in the country until the following summer to help with consolidation efforts which resulted in the beginnings of a new community in Sainshand and eventually the first Mongolian Baháʼí Summer School in 1993. In June 1995 the first Baháʼí national youth school was held in Mongolia. A national community Ruhi Institute courses begun in 1996 are credited by Baháʼí sources as resulting in 228 enrollments in one year, which raised the Baháʼí national population to some 500. A further program was initiated in June 2004 and in about a month resulted in 200 new declarations, including 60 "junior youth" (ages 11–14). Within a few weeks about 30 of these individuals had completed the first three books of the sequence and 137 children were participating in children's classes. Regional conferences were called for by the Universal House of Justice 20 October 2008 to celebrate recent achievements in grassroots community-building and to plan their next steps in organizing in their home areas. Ulaanbaatar was the gathering place for more than 1,800 Baháʼís from Mongolia and Russia. More people than expected came from various regions of the country, including 408 individuals from Khövsgöl, 143 from Khentii Province, 160 from Uliastai, 120 from Sainshand, and 450 from the capital itself. More than 50 Baháʼís arrived from Russia. Continental Counselors Khursheda Porsayeva, Bijan Farid, and Delafruz Nassimova attended and Counselors Uransaikhan Baatar, herself Mongolian, and Joan Lincoln, represented the Universal House of Justice. Mr. Tsedendambaa, Adviser to the President of Mongolia for Religious Affairs addressed the conference with a message of encouragement to the Baháʼís. Dr. Batsereedene, a former Minister of Health also spoke at the conference. David Lambert (OBE), a British Baháʼí living in Mongolia, was honored for his services to the development of English language studies in Mongolia. In 2003 he was chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Mongolia. He and his wife, Lois, are the longest serving volunteers in the British Voluntary Service Overseas organization. He is a member of the first Arts Council of Mongolia and developed the Ulaanbaatar's University of Humanities English language library that is the most extensive in the country. He arranged for British publishers to donate many books and for the United Kingdom government to transport them to Mongolia. In 2008 Lois Lambert was awarded a medal as a State Honoured Citizen in recognition of her "invaluable intellectual contributions to the health sector