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!