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.

Naadam 2014

It is Naadam in Mongolia, where they celebrate the Three Manly Sports of Wrestling, Archery, and Horse racing. According to the literature that was handed to us, they are celebrating the 2223rd Anniversary of founding of the state, the 808th anniversary of the great mongol empire and the 93rd anniversary of the Mongolian people's revolution and plus we are celebrating the 21st year of the land being dedicated to the preaching of the gospel and of having missionaries and the church here.

I have to admit that I am a little disappointed in Nadaam this year.  Last year was such a spectacular year, it is probably hard to top that.  We missed the dispatch of the Nine White Banners from Chinggis Square because the published time was 10:00 am they actually dispatched them at 9:00 am.  We arrived at 9:30 am and were standing around with thousands of other tourists and locals waiting for it to happen.  Finally they announced something at 10:15 in Mongolian and thankfully a kind Mongolian who could speak English informed us that the Banners had already been dispatched.  So we just walked the 20 or so minutes to the stadium area.  We did not get tickets this year for the opening ceremonies either.  Our translator tried for two days standing in line to get tickets.  She was close to the front of the line each time, but did not get any.  It just goes to show that it is who you know not necessarily where you are in line. She was kind of upset, I think she really wanted to go,  She has lived here her whole life and has not been able to attend in person.  Elder Nay and I was offered tickets for $35 US dollars apiece, but $70 for basically 1 hour of entertainment seemed like a lot and we had promised Muugii tickets and we would feel bad if we went without her so we decided not to go.

We went to the stadium area and watched the archery, and the knucklebone competition.  Watched people, ate Khuushuur, looked at all of the tents where people are selling and came home.  That evening we attended a concert of the Morin Khuur Ensemble of Mongolia.  (The Horse Head Fiddle). It was beautiful.  I love the sound that this instrument makes!  It is mellow, melodious, and yet when played fast, you can just picture the horses running out on the steppes.  It was great. Following are some pictures of what we saw this year.

Oops, the arrow fell out of the bow.  This little guy did a lot better later on.

This is the knuckle bone competition (Shagain asar).  They put this wedge

shaped piece of bone in a tray or guide and then flick it approximately 20 feet to knock down a small ankle bone.  This is a traditional sport, probably done out on the steppes while tending their flocks. 

It was fun to watch this as well.

This was the cutest "wrestler" that we saw.

Wrestlers out in the arena.  They are big guys.  

The first round starts with 512 wrestlers.  If you lose you are out of the competition.

Then the second round starts with 256 wrestlers.  The competition has 9 rounds.

12

The horse race is out in the countryside so we did not see it in person,

but did see horses being ridden out in fields as we walked home. 

Also saw some soldiers riding as we were walking home.

We saw this man carrying chairs at Chinggis Square. 

(He was carrying them from the government building to a dignitary tent)

They were heavy chairs and I was impressed he had such a strong neck.

We were up in the balcony at the concert so it was hard to get a good picture, but the music was wonderful!

The night before Naadam we had gone to the National Garden Park to see sculptors doing their thing.

We saw the artists, an eagle,  babies driving cars (these are remote controled by the parents) and Alvin and the chipmunks! Of course Elder Nay (Alvin had to get in the picture.

We are grateful to be here and experience the culture but most of all the wonderful people in Mongolia.

We love their faith, their strength, their hospitality, their endurance and their example of service and love to others. Most Mongolians will go out of their way to help us, even though they may not understand us.

We see them serve each other every day.  

Thank you Mongolia, Have a great Naadam!

Scripture of the week:

3Nephi 22:10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

July 4th in Mongolia

Yes there is a July 4th is Mongolia, but it is just another day here.  They do their big celebration next week for Nadaam where they will celebrate the Three Manly Sports, (Archery, Horse Racing and Wrestling) and they will not only celebrate 1 day, but this year the holiday will go for FIVE days.

Any way, living in Mongolia has caused me to reflect on how blessed I was to be born in the United States, in the state of Utah.  I have had so many opportunities because of this.  I have enjoyed freedom of religion and having the restored gospel in my life.  This would not have happened in any other land. In the United States,  with the inspiration of our Founding Fathers and the wisdom they had in setting up our constitution with citizens rights, enabled an atmosphere for the restoration of the gospel.

I am grateful for the freedom and opportunities to choose.  To choose where to shop and the unlimited choices of clean healthy food that exist in the US.  I am grateful for the safety standards that are in place for food, water, sanitation, work place and even traffic.  I am grateful that the US people value human life and children.  I am grateful for the opportunities of education for myself, children and grandchildren and the hope of  becoming anything you want with hard work.  Any way, I am proud and grateful to be an American.  I can hardly wait to get home and be with family and friends again.  We have been truly blessed and I think we don't know what we have until we don't have it.

HAVE A GREAT JULY 4TH!

VALUE YOUR FREEDOMS AND OPPORTUNITIES!

Here are a few pictures of a "indoor barbecue" the seniors had with President Benson's family to celebrate July 4th.

Early morning street view of Tokyo Street where the Bayanzurkh Church Building is Located.

This is the building where our office, the mission office and the 

President's family lives on the fifth floor.

 Sister Francom, Sister Nay, Sister Benson, Sister Lewis and Sister Linford checking out the food.

 Elder Linford and John admiring the 5th floor view

 President Benson grills a great hamburger!

 Taste testing the homemade rootbeer!

 These are the flowers at Chinggis Square.  

Flowers have been planted everywhere in preparation for the Nadaam Celebration

It has been fun to see them and they are all beautiful!

 Last week was our branch's, Branch Conference.  

When we arrived at our building there was lots of heavy equipment digging up the side road that leads to our meeting house.  There was no way to get in.  We ended up  jumping huge holes, walking in front of the machinery and up the police station stairs, and back over and down to get to the building.  When we finally got into the building there was not electricity.

That was okay.  We had our meetings any way.  They started a little late with everyone trying to figure out how to get in, but it was a great object lesson.  

Satan may put roadblocks in our way, but if we are faithful and persevere we will be blessed with the spirit of the Lord.

Scripture of the week:

Alma 46: 12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

 13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—