Mongolia Mission Week 7 - Our biggest adventures yet!

 Mongolia Mission Week 7

Our hope with this blog is to share highlights with our family and friends about our exciting opportunities and awesome responsibilities as missionaries. 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're thinking you might already know that we are adventurous :) , but this week we took it to new heights. Mongolian haircut, Monastery visit, and Christmas in Mongolia!

First, John decided to venture out for a haircut without an interpreter. You probably know how much he likes a challenge. He did take Kathy, to at least run Google Translate, as his hands would be under the barber's apron. She could type in what he wanted to say, it would translate into Mongolian, and then she could show it to the barber. The barber could do the same. 

We found a building John had noticed before. It had large, painted letters on the roof that proclaimed "Barber." That was promising! Inside the building we found some couches that seemed to be for waiting clients. After waiting his turn, when he got in the chair, John asked the barber if he spoke English. Everyone seemed to understand that phrase, as everyone in the shop laughed. But no one seemed to know any other phrases. And so it began....

John communicated that he wanted the top cut longer
than the sides, so it was carefully pinned up. Kathy 
had a hard time taking this picture because she was
 so busy giggling to herself. There was in interesting
display of ceramic masks on the wall behind them.

On the plus side, for $6 he got his hair washed, then cut, then washed again, then even more trimming. At the end, it looked terrible, but what a bargain! He accomplished his goals: shorter hair, independence, and adventure.

Also this week a sweet member lady drove us and the young missionaries on their preparation day to see a local (about 20 minutes outside of town) monastery and ancient caves in a ravine. The caves (more like little grottos) are still used for worship, as we saw signs of recent incense burned, food and money offerings, etc., and a Buddha in one cave.

Manmade bricks added to the natural grottos.

It was the coldest wind we've been in
since coming to Mongolia. 

The vast expanse of the Gobi

Ice crystals were in one grotto.

It's not trash; people leave offerings,
drape silk scarves, and sprinkle
bird seed for the Buddha.

Nearby was a large area carefully laid out with symbolic structures, rock circles, and the monastery. Very impressive. This is a major energy center revered by the Mongolian people. The monastery was destroyed during the Russian era, but it was rebuilt by a philanthropist who knew of its importance. 

We wish we knew the full explanations for the 
symbolic monuments and buildings.

A pamphlet says this is for children to walk around.
Not uncommon in Mongolia, round rock piles are
kind of like shrines that people must walk around
three times as they wish for good fortune.

There's a love poem inscribed on this monument;
it even has an English translation.

The door to the monastery - when you exit, you 
must walk out backwards or you will have bad luck.

Part of one of the paintings in the monastery. This is
the top, where people are reach a state of happiness.
At the bottom, there are sections where people are in
a state of unhappiness. There was also a monk in the
monastery who would chant/read scriptures for 
people who paid.

Pretty desolate area, but with local gers (yurts)
and a small herd of antelope.

Speaking of new heights, this was our most stress-free Christmas ever. The weeks leading up to Christmas allowed us to have a greater focus on the Savior and His birth. Then we had a quiet Christmas morning with just the two of us, a small tree, a few gifts, and a call with Steven's family on their Christmas eve. We watched a Christmas Carol musical movie and then prepared dinner and games for the young missionaries. We had a white elephant gift exchange, watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas, and sent Christmas socks home with them. A wonderful evening together.

Not many choices for meat, so we had broiled chicken,
scalloped potatoes, candied yams, mixed vegetables, fruit
salad, rolls, and cinnamon pull-aparts for dessert. 

On Thursday, the 26th, it was Christmas Day back home. We participated in a virtual white elephant exchange with Kathy's family. Of course! We couldn't miss the best social event of the season! (We had left gifts behind with her brother in preparation for the event.) This has been a tradition for years, and we've had virtual participants in the past. This year, there were 20 of us: in Utah, New York, and Mongolia. It was so much fun.  Later, we were able to talk with the rest of our children. Technology is an amazing blessing.

Fun virtual white elephant game hosted by Gary
and Deborah Sanders in Enoch, Utah.

Kathy's dad, enjoying the game.

Technology also brings in many referrals for our young missionaries. People express interest in the Church through social media; then the missionaries contact them and talk to them, teaching lessons about the Gospel when requested. Our sisters sent a Book of Mormon and some pamphlets to a remote area the other day to a lady who wanted to know more. 

But the "mail service" here is interesting. You reach out and find someone who is going to the location where you'd like to send a package. Then you meet them somewhere like in a parking lot, give them the package and a little bit of money. They take the package to the location, leave it someplace like a gas station, the recipient gets a call or text and goes to the gas station to pick up the package. They pay the gas station attendant a few dollars for holding the package. It's quite the honor system, but it seems to work well. When we returned from our monastery visit, there was a package from the USA waiting for us at a gas station! 

2024 was a great year, and we look forward to 2025! We are so blessed in so many ways. We are  grateful for good health. We have a wonderful, loving family. We appreciate our friends and their support and encouragement. Prayers work! Thanks for praying for us. And we are particularly blessed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge we have of His plan of happiness. He lives. He loves us all. He takes our small offerings and makes them great. With Him, we can do all things. And we know He will come again. Happy 2025!