I’m in a guest house (airbnb) in Ulaanbaatar not far from where I lived 25 years ago when I lived here as a missionary. I came here with Michael Jones who is my brother-in-law (my wife’s sister’s husband). I felt like I should see if someone should come with me this time, and Michael said he would, which is very generous of him. His family just got back from a year-long period of living abroad in countries including the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Kenya, Japan, and New Zealand. I probably missed one, but those are the ones I remember. Michael has been a great help on this trip.
This is us on some part of our 30 hour (including layovers) trip to Ulaanbaatar from Wichita, Kansas.
We met with some attorneys who specialize in helping foreigners (me) establish businesses in Mongolia. It was a very helpful start.
This is a map of most of Ulaanbaatar. The blue is what we walked in the first part of the day. To be honest, I was sure we must have walked 35 miles. My desk job doesn’t keep me in peak physical condition… We only walked around five miles… I do like walking in this city. I know it’s a country that doesn’t belong to me, but I love it just the same.
I have been doubting again. Because doors aren’t opening for us as quickly as I hoped they would, I had been having the feeling that Mongolia doesn’t want us, and the Church doesn’t need us. While I was thinking this yesterday, I watched a video from this week’s Come, Follow Me lesson.
At the two minute mark, Elder Gérald Caussé, one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, read a simple message from Numbers 14:9. He read the italicized portion of the verse below:
Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
Numbers 14:9 italics added
Because the people not only didn’t believe Joshua and Caleb’s message, but they were determined to stone them, the Lord took the blessing the children of Israel were not willing to have.
The message hit me not only as a message of hope, but as another loving rebuke: “Hey. It’s going to be okay. Trust me. I have never led you astray. I’m not leading you astray now. Don’t waste this time with worry.” I don’t think Heavenly Father talks like that, but that’s my translation of what comfort that was offered. There was also a gentle warning that if I don’t want this, He will take it away.
I don’t know what lies ahead, but I trust Him.
Today is Mother’s Day. I talked to Jennifer for a little while. It’s not Mother’s Day for her yet. I am going to go walk and attend church in the new (to me) church building. I may write more later.
I got back from church a while ago. It was a wonderful experience. Walked to church and back. It’s hard to tell in the picture, it’s showing a round trip, so the total distance was 3.2 miles.
I went in an sat in the beautiful chapel. I was surprised at how many Mongolians spoke fluent English. This might partially be because this the ward to which all the English speakers go. I met President Kunz who is the mission president for Mongolia. I also spoke with some sisters and elders who were serving there. We listened to two American couple missionaries speak while skilled Mongolian translators translated it into Mongolian. After, we went to Priesthood meeting where the lesson for the week was a talk that was recently given by Elder Clark G. Gilbert of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The title of the talk was Come Home. There were several people who were returning after a long hiatus, and there were others who were coming for the first time.
After church we were talking with the young elder and sister missionaries. One of the missionaries introduced me to someone who had just come back to church for the first time after leaving during COVID. I’m old, so I have a hard time judging the age of young people. I thought she was a teenager, but she is an English teacher. Of course, she speaks English very well. We were talking about how I was working on learning Mongolian again. She asked if I saw Mongolian movies while I was a missionary. I said I saw only Church movies with Mongolian translations, but that I had since watched some Mongolian movies. She then asked if I had listened to any Mongolian music. While only Church music was approved for our listening, we did hear a lot of music in taxis, people’s homes, and in public. I loved a band named Хурд (Khurd–it sounds cooler in Mongolian). I told her I listened to some music but she wouldn’t have heard of any of the music I liked. She persisted and asked for the band’s name. I said Хурд. Her eyes got wide and she opened her jacket to reveal her Хурд t-shirt. I laughed. The sister missionary was confused because she’d never heard of them. I said they played Dad Rock. She nodded and told Sister Ellsworth it was music she and her dad loved listening to. That was probably my favorite interaction at church.