Headed for the Big City

Well we had an interesting trip heading into Ulaanbaataar.  Kaylee needed her 6 month shots and we were going to watch our friends two teenagers while they went on a trip.  We were supposed to be gone about 12 days but it ended up being 14.  That is life in Mongolia.

Our trip started out the day before as Jeff was putting on a heater thingy on the radiator.  He put a little hole in it.  So, he went to have it fixed and a  Mongolian welded the hole.  Jeff said it was fine.  He didn't tell me before we left he gave the weld a 50 % chance of staying together or breaking.  Not good odds for Mongolia. We left the next morning and the first 2 hours were okay.  Jeff noticed the heat was high and took a look.  Needless to say the weld did not hold.  I was really worried that we wouldn't make it into town.  We trodded on as we put water in all along the way.  We got to the next big city Arawahare and bought a bunch of water. 

Jeff went to the bank and when he came out and started the car it would not start.  I fretted because I didn't really want to take a microbus into town.  Jeff took a look and noticed the cable to the battery was loose.  He was able to fix it easily enough.  I thank the Lord it wasn't any more serious than that.  From Arawahare to Lune it is a paved road and so we did really well.  It didn't leak much at all.  Right before we left Lune we filled up all the bottles and topped of the engine fluids.  70 km. from Lune to UB is really bad road and the hole got much larger and we lost water faster.  We stopped and asked a herder where some water was because we were almost out and not near civilization.  I prayed so hard that we would get there and that people would be praying that we would arrive safely in UB.  Jeff taped up the hole using electical tape and duct tape.  We put the last of our water in and about 5 km later we hit the paved road.  Another 5 km and we hit a hotel and they had plenty of water.  The Mongolian worker was so helpful and let us have as much water as we needed.  The engine had gotten really hot.  I was thinking of ways to get into town without the car because I didn't know if we would make it.  We were about 50 km from UB. 

Well now we are back in Bayankhongor, so as you can see we made it back.  You never know what to expect when you live and drive in Mongolia.

Who's new to Byonkhongor?

We are!!  We have now been in BH for just over 1 month.  Jeff has been here a little less but we will get to that.  We moved out around the 15th of September.  We drove our new vehicle and arrived in 12hrs.  The only thing that happened was our new roof rack collapsed and we had to repair it about 1 hr outside of UB (the capital).  We moved into our friends house right away.  She is a single American gal so her house is a bit small but very cozy and toasty warm!  We have had the wonderful adventures of water delivery by horse cart, brownouts with the power (same as UB), fire building at night to keep toasty warm, and Mongolians following us around town to see the blond haired blue eyed now 6 month's old new foreign baby in town.  Here is a picture of the house we are staying in.

 

I (Jeff) and friend Dustin went back to UB to load up all our stuff on a big truck and have it delivered out here.  About half way back we noticed some antifreeze leaking ... to make a long story short we limped back to UB and arrived after an 18hr trip.  When we got the car into the shop the head was cracked.  Thankfully it cracked between two cylinders otherwise we still might be waiting to get to UB.  We are pretty sure there was a hole in the heater core and when we changed out the fluids the stop leak that was in the coolant was "watered down" and opened up the hole.  I have now seen more of the inside of my engine then I have ever wanted to see.  Our stuff was loaded up and delivered while we were still waiting in UB for the car.  We ended up spending an extra week in town.  I was able to price some stuff out for building a house though so it was not all wasted.

 

I have been meeting with the XAB members.  They gave me my work permit and now that the summer seminar season is over they are a little less busy.  I have done one example training of a CHE lesson and am working with a guy named tsigmed.  I am also teaching some informal English lessons and trying to maintain our car.  (hole in exhaust, add a block heater)  Actually Dustin is much more skilled at that kind of stuff I end up helping him.  Although he says second time around I'm on my own.  Hopefully that head doesn't crack again!

 

We have visited 3 churches and have about 6 more to visit in town.  Things are going pretty well, Kaylee has adjusted the quickest we are still finding our place here.  The JCS team has been great about helping us out.

Update on K-Lee

Mikayla is now 18 weeks just over 4 months old.  All our Mongolian friends say she looks like a Barbie doll.  Then they say that she looks like her father ... I'm not sure what they are implying by that.  Maybe if I had long hair I could get a job as a model, hahaha.  I doubt anyone is actually looking at what I'm typing here anyway everyone probably just went straight for the pictures.  I figure I will just type a bit more so it looks like I did something rather then just put up a bunch of pictures.

