my new living room

i got a couch and a bookshelf and did a bit more decorating, so here's what my place looks like now. i would have never chosen this couch in the states, but for what the other choices are here, i think i got a good one. :) i saw a similar one at the market with tiger print on the back - just to give you an idea. hehe

ps notice my pig placemats in the first picture. don't they make you smile? :)

big burger

fast food is making it's way to mongolia. doesn't that picture in the middle look strangely familiar?
not that this place called "big burger" is exactly like a similiar restaurant in the states. the newest additions to the menu were "noodle soup with egg or noodle soup with shrimp" :)

my view this morning

ah yes, october in mongolia. where the first snow happens before the first week has passed. a couple of days ago i was wearing a tank top. this morning i saw snow on the rooftops when i woke up.

who needs a hat?

in case i find that my head needs a little extra heat in the winter i know now what to do.

sunday in mongolia

i am so unworthy of the love bestowed on me by the creator of the universe. when i feel lonely and sad and even heartbroken, he knows just what i need to bring a smile to my face and remind me how much he loves me.

he gives me unexpected encounters with old friends and lots of hugs at ch. from new friends.

he led me to the funniest placemats i've ever seen and at a reasonable enough price that they are now sitting on my table and making me smile every time i walk past.

he gave me a sweet kitten who is currently sitting on my lap and purring happily as he watches me type.

he reminded me in ch. today that i am living the life i've dreamed of for the past 5 years. i actually started crying as that realization really sank in. he has brought me back to mongolia, and i actually LIVE here. i'm not just here for the summer or for a few months. i'm going to live here for at least the next 4 years!

and even when i haven't been making a lot of room for him in my life, he has been patiently waiting for me to look up and see him working out all the little details - like friends and placemats and kittens.

i say with david: i will boast only in the lord. let all who are discouraged take heart.

feeling heavy

this week was filled with heavy stories about life in mongolia. my classmates and i somehow began talking about the many scams that people try to pull on each other here. the desire to go to america is so strong for some that they will give all their savings for an american visa only to have the company that promised them the visa turn out to be a scam. they never get the visa, and their money is long gone. others have it even worse, especially if they are young and beautiful. you can guess what kind of scams get pulled on them, but just in case you can't, i'll tell you that one of the words i learned this week is the mongolian word for pr*stitute. my heart breaks knowing the desperation for a better life and how easy it is for evil people to prey on those with such strong hope.
my life has been so easy compared to what most of the people around me have lived. even so, i've had disappointments and my heart has been broken a few times. i often find "hope" to be one of the hardest words for me to maintain in my own vocabulary. how much more difficult it is for the mongolian people to hold on to hope! please join me in asking the Giver of Hope to fill this land with his glory and provide reasons for the people to have what only he can give.

a cause for celebration

ok a few causes for celebration.
#1 i just downloaded david crowder band's new album. yipeeeeeee! i love itunes. it is quite amazing to be here in mongolia and be able to get new music as soon as it is available. and of course, the music itself is amazing.

#2 i have a flight reserved to come to the states for my sister lacey's wedding! i have such an incredible family, and i can't wait to see them. and of course, i can't wait for lacey's wedding. she will be such a gorgeous bride.

#3 i just picked up my phone and called "mongol cowboys meat". they will soon be delivering some chicken breasts, ground beef, and various other things. not only is it fabulous that they are bringing it to me, but i didn't have to go to a market and stare down a cow's head sitting on the table next to me as i tried to purchase ground beef. and of course, it is always easier to eat meat when i haven't been so recently reminded that it used to be a living animal. hehe

a few random shots

forget red bull. in mongolia everything, and i mean everything, is better if it's named after mongolia's most famous citizen. check out the small print at the bottom of the can. sweet!



this is the "nomin" supermarket where i do most of my shopping. there are two aisles dedicated to vodka, one aisle dedicated to preserved polish relishes, and no baking powder to be found anywhere!



