On Saturday the senior couples had a day outing. This is a child's park dedicated to Buddha that we passed.

 This is another kind of monument park dedicated to the Russian tanks.  Elder Shrope took this pic since he had been a tank commander in the reserves.

 Elder Shrope also took this pic showing how they do building construction here.  Now that it is nice weather, there is construction going on all over the city and countryside.

 This was our destination, Zaisan Hill.  There are 300 steps from the parking lot to the top.  This a monument dedicated to the Russian and Mongolian soldiers that fought in World War II.  This is also where Elder Neal A. Maxwell gave the dedicatory prayer on April 15, 1993, opening Mongolia to the preaching of the gospel.  All missionaries make a trip here and read that prayer.

 This two pics show the outside of the monument.  The pedestal in the center is where an eternal flame used to burn.

 The inside of the circular monument is a tile mural depicting the Russian contributions to Mongolia.  It also shows the celebration of Mongolia's independence,  It is quite beautiful.

 These are some of the views seen from the top of Zaisan Hill.

 In this view is the American school.  It is the buildings with the blue roofs.  The children of those at the American embassy go here and so do some Mongolian children that want to learn English.

 This is us sitting at the top of Zaisan Hill.  There is a beautiful valley and green, tree covered hills behind us.

 This is the Tuul River.  After we left Zaisan Hill, we drove along the dirt road that runs along the river to a place where we could eat our lunch.

 This is the area where we left the road and drove down near the river to eat.

 Elder Shrope took this pic of a spring flower that looks like a yellow poppy.  We love seeing these wild flowers.  Just as we were getting our lunch out of the vehicle, it began to rain.  So we ate our lunch inside the van.  We enjoyed ourselves so the rain didn't ruin our day at all.

We passed this site on our way back home. These are tripod poles with silk scarves tied to them.  You can also see single poles along the roads sticking up out of a pile of rocks with scarves tied to it.  They are a type of shrine.  People place a rock and tie a scarf and say a prayer of protection.  The blue scarf is a symbol of eternity.  Each scarf color has a meaning but I am not sure of all their meanings. It was a wonderful day!

Even though school is out, we still go four days a week and teach English to the director.  She would have us teach her seven days a week if she could.  This Saturday we held a career workshop during the return MTC.  They have those to help returning missionaries prepare for the next stage of their lives.  This group is showing the certificates we gave them for completing the workshop.  Here in Mongolia, there are always more Sister missionaries than Elders.  Of course there are more women members than men in all the wards and branches.

 Here Sister Shrope is with Enkhmuren, a young lady from Nalaikh where we attend church.  She never sees Sister Shrope that she doesn't give her a hug and says, "I love you."  This is how most of the people here are, very loving.  She was the young lady that was in the choir that sang for Elder Holland's visit.

 And this is the 2nd Councilor in the branch presidency, Ebo's little girl.  She was shy and would not look at us until Sister Shrope got out the camera.  She would look at the camera and then wanted to see her picture.  Maybe one day she will warm up to us.

And this is little Munkh-Nils, Miigaa's baby son.  His Dad made pizzas for us to feed those returned missionaries for lunch during the workshop, and his dad brought him when he delivered them.  Munkh let me hold him and even give him a bottle of water while dad was fixing his formula.   This was after he had a nap and he was in a happy mood.  He laughed at Elder Shrope's faces and noises he made.  And then he gave me those baby kisses that I miss getting from my grandbabies.  My computer had developed a problem so except helping to set up for the workshop, and helping a young sister with her translation of a conversation into English, I had nothing more important to do that afternoon than help take care of this darling little guy.

 Today it has rained most of the day.  This is a view of the rain clouds from our apartment window.  It rains good for about 3-5 minutes and then stops for awhile, just long enough for one of those clouds to pass over.  We did have some loud thunder today too.  It rained hard on us as we drove back from church in Nalaikh but then stopped as we had to walk from the office building to the apartment.  Guess that was Heavenly Father looking out for us since we did not have umbrellas with us because it was nice and clear when we had left for Nalaikh this morning.

