Elder and Sister Anderson

Hello Elder and Sister Anderson! Goodbye Elder and Sister Anderson!

This is Elder and Sister Anderson - another of the new couples we were so happy to welcome! They were SUPPOSED to stay here in Ulaanbaatar but President Andersen felt they were needed badly in the countryside and reassigned them to Choibalsan. How lucky can you get!

But we didn't hardly even get to know them. We were fortunate enough to have them over for dinner on Monday and they are super people! Choibalan's gain - our loss!


This is Choibalsan from the air. Everyone likes the countryside. All the young missionaries get really anxious to be assigned there and all the couples tell us how wonderful it is. Oh, there are a few challenges, like not having quite the selection of the American items available in the local stores. But we usually help with that and send out things to them whenever they request it.

Choibalsan is about an 11 hour drive almost directly east from here. And the first part is even on a road! The last two thirds you follow dirt trails -- using the Toyota Land Cruisers, of course! It is a fun drive! They could fly in, but President is going out there for a conference anyway, so they are riding with him.

But it is A LOT less hectic out there, not so much air pollution and they really get close to the people. Couples that get assigned to the countryside always tell us they wouldn't come to the 'big city' if you paid them!

This is the church building in Choibalsan.

No chance of us having that opportunity. We have the specific assignment to keep the employment center running, teach self-employment principles (a huge thing here the 'big city') and keep the online computer center running.

Rats!
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The Quarantine is Over!

We held regular church services today for the first time in five weeks! It was really very nice to be back with the members at the Nalaikh Branch and to serve with them again. And to hold regular church meetings. It seems like it has been ages!

And Elder and Sister Powell came with us. They are one of the new couples who did, indeed, successfully arrive yesterday! They are a very nice couple and we thoroughly enjoyed having them with us for the day. We also shared our dinner with them after church.

We had a social last night (i.e. Saturday) both to celebrate their arrival (and feed them dinner after a day and a half of airline food!) and to wish a fond farewell to the Whitman's who have done such a magnificent job in filling in for us while we were waiting for the Eliason's to arrive -- which they did yesterday, too. The third couple was the Anderson's and all are much welcomed and needed additions to our group.


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Did you notice the Christmas decorations for our party? We're one day closer to it than you are!

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What do you think of Sister Caldwell's spiffy new hat? It's her, don't you think?! She inherited it from Sister Whitman. Thanks a lot Sister Whitman!

Good News!

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The three senior couples are scheduled to arrive together this coming Saturday afternoon (really early Friday morning stateside)! The Powell's, Eliason's and the Anderson's will land in Mongolia at 4:00 pm.

Yiipppeee!

Update - Again!

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We have made some limited progress on VISAs!

President and Sister Andersen had some key government officials come to dinner at their home one night last week and the evening was, apparently, quite productive. Those officials were very helpful and explained why we were having difficulty. It seems that the original agreement between Deseret International Charities (DIC) and the government of Mongolia, did not include our activities as a religious organization. The government, however, is well aware of our religious nature and apparently has decided that they will no longer ignore the discrepancy.

So, we need to refile and amend our original agreement. That will take more than just a day or two and we will need to be patient. But it will be taken care of as quickly as possible.

However, those same officials told President Andersen that he could immediately bring the senior couples here who have been waiting, some for several months. They can apparently be temporarily covered under the same provision as visitors who do not need to have a VISA for up to 90 days. I presume that since the seniors work directly under DIC and are not considered proselyting missionaries, those officials were ok with doing so (though that is just my opinion). Then, within that 90 day period, things can be formally changed and properly approved.

In any event, three senior couples should be on their way within a few days, now, and we are really looking forward to their arrival!! Even though it could prove to be a bit interesting to orient and settle all three at once! We will simply be thrilled to have them here to help with the work!

And, of course, we hope that the young Elders and Sisters will not need to be kept waiting too much longer, either!

Swine Flu. We are also anticipating an end to the quarantine this coming week and are busily preparing, anticipating that we will finally be able to once again have baptisms next Friday and Church on Sunday. Yaaaaayyyyy!
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Thanksgiving!

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Well, we did it. Feed 112 missionaries and two nonmembers for Thanksgiving! And did it in 12 minutes! Not bad considering the VERY limited resources and equipment available to us. A million thanks to the the couples who worked so hard to bring it all together, especially considering we only had about half as many couples this year to accomplish it all! It was much work but it was even more fun!

We also had good help from a couple of the Elders we recruited to help out. This is Elder Wright who was obviously our Maitre d' extraordinaire!

We had Pork Roast (amazingly like turkey, believe it or not -- actually had missionaries who thought it was turkey!), dressing, potatoes and gravy, peas and carrots, rolls, and jello fruit salad. Don't think anyone went away hungry!

In fact, we had a few leftovers. Never thought we'd see that with missionaries!


For dessert, the missionaries were given a cupcake, frosting, pretzels, candy a cookie and other sundry items with which to make a turkey -- or at least a reasonable facsimile! They really had a fun time with it and were amazingly creative, as you can see!

Look closely at the first picture. It is of a daddy turkey and a mommy turkey and a baby egg turkey! The little sign in front of them says, "Just Married!" We told you they were creative!

The second picture is of Elder Whittle and his wonderful turkey creativity. Way to go Elder Whittle!

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Hey, did anyone know that President Andersen could juggle!
Ought not to be too surprising, I guess, with all the stuff he always has to 'juggle' in the mission!

Updates

Swine Flu
Well, the swine flu continues, as does the associated quarantine. So, we have been holding Sacrament Service in our apartment, for the seniors and a couple of members who are here with other assignments -- like the American Embassy. It has been kind
of nice, actually. Different than we are used to, of course. But it reminds me of when I grew up as a young man. A branch of the Church was formed in our area and dad was the Branch President.

Dad and I would go early on Sunday morning to the local Grange Hall where we had arranged to hold Church meetings until we could find a more permanent home. The two of us would sweep out the cigarette buts and empty beer bottles from community parties of the night before, air the room out and set up chairs before Church was due to start. And before you knew it, we had a church! It was a good experience for a young man such as myself. The Lord was there with us as we prepared to serve the sacrament and to learn about the Gospel.

Now, we don't have quite the same problems in our apartment (shame on those of you who jumped to the wrong conclusion!) but the Spirit is very much the same. The Lord smiles on those who are determined to do all they can to follow His counsel, renew convenants, teach each other and to remain strong in the Gospel.

This has been a time to be remembered in many ways.

VISAs
Well, we still have not been able to clear the problem but we have seen some positive movement. They did finally clear a VISA for a recently called sister missionary (well, kind of recently called!) to serve in Czechoslovakia. She received her call almost five months ago but should be able to finally leave with in a short time.

We still are waiting for a promised letter from the Ministry of Education which would verify that our missionaries are, indeed, qualified to teach English here. He promises to have it soon, so we are holding our breath. That letter will finally clear the way for more missionaries to arrive.

Keep offering those prayers in our behalf!
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