On Wednesday there was a farewell party for Elder and Sister Clark.  They have been here in the Ulaanbaatar Mongolia mission 3 out of the past 4 years.  They have served two 18 month missions here.  They were our guides and our mentors when we came here.  They know just about everyone and every place to shop or eat.  They were our partners down in the basement and we will miss them.  These girls did a traditional dance for them.  Most are returned missionaries.  The one in the pink, Iggy, was their translator.  The other one in the pink in the next pic runs the computer lab where people can take online courses through BYU-Hawaii.  One of the other girls is married to the secretary in the mission office, Jiguur.  He was the emcee for this party.

 This little girl is quite the contortionist.  Here they call them flexible girls.  She is only about 8 or 9 years old!  They start training when they are very young.

 She makes it look so easy!!

 What strength she has in her arms and hands.  Yes she is only using one hand!

 Here she is spinning around whilr hanging from the straps.

 This young man played the ukelele and sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane" since the Clarks were leaving the next evening on a jet plane headed for Florida.  In fact we just got an e-mail from them saying they were safely home.

 Last night we attended the finals of Mongolian Idol.  It is more like America Got Talent because there were other things beside singing.  This man played a flute, a free hanging xylophone, water glasses, and here he is playing pipes.

 This was an older gentleman dressed in traditional clothing and singing a traditional song.  He was accompanied by the man playing an accordian.  He had a great voice. He took 2nd place.

 This was a group of children.  They were dressed as animals and first did a story dance.  Then they danced to the theme song from Dirty Dancing and the two ypoungest ones could really move! They got 4th place.

 This was another singer.  He was accompanied by a group playing traditional instruments.

 This was a dance group of all guys.  They did the modern, almost robotic, style of dance.

 This was a lady in traditional dress, singing a traditional song.  She was accompanied by dancers.  I did not get any pictures of the winner because we were in the top seats and it was to hard to see her through the camera, but she was amazing.  She was one of the three "flexible" acts.  She would have the top half of her body facing front and the bottom half facing the back, while lifting her arm or leg.  She looked as if she had no bones in her body at all.  When we got out from the show, it was still raining and the roads were flooded from curb to curb.  Needless to say, walking home we got wet!!

Today we only had sacrament meeting because it was Naadan, the national holiday, out in Nalaikh.  We passed these trucks carrying missiles on our way home.  Maybe they were going to Naliakh to be on display.  There were six trucks with missiles.  The rest of our Sabbath has been spent quietly at home.
On Friday evening, John Larcabal, 2nd counselor in the bishropic at home in Oceanside, stopped in for a visit.  He is here on vacation and to attend Naadam.  He brought us a 4 lb. bag of chocolate chips from the Bishop's family.  I just finally saw one of those bags at an American goods store here.  It is very rare that you find them and it costs 30,000 tugs ( I'll let you figure the amount in dollars--the rate is 1258 to $1).  So those chips will be cherished.  We will see John again before he leaves.