Letters from home!

What a nice surprise today to receive some mail from Lake Ridge 6th Ward High Priests! We do manage to keep track of some of the old crowd (mostly your children actually) on Facebook. It was good to hear you all are still alive and kickin'! We really miss all of our wonderful 6th friends (well most of them anyway!)!

Sometime within the next week or two our time here will already be half over! Can't believe it has gone that fast. We are already wondering if we can accomplish everything we need to before time to leave creeps up on us. Going to have to work hard!

Believe it or not, brother Warner, we actually miss the yard work! They don't do yards here much so we are really grateful for all of those who do so much to have nice lawns and gardens.

Can't wait to be able to share Mongolian cuisine with everyone! We sure you'll just love hoshurs and boodz! We'll have to have a party where we can share with everyone!

Thanks Brother Smith for 'encouraging' everyone to add their bit to the letter!

See ya' all next year!
.

Winter is here! Rats!

And it makes no bones about it!

Yesterday, it was 81 degrees F in the afternoon. So we visited a fun place on our way to a baptism. We'll tell you about it in our next post.

But this afternoon, it is 31 degrees F and it's snowing! (click on the picture to enlarge it and you will see the snow) Wait, we must be in Utah!

So we went a bit crazy this afternoon and played Christmas music! Ya' we know. It's only September! But they don't do much with Christmas here even in December, so why not!

Mongolia has a Patriarch!

The first Patriarch has been called in Mongolia! His name is Brother Batbayar from the new Selbe Ward (it had been a branch until the first stake was formed!).

What a blessing this will be to Mongolia! And what a busy man brother Batbayer is about to become! Undoubtedly, he will follow the usual pattern of beginning his preparations, now, as he studies and ponders about his new responsibilities for two or three months. Then, when he feels properly prepared, he will begin giving his first blessings.

We knew a Patriarch would be called following the formation of the first stake -- the existence of a stake is a requirement. We also knew that a name had been submitted to the First Presidency for approval. We've all just been waiting to see when it would actually happen. The wait is over!

It will be wonderful for the people here to be able to receive their blessings. Until now, the only ones able to do so were those who had been called to serve missions in countries where there was a Patriarch. After arriving in those missions, they were allowed to receive a blessing. Now, any worthy member in Mongolia will be able to have that opportunity.

Though the the Patriarch is called as part of the Stake organization, he is allowed to give blessings to anyone in the mission, which in this case is all of Mongolia. As we said, he will be a busy man soon! It will likely take a year or two or three for him to provide blessings to all who will likely want them.

The Gospel is true and the work moves forward!
.

Stuff

Well, we've had some interesting times lately. Two of our senior couples returned home after having served faithful missions. Those things happen. Unfortunately, only one of them has been replaced, thus far. Not enough senior couples -- and not enough senior couples willing to come to Mongolia!

But then we had two more senior couples whose missions ended rather unexpectedly, due to health issues. Now we are REALLY shorthanded! Any seniors out there who would like to serve?! We wouldn't mind twisting your arm a bit, if we need to! The work load is getting rather intense here, right now!

Again, we would encourage anyone who may read this, to prepare to serve as senior missionaries when the time comes. And it doesn't matter what your age is now, it is never too earlier to begin preparations. Set it is as a goal and start preparing right now. As you contemplate the possibility, you may by surprised at the number of things you can do even at an early age, to prepare for that kind of service.

And trust us. You are DESPERATELY needed just about anywhere in the world!

Part 2.

They turned the power off for a while a couple of days ago. So we only had the power back up that the Church building has, which is limited but certainly is helpful. But, when it came time for one of our English classes,the only light was in the hallway. So . . .


Then, we thought you might like to see Mongolia's version of a 'Jumbo Super Market'! Here, it is just a name they have seen somewhere. It doesn't seem to have any particular meaning.
.

Fall is here!

Well, it seems awfully early but fall has come to Mongolia! As you can see, the leaves are turning in the mountains and, at least temporarily, it is quite pretty. And the mornings are getting downright brisk, too! Supposed to be down around freezing -- or below -- for the next couple of nights.

Don't know if we are fully ready for the change just yet. Winters tend to be a bit long and cold here! But they also tend to be a bit slower in the work load department. That part might be somewhat welcome! This summer has been a bit brutal at times!

This is Trelj National Park again, but this time we stopped along the way and had a bit of fun working with this eagle. Eagles are plentiful here in Mongolia but they seem to be a bit different than the types we are familiar with in the U.S.



.


On this latest little trip to the mountains we were with our area visitors from Hong Kong (Elder and Sister Gibbons -- actually they were the reason for the trip), and we talked Elder Gibbons into riding a camel. And low and behold, he and Elder Caldwell ended up having a camel race back to the finish line! It was sort of fun! Never raced on a camel before! (the two ladies wouldn't have anything to do with this one!)

Oh, and Elder Caldwell, of course, won!
.

Vegetables!!

The Church is encouraging the members here to grow their own vegetables, if at all possible. The results would be significant for these folks. With incomes below $3000 per year (U.S.), growing their own vegetables would be a definite help with the family budget.

But they are not used to the concept here. The growing season is quite short and it has been assumed that some vegetables (i.e. tomatoes, peppers, etc.) could not be grown here, anyway. And there are other problems so not much effort as been made. But several have caught the vision as the Church as increased it’s encouragement and helped make available the means for them to do so by providing such things as seeds and a few other supplies.

Chinbaatar (whose family, you might remember, we accompanied to the Hong Kong temple to be sealed earlier this year – see older post) has really gone over the top! He not only grows most of the vegetables which his family eats, but is also making some decent money selling what he grows!

If you look closely at this first photo, you will not only see some really impressive looking cucumber plants, but you may also note that he has managed to build a nice little greenhouse to grow them in, thus elongating his growing season.

.

And then there’s the cabbage! Those are some really nice looking plants!

.
.
.

They insisted that we have a bit of dinner with them and much of what we ate was out of their garden. Also pictured are Elder and Sister Gibbons from Hong Kong who are visiting with Sister Caldwell and I. They are our area leaders.

And, of course, where there is food, the full time Elders seem to always just happen to drop in! This is Elder Snow and Elder Bigler. We think they look a lot alike!

Chinbaatar is doing a lot to encourage other members to grow vegetable gardens. Elder Caldwell is working with the youth in the Nalaikh branch to really push the branch members to start preparing ground now and making ready for next spring. It will be interesting to see how many jump on board next year!
.