Greetings One and All

Lost in Translation

A couple letters can make a difference.  This week I received a translated draft plan on providing food following an earthquake.  The plan was titled: "Earthquack Response Plan for Food Cluster."

Cold

Winter got a slow start this year but now, at the end of November, we know for sure, no doubt about it that winter is here to stay for the next 3, 4, 5, 6, even 7 months.  2010 is our 3^rd winter in this land. I’ve written such a list before, but the cold is bitter enough that I deem it deserves another diatribe.

So, here goes:

You Know It’s Cold When:

Your forehead is numb.

Your thumb & pinky are cold inside down mittens.

The air is so smoky; you’d swear it’s a foggy day.

Hot, red ear lobes remind you that your hat did not sufficiently cover.

The aquarium seems warm and snuggly to the touch by comparison.

Talk around the table is about how long a bag of coal costs and lasts.

Inside flannel, under wool, you’re cold at night.

The most important purpose for drinking tea is to warm your hands.

30 minutes after entering a warm room, your legs are still tingling (under 2 layers)

It takes 10 minutes to get ready to go out the door.

You can tell exactly where your boots end and your coat begins.

Helping?

How do you know if you are really helping? Perhaps we are messing up lives more than helping them.  What is love? When does the giver ( vs the recipient ) get to define love? When do boundaries and expectations become part of the definition? Throw in miscommunication, language confusion, culture differences, personalities, emotions, woundedness, family backgrounds, and poverty into the mix and things get messy. Perhaps I’m not helping, maybe I’m the one being helped.

Still No News

We will be inspected again, so they say. Every knock at the door puts us on edge.

No News

We still have not heard one way or the other about whether Liz's organization will have to close. We were told a decision would be made by last Monday or Tuesday. Waiting.

Liz's 1/2 Birthday!

Today we had a surprise 1/2 birthday celebration with 10 friends who could join us on short notice.  Our language teachers, tutors, ELI and JCS friends celebrated another 1/2 year with Liz.  We prayed for the Streams registration hearing tomorrow and shared the blessings of Liz's friendship with us.

Not as Open as it Appears

Some groups do their thing in a temple. Others do good work among people. We are really strange for appearing to do both in the same place. Some societies just can't get that. And volunteerism is totally beyond understanding. Our organisation has been called to the carpet for pronouncing that we do both. They are saying we need to choose to be one or the other. A panel of 9 will make the final decision next Monday or Tuesday, Nov. 8 or 9, to close us down or not.

Something we didn't see every day - on telephone lines

My Dad was a electrical utility director and I was a safety manager for 20+ years.  So when I look out my window and see a man swinging from the utility lines with no barricades under him, I get a little nervous.

My wife would say, "Remember what country you live in?"

Lookie Here!

Its cute. They have about 4 demo bedrooms and a warehouse-like room with real Ikea brand products. We think someone shops south, imports a load, and then marks the goods up, like waay up! They have one couch style, one or 2 tables and one chair, and a couple of bed styles, some dishes and a light. But they are trying. They even have a line of poles out front flying a few dirty tattered flags. UB is coming up in the world!

Mongolian hospitality

Our newly-wed tutors invited us over for Sunday lunch for the first time.  They have a tiny table, a single bed and no chairs, but they served us 5 kinds of salad, mashed potatoes, rice, fried chicken, pickles and a new taste for us called Doan which looks like white snails and tastes like picked radish.  I said I liked them so they gave me a jar full when we left.

Liz opens a new jewelry sales outlet

This week, Liz set up a beautiful display of the Ladie's jewelry at the new Christian "Papa Cafe."  The pieces are draped over stones and hanging from twisted branches.  Now she will see what sells.

When you don't have the word?

What happens when your language doesn't have a word for a new foreign word?  We probably have a lot of these in the US, like "Manana," "Cafe," and "Bonsai."

In Mongolian, sometimes they spell the new word using Mongolian letters phonetically.  This picture is for a new movie.  If you can read the Cyrillic alphabet, you can sound this out "Syn-drome."  Some people call this Monglish; a mixture of Mongolian and English.

The Mongolian medical term for Syndrome is "Todorkhoi shinj."

Those clever Mongolians - Construction

Most buildings in Ulaanbaatar are built with reinforced concrete and cement blocks for the walls.  Wood is scarce.

So if the cement block doesn't fit the space you need to fill, you use brick to fill in the gaps.

Clever Mongolians.

