My dad’s travel journal part 14

Tuesday, August 31, 2010:
Our last day! Elijah’s 6th birthday!. The high temperature today is to be 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees, the way I understand it). Seven AM found us up and beginning to pack for the trip home. Actually, it was Elijah who got us up today. After a breakfast of pancakes, we had a mini-birthday affair for him. He opened all of his smaller gifts first: a ball glove, Army set, video games, clothes, a knight set, various medieval figurines, etc. Then, we took him to the bedroom and unveiled the castle (we had a sheet over it to keep it secret). He was quite surprised, but I think maybe he had been expecting to receive a computer. Not sure if I’m to blame for that. In trying to build up excitement, and yet deceive him, I may have led him down that path. We had brought an old laptop to Chris & Tiff…and I thought it was going to be for his use. It may yet serve that purpose. We moved the castle to the dining room table, so that he could get to it from three sides and begin to play with it. Space is an issue in the apartment, so finding a permanent home for it, while do-able, would be challenging. Leaving him to be entertained by his new gifts, Carol & I headed back to the bedroom to resume preparations for our trip home. Around 11:30 AM, we all left the boys with Tseggie (the helper), and went to the two Sora stores. We bought candy & pastries to share with friends back in the U.S., treats for Chris, Tiff, and the boys (including a $7 box of Fruit Loops, juice packets, pudding, and birthday noisemakers), Dr. Pepper for Carol, etc. We got back to the apt. about 12:30 and watched part of a ceremony at a school, off in the distance. I kept hearing a loudspeaker, so looked out the window and saw people performing (dance, marching, etc) in front of a school. Chris went to get the microbus from Pastor Otgonbayar, so that he would have it to take us to the airport. When he returned from that venture, we all loaded up and headed for Elijah’s favorite restaurant, B.B.Q. Chicken,…or something like that. The abbreviation does not stand for barbeque, as we would expect. It stands for “Best Believable Quality”.
They feature chicken…we had a 20-piece chicken strip meal. It came with salad, potatoes, turnip-like items, and then tall ice-cream cones. Elijah had his favorite, a “cold pop chicken”. I think I could sell a million of them in the U.S. It is a paper cup with the lower half filled with Coke. The upper half has another paper cup inside it, and contains chicken nuggets. A straw sneaks down the side of the top cup and dispenses drink from below. Pretty cool! We had some time left after lunch (it was 2 PM), so we went to a department store to look around and for Tiff to purchase sewing bobbins. We had taken her sewing machine to her, but failed to bring the bobbins. Downstairs, we went to a supermarket and purchased two large cases of bottled water. We then drove to Ewen & Pia Kiddo’s high-rise apartment, and played/relaxed in a park as the people invited to Elijah’s party,…gathered. We had met Ewen at church, but were now meeting Pia for the first time. We had met Sarah Meckler at church,…met Chris today. Chris sometimes performs as a clown and he does balloon art. He had created an awesome Superman from red & blue balloons. I think Elijah was pretty impressed by that,…as were we all. We also met a lady named Ruth. Her husband is Mongolian; she is German. Another couple arrived in their new (used) Land Rover. He was Josh, and hailed from Hutchinson, KS. His wife was Mongolian. When he & she married, neither could speak the other person’s language. Not sure how that worked, but apparently it did. Soon after marrying, they went to India as missionaries. Wow! They are back in Mongolia now, doing missionary work, and trying to find ways to wean themselves from the financial resources in the U.S. For 9 years, they have tried various business plans in an effort to make the Mongolian church self-supporting. He said that they might make a tiny profit, for the first time, this year. They tried exporting leather, selling cashmere, etc. At one point, a supplier ripped them off and they lost a large sum of their money. Now, they supply an industrial use oil to construction companies. I am amazed at the resourcefulness of these people. Each missionary (from different faith groups) attempt to spread the Gospel in many different ways. At one point in the day, I was having a conversation with Chris Meckler about the Ulaanbaatar traffic.
