Mongolia Mission Week 68 and Large, Gentle Visitors at Our Garbage Bins

 Mongolia Mission Week 68

Our hope with this blog is to share highlights with our family and friends about our exciting opportunities and awesome responsibilities in Mongolia. It's an impossible task, though, because it's hard to condense everything into a few words and pictures. So ask us individually if you'd like to know more about anything! You can contact us by email (jrose219@gmail.com or krose213@gmail.com), Facebook messenger, or you can text Kathy's phone (515-537-3273). 

Our last entry ended with young women in tears because Sister Veile and Elder Paul left on the train to be transferred to another area. On Sunday, Sister Keogh and Elder Ricks arrived. They got here bright and early in the morning after spending the night on the train. With nothing more than a brief meeting before our 12:00 church, we all got busy setting up the sacrament meeting room and teaching a young woman how to lead music for the day's hymns. And introducing the youth to the new companions!

Fresh from the city. And in Sister Keogh's
case, fresh from America! 

We have to share this next picture that we caught the other day. We're always just running into interesting solutions to everyday problems. When we do have the occasional snowstorm in Sainshand, it doesn't melt because the temperatures don't get above freezing. So it gets scaped by hand (shovels) off the roads, drives, and parking lots. It gets piled up in neat little piles of dirty snow. Sometimes workers shovel it into wheelbarrows (or garbage cans) and dump it away from the foot traffic!

When it does finally melt, there is a slope for the snow to drain away.

Sometimes in the cold we also see small children
out on the playground amusing themselves.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in our apartment complex, we have cows occasionally patrolling the garbage bins. Not overly impressed by some of the things they find, they will continue to search for goodies. Occasionally there are a few horses grazing around, but they haven't disturbed the garbage. That we know of. Maybe they just let the cows and the dogs take the rap.

They must find enough to make it worth coming back;
this is not an unusual sight.

Between the dogs and the cows, there can be quite a mess.

Our Seminary youth (teenagers who attend scripture classes during the week) came over one night for a late Tsagaan Sar celebration. We fed them buuz and salads (because that's what you do, even for a late Tsagaan Sar!) and played games. One surprisingly good salad we've tried here and reproduced for our guests is chopped beets with mayo, tuna fish, and canned, mixed vegetables. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

They brought their teacher Baagii with them. We also
invited the elders to help translate for us.

For our church family night, we had a lesson on Noah's ark, then made paper boats and modelling clay animals. Everyone really got into it, even the adults. And we had a new member join us! Boyka is our first returned missionary in Sainshand. After serving in other parts of Mongolia, he is now ready to help us in any way he can while he's home with his family. 

John demonstrating boat folding in his best Mongolian - not!
Boyka, who speaks good English and Mongolian, translated.

We're not sure there were octopuses on the ark,
but this young man made a wonderful one!

Boyka is shocked at how much our church group has grown. When his family got here a little over 2 years ago, people met in his parents' home for Sunday services. At that time their family had recently moved here to help build the church in Sainshand. There was no official place for Sunday services or for English classes. He had no one his age who was a member of the Church. He was here for 5 months before he left on his mission and left a church group that had just a handful of members and a lot of hope. 

Now the church rents the second floor of a building that we put to good use almost every day of the week. We average 20 in sacrament meeting. There's a nice group of teens who have joined the church who enjoy having friends who share the same standards and values they have, friends they can be comfortable with and grow with. Three robust English classes each happen 3 times a week - beginner, intermediate, and IELTS preparation. We've had some wonderful volunteers who have done a nice job of creating dynamic English classes - besides teaching English classes in schools and at American Corner (sponsored by the US Embassy).

Each person who has served here, if only for a short time, has done their part to nurture this growth and has offered their own inspiration and experience to the development of these people and programs here. Each person who leaves on a train leaves their influence behind in ways that cannot be measured. Each person was sent here for a reason, for who they are and what they could contribute. 

