Mongolia Mission Week 36 - We're sorry, Mongolia is closed...

Mongolia Mission Week 36

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). 

Well, it seems Mongolia is closed. Last week was a holiday week due to Naadam in the capitol, maybe extending into the first part of this week. But on Thursday in Sainshand we were out looking for office supplies, vegetables, fruit, etc. Every place we went seemed to be closed. Even places that were open did not have very much or very fresh produce; we wondered if their suppliers were closed. Attendance at classes and at church was sparse. Everyone seems to be vacationing.

However, we still found ways to party.

Earlier in the week, Elder and Sister Saunders, our Area Medical Advisor (AMA) couple, came to Sainshand. They cover the Asian North Area, which includes Mongolia, Japan, South Korea, and Guam/Micronesia. They have a big job providing advice for medical issues. They came to Sainshand to see what medical services exist in case missionaries or English volunteers need them (gulp!). If one of us needs medical attention, the AMA decides where they should go for treatment - to a local place, to the capital by car or ambulance (no options to fly), or to another country. The Saunders checked out a local clinic, a couple of pharmacies, and our hospital.  Their next stop was Khovd, at the far western end of Mongolia, for similar visits. We're glad that they (and we) know what medical care is available and what the standards are.

We had fun showing Saunderses around for a couple of days. Of course we took them and Jay, our friend from the mission office (their driver/translator), out to the famous energy center/monastery. We've shown pictures of Khamariin Khiid in prior posts, but there are always more to share. One of the buildings is in the middle of a renovation, but the door was unlocked and no one stopped us when we wandered in.  Everything was dusty or in disarray, but it was fun to see the banners, carvings, and artifacts.

So many things we wish we understood better,
like the symbolism and significance in this art.

Our tour group of the Saunders, Jay, and us.

Now inside the cave where Dulduityn Danzanravjaa 
studied and meditated. He founded the monastery here 
and is a highly respected pioneer of the area and arts.

A small world story: Elder Saunders' grandfather, Clarence Saunders, was John's bishop in the tiny town of Vale, Oregon when John was a child. And Sister Saunders' cousin, Mark Searle, and his wife provided our Member Leader Support training before we came to Mongolia. 

Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the acronym MTC is widely recognized as referring to a Missionary Training Center. There are 80,000 missionaries throughout the world and all go to one of the MTCs located somewhere in the world. There isn't one in Mongolia, but there is an MTC Resort on the way out to the monastery, so we found that humorous. 

And some camels posing for us - our
best "up close" experience along the road.

This week our church group held our first Family Home Evening FHE) since our arrival at the beginning of December. Families and family relationships are a key priority within our church. These are the people we were sent to earth to support and protect, and in these trying times we need to intentionally work to strengthen those relationships. Our prophets have counseled families to set aside one night a week for an evening together with a gospel lesson, an activity, and a treat. Strong families make strong communities and strong countries. We've appreciated the feelings we've developed within our own family as we've bonded together over the years through FHE and similar activities. Some activities have been more successful than others, and sometimes relationships go through growing and stretching patches (hey, we're all mortal), but we've always clung to the promise of prophets that the cumulative effect of the efforts will pay off. And they have.

But we live in a place where most people are the only members in their families, so we've decided that twice a month we will hold FHE as a church family, knowing the benefits will spill out into their own families. Invitations were shared with both members and friends, and we didn't really know what to expect. But we had 21 attend our first attempt. It was a great night.

It took 3 people plus one eating a sucker to start
and stop the music for "musical chairs."

Another day we were at the church and experienced a sudden and terrific thunderstorm like we've never seen here before. The clouds gathered so quickly, then lightening, thunder, torrents of rain, and the streets turned into rivers. After about 15 minutes, all went back to normal except for some drizzles coming in through the tops of the church windows, which are not used to precipitation from that direction.

This is a normally dry creek bed that
runs through the city!

A couple of boys interrupted their basketball
game in the rain to make "water angels" 
in the puddles on the court. Rain is novel!

Last week we mentioned we started an IELTS class. We didn't know what to expect with all the travel and holiday-taking that happens during the summer. We set the class up for 90 minutes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after our regular church conversational English classes, and we structured it in such a way that people can miss some classes without getting totally lost. Now we've had about 6 classes, and it keeps gaining momentum - every one has new students. This week we had 6 new students, all wonderful people we didn't know before and with whom we have made a great connection!! It is so much fun working with adults and older students who already know quite a bit of English and are very motivated to learn more!

Even though we have a car, we often walk places or take a walk when we get home from teaching. Turns out, sandbur stickers are a menace here, too, just like at home!

On our way home from church we sometimes walk through a mostly concrete park filled with trees, a fountain, and  some exercise equipment. It's colorfully lighted at night.

Soft ice cream is a really big deal here. There are so many vendor huts that appeared for the summer and are open every night as people emerge to enjoy the moderate temperatures of dusk. One night we passed a bench of teens all enjoying an ice cream cone. Fruit flavors are common. The white ice cream is called "milk flavor," which is a true description. We don't think they use vanilla, which isn't found in stores except those that specialize in imports for foreigners. When we find vanilla extract in the city, a 16 ounce bottle is about $20.

And for your other food reports for the week, we made skillet popcorn for the Young Men and Young Women movie activity. It took a lot of popcorn for 20 of us! It's a lot more work than making brownies!

We also tried making a goat pot roast. It turned out delicious, even if the picture is overshadowed by the homemade bread loaves, which we prefer to purchased bread.

There are so many good things happening. We got to meet our Medical Advisors and form new friendships. We had an amazing first Family Home Evening. Our IELTS class keeps growing. We also spent a lot of time working to get local young women enrolled to attend the first Young Women's Camp to be held by our church in Mongolia. It looks like our little group in Sainshand will have 6-8 young women attend. So much good is happening, even though Mongolia seems to be closed for the holiday!