About a month before this trip, we heard a sad story about a young family in my parent's ward in Mongolia. The 29-year-old mother of two children was dying of cancer. Maren decided to try to organize a service project with our ward to help them out. They live in a tent made of felt, called a ger, and the husband works for a coal mining company.
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Narantuya at her baptism less than a year ago.
Narantuya, the mother, died about a week after Maren's project was underway. She left behind a 2-year-old boy, a 9-year-old girl, and her husband. It was heart-breaking to hear about this family, and Maren passed around flyers and talked to the members of our ward about them. She received many donations from generous members of our ward, including clothes, toys, and money.
She also made photo books for Narantuya's family using the small number of photos (a lifetime in about 65 pictures) that were given to my parents to scan and email to us. It was a very special gift that meant a lot to the family. These pictures show our two visits to the family to delivers presents, groceries, and money. Maren would have loved to be there. It was very touching to be able to share our bounty with them. (We are so much more blessed than we realize- Mongolia was an eye-opener.)
A BIG thank you to Rockwood 1st Ward! You made a difference!
Enkhjin,
Narantuya’s 9-year-old daughter with Mom and Tawny
Our first visit was to deliver donations. As it was Sunday we decided to wait to shop for their groceries and come back for another visit.
She served us hot water, which was wonderful on that cold day. She was so cute!
Brother and sister
Ekh
Achlan, Narantuya’s son
Tawny and Oyun ask about his age.
He is almost going to be three years old.
Ekh Achlan got his very own laptop! (thanks Checkett kids- he loved it!)
Eliza Stewart, my niece, sent one of her most favorite dolls.
We noticed from her pictures that Enkhjin likes to draw. We gave her an art book (how to draw) and sketch pad and colored pencils. We found out that nail polish isn't allowed at their schools. She wanted to give her new nail polishes to someone in her family, probably her aunt.
We may have overwhelmed them a bit. This was a big group!
Oyun and the missionaries came over to help us with translating. Tawny is a good translator too, even after 13 years. One doesn't get to practice Mongolian much in the states, but she did great.
Bathuu looks like a good dad. He is not a member of the church. Yet! :)
Tawny showed the kids the book about their mother's life. Three bigger photo books are also making their way to Mongolia. Unfortunately they were not delivered in time for the trip, but were shipped separately. They really liked this! It was very sweet!
He was mesmerized by that lap top. Maybe it will help him learn English. That is something that gives Mongolians a big advantage in the job market. (which is a tough one!) Ambitious Mongolians make it a priority to learn English.
Outside their ger
A neighbor girl came over to play with Ekh Achlan. She was hilarious. Love this picture!
Narantuya's sister lives in the ger next to theirs with her mother/ kid's grandmother.
Odgerel (Ogie) helped us deliver more clothes, groceries and toys for the kids. Tawny once taught her the new member discussions. She is a returned missionary. She helped us out with buying and delivering the goodies and translating to the family.
So much food! Rice, noodles, flour, sugar, salt, vegetables, juices, oil, candy, candy, cleaning supplies, etc. were delivered directly to their ger. Normally this would all have to be carried on a bus. There is no way they could have brought home this much food. We take our easy shopping for granted in the United States. Shopping can be arduous in Mongolia. No Costco here, quite the opposite. I'll try to put a couple of those shopping pictures on the blog. A very memorable experience...
He got several cars and trucks and started playing with them right away.
Tawny and Ogie read a letter from Chase Kesner to the kids.
Notice the grandma wiping tears. Soon we were all crying.
Unpacking the bags of candy for the kids
A very good day!
The neighbor girl was over to play again. Probably her parents have to work during the day. She was a little friendlier this time. She liked her buddy's new toys. Sometimes young children like this girl are left alone while their parents work and siblings go to school. They can't afford day care. I'll write more about that later.
It is so sad.
They miss Narantuya, but at least they have each other.
We asked for her "American Smile." (teeth showing) This is not a natural thing for Mongolians to do. But she looks so cute smiling this way!
What a rewarding day it was. I will never forget it.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this project!
For those who are interested in looking at my dad's blog about their mission in Mongolia, here's the web address-
"Musings in Mongolia"
http://drvalfarmer.blogspot.com/
A side note about the shopping-
I found the shopping pictures. This is where you buy meat in Ulaan Batar.
I think I might have become vegetarian living here. Raw meat makes me a little queasy. No refrigeration to be seen... Tara just about was side-swiped by an enormous side of beef in our first few minutes of shopping. A little man carried it over his head, (head inside the cow) and I don't think he saw where he was going. Or maybe he doesn't care if a tourist gets a faceful of his raw beef. :) It was hilarious. Tara and I could only laugh.
Buying the groceries.
The shopping actually took place in the dark, but the camera flashed of course. I should have turned it off. The electricity was out, which couldn't be too unusual since everyone was prepared with little candles. Every few steps another vendor was selling their wares. The place was huge. You pay each person individually. The money gets pulled out over and over again. It was nice to have Odgerel along. We took heavy bags to Ogie's car, and then came back for more.
Shopping in the dark in Mongolia has to be one of the coolest things I've even done. I felt like I was in some kind of strange movie.
This lady did not appreciate her picture being taken and yelled at us. In fact, people were yelling at us every time the camera came out. So eventually we stopped. Must be something illegal going on down there, because Mongolians LOVE to have their pictures taken.
Notice all the wrapped candy in bins? Candy is big here. Everywhere we went we were offered candy. We kept our USA Hershey kisses and Nestle crunch in the apartment. It turned out not to be so special. We ate it ourselves. :)
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