Another week in Mongolia October 14-19 2013

This week we were in office trying to get paper work right and trying to understand the Water Company's policy on the building of new Dump Stations.  They have told us that they do not want any more dump stations built higher on the mountain.  They do not want to encourage more people moving up there and that it is hard to get water to the dump stations.  They will not approve any more dump stations and it would not work with out their approval because they have to bring the water up to those stations.  They want to move to piped in water stations and want to focus their resources on that.  We understand their concerns, they just need to communicate with the local governments their policy so we don't look like the bad guys for not doing the dump stations.  Here is what a dump station looks like with the water truck delivering the water.

 Most dump stations hold 5000-7000 liters of water and get one to two shipments of water per day.

We also see people standing in line to get water.  I am so blessed to be able to turn on the tap

and have filtered water come out of it.

This week we were also blessed to be able to visit a members home and to celebrate the 25th birthday of her son who is handicapped and can not get out of the home. Dagma has been a member for six years and her Son (I can't spell the name) also.  The communication was hard for we do not speak Mongolian and She doesn't speak English, and the English speaking Elder we had with us has only been out 6 weeks and doesn't really understand either.  But there was a great spirit in that humble Ger.

Gers are only one room, with a wood burning stove in the middle.  They are sitting on the couch/bed.

Dagma outside her ger. They had built a wood enclosure around the entrance to the ger to help keep out some of the cold.

It feels colder now in UB. You see the coal smoke rising from the gers, and smell the coal smoke all of the time.  The air quality is going down and we will probably should start to wear face masks.  

 Smoke rising from the gers. which means it is getting colder.

Up above the city.  It is a relatively  clear day.  But look at the haze in the background. We live in the haze

What is really sad, is it gets quite stuffy in our apartment and you feel like you could really use some fresh air, but there is no fresh air!

As it gets colder the list of the things I am grateful for grows and includes:

Hats, scarfs, coats, gloves, tights and boots.

Also a heated apartment and building to work in and that our office is only a seven minute walk.

 Alvin is modeling the face mask that the Mission Doctor issued to the missionaries to wear when the pollution gets really bad.  Kind of looks like a duck bill.

Have a great week!  One that is filled with the warmth that the love of the Savior Brings!

Scripture for the week: 1 Nephi 11:25  And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life; which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God.