Glorious Vacation

Today was our first of ten days off of school.  It was great!  This morning John and I came over to the Dean's, ate breakfast, then started some projects for Pastor Dean.  The current church hymnals we have are rather small and the notes are hard to read.  Pastor Dean has a copier that can enlarge pages to various sizes, so this morning I stood in front of a copy machine for a little over an hour enlarging pages.  I thought that I would get tired of it, but I was very thankful for the brainless, yet productive activity.  I think that if I kept at this language without a break at the rate I was going, my brain would have exploded.  After my "secretarial" work, John, Pastor Dean and I went off to the Monday prayer meeting with Bro. Patterson.  The Pattersons are leaving for the States for two months on the 24th of this month, and John and I are staying at there house while they are gone.  Their apartment has three bedrooms, and the girls bedroom is bigger than our entire apartment.  Needless to say, we're very excited!  So after prayer, we went over the Patterson's house for the walk through and final instructions.  Over all, I had a great first day off, and I'm looking forward to many more.

Deal of a Lifetime

Last Thursday, the temperature dropped down to about -25 Farenheit for most of the day.  After school, John and I had to run  to the "Black Market" to get some rugs for the church.  The "Black Market" is probably the largest market in Ulan Bator, but most of it is outside.  Well, John and I first tried to take the bus, but it took twenty minutes for the right bus to come, and when it finally came, it was so completely packed, that not one more person could squeeze into it.  So, we finally gave up and decided to walk.  Needless to say, after spending all that time outside in -25 degree weather, we were both pretty cold.  We both bought nice warm jackets back in the states before we left, but for whatever reason, mine just wasn't keeping me warm enough, so I decided that while we were at the "Black Market" I'd look around a little and try to find something a little warmer.  There are probably ten to fifteen leather jacket vendors just inside the main gate.  I stopped at the first one and was looking around a little.  I tried one on, but it was way to small.  As I turned around to take it off, I saw almost a dozen Mongolians standing outside the booth I was in looking at me.  We found at that they were all leather coat vendors.  The moment they saw that the jacket I tried on was too small, they all dispersed.  Moments later, most of them came back with what was apparently the largest coats they could find in their booths.  They all wanted me to try theirs on and as I tried a few on, the began to haggle each other down for the lowest price.  It was great!  I ended up with a big warm leather jacket for way less than I would ever have found in the States and I didn't even have to haggle the price, they did it for me.

Thanksiving in Mongolia

Yesterday the Deans, John, and I all went over to the Patterson's house for Thanksgiving.  There were about six missionary families in all and we all had an excellent time. It was amazing to see all the typical American Thanksgiving food that was on the table in Mongolia!  I was especially delighted to see that someone had found stuffing, and lots of it.  It's great to see God's blessing in both the seemingly insignificant and the hugely important.

Last Sunday we held our first service in the new building.  What a blessing to have all that extra room!  God worked mightily last week in helping us to finish everything on time and keeping us safe.  There were several times in which I really thought that I might not make it through the day with all ten fingers fully attached.  The boards that we bought to make the walls were all different widths, and when your trying to make a flat surface to put sheat rock on, that can be a problem.  I was putting a small board in a wall for extra support, but after I nailed it in, I realized that it stuck out about a half inch from the other boards.  Well, I couldn't get it out and we didn't really have any tools other than a circular saw.  So I just took this huge, clunky power saw, and went away at this board.  It took about four passes and there were some close calls, but all in all, it turned out okay.  God really watched out for us and our safety in this project, and now we have an amazing building to meet in!

Today's Low: -4 Degrees Farhenheit

Yesterday, Ganperuv's nephew moved his ger to another side of town for work, so John and I went over to help them out. It was a really interesting experience. I've seen gers from the inside, and gers from the outside, but I have never seen all the layers. Countless layers of felt surround lattice-like wood and blankets. It was around ten degrees that morning though, so things were pretty cold. Taking apart the ger was interesting, but watching them cram it into a truck and transport it was even better. The ger was up on a hill, and the road coming up it wasn't really a road at all. There was some gravel, but mostly just dirt. Over the years, many deep pot holes have developed and it's quite the bumpy ride. Well, they loaded up the truck very high and made it just about as top heavy as possible. Then, they drove it down the hill. The pot hole were so deep that the truck would have just flat out tipped over if they didn't do something about it. So what did they do? They tied ropes to the top and had four guys pulling it to the opposite side that it tipped. OSHA would have been flipping out. It was great.

