Our Dear, Dear Family:
We miss all of you so very much. Please do write; we need to hear from you.
Linda is finally over her illness, but jumping right back into her busy schedule has worn her out some. I am keeping very busy and am in good health. The weather is still unbelievably good here. Snow has been forecast several times, but even though we have had some cold rain, we have had not snow. Now snow is forecast again for next week. The afternoons are in the sixties, the mornings are barely down to freezing. I did, however, buy the rest of my winter clothing at the open market yesterday: a padded del (long robe) over which I will wear the sheepskin coat I brought from home, and a heavy mink hat made in Russia with ear flaps and a back neck flap. Linda brought the fur coat I bought for her here several years ago and a good supply of other winter clothing from home. We both have heavy, insulated boots with rubber cleats. The city has turned the heat on, so our apartment is actually too warm; and finally we have plenty of hot water.
Brother Mak from Hong Kong and Elder and Sister Phillips from Taiwan were here most of the week training us and our public affairs council and advisory board. They taught some good information that will help us with our work. This was Elder and Sister Phillips' first trip to Mongolia so they wanted to get out into the countryside, and Elder Phillips especially wanted to ride a yak. So, on Thursday afternoon Linda and I took them to Terelj, a resort in the mountains about two hours from the city. This was my first time driving in Mongolia, and having ridden with others and walked across many streets here, I found it much easier than I expected. The city traffic was a bit difficult to negotiate, but the rough country roads were a bit easier. The mountain sides were in full autumn color and very beautiful. We found a yak for Elder and Sister Phillips to ride (at the same spot where James rode a camel). We also arranged for them to ride a camel. They did enjoy their rides; but I did wish I had had a video camera to record Sister Phillips' facial grimaces and tight grip on the camel saddle when the animal got up and then down again (they raise up on their back legs first and then up on their front legs. It is a bit rough). We were very surprised to see a golf course along the way--the nineteen holes were surrounded by bright green artificial turf and in between everything was "the rough." And then the resort, which used to be an old Russian-built hotel, is now a five-star magnificent building, classical style in beautiful colors.
On Thursday I presented my returned missionary search and re-activate plan to the district presidency in the Ulaanbaatar District and their branch presidencies (there are twelve branches in Ulaanbaatar and another ten scattered around the country). The presentation went well, and now I will meet with the branch councils and speak in their sacrament meetings to get all of the branch members involved in this project.
I enjoyed a special experience on Friday morning: several of us met with the Red Cross in one of the ger districts (almost like a slum district) to present some of the 500 wheelchairs the Church sent here for needy people. It was a very touching experience: many of the wheelchairs were given to disabled children.
We had lunch on Friday with Orgil and his mother. His mother, Narangerel, is a former of parliament. I brought Orgil and his wife to UVSC to study. He later went on to Hollywood in study in an acting and directing school. He has made several movies here and directed others. He is now acting in a movie in Russia and another in Korea. He played the role of Genghis Khan in the BBC movie "Genghis Khan." It is interesting that when Orgil's wife gave birth to their first baby girl in Orem, we gave them the white crib that our babies had slept in. Now that little girl, Uroo, is in both Joshua's and Kim's classes at the American School here.
Yesterday Linda and her assistants held a Family History Training Seminar for the Family History representatives in the branches in Ulaanbaatar and other branches within a two-hour ride from here. They made cookies for the group at our apartment in the morning and then trained in the afternoon. Linda was very tired when she came home; but very pleased with how well the seminar went.
We are having a returned missionary fireside here in the headquarters building chapel tonight. The full-time missionaries, the returned missionaries, the branch presidents, and my office have worked together to get this together. We are hoping that many of our less-active missionaries will join us. I will speak; and the departing CES advisor, Elder Straud from Eager, Arizona, will also speak to them. This is also something of a farewell for Elder and Sister Straud. They leave on Tuesday.
Yesterday I found a short string of extremely nice Tibetan turquoise nuggets that matched a similar string I found a few weeks ago ($4.00 for the string) and then bought another necklace that had a nice pendant and small carved silver beads between rather ugly green beads. I took the necklace apart and strung the turquoise with the silver and added the pendant with two of the turquoise nuggets to create a beautiful necklace for Linda. She loves it and will wear it today. She said it is different, though, having someone make a necklace for her. It is opera-length, which she especially likes.
