grace & mercy

simple sunday school definitions:
grace - getting something good that i didn't earn
mercy - not getting something bad that i did earn

how i've been seeing these words lived out in mongolia in the past few weeks:
GRACE
*an inspiring and fun two weeks of practice teaching
*a friend giving me about 4 kilos of fresh beef from one of her relatives who lives in the countryside
*skipping church this morning at 11 and running into an old friend on the street when i finally left my house around 1
*discovering a new depth in friendships with both foreigners and mongolians alike
*counting down the days until my friend laura comes to visit me (current count 22!)
*finding a great cat sitter for the summer

MERCY
*being connected to a local body here and experiencing the ways the Father uses to make us hunger for holiness
*sticking within my budget last month because so many friends offered me unexpected meals
*warmer weather this spring than most mongolians have experienced for the past several years
*potential conflict at my language school avoided
*needing some plumbing repairs and having the women who work at the elic office take care of everything

GRACE + MERCY
*being given my teaching assignment for next year.....at a college here in the city that is known for having high academic standards (and girls who dress like they are on "fashion tv" hehe)
*being given a choice of where to live next year
*choosing to stay in my current apartment....this will be the first time i haven't moved in 10 years!!!!!!

practice teaching

i have spent the last two weeks doing a teaching practicum of sorts. 20 countryside teachers came to ub during their spring break in order to attend our seminar and improve their speaking and listening skills. i was amazed at their low level of english, and i wonder what exactly they are teaching their own students! it helps me gain perspective on what an amazing privilege and huge responsibility i have here as an english teacher. being able to influence these teachers even for just 2 weeks, means that i will have an impact on all sorts of students way out in the countryside, too. oh how humbling to think that the Father called me to this work!

many of you know that i'm a fan of the tv show, "the office". well, if you know that show, this picture will probably make you laugh. we had our own version of "diversity day". hehehe

easter

he is risen!!!!!!!

this morning i enjoyed singing about this world changing event in the midst of a couple hundred mongolians who were dancing, waving flags, and showing their joy in ways more obvious than i have seen it expressed in most american easter sunday morning services.  it brought me to tears to think about all the changed lives surrounding me that only a few years ago or even a few months ago had never experienced the joy of knowing that HE IS RISEN!

we boisterously sang songs that proclaimed this most beautiful of all truths.  it was like being at a high school pep rally - in the best way. :)  then the tone changed as one of the college aged guys brought out his violin and played during a song about our "servant king".  (this is an old song written by graham kendrick if you want to find all the lyrics) part of the chorus says: he calls us now to follow Him, to bring our lives as a daily offering of worship to the servant king.

we have sung this song many times on sundays, but today it rang true to me in a new way.  i was teary as i sang it, and looked around to see many of the same people who had just been cheering now crying as well.  i think the reality hit me that it isn't enough to just be joyful because he is risen.  certainly this is a response that pleases the father, but he wants more.  he wants us to follow him every day and give our lives as an offering of worship.  i know that more times than not, i fail in this.  instead of seeking to worship him in all things i find myself focusing on my own wants and needs, hurts and disappointments.  i am neither joyful nor living an offering of worship.  my desire for this year is to put Him ahead of myself and really, truly live as a follower.  i want the fact that he is risen to be the defining mark of my life!

setting goals

lately i've been thinking a lot about setting life goals. some of them are just for the next month, others for the coming year, and of course then still more for the long term. i never imagined that i'd be 28 and still trying to figure out what my future might hold. i took a class in college called "gifts, guidance, and goals." one of the assignments was to write an imaginary time line for my life. according to that time line by this age i should be married, have a kid or two, and be happily settled in some warm, exotic asian country.

