Pizza Party at Sun Child

This was a very busy week again for us.  Sunday's are always packed. Monday we spent trying to get the handicapped sisters a job.  They interviewed at one place but the supervisor was rude to them.  I am sure they were not interested.  They can get employment at a meat processing plant, cleaning out stomachs of animals. That may be their only option. One of the sisters is very anxious to have that job. I understand that it pays better than cleaning the street. It better! :) We will still continue trying to find something for them.

I (Dan) have been assigned by the District President to plan and provide a Young Single Adult  (YSA) Conference for the 18-30 year old members. As we researched dates for the event we were forced to select Saturday October 5th. Only two weeks away. So Tuesday was spent making numerous calls to YSA representatives from each of the 6 Branches to collect ideas and get a plan put in place. Tuesday evening is our weekly District Presidency Meeting that usually lasts 2 1/2 hours, due to translations.

Wednesday we teach two English classes at the New Darkhan Building and four lessons at Sun Child.  As you can see from the two blogs below we were extremely busy Friday and Saturday. We worked the Open House Friday and Saturday, squeezing in the handicapped childrens event on Friday and then the Sun Child Pizza Party!on Saturday.

After the Old Darkhan Open House we did some quick shopping and rushed over to the Sun Child Orphanage to make six huge pizza's.

The orphanage has a large commercial size Kitchen Aid type dough making machine, although it may be over 10 years old.  I think it could make 50 pounds of dough at a time.  Every kid there knows how to use it. Everyone takes turns in all duties in the kitchen, cleaning the building, maintaining the garden and greenhouse, laundry, etc. They know how to work. We had them grate 15 pounds of mozzarella cheese, slice 8 red peppers and 5 sticks of pepperoni. 



The older ones also opened the cans of pasta sauce and pineapple tidbits with KNIVES!  They don't have a can opener and other common kitchen appliances and utensils. This is Zoogii, on the right. He is the son of the Director of Sun Child.  He will be going to Chicago in January to attend school there. We are currently working with him on his English one on one each week. His English is pretty good, actually, and has a huge vocabulary. He just needs to practice conversation, so we come up with topics for the following week and then discuss.







Each of the children helped assemble the pizzas.
We had a great time.  The commercial oven handles four large pans at a time.  Each pizza was 18"x26".  We ate all 6 of them!





 

We then watched "The Croods" and finished up with ice cream cones.  There are only 22 in this picture, but all 37 kids were with us.  Some left before we took this picture.  It was exhausting, but fun. They each said "Thank You" numerous times. They are all so sweet and loving. We get lots of hugs all the time! Ok, we're softies!  We love them!

 

Sunday we woke up to see snow on the mountains and hills that surround Darkhan.

Successful Open House!

On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20th & 21st, there was an Open House at the Old Darkhan Building. Between the two days there were approximately 110 visitors that toured the building! On Sunday, it was exciting to see at least 8 of those show up for Sacrament Meeting!!

We were not part of the planning committee, but it was obvious that the Branch had held them before. 

The young Elders and Sister Missionaries were busy out on the sidewalk inviting passers-by to come and tour the facilities. There was a nice big sign outside on the fence, with balloons above the gate. We thought it was funny that the job list that we brought to the Branch was taped to the brick as you can see in this picture. It was a pretty good draw as there are many people in Darkhan who are out of work and looking for a job. Dan's name and number are written at the top if anyone is needing help or has any questions, so he might be getting lots of calls! :) We just hope the job center doesn't find out! They may not appreciate it.

 

In the library and the Chapel they had on-going church videos. Each of the auxiliaries had a display in one of the rooms. Everything was nicely done and very inviting. Many members were involved in the tours.


Sister Nada, the Relief Society President, is talking to a visitor.











 Here are a couple of Elders and two members.












Below is the Family History center.  Many people were particularly interested in Genealogy!

 

Below is a wonderful picture display of the Church history here in Darkhan. There are many pictures of General Authorities that heard of President Ganbaatar  and wanted to meet him. He was the very first person baptized in the city back in 1997. He was also the first Branch President and the New Darkhan Chapel was the first one built in Mongolia.  He is now Branch President for a 2nd time in Old Darkhan which has a newer and larger building. What a great man and what a great testimony he has.

 

 

Here is President Ganbaatar with one of the visitors who had brought a kitten with him.








 
 
Left, the President is giving a tour of his office. he first shares the picture of the Savior and his testimony then points to each picture of the First Presidency and explains that they are prophets who guide us today under the Lords directions.















