OK, last snow...really

When is winter supposed to end again? We had snow May 23rd and I have had to wear long johns to work (the turned off the heat May 1). But enough grumbling. This is Zeke at his English school. In the mornings he goes to a Mongolian pre-school one block from CAMA. Then, after lunch, instead of nap-time he goes to English school with Miss Lisa (our CAMA school-teacher). Right now there are four other kids in the school...all Korean, actually, but next year there will be a Brazilian girl and Dr. Pham's daughter (Vietnamese-Am.). Zeke knows almost all of his letters and he is starting to read short words! Pretty soon he will be ready to learn the alphabet for his second language!

Time to garden!

Winter is finally over (it finished on May 8th, in case you didn't know, with 5 inches of snow in UB). But, thank God, we moved right into summer! This last weekend was HOT and we fellas were hard at work preparing the garden for Krista. We planted lots of potatoes and we are starting to get the first leaves on our tree saplings. Very exciting (when you are desperate for some green)! Now we will have to start watering everything by hand. Oh well, it's good exercise, and as you can see we need to build up those muscles!

Spring free!

It sure is nice to be outside and enjoy it! The chickens are out, the boys are out (right until bedtime), and there is a patch of grass that is even beginning to turn greenish!! We even had rain the other day (though no self-respecting Oregonian would call it that). Yes, it is time for boys to be boys (God give us strength and patience!). From left to right are Boombulay ("round one"), Zaya ("destiny"), Zeke (no Mongol name yet), Jaknaa ("little one") and Erdenee ("treasure")...and Bayaraa ("joy") is missing from the gang. Also absent from the picture are two new puppies ("Jonah" and "Dinosaur Strong") which help to make up for the loss of our last puppy! Looks like fun to me...and lots of trouble too.

Firewood season

Here I am, "supervising" the weekly firewood sawing, chopping and stacking (it's harder than it looks). Personally I prefer a Skilsaw. And yes, we will still be burning firewood (and coal) for at least another month, maybe two. Temperatures still average below freezing and it snowed almost every day last week. A beautiful white Easter! But I can't wait to get out of these long-johns!! By the way, this is Munko - my next-door neighbor - and Baljay, who will be graduating from high school next month. He lives with his parents and at least 2 brothers in a small ger. Neat kid!

My friend Dawaa

This is Dawaa, my partner and good friend. He works with me to research and implement community projects. This last weekend he (and his very pregnant wife!) taught a family seminar in a local church. He's a young guy (23?) but he is a great speaker and has a huge heart for God. They live in a small ger (yurt) and Dawaa loves to wrestle. He is really hoping for a son, and Bayanaa is just hoping it will be soon (she's the one whispering in the back)!

Dreamin' of a white Easter

A recent viewer asked some good questions about industries in our area. Hmm. The biggest issue for Mongolians now is unemployment (about 35%). Half of the industries in our city have closed since the Russians left 15 years ago. There are still a few running, though - metal, cement, flour, clothing. A lot of people sell a few things at the market or are involved in transportation - pushcarts, horsecarts, cars, vans, and trucks. There are quite a few families out in our community who have a couple cows, goats, chickens, or even pigs. And most of them will also plant a small garden. Most people are also very handy - making things like felt, leather, rope, knitting or making clothes. Unfortunately it is very difficult to find a market for most of these hand-made things and get a good price (because we are competing with cheaper manufactured products from China). It's tough, but also exciting to see the church passionate about helping people find work as they seek to establish His Kingdom in our community.

Growing like weeds...

I had a birthday this week, I'm SIX! I'm getting REALLY big and I got lots of Power Ranger gear to show off my muscles. I'm also getting pretty smart - I can read the clock, recite all the months, and I even know most all of my letters (in English). My dad thinks I'm pretty funny, too, with my photo poses and the things I repeat from movies. For some reason he thought it was pretty funny when I told him that the warm juice I had made me "crazy in the head." Oh, and I also got the cutest puppy in the world for my birthday. His name is Moses and he is going to grow up to be a big guard dog. He's already ferocious with my slippers...

Our little worker...

Here am I with my "big girlfriend" (I never use her real name, Orna Ikch). She usually comes to help me out around the house - dishes, sweeping, some laundry. Sometimes she reads books and pretends with me too. I like pretending... sometimes I am Dash (Incredibles), sometimes I am Superman (I even have a suit!), but most of the time I am Bob the Builder. My mom plays a very good "Wendy" and gives me lots of construction jobs to do. All I do is work, work, work!

strangers in a strange land

Welcome to our community! This is Tosgon (literally "the village"). We live on the far side of this community near the Haraa river (it's knee deep, and muddy). We have about 12,000 neighbors out here, and since the only utility we have is electricity there are always ways to help each other. For example, we figure there are almost 50 families using our water well (which may be frozen much of the winter!). Heating fuel is also a huge need. Some of our neighbors have cows and chickens (fresh milk and eggs!) and vegetables in the summer time, but at least 1/3 of our neighbors cannot find work. There are lots of challenges, but we love this strange land and the tough people with their soft hearts!

Happy B-day to Me

Isaiah: I'm having lots of fun too, now that I can go outside and play in the dirt! It's my birthday and I'm a big boy now (3!). I can do lots of dangerous things, like jumping from stairs and couches. I have new boxing gloves, magnet letters and a Mr. Potatohead!

While dad's away, boys will play!