Building Project

The Mongolian church has seen a good bit of growth lately and in that growth, they have grown right out of there current building.  Earlier this week Pastor Dean was able to find a much bigger building to rent out.  It's a very nice building, but there weren't any dividing walls, just one big open room.  So John, Ganpurev, Don McIlvain, and I set out to make some.  We were going to start on Tuesday, but the electricity was out, so we couldn't use any tools and decided to wait until we had electricity.  Well, we finally started yesterday, and things are going very well.  John keeps on telling me about all the power tools that he would use for particular situations, but all we have is a dying battery powered drill, an impact driver, and a circular saw.  We're doing all right though.  It's interesting seeing a building project outside of the U.S.  I wish that some of the building inspectors from the U. S. could see all the crazy stuff that we're doing.  They would have a hay day marking us up.  At first we had hoped to have the first service this Sunday, but it's looking like that won't quite happen though.  I'm having fun with it and it's a nice change of pace.  Pray for safety since we are doing some pretty acrobatic stuff to put up these walls.

My English Is Falling Apart

After the first week of language school, I didn't think that I would survive a month. Well, two months later, it's still crazy hard, but not completely impossible. I'm finally starting to be able to use phrases and things I've learned. Natives talk amazingly fast, but we can pick up phrases every now and again. It sometimes seems as if my ability with my native language is falling apart. It's pretty weird. It's pretty funny sometimes to be talking and then just have a complete memory lapse.

Last Saturday, a missionary by the name of Roland Gay arrived. He first came to Mongolia seven years ago, but had to leave early this year because his wife was experiencing health problems. He's here for two weeks, and while he's here, Pastor Dean, Pastor Patterson, and he are working on some Bible translation. John and I sat in on a translation session yesterday, and it was incredible. It took just south of eight hours for John chapter 1, and they still didn't finish all of it. It was pretty daunting, but it gave me a new appreciation for all the work that goes into translating the Bible.

Twelve Degrees and Dropping

This morning, John and I took the bus to school. Right before we left, I combed my hair and put some water in it. Before we were half way to the bus stop, my hair froze. It was awesome! The cold is great!

I Almost Got Hit By a Car!!!

Mongolian drivers and pedestrians should never be within ten miles of each other. Unfortunately, John and I have the good fortune of getting well within that distance every day. We've had some close calls and all that, but nothing came as close as it did today. John and I were walking home from the Dean's apartment this evening. It was about 8:30 and already dark. There is a decent sized parking lot outside of their apartment that is fenced in. There is only one gate that both pedestrians and cars go in and out of. We were just a few feet outside of the gate. John was walking on the sidewalk and,for lack of room, I was walking along side very close to the curb. I was fiddling with something when I saw light moving along the ground straight toward me. I looked up and found myself staring down a pair of headlights (attached to a car). By the time I actually fully looked up, he was literally less than two feet from my knees. I jumped back and just barely evaided getting my knee caps lodged into the back of my leg. That guy had no intention of stopping whatsoever. And on top of that, he had at least five feet to his right to move around me. But no. He apparently wanted to hit me. God protected me though and now I have another good story.

Anybody Have Some Directions?

Last week our language school didn't have any classes. The Thursday before we left, they told us that the location of our school was moving further down the road. They said that it was by the Mongolian International University. It turned out that M.I.U. is two more miles down the road from our old school, so we had to get a ride. Pastor Dean was busy this morning, so a Mongolian he knows gave us a ride. That wasn't all too bad, but we couldn't really communicate with him very well. He just dropped us off at M.I.U. and left. So, when all the school told us was that it was close to M.I.U. I just assumed that it would be really easy to find since they gave us no other details. I was wrong. So here we are, two white guys standing next to a big Mongolian university, just wondering around. We walked this way, that way, and every other way with no success. Finally, John called a teacher and asked her where in the world we were supposed to go. She told us to find the big Catholic church and that it was directly behind it. So we looked around and at least four hundred yards from M.I.U. One actually cannot see the building from M.I.U. Well, we wandered on over that way. We went into the main courtyard of the Catholic church and found some of our fellow classmates. They said that our classroom was actually in the church. We then proceeded to just walk in the front door and wander around. Now there are four Americans and three Koreans just roaming through a completely uninhabited church. We saw classrooms, but no one was to be found. We gave up on that and went around the back side of the building when we saw the school's bus. Finally, we found out that the classes are on the opposite side. When we told Pastor Dean about it, he replied with this, "Only in Mongolia."

