Sun Child Pizza and a Movie #2

 Last Fall we hosted a Pizza Party and the kids loved it so we had a 2nd Pizza and a

Movie Night.

They all pull kitchen duty and are experts in making dough. We provided the flour, sauce, pepperoni, pineapple, red and yellow peppers and mozzarella cheese. Pepperoni is nearly impossible to find here, but we found one place that has it from time to time. She had six, large sticks, so we bought them all. One for later use.  Aanka, above, has twin brothers and twin sisters and they are all at Sun Child.

They enjoyed assembling them and knew how to keep watch in the large commercial ovens they have. Hosoo is grating the mozzarella.

Batsetseg and Muungoo are oiling the pans on the right.















 



Pizza, hot out of the oven!!! Mardla is in the green. She is one of the staff and speaks very good English. She was our translator that night.

We made 6 pans this size for 30 people. Some of the kids were at camp this week.

 

 

 

 

Afterward, we had ice cream bars and watched a movie in Russian. Most of the children are learning Japanese and of course English. Not many know Russian, but I guess they are use to watching movies in other languages. Last time we watched The Crudes in English.  It was a fun evening just being with them. On July 4th, about half of them will leave for their tour in Japan.

 

The Equipment for the Handicapped Children Rehabilitation Center--DELIVERED!

We have been working on this project together with Deseret International Charities (D.I.C.) for 10 months and we finally received the equipment.  We met with a Physical Therapist who is handicapped herself, and  discussed the need for a center where about 400 handicapped kids could go to get help for free.  Debbie and I started to help get things going with D.I.C back in the fall.  A proposal was put together with several revisions.

They needed a place for the center and the City of Darkhan donated a room. It is too small for anything long term, so the lady met with a local hospital and they are fixing up a larger room which becomes available for the center starting in August. But for now they have already started in this building. The therapist was so excited, she had some children come on Friday to try out some of the new equipment. :) The kids loved it.  She is one happy lady!!!! She said not even U.B. has such a rehab for special needs children! It is a real thrill to see this all coming together for the children of Darkhan!!!


We had searched dozens of websites for equipment for children with cerebral palsy, and other handicaps, and found a number of pieces we felt would benefit  most of the special needs children.  We then discussed it with the therapist who gave her approval and had some requests as well.
We came up with a design, combining the best features of the parallel bars and a step trainer and found a local carpenter that could build it. 
It has a center board to keep their feet separated and risers to help the children learn to lift their legs to walk.










The carpenter built this step climber with two sizes of steps on each end, to practice on, and the handlebars for different heights of children.
















He also built this large mirror on rollers that the physical therapist requested, to help motivate the kids as they see themselves on the different pieces of equipment.

















This is called a Wave Bridge. It is more like a swing set but designed for kids to keep their legs apart and learn how to balance. The swing in the middle is for lung exercises.

This is called a Weight Trainer.  The child is strapped into the legs and around the upper body. There is a hand crank to slightly raise or lower the child onto the treadmill.  They learn to walk at a faster pace. They learn to adjust to gain more confidence. It also keeps them safe from falling off the treadmill.  

 

The therapist's favorite piece of equipment is this Adjustment Table. It is elevated perpendicular to the floor. The kids are then securely strapped in and the table is lowered parallel to the floor for the therapists to provide adjustments, massage, etc.

We also provided boxes of modeling clay to work their hands and some hand grips for the older ones to strengthen their hands. D.I.C also  purchased 8 cushioned floor mats to place around the equipment in case of any falls and a large oval shaped ball that is beneficial for physical therapy.





This week we will be in UB to pick up 4 sets of bangles.  They are 500gram weights that can be placed on the legs or arms using Velcro to secure them. This will help strengthen their legs and arms and gain better control over their limbs as they work in the center.


The lady on the right is the Physical Therapist. On the left is the couple that own the handicapped equipment supply company in UB. The lady is handicapped. When she was 16 she was kicked by a horse. Since that time her body is slowly deteriorating and she is committed to help others who are handicapped. She was a wonderful person to work with on this project.

