1/4/16

For New Years we attended a program at an orphanage.  The mission donated some surplus equipment to them so they invited someone from the church to attend their new years program.  Also the young missionaries had visited Christmas Day and had given each child a gift. So Laurie and I were selected to attend.  There were 195 orphans, all excited and well behaved.  They put on a program and served everyone food.  Old man winter came and gave a few gifts.  It was humbling to see so many orphans, beautiful children ages 3-18 with no parents and family.

The weather is pretty consistent, never more than 10 degrees above zero in the day and always below zero (-10 to -15) at night.  We always bundle up before going out so we stay warm.  We try not to stay out long, 20-30 minutes at the most.  The faithfulness of the Mongolian saints is amazing.  Church attendance is very good and most have served missions.  We know about 30 Mongolian words, but understand almost nothing when listening.  Someone usually offers to translate for us.  We read all the gardening projects done in the past.  There Is poverty in the yurt districts outside of the city. Many live from day to day, trying to get enough food and using coal, wood, or dung for heat.   Their nutrition is not very good. They eat a lot of meat and fat and very little in the way of fruits and vegetables.  They are encouraged to boil the water but very few do it.  In the city nutrition is much better because fruits and vegetables are available in the stores.

We visited an English class this week.  Mongolians want to learn English.  It is exciting to see the desire to improve and make their lives better.  This week, since the holidays are over, we should get into our humanitarian work more deeply.  We received some sad news. One of our missionaries that served with us in Colorado died from pneumonia this week, he was 25.  We are doing fine, anxious to get to work and help anywhere we can.