Making Memories in Mongolia

Saying Farewell to Mongolia

2011-05-21T08:39:00.185+03:00

President D. Allen Andersen, who was our first mission president, told us to enjoy the people we love before we go home. It was good advice. We wish we had been better able to take his advice because there are many people we love and care about in Mongolia. We did what we could to enjoy them, but our last day in Mongolia came sooner than we could believe. "Warning; dates on the calendar are closer than they appear." We were saddened that we hadn't been able to say good-bye to some of our dear friends and associates before we left.

We wish the very best to our replacements, James and Anna Richardson. We hope they will grow to love Mongolia and the people as much as we did.

We knew our mission would eventually come to an end, but we were still sad to wake up one morning and realize it was over.

The following are photos of some of the good friends we made in Mongolia. Unfortunately, there are some we were not able to include.

Elder and Sister Shrope with Elder and Sister Ford

Sister Jill and President D. Allen Andersen

Carol, Super Sarah (Sarantsetseg), and Richard

President Odgerel

Batbold (Distribution)

Richard and Baagii

Elder Richard and Sister Anderson

Sister Od-Erdene and Sister Oreentoya

Buum Erdene

Sister Mary Jane and Elder Raymond Anderson

Zoloo and Lavkaa (Lkhagvadulam)

Uyanga

Bilgee/Erdenebileg Purevsuren

Carol, Munkhtsetseg Magvandorj, Munkhbayar, and Richard

Baatar (driver for senior couples English assignments and shopping)

Sister Melba and Elder Mike Caldwell

Eggii

Batchimeg

Bishop Enkhbold and Soyolmaa

Soyolmaa (Service Center Manager)

Ganbold (Physical Facilities)

Elder Don and Sister Kathy Carter

President Munkhsukh (Khailaast Branch President and guard)

Carol and Sister Gantsolomon (Tsoggie)

Azzaya, Azzaya's daughter, and Nara (Ukraine)

Family in Khailaast Branch who was baptized

Batbaatar (Bayanzurkh Water Transportation engineer) and Richard

Sister Mecham, Pugee, President Kris Mecham

Eggii, Gantsolmon, Carol and Richard

Richard and Carol Lasson, and Sister Pat and President Jay D Clark

Lassons, Clarks, Fords, Eliasons, Powells visiting the Parliament Building

Elder Wesley and Sister Joan Stevens

Caldwells, Elliasons, Mechams, Lassons, Powells, Clarks

President Altansukh and daughter Zoloo, Richard and Carol

Sister Annette and Dr. Clair Eliason and Carol and Richard

Batbold, Carol and Richard, Onon (friends and well monitors)

Byambadorj and Richard

The Naranbat family at the Hong Kong Temple

back: Batgal, Bathuyag, Naranbat, Batdulm, Munkhdorj (Moogie--Battsetseg's husband)

front: Bat-Erdene, Altantsetseg, Batchimeg, and Battsetseg

(We accompanied them to the temple)

Richard and Carol and Linda and Blaine Ford

Richard, Bayarsaikhan, and Carol

Richard and Elder Baskha (Basantogtogh from Khovd)

Bailgalmaa (Batbold's sister and one of our English students) and Richard and Carol Lasson

Battsetseg, Ching Khuslen and Munkhdorj (Moogie)

(Battsetseg was our 2nd translator assistant)

Back: Elder Anderson, Dr. Eliason, President Clark, Elder Ford, Elder Wilson, Elder Powell, Buya, Elder Wilson's companion; middle row: Sister Anderson, Sister Eliason, Sister Clark, Sister Ford, Sister Powell, Elder Lasson, President Batbold; front row: Soyolmaa, Sister and Elder Shrope, Sister Lasson; down front: Battsetseg

Battumur (Azzaya's father) and Richard

Battumur, Azzaya (our 3rd translator/assistant) and her mom

Richard, Carol, Dr. Chimgee's step son, Dr. Chimgee and Dr. Buyandelger

President Alatansukh's daughter Zoloo and wife Dulgersuren

President Batbold and his wife

President Altansukh and Richard

President Altansukh's daughter Zoloo and his wife Dulgersuren, President Altansukh, and Richard and Carol

Chintuya Otgonsuren (our first translator/assistant)

President Lasson, President Clark, Elder Ford, President Batbold, Elder Ford

Mongolia Mission Presidency

Batdorj (Paralympics) and Richard

Elder and Sister Ford, Elder and Sister Clark, Sister and Elder Shrope, Sister and Elder Lsson

Azzaya (our 3rd translator/assistant) and Batkhand (our 4th translator/assistant)

Carol and Enkhjargal

President Nassanbold (center front), his mother-in-law (left front), his wife (standing left), missionaries and Carol and Richard (right)

Dejee and Pujee

Bailgamaa's family (she is center back)

Octgonbayar (left), son, Enkhjargal, and Bayarsaikhan from Khailaast ward, who live in a perfect ger high on a hill overlooking the Chingeltei Chapel

Ganbold ("Teddy Bear") and Pugii (Parliamant)

Zoloo

Carol, Myra (from Jargalant Sum), and Richard

Batmunkh (guard)

Sister Buted (served on choir festival committee)

Gantugs (guard)

Khailaast Relief Society and YW

Azbayar and Bat Ulzii (Church members and head of National Anti-Drug Center)

Carol and Oryunbilig (who sewed the cross stitch of Mongolian children)

Khailaast Branch Choir

Khailaast Branch

Choijiljansen (truck driver for wheelchairs)

Sansaraa, Carol and Nancy Hughes (neonatal specialist)

Bayarsaikhan and Enkhjargal

William and Cathy Clark

Carol, Richard, President Tserenbat, Batkhand, and Azzaya

President Altansukh and his grandson

We love being back in Utah and home with our friends and family, but we miss our friends in Mongolia. We don't know what the future will hold for us, but regardless of what lies ahead, we will forever be grateful for the the time we spent Making Memories in Mongolia.

P .S. Thank you to all of you who have followed our blog!

The Winding-Up Weeks

2011-05-19T08:47:00.007+03:00

Kim and Gaye Brown and Eric Wunderlich, who are wheelchair specialists from Salt Lake City, arrived in Ulaanabaatar on March 14, 2011 after spending 24 hours enroute and a total delay of 31 hours. They were exhausted.

We spent a couple of days with them interviewing potential partners and finally decided to have DIC partner on the next wheelchair project with the Social Welfare Service Office and the National Rehabilitation Center. DIC is currently partnering with them on a project, so this will be an augmentation of that partnership.

Before they left UB, Kim and Gaye did a wonderful abbreviated training for about 15 doctors, etc. from the National Rehabilitation Center. They will return to Ulaanbaatar in the fall to provide two 3-day training sessions to DIC's partners on how to assess, fit and train potential wheelchair recipients.

April found DIC's office piled high with files and information about the garden project, and boxes of gardening manuals that needed to be distributed.

April 3rd, we had the missionaries from the Khailaast/Sukhbatar District come to our apartment for dinner along with Elder Raymond and Sister Mary Jane Anderson who were just finishing their second mission in Mongolia.

April 4th, DIC met with the Service Department and Rehabilitation Center about wheelchairs and then with Dr. Munkhzaya, Dr. Chimgee and Shastin Hospital #3 to tell them that Dr. Munkhzaya has been selected by the committee to receive a fellowship from DIC/the Church to do an internship in vitreo-retinal surgery in India. Currently, no one in Mongolia can do this type of surgery. Following that, DIC met with 1st Hospital to tell them that their candidate wasn't selected. They were deflated. We wish two fellowships could have been awarded.

April 5th - 9th, Dr. Dennis and Nancy Hughes from Bountiful, Utah who are neonatal resuscitation specialists, came to Mongolia. We picked them up at 11:20 p.m. on the 5th and took them to the Chinggis Khaan Hotel where we visited about the project. They had come Mongolia to become familiar with the neonatal resuscitation project and to help us plan the neonatal project for 2011. There is a new worldwide program called "Helping Babies Breathe" that they would like to implement in Mongolia. We told them that it would totally be up to our partners Dr. Soyogerel of the Ministry of Health and Dr. Bayasaa from the Maternity and Child Health Research Hospital. The next day, we had a great meeting with Dr. and Nancy Hughes and our partners.

Dr. Soyogerel and Dr. Bayasaa where like children with new toys as they examined the new resuscitation kits and the new materials that DIC/the Church would provide as part of the project. They enthusiastically endorsed the move from the current method (which was very similar) to the new updated program and helped make plans on how to implement it this year.

We toured some of the hospitals and delivery rooms. Then Richard worked with the Hughes to write up the project development worksheet. Before they left for home, they had a little fun: they joined us for dinner with the senior couples and President and Sister Clark at the Chinese restaurant, visited the Buddhist temple by Millie's with us, Nancy took Batkhand shopping with her, we all had lunch with the partners, and we took them to the cultural show at Tumen Ekh. We really enjoyed their visit and feel that James and Anna Richardson are very lucky to be able to work with the Hughes on the neonatal resuscitation project this fall and vise versa.

April 9th and 10th, we watched General Conference in President and Sister Clark's home and enjoyed the association with them, the senior couples and several expatriate families.

April 11th, DIC presented a wheelchair to a man whose legs were amputated because of diabetes.

April 13th, DIC requested a supplemental budget for the garden project because 65 more families asked to join the garden project. Most of them had really good reasons why they hadn't met the deadline and because it was important for them to participate, an additional $12,000 was requested.

April 14th to 22nd, we conferred with garden coordinators and allocated funds for the garden project. Garden coordinators periodically dropped by the office or called us. It was like someone had made appointments for them to talk to us. We informed them about what the gardeners in their unit should receive, how much they could spend, where they might shop, and the procedures for purchasing the items. The garden coordinators were really enthused about the project. Before long, Richard had written stacks of payment requisitions to supply funds for garden supplies.

DIC signed a three-way agreement with the Ministry of Social Welfare Office and the National Rehabilitation Center for DIC to bring in 850 wheelchairs and 350 other mobility devices this year.

DIC signed an agreement to provide a fellowship for Dr. Munkhzaya at Shastine Hospital so he can go to India for 15 months to study vitreo-retinal surgery. Currently there are no ophthalmologists in Mongolia who can perform surgery for the inside of the eye.

Richard Lasson, Hospital administrator, and Dr. Munkhzaya

Article about Deseret International Charities/Church Wheelchair Donation

2011-05-10T07:53:00.004+03:00

The following is a link to an article on Newsroom about the recent wheelchair donation.
http://newsroom.lds.org/article/mongolia-honors-church-wheelchair-donation

Garden Project's Demonstration Square-foot Garden in Mongolia

2011-04-23T16:50:00.004+03:00

Elder Ford set up his demonstration square-foot garden and greenhouse. He planted radishes in the garden. He planted other vegetables in containers in the building and will move them out to this garden when the weather warms up a little more. Today he put plastic over the pvc supports and he said the temperature in the little greenhouse got above 90 degrees. That's amazing for Mongolia. The outside temperature today got up to 50 degrees, but his greenhouse was warm and toasty. He watered his garden with buckets of warm water because he said it's better to not water the garden with cold water. He says that this small garden can grow enough produce to supply one person's needs for a whole growing season. Amazing! We are excited to hear more about this garden as the season progresses!

Deseret International Charities Partners With the Social Welfare Service Department on a Wheelchair Project

2011-04-17T15:41:00.007+03:00

On April 16, 2011, Deseret International Charities (Deseret) announced the donation of 250 wheelchairs to the people of Mongolia.

For this donation, Deseret is partnering with the Social Welfare Service Department who will distribute 200 of these wheelchairs to disabled people in Mongolia’s 21 aimags. The National Rehabilitation Center provided training for the directors of the Social Welfare Service Department from all 21 aimags in Mongolia.

Priority for wheelchairs will be given to low-income disabled people.

Since 2004, Deseret International Charities has donated 4,250 wheelchairs to the people of Mongolia.