But look at how nice and green it is out our window now.  Areas are getting to be quite beautiful here.  Dandelions are everywhere and a little wild flower that looks like a miniture Iris covers the country side.  Just hope the rain is gone by morning when we have to walk to the school to give Altan her English lesson.  Today some of the young women ask me to sit in on their class.  They ask Bolosaikhan to come in too to translate for me.  The lesson was on chastity and they wanted my thoughts and comments.  These young girls are fairly new in the church, in fact one was baptized last month and one is going to be baptized on Friday.  Most of them are the only members in their family.  I enjoyed being with them today and answering their questions and concerns. 
Well we are now getting lightning and thunder and the lights just flickered, so I had better get off the computer before we lose power.

 At Family Home Evening, Elder Tugabaatar brought a leaf that he had found near where he and his companion live.  During the evening, he drew on the leaf.  He is a very good artist and hopes to use it in a career after his mission.  It is so distinct that you can read the words on the name tag.  Elder Tugsbaatar then signed it and gave it to Elder Shrope.  We were honored to receive it.

 Then tonight we returned to Nalaikh to deliver bikes to the Elders.  Elder Tugsbaatar was playing basketball when we arrived and did not want his picture taken but here is his companion with his bike that we brought.

 This morning we went on a tour of the State Palace of Mongolia, their government building.  We did not get to see everything because the President was arriving and we had to leave.  But we did learn some very interesting things.

 This is a painting of Chinggis Khaan that was in one of the foyers.  All of the sofas and chairs in this room are of red leather.  And the carpets are mostly red too.

 In the hallway of the foyer is this beautiful handmade tapestry.  It is 20 meters long and 4 meters wide.  It is called, "Our Mother Country."

 This painting was in a hallway.  It depicts the 21 provinces of Mongolia.  Each figure is dressed differently to represent each province.

 Elder Shrope is looking at the center of a painting called "Seven Treasures of Statehood."  It is 18 meters long and 1.5 meters wide.  It illustrates 108 activities of a day in nomadic life that are being carried out by 999 people, 551 livestock, 13 gers, and 9 dogs.  9 is a very special number in Mongolia. Elder Shrope is looking at the Public servant treasure.  The other treasures are Wheel, Chandmani, Queen, Elephant, Horse, and Warrior.

 This is Elder and Sister Gledhill, Sister and Elder Martin, us, and Sister and Elder Richardson.  We are standing in front of a white statute of Chinggis Khaan but I am afraid it did not show up too well in the pic.

 

 This is the State Nine Great White Banners.  They are made with the mane and tail hairs of white stallions from all 21 provinces.  The head spikes represent the past, present, and future.  The center one's spikes depict flames, symbolizing eternal prosperity of Mongolia.  The white represents peace.  When they went to war, they used banners made with hairs from black horses.  Above the banners hangs the State Emblem of Mongolia.  The steed is a symbol of independence, sovereignty, and spirit of Mongolia.  The blue signifies the eternal blue sky.  Under the steed is the Fortune Wheel and green mountains.  The wheel is entwined with hadag, the silk scarf.  You see this scarf tied in places all over the city and countryside.  The circular outside stands for longevity and sits on a fully bloomed pure white lotus.  The three jewels at the top are wish granting jewels.

 This our group plus Pugie, standing by me, who set up the tour for us, and the Gledhill's translator, Zzaya.  Behind us is the white marble pedestal on which the banners stand.  Inside the pedestal is an urn that holds samples of soil from all 21 provinces(which are called aimags) and Ulaanbaatar City.  We also got to go in the Parliament Hall but were not allowed to take pictures there. 

This is across from the entrance of the Palace.  It is the Stature of the State Seal.  I am not sure just what kind of animal that is on top.  It was a wonderful tour.