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For most of Asia, and more specifically, for us here in Mongolia, this was General Conference weekend. It is available to us live via the Internet or satellite, but the time difference is simply too great for us to be able to watch it then. So, we generally watch it on the weekend following the actual conference.
It is translated into Mongolian (and many other languages, of course) as it happens and is received over the satellite system, recorded and then burned to DVD. The English version is also recorded and stored on DVD at the same time.
Then, the senior couple missionaries all join together in President and Sister Andersen's apartment (5th or top floor of the Church building here) to share in the experience as we watch each session. Our time table (as they refer to schedules here) is, however, a bit different. Saturday's first session begins at the traditional 10:00 am. But the second session is begun at 1:00 pm, closely followed by the Priesthood session at 3:15 pm.
And, as the brethren all watch the Priesthood Session, the sister's are busily making homemade cinnamon rolls for all to enjoy at the end of the session! Yum!! (Sister Caldwell out did herself this time!)
Sunday's sessions are held similarly with the first session at 10:00 am and the last session at 1:00 pm. The seniors all bring potluck stuff on Sunday and we have lunch together.
The young missionaries and other members of the Church listen to Conference downstairs in the Chapel, at the same time. The young American Missionaries, however, do get to hear it in their native language in another room in the building.
And, as always seems to be the case, Conference was uplifting, enjoyable and very edifying. We try to single out favorite speakers, but it is difficult. So very much of good instruction and counsel is given that it is sometimes difficult to absorb it all. So, it is wonderful to be able to download the sessions and watch them again. Including the Priesthood session, which began being included in the downloads at about the time we entered the mission field.
And then we can also read and study them even more thoroughly in the Liahona (we don't get the Ensign here much).
Actually, the sessions are now available within a few hours after each session since the launching of the Church's new beta website (beta.lds.org). That means that anyone, anywhere in the world, can see recordings of conference sessions within hours of their occurrence. What a marvelous thing the internet can be.
We marvel at the organization and operation of the Church. There is not another worldwide organization that we are aware of, that is able to maintain the consistency of instruction and the unity of operation as does the Church. We have come half way around the world and find the Church the same here as in Utah, even despite the relatively young age of the Church and it's members here. Such adds testimony and validity to our assertion of who is at the head of this Church and as to whose Church it is.
Some things we remember from Conference sessions, include (of course) President Monsons' remarks about how he and Sister Monson met and the development of their relationship. Funny! Oh, and how many of you noticed his comment about Mongolia in those same opening remarks? We also liked President Uchtdorfs' counsel that without love and compassion, we are like clouds without rain or trees without root. Simple and simply profound.
There were many others, like Elder Packers' and Elder Morinos' talks. And then there was Elder Hales and and Elder Hollands talks and . . . well, you get the picture. Maybe we'll share more of what we liked later.
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Sunday, April 11, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Score!
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Our son Jason is going to love this one! We have a 'food DI' in Mongolia (inside joke)!
Some enterprising soul here, corralled a shipment of 'Freight Damaged' food from the states, set it up in a temporary location in downtown, stacked it in boxes two thirds of the way to the ceiling in a small room and, presto, a new American Food Store! We picked up a few things we haven't seen since leaving the States!
Like a bottle of jalapeno peppers (went right to the apartment and had some nachos - yum!), some Kraft Thousand Island salad dressing, a can of Baked Beans, a box of Grape Nuts (Sister Caldwell's favorite) and a few other assorted items! And at very reasonable prices, to boot!
All the seniors went and we had a ball! Doesn't take much to make kids and old folks who are half way around the world from home, happy!
And we don't know what other surprises may lie hidden in boxes further down in those stacks. I dug through to a few but could only get about half way down a couple of the stacks! Guess we'll have to make another trip next week to see what good stuff gets unburied!
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Our son Jason is going to love this one! We have a 'food DI' in Mongolia (inside joke)!
Some enterprising soul here, corralled a shipment of 'Freight Damaged' food from the states, set it up in a temporary location in downtown, stacked it in boxes two thirds of the way to the ceiling in a small room and, presto, a new American Food Store! We picked up a few things we haven't seen since leaving the States!
Like a bottle of jalapeno peppers (went right to the apartment and had some nachos - yum!), some Kraft Thousand Island salad dressing, a can of Baked Beans, a box of Grape Nuts (Sister Caldwell's favorite) and a few other assorted items! And at very reasonable prices, to boot!