Richard O. Lasson, Executive Director of Deseret International Charities, said, “It’s a great pleasure to be able to assist the disabled people of Mongolia by providing these wheelchairs. These wheelchairs are a free gift from Deseret International Charities and there is no cost to the recipients or to their families for the wheelchairs or for transportation of the wheelchairs. We hope these wheelchairs will be a blessing in the lives of these people. We only ask that if these wheelchairs are no longer needed, they be donated to someone who can use them. We appreciate the fine work being done by the Social Welfare Service Department and the National Rehabilitation Center for the disabled people here in Mongolia.”

Deseret International Charities Sponsors Family Gardening in Mongolia

2011-04-10T16:20:00.005+03:00

Deseret International Charities (DIC) is partnering with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on a major garden project for 410 families and several community groups in Mongolia.

In order to train the local unit garden coordinators, DIC provided a two-day garden training seminar. All of the garden coordinators from all 22 LDS Church units in Mongolia plus three representatives of community garden projects attended the training. In all there were 39 participants, including several bishops/branch presidents, and President Altansukh and President Bayardelger from the UB East District,. The project paid the transportation, food, and lodging expenses for those who had to travel. The garden coordinator from Khovd traveled the farthest to attend the training; she traveled over 1200 kilometers.

The instructors included Mr. Byambajav, a retired university professor who has authored several gardening books about gardening in Mongolia and has taught gardening classes all over Mongolia. He arranged for several other professors to teach special subjects: pest control, fertilizer, greenhouse gardening, etc.

DIC also arranged for a workshop on how to grown Seabuckthorn bushes which was taught by the president of the National Association of Seabuckthorn Growers and Producers and an instructor from the association.

President Batbold taught a class on how to install and use submersible pumps in private wells and rivers.

Elder Ford taught a workshop on greenhouses, square-meter gardening, and composting. The participants were surprised to see the square-foot garden and greenhouse he set up in the training room. Following the training, he disassembled the garden and greenhouse and plans to set it up behind the Bayanzurkh building to use as a demonstration garden.

At the conclusion of the seminar, DIC and priesthood leaders presented a certificate of training completion to each participant.

Each garden coordinator then took home three different gardening books for the participating families in their units. The books included: How to Grow Your Own Garden. Last year DIC distributed this book to all gardeners. This year it will be distributed to new gardeners. Harvesting Seeds will be given to all participants; and Seabuckthorns, about how to grow Seabuckthorn berry bushes, will be distributed to gardener who requested Seabuckthorn berry bushes.

DIC also provided each garden coordinator with a master plan for his/her unit showing each participating family in his/her unit and the tools, materials, pumps, seeds, etc. which each family will receive.

The coordinators were charged with the task of holding garden training workshops in their own ward/branches, teaching what they learned in the UB training to the gardeners in their units. They will also work with the bishopric/branch presidencies to purchase needed gardening supplies, and they will provide ongoing support as needed to the gardeners in their unit.

The garden coordinators left excited about teaching others what they learned and hopeful of a bountiful harvest.

Khailaast Relief Society and Young Women

2011-03-13T02:56:00.002+03:00

Young Women presenting Khailaast Relief Society with a Women's Day Poster

Azzaya and Baatkhand

2011-03-12T07:21:00.007+03:00

Azzaya and Baatkhand

Assaya, who has been our translator/assistant for about a year, has been accepted to go to school in Hawaii and is planning to go to there spring semester. We have hired Baatkhand to replace her. They are both as sharp as tacks! We will really miss Azzaya, but wish her well in her studies.

Mormon Helping Hands (Young Single Adults) Help Deseret International Charities Unload A Shipment of Wheelchairs

2011-03-09T17:06:00.009+03:00

Another shipment of 250 wheelchairs arrived on Monday, but didn't clear Customs that day. Yesterday was a holiday in Mongolia, Women's Day, and most people were off work, so, today we received a phone call from Nasanbat at FASCO shipping who told us that we should plan to unload the wheelchairs today at 4:30 p.m. Elder and Sister Clark rounded up a group of Young Single Adults to help us and we headed to the storage container.

Most of the Young Single Adults, who were ready to unload the wheelchairs

Having fun waiting for the truck to arrive!

DIC's partner for this shipment is the Labor and Social Welfare Service Department of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor, so they are providing the storage unit for these wheelchairs. It's by the Welfare Center.

Even though we had to wait awhile before the semi arrived, we laughed and visited with the YSA. They were cheerful and had a great time.

Mormon Helping Hands are excited to see the semi arriving

Ready to unload!

Before long, someone spotted the big semi come to a stop on the street in front of the Welfare Center. The road going down into the center had a steep drop off. On Monday, it was a sheet of ice, but the weather had warmed up enough that the ice had melted. It was still muddy, but not so slippery. Today was the first day in months that it hasn't been covered with ice. It was a beautiful spring day here in Mongolia today with a high of 25 degrees and a low of 3 degrees Fahrenheit. What a break! It still took some pretty skillful maneuvering for the semi to pull down the embankment to the storage unit, but the driver did a great job and soon had his rig safely down the hill.

Just as the shipment arrived, the pizza we had ordered for our helpers arrived, but no one thought of eating, they just pitched in and started unloading the wheelchairs. The wheelchairs practically flew out of the container and into the storage unit. It was fun to see young people enjoying service and having a great time doing it.

Elder Clark came, too. He
didn't want to miss the "Party"

When the 250 wheelchairs, and several boxes of crutches, canes, and walkers were safely stored, we pulled out the pizza and drinks. The workers at the Welfare Center invited us into the building and out of the cold to eat our pizza, so we were happy to share our pizza with them.

New DIC Country Directors

2011-03-05T16:17:00.007+03:00

We received word this week that our replacements have been called! James L. and Anna Richardson from Hunstville, Utah. We are thrilled for them! They will love Mongolia! They are expected to arrive in early June. We talked to them the other day on Skype. They are excited, too.

Deseret International Charities Makes a Donation to the Child Welfare Center of the Ulaanbaatar Metropolitan Police Department for Homeless Street Children

2011-02-12T07:08:00.011+03:00

Group of street children at the Child Welfare Center

The audience at ceremony at the Children Welfare Center included: street children, members of the International Women's Association of Mongolia (IWAM), senior couples, President and Pat Clark, Young Single Adults, and Colonel Otonbaatar, who is the Vice Director of the Ulaanbaatar Police Department.

February 7, 2011
Deseret International Charities (Deseret) announced the donation of equipment, bedding, hygiene items, and school supplies to the Child Welfare Center (Center), which is run by the Ulaanbaatar’s Metropolitan Police Department. The donation strengthens the ability of the Center to process and care for approximately 1500 homeless children per year who are found living on the streets.

The donation includes: an industrial-size electric cooking pot, an industrial-size freezer/refrigerator, sheets, blankets, and mattresses for fifty children, hygiene items, school supplies, and two whiteboards. The cost was 9,822,000 tugriks ($7,611 USD).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsors Deseret International Charities and funding for this project came from donations by Church members around the world.

Items donated by Deseret International Charities: mattresses, blankets, sheets, school supplies, hygiene items. Refurbished foosball table donated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Batkaa and Richard examining the donated industrial cooking pot to use in making soup

The cook said she is as old as the stove they have been using. It is not reliable, takes a long time to heat up and sometimes turns on by itself. She is thrilled with the new refrigerator/freezer and the industrial electric cooking pot.

Before the ceremony, Young Single Adults from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decorated the Child Welfare Center with balloons and ribbons. They also assembled a table foosball game, which came in a box. During the ceremony, they presented the table foosball game, other games and puzzles, and a large refurbished foosball game to the Center. Following the ceremony, the Young Single Adults interacted with the homeless street children and taught them how to play some of the games.

At the end of the ceremony, the International Women's Association of Mongolia and Deseret International Charities handed out treats and gifts to each child.

Two street children playing a game of table-top foosball

Azzaya, a Young Single Adult from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

coaching a street child on how to put together a puzzle, and street children playing with the refurbished foosball table.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the goal of the Center is to place children in an environment where they can receive an education, learn to care for themselves, and eventually have families and become productive members of society.

Since 1996, the Center has serviced 20,094 children.

Former street child performing for ceremony

The Metropolitan Police Department did a great job of accomplishing planning and implementing the project. They put on a wonderful ceremony complete with media coverage by four TV stations, entertainment by formerly homeless children who played the murun khuur, and attendance by Colonel OTGONBAATAR, who is the Vice Director of the Ulaanbaatar Metropolitan Police Department and Head of the Public Order Department. During the ceremony, DIC was presented with a plaque of gratitude from Police Lieutenant Colonel AYURZANA.Ch, of the Metropolitan Police Department, and Richard Lasson was presented with a Mongolia State medal from the National Children's Board of Mongolia for humanitarian work in behalf of the children of Mongolia, signed by M.TOGTOKHNAYM. The shelter and police officials said it was the first time a Mormon has received this award.

Street children watching the entertainment

The LDS Church Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City Partners with the International Women's Association of Mongolia to Donate 75 Bales of Clothing and Bedding to Mongolia

2011-01-29T15:33:00.010+03:00

The container of holding 75 bales of clothing being delivered

On October 6, 2010, a notification appeared on Deseret International Charities' CHaS (Church Humanitarian Reporting System) dashboard that a special project had been approved to ship clothing to the needy of Mongolia. We were surprised to see it on our dashboard because we hadn't initiated it.

To find out more about it, we called the John Yancey, who is the administrator of the project in Salt Lake City, Utah. He told us that the LDS Church Humanitarian Center was partnering with the International Women's Association of Mongolia (IWAM) to accomplish this project. IWAM is an organization of expatriate women from all over the world who for various reasons are residing in Mongolia. He told us that he was working with a woman named Julie Valoo, who is a member IWAM, and who had requested the clothing and bedding. He told us that we should contact IWAM to see if there was anything we could do to help, but that IWAM would be responsible for the shipment.

We found out that Julie Valoo was moving to Mongolia from British Columbia and hadn't yet arrived in Mongolia, so we called Robin Hepburn who is the President of IWAM and set up a luncheon meeting at Millie's, one of our favorite American restaurants, for us to meet with her and several other members of IWAM. At the meeting, we learned about IWAM and their humanitarian work in Mongolia. We were impressed by the nature of their organization and by the good they are doing here. We talked with them about plans for when the bales would arrive and offered our assistance. We told them that we would be happy to help them in anyway. They said they would notify us when the container arrived in Mongolia. After talking to them, we were assured that the shipment would be in good hands with IWAM.

Several days before the shipment arrived, Dr. Bat-Orgil, who is the director of the Burn Center in UB, came to our office. He had heard about DIC from a Church member and had come seeking help. The Burn Center treats people for burns, frostbite, dog bites, poisoning, etc. There are a lot of things he could have asked for, but he said what he really needed was clothing.

He told us that many people who are treated at the Burn Center are homeless frostbite victims. When they come to the center many have few clothes or their clothing is in such terrible condition, it has to be discarded. He said the Burn Center needs clothes to give the homeless people so that, after they are treated, they can be released from the hospital. We asked him if he could use some wheelchairs, canes, crutches, and walkers. He said a definite, "Yes," but what he needed the most was some clothing.

We told him about the shipment of clothing and bedding that IWAM was expecting, and told him that as soon as we could, we would deliver some clothing and bedding to the Burn Center. We told him we would also be able to have DIC donate some wheelchairs, canes, crutches, and walkers to him, which we delivered to him the next day. He was delighted.

Several days later, Julie Valoo notified us that the bales of clothing and bedding were ready to be delivered. She told us the place and time for unloading. That Friday at 10:00 a.m., Soyolmaa (the President of the Stake Relief Society), Richard and I met Julie and several other IWAM members at the Catholic Church where the bales were going to be unloaded and temporarily stored until they could be sorted and distributed. It took longer than expected for the container to arrive at the Catholic church, so while we waited, we had a wonderful visit with IWAM ladies. They are super women who have great hearts and are working hard to help Mongolia!

It was a long wait. Julie called and found out that the truck that was delivering the container was down (having trouble), but we enjoyed our time together, so no one seemed too concerned about the delay. The trucking company had already sent workers to the cathedral to help unload, so we knew the truck would be coming along soon.

