Safe and Sound in Mongolia by Grand Caravan

Hello Friends,

November 19

Well we are off to a great start......at check in at the Norfolk airport, all of my baggage fees were waived and let’s just say that I had 18 bags too many!!! My friends Kim and her two Mongolian born sons, Jack and Dillon and Joanie, who checked in bags in Chicago and St Louis also had great favor and were waived on through…….Many thanks to United Airlines and MIAT Airlines for their great compassion!! Please send them thank you emails saying how great you think it is that they did this!!!!

Then, on the plane, a very sweet gentleman from North Carolina, also an adoptee handed me a $100 bill and said to buy some orphans coats and boots!! How great is that. Don’t worry Scott, I will take pictures for you!!

So, many (15 I think)hours later and not sure what happened to Saturday, we landed in Beijing and had to check in with our connecting airline. We had a letter from some high official authorizing us to have 25 bags of humanitarian aid for Mongolian orphans. Only problem was that the 3 of us had a total of 38 bags!! So as we stood at the counter praying and waiting, watching them make phone call after phone call, the guy handed us our boarding passes and said have nice time in Mongolia!!! Off we went, rejoicing to say the least. We were looking at over $6000 in total fees that they could have charged us. All we can say is Wow!!!

November 20

If everyday is as eventful as this morning…..we are certainly in for the trip of a lifetime! :)
We arrived at the Chingiss Khan airport at 2:30 in the morning from Beijing. We were greeted by Children’s Place staff, Ulzi, a dear friend of Kim’s who has been a huge blessing in getting us through customs year after year and Bil who is Mongolian college student that lived with Kim in the states for 2 years. Thank God, Ulzi has security clearance to enter into customs because for the first time (probably because of the quantity), the officials began questioning the containers for both duty charges (19% of value) and when we mentioned we had medicines and medical supplies they said that it is the Minister of Health Law that all medicines go through his department and be quarantined before entering the country. A very interesting negotiation occurred.... Mongolians do not like to say "no" so they just don't agree . It was interesting to watch as Ulzi was explaining why we should be allowed thru duty free (the stuff is for orphans, etc) and could not afford the time or money to quarantine the meds. So the head official was not saying no but he would not agree……a ton of pregnant pauses and staring and then when the official decided he finally wanted to go home, he said just go! Keep in mind, arriving at 3am does have it’s benefits in that everyone wants to go home!!!
So, we get thru customs and we are in the airport lobby with ALL these 38 bags and huge bins....The Children's Place Van would not start ( Hence the need for a new one!) so they were there in a regular car…..Bil was suppose to bring a truck but his friend sold it earlier this week.....Ulzi was there in his mini van!!! We had room for maybe 8 of the 39 bags but then no room for people!! LOL.....actually this was no laughing matter at 3am, with no sleep for 2 days and it is zero degrees!!! No place to rent a vehicle at now 3:30am!! So, Ulzi goes to see if we can rent a ton of taxis to get this stuff to the orphanage- not one waiting taxi as it is now like 4:00 in the morning. Ulzi spots a flatbed truck picking up some boxes that arrived on our same flight. He approaches him to see if he can help us out. We knew we had to do something and pay whatever the fee!! Ulzi comes back -Yes he will help us out but it will cost us..$35 Dollars!! We could not believe it!! In the states this would have cost a couple of thousand! An hour drive with all these bins and bags……let’s just give thanks where it is due!! Thank you Lord!!!!
So, the 4 cars traveled in a caravan down the single lane road connecting the airport to the city at about 25 mph as the bags were piled so high on the truck. One sharp turn and the whole thing was going over!! Joanie and I prayed over every bump and turn.
All that said, every bag is safe and sound and we spent the afternoon sorting through everything and dividing up medicines, clothes, school supplies, etc between the orphanages.

The fun begins tomorrow….loving on special needs children and infants at one of the government run orphanages. Can’t wait to share and spread the love and blessings you sent!!

Have I mentioned it was 0 degrees when we arrived and tonight it is -11!!

Stacy, Joanie and Kim
Dillon and Jack