Since his mother must stay with him for the two weeks that he is in the hospital, someone needed to look after their daughter Uyungaa since the father Mandaa cannot get time off from
work. Uyungaa is ten months old and a sweet, usually calm baby. (That's Uyungaa sitting in the chair with me).She had been staying with one relative, a bachelor who obviously did not know much about babies. Ganpurev and Ulzee took the initiative to investigate the situation and found that it was not a healthy situation. Since this relative as a garbage collector the baby was literally living among garbage. He brings home things that have been thrown away that he thinks may be of value and keeps them in his small, dormitory-style room.
We made the decision to take care of the baby ourselves since no one else besides the bachelor wanted to watch her. Ganpurev and I went to see Mandaa to see if there was someone else who might watch the baby and if not to get his permission to watch his daughter.
When I arrived at the relative's place to take the baby, she was sitting on a pile of old clothes (there was no bed) and there was a pile of garbage nearby. I will close the curtain of compassion on the scene of squalor. Suffice it to say that when Uyungaa arrived at our house, Kristie and Ulzee promptly gave her a bath and washed all her clothes. We had a few things of Elsie's that Uyungaa wore until her clothes were ready.
It's been a busy couple of days. Kristie has not been sleeping well at night. Uyungaa gets her up several times a night crying, probably because she wakes up and does not know where she is. Either way, Kristie is pretty tired and trying to keep up with her normal work as well as have a baby around. Please pray for strength for all of us.
Also pray for Mandaa. He is not a Christian and though he has heard about Jesus Christ in the past has always said that he is not interested in religion. His mother is very set in her Buddhist ways and exerts no little influence on him. My desire is that this labor of love would give us new opportunities to witnes and would open his ears and heart to the message of a loving Savior.
