A Face Only a Mother Could Love

And no, I Don't Mean The One In Red.

Snake-charmers

Not to be outdone, Jonah and little Bronwyn Susan joined in the reptile lovefest.  Absent from photo, Mommy.

Choibalsan Countryside - July

The pictures all made it! It has taken so long to download them, finally! This was our Preparation Day, not a day of rest, but a day of fun! The Missionaries were invited out to a members Ger in the Countryside, and to eat, they always like eating. We were to be at the Church at 7:50 am. They had a meeker to take us. So, at 9:00 the meeker shows up, then we had to get gas and they changed a couple of tires. So by 9:30 we were on our way! (Typical Mongolial time!) The missionaries and members love their basketball. They played while we waited at the Church. Dad actually made this shot!

The ride was an hour and once we got out of the city, about 15 minutes, this is what we saw, for the most part. A meeker ride is kind of hard on the back, and a few times we bounced kind of hard, I'm still feeling it! I'm in the front seat, and when he found a straight road, as above, he would go kind of fast - I closed my eyes a couple of times!

This is the Kherlen River, the same one that runs through Choibalsan. The missionaries are teenagers - mud and water fights! The Sisters got the worst of it, but they are the ones who started it! The meeker driver got into it too.

We shared the river with the locals! Even the cowboys went in for a swim/bath!

They play volleyball when they get a chance. It was a beautiful day!

I took off my shoes and waded into the water, it was't over a foot deep. Of the Sisters, guess whose feet are the whitest and the biggest? Notice the beautiful sand!

This is the family, and the missionaries. There are actually 3 families that are living here for the summer. They have sheep, goats, cows and horses, no camels.

Dad and I got to ride on a Mongolian horse. The saddle is so different, not like an American saddle. They actually turned the reins over to us, for a minute. The flies were bad, and the horses were a little jumpy.

They are cooking dinner - "Horhog" is what it is called. Another word for "Dutch oven". The white liquid is hot milk, I think they are making yogart. The covered one is the meat, today's menu - goat that the 2 men went out and killed. So, now I can add to the list of meats I have eated - goat! I have a question for Tama, have you eaten goat? I'm 2 up on her, I've had sheep's head and horse meat! We're learning to try new things.

They brought us hot stones, they used to cook the meat. If you turn them over in your hands, they are supposed to bring good health, helping your head and stomach. I'll try anything if it helps my stomach, especially with goat meat and Mongolian cheese!

These are the other foods we ate. Milk curds, on the left, with Mongolian butter, I think they said it was from a cow. Mongolian cheese is in front and fried breads in the back. They gave us "medical water" which is supposed to be really good, it is from their well, hot milk, and juice, which the missionaries brought.

One of the men is dishing up the meat from the horhog pan. The Mongolian people are so giving and so kind, they share what they have! The towel on his head is to keep him cool. They get it wet and put them around their neck or on top of their head, sounds like a good idea, but I'm too worried about my looks, I guess, I haven't done that...yet. But, if we keep having 100 degree temperatures I just might.

This is the picture of the missionaries and Marthla, whose family it is. Starting from the front left - Sister Mandkhi, Elder Batsaikhan, Marthla. Back row, Sister Onon, Sister Yunga, Sister Bassanjav and Elder Sukhbold, he is the DL. They seem to be a good group of missionaries. They are good to take us visiting and to include us in some of their outings.

This is the real Mongolia!

We are doing good and surviving the heat, mostly! We are so grateful to be able to have experiences such as these and grateful for the Lord's guidence and protection! We are also grateful to be able to serve Him and to be on a mission in Mongolia!

We love all of you!

The Replacement Mommy?

When Ethan and Jo chose a new pet to replace Speedy, Mommy put her foot down and gave them an ultimatum.  Mommy said it was either her or Snakester, but one of them had to go.  Welcome to the Anderson Family Snakester!  We all miss Mommy.

Dad's First Baptism!

Belthguun Tamer is 8 years old.

We went to the Church knowing he was going to be baptized, what we didn't know was that he wanted Dad to baptize him!

He likes Dad because Dad gives him candy, sometimes.

Belthguun, his brother Altangeral and their mother, Sardanchemic are members of the Church.
The water was so cold!

Dad had to pick him and carry him into the water!

He wouldn't get in!

But, with the temperature outside at 102 degrees,

they said it felt good, after they dried off!
Dad was glad that it was not required that he give the prayer

in Mongolian, although,

the Elders were teasing him that he would.

