Monday, April 25, 2016
WOW
We went to the biggest yard sale on the planet yesterday. It's called
the black market and there are hundreds of small shops. Here are a few
pictures. We also went to Zuunkharaa to discuss a well/water station
building and deliver gardening supplies. We traveled in a car with the
mission president and then because he was going on to Selenge we took
the train back to UB. It was delightful. I could ride the train all
over Mongolia. It is very inexpensive and you get off the beaten track
and see more of the countryside. It is starting to green up, grass
emerging, trees budding, and sheep, goats, cows, yaks, camels, and
horses having their babies. We saw several newly born colts along with
lambs and baby goats. There are only 2 or 3 paved roads after you leave
UB and the dirt roads are mostly unimproved so it is just a trail from
town to town. We had a good week and got lots done.
Monday, April 18, 2016
Hi
This week an incredible event took place on Friday. Grandpa
was assigned to go to Murun to a branch conference. He could
make 5 humanitarian visits along the way, help a little with seminary
and institute, and deliver garden seeds. Grandma stayed in UB to
administer a Michigan (English) test on Saturday. Well, here's
what happened to Grandpa.
We left for Murun Friday morning at 6 am. There were a few snow flurries as we left, but within 30 minutes we were in a blizzard. Snow was pilling up, about 4 inches and the wind was howling 50 miles an hour. It took two hours to go what it usually takes one hour. It usually takes 3 hours to Darkhan, but after 3 hours and 1/4 of the way there, we finally gave up and went back to a road side cafe. The snowy slick road is very difficult but the white-out conditions make it impossible. There were about 50 cars and over 100 people at the cafe. After a couple hours wait it looked like the storm was letting up, so off we went with a few other cars to try again. As we slowly made our way we would come across a stuck car, some of which we helped, but many were too stuck and we could not pull them out. We finally made it almost to the top of the pass, a small pass like Sardine going to Logan, and found the road blocked with cars and trucks stuck or slid off the road. A few drivers with SUV's pulled enough cars out, the easy ones, to unplug the road, so we went on, only to find ourselves stuck in a snow drift a few minutes later. An SUV tried to pull us out, but no hope. We sat there and along came a Russian 6 Wheel drive army transport from Darkhan, and since we had our tow strap connected they pulled us out, and it only took 2 minutes. We then continued up and over the pass and saw that the road had completely drifted closed with over 50 cars and trucks stuck in the road or had slid off. It seemed that the army truck had not helped anyone else and could not have even come up the road. We pulled over on a wind swept hill and waited and discussed and prayed. We had done this numerous time already. It was always the same discussion, no one wanted to go back the way we came, which was awful. Pres Bayarjov was from Darkhan and wanted to continue, and our destination was still in front of us 10 hours away from UB in good conditions. We had given up, the way seemed impossible now. As we stopped, we visited with a few others, most had been there all day and all night. These people were really stuck. All of a sudden a Land Cruiser like ours came from behind us. They had came from Darkhan, and as we talked with them and told them how bad things were they said, "we are going back to Darkhan." We said, "the road is totally drifted in," not thinking how they got to us. They then said, "we know the way back if you want to come follow us." So off we went with a few others following. No road now, we were off to the right of the road a couple hundred yards. We meandered along about three miles like this. We saw over 100 cars and trucks stuck, blocking the road. Finally we dropped back onto the road, and there were seven SUV's now. No one else made it. The road was still a mess but we were moving forward. We finally came to a small town and the police had blocked the road and there were some emergency relief people starting to make their way to help those stranded. No snow plows, no graders, no loaders, no snowmobiles, but they did have blankets, food, and water. We kept going, finally arriving in Darkhan after 11 hours. We then drove on two more hours to Erdenet to stay in a motel, and then left the next morning at 4:30 am and arrived in Murun, just before our first meeting at 9:30 am.
As I think back it was amazing to us. We had prayed several times along the way and we always felt we should wait a little and then keep going. What if the army truck had not come along, and also the 4 Mongolian's from Darkhan that knew a way. We just kept feeling like God wanted us to keep going and things just kept working out so that we could. As far as we could tell the seven vehicles were the only ones that made it to Darkhan. It was like heaven had sent us help at just the right moments when help was needed. We could have easily spent a couple of nights and a day or two stranded, stuck in a snow bank, just like the other 200 cars/trucks we saw and passed. We had some wonderful meetings in Murun. A 2 hour auxiliary training, 1 ½ hour seminary teacher training, 3 different meetings with the banch presidency. I taught YM/YW and Pres. Bayarjavu taught SS, also sacrament and the clerks had training and an audit.
Monday-Our return trip was uneventful. Roads were mostly clean. When we went over the Darkhan to UB pass, we stopped at a little cafe to eat and asked, “When did they open the road?” “Saturday night.” That means most of the stranded people spent 2 days and one night stuck and stranded. But some had spent 2 days and 2 nights. It could have been us. We asked how many cars were stranded, “Lots, and lots, we have no way to know but it was lots.” Glad to be safe and back in UB.