Zeke: While dad was in Thailand we had a lot of fun. It has actually been warm here in Mongolia (i.e. above freezing). My friend Maggie got a horse for her birthday ... actually it may be more for her dad. Now I just have to talk my dad into getting me one! She has lots of pictures of Mongolia on her blog at http://journolia.blogspot.com/

Big world, small world

It's a big wacky world where I can snorkel on a beach in Thailand (and burn to a crisp) and my family back in Mongolia gets 3 inches of snow...and that's just Asia! It was a good conference where I had the chance to see how many areas of the Alliance Church work (missions, education, U.S. districts, national office, etc.)...there are sure a lot of neat people doing a lot of neat things for God! It was especially nice to spend time with other "wholistic" workers to hear about their community projects and clarify our ministry goals together. On top of all that was the great Thai food and tropical fruit...but, to be honest, I've been ready to be home for several days already. I miss Mongolia and I really miss my family...I'm pretty sure they feel the same way.

No place like Home

I am on my way to Thailand for a C&MA leadership conference. I stayed in a beautiful Hyatt hotel, but I can't help but miss my home and family. Who wouldn't want to live in a place like this? You might scold me for leaving my family on the frozen tundra while I relax on a beach resort, as well you should...but I left them with a full tank of drinking water and 10 bags of coal! I tell ya, beaches are nice but there's no place like home. And I like a home that makes me feel like I am a man and that God is truly amazing.

A play and pray weekend...

We spent last weekend with our team at a nice hotel in UB. It was nice to visit some decent restaurants and the boys LOVED the shallow swimming pool! It was a "Prayer Retreat," so besides the R&R we spent a lot of time learning and praying together too. I get to preach in Mongolian this Sunday from Acts 1-2. It seems to me that the disciples didn't waste a lot of time setting goals and making budgets. Rather the only plan they had was to come together and pray until the Spirit did something amazing!! Next week I am leaving the family and going to Thailand to rub elbows with other CAMA workers and C&MA leaders. Pray with us that it will be a Spirit-filled time and that God will watch over Krista and our two wrestling maniacs while I'm gone!

Oh, but it's cold outside

Another cold and windy week in Mongolia, but we had one day above freezing last week...it sure doesn't take much to restore hope in Spring! The whole city was outside on that day - walking, playing, chatting in front of the market. For the most part, though, we are all still staying indoors. Zeke and Saiah LOVE to play the boardgames we brought back with us, and they like playing "animals" and reading books too. Anything to keep them from whining for more computer games! Zeke is back in school - Mongolian preschool in the mornings and English kindergarten in the afternoons. Krista and I are back in school too - each spending two mornings a week with a Mongolian tutor. Language is tough!! It's much easier to try and get by with what you already know than to continue deepening your knowledge and interaction...I suppose that would make a good spiritual principle too...

Getting down to Service...

It's been a somewhat frustrating week, but I suppose those frustrations are meant to show us what important things are missing from our lives. This week I feel like an organization trying to implement beneficial projects. "But that is your whole job," you say? Yes, but I can't help but feel like the greatest, most meaningful moments occur as I myself reach out in compassion to embrace someone who is struggling. It's not some big, well-oiled machine that distributes the most good to the most people in the shortest amount of time...rather it is a meeting of hearts. I think there should be some days when I quit "work" (i.e. administering projects from an office) early and just go around and spend time with people in need...

Hands

It's been a rough week for these old hands. Monday it was trying to disassemble and unthaw that ornery American hand-pump, which was cold business because the inside of the house was still as cold as the outside. When that didn't work too well, Wednesday we bolted down a Mongolian hand-pump and hauled water to fill the radiator heating system. Then I grabbed a blow-torch and tried to thaw pipes so that the warm water would circulate. Thursday we drained cold and dirty water from the heating system and replaced a radiator that had cracked from the ice, then we unfroze the hand-pump and poured several more buckets into the heating system. That day we also pried the bent grate out of the woodstove, dug in the snow for pieces of rebar, sawed off several small pieces to make a new grate, and had 'em welded together. Friday we drained the cold and dirty water again in order to replace a cracked pipe that was leaking on the carpet. After that we unfroze the hand-pump and filled the radiators again. Saturday we mostly just wrapped and tightened leaking joints in the radiator system. Sunday, after clapping and turning pages and praying in church, we unfroze the hand-pump again and carried 500 liters of water up the ladder into the big water tank. Then we squeezed into a corner with a flaming blow-torch in order to thaw a valve from the tank going to the kitchen sink, after which we took apart and cleaned the kitchen faucet to get it working again and wired a lightbulb to hang directly over the aforementioned frost-prone tank valve. And did we forget to mention the chopping, stacking, and hauling of firewood and the crushing and bagging of coal? It probably wouldn't have been so rough a week if we hadn't sometimes forgotten our gloves and we weren't too macho for lotion...

We've never felt so dry, cracked, scuffed, bruised, frost-bitten, splintered, singed or dirty. But you know what, we don't mind all that much. We figure that means we're doing our part, getting something done, serving our purpose and not just shaking other hands or holding a silver spoon. Not that waving hello or shoveling desserts are unworthy activities! It's just that we would be disappointed if life didn't sometimes require everything we have to give.

Fields of the Harvest - Mongolia!

Hello dear friends.
We are headed back to Mongolia January 12th. God bless 2006!