He told me that about 8 years before, a man had run for Police Chief of UB, and that he had promised to make changes that would improve the terrible traffic conditions at that time. Apparently, people believed him, and wanted change, so he was elected. He put a police officer at almost every major intersection, even at -40 degrees temperatures. It worked (though it’s hard for an American to see the improvement). People will now stop if a cop signals them to do so, because if you don’t and they catch you, it will be a difficult chore to get your impounded car back. Eventually, everyone had gathered for the party, so we loaded into 2 vehicles and headed for the river…at a location not far from the Zaison WWII memorial, which we had visited earlier. This location is often the destination for “play dates” for 13 missionary kids. Their moms get together to visit and to allow the kids to have “friends” from their own cultural setting. On the way to the river, we passed the new children’s amusement park, in the city. It has been under construction for many months. The missionaries were getting antsy for it to open. Some thought that they might be leaving before getting to visit it. We had seen people on the rides the day before…a trial run for the park, before opening day. This caused a degree of excitement among all of them. Later, we read a blog of Chris’s about going to it during the Grand Opening days. It was a huge mistake…because of the crowds. They have nothing like it in Mongolia, so it will be very popular among those who can afford its pleasures. Traffic was a bit heavy as we neared the river. At one point, we were so close to the car beside us that our mirror struck theirs. Their mirror just folded in, and both cars proceeded on down the road. At the river, we climbed down a very steep bank at the edge of the roadway, and then spread blankets on some open land nearby. The water was around 40 degrees, but the children were wading in it within minutes. One little girl was buck-naked, except for a hat (a decision made by the Swiss lady missionary). Actually, I think her mom had left, and this lady was watching her. She didn’t have other clothes along, so this was a solution. One couple asked the others to watch their child, as they had not had a “date” for a long time. This was an opportunity for them to go into the city and have some time alone together. About 3:30, I tired of watching the kids, and decided to give in to the urge to climb a nearby mountain. Within a few minutes, my heart was pumping strongly enough that I could feel it in my chest. I looked down on the party below and saw Chris heading to the vehicle to get Elijah’s birthday dessert, so I abandoned the idea of making it to the peak, and headed back down. Tiff had baked three large sheets of oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies and had cut them into squares. Then she stacked them all into a large pyramid, and put decorations all over it. Pretty impressive dessert! When I got down to the riverbank, I saw that the children were gathered around Elijah, and he was opening gifts from them. We gave out noisemakers and tiny cans of fizz-candy, and prepared for the cake portion of the affair. It was breezy, and Chris had a really tough time getting 6 candles all lighted at the same time. Joel, who recently had his 2nd birthday, was practiced up on blowing out candles, so what the natural wind didn’t extinguish…Joel did. Eventually, he was removed (by Grandma Carol), the candles were re-lighted, we sang, and Elijah quickly blew the little flames out. Everyone got bottled water and we began devouring the cookie pyramid. Some of the young boys decided that they wanted to climb a different mountain (down the road 1/4 mile), and had already set out for it. Chris & I decided that some supervision was in order, so quickly headed down the road after them. They had some ambitious plans, and I tried to modify them without being a total spoil-sport. Eventually, they tired of the climb…and we all headed back. Around 5:30 PM, we returned to the river, and all prepared to head home. Just before departing, a big herd of goats came scrambling down the steep rock face of the mountain beside us. They went to the river, and got a drink and then headed back up. One poor goat didn’t think he/she could make the trip down, so remained on the mountaintop…probably quite thirsty. A couple of us were bemoaning the fact that we didn’t have our cameras ready. It was a once-in-a-lifetime sight! After dropping off some of our passengers, we headed back home…arriving there around 6:00 PM. Tiff had roast, potatoes, carrots, etc for our final dinner together. After cleaning up a bit, and completing our packing, we headed for the hallway and began to say our goodbyes. I’m tearing up now, as I type these notes (men hate to admit to that). It was a bit emotional. Elijah had to flee to the bathroom. We had bonded…more than ever before. The boys had learned to love us, and we felt closer to the entire family than we had in some time. We were leaving our “kids” on the other side of the world. But…we know that they are gifted for the task that they are attempting, and we know that the God, who controls everything in the Universe, has them in His hand. They are where they ought to be! So…we quickly gave hugs and said goodbye, and hurried out the door and down the stairs. Chris drove us through the dusk…toward UBs Chingghis Khan International Airport….arriving there at 9:30 PM. He helped us unload and told us goodbye. We went inside and were immediately greeted by 3 Mongolian men, who wanted to shrink-wrap our suitcases (for a 12,000 tugrik fee). Chris had told us that it would happen, so we allowed it…wondering at the time what would happen if customs needed to inspect them. We checked in at the Korean Airlines desk, gave them our luggage, and went exploring. We could not find any signs that indicated our departure gate, but found one waiting area that looked promising. There were several gift shops, and we had kept out enough Mongolian currency to be able to get some last-minute souvenirs. After making some purchases, we went back to our seats. I did some more journaling. At 10:40 PM, boarding began. Departure was to be at 11:10 PM, but we taxied for what seemed to be 15 minutes. By 11:25, we were lifting off the runway and heading for the Korea. I watched the lights of Ulaanbaatar, saw the 3/4 moon pass our wingtip, and began to pray for the family we were leaving behind…their task…to spread the message of salvation…to introduce Jesus to a land that has long forgotten God. I am now catching up on my journal notes for today as we speed through the skies. I have questioned Carol about our time schedule, and still find it puzzling. Here’s why: We left on August 31st at 11:10 PM (Mongolia time). In a few minutes, it will be Sept. 1st (Mongolia time). We will arrive in Seoul, Korea around 3 AM, but will have gained an hour (so, it will be 4 AM in Mongolia). Around 11:30 AM (Korea time), we will head East…toward the U.S. Somewhere along the way, we’ll cross the International Date Line, which will make it the day before. But, we’ll be in the air so long that we won’t be home until the next day…which may or may not be…the day we left ??? I guess that maybe the airplane pilot, on one of the legs of the flight; will let me know where I’m at, and what time it is….they usually do. As long as we get there…who cares? Without their guidance, this journal becomes “out of whack”.
I am jotting notes now, at 11:50 Pm and we have received our headphones and some orange juice. We are supposed to get dinner soon after midnight. Go figure!
……Okay, it happened! I had seafood (whitefish, shrimp, and maybe squid)). The latter was really chewy…nothing to write home about. Carol had some (tough) beef. I am miserable…was bloated when trip started, and this meal was not the solution to that problem. I have already mentioned the amenities in the Korean Airlines bathrooms, so won’t reiterate them here, but a trip to one of them allowed me to come up with a razor, so I could get a shave during our long layover in Seoul. Tried to read a mystery book that I had brought along, but got sleepy and they turned off most of the lights. Had some restless sleep until 3:05 AM. As I resume my note taking, we are over water, just outside of the Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea. Now…our wheels are being lowered. We are only 3 minutes from touchdown. Looking outside, we can see that the ground is wet…rain has been falling. Our landing is flawless. You try hitting wet pavement at 200 mph. I am grateful for an experienced pilot. I put my notebook away as we taxi to the terminal.
