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!