Mongolia Mission Week 31 - Tires and Transfers or Tired of Transfers

Mongolia Mission Week 31

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). 

We'll start with tires. We see old tires everywhere, usually painted in cheerful colors. Remember the school projects we wrote about last week? We found out that the colorful tires we see are often the projects school kids do (and a great recycling system).

This tire surrounds a cement block painted
noticeably blue so it will not be run over.

Some tires act as parking lot bumpers or are just random.

Some tires are decorative flower pots.

In front of our apartment building, people planted
seeds that could either be flowers or vegetables.
We'll find out soon.

These were turned into teacups! It's hard to see 

perspective - just know they are tire-sized.

These tires are used to terrace the hill.

The tires that puzzled us the most are the ones "planted" all over the countryside. When we inquired, we found out that when the government gives people land, they must put something permanent on the land within a certain number of years to make sure it remains theirs. So many people will build a "fence" out of tires. Or they will put up a completely wonderful fence around an area that encloses absolutely nothing at this point in time.

We experienced another transfer week - they come around so often! They are always sad for us and exciting but unsettling for the young volunteers. First, some explanation could be helpful for some of you.

We are always amazed at these young people we serve with. Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many of the young people between 18 and 26 choose to serve a mission for 18 or 24 months.  They apply, showing their interests, abilities, and willingness to serve wherever in the world they are called through the inspiration of the apostles. And they or their family pay for this opportunity - several hundred dollars each month. They set aside and leave behind jobs, teams, schools, romantic interests, cars, etc. What dedication, commitment, and testimony they demonstrate! They forgo all these things, spend the time and money to serve, and truly dedicate themselves to living a life on a higher level. 

They have the faith to create miracles. They are also incredibly
good sports.

Young Mongolians get called on missions to preach the Gospel. They serve in many parts of the world and in Mongolia as missionaries. But when young missionaries from other parts of the world get called to Mongolia, they come as volunteers to teach English. Proselyting by foreigners isn't allowed, so they serve to grow and enhance the educational opportunities of, and therefore the economy of, Mongolia. Theirs is a much different type of service. No name tags, no knocking on doors, no street contacting. They train at BYU and then teach English in schools, in community centers, and in churches, and the people are very grateful. They also greatly bless the church congregations where they attend and serve and make friends wherever they go. They teach the Gospel to friends who are interested.

None of these young people choose where in the country they will serve or who their companion will be. All of them, whether English teachers or missionaries, are subject to a reassignment of companion or location every 6 weeks. Typically, they get a new companion after 6 weeks and a new city/area after 12 weeks. So change is constant. They get chances to learn and grow in new situations and from new companions; they also get a chance to use their own special talents and gifts all over the country. You've seen in our blog when we have new young people join or leave Sainshand - we've only been here 6 months and have already served with 14 different young servants.

Gainer, Tumenjargal, Jonan, and Eves
practice a song they volunteered to sing for sacrament
meeting. Their investigator is running the electronic piano.

We love them all and appreciate their examples of dedication and commitment. We also feel blessed that we get to choose our companion, stay together the whole time, and stay in one place (unless we get reassigned, which is always a possibility, too). Older members like us get to choose from 6, 12, 18, or 23 months and have more flexibility with putting in preferences for what type of service we want to do and what types of countries we would be willing and able to serve in. We felt called to serve here and have had that feeling confirmed as we received our official call and since we've been here. For some reason, the Lord wants us here!

Back to transfer week. We all found out on Wednesday night that Roman Eves and Sister Tumenjargal were being reassigned and would leave Thursday. The six of us had a final dinner together, and then we sent the four young people off on the train to Ulaanbaatar. 

We often have group members come to see them off.

On Saturday, the group coming back arrived at 7:30 in the morning. Elder Bilegsaikhan and Daisy Hess are our new best friends. They were busy all day their first day here - even though there was a (last minute!) planned power outage that lasted all day and well into the night. We usually take the group to dinner their first day here so that we can get to know each other and talk about the work in the area. Due to lack of power, it ended up being a dinner at our house where we steamed dumplings ("buuz") on a butane camp stove and ate together by the light coming in the window. Elder Jonan remembered how, last time we had a power outage, he and Eves whipped cream for a fruit salad by hand, and he was willing to do it again. After he had been whisking for awhile, he asked if that was enough, and we looked over and saw that it was whipped stiff enough to almost be butter!