Hours later,…we walked the darkened hallways of this great airport for a little while, not immediately finding the traveler’s lounge that we had seen before. Finally, Carol got us straightened out. We needed to find Asiana Airlines lounge, not KAL. There was a girl on duty at a 24-hour information booth, so I left my boarding pass with her and got a locker key. We left our carry-on luggage, and then went upstairs. A number of people were sleeping in the lounge, but we found two side-by-side reclining chairs and lay across them. Both of us slept soundly for 2-3 hours. The airport had begun to get busy by 7 AM, so we got up and faced the day, though our night had been kind of messy. We were somewhat rested. We had fruit smoothies for breakfast, and then, went to a “cultural experience”. They provided us with fans, paint, and some design samples. It was way tougher than we had imagined, so we spent the better part of an hour painting away. Next, we re-claimed our luggage from the lockers and my boarding pass from the info. booth. We had some left-over kwon (Korean currency), so we did some shopping for souvenirs.
Bought some milk chocolate candy with orange centers and a set of souvenir pens with little Korean people on them. By then, it was time to get to our departure gate for a 10:30 AM (Wed…Sept 1st) flight. Security was a bit tighter, now that we were headed for the U.S. Carol lost a sealed cup of water that we had saved from the prior flight. We sat in row 37 of this huge 747…right over the wings. I kind of dozed off while awaiting take-off. After about 30 minutes, I awakened to find that we still weren’t moving. Carol said that we were waiting for other planes to land. As we finally began our take-off, our plane shuddered and shook terribly,…as if we were driving over a highway rumble-strip. Since we were off the ground; that was an unlikely reason. Although worrisome for a bit, the plane soon smoothed out, and we were on our way home. I looked at my watch, and it said that it was 11:36 AM, but I think my watch is already off by an hour. As I am writing, we appear to be over the ocean. They have given us our slippers, toothbrush set, headphones, etc. (found blankets & pillows in our seats as we entered). Carol is seated next to a very slim, young Korean man, so not at all crowded. I note that she is having her devotions. Not sure when I wrote the next part, but my journal says, “…a long, grueling flight has now been going on forever”. Almost everyone turns out their lights, shuts their window shades, and naps. I don’t like shutting out the sun. I attempted to watch numerous movies, but slept through most of them. They fed us a couple of times…fish, beef, etc. We had honey-roasted peanuts (tasty) and another snack that was like a rice Cheeto. Strange!
I have now decided to change my watch to the current time in Atlanta, Georgia, so I have no idea what day or time it really is here. A cabinet attendant just brought us hot towels, so food must be coming again. The sky map shows us still over the ocean, west of Alaska. I noticed a while ago that we were up to 710 mph. At one point, I noted that we had a tailwind of 149 mph. That helps! I made some notes in the margins of my notebook…not sure when. One says that we are 7,860 miles from Atlanta. Another says that we are going northeast, up past Vladivostok, Russia. At one point, I noted that we were at 22,365 feet in altitude. While awaiting the pending meal, I decided to work on the U.S. Customs form that had been provided to us. It is now 6 PM in Atlanta, by my watch, …so it must be around 3 PM where we are now. Okay…I stand corrected…by my wife….maybe! We left at noon, from Seoul. So, there was daylight for several hours. However, the day/night map shows that at the date-line, it changes (maybe). It shows dark on one side and light on the other, but I can’t believe that there is anywhere on earth where that actually happens. Anyhow, based upon the fact that I’m sure it’s currently 7 AM in Atlanta, it must be 3 AM here. (Do you sense the confusion)? Enough of that nonsense! We had chicken/rice and beef/noodles for our meal. Mine had a hot sauce that you squeeze from a toothpaste tube. It wasn’t exceptionally good, but not horrible. Our seatmate just got up and went to the bathroom for the first time in 10 hours. We watched a few more short features on our little TV. Carol became ill. She was chilling and having pain in her neck. That is of concern when you are in the air, but at least we were now over the U.S., and could probably do an emergency landing, if necessary. We watched as we passed Kansas & Missouri on our way to the Deep South….DUMB! That’s what they do though, when they can save money by flying in to their own “hub”…in this case Delta Airlines. Now, we are 36 minutes from landing. I’m hoping that we can make it home without a side-trip to the hospital.
At 1:07 PM, we are sitting in a Delta Airlines MD88, in Atlanta…listening to a high-pitched squeal. This airplane is nothing like the ones we were on earlier. We should be airborne soon, on a 1 hour 37 minute trip to Kansas City, Missouri. However, let me go back in time for a brief moment. We arrived at the Hartfell Jackson Airport, in Atlanta, and had about a 1 1/2 hour layover for our connecting flight. As we were arriving, I was amazed to see a Delta plane leaving about every minute or so. A whole line of them was waiting to take off. Entering the airport, we lined up at immigration, to have our passport stamped. Then, we went down to get our luggage. That ate up most of a half hour. Then, it was off to the Customs area. One of the questions on our form was a query about whether we had been on any land that had livestock. In Mongolia, that’s most of the country. So…while our luggage was going through x-ray, a man took us to a basin, over which we held our feet, while he sprayed disinfectant on our shoes. We did not tell him that our suitcase contained the shoes that I’d worn 90 % of my Mongolian stay. No way did I want him detaining us in order to cut open the shrink-wrap and spray those shoes.
