Khongor water progress

It's been a while since I've provided an update on the water contamination issue in Khongor, and there has been progress. Since the summer, our ministry has been working together with Texas Baptist Men and Baylor University to provide solutions to the problem, which originated with cyanide from illegal gold mining activities. Since May, we have been paying for clean water to be delivered to the village center on a daily basis (the government couldn't/wouldn't). In the meantime, we have been conducting water usage and health surveys in homes, and performing numerous water testing. We have a master plan to provide water filtration systems, continue water testing, and educate people on proper water usage.

In October, Dr. Rene Massengale, a Biology Ph.D. from Baylor, came back to Khongor for the second time this year. Her objective was to perform as many water tests as possible, and she brought with her a mobile water lab with approximately $50,000 worth of equipment and testing materials. A couple of people from Mongolia's national health ministry even visited the lab, and were very impressed, since they don't have such high-tech equipment. As a frame of reference - in order to test water or soil for cyanide or other chemicals, a sample would have to be sent to UB, and the test would take 1-2 days. Dr. Rene was able to perform the same test in a matter of 2-3 hours.

For about 10 days, a few of our staff and teenage boys became Dr. Rene's lab group. They worked tirelessly, collecting water and soil samples from all the wells and other targeted areas. Together they completed approximately 2,000 individual tests, evaluating not only cyanide, but also heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, nickel, etc. The results were summarized by well, and we held a town hall meeting to explain our findings with the people. Here's a few high points:

• Overall, cyanide levels appear to have dropped to acceptable levels.
• There are a few instances of excessive heavy metals, such as arsenic.
• We located the source of the contamination, an industrial building. Unfortunately, the government-mandated environmental cleanup is insufficient to prevent continued contamination leaching through the ground and into the water table.
• The water treatment plant is broken and ineffective. Raw sewage is bypassing the system and into the leach field, where livestock are grazing.

Currently, we are working on installing water filters directly at the wellheads. Our next step will then be to provide simple bucket filter systems (provided by TBM) to each home. Khongor people and officials have been so grateful to Dr. Rene and our ministry, because we are the only ones giving them real information and trying to help. The Mongolian government performed a few tests, but their information has been sporadic and conflicting, so the Khongor people are confused and worried. It's got national attention, and sadly, Khongor has become known as "toxic," so the people are living with that stigma.

Please pray for us as we continue to seek wisdom in this situation!

Romans revelation

Over the past 4 months, I have been getting to know our housemothers more closely through our weekly bible study (see previous post). It's a privelege to serve them and to develop friendships with them. This week, I saw something wonderful.

One of the ladies, Lhagva, is a widow in her 40s. When I first met her, I saw a cold, stern, woman. Early on, she came to bible study faithfully, but was silent and grimfaced. I also knew that she was particularly strict with the children. From day one, I was praying that God would soften her heart and draw her to Him.

God is faithful. By the end of the summer, Lhagva was smiling and talking. She remarked about how different the housemothers seemed, and how they interacted with each other much more kindly than before. I never would have guessed it, but she has become one of my favorites. She is a cool, but tough lady. I'm not 100% sure of her faith, but I believe she's on her way to being sold out for Christ.

We've been studying Romans, which is a challenge for anyone (most of all, me). I've been doing my best to unwrap its deep spiritual truths in a manner most applicable and understandable to them. We've just completed chapters 1-3, spending a lot of time discussing how we as sinners can only be saved by faith, not by following the law. After we finished on Wednesday this week, Lhagva said, "I heard a famous lawyer say that there is nothing higher than the law. But now I see that we can't meet the law, so we have to have faith. And I'm going to go tell someone that today."

All praise and glory to Him who is able to show us these things!

First snow

Yesterday we got our first real snow. It was just a few inches, and I enjoyed going out today since it was bright and sunny. Snow makes everything beautiful! I took this picture this morning while out shopping. You can see the large theater building and the mountains in the background.

Here's the view from my 3rd floor balcony this morning:

And in case you're wondering how cold it is, it's cold. Not unbearable, but it's been in the 30s during the day, and around 10 degrees overnight. Surprisingly, if it's sunny and there's no wind, it's not too bad outside.

Joy

I'm not sure why I haven't yet shared about these ladies - they are my #1 passion and joy here. My first priority while I'm here working with this ministry is discipleship - to fulfill Jesus' command in Matthew 28:19-20. Mongolia has had religious freedom for only about 15 years, so Christianity, as well as other religions, is relatively new to them. Young Christians have a strong desire to better understand the bible and learn from "older" Christians. When Jerry (the missionary) and I prayed and talked about how I could serve here, we were immediately in sync on this.

