Eagle Hunter

Dear all,

We have been working, trying to get gardening projects put together.  We have seen lots of the country, towns, and people and we have been in lots of homes.  We think living conditions in the countryside are much like it was when our moms and dads were kids.  No inside plumbing, an outhouse, a one or two room house, the people scrounging a living for themselves out of mother nature.  They make everything from scratch.  They have a berry here in Mongolia that they really like.  They make juice out of it, Sea Buckthorn.  I looked it up on google.  It is very good and considered by many to be a superfood with lots of vitamins.  The members of the church are so faithful.  It is very impressive.  In a town called Khovd the branch president picks up ten students in his small SUV every morning for seminary.  Most of the early morning seminary teachers we have met are 18-20 year olds and they do a great job.  We visited a number of places that have made a request for help: A university, a prison, a kindergarten, water stations, a few hospitals, handicap programs, an immigration office, etc. 

We went to an Eagle Hunter's Festival yesterday.  The men were dressed up in Mongolian traditional outfits: Fur Coats, hats, leggings, boots. They were each on their horse with their eagle on their arm.  They had contests where each hunter and his eagle would compete.  The hunter would ride 200 yards away while someone else held his eagle.  He then would call to his eagle and off his eagle would go and land 300 yards away on his masters arm.  Most did superbly, however once in a while an eagle would take off and land somewhere else.  It was very interesting!  They are Golden Eagles.  There were about 20 eagle hunters, each with their eagle and horse, at the completion.  The horses are a little smaller than our horses.  They have shaggy coats and the rider rides further up towards the front than we do.  The horse, rider, and eagle all get along nicely and have a majestic look about them as they are riding along with the eagle on the riders arm and his wings part way stretched out.  We will send some pictures in a day or two.