While the customs man was thus employed, he wasn’t watching his equipment, something he normally would have been doing. One of our suitcases stood up on the conveyor belt and became jammed in the tunnel. It stopped the machine, and was so jammed that we had to kick it to get it loose. In the process, it damaged the suitcase so badly that we discarded it when we got home. I didn’t make an issue of it there. What? Sue U.S. Customs? It was a suitcase that an airline had damaged on a prior trip, so I just considered it to have lived its life. Next, it was time to go through a security check. Whereas, the customs employee had been friendly, and had asked about our trip,…these people were a bit more serious. They didn’t joke around, but treated us okay. The lady had hollered at enough people, so I knew what she wanted…and did my best to make her happy. Because of the new body scanning equipment, we had to take off our shoes, belt, every item (even paper) from our pockets, etc. You’d think maybe that such sophisticated machinery would eliminate the need for some of that. Who wants to argue with them…just get me home! After clearing security, it was time to catch a train that would take us to Concourse C. (Keep in mind that we only have 1 1/2 hour layover). In Concourse C, we are surrounded by American-style food vendors. There was 15 minutes until boarding time, so we hurried to a Checker’s burger booth. We split a cheeseburger and fries and purchased that all-important, MR. PIBB! Now, Carol was in heaven! We hurried to Gate 9 and were on the plane about 10 minutes later.
As I continue to take notes, we are taxiing down the runway and headed for home, sweet home. I looked to see if maybe I could call Chris, and tell him that we’ve made it, but it is 3 AM in Mongolia. Carol had turned on her cell phone and found 3 messages (two were political ads…welcome to America). Delta’s in-flight magazine seemed to indicate that they had abandoned “free” snacks, but after a bit, they served us pretzels, peanuts, or cookies,…and a beverage. I looked around and began “profiling” people. There was a guy sitting nearby that looked a bit “Arabic”. He took out a laptop computer and started flipping through pages of a document. They had captions that indicated something about IBM security, and they had tiny pictures of the Twin Towers. I conjectured that he was actually studying something that had to do with his job, rather than posing a danger to us. He seemed harmless enough. During our uneventful flight to Kansas City, we stayed low enough in altitude to see the ground most of the time. Around 2:45 PM, our pilot announced that we were descending to KC International Airport.
As so often happens, my journal notes ended there. It is now over a month after our trip, and I am realizing that I’ll have to reconstruct, in my mind, any other portion of the trip that I want to report on. There is actually little to tell, but we did land safely, retrieved our luggage, called the hotel shuttle, and went to the island in front of the terminal, to await our ride. Within half an hour, we were at our car and headed for Overland Park. We stopped for a cheeseburger and a large drink. It was time to attack piles of laundry, a stack of mail, unpaid bills….and of course…return to work! We weren’t expecting jetlag to be an issue, as it hadn’t plagued us too much on our outward trip. Boy, were we wrong. We got up at 2 AM one morning. I think we were messed up for about 3 days. We passed out souvenirs, printed several hundred photos, and procrastinated at getting this thing (journal) printed. Time has passed. I’ve finally bitten the bullet and this is done. Those of you who thought it would never end…it did. We have had one more opportunity to see a portion of God’s great world…and we are thankful!
THE END!
(For those of you who have been reading this in email form…thanks for your interest…and your comments. It has been gratifying to know that you have found this account to be interesting enough to be worthy of your time. Sorry for the bad grammar. Yes,…I know that I used fragments, split infinitives, various incorrect voices, and tenses. Spell-check informed me of that. If I was really going to be a published travel-writer, I’d have to work on that. Should you like to see our pictures…come see us sometime. We’d love to have you do that. It only took me a month to do the journal, so it will probably only take a year for me to complete the scrapbook. However, I have scrapbooks waiting to be finished…from decades ago…so who can tell? Seriously though, the pics are here. Love to share them with you. If you truly enjoyed the journal….send money…and I’ll go on another trip (smile).
RWS

The story of Jonah

http://player.vimeo.com/video/16404771

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.

My dad’s travel journal part 13

Monday, August 30:
7:00 AM…beautiful sun…as always…birds chirping, but very brisk air coming in the window as I open it. Could be in the low 40’s still, not sure. Smoke is rolling out of several smokestacks as I look out across the city from my fifth floor window. Ulaanbaatar has a smog problem. Gers often heat with coal, burn about 5 tons per year…per family (if I said 2.6 earlier in this journal, I was confused). Government officials are encouraging newer methods of heating. We are down to just two days of vacation left now. I have mixed feelings about that. I want to give Chris &Tiff their bed back and let them resume their normal lives. School will start for them the day after we leave. They will also have to begin home schooling Elijah that day. Busy…busy! But, we will miss them and the boys as another one and one-half years will remain for them to serve in Mongolia, before a furlough year begins. I am writing journal notes at 9:30 AM. It is now 46 degrees. We were served eggs, bacon, toast, juice, milk, and coffee for breakfast. We then played some Wii tennis and golf. We are to set out on a walking tour in a short while.