Elder Batsaikhan made a cute comment -

"It's good, because it looks like a Grandpa and his Grandson!"

Elder Sukhbold, (L) is the District Leader, he has been in Choibalsan for one week.

Elder Batsaikhan, (R) is the same Elder that held on to the camel, trying to buck Trish off.
They are both good Elders and good workers.

I forgot to tell everyone - We love You!

The Lord is so kind,

and we are so grateful for his little tender mercies!

July in Choibalsan - 2010

Picture is part of the city of Choibalsan, from the river.

We live to the left of the red and white smoke stack you see on the left side of the picture.

The river isn't very far from our home,

and the prairie is only a 10-15 minute walk in any direction, from our home.

Notice the blue sky. Mongolia is called the land of the "Blue Sky",

for good reason, it is beautiful!

A home we visited, they are members and so cute!

Sunset in Tumerzan, a little town about 10 minute meeker ride from Choibalsan.


Ovoo and Emaa, have been in a previous blog. Zolboo, the young girl is our translator, she is so cute and so willing to help us, she is one that we would like to wrap up and bring home with us. She graduated from High School and is going to a Medical University next month,
a long ways away, we will miss her alot!
But, here we are looking at their photo albums, they love pictures and every time we go anywhere we always look at pictures, sometimes the same ones as before. And when they come here they look at our pictures, it doesn't matter that they are the same ones, also
they still look and enjoy them.
Notice the Deel that Ovoo is wearing, they have summer and winter deels, shirts and dresses and jackets that look the same, just fabric weight and colors and length are different,
they are so unique and so pretty!


We went out to Shijirbaatar's home for FHE, he is on the right next to Dad. He invites the missionaries or a family to his home nearly every Monday night.
This is a family that lives near him, Monkhtuya and her 4 daughters. Her oldest daughter is on a mission, here in Mongolia. Their father died about 2 years ago. They all live in Tumerzan.

Again, we are at Shijirbaatar's. He had all the missionaries over during Naadam for a picnic.

It reminded me of the 4th of July, with watermelon and food.

He cooked horse meat, potatoes, onions and tomatoes. He is so willing to share.

Dad and I had a pre-packaged sausage.

(I'll spare the details of the horse meat!)

Neema and Elder Batsaikhan. Neema teaches Seminary and is a counselor in YW
In Choibalsan, Naadam will be celerbrated July 28-29th.

(pictures on that later)

Shijirbaatar's garden, he wanted a picture of it with us.

Some of the Branch members have planted gardens and they are doing very well.

Group picture at the picnic.

This is Saradenyum (right) and Hungersol (left).

Hungersol just received her mission call, she is going to Russia, and is so excited!

What is so cute about this picture is that they always sit 2 per chair! There was a vacant chair on the other side of the table. I think it is because they are so use to close quarters that it doesn't bother them to be so close. In Seminary or Sacrament meeting, they will sit 2 to a chair, or 3 to 2 chairs, all the time.

Only in America do we have to have our 'space'!

I think one of the things I will really miss are the smiles, they have such pretty smiles.

Out on the street, when they first look at you they can be quite somber,

but when we smile and say 'Hi' to them and they smile, their whole face lights up!

They have so many different looks, they are such a pretty people!

We are so grateful for the Gospel, for our Family and Friends!

I look forward to doing these blogs, because I feel connected with you.

I'm grateful to be able to share our experiences with you.

We are so grateful to be here in Mongolia and to share

our Heavenly Father's love with them!

Summer Vacation

We took Joshua on his very first airplane ride, and he did better than expected (thank goodness). We bundled him up and took him on a four hour ride to Baltimore to see his brand new cousin. The trip was one for the memory books. We saw the sights at the Baltimore Inner Harbor, toured the Mall in Washington, D.C., and dipped our toes in the Atlantic at “the shore” in Chincoteague, Virginia.

Dipping their toes in the Atlantic.

In the shadow of the Washington Monument.

Joshua's day at the shore.

Trish's Visit to Mongolia! June 2010

We so enjoyed Trish here for a little while. She was a good guest, as always, and wasn't afraid to try things, which you will see later! She has posted some of the same-kind of pictures on her blog, but we have a little different view, so you will see alot of Mongolia,

some things a tourist will never see!
This is Zican, the hill on which Elder Neal A. Maxwell dedicated Mongolia to the Gospel. One of the things he said was that Mongolia will be a beacon to the world. They are that...There are more Mongolian Missionaries per-membership than anywhere else in the world! And Mongolia is the only Country that has identified all of the 12 Tribes of Israel!

