Mongolia Mission Week 27 - It's a Whole New World (or at least a new Sainshand)

 

Mongolia Mission Week 27

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 city went through some big changes in the last couple of weeks. Street sweepers and bench painters were everywhere. Even all the glass panels surrounding bus stops got polished. We thought that Sainshand must get really serious every spring about sprucing up and were so impressed. Then a couple of friends laughed about it and told us it was because the Prime Minister was coming to town for some meetings. 

Very acrobatic cleanup and fixup

Street sweepers

Tree trimming 

Hole digging for watering around the roots

Painting the bridge took several days.

Repair and sprucing up the signage.

Scraping the desert off our walk down the hill

Change of subject. We get by pretty well using Google Translate. But you really can't always trust it. Often we have to just laugh. For example, we recently used the camera function on a menu, only to find that one of the options was "Roasted Cow Disease." That's appealing!! The Meat Collection (assorted meats) and and Chicken Collection translated fine, but whatever the title was for a platter of beef brisket didn't translate well. We didn't order it, by the way.

This is what Google Translate revealed on the menu.

We also did a Google Translate on one of the hymns in our hymnbook. It's a song called, "Now Let Us Rejoice" but the hymn in the Mongolian hymnbook, "Бүгд хөгжилдөн баясъя" becomes "Let's All Have Fun" when put through Google. But truly, our goal is to find and feel joy. The most joyful people we know live in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is joyful when we understand our Heavenly Father's plan and know that His children (all of us) can be guided around obstacles and tempting choices that will result in a loss of joy and peace. The title and song lyrics are actually talking about rejoicing in the knowledge of the gospel, which we also do!

Even when the power is out. When we came to Mongolia - and especially to Sainshand - we expected unreliable power or frequent outages, but we've been pleasantly surprised. We reported a few weeks ago about a scheduled outage that lasted for 20 hours. This weekend was another planned outage for upgrades for 14 hours each day on Saturday and Sunday (6 am until 8 pm). We knew in advance, planned for appropriate meals (cold cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, etc.) It's light from 5 am until at least 8 pm at night, so we all went about our normal activities and did fine - Mutual activity followed by cleaning the church, and Sunday meetings were all as normal - except that instead of an electric organ we had cell phone accompaniment for our songs.

For the youth activity we made modeling
clay creations and played games.

There was so much creativity - There's
even a figure of Jesus!

For dinner Saturday, we were invited to a member's house for a service project and buuz (dumpling) making and eating. They have a wood cook stove, so that was a nice dinner without electricity. Having a wood stove can be a real blessing.

Making buuz and filling the steamer

Then, for Sunday dinner, the six of us assigned to Sainshand all gathered in our apartment, where we had found a butane camp stove, thanks to the Stillwaughs, the senior couple who lived in the apartment before us. We heated water for ramen and ate side dishes we had prepared in advance. It was a delightful evening as we discussed special happenings in Sainshand.

Grateful that there is a small stove on the balcony!

Thinking ahead, we had put whipping cream
in a little cooler, but neglected to think 
about needing electricity to whip it-

The Sisters peeled eggs for deviled eggs.

Enjoying our dinner together by the light of the window.

It was a wonderful weekend! We have a renewed sense of gratitude for electricity, but learned that we can accomplish all we need to and have a great time doing it, even when the power is out. The elders and their muscles made perfectly whipped cream! And we all had fun, just like the hymn suggested. We know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us all to be happy; they are cheering us on every step of the way, and we can feel their love if we look for it. 

Mongolia Mission Week 26 - The Week of the Camel

Mongolia Mission Week 26

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 marks 6 months of blogs! We still haven't run out of new adventures and things to share. Thanks for reading and keeping track of the Roses in Mongolia! This one is about the Week of the Camel - at least for us. It's not a holiday or even a thing, as far as we know. It just seemed appropriate based on the events of our week.

And because we can't ever write a blog without talking about food, here's our food adventure for the week. We had a camel roast in our freezer. (Doesn't everyone?) 

First, the background. When Mongolia celebrated Tsagaan Sar on the first weekend of March,  something that everyone did was make buuz, the traditional small dumplings filled with finely chopped meat and onions. Kind people willing to share their culture taught us how to make them, and we decided to make our own. To do this we went to a meat store, bought a hunk of camel (about 5 kilos), and chopped a bunch of it to put in our buuz. Delicious, but a little tough because it was a very lean cut. (We're American and think lean cuts are best...) We put what was left over from the hunk in the freezer, wondering what in the world to do with 2 kilos of tough camel meat. 

But this week we decided it was time to do something and ended up with 3 meals of camel. We thawed the hunk enough to slice off a couple of steaks and marinated them in a balsamic dressing to fry. We had found some purple yams in the capital (so of course we brought them home), which we baked. The steaks were still tough, but they had good favor, and the yams were delicious. In the US, we've had cheesecake with purple yam flavor in a Hawaiian restaurant and really liked it. What a treat! 

This is not a normal local meal but we
enjoyed it! Although we usually eat fresh
vegetables.

