Impressions from the
countryside.
It was a great week for seeing some of Mongolia’s best
sights and learning about its history and culture.
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| We are seeing Mongolia eyeball to eyeball |
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| There are plenty of eyes to look at |
This week helps form a frame
of reference for the experiences we’ll have with the mundane and the growing
pains of a country that doesn’t have the standard of living and infrastructure
that the United States enjoys.
In other words, when we experience the relentless cold
winters, the weaving, super aggressive bumper car drivers on congested pot-holed
roads, the grimy soot and pollution of winter smoke, the occasional lack of hot
water or electricity, and its mystifyingly difficult language, we will remember
this week and the ones that preceded it.
Mongolia has pleasant summer temperatures, a bright, sunny,
friendly, educated populace, a rich history, colorful traditions and respectful
and courteous manners. This year, in contrast to the United States, Mongolia
has had regular rainfall during this summer. The hills around central Mongolia
are treeless but green. Not the lush and deep green of say a Sonoma or Petaluma,
California but much like the unexpected pale greens of the hills and prairies
of western North and South Dakota after a snowy winter and wet spring.
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| Typical view |
There are vast expanses of land here dotted with
herds of cattle, sheep, horses, yaks, and goats - in some places, camels. The
land is surreal in its beauty, so vast and empty in its vistas and the countryside
people so hospitable to guests and visitors.
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| The herdman is yet to emerge |
I am not talking about the bleak
Gobi desert landscape or the lakes and mountains of north or west, just about
the central part of Mongolia which we were fortunate to visit.
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A little like the Black Hills
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| Eagle pole to tether the eagle and eagle cage below the rocks |
In Mongolia, you need a guide. Many times we would turn off
the highway and drive for miles on dirt roads over the steppes on roads
that would divide, multiply and converge in seemingly aimless patterns. Sometimes
the road would divide into 8-12 different lanes or pathways. If you don’t like
the road you are on, make a new one. In the Gobi even the Mongolians can get lost - lots of roads and no distinguishable landmarks for orientation.
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| A four lane highway |
The passengers would be jostled and bumped around like on a
roller coaster ride as the driver would manage to avoid the worst of the roads.
That goes for the highways as well. We lost a back bumper on our trip. It made
it back to Ulaanbaatar strapped on the top of our second touring vehicle.
We would see nothing in terms of road signs, markers, or
notable landscape that would help know if we were on the right path. Then,
remarkably in the middle of nowhere (to us foreigners at least), we would reach
our world class destination. Even our tour guide had to phone for help when we
were within about 5 kilometers of one of our destinations. Last year’s tour
guides were lost for four hours once trying to find their tourist destination.
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| So where are we going? |
The reward at the end
made our rough journey recede from our memory, something like childbirth.
Six couples and one guide made the trip. Two of the couples
went back to Ulaanbaatar after the second day. They had seen those particular sites the year before. We got along great and got to
know one another well. It was a lot of
fun experiencing the good and the bad together. We stayed two nights in Gers,
ate great meals together, played dress up in Mongolian clothes and appreciated what we were seeing
together.
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| Savoring the local fare |
Senior couples and
missionaries.
Besides us, the following senior couples made the trip:
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| From left to right: the Farmers, Hunts, Lammoreauxs and Briggs with our names in old Mongolian script. The Richardsons and Shropes were no longer on this leg of the trip. |
The Hunts from Salt Lake City – member of mission
presidency, branch president, CES, Perpetual Education Fund and returned
missionaries. Elder Hunt was a former executive with the Marie Calender
restaurant chain.
The Richardsons from Huntsville, Utah – Humanitarian Service and branch counselor.
He was a quality assurance officer with a manufacturing company.
The Shropes from Oceanside, California -Construction and Maintenance - Employment
Specialist, mission executive secretary.
The Briggs from Mapelton, Utah – Branch and District responsibilities
in Darkhan. He was a game warden with the Utah Game, Fish and Wildlife Division.
The Lamoreauxs from Orem, Utah – Branch and District responsibilities
in Erdenet. He was an attorney in private practice and former real estate attorney for the church.
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| Chinggis Khans close advisors |
The following couples didn’t make the trip.
The Martins from Mountain Home, Idaho – medical services, family
history and quarterly member temple trips to Hong Kong. He was a Physician Assistant
in the Air Force. They dropped out at the last minute because of effects from food
poisoning.
The Grosbecks from Mapleton, Utah - Branch responsibilities in
Moron, a city in northwest Mongolia too far away (time and money) to justify making
the trip. Two more senior couples have been called to this mission, one couple is
scheduled to arrive in August and the other couple in October. One of the
couples will serve in the Mission Office.
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The Farmers, Elder Richardson, the Lamoreauxs, Elder Briggs, the Hunts and the Shropes.
