Thursday morning July 15

This morning we had a knock on the door and Boya, 20 year old Mongolian man who is working with Phil, was at the door. He came for a ride to Hongor. He is a very bright young man and Phil says he is working with him on his English as he thinks he will be a successful fellow.

They were discussing the building of two wheelbarrows needed for the excavation work for the dome. It looks like the big dome will be 90 ft in diameter. There will be 3 smaller domes for housing. Anyway they are having to fashion their own wheels as they cannot locate any here. Phil and Boya were discussing axles and wooden wheels.

They are still working on the pings. One is ready for the Mongolian workers to put sheeper (roofing) on. The other two are ready for rafters and then they will start on the next three. This work has slowed down a bit as the excavation work and discussions with Rick Crandell are going on at the same time. I am excited to take a trip out there tomorrow to see how they are progressing.

Apparently the babies are all going to stay at Hongor for about a month so they can put them in the sun. We heard that they undress them and put yogurt all over their skin and set them in the sun for an hour or so. This helps them grow up healthy. I have never heard of this method before, it's a Mongolian thing. The guys will love that. The babies are so cute. It will be hard for them to keep working and not want to play. There are 8 babies altogether and most of them are toddlers. They all have been given Bible names. So, there is Adam, James, Mark, Joseph, Hannah, Debra, Ruth and I am not sure of the other one. He was in the hospital for tuberculoses. I have no idea about the logistics on this project, if one of the housemothers will stay with them for the month or if they will rotate as they do here in town.

The Basic training guys leave out today sometime for their big hike. It is the 24 hour hike. Phil was to wait for a Russian van to pull up at our apartment today. It will follow them out to Hongor. Russian vans are better equipped for off road work. That van has been hired to be used for hike support. I know they will need to haul a lot of water. Scott told me the other day that basic has gone well, that they will all promote. A week from tomorrow we will have some kind of promotion ceremony.

Byambaa came limping in yesterday. She sprung her big toe by playing basketball the night before with her friends. It was dark out and they ran into each other. I had her soaking in ice water yesterday, but it didn't seem to fix the problem. Consequently our banking and other things have taken a back seat. We will probably do that today if she can walk better today. Her toe was swollen, but it didn't appear to be broken. I offered her a pair of slides about 4 sizes too big. It was all I had, but I thought it would be easier to walk in them. She just laughed at me and asked if I thought she would want to be seen walking in them.

One thing I will not miss when we get home is the night time activity. Since we are up early, we try to get in bed around 9 PM. It is still light out until after 10:30. And people are out and talking, playing basketball, doing car repair or getting drunk until quite late. Since there is no A/C we leave the windows open. Because people's apartments are hot, they stay outside later, because it is more comfortable. I will not mind the quiet of the neighborhood back in Big Sandy.

Phil and I found some Frito's last night at a grocery store. They were the small packs and we bought 2. We had them with our meatloaf sandwiches with Heinz ketchup and mayonnaise (no mustard, hard to find). We drank Sprite. It was almost like home. Phil said he drank peach compote before he left the complex yesterday. Peach compote is like raisin compote. You soak the fruit in hot water overnight, pour off the liquid and there you have it, peach compote. You drink it in a bowl.

Well, God bless you in your day today. I will write more later
Love,
Mary

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