But that only used a little bit of our camel. The next day we put the last of it in a slow cooker with a packet of taco seasoning mix we brought from home, left it for several hours, and it became tender enough to shred. 

Camel nachos!

Finally, the third day, the remaining shredded camel became the filling for camel birria tacos, using the juice from the slow cooker as the dipping sauce. Incredible! We may have invented camel tacos. However, we don't think the franchise will do well either in America or Mongolia. Just too much culture clash for either market.

Since we're on the subject of food, last time we were in the capital we found root beer! This is really hard to find, so we acquired three precious bottles to bring back to Sainshand and selfishly hid them away for a special night. We decided one night evidently was special, as we created root beer floats. What an indulgence!

Glasses like this come from food stores
and contain bottled fruit. When you're 
through with the fruit, you have 
something nicely functional.

Those of you who have followed earlier blogs know that we were able to get a mission car and that we named it Clyde, as it is the camel that carries us across the desert. So, in keeping with our camel week theme, we are including pictures of Clyde getting groomed by hand - we haven't found automated car washes here. Two days later it rained, the first since we've been here. You are welcome, Sainshand! We do what we can to help.

We also decided it was time to clean the outside of our bedroom windows. We are on the 6th floor and only have a small, high window that opens. Cleaning the windows is a little bit of a trick. Or acrobatics.

John mopping the windows!

Washing windows was just added insurance in case the car cleaning didn't bring rain. Either way, something worked. It rained! A bit.

Then there were the tie adventures. When Elder McWhorter was here, he told us that he always gets a tie made for himself and his companion in each area where he serves. The silk selection in Mongolia is beautiful because people want traditional clothing for the holidays.

John went with him and Elder Eves to help select fabric to get one made, too. But finding someone who knows how to make ties is a challenge; the only ties we see in our town are part of grade school uniforms and are pre-tied with an elastic neckband. So John left one of his ties for a pattern after the elders had an extensive discussion with a sewist they found who could deliver the ties within the time frame they desired. She understood the concept of centering the beautiful pattern on the tie, but not the importance of preferred width. So the pattern is beautifully showcased - on an extremely wide, rippled looking tie.

There was enough fabric for 4 ties. The
extra tie stays at the church for deacons
who show up without a tie. They've
decided they hate wearing it, so they
should plan to bring their own.

But John didn't give up; he really wanted more Mongolian themed-ties. The two of us went exploring silk fabric stores in various nooks and crannies of town and found some beautiful silk with the Mongolian "mountain pattern" in various colors. He went to a different, more professional sewist and negotiated (using Google translate) to have ties made, specified the width, when they would be finished, and the price. Not as cheap as the previous tie, but only about $11 per tie and very professional: nicely lined and with a keeper (loop) on the back to secure the tail.

We had another baptism in Sainshand! Khongorzul had investigated the gospel of Jesus Christ for over a year and always had lots of deep questions. Sometimes it takes awhile for questions to be answered and searching hearts to be satisfied. For her, the time came. She knew her testimony was real and wanted to make that special covenant with the Lord and become part of His fold.

For our youth activity earlier in the day, the older youth came to our apartment to make sugar cookies and no-bake cookies for the treats to be served after the baptism.

The baptism was a wonderful event, and there were lots of supporters. We couldn't hardly all fit in the font room. Khongorzul was the first one to get baptized since we got a small hot water heater at the church. She may not have appreciated the water temperature, but we promise it was closer to 70 degrees than the previous 40 degrees. The husband of her cousin is our Stake Patriarch; he baptized and confirmed her a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his wife drove for 10 hours from the north-central part of Mongolia to be with her for her special day. While he was in town, he was able to give several people their patriarchal blessings. Some of these people had been looking forward for a very long time to having their blessings. 

"A patriarchal blessing is an individualized priesthood blessing received from an ordained and authorized patriarch by the laying on of hands. It generally contains personal and inspired direction and counsel from Heavenly Father. A patriarchal blessing also includes a declaration of a person's lineage in the house of Israel, or as a descendant of Abraham. A patriarchal blessing is transcribed, with a copy given to the member and another kept in the records of the Church. Every member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is encouraged to receive a patriarchal blessing." ("Patriarchal Blessings," Gospel Study Guide, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/patriarchal-blessings-study-guide?lang=eng)

 The Patriarch and his wife, Khongorzul, her two
 children, and our sisters.

Our congregation who attended the baptism.

On Sunday the Patriarch and his wife, who are also senior missionaries, both spoke in our sacrament meeting, sharing their stories and testimonies. They have been members of the Church for over 30 years. That makes them some of the very first members of the Church in Mongolia, right after the country embraced democracy. What pioneers! When they joined the church it was not even as big as the group who attended the baptism. They were the first Mongolian couple sealed in the Hong Kong temple back in 1996. (Hong Kong is the temple district Mongolians generally attend.) They have 6 children who have gone on missions in locations all over the world. 

Now we have over 12,000 members, 25 congregations, a temple has been announced in Ulaanbaatar, and it will soon be built. We sat in the chapel that serves multiple functions during the week but is a holy place on Sunday, listening to these pioneers speak and feeling their powerful spirits. Looking out the window at the Gobi and at some gers and small rusty rooftops by the church, we recognized what a privilege it is to have the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how much it can bless the lives of all those people. What a special weekend!