the front of my apartment building. i walk up the first set of stairs, and my apartment is on the second floor facing out on the other side.

the vet

i took muji to "vet net" today. vet net is an organization that
works to shine Light in mongolia by both training mongolian vets and
bringing in visiting american doctors from time to time. muji was
seen today by a visiting american doctor, and i'm so thankful that i
was able to talk to a doctor in english. my mongolian is slowly
improving, but i certainly haven't learned veterinary vocabulary yet.
hehe anyway, the doctor gave him some worm medicine and told me to
feed him red meat. i promptly bought some ground beef, and muji ate
it right up. yay!!!! i'm really hoping that soon i won't be able to
feel his backbone and ribs when i pick him up.

in other good news, i now have a working stove and oven! some of you
know that i've been having a hard time not being able to bake. well,
i think i'll get up early tomorrow and make myself a batch of
biscuits for breakfast. muji can eat his ground beef, but i'll take
biscuits any day!

yesterday was one of "those" days when i felt like everything about
mongolia was out to get me to make me frustrated. today was one of
"those" days when i couldn't stop counting my blessings and saw
little reminders of my Father's love for me everywhere i went. He is
always so good to me. Ps 34:10 says that those who seek him lack no
good thing. i am forever reminded of this truth. :)

school mates and a tour of gandan

last friday some of my teammates and i took a tour of the main buddhist monastery in ub. it was hard to be there and feel the darkness like a tangible weight on my shoulders. there is such a deep, deep need for the Light of the World to shine here and be known by the mongolian people.
here's a pic of my school mates in one of the classrooms. pretty sweet to study while relaxing on a couch, eh?

here are a few pictures of the monastery. i think they are pretty self explanatory. the huge golden buddha in the fouth picture is inside the tall white temple in the third picture.

another week gone by

i have now completed 2 weeks and 1 day of language school. at this point i feel like all i knew before is coming back to me in jumbled bits and all the new stuff i'm learning is getting mixed into the rather jumbled mess. kind of like the coleslaw i made a few minutes ago. i'm just hoping that as coleslaw gets better with some time for all the flavors to mix, my language skills will do the same. :)
temujin is having a hard time adjusting to life in my apartment. he's barely eating anything, so i'm taking him to the vet tomorrow. i hope he isn't really ill and he'll perk up soon. last night he had a rather unfortunate adventure in the bathroom. i went to sleep and then heard him whining a while later. somehow he had fallen into the toilet! i wasn't laughing at the time, since i had to retrieve him, wash him, and dry him sometime around midnight. nonetheless it is pretty funny now!
i'll include a few pictures of him here for your enjoyment. obviously i didn't get any of him last night since i was too busy getting him out of his improvised swimming pool. hehe

temujin

today i welcomed a sweet, furry roommate. his name is temujin, and i'll call him muji for short. temujin was genghis khan's name before he became "genghis". i figure that i couldn't pick a more mongolian name than that.
here he is:

hike to zaisan

on saturday my teammate andrea and i hiked to a memorial called zaisan. it is the best place to get a view of the whole city. there is also a new buddha at the base of the hill where the memorial is. it wasn't there two years ago when i visited mongolia. it was really odd to see it there and to observe the mongolians who were visiting it. there seemed to be very little sense of reverence or anything even remotely devotional in the way people behaved in its presence.

this is a view of the buddha from the left side at the top of zaisan. can you see it in the middle of the picture?
another view of the city from the right side at the top of zaisan
andrea and me

another week in mongolia

it's been about a week since i posted, and a good week it was. :) my teammates and i spent some time at a hotel just outside the city. it was SO good to wake up every morning and look out the window to see mountains. i went for a hike one day and got some gorgeous views. maybe these pictures will give you a slight idea of the beauty i saw.....and maybe they will tempt you to come visit me sometime in the next four years. :)

test

i just changed my settings to see if i can publish to my blog from
email. did it work?