Mongolia Mission Week 42 - A land of wonderful and interesting sights

 Mongolia Mission Week 42

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). 

Life in this country has been hard on many people. The median age here is 27. But we love the beauty of the experienced, weathered faces we see. 

Sometimes they are contrasted by a member of the youthful, younger generation.

We've also seen a variety of interesting gates and fences (most very weathered) around the yards of people who do not live in apartment buildings. Gers, outbuildings, and very small houses are in fenced-off areas people own. And people everywhere seem to have a desire to decorate, when they can. Here's a peek of some sights around our town.

Some fences are made of concrete, either formed or in blocks.

Some are made of wood or metal with fancy gates.
These symbols are traditional Mongolian symbols
representing eternity.

Some gates are adorned with metal horses or dogs. 

The Bankhar dog, a livestock herding dog, is the most
common dog in Mongolia. We see them everywhere.

 

We interrupt this discussion about fences
to show this especially large Bankhar dog.
And a couple of  great elders.

This fence, like many, is made of various scraps of
metal, including one that seems to be from a larger
piece of art. Hopefully you can see the child.

This one has painted cartoon characters.

Cars, on the other hand, are relatively decoration-free. We see no bumper stickers or vanity plates, but sometimes we see interesting decals or other adornments. 

We've seen several Jokers.

This decal is sweet.

Toyota?

 

We've also learned the importance of selecting the best color of car - so that the duct tape matches!

Other sights we appreciate - we love the beauty of God's artwork, from His sky scenes to His caterpillars. We absolutely know that this is His earth, and the things on it weren't created by accident or chance. 

The sky is always captivating.

We took this in the mountains.
(We see very few insects in Sainshand -
only flies and little black beetles that
kept coming into our house for a time.)

We see and experience Mongolian hospitality everywhere. It's amazing. We witness it most days in all sorts of different ways: 

• When we go to someone's house or apartment we are always offered something to drink - hot milk or milk tea when it's cold outside, or soda and fruit drinks when it's hot. But we will always be offered a drink and usually some candy or dried curd, even when we were not expected.
• At a church youth activity, the refreshment was some form of rice chip - a rather tasty form of Styrofoam. We had eaten lunch recently and weren't really hungry, so we didn't take plates. Three separate 12-year old girls noticed we didn't have any and came by to offer us some of their treat.
• In fact, kids all the time come into the church munching on something and are constantly offering to share with us, like it's expected.
• We saw a kid at school share a chocolate bar she won with a boy who asked for some, even when it looked to us like she really didn't want to share her prize.
• Two adult women asked to meet with us to talk about options for them learning English. And then apologized that they had not brought a gift.
• We always have someone (usually a teen) offer (rather insistently) to help with bags, luggage, or anything we are carrying. It's obvious they respect their elders. (We're not old - we just look like we are ;)
• Kathy accompanied the sisters on a visit to teach Jimsee, an 8-year old girl who was home alone (not uncommon here). When they got there, Jimsee was mixing yogurt into a bowl of apples she had just chopped. She carefully put three spoons in the bowl and handed it to them to share (shared dishes are common).

A special treat from a tiny hostess

Jimsee's aunt dropped by after the lesson.

We so enjoy interacting with the people of this country. And people watching! We leave you with the amazing sight of a teenage boy (on the right) walking across the desert in roller blades. Sorry it's blurry! 

And a boy on a bike pulling a little person on a tiny bike with a long rope.

The house on the left looks like an American style
house, which is extremely unusual here.