We are so grateful to D.I.C. for making this dream come true!! We appreciate the caring and dedicated people who have helped in planning, building and preparing a way for all this to happen. Our interpreter, Sister Davca, has made an unbelievable amount of calls to the therapist, carpenters, suppliers, delivery drivers, etc., etc. We could not have done this without her skills, willingness and dedication!

Next week we will be spending the entire week at the annual camp for disabled children, about 30 miles from Darkhan in a beautiful area of Mongolia. We will have more on that in a couple of weeks.

Senior Missionary Conference June 2014

Our Mission President decided to hold a conference and training session in Darkhan for all of the Senior Couples Missionaries and asked me to coordinate events. We had some great training from President Benson. Here is the group picture. We had one couple that was to be here but the wife's father became very ill and they went back to Utah two days before the conference.
 
 
 
 After the all day training on Friday the 13th, we attended a dress rehearsal performance at Sun Child Orphanage as they prepare for the tour of Japan beginning on July 4th. We love these kids. We love them so much. That evening we ate BBQ chicken and then cake and ice cream in our apartment.

Saturday, June 14th, marked our one year anniversary of our arrival to Darkhan! That day all of us Senior Couples left Darkhan to go to the Russian border and then to a marvelous valley overlook. It is the most beautiful place we have seen in Mongolia. See our next post.

 

 

Trip to Russian Border and Altan Bulag Valley

On our way to the city of  Selenge and the Russian border we spotted a herd of camels about a quarter mile from the road.   Debbie loves camels so we ran to catch up with them and it was quite a sight! (Wish we had a video of us running. LOL!)

There were a number of white ones which are beautiful to see! Many were molting. This was are first herd of camels that we've seen since we came to Mongolia. We arrived in Darkhan one year ago this day!!

This one was acting cool!!

They stopped and grazed for a short time so we could walk amongst them and take some pictures.  It was pretty exciting. They are not aggressive--pretty tame. Someone asked if they were dangerous. We are not experts on the behavior of camels, but the few we've been around have been rather docile. We weren't sure if they would kick so we didn't walk behind them. :) We've met many Mongolians who have been kicked by horses, but never heard of anyone kicked by a camel.



Here we are on the Mongolian side of the border.

They were not happy about us taking pictures at the border. It was pretty restricted. 

On the Russian side now by about 2 feet.  Well, we've been to Russian. Done that!!! (No stamp in our passports, though.)

This is the entrance to the Alton Bulag National Park. Altan Bulag means "Golden Spring".

 

The picnic tables are made of stone. 

 

This is one of the most beautiful areas we have seen of Mongolia. The view was fantastic!

Unfortunately, you cannot visualize how high above the valley we are.  This is where the Selenge River (TOP) merges with the Kyakhat River from Russia. The view on the right is in Russia.



This is a rocky bluff next to the one we are standing on. It is an amazing sight. It was great day, spending time with the other Senior Couples serving in Mongolia and seeing the beautiful sights!

This is our interpreter Munguntuya and her husband Davka.  He did the driving for 3 of the Senior Couples They are such a great couple with two children.  Behind them is a Russian Orthodox Church that is in the town across the border from where we were.

 

Hong Kong Trip May 2014

We had the privilege of escorting 18 Mongolian members to the temple in Hong Kong. All but one were there for the first time. It was a marvelous experience and an amazing city. 

 A beautiful night shot of the temple with lights and Moroni on top.

It was very humid since May is in the middle of the rainy season.  It rained everyday. Thursday evening while all of us were out walking home from a shopping center at Lok Fu a torrential storm hit and we got soaked.  I had planned on my suit getting wet so I packed two suits so I could hang one up to dry while wearing the other one.  The suits never really dried out due to the humidity. I didn't think about bring two pairs of shoes so all week long my shoes squished when walking. My socks were always wet. Fun! 

Here we are at Lok Fu with ice cream cones from McDonalds. We didn't eat there!!  

