Weekly update: unloading the container

This week is a mixed bag of news. I know I missed an update last week: that is part of the good news. But I will start by telling you the bad news. Sunday morning, we started the church meeting with three adult Mongolians! We had more adult foreigners when we started; seven Americans were there and only three Mongolians. But the numbers picked up and by the end of the meeting we had 29 Mongolians. Maybe we should start the service later …

The good news is that the container for which my father and I had been waiting finally arrived last week. I received a call Tuesday telling me that it would be here soon which I mis-interpreted as a call that the container had arrived. I then spent half of Tuesday preparing to take possession of a container that still had not come to Ulan Bator.

On Wednesday, I received a call stating that the container was in the rail yard. I picked up the paperwork after lunch and spent the rest of the day trying to list and categorize all the material that was in the container.

It took us most of Thursday to finish categorizing the packing list. Then there was the expected customs duty and value-added tax to pay. What was unexpected was that it would take me several hours to pay it. The first bank branch I visited was closed because the computer network was non-functioning. While attempting to visit the second closest branch we became snarled in a traffic jam. We were the last customer at the bank. In fact the teller was in such a hurry to close her window that she gave us the receipt for a payment before we gave her the money.

We spent all day Friday at the rail yard jumping through various hoops (some nearly flaming) to have our container inspected by a customs official. First, we had to get a crane to move our container into a position where it could be inspected. Then, we waited for the customs official to inspect it. Then, we waited some more for the customs official to decide that all was in order. Less than an hour before the yard closed for the day we received the last of the stamps we needed.

Knowing that it would take all day to unload the container, we decided to begin Saturday morning early rather than Friday evening late. Early for Mongolians means 9:30 in the morning, hardly an early start. Needless to say, we did not finish until dinner.

Now, however, all the materials and tools are in the shop, and the men are eager to get started setting things up. Already we have had several people ask about ordering furniture. It is a good start. This week I would ask you to pray for safety as we set up the shop.