More Naadam

Well, as I said before, Naadam is for FIVE days this year so I think I will post some pictures of the other events and people we were able to visit with the rest of Naadam.

On Saturday, Muugii and her husband Mugbaatar invited us to their home for "refreshments" in the afternoon.  They are living right now with Muugii's sweet mother. It was fun to visit with them and enjoy their true Mongolian hospitality. It was wonderful.  They served us delicious khuushuurs, potato salad, and cake. They are all so loving and kind.  It was a great afternoon.

That evening we went to an International Dance Festival at the Central Cultural Palace.  It was Mongolian dancing and it was WONDERFUL.  The costumes were spectacular.  The dances stunning and the dancers incredible and beautiful.  It is hard to describe if you haven't seen it. I love the Mongolian dance and I love how all of the costuming is MODEST!  It was so impressive, my favorite thing this year at Naadam

Sunday we were invited to the Bat-khorig family home after church.  They were the family of five that was baptized in April.  They live in a humble ger on top of a mountain.  We took a bus to get to their home after church. They live 4-5 bus stops away from the church.  We got off of the bus in a torrential downpour.  Fortunately I had packed 2 of those dollar store raincoats for Elder Nay and myself so we didn't get too wet,  but the poor Elders who were showing us the way got drenched.  I suggested that we stop in a little store for a minute, but we kept right on going up the hill, through the downpour, mud flow and rivulets of water.  Fortunately the downpour did not last long.  Again, we are always overwhelmed at the hospitality and generosity of the Mongolian people.  The husband of this family is unemployed. They live in a humble ger yet they feed us all that they have.  It was good to visit with them and leave a message with them. This is harder to do than it sounds, when the Elders you are with speak very little English and we speak no Mongolian.  But we give scriptural references and have them read the scriptures and hopefully they and we can understand.

 Bat-khorig and his new grand daughter

 This is the family's oldest daughter and new baby.

She has been investigating the church also. The baby is adorable!

 Elder Murat

 The great view from Bat-khorigs home.

Isn't this a great picture of the missionaries?

Monday the senior couples were invited by President Adiyabold (The District President) to a tourist show that he is trying to develop.  He runs a tour company here in Mongolia and has the dream of trying to start a Mongolian Cultural Center,  sort of like the Polynesian cultural center.  He is just getting his dream started with one show.  He was having kind of a preview for other tour companies, trying to promote his show and his idea and invited us to come along.  We went out to Terelj National Park on a really nice bus, where they have a horse riding club and this was the location of the show. It was super fun to see.  The most impressive thing was contortionists doing their art on top of camels and a horse!  Pretty amazing. It was a great day and we appreciate his generosity to us!

 How to set up a Ger in less than 3 minutes!

Have a great summer!

Scripture for the week:  Helaman 3: 27 Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.

 28 Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.