June 20, 2004

San Bano,

Greetings from Mongolia! It is 7:30PM Mongolian time and 5:30AM Texas time. We got back from our trip to Ulaan Bataar this afternoon. We went to take Susannah May to the airport. She flew out this morning for China after spending two weeks here. She came with another American girl, her friend who was here doing medical missionary work. Her friend, Carolyn, left a couple of days earlier.

It takes about 3 or so hours to drive there, but it is the big city where you can lay in important provisions like peanut butter and powdered sugar. Or, if it is necessary to a good night's sleep, a pillow that is soft and fluffy instead of the 40# Mongolian pillow. We Americans are a soft lot.

UB is the largest city and the capital of Mongolia. There are about one million residents who live there. We dined yesterday afternoon at a place called the California Grill. It was pretty nice even for American standards and you can get a cheeseburger there with French fries and some ice in your Coca Cola.

After that we did a little shopping and then checked into our hotel. From there we split up by gender. The guys went to the Mongolian Home Depot and the ladies to the WalMart and other places. The guys picked up David Bass, a staff guy who went home to Iowa to attend his daughter's wedding and did some more shopping.

Susannah's flight out was scheduled for 7:30AM today. Jerry and Susan got up early and saw her off. They spend a lot of time caring for and protecting us.

We went to the meat market and purchased some food for the freezer and then headed home. We stopped at the countryside property and dropped off the nails and bolts etc. for the job and ended up here about at 4PM.

A dust storm blew up so we closed up the windows and decided to rest. We woke up and decided to have a pot of spaghetti. That was a treat. Looked out the window this evening and saw that somebody's cows must have wondered into town today as they were grazing outside our window.

We live in a three bedroom apartment on the second floor. The apartment buildings are five stories high and are in a strip with separate stairwells. The babies are in the stairwell to the left of us on the first floor and Jerry and Susan are on the stairwell to the right of us on the third floor. We are very grateful for the room and the place they prepared for us to stay in.

Phil leaves in the mornings at about 6:30. A van comes to pick him up and drives him and anybody else who is going out to the property that day. It's about 20 minutes from here. They are in the process of putting up four new buildings that will house orphans eventually.

All in all, this is a pretty amazing ministry. Jerry is working tirelessly to provide a place for his kids. He desires to take them out of the city. It puts me in mind of Donhavor for those who have read about Amy Carmichael's work in India.

In addition to housing the children, he has a feeding program for mothers and children who are starving. That takes place in a kitchen across town. I was there to see a mother and her 22# 5 year old receiving 2 meals a day. They came from someplace in the country. The mother heard about the feeding kitchen and made her way there.

The older boys and some fellows who have been given to Jerry by the government are going through an ALERT style basic training. The boys who went through last year made decisions for Christ. There is a new group here this year and we are praying for the same.

This area has an amazing history in that their economic structure kind of collapsed when communism did. The communists pulled out lock stock and barrel and left the Mongolians reeling. The result is that lots of children became homeless. Jerry found them living in the city sewers;; most of them have been abandoned by their parents because they couldn't bare to see them starve or freeze to death.

His desire is to disciple them so that they will learn about God's word, learn to live by His principles and reach out to their own people.

Jerry also does what he calls humanitarian aid. They go into the community to take care packages and supplies to people who have none.

Phil and his construction team are almost finished with the four buildings, In the mean time they have been making some shelving for the kitchen for the cook and they are working on the tool shop …making shelves and a work bench.

Their next job is to construct a 40' x 60' pole barn which will house equipment, tools and supplies and will be a place to work out of the weather during the winter.

The Mongolian workers have been working on a septic tank which will allow for toilets and indoor plumbing. They are also working on building a road in to the property. Jerry would like to get electricity on line yet this summer.

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