As with so many things, it takes losing electricity to help us really appreciate it. We are so blessed by modern conveniences - running water, indoor toilets, electricity, internet . . . When we do without them, it's a gentle reminder of how blessed we really are. We are learning to be more grateful for the things we have, especially family and friends. We get excited when we find things like whipping cream, but that's a minor thing. We eat well (too well!), and are so blessed to have this wonderful experience in a part of the world that is a mystery to most Americans. What we've discovered is that Mongolia is filled with wonderful, kind people. Both the ones who live here and the ones who choose to work their hearts out, serving the Lord in fairly challenging conditions for 18-24 months.  

Speaking of running water - in the past 
we mentioned how rust-colored our 
water can be. To be fair, sometimes it's 
wonderfully clear.

And we're so blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We try not to take that for granted. It's a real reminder of our blessings when we hear people talk about how amazing it is to feel and recognize the truths of the Gospel and the love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for them as they discover these feelings for the first time. Or people who long to be able to go to the temple. Many Mongolians want to go to America because they see it as a land of opportunity, but it's truly humbling to see the yearning in our new Elder's eyes when he talks about wanting to go to America because he wants to go there to attend General Conference and see a prophet of God in person.

Mongolia Mission Week 30 - All good things must come to an end....

Mongolia Mission Week 30

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). 

One more Zone Conference picture.
(One of our translation headsets wasn't
working. We got caught sharing a headset!)

The good thing coming to an end is the school year for the public school where we teach. We are, at least for the summer, also through teaching both our class of teachers and our class of students at the medical school. Now we just have our evening English classes at the church and our online class for Mongolian missionaries who want to get into Pathways or BYU Hawaii. So we're looking for new projects and working on new opportunities, like maybe teaching a class for adults and high school seniors who want to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test to prove English proficiency for international schools or jobs.

As the school year ends, interesting things have begun happening. One day lots of holes began appearing in the ground near our apartment. There were two tractors with augers drilling hundreds of holes, and we wondered who was funding what kind of project. Then dozens of teenagers planted trees and bushes in the holes. We've since then seen people watering some of the holes by hand with jugs of water. The public school students do a lot of the day-to-day cleaning at the schools, but we discovered that at the end of the school year, some kids do big projects, like kids who are graduating from one school to the next. 

When the bushes grow, this area will
look very different. 

Another project was happening in front of the school.

Kids (with these adult supervisors) were
painting the chairs and desks blue.

We're sure we'll find good things to do with our summer. When we got home from Zone Conference, we helped with a Seminary party. (During the school year, the older teenage members of our church attend scripture study classes called Seminary.) In Sainshand, these classes are on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Baagii, the church member who teaches Seminary, asked us if we would like to  help with the end of school year party, and we're always up for a party!

We consider most things we make to be an opportunity for Mongolians to share our culture. So we created an "American" style meal. First, some of the kids wanted to learn how to make Jello. Buyan-Erdene, one of the students, had tried it at our house, loved it, and wanted to know how to make it. For that we had bought a package of Jello in an international store in the city. What better way to introduce Mongolians to American culture? Mongolians make what they call "meat jelly" and put meat and vegetables in it. But Americans, of course, make gelatin sweet. For the party, we made a pan of American Jello from the city but also made a batch using fruit juice and some unflavored gelatin we found at a store here - a simple, easy, and healthier version that the kids could do without having an international store. We put canned fruit in each batch and served it with canned whipped cream we had found - "squirt cream." They were both a huge hit!

The other hit was hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, and relish (which is really a novel find, also from the city), baked beans, and potato chips (which we find in great abundance here, often in very un-American flavors). We played "Werewolf" (it's like Mafia) and watched an animated movie in Mongolian. 

Playing Werewolf - Elder Eves had to translate for
us so that we could play. We still lost a lot in translation.

Trying American style hot dogs -
Mongolians have various hot-dog looking
sausages, but they don't eat them in buns.

The Jello was a real hit!

