Musings in Mongolia: U. B. in the summer, Boy Band, and Missionaries coming and going

Beyond 5 comes to Mongolia

Our first Boy Band (or first Rock Concert for that matter) Concert. A Boy Band “Beyond 5” performed on UB as the first stop on their Asian tour. They are on a tour of several Asian countries with the church making local arrangements.

The band was sponsored by private donations in an effort to bring a positive, wholesome musical performance representing our church and its values. The tickets to the concerts were free to the public but distributed by the church.

Crowd filling in for the fireside/devotional with Beyond 5

Four of the five performers were LDS and sang and shared experiences and testimonies at a fireside the night before their performance.

The 5^th member was Lutheran and he also gave an inspirational story and sang “Amazing Grace.” A free download of one of their songs is available on www.beyond5freedownload.com.

We arrived early and the crowd came late. The concert began an hour later than the scheduled time. Guess what we did?

How hyped up are these senior couples for the concert?

These two girls seated behind us offered us chips and Fanta

Two of our local favorites, Bumka and Alima, MC’d and interpreted for the Band. The show was as advertised, entertaining and uplifting.

It had a rock concert atmosphere with singing, dancing, and flashing lights but the sound was not deafening. The theater/auditorium had a capacity of 3,500 and eventually it looked like about 3,000 or slightly less attended.

Patch born in Brisbane, Australia came to the US at age 10

Serenading young women on stage

American Samoan singer with Beyond 5

Another farewell dinner. We have a group of nine American and one Mongolian missionaries from UB leaving their missions the third week of August.

The middle four - Elders Stranski, Boyd, Neuberger, and Williams are leaving in August

We had a second set of three companionships come for a meal at our home. It was a fun evening and they shared their memories of their missions with us. They requested we show them pictures from our honeymoon and give them marriage advice.

Darlene standing on a beach on Corn Island off the east coast of Nicaragua - 1966 (not shown are the sand fleas)

Somehow Elder Neuberger (our St. Louis connection) came again in the place of another missionary who was sick. Elder Neuberger is getting Frequent Guest points for all the meals he is having with us. We wonder who he is going to sabotage next week in order to come again.

Temple Square Missionaries. Do you remember our meeting the three missionaries from Mongolia serving on temple square while we were temporarily assigned to the Family History Mission?

Enkhtuya, Ulziicka and Orunchimeg on Temple Square - June 2012

There they were together again - reunited at the Boy Band fireside. Orunchimeg just returned two days ago and Enkhtuya about three weeks ago. Ulziika has been back for about 8 months.

Three Returned Missionaries from Temple Square Mission

Summer walks. We have been using some of our free time to walk around UB. We take our camera along in case we see something unique or special. Here is a montage of some of our recent pictures.