It has been a pretty light week even though most people are back from Naadam, many are now on vacation.  Our English students are some of those in the countryside enjoying a break from work and city life of crowds and noise so we have not had English lessons all week again.

On Monday we had family home evening in Nalaikh.  They had planned a night of Naadam activities and one young man was to be in charge to see that we had activities to do.  When we arrived we saw no bows and arrows for archery, and of course no horses for horse racing, which are Naadam traditional activities. So we thought that maybe they were either going to wrestle, the other Naadam activity, or that he forgot and nothing was planned, which normally happens.  But we were pleasantly surprised when after the opening three  homemade board games of horse racing were produced.

 These games were in three different styles including racing to the church, regular horse racing through the countryside,  and a glamor type one for the girls.  They each had four players and were filled with spaces that sent you back spaces or gave you another roll of the dice.  Everyone had fun playing them and it was a successful activity.  We have been trying to get them to plan and carrying them out on their own so that when we are gone, they will still have FHE every Monday evening. 

Then the highlight of this week was the marriage of our son Chris and Josie Richardson in the Bountiful Temple on Thursday.  We of course could not be there physically but we were in love and thought.  We did get to speak to them afterwards by way of Skype and see how happy they were.  Our baby is now a husband and we will be empty-nesters when we get home.  But we could not be more happier for them.  And we welcome lovely Josie to the family!

 On the second day of our couples retreat we stopped here so the couples that were not here last year could hold an eagle.  This guy also had two vultures.  Elder Hunt was the only one brave enough to hold one and have it look him in the eye.  I thought the look in the eye of the one in the top pic was saying, "Are you my dinner?"  So no I did not want to hold him close!!!

Our next stop was at a Buddhist shrine.  You can see these all over Mongolia.  I am throwing a small rock on the pile.  Not a very flattering pose of me!!!  You walk around the shrine three times putting a rock on the pile each time.  Then you make a wish or pray for something.  Most of the scarves are blue which stands for the sky or eternity.

 Then the 4 couples that did not get to ride a camel last year had the opportunity to do so.  This was a little place right beside the road.  In fact this is where we held our eagle last year.

This is a rock formation called the 100 Monk Cave.  Elder Shrope is the one in the teal colored shirt climbing up and into the cave.  It is called this because 100 monks had to hide here one winter in order not to be killed by the Russians.  It is hard to imagine trying to survive in that cave in the cold, cold winter they have here!!

We had a delicious lunch of fish at this beautiful spot back off the main road.  This national park has many beautiful rock formations.  This one reminded me of the sphinx in Egypt. 

And Elder Shrope said this one looks like an elephant.  Can you see the elephant?  Look for its eye.

Next we went to a medical temple.  This shot is from about 4 yards from where we parked the vehicle.  And of course it is all uphill!!

This is halfway up the hill looking back at the valley.  The building with the yellow roof  is the President of Mongolia's prayer house.  We were not allowed to go in it.

To get to the temple we had to cross the suspension bridge.  Right where Elder Lamoreaux is the boards were all loose at one end except for about three of them.  We had to step cautiously and it did sway!  We were told to cross only four people at a time and I held onto the cord the whole way! 

When we got to the base of the temple, we had to climb 108 steps to the top.  And yes there are 108 steps, 8 at the base and then 10 sets of 10 steps to the front porch of the temple.  We counted them.

 It was a hard climb up those steps but what a beautiful view from the top!!

 This is the inside of the temple.  The center area is where the monks pray.  And this is two of their gods.  Many people come here every weekend to pray for their health.

Also many medical students come here and study these medical manuscripts that are wrapped in yellow.  The slots on the side are where people leave money after they have prayed for health.

This is the sign over the door that says it is also a meditation center.  All around the outside of the temple on the beams of the roof's supports were depictions of the tortures a person goes through if they do not live as they should.  They were quite grotesque and so I did not take any pictures of them.

Our last stop of the day was to visit a nomadic couple in their ger.  This is their 'winter palace'.  It is where they will keep hundreds of sheep and goats when winter comes.  They will also move their ger right next to this structure so they will not have to go far to care for the animals. They cover the roof with manure from the cows and horses, then put a layer of feed grass, another layer of manure, and then another layer of grasses.  This insulates the animals from the cold but also they pull the grasses down to feed the animals during the winter.  The outsides of the walls are also covered with manure to seal the cracks and insulate against the cold.  They have larger winter palaces several yards from this one for horses and cows.  Also because they out so many animals in here, they keep each other warm also.

Then on Thursday we spent about 6 hours teaching these 6 Elders and 2 Sisters lessons to prepare them to go to the temple.  They are just beginning their mission and will serve here in Mongolia.  They left the next morning to Manila where they will receive their missionary training and go to the temple.  We look forward to their return when they will share their experience with us.  Thursday was Elder Shrope's birthday and these young people sang Happy Birthday to him, some in English and some in Mongolian.

