Christmas Blessings

It's December 23 and we have just finished a busy Sunday.  We had the first-ever Murun Branch Christmas sacrament meeting program.  We think it turned out well.  The Primary sang, as did the Young Women and Young Men and the Branch Choir.  They were not the Mo Tab, but they did well for the training and experience they had!  We also had about 84 people to church!  That's a record for us.  I think much of it was because parents came to hear their children sing.  

Anyway, it has been a quiet evening as we waited for the YM/YW and Elders to come caroling.  They didn't come--and we even made hot chocolate for them!  We are going to be drinking it for quite awhile now!  We have been listening to Christmas music on the Mormon Channel and have enjoyed it.  It has, however, made us a little trunky for our family at home.  So I just started looking at our Christmas blessings and here are some of them--our eight grandchildren.  I made these snowflakes to bring with us and these are pretty much our Christmas decorations.  Who needs more anyway?

 I actually put them up right after Thanksgiving and we have enjoyed looking at them and thinking of our wonderful grandkids everyday!

 The kids don't look much like this any more (and they didn' t look like this when we left either but I had to have pictures that were small enough to fit the space in the snowflake!)  But we are so thankful for each of them.  Kimee and Elli are our oldest grandchildren.  They are 5 this Christmas and we love talking to them on Skype.  We think they will likely be the only ones who are old enough to remember us serving a mission here in Mongolia.

 We can identify Ethan in the picture, but Harlee has changed so much from this picture.  They have both grown up so much and changed in just the 7 months we have been gone.

 The one of the left is Brynnley and she is just a baby here and is really such a big girl now!  So much different.  And then on the right is Bekah.  She has changed so much and is now walking and climbing all over everything.  The babies have changed and grown so much since we left.  It is hard to believe how big they will be when we get back next Christmas.

 And here we have Jake and Oaklie.  This was Oakley's baby blessing picture and she is now 9 months old and walking.  They change so fast at that age.  And Jake is always so happy and smiley when we skype with them and he looks so serious here.  He'ls really just a baby, too small to really smile.  We are so grateful for Skype so that we can at least see some of the things they are learning!  We are so grateful for these Christmas blessings!

This is our only other Christmas decoration.  It is a paper color and cut out nativity that Alan found on the Internet.  It is a small reminder of the most important Christmas blessing--the birth of the Christ child!  We feel it a real blessing to be serving here at Christmas where we have the opportunity to teach the Mongolian members the true meaning of Christmas.  It has made us ever mindful of the knowledge we have of why we celebrate Christmas--that it is so much more than the busy hustle and bustle and the presents--it is the birth of the Son of God, our Savior.

These are not Christmas decorations, but are still what we deck our halls with!  The foot prints and hand prints are hugs from Harlee and Oaklie which were sent to us soon after we arrived here. The other artwork came to us from Brynnley and Elli in packages sent to us by their mom.  We love the artwork and will take it with us on all our moves.  They remind us of our blessings everyday!

             

 WE LOVE OUR GRANDKIDS and THEIR PARENTS, TOO!

iPad

We have really enjoyed our iPad and are so glad we bought it to bring with us. Not only do we use it almost everyday for scripture study and talk and training research, but we have also used it in our English classes at the school for the handicapped children.  They love it!  It is a great way to entertain children while the Elders visit with the parents, and also a great way to keep kids happy at church.  Maybe it shouldn't be used for that, but it sure keeps kids from running around during Sunday School class which is taught by our translator in Mongolian so we don't understand it anyway.  We feel we are doing our part, at least a little, so the parents can listen! It's a magnet for the youth at church as well. We get quite a gathering when we bring it out--whether at someone's ger or at church!

       

It developed a problem and wouldn't open up anything!  I almost panicked.  Alan went on the internet and found out there were some problems with the latest operating system we downloaded and there was a fix for it!  Whew!  We were so glad!

Church Activities

We have been busy with various activities at the church.  We have been doing Family History with members who come with names to be entered.  We, really meaning Puje since we don't type too well on a keyboard with Mongolian characters, have entered at least 100 names.  One couple, Dorjhand and Oyandalia, are planning a temple trip and will take their own family names to perform ordinances for.  That's really quite an accomplishment for this branch. Puje did most of Oyundalia's entries, but Nyambayer, left person in the right picture with me, is pretty good at the computer and could do her own inputting.  She will make a great FH 

consultant

 One P-Day morning, Dorjhand and Oyandalia came to our apartment to SKYPE with one of the missionaries who taught them the gospel. While we were waiting for him, we went on the computer to print off the lists of those names they will take with them to the temple.  We got a few, but I'm pretty sure we didn't get them all!  It's a good thing we have FH people in UB who know how to make sure it's all done correctly!

PRIMARY!

We taught Primary a few times and didn't have translator all the time.  It's quite a challenge! But we talked about choosing the right and worked on the different projects.  The branch had ordered CTR rings (or in Mongolian SC (Suuweeg Conk), and the children were really excited about them.  The next week, the kids who weren't there the previous week, and even some of the YM/YW were asking for them!  They were a hit and, if it reminds them to CHOOSE THE RIGHT, then that's the purpose!

Mongolian children are so cute, but it's hard to get them to smile for pictures!

I brought some slap bracelets with "Choose the Right" on them in English.  These kids thought they were pretty neat--even if they couldn't read English!

One day in Primary we explained what a "nativity" is and then colored and cut out an activity that Alan found on the internet.  They were pretty excited that they could now have a nativity at their house to remind them of Christ's birth which is celebrated on Christmas!