We love you and respect you so very much. You are a wonderful family. Our prayers are with you always.
Mother and Dad
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Winter is Coming
Our dear family:
We have had a rather pleasant fall here, but now it is cooling down. Temperatures this week will be in the mid-forties during the day and down to freezing at night. The city turned the heat on this week (it comes in hot water pipes from three power plants on the outskirts of the city) and we are almost too warm in our apartment. We open our windows occasionally, but the air is quite dirty so we keep them open very little.
Linda has been ill for a week with what appears to be flu; I have had a light touch of it as well. Our mission president is also ill and told me a couple of days ago that half of the missionaries are sick as well. The air is bad now, but will be really bad as it gets colder. There are hundreds of thousands of people living in gers and small wooden houses on the outskirts of the city and the heat from the power plants does not reach them. So they burn soft coal or anything else they can find to keep warm. I am told that the air gets so bad that you can barely see your hand in front of your face. Josh and Kim will fare much better: their school and apartment are on the side of a mountain south of the city where the pollution does not reach them.
We had our first meeting with our public affairs council and advisory board Friday night. They are a very good group and the meeting went well. We will have training with them by the Asian public affairs directors from Taiwan on Wednesday of this week. Then we will meet monthly with each group. The Church does have a good image here generally, but there are some people in government who need to know more about us. We had advisors from the Mongolian president's office to President Andersen's home for dinner on Thursday evening. One of them attended the BYU symposium on religion and law last year he other will go this year. Both are quite impressed with the Church and what we are doing here.
I continue to find more of our missing missionaries and will present my search and re-activation plan to all of the branch presidencies in their monthly meeting with the district presidency on Thursday. Then I will go to each branch and meet with their branch council and speak in their sacrament meeting. We will appoint a returned missionary representative in each branch who will report to me weekly on the progress in each branch. I will drive north to the Darkhan District on October 11th to do the same for their district and branches.
Linda, Joshua, Kimberly, and I had dinner with an old friend and his family at noon in their home. His name is Peruserven, and some of you know him. I first trained him in Utah in 1996 for our Consortium of Universities here, then saw him off and on when I visited Mongolia. He and his family all joined the Church. He has been a branch president and CES director. His son is at BYU-Hawaii following a mission in Idaho; his daughter just returned from BYU-Hawaii with a degree in communications. She has a boy friend from Colorado and it seems serious. Peruserven is on our public affairs advisory board; he also slept on the couch in the house on the Big Island when so many of our family was there.
We spent a couple of hours with our artist friend Tsegmed yesterday; and, now, we have two of his very fine paintings hanging on our wall. He is painting two more for us, one of Monument Valley the other of edge of the Gobi Desert.
We appreciate so very much the e-mails we receive. Please, all of you, write as you can.
Also, please visit mother. I talked to her again this morning. She appreciates nothing more than visits from family.
We love you.
Mother and Dad
We have had a rather pleasant fall here, but now it is cooling down. Temperatures this week will be in the mid-forties during the day and down to freezing at night. The city turned the heat on this week (it comes in hot water pipes from three power plants on the outskirts of the city) and we are almost too warm in our apartment. We open our windows occasionally, but the air is quite dirty so we keep them open very little.
Linda has been ill for a week with what appears to be flu; I have had a light touch of it as well. Our mission president is also ill and told me a couple of days ago that half of the missionaries are sick as well. The air is bad now, but will be really bad as it gets colder. There are hundreds of thousands of people living in gers and small wooden houses on the outskirts of the city and the heat from the power plants does not reach them. So they burn soft coal or anything else they can find to keep warm. I am told that the air gets so bad that you can barely see your hand in front of your face. Josh and Kim will fare much better: their school and apartment are on the side of a mountain south of the city where the pollution does not reach them.
We had our first meeting with our public affairs council and advisory board Friday night. They are a very good group and the meeting went well. We will have training with them by the Asian public affairs directors from Taiwan on Wednesday of this week. Then we will meet monthly with each group. The Church does have a good image here generally, but there are some people in government who need to know more about us. We had advisors from the Mongolian president's office to President Andersen's home for dinner on Thursday evening. One of them attended the BYU symposium on religion and law last year he other will go this year. Both are quite impressed with the Church and what we are doing here.
