Thursday, April 3, 2014

Mission Trip, Day 2

Well I slept very well that first night, I was worn out from the day and probably not drinking enough. The students decided that I would have instant noodles for breakfast instead of the Mongolian fare that the old grandfather was dishing up. I was feeling much better, and we packed up the van and got ready to go. It was snowing and we were concerned that driving might become (more) dangerous. Also we had to push start the van. Actually we had to push it quite a way to get it going.

Across the Steppes


The drive on the second day was even more beautiful than the day before. The 'road' disappeared, or rather was marked by the fact that no-one drove on it. We passed mountains, forests, a lot of snow, a frozen lake, a river flowing through a volcano-carved canyon.

For lunch we stopped in a small town called Чахир, and I took the initiative in saying I would eat бууз for lunch. Right choice for me, much more manageable. We reached Их Уул сум about 3 in the afternoon and stopped at a monument for obligatory photos.
Obligatory Monument Photo

Then we reached the town itself, which is beautifully nestled among, as the name says, many mountains. There are two bridges over a river to reach the town, a wooden one that had been closed and then a second one that had never been open. After some weaving around a phone call was made and a path across the river was worked out.

First we stopped at the church elder's house, but no one was home, so we drove to the church, but no one was there, so we drove back to the elder's house and more phone calls were made, and a passer-by informed us that she was in some meeting somewhere. Eventually her son turned up and restrained the dog and let us in, followed by making some milk-tea for us.

Tired after a long journey


Many a game of darts was played


So we settled in and waited for the elder, Narantuya, to come home. Then there was dinner and a visit to examine the church. There had been talk of staying there but it was deemed too cold and we were to stay at Narantuya's house. So there we had singing and prayer and eventually returning home for bed. Bed meant all the meaning sleeping on the floor of the 'living room' and all the women sleeping in the 'bedroom'. 'Room' is a bit of a loose definition, there were no doors in the building anyway. And that is day 2!


Eternal-Life Church

The team assembled

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