Monday, May 19, 2025

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!




Monday, May 12, 2025

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.





Monday, May 5, 2025

Mongolia Mission Week 24 - Random things to share

Mongolia Mission Week 24

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 goal this week is to share some pictures from both Sainshand and Ulaanbaatar that just caught our attention and were fun. We hope you enjoy them, too!

--Some young Mongolian girls were drawing on the board after English class at the church, with drawings representing their teacher, "Eves," and the two of us! 


Wonder why they characterized us that way?

--South of our apartment complex, a large performing arts center (we think) is being built. There wasn't much activity during the winter, but with spring there is construction everywhere in the city. 

One day we set off walking and saw a taxi by the performing arts center. Workers were stacking a large quantity of foam boards on top of the taxi. The stack had become taller than the taxi and very out of reach of the people who were trying to load it, and we found the project interesting. Then we realized what was really happening. A slight breeze kept picking up and blowing the top few foam boards off the stack. No sooner did these wanna-be sails get caught and pushed back into place than they blew off again. We needed to get to a class we were teaching and didn't get to see how the story ended.

.

There's also a construction project to the west of us, most likely more apartments. It has suddenly sprung to life with 12 - 20 workers, depending on the day. New industries are coming to Sainshand in the next few years, and we see a lot of apartment buildings in different stages of construction. 


--This is an area known for dinosaur discoveries, which is celebrated in our city logo, signs, etc. In Sainshand there is even a life-sized statue in front of the local cinema. It's made of keys that have been welded together. Both creative and amazing!

 

We also see evidence of petrified wood discoveries, like this short wall with pieces of petrified wood set in concrete along the top.



This is larger example in a store where you
 can get jewelry made with petrified wood.

--But we're starting to see a new face of the Gobi:

The seemingly dead twigs lining the streets
have timidly but persistently been
pushing out some green.

The streets are coming to life!

 The amazing thing is that we don't see many drip lines for water. 

We did, however, see a water truck with 
a hose attached and guys watering trees by hand! 

--Also on the streets, we see horses and camels being hauled, but never a horse trailer. Stock is often hauled in the back of not very big trucks with short racks. The camels are hauled with them kneeling in the back of the truck. They seem fine with it.

This one has a cover, which is unusual. 

--Every city seems to have a sign like this. In Sainshand's case, the "60" represents the 60th anniversary of the city in 2021.

Notice anything strange? No winter coats!

--John is compelled to check out each food market in town, and there's a small one on practically every corner. However, you can't really have a go-to store for some specialty items, like squirt whipped cream or baking powder, because the inventory is always changing.  One thing that is very ubiquitous, though, is all the snacks, drinks, and ramen, much of it imported from other countries.

The ramen isle in one store. There was more on the ends
of the racks.

There are also lots of ice cream bars - not much ice cream in containers, and certainly none in large tubs, but lots of bars. John's favorite treat is a chocolate ice cream bar covered in dark chocolate with pieces of shortbread cookie in the coating. We don't eat much ice cream, but he's always on a quest to find them.

And the flavors! If we find tortilla chips (only in the city), they're usually flavored, like cheese or salsa flavored. And we were excited to find Cheetos until we realized they were ketchup flavored-



In the "unusual foods to find at the
supermarket," add horse jerky. 

Squeezing coconuts must be
rather challenging- 

When you go to the local supermarket (the closest thing we have to a warehouse store) and find a stuffed cactus in a pot, the good news is that it never needs water.


--One of the interesting aspects of travel is just the differences in cultures and expectations. Americans have a certain way of life and we find anything else to be strange. And so it is with restrooms. We stopped at a very new convenience store that is about the half-way mark between our city and the capital. The store just opened in the past month or two, completely remodeled and everything new.  We were delighted with their clean, free restroom. But it is shared. You walk in to the sink area, then turn down this alcove that contains three stalls - the first two for women and the third for men - directly across from the men's urinals. Stand close, fellas.




Turns out our dashboard works great for reheating pizza!
We took leftover homemade pizza on our last trip to the city.

We ran across a poster in the capital. Evidently, 
One Republic was performing at the end of April.

--We have developed a reward hug system for each other for the one who does the dishes. It's nice to be noticed for doing the dishes, and a hug from behind is our tender way of saying thank you. But one day Sister Rose did the dishes and didn't get her hug. When Brother Rose realized this, she got more than the agreed upon hug.


Being called as couple volunteers at this time of life has many advantages over what the young people experience: 
  • we get to choose our own companion 
  • we have already learned to live with them
  • we've already worked out some relationship goals
  • we've already begun learning each other's language
  • we've learned to be patient with each other's weaknesses (and boy, does living with each other 24/7 give a chance to refine that patience!)
  • we've committed to a forever relationship and have the Lord as our partner in that relationship

--But a favorite photo - the picture more so than the selection inside the bakery - is a picture taken just for the sake of the name!


And finally, we thought the sunset in the rearview mirror was fun. We end our blog with the end of a day. Once again thanking God for all his creations and for all the experiences we get to have as we strive to serve Him in Mongolia! We are so blessed every single day! Some may be harder than others, but every day is a blessing and we thank God for those particular experiences. We either cherish the experience or are grateful for the growth and learning gained from it. Either way, we are blessed!