YOUNG MEN/YOUNG WOMEN

The YM president asked me if I would teach the youth how to make cookies.  So one Saturday we scheduled a baking class.  Some of the adults wanted to attend as well, so we made it a joint activity with some Priesthood and Relief Society. We made Oatmeal Raisin/Chocolate Chip cookies.  I didn't find out until too late that the Elders don't like oatmeal.  They were less than excited about the cookies. 

 We had three youth women, 2 young man, 5 missionaries and 6 adults. It was pretty successful!

 While the cookies baked, the adults played Skipbo and the youth played on the ipad!  All had fun.  Some of the cookies were to be delivered to less active youth, but that didn't happen!  So we ate them all!

CHOIR

We started a branch choir to make their signature performance in Sacrament meeting for the Christmas program.  There are only two Christmas songs in the Mongolian hymn book--Silent Night and Far, Far

Away on Judea'ls Plains--so we had to learn some new ones.  They are singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and the youth are singing "Away in a Manger."  It is pretty exciting to hear them humming and singing the words throughout the week at the church.  We have yet to see how the program goes.  It will be the first Christmas Sacrament Meeting program held in this branch.  Hope it goes well!

LANGUAGE STUDY

I teach an English class every week at the Church.  We had quite a few students for awhile, but Nyambayar is the most regular attender.  She is doing well.  She is the Branch President's daughter and is teaching her 3-year-old daughter English.  Her son actually already knows quite a bit from school.  President Batmonkh is amazing at how quickly he picks up on what he hears.  He can't read or write it, but he can now say, See you later, Welcome to church and I asked him once what time the meeting was the next morning and instead of answering in Mongolian he said in English, "9:30". So he's coming along!

The pic on the left is actually Elder Batbileg helping me with Mongolian.  We try to help each other and he is learning English pretty well.  My Mongolian is coming, but not as fast as I would like.  I can read the words, but don't know the meaning of many, and I can say some things.  It is when people respond to my that I'm really in trouble.  I just can't understand what they are saying even when it's words that I know!

 Well, that's some of the things we have been doing at the church!  We keep busy and are very much enjoying all we are doing and learning here in Mongolia!  It really is a choice place to serve and we love the members here!

Combined American/Mongolian Thanksgiving/Black Friday

For those of you who don't know, this blog is our scrapbook for our mission.  So some of the things I am posting may not be of particular interest to you, and that's ok.  Just skip over these posts.  But we don't want to forget some of these events that are important to us. Some of the posts have also been posted on Facebook and so may be redundant.   That said.....here we go.

We had a great pot luck Thanksgiving dinner with many of the branch members.  We had anything but a traditional meal, but it was oh so good.  I made chicken noodle gravy (not as good as Mom's, but I tried), mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese (thanks to Ali for sending the powdered cheese) which they didn't really like as much as I would have thought, jello, canned ham with pineapple and bread.  For dessert I made apple crisp with chunky applesauce and I tried to get everyone to try it and wasn't very successful.  We then had to go into the BPs office for a skype interview with President Clark, and when I came out the apple crisp was all gone!  Guess they just needed to try it!  I also made a pumpkin bar from carrots.  I remembered Gloria had done that a few years back, found a recipe on the internet and made.  It actually turned out pretty good!  The Mongolians were not so sure about that either, but once they tried it, it was all eaten as well.  I think the combination of spices was a bit unusual for them!  Anyway, we had a great time!

This is Urnchimeg.  She came on Wednesday for the dinner and brought her food and insisted we eat with her.  I was at the church for a piano lesson, but we stopped and ate with her.  She came back the next for the real party.  Her buuz in the upper right hand picture is done as a Tree of Life.  That story means a lot to these members!  This the second food creation we have had depicting that scripture.

This is Elder Bataa.  He is making an original creation of a fruit salad.  He carved out the core of the apple, filled it with canned strawberries and then topped it with a kiwi!  It was pretty good and we got our fruit for the day!

This only shows part of the food that was brought and shows a huushor, beet salad and meat balls made by Puje, buuz, pasta salad, rice, chicken noodles and mashed potatoes and ham and pineapple.  There was also jello, mac and cheese, potato salad, sushi and bread.  It was quite a feast!

The party was to start at 4 and at that time there were about 12 of us there including 5 missionaries!  I thought, OK, this is not going to go too well.  By 5 we probably had about 20 and by 6:00 we think we had about 30 people there.  By the end of the evening, we think about 40 people dropped by.  About as many as we get to church on some Sundays!

This was the buffet table.  I think this little guy had two or three servings of everything which was just fine.  We had plenty of food!

Afterward we played games, Skipbo and Bingo, until about 8:30.  People just didn't seem to want to go home.  I would say it was a successful activity!

On Black Friday in America we went shopping at the Zax.  It wasn't nearly as crazy as I imagine it was in the US.  But it sure was colder than most places would have been and we were outside!  Anyway, Puje and I found me some brown insulated tights.  I have been looking for some of those since it turned cold!  They are warm, but when I got them home and put them on, there were runs in both legs!  Cheap Chinese products, as the Mongolians would say!  Good thing my skirts are long so the runs don't show!

Alan needed just a few screws to make some repairs on the curtain rods and the cabinets at the church.  So we went to Home Depot row, as we affectionately call the hardware section of the Zax.  It is so amazing that you can buy just one or 100 of the items for sale.  He found what he needed.

 While at the Zax we ran into one of the branch members, Yanjma!  We are going to her house for dinner tomorrow night.  Anyway, we were visiting with her by this vendor stand and Puje told us the brown objects in the left corner are the frozen innards of a sheep--yes, all of it.  They were as hard as a rock.  We had some buuz with this in it at a members house and I couldn't eat more than a bite.  I really think it's all psychological--if we didn't know what it was, we would probably be just fine!