Homely Family With the Bishop

For those of you outside my immediate family, ‘Homely Family’ is our term for Family Home Evening. For those of you outside the Mormon religion, Family Home Evening is supposed to be a time during the week (typically Monday nights) dedicated to spending time with your family, usually with a religious lesson, an activity, and treats. Being a single individual and far from my own family, I don’t participate in Family Home Evening very often but was happy to accept an invitation to the Bishop’s house for FHE on Monday. I really like my Bishop and his wife, they have been extremely kind to me since I’ve been here. There were about 10 other people there from church and we had a great time. We had a lesson about Easter, people shared their testimonies, and then we ate (and ate and ate). The whole evening was really nice and pleasant. While we were all sitting there eating and chatting (me kind of slipping in and out of my imagination as is typical when surrounded by all Mongolians, only being pulled back into the conversation when I pick up an English word or two), I came to a realization: In that moment, there is no where else on earth I would rather be. Sitting amongst a group of people who have shown me genuine care and kindness, enjoying everyone's company. I am so lucky to be here in Mongolia and have this opportunity to know such amazing people. I know I gush about the people I've met through church a lot, sorry, but seriously I really love them!

On a slightly less mushy subject, let's talk about the food for the evening. We pretty much ate a full on dinner of buutz, potato salad, green salad, and then dessert. The potato salad was particularly good and everything was delicious. The only problem I have is with the amounts of food that I feel expected to consume. As soon as I finish off my strategically chosen small plate, I'm encouraged to get more food, and more food, and more food. Don't get me wrong, I like the food, but my digestive system is still not used to eating such copious amounts of Mongolian food. Thank heavens the weather is getting warmer which people have told me means that Mongolians will eat lighter, less meaty foods.

(Sorry for the no pictures, I forgot to take any at FHE because I was enjoying myself too much.)