A relaxing week - except for US politics

Are we ready for winter? - We think so.

When the Harringtons were visiting us from Hong Kong, we could hardly catch our breath so this week was a welcome “Rest and Recuperation” week. Notice I didn’t say “Recreation” – we crammed all that in the week before after our whirlwind trips to Darkhan and Erdenet.

Feeding the pigeons brings good fortune - and the pigeons are all for it.

The bride is looking for good fortune too.

This week had a few notable happenings. We have an appointment scheduled with Ulziibaatar, the Director of the National Archives for the week after next. We are anxious to see what progress we can make on records acquisition for the Church in Mongolia. 

We had a productive meeting with President Clark about all the Family History projects we have going in Mongolia. We are planning on a new FH Center in Choibalsan, a cemetery photography and cleanup project in Ulaanbaatar, and a focus on motivating members in UB to submit names for temple work.

Chinese tombstone

We are also in the planning stages of presenting 10 workshops for married members in UB beginning in January. This will probably necessitate our being released from our Branch callings. The mission wants to capitalize on my professional background in communication and relationships in addition to the Family History work we are doing.

Teaching about marital therapy at the University of Mongolia

New office. We moved into our new office on the same floor as the Mission office, the medical office and the English office. We will have a lot more privacy to concentrate and do our work. We’ve been getting our computers and printers to work properly as well as decorating to the extent we can. 

Elder Neuberger holding an Aymara Book of Mormon and standing in front of a copious supply which ended up in Mongolia.

Our office also stores mission pamphlets and Mongolian Book of Mormons (awkward phraseology) and 19 cases of Aymara Book of Mormons sent by mistake to Mongolia - they belong in the Andean mountains of Peru and Bolivia. (We are being patient until the church decides what they want to do with them).

English class. We taught our English class about Halloween and showed pictures of our grandchildren in costume. Next Tuesday we are going to talk about the American elections and government. We are able to have some pretty good discussions in English about topics (family relationships, their jobs) we bring up.

I approve this message

The tension mounts. We have been paying too much attention to the campaign for the presidency and will be anxious to hear the results and move on. We read political analysis on the Internet and some of it is unsettling. This election is a big deal and it is captivating but also tension producing. We will get election results beginning about 8:00 on Wednesday morning.We voted by absentee ballot about 5 weeks ago.

Last mission transfer meeting broadcast to all chapels in Mongolia

Mission transfer meeting. Tomorrow night is a mission transfer meeting and the missionaries completing their missions will be bearing their testimonies. This is will be the second transfer meeting we will see. We were amazed at the first one. There will be 6 sisters and one new elder departing for the Phillipines’ MTC on November 22. They train for three weeks and then they come back to serve in the Mongolia UB Mission.

Elder Neuberger says goodbye to companion Osorjamaa

Winter has arrived. The weather has turned crisp and cold. Nothing drastic yet. There was a storm predicted for this weekend but all that happened was a drop in temperatures. There is a smell of wood fires and smoke in the mornings but the air pollution that is to come isn’t here yet. 

Winter is yet to come - photograph by Gordon Wiltsie

We’ve mailed some letters and sent Flat Stanley back to Arkansas accompanied by souvenirs and a few photos to prove he was here. We shopped for a few more winter clothes – scarves and hats besides Darlene’s high fur-lined boots. 

Buddha at Gandan Monastery