A couple of days ago, the new District Young Men’s Presidency went to a place about 80 kilometers from here, called “13th Century” as a way to help us get to know each other. 13th Century is an area where they have found artifacts left from seven camps occupied during the days of Chinggis Khan. It has been fascinating to learn about him while we have been here.
Chinggis Khan was very intelligent and thorough. This 13th Century park has recreated the area of his encampments here in Mongolia.

He was the first to organize the Mongolian people who had previously pretty much kept to themselves in separate tribes. He brought them to this area and set up these different camps, each having it's own purpose and each about .5 to 1.0 km apart. We visited all seven camps.

Camp #1 was the guard camp, set at the entrance to the area and intended to, well, guard. Anyone who wanted to enter the camp, would enter here – at least theoretically. It was also here that training was held for the soldiers. The structure underneath the larger ger is where training took place during the winter. If you look close enough you will see animal statues on top of the poles. Each represent a different tribe.

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Next, was the Craft Camp (Camp #2). As Chinggis Khan conquered an area, he would bring the best artisans and craftsmen back to this camp and would quickly adopt any new and advantageous abilities the conquered people possessed. The advantages of doing so would be obvious.

Everything in the way of supplies that were needed to be made, were created here, including tools, containers, gers, etc. A variety of wild animals were also kept in this camp (wolves, eagles, etc.).

There was one master craftsman with as many laborers as he needed in order to get the work done.

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Camp #3 was the Education camp. In one of the conquered territories, they took a highly educated man and brought him to this camp. It was under Chinggis’ rule, that the first Mongolian written language was developed. They would also bring children to this camp to receive formal educational training.

The main ger in this educational complex was larger than a normal ger, as you can see from the inside panorama. Not too bad, really but it still lacks indoor plumbing!

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Camp #4 was the Nomad camp. Here, all of the livestock was cared for. That
included horses, goats, sheep, yaks, camels.

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Oh! Did I say camels?! I did! And, of course, we had to ride them while we were there! So here’s the part you are all really wanting to see! Sister Caldwell riding a camel! By the way, most of the high pitched screeching in this one, is NOT the camel!

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Way to go Sister Caldwell!!

Around the perimeter of the camp, these towers were built to monitor the wind. The construction is such that wind produces sound as it blows through the top part of the tower. Differing sounds would tell them the direction and strength of the wind.

Next post: We finish our visit to the 13th Century with some surprises you’re not going to want to miss, including more on the Mongolian/American connection!
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A Fond Farewell!

We seem to become rather 'attached' to some of the missionaries here. It has been a pleasure to have them in our 'home away from home' as they teach the Gospel to investigators, work with them in the branch and as we invite them over occasionally for a meal. We have some absolutely wonderful Elders and Sisters in this mission and many of them will be wonderful leaders in the Church in the years to come as they also become some of the best moms, dads, husbands and wives. And their experience here in Mongolia will help them tremendously!

The sad part is that they all think they want to go home when their time here comes to an end! We are actually a bit surprised at just how attached we sometimes feel. It almost feels like we are saying goodbye to our own sons and daughters sometimes!

We had one of those moments a couple of nights ago. Two of our really choice elders finished their missions and their parents came from Utah to 'collect' them. Both had served in Nalaikh (the branch which we are assigned to) and we always consider them 'our' missionaries! Before we could let them leave we had the whole group over for dinner one night. It was really fun!

We don't have very many opportunities to become acquainted with folks from the states and we really enjoyed our visit with them! It was easy to see why these two had become such special missionaries. They have wonderful parents who raised them well in the Gospel and set a proper example for them to follow.

We actually forgot to take a picture until just as they were ready to leave, so this is them all in the hallway.

We made them promise to keep in touch. We'll have to wait and see if they do!

Next Post: Sister Caldwell rides a camel! You won't want to miss this one!
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Things are looking up!

Just a quick post to show everyone some of the 'improvements' around our apartment (plus one mission concern -- see at the end of this post)!

Remember the drab and empty flower beds out front? Well, take another look! Not so drab and empty anymore! These are all local wild flowers and are really quite pretty! And what's more, they've only had to

water them twice so far this whole summer! Nature's rains have taken care of the rest!