Translation - almost right

In translation, you can be almost right and very confusing.  This sign is on a clothing shop near my office.  Brend and Brand; sounds pretty close to me.  If a Mongolian said, "New Collection World Brend" I would understand that they meant Brand.  When I say this in English, I sound like I could be saying "Name Brend."

This week I was describing the wet snow falling.  I meant to say, "Noiton tsas onagen." (Wet snow is falling.)  Instead, I said, "Noilon tsaas onagen." Which means, "Toilet paper is falling."  So close, but so wrong.  Many smiles from Mongolians.

Picking up the fallen

In this land of dust and wind, I am always impressed to see the apartment custodians sweeping up the leaves every morning; an endless job until all the leaves are gone.

Like sharing the Gospel, there are always more fallen to pick up.  But someday the opportunity to "pick up the fallen" will cease.  Perhaps very soon?

Undeserved honor

One of the undeserved honors I get as a member of the JCS leadership team, is to represent JCS at recognition events.  

One of the JCS projects, started by a missionary from Brazil, is called UB United.  Mongolian, Christian coaches manage a football (soccer) training program at 3 public schools.  World Vision provides the equipment and uniforms and the schools provide the gymnasium, field and kids.

This week I got to present medals to the students who did well in the outdoor season.  Football moves inside now until April.  There are both boys and girls teams.  Bible studies happen on Saturdays at neighboring churches.  (I'm the tall, bald one in the center-back wearing a Mongolian del-sweater.)

Loong laundry

Fall cleaning in Mongolia means getting the ger (felt tent) ready for a cold winter.  Gers are wrapped in long "walls" of felt that need to be washed once in a while.  Where do you hang a 60' (20meter) strip of felt?  On the fence.  I don't see this very often in the USA.

Leaves are Falling

Trying to rest away a cold on this Saturday when our solar powered wind chime wakes me up. Squinting, I look out the window to see for myself that the sun is shining. And the leaves are falling. One by one limp gold medallions drift past our square of glass 5 stories up.Today the wind will sweep ‘our’ tree clean of its color.

            Last year, autumn was short lived. The leaves turned color, fell and were replaced by snow all in one week. Winter has come more gradually  in 2010 (tho we have already had two days of snow). I’ve enjoyed watching the graduation from Christmas green, to lime to lemon to butter scotch.

            When I was in high school I promised myself I would communicate with those around me about worthy topics, issues more important than the weather. That broken promise comes to mind frequently these days. My opinion has changed. I believe, now, that there is a measure of camaraderie that  surfaces under shared sun or clouds.

            Last night I walked home through the rain. Avoiding puddles was a challenge as was steering clear of mighty muddy splashing waves being cast by passing cars and buses. As I walked over a bridge and then in front of a bank that is bordered by half a block of marble sidewalk, getting a brown shower seemed inevitable. I had to choose my zigzag route carefully as did the smiling pedestrians heading the opposite direction. But we all giggled as we passed each other as though we were sharing a carnival ride.

            How cold was it?

            How cold will it be?     

            It is windy, snowy, dry, or just plain beautiful.

The temperatures unite neighbors of a community giving us instant commonality.

            Here in this crazy climate, the weather is often something to endure, to survive. Both the extreme hot of summer and cold of winter often kills. Last winter, millions of livestock were frozen solid leaving herders penniless. Friends of ours were lost in a snow storm that killed one of their fellow travelers. Drought, sand storms, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, blue skies. Weather affects our lives, it can cause disaster or delight. We cannot manage it but we can talk about it.

Busy Busy Ladies

2 weeks ago Liz and her ladies were in the countryside learning from a similar project. The air was fresh the hospitality wonderful. We learned a lot that we'll apply to our production.  Last week we attended a seminar called "How to Start a Small Business" sponsored by Gender Equality. There were many 'new' ideas presented that impressed them, like the importance of being friendly to make a sale and the idea of saving money. Thursday, we displayed our jewelry at a product expo put on by World Vision. This was a great opportunity to compare our product with others, to see packaging ideas and to practice new found salesmanship skills.
Today we joined half a dozen other women's issues focused groups for an all day street fair of sorts. It was especially aimed at educating the public about trafficking threats. The district in which we live and work is one of the largest in the city. And we learned today that it is the fastest growing with many people moving in from the countryside. This nomadic trend results in lots of unregistered kids who can't attend school without the registration. Of course, kids from the country would likely be more naive and more needy of friends making them vulnerable to 'friends' with ulterior motives. Besides all these special events, we shipped off a package of 50 pair of earrings and 33 bracelets. Phew!