The Angels Rejoiced Today

About three weeks ago, an undesirable situation occured with a Mongolian man whose wife attends the church here. Without going into details, we were worried that his wife and children wouldn't be able to attend church anymore, or even be allowed to have any contact with Pastor Dean and his family. It was somewhat tense for a while, and we had a hard time even getting a hold of him. After talking with Pastor Jaquith, Pastor Dean and Pastor Jaquith decided that maybe we could offer for the Jaquiths to bring something from America for this man. We thought that that might open a door. One day, Pastor Dean had some errands to run that would bring him right by this man's house. Pastor Dean prayed that sometime that day, he would run into him and be able to ask him what Pastor Jaquith could bring. Well, he didn't see him at all that morning. Later, that day, John, Pastor Dean, and I went to the store to pick up some groceries. Lo and behold, there he is, standing in the grocery store with his wife. Pastor Dean talked to him, and he asked for two pairs of jeans. Pastor Jaquith brought him the jeans. According to this culture, because Pastor is older than he, he ows him much more respect than Pastor Dean (the same age). Well, to make a long story short, after Pastor Dean and Pastor Jaquith witnessing to him many times, he finally got saved this Sunday. Tonight he came back to church and said he already felt a peace that he had never had before. Praise the Lord! We all are elated at this gigantic breakthrough! The Lord is continually blessing this ministry.

Be Careful What You Wish For

John and I moved into our permanent apartment about two and a half weeks ago. We were without hot water for what seemed an eternity, but it looked as if a break through had been made this past Thursday evening. We got home and there was a sign on the main entrance that said we had hot water. Not expecting much, we tested it and low and behold, hot water. We got up the next morning and had hot water still, but we had to take showers at the Dean's anyway because all of our soap, shampoo, towels, etc. were over there. That was fine though, because we knew that that would be the last time we would ever have to walk all the way over there again to take a shower. Well, we were wrong. We got home Friday night and the hot water was gone. We figured though that it had just been used up for that day and it would be back the next morning. Right? Wrong. We woke up and still had no hot water. It was a very gloomy walk to the Dean's that morning. But wait, there's more. We got home Saturday night and tested it again. Hot water! Then as it ran for three to five seconds, we realized that it was steaming hot and unbearable. No problem though, right? Just the little faucet knob a little to the left, problem solved, right? As we turned it more and more to the cold side, we realized that it wasn't getting colder. We had wanted hot water so badly for almost two weeks, but when we got it, the cold went away. Well, we went to bed and got up Sunday morning in eager anticipation. Still hot water. Still no cold water. We're tough though... We can take a shower that's a little hotter than we'd prefer. So we tried it. Not so much. It was scalding hot. I tried to get my hair wet by just barely moving it into the water's path. I slipped with the shower head, and burnt my own head. So a few third degree burns later, we were mostly clean, and very awake. People say that there is nothing like a cold shower to wake you up in the morning. Try the other end of the spectrum. But finally came Sunday night. We got home and there was not just cold water, and not just hot water, but both. We took showers that evening since we figured that it was better to get it while it was there than to wait and be sorry. Well, we've had hot and cold water ever since. Welcome to Mongolia.