Sometimes it's hard for us to see progress, but Boyka's reaction helped us see what we have heard the Spirit whisper to us: the Lord's hand is in this work, and people's lives are improving. For instance, our prophets and church leaders have an amazing vision of who teenagers are and who they can become. The divinely-inspired programs our church offers these kids are designed to help them as they grow into disciples of Christ, support each other, and develop good leadership skills. We expect a lot, and they deliver.  We're watching kids learn to plan activities, look out for each other, teach, and bear testimonies. What amazing strengths they will have as adults!

Saturday brought a surprise. We had what is called an emergency transfer. This is when one of our teachers or missionaries gets a new assignment in between the normal 6 week transfer schedule. In this case, Elder Ricks went to the city after only six days and Elder Odbayar came to Sainshand. He arrived on Saturday about noon and by 3:00pm was helping with a youth activity.

Elder Ricks made a few quick stops for some memory photos. 

Breakfast with Elders Ricks and Anand just before
heading to Ulaanbaatar for a 6-hour taxi ride.

Our new group at lunch, with newly arrived Elder Odbayar.

For our youth activity that day, the young men went out to a local restaurant and had a gospel lesson followed by eating chicken and pizza. The young women had a lesson and celebrated birthdays.

On that Saturday night, since we learned there would be a major alignment of several planets that would be visible to the naked eye, we went star-gazing. We drove to the edge of the hill that overlooks Sainshand (not far from our apartment) and watched the sun set and the stars and planets come out. It was a peaceful, beautiful, evening date. But chilly enough that we kept getting back in our car to warm up.

Overlooking our town and one of its ger districts,
complete with dirt roads.

Pictures never show planets very well. Take our 
word for it that there is a planet in this picture.

It was nice to take a moment to be alone together and marvel at the beauties of creation. We are blessed to be around wonderful Mongolian people, enjoy beautiful sights, enjoy amazing experiences, and see God's hand all around us in so many ways.

Mongolia Mission Week 67 - A Happy Tsagaan Sar! (And have you ever wondered what's in a camel hump??)

 Mongolia Mission Week 67

Our hope with this blog is to share highlights with our family and friends about our exciting opportunities and awesome responsibilities in Mongolia. It's an impossible task, though, because it's hard to condense everything into a few words and pictures. So ask us individually if you'd like to know more about anything! You can contact us by email (jrose219@gmail.com or krose213@gmail.com), Facebook messenger, or you can text Kathy's phone (515-537-3273). 

This past week was the biggest holiday of the year, Tsagaan Sar, or the Festival of the White Moon. It is officially 3 days of celebration, usually coordinating with the lunar new year. This year the schools were out from Tuesday through Friday. Before the festival, everyone deep cleans their homes. It's part of the holiday requirements and invites the new year properly. During the holiday, everyone strives to be free of contention, ensuring that their entire new year will be contention-free. Sainshand is a friendly town, but during Tsagaan Sar there is a distinctly happy air and it's even friendlier, if that's possible.

It's a time of brightly colored deels (traditional clothing) for men, women, and children. It's a family-centered holiday where people visit relatives they see no other time of the year. The first day is reserved for visiting the eldest relatives; grandparents welcome family members and are honored by granddaughters who help cook, serve guests, and do dishes. The next 2 days include visits to other family members, friends, and work colleagues. Each visit includes eating a variety of salads, lots of buuz (steamed dumplings), often a large back of mutton, drinking various forms of milk products (including arag, a fermented mare's milk), and eating dried milk curd. Traditionally, the focus was on foods that are white.

We started with our own celebration. The Heviin Boov tower of 
scone-like breads must be built with an odd number of layers
representing alternating happiness and sorrow and ending on happiness.