Our group of 7 teens and 7 adults

The next day was Children's Day - a national holiday and, it turns out, a VERY big deal. It is always on June 1 and fell on Sunday this year. Leading up to it, all the stores sold prepackaged bags of treats and toys as gifts for children. That day there were parties, gifts, celebrations, bike parades, etc. Luckily, we heard about Children's Day in advance and decided we ought to do something for the children of our church group. We created small treat bags (including pictures of Jesus and a reminder that He loves them every day!). We got permission to move our monthly Fast and Testimony meeting to the following week so we wouldn't be handing out candy on a day we encourage fasting. Some other wards in Mongolia moved Fast day for this celebration, too; Children's Day is a big deal.

An investigator's little sister getting into
the Sunday School lesson and enjoying
her treat bag.

Later that afternoon, we visited several locations in town to check out some of the celebration activities.

There's a very small amusement park in Sainshand.
It was open for Children's Day. We wandered in to 
see what was going on. 

This is what was going on.

Being amusing in the amusement park.

We saw lots of fancy dresses on little girls.

A major town square included bouncy houses,
barbequed shish kebabs, soft ice cream, 
some toys to buy,

pony rides,

small fry locomoting everywhere on roller blades,
bikes, and in other conveyances,

and squirt guns that pulled water up from
underneath this grate.

On quite another day we returned home to a pleasant surprise. Our two young sisters we serve with had "heart attacked" our door. It's so encouraging and uplifting to be thought of. They also "heart attacked" the door of our most recent convert, and it touched her deeply. During Fast and Testimony meeting, she bore her testimony after going around the room showing a picture of her door to everyone. One of the hearts had a scripture on it that was just what she needed that day. Coincidence? Of course not. We know the Lord does His work through other people, and we just have to pay attention to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

On the other side of the world, Shannon and Steven, our awesome basement renters and yard caregivers, sent us a picture of the roses blooming in our yard at home. That was also a pleasant and appreciated surprise that brightened our day. 

We miss our home, family, and friends but are happy that we can communicate with you from afar. This is much easier than when any of our children went on their missions. Now we can email, call, text, and video chat regularly. 

Hearts on doors can spread important messages, but technology is also miraculous and has so much potential for the Lord's work. We have been taught by Elder Bednar, a modern day seer and revelator, that this last dispensation of the fullness of times is distinctive, and one of the reasons for that is the "miraculous progression of innovations, inventions, and technologies that have enabled and accelerated the work of salvation." Speaking in the 2016 Seminar for New Mission Presidents, he said that "all of these advancements are part of the Lord hastening His work in the latter days." Like many tools, it has the potential for good as well as evil, but we consider it to be an absolute blessing and tender mercy for us.

Mongolia Mission Week 29 - Mongolia - known as "the land of the eternal blue sky"

Mongolia Mission Week 29

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). 

We'll just start with WOW. We shared recently how Sainshand was spruced up this spring. But Mongolia itself is sprucing up. A couple of trips to the city ago, John was struck with an idea that all the dry, dead stuff we drove past might actually turn green. What is yellow might once have been green, he suggested. And it's true! The steppe is turning green! As we drive to the capital now we also see lots of babies: goats, lambs, and horses. Even a yellow bloom or two and a few clusters of a small purple flower that looks like an iris. All beneath an amazingly big sky.

How can we but reflect on the scripture from the Book of Mormon where a prophet is trying to convince a non-believer that there is a God. "....all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." Alma 30:44. Indeed, this much beauty and variety could not have happened by chance.

It might not look all that green to some of you, but remember
that we live in the Gobi.

This is so exciting when all we've seen for months
is sand and dry grass.

Another exciting event for us was a coincidental/maybe not coincidental meeting. John and Scott Scovel worked on a large project together as American Express employees over 20 years ago, when John was based in Salt Lake City and Scott was in New York City. They've each gone down separate paths over the years but stayed in touch. Scott recently reached out to tell us that he and his girlfriend, Winsome, would be visiting Mongolia in May. It turned out to be the week of our Zone Conference when we had come to Ulaanbaatar anyway!

We were able to meet up with Scott and Winsome one night for dinner and to attend a cultural experience of music, dance, and dress. Click here to hear some examples we heard of Mongolian throat singing and to see some of the characteristic shoulder-shaking dance moves, Buddhist mask dancing, and a picture of a guy playing a percussion piece made of ankle bones. We failed to take a picture with Scott and Winsome, which is so sad! 

Traditional instruments included a horse head fiddle
which features a carved horse head at the top and
includes notes sometimes played with fingers
underneath the strings on the neck of the instrument.

