Nationalized health care? No problem!

I must stress again at the beginning of this post that I have no desire to put Mongolia, its people, or its government in a bad light. But today's story is to help you all understand the culture in which we function.

First, a little update about our Sunday meetings. We had eight Mongolian adults this Sunday. We will be moving to a new location next week and see if that helps us grow at all. I have also mentioned many times my desire that the church be founded on men and that we have a group of people that has more men than women. Well, today we had six adult men and two adult women. So it seems to me that my strategy of working primarily with men is bearing fruit.

Now back to our story. This morning, a few hours before things got underway, Bayambaa (this is a different Bayambaa than the one who was saved after throwing her idols in the fire a few years back), this Bayambaa called to say she was having some problems with her pregnancy. She is four months pregnant and has a one year old son. Starting last night, she observed some signs that all was not well with her pregnancy. She called this morning to ask us to pray for her during the meeting Sunday morning which we did.

We also had Ulzee call Bayambaa back to get some details and see if we could help. Ulzee arranged for us to visit Bayambaa. Ulzee would stay with Bayambaa's son, and Kristie and I would take Bayambaa to see a doctor.

After getting lost several times trying to find Bayambaa's home in the ger district called "Fifth Stop" (part of the problem was we thought it was called "Seventh Stop"), we dropped Ulzee off with little Earmoonbileg, and picked up Bayambaa. We took her to the big maternity hospital in town. I waited out in the car while Kristie went in with Bayambaa. I heard there was quite a stir when they saw Kristie; some of the staff wondered if she had come in to receive medical care.

They waited for some time to see a doctor. The doctor came out, explained to Bayambaa that they do not perform examinations on Sunday, told her to rest in bed at home until tomorrow, and told her to come back on Monday. On Monday, they would examine her, do an ultrasound, and admit her to the hospital if necessary. But at least the exam was free because Mongolians have nationalized health care.