The Lord truly is blessing this country!

This is another view from the top of Zican, looking the opposite direction that Trish posted. Her view was of Ulaanbaatar, this view is quite a contrast.

This is a Ger District all the little round things are Gers. And yes, people live in them, they are still quite prevalent, even in Ulaanbaatar.

We had the opportunity to go to a Production of traditional singing and dancing.
The costumes were so beautiful!
Notice the horse-headed fiddle. they have two strings and they sure make pretty music.
This singer is throat-singing. That is amazing to hear, you can't see his lips move but they have such a range of voice. It was so neat to see and hear!

The dancers were so beautiful, and were so fun to watch! The costumes are so elaborate.

I would guess they are traditional to specific tribes, and peoples of Mongolia.

This is the whole Orchestra, with two of the singers. The long violin, to the right. Chime-like instruments in the middle. And horse-headed fiddles, on the left,

with bass-fiddle and horns in the back.

Gate to the Chinggis Khan Statue. This was an amazing place.

I liked the warriors on the top, huge like the rest of the place.

The world's largest boot!

It took 225 cows hides to make this boot.

(Sorry I haven't figured how to turn the pictures, Loren and Tama have given me some ideas,

I just need to study them a little more.)

Trish, with an Golden Eagle, it was pretty cool!

She posted the picture of the Ger from the outside, and with it's satellite dish.
This is a picture of the inside. Notice the pillows, they are used to store their clothes,

with no closets they have to put them somewhere.

The bottom of the Ger has been lifted up to let some air in. They can be very hot, with all that felt around it to keep it warm in the winter.

This Ger was a very clean and neat one.

We are probably about 35-40 minutes out of Choibalsan.

This is the family that owns the camels.

We found the camels!

After a 30 minute ride on the steppes, in a meeker, which we had to get out of and push out of a ditch, once, we found them. The owner came with us, he had to get out a few times to look through his binoculars to find them.

There were 6 of them. This is the baby camel.

Dad is with Elder Batsaikhan, a brand new missionary.

The baby camel is giving me a kiss!

I wasn't too sure about that, but he was gentle!

This picture has a story that Trish forgot to tell!

The owner asked if anyone wanted to sit on the camel,

one of the missionaries and Trish offered.

The missionary got on and sat without any resistance from the camel.

Then Trish started to get on. She was half way up,

when it decided it wasn't in the mood for another rider!

The camel started to dance, and do a 360! She was holding on to the hump for all she was worth, and the amazing thing was that She Did!!

The two Elders were also holding on to the camel's neck, so grateful they didn't let go!

Her horse riding skills, and her strength kept her on!

And I would imagine an angel or two, also!

Then when the camel couldn't buck her off, he turned around and spit on her!

That she didn't dodge quite as good, she got some on her sunglasses, hair and forehead!

It was an amazing experience and so grateful it was all OK!

Posing with the camel!

Dad, Elders' Altunsuu, Batsaikhan, Onon and me

Sister Bassanjav, Trish and Sister Mandkhi.

This last picture was taken a couple of days after Trish left,

she was probably somewhere over the ocean.

She brought some little towels, jump ropes and Uno games for the children

at the Lighthouse Orphanage here in Choibalsan.

There are currently 16 children, most without any family.

We weren't able to deliver them while she was here,

so Dad and I took them over Sunday afternoon.

The kids were very pleased and were excited about the Uno game.

We weren't sure if they knew how to play, but the older ones did.
The man who runs the Orphanage is a member of the Church.

He was pleased when we called him,

he actually came and got us so we didn't have to walk the 2-3 miles to get there.

We feel so blessed to have all of you children!!

We are so grateful for the Lord's watchful care over each one of you!

(especially Bradley and his biking!)

We are grateful to be here in Choibalsan, on a Mission and to be among some beautiful people!

Thanks to each one of you for your love and support of us.

We have a deeper love for each of you and for each other!

There have been some challenges and some hard things we have had to go through

but we know more now than at any other time -

That the Lord lives!

He is aware of us!

He loves ALL of us very, very much!

And we love you to!!

Mongolia Senior Couple Outing - June 2010

We flew into Ulaanbaatar on Monday, June 21st. Here we are gathered to leave on our outing - June 23rd. President and Sister Andersen are in front and they have a week left before they finish their mission and go home to Hong Kong. They have been a good Mission President and wife, and we have enjoyed serving with them. Elder and Sister Atkins, front and to the left, are also leaving when we return from our trip. There are some amazing couples here who are so willing to serve and do what is needed. They have been so supportive of us, being so far away.