We have approximately 15 ladies on staff who work as "housemothers." These ladies are the caregivers to our 50+ children, who live in apartments. Most are Christians, but not all. One of the first things I did when I arrived was to start hosting a weekly bible study in my apartment for any women on our staff who were interested. Due to their rotating work schedule (24 hrs on, 48 hrs off), I lead bible study 3 mornings a week - Tues-Thurs from 9-11am, teaching the same lesson each day. We started with the basics: defining Christianity, explaining the structure and source of the bible, and spiritual disciplines. By the end of the summer, we had gotten to know each other pretty well, and in the Fall we started an in-depth study of Romans, which will likely take up my remaining time here.

The response has been overwhelming to me. I knew God was leading me to do this, but I didn't realize how desperately these women desired to know God better and to fellowship with each other. Not a week has gone by where at least one of them doesn't thank me for providing a place for them to meet together, share their lives and problems, and have someone explain the scriptures to them. I have literally watched God change their hearts, including one who got saved during the summer (hallelujah!) and others who are learning to love each other rather than harbor bitterness. I could fill up pages with sweet stories that have blessed my socks off. Also note these are the heroes from my plumbing disaster!

The picture above is only some of them - including my sweet translator Naraa on the far left. She is one of the most joyful people I have ever met, and always has that smile on her face. I am hugely blessed by all of them, and they are much of the reason our children are so fantastic!

N.B. - Thanks to my dad, who generously donated Mongolian study bibles to each woman - an extravagance none of them could afford!

My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Last Thursday was terrible. When I told my sister about it, she reminded me of that classic childrens' story that aptly described my day. I had a plumbing problem - no - a plumbing disaster. There are many comforts that I take for granted at home, and plumbing is definitely one of them. Brief background: all the apartment buildings in Darkhan are about 40 years old, including the pipes. There is little or no maintenance done, the Mongolians just wait until things break to fix them. Here is what my bathroom pipes look like, and the ceiling:

Multiple coats of paint does not qualify as maintenance, in my opinion. Anyway, Thursday morning I got up and took a shower before the ladies in my weekly bible study arrived. My bathroom hot water faucet knob had broken, so I could only turn off my hot water by shutting off the main valve. Here's a lovely closeup:

Around 9am, the ladies started to arrive at my apartment. Shortly thereafter, I remembered I still needed to turn the hot water off in the bathroom. When I went to turn the valve dial, it blew off and hot water started gushing out of the pipe onto my bathroom floor. High pressure, boiling-hot water. By the grace of God - truly - I had 8 Mongolian women in my apartment by that time. They jumped into action, like they had seen this 100 times. Before I knew it, they had their sleeves rolled up, and were scooping water off the floor into the bathtub, and trying to contain the flooding so it didn't spill out into the rest of my apartment. I stood by, helpless, watching them. They worked and sweated for about 15-20 minutes while we waited for the water company to arrive and shut off the water. In the meantime, my downstairs neighbor came knocking at my door, complaining that it was leaking into her apartment, damaging the ceiling and some wallpaper.

Sadly, this is a common occurrence in these apartment buildings. Every one of the women told me they had experienced something similar. Still, I felt very humbled by the whole thing, that I just stood there not knowing what to do. I don't know what I would have done if I had been alone - certainly there would have been more water damage. Those ladies are my heroes.

It took the rest of the day to get the pipe and valve fixed and the water turned back on. While I waited at home all day, I managed to stub my toe so hard that I thought I broke it (I didn't), then my kitchen cabinet almost fell off the wall. There are many lessons that can be learned from such a crummy day, not least of which is an immeasurable appreciation for the Mongolian and American friends I have here that came to my rescue at multiple times during the day. And for the God who provided them exactly when I needed them, in exactly the right way.

Battsetseg

Meet Battsetseg, one of our girls. The word "tsetseg" in Mongolian means "flower," and is a common component of female names. Almost 5 years ago, Battsetseg's mother left her with our organization. Her mother has a mental illness, and had married a man who beat Battsetseg. She never knew her father. As with many of our other children, she was malnourished when we received her. She is now 10 years old and is a sweet girl who likes to sing and dance.

Used gum storage

Mongolians like chewing gum as much as the average American. There are a variety of brands in the stores, including a few familiar ones like Juicy Fruit and Bubbalicious! Thanks to my dear friends at HFBC who visited this summer, I'm still enjoying some Orbit Mint Mojito flavor gum.

I observed something new (and odd) yesterday. While sitting in church, the boy in front of me got tired of his gum, and proceeded to take it out of his mouth and stick it in his ear. Not ON his ear, IN his ear. I'm certain it was located such that his hearing was undoubtedly diminished. I later confirmed that this is a fairly common practice for temporarily storing used gum, until the person is ready to resume chewing.

I used to feel a little bad when I would stick my gum on the top of my plastic soda fountain cup during lunch. So, where do you store your gum for future chewing?