In summer...

his week we went on a Mongolian cook out.  Much like what we would do in Utah, except they cooked all the food in an old milk can.  They filled the can up with chunks of meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, seasoning, and some water. While they were preparing the food the fire had some soft ball size rocks in it getting hot.  They then put the blackened hot rocks into the can with the food and sealed it up (it had a gasket) and put it on the fire.  It wasn't long and steam was coming out of the can around the lid.  After an hour, they took the can off the fire and someone stood on the top of the can to hold the lid down while they released the pressure.  It was like a huge pressure cooker.  The food was very good.  We were really glad that the can did not explode or the guy on the top of the can was not airborne.  While we were out in the country-side having our cookout we heard a den of wolves yapping.  We are sure it was wolves because they do not have coyotes in Mongolia.

We prepared and signed two contracts this week for 4 water stations that will provide water for 2400 people in Choibalsan.  We also are in charge of 12 teams of missionaries working on English this summer while school is out.  They are: 

Teaching Mongolian English teachers

Up-grading our digital English lessons with activities, vocabulary, songs, etc

Testing the new lessons in our church English classes

We get a new mission president this next week.

Oh, and it rained really hard this last week for a couple of days.  The roads all had large puddles or ponds of water.  We have attached some pictures.

We are doing very good,

Love, Grandpa & Grandma

pictures:

puddle:)

teaching kids to whistle

releasing the steam

pot

scenery

lunch:)

Interesting to say the least

We went to the Middle-Gobi Desert this week to investigate a well.  The Gobi is the third largest desert in the world behind Sahara and the Arabian.  The landscape was much like Wyoming, high desert rolling hills and plains without trees, and lots of wind.  They tell us it gets a lot drier and more sandy as you go farther South toward China.  We learned about how they live without refrigerators.  They butcher an animal and use part of it for food and they cut the rest up in small pieces and put it on top of their geirs to dry. They then sack it up and use it to make soup later in the year.  We had some soup at a geir.  They put some dried meat in boiling water along with noodles and a little onion.  It tasted pretty good except the meat was rather tough.  We asked,  "How often do you eat this dish?"  Response, "At least once a day, everyday all year."  Also we learned about their geirs (yurts).  It take 3 people 1 hour to take down and pack up their geir.  Three camels will haul a geir to a new location.  It then takes 2 hours to put their geir back up.  A geir costs about $1000.00.  Many of their geirs will last 20-30 years if they are taken care of.  A geir is usually about 15 feet in diameter and 6-7 feet high on the perimeter sloping to 9-10 feet in the middle.  The door has a door frame with a door opening 3 feet by 5 feet. We are attaching some pictures.  We have been in lots of geirs now. They burn coal in their stoves in the winter to keep warm and they burn dung in their stoves to cook with in the summer, so we ate Dung cooked Dried Meat Soup! Oh,  and we saw someone selling milk on the street this week.  They had 5 gallons of milk and would pour out some into a plastic bag for someone to buy.  We think it was horse milk.  Things are interesting to say the least.  

God helps us everyday to do our work.  We are having a constant flow of little miracles

Very Busy

We did three interesting things this week.  Saturday was no car day in Ulaanbaatar. The day started out with a 5 K run--we think about 20,000 people were running--old, young and in between--quite a sight! It was a really fun day.  No cars, no traffic, and the streets were full of people playing, riding their bikes, walking, running, skate boarding or roller blading.  It went on all day--it really was a sight to see and so nice to have no congestion and families having a great time.  

Also, we helped a lady haul water to her home.  The water station is 1/4 of a mile away, up hill.  We each pulled a cart, with different size water containers, up to the station and back 5 times. We hauled 130 gallons of water.  She will use the water for her geir and for her garden. She usually does this 4 times a week, in the summer, and she makes 6 trips each time.  We were give out after 3 trips.  

On Monday we drove to Choibalsan to meet with the Mayor, the Province Governor, and the contractor on a well/water station DIC is building. We saw lots of horses on our 18 hour round trip.  We loved seeing so many baby horses--they were everywhere.  We are doing fine.  Very busy.