During our visit, we discovered more about Julie Valoo, who had orchestrated the project. She had lived in Sandy, Utah for about six years while her husband worked for Rio Tinto, who owns Kennecott Copper Mines. She used to take visitors on tours of Temple Square in Salt Lake City and even though she isn’t Mormon, she knows a lot about the Church and about its humanitarian program.

Anyway, her family had moved to British Columbia and was getting ready to move to Mongolia. Her husband’s company was paying for them to move their family’s belonging in a full 20-foot container from British Columbia to Mongolia, but her family only needed about 5 feet of the container, so she thought she would try to find an organization that would donate clothing to fill up the rest of the container. However, with only two days before she was to leave British Columbia, she had been unsuccessful in finding anyone to help.

That morning at 6:00 AM, she woke up with the idea to call the Humanitarian Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. She immediately called and talked to John Yancy at the center. She told him about the container and that her husband's company would pay for shipping the container from British Columbia to Mongolia. When she asked him if it was possible for the Church to help her, John immediately jumped on the idea. He told her, “That’s a great idea. Yes!” He said the Church would provide 75 bales of clothing and bedding and would pay the trucking costs of $1,300 to have them shipped to British Columbia. Julie told him that she would arrange for the bales to be shipped from British Columbia to Mongolia and that IWAM would be responsible for distributing the bales of clothing and bedding once they arrived in Mongolia.

As agreed, the Humanitarian Center shipped 75 bales of clothing and bedding to the moving company in British Columbia. The company patiently held Julie's container until the bales arrived. Then the company loaded the bales onto the container. It was a miracle that they didn’t charge her extra for storage while they waited for the truckload of bales to arrive or for loading the bales. Julie left British Columbia and the bales were soon on their way, too.

The bales arrived in Mongolia.

Julie Valoo and Beverly Rhodes, IWAM members

IWAM member, Judy, helping unload bales

Emily really got into it!

Richard throwing bales like a real cowboy!

Some of the bales in a storage room

Richard, Carol and Soyolmaa (Stake Relief Society President)

The truck carrying the container finally arrived and soon the bales were practically flying out of the container. It was exciting! The bales weighed about 50 kilo (110 pounds) each, so moving them around was no easy task, but with the moving crew and all of the other help, they were soon unloaded and safely stored in a storage room in the basement of the church.

Julie called Father Herve and asked him if we could use some of the classrooms to sort clothing. He told her, "My church is your church; use it any way you like."

So, we decided on a time to meet on Monday to sort the bales and everyone left for the day.

On the morning of January 24, 2011, we joined the International Women's Association of Mongolia (IWAM) at the church to sort clothing and bedding and to pack them for distribution. We were accompanied by most of the senior couples, President and Sister Clark, Soyolmaa who is the Stake Relief Society President, Eggy, Zolo, Azzaya (translators), and several Relief Society members. IWAM had a great group of women there too and it was amazing to see everyone working so hard.

The Father Herve told Julie and me that this week is worldwide Christian Unity Week. I told them that we didn’t know that; it was an interesting coincidence.

The Sropes are brand new in Mongolia and already hard at work!

Members of Ulaanbaatar West Stake Relief Society helping sort clothes

We left the cathedral with many bags of clothing and bedding to be delivered to the Burn Center, to the Zayu Taij homeless center, and to an addiction recovery group of mostly homeless people.

Ladies from IWAM busy at work!

Relief Society Members sorting

Richard folding blankets

Eggy, Sister Clark and Zolo sorting coats

While sorting clothes, Elder Powell finds a familiar sight!

A Great Team!
IWAM, DIC, Relief Society ladies, and Senior Missionaries

The IWAM ladies delivered bags of children’s clothing and bedding to the Children’s Welfare Center (the Center) run by the Metropolitan Police for street children, to the men's and women's prison, and to several other organizations. The police at the Children's Welfare Center (the Center) told IWAM that the children would be especially happy because it is tradition to receive new clothes for Tsagaan Sar, which is next week, and even though the clothing is used, it is basically in good shape and will be new to the children. We were happy to have IWAM give clothing and bedding to the Center, because we have also been working with it.

Next week DIC is having a ceremony at the Center to donate: an industrial cooker, an industrial refrigerator/freezer, hygiene items, school supplies, and bedding for 50 children, and a bunch of games. Children from another center for homeless street children will be performing at the ceremony. We have seen them perform before and they are amazing.

Julie Valoo gives the project a big thumbs up!

The following is an excerpt from a follow-up e-mail to us from Julie Valoo:

It was great working with you and it is so wonderful to know that you are also getting involved with the Child Welfare Centre which has been a pet project of ours for a number of years now. I think they can use any and all help that they can get. We are looking forward to being there to see the kids perform on the 7th.

Already, we have had a number of our members [IWAM] ask if we can figure out a way to do it again as it has been such a great success. As of yesterday, we had delivered or had picked up over 95 % of the materials. All that is left are the bales for Father Herve, and we have not, as yet, delivered to the men's prison. That's it. When we have the final list of all the charities I will send it to you. If you do have any more photos from other groups, we would love to have copies.

It was great working with you. Thank you so much for all the help you have given us in getting this clothing distributed. It has been an absolute thrill for me to be able to actually take my idea and make it work, and I think I can safely say that it did more than just work. Certainly from our perspective it was great! Maybe we can do it again someday. In the meantime, at least now when I see you in Millie's, I'll know who you are!

Thankfully, We Made It Home from Choibalsan

2011-01-12T16:25:00.005+03:00

Monday night, January 10th, we returned from a trip to Choibalsan City, which lies 600 kilometers east of Ulaanbaatar (UB). It is on the far eastern side of Mongolia and is lower elevation and a little warmer than UB, with a high while we were there of 6 degrees F and a low of -12, but it also has more snow than Ulaanbaatar. The airport only has flights from Choibalsan to UB and return trips back on Friday and Monday, so we flew over to Choibalsan on Friday and bought tickets to return back to UB on Monday afternoon. There is no bus or taxi service to or from the airport, so Elder and Sister Anderson hired a meeker to pick us up when we arrived.

While we waited for our flight in the UB airport, we made acquaintance with a Mongolian man who was going to Choibalsan. Later, he sat across the aisle from us on the airplane. When we arrived at Choibalsan airport, the plane landed on a short runway. The man we met earlier told us that this airport was a left-over military airport about six kilometers outside of Choibalsan and that the mounds that surrounded it were earthen and brick airplane hangers. We found out later that the airport is about ten kilometers outside of town.

The terrain surrounding the airport was flat and covered with snow. We could see for miles in every direction and saw no sign of the city of Choibalsan.

We looked around for a place to pick up our baggage and couldn’t see one. After several minutes, a man began handing out bags, one-by-one, through the same door we had entered the airport through through. We waited in the small crowd as bags were handed one by one through the doorway. As we watched, the other passengers climbed into waiting SUVs, until only Richard and I and the man we met earlier were left. He said he was waiting for one of his students to pick him up.

We called Elder Anderson and discovered that the meeker they had hired to come and pick us up was stuck in a snowdrift along with several other vehicles. Elder Anderson and several other passengers were helping to dig out the vehicles. We waited a half hour or so and finally the meeker drove up in front of the airport and out piled Elder Anderson, Sister Anderson, and Elder Davaadorj. Since our airport friend hadn’t been picked up, we invited him to join us, and we all we piled back into the meeker and headed for Choibalsan. As we rode to Choibalsan, the Andersons told us that they had gotten stuck several times on the way out to the airport and that they had had to help the meeker driver dig out so they could make it. Also they said that the meeker driver had driven off the road in order to get to there. We really appreciated the hard work it took them in order to pick us up at the airport. On the way into Choibalsan City, we discovered that by not going on the main road and by going a different route, it wasn’t so bad and the driver drove into town without getting stuck.

The main reason we went to Choibalsan was to attend a wheelchair ceremony at the Choibalsan Red Cross. We had hired a large truck to transport 19 wheelchairs from Ulaanbaatar to Choibalsan, and then we flew out so we could attend the ceremony. We made it in time to go to the ceremony. The Governor of Dornod Aimag attended the ceremony and we had a nice visit with him.

We also wanted to check out the garden sites of people who had participated in the garden project last summer. We arrived in time on Friday evening to attend the wheelchair ceremony, and deliver a couple of wheelchairs to individuals.

Saturday we visited some of the members and their garden sites. Of course the land was covered with snow, but we examined several garden sites, green houses/frames, and personal wells and visited with several enthusiastic gardeners. A couple of the gardeners we met was a man and woman in their eighties who were burning the hair off of cow legs/hooves so they could boil them up for soup.

We will be writing up our 2011 Garden Project soon and this gave us a better idea of the terrain and needs of the people in Choibalsan.

We appreciated the hospitality of Elder and Sister Anderson, who are serving there as a senior couple. They will be going home next month and have spent their whole mission there in remote Choibalsan. Elder Anderson is serving as the branch president and is setting a wonderful example of a caring, capable leader. We attended a special baptism on Saturday night where a wonderful choir of Young Women and Aaronic Priesthood led by Sister Anderson, sang two special hymns. Elder Anderson performed the baptism. The Sacrament meeting on Sunday, which was attended by about 150 people, seemed like we were back home in Utah. Elder Anderson did a wonderful job of conducting. He's probably the bridge that is needed between the old branch president and the new one here in Choibalsan. Hopefully, whoever replaces Elder Anderson emulate the way Elder Anderson has fulfilled his calling.

It was really thrilling to see how much the members love Elder and Sister Anderson. Elder Anderson told us that it took awhile for them to gain the people’s trust. But it was easy to see that they are now loved very much. They are like the grandmother and grandfather of the branch. For example, Sister Anderson and I sat in the audience during sacrament meeting. She had three sisters who wanted to translate for her, so one sat behind me and “tried” to translate for me, and the other two sat on either side of Sister Anderson and together translated for her. Also, while coming and going to meetings, Sister Anderson was greeted with many warm “San ban oh”s and excited hugs. The Andersons are loved and are making a great difference in this branch.

On Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m., Elder and Sister Anderson invited us over to dinner at their apartment. Even though Church let out at 1:00 p.m., they started the dinner at 7:00 p.m. because the missionaries had people to visit or teach and they weren’t through until 7:00 p.m, so the Andersons patiently waited until then to serve the dinner. They served a tasty home-cooked meal of carrots, potatoes and chicken soup served over white rice and accompanied by mandarin oranges and home-made cake with sweetened condensed milk frosting (a Sister Anderson invention).

We stayed at a lovely, newly remodeled hotel across the street from the Choibalsan chapel, the To Wan. During our stay, we made friends with a sweet desk clerk named Munkhgerel. She was really friendly and interested in what we were doing.

On Monday, we visited Kindergarten #1, which was near our hotel. They had put in a request to DIC for assistance and we wanted to see what they needed. We had fun as we visited the classrooms and met the children. Richard insisted that I sing "Goya, Goya, Goya" with the children. I did and it was really fun.

When it came time for us to leave Choibalsan, Elder Davaadorj made arrangements for a meeker to pick us up at our hotel. He told the driver not to take us by way of the main road because of the terrible snowdrifts. We loaded our suitcases into the meeker, but as we started out, the meeker began making terrible noises. The missionaries hopped in and told us that the driver was going to take us to the Zakh (big open market) where we would get into another meeker and then be taken to the airport.

At the Zakh we piled into another meeker, drove to the gym, dropped off the missionaries so they could play basketball, and started driving out of town. We were concerned when the driver started driving straight out of town on the main road. I kept thinking he would turn off the main road and go the safer way out of town, but we realized that when we changed into the second meeker, he probably didn’t receive the same instructions about which way to travel to the airport. As we neared the edge of town, the driver drove the meeker right into a big snowdrift and, of course, we got stuck! Richard and I got out and pushed and pushed while the meeker’s bald tires spun and spun. As the meeker rolled backward and then forward, I could see spots of oil splattering on the snow under the meeker. We finally pushed the meeker out of the snowdrift.

