April 21 -April 26, 2014

We started out the week with a wonderful experience,

We were invited to the home of Ganbat and his family for FHE.

Ganbat and his family have been recently baptized and it

is so fun to watch them progress in the gospel. 

They are trying to be obedient. They hold Family Home Evening, and

they read the Book of Mormon together as a family. 

They have family prayer.

They were so kind and gracious to us.

Ganbat and his family own a small grocery store and they live above the store.  

Their home is located in the Ger district.

It is very small and humble according to the US standards.

But it is clean, well kept and one of the better homes we have been in.

They still have to haul their water and they do not have indoor plumbing.

But they do have a great deal of faith and family Love.

 Elder Nay with Batsetseg.  She is the young woman that Elder Nay baptized.

She will be graduating from high school soon and is trying to decide

what to study in college.  She is very intelligent and speaks English quite well.

 Batsetseg, Ganbat, Naransetseg, Gendengaram, Badmaarag

The weather here has been unseasonably warm most of this spring.

However, we did have a spring snow shower on April 25, 2014.

It was cold, snowy and windy.  

But just like spring in Utah, the next day it was 60 F with bright blue skies.

We were looking our the window at the Bayanzurkh Building during the snow storm

and spotted this activity across the street.

There is a hospital across the street and a lot of the time in the early morning,

you will see a funeral procession leaving this parking lot.

I do not know anything about the Buddhist funerals just that they usually go 

to the cemetery very early in the morning.

We asked other Mongolians that were in the building if they knew what 

was going on.  They didn't because they are members of  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They figured that it was probably some important person or some important Buddhist monk's funeral

We thought it was interesting that they held the yellow cloth off of the ground until

they carried the casket over it.

Any way it was interesting to watch.

Have a great week!

Scripture to share: Doctrine and Covernants 25:13 Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made.

Trains

The other day we went to the Train Museum in UB with the Linford's and the England's

It was kind of a gray day, but fun to get out and go for a walk.

I figured that some of my grandson's might like seeing these pictures.

They were in the middle of refurbishing the Train Engines so they

are all sanded down and will probably look a whole lot better in a couple of months.

As you can tell, there really is no standard for work place safety in Mongolia.

How do you like his ladder?  At least he is wearing a face mask.

I love this wheel barrel!  A 55 gallon drum with bicycle wheels

You have to hand it to the Mongolians.  The use what they have and

do a good job with it.

Sister Linford giving a bit of perspective of how big these old steam Locomotives are.

Scripture: Doctrine and Covenants 128:22 Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward

Life's path

I go walking every morning and I sometimes reflect on the things that I am learning here in Mongolia.

I have learned that life's path can be very hard to follow.

It may be a straight and narrow path that leads back to our Heavenly Father, 

but it is not an easy path.  There are obstacles all along the way.

We have to be watchful and ever mindful of where we choose to go

or we might just end up falling, falling hard.  

But I have also learned that no matter how hard the path may be, you don't give up.

If you humbly pray for strength and guidance our Heavenly Father will send it.

We may have to humble our hearts to hear the still small voice but it will come.

Just when you think there is no way out, there will be a way opened for you.

 I know that no matter how hard our path is, If we allow our hearts to be opened

we will feel and see evidence of our Heavenly Father's love.

We just need to open our eyes.

There will always be love along our path if we are willing to see it 

and most importantly share it.

I love all of you who have helped me along my path.  

I am so glad that I do not have to travel it alone.

My family and friends have always been there to support me

and I know my Savior is ever present to help me get back home to him.

2 Nephi 31:9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.

2

Week of April 13-19 a Week of New Beginnings and Endings

The New Beginnings

Jargalant Branch (The Happiness Branch) had another family baptism!

The Family of Bat-hoyig have been taking the lessons for about 6 to 7 weeks.

It was touching to hear their testimonies tonight after their Baptism and

how they described the changes that have come into their lives since investigating the

 Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

Sister Oyunbileg, (the wife and mother) described how they use to be shepherds but moved

to Ulaanbaater about 10 years ago.  Since then their life has been really hard.

Both she and her husband had a hard time with cigarettes and alcohol.

They were always arguing and fighting. 

 Lately it had been really hard at home and she wanted a divorce. 

They then heard from a friend about the church and how the friends family was happy.

They decided to call the people their friend told them about which was the missionaries.

Now, they read the Book of Mormon every night and were praying as a family

 for her husband to be able to give up drinking and cigarettes.  

Their prayers were answered with peace in the home. 

The children are doing better in school.

The father was able to overcome his word of wisdom problems.

WE KNOW HEAVENLY FATHER HEARS AND ANSWERS PRAYERS

AND LOVES ALL OF HIS CHILDREN!

Bat-hoyg Family Baptism

Elder Murat, Bat-hoyig, Erdenhiseg (daughter), Erdenetal (daughter),

Sheenbayar (son) Ouinbileg (wife), Elder Nay, Elder Hill

 This is the other baptism that was in the Sukhbaater Branch, I did not get his name
but he is a cute 9 year old.

Bat-hoyg,Oyunbileg, Sheenbayar

Refreshments and social after the baptism

This is our Branch Presidents little daughter,

Isn't she adorable?  You can tell she enjoyed her cake.

Endings to a Great Mission
We had another Senior Couple go home this week.

We will truly miss Elder and Sister Stewart!

They showed us what it means to follow our Savior through all of their acts of

Service and Charity.

They were always doing, serving and thinking of others.

They are great examples of always being positive and grateful.

We will truly miss them, and their friendship.

