Friday July 16

The weather has been nice all week and Phil has his pings well under way. A man by the name of Rick Crandell is here from the US. He is the Monolithic Dome Architect. Phil spent the better part of his day with him yesterday. They are planing to build 4 of these which will connect with each other. Today the Mongolian men are digging a level place for the pouring of the first foundation. Rick was here to layout the level stakes and to see this part of the operation through. Once the concrete foundation is poured they can get the dome up in two days. Then comes the interior. Phil is working on the kitchen design for one which will need to be capable of making enough food for seating in the dining hall.

We have been invited out to Hongor on Saturday for the dedication of this building project. Apparently the Mayor and other city officials will be invited and all of the orphans will come out too. It sounds like a big deal. Later on Saturday, the construction guys and Phil and I are going on a humanitarian aid trip. That means we are going to visit the poorest of the poor here in Darhan. I have heard about these trips. They are very heart wrenching. We will take food and clothing to people who have little or nothing. Jerry has arranged this through the city. I am sure I will have more to write on this subject.

We had guests last night. Stephen, Logan and Scott came to town to use the phone and computer. We baked a quick cake and served Bitavit which is a lot like Sunny Delight. It has vitamins in it and all the guys like it. We had a very nice chat and we all looked in Rick Crandell's book on domes and had much talk about how they will be just the thing for here. These people live in round gers. So, no struggle with the look of it.

Byambaa and I will do some banking today. Two of the guys left some American $ and we will exchange them for Mongolian tugruts. Then we will buy a new phone card. From there off to the store for some eggs and rice. We have not visited the little girls yet this week and so perhaps we will do that too. Rose is having a birthday this month and perhaps there is something to find for her.

Somebody from Change the World Ministries went to a bank and prepaid our electricity yesterday. They got the amount they paid recorded on a white plastic remote. We got the remote and held in front of our panel here in the apartment. After we pushed the button our panel's digital display showed we had 15,000 more tugruts than before. It seems like a really good system to me. Phil and I have thought that it beats America's meter reading by a mile. The panel reads the date, time, how much energy you are using. It counts down the tugruts, so you know how much you are spending and how much you have left. It indicates when it costs you less money to use electricity, and when the peak hours are. You are charged less in the middle of the night, of course. When you are running low you get a quick blip in your service. I have no idea what the cost of such program is, but it must cut down on the manpower needed to read meters etc.

Well, I need to do those things that need attending to before Byambaa comes. May God bless and keep you.

Love,
Mary

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