Well, I’m back. First, we walked about 20-30 minutes…to Chris &Tiff’s language school building. We met their director and she spoke (in English) to us. She thought that I looked like Chris (or vice-versa), and that Carol & I looked young. We saw some of the other teachers as they came in. Though we couldn’t always understand what was being said, Chris & Tiff proceeded to arrange their schedules for the upcoming school semester.
All of the teachers desire to teach them. I think it allows those teachers to learn to speak English more effectively. I noticed that the director had a ring on her finger with a swastika on it (different symbolism to the Mongolians). She made the comment that she hopes to have Chris & Tiff stay in Mongolia for ten years or more. I do not think that she is a Christian. We pray that they might have the opportunity to lead her to Christ. Already, their influence has been effective in the lives of other contacts.
Upon departure, from the language school, Tiff caught a bus and headed home to do some birthday party planning, cookie baking, etc. She was also expecting to maybe get a call from the Mongolian International University, offering her a job. The rest of us caught another bus, and headed for the countryside. We were going to visit the church at Gachurt. It was a satellite church, planted by the Eternal Light congregation. Next to it is a little hospital On the back, exterior wall is a picture of a woman nursing her child. In front of the church was a van with several people gathered around it. Looking inside, we saw that they had killed an animal (beef/sheep?), and were selling meat. When we got to the back gate of the church, the fenced compound was locked. Chris called someone, and a young caretaker lady came from a ger, inside the compound, and let us in. We looked at the church camp facilities, and peeked inside the church windows. They have a basketball court (of sorts), a wooden shelter house, a few gers, etc. The fencing around the property was new…installed since Chris & Tiff had arrived. Actually, I think the church may have been started soon after their arrival. The outhouse was interesting, to say the least. You walked in the door and two boards on each side were for your feet. The missing board down the center was the toilet. You looked down the gaping, smelly gap…hoping that the boards were sturdy. Carol decided against participating in that particular “adventure”. After leaving the church property, we headed for a nearby river. On the way there, Chris brushed against a stinging-nettle plant, and let out a yelp of pain (that plant causes an immediate burning, stinging sensation). We let the boys walk into the shallow river. It was swift, cold, & pretty. Chris told us that they use that river for baptisms. I can’t imagine keeping your mind on the spiritual aspects of baptism while being immersed in the chilly water. After walking a bit, allowing the boys to expend some energy, and doing some chatting,…we went to some nearby gravel piles, so Elijah could play on them. Some cows had joined us. As we were leaving, I decided to answer a question that had long been on my mind. I lay down on the ground and waited to see if the cows would come and surround me…out of curiosity. I have been told that a herd will do this. I played dead for a couple of minutes and they acted like I didn’t exist. All that happened was that I got dirt on my clothes and my family thought I was goofy. We headed back up a road, and waited in front of a small store, in order to catch a bus headed back to UB. We had seen one go by …the wrong direction. We were near the end of the route, so expected it to come back soon. Boy, were we wrong! We think the driver must have taken a “lunch break” before returning to town. We bought some cream-filled buns from the small store, and ate them while waiting. Nearby dogs begged for us to throw some to them. Nearby was a building that was home to John Knight…a U.S. missionary who had run an orphanage there. He had run into trouble with the government and was no longer operating the facility. Though we didn’t get to see it, Paul Finch (another American…his sister had been our English teacher at KCCBS) ran a facility that taught horseback skills to handicapped kids. His medical expertise had been of help to Chris & Tiff at an earlier time. Chris said that he has a lovely ger, complete with a refrigerator. Eventually, the bus returned, and we climbed aboard. It was picking up everyone in the countryside, that desired to go to the city,…thus it was so full that I stood, and hung onto a strap the entire trip. I don’t remember why now, but eventually we left the bus and caught another ride on a microbus. Proababy needed to do that to get to our destination. Carol got to sit on the fold-down jump-seat this time. She was not a “happy camper”. We finally arrived at our final stop, and walked home. For lunch, we had some morre leftover soup, tacos, cake, etc…about to finish them off now. Carol, Elijah, and I went to a nearby store and bought M&Ms and 6 ice cream novelties. Cost us around $1 for the ice cream. I really liked that! Around 3 PM, Chris, Carol, and I took a bus to the Gandan Temple area (in UB). After exiting the bus, we went to another temple area to look for a geo-cache. Couldn’t find it, and Chris later learned that it was inside the fence. When looking for a geo-cache, you want to be a bit secretive, so that non-geocachers won’t discover the “cache” and mess with it. This one seemed to be on a busy street corner, with hundreds of people in the vicinity. After giving up on our search, we walked up a hill and through a small village of buildings, and then entered the Gandan Monastery compound. On the way, some elderly man spouted off a bunch of words to me as I went through a narrow opening. I thought he was being kind of odd. Chris told me that he was just giving me a greeting. Gandan is one of the larger Buddhist facilities in the city and visited by many tourists. It is still an active temple for the Buddhist people. We looked at several buildings, and walked the wrong way around one of them (no consequences, other than maybe, strange looks from Mongolian people). The hightlight of the trip was the huge flock of pigeons that hang out there. Children came up trying to sell us birdseed. When we turned down one girl, in favor of a boy with a cheaper price, she became very irate at him…and expressed her irritation strongly. It was one of the few times, we witnessed much of any rage there. The pigeons would come and eat the seed…from your hand…after moments of reticince. Actually, they ate from other people’s hands, but it took awhile before I found acceptance. Go figure! We watched people spinning the prayer wheels…and there were a group of them gathered around what appeared to be a telephone pole…very apparently worshipping in some manner. It was sad to see that. In the adjacent streets, a number of fortune-tellers had set up shop. Since we had seen many Buddha statues, and had spent too much money, I chose to not visit the actual temple. We just walked around it.