All the seniors went and we had a ball! Doesn't take much to make kids and old folks who are half way around the world from home, happy!
And we don't know what other surprises may lie hidden in boxes further down in those stacks. I dug through to a few but could only get about half way down a couple of the stacks! Guess we'll have to make another trip next week to see what good stuff gets unburied!
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Saturday, April 3, 2010
Potpourri
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Political Rally Tomorrow
There is another political rally scheduled for tomorrow. The last such rally (summer of 2008) saw a building burned down and other troubles.
This one has been labeled a "Peace Rally" at Sukhbaatar Square. But it has been organized by groups who apparently want to oust the current Parliament. We think we will stay as far away from this one as we can, despite it's claim as a peaceful rally.
Winter
Winter continues is miserable hold and we are really hoping for a turn in things soon. It flirts just enough with Spring to make us want it all the more and then sort of sneaks back.
Missionaries
At first, we were informed that the young missionaries would all have to leave by the middle of June. Then it looked like they would all have to leave by April 22nd - a bit earlier than expected. Now we have learned that the latest date is May 25th and we are really happy about that! That gives one group the opportunity to fully complete their missions before being required to leave. And the rest of the Americans have now received their reassignments to other missions effective on the May date.
Those reassignments have missionaries going to new mission areas from one end of the States to the other. It's kind of an unsettled time for many of them, who would, of course, prefer to finish their missions here in Mongolia. But, we know the Lord will bring good from all of this and it will be exciting to see how it all works out.
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Political Rally Tomorrow
There is another political rally scheduled for tomorrow. The last such rally (summer of 2008) saw a building burned down and other troubles.
This one has been labeled a "Peace Rally" at Sukhbaatar Square. But it has been organized by groups who apparently want to oust the current Parliament. We think we will stay as far away from this one as we can, despite it's claim as a peaceful rally.
Winter
Winter continues is miserable hold and we are really hoping for a turn in things soon. It flirts just enough with Spring to make us want it all the more and then sort of sneaks back.
Missionaries
At first, we were informed that the young missionaries would all have to leave by the middle of June. Then it looked like they would all have to leave by April 22nd - a bit earlier than expected. Now we have learned that the latest date is May 25th and we are really happy about that! That gives one group the opportunity to fully complete their missions before being required to leave. And the rest of the Americans have now received their reassignments to other missions effective on the May date.
Those reassignments have missionaries going to new mission areas from one end of the States to the other. It's kind of an unsettled time for many of them, who would, of course, prefer to finish their missions here in Mongolia. But, we know the Lord will bring good from all of this and it will be exciting to see how it all works out.
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Sunday, March 28, 2010
Hurray!
It actually reached 46 degrees Fahrenheit today! We never thought 46 could feel so good!
We even went for a walk after church. People were out everywhere! It has been a long, LONG time since we were actually able to enjoy being outside. Five months since we were above freezing!
And you should have seen the snow and ice melting! It's almost all gone now, except for a few spots that the sun can't quite reach. But even they are melting.
No more walking on ice!
"We're havin' a heat wave, a tropical heat wave . . ."
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We even went for a walk after church. People were out everywhere! It has been a long, LONG time since we were actually able to enjoy being outside. Five months since we were above freezing!
And you should have seen the snow and ice melting! It's almost all gone now, except for a few spots that the sun can't quite reach. But even they are melting.
No more walking on ice!
"We're havin' a heat wave, a tropical heat wave . . ."
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Monday, March 22, 2010
Suvdaa
We debated a bit about whether or not to create this particular post. It is a hard story to hear. In some ways, it is an even harder one to tell. But it is also typical of a small segment of the society here. A diminishing segment thankfully.
Suvdaa is an eleven year old girl. She lives in Nalaikh. Those of you who have
followed our blog will recall that Nalaikh is about 35 km outside of the capital city of Ulaanbaatar where we live and it is where Sister Caldwell and I are assigned to help a branch of the Church. It is where we attend and serve as much as we can.
Nalaikh has been hit especially hard with unemployment as a result of the shutdown of much of the coal mining industry there. Suvdaa has been a victim of that and other difficult circumstances.
As mentioned, Suvdaa is eleven years old. But she has been the head of her household and a major 'bread winner' for several years. And she has had more to deal with than we would hope any adult would ever have to face.
The Church first became aware of her through a documentary, when she was ten years old.