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And we never did get around to showing you what we have done with the bathroom. So here's some before and after shots. This is the room we did the most work on

(for obvious reasons - it was kind of bad!) Not so bad, now! Maybe we'll stay awhile after all!



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One additional thing. This mission must really be doing a great work here, because the adversary has unloaded lately. Several difficulties have reared their heads including being locked out of one of our buildings by the government, sick missionaries, a real slow down in the work and others. We wouldn't mind if you could all remember us in your prayers!
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Sorry!

Apparently, we should have included the mission where the young man was called to, in our last post. He was called to . . . drum roll please . . . the Mongolian, Ulaanbaatar Mission!

So now you know!
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Choibalsan Continued

Everyday is a new experience here in Mongolia. The drive to Choibalsan was long, but the countryside was absolutely beautiful -- one of the good things about all of the rain we have been receiving. Miles and miles of rolling hills covered with tall green grass, bushes, etc. July is typically the wet month here but it has especially wet this year. And the landscape definitely reflects it.

Several in our party found it necessary to make the obligatory stops along the way.
You know, 'when nature calls, nature calls'! But there were rest stops along the way just like in the states.

Well, maybe not JUST like in the states! But they did have the local version, at least. Outhouses are better than nothin'! Even when they are like the one pictured; no seats, mind you, just a crack in the floor boards that you do your best to aim for! Some were quite concerned about the safety of those flimsy little boards they were expected to stand on! But we had no mishaps and were soon on our way again.

This particular 'rest stop' was in a little town called 123 -- 123 km from Choibalsan. We were almost there!

We also stopped along the way at a nice river to have lunch. And between the two cars we really put together a good lunch! It was kind of nice but it was starting to get hot at that point.

Finally we arrived and 0ur visit with the saints in Choibalsan was very nice. We discovered yet another thing that we take for granted in the states. The members were absolutely thrilled to have visitors from the local church headquarters here. I don't think we have ever been hugged so many times in one visit! They may only have visitors two or three times in an entire year, there. It is likely we will look at visits from our stake leaders a bit differently when we return.

While we were there, one young man received his mission call. But many of the youth here, are the only members of the Church in their family. So, family support for such things as mission calls is often missing. But we all gathered around in the Chapel as he opened his mission call. It was rather touching as we watched him carefully open his call and read where it was that the Lord needed him. We gave him hugs, congratulations and then all sang, "Called to Serve". By the way, that song sounds just as wonderful in Mongolian as it does in English!
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Choibalsan

First, a quick note: The rains we posted about on July 17th have continued. The one we wrote about took 29 lives and caused a fair amount of damage. We had another heavy storm about a week later and the streets turned to rivers, again, though not quite so bad nor as long lasting.

Then, as we journeyed to Choibalsan these past few days (the real purpose for this post) we found on our return trip that another area had been hit. There were several new lakes in one of the small towns and the fairly new asphalt road had been washed out in a couple of places forcing us to 'off road' it again for a time.

These have been very unusual rains and we wonder if they will continue. Now to our Choibalsan trip.

We took the Workshop that we do, to the farthest away point yet in our mission experience. Other seniors who have gone west to Choibalsan have taken the plane. But not us. NOOOO! Clever us, we decided to drive! Thought it would be interesting and save some of our limited office budget. Live and learn!

Many times we were stopped by herds of horses, sheep, goats, camels, or cows. They seemed to really like the road, for some reason.

The roads were like these which you can see trailing off seemingly into the horizon. Well, we not only drove as far as you can see here, but through several such stretches before we were done.The pictures pretty much tell it all! The first 3.5 hours was fairly good paved road. The last 6 hours were on "roads" such as those pictured.

Much of the time this was our view as we followed President Andersen (our mission president), with whom we traveled. And we thought "Eat my dust" was only an idiom!

The rains helped make for an interesting mix of terrains (pardon the pun)for driving in. The potholes and mudholes were bad enough, but we really were challenged to the limit by kilometer after kilometer of washboard! Give me mud holes any day!

Mongolia really is a wide open country with lots of open space. It is about seven times the size of the state of Utah and just a bit larger than Alaska. That is a lot of land for less than three million (2.9 million) people to roam around in. For comparison, Utah has nearly the same population size (approx. 2,850,000).

We finally arrived in Choibalsan at about 5:15 pm and were happy to be out of the car. We tried not to think of the drive back to UB!

What more can we say!
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