13th Century is a Theme Park, camps that have been reconstructed to the time of Chinggis Khaan. They think he had 13 of these camps, only 6 of them have been finished.

Guard Camp: It was set up to train his soldiers - 2,000 at a time.

This is the dress they would have worn, when it is hot we see the men slip one arm out of their deels.

This is a Chinggis Khaan's Flag. The white represented peace. The black one, just like this except with black hair, meant they were coming to war. I think it would have been terrifying to see Chinggis Khaan and his army coming toward you with the Black flag waving! When C.K. went to war only half of the soldiers would go, he left the other half to protect Mongolia.

President Andersen and Dad. They did get to ride horses the next day. Dad was so excited! He still missed Minnie and Missy, I think.

Education Camp: This is where the children were taught. The big Ger at the top was the classroom and sleeping quarters for the children. It was huge and held 50-60 children at any given time. They were taught language, writing, poetry, music, domestic arts, how to make clothes and how to kill an animal, etc. The children learned to ride a horse at 4 years of age. The boys began training as a soldier at 8 years. One of the interesting things was the young boys would memorize poetry, which were instructions a soldier would have to know. When C. K. gave a command it would go down the line of troops in the form of a poem that they all had memorized and knew, so the last soldier knew exactly what the first one knew, there would be no misunderstanding.

She is writing our name, Anderson, in Old Mongolian Script. The Mongolian people have a very high literacy rate - like 95%. They all learn Mongolian and another language - usually English, sometimes Russian.

This is the bathroom facilities! No seat, just a place to put your feet. and two can go at one time!

Herder's Camp: We got to ride a camel! This camel is 8 years old. The hump is sagging, because his water is low. They can go 2 months before they have to drink! This camel is molting so there was hardly any fur, but they brush them and use the fur like wool, to make clothes and sweaters which are very warm. I felt like I was going to fall off, as he was getting up.

Next!

This is his wife and their homes. I think they live here during the summer, there was a herd of goats. We watched them "sheer" a goat. It is done with scissors and takes about 20 minutes. The colored goats, brown, black and red, are combed, it is sold for Cashmere wool. The white goats are used for food and family needs. She fed us goat yogurt and cheese, which tasted alot like rich butter. There were also a couple of children, 8 and 10, I think. One of the interesting facts that our Guide told us was - There are 30 million sheep, 20 million goats, 15 million cows, 5 million camels (mostly in domestic herds), and 3 million people - in Mongolia.

King Ger: This is like the Ger that C.K. would have lived in, it was never taken down. It is built on a huge wagon and transported as needed. This is where he received guests and visitors. We had a traditional Mongolian meal, soup, salad and hoshers. They had some music, also - Horse-headed fiddle, the Mongolian Long Harp, and Throat Singing. They were beautiful. The location is amazing, it is set out on a vast prairie, (the steeps). It is so hugh and open, it goes on forever! Every July they hold a traditional Nadaam Festival there with the 3 Manly Sports - Archery, Wrestling and Horse racing.

We were able to dress up in the King and Queens clothes. They told Dad that a soldier never smiles, he is trying not to smile!

Shamans Camp: This is Mongolia's traditional Religion, dating back to 545 AD. Buddhist did not come to Mongolia until the 1500, under the 14th King of Mongolia. All 22 of the Mongolian Tribes are represented here on a pole with an animal or symbol. They worship the sky and earth and various animals. This is a woman Shaman

Chinggis Khan Statue: This place is where he is said to have found his Golden Whip, which brought him good luck, and the place he fought China and Turkey and won. The Statue is 130 feet high. We climbed up the tail and out onto the horse's mane. You can see little people there.

A long ways down! The complex is supposed to be completed in 2012. It is amazing!

Us with His Golden Whip.

Buddhist Monastery Gate: A working Healing Monastery. Things are so colorful. The Russians came in and killed all but about 100 of their Priests. The others were able to hide in a cave, the people protected them. They still hold services here.

Heaven's Envoy Ger Camp: We spent the night here our Ger is the last one on the right.

We then traveled back to Ulaanbaatar and had a lunch cooked by Pres Batbold and Baatar.

It was a very fun Outing and we took so many pictures, it was hard to decide which ones to use. I hope this gives you an idea of the beauty and vastness of the land...it is truly beautiful and lives up to its name of "Country of the Blue Sky"!

We love you and are so appreciate of our rich Heritage,

and the opportunity to share it with these people!