Sisters Richardson and Briggs are not in the picture |
There are currently 65 young missionaries in Mongolia – the lowest
number in years. About 15 are from the United States and the rest are from
Mongolia. We are expecting 5 Elders from the United States to join us as soon
as they get their visas. There are also 6
Mongolian Elders and 3 Sisters who have just begun their 3 week training at the
Phillipines MTC who are also in the pipeline.
More about the tour.
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| Jangar talking about history of Buddhism in Mongolia |
Our guide, Jangar, was a fount of knowledge about anything
and everything Mongolian - the sites, the history and the culture. He had a
great sense of humor and went with the flow. We did too. We had to. He was a
convert from our daughter’s era as a missionary in Mongolia -1999-2000. He
remembers her well. His missionary (who taught him the gospel) he
remembers with great fondness was Sister Oyun, our daughter’s second companion.
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| Mongolians love "stern" for photographs |
One highlight from our journey was the Mongolian Throat
Singers who came out to perform for us and the rest of the guests at the wild
horse national park. They were fantastic. We heard sounds coming from human
beings that we’ve never heard before. Darlene was spellbound and taken by the
musicality of their performance.
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| Except the Throat Singers however who didn't do "stern" very well |
Strange but wonderful! Besides their intricate singing, they
choreographed body movements, playing and facial expressions. The trio have won
awards and performed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Europe and other
international venues. We heard more throat singing and traditional music at the
King’s Palace when we visited the 13th Century National Park.
Meeting our sponsor. When we returned, we met our sponsor from
the telecommunication company on Thursday morning and went together to meet (a
delicate meeting that had to go just right) with immigration officials located
close by the airport. Things went well and we are slated to get our official
documents that will enable us to be in the country for a year until our visas
come up for renewal. We will get our official papers on July 26th.
Our sponsor spoke passable English and some Russian as well.
We hit it off well together in our first meeting. He asked us to teach 15-20
teenagers 2 hours a day, 3 times a week for three weeks during the month of
August. Starting in September, we will teach English to members of his company.
We will do some planning about what they want and learn of our time commitment
later this month.
We had a meeting with the local family history personnel
last Sunday. Pres. A. Tsog, a member of the Stake Presidency, was in attendance. He is friends
and a former student of the Director of the National Archives. He and his wife knew the Jacksons quite well when they were in Mongolia.
He felt the time
was right to initiate discussions between the church and the government of
Mongolia regarding acquisition of archival data. We sent an email to Hong Kong
to Family History leaders there and it was positively received.
We may be
helping engineer a breakthrough in family history work here in Mongolia amidst
all our fun and tourism. We will keep you posted on any developments as the
church leaders approach the Mongolian government with mutually beneficial
proposals.
Other church
assignments and callings. President Odgerel, the Stake President, met with
us and invited us to participate in a young single adult conference in Selenge near the Russian border this August
22-25.
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| Mongolian camp |
This involves some outdoor camping. He worried that we might need more
amenities than they could offer. We told him we were tough Americans and
wouldn’t have a problem with an outdoor camping experience. He had seen a copy
of my book and wanted to us to present a program on dating and courtship.
The problem he wanted to address is the fact that the
Mongolian return missionary brothers aren’t being aggressive or marriage
oriented enough in their dating and are frustrating the young single adult sisters
who want to move ahead in life by having temple marriage and having
families. There is too much group dating, hanging out, playing basketball with
each other and not knowing enough about how to please or make women feel
special. Any of this sound familiar?
The Young Single Adult Conference two years ago resulted in
seven marriages and last year's conference resulted in zero. This conference will focus on
dating, temple marriage and family life to create some momentum in these
stalled relationships that are too passive.
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| Getting on with family life |
We had a meeting with President Clark about our local church
assignment. We will attend the Suhkbaatar Branch. They are putting in a new
Branch President. We will
keep you posted on our callings. We attended this Sunday with the President and Sister Clark.
We met one of our daughters converts who was thrilled to meet us. Darlene found out a good portion of the older women at Relief Society, a women organization, speak Russian. She made a lot of instant friends.
The final thing I will mention is the Family History monthly
training meeting with the West Stake and the East District. Darlene gave the
spiritual thought – with the aid of an interpreter. She did a great job. We are
definitely lost without one. We are surprised by how much we don’t know despite
4 months of working at this language. Thank goodness all the social,
sight-seeing stuff will slow down and we can concentrate more on the language.
We don’t lack for
company. Friday we went shopping to the Mercury with 2 other couples. It is
always an adventure. We also raided the storage shed for a few items we were
still lacking in our apartment. Saturday we went out on our own to the local
Bayanzurck market.
The social can’t be neglected. Friday night the senior
couples and the Clarks went to a Japanese restaurant to celebrate his and Elder
Shrope’s birthdays. The Hunts had us over taco soup on Saturday. We supplied the chips (a rare find in the market).
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| Mongolia's first flag - the white vulture |