I continue to find more of our missing missionaries and will present my search and re-activation plan to all of the branch presidencies in their monthly meeting with the district presidency on Thursday. Then I will go to each branch and meet with their branch council and speak in their sacrament meeting. We will appoint a returned missionary representative in each branch who will report to me weekly on the progress in each branch. I will drive north to the Darkhan District on October 11th to do the same for their district and branches.
Linda, Joshua, Kimberly, and I had dinner with an old friend and his family at noon in their home. His name is Peruserven, and some of you know him. I first trained him in Utah in 1996 for our Consortium of Universities here, then saw him off and on when I visited Mongolia. He and his family all joined the Church. He has been a branch president and CES director. His son is at BYU-Hawaii following a mission in Idaho; his daughter just returned from BYU-Hawaii with a degree in communications. She has a boy friend from Colorado and it seems serious. Peruserven is on our public affairs advisory board; he also slept on the couch in the house on the Big Island when so many of our family was there.
We spent a couple of hours with our artist friend Tsegmed yesterday; and, now, we have two of his very fine paintings hanging on our wall. He is painting two more for us, one of Monument Valley the other of edge of the Gobi Desert.
We appreciate so very much the e-mails we receive. Please, all of you, write as you can.
Also, please visit mother. I talked to her again this morning. She appreciates nothing more than visits from family.
We love you.
Mother and Dad
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Another good week
Our Dear Family:
We have had another very good week. I spent a lot of time with outside government and public affairs contacts; Linda has been ill with flu part of the week but has enjoyed her continued organization of family history and working with her assistants. We taught only two English classes this week. The class scheduled with the group of judges was canceled due to anticipated demonstrations at their court house. They are trying cases connected with the demonstrations during the elections in July.
The World Peace Conference was held here during the past week, and I was invited to some of the sessions. The opening session was in the Parliament Building and Matthew Salmon was one of the keynote speakers. Matt was a Taiwan missionary from Arizona and represented Arizona in congress for six years. He now has a PR firm in Washington. He and his speech were very well received here.
A Brother Rauna, Maori from New Zealand, was also at the Conference and invited me to several of the luncheons at the Chinggis Khan Hotel. He also brought many of the delegates to our Church building to meet me and learn more about the Church. I spent time with people from many countries, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines. Tonga, Tahiti, Australia, Russia, Korea, and many of the Central Asian countries. It was pleasant and interesting.
I have made contact with many of the educators I trained in Utah and our reunions have been very pleasant. BYU-Hawaii has had an exchange program going on with a university here that had not been very successful. President Andersen asked for my recommendation as to what should be done. I suggested the university I did most with from 1995 to 2000. He has agreed that we talk with them. I will meet with the President on Monday. I also trained him in Utah.
On Friday I had lunch with Narangerel Orgil and his wife (Linda was ill and could not go with us). I brought both of them to UVSC and they got their first degrees there. He went on to a director's and actor's school in Hollywood and is now very famous here.He has made several movies and documentaries and acts in movies in Monglia, Russia,and Korea. He played the role of Chinggis Khan in the the British version of Chinggis' life. His wife is an attorney.
My re-contacting government officials is going well. We will have dinner with three advisors from the Mongolian President's office this week. We have invited all of them to attend a conference at BYU this fall, an annual event.
The weather is still moderate here. It has not frozen in Ulaanbaatar yet; but there has been snow in the high mountains in the country and rains here a few times each week. We anticipate much colder weather before the end of the month.
Linda is feeling better this morning; I am in excellent health. We walk a lot, so we are keeping in good shape.
We love all of you very much.
Grandpa Jackson
We have had another very good week. I spent a lot of time with outside government and public affairs contacts; Linda has been ill with flu part of the week but has enjoyed her continued organization of family history and working with her assistants. We taught only two English classes this week. The class scheduled with the group of judges was canceled due to anticipated demonstrations at their court house. They are trying cases connected with the demonstrations during the elections in July.
