Celebrating in the Heat of Summer

This was taken at the national celebration called Naadam. We were trying to watch some wrestling, but everyone was so hot, we were mostly concentrating on eating something to cool or quench thirst. The sun is so intense here, going without a hat is inadvisable and nextdoor to miserable. So all our girls were in proper fashion, for a little bit, on a hot Darhan day in July.

Job Site Living

Here's where workers sleep while working on the building in Bolgan. Just outside our Ger door is a nice 6 foot trench to fall in if you're not careful. This trench contains our septic line and tank, and is now partially completed and filled in. Now for a roof on that house!

Summer Work

So we're moving to a town 3 hours away. All we have to do first is finish this house, so we have somewhere to stay. This is us, Jeremy and three guys from Darhan C&MA, after we finished pouring the foundation. (On a log home here, you assemble the logs on blocks, then put the foundation under the house -- a little different but it works)

Western Sunset

I'm standing in a sand dune and trying to catch the light of the sun sinking to the left away from this meadow filled with wind-gnarled pine trees. Every summer several families come out these few miles from town to set up their Gers and camp. They bring their animals with them, which ensures plenty of food and work for the month or so that they stay. In the distance is a small lake caused by the only hydro-electric dam I've yet seen in Mongolia. It powers the town of Tosentsengel when the water runs strong enough.

Youngest Three

My teacher Turoo, on the right, is the youngest of 9 children. Here he is with his two brothers in their home Ger. In the foreground you can get a good idea of what they gave us for lunch. The white things in the glass bowl are meat filled dumplings called bodes. Pretty greasy, but pretty tasty if they have enough salt.

Snow Patch at 7000 feet

Near the border to the province of Zavhan in Western Mongolia.

Border sign to the Province of Zavhan

Dinasour Rock

Photogenic Fish

This one lived to die another day.

Roadside Fishing Hole

It's times like this you're glad you brought your fishing pole.

Little Grand Canyon

This rock gorge was grand and worth the rocky road induced flat tire to see. Had we not had to change a tire here, we may not have stopped to see the view. The picture isn't doing it justice.

Folk Tale Statue

This statue embodies a Mongolian folk tale about how evil entered the world. What I understood is that there was a hole where snakes and water kept coming up into the world. The hero comes along and crushed that snake and covered the hole with this huge rock. Has a familiar ring to it, does it not?

Tsetserleg, Arhangai, Mongolia

A Rare Lake on the Plains

This lake was quite an attraction after all the oceans of green we'd driven through at this point. It was a windy day, which helped keep the bugs off. This lake is about 10 miles long stretching West, to the right behind us. We drove the north shore on the right, then headed south west toward the capital of Arhangai, Tsetserleg.

A Roadside Rest Ger

We stopped for a piece of shade and a drink of tea this first day of our trip out west. These are friends and fellow travelers Maider, teacher Turoo, and Pieter and Dennis from left to right.

Western Horses

On a a beautiful early morning during a recent trip into Western provinces by car we were passed by this huge herd of horses. Another resemblence of this country to ours of about 100 years ago. Even the roads out here remind you of what the poineers must have experienced when they went west in wagons where there were no roads. You can't imagine how nice blacktop seems after thousands of miles without it.

After Church Summer Day

Hi there! We just got done playing outside in the dirt in our nice Sunday church clothes. Didn't we do a good job staying clean?

House hunting this week in Bowlgun was revealing. Most places that were for sale were unfinished. Even this unfinished log home was not for sale. These workers promised they could build us another like it. But they didn't say they started this one last year. With only about a four month building season because of frozen ground, building a new house from the ground up doesn't seem plausible for us.

Kindergarten Class

This picture was taken on the last day of Maggie and Lydia's kindergarten for the year with some of their friends from their class. Johanna popped in for the photo, but isn't an official member of the class, though she loved visiting whenever she could. That's Maggie and Lydia's teacher in the back.

Down the Stretch

Here's Renee and I with our teachers, Turuu and Boya on a sunny last day of May. June will be our last month in formal language study!

Phone Call Me Drunk

The other day the phone rang. It seemed the person couldn't understand what I was saying, and I couldn't understand who they wanted to talk to. I wasn't suprised to find out they'd called the wrong number...When I was trying to explain that fact, the caller assessed the situation, saying: "I think this guy's drunk", and hung up!

Not perhaps the most shining review of my language or accent. But by her assessment I'm assuming she at least thought I was Mongolian. After all she didn't call me a drunk foreigner.

Thailand Vacation Highlight

Thankful for a gettaway to sunny Thailand, here Renee and Lydia enjoy life from atop an elephant.

Exotic Kiss

This character kissed Renee while we posed with him for a family photo.

Elephant Safari

Our recent vacation in Thailand gave us this chance to ride elephants.

Under Sea Trip

On our recent vacation, Johanna and Renee stand in a tunnel that goes through a huge fish tank at an aquarium.

Maggie Loves Flowers

Worth a Walk...With a Cane

On Sunday, outside the church yard gate, was a man I recognized on his way to church. He carried a cane and walked slowly. I didn't recall his name but remembered being in his house a couple times. I'd not seen him in church before. Maybe the 1.5 kilometer walk with a cane and a limp was the reason why. At just over 50 years old, he was probably the oldest man in church. He strained his eyes to see the words in the hymnal, but sang the words he could. His hand plunged his portion into the offering basket as it passed.

As we left, he was seated in the chruch yard seemingly glad that he came, perhaps contemplating the walk back home. Reflecting on this older brother, I am reminded that our Lord is worth worshipping, worth a walk. Even with all human fraility, even with a limp, and carrying an outward sign of infermity, the Lord of all is worth a walk. So what's stopping people with lower hurdles or less distances to cross - from approaching the throne of Jesus?

Long Time No Write

It's time to get something dow in the journal I guess.

The big news is that Renee's mom, sister and friend from Ohio were here for a two week visit. A good time was had by all I think. We didn't wear them out too much with seeing sights, as there just maybe aren't that many to see. But we had fun spending Easter together, and one night at a resort where guests sleep out in a Mongolian tent. Is was about 20 degrees and snowy outside, which was great. They give you a fire and wood inside your Ger, so you can keep warm, if you don't mind getting up in the night to stoke the fire.

Our new strategy for church growth is also developing. Several church members have begun new churches in houses of new believers. This territory is uncharted for most of us, and the enemy doesn't like it where souls are stolen away from his fire. But it was glorious to see five people receive the Christ's hope of heaven in a single week last month. Pray the momentum keeps up.

The girls are all healthy and school is coming along pretty well for Renee and Jeremy. There are days when it feels like we were designed to be here, like life makes more sense here. And there are still days when it doesn't. We thank God for friends, Mongolian and foreign. And we thank God that his people generously sacrifice some of what is given to them, so that we can have this front row seat to Christ's expanding Kingdom. We welcome your prayers to send God's Spirit ahead and beside us in the battle. We will also like to pray for you in your struggle too.