On the right is the Purevkhuu family. The father lost both parents at the age of three. His wife died three years ago and they had lost a daughter some years ago at the age of three. He became a member of the Church two years ago and now he has brought his son and his young family, his 17 year old daughter and an 8 year old adopted daughter. He is such a humble and quiet man, but shared his testimony of his Savior, with such strength and conviction.

This is our tour guide from the travel agency, Urna. She served a mission on Temple Square and returned to Mongolia last August. She did a great job! What a wonderful translator! She runs a tight ship and was such a help making sure we all got through the airports, customs, buses, MTR (Hong Kong subway system), ferries, and the tour of the city with flying colors!!!

  These pictures were taken Saturday. Four couples were married for time and all eternity. It was so tender and sweet each time they brought the babies in to be sealed to their parents. There was not a dry eye to be seen. It was wonderful to be witnesses to such a wonderful event. The brides were beautiful! What joy each of them expressed.

This is a typical Chinese Junk heading down the river between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula.

Hong Kong was an English colony from the early 1800's until 1997 when it was turned over to the Chinese.  English is the predominant language spoken here. Of course, Cantonese is the main language for the southern part of China. So it was easy to get around.

  This picture was taken from famous Victoria Peak. Any movie with Hong Kong in it has a shot from this peak with the city below. When we arrived the fog was so heavy you could not see 100 yards ahead. We could not see the building next to us about 100 feet away. The guide said our time was up, but I said this group has worked so hard this week they deserve to see this famous view. I told them I had faith it would be clear in an hour. One hour later it opened up for about 30 minutes and then the fog rolled in again.  It was a beautiful sight with the 100 story building to the left of us, across the harbor, and an 88 story building above Debbie. 

While crossing Victoria Harbor on the ferry, we took this sunset picture. Hong Kong is an amazing city. It is so vibrant and alive. Very clean! The landscape is lush with flowers and greenery, due to the rain and humidity. I was surprised to see palm trees. With the heat and humidity we felt like we were melting.











Whenever in Hong Kong, the evening skyline is a must-see!!! It was just gorgeous! Each night they have a 15-minute laser light show to music.














Hong Kong has double-decker buses. Whenever we had the chance we always rode on top to have a better view. There are approximately 8 million people in Hong Kong alone. It didn't seem all that crowded to us. They have a great subway and bus system. It's incredible.

 

A Birthday Party with many blessings

A few weeks ago our Mission President asked all the Senior Couple Missionaries to visit the families in our area that have missionaries serving now.  We were assigned to visit 5 families.  One missionary, Elder Khash-Erdene, serving from our area is the only member of the Church in his family. We called about a week ahead of time to set an appointment to visit with them.  We did not know what to expect. When we arrived they were so warm and welcoming. The parents, Bartsuksh and Tserenhand moved to Darkhan just last November.  Their son was going to the university here before his mission. Debbie presented a loaf of her famous French bread. They made a wonderful Mongolian dinner for us and we had a great conversation about the Church and the gospel. As we were about to leave Tserenhand gave Debbie a light green Dell she had made for her! A "Dell" is a traditional outer garment worn for special occasions  and events like Naadam and  Tsagaan Sar.  They gave me a beautiful, copper plate with Mongolian  traditional art work etched on it. What a wonderful couple--a joy to visit!

This past Sunday we celebrated my 66th birthday. I am now full retirement age.  We invited them for dinner to celebrate with us. It just so happened that it was Tserenhand's birthday that day.  We had one of Debbie's special salads, salmon with hollandaise sauce, rice pilaf and steamed broccoli. For dessert we had cake, of course, but not just any cake---  German  Chocolate cake. It is my very favorite cake and Debbie makes it from scratch once a year for my birthday. We had to go UB to find evaporated milk and coconut.  We could not find any German Chocolate cooking bars, but did fine some really wonderful baking chocolate  bars.  The cake was amazing!!  




It was special day because I am married to the most wonderful wife. I have amazing kids that used Google Hangout to see all of them at one time and hear how they are doing. It was wonderful receiving so many birthday greetings on Facebook and email.

 

Thanks to you all for everything!!

What do we do here?

