Grandpa Stewart

On April 13, 2013 Cal's Dad, Karless Nels (Curly) Stewart passed away.  He had been in failing health for a few years and was ready to leave this life for a better one.  It was hard for us, being so far away but we are forever grateful to all those who made the arrangements and took care of all the details at home.

We felt blessed by the technology (and people) who made it possible for us to participate as spectators from afar.  We were able to be at the graveside, see and hear the proceedings, even Arme's harmonica rendition of "God be with you 'til we meet again".  It was a beautiful morning.  Then we were able to be at the funeral and see and hear all the speakers and musical numbers.  After the service Barb took us into the gym where we were able to visit with some of the people and see the great spread of food prepared by Elaine Leishman and a vast crew.  We could not have asked for better help and support.

                                                                                                                                                                       

Curly was a hard working, kind and honest man.  He has a wonderful posterity.  He will be missed.

A display of some of the things
that were special to Grandpa

Life is still good and we are well!!

English Teaching

It has been a stretch for us to do our English Teaching.  Now we have a book with an outline for both classes but it seems to get a bit boring to just do the exercises. We always try to think up some other interesting activities to go along with the material.  Our assignment is supposed to be to teach Conversational English so our aim is always to try to get them talking in English!!

All the students at the BioMedical University take an English Class, ours seem to be some of the better speakers.  They have lots of programs to promote the learning of English.  In fact there is an ETC Club.  (English Training Club).  This week they have posted an English Typing Competition and last week there was an "English Singing Competition".  It was a big event with 25 competitors each singing a song in English.  We were asked to be one of the judges or to find one from our friends!  Now that would have been a stretch but we got our translator to represent us.  She has a great musical background having won singing competitions herself and being an expert pianist.

The Judges

There were three judges, Ulziika, an American who teaches English at the school and a famous Mongolian composer.  The participants were judged based on choice of song, suitability to their voice, singing ability, costume or dress, and English pronunciation.  Each judge had cards and raised their number for every song.  It was a challenging assignment to be a judge (sure glad we delegated)!!  After they had all performed, the top seven were chosen and then each sang again, with a different song.  It was a three hour night but very interesting!  There were numbers from Rap to Romance and everything in between.

The winner and our sponsors

One thing we did not expect to attend in Mongolia was a High School Alumni Basketball tournament. Last night Ulziika invited us to go to her old High School (a Japanese School) to watch some games.
She played and so did her brother.  The girls games were two 6 minute halves and the guys were two 8 minute halves.  It was fun to go and see that Basketball is much the same world over!

This weekend we are watching Conference - all the sessions are broadcast at the Church with them dubbed in Mongolian in the Chapel and shown in English in another room.  It is great to hear all the messages and realize that no matter where you are in the world, we all face the same kinds of challenges!  We are grateful for the opportunity to be some of the "wave of missionaries" serving through out the world.

Life is Good and All Is Well!!
(I had done this a week and a half ago but it did not get posted!  Lots has happened since then.)  

 

Easter Snow

On Sunday we had the most  snow of the year.  The Missionaries who have been here two winters said it is the most at one time they have seen.  It snowed about 4 or 5 inches and was the kind of snow we get at home in the spring - fluffy with bigger snow flakes and quite wet.  When we came out of Church the sky was beautiful blue, the ground was white and it was quiet.  It turned out that it was "No Car Day".  There were people walking down the middle of Tokyo Street,  kids on sleds and even bikers in big groups.  That just does not happen on a normal day with so many cars and buses on busy, noisy streets!  It was great to have Easter, "No Car Day" and the big snow on the same day.

Easter is not celebrated here in Mongolia at all.  We saw no evidence of it anywhere.  At the Church we had a very professional concert Sunday night put on by the Institute Choir.  There are about 60 members mostly young people with a very talented director.  They did a beautiful presentation of the Easter message with narration in both Mongolian and English and music, some pieces in English and some in Mongolian.

The Japanese Prime Minister visited UB last week so we got lots of chances to see the Mongolian Police out in full force.  He and his party stayed at the Chinggis Khan Hotel just across the street so several times the whole street was blocked off and police were stationed every 100 feet on both sides of the road for miles!

View from our window in the snow - police doing their duty

There have been several missionaries with major health challenges this past week so we have spent lots of time working with them.  One of the side benefits is that we get to know them well, feed them and encourage them!  We are always reminiscent of those who helped Brian out so much when he had his face surgery in Germany.  We were so grateful for them and their service to him! 

We think spring is coming and look forward to seeing the green countryside!

We appreciate your love and support .

Life is Good and All is Well!!