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Sunday, September 19, 2004 5:19 AM
Dear Family and Friends,
Some of us worshipped at Warren's church today and the rest of us worshipped at a Mongolian church and were surprised
they had a guest preacher from Minnesota so we didn't need a translator -- the rest of the congregation needed one. During the singing, I kept remembering faces of children we have met this
week. Friday we spent the afternoon with the WV social worker from the Police Address Identification Center and a police officer. We first went to visit the tunnels. The first tunnel
we encountered had two drunk men sleeping inside so we moved on to another. There we climbed inside one at a time to take a look around. The heat was turned on Sept 15 so it was very nice and warm but the stench was
nauseating; the rotting food and garbage with bugs crawling over it were repulsive. Just as we prepared to leave one of the boys (16 years) came over and the social worker began to work. This man is amazing.
He is very caring and skilled at working with children. He is quiet and gentle and very effective. However, this boy would not come with us, but he did say he would go to the WV Day Center on Monday --
please pray this boy will follow through. He is not yet street hardened; he came from the countryside and
has working parents there (I'm sure there's more to the story). I gave him my bag of Trader Joe's roasted
almonds. I saw him sharing them with a friend as we drove away. He said he usually gets his food in the dumpster outside the hospital.
 After the tunnels we went to the train station. We have been wanting to see this area because this is where many of the children first arrive in UB. Right away the social worker spotted
a boy with a backpack. He jumped out of our van but the boy ran away. As we walked down the train platform we found another boy carrying his potato sack filled with his belongings.
The social worker and police woman (she was dressed in black boots with high heels and a very stylish uniform) went over to talk to him. It turned out they knew him. He had run away from
the WV summer camp last month. It seems he wet the bed and the other boys made dreadful fun of him (I wish we could get him medical treatment). He didn't want to go to the shelter. The
social worker was visibly sad -- he cares very much about these kids. I am hoping they will be able to keep track of this boy and coax him to come another time.
We have many more stories of children to bring home with us. For now, please keep them in your prayers.
This afternoon while some rested (pray for our cold epidemic)
Jeff, Kathy, Darcy, and I went to the palace of the last king of Mongolia. Among other beautiful items housed in beautiful buildings he had a ger made of 150 leopard skins! It was gorgeous and exotic. He
only used it outside in nice weather. He also had a collection of stuffed African animals that he ordered from Germany in 1900. It filled two big rooms! This is the palace just across from our hotel -- thus the
name, Palace Hotel.
 We had dinner at Warren (WVMongolia Country Director) Ferdinandus's tonight and it was fun and delicious. The TEE group made a presentation -- Mongolia has entered the world
of powerpoint and infocus projectors and they are very good at it. It was interesting and much good work continues to be done! The church is growing rapidly.
Tomorrow we're going to investigate the microenterprise work here and visit the US Embassy. Some of us are also planning to
visit the Holt Orphanage.
We miss you and look forward to being together in a few weeks!
Love,
Sandy
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