They're Havin' a Ball!

The evening of New Year’s Day, we first attended a baptism at Nalaikh – the one in our last post. Once we were on the road again, we didn’t go straight home.

The Mongolian returned missionaries have what they call an RM Ball Dance every year on New Years Day. You must be a returned missionary or be married to one to attend. We didn’t know quite what to expect but felt that we should go. We missed last year because Sister Caldwell fell and broke her arm New Year’s Eve.

So, we went directly from the baptism to the dance. Thought we would just put in a supportive appearance and then head home. Most youth dance are something like watch everyone . . . well . . . watch everyone else. Boy were we in
for a shock!

First (as we learned later), they start out with a waltz. The couple that starts, dances for a few seconds and then each grab a new partner and continue dancing. A few seconds later, the four of them get new partners . . . and so on until everyone is dancing.

And these kids can dance! Look out BYU Ballroom Dance Team! These guys can boogy! The Lindy, Cha - Cha, Fox Trot, etc.! As we said, we were shocked! They were having a ‘ball’ (pun intended). This kids know how to have a good time! Dance contests, food, pictures, live band (we’ll tell you about them in the next post), entertainment (all from the RMs). It was a sight to behold!

We would never have dreamed that these kids could dance like this. No Mongolian music all evening. American, Latin American and more. Just great music to dance to.

It seems like there's a new surprise from these wonderful people almost everyday!
.