 

      

 

                                              

Getting to Mongolia

Murfeys law states that "If something can go wrong, it will."  Based on this law it is always good to budget twice the time you will need in order to actually finish the job, order the extra parts when you get the new item, or in the case of getting a visa for a 3 month old little girl - call the embassy 2-3 times per week.

 

I did this with Kay-lee's passport that we sent to the Mongolian embassy 1 month before leaving.  (On the website they state it takes 2 working days to process the visa application.)  Since I was not sure how many applications they get for a 3 month old I was as detailed as possible even sending in my (the fathers) passport verifying that we did in fact have a student visa and would be allowed into the country.  Nevertheless I called the Friday before we were to leave on the following Tuesday morning and they finally decided to actually look at the application.  (This was my 4th time talking to the same man.  I had also left a few messages,)  The gentleman commented "Oh well you already have a visa."  This was stated 2 times in the application not to mention the fact all he would have had to do was open the passport when he received it.  So then he said that he would get it processed that afternoon and next day deliver it by FedEx.  No problem that meant that it would arrive Monday morning a whole 24 hrs before we would be flying out.  This was cutting it close but what else could go wrong?

 

Well the time for delivery came and went Monday morning so I called the embassy to verify he had sent it.  "Well FedEx was closed Friday evening so I have not sent it yet.  It is now 21 hrs until we leave for the airport.  After a few frantic phone calls and talking with FedEx they sent a courier to pick up the passports in DC they are then flown to Ft Wayne and a courier will deliver it to our house.  It was pretty expensive but the tickets were booked, we were packed, and my parents were showing up in a few hrs to say a final goodbye.  Does it occur to others that God seems to always live and move only during the 11th hour?

 

Throughout the day I checked on the passports via the website, all was looking good until the passports never showed up.  I called again... the passports are at the airport we have called a courier to pick them up.  Great we are staying 5 min away from the airport in Ft Wayne no problem 12 hours before departure is a little close but God is good!  Ooooh Noooo, God is even better; the airport they were talking about is Chicago, the passports missed their plane to Ft Wayne, now it will be 2:30am.  Of course the online site said that they had made that flight to Ft Wayne ... hmmm.

 

Thankfully at 2:33am My and K-lee's passports arrived with all of 6 1/2 hours to spare!  Only in America can something like this go so wrong but yet still happen.  God Bless America!!!

Mikayla Turning Over

Here is a very short video of Mikayla turning from her stomach to her back. Shauna tried to catch this on video for about a week.

CHE Training

There is nothing more refreshing on a hot afternoon then a cold drink of water, or in my case a Mountain Dew.  This past week (mid June) I have been drinking from a fire hose.  Not literally, that would hurt a lot.  I have been taking a Trainer of Trainers seminar for the CHE program.  This is the Community Health Education program that our Mongolian friends want us to help them with in ByonHunger.  The training was pretty intense but very practical for what we want to do in Mongolia.  Here are some pictures of the training.

    This is the whole group.

 

   2 cool guys from Modesto CA.

 

   Of course you can't have a seminar without the coffee breaks!!

 

One of the things I really appreciated with this training is the highly participatory element in the training.  I also like the fact that I do not own the program but the Mongolian's own it from the beginning.  CHE is a development approach that uses local resources to meet local needs.  The focus is on prevention and teaching at the family level.  It will be a slow start and a lot of community meetings but eventually the Mongolian people will be able to identify and meet most of their own needs.  We can't wait to get back and start doing the work.

Apartment walk through with Midnight

Here is a video of our apartment in Mongolia, it took me awhile to figure out how to put this on here.

More pics of Mikayla

Enjoy She is the best baby ever!!

 

  

 

  

 

  

Mikayla is Here!!!

The Facts:

 

April 28 2008 at 2:53am (yes that says AM!!)

Girl - Mikayla Anne Spence

6lb. 11 oz

19.5 inches long

Full head of Blond hair (Daddy's yes at one time I did have hair), almond shaped eyes (Mommy's), extremely cute.

