MONGOLIA!

We landed in Mongolia at 6:30AM. Viewing Mongolia by air that morning was breathtaking. The sky was blue with no clouds, the mountains were so green and it was completely peaceful. It was a perfect way to be introduced to Mongolia.


Ashley has kept in contact with some of his mission companions and they were nice enough to come to the airport to pick us up! They were so excited to see Ash and vice versa. The laughs, memories, and language all came back to Ash so quickly. It was wonderful to see him in this element. It was like coming back home for him.


We were able to go to church at 2 different buildings. Even though I didn't understand one word, you could feel the spirit. The members there are wonderful. The members were friendly, kind and inviting. Everyone came to shake our hands and introduce themselves.


The members are asked to come to church in their best outfit. And they do. They wear the nicest clothes they have. Their sacrament meeting is a little rowdy, but they are doing their best with what they have.

The little kids in Mongolia are so sweet. They loved our American candy (Swedish Fish and Laffy Taffy).



We went to a grocery store and Ashley ran into another kid he knew from his mission.

Mongolia does not have the best parks, but they do have small carnival rides in the city. This one was super cute. It was a giant kiddie pool with paddle boats in it. The kids were laughing and screaming and having tons of fun.

More posts will be coming about our trip to Mongolia. I am so thankful that my husband chose to devote 2 years of his life to serving the Lord in the country of Mongolia. Right before we left for our trip, Ash found all of his mission journals and let me read them. He described some of his companions who we met and places that we were able to visit. You could feel his love for the country through his words.
While Ash was on his mission he bought a Mongolian Wedding Band for his future wife. On our first wedding anniversary Ash took me to dinner and gave me this pink, older ring box shaped in a heart. He opened it up and it was a Mongolian Wedding Band. He put it on my finger and it was a PERFECT fit. The ring he picked was just for me. That night was such an incredible spiritual experience. Ash and I wore our Mongolian Wedding Bands on this trip and it made it all the more special!

CHINA!

The trip started out with our SUPER airplane ride from Seattle to Beijing! I have this weird fear that I am going to get sick from the circulating air in the plane so I came prepared! I had my hand sanitizer, mask and my eye shades! I even had some gloves and sanitizing wipes but everyone convinced me that was going a LITTLE overboard.. :)

We made it to the Great Wall of China! It is amazing! The architecture was beautiful. The stairs were VERY uneven. Some steps were so small you could not consider them a step and some were tall enough that you had to literally climb up it. As I am walking up the stairs, a young Chinese couple stood directly in front of me. I thought I was in their way so I apologized and moved to the other side of the staircase. They pull out their cameras and want to take my picture. So the man stood next to me, made the peace sign and we took a picture! It was so funny!


Isn't he soo handsome! Ash planned our WHOLE trip- It was incredible to spend 2 1/2 weeks with him in 2 foreign countries!
To be honest, I preferred the food in China as opposed to Mongolia. But we did visit some tourist restaurants. There are just random carts on the street selling food on sticks. There were snakes, sea horses, fish and even octopus! It smelled so gross!

China had these "EXERCISE PARKS" filled with hundreds of people in the morning stretching, exercising and working out. It was very interesting to see. They had such confidence in stretching in front of so many other people. I highly doubt that "EXERCISE PARKS" would be a popular item in America... .

This is near Tian Men Square- The building behind us is a government building.


Shopping was probably my favorite part! This market was incredible. There were vendors selling the same thing, grabbing your arm and trying to convince you that their price was lower than the vendor next to them. It so fun to talk the vendors into giving us a lower price. Ash was much better at bargaining than I was.. I got a pair of Puma's for $5 and a Coach Purse for $15. She originally wanted me to buy it for $190. SO MUCH FUN! There was so many different vendors: Watches, purses, shoes, wallets, jewelry, kitchenware, IPODs, and SO MUCH more! One little lady was literally holding on to my mother-in-laws arm and would not let her go until she purchased the bag!

We ended our China adventure in the Chinese airport. Our flight to Mongolia left at 3:30AM Sunday morning. This is Brandon and my bed was next to his. Ash had already started to find some Mongolians and was excited to begin speaking the language!