On Saturday, we still held our English class in conjunction with the open house.  (The majority were visitors! :)

Two girls came about 11:00 and decided to just hang out at the church until 1:30 waiting for the English class to begin. I went ahead and just worked with them on their alphabet for quite awhile and we were joined by other visitors who were interested. It was a lot of fun.




At the end of the day, they had a dinner for all the members who helped.











At Sacrament, one of the visitors from the day before attended with his 2 small daughters. He said with a big smile, "I want to come always!" His wife died last February and he was looking for a church. He is also looking for a job! His mom lives with them to help take care of the girls.
 

Help for those with Special Needs

This summer we visited a camp for handicapped children. In Mongolia they are called "Handicapped", or "Disabled", so forgive us if we do not use the term "Special Needs." They have 200-300 kids per week for 7 day camps. It is a large camp with many wonderful children and dedicated staff members.  The President (Mayor) of Darkhan drove us out there along with our Interpreter Nyamod and her mother.  Nyamod's sister is handicapped and loved the camp. We met so many wonderful kids that just surrounded us and wanted to meet Americans. Since then we have been trying to help where we can.  We spoke with the Camp Director and made arrangements to spend a week there next Summer as Volunteers.
This past week we were invited to tour a new Kindergarten Day Care Center that will be taking in handicapped children for the first time.  They wanted us to make recommendations on how to make the facility "accessible" and what toys they would need.  We made a number of suggestions regarding ramps, removing large thresholds in doorways, handicapped toilets with hand rails and replacing pedestal sinks with wall mountings to allow wheelchair access.  The first of the handicapped kids will be arriving this week so we will go back in the next day or two to make recommendations for toys best suited for them. Since Debbie has experience working in a "Life Skills" class with autistic children, she provided additional ideas for teaching the kids skills that relieve many burdens for parents and providing some independence for the kids. 

 Friday we attended the citywide "Handicap Awareness" event.  We presented 5 kids with backpacks with school supplies inside.  The largest TV station in Mongolia from UB (the Capital) interviewed us. It was funny how so many people wanted a picture taken with us and were pleased to see Americans helping these kids. The lady in the middle with glasses is the Director of the Summer Camp.  The lady next to me is one of the government leaders that want to meet with Debbie and I. The lady second from the left is Nyamod's mother and the little girl is Nyamod's sister--a real sweetheart. Nyamod's mom is an amazing woman. She is so connected in many ways in support of the handicap and those less fortunate.  She has so little in the way of material things, but is constantly giving. She is such an example to us!

 The gentleman on the left works at the Summer Camp and these are his children. We met him there and became friends.










This is Nymkaa. He is a very special child we met at a fund raising event about a week before. Debbie was so kind to him, he asked his mother to give Debbie one of the items they had for sale. He is a very loving and giving child. His mother is such a patient and sweet lady as well. He wants us to come and visit him in his home. We understand he does not get out very much.
The City President, I mentioned earlier, met with us and was the keynote speaker. He announced the city was making a large amount of funds available for the kids' summer camp.  We also met two high ranking Government employees that head the departments that support handicapped organizations. This is all new to them.  The handicapped have basically been ignored until recently, so that day was an exciting day to see so many in support of this great cause!!! They want to set up meetings with Debbie and I to discuss how government supports the handicapped in the United States??  Also, what regulations there are in support of them, how to make them more employable and how to get employers to consider them? We are excited and humbled about how we might be able to make a difference.
A big part of helping those with special needs is to help their families. The mothers of these children basically cannot work because they have to stay home with their special needs child so it puts a huge financial burden on the family. Well, there are organizations here that teach skills/crafts to the parents and supply them with the materials. They in turn make items to sell and the organization markets them and the money goes to the family.

They had jugglers, dancers, contortionists, and acrobats from UB. This large group is mostly kids that attended the camp and they did a great job dancing in unison.










In Old Darkhan the Ger District is on the other side of busy railroad tracks. The short cut into the center of Old Darkhan is across the tracks.  The 15 year old son was taking his younger brother to the hospital and was hit by a train and killed.  The father worked with the city leaders and was instrumental in getting an underground tunnel built to provide safe passage. The tunnel is named after his son.  He is now in the process of raising funds to build a clinic closer to the Ger District in memoriam of his son.  He was in the booth next to us.

A Great Week!

This has been a great week. We were assigned three families in the Old Darkhan Branch to Home Teach.  All three were inactive. We also met with one family that recently lost two daughters within two weeks.  They had a Buddhist funeral for them even though the mother, and a few others are members. One of the daughters age 49 was fighting cancer for 3 years,  The other daughter was 34. She had a couple of abscessed teeth and would not get them taken care of due to cost.  The infection spread to the rest of the body and took her life. 

