Visiting the Branch President's Ger

We were invited over to the Branch President's house for FHE one night.  His family lives in a ger and it was our first experience in one.  They are really very nice homes, although the doors are a bit low for us tall Americans.  We bonked our heads pretty good coming out the first time.  These are the two sister missionaries here and the BP's wife.  We always leave their home after reading scriptures with them and having a prayer.  

This is the Branch President and his wife and son, who just came home from a mission in Mongolia.  The BP is a very kind and loving man who is really overworked in the branch because members just don't know how to do their jobs.  They want to serve, but don't have Handbook 2 in Mongolian yet to explain to them how to serve in their callings.

The ger district is very interesting.  There are gers right next to permanent homes.  This one is a very nice log home on the same lot with the Branch President and they are not related to each other.  Makes for good neighbor relations!

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We are inside the ger and having our first taste of hot water and milk mixed together. They call it herram (sp?) and everyone serves you either that or hot water when visiting.  They also insist that we eat with them, and the food has been pretty good.  Although one night we ate with a member and we were not sure what it was we were eating, but it looked like bits of intestine.  Sometimes it is better to not know what it is!

This it the Branch President's sweet wife.  The wok usually sits on a wood burning stove, but it was moved outside for the summer.

Inside of a ger.  There are nice wall hangins and ornate furniture and cabinets.  There is a computer on the other side of the circle.  They also have a freezer and a microwave.  Many gers also have solar panels and satellite dishes.

This is our friend, Munkbayer, who went with us to the Branch President's house.  They needed water, so we got the card and went to the well house for water.  There is no running water in the gers, and the kitchen sink is fed from a container of water above the sink.  The water costs about 5 tugrugs per liter, so the 70 liter container cost 350 tugs which is about 25 cents.  It is interesting to see someone on a motorcycle coming to the well house to get water on his bike.  They are very creative in their carrying vessels.

Another time we visited them, they wanted us to make American food.  Well, it's pretty hard to make American food when there is not many American ingredients to cook with.  I was going to make Hawaiian Haystacks, but the Zax had no fresh or frozen chicken, and the can of chicken I opened looked like SPAMMED chicken.  So I decided to make curry with a box I had bought in UB.  It turned out pretty good I thought, and, while not American, everyone really liked it.