Zaisan - Part 2

Thought we'd better try to continue our post about the Zaisan monument (see September 24th post).

Once you manage to climb the 650 or so stairs to get to the top of the hill, you find the main part of this memorial. It is rather well done and interesting to look at. It is, obviously, a circle with the inside of the circle containing the mural, part of which we are showing here. The mural is actually a mosaic of tile pieces, with different colors of tile used to form the actual images.

It seems to be a popular place and we saw a steady stream of people visiting here.

As mentioned before, this was built by the Soviets to commemorate the battles and victories the two countries fought during World War II. It is also here on top of the hill that Elder Maxwell dedicated this land for missionary work (see a copy of the dedicatory prayer in September 26th post). That prayer contains many promises which we are seeing come to pass even while we are here. Many think Mongolia will likely be the staging ground from where the Gospel can really be taken to other Asian lands which still remain closed to the Church.

And the view from up here is pretty spectacular, too! This is the view of the city from up top -- Ulaanbaatar (don't bother trying to pronounce it!), the capital city where we live and serve.
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An especially good day today!

Once in a while, we have the opportunity to be involved in something especially enjoyable. Today was one of those days.

But let me start a couple of days ago. A gentleman was wheeled into the Church Building in a borrowed wheelchair. It belonged to a friend of his who was in the hospital and couldn't use it for a while. The wheelchair was an old one of ours but was pretty badly beaten up and the rubber on the wheels, though there, was completely off both rims, while the wheels were running on what was left of the metal rims.

His friend had told him about us and suggested that he might be able to get one for himself if he came to see us. There happened to be one wheelchair left when he came.

I arrived just as he was leaving. I greeted him and he started crying as he waved his hand and did his best to express his gratitude, knowing that I would not understand his Mongolian. I understood just fine.

All the way down the sidewalk he kept waving and saying, "Biyartla" (thank you).

Then, for the past two weeks or so, the mission has been working on clearing 750 new wheelchairs through customs. This, by the way, is just the most recent of such shipments. The Church has provided thousands of new wheelchairs to Mongolia alone, with many thousands more going to other areas of Asia. Just one of the worthwhile places that our Church donations help with.

Today, a special ceremony was held to, in part, help people understand what the Church does here and to let others know we are here to help. A number of those who badly needed wheelchairs were invited to the ceremony.

It was held at a building called The Children's Center. The news media was invited and several others with whom we try to form good associations so that the work we do can move forward with greater ease as they, in turn, learn us and become more inclined to help us in our efforts.

First, wheelchairs were unpacked and the last of the assembly completed. These are some of our missionaries who came to help. We could not have done it without them.

As time for the ceremony drew near, those receiving wheel chairs made their way here the best they could. The Children's Center is centrally located and relatively easy for them to get to.

The ones who could, came on crutches. Others in borrowed wheelchairs. Still others were carried in, some by those missionaries in the previous picture.

This father on his son's back is about the only way this particular gentleman has had of getting around. Without wheelchairs, their choices have been extremely limited and their sense of worth often almost non-existent.




In the pictures, you can see one gentleman with no legs, children who have little control of their bodies and whose parents have felt the burden of needing to carry them wherever they went. These wheelchairs were a much needed and appreciated blessing.

We will use almost all of those 750 wheelchairs within the next couple of weeks. So, we will order another batch in a couple of months!

We continue to be very grateful to our Heavenly Father for allowing us to come here. It has been lonely and difficult sometimes. And it has been tremendously rewarding and wonderful most of the time!

It has been a good day today.
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Zaisan - Part 1

Zaisan Hill is the location of a monument built by the Soviets to honor the combined efforts of Soviet and Mongolian soldiers in the defeat of the Japanese and the Germans during World War II. It stands at the south edge of Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital city in which we live and serve.

The monument is impressive and we found it quite interesting.

But of greater moment to us, is the use made of that hill by Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve as he stood on Zaisan Hill to pronounce a dedicator prayer for the preaching of the Gospel in Mongolia, in 1993.

Having lived here, now, for most of a year (wow! That means our time here is nearly half gone, already!), we can really appreciate specific things which Elder Maxwell included in his prayer. The good people here continue to face the challenge of overcoming the effects of the Socialist regime and the legacy it left behind. They did not leave much good behind here, and it is taking some effort for Mongolia to overcome that time in their history.

As one first arrives at Zaisan, this cement wall can be seen, portraying what appears to be a Russian Soldier (on the right), a Mongolian Soldier (on the left) and in the middle . . . ? We're taking suggestions what who the third figure represents.

The tank pictured is immediately to the left of the wall. The path carved on the side of the tank monument depicts its journey from the Russian foundry where it was produced in 1943, to the battle it finally fought in Berlin in 1945.




Then, to reach the actual monument, we had to climb all of these stairs. Look closely. They follow slightly to the left, then slowly curve around to the right and then continue all the way along the ridge to the right edge of the first picture. Once we climbed all of those stairs, we found the next section as shown in stair picture number two! About 625 steps total! That's each direction, making a total of around 1250 steps!

It's a good thing we're still young!











It took us a while, bet we finally came to the actual monument on top of the hill. This is where Elder Maxwell stood as he dedicated the land for the preaching of the Gospel.

It's quite a view from up there. We'll show you the impressive inside of the monument and the view in subsequent posts!
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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!
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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!
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