Road Less Traveled

This week we are on a big gardening trip.  We will be on this trip for another 9 days.  The unemployment is very high in Mongolia so gardening is one thing that tremendously helps those willing to garden.  A small green house helps because the growing season is so short and they usually get a cold day or two in the summer which can freeze their crop. Right now we are in Murun which is up by the Russian/Siberian border.  There is a large lake, Khuvsgul, that is frozen over which they use as a 260 mile long road in the winter to save miles.  Trucks, cars, and motorcycles all making their own road across the lake.  Yes, we have seen people on motorcycles in -10 below weather racing along all bundled up.  Three on a bike bundled up with hats, coats, boots, and scarves, makes for a very interesting sight.  This is not something we are interested in trying.  As you travel along in the countryside there seems to be nothing but miles and miles of snow covered plains and rolling hills, and then you will see some sheep, goats, horses, cattle, and maybe a yack or a camel and then you will see a herder out in the cold walking or riding a horse and then you spot a Ger out in the middle of no where, no electricity, no store or town for miles.  The harsh condition these people live in and survive in is amazing to us. We stayed by the lake in a cabin.  They fed us well.  The water they needed to cook was obtained by chopping a hole through 3 feet of ice and carrying it back to the kitchen in buckets. No running water and an outhouse were our experiences. We found a Mongolian dish we really like, it is called golash: Meat, potatoes, carrots, onions all mixed and cooked together kind of like our stew.  Also, they have a small wild blueberry they make jam and a fruit drink out of which we find very delicious.  The active members have such great faith, they are very friendly.  We went to an early morning seminary class that was supposed to start at 6:30, it started at 6:29 with 10 of 11 students present, the eleventh showed up a few minutes late.  After seminary they have to make their own way to their various schools; walk, take a bus, or a taxi (at -10 degrees to -40 degrees), we call this faithfulness!