Green Thumb

We've been enjoying the product of Jim's green thumb this month. He planted Cosmos on our balcony. Its blooming really late and since it snowed this morning, he moved the planters inside. We have also collected a large jade plant, a bonsai, 2 spiders, several English ivy, and a few others. Nice to have some growing greenery.

First Snow 9.25.10

View from our living room window. Just a dusting this morning and melted by noon. But everyone says winter is on its way. What happened to Fall? In fact there are still yellow green leaves on the tree outside our bedroom window.

Countryside

Some things are very different in the countryside. This is Gobi Altai's garbage truck.

9.5.10

Ramblings

7 days of work at the shelter under my belt after 6 weeks in the U.S.

Already, there have been days of much laughter, chatter, times wasted, beads rolled and products created. Lots of listening, increased understanding, plenty of confusion and some bonding. In the context of poverty, money is the central character even tho mostly absent. It is elusive, desired, idolized, much pondered yet seldom seen. Without cash, a body is hungry, cold, sick, stuck, and distracted. There is never enough. To buy: meat, school books, coal, cinema tickets, cigarettes, shoes, jacket, water, soap, flour, oil, make-up, dental appointment, pencils, glue, bus fare, pills . . . endlessness. Are we creating opportunity or dependency? Are we teaching character and work ethic or are we being manipulated and bossy? Do we offer another chance or draw the line? Love and grace are easy words to say and much harder to live. Am I working for the Lord or for reward? Do I pray as much as I complain? Do I focus on history or possibility? When I look at the ladies, do I see need? A face?  A challenge? A friend?                                                Yes 

Ulaanbaatar "suburbs"

From a hilltop North of the city, you can see the sudden transition from 21st century skyscrapers to 13th century gers (felt tents).
40% of the residents of Ulaanbaatar (UB), (400,000 people) live in gers surrounding and within the city.  No plumbing, refrigeration or solid walls.  It gets to -40F every winter.

No checks or credit cards accepted

So if you need to pay a big bill in the countryside, you can't use a check or credit card.  The largest bill in Mongolia is a 20,000 Tugrik bill worth about $17.00.  So you need to take a LOT of bills.  Try finding a wallet that can carry this.  Of course, inside your del (Mongolian traditional robe) no one would notice, except to say,"You've gained a few pounds!"  Clever Mongolians.

A Ger is a Home

A ger is a traditional Mongolian dwelling. It is made from a frame of wooden slats and covered with wool felt. There are many customs connected with living in a ger like where the furniture is placed and where you should sit. The doors are only about 4-5 feet tall so you have to bend down to step in but stepping on the thresh hold is forbidden. Water is carried in from a neighborhood well. Usually, electricity is strung. The family I visited yesterday had 2 small children and even a washing machine but not much other furniture. 40-50% of the million, population of Ulaan Bator (capital of Mongolia) live in gers.

Ger Build

II

Buttons

We posted a new video on You Tube showing how the Mongolian deel buttons are made.
Check it out. A link is on the Video bar on the side bar here on our blog.
Just click on the picture of a hand.

7- Eleven Conjecture

It is Monday morning and little Bat (boy) just swallowed the last cup of milk. Altai (little girl) is screaming that she is hungry. Uck. Now what? Of course, you are running late and then you hear it.
"SUE AVARAY SUE AVARAY SUE AVARAY"
A teen age girl is hollering at the top of her lungs.
You run down the 5 flights to the front of your apt building with your baggie in hand.
Out of the trunk of the car (or outside the city, horse cart), a couple lugs a blue 10 gallon barrel.
With a long handled ladle, she scoops out your fresh-from-the-cow (or horse, or camel, or sheep & goat or a mixture) MILK.
Yum, yum. Breakfast is saved.
We hear the milk sellers almost every morning, tho they are not the same people each day. They come in from the countryside or edge of town to sell the freshly milked liquid. At first the calling sounded like a yodle but now I can hear the sentence: "Please buy milk." or more like "Milk! Come and get it!"

Button Button Who Made the Button

This has been a long week, I couldn't wait to sleep in on Saturday. But I traded the chance to sleep in for a unique opportunity to see a button production, starting at 8am ;(. Traditional Mongolian attire includes a shin length robe like coat/shirt/dress kind of thing. Closures for these dells are a small ball type button that fits through sewed-on loop. At Streams, we have bought 100s of these buttons and created earrings. Today, we got to see how they are made. I must admit, I suspected they were imported from China in some form or another. But they are truly hand made starting with a flat piece of metal. It was fun to watch the process. And we feel great about selling a product that is Mongolian crafted. P.S. It was totally worth getting up early!

