Mongolia Mission Week 28 - Family visit - touristing!

Mongolia Mission Week 28

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 was a different week than normal for us. Kathy's brother, David Sanders, lives in Hong Kong and came to visit for a couple of days. So we drove to meet him in Ulaanbaatar. It was wonderful to see him and show off a tiny bit of Mongolia - meaning the Ulaanbaatar area. We had a wonderful couple of days visiting sites and eating delicious food. Here is a sample of what we saw and did:

Arrival at the (tiny) airport in Ulaanbaatar

First we took him to a market that spans several acres, selling everything from ornately carved wooden chests or flooring for your ger to antique snuff bottles to children's toys. One seller almost had John convinced to buy a new suit for $80.

Roofs covering the market 

In this market you can buy any type and
color of clothing, from traditional to modern.

And for his first Mongolian experience - Indian food!

The Saturday David was here was unique because Ulaanbaatar was hosting an international marathon. When we left to pick him up at his hotel that morning, something very strange was happening in the street in front of the mission home. No cars. A kid was zooming down the street on an electric scooter, and the rest of the street was wet and completely empty. What? The main streets around the marathon area were closed and freshly cleaned. Other streets around the marathon area included walkers, bikers, scooters, etc. taking advantage of the empty street while they could. 

Peace Avenue, the main street of Ulaanbaatar,
uncharacteristically quiet.

Sukhbaatar Square (named after a famous warrior who helped the Mongolians kick China out of their country in the early 20th century), was the finish line and was so busy!

We pretty much had the Chinggis Khan
Museum to ourselves. This sculpture is
covered with gold, which demonstrates the
esteem Mongolians have for Chinggis Khan.

We visited Gandan Monastery, which has the tallest indoor standing Buddha in the world at 85 feet tall.

Avalokitesvara, or Chenrezik in Tibetan;
Mongolian Buddhism came from Tibet.

We also went to Zaisan Hill, which sports a WWII memorial for allied Soviet and Mongolian soldiers; it was erected during the time when Mongolia was under Soviet socialism. It provides a beautiful view of the city. 

It's also where Apostle Neal A. Maxwell dedicated Mongolia for the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 1993, after socialism ended and Mongolian-run democracy began. It's a dedication and blessing with great meaning to us in its prophetic insights and promises. In it, Elder Maxwell prayed, "Though we can see Mongolia's capital, Ulaambaatar, in the distance, Father, we know we cannot see far away. We are comforted that Thou seest all things at all times." God does. And we're excited to see His plan as it unfolds. For instance, Elder Maxwell said, in that prayer, that the new converts would "shape the future of the church in Mongolia." They have. We have seen it. The leaders of this church in this nation are inspiringly strong, committed converts. 

Another line from the dedicatory prayer that we love is "May it also be the case that the winds of freedom will never cease to blow in Mongolia. Preserve and protect the independence of Mongolia regardless of the moves made on the great checkerboard of the nations." He blessed the country to be a beacon light to other nations, which is sorely needed in this part of the world and in these troubled times. 

Zaisan Hill had a pretty clear view of the city that day.

We walked in a relatively new park Rio Tinto sponsored. Rio Tinto owns a major copper mine here. The park has 40,000 trees and a huge Mongolian flag that flies on the tallest flagpole in Mongolia. The flagpole is as big as Kathy's arm span. 

More delicious food together - we always search for places we can walk to so we can avoid traffic jams. Kathy's pork knuckle provided several meals worth of leftovers - once she pulled off the thick layer of fat. Fat is prized and enjoyed by most Mongolians, but we tend to take it off.

We also went, with a guide, out to the Chinggis Khan horse statue, just outside of Ulaanbaatar. It's amazing - 7 stories to the viewing platform. Good thing our apartment is on the 6th floor so we are used to steps! (No, it never gets easier!) David was glad to see some of the countryside and the herds of animals in the rapidly greening steppe. 

After a great weekend, we took David to the airport and he returned to his real world. We appreciate all our family so much. We love and miss every one of them. They are in our prayers. We so appreciate the technology that allows us to email, video, and chat with loved ones all over the world!

There is one other American senior couple in the mission. The Rottweilers came in early May, and we finally got to meet them when we went to the city for David's visit. They serve as Asia North Area Communications Specialists, covering Mongolia, South Korea, Japan, and Guam/Micronesia and are based in Mongolia for the first six months. It was great to meet them! 

While we were in the city we went exploring with them to a couple of stores we'd heard about. First was Amtat, which has quite a few imported foods but in large quantities - gallons of canned jalapeños, a kilogram package of cream cheese, and a package of chocolate melting wafers that must have weighed 10 kilos. It was priced at nearly 1,000,000 tugriks or about $275! (We had to get the cream cheese because a kilo is certainly better than none!) Then we went to B&B Butcher, which has a great selection of nicely cut, wrapped, and presented meats. They also had American imported foods like cereals, cake mixes, and gravy mixes. Ah, the treasures of the big city! But we paid for our adventure by spending more than an hour navigating traffic on the city streets!

Since by then we were hungry, we went to a Chinese restaurant together - we had been there before on recommendations from other senior couples, and it's very good. We wanted to introduce Rottweilers to it. The menu is pages and pages long with descriptions of each dish in 3 languages, plus a picture. But the descriptions never agree.

The moment of truth - Rottweilers examining
their order. One language described this dish
as "dry-fried pork," one as "dry-fried chicken."
It turned out to be chicken in a puffy, seasoned coating.

Because of traffic delays, it was after 8 pm when we arrived. We waited 10 minutes for a table. It took us a while to figure out what we wanted to order, especially with all the laughing at translation discrepancies. But after an hour wait, John went with Google Translate to ask if our food was coming. They told him "10 minutes." (We think they actually lost our order.) In about 15 minutes some of our dishes arrived. The last one came as we had finished eating. But everything really was delicious - what wouldn't be delicious at 10 pm!! It was about 11 pm before we all got back to our apartments. Don't tell our District Leaders! 

 When people go adventuring with us, there's no telling what will happen-