The World Peace Conference was held here during the past week, and I was invited to some of the sessions. The opening session was in the Parliament Building and Matthew Salmon was one of the keynote speakers. Matt was a Taiwan missionary from Arizona and represented Arizona in congress for six years. He now has a PR firm in Washington. He and his speech were very well received here.
A Brother Rauna, Maori from New Zealand, was also at the Conference and invited me to several of the luncheons at the Chinggis Khan Hotel. He also brought many of the delegates to our Church building to meet me and learn more about the Church. I spent time with people from many countries, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines. Tonga, Tahiti, Australia, Russia, Korea, and many of the Central Asian countries. It was pleasant and interesting.
I have made contact with many of the educators I trained in Utah and our reunions have been very pleasant. BYU-Hawaii has had an exchange program going on with a university here that had not been very successful. President Andersen asked for my recommendation as to what should be done. I suggested the university I did most with from 1995 to 2000. He has agreed that we talk with them. I will meet with the President on Monday. I also trained him in Utah.
On Friday I had lunch with Narangerel Orgil and his wife (Linda was ill and could not go with us). I brought both of them to UVSC and they got their first degrees there. He went on to a director's and actor's school in Hollywood and is now very famous here.He has made several movies and documentaries and acts in movies in Monglia, Russia,and Korea. He played the role of Chinggis Khan in the the British version of Chinggis' life. His wife is an attorney.
My re-contacting government officials is going well. We will have dinner with three advisors from the Mongolian President's office this week. We have invited all of them to attend a conference at BYU this fall, an annual event.
The weather is still moderate here. It has not frozen in Ulaanbaatar yet; but there has been snow in the high mountains in the country and rains here a few times each week. We anticipate much colder weather before the end of the month.
Linda is feeling better this morning; I am in excellent health. We walk a lot, so we are keeping in good shape.
We love all of you very much.
Grandpa Jackson
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Weekly Update - Another Good Week
Our Dear, Dear Family:
I guess we are having a Mongolian Indian summer now. The weather has been very pleasant with cool mornings and warm days. We have had a few rain showers during the week.
Linda really got a lot done on her family history teaching and projects this week; and she sent a very detailed report off to Hong Kong that had worried her much of the week. She is blessed with two exceptional assistants, one a dentist near the Church, the other the wife of a former district president, whose son, Tamir, lives in Provo.
My research in finding lost missionaries is progressing well. I have two returned missionary Sisters helping me and we are near completion of a record and search sheet for each of the returned missionaries in Mongolia. I will meet in the Ulaanbaatar District Branch Presidencies' training meeting on the 25th of this month and present each branch president a packet with a master list of all the missionaries called from his branch over the past fourteen years and a personal sheet for each. Then I will have him return a copy of the sheet to me with all the information he can find on the missionary. I know that we will get a lot of blank reports back, but then we will search other sources.
I interviewed members for my Public Affairs Council and Public Affairs Advisory Board during the week. I will be working with some very outstanding people, and many of them I have know for as long as fifteen years. One man is a documentary film-maker; a Sister is one of the foremost movie personalities and PR people in Mongolia; a Brother is a former minister in another church and very well connected in the city. Brother Purevsuren I trained in Utah in 1996. He heads the major environmental effort here and also works for the Millenium Fund, a large U.S. grant to help development in Mongolia. Chimgee will also work with us. She is the wife of the film-maker, Sumkhuu, and is a top official in Mongolia customs.
I enjoyed a very pleasant visit with the member of parliament from Bulgan Province (where I have worked most here) in the newly-renovated government headquarters. The interview was very pleasant; the building is even more beautiful than ever.
Bat-Erdene, and Elder I know at the MTC and who is studying at BYU-Idaho now leaves tomorrow to go back to Idaho without his wife. I tried for more than a week to help her get a visa (she is a very talented mental health doctor and time in the U.S. would help her with her work when she returned here) but a very hard-headed visa officer just could not see the big picture. We had dinner with Bat-Erdene and his wife at a Chinese restaurant on Friday night. It was very pleasant. Also, we were in the same branch with them this morning. He had his three younger brothers with him (two of them right out of the countryside and the youngest, about eight years old, was very, very shy).
