I would have loved to have known the stories of these people who got the wheel
chairs.
The mother with the little boy had carried him for his entire life. I know that
she will be relieved as now she can push him instead of carry him.
There was a man with no feet who got a chair. People wept openly when
they were given their chairs. They now have a chance for some mobility
in their lives.
The people with the empty chairs represent people who had no way to
leave their homes to come and get the chairs. They are family members
or member of the Red Cross who will deliver the chairs.
I have come to see how much the Savior loves every one of His children
and how he blesses them through each one of us. We may not physically lift others
but when we donate to the Humanitarian fund we "lift" others in ways we will never know.

These are some of the dignitaries at the ceremony. Elder and Sister Clark were honored at this ceremony for their work. They served a humanitarian mission here prior to the Lassons and now are serving for PEF and other assignments as their second mission here.

We went with Elder and Sister Lasson to a wheelchair ceremony with the Red Cross. The Church donated a number of wheel chairs to the Red Cross here. They were received with a lot of fanfare. This poster was hung from the balcony. As you can see Elder and Sister Lasson have become celebrities here. Elder and Sister Dodson, the Mongolia area supervisors from Beijing were here as well.

These ladies worked and worked with quite primative tools outside our apartment to clean up the weeds. They weren't young ladies either!

Out with the old and in with the new! After sleeping on the floor for a month and hardly being able to walk we got a new bed! King size with a pillow top.. this an unusual thing for Mongolia. They sleep on the hardest beds ever. Batbold took Blaine to the furniture store and had him try all the beds and this was the best. We had to pay two months rent in advance to get this luxury but it is so worth it.

Kids are the same everywhere. You rent these little cars for kids to drive here.

This is the opera palace. We went to see "Il Troubadour" by Verdi. It was sung in Italian with Mongolian subtitles. The set was very Mongolian. The costumes were Mongolian mixed with European. The principles were excellent and the conductor exceptional. (He was Italian.)
I really should have had Blaine in this picture because no one will believe he went to an opera. Well, it only cost $6. each so I guess that was a good reason.

This is Suhbaatar Square. It is in the middle of Ulaanbaatar. The large statue in the middle is Chinggis Khaan. We walked here on our way to the opera with Elder and Sister Eliason.

This is a statue of Lenin. They love him here. Mongolia was under Russian rule for 50 years.

This little girl is three. She was found on the street. They have exhaused all their leads. The next thing is to do a TV ad which costs a lot of money.

These children love having their pictures taken. They were darlig.

The choir sang so beautifully and in parts. (They don't sing in parts at church at all...every one sings melody.) The songs they sang were so sad. They talked about why their parents didn't love them. Why did they leave them? Were they not worthy of their love? I lost it and the tears were just running down my face. After some of the children asked why I was crying. Nara told them I had 10 children and I missed them. Bless her heart. How could you say to them, "I am crying for your lost childhood and for the love that you have never had." This little boy and girl are brother and sister. Wouldn't you love to take them home? I would. That is the saddest part...these children are not adoptable because they don't have papers.

The children sang solos, sang in small groups, played instruments...all very well done. They have been touring Mongolia to raise awareness of the street children. Jackie Chan came to Mongolia and donated a bus for them to travel in.

This young man did the solos in the concert. He was very adept and played beautifully. The young man in the white shirt without the vest is the teacher. He tried to teach one of the sisters after the concert how to play the horse fiddle and she couldn't get it even though she was a string player.

After our trip to the country side we were invited to a special concert. These children are street children. They have been the recipients of a special grant. This grant included money for housing, food, clothing, educaiton and musical training.
Last year these children were at the First Station". Since April 35 of those chosen have been given musical training. They were amazing. I don't know if we took 35 children in the US and did this if we could get the same results. The concert was very professional and I couldn't believe they had only been playing since April.

Their teachers are students at the university here.
The man in the blue shirt is the director of the shelter. His name is Ayurzana Chogdov. He is a police liutenant colonel. He introduced the children and the concert.

This is the very busy main street in UB. Notice the mode of transportation in front of us. Common here to see the old mixed with the new. Blaine saw a herd of cattle being driven down this street. Of course, he didn't have the camera.

This is the view from the top. We understand that these hills are really beautiful in the spring. Right now things look very barren. Even the pine trees are of a variety that lose their needles for the winter. The "gers" you see in the distance are the beginnings of the "tourist" city that is going to be built.