Leaving the Gandan monastery, we headed for a business district, where I bought a computer thumb-drive for around 1,200 tugrik. ($10.00), and spent another 500 t. on a case for my camera. Chris would be using the thumb drive to send pictures from his camera with me. Back on the street, we saw a policeman carrying a handful of license plates. I asked Chris about that. He said that if you park illegally, they take yours off your car. You don’t want to do that, as it takes a lot of waiting in line to get them back. We jumped onto another crowded bus for the trip home. Buses are kind of interesting there. Some are electric (overhead wires), some powered by diesel or gas engines. Each has a driver and a “conductor”. Usually a female; the conductor collects your fare. I have no idea how she keeps track of the people who have boarded. Sometimes the bus is jammed, but she works her way throught the crowd, between bus stops, finding the new passengers, and making them pay. Many are just honest…and do so without delay.
Back at the apartment, we soon were getting ready to leave again…this time to get some supper. We walked to the nearby Altai Mongolian Buffet…similar to our own BD’s Mongolian Grill. There were many food choices and it was “all you can eat”. Several of us took a glass of juice that tasted kind of fermented. We had decided that maybe it was actually a wine…until we saw the staff hurriedly dumping it from the dispenser. Perhaps someone had called attention to the fact that the juice had spoiled, not sure. We finally got to eat some horse meat here, but because you place all of the foods into one bowl and have it grilled together, I never knew which piece was the horse. There was also a serving container with a sheep’s head in it (yes, the whole thing), and mutton beside it. I thought that I just as well try it too…could say that I ate sheep’s head while in Mongolia. I also had no idea when I ate it, as it too, was mixed in with other foods. There was a chocolate fountain with the desserts, so we had some fondue for that course. It was a very nice restaurant. They had a ger inside the restaurant, with a long table in it, for group meals.
We got back to the apt. about 8 PM. I read a Francis Asbury story to Elijah and then the boys were sent to bed. Elijah was very sad at this point. He was contemplating the fact that we would only be there for one more day. After the boys were in bed, Chris, Carol, & I went to our bedroom to finish preparing birthday gifts for Elijah. Chris & I assembled the huge castle. When that was done, we visited in the living room for a bit, and gave Chris & Tiff $500 to offset their personal expenses, incurred because of our visit. We finally made it to our room around 10:30 PM, and I was completing my journal notes at 11:10 PM. It had been another “large” day!
One final note about Monday: While at the evening buffet, the show, “Bizarre Foods” (with Andrew Zimmern) was on the television. It was showing Andrew eating in Mongolia. Chris said that the director of that show had contacted him by email for ideas about what they should do while in Mongolia. They never contacted him again, but they were doing some of the very things he had mentioned to them. He jokingly said that they should have had him in the credits. They were at the same “Black Market” that we had visited earlier in the week…and were on some of the same terrible roads that we had traveled. It was fun to see that.

My dad’s travel journal part 12

Sunday, August 29, 2010:
Happy Birthday, Sheryl…and Happy “real” Anniversary to Carol and me. Though it is the 29th in Ulaanbaatar, it is the evening of the 28th in the U.S. Carol & I would have been saying our vows about now. I got some pretty good sleep last night…perhaps as much as 10 hours. Chris & the boys were up when we ventured out around 8 AM (actually, when I went out…Carol had already been up and showered earlier). We just relaxed this morning,…did things like watching the kid show “Handy Manny”, ate some oatmeal, called my sister in Arizona,…and then dressed for church (though it would come much later in the day). A cool breeze was coming in the window and it was sunny outside. The high for the day should be in the mid-60 degree range. Since church doesn’t happen until 2 PM, the plan for the day is sightseeing. Elijah wanted to go out and look for pretty rocks to put into the aquarium, so I took him out and we searched nearby streets and playgrounds. We were in light-colored dress pants, so soon had dirt on us. When we got back home, it was time to head out for brunch…just a bit before 11 AM. We caught a ride from a passing car and went downtown to Naran Plaza (tall bldg), and up five floors, to New York New York, a wonderful restaurant. The food was American …and scrumptious! I had long whitefish fillets. Carol had a bacon sandwich. Ah…the taste of home! We had huge cans of Arizona Ice Tea. The boys could go outside and run on the terrace around the building. I went out to look around town a bit. We took another car back home at 12:45. We ate some of the leftover birthday cake and then prepared to leave for our walk to church. It seemed to be quite a ways there, though Chris, Tiff, and family are used to it. It is far enough that Joel got to ride in a stroller. I would have never found the church if you’d given me instructions…and couldn’t find it again today, if I tried. We went past some buildings that I recognized and others that we’d never seen before. We made many turns, and squeezed between two buildings that were maybe 18″ apart. While doing that, my mind turned to earthquakes. Ulaanbaatar lies on a major fault line. As we were walking, we passed neighborhoods filled with poor kids,… playing in their yards, but likely knowing nothing of the God who saves from sin. What a task…to figure out how to win them. Soon, we arrived at Eternal Light Wesleyan Church. The rented church sits in what we would call a ghetto back home, but is actually quite nice, and full of wonderful people. We arrived late, so service was in progress. Though we understood little of the words, as the congregation sang there was an obvious sense of worship. Hands were lifted, eyes closed, tears being wiped…lots of seeming joy. Chris sat between Carol & me and translated quietly from time to time. At one point, the congregation stood and