CHRISTMAS IN MONGOLIA

The Mongolian's don't really celebrate Christmas. Even the sincere Christians don't understand Christmas very well. They do have Christmas trees and ornaments and presents but it is for their  New Years celebration and Christmas day is just like any other day.
That being said, today was one of the best Christmas days we have ever enjoyed. We started early this morning when the other senior couple and Deni and I walked to the church building about 1 mile away at about 6 AM. It was dark and about 20 below zero F and everything was frosty. We dressed warm and had many layers. We are starting to learn how to layer but it still takes us 10 minutes to get ready to walk out the door. We took our flashlights and walked out into the frost. When we arrived at 6:30 about 14 young people and their 2 teachers were already there for early morning seminary as they are every weekday morning. It is Christmas day but they have school just like any other day. They were so cute, dressed up for class and ready to learn. Besides the lessons that their teachers taught, we had the opportunity to bear witness of the love of our Heavenly Father and the love that we felt for them. They are just good kids.
We were back to our apartment by 8:30 in time to get some supplies for a Christmas party at the Old Darkhan chapel. (Deni and I are the missionaries for the New Darhan chapel but we get to visit and enjoy both branches in Darkhan.) We started cooking for the afternoon party as soon as we got to the church. The missionaries from all over the area came to Darkhan for our Christmas party. We had about 33 missionaries. The Fredleys (the other senior couple that work in Darkhan) and we made all kinds of food and treats . We had some traditional Mongolian dishes and we tried to make some American Christmas dishes. Elder Fredley made some mashed potatoes (the potatoes here are delicious) but we can't get decent butter or cream so he tried yogurt and their interesting butter and they had the flavor that our American pallet isn't used to. We were asked to bring a small gift to the party, We were told that it was to be a 3-5,000 tuge ($1.80-3.00) but some of the Mongolians either didn't understand or couldn't afford it. We played the game where everyone gets a number and then picks one of the presents and can keep it or steal someone else's. They had never played that game before and they laughed and really enjoyed it. (The next day I heard one of them say how blessed they were that everyone got what they really needed) They are such sweet and humble people and as we get to know them we love them.
The 3 senior couples did a 12 Days of Christmas skit which was quite a hit. In Mongolia they sing most of our Christmas songs but they had never heard that one and they really got a kick out of it.
Overall, we had a wonderful 1st Christmas in Mongolia and we really felt the true spirit of Christmas. Our love to you and yours as we celebrate the birth and life of our Savior.

This was the 6:30 am every morning seminary class that we walked to in the dark this morning.

                                        This is our version of the 12 days of Christmas