We had out two day retreat this week with five other couples.  This was our first day which even though it rained did not dampened our spirits or ruin our experience.

We are entering the park where at one time 300 monks lived.

This is one of 24 brass cooking pots that still exist in Mongolia.  This one is the largest.  It could cook 10 sheep at a time to feed all those monks that lived here.  You can see the ancient Mongolian script on this side. 

To give you an idea of just how large it is, I am standing beside it looking down into it.

 This is the museum that tells a little about the 300 monks and what their housing had looked like.  They also had displays of the wildlife of the area and the above picture is made if wood shavings and tiny pieces of bark.

Jack(our name for him) was our tour guide.  He is telling us about the 300 Buddhist monks that had lived in this valley until the Russians took over and killed 241 of them. Jack served his mission in Texas several years ago.

The brown horizontal lines in this picture are actually the rocks that made of the foundation of the monks dwellings.  They were made of wood and they were all burnt down when the monks were killed and the temples destroyed.

 This is one of the temples that was rebuilt on one of the original sites.  The statue is the White Woman god.  There is also a Green Woman god.

This is what is left of the main temple.  It was built of bricks that the monks made themselves.  It seems that most of their temples were built up on hillsides.

And this is the view of the valley that the monks had looked at everyday from their temples and dwellings.  We ate our lunch at this park in our vehicles because it was raining again.

Then we went to Hustai national park.  It is the sanctuary for the Mongolian wild horse.

 This is the ger we stayed in for the night.  It was really quite nice and cozy even though it was still raining off and on outside 

This was some of the wild horses we saw.  The small colt in the second pic is only 4 days old.  At one time this horse became extinct in Mongolia, but they brought back some of the ones that they had lent out to other zoos and now they have 258 horses in this park.  These horses are a light sandy color and their legs are dark but also have zebra-like stripes on them.   The colts are white when born.  Wolves kill many colts each year but since the wolf is protected here they cannot kill the wolves to save the horses.  They just provided the area for them to live but let nature take its course.

We ended the day with an traditional Mongolian folk concert.  This trio usually has 5 members but one had illness in the family and the other just got married.  These three played the horsehead fiddles and did throat singing.  They make noises from deep in their throat that sounds like another instrument playing.  It was a very enjoyable evening.  This group is named Domog and they have performed in many other countries including the winter Olympics in Canada.  It was a wonderful and full day and we slept well in our ger!!

 This week was Naadam.  We began our Naadam by going to Altan's family's summer homes.  Her two nieces are learning English in the school we used to work at.  The one in blue sang us a Mongolian song.  She just finished the first grade.  Her sister sang "Are You Sleeping, Brother John" to us in English. They were staying in the bigger home with their mother, aunt, two cousins, and grandmother.  There mother was one of 7 children and was a chess master along with 5 of her siblings including Altan's husband.

 This is Altan and me on the front porch of her Mother-in-law's summer home.  She is counting to three with Elder Shrope as he takes the picture.

And this is Grandmother with her other two granddaughters.  

 Their summer homes are at the base of this hill.  Elder Shrope and Altan's two sons and grandson climbed to the top.  It was a beautiful area, so quiet and peaceful.  Oko, Altan's daughter-in-law, fixed us some of the best spaghetti I have ever tasted.  She knew we did not like mutton which is usually served for Naadam.
 On Thursday most of us missionaries went for our own Naadam celebration.  We rode a bus for about 20 kilometers and then walked about a mile from the end of the bus route.  There were so many of us that we practically filled the bus on our own.

We had to step on the rocks in this area and then hug the fence to get around the puddle that covered the roadway.  The Farmers in the front are our new couple.  The Elder in the back with the box is carrying the lamb that they had butchered to cook for the meal.

This was the area of the Tuul River that we went to.  The water was very high due to all the rain we have been having.  The missionaries also carried a large metal milk can that they cooked the food in.  First they start a fire to heat rocks that they washed in the river.  Then they layer the hot rocks, meat, and vegetables.  They cover them with water mixed with salt, and put a rock to hold the top of the can down tight and cook over a fire.  We did not eat much because we do not like the taste of mutton, but the couples had brought salads, cookies, and rolls.  No one went away hungry. This was also my first experience using an outhouse here.  It was just a small building balanced over a large hole in the ground and there was a gap between the middle floor slats that you have to squat over.  But it was better than going out in the open which is what most people do!  But it was a beautiful day and everyone had fun, and played soccer, frisbee, and leg wrestling.  

Then this morning we woke to a heavy rain.  We have never seen it flood the road in front of our apartment like this before.  The little car even got flooded as he drove by and stalled out when he got to that tree.  It was up over the curbs too.  But by the afternoon, the sun came out and dried it all up.  Luckily we did not have to go anywhere.