Reflecting

I was here 4 weeks ago having just learned of Jim’s mom’s death, here in the Incheon Airport. Shouldn’t I be at Mom’s bedside, moistening her lips, listening to her last breaths?

I just learned via e-mail that Mom died a couple of hours ago. It’s too late.  I’m stunned, saddened, and quietly crying. This experience is not how I pictured it.  How can 70 years just suddenly stop like that? It is an answer to prayer, her suffering has ended and yet we are taken off guard. Perhaps the reality and finality of death is always a bit of a surprise?  A woman using the computer next to me keeps asking for help, jerking me back into this world between flights.

            Sadness is weighty, like an elephant sitting on my chest.  The mourning comes in waves as memories pass thru my mind and escape with the tears leaving salty trails along my cheeks. I’m grateful for eternal life but the loss feels so abrupt and final. I take a walk up and down the airport halls leading to gates and planes ready to carry people into foreign worlds. Color, flowers, a gigantic butterfly mobile, murals, mother of pearl display – things that mom would have liked, catch my attention and cause more tears.

            Arrived at LAX, maneuvered customs, but was so sleepy that I bumped into the metal detector. Fortunately, the TSA worker could barely keep her eyes open either and suggested I just back up and try again. Everything seems a blur. I’m sad and sorry, glad and relieved all at once.

           Obituary, mortuary, eulogy. This gig is too familiar.

            I’m moving mom’s clothes into black trash bags and thinking this is a good job for me. I can handle it emotionally. I can easily separate the emotions from the task.  Suddenly, as I slip pink, white & flowered blouses from their hangers into the plastic; tears begin to pour like rain. A life, these clothes embodied a life, not just any life but the life that gave me life.  Gone, ended, finished. Sad again.

            Jimmy & I are both mom-less now. God’s timing is puzzling but we trust and focus on the next thing. We are grateful for our moms and for those helping to carry us through.  I have a choice: to dwell on the past in sadness (a certain measure of this is healthy), or to be thankful and make a vow to invest in relationships more, to live in the present and to be thankful. Life is a gift. Life passes so quickly.

?Mongolian food in Kennewick, Washington

While in Kennewick, WA, my hosts took me to a Mongolian BBQ restaurant.  The restaurant featured a buffet of meats and vegetables, many that I have never seen in Mongolia, including bean sprouts, mini-corn, water chestnuts and pea pods.  But there was no Mutton, Mare’s milk or Vodka anywhere!  The restaurant was owned by a Korean couple and the chefs were Hispanic.  The food was very tasty but I’m not sure why they call it a Mongolian BBQ?

Mongolians in Olympia!

Several years ago before we moved to Mongolia, our Pastor in Olympia was in a local restaurant.  His waitress was an Asian woman with an accent, so he asked her where she was from.  She said she was from Mongolia!  Our Pastor told her about us and asked if he could give us her name.

Dawn became our Mongolian language tutor. 

Last month, while in Olympia, we went to the same restaurant and met with her again.  This time, our Mongolian language was much better.

Mother's Day

We got a call today that Liz's mom may die within the week. Jim's mom was buried less than 3 weeks ago. Jim is still in Olympia, with a return tix for May 17. Liz flew back to Ulaan Batar a week ago. Where are we supposed to be? What are we supposed to do next? Many questions. Praying for answers. Praying for peace, wisdom, and comfort for Delores, for Liz & Jim and especially for Dee Anna, the grand daughters, and Delores' caregiver, Jen.

Air Pollution = Serious Problem

The following article was taken from 

www.blogs.worldbank.org

Ulaanbaatar’s air pollution crisis: Summertime complacency won’t solve the wintertime problem

SUBMITTED BY ARSHAD SAYED ON FRI, 2010-04-23 02:18

No mountains are visible beyond this pollution cloud. (Late November 2007)

It certainly feels like the worst of winter is over for another year, well until December anyway. Daytime temperatures now reach above 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) regularly, the city’s ice sculptures have melted and the slippery footpaths have thawed, making walking in the city safer and easier. There’s also a visible improvement in Ulaanbaatar’s (UB) air quality.

On most days, from my office window, I can now see the beautiful snow-dappled mountains that surround UB; during the heavily polluted winter months the horizon is completely hidden behind a thick grey-brown smoky haze. 

