Mongolia Update 6/22/12

Ulaanbadrakh

Another day of English class. I feel so much better. Tsegii had me teach part of the class and i felt like it went pretty well. I got a shower after class and felt wonderfully clean until a sandstorm came along this evening. This evening, some of our team played basketball with the kids and I sat on the steps with about three little girls. Ishtaa and two whose names I can't understand. I tried to do a bit of English review with them and they had great fun trying to teach me new Mongolian words. They are quite the little performers too and took turns singing for me. It was so cute. One little girl, probably about six or seven years old, came over and laid her head in my lap. Oh, to be as trusting and joyful as a child. Us girls on the team went visiting tonight as well. I speak little to none of the language and it still amazes me how kind the Mongolian people are to foreigners. They served us milk tea, of course, and while it's still not my favorite, it was definitely more palatable. The grandpa of the house, Sharwaa, said since I don't speak Mongolian, if I spoke Russian we could talk. :) Sadly, I don't know any Russian.

Showers in Ulaanbadrakh

The girls and I

Kherlan and her little buddy

One of the little girls singing for me

I did laundry today and it feels good to be in clean clothes. One quickly forgets what cleanliness feels like.

Mongolia Update 6/21/12

Ulaanbadrakh

I've been fighting a sore throat for a few days and now it's turned into a full blown cold. I woke up with a fever and feeling absolutely terrible. Somehow I made it through our first day of English class. There were about a dozen students and they were all eager to learn. I laid down after class or lunch...I don't remember which. Tsegii has been taking care of me; spoiling me like none other. I feel a bit better tonight. We have moved into our new apartment (a room in the new dormitory building). It is cooler in here and the room is bigger.

Tsegii helping a student

Students working on their lessons

Mongolia Update 6/20/12

Ulaanbadrakh

God heard our prayers last night and while it is still definitely a battle, He is opening doors and leading the way. Our team had about four meetings with the county governor today and one with the principal.

Naraa and Tsegii heading to talk to the county governor...again

I was wondering this afternoon what we are even doing here; the principal is so hard and on top of that Tsogoo and I learned from the county governor that we can't do any herder trainings here because they are "busy" and "too far away." How insanely frustrating! I was sitting on the dormitory steps this afternoon, getting some air and wrestling with this whole purpose thing in my heart. Tsogoo came and sat with me and even though he speaks English, I don't define words well and in my frustration I couldn't thoroughly communicate what I was trying to. That dang language barrier got to me even with my own teammate. Argh! I read Job 38:2 and 40:1-5** and had to wonder if I was the one darkening the Lord's presence with no understanding.

Later this afternoon, Naraa, Kherlan, and I played with the children. They speak about as much English as I do Mongolian but smiles and laughter are a universal language. I began to feel like maybe being here would make a difference.

Tonight, we went to Bhynaa's house for supper. Tsegii assured me that it was just meat soup. Good thing because I didn't feel up for round three of organ meats! (I ended up with an offal botchz by accident the other night. That was a surprise.)
Bhynaa is so kind to me. She has me lie down in a cool room (I am frustrated more than tired but that's ok), makes supper that I will like, serves me black tea. (Instead of milk tea.) Tonight she gave me a beautiful felt bottle thermos that she had made. What a special gift. Tsegii says she is "so close" to receiving the gospel so we must pray even harder. Bhynaa is currently a strong Buddhist but she has opened her home to us in an incredible way. We eat there, relax there, and Tsogoo and Tsegii have even been able to sleep there in the cooler room.
This evening, Naraa and I were lying in the cool room and talking about boys and dreams, typical girl talk. There is a bit of the language barrier but we still grow close. There is a bond you get with certain people where language doesn't matter so much and you can still communicate what's on your heart. I do adore her.
 Tsogoo, Tsegii, and I visited the one Christian family in town and prayed with them. Tsegii says that they still go to the Buddhist temples sometimes to pray. They need to realize Jesus is the only God and continuing to worship in Buddhist temples and at Buddhist shrines is not good. 
Tonight Tsegii told me that the county governor said we can start English classes tomorrow. Praise God!!

After supper, we came back to the dormitory where we are staying and Tsogoo asked to play soccer. So Naraa and I teamed up against him and Tsegii and had great fun. We even won! Tsegii says they won but they did not.
Kherlan is sick :( I learned when we were getting ready for bed. I guess she hasn't felt well since lunch and tonight she is vomiting. I pray, Lord, that she be well in the morning.


** Job 38:2 "Who is this that darkens My counsel with words without knowledge?" and Job 40:1-5 "The LORD said to Job: "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? Let him who accuses God answer Him!" Then Job answered the LORD: "I am unworthy--how can I reply to You? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more." -NIV

Mongolia Update 6/19/12

Ulaanbadrakh

Today was outright discouraging. The children showed up on time, eager and pencils in hand, but we got told by the principal that we cannot have English class nor can we have people in our room for meals and such. She didn't want us going and visiting families either. What a setback....at least in our eyes. I felt a bit like maybe I came all this way for nothing. Then Jesus reminded me that He will never waste my time so there is a purpose in all of this even if I do not see one.

All these cute little buildings are shops where you can buy things like water, some clothing, chocolate, and coke

We all went to Bhynaa's (the vet) house this afternoon and made botchz for supper. Botchz are steamed meat pastries and a national food. Tsegii and Tsogoo were so kind and made me some that were just meat and onion, no offal. Praise God! I really wasn't feeling up to round two of organ meats. After this trip, I don't know if I can eat lamb ever again.
We spent a good part of the afternoon napping (Mexico isn't the only country that believes in siestas :) and when I awoke, somehow Tsogoo and I had been left. (Him because he's sick and me because I'm the foreigner and obviously need more rest haha. At least that's my guess. Or we were simply fast asleep when everyone else vanished.) However, in mere minutes Naraa appeared with ice cream cones. What a delicious treat on a hot day. The cones are a little softer than American ones but they taste pretty much the same and it was soft serve vanilla ice cream. So good.
This evening, we all went out and prayed south of the village. We are trusting God to make great things happen.
And tonight, Naraa and I laughed at Kherlan beating at a bee that had somehow flown into our room. It was funnier than it sounds.