Mongolia Mission Week 25 - In search of blossoms

Mongolia Mission Week 25

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). 

The view out of our 6th floor window always amazes us. One morning there was an interesting layer on the horizon. Smog? There is no city north of us for hundreds of miles, if at all! Clouds? Looked rather brown, but maybe it was sun reflection. Dust storm? Likely, but everything was so clear that day. As the day went on, it dissipated and didn't affect us.

A few days later, it was dark storm clouds. Once in a while (not often!) we have a cloud cover, but we hadn't seen clouds like this in Sainshand since we got here. We were rather excited that we might have a real rain storm. Nope! Just a few raindrops that didn't amount to much and definitely didn't interfere with the basketball being played on the court outside. We understand rains may come in August-

This view is fun. An apartment building like ours on the right edge of the view. Small group of traditional gers just to the left of it. And solar panels at the bottom of the picture. 

Such a blend of the traditional and the modern
living in harmony here.

It was a week of change. Here we are on our final night for this group. Dylan McWhorter and Rylee Tierney left us for assignments in other parts of Mongolia. Bittersweet! We know they and their special gifts are needed elsewhere. We love and admire these two and will miss them.

And the work just keeps rolling along - here we are with two new replacements. Grace Gainer and Elder Jonon joined us in Sainshand. We are excited for them to join us in serving here. They jumped right in with our group activities, even after 2 straight nights of sleeping on a train.

And what a unique place Sainshand is for some of us. There aren't really fences between the city and the surrounding open range. We've posted pictures of our local "wildlife" before, but always find it interesting to be headed home from school and find a cow next to a playground or apartment building. We tend to live harmoniously together unless the cows start pulling garbage bags out of the trash dumpsters and scattering it. Then the cows win.

For our preparation day (day off from teaching), we went to the Khamariin Khiid Monastery area with Chuka, our English speaking church member who treats us so generously with his time and talents. There are some special Sakura blooms from seeds someone brought from Japan that are planted out there in the desert, and the bushes bloom for only a few days around May 1.

The monastery covers a lot of ground and has several different buildings and monuments. It is known as an energy center with special properties. Inside this building, the walls are covered with (maybe bronze?) wall sculptures that are very detailed and amazing. We could spend hours in there, but we arrived just as it was closing, and Chuka convinced them to let the volunteer English teachers look around. So we tried not to spend too long. Chuka said it's the first time he's even seen them because the building is not always open.

 

Near the monastery complex are some caves we have visited before. These caves were hiding places when the Russians were killing all the monks. Monks have historically used them as places of meditation, and people visit them now to leave offerings and offer prayers.

Then we found the elusive flowers in a small ravine. Apparently we were a few days early, but we did find some blooms! There were a lot more buds than blooms, but we were delighted with their delicate beauty in the desert. 

People come from miles around to see the blossoms.

These were a different bloom. Also 
so refreshing!

We also found little stacks of rocks everywhere. People stack rocks together in kind of a ger shape to make a special wish. They believe the structure also creates or signifies unity in their family.

The first baby calves we've seen. 

We never get tired of camels wandering along the road.

We also went to Wish Mountain, which is extremely busy on the first sunrise of the lunar new year. We understand that this is the highest hill in the area. People climb to the top and make wishes. Women are allowed to go as high as the structure on the right and men climb to the higher level on the left. The small white monuments are memorials honoring the dead of individual families.

Chuka said his wife's family paid for
one recently for their family's dead.

Some of the artwork in this area features
 scorpions, which are an important symbol.

With Spring also comes construction! Everywhere. A couple of weeks ago, we shared a picture of a two guys precariously perched on the second floor of a building who looked like they were working on rebar. That building now is 5 stories tall and changes every day. This is a side view of the building. The front looked like this for a while, but now all the space between the concrete floors have been filled in with blocks, mostly of the same size and shape. And there are piles of bricks on each floor. We are curious to see if those are for the interior or exterior, but seems it would be hard to apply them to the exterior.

What the building front looked like
a few days later.

Construction for us also means that a hot water heater was installed in the church! We haven't seen one that can be mounted horizontally before, so that was fun (for those of us fascinated by such things).

We are excited for something we will never take for granted again. We so appreciate having hot water. And this water heater will certainly be a blessing to the people who get baptized in our church! 

The font in the background now has a
stainless steel spigot instead of PVC pipe
hanging out of the wall.

On May 4th we had a baby girl blessed and given a name in our church meeting. Here are the mom and baby along with the four priesthood holders who participated in the blessing. The mom asked John to perform this ordinance. What a special privilege for him to get to bless a baby in Mongolia! Babies aren't baptized in our church; we believe they are pure and haven't committed any sins. But this ordinance is a special blessing of health and guidance in the name of Jesus Christ. What a great experience for that mature spirit now in a mortal body. What a special experience for her family to be reminded of who she is, where she came from, and what she can become.