The driver drove around that snowdrift and gunned the meeker another block or two through the drifted snow, getting stuck and unstuck a couple more times. Finally, the meeker gunned half way through a huge snowdrift and there he sat stuck in a depression in the road, and spinning his tires, he couldn’t go backwards or forwards. He didn’t have a shovel, only a long metal pole, which he tried to use to bat the snow away from the tires. We felt very helpless and very stuck. I told the driver that my husband was a good driver. The meeker driver agreed and so Richard got into the meeker while the meeker driver and I tired to push. Richard tried his best, while we I pushed, but to no avail.

Finally, Richard got out of the meeker, worriedly looked at his watch and said, “Let’s walk.” He asked the meeker driver where the airport (neesick) was and the meeker driver pointed to what looked like a tiny building straight down the road ahead of us. Richard paid the man 5,000 tugs, took our bags out of the meeker, and we started trudging straight ahead through the snowdrifts towing our bags while the driver watched us with a bewildered look on his face. The further we went, the more we were convinced that our meeker would never have made it any further than he did. Also, the further we went, the smaller the meeker looked, but the airport didn’t look any larger.

We trudged along the snow-drifted road for about twenty to twenty-five minutes, when suddenly we heard the sound of an engine coming up fast behind us. Richard yelled, “He’s coming!”

It, of course, wasn’t the meeker we had abandoned; it was a big Russian van with new-looking snow tires and four-wheel drive. As it neared, we didn’t know if the driver would stop for us or not, but thankfully, he did! He asked us where we were going and when we told him the neesick, he motioned for us to get in. As Richard threw our bags into the van, I climbed onto the middle of the only seat behind the driver, a rear-facing bench seat, between two Mongolian men, one of whom was practically buried in an animal fur blanket. Richard plopped himself next to another man on a pile of bags on the floor of the van. One more Mongolian sat on the bags behind Richard.

Once we were safely inside, the driver reached out to us and shook our hands like we were old friends, turned around, and started driving through the snowdrifts. As we bumped up and down and sideways, we asked the men in the back if they were going to fly. They laughed and said no. We think they told us that they were workers at the airport.

As we bumped along, our Indiana Jones driver plowed through the snow, got stuck, backed up, gunned it and plowed on. He pulled off the road and around several big snowdrifts. Once we were stuck and I thought we would have to get out and help shovel, but just at that moment, the driver skillfully maneuvered the van and we were suddenly on the move again. We drove on like that for about twenty-five minutes until we realized, through frost-covered windows, that we were approaching the fence around the airport! I couldn’t believe my eyes! As we approached the airport, the driver started singing in English, “Country road, take me home, to the place I belong . . .” I joined in! He laughed and so did we!

As he stopped and we pulled our bags out of the van, I exclaimed many bayarlalaas (thanks). The driver came around the van and shook our hands. As Richard thanked him with some tugriks, the driver started singing again, “Country road . . .” I joined in and we loudly sang the chorus together. He then laughed, shook my hand, and gave me a big hug.

While he walked into a small auxiliary building, Richard and I picked up our luggage and walked gratefully over to the airport terminal. It wasn’t long before we were asked to go through security and into the waiting room. We were very grateful that we weren’t still out in the snow walking to the airport. The airplane left about ten minutes early and there were only about ten people on board. We were grateful to be part of them!

We felt like the cavalry had rescued us! We realized that without this ride, we would never have made our flight, we would have been stranded on the frozen prairies of Choibalsan, and would have had a long five days' wait until the next airplane came. Being rescued was truly a tender mercy!

Thankfully, we made it home safely and were able to sleep in our own bed that night! We slept well!

Christmas Concert by Stake and District Choir

2011-01-01T17:05:00.002+03:00

On Christmas day, Christmas music filled the chapel at the Bayanzurkh building sung by the combined UB West Stake and UB East District Choir. The choir had practiced for weeks to be ready for this spectacular performance. The narration was in Mongolian, but most of the songs were sung in beautifully in English. Two performances were held to standing-room-only audiences.

The concert showcased Sister Buted singing the beautiful "Ava Maria" with the choir as her back-up singers.

Following two performances at the Bayanzurkh building, the choir performed in the Chinggis Khaan Hotel lobby to an appreciative audience.

Deseret International Charities Delivers Wheelchairs in Erdenet

2011-01-01T10:55:00.004+03:00

Wheelchair Recipient in Erdenet is lifted into his new wheelchair by his sister-in-law and brother

His legs were paralyzed when he suffered a stroke, and
since then, his family has carried him from place to place in the chair on the left.

He expresses his appreciation for his new wheelchair

Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission, Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T09:49:00.001+03:00

Christmas Photo 2010
Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission

This photo was taken after the Christmas Devotional. It included everyone except the missionaries in Khovd, Choibalsan, and Murun who weren't able to come in for Christmas.

Welcome to Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission's New Mission President

2010-12-18T16:48:00.003+03:00

Sister and President Jay D. Clark at the door of the Mission Home

President Powell welcomes President Clark!

President and Sister Clark visiting Deseret International Charities' Office

Elder Reeve gives President and Sister Clark a thumbs up!

Deseret International Charities -- A Week of Wheelchair Donations

2010-11-29T17:01:00.006+03:00

At Songino District's 11th Khoroo – Deseret International Charities presented nine wheelchairs to individuals in a ceremony at the khoroo (government) offices.

This wheelchair recipient was carried into the wheelchair
ceremony at Songino's 11th Khoroo by a dear friend

She was delighted with her new wheelchair!

A blessing for this woman!

Later that week, we traveled to Erdenet City where Deseret International Charities presented wheelchairs to 14 disabled children at the Department for Children under the Governor of Orkhon Aimag. It was a wonderful ceremony. It was very well planned by the director of the Center. All but three of the children attended to receive their wheelchairs. It was really touching to see the children in their wheelchairs. One little boy recited a poem he wrote about his mother and he later was so thrilled with his wheelchair that he zoomed all around the room.

It's hard to imagine how difficult life is for parents who have to carry their children everywhere they go and for children who can't walk and play like other children. Many adults must feel liberated to receive a wheelchair for their children and many children must feel liberated to have a way to get around by themselves.

Some of the disabled children in their new wheelchairs

One young man receiving a wheelchair

President Tserenbat, who is Darkhan District President, accompanied us and made some remarks at the ceremony. A couple of TV reporters interviewed him and he did a great job of explaining Deseret International Charities' five initiatives and that DIC is sponsored by donations from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide. President Tserenbat is well known and well respected in Erdenet and everyone seems to look up to him. The ceremony was covered by three local TV stations and was on the evening and morning news for each channel.

Darkhan District President, President Tserenbat, being interviewed by a couple of TV reporters

Video of a little boy zooming around in his new wheelchair!

Following the ceremony, we took the center director and another staff member to lunch with President Tserenbat and group became good friends.

After lunch we delivered wheelchairs to the remaining three children in their homes. It is always a tender experience to give a wheelchair to someone, but it is especially sweet to give one to a disabled child.

This boy receives tender care from his younger sister

This little boy is actually 15 years old. His younger sister cares for him during the day while their mother works. We felt heart ache for her as we noticed her placid, expressionless face and realized that she probably stays at home for hours caring for her invalid brother, and that she is probably sacrificing her education in order to care for him.

Grandmother caring for invalid granddaughter

This duty-bound grandmother cares full time in a one-room apartment for the needs of her disabled granddaughter. The woman's daughter, who is the little girl's mother, married and moved out, leaving the child in her grandmother's care. After we presented the granddaughter with a new wheelchair, we were just walking out the door when Richard told the grandmother that she would be blessed for her service to her granddaughter. When Azzaya translated his words to the grandmother, the woman sobbed.

President Tserenbat and a khoroo (local government) official carrying a wheelchair to a wheelchair recipient

In Ekhtsalool Bag, in Erdenet, we presented wheelchairs to five more individuals in their homes. President Tserenbat accompanied us to each home and was very sweet and friendly to the people. They were each happy to receive a wheelchair and to gain some mobility.

After all the wheelchair deliveries, President Tserenbat took us on a tour of the copper mine where he worked for 33 years before retiring a year ago. He is an amazing man and we really enjoyed his company. We also enjoyed having Azzaya and her friend Batkaa with us! They are darling!

Teaching English

2010-11-29T15:16:00.000+03:00

Carol teaching Conversational English at the Bayanzurkh Building.
Richard often joins in and especially likes to teach idioms.

Another Choir Festival

2010-11-29T14:18:00.003+03:00

Sign-language choir members

On Saturday, all 10 wards and branches in Ulaanbaatar participated in a second Choir Festival. It was held in the Bayanzurkh building. There were approximately 355 participants. President Odgerel spearheaded the festival and wanted to do it on a limited budget, so it only included the branches and wards in the city. Nalaikh and Baganuur didn't participate. The theme of the festival was “Celebrating Hymns of the Restoration.” Choirs preformed many wonderful hymns and songs celebrating the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The script for the narration was from Preach My Gospel and told the story of the restoration.

Young and old loved singing in the choirs

Khailaast Branch Choir - The children sang one verse of "The Golden Plates" and then the choir joined in.
Note: Elder Lasson, back left.

Songino Ward Choir with 50 participants. They love to sing together. Note: Baigalmaa, their teenage director

Beginning at 1:00 p.m. the choirs gathered for a combined rehearsal. Performances were at 3:00 and 6:30 p.m. with a lunch provided to the participants between performances. All of the choirs did a wonderful job. Many sang harmony and had great participation. President Odgerel filmed it and is planning on making a DVD.

After having some building closures in the city, which made it so many choirs couldn’t practice, this Choir Festival got some of the choirs practicing again and gave them a big boost.

Deseret International Charities Donates 500 Wheelchairs to the People of Mongolia

2010-11-06T17:21:00.002+03:00

On October 20^th we held a major wheelchair ceremony at the Children's Palace in Ulaanbaatar. We are partnering with the Ulaanbaatar Red Cross who is helping DIC distribute wheelchairs. At the ceremony, DIC officially transferred 300 wheelchairs of the 500 wheelchairs DIC is donating this year to the Red Cross for distribution and DIC will distribute the remaining 200 wheelchairs.

The ceremony was first class and included excellent Mongolian entertainment, remarks by Red Cross and DIC officials, recognition of Church leaders, and presentation of wheelchairs to 28 disabled people.

Red Cross presented special medals of recognition to Kathy and William Clark, who preceded us as Country Directors for DIC, for their cooperation and humanitarian work over the years.

Some of the disabled people couldn’t attend the ceremony in person because it was impractical to transport them, so their wheelchairs were presented to a family member or Red Cross representative who will deliver the wheelchairs to them. A couple of people borrowed wheelchairs to come to the ceremonies and went home in their own wheelchairs. They were delighted.

The ceremony was covered by two TV stations and was on the evening and morning news.

Deseret International Charities Completes Five Clean-water Stations for Bayanzurkh District

2010-10-31T15:10:00.009+03:00

Deseret International Charities built and donated five clean-water stations to the people of Bayanzurkh District. The stations were built in areas where people have had to haul water long distances, usually by hand, over difficult terrain—steep hills, mucky swamps, slippery slopes, etc. Having a clean-water station in their neighborhood is a huge improvement over hauling water long distances over this type of terrain.

Richard wrote: Deseret International Charities' construction of five clean-water stations for Bayanzurkh District in Ulaanabaatar is complete. We had the opening ceremonies and all water stations are in operation. Both contractors were great and had several crews working on the water stations simultaneously. Construction on the first station began August 20th and the last station was completed October 9th.

Opening ceremonies for the three stations in the 2nd Khoroo were held October 12th and the ceremonies for the two stations in the 23rd Khoroo were held on October 16th. We had a good turn out at all ceremonies with excellent media coverage as well.

As part of the project, Khoroo governors will soon provide sanitation training in the schools for children and parents.

The beneficiaries are grateful and excited to have clean water available in their neighborhoods.

The walls of the stations are very thick and well insulated to keep the water from freezing with temperatures reaching as low as -30 to -50 F. Each station is equipped with a small stove that burns wood and coal. Each station has a room (office) for the operator who sells the water and runs the station, a room for fuel storage, and a large room to house the 8,000-liter water storage tank. The tanks are made of steel and are imported from China. They will be filled 2-3 times/week as needed. Above is a picture of one of the tanks, plus a sample of the thickness of the walls.

