Sledding

On Saturday we went to Haangite mountain to go sledding with some friends.  We rented a little room that had a stove and table in it so we would have a place to go warm up.  Oh, by the way, it was only -15 Farenheit.  We had lots of fun.  There has been lots of snow this year, so it was really hard work going up the mountain, like hiking through deep sand.  We stayed all day, until we couldn't feel lots of random body parts.  

  The Mongolians don't have much fear of injury, they had some sleds connected to each other like a train, 4 and 5 together.......Let me be on the back please, I don't want to be at the front when all the other sleds crash into the back of that first one!!  Then we saw several cars that were pulling sleds.......as we were leaving there was even a car pulling a sled full of children into an oncoming car, at least it wasn't moving fast!  Craziness.  There was also a horse drawn sleigh that looked lots of fun.  A great fun day......my toes are finally thawed out.

Party

SInce Mongolians celebrate New Year's instead of Christmas, we decided to have a party on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year with our Bible Study group.  The women in the group planned the whole thing and decided that they would bring the "real" food, and I could bring the "magical" sweet stuff.  I tried to keep with things they can easily get all the ingredients for.  I made Peanut Brittle, shortbread cookies, and Tony's favorite peanut butter cookies.  They brought a lot of food, some traditional Mongolian, and some not.  They had Hurshur (a fried meat pie), and something like a shepherd's pie, don't know what they call it in Mongolian.  One woman brought stewed chicken with rice, another made pineapple pizza that was really good.  It seemed that everyone had a very good time.  We are very pleased that there are so many families attending.  Two other families have young children that they are bringing with them.  One woman told me that she really enjoys coming to our study because we are close to the same age and have children their kids age.  It is exciting to have it going well, people are very interested in learning about the Bible and have even been bringing friends.  Please pray for these Mongolians and this study group as they come together.

Winter Shopping

I put these pictures up because this is just something you NEVER see in America, but we see all the time here.  SOme days I forget to take my camera with me on our routine shopping trips, but last week I remembered.  There were lots of people out shopping, getting ready for New Years.  They don't celebrate Christmas here, it is all about New Years......New Year gifts, New Year tree, and of course the New Year Party.  SO these guys are carrying their frozen sheep on their shoulder and then shoving them in their trunks.  While we were at the market I was watching one man try to fit his frozen carcass in his trunk and it wouldn't fit, so all these other people were standing around trying to help, of course frozen animal carcasses are not very flexible, so he was having a lot of trouble.  I wanted to get a picture, but with so many people around him, I couldn't get a clear shot.