Well, looking at all of our blogs it seems like one big party of events, celebrations and activities, but we are involved in a lot of other projects, training, support and reactivations efforts. We were called to serve as Member Leadership Support (MLS) missionaries. All of the younger Mongolian missionaries teach the gospel to people interested to know more about the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. One Senior Couple serves in the Mission office as a support to the Mission President.  There are several other couples in the same building that work with Humanitarian Services, Church Education Services, Family History Support, Medical Services, Welfare Services and another couple serve in Employment Resources.

As we are located outside the capital city (Outer, Outer Mongolia), our job is to help strengthen the branches in the Darkhan District. There are 6 branches total in our District. I am serving as Second Counselor to the District President.  I am responsible for training the High Council members, Branch Presidencies, Sunday School Presidencies, Primary Presidencies, Branch and District Employment Specialists, Young Single Adults (18-30), also, to direct the Self Reliance Welfare Programs and Family History. Debbie is the Second Counselor in the District Primary Presidency and works specifically with the Primary, which is the children's organization. Each week she is working on songs to teach, Sharing Time activities, or class lessons for when she is called upon to assist. We visit all of the Branches often. I spend most of my time with the Branch Presidencies teaching and training them how to conduct Branch Council Meetings, Presidency Meetings and how to minister to the members.  I also work with auxiliary leaders and teachers to help them understand their duties and how to teach by the spirit and with power. Most of what we do is visit families in their homes. Last month we home taught 24 families in one branch.

In July we were assigned to focus on the Old Darkhan Branch.  At the time there were around 50 members that attended sacrament meeting each week.  We worked to organized and train the branch council in their duties and how to focus on families and individuals that needed support. We started visiting the less active families and inviting them back to church.  By November we were in the 80's attending sacrament meeting. In December we consistently had over 90 each week. In January we had our Branch Conference and set a goal for 100 to attend.  I personally wanted to reach 110 attendees.  We had 121 attend. We are now achieving 100 each Sunday.  Update 3/24/14 Yesterday there were 130 attending our Sacrament meeting and 162 in the New Darkhan Branch conference. Things are really turning around.

A week and a half ago we spent three days in a small branch in Zuunkhara visiting with less active members there. We met with 10 families and had great moments with them. The Branch usually has about 40 attendees.  Last Sunday 9 of the 10 we visited came to church with a total of 63 people.  It was wonderful.

Our plan now is to start training the other Branch leaders how to duplicate these efforts, how to organize, strengthen the members and families, reach out to those in need, improve home teaching efforts and to make it happen in their units. We spend a lot of time speaking in Sacrament meetings, firesides and other events. 

Additionally, we are involved with a number of handicapped children groups trying to help the kids.  There is a large project in the works right now for a Day Care Center that is taking in disabled children. It is the first one in Darkhan to offer the service at a discounted rate.  We have been meeting with a dealer in UB that provides equipment for the handicapped. The Day Care Center and the parents had no idea what type of equipment to even consider, so Debbie and I have been researching many websites about physical therapy and occupational therapy for the disabled and learned a lot.  We then took pictures of the equipment that might be beneficial for the kids at the Day Care.  We are waiting for the pricing and availability to develop a proposal to submit to Deseret Charities for the funding. They toured the facility a few months ago and they are anxious to help.  If we are successful we will meet with other day care providers to invite then to open their businesses to disabled children and hope to get similar equipment for them. Update 3/24/14 We will be going to UB this week to find the last two pieces of equipment to complete their needs. Hope to get the proposal into the charity to approve and move this to completion.

We are now working with an ophthalmologist in UB to come to Darkhan to evaluate and help some of the children we know with serious vision problems.  Next week we will meet with one of the City leaders responsible for all disabled children under 18 to see if she has data on how many have vision problems, who they are and to assist in putting together a program to help them.

All this is when we are not teaching English at Sun Child School.  We teach about 9-10 hours a week there and so it allows us to help in other areas.

We love what we are doing and know the Lord has opened up all of these opportunities for us to help and serve. We are so very happy to be here. There is so much need and so many that are so appreciative.  They are wonderful children of our Heavenly Father. We feel blessed beyond words to be here at this time.