June 1997 The Trip  -- John Our trip to Mongolia was uneventful and, contrary to my expectations, not at all demanding. Which is not to say that it wasn’t hectic at times. We’d been told that everyone that passed through Beijing had an airport story, but we didn’t have much difficulty there. We were met by the mission president and some missionaries, escorted to our apartment building, and were relieved and thrilled that they (rather than we) carried our luggage up the three flights of stairs needed to reach our apartment. We had arrived in Ulaanbaatar and were excited and pleased to be there. (page 35)   First Days June 17, 1997  --  John While traveling in from the airport in Ulaanbaatar, the mission president and his wife mentioned that they and the members had fixed up our apartment for us and expressed the hope that we would like it. After walking up three flights of stairs at this high altitude, we were so out of breath when we walked into the apartment that most of our concentration was on just staying upright. But we couldn’t help noticing the Cheshire grins on people as they helped us into the apartment or came to visit shortly thereafter. They were there to see us, but they were equally interested in getting a look at the apartment. (page 35, 36)     And no wonder! Members of the branch and the senior couples had spent nine days just prior to our arrival stripping off the old wallpaper, removing worn contact paper, clearing away leftover items, and moving every item of furniture so they could paint all of the floors in this three bedroom apartment! The wallpaper is a light blue with delicate figures in it. The floor is painted a complementary blue—painted personally by our mission president! And the walls that are not papered are painted slightly more than halfway up in the same blue as the floor. It is an institutional style, but essential with this construction because the unpainted portions of the wall leave chalk dust on your hands and clothes any time you touch them. (page 36)   The Black Market  --  John     For some time we’ve been traversing the city back and forth, entering one anonymous (signless) establishment after another buried within warrens of nooks and crannies of equally anonymous buildings. Each shop seems to specialize in one type of product (e.g., office supplies, used auto parts, TVs, VCRs). We have been using a young Mongolian lady (Enkhmaa) to locate for us the shops that possibly might have the items we need and a Mongolian driver (Baatar) to take us there. Usually we have come away empty-handed, despite this knowledgeable local assistance, because that which is available for sale yesterday often is unavailable for sale today. The senior couples speak often of sources they have discovered only to find on a return trip that the proprietor has evidently sold out the one and only shipment he or she had and gone out of business. (page 46, 47)     The original missionaries here did wonders with packing crates. All their support materials had been crated in Salt Lake and then shipped here: books, food, and teaching materials of all sorts. The wooden crates have been turned into book cases, desks, storage shelves, pantry shelves, and so on. Someone was pretty handy with a saw, hammer, and nails. It provides us with plenty of storage space and each apartment is well equipped as a result. (page 56) After a few trips to local vendors and alas, the Black Market, Nancy was able to create  a comfortable home in Mongolia.  Pictures of their apartment follow:                       <<< back    next >>>