Flies Can Run, But They Can't Hide

Sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. I caught a nasty stomach virus and since my body hasn't had any exposure to Mongolian viruses, it apparently hit me harder than it should have. I'm finally getting better though. Not much has happened in the last week. Tonight the Jaquiths get in, so all the kids are very excited. I have always been under the assumption that flies only live for 24 hours. I think I got that from A Bug's Life so it is not exactly trustworthy information, but still... Well, last Wednesday or so, a fly got into our room and thoroughly annoyed us. He would fly all around our faces and by our ears and was just a huge annoyance. We decided to just wait it out and let him run his natural course of 24 hours, but he kept coming back day by day. By the time Saturday rolled around, it had become John vs. Fly. I cannot tell you how many pairs of jeans I saw flying through the air at a small, black, buzzing object. John tried smashing it with a book, stepping on it, staring him down, verbally abusing it, and anything else he could think of, but to no avail. Finally, Sunday night came and we were in our beds reading. All of a sudden, I saw a blur of movement as John swung his book at the fly. He missed, but this time, giving up was not an option. He jumped out of bed and picked up a pair of jeans. He began chasing the fly throughout the apartment swing wildly. At one point in time, the fly land on our shelf/clothes rack. John swung so hard that he bent the metal bar on it. But yet again, the fly eluded John's grasp. The fly had to have been tired by that time, so it landed on the ceiling, thinking that little John couldn't reach that high. That was the last mistake he ever made. With a leap and gigantic swing of his pants, John smashed the fly. He began yelling his greatness and triumph, not really concerned about any neighbors. They would have understood though if they knew what John went through to get that fly. So anyway, their is now one less fly in Mongolia. John wins.

American stomach viruses... they got nothin' on Mongolian stomach viruses.

Turtle Rock

This last Friday, the Deans, John and I went to a Mongolian national park. The scenery was amazing and I was yet again amazed at how beautiful Mongolia can be. It was about a half hour drive to the park and then another half hour to get to a large rock called turtle rock. The park is gigantic! We got to the rock and John immediately raced Charissa, Emily, and Caleb to the top. I was on my way to try to catch them when I saw a camel. Pastor Dean asked the man standing by how much it was to ride him. It was 3,000 tugrugs which is a little less than 3 dollars. It was awesome! Unlike horses, camels lay down so one can get on them. I got on without difficulty, but when he stood up I first felt like I was going to fall right off his front. Then it felt like I was going to fall right off his back. By the time he got up though, I was comfortable. It was a two humped camel, so I rested my back on his back hump, and held on to his front. It felt like nothing could throw me off that camel. The man who owned him walked us down about a hundred yards then back. It was great. His fir was so soft that John and I went out and bought camel fir sweaters today. After the camel ride, John and I proceeded to climb the rock as high as we could. There were some close calls, but it really wouldn’t have been any fun if there weren’t. I hit my head on the roof way too many times on the bumpy roads, but even that was pretty fun. On the way home we stopped at a Chinese restaurant. So far I’ve eaten Chinese food prepared by a man from Singapore in Mongolia, American food prepared by a Cuban in Mongolia, and Korean BBQ chicken in Mongolia. And I thought America was the melting pot.

The Church Picnic

This past Saturday, the Mongolians of Faith Baptist Church, the Deans, the Pattersons, John, and I went on a church picnic. There were 39 in all who went and we rode up in three SUVs and a taxi. Four of us went in the taxi. That leaves 35 people in 3 cars... yeah. The Patterson's Nissan Pathfinder had 17 people in it. It was an incredible day! We went about 10 kilometers past the city limits to a beautiful spot alongside a river. When we got there, just about everyone starting eating their packed lunches, but John and I set out to set up a small tent for people to change after being baptized. Well, we were two Americans setting up a Polish tent in Mongolia without any instructions. That could have gone better. We almost had it standing up when two of the church members came and informed us that it was inside out. Who puts a tent away inside out?!?! I refuse to accept responsibility for the futile attempt. IT WASN'T MY FAULT! Okay, maybe a little. But we finally got that figured out and ate our lunch. After that, Pastor Dean preached a message right by the river. I obviously didn't get a whole lot from it since it was in Mongolian, but he told me that it was about baptism. I took his word for it. Following that came the baptisms. It was encouraging to see the progress being made with the church. After the baptisms we played soccer in a pot hole filled field. We had a lot of fun and just about everyone walked away unscathed. The ride home was pretty quiet since everyone was wiped out. That Sunday, attendance was up again which was another great encouragement. Pray that the people keep coming and that God will speak to their hearts.