The performance included a contortionist and
 claimed that contortionism began in Mongolia.

It turns out there was a group of 44 global business students from Brigham Young University (BYU) attending that night. They are on a month long trip to various countries in Asia.

One of the students in the group was Alex Schefer, who was one of the first to serve in Sainshand when English volunteers first went there a year and a half ago. We had met him when he worked as a translator in the MTC in Provo back in November, so it was a treat and a reunion to see him again, too!

Zone Conference was great, as usual!

We presented cleaning awards again

This Zone Conference was unique; President Namgur and his family are completing their three years of service in Mongolia at the end of June, and we may not see them again before they leave. They are amazing and inspirational and have sacrificed a lot for their service here. We love and appreciate all they do for the missionaries and English volunteers who serve in Mongolia. 

In an emotional ending to the conference, Namgurs
received gifts from the zone.

Between David's visit and Zone Conference, the two of us slipped out of the city. Senior couples are encouraged to participate in cultural activities. We couldn't think of a better way than to experience the countryside of another part of Mongolia. So we enjoyed the steppe and found a couple of very cultural experiences.

Good thing we had a driver and a guide who knew 
where to go!

Visited and ate with a nomadic family

Our hostess made rolls as she sat on the edge of a 
bed by the stove. These rolls were then steamed.
The horse tapestry lined the interior wall of the ger.

Mutton soup and fried flatbread. 

Gers can be assembled and disassembled within hours,
depending on how many people help. These are stiff
pieces of leather, not screws holding the framework together.

Made friends with a Bankhar dog, the 
dog breed of Mongolia.

Herded sheep and goats in a landscape that goes on
forever. Nomads herd on horseback, by motorcycle,
by car, or by ATV.

So hard not to keep these two!

We slept in our own ger, complete with a stove (and
plenty of dried sheep dung) in case we got cold.

Our ger had its own sink, furnished with water carried 
in from a well. The floor is linoleum laid on the ground. 

The family, two of their three dogs, and our guide,
President Adiyabold. Notice the solar panel for the ger.

 President Adiyabold is the president of the second stake in Mongolia (a stake is a geographic collection of congregations in the Church, generally consisting of 3000-5000 people).  He co-owns a tour company that caters to English-speaking people, for which we were grateful. Click here if you'd like information about his company.

One educational tidbit we gained was seeing and learning about the Przewalski or Takhi horse. Native to Mongolia, and named for a Russian explorer who discovered and described them in the 1800s, these horses were declared extinct in the wild in the 1960s. In the 1990s, 84 were airlifted from European zoos into Hustai National Park in Mongolia in a repopulation attempt. There are now about 1000 - a real success story. 

They are genetically different from domestic horse and cannot be tamed. (Mustangs, considered wild in America, are feral horses, not naturally wild.) Because Przewalskis are wild and their hierarchies are not selected by humans, the stallions fight for ownership of their harems. We got close enough to hear some of that.

Przewalski horses are all the same color and
have some striping on their back legs. We didn't
get close enough to actually see the stripes.

We always hit the museums to continue our quest
to learn as much about Mongolia as we can! These
clay figurines were found in a tomb.

The oldest monastery in Mongolia

We had to go in search of sand dunes. Our part of 
the Gobi doesn't actually have sand dunes. And what
a sky!

After zone conference, we headed back home to Sainshand. The potholes have always done a good job of keeping us awake on the road and giving us bursts of adrenalin as we dodge them and the other cars and trucks also dodging them. 

The roads to the capital were not good for alignments. 

We're sure we got extra points for dodging trucks
 and potholes both at once!

We also went joy-riding over places actively being
repaired

But workers are filling (some of) them right now, so the ride home was not quite as exciting. Except for a car fire which closed the road. Not a problem. We all just drove out over the steppe, like the nomads do. 

On the way home there were great improvements!

One of our big takeaways is that this world is a marvelous place with many wonderful people doing interesting things, and there's no one "right" way to make music, make a living, or feed your family. Nomads have been roaming this area for centuries, finding ways to adapt, succeed, and be happy. We're glad to catch a glimpse of other ways than our own. And we thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful feeling of a land that is open as far as eyes can see, and nights when you can see stars upon stars upon stars. Indeed, there is a God.