We left for Murun Friday morning at 6 am. There were a few snow flurries as we left, but within 30 minutes we were in a blizzard. Snow was pilling up, about 4 inches and the wind was howling 50 miles an hour. It took two hours to go what it usually takes one hour. It usually takes 3 hours to Darkhan, but after 3 hours and 1/4 of the way there, we finally gave up and went back to a road side cafe. The snowy slick road is very difficult but the white-out conditions make it impossible. There were about 50 cars and over 100 people at the cafe. After a couple hours wait it looked like the storm was letting up, so off we went with a few other cars to try again. As we slowly made our way we would come across a stuck car, some of which we helped, but many were too stuck and we could not pull them out. We finally made it almost to the top of the pass, a small pass like Sardine going to Logan, and found the road blocked with cars and trucks stuck or slid off the road. A few drivers with SUV's pulled enough cars out, the easy ones, to unplug the road, so we went on, only to find ourselves stuck in a snow drift a few minutes later. An SUV tried to pull us out, but no hope. We sat there and along came a Russian 6 Wheel drive army transport from Darkhan, and since we had our tow strap connected they pulled us out, and it only took 2 minutes. We then continued up and over the pass and saw that the road had completely drifted closed with over 50 cars and trucks stuck in the road or had slid off. It seemed that the army truck had not helped anyone else and could not have even come up the road. We pulled over on a wind swept hill and waited and discussed and prayed. We had done this numerous time already. It was always the same discussion, no one wanted to go back the way we came, which was awful. Pres Bayarjov was from Darkhan and wanted to continue, and our destination was still in front of us 10 hours away from UB in good conditions. We had given up, the way seemed impossible now. As we stopped, we visited with a few others, most had been there all day and all night. These people were really stuck. All of a sudden a Land Cruiser like ours came from behind us. They had came from Darkhan, and as we talked with them and told them how bad things were they said, "we are going back to Darkhan." We said, "the road is totally drifted in," not thinking how they got to us. They then said, "we know the way back if you want to come follow us." So off we went with a few others following. No road now, we were off to the right of the road a couple hundred yards. We meandered along about three miles like this. We saw over 100 cars and trucks stuck, blocking the road. Finally we dropped back onto the road, and there were seven SUV's now. No one else made it. The road was still a mess but we were moving forward. We finally came to a small town and the police had blocked the road and there were some emergency relief people starting to make their way to help those stranded. No snow plows, no graders, no loaders, no snowmobiles, but they did have blankets, food, and water. We kept going, finally arriving in Darkhan after 11 hours. We then drove on two more hours to Erdenet to stay in a motel, and then left the next morning at 4:30 am and arrived in Murun, just before our first meeting at 9:30 am.
As I think back it was amazing to us. We had prayed several times along the way and we always felt we should wait a little and then keep going. What if the army truck had not come along, and also the 4 Mongolian's from Darkhan that knew a way. We just kept feeling like God wanted us to keep going and things just kept working out so that we could. As far as we could tell the seven vehicles were the only ones that made it to Darkhan. It was like heaven had sent us help at just the right moments when help was needed. We could have easily spent a couple of nights and a day or two stranded, stuck in a snow bank, just like the other 200 cars/trucks we saw and passed. We had some wonderful meetings in Murun. A 2 hour auxiliary training, 1 ½ hour seminary teacher training, 3 different meetings with the banch presidency. I taught YM/YW and Pres. Bayarjavu taught SS, also sacrament and the clerks had training and an audit.
Monday-Our return trip was uneventful. Roads were mostly clean. When we went over the Darkhan to UB pass, we stopped at a little cafe to eat and asked, “When did they open the road?” “Saturday night.” That means most of the stranded people spent 2 days and one night stuck and stranded. But some had spent 2 days and 2 nights. It could have been us. We asked how many cars were stranded, “Lots, and lots, we have no way to know but it was lots.” Glad to be safe and back in UB.
Saturday, April 2, 2016
Spring Time
Spring
here is just like February there: Cold, windy, warmer, then cold and
windy -but it isn't 10-20 below anymore. We have about 150 families
that will be participating in gardening projects with us this year. The
goal is to help them get started, so they can save some money, provide
better nutrition and become more self-reliant. And then, they will help
others do the same next year! They grow tomatoes and cucumbers in small
greenhouses. Outside they mainly grow potatoes, beets, onions,
radishes, turnips, cabbage, and carrots. A few try lettuce, spinach,
cauliflower, broccoli, squash and peppers, but NO CORN. About half of
the families, that will try gardening this year with DIC, will have to
haul their water in a water cart. We are trying to give them some new
ideas that will work in their climate, save water, and be affordable.
Gardening is mainly what we worked on this week.
We
also do some English teaching and training, some public affairs, and
some education preparation--we administer a test for mostly young people
who are interested in going to BYUH, and of course our main assignment
is Humanitarian Projects. We have 8 projects that are somewhere in the
process. Either getting approved, in process, or ready to close. They
range from water projects, to school books, to bathroom facilities for
kindergartens, handicapped services, eye care, and equipment for
hospitals. We are very busy and the time is flying by for us.
We had Zone Conference today, Saturday. It was very good but a long sit -9 am to 5 pm.
We did have some stand up breaks, though:) The young missionaries are
amazing--they seem to learn the language pretty fast. They can't
proselyte so they need to depend on the members for referrals, etc. They
do get some referrals from the English classes they teach.
We
won't get to watch General Conference until next week and we're pretty
sad about that. It doesn't work out with the time difference. We'll be
thinking about you watching/listening:) It would be great if you'd
let us know what talks you especially learned from and then we can
prepare ourselves to listen carefully to those.
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