Hello Erdenet!

We arrived safely in UB about 8 and were met by a young man who was to take us to the mission home.  It was a classic our name on a sign to make the connection.  We got there fine and then left early the next morning to get out of the city before 7 am because it was a 'no drive' day for the mission car we needed.  We were able to see the Gardner's for a short visit as they had some of our stuff from Khovd.  But we didn't get to see any of the other senior couples.  We were sad about that. We are going to Erdenet where we will finish our mission. It will be good to be in an area for 8 months.  We should be able to do some serious work there in that time frame!

Erdenet is a very nice town, larger than any others we have served in.  Our apartment is on a hill and it's pretty icy, but we did OK.  Our apartment was on the 4th floor and we had a nice view of the city. 

The sunsets were pretty spectacular. 

This apartment is nicer than any others we have been in.  It should be because it was much more expensive--about $700 a month expensive.  Not sure it was THAT nice, but that's what we paid anyway. 

We had two balconies--one off the bedroom and one off the living room.  That was nice!

We were about a mile from the church, which gave us exercise walking to and from on at least a daily basis!

It's a nice church, very similar to the one in Choibalsan. 

Goodbye Hong Kong

The bus system in Hong Kong is very efficient.  This is the bus we all rode on back to the airport.  This is also the bus that a piece of luggage was left on!  Ganbold (Teddy Bear), our person from the travel agency who arranged the trip, had to go back and find the luggage and we almost missed our flight waiting for him to return.  We finally got the plane without him--at least so we thought.  When we got on, he was already there.  It's a good thing we didn't wait for him to return as he had instructed us.  Fortunately, between Puje, the Woods and us, we were able to get everyone to the right terminal and through customs and on to the plane!

The bridges connecting the mainland to the island are amazing and modern. 

The airport terminal was also very modern and nice!

Picture from the plane window as we left Hong Kong.

While the city was beautiful and amazing, the most amazing part of the whole

trip was, of course, the temple and the work of salvation that was done there!

New Temple Friends

Patron housing is set up for family dining style.  So we ate together often. Everyone contributed and it was sort of like potluck for every meal!

These are the two families who were there from Darkhan.

Nymaa, Alan and Hishgee. 

This family, Erdnet and Rodnaa, plus grandma Buyaa, were there from Erdnet. 

This is part of the cute family from India. 

Their son had his 4th birthday while we were there, so Elder and Sister Wood, the other Senior Couple on the trip, put together a little birthday party for him. 

He was pretty excited about the cupcake birthday cake!

City Tours

The members spent so many hours doing work for themselves and their dead.  They were so excited to be there and realized, that for many of them, this would be their only time at the temple.  On Monday, the temple was closed, so we all took a tour of the city.  It's an incredible place.  Very modern compared to Mongolia. 

We were so lucky to have Puje be the translator for this group.  She worked so hard and did such a great job keeping everyone where they should be and helped so much in the temple.  I was so glad she was there.  I was even called upon to help with translation while in the temple, and that was a scary thing.  I was so appreciative that I didn't have to do too much of that, since my Mongolian is so limited!

We took the ferry across the harbor to the island.  It was a fun trip. 

way in

The Hong Kong skyline rivals the skyline of New York.  This is a huge city!

This was a rather intimidating trip for most of the Mongolian members.  Many had never traveled outside of their own country and all of this was a bit overwhelming for some. The mass transit system of buses and subways was totally amazing--even for us Americans. The Mongolians were pretty "wowed" by the whole experience,which for most of them, would be the only one they would have at the temple and in Hong Kong.

Some of the signs were very familiar!

We had lunch at Burger King  The price of $55 is Hong Kong dolalrs and equals about $7 US.

Elder and Sister Wood were the other couple who went on the trip.  We had a large group of about 23, so they felt two couples were needed.

We stayed at the harbor to watch the lazer show.  It was interesting, but probably not

worth the long wait for it to get dark and to start. 

The night lights at the harbor were absolutely beautiful. 

One afternoon we went down to the market.  It was the largest flee market

I think we've ever seen. 

The buildings are so tall that almost no sunlight hits the streets. We had very good weather.

It was pleasantly warm, not hot like it usually is, and we had almost no rain!  November appears to be the perfect time to be in Hong Kong!

Even though this is a very modern city, the market place still had very different things--like this meat market!

Sunday with the Andersens!

President Anderson and his wife invited all of us to their ward on Sunday.  The building where we met is the tall red one behind LaNice. 

The church in Kowloon.  We were so thankful for the branch members who quickly made arrangements for headsets for all the Mongolians so Puje could translate Sacrament Meeting for them.  It was great!

President Andersen met us at the MTR stop and helped keep us all together as we walked to the church.  He said we were the first Mongolian group that got there on time, and we were even early.  So glad, because it gave the members time to get the headsets going.  

Alan couldn't pass up this photo op with the bicycle!

After church, we took a bus to his apartment.  There were so many of us that we

were on three different buses.  But we all made it to his house, so that was good!

Sister Anderson fixed us yummy sloppy joes.  Most Mongolians had never had them before, so it was a real treat for them. 

We had a lovely time eating on their patio. 

This is our entire group, plus the Andersons.

View from their balcony

Their apartment had three floors and was very nice!  They love living in Hong Kong!

We had a short FHE lesson. 

And then we walked down to the beach near their home. 

The beach was beautiful and the view from their house was spectacular. 

The Mongolians had a great time playing the water.  Most of them had never

been to a beach or had seen the ocean. 

Alan made friends with Nyamsuren.  These are three of his daughters that

went on the trip.  Two are RMs and they were so happy to be sealed to their family!

We were so fortunate to have Puje on the trip as the translator.  She saved us many headaches and was absolutely amazing in her ability to translate and get everyone where they needed to be when they needed to be there.  We LOVE Puje!

The trees and flowers were amazing.  It seems we were there at a great time of year.  The weather was pleasant and it only rained a few times while we were there. 

         

The view from the Andersen's patio.  This is an amazingly green country.  The city is built on a hill and wherever there isn't a building, there are lush green trees and beautiful flowers. 

 

We sure missed the blue skies of Mongolia while we were here!