UB is the coldest capital city in the world and during the coldest months of the year—December, January and February—the air quality is dangerously bad. In fact, UB is fast becoming the world’s most polluted city; a remarkable achievement considering its population only hovers around the 1.2 million mark.

The pollution is visibly worse in the wintertime. This is because coal-fueled ger (traditional felted tents) stoves and boilers used for heating and cooking produce toxic black smoke plumes that hover like a blanket over the often windless city. The chokingly-thick pollution is a result of a combination of factors: the poor combustion of coal in what are essentially wood stoves, the congested road traffic (it’s too cold to walk and many cars are of a substandard quality), the dry ground condition and industry.

UB choking under a blanket of smoke. Unbelievably there’s a city down there.

For about eight months of the year heating is essential for the survival of residents. 60 percent of the city’s residents live in peri-urban ger districts; areas populated in the main by very poor people from Mongolia’s rural areas who are arriving in a steady flow. UB’s population has expanded by 70 percent over the last 20 years and unfortunately the city’sinfrastructure has not been able to keep up with the growth. In these areas, which are mainly located upwind of the city, the only source of heating are poor quality stoves or individual household boilers fueled by coal, wood and in some cases rubbish—varying from black tar dipped bricks to old car tires. UB’s remaining citizens live in apartment buildings heated by three coal-burning heat and power stations. All forms of household heating in UB contribute to the air pollution problem.

The number of cars on the city’s roads seems to be increasing daily. In such a small city, one that’s easily navigable by foot, people sit in grid-locked traffic for hours. Drivers beep their horns impatiently and ineffectually, hoping for movement, while pumping carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the air and the faces of those braving the cold or waiting to cross the street. When cars do move, further dust is released into the air, especially in the ger areas where most of the roads remain unpaved. 

Additionally, according to the Bank’s joint research with the National University of Mongolia and the Norwegian Air Research Institute, one of the worst sources of the pollution is dust. The dust originates from the ger heating appliances, the desert, the dry ground condition and the ash ponds emanating from the power plants. With few trees and hardly any parkland in UB, the regularity and severity of windstorms in the city is increasing, creating dangerous levels of airborne dust. Strong winds, particularly in spring, also allow dust from the Gobi desert and other arid regions of Mongolia to reach the city.

On a bad day, the city’s air pollution is so thick you cough when you walk outside. I’ve also witnessed cars turning on their headlights at 10am for visibility. An Australian woman who volunteers at the Bank refuses to walk outside without wearing a heavy-duty air pollution mask. People often laugh at her ridiculous appearance, she’s even been photographed by children passing her in the street, but she’s seriously worried about the potential long-term damage. What about the Mongolian people? What about the children being born here? A woman in our office is due to give birth within the next two months. After she has her baby in UB, she’s planning to spend at least two months out in the countryside, as it’s a sure strategy to guarantee her newborn child is breathing in clean air. She is concerned for her child’s health here in UB.

Smoke billowing from one of the UB’s power stations. It’s so thick it obscures the sun.

In UB, annual average particulate matter concentrations (PM10, i.e., particles that cause damage in the lungs when inhaled) have been recorded at as high as 279. To put this into perspective, the World Health Organization’s recommended PM10 level is 20. This means that UB’s PM10 levels are 14 times higher than the WHO’s recommendation. UB has left Northern China’s most polluted cities in its wake.
The health implications of the pollution are shocking. Levels of premature death, chronic bronchitis, respiratory hospital admissions and cardiovascular diseases are increasing at an extraordinarily rapid rate. Something must be done.

As the weather warms up, there is a danger that the wintertime levels of pollution will become a distant memory. But rather than forgetting about the problem, now should be the time for action. Some experts claim the solution is to relocate ger area residents into apartment buildings, but who will pay for these apartments and their water, electricity, heating and maintenance bills? Other experts recommend the installation of new, better-quality heating appliances, combined with enforcing the use of environmentally friendly fuel. But again, who will pay for this? Other options include better insulation for gers and houses, increased public education, a strengthening of pollution monitoring and enforcement and improving the city’s heating network.
The truth is there’s no easy answer, there’s no single solution. Only one thing is certain…if we are complacent now, the wintertime air pollution problem will return again and again.

Click here to view the Mongolia: Air Pollution in Ulaanbaatar - Initial Assessment of Current Situation and Effects of Abatement Measures report. This report was published in Mongolia in March 2010 and provides effective and economical air pollution abatement strategies.