Welcome to Mongolia

I am continually amazed at the amount of traffic in this city. Most roads are painted so that there are two lanes in each direction. Well, the lines are very faded, but even if they were freshly painted bright yellow that glowed in the dark, the Mongolians still wouldn’t care. On a most days the make three lanes out of two lane roads, but occasionally, they’ll try for four. One particular instance stands out in my mind that I don’t think I will forget for a long time. All six of the Deans, John, and I were crammed into the Dean’s small SUV, driving to a restaurant. We were in the third lane, closest to oncoming traffic, on a two lane road. Traffic was moving very slowly, and the person in front of us apparently didn’t want to wait. So, all of sudden, he pulled into oncoming traffic, drove about ten yards, then stopped. So now cars are coming right at him, honking at him, and driving so close to him I was sure he was going to get hit. Then, after about five seconds, he just pulled in front of the car that was previously in front of him. Welcome to Mongolia.

Day 7

Sunday, September 7 was our first Sunday in two weeks. If you just did a double take and are wondering if I have lost it, I'll explain my last statement. We left Portland, Oregon on a Saturday afternoon, and because of the international date line, we flew right past Sunday. Any way, I had an excellent Sunday! The morning service was all in Mongolian, so I didn't really have any idea what was going on. A Mongolian preached on of the messages and I didn't want to offend him by just staring into space, so I just tried to keep eye contact even though I didn't understand a word of it. We all went over to a Mongolian family's house for lunch. It wasn't terrible, but I had an interesting tea. It tasted like hot, liquid cheese. And if any of you are thinking that that sounds good... no, not really, no. Every Sunday they hold a service in English. Some Mongolians go to that to practice their English, but there were also Americans coming out of the wood works. It was great! The message was excellent and the fellowship in English was encouraging. Sunday nights will be a great weekly encouragement.

Ec, Xoep, TaB, ApaB, TaBb, Ep

Love the country. Love the people. Despise the language. Plain and simple. John and I have been attending language school since this Tuesday. It is from 9 to 12:20 in the morning and if it were any longer, my brain would melt. I struggled a little in Spanish 1, but I never imagined a language so difficult. Spanish contains many words that are very similar to English, and even in America, we are somewhat exposed to the language. But MAN! Mongolian!?!?! Most Americans I talked to didn't even know where Mongolia was. So needless to say, the first day of language school was pretty rough. But God is good! He has helped a lot, and even though it's still pretty tough, I know that He is helping me and will continue to help.

Americans Take Man-Hole Covers For Granted

After way too many hours of flying, and countless people kicking my feet as they hung out in the aisle, we are finally here! I was told that Mongolian people drive crazy, but no one truly understand the extent of how crazy it is until they experience it first hand. Although there were a few frightening moments on the road, it really wasn't too terrible. I don't think that I could drive over here, but Pastor Dean has it all under control. In America, we are used to all different races of people walking by. But in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, we stick out like a sore thumb. It is a little disconcerting having everyone looking at us, but we'll get used to it. Or maybe they'll get used to us. There is a store in downtown Ulan Bator called the "American Store." They have cream soda, microwave popcorn, salsa, and many other food items that are are common to the U.S., but found nowhere else in Mongolia. That store is wonderful! Today, we registered at the Bridge International School and let the Mongolian government know that we're here. We had to make three trips to the government office, but Pastor Dean only went with us the first time. Needless to say, the second and third trip were interesting. They laughed at us alot, but it wasn't too bad. All in all, today was pretty exciting, and I'm looking forward to the next ten months!

My Spankin' Awesome Brother

As you will notice, just about all of my pictures have Marines in them. My family just got back from Quantico, Virginia where my brother graduated from Marine OCS (Officer Candidate School). The graduation was incredible with more than 550 soon-to-be Marines marching in what appeared to be perfect unison. Then came his commissioning. It was a small ceremony held at the Marine Corps Museum. If anybody wants to tell me that the Marines don't have the best looking dress uniforms EVER... than he is seriously mistaken. Just looking at those guys in their dress blues made me want to be a Marine. To be commissioned, the Marine must swear an oath to the U.S. that he will serve his country, putting God first, then country, then Corps. Wow. I love my country. I just about cried.

Blogs Are Hard

Phew! I decided that I would make a blog since I'm leaving for Mongolia and somebody out there might care about what I'm up to. But shoot! I'm not exactly techno savy and this whole blogging experience might just kill me.