When the documentary was made, Suvdaa had a mother, a younger brother, an older sister and a grandfather all living together. Her father is an absentee father.
Her mother became ill a couple of years ago and has been bed ridden every since. The illness left her with no muscle tone and she looked like she was nothing but skin and bone. It was an occasion which caused no small excitement for little brother, when she would be able to sit up for a few minutes.
The 13 year old sister had been given a bad dose of medicine when she was young and has been left mentally handicapped -- a fairly common occurrence here in years past. Her younger brother was six years old, then, and, of course, could not help much. Grandpa was 60 years old and in Mongolia, that generally is not a very robust age. Life is hard here.
Grandpa had a small job as a guard and was lucky to have that. But those jobs don't pay very well and his income was not enough. The vacant look in his face said a lot. He kept repeating that he felt very bad for Suvdaa but didn't know what else he could do.
Suvdaa took care of the home. She cooked and watched the children. She has been head of the household, even giving 'orders' to her grandpa, when necessary. And she walked 5 km each way in the dark many nights to take a bit of dinner to him where he worked. Then, she would often help him make his security rounds before finally retuning home. When asked if she would be going home to fix dinner on one particular night she said, 'Yes, I will fix some tea tonight.' That's all they had. And she started to cry.
Suvdaa's bed was a wooden plank about 10 inches wide, held about a foot off of the cold ground, with a pillow at one end. No blankets and no padding. They didn't have any for her. When asked if that was difficult to sleep on, she said she was usually sore when she got up in the morning.
Suvdaa and her grandpa would go to the coal mines and gather up whatever scraps of coal they could find. They would use some of it to heat their ger but she had to try to sell most of it to add to their meager budget.
She only had one set of clothing and a light coat and when asked if she would like some new clothes, she said that a couple of T-shirts would be nice. Her expectations haven't been very high.
She was asked what she would wish for if she could have three wishes. Her first wish was that her mother could walk. When asked about a second wish, she said she would really like to go to school. She couldn't think of anything else she wanted for her third wish.
Learning of Suvdaa and her situation literally broke our hearts. The Church offered to help, offering a wheelchair for her mother, for starters. But it was too late. Keep reading.
Thankfully, this story has a fairly happy ending -- sort of. Just a few months ago (about the time the Church offered to help), Suvdaa's mother passed away. She will miss her mother, of course, but she is happy that her mother's pain is over. And we know that Suvdaa's first wish has been granted. Her mother can walk again.
Suvdaa's second wish has also been granted. When their mother passed away and partly as a result of the documentary, the children were placed in a government facility. Suvdaa is now going to school.
And she has new clothes to wear.
There's more. Others have learned of Suvdaa. Enough donations have been made that Suvdaa will be able to go to college. She will be fine, now.
But there are more Suvdaa's out there. Knowing that sometimes makes it a bit difficult to slip into our warm and soft bed at night without feeling guilty. We are glad to be part of an effort which will help lift many of them out of their poverty and give them hope.
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Suvdaa is an eleven year old girl. She lives in Nalaikh. Those of you who have
followed our blog will recall that Nalaikh is about 35 km outside of the capital city of Ulaanbaatar where we live and it is where Sister Caldwell and I are assigned to help a branch of the Church. It is where we attend and serve as much as we can.Nalaikh has been hit especially hard with unemployment as a result of the shutdown of much of the coal mining industry there. Suvdaa has been a victim of that and other difficult circumstances.
As mentioned, Suvdaa is eleven years old. But she has been the head of her household and a major 'bread winner' for several years. And she has had more to deal with than we would hope any adult would ever have to face.
The Church first became aware of her through a documentary, when she was ten years old.
When the documentary was made, Suvdaa had a mother, a younger brother, an older sister and a grandfather all living together. Her father is an absentee father.
Her mother became ill a couple of years ago and has been bed ridden every since. The illness left her with no muscle tone and she looked like she was nothing but skin and bone. It was an occasion which caused no small excitement for little brother, when she would be able to sit up for a few minutes.
The 13 year old sister had been given a bad dose of medicine when she was young and has been left mentally handicapped -- a fairly common occurrence here in years past. Her younger brother was six years old, then, and, of course, could not help much. Grandpa was 60 years old and in Mongolia, that generally is not a very robust age. Life is hard here.