We had decided that the 6 of us would make buuz together, so we invaded the butcher shop as a group. Mongolians make 100s of buuz in preparation for the holiday. Butcher shops have several vendors set up selling the meat of sheep, beef, horse, goat, and camel. It's all pretty frozen, sitting out on the counters in huge chunks for shoppers to inspect and request what they want. We decided on camel and bought about three kilos. It is sold with some of the hump, as both the meat and the fat (from the camel hump or sheep tail, if you're using sheep) are usually chopped and mixed together to add juiciness to the buuz. 

Our camel meat selection. Camel is very lean!

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a camel hump looks like?!

John's pretty good at folding buuz with
different traditional types of folds. Kathy, not so much.

You slice off thin slices from the frozen meat, chop it finely,
add onion and some seasonings. For the dough, you roll out
circles of dough (flour and water) with a slightly larger center.

Our celebration was on Bitoon, which is Tsagaan Sar eve. On this night you are supposed
to eat as much as possible. (Stretches out your stomach for the next 3 days)

Sister Grover is from Mississippi, where Mardi-Gras is a big deal. Bitoon was on Fat Tuesday this year, so she helped us celebrate by bringing a King Cake to our event. It was delicious. You know us - we try to work in all the holidays and festivities we possibly can!

King Cake, made with yeast, is like a sweet bread
and is topped with sugar in Mardi-Gras colors.
It has a surprise inside for one lucky person. 

Wednesday, February 18th, was the first day of the holiday. At about 10:30 am, we got our first knock on the door. This goes on each day of the holiday until about 8 pm. Much like trick-or-treating in the USA, we get small visitors with costumes (traditional dress, in this case) and with bags for candy and/or money. They get both throughout the day. We gave out some small bills and/or candy to almost 200 kids who came to our door during the hours we were home. Mongolian currency is measured in tugriks, with bills ranging from 10 to 20,000 (a 20,000 tugrik bill is about $5.60 in US currency, so giving kids such small bills makes them happy and doesn't deplete our bank account much).

Older teens don't usually come door-to-door like this, but our high school students told us that one reason they really look forward to the holiday is because of the gifts and money they get from family and friends. Actually, every time you visit someone's house they send you home with a gift after feeding you, even if you're a foreigner.

These were our first visitors. So cute!

Kids usually accept the candy with Mongolian
formality (holding out their 2 outstretched hands).

We were invited to several homes over the three days. In really formal visits, we all performed zolkokh, an official greeting where the younger person places their arms below the older person's, thus "supporting" their arms, giving air cheek kisses and saying "Amar bain oh," which means "Are you living in peace?"

When you visit someone, they put the buuz in the steamer (often an electric one, sometimes plugged in in the bedroom) and invite you to visit and munch on salads while they steam for 20 minutes. "Capital" salad is a favorite. It's a potato salad with very small chunks of potatoes and ham, sometimes some canned vegetables, and lots of mayo. Pickled, shredded carrot salad comes in jars at the grocery store and is another favorite, as are slices of cucumber, cucumber pickles, and meat jelly. Ham and various sausages are prevalent in slices and salads. We decline the milk tea, unless it doesn't have actual tea in it, as well as the vodka and/or whiskey, since those are not part of our health code in our church. People are gracious about our refusal to drink things we have covenanted not to drink.  

Our sweet Narkhajid invited us to her one-room home.
She served us buuz and pickles. Her small Heviin Boov had
little candies for snacking.

Tungaa, a delightful teacher we work with, invited the 2 of
us to her home, and we met her husband and two sons.

Sanchirmaa, one of our church members, invited us to
her home with her mother and her little sister.

She had relatives drop by while we were there.

Tuvshig, a  young adult English student at the church, hosted
us at his house. He is a wonderful chef.

We really enjoyed our visits with friends in their homes. Mongolians are so hospitable, and we have made some good friends. Even prior to Tsagaan Sar, we joined our friend Molly and her family to make buuz with them for the second year in a row. They are so gracious. 

Tsagaan Sar is a wonderful holiday that emphasizes family and friendship. We love the respect shown for the elderly in this country year-round. This holiday resonates with us because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well-known as a family-centered church; the family is the most important unit on the earth. All of our church programs are designed to support families in their righteous goals. 

