Khovd Province Museum

One day President Ganhuyag invited us to go for a ride to see a Kazakh house. I thought it would be a ways out of town, but it was right in the middle of town. And it turned out to be a museum  with about 8 gers set up inside showing the different cultures and dress of the various ethnic tribes in Mongolia and a nice park with scuptures.  It was very interesting.

This sculpture of a two-humped (bactrians)Mongolian camel is made of cement.  In reality, Mongolia has about 90% of the world's population of these types of camels which have shorter legs and heavier bodies than dromedaries.  They can go 2 weeks in the summer and 8 weeks in the winter without water.  When they get to water, they can drink 26 gallons of water in just a few minutes. They have about 100 pounds of fat stored in their hump and can carry up to 600 pounds of cargo.  They are called "ships of the desert" because of their packing ability and the sway of the their walk.  If they don't like you, they may spit on you.  Well, that's probably more than you really wanted to know about camels, but we find them very interesting. 

This little family didn't have            Amarsanaa, a Zuungarian King who led the last battle

 a dad, so President Ganhuyag       against the Manchus before the fall of western Mongolia   

provided priesthood leadership!        

           

Many of the gers were built after the Kazakh design with no posts in the middle.  Mongolian gers have at least one post in the center, and most have two. This one on wheels is the first RV!

This one was very nicely decorated and had wonderful wood carved doors and interior.

This was definitely Kazakh because of the colorful design.

The interiors of the Kasakh gers were decorated with very colorful  wall rugs.

Each of the gers had a display of the deels worn by that tribe to try on.

President Ganhoyag, and Sisters Onan and Arunjargal and Sister Groesbeck.

This wheel is how they ground flour.  The wheat was placed between the two stones. A dowel was inserted in the holes on the edge to turn the stone and grind the flour. 

This basket is worn to gather dried dung to fuel the fires.  A pitchfork like scoop

is used to pick up the dung and throw it in the basket.

Arig, or fermented mare's milk, was made in this pouch made of animal hide

as shown by Sister Arynjargal.

 Most gers have a cooking and heating stove in the center.  These gers use an open fire under the pot to cook as shown here with Sister Onon. 

Since we were not able to see these things at the 13th Century Park, we were glad to have this opportunity to learn more about the lifestyle of Kazakhs and nomadic Mongols. 

Little Zaisan

The same afternoon as the trip to the museum, President Ganhuyag drove us up to Little Zaison, as this place is lovingly called by the members. Zaison in UB is the place where Elder Maxwell dedicated the land of Mongolia for missionary work in 1993--just 20 years ago. This place in Khovd is known by a different name in the community. Yah, that name on the sign!  There are 310 steps to the top and it is steep.
                                                Elder Groesbeck, President Ganhoyag and Sisters Onan and Arunjargal.

 We climbed through some really beautiful rocks and the day was pleasantly cool--fortunately!  Unfortunately, we were looking down most of the time to not trip and fall on the stairs! We stopped to catch our breath a few times!  It almost made me dizzy to look up and I had to hang on the rail the whole time to keep my balance.  First picture shows where we came from and the second shows where we are going.  

The view from the top was amazing.  We could see the whole city.  It isn't all that large--only about 40,000 people. It is laid out pretty well and we could see our apartment building.  It was interesting to see the definite line where the water ends and the desert begins--the sudden change from green to brown was very evident. 

 It's a little hard to see, but in the sand below are love notes written in the sand and using rocks. 

Alan had to leave the beaten trail to get a picture.  Is anyone surprised?! 

To my relief, he came back with no scraps or bumps!

 This little monument was at the top!  It was a very fun activity and

one I was glad we could do before Sister Onon was transferred that night!

This is a view from town helps put the 310 steps in perspective.

After leaving Little Zaisan, we drove out of town to the Buyant River.  This area is green and beautiful and there were fishermen fishing the stream.  

In the summer they move their Gers from town to the river to enjoy nature.

These crumbling adobe walls are 8ft high and 6 ft wide in places and are the  remains of the Manchu fort in the northern part of Khovd city. The 40,000 square meter walled compound was built around 1762 by the Manchu (Qing dynasty).  It had several temples, a graveyard, the homes of the Manchu rulers and garrisons for the troops. Now nothing remains  except these walls the  some trees  planted along the main streets. On 7 August 1912, Mongol troops with popular support of the local people liberated Khovd, destroyed the Manchu-Chinese garrison and abolished their governance.

Branch Service Projects!

Periodically the branch has service projects.  This one was to paint 50 garage doors in a lot close to the church.  The turn out wasn't as good and we would have hoped, but those who came really worked hard and got all the doors painted.  Sister Groesbeck only stayed for about 1.5 hours because we were having District Meeting at our house using our computer and she had to attend that.  Elder Groesbeck stayed longer and some stayed until it was totally finished. When they opened the cans, it looked like the paint was green--about the same color as before.           Baska and President Ganhoyag.

 When it was mixed up, the color was a bright, beautiful, Mongolian sky blue!

 Between the roller and the brush, we were able to paint most of the door!
Nyamka--the BP's son!  A very nice young man!

 Reinforcements:  Temoojin, and his non-member friend with Nyamka, Nara and Baska.

The new coat of paint on our rented church building

                           Ganhzuric                                                                          Ganhoyag Branch Pres.                                                       

Scrapping the over spray off the window

Branch Family Home Evenings!

President asked us to teach branch members about FHE.  So in the first week were in Khovd and we had Sister Onon as a translator, we visited 5 different families. We will continue to do that and add pictures as we go along.

This is a visit to Bassansuren (EQ President) and Suvdaa's (YW President)

.

 They have 4 children--three daughters: Bayra, Tsaganntsetseg and          , and one son, Boldoo.

Great family--all members.  Of course, they fed us!

 We played the game that Elder Bataa taught us in Murun where 9 pieces of candy are placed on a paper with 9 squares on it.  While one person closes their eyes, the group picks a number.  The person then opens their eyes and can eat all the candy until they choose the number selected by the group.  It was fun.  We thought only the children would enjoy it, but the adults had a great time too.  Everyone liked the Smarties we used!  Not sure what we will do when they are gone.  It may be time for another CARE package from Ali!

 Family picture.

 Sister Groesbeck and Sisters Arynjargal and Onon.

Then we did an FHE with Lamtuya and Amraajargal.  Baska and Badam joined as did their children and grandchild.

 Another FHE saved by the ipad.  It is quite a good entertainer for young children!

 Family picture.  It is amazing to us how many families there are here who are relatively active in the church.  This family had four generations:  Badam, Lamtuya, their son and his wife and their baby!  Pretty neat!

We also visited Ganzorig's house for  FHE and this is the only picture we got!

Lamxoo and Munkhjin--her granddaughter.