
know next time, to be over prepared. You'll notice that the driver
took his jacket off and wrapped the radiator with it. There were 7 of
us in this little Russian Jeep that had been rebuilt almost from
scratch. They had just finished it the night before and we were so
afraid that it was going to break down or freeze up. But, we made it
fine and have some great pictures to share. One picture shows the
inch thick ice on the inside of the window of our hotel room. We sure
did appreciate getting back home to our warm and cozy apartment this
afternoon. The temperature in UB is only 20 below, and must be a
little drier than Khovd, because it feels not nearly as cold. Thank
you so much for your prayers.