Best Day Ever

On Saturday I had a fantastic day. My friend Flower and Brother Ganbold, the first counselor in my ward both work for a tour company, New Milestone (which if anyone comes to Mongolia they should book tours through them because they're amazing and super reliable). They were taking a day trip to some of the popular tourist sites outside of Ulaanbaatar and taking some of their summer tour guides (pretty much all English speaking returned missionaries) to see the sites so they know what they're talking about when they lead tours. They invited me along mainly because they're really nice but I like to think that maybe I was the practice tourist. Along for the trip was my Bishop, Brother Ganbold, Flower (my friend who served her mission in Arizona), Muugii (who served her mission in France), Marta (who served her mission in the Czech Republic), Tamir (who served his mission in Washington DC), Khisgee (who also served his mission in Washington DC), Nandia (who hasn't served a mission which made me feel a little better but who speaks excellent English), and me. First we went to the giant Chinggis Khaan statue, where we incidentally ran into some of the senior missionary couples who were doing their own sight-seeing that day. Then we went to 13th century, a replica of these ger stations that stood during the 13th century in Mongolia. Apparently they were used as horse changing stations. Lastly we went to Terelj National Park which was beautiful. We did a little hike and saw a few of the sites and it was awesome.

The whole day was phenomenal. I had a great time hanging out and getting to know some of the other YSAs. They were really funny and I haven't heard so much laughter in a car since coming to Mongolia. I love that I can feel totally comfortable and accepted with a group of people that I either just met or didn't know very well. Plus everyone spoke English so it was a stress free day for me.

I'm super grateful that I was invited and got to go.

Chinggis Khan Statue

It was really fun to run into the senior missionaries.

Muugii, Flower, me, and Marta in front of the massive statue.

Muugii and I in front of the 13th century replica.

Inside the center ger they head armor and weapons you could try on.

Beautiful countryside

There were lots of tourists at all the places we stopped. All the school children liked to yell "Hello" to me wherever we were.

We passed lots of livestock throughout the day, here are some horses.

Terelj National Park

Marta and I at lunch.

Some of us going on our little hike.

Muugii, Tamir, Nandia, me, and Marta: I think maybe we were supposed to pose but I missed the memo.

I was so happy that the countryside had started to turn green. Apparently it will be even more beautiful in a few weeks.

Khisgee, Nandia, and Tamir on top of a rock.

One of the ger camps that you can stay at where we had lunch.

Brother Ganbold, Flower, me, and the Bishop.

Turtle rock: it totally looks like a turtle, trust me.

I liked it so much that I consented to having my picture taken in front of it.

This is the 1000 cave (not totally clear on the name), but apparently during the 1930s when the communists were killing religious leaders and intellectuals 1000 monks hid in this cave and survived.

Me, Marta, and Tamir climbing up to the cave.

Khisgee and Tamir squeezing into the cave.

It was kind of cramped and dark in there.

Nandia, the Bishop, and me.

The crew in the back.