From Mongolia with love

We got an early Christmas present from Mongolia! Andy was able to go in with some other Elders and send a crate of items from Mongolia. The crate was delivered to the business of one of the Elder's parents and all the other parents went to the business to pick up the stuff their Elder sent home. Many thanks to Trace & Mary Ann for helping us get the Mongolia rug picked up from the business in Odgen. Andy asked me in August if I wanted a Mongolian wool rug, and of course I said yes. We sent him some extra $$ and he was able to get a few things for an incredible price. Along with the rug, he send home his two authentic Mongolian robes, belt, hat and boots. He sent pictures of him wearing these robes last year. Now they are here in our house, along with three suits he had custom tailored to fit his long, lean body - each for $50! He used his birthday money to get the suits and he sent them home to wear when he gets back to the states. He also sent his daily missionary planners from the last year and a half. It is so interesting to see his daily schedule and his writing in Mongolian. It looks pretty intense as a language since they use the Cyrillic alphabet. It's evident that he has been a hard working missionary.
He also sent me a Mongolian creche. Wow, I'm so happy about that. This set is hand carved and the faces look like traditional Mongolian people. The animals include a yak and two hump camels. It's so, so wonderful! I collect international creche displays and now I have one from each of the countries where our children served missions. Some day I would love to get one from Argentina where I served a mission. I cried some tears over this whole delivery. It makes he think of Andy and how much I miss him. Only 4 more months!!! His good service makes me just burst with pride for the work he has done in Mongolia and how he has embraced the people, the country and the culture. I think he'll come back at least half Mongolian.
His dear friend Taylor R. finished his mission last week and he came over to visit us with Ronnie, another great friend of Andy's. Taylor is such a great young man. We've know him since he was in grade school with Andy. We've become great friends with his parents and we enjoy that association very much. Taylor has grown and matured and he will report his mission on Sunday. We look forward to attending. Andy baptized Ronnie about a month before he left on his mission and then Ron headed to CA to music school. He is back now and it was so good to see him and Taylor. We've stayed in touch with these great young men over the past two years and we were so excited to see them and to celebrate their successes with them. Andy's friend McKay also recently got back from a 14 month tour in Afghanistan. He joined the Marines after high school and he has been serving our country for the past two years. He came over to visit us as well. We just love to see these great young men growing up, making good choices and getting on with life.