A slower week – except for the weekend



The Ulaanbaatar Family History consultants - Ulzicka is at the back next to her sister Puujee and her mother

We needed a slow week after our last week and we got it.
 

Many graduation scenes around Ulaanbaatar - the Foreign Affairs Ministry is in the background

English class drawing to a close. We taught English to some small classes during the week – the preparation time was the same. During one of our walks to work at Sukhbaatar Square,  we spotted a group of graduates  posing for a graduation picture. They were flowers and dressed up graduates all over UB this week.


 

The Fredleys are going to Darkhan

A new senior couple arrives. The Fredleys have been assigned to Darkhan as leadership and membership support missionaries. They will spend their whole mission there. They will teach English of course and be a part of District and Branch leadership.

We had something in common with them. They spent over 20 years in Olathe, Kansas, near Kansas City. We discussed the St.Louis and Kansas City temples with them. On the weekend they were moving to Utah, the Kansas City temple was announced. A little bittersweet! They know Family history work and will be a great help to us in the Darkhan District. On Thursday, after training them on Family Tree, we hosted them for lunch at our apartment. Darlene filled them in as fast as she could on tidbits of cultural information and survival skills for Mongolia.

Darlene, Ulzicka and Sister Wood

Our big weekend. On Saturday morning, Darlene taught piano and then both of us were involved with training of the UB Family History consultants.  At the last minute, Ulzicka was prompted to ask if we needed an interpreter. It turned out we did. What a blessing she was.

Part of our assignment was to register youth in Family Tree

We traveled to Bagannuur with Elder and Sister Wood, Ulzicka and two members of the District Young Women’s Presidency. Elder and Sister Wood are assigned to the Baganuur Branch and make this trip every Sunday.

Working with Family History Consultants in Baganuur

 

Baganuur is over 125 km east of Ulaanbaatar. It is a two hour drive one way not counting UB traffic.
 
Church in Baganuur. There is a branch there that averages almost 80 members attending Sacrament meeting. They are on the verge of qualifying for their own building. We signed up youth and adult members into Family Tree on Saturday afternoon, evening and again on Sunday morning before church. We spoke in Sacrament meeting, Darlene in Mongolian.

The peaceful streets of Baganuur

I went for an early morning walk and took a couple of pictures.  Baganuur has 10,000 residents. Baganuur is clean, peaceful, spacious, and doesn’t have UB-type traffic. I had imagined something a little different for a coal mining town. It was built by the Russians in the steppes and is not near any mountains or hills.
 

Hospital across the street from the church

We stayed in a first class hotel complete with hot water and a fancy restaurant. The hot water was a treat as our hot water in our apartment has been turned off for a week and will be so for another four days. Only a few days to go!

The finger chairs were unique

We get by with heating water with water heaters and sponge baths. This happens every summer for two weeks while the power plant checks and cleans out their pipes.
 

From a distance I thought the sign said "Mild Horse Bar" - a tad unusual. On closer inspection, I noticed it is was really "Mild House Bar" - an oxymoron in bar names. No Mongolian hotel is complete without a Karaoke bar.