Changes Always; Family is Constant, We Love You

Our Dear, Dear Family:

Today we attended the branch that President Andersen assigned to us last week. The branch president and his wife are both returned missionaries and they have fairly good attendance at their meetings. However, the branch president is carrying most of the load in the branch. His two counselors need training; he has no Elder's quorum president, no Relief Society president, no Sunday School president, no home teachers, and very few visiting teachers. His members just do not seem to accept the fact that they, too, have responsibility for the functioning of the branch. He had no end of questions and no translated handbooks. We will be doing a lot of training; and he asked me to be Sunday School president. He asked Linda to help with family history, Relief Society, and primary. Also, he asked both of us to speak in Sacrament Meeting next Sunday. With everything else we are doing, this will make us almost too busy.

I spent most of this past week working on our returned missionary project. Unfortunately, I am not getting the help from the branches in the mission that I must have. I will call of the branch presidents again, and this time I will ask that they report by the end of November on each missionary called from their branch. My secretary has typed up all of the information we have received and I reviewed it, only to find that not only have not received much information but that some of the RM names have been dropped from our master list. I can see now that I will work on this project every day I am here and there will still be a lot to do. I have considered every possible reason I can think of for member inactivity and still cannot understand why even returned missionaries can forget their mission activity and the testimony they bore so many times in their mission field. I will stay with it; it will take a lot of work and a lot of prayer.

I talked with BYU-Hawaii President Wheelwright on the telephone on Thursday to discuss their interest in relationships with higher education in Mongolia. They have had some exchanges with the Medical University here, but this institution is not a good fit for them.

He had a lot of questions that I could answer because of my work with the colleges and universities here and said that by spring he would like me to help them set things up with the Mongolian University of Science and Technology, the university I have worked most closely with over the past twelve years. They have implemented the things I taught the university presidents I had in Utah best of all the colleges and universities here.

We were invited to an election night party by the American Embassy and watched the returns on several television sets. I was surprised at the large number of Americans there; and almost without exception they were Obama supporters. We have found, too, the the people here who are aware of American politics are very pleased with Obama's victory.

Thank you, Tamar, for calling us. It was wonderful talking with you. Also, I called James this morning and we had a fun talk. Thanks to each of you, too, who has written to us. Our e-mail's are very important to us.

The weather is still warm for this time of the year, and our friends tell us it is most unusual. Morning temperatures have not quite dropped to zero; and the days are always sunny. The few snow showers we have had melted the day we had them.

We had dinner last night with Josh and Kim in their apartment at the American School of Ulaanbaatar. The school is at the base of the mountains just south of Ulaanbaatar. This area has built up just over the past few years and is very popular because it is above the coal smoke in the Ulaanbaatar basin.

Odnyam and his wife picked us up after dinner since taxis do not ordinarily show up out there at night. They hope to go to the U.S. for two or three months (she is pregnant and would like to have her child born in California). Odnyam has a multiple-entry visa; she will apply for her visa in the morning (Monday).

Tsegmed (the artist I brought to Utah for medical treatment and who was baptized there together with his wife, Tuya) came to Sacrament meeting with us again today. He has been inactive since he returned to Mongolia, but coming to Church with us seems to be re-kindling his testimony.

We are waiting now for Sodnomdorj, his wife Yanjin, and two of their children to join us for dinner. I trained Sodnomdorj in Utah when he was president of one of the universities here; Yanjin lived with us for several months while she learned English.

AT 8:00 tonight I will go to the mission office to set apart Elder Taylor. He is the son of Sumkhuu and Chimgee, two of the very first group of people I met here in 1993. I am not quite sure how he got the name Taylor; and his little brother's English name is Robert.

Linda and I had quick lunch at the Chinese restaurant near our offices and were very pleased to meet a former ambassador to the U.S., Choinhor, and his wife. We hosted them in Utah and worked closely with him in the Mongolian Embassy in Washington. It was a very pleasant occasion.

We are both in good health but tired. We are just going to have to take more time to do all of things we have been assigned. Slow down, I guess if possible.

We love you.