Mongolia Update 6/18/12

Ulaanbadrakh, Dornogovi

The day started off slow but we had company for much of it which was sometimes a bit hard for me since I don't speak the language. Three Christians from the center of the province came out and shared their vision for this village with us. They want to come about once a month and have a small group started by the end of the summer. What a challenge but also how encouraging!
This afternoon, the local vet picked Tsegii and I up and took us to a herder. The team had been teasing me all day about killing a sheep and now it definitely looked like they were serious. We got a sheep and brought it back but thankfully the vet's son slaughtered it. [My plan had been to cut its throat but I later learned that Mongolians slaughter sheep by knocking them in the head and then cutting the aorta. It's clean and the animal feels little to no pain.] We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening processing the sheep. They were cooking the head and organs for supper and I silently asked God for grace to eat and drink whatever was placed in front of me. It is incredibly rude to reject anything that is offered and I didn't want to insult my host and my team but I also knew there was no way I would be eating organ meat on my own. He provided that grace in that I did not have to eat any part of the head and while it smelled atrocious to me, I was able to eat whatever I was given. I thanked the Lord every time Tsogoo carefully cut me a piece with little to no fat. Mongolians are quite fond of fat and consider pieces with large amounts of it to be the best cuts. However, Tsegii and Tsogoo have dealt with foreigners enough to know that Americans don't feel the same way!
Tsogoo is some better today but has had a bad headache all day on the right side. We've done what we can but not much helps. However, considering that I could see the pulse in his neck from across the room last night I'm glad that his pulse is normal today. That scared me but we're so far away from any hope of decent medical that I didn't say anything. Praying that he is better tomorrow. 

Mongolia Update 6/17/12

Ulaanbadrakh, Dornogovi, Mongolia

The train station in UB

Altaa and I

Happy Birthday, Daddy! Let me backtrack since I've missed a day of writing. I spent nearly nine hours on the train yesterday coming out to Dornogovi. A bit hot but still a neat way to travel. Altaa picked me up at the apartment about 8:45 and we took a taxi to the train station. We met up with five other summer teachers there. Altaa got us all situated.....then said goodbye, she wasn't going with us. I could have cried. She has become like my Mongolian mama. Tsoomoo took good care of me on the train and eventually we arrived. We were met by Tsogoo, Tsegii, and some others. We dropped one girl off immediately and continued on. At one point, we stopped for some unknown reason (to me) and the teachers began walking. Perhaps it was just a chance for us to stretch our legs. Tsegii started a water fight and soon we were all laughing and splashing each other. It continued a bit back in the van but mostly we played Dutch Blitz until it was too dark to see. We arrived in the province center around 9:45 and somehow the guys knew of a restaurant that was still open. After supper, we drove for another hour and a half or so and came to a village and school. We spent the night there and I learned the meaning of the saying "plant a flower."

Personally, I think it's awesome that I got to ride on a train that looks like this

Countryside around UB

Countryside where I went.....Gobi desert

Camels!

This morning, we had breakfast and said goodbye to three teachers who will be staying there for 50 days. Then we left for our own county. Our driver, Gumbaa, got lost for about three hours but, as Tsegii and I discussed later, neither of us was worried because we had plenty of clean food and water plus there are wells and herders around if you go long enough. We chose not to think of the oil and gas for the van. At one point, we stopped and had lunch in the van. It was relatively cool out and the food was good. I, for one, enjoyed myself. Gumbaa was very generous about giving me opportunities to photograph camels as we were driving which was fun. We stopped at a well where a herder was watering his goats and filled our water jugs. More splashing each other as well.

Sunset in Ulaanbadrakh

Finally, we arrived, unloaded, and settled into our one room. Us girls made supper and we ate at 4:30 so Gumbaa could get on the road again. Poor Tsogoo is pretty sick with a cold so I gave him some of my Dayquil. Hopefully that will help. I am thankful that this school has an outhouse.

Later Same Evening

We have showers! They are weak and cost 1500T but it is better than nothing. Our room is more organized now. Totally livable. I like it.

Mongolia Update 6/15/12

Today was a much better day. Around this time last year, I said that I wanted to be more involved with missions so that I could lead more people to Christ and disciple others. Yesterday showed me that I had drifted over more toward using missions as a vehicle to support my own dreams. Ouch.

The beautiful building where the concert was held

I spent most, no, all, of my morning just waiting around. At least I can find ways to occupy my time. I had a good lunch with Badmaa and Bosca from accounting as well as John from Texas. Then I met up with Tsegii and some of the summer teachers to go grocery shopping for our trip. That was quite fun but getting back to V.E.T. Net was interesting. Tsegii called the office but no one was available to come get us. One of the girls managed to hail a cab and we stuffed two teachers and all the groceries into one little cab. Then Tsegii, the remaining two teachers, and myself crossed the street to try to catch our own cab. We got one after a bit and had gone no more than a few hundred feet when Tsegii got a call saying that a van was coming for us. So we hopped out, crossed the street again, and Tsomoo picked us up. Back at the office, we repacked the groceries for our trips and taped the boxes up. A bit after four, Dulmaa came and got me and we took a bus downtown so I could meet up with Baggai and two other shuttles, Mike and John. We had supper at a Korean place and attended a concert of traditional Mongolian music and dance afterward. It was very good, especially the national orchestra and the traditional ethnic dancers.