December 28, 2007 - Mission Conference & Party

Merry Christmas! There are only three more days left in The Year That I Will Spend Entirely In Mongolia. That’s weird.

Last Sunday night at 9:30 pm the Selenge missionaries all boarded the Hogwarts express and, after making a quick stop in Darkhan to pick up another 8 or so missionaries, we arrived in UlaanBaatar at about 7:15 Christmas Eve morning. There was just enough time to taxi over to the mission office, redo what the train ride undid to our hair and clothes, and settle into our seats for mission conference. For the first part they split up the Mongolian and the non-Mongolian missionaries (segregation!) to talk about learning English to the one group and teaching it to the other (oh…that’s fine). It was coo, and then we all came together in one big happy room to talk about mission stuff, something that is applicable to all regardless of language or nationality.

President Andersen showed us a bunch of cool charts showing how we’ve improved in the 5 or so months that he’s been here. That was just to butter us up and get us ready to swallow the big dose of There’s A Heckuva Lot More You Can Do he was about to hand out. As it turns out, there is a heckuva lot more we can do, especially in working with the members here. Rumor has it that 3 or 4 years ago Mongolia was one of the best missions in the world in terms of member referrals, but for one reason or another it is now rather the opposite. We’re going to try to change that.

That evening my companion and I were running around trying to get some pictures developed (there’s not a single photo place in Selenge) and buy a phone card so I could make The Call Home but every single photo place was either closed or crazy packed with people. The one place that sells phone cards that I knew of (Tsetseg Tuv- thanks to Sister Hunt) was also closed. We quickly called the assistants from a street phone, and they directed us to the Sky Mall, this HUGE department store that I have never set foot in in all my time here in UB. It’s scary! Anyway, we went there and they did have phone cards, and the girl working the kiosk was interested in the church so I would say it was pretty successful.

The next morning we were back over at the mission office for a “Christmas Devotional.” We were going to watch the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional but we had a repeat of the General Conference fiasco, and the DVD just wouldn’t work. So instead we just had the Burd read the talks out loud in Mongolian and the new Burd translated for the couple missionaries. Sister Burd has quit as the official translator/office person like 8 hundred times, but now she’s actually training a replacement.

Then it was on to the buses for the Christmas party. This year we all congregated at a restaurant called The Brauhaus. It was an improvement from last year because the waiters brought the food right to the tables instead of the buffet style restaurant we went to last year, and yes, I am that lazy. Other than that is was pretty much the same as last year’s party, even down to some of the musical numbers: Sister DeVoe sang “Breath of Heaven” which is a beeyootiful song in and of itself, but it was even more tender because that’s what Sister Hunt sang last year. I turned to the elder standing next to me and told him that and he was like, “Who’s Sister Hunt?” Then I slapped him. It’s hard being an old missionary. Khumuus bur neg khunii khamgiin khairtai khamtragch meddeggui. Ter n yuu gesen ug ve?

We also had another Kata dance from the Island elders and a few of their chosen whitey assistants, Elder Todacheenie did a traditional Native American hoop dance, and one elder did an Irish river dance. One of my personal favorites was when Elder Kunz and Elder Tumurchudur (one American, one Mongolian, both only have one hand) raced some other elders in a tie-tying contest. Elder Kunz won. Wow, we’re a pretty varied group here in the UB mission. Other people sang songs, did Mongolian traditional dances, did really bad magic tricks, and then I recited a poem in Mongolian and messed up a lot. But that’s okay. It’s over now.

After the party the Selenge missionaries were determined to get some pictures developed before heading back so we zipped over to another photo place and just waited out the hotness and the crowdedness and the complete lack of lines and altogether developed about $30 worth of pictures and CD’s. Then we ran back to the mission office, grabbed our stuff, and just barely made it to the train station in time to catch the 7:30 train back to Selenge. We were so exhausted that we actually slept on the train. We got home with only enough time for an hour-long nap before we were up again and getting ready for the day. Whew!

Other things of import that I keep forgetting to mention: The triple combination, along with a new iluu oilgomjtoi translation of the Book of Mormon, has just come out in Mongolian!!! Yay!!! Minii bie, Sister Johnson has been called to help out with/run the older AND younger Primary class (about 25 kids altogether) since our Primary president just gave birth, and also to start a Mutual program here in Selenge. Help? Ideas? Please?

Thanks to Elsita for another delightful package. I really appreciate it when you send things in twos so then I can give stuff to my companion. Oh, and, the Charmin toilet seat covers were a nice optimistic thought but outside of our own apartment, the places where we go usually don’t have any “seats” to speak of.

And on that note - Happy New Year!