Grandpa had a small job as a guard and was lucky to have that. But those jobs don't pay very well and his income was not enough. The vacant look in his face said a lot. He kept repeating that he felt very bad for Suvdaa but didn't know what else he could do.
Suvdaa took care of the home. She cooked and watched the children. She has been head of the household, even giving 'orders' to her grandpa, when necessary. And she walked 5 km each way in the dark many nights to take a bit of dinner to him where he worked. Then, she would often help him make his security rounds before finally retuning home. When asked if she would be going home to fix dinner on one particular night she said, 'Yes, I will fix some tea tonight.' That's all they had. And she started to cry.
Suvdaa's bed was a wooden plank about 10 inches wide, held about a foot off of the cold ground, with a pillow at one end. No blankets and no padding. They didn't have any for her. When asked if that was difficult to sleep on, she said she was usually sore when she got up in the morning.
Suvdaa and her grandpa would go to the coal mines and gather up whatever scraps of coal they could find. They would use some of it to heat their ger but she had to try to sell most of it to add to their meager budget.
She only had one set of clothing and a light coat and when asked if she would like some new clothes, she said that a couple of T-shirts would be nice. Her expectations haven't been very high.
She was asked what she would wish for if she could have three wishes. Her first wish was that her mother could walk. When asked about a second wish, she said she would really like to go to school. She couldn't think of anything else she wanted for her third wish.
Learning of Suvdaa and her situation literally broke our hearts. The Church offered to help, offering a wheelchair for her mother, for starters. But it was too late. Keep reading.
Thankfully, this story has a fairly happy ending -- sort of. Just a few months ago (about the time the Church offered to help), Suvdaa's mother passed away. She will miss her mother, of course, but she is happy that her mother's pain is over. And we know that Suvdaa's first wish has been granted. Her mother can walk again.
Suvdaa's second wish has also been granted. When their mother passed away and partly as a result of the documentary, the children were placed in a government facility. Suvdaa is now going to school.
And she has new clothes to wear.
There's more. Others have learned of Suvdaa. Enough donations have been made that Suvdaa will be able to go to college. She will be fine, now.
But there are more Suvdaa's out there. Knowing that sometimes makes it a bit difficult to slip into our warm and soft bed at night without feeling guilty. We are glad to be part of an effort which will help lift many of them out of their poverty and give them hope.
.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
All Senior Missionaries Have Returned!
We now have all of our seniors back in the country! That's good news!
Some of those who had to leave, spent 10 days sleeping on the floor in Seoul, Korea. Boy are they glad to be back!
And what's more, Elder and Sister Clark returned for a second mission a couple of days ago, so things are looking up.
We all met with Area Authority Seventy, Elder Watson, last evening in President and Sister Andersen's home. President had us all tell him about ourselves and what we do as seniors here. We must admit that even we were a bit surprised at all the seniors are doing. We generally don't make it a practice to sit and list all we are doing with each other. It was something of an eye opener to do so.
But we would really like to talk to those in the MTC who told us that seniors get to take a nap every afternoon if they want. Hah!
But, alas, still no young proselyting missionary resolution. It looks like an all Mongolian missionary force is likely for the young ones. And that's not all bad! They do a great job and this is a real opportunity for them to grow and to serve.
One of the biggest challenges, though, will be finding adequate translation for the Mission President so that he can communicate with and individually interview that all Mongolian missionary force and speak with the membership here, as well.
But this work will continue, one way or another!
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Some of those who had to leave, spent 10 days sleeping on the floor in Seoul, Korea. Boy are they glad to be back!
And what's more, Elder and Sister Clark returned for a second mission a couple of days ago, so things are looking up.
We all met with Area Authority Seventy, Elder Watson, last evening in President and Sister Andersen's home. President had us all tell him about ourselves and what we do as seniors here. We must admit that even we were a bit surprised at all the seniors are doing. We generally don't make it a practice to sit and list all we are doing with each other. It was something of an eye opener to do so.
But we would really like to talk to those in the MTC who told us that seniors get to take a nap every afternoon if they want. Hah!
But, alas, still no young proselyting missionary resolution. It looks like an all Mongolian missionary force is likely for the young ones. And that's not all bad! They do a great job and this is a real opportunity for them to grow and to serve.
One of the biggest challenges, though, will be finding adequate translation for the Mission President so that he can communicate with and individually interview that all Mongolian missionary force and speak with the membership here, as well.
But this work will continue, one way or another!
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