Members and missionaries from Selenge.

This is how we eat on Sundays when we travel. It's peanut butter on the tailgate. Elders can really put away the PBJ's. Elder Jolley with sandwich number ?????

Darling children from Selenge.

This is the village of Altanbulag, Mongolia on the Russian border.

Elder Tuvshinbayar, Jiguur, and Elder Jolley....to Russia with love.

Here we are with Russia in the background.

Jiguur in front of Sukhbaatar's statue. Sukhbaatar was credited with driving the Chinese out of Mongolia. The museum below and the statue above are in Altanbulag, Mongolia which is the little village that is on the border of Russia and Mongolia. Jiguur would be sent here every summer to stay with his father's sister to tend their sheep. A perfect summer job for a young boy. Jiguur said he tried to climb the mountain near the village to look into Russia and he was met with salt pellets from the Russian guards.

Here we are at the Russian boarder. We didn't know we weren't supposed to take pictures until the guard showed up.
This is the guard station. They are all along the border.

This beautiful Russian Orthodox Church is just across the border in the village of Khaiyagt.
The Selenge Branch building.

As we drove into Selenge we saw evidence that this is really part of the "bread basket" of Mongolia.

This is a hay truck as we passed. I don't know how they drive these trucks they are so full that it is even hard to pass.

This is the Darkhan Man. It is the man of steel that is at the entrance to Darkhan.

The beautiful trip to Darkhan. Fall has come to Mongolia. These pictures don't do justice to the landscape.

Relief Society is the same in Mongolia.

Can't resist the chance to take a picture of a Mongolian child.

Nasa, Soyolmaa and Buyanna after the Stake R.S. Conference.

Mongolia Ulaanbaatar West Stake Relief Society President. Soyolmaa in the center.

This is our dear Nasa. She is now on her way to Utah to marry Max Porter. She served a mission in the U.S. and speaks excellent English. We are going to miss her. She would come to our house and Skype with Max every week. It took almost a year for her to get a visa to go to the U.S. We are so happy for her. We will see her in Provo.

This is one of my special friends. When ever she sees me she gives me a big hug. I don't even know her name but she loves everyone.

The decorations were poster size pictures of the sisters in the stake. Below the sister on the right is Tuul. I teach her and her little girl piano.

They had a light lunch for the sisters at the end of the conference.
The music was beautiful.

The Stake Relief Society had a conference on Saturday September 17th. It was just wonderful.

I was walking to the little store by the church and these little boys were singing with a box in front of them. They were so cute. I gave them all my small money. They were so cute.

Tamunchka....Sister Flower's nephew. He is five and a character.

We had dinner at Sister Otgonstesteg's (Flower). Eegii, Sister Martin, Elder Martin, Elder Ford, Sister Ford, Tamunchka, Sister Flowers'sister, Sister Flower, Sister Gledhill, Elder Gledhill.

This is President Odgerel (the stake president). This is a Mongolian fish called a Taimen. Someone said now they understood the miracle of the loaves and the fishes...Christ used Mongolian fish.

The beginning of fall in UB. Last year when we came there weren't leaves on the trees and everything was brown so this is a wonderful treat to enjoy the fall colors and change of season.

Nara Thompson, Blaine and I at a Buddhist shrine on the way back to the city.

These cows had gotten inside this shrine. We think they were "holy" cows.

This couple has put everything in they have into building this school. They live in a small ger with two children.
Their problem is they have run out of money to complete the school. I felt so badly for them...but I thought of the scripture "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?"

The children and the teachers in front of the Children's Ger.

These are the pickles made by the teachers for the children's lunch.

One of the problems of the children are their parents. The parents are often alcoholic and require the children to sell wood, coal, or other things on the street. That is one of the primary reasons that they drop out of school. The directors of the school have addressed this problem by providing a way for the children to earn money. They have a teacher who has taught them how to clean the sheep wool and then make it into felt. They then make all sorts of things out of it to sell. The school gets part of the profits and the children get some to take home to their parents.