 

The Story

 

9 months ago ... skip ahead ... Saturday April 26 Shauna started having minor contractions while we were in South Bend watching our Brother-in-Law coach a  Lacrosse game. (He won!)  We returned to Fort Wayne and Sunday morning we did all we could think of to keep our mind off the contractions.  After lunch at Panara Bread we timed the contractions and went to the hospital.  Shauna was having some back pain and once she was 3 cm dilated they admitted her into the hospital.  After the epideral we thought we would have a decent night's sleep until 5 am.  After laying down for 1 hour the nurse came in and said it was time to call the doctor.  Mikayla was "sunny-side up" meaning she was facing up not down, thus Shauna's back pain.  The doctor was able to turn her and once she was turned she came right out.  Shauna would probably say with lots of hard work and pushing but hey she had the epideral, remember.  She is a very good baby, pretty quiet, great eater, fast learner pretty much her father's daughter :-)

 

The Picture's

 

  

 

 

 

We thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Mikayla's Shower's

There are some great things about being gone from friends and family for 2 years.  When you get back everyone is excited and wants to see you.  Especially when your having your first daughter.  We have been extremely blessed with gifts for Mikayla.  Mikayla has had 3 showers and will be the best dressed little girl in Mongolia!  Here are a few pictures from one of those showers.  (We now have a lot of boxes to send ahead of us full of baby stuff.) 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for your gifts and more importantly your prayers for Mikayla.  Shauna and Mikayla are doing very well.

It's a Girl

We had our first doctor's appointment in Fort Wayne and the doctor took a quick sonogram and we are having a girl !!!  He saw a few lines and declared with 95% accuracy that ITS A GIRL!  Her name is Mikayla Anne Spence, she is "scheduled" to arrive on May 1st. 

 

Shauna is doing well and growing bigger with Mikayla.  Our mothers are having fun shopping and buying lots of cute girly outfits. 

 

Thank you very much for all your prayers; we praise God for growing our family.

Home Assignment Schedule

Below is our schedule for our time in the US.  Most of our weekends are full but if we are in your area we would enjoy getting together throughout the week.  You can contact us through email or call us at 260-341-1962.

 

January

Arrived Jan 29th.  We left Soul, Korea at 11:40am and landed 2 hours before that at 9:00am the same morning. 

February

February 3rd      - Monroeville, IN

February 10th    - Decatur, IL

February 12 - 26 Western Loop Trip

Feb. 13 (Wed) - Hillside MC, IA

Feb. 15-17       - Portland, OR

Feb. 18            - Nevada

Feb 20 - 23       - Oklahoma (Aunt Lisa here we come!!)

Feb 24             - NW Arkansas then over to Little Rock

Feb 26th Home just in time for Shauna's doctor's appointment.

 

March

March 2nd   - Celina, OH (morn)

                   - Berne IN (eve)

March 5 - 14 Southern Trip

March 6-8   - ECHO in N. Ft. Myers, FL

March 9th  - Faith AoG (lunch with friends)

March 13    - Louisville, KY (dinner with friends)

 

March 16    - Dunfee, IN

March 23    - Easter in IN

March 30    - Port Huron, MI

 

April

April 6     - Victoria, IL

April 13   - Southern IL (?) Peoria IL (?)

April 20   - Van Wert, OH

April 27  getting real close to the time God will add a new, exciting, major responsibility to our lives !!

 

May

May 4     - Our new Baby should be breathing on his/her own.

May 11   - Mothers Day (IN)

May 18   -

May 25   -

 

June

June 1    - Goveland, IL

June 8    - Manito, IL

June 15 - 21  Jeff has a Training in Portland, OR on Community Whole Health Development

June 22   -

June 29   -

 

July

July 1-7   - Last time in IL  (VACATION TIME)

July 14    - Fly back home to Byon-Hunger

Christmas and New Year 2007

For Christmas this year Shauna and I were able to open a few presents from each other and have a wonderful breakfast together.  We opened a few presents from parents with them on the phone before Christmas day and Shauna was able to call her family the day after (for us) when they were having their family Christmas.

Christmas Day evening we went over to another American family's home and watched the "Grinch that stole Christmas" (cartoon version) and played a few games.  Not quite like we celebrated in America but we are learning to adjust. 

For New Years Eve we went to my language helpers home (Egii) and celebrated his birthday with potato salad, bodz, soup and cake.  Then Shauna and I went out to eat for dinner and walked around Suukbaatar Square (middle of town). 

              

This is the main place to bring in the New Year in Mongolia.  We walked through and took a few pictures but did not stay until midnight.  It was around -20 degree farinheight and we were ready to get home.

Sorry I had this ready for a month just forgot to post it :)