My friend, Ganaa, also attended the branch and bore his testimony. He is not a member of the Church yet but has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I also bore my testimony (in English this time; next time it will be in Mongolian). It was an enjoyable meeting.
Last night we enjoyed a very special evening with my good friend Jambaldorj and his wife. We helped his daughter attend Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant and she is not studying at Harvard. Jambaldorj has been appointed the first-ever ambassador to Australia. We talked over an elegant Japanese meal in the Kempinski Khan Hotel, just across the street from our apartment building. Jambaldorj told us that President Bush's entourage stayed at this hotel when Bush was in Mongolia about four years ago for a total of six hours. The bill at the hotel was over $2,000,000.
We are both in good health and getting better. We walk at least a mile and a half to and from our offices each day and sometimes make the trip again for an evening meeting.
We taught our first English classes this week, Tuesday and Thursday nights. We have about twenty students, most of them in the intermediate range. They are very enthusiastic and a lot of fun to be with.
We appreciate the letters we have received this week. Thank you.
Mother and Dad
I guess we are having a Mongolian Indian summer now. The weather has been very pleasant with cool mornings and warm days. We have had a few rain showers during the week.
Linda really got a lot done on her family history teaching and projects this week; and she sent a very detailed report off to Hong Kong that had worried her much of the week. She is blessed with two exceptional assistants, one a dentist near the Church, the other the wife of a former district president, whose son, Tamir, lives in Provo.
My research in finding lost missionaries is progressing well. I have two returned missionary Sisters helping me and we are near completion of a record and search sheet for each of the returned missionaries in Mongolia. I will meet in the Ulaanbaatar District Branch Presidencies' training meeting on the 25th of this month and present each branch president a packet with a master list of all the missionaries called from his branch over the past fourteen years and a personal sheet for each. Then I will have him return a copy of the sheet to me with all the information he can find on the missionary. I know that we will get a lot of blank reports back, but then we will search other sources.
I interviewed members for my Public Affairs Council and Public Affairs Advisory Board during the week. I will be working with some very outstanding people, and many of them I have know for as long as fifteen years. One man is a documentary film-maker; a Sister is one of the foremost movie personalities and PR people in Mongolia; a Brother is a former minister in another church and very well connected in the city. Brother Purevsuren I trained in Utah in 1996. He heads the major environmental effort here and also works for the Millenium Fund, a large U.S. grant to help development in Mongolia. Chimgee will also work with us. She is the wife of the film-maker, Sumkhuu, and is a top official in Mongolia customs.
I enjoyed a very pleasant visit with the member of parliament from Bulgan Province (where I have worked most here) in the newly-renovated government headquarters. The interview was very pleasant; the building is even more beautiful than ever.
Bat-Erdene, and Elder I know at the MTC and who is studying at BYU-Idaho now leaves tomorrow to go back to Idaho without his wife. I tried for more than a week to help her get a visa (she is a very talented mental health doctor and time in the U.S. would help her with her work when she returned here) but a very hard-headed visa officer just could not see the big picture. We had dinner with Bat-Erdene and his wife at a Chinese restaurant on Friday night. It was very pleasant. Also, we were in the same branch with them this morning. He had his three younger brothers with him (two of them right out of the countryside and the youngest, about eight years old, was very, very shy).
My friend, Ganaa, also attended the branch and bore his testimony. He is not a member of the Church yet but has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I also bore my testimony (in English this time; next time it will be in Mongolian). It was an enjoyable meeting.
Last night we enjoyed a very special evening with my good friend Jambaldorj and his wife. We helped his daughter attend Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant and she is not studying at Harvard. Jambaldorj has been appointed the first-ever ambassador to Australia. We talked over an elegant Japanese meal in the Kempinski Khan Hotel, just across the street from our apartment building. Jambaldorj told us that President Bush's entourage stayed at this hotel when Bush was in Mongolia about four years ago for a total of six hours. The bill at the hotel was over $2,000,000.
We are both in good health and getting better. We walk at least a mile and a half to and from our offices each day and sometimes make the trip again for an evening meeting.
We taught our first English classes this week, Tuesday and Thursday nights. We have about twenty students, most of them in the intermediate range. They are very enthusiastic and a lot of fun to be with.
We appreciate the letters we have received this week. Thank you.
Mother and Dad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