The exterior walls include an outside layer of brick, a 4-inch layer of Styrofoam, and another 3 rows of brick. The inside of the walls are then coated with plaster and are painted. The walls end up being about 20+ inches thick. Each station also has a ramp for the water truck to pull up on so it can fill the tank with water.

The buildings are 6 meters square, not counting the ramp. They are much larger than the well houses DIC built, because they house a much larger water tank. The windows are high quality double-paned glass. They are quite attractive and almost look like small churches. Sometimes the operators fix them up to look really homey inside.

On Our Way Home from Hong Kong -- Super Sights in Seoul

2010-10-26T03:28:00.008+03:00

On the way home from our trip to Hong Kong, we had a 15-hour lay over in Seoul, so we decided to take a 6-hour tour of the Highlights of Seoul. We toured the immense Gyeongbok Palace and the National Folk Museum, browsed through the colorful Korean shops, ate fire meat and kimchee at a Korean restaurant, and enjoyed some traditional Korean entertainment. The Gyeongbok Palace was the main palace of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and was the last dyansty in Korea. Now Seoul is a modern city. It has made way for modern freeways and tall buildings, while still preserving its ancient heritage. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

Statues at the National Folk Museum. Richard is a Ram!

Shopping in Seoul, Korea

Musician in Seoul, Koren

Deseret International Charities' Wheelchair Donations

2010-10-25T15:17:00.011+03:00

October 11, 2010 – Wheelchair donated to Buyannemekh

Buyannemekh was a tall, handsome, college student attending the National University of Mongolia and studying Bio-technology.

In 2006, before his graduation, Buyannemekh was beaten up. His injuries left him paralyzed from the waist down and with limited use of his hands. He wasn’t able to finish his course work and, as a result, he missed his college graduation. He went to China for two or three months of treatment, but since then, he has lain at home in his bed. Buyannemekh’s younger brother, Altanbaagan, who is about a foot shorter than Buyannemekh and Buyannemekh’s mother care for his daily needs. Once in awhile his family takes him out of their home for a ride in a car, but usually he just lies on his back in his bed.

One of his college classmates, Batchimeg who is a returned missionary, delivered his request for a wheelchair to DIC. Batchimeg went with us when we delivered the wheelchair. She was saddened to see his condition but happy to see him receive a wheelchair.

Buyannemekh and his mother expressed their sincere appreciation for the wheelchair. We hope it will increase his mobility and help him enjoy life more.

On October 22^nd, Damdin Suren, who is a retired church member, accompanied us the small apartment of his life-long friend, Batmunkh who is sixty years old. Damdin Suren and Batmunkh worked together for many years on heavy construction. Batmunkh lifted and carried many heavy loads on construction sites. He has had back pain for a long time, but five years ago, he had a serious back injury. He could still walk, but it was very painful.

On the advice of his doctor, Batmunkh traveled to China for an operation. Unfortunately, the operation left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Batmunkh can sit in a chair alone and wheel a wheelchair, but someone has to assist him to sit up and move into a chair. He has a huge bedsore, and because of it, he can’t even take a shower. He said he doesn’t like laying down all the time. Sometimes he borrows his friend’s wheelchair and gets up and makes cookies. He has a secret recipe that no one else in Mongolia has. Sometimes he receives orders from Americans and Japanese people for his special-recipe cookies.

He was delighted to receive the wheelchair. He has big plans to build a bakery next to his apartment building and was thrilled because now he will be able to sit up and bake in his bakery. He said the wheelchair would be just perfect! He said he hopes we will still be in Mongolia when he opens his new bakery in April because he wants to invite us to its opening.

October 24, 2010

We delivered three wheel chairs to individuals.

The first was to the 84-year old father of Munktsetseg who is a member of Khailaast Branch. Purev Chogdov was really pleased with his new wheelchair and as soon as he was helped into the wheelchair, he took off wheeling around the two-room home.

He said he is really happy to receive the wheelchair because he gets really tired of lying in bed all the time.

The next delivery was to a woman who is an active member of the Church named Dorjpalam Ulzii. She was born in 1944 and is 66 years old. She is planning on going to the temple as soon as possible, however, because walking is so painful for her, she has been unable to even attend church for a long time. As we drove over steep, uneven, rocky, ger-district “roads” to her home, we were grateful that we were in a four-wheel drive vehicle. The Khailaast Branch President, Nassanbold, accompanied us. When we asked him how Dorjpalam traveled these roads when she came to church, he replied, “Walking very slowly.” As we arrived at her home, her son told us that she had gone to the hospital, so we decided that as long as we had time and the wheelchair with us, we would deliver it to her there. It was a long way across town and we would have never found it alone, but thanks to

President Nassanbold and Brother Otgonbayar, who went with us because he said he wanted to do service, we finally found the building nestled deep in a ger district. As we opened the door to her room, we found Dorjpalam’s angelic-looking face greeting us. She was delighted. Receiving a wheelchair was a dream come true for her.

And finally, we took a wheelchair to Baatarnyam who is about 55 years old. He has had a couple of strokes. About three months ago, he had a tragic accident. He was collecting plastic bottles around the railroad tracks when he became dizzy and passed out on the train tracks. A train came along and cut off one of his legs just below the knee.

He and his wife have been investigating the Church, so the missionaries brought us a request to give him a wheelchair. Baatarnyam and his wife didn’t know we were coming and when we arrived, the door to Baatarnyam’s fence was locked. Elder Bashka, Elder Wilson and Richard banged and banged on the gate. We thought Baatarnyam must be home because the gate was locked from the inside, but in spite of a band of loud banging, no one came to answer the door. Just as we were about give up, we had a tender mercy. Three young boys came bounding down the steep hill.

The Elders asked the boys if they knew the people we wanted to see. They said they did and before we knew it, all three, like agile monkeys, scaled the tall fence, dropped down on the other side and ran to the house. After rousing Baatarnyam’s wife, they came running with her back to the door to let us in.

Baatarnyam’s wife and Baatarnyam were really surprised. She cried and cried. At first, Baatarnyam was speechless, but as he was helped into his new wheelchair, he uttered bursts of gratitude and profuse handshaking. As we left, the missionaries invited them to church next week, and they said they would come. After one final hug from Baatarnyam’s teary wife, we waved good-by.

Visitors in Mongolia

2010-10-10T16:31:00.033+03:00

We were absolutely delighted when my mother, Lana, Julie and Robert (two of my two sisters and a brother-in-law) and Dian Thomas (a friend) told us they were coming to Mongolia for five days. We made plans for their arrival, found an apartment for them to rent, and relished the thought of them coming.

When the day came, we couldn't believe it to actually see them walk out of the Chinggis Khaan airport! What a thrill to see them again. It has been about 14 months since we have seen them or any of our family and we were delighted!

They accompanied us to check on DIC projects. We showed them where we are storing the new shipment of wheelchairs, we took them with us to visit Zayu Taij--the homeless shelter DIC is helping, they accompanied us to check on the three clean-water stations DIC is putting in Bayanzurkh’s 2nd Khoroo, and the two DIC is putting in the 23rd Khoroo.

The following is one of the clean-water stations in Bayanzurkh District:

We even got to see a ger being put up. (Above is the ger being assembled.)

That night we took them to the pink Drama Theatre where we saw the National Song and Dance Ensemble’s final performance of the season.

They were mesmerized by the Koomii (throat singing), the National Orchestra made up of classic Mongolian instruments including the morin khuur (horse head fiddle), the amazing contortionist, and the dancing and costumes.

The next day, we took them with us to Zuun Kharaa to check on the four water wells DIC put in that city this summer. While there visited the chapel, saw missionaries at work, and tasted authentic Mongolian cuisine at Modern Nomads. (Below is a plate of khuushur at Modern Nomads.)

On the way to Zuun Kharaa, we drove through Mongolia's rolling hills of grazing land, groves of golden-leaf trees accented by forest-green pine trees, and past mounds of meadow grass waiting to be harvested. Even though most of the hills have turned brown from autumn's dry, cool temperatures instead of the beautiful green of summer, it was still a beautiful drive.

We spotted a herd of yaks, so Richard pulled off the road for some photo opportunities. Everyone enjoyed having their pictures taken next to these interesting animals.

On the way back to Ulaanbaatar, Richard spotted a ger with a herd of horses by it, so we stopped and took pictures from the road. Then to our surprise, he pulled off the road to get a closer view. A couple of the men who lived in the ger came out and, in a gesture of friendship, they offered us a drink from a bowlful of a traditional Mongolian drink airig (fermented mare's milk). A couple of the adventurous among took a sip. As most of us took photos and enjoyed the sunset, Dian adventurously strolled down to where a man was milking a mare. Unbeknownst to us, the man showed her how and she gave it a try. We’re sure that milking a mare in Mongolia was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for her.

We ate American cuisine at Milley's. Robert had a Philly Cheese steak sandwich and fries and he said they were delicious. We also ate Mongolian barbeque in a ger inside Altai Barbeque—“the original since 1205.”

One of our sweetest moments was visiting Batbold's parents' ger (yurt). Batbold, who is working as one of our water-station monitors, invited us to see his parents' ger on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. He proudly told us that they had lived in this ger for over 30 years and that he wanted to show it to us because he wanted my family to see a classic ger and because his mother is a wonderful housekeeper. He was right. It was a beautiful, clean, bright and cheery ger. It was easy to imagine their family of five children happily growing-up, warm and comfortable, altogether in this one-room ger.

On Saturday, we hired Baatar, who drives for the senior couples, to drive us to the huge stainless steel Chinggis Khaan Statue about 55 kilometers outside of town.

On the way out, we spotted some camels, so Baatar stopped so our visitors could ride the camels. We couldn't believe it when Mom said she wanted to ride a camel. After she got on, she got a little scared and said, "I think I'll just have a sit," but she was soon convinced to stay on for a ride. It was fun to watch Mom at 84-years old riding a camel.

Then we spotted a Kazak man with two eagles. We stopped and he let us take photos holding the eagles. Richard had done it before, but I decided to try it. What a thrill to hold that huge bird high over my head. That's something I never thought I would do.

My family attended Church with us at the Khailaast Branch and after that we visited Tsetsegmaa’s humble ger and took a couple of older women home. Then we visited Zaisan Hill where Julie, Robert, Richard and I climbed to the top where Neal A. Maxwell dedicated the Church in Mongolia for missionary work. The view from the top of the hill was amazing.

Finally, their trip had come to an end. We picked them up on Monday morning in what was normally plenty of time to get to the airport, but to our dismay, we found ourselves in a terrible traffic jam. We could probably have walked to the airport faster. The traffic was awful and we sat in one spot for over 30 minutes. We were really scared the group wouldn’t make their flight, but prayers were uttered and suddenly, the traffic parted. We still had a ways to go, but it was clear sailing to the airport.

They checked in their baggage and we quickly hugged and waved good-by. This is what Julie wrote after they arrived home,

We are so grateful that Richard was able to get us to the airport in time to make our flight....

The plane was taxiing out from the gate before we were in our seats!

Wow, was that a nail biter!

We made a lot of memories—more than we can relate. We didn’t think we would ever have family come to Mongolia, but we did and it was great!

P. S.

Dian Thomas wrote the following article about her experience in Mongolia, which was printed in the Meridian Magazine on-line:

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/lds-church-updates/article/6459?ac=1

Trip to Hong Kong

2010-10-08T03:04:00.011+03:00

Last Monday, we returned from a wonderful ten-day trip to Hong Kong to attend the Hong Kong temple with the Naranbat family from the Khailaast Branch. Naranbat's oldest daughter, Battsetseg, was our second translator/assistant. She and her husband and her parents and their family are some of our dear friends. We were delighted when we found out they would be going to the temple in Hong Kong the same time that we were going. We had a wonderful week with them!

On Monday we visited wonderful sights in Hong Kong with them. Elder Chan was our personal tour guide for the day. He generously gave his time so that we would all have a special experience in Hong Kong. We visited the Area Office and went to Church there.