extended both hands in the direction of each visitor…”hands of blessing”, and they sang to us. One lady came over and hugged us. Pretty neat way to make people feel wanted. A missionary from New Zealand was the preacher this afternoon. His name is Ewen. His topic was “Give us this day our daily bread”. Because of our presence there, he preached in English and had Pastor Otgonbayar translate it into Mongolian. I felt a little bad for the people, to have to listen to both languages…because of us. Ewen told us later that he’d repeated a phrase or two because he didn’t think the interpretation made his point adequately. Once a month, three of the Wesleyan congregations have a “joint” service, so there was a pretty full church on this particular morning. Balloons decorated the sanctuary…left over from the prior day’s wedding ceremony. The mix of old-young, male-female was better today than normal, because of the three groups. Usually, this particular church has a quite young congregation….many college-age…or thereabouts. After church, we gave some Christian trinkets, bookmarks, toys, etc to one of the Sunday School teachers so she could give them out to her students. We had also taken a bunch of teaching materials (picture pages, etc) to give to them….left over from a prior quarter’s literature at Herald & Banner Press. After church, we visited in the yard. We met Sarah, another missionary, who came from Washington state. She & husband, Chris, live near the church and have adopted at least 2 Mongolian children. They have 4 kids in their family. She was a wonderful lady to be around and to converse with, very warm & friendly. We took our leave of the place at around 4:30 or 5:00 PM and walked back toward home. Most of the way there, a homeless boy visited with Chris. He had been a thorn in their flesh at times, but was potentially a prospect for salvation. I thought to myself, who knows…perhaps a church leader someday? Tiff told us that for some reason, his enunciation of Mongolian words is better than most people, or at least…was easier for her & Chris to understand. We stopped at a park and let the boys play, before returning to the apartment. Tiff set out some leftover food, so we had soup, tacos, biscuits & gravy, birthday cake, etc. Then we played Wii games for awhile. Elijah decided to sell me a notebook full of his artwork for 1,500 tugrik (a little over $1). After the boys were in bed, Chris & Tiff got out a big sack of sheep’s anklebones. We used them to play several different Mongolian games. Now, we could better understand how they spend some of the time in their gers, or while watching their herds. Before playing the games, I called a friend in Arkansas, Dwight Spear, and had a chat with him. He and wife, Rawlene, had recently been on vacation…and I wanted to find out how things had gone for them.
One of the things that we have noticed is that many missions organizations in Mongolia overlap somewhat. World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Global Partners, and others are all at work here. Chris & Tiff have been involved in giving out Christmas shoebox gifts at their own church…provided by Samaritan’s Purse. Religions, other than Buddhism, are slow coming to this vast country. The Catholics have a large church in UB, but only one, and a small percentage of believers. The Mormons are very visible on the streets of UB and have built an impressive building there. However, they have already had some of their people deported because of their behavior. We saw one small Baptist church. Churches are NOT plentiful here. There is a huge need for missionaries who will learn the language, suffer the hardships of filth, inconvenience, and severe winters…and who will commit to years of service. Ewen told me today that it takes about 6 years before a person truly earns the trust of the people. At least, he felt that to be true with him and Pia. He told me that they had recently returned from western Mongolia, an area that had been devastated by an extremely harsh winter. Many of the people had lost their entire herds…destroying their livelihood. The govt. had been paying people to bury the animals.
A church in Switzerland (Pia’s home) had seen two PowerPoint slides depicting this situation. They immediately sent $15,000. Another church, or group of people, did a similar thing. Because of their compassion, food, etc. had been provided for 270 families over several months. Now, these people claim to know the name of Jesus and profess a faith in Him. Who knows the fruits of those gifts? There are several things that come to mind to me today as I think about the missions work here. I will write them down so that I will remember how to pray, and in hopes that those who read this journal, will also join in the prayers.
-Pray for Chris &Tiff’s visa situation. It appears that at least one of them must find
a means of “employment” in Mongolia. They went there on “student visas”, but at
the end of the two years of language school…those visas will expire. The status of
“church worker” is almost impossible to achieve, so they have to find another
reason for the govt. to allow them to be there. (Note: As I type up these journal
notes, I have an update. Since we have returned to the states, Tiff has secured a
teaching position at a school there. It appears that the visa application process has
been started. If she gets a visa, it will be possible for Chris to get a “companion
visa”. Pray that it will all be approved).
-Pray for a church that wants to purchase its own property. Currently, they pay
rent, and share a building used by others. They have their eyes on a piece of
property, with a building…available for $110,000 (U.S.). However, being a church
filled with young, college-age kids…they have few resources for purchasing it.
They hope to find others who are willing to help them with this dream.
-Pray for leadership/relationship issues within this church. Satan does battle every-
where. Chris & Tiff are trying to not get entangled in internal church struggles,
but, because of their position as Global Partner (Wesleyan) missionaries, it may
be necessary to take some uncomfortable steps. They feel that their mission is to
mentor new leaders for the church of Mongolia. When one leader stands in the
way…they must have godly wisdom as they deal with the situation.
