Mapleton to Mongolia: Khorkhog and the Countryside

The afternoon of Children's Day, Branch President, Ganhoyag, and his First Counselor, Ganzorig, invited us to go out to the countryside. We didn't know what was in store for us, but it was a real treat. The country was beautiful and reminded us of some of the country in Idaho and Wyoming. These are not wild horses but are owned by someone and they just roam free!

Alan sees three faces in this mountain. Can you find them?

Preparing the meat for the milk can. There was 1/2 a goat that fed about 18 of us!

Gathering dried dung for the fire.

Cleaning out the milk can to cook the food in!

The dung is burning well. Rocks are in the fire to heat and to added to

the inside of the milk can. The meat and vegetables cook both from

inside and the outside.

Ready to put the milk can into the fire.

While waiting the 3-4 hours for the meat to cook, President Ganhoyag washed his car.

His son, Erdmee, played in the water. He made a good jump safely over the stream.

His wife, Nara, did some of the family laundry with river water, soap and a bucket.

Then laid the clean laundry out to dry.

Dolgoon got this water gun for Children's Day and was keeping everyone cooled off!

Sister Arynjargal cooling off Sister Groesbeck!

We went exploring. While out walking around, we met a member of the church and her

family who were pinicking close to us. Another person close to them was roasting

his meal over the fire with a long set of tongs. The meal consisted of a sheep or goat head and

four sheep/goat legs. I'm glad we had Khorkhog!

Alan had sore feet after our little hike, so he soaked them in the river. While doing so, he fell asleep in the warm sun. Fortunately, he didn't get a bad sunburn!

Dishing up the finished product!

The hot rocks are an important part of the meal. Not only do they cook the food from inside the milk can, but after they are taken out of the can, everyone rolls and tosses them in their hands. It is supposed to be therapeutic. Putting them on top of the head is NOT therapeutic, and the rocks are no longer hot. These two are just happy-go-lucky guys who have lots of fun no matter where they are or who they are with. They are also best friends. Ganzorig introduced Ganhoyag and his family to the gospel and is also a former Branch President in Khovd.

The meat and vegetables were put onto a big plate and everyone helped themselves.

I guess they understand us strange foreigners a bit, because they provided us with our own plate of food. We were grateful for that!

And they slick everything off the bone until that is all that is left!

Even Dolgoon knows how to properly clean off a bone!

These hawks were circling above us waiting for any leftovers. Alan threw some girssley meat into the air and the hawks would swoop down and snatch it before it hit the ground. If the morsal was sometimes missed, the birds would swoop down to the ground and snatch it up without hardly even slowing down. It was pretty amazing to watch. They would even snatch bones that were tossed into the air. It was pretty entertaining! They snatched a piece of meat out of Sis Arynjargals hand.

This is pretty much what was left at the end of the meal!

This was our group. Top row--Otgonjargal, Erdmee, Jargalcuran, Nyamka, Zedee, Sister Arynjargal, Sister G. Elder G, Jargalmaa, Amaraa, Olanaa. Bottom row: Sister Onon, Ganhoyag, Nara, Lamhoo, Ganzorig, and Dolgoon.