It was a thrill to see them sealed in the temple and to feel their excitement as they did other work in the temple. Their youngest two sons enthusiastically performed hundreds of baptisms for the dead. We were able to witness their sealing to their deceased son and infant daughter who died at birth. It was a memorable week for all of us.

Deseret International Charities Received a Shipment of 500 Wheelchairs

2010-09-26T11:41:00.013+03:00

This week, DIC received a shipment of 500 wheelchairs from China that DIC will be donating to the needy people of Mongolia. The wheelchairs arrived at the train station in Ulaanbaatar on Sunday and by Thursday, they were safely in storage.

It took

a lot of time and work to get them through Customs and into storage, but we had many helping hands who willingly worked to get the work done. Two groups of Helping Hands unloaded two containers of wheelchairs at two separate locations. Each group was treated to a pizza party after the unloadings.

Deseret International Charities Donates Vision Equipment and Training to Mongolia

2010-09-07T14:37:00.022+03:00

The Vision Project occupied most of our time the last two weeks. The week of August 22^nd was spent preparing for the project and the week of August 29^th was spent carrying out the project. We have been planning this project for months with Dr. Roger Harrie and his wife Bev from Utah, USA. Dr. Harrie is a widely-renown author and ophthalmologist with the Moran Eye Institute in Salt Lake City. He and his wife donated their time to prepare for, travel to, and present this training to about 45 ophthalmologists here in Mongolia.

To prepare for this training here in Mongolia, we held planning meetings with Dr. Enkhtul from the First Government Hospital and Dr. Chimgee from the Migaxi Sight Clinic. We also ordered lunch and fruit for the training, purchased other food and supplies to make the training go well, arranged for and had a large banner made which was used as a backdrop for the training, ceremonies, photos, etc.

The Banner

As part of the preparation, we arranged for several church members and non-members with eye problems to come to the training as patients. Members included: Elder Bashka, President Altanzukh’s wife, Batchimeg, Batchimeg’s father, another missionary and a member from Murun, who has severe sight limitations. This was beneficial to the training as well as to the patients. Dr. Harrie needed actual patients to work on in order to demonstrate using the donated equipment to diagnose and treat diabetic retinopathy.

A miracle happened the Saturday before the training started. We received a call from Brother Boston, who lives in Alaska, but was in Mongolia on business and was staying nearby at the Chinggis Khaan Hotel. He said the Lion’s Club in Alaska had sent him with about 2,000 pairs of used prescription and reading eyeglasses to donate to people in Mongolia. The prescriptions were verified and the eyeglasses were labeled and sorted into boxes according to their prescriptions. He asked if we could find people who could use them. We excitedly told him that we just happened to be training 45 ophthalmologists from all over Mongolia starting on Monday, and it would be a perfect opportunity to offer these glasses to them to give to poor patients who could not afford glasses. The timing of his donation was perfect. The Lord certainly has his hand in this work.

Brother Boston (in navy blue shirt) with duffle bags and boxes full of eyeglasses donated by the Lions' Club in Alaska

The actual Vision Project included the donation of about $67,000 of Argon lasers, surgical equipment, microscopes, lenses, and ophthalmoloscopes. They will be of great benefit to the First Hospital and the Migaxi Eye Clinic. Their ophthalmologists were thrilled.

The training went really well. We had 45 ophthalmologists from all over Mongolia and from Ulaanbaatar. The Vision Project paid the transportation cost for eleven doctors from aimag hospitals to attend the training. The doctors were hungry for the training and the group kept getting bigger as the week went on and others wanted to join.

Ophthalmologists attending training in the Bayanzurkh building

On Monday, the training was held for the whole day in the Bayanzurkh church building in room 301. The doctors loved the facility with its clean, modern restrooms, elevator, etc. and enjoyed the spirit in the building. Dr. Chimgee gave the doctors a pre-test to assess their current knowledge. Dr. Harrie gave a lecture on how to recognize diabetic retinopathy and to refer patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Dr. Chimgee translating while Dr. Roger Harrie gives his lecture

Then, Dr. Chimgee presented her master’s thesis, which she had very recently finished, on findings regarding eye care needs in Mongolia. Dr. and Bev Harrie said that one of their goals in partnering with Dr. Chimgee in the past has been to support her in making this important study of eye care in Mongolia. Now that there is a baseline, it will be easier to determine action for eye care aid in the future.

During breaks, ophthalmologists were given plastic bags and told they could pick out any eyeglasses they wanted to take home to their home hospitals. They just had to give them to the poor.

Azzaya, DIC's darling and very capable translator and assistant

DIC provided fruit, hot herbal drinks (using an electric teapot and a thermos), hot seabuck-thorn juice in a crockpot, rolls, bottled juice, bottled water and candy on the participants’ tables, box lunches, and an afternoon snack of hot apple turnovers. The ophthalmologists felt like they were treated royally. They especially loved the lectures. They kept saying, “This is really needed in Mongolia.”

Tuesday was spent at First Hospital. First, Dr. Harrie and doctors from First Hospital examined patients including several members of the Church and a couple of DIC’s friends who needed care. Dr. Harrie and Dr. Chimgee taught opthalmologists how to use the 90-diopter lenses that DIC donated and how to use ultrasound for diagnosis.

Dr. Harrie examining Elder Bashka

Dr. Harrie giving instruction at First Hospital

Wednesday the training moved to the Migaxi Eye Sight Clinic where doctors were trained, by using the fundus camera, on how to detect diabetic retinopathy and other eye conditions.

On Thursday, the First Hospital hosted a donation ceremony honoring DIC for donating the Argon lasers and other equipment to them and the Migaxi Eye Clinic. The other equipment donated to the First Hospital included: several 90-diaptor lenses, 24 slit-lamp bulbs, and blades for cataract surgery, etc. First Hospital put up a banner and balloons and presented DIC with a plaque of gratitude.

At the ceremony there were reporters from three TV stations and three newspapers. They covered the ceremony and did interviews with hospital directors, doctors, Dr. Harrie, and Elder Lasson.

We were too busy to watch the news that night, but we think the coverage was good because many people told us they saw it on the news on several different TV channels.

Following the ceremony, Bev Harrie set up one of the Argon lasers in First Hospital and Dr. Harrie gave instructions on its use. Later, they went to the Migaxi Eye Sight Clinic and set up the second Argon laser there.

Dr. and Bev Harrie setting up the Argon laser in First Hospital

On Friday, we held a closing session for the participants in the Bayanzurkh building. Dr. Chimgee gave the participants a post test, and she and Dr. Harrie gave a follow-up discussion and answered questions.

That morning, DIC provided fruit, herbal drinks, hot sea-buck-thorn juice, rolls, bottled juice, bottled water and candy. Following the discussion and questions, we took down the tables and arranged the chairs to face the banner. Then we presented a certificate to each participant. The First Hospital arranged for each participant to receive training credit from the Ministry of Health.

"Graduation Ceremonies" of training participants in the Bayanzurkh building

We were pleased with how well the training went. Doctor and Bev Harrie were also pleased with the project and said it was one of the best they had been involved with and that it provided a new model for training. They liked having one day of lectures with all of the ophthalmologists, followed by hands-on training sessions in the hospital/clinic and a public donation ceremony, and concluding with a wrap-up session and presentation of certificates.

Through this training and follow-up discussions with the ophthalmologists from First Hospital, Doctor and Bev Harrie and Dr. Chimgee, we gained some great insight on what might be included in a future Vision Project.

Four New Missionaries from America

2010-09-05T15:42:00.011+03:00

We were exited to meet the four new missionaries from America who arrived in Mongolia this week.

After the fireside tonight, we snapped a quick photo of two of the new arrivals who were at the fireside, Elder Wilson and Elder Jolley. Elder Etgel, who is Elder Wilson's companion, is in the middle and said that standing between them makes him feel short.

Elder Wilson and Elder Etgel are in the branch we attend, Khailaast. Elder Wilson bore his testimony in Mongolian today and did a great job.

Elder Jolley sends a "Hello" to all of his friends and family!

On Monday on the sidewalk in front of the Bayanzurkh church building, we spotted Elder Reeve (on the right). He is excited to be here in Mongolia, but already twisted his ankle playing basketball (note the wrap on his ankle). He appears to be okay and in good spirits!

A little later we spotted Elder Huff who was already hard at enjoying his first P-day. His Mongolian companion recently returned from serving in the Boise, Idaho mission and thinks it's quite a coincidence that Elder Huff is also from Idaho.

Teaching many hours of English and trying to learn Mongolian at the same will be quite a challenge for these four missionaries, but they appear to be up to the challenge, and we're sure they will be blessed for their efforts and Mongolia will be blessed to have them here.

Welcome aboard!

Carrying Water Is a Difficult Chore for Mongolian Children

2010-08-15T19:02:00.010+03:00

While we were on our trip, we saw these little children carrying a heavy container of water. They looked discouraged, so Sister Clark suggested we offer them a piece of chocolate. Instead of taking a piece of chocolate, the little girl took the whole box, so it complicated their task even more. Notice them with their mouths and hands full of chocolate while they are trying to carry their water.

Some of the Sights We Saw Along the Way

2010-08-15T15:55:00.010+03:00

Much of Mongolia looks like a well manicured golf course with sheep and goats on it.

On the Mongolia-Russia border. Looking across the river into Russia.

On a hill above Khodug Uundar.

Notice the motorcycle and satellite dish.

Mongolia is the land of blue sky.

Look closely and you'll see a ger.

This looks like a painting, but it's real!

Sunset on Khovskul Lake.

Richard took this video of two young goats practicing at butting. Notice their tails are wagging; we think they were having fun.

Deseret International Charities -- Gardening in Mongolia

2010-08-13T08:01:00.023+03:00

A Trip to Visit DIC Projects
August 8, 2010

Usually we try to check on Deseret International Charities' (DIC) projects as they go along to make sure all is going well and to evaluate them when they are completed. However, due to time constraints and distance, we have been unable to visit many of the gardens in the Garden Project, the schools/dormitory complexes that DIC assisted during the Dzud disaster, the governments that DIC worked through to assist the herder families during the Dzud disaster, a rehabilitation kindergarten, and some of the hospitals that received equipment and training during DIC's Neonatal Resuscitation Training to see how perpetuation of the training was coming. Because we had gardens in Darkhan, Erdenet, Bulgan, Selenge, and Murun that we needed to visit, as well as other projects, we planned a road trip to visit these places and check on projects there. Elder Clark had mentioned that he and Sister Clark needed to do audits in some of the countryside branches and had some Perpetual Education business to do, so the four of us teamed up together for the trip.

Richard and our assistant Azzaya spent a couple of days making plans for our trip. It took a lot of effort to find hotels, interpreters, arrange meetings with branch presidents, hospitals, schools, gardeners, and government officials, etc. (Especially when you consider that Mongolia doesn’t have a Dex-on-line!)

There is much we could tell about the trip, but some of the highlights were visiting the gardens from the Garden Project.

The Garden Project

Deseret International Charities partnered with all of the LDS wards and branches in Mongolia to provide seeds, tools, gardening manuals, and some greenhouse materials to members of their local units. One of the most rewarding things we did on our trip was to visit gardens of members who were participating in this Garden Project. We visited around thirty gardens in the branches of Erdenet 1 and Erdenet 2, Darkhan 1 and Darkhan 2, Bulgan, Selenge, and Murun. Some gardeners were beginning gardeners while others were more seasoned. They all proudly showed us their gardens and were excited to show tell us about their experiences.

A couple of gardens really touched our hearts.

In Selenge Branch in Sukhbaatar City lives a widow by the name of Adiyasuren. She is a widow who has three daughters. One of her daughters is a recently returned missionary, Delca Muren. Adiyasuren’s only income comes from her thirty goats, her chickens and her meager garden. Every morning, she takes her thirty goats to the river to so they can get a drink of water and then to the mountain to graze. She only has thirty goats because half of her herd died last winter in Mongolia’s terrible Dzud disaster.

Adiyasuren was grateful for the 20 kilo of seed potatoes, tools, garden manual, and seeds she received from the garden project. Watering her garden is a difficult ordeal. When her garden needs water, she buys water from a neighborhood well and hauls it on a handcart up a long steep hill so she can water her garden.

