Yesterday, right after breakfast, I did some video taping and interviewing of the Texas Baptist Men. They're here for two reasons: first, they are here to help with the water situation in Khongor (the water was poisoned with cyanide - more later), second, they are here to help Jerry build a dome. Really. But, it's not just any dome. It's a dome made from poured concrete. The form is a huge balloon (made in Italy, Texas. Woo Hoo!!) that they used to form the rebar and then pour concrete over it. It will have about 1200 square feet of living space in it. It's cool in the summer and hot in the winter. Can't beat that with a stick...

Anyway, they're building it to show the Mongolians how useful the dome can be. I got some great video of our people helping (ok, they looked like they were helping) and of the dome going up.

Next, we went to downtown Khongor (pop. 8000) and had a press conference with the governor of Darkhan. He was announcing that the Texas Baptist men and the delegation from Baylor were officially here to help with his permission. Right in the middle of the press conference, the lights went out and everyone just kept on going. After about thirty minutes in the dark, the press conference let out...

We went back to the River Campus to have lunch. Somehow, I got volunteered to help the Baylor team do surveys throughout Khongor.

So, at about two o'clock, we headed into Khongor. We met up with the mayor who showed us where the water had been poisoned. According to the mayor, in April of 2007, two people were using an old chemical factory near the center of town to process/look for gold. Apparently, the chemicals used for this are high in cyanide. They washed all the chemicals down the drain, into the drinking water of Khongor. Two cows died and hundreds of people got sick from their tap water.

Jerry and Susan Smith have their own well just south of Khongor. So, they started to make it available to the people of Khongor. The locals already call the road that the River campus is on 'the Jesus Road.' Now, they call the water 'the Jesus Water.' Is that cool or what?

Back to our story.

We split up in the middle of Khongor and each headed into different apartments buildings. The mayor had assigned members of his staff to assist us and to make sure that people felt comfortable answering the questions. So, the staffer, Nora, a translator, and I went into building number 8...

It was bizarre. I felt like I was in an abandoned building. There's really no way to convey how poorly it looked. The stairs were worn/crumbling, the lights didn't work, and some rooms were actually bricked up.

We got to the first door and the mayoral staffer knocked and walked right in, without waiting for an answer. There was a 57 year old lady living there and we sat with her in her living room. I asked her a series of twenty or so questions and moved on to the next apartment. It was pretty cool to get to go into their dwellings and actually talk with real humans :). In one apartment, I was offered small, squiggly, straightened donuts (that's what they're called. Really), milk tea, and yak butter/cream/cheese for the donut.

Later that night, we were preparing for bed, when Carla said, 'Mark, you should go help those ladies. They're having trouble put on the top of their ger.' (Each ger has a small sunroof. It is, unfortunately, not a real sunroof, but an open hole with a thick cotton flap.) Tori and I went out to help and discovered that the winds were blowing so hard you could hardly open your eyes from the sand and the winds. We were watching some other guys try to help. When I offered my extra height to help, they handed me the string. When I tried to move it over the top, it got stuck. Bad.

So, told Tori, "climb up there."

She jumped up using my knee, laid herself flat and quickly unstuck the top. Then, the rope came off the back of the ger. Tori, tied it where it belonged and was able to save the day. Really.