Our temple ordinances allow families to be sealed together forever so our relationships do not end with physical death. We believe in the Old Testament prophet Malachi, who said "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers (Malachi 4:5-6, Holy Bible, King James Version). And we know that prophesy is being fulfilled today. 

Sadly, this week we had to say goodbye to Sister Veile and Elder Paul, who got transferred.

Sister Veile got a goodbye picture with
 Minjirmaa and Sanchirmaa.

Some of the girls came to the church to say goodbye.
Oyuma brought her traditional scarf so she could do the
formal Tsagaan Sar greeting properly.

Elder Anand, Sister Veile, Sister Grover, and us in order, each 
holding up fingers to represent how many transfers we have left-

We helped Elder Paul and Sister Veile wait for their train in our apartment by serving them, their companions, and a couple of the girls buuz (of course). And salads and fruit.

 

It was a pretty tearful goodbye.

Being invited into people's hearts and homes is a special trust. But it makes leaving bittersweet.

Mongolia Mission Weeks 65 & 66 - Random Tidbits and Birthday Happenings

Mongolia Mission Weeks 65 & 66

Our hope with this blog is to share highlights with our family and friends about our exciting opportunities and awesome responsibilities in Mongolia. It's an impossible task, though, because it's hard to condense everything into a few words and pictures. So ask us individually if you'd like to know more about anything! You can contact us by email (jrose219@gmail.com or krose213@gmail.com), Facebook messenger, or you can text Kathy's phone (515-537-3273). 

This week we want to share tidbits from the last couple of weeks:  

Introducing our current cat, who sneaks into our
apartment building to be warm near the hallway pipes that
are full of hot water - it's the way the buildings are heated.

In other animal news, we were greeted
by the cutest little fluff ball one day!
This one stayed outside, hopefully with its mom.
Dogs pretty much run free here.

-In case you were wondering, we again found a way to celebrate Groundhog's Day on Feb 2. We always have a dinner featuring "ground hog," this year in the form of some big link sausages we found in Ulaanbaatar when we were there. They were good but didn't have the familiar sage in them.

Our guinea pigs trusted us-

-School responsibilities are ramping up for us. We've been assigned an English Club at the high school with over 20 students choosing to attend each week. Several students communicate with us to some extent in English and many look at us hoping to. We also gained an IELTS class for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, also of various abilities, which is a challenge as we try to do the most good for the most students in the class.

Grouping students allows more proficient students to help others.

-For those of you worried about our brown water last week, this week it was clear! But completely cold. The rust was mostly coming through with the hot water, so the hot water was turned off and we heard lots of banging on the pipes in the building throughout the week. We assume that meant people were working on the water issues. We (gratefully) got warm water a day before the elders did, so they came to use our shower that day. Now the rust issue is a bit better.

-President Kunz and Enkhjiguur, the mission secretary, came to Sainshand to interview our English teacher volunteers and our Mongolian missionary. It was great to get to spend some time with them here in Sainshand, even for just a few hours.

-Then it was Kathy's birthday on the 13th. It meant lots of birthday wishes on her birthday here, and many more on the 14th, which was her birthday back home. Her birthday was pretty low key for us - we taught and went about our normal schedule, except that we made a cherry/blueberry pie. It's our new favorite. A while back we wanted to make a cherry pie but were short on cherries, so we used blueberries to make up the shortage. It was even better than either cherry pie or blueberry pie. So she requested it again for her birthday.

Cherry blueberry pie in the pie pan Horitos 
brought from the States for us when they heard
we had a hard time finding one!

The sisters made mac and cheese to celebrate our birthdays 
and for District Council meeting snack - it was wonderful!

-On Saturday our youth activity was a celebration of Valentine's Day and all the Group birthdays. We have many members with birthdays in February. Of course! That's the best month. We played games and ate several kinds of cake, including banana, which John requested, since his birthday is on the 19th. It's his favorite, and our Mongolian friends really like banana bread, so we were sure the cake would be a hit.