The other garden belongs to Javalgandolam. She is also widow who has been a member of the church for 10 years. Javalgandolam is the Relief Society president. Three of her children are returned missionaries and one just left to go on his mission. His name is Zolboo. Javalgandolam’s husband, who died of a heart attack in 2008, was also a member of the Church. They were pioneers of Selenge branch. Javalgandolam hasn’t been to the temple, but would like to go. After Zolboo comes back from his mission, her family has a goal to work hard so they can go to the temple to be sealed as a family.

She has six children. One daughter Zolzaya is a recently returned missionary and her youngest son Zolboo has just left on a mission. Javalgandolam cares for her younger brother’s son and daughter who has health problems.

Gardening isn’t new to Javalgandolam; her whole fence (property) is planted into a garden. She appreciated the 20 kilo of seed potatoes and seeds she received from the Church/DIC’s Garden Project. She bought cucumber seeds, but the rest of the seeds she planted were from seeds she harvested from her own garden last year. She has a shallow water well that she pumps water out of to use on her garden. She works almost every day of the week, but she doesn’t work on Sunday. She rests that day.

Javalgandolam’s garden is her only source of income. She said that the planting is easy, but the selling is hard. She rents a truck to transport her produce to Ulaanbaatar so she can sell it there. She dug a root cellar and during the winter, she puts a ger over it to protect her remaining produce. She is an amazing example of a dedicated home gardener and her dedication has paid off to produce an amazing home garden. In addition to a wonderful garden of vegetables, she has planted beautiful flowers which adorn her home and make it look like a quaint cottage.

Daremsuren, who was one of the gardening coordinators and a master gardener, has perfected the art of saving run-off water and rain water to use on his lush garden. Members of his branch frequently drop by to see his garden and to receive advice from him on successful gardening practices.

When complimented on his wonderful garden, he simply said, “Heavenly Father gave me all of this.”There are many more gardening stories. Some are new gardeners who have never planted before. Some told us they will be expanding their gardens next year. A couple or gardners built fences around their gardens to keep cows and other animals out. But they were all pleased with their efforts and excited for their forthcoming harvest.

The Last Well Ceremony in Zuun Kharaa

2010-07-16T15:40:00.016+03:00

July 15, 2010

Today we held the last of four well ceremonies in Zuun Kharaa.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, but last night it rained torrents of rain in Ulaanbaatar. We had planned to go to Zuun Kharaa for the well ceremony, so in the morning we tried to call Governor Bayarsaikhan to see if the well ceremony was still a go, but we couldn’t get in touch with him. So, at 7:30 a.m., we drove out of the Bayanzurkh building parking lot with Elder and Sister Caldwell, Elder and Sister Powell and Azzaya in the mission SUV headed for Zuun Kharaa. On the road, we received a phone call from the missionaries in Zuun Kharaa who said there had been a lot of rain, but we said we were still coming because we wanted to be there if Governor Bayarsaikhan had arranged for the ceremony.

A couple of hours later, Azzaya received a phone call from Governor Bayarsaikhan who said he couldn’t come to the ceremony because of the rain and he didn’t think anyone else would come either. We kept going.

We drove through hard rain and saw huge puddles of run off along the highway and dirt and gravel washed across the new gravel road to Zuun Kharaa, but it wasn’t until we drove along the road overlooking the city of Zuun Kharaa that we realized how much rain Zuun Kharaa had received. Many of the flooded streets looked like the canals of Venice. We worried that Bayarsaikhan might be right. Still we hoped there would be some ground around the wells that wasn’t submerged and that the rain would let up long enough for a ceremony. We visited with the missionaries and then went to check-out the wells.

TONGALAG at Well #1 said her whole yard had been under water and that the government’s emergency trucks had been by to pump the water from her yard. She showed us her shallow, private well, which was now polluted with debris, manure, and dirt from her yard. She was extremely grateful for the well and said many people had come to get clean water from the well because their shallow wells were very badly polluted, too. They were totally without clean water. This is a sad thing for them, but a blessing for the people of Zuun Kharaa to help them realize their need for clean water from the deep wells instead of relying on their shallow wells which can be easily polluted.

We splashed in the SUV down the river-like lane to Well #2, where we were supposed to hold the ceremony. We were doubtful that anyone would come. However, when we arrived there, we found that right in front of the well there was an island of ground that wasn’t submerged. The well operator said that people had been told that there would be a well ceremony at 1:00 p.m.; it was 12:45 p.m. We decided to hold the ceremony and hope for the best. As we started setting up, she called friends and neighbors. The rain started to subside. People began gathering. By 1:05 p.m. we had a small crowd of residents. As we started the ceremony, the rain stopped.

Richard gave a brief talk. He told the residents that DIC is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that we try to serve our fellowmen because we are followers of Jesus Christ and that is what he taught us to do. We gave everyone handouts telling them what diseases come from not using clean water and encouraged them to use the clean water from the new wells.

Then we had a fun ribbon cutting ceremony! On a signal from Richard, Elder and Sister Caldwell, Elder and Sister Powell, Azzaya, the well operator, and two residents joined us in cutting a long red ribbon with gold bows in it and officially opening the well. Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, Richard poured up some glasses of water and drank the first cup of crystal clear water. Then we handed out glasses of water to the residents and held drawings for four water cans and a hand-push water truck. Finally, we handed out candy and drinks to the happy crowd.

We were grateful that we had made it safely to Zuun Kharaa, that the rain had stopped long enough for the ceremony to take place, that there was enough unsubmerged ground to hold a ceremony on, and that people came. In the end, the well ceremony felt more like a fun party than like a dismal, soggy rainout!

Naadam in the Capital City - Ulaanbaatar

2010-07-16T11:13:00.015+03:00

July 12-13 NAADAM in Ulaanbaatar

Elder and Sister Eliason invited us to attend the second day of the Naadam Celebration with them. We didn't have a chance to attend Naadam's opening ceremonies because it was on Sunday, so in order to experience Naadam in Ulaaanbaatar, we decided to attend the second day of the Naadam Celebration.

As you would expect, everything was on a much larger scale than in Zuun Kharaa. Instead traveling a couple of minutes outside of town to view the horserace with the locals, we, along with about 75% of the population of Ulaanbaatar or about 65,000 people, drove about 32 kilometers outside of Ulaanbaatar to watch the horse races. It’s not like typical horse races in the states. Horse races are cross-country races. The ages of the horse determines the length of the race. The two-year-old horses we saw raced for ten miles. Children (age 5 to 13) are chosen to be the jockeys. These children ride their horses slowly out into the countryside to the start line and then race them back to the finish line.

Even though both directions of traffic were all headed out of town to see the horseraces, we just missed the first race because of the terrible traffic, so we had a long wait until the next race. During that time, we watched thousands of people eating hoshers in ger cities, playing pool on pool tables brought out to the countryside for the occasion, flying kites, riding their horses, etc.

Finally, we felt excited as we spotted the headlights of the lead car coming over the horizon.Then in a cloud of dust, the winner of the two-year-old-horse race appeared wildly waving his arms. The next riders, hoping to be one of the first five riders to cross the finish line, energetically whipped their horses to spur them on. Some of the riders were very small and most were riding bareback. It was hard to imagine they could even stay on their horses. Oh, one horse did cross the finish line rider-less.

After that, we headed back into the city to the Naadam stadium. Outside of the stadium, we watched a couple of archers. Even though we had tickets, getting into the stadium was a tight squeeze. We had to wait for other people to come out and then squeeze our way into empty spaces as they were vacated. Before too long, we were seated fairly comfortably and thankfully in the shade.

There we watched wrestling. The winners choose who they want to wrestle, so some matches looked like David was wrestling Goliath. As the competition progressed and the less capable wrestlers were weeded out and the matches got longer because the wrestlers were more evenly matched.

In between the wrestling rounds, the top five winners of each horse race were honored. The children rode their horses up to the reviewing stand, dismounted, climbed the stairs, and each received a kiss, a medal, and a gift from the President of Mongolia.

We enjoyed the day, being with the people, watching their interesting sports and visiting with Dr. and Sister Eliason.

July 1, 2010 Well Ceremonies and Nadaam in Zuun Kharaa

2010-07-11T17:35:00.024+03:00

The Governor of Zuun Kharaa, Governor Tseepildorj planned a day of ceremonies for the day before Zuun Kharaa’s Naadam Celebration. Zuun Kharaa had many things to celebrate. Governor Tseepildorj planned to have a ceremony for a new road to Zuun Kharaa donated by Boroo Gold which cuts almost an hour off of the trip to Zuun Kharaa from Ulaanbaatar, and ceremonies for a new sports center, an addition on the hospital, a monument in the city square, and for the four clean-water wells that Deseret International Charities donated. It was a jam-packed day, and as usually happens, everything took longer than anticipated.

By the time the well ceremonies started, everything was running late. Governor Tseepildorj sent his deputy governor in his place to the first ceremony, but Governor Bayarsaikhan and Governor Narandavaa attended all of the ceremonies. The deputy governor thanked Deseret for the contribution and said how much Zuun Kharaa appreciated the donation of these wells to provide clean water for about 30% of Zuun Kharaa’s population (about 7,000 people).

After Deseret International Charities held three of the four well-donation ceremonies, Governor Bayarsaikhan said that the fourth well ceremony would need to be rescheduled because Governor Teespildorj wanted DIC represented at an awards ceremony. We hurried over to the Drama theatre and were seated just in time for the ceremony to begin. During the ceremony, Governor Tseepildorj recognized local leaders, other NGOs and Deseret International Charities. He presented a plaque of appreciation to Deseret for its cooperation and for donating the new wells donated to Zuun Kharaa.

Following the awards presentation, Zuun Kharaa citizens held a concert which displayed their many talents, including: throat singing Khöömii (Mongolian: xөөмий), playing of the morin khuur (Mongolian: морин хуур) and other Mongolian instruments, and a variety of wonderful Mongolian dancing. Even though we were disappointed to not be able to hold all of Deseret’s well ceremonies that day, we were pleased with the recognition given to DIC and delighted by the evening’s entertainment.

Governor Tseepildorj invited us to stay over and attend the Naadam festivities the next day. We, along with Azzaya, decided to stay in a ger camp close to the Naadam stadium that night. The next day we enjoyed the opening ceremonies, a little wrestling, archery and long-distance horse racing. It was a little like attending a small town rodeo back home.

Naadam is a traditional festival in Mongolia. It is a little like a rodeo, but it features “The Three Manly Sports” (эрийн гурван наадам): wrestling, archery, and horse racing. Before we left for Mongolia, our young grandson Austin invited us to a family home evening about Mongolia. He wrote a report about Mongolia and taught us all about it. That was our first exposure to the Naadam or the three main sports of Mongolia. Of course, after he taught us about them, we then had to try them out. We all tried our hand at archery and horse-stick riding, but only the men wrestled. We haven’t seen any women wrestling here in Mongolia, but we have seen them do archery and they may ride horses in the horse races, but we couldn’t tell if any of the riders we saw were girls or not.

The Naadam ceremonies in Zuun Kharaa were held in a small stadium decorated with colorful flags. During the opening ceremonies, about two or three times as many people paraded into and around the stadium as were seated in the audience. An enthusiastic, deep-voiced announcer opened the ceremonies. Elaborately costumed dancers, singers, and musicians skillfully presented traditional Mongolian entertainment. Then came the wrestlers in their colorful shoulder vests, tight briefs, and traditional hats.

We watched a little of the archery competition. In the competition, the archers were trying to dislodge balls about the size of baseballs that were placed in a row on the ground. We were surprised that the judges stood close by the row of balls—sometimes even behind the balls. It looked rather dangerous to us, but while we were watching, no one was hit by an arrow. We thought we might not have been that trusting.