This past Sunday three of the four families attended church.

The fourth family consists of the parents and four children.  The father and two boys joined the church four years ago and are now inactive.  The one son and one daughter were too young for baptism. The wife was not interested.  The father is in remission after fighting cancer the past 3 years.  He was unemployed. We told him we would help him find a job.  He said he wanted to work as a security guard. On our second meeting with them the wife felt the spirit and agreed to take the discussions. We had Family Home Evening with this family on Monday where we taught the second discussion on the Plan of Salvation. We set up an appointment for the father to come to our apartment to get a white shirt, tie and black pants to go to the employment office.  They set up an immediate interview for him. We took him to a hospital where he was interviewed and was asked who we were and why we were with him. He said they are leaders in his church and were helping him find a job. He asked which church which opened up a good conversation. 

We talked about the Word of Wisdom and that this good Brother does not drink or smoke. (Alcoholism is a major problem here among men.)  He was offered the job as a Security Guard on the spot and was asked if his wife worked. He said yes as a cleaning lady.  The man offered to hire her too at twice what she is making now.  So they will be making $18 a day between the two of them instead of living on the $3 a day that the wife was bringing home!! We know that prayers are being answered.

Today we are meeting with two sisters that are handicapped to find them some nice clothes to wear for interviews at the Employment office on Monday. They come from a very poor and multiple handicapped family. It's a very sad situation.  We hope to be successful in getting them jobs that will greatly impact this families situation. Right now the whole family walks everyday all over the city collecting plastic and glass bottles for money. They average about $1
.60 a day for the bottles they collect.  We are working on some short term solutions to their situation, but the jobs is the goal for long term. We are praying they will have the same success as the other family. As tough as their situation is they are always smiling.

Peace Corps Volunteers

Our son Daniel and his wife Mary served a two year Peace Corps Mission in Guinea West Africa a few years back.  When they heard we were going to Mongolia on our mission for the Church they asked us to keep an eye out for any Peace Corps volunteers serving here.  We met two of them, Kate and Aaron, and invited them for dinner.  They are really nice and we enjoyed our conversation.  We thought they would be in better living conditions than Dan and Mary so we didn't feel too sorry for them.  We had a dinner with one of Debbie's great salads and French bread, grilled salmon with homemade hollandaise sauce, rice pilaf, carrots, broccoli and a brownie with Russian ice cream and chocolate chips. Afterwards they said it was the best meal they have had in Mongolia.  We then found out they are in an unfurnished apartment with no stove, refrigerator, microwave or much to make a meal with.  They said the Peace Corps is working on getting them something.  They eat at restaurants a lot and not many of them are good.  The food served here is very bad to mediocre.

Anyway, it was fun having them over.  They have a different role that most English teachers here.  They both have degrees in English and Education Leadership, so they are here assigned to schools to teach teachers how to teach English.  They teach them different techniques and styles.  Most Asian teachers only teach grammar because they don't speak English.  The students we have met that have had years of English education cannot speak any of it.  We are so surprised that they don't even know the alphabet. 

Teaching at Sun Child Orphanage

These are our kids. The girls dorm, kitchen and dining room are in this building. 

 

 

 

These kids are great.  They are so talented and eager to learn.  Our classes are from 10:00am to 11:00am and 11:30am to 12:30pm four days a week.  We usually arrive by 9:30am to set up the classroom and get our materials ready. The kids are usually already there waiting for us to arrive, prepared and excited to learn English.  They stay late and ask for help individually.  It's a great way to start the day! Starting this month we will be teaching each class twice a week!

 

Every morning they get a slice of bread with or without sugar and a cup of tea.  Every day for lunch they get a bowl of soup with either rice or noodles, grisly mutton and potatoes, maybe carrots when in season.  We have not seen what they eat for dinner. 

 

Anyway, we love it here and we love the people. Even in such poor circumstances every home we enter we are offered food, hot water or hot watered down milk.  It is very humbling and we count our blessings every day.

 

We are so very thankful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church to help us apply His teachings to love thy neighbor, wherever they are.

  

The main office and boys dorm. 










 

This building is used for dress rehearsals/performances, the art room and sewing room.
 

 

This is the rehearsal/performance room. They cover the mirrors when they are doing a performance.

 

The second floor has an art room and a sewing room where all of their costumes are made.

This building includes the dance/contortionist training area and the computer room on the main floor.

 The second floor incudes the instrument class rooms and our English class room.

 

Our little classroom is on the second floor of this building. We have four classes with 9 to 11 students in each class.