The group schemed and connived to surprise us
with a thoughtful birthday card featuring lavender roses
made from ribbons. 

Also, our apartment door was "heart attacked." We felt so special!

Now for a couple of humorous stories. We hope the humor comes through in our translation for you:

-During our Fast Sunday sacrament meeting at the beginning of February (see last week for our discussion about Fast Sundays), John decided to share his testimony and asked Chuka, our member who served a mission in Nebraska 20+ years ago, to translate for him. But when John greeted everyone in Mongolian (which he's been working on): "Sain bats ganuu akh duu naraa," Chuka dutifully translated it for him. Into English: "Hello, brothers and sisters!" Chuka is a character and caught everyone off guard, including John. Translations usually go the other way for us! 

-Then last week, 14 year old Sanchirmaa was speaking in church. She has a 3-year-old sister, Enkhrii, who sometimes comes to church with her. During the talks, Elder Paul sits on the stand between us to translate for us. Enkhrii was over by the electric piano at the front of the room and several times told Elder Paul to "Shhh!" After all, he was talking while the speaker, her sister, was talking. Finally she walked over, planted herself right in front of him, put a finger to her lips, and told him rather loudly to "shhh." None of the three of us could keep from laughing (in front of everyone) due to her insistence and intensity.

The real blessing this week, though, was the baptism of two young men. Last week we mentioned our trip to the countryside to get a parent's signature. Now the reason for the trip became a reality as Uilstuguldur was baptized. Jonon, who served here in Sainshand as a missionary, came back for the baptism and confirmation of Buyandelger, whom he had helped teach. Buyandelger had waited until he was 18 so he needed no one else's permission to be baptized. 

Jonan, Elder Paul, Buyandelger, Uilstuguldur, Elder Anand.

The elders gave each young man a tie, followed by
Elder Anand teaching them how to tie them.

We had a nice group for the baptism.

It's a beautiful thing to see these young people learn about and glow with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know we've mentioned this before, but most teenagers who join the church here are the only members in their families. They are truly pioneers. Many church leaders in Mongolia are in their 30s, 40s, or 50s and joined the church as teenagers. People need to be willing to open up their hearts and minds to the whisperings of the Spirit and willing to make changes in their lives to walk on the covenant path. As we age, we get set in our ways and it becomes harder, it seems. 

It was great to see and spend time with Jonon again! When he was here as a missionary, we admired his diligence and his dedication. Jonan was one of those Mongolians who joined the church when he was a teen. He's now serving in a leadership position in a congregation in Ulaanbaatar. 

Sister Veile, Jonan, and Sister Grover with their game faces on.

 

On Sunday, our 2 new members were confirmed members of the Church and received special priesthood blessings. A fairly large group of people attended that day, including a couple of adult women visitors and a young woman we don't see very often - it was indeed a special day. Each individual is important to us and to our Heavenly Father. We sometimes get a glimpse of how special His children are to Him and how happy He is when they choose to be close to Him. We've learned to rejoice in even one person learning or feeling something important from our meetings, knowing the Lord is working miracles one by one. 

We'll sit there on a Sunday morning thinking no one is coming, and then they trickle in: deacons who seemingly have little reason to be there, a grandmother who understands very little, teenage girls whose lives are full of drama, and our one family who often have work or family situations that take them away but are such a light when they come. 

Just like members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in other places, we all make sacrifices to be in church, but we are all drawn to the light and the feelings we have when we attend. We know what covenants we've made, and we want spiritual power in our lives. We actually believe that "a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation" (Smith, Joseph. Lectures on Faith [1985], 69). 

When it comes right down to it, however, there is no sacrifice we can make that comes close to repaying God for the blessings He has given us. He has given us everything. And he will forgive us of our sins through the sacrifice of our Savior if we do our best to turn to them. What joy we find in doing that and in watching his children do that!