Click here to view the Mongolia: Enhancing Policies and Practices for Ger Area Development in Ulaanbaatar report. This report was published in Mongolia in March 2010 and provides urban policy makers with sustainable ger area development strategies.

Thawed

H-o-r-s-e, hopscotch, 
tag, 
soccer, sitting, swinging, climbing, 
popsicles, 
giggles, & glee. 
Mongolian children 
have broken free from the ice.

First Day

Language study was difficult and endlessly challenging. Today, I began full time ministry, leery of decision making and process. Now, I look with longing back to the simple aim of learning to communicate. I had become comfortable with the routine of walking to class, sitting in a pleasant room, chatting with my teacher turned friend. We used our daily lives as discussion topics and little by little, I could express myself clearly. Playing with beads is relaxing. Coming up with designs using local materials and unique Mongolian characteristics is an enjoyable challenge. But figuring out how to make the same design a hundred times over without making them myself is tricky. Marketing, pricing, wages, taxes, packaging is all unfamiliar territory. Thinking I'd like to go back to school where I spent the afternoons sipping tea, gazing out the window trying to recall the newest 15 letter verb. But this Monday went well . . . so, perhaps a new norm will soon become the preferred routine?

Mourning

Jim's mom Ruth passed away on April 12. We miss her a lot already. Within 24 hours of hearing the news, we were on our way back to the states. Richland, WA was her home & where we are for this time. There is so much to do when someone dies. Lawyers, CPAs, social workers, caseworkers, pastors, friends, papers, papers, papers . . . the list seems endless. Perhaps you've been there done that. I imagine it is healing tho too, to be staying in her apt among her things, surrounded by her life and friends. Jim gave a marvelous eulogy and managed to lead singing  without an impeding amount of tears. Ruth lived her life well, loved her Lord greatly and left a legacy of love. She was our number one supporter and we will miss her in more ways than we know. Liz intends to be here for 2 weeks and Jim for maybe a month. One of the major tasks is to make sure Jim's brother Dan has a support network. Quick and busy trip.

5 Month Old Triplets

We will miss our teacher and friend, Gana.

But we are excited for her as she begins a new adventure as an au pair for a family in Germany. 

Softer

Our mattress felt more like bed springs.So this weekend our landlord  supplied us with a piece of эсгий (wool). The same material is used for  the walls of a ger/yurt. Jim says instead of sleeping IN a ger,
we are sleeping ON a ger.

Spring?

Mongolians declare it is spring the week after their Tsagaan Sar holiday which was Feb. 14 this year. Last Tues, Mar. 30, we had a blizzard. Liz asked several passersby if it was still spring that day. Everyone agreed it had become winter again. It still looks like winter to us. Ice everywhere, snowing once in a while, warm gear a necessity. But we have seen mud puddles a couple of times and a few ice cycles. Birds are singing and many locals have exchanged shoes for their knee hi boots.

Functional "plumbing" repairs

When the urinal is broken what do you do? In the US, the custodian puts a sign up or tapes plastic across the urinal. In Mongolia, they just add a bucket!

Erik Gets a Dad

I, Liz, attended my first Mongolian wedding yesterday. It was special to see my little friend Erik get a new dad. Erik & I played together 3 days a week last fall until he and his mom moved to their own ger in December. The couple met at church and have formed a beautiful family. I was greeted warmly by this little boy tho we haven't seen each other for a few months. He sat on my lap while we visited. "My mom is wearing a very fancy dress. She looks so beautiful. Soon you'll get to see her . . ." He delighted in helping me take pix of her and loved zooming in on her face to relish her beauty, his mom, the bride.

40-hours of Prayer for Mongolia

"40-hours of Prayer for Mongolia" was the inspiration of Alissa Van Dam, JCS English teacher at the Mongolian Technical College. She shared her idea with other JCSers and a small group made a plan.

They wrote "prayer information sheets" about Mongolian social, spiritual and legal issues. JCS staff and volunteers translated the information into Mongolia, English and German and posted it on the JCS webpage at: http://40hours.jcsintl.org/.

Promotional information was translated into additional languages; Indonesian, Korean and Dutch. We hope that people will volunteer to translate the material into Chinese, Russian and many more languages.

Individuals, small groups, schools and churches around the world have participated in the 40-hours of Prayer for Mongolia. These prayer sheets can be used anytime; devotions, missions conferences, preparation for a mission trip, etc. We hope to make this an annual emphasis.

Let us know if you use this information and where you are from. Thanks.