-Pray for the safety of the missionaries. They live in an environment that most of
us would choose to avoid,…broken stairs, crumbling sidewalks, terrible roads,
open manholes, dangerous traffic, animosity toward Americans, disease from
tainted foods & water, etc.
-Pray for those missionaries who are trying to raise children in another country.
Just how much of the native language should they learn? How do they learn
English alongside that language? How should they educate their children? How
do you home school, work a job, and still be an effective missionary? How much
freedom do your give your little boys…to roam outside among the drunks, broken
glass, etc.? How do you entertain them during a church service in which they
don’t understand anything that is being spoken?
-Fast & pray that the light of the Gospel may penetrate the immense darkness of
Buddhism and Shamanism that has a grip on many of the Mongolian people.
Our God is willing and able to do abundantly more than we ask or think. It is His desire to save the people of Mongolia. Will we do our part to ensure that harvest?
Having written down much of this in the late evening on Sunday, I am about ready to get some sleep. It is around 43 degrees outside…fairly comfortable in the unheated apt.
I have finished my task. It is 11:40 PM….another day is done. Good night.

My dad’s travel journal part 11

Saturday, August 28, 2010:
Happy 40th wedding anniversary to Carol and me! We were married at the Overland Park Church of God (Holiness) on this date…40 years ago. However….
because of the time difference here in Mongolia, the actual hour of our wedding anniversary is still almost a full day away. Since we didn’t make any plans for a grand celebration…all is well. We have a bed & breakfast stay awaiting us back home…compliments of our children.
Sleep was good last night…softer bed, cool air, stomach improving, Carol’s throat is healing, etc….stayed in the sack until 7 AM. I guess Carol may have been up earlier, but I wasn’t awake enough to know. The Kansas City Chiefs game is just coming on the TV, via Slingbox…from Matthew’s house in Overland Park. Pre-season games don’t excite me much, but being on the other side of the world…I watch. At halftime, Philadelphia leads 10-7 (they lost!). They tell us that it is to be 91 degrees in Kansas City tomorrow. The high temperature here in Mongolia will be in the mid-60s. Breakfast this morning…homemade biscuits with sausage gravy…tasty! There is to be no paid helper today, so Carol is the dishwasher. She’s been trying to be helpful, but has been discouraged from doing too much as it takes away the helper’s chores. After the football game, Chris, Carol, and I headed for the street, where we could catch a microbus and go to the Black Market. Our driver wasn’t too bright and took some bad turns in heavy traffic. At one point, Chris said that we had been within 100 feet of the market, but the man kept driving and driving….for about 20 minutes or so. Eventually we arrived. A light ran had begun to fall and it continued to drizzle on us, and onto some of the merchandise. The market was an incredible place. There were hundreds of booths, or so it seemed, and, I think they sold everything that has ever been made. People pushed and shoved (usually in a nice way) in almost every aisle. Sometimes a vendor would drag a box of merchandise into the center of one of the crowded aisles, and make things even worse. Chris bought a block of cheese and some freshly butchered beef. I bought a furry Mongolian hat for 25,000 tugrik. People who didn’t want to pay the 50-tugrik (3 1/2 cents) fee to get into the market, were climbing over huge train container boxes, alongside some barbwire, and then down into the booths. Some of them were even carrying merchandise to sell. I couldn’t tell that anybody cared. Just seemed silly, though. After some time of wandering through the chaos, we took another micro in which to go home. It had over 20 people in it…a very tight fit. I think I had only one small portion of one rear cheek…on a seat. It wasn’t comfortable at all! After we got out of that situation, we walked to a nearby bakery to get a birthday cake for Joel. They didn’t have a great selection, so he ended up with one that looked more like an anniversary cake…two swans on it. Around 3:30 PM, we arrived back at the apartment and had a late lunch of homemade chicken tacos, salsa, etc. At 5 PM, Chris took Carol & me back out to shop for souvenirs. We put out our hand and a car stopped to pick us up. Before I had all my legs inside (one foot was still on the ground), the young female driver took off. I think she then realized it, and hesitated briefly while I continued entering the car. We shopped at a number (maybe 6-8) of souvenir stores…from the huge State Department Store (in a tall skyscraper)….to tiny basement shops. We went to “Martha & Mary’s” a couple of times. Chris visited with a British lady there who knew him. Their store purchased Mongolian crafted items and then helped the families of alcoholics, prisoners, etc. We bought a number of items, but one was an angel ornament made from the glass of a liquor bottle….from which the proceeds would go to families devastated by alcohol. We saw the results of the liquor trade outside, …in the form of a drunken man, lying on the sidewalk…oblivious to all the people stepping around him. At one intersection, as we waited to cross the street, we saw two cars, covered in writing. Chris identified them as “rally cars”. There was a road-race with drivers going across Mongolia in cars for which they had paid no more than $1,000. They had to try and survive the grueling journey on those terrible roads. We shopped until around 7:30 PM,…purchasing camels, purses, hats, small gers, and many other items for friends and family. We had lots to carry, so took another hired car home. This driver quizzed Chris about America, its wages, visas, etc. When we got to the apt., Tiffany was bathing the boys. Afterwards, we had birthday cake with Joel. He liked the taste, and didn’t seem to mind the grown-up decorations. It was then time for devotions and we headed for our rooms. Tiff had a headache and we were pretty tired. Chris continued to work at his computer, checking on geocaches, reading correspondence, putting comments on facebook, etc. I finished writing these notes by 9:00 PM. It seemed like it should be later. Another day done!