When time came for the cross-country horse race to end, we followed Governor Tseepildorj’s car off the pavement and up a dirt road, where we saw a hillside full of SUVs, trucks, and riders on horses all waiting to see the end of the horserace. We joined a long line of people crowded along the path going up the hill toward the finish line. Not long after we arrived, we spotted the lead vehicle speeding toward the finish line and saw a cloud of dust behind it. From the cloud of dust emerged a young boy who was wildly riding a horse bareback with his arms waving in the air and his horse’s reins flying loose. His enthusiastic whoops indicated his elation at being first to cross the finish line. We were shocked to see all of the riders that followed him were young boys. As most of them passed the crowd, they rode their horses hard like they were beginning the race, however several horses were slow paced and enervated and their riders looked like floppy rag dolls.

Fourth of July Celebration in Mongolia

2010-07-09T05:15:00.016+03:00

The US Embassy hosted a 4^th of July Celebration for all of the ex-patriots in Mongolia.

Elder and Sister Caldwell served on the committee and did a lot of work to implement the event. They had the young missionaries help set up, cook, etc. There were booths of local vendors where we bought souvenirs to take home. Teams of young people enjoyed relay races, including: carrying an egg in a spoon, three-legged races, etc. In the team game competition, the American missionaries and their companions excitedly received silver medals.

The highlight of the event was a performance by the US Marine Band who was on tour and had arranged to be in Mongolia for this celebration. It was a thrill to hear them play the Mongolia National Anthem followed by “The Star Spangled Banner!” As I listened to them play our national anthem, tears moistened my eyes. It was a thrill and even though I love Mongolia, it reminded me how much I love and appreciate my own country. The US Marine Band also played some wonderful patriotic songs and some other toe-tapping favorites. As we stood in the lunch line, we had a nice visit with a US Marine who said he loves being a member of the US Marine Band. During lunch, we also had a nice visit with President and Sister Mecham while we ate our lunch of hotdogs, brots, or hamburgers, potato salad, and drinks.

Deseret International Charities Gives Aid to Mongolia Herders for the Dzud Disaster

2010-07-06T14:50:00.008+03:00

2010-05-19 13:16

http://zar.mongolnews.mn/i/5148

Есүс Христийн сүмээс 280 сая төгрөг хандивлажээ

“Дэзэрэт Олон Улсын Энэрлийн байгууллага” нь Улсын онцгой байдлын газар, зудад нэрвэгдсэн аймгуудын засаг дарга нартай хамтран ажиллаж, гамшигт нэрвэгдсэн Монголын малчин өрхүүдэд туслан, ойролцоогоор 280 сая төгрөгийн хандив өгөөд байна. Хандивын мөнгө нь хоол хүнс, хувцас, түлш, ариун цэврийн хэрэглэл, төл малын тэжээл, хичээлийн жилийн турш малчдын хүүхдүүд байдаг цэцэрлэг, сургуулийн дотуур байрын халаалтын системийг засварлах зэрэгт зарцуулагджээ. Дээрх байгууллага нь Есүс Христийн Хожмын Үеийн Гэгээнтнүүдийн Сүмээс санхүүждэг ба Дэлхий даяарх сүмийн гишүүдийн хандиваар энэхүү тусламжийн сан бий болжээ.

Б.Энх-Уянга

Translation: Deseret International Charities donated about 280,000,000 tugriks ($200,000 US) of emergency relief to Mongolian herder families affected by the Dzud disaster and worked with the governors of seven aimags. Donated funds are being used to provide food, clothing, fuel, sanitary items and hay for young animals and repairs to heating systems of kindergarten/schools/ dormitories where herder families’ children stay during the school year. Deseret International Charities is funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and funds for the emergency were provided by donations from the Church members worldwide.

The Changing of the Guard

2010-07-05T14:55:00.012+03:00

One of the miracles of the Church is seeing one Mission President finish his assignment and another Mission President take over the reigns. This happened in the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission on June 30, 2010. President and Sister Andersen, who have presided over the mission for three years, completed their mission and left UB to return to their home in Hong Kong. Before they left, President Kris J. Mecham and his wife were able to spend a few hours of orientation with them. By that afternoon President and Sister Mecham had taken over all of the responsibilities of being Mission President and Mission President's wife. It was hard to see President and Sister Andersen leave, but it is exciting to see the enthusiasm for the work that radiates from President and Sister Mecham.

Missionaries and friends singing "Called to Serve"

It was really sweet to see the group of missionaries and others singing and signing to President and Sister Andersen as they left. We just caught the end of it on video.

2010 Senior Outing

2010-07-05T08:53:00.010+03:00

It was hard to believe that all of the Senior Couples from all over Mongolia gathered for this fun annual Senior Outing. We enjoyed visiting with each other and seeing some wonderful sights in Mongolia. We visited the 13th Century Encampment and the Chinggis Statue. We also enjoyed horseback riding, sleeping in a ger, cllimbing Turtle Rock or going to the monastery near Turtle Rock. Later, President Batbold, his wife and son Bold and Bataar made a delicious khorkhog dinner for us on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. They had packed beef with hot stones into a milk can and then spent hours cooking it for us over a bed of hot coals. They also had a lovely meal of potatoes, bread, and a tomato, cucumber, and cilantro salad. We laughed and visited in a grove of trees on the bank of the river. After dinner we roasted marshmallows and made smores. Then we had a going-home meeting for Elder and Sister Atkins and President and Sister Andersen. It was a wonderful diversion and we really enjoyed spending the time together.

Lassons

Powells

Andersons

Eliasons

Lassons

Caldwells and Richard

A delicious buffet

Sister Clark

Andersons

Atkins, President and Sister Andersen, Clarks

Olpins

The Chinggis Khaan Statue and the 13th Century Park--Senior Couples' Outing

2010-07-04T17:06:00.019+03:00

Approximately 50 kilometers outside of Ulaanbaatar, we visited a 13th Century Park. It is built on the site of one of Chinggis Khaan's (Chinggis King) encampments. We joined with all of the senior couples in Mongolia as well as with President and Sister Andersen for a trip to the 13th Century Park and then an overnight stay in a ger camp where we rode horses and enjoyed Mongolian cusine.

Sheering Sheep
13th Century Entertainment

The All-Mongolia Youth Conference Was Awesome

2010-06-21T17:05:00.025+03:00

From the far corners of the captivating land of Chinggis Khaan, gers, yaks, eagles, camels, the Naadam Festival, and the Gobi dessert, Mongolian LDS youth gathered for an All-Mongolian Youth Conference. 345 youth and 108 leaders boarded seven busses and traveled from the nation’s capital city Ulaanbaatar to NARC camp in the forests of Mongolia.

In order to attend the youth conference, each youth needed to attend early-morning seminary at least 80% of the time. Considering that this past winter was one of Mongolia's coldest -40 to -50 below (F) and was attended by a Dzud disaster and deep snow in some areas, the fact that the youth of Mongolia attended early morning seminary consistently enough to qualify to go to youth conference was a miracle!

In December 2009, we traveled from Ulaanbaatar to Khovd. We experienced first hand Khovd’s reputation for being very cold. During their visit, temperatures plummeted below -40 degrees below zero. Early one morning as we arrived at the Khovd branch building, we were surprised to open the door to the seminary room and see the seminary room filled with the bright, happy faces of over thirty eager early-morning seminary students. These students, their teacher, and missionaries serving in Khovd had braved the dark morning and frigid, sub zero temperatures to walk to early-morning seminary. Some had to get up even earlier in order to do their chores before they left for seminary. We were amazed.

These youth and their leaders from Khovd on the western frontier of Mongolia traveled for three days and nights over mostly bumpy dirt roads to arrive at the Ulaanbaatar so they could attend the youth conference. Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission, President D. Allen Andersen said, “The Khovd Branch is probably the most remote branch in the world.” It is 1,000 miles away from the Chuch’s center of strength in Ulaanbaatar. The Khovd Branch also brought the largest contingency of leaders and youth. Thirty-eight youth and three leaders piled into an old-style bus along with two drivers to make the long journey.

They were richly rewarded for their efforts. In addition to attending a well-planned youth conference, they had the privilege of listening to the counsel and advice of Elder Richard and Sister Mary N. Cook who were visiting Mongolia with their 18-year-old granddaughter.

Elder Cook was the first mission president in Mongolia and is currently a director of the Church’s Perpetual Education Fund. Sister Cook is the first counselor in the General Young Women Presidency. In July 1995, when the Church created the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission, Elder Cook, who was serving with his wife as missionaries in Mongolia, was called to be the first mission president. Sister Cook served with him in Mongolia until 1998. The Cooks later lived in Hong Kong, China while Elder Cook served as a member of the presidency of the Church’s Perpetual Education Fund.

Along with other youth and leaders from all over Mongolia, the contingency from Khovd was mesmerized as they listened to Elder and Sister Cook tell about the early days of the Church in Mongolia. During the opening meeting, they heard about the Sister Cook's experiences with the first Young Women organization in Ulaanbaatar and enjoyed hearing stories about and seeing the photos of early missionaries and Church members. They also enjoyed hearing Elder and Sister Cook describe how much Mongolia has changed since those early days. They were also challenged to read the Book of Mormon every day, to pray morning and night and to smile.
Later at NARC, the youth attended workshops on pertinent gospel topics by outstanding Church leaders, and had other wonderful activities such as: learning the Haka, throwing pine cones with a sling shot like Daniel, playing all kinds of sports, a dance, a wonderful fireside with Elder and Sister Cook and their granddaughter as special speakers, scripture study time, games, a talent show with talents from each ward/branch, etc.

One of the highlights was working on a service project of sewing/tying 61 newborn baby quilts. This project was orchestrated by Elder and Sister Clark, senior missionaries serving in Ulaanbaatar. They were assisted in preparation by Elder and Sister Caldwell and in execution by Elder and Sister Powell. Groups of youth and leaders joined together to figure out how to accomplish this feat.

It was a wonderful youth conference. Elder and Sister Cook also gave special workshops to the youth on Personal Progress for the young women and Duty to God for the young men. Later, leaders gathered together while the youth were engaged in workshops and activities to receive training from Elder and Sister Cook, respectively, on how to administer the Duty to God Program and Personal Progress Program.

Before youth conference, the theme song for the Young Men/Young Women theme for the year was translated into Mongolian and sent out to all of the wards and branches for the youth to learn before youth conference. Also, the youth were challenged to memorize the theme scripture: Joshua 1:9 "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." The theme song "Be Strong" emphasized these words. It was exciting to see the way the song "Be Strong" captured the hearts of the youth. With a choir from Erdenet leading the way, all of the youth and leaders sang it together for the opening meeting. Later they sang it together with piano accompaniment for the fireside. Then, after the dance Friday evening, Uyanga and another girl led everyone in singing the song a couple more times. This time they used an upbeat recorded orchestration. They cranked up the speakers and everyone sang their hearts out while they spontaneously holding hands high above their heads and waving their arms back and forth to the rhythm of the song. It was a “We are the World” moment! Truly magic! Also, it was fun to hear the youth sing "Be Strong" in small groups as they walked around the camp and, finally, as they walked to their busses to leave the conference, echoes of "Be Strong" floated through the air. On Sunday, we ran upstairs when we heard a group of girls singing the song in the Bayanzurkh building in Ulaanbaatar. They were preparing to sing the song in their YW meeting. "Be Strong" is here to stay in Mongolia.

We were very grateful to have the mission doctor and his wife, Dr. and Sister Eliason, accompany us to youth conference and stay the whole time. It was comforting to know that he was there when we needed him. Also, they were both a great help and pitched in any time they were needed.

As we returned to the Bayanzurkh building, Elder and Sister Caldwell and Elder and Sister Powell had sack dinners put together for Khovd, Choibalsan, and Murun, and all of the Darkhan District branches, as well as snack/traveling food for them and additional snack food for the hungry youth from UB who popped their heads in to see what was going on. They were an invaluable help in organizing this. We just wish we had a photo of them and all of the bags they put together lined up ready to go.

Over all, this was one of the best youth conferences we have ever attended! It was hard to believe that we weren't in the US.
When we ate Mongolian food for three days, saw a ger that was put up for additional sleeping accommodations, and heard Mongolian spoken all around us, we were reminded that we were in Mongolia, but other than that, we wouldn't have known!

By Elder Richard and Sister Carol Lasson, Humanitarian Missionaries in Mongolia