We wish them all good things as they return home to Lethbridge Canada!

Elder Stewart was our Mission Doctor.
 He was very professional,caring, and kind.
Always concerned about others and always complimenting and seeing the best in others.

Dr. Stewart is an amazing photographer. 

He is most comfortable behind the camera, not in front of it.

Elder and Sister Stewart were instrumental in helping the Deaf to Hear in Mongolia.

The made it possible for 10 Deaf people to receive Cochlear Implants.

What a great legacy of love they leave here in Mongolia

The rug they are holding was made here in Mongolia and was given

to them by the deaf community.

It was Zone Conference on April 19.  What a great looking bunch of Missionaries!
It was evenly divided between the numbers of Elders and Sisters.
All of these missionaries do a great job of teaching, obeying and
bringing the Light of the Gospel to the people of Mongolia.

Scripture for the week:

Alma 30:44 ...The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

So what have we done this week?

That is a good question.  The days go by fast and we truly are busy,

 but the end of the week comes and you wonder what have you done.  

Anything of worth?  I don't know.

The weather has been VERY WARM.  

It would rival any spring back in Utah temperature wise.

Not much spring growth yet.

We did get a MOU (memo of understanding) signed with the
National Mental Health Hospital of Mongolia

The project is to build a greenhouse so they can plant food and flowers.

 They treat their patients in this Hospital with life skill training.

They have a Ger Project where 35 patients can live.

They cook and clean for themselves. And they are given meaningful work.

They have planted potatoes in the past, made cement blocks.  

This project will give them more opportunity to grow vegetables
and flowers that can be used in the Hospital
and at the same time it gives the patients in this Ger project meaningful work and self- respect.

The treatment at this hospital is training and how to work and then medication when needed.

They have a very successful treatment rate.

I agree, having meaningful work makes you feel better. Makes you feel of worth.

The signing of the MOU

 This is a picture of the Mental Health hospital ger project.
There are 36 individuals that live here from the hospital.  They are supervised by the staff.
Trained in life skills, given jobs, cook their own food.
They have a high success rate in getting these people back into society.

We had the opportunity to watch General Conference in ENGLISH
With the missionaries that speak English.  There were 14 Elders 7 Sister Missionaries
and 4 senior Couples.  It was AWESOME!
It is so wonderful to hear the prophets speak and to feel the spirit!

These are some pictures from my morning walk.  We try to get out and exercise almost every day.
At 6 am it is peaceful not too much traffic but there are quite a few runners and walkers now.
Notice the recently pruned trees and they are starting to bud out!
I still can not believe how Hot it has been. 60's and 70's F

Kids out playing in the playground by our apartment.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Scripture for the week:   2 Nephi 25: 26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

Finally....

After almost 5 months we have a signed wheelchair contract!

Yeah!

Elder Nay Stamping and signing the contract.

Elder Nay, Batdulam of the Ministry of Population Development and Social Protection and

S. Erdene of National Rehabilitation Center.

On Thursday, April 3, 2014 we had a turnover ceremony at the 

Songino Kharkhan Pediatric Hospital

Deseret Donated 3 Oxygen concentrators.

They help a lot of children at this hospital and especially during the cold winter months,

with the heavy air pollution they have a great need for the oxygen concentrators.

They informed us that they serve over 20,000 children a year.  

We toured the intensive care area while we were there.  

It is not like our intensive care units, but they still give the best care they can.

It was humbling to see the little babies that needed help, lying in big beds.

But they do that on purpose, so the mothers can lay with their babies.

The doctors here are very knowable, well trained and caring.

We have been very impressed with all of the Doctors and medical professionals we have met here in Mongolia.

 Hospital Director Galsantseden presenting Elder Nay with an appreciation plaque.

Our translator Muugiii is in the background and one of the oxygen concentrators is on the table.

Front row is Enkhbat who is the 1st Counselor in the UB East District and represented the church, 

Soyolmaa Service Center Manager for the Church here, she is our boss and mentor, 

Elder Nay, Sister Nay and the Director of the Hospital. Lots of other members of their staff

On Saturday, April 5th,  I was able to watch the General Women's Meeting at the Bayanzurkh Building.

We were originally told that the Jargarlant Branch was having a Branch Get together on Saturday at 10 am.

We traveled (45 min walk) up there for the social and found out that they had cancelled it until 1 pm and that everyone was going to go to the Bayenzurkh building to watch the Women's Meeting.

So Elder Nay and I get on a bus and go back to the Bayenzurkh Building (only took us 30 minutes). 

After the Women's Meeting we head on back up to the  Chingeltei building.  I takes us 45 minutes, even riding a bus.

But we do get there in time to hearvsome of what is going on for the social.  

Everyone introduces themselves and tells a little bit about themselves.

Jargarlant branch is a new branch which is a combination of two other branches.

The goal is to get them to be a ward within a year.

We had fun.  Met people, had refreshments, then those who wanted went out and played volleyball?

 To play this version of volleyball, everyone stands in a circle.  They serve the ball back and forth.

If you miss the ball or give a bad serve you have to go to the middle of the circle 

and squat or kneel down.  Others join you in the circle as they miss the ball.

The only way to get out of the circle is to catch the ball, which is really hard to do while you are squatting.  They also get kind of vicious by spiking the ball at you. 

If they hit a person in the middle they do not have to go in the middle.

Kind of scary.  But it was kind of fun.

The weather has been gorgeous here in Mongolia.  It was shirt sleeve weather today.

Scripture for the week:

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;