VISITING WITH CHINGGIS KHAAN

 Here he is in all his silver glory, Chinggis Khaan astride his favorite white horse.  His monument is far into the countryside.  Does it look cold?  Its cold enough to freeze off body parts.

 The Mongolian  flag flies high and the wind is fierce.

 We go inside and find the biggest boot in the world.  Our guide Jack gives us the history of the boot but I can't remember what he said so I'm just going to say it represents their opinion that Chinggis's boots could never be filled by anyone else because he was legendary and lived a bigger life than anyone before or after.

 Here we are huddled together trying not to freeze our you know whats off because the wind chill factor must be about -40F.  Our smiles are frozen in place.

 The warrior is the one on the horse.  The other guy just looks really good.

 This is what one of Chinggis Khaan's soldiers looked like.  Chinggis rewarded loyalty and destroyed any who refused to bend knee in allegiance to him.  He could depend on complete obedience from his soldiers.  They each had 5 horses that they brought with them on warring campaigns.  Some they ended up eating, but mostly they drank the milk which sustained them.  They didn't require supply lines so his soldiers could move fast and carried the element of surprise with their speed.

 Here is the big guy.  He doesn't look very Asian.  He looks resolute and strong.  Some say he was a butcher.   He killed everyone in towns and villages where they didn't take him seriously.

 He ruled with an iron fist and meted out his own personal kind of justice.  His first wife was stolen from him and made a slave.  He hunted the tribe that took her and killed them.  He believed in retribution but more so he freed all slaves and made a law against slavery.

 This gate is protected by 9 of his most trusted warriors.

 I just threw in this photo of the eagle because there are people along the side of the road waiting for cars to stop so they can take photos holding the eagles.  That's how they make their money.

 I decided to ride a camel.  They are really big and if I was one of them I would be unhappy with that stick going through my nose.  I guess they don't obey very well so the stick, when pulled on, reminds them to obey.

 Here comes the royalty.  Guess which one is king.

 Here is the king with his queen.  The higher the head dress the higher the rank.  For once I'm taller than David.

Ok, I've just spent way too long trying to move the car photo down to allow me to write something below it like in the other photos but I can't make it move so just note that this goes with the car photo.  Here is all the gang plus the Farleys.  They came along with us.  They came for a few weeks to help sort out the gardening projects that were going on in Feb.  Sister Farley's brother is Mark Fuhriman.  Brother Farley's niece is Misty Mayfield.  Small world!

Surprise!  We're bringing home a Mongolian baby.  (just kidding)

THE STREET WHERE WE LIVE

 So you're wondering when the bomb went off?  Roads here in Mongolia take a beating every winter.  There is also a building under construction behind the blue corregated metal fence on the right and the street has been dug up and patched back together in several places.  In the winter (April is still winter here) going up and down the road was pretty exciting.  Once I fell into a hole and no one could see me (I'm just kidding, but really!) the street is downright dangerous.  We are on such an adventure everyday when we leave our apartment.

Here's the bigger picture.  Our apartment building is the farthest up the street, the second brown building.  One more big dig up to fix the water pipes that bring heat and water to the buildings in UB and we'll be able to skateboard down this road (not really, but you could skate without falling into a pit or crashing into a big piece of asphalt).  No hot water for the month of August while the digging is going on, but now the pipes are new, the holes have been repaved...and we have hot water!

THE WAY WE LOOK

 This is the way David and I look.  I think we may be a little off center.  He found coke salt and pepper shakers and brought them home to me.  We are the only ones who drink coke in any form, but what is really nice...when we are invited to eat at any of the other senior couples apartments they always have a diet coke waiting for David.

 This is the way the whole mission looks.  That's President and sister Wong in the front row with President and sister Benson.  President Wong is a counselor in the Asia Area Presidency in Hong Kong.

These photos were taken in Sept. 2015, only a couple of weeks ago and already the face of our mission looks different.  Some missionaries have returned home and a few have been added.  All in all, a very small mission right now.  You do the counting!  We love these missionaries and so many more who have returned home before us.