Sunday, September 27, 2009

Update on September 27, 2009

Last week was a busy week. I created 10 farewell books for the missionaries who left the mission. Then 18 new Mongolian missionaries arrived in the mission from the Philippines MTC. We still have American missionaries waiting to come because they can’t get visas. The American missionaries have been temporarily reassigned to other missions. Last week was also a Big Transfer as well as time to send all of the missionaries’ allotments to their debit cards.



Friday Sep. 25th we decided to take a trip before winter sets in. A week before the temperature went down to 28° F. and there was snow on the ground. Friday we went to Terelj National Park, the birth place of Chinggis Khan. The pictures will give you an idea of what we did. The weather was overcast, but it was still a nice day. We rode camels and Wes rode a horse. I was able to get on the camel because it came down for me, but I decided I wouldn’t be able to get on a horse; it was too high even if Mongolian horses are shorter than American horses.

We saw Turtle Rock, a rock formation that looks like a turtle, Then we went on to the Meditation Temple. I think the Buddhists chose locations with impressive views for their temples. We climbed 115 steps. On the way back we saw the 100 Lamas Cave. The opening looks small, but 100 Buddhist monks were saved from Stalin’s purges by hiding in the cave.

On Sunday at Church we told a couple of missionaries we were going to go home and have tuna noodle casserole. That sounded good to them so Elder Whittle and Elder Byambadorj joined us for Sunday dinner where we had tuna noodle casserole, green beans, jello, cornbread, and apple crisp with ice cream. This is not our normal eating. Often we just have a bowl of soup for dinner.

Elder Whittle took the recipe home so he could made tuna noodle casserole himself. When he had been at dinner the previous Sunday with all 10 of the Sukhbaatar missionaries, he liked Dad’s rolls so he took home the roll recipe and made rolls. With all 10 of the missionaries we had roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, raspberry jello with cherries, and cake and ice cream.

7 comments:

Suzanne said...

Those are some fun pictures. Mom I'm really impressed that you would get on the camel! I'm sure it was fun to see some of the sites in Mongolia. James will be close to you next week - he'll be in Tokyo.

Cheryl said...

Great pictures! It looks like you had a great time. I especailly loved the photos of Dad in the dress up gear.

Wendy said...

Why is Dad wearing a suit while you're in slacks? Also, why do you look so nervous in the pictures of you with animals?

I think Dad needs to bring home the Mongolian warrior outfit so he can wear it when he gives his homecoming talk.

Are you the missionary's favorite senior couple since you keep feeding them?

Joan said...

Wendy, I left in the morning with a skirt, but just before we were to ride the camels I slipped on pants so I could ride a camel. In the evening when we got back to the church, I put my skirt back on for the baptism.

All of the senior couples feed the missionaries often. Members don't generally feed them like in the States.

Bonnie said...

It looks like you had a lot of fun. I laughed out loud with the picture of Dad in the war gear. I agree with Wendy. You should wear it for your homecoming :-)

Celeste said...

I love the pictures, they're so cool! I'm way jealous that you get to see all these cool sights, except for the cold I could live without. I totally want to ride a camel someday, that would be awesome! And the picture with Grandpa in the war gear is really funny and cool :]

Stephanie said...

Ha ha, those were some beefy camels! Seriously, they need to get on a diet! I guess it probably gets colder in Mongolia than in Israel, though... great pictures :)

Oh, so there's actually a guy in one of my art classes who went on his mission to Mongolia. I thought that was pretty cool.