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Pigeons at Gandan Monastery |
About two weeks ago we received an email from Elder and Sister Harrington requesting a visit to
Mongolia. The visit was scheduled right away before the cold weather sets in.
Smart people
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The Harringtons getting off the train from Erdenet |
They are the Family History Support missionaries for the
Asia Area and are involved with all the Family History missionaries assigned to
Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Mongolia. They have their
own responsibilities for Family History work in Hong Kong. They arrived on
their mission two months ago. They are from Blackfoot, Idaho.
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A Chinese meal with the Harringtons and our tour guide, Jangar |
We met them on Thursday night after our English class. We
went to our favorite Indian restaurant and got acquainted. We planned a full schedule for them. They
wanted to visit all three Family History Centers in Mongolia – UB, Darkhan and
Erdenet. We also planned a full touring day for Monday prior to their departure
Tuesday morning. Their Tuesday fight was cancelled and they were able to stay
until Thursday of this week. The rest of the Harringtons’ trip (Tuesday/Wednesday)
will be reported next week.
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Old Mongolian Script |
Visit to Chingeltai
cemetery. We learned from a member
that a part of the Chingeltai cemetery
was going to be destroyed to permit new building to be built. We discussed how
we could have a photography project there to record the information on the
tombstones.
The Harringtons and ourselves visited the Chingeltai
cemetery and, in all likelihood, didn’t find the exact location where the
graves are going to be destroyed. The cemetery was huge. Our visit did cement
in our minds how important the cemeteries are as a secondary source of records
when there are gaps in the civil records at the National Archives and Aimeg
Archives.
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Cyrillic tombstone |
We talked with the Stake President, the manager of the
Church Service Center, the senior couple over Young Single Adults and others
about the feasibility of doing this project. There was a lot of excitement
about doing this. The youth could be
involved in cemetery cleanup as a service project.
On the way back from the cemetery we were given a ride by an
opthalmologist who had a strong relationship with a Senior couple who had
previously served a Humanitarian Service Mission. We could feel the goodwill
and love created by this senior couple in the course of their work in Mongolia.
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Training Priesthood Leaders in UB |
Records
acquisition. We arranged a meeting with
Buyan, Solongo, Batsengel - who served as translator, Elder and Sister
Harrington and ourselves. Buyan is a leading Mongolian genealogist and compiler
of Chinggis Khan’s genealogy. We met at a Korean restaurant near the Church as
Buyan didn’t want to enter a church building.
We had a list of prepared questions in which we could learn
about Mongolian records and genealogy. He was a little stand-offish at first
but warmed up to us considerably during the interview. He is well connected
with Ulziibataar, the Director of the National Archives. His awareness and
positive feelings toward us will be important as we negotiate with the National
Archives. We took notes on this answers and learned a lot from him. We anticipate meeting with the Ulziibataar in
early November. This was a great meeting.
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Training Priesthood leaders in Erdenet |
Afterward, we scurried to our English class, (the
Harringtons were both teachers in Blackfoot and were interested in seeing our
class). We had spaghetti at our apartment that evening after class.
FH Training in UB,
Darkhan, and Erdenet. The next morning, the Harringtons had excellent
training session with Priesthood leaders in Ulaanbataar. President Clark was
gracious enough to delay the meeting he had with the Priesthood leaders until
after our training was completed. It was a huge opportunity for us to
accomplish our goals. They also had a second meeting with the Family History
Consultants in UB. We were in charge of the refreshments.
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A patron, our translator Mokhbaatar, the Harringtons and Sister Farmer in the UB Family History Center |
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Halfway point between UB and Darkhan |
Immediately afterward we caught a taxi to Darkhan. We had
prepared lunches for our trip as our meeting
time was at 6:00 pm. We put Elder Harrington in the suicide seat (front seat
next to the driver) so he could experience the wild and wholly Mongolian
driving. He got his money’s worth.
The meetings in Darkhan and Erdenet were also well
attended. We trained in all three
locations on their duties and also on reporting. We worked with individual members to get them
registered on new.familysearch. All of the trainings went better than expected.
We also cemented our working relationship with both Director in Darkhan and the
Assistant Director in Erdenet along with training the High Council Adviser in
Erdenet. In Darkhan we ate out at a Korean restaurant and in Erdenet, the
Lamoreauxs hosted us for dinner at their apartment.
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President Doku with his wife and son |
President Doku has shown great involvement in our training
and is now registered on new.familysearch. He and his wife and one of his children
drove us to Erdenet on Sunday morning. She was a former missionary from our
daughter’s era as a missionary in Mongolia. She remembered our daughter well
but didn’t have an opportunity to serve with her.
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Slow but safe |
That night we took an all night train ride from Erdenet to
UB. This was a little better train ride than the last one. We shared a
compartment and slept reasonably well.
Touring UB. We had
arranged for a tour guide and
transportation for the day.
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Welcome to Gandan |
We went to Gandan monastery, Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts, an American Food restaurant (Millie’s),
the Victims of Political Persecution Memorial Museum, Zaison Memorial and a
tour of a Cashmere Factory prior to finishing the evening with a program of
transitional Mongolian music and dance performance. We had Chinese food
afterward.
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We spotted Bigfoot at the Gandan Monastery |
Besides us and the Harringtons, we were joined by the Hunts
and by the Woods in the evening for the Musical program. I won’t describe each place except by the
photography. What a day! What a big day.
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Prayer wheel at Gandan Monastery |
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Mongolia's relationship with Russia is "complicated" |
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A Mongol queen offers a gift to her Russian friends |
We learned that next year on April 15 at 4:00 pm there will be a
reenactment of that ceremony with all Mission Presidents who have served in
Mongolia along with any others who will come to Mongolia for a 20 year
reunion of the Mission in Mongolia.
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Russians defended Mongolia against the Japanese in 1937 but slaughtered 28,000 Mongolians the same year |
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Monument to Russian - Mongolia friendship on Zaison Hill
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