Out and About in Murun

 We have been here for three months now and have seen some pretty interesting things just in the process of walking around and doing our work.  This post is miscellaneous things that we have found interesting.

 This is our church.  It is a storefront type building out on the front of a 4-story apartment building. It is small and has one large room used as a chapel, cultural hall and two classrooms.  There are two other smaller classrooms, a kitchen and a small library.  We are bursting at the seems for space, but need better attendance in order to have a new building.  They are working and planning on one for here, so we just have to reach the attendance numbers.

Someone planted cosmos and sunflowers in two planter strips along the street to the church.  We have enjoyed them so much all summer!

Animals are a part of the culture.  We often see cows wandering through town.  Cars will stop for cows and dogs--but not for people.  It is pretty much "Pedestrians Beware."

 There are packs of dogs everywhere!  They say to be careful of them at night because they could attack, but we have never had a problem with them.  This is probably the biggest pack we saw which included about 17.  We had just commented that for all the loose dogs running around, we hadn't seen any puppies.  Then we saw this cute little one all by himself.  He almost got run over by a taxi, but Alan saved him.  We saw him around a few more times and haven't seen him for awhile.  Hope he survived!

The town seems to be growing with new construction and new subdivisions on the outskirts as viewed from the airplane on our trip to UB for the mission conference. 

People here really like to garden.  This is the garden in front of the 50/100 Hotel.  The rest of it includes the "50" and "ho" in hotel.

Cosmos seem to be the flower of choice.  They do well here!

What a beautiful sunset!

This family's vegetable garden was pretty amazing.  All of his property was in good condition, no weeds and everything was painted.  He is obviously a hard worker and takes pride in his surroundings.  His grandchildren live with him and his wife, and I think he keeps them pretty busy much of the time weeding, water and harvesting the vegetables.

  In the summer, they move the stove from the house out into the yard to cook.  It gets so hot inside and the stove in portable, so it makes a lot of sense.  Darjhand and Oyandalia have been preparing for winter as noted by the large wood pile.  We ate at their house several times and they are wonderful members of the church.  NOTE:  Wood is burned in the ger stoves for heat in the winter.  It costs about $150 a month to buy enough wood to keep it warm in the very cold months of winter. Smart people work all summer long to get their own wood so they don't have to buy it in the winter!

We got quite a kick out of this "from the trunk" yard sale.  I think they were selling back-to-school types of things.  It was only there for a day or two and then was gone!

 This is the playground outside our apartment. Mongolians are very family oriented and its not uncommon to see dads and moms out during the day sitting with a baby or watching their older children play.  Everyone here loves basketball and the court is usually busy--especially now after school is out.  We can tell because there are children laughing and playing on the playground.

This is also the location where the milk man comes to sell milk most mornings in the summer.  He drives a motor cycle and pulls up in the playground and calls "milk for sale" and people come down with their containers to buy his milk. The milk is straight from the farm and must be boiled before using. But it is pretty good milk!

Behind the fence of almost every house or ger is a basketball court!   This is a members house and they love sports.  This particular family has taken in several other children.  Their mother got a divorce and left them, and the grandmother basically kicked them out.  Sad, but it shows the huge heart of this sweet family who took in the children.

Right after we got here, the UB Stake had it's first Pioneer Handcart Trek!  We weren't involved, but wanted to include some of the pictures.  They said it was pretty amazing how well the kids did and how much they enjoyed it.  They built the handcarts, so there may be more treks planned in the future.

 The bonnets, aprons and cowboy hats were provided by the stake.

It looks like they had some pretty difficult terrain to deal with. There was an article in the Church News with a few pictures, but far more pictures were included in the on-line version!  It was pretty amazing!

 These are pictures of some pretty traditional families and lifestyles in the countryside.  This is a huge heard of sheep and goats.  I think the Deseret International Charities helped them get the flock started.

This is a cute family getting water from a stream.  We think three generations are included!  It's quite a picture. 

Note the cool stirrups on this horses saddle.  Doesn't look too comfortable for a very long ride!

 

This is cow poke and the long pole is used to herd his cows.  There were about 15 cows in his herd, but he kept them together using this pole.

 This is the view of our town from the outside of town.  It is really a pretty little town with it's colorful roofs and beautiful countryside surroundings.