hmmm, i can check off only part of one of those dreams. i've got the exotic asian country, but it certainly isn't warm most of the time. hehe and as for being settled here, well, that's something that's surprised me. i'm learning that life really and truly is all about a Person. it isn't about a place, family, friends, language, warm boots, fresh coffee, good books, disappointments, laughter, or feeling so angry i want to scream. it's about how well i know and love the One who created ME and ALL these things i both love and hate about life this side of heaven. i'm coming to grips with the idea that i'll never feel settled here or anywhere on earth because this isn't the place i was created for.

so then how do i set goals when i know that reaching them isn't going to bring the satisfaction that i expect? i guess it has something to do with remembering that changed expectations and goals are the result of our fallenness and the fact that life on earth will never bring me the one thing i really crave.....uninterrupted fellowship with my Creator. i can set goals for my time here as long as i remember that i'll never be truly satisfied until i look into the loving eyes of the One who made me.

it's still winter because.....

yesterday was probably the first day that it "warmed up" to above freezing. i wore my big winter boots to class, because there had still been some ice on the sidewalks the day before, and i didn't want to fall. on the way home from class, i noticed that the ice had almost all disappeared. with much excitement i decided NOT to wear my boots to the event i was going to last night.

my sisters can tell you the rest of the story, and i'm sure most of you can guess. :)

just in case you can't guess, i'll give you a hint. it wasn't above freezing last night and my butt is rather sore this morning. hehe

back to "routine"

will life in mongolia ever be totally routine for me? sometimes i think the answer to that question is yes, and other times it is decidedly NO. today i feel like there would be one simple way to make my life seem easier and more "routine". here's a not so simple story explaining what that "solution" is:

i've been back to language school for a week now. last semester, there were 3 small mongolian classes meeting at the same time, and we enjoyed a coffee break together halfway through our 3 hour lessons. i always needed those few minutes to only speak english, have a chance to catch up with my teammates and just generally have some social time. this semester it's just me, my teacher, and my friend jen who studies with us 3 mornings a week. you can guess what a difference it makes for me when there is no one else to talk to for 3 hours and even during "break" time i'm still communicating only in mongolian. today was one of the days when jen wasn't even there, and by the end of class i though my brain had turned to complete mush. all i wanted to do was come home and take a long nap. here's why that didn't happen:

my bathroom light has been broken for about a week. this afternoon i knew my friend odko was coming to fix it, so i had to wait for him to call. he came around 2:30, figured out that he needed to buy another part for the light, went to the store, and promised to return by 4:00. in the meantime, i got a message from my cell group leader, mandy. last night we had agreed to meet at a certain bus stop today at 5:00 to go to her new house together. apparently it's hard to find her new place, and she didn't want me to get lost. anyway, mandy sent me a text message asking if i could meet her somewhere else. i asked her what bus i needed to take in order to get there, and she said she'd just meet me somewhere else instead, because i guess she didn't know which bus i needed either. so i need to leave here in about 5 minutes and go wait for her at the bus stop. here's why i don't want to do that:

it's cold today. muji kept me up until 2 last night because he thought it was a better idea to run around on my bed than to sleep. it's cold today. i really just want to put on my pj's, watch a movie, and eat kettle corn. cell group is in mongolian, and as i already mentioned, my brain has turned to mush for the day. and did i mention that it's cold today? hehe

so it all comes down to one very simple thing. (please understand my sarcasm here. hehe) if i had a car all my problems would be solved because i wouldn't have to leave my house in 5 minutes and stand in the cold at the bus stop!

the best vacation ever

wow, it's been over a month since i last posted. and what a month it has been!
i just got back from the vacation i have dreamed of for years.....THAILAND!!!!!!
in college i had friends who told me stories about either visiting or living in thailand and i was captivated by their tales. thailand became my #1 dream vacation destination. (ok, it was actually tied for #1 with paris. hehe) i began compiling a list of all the things i wanted to experience in thailand, and i was able to do almost all of those things on this trip. riding an elephant will have to wait until next time though!
as inigo says in "the princess bride" -'let me explain. no, there is too much. let me sum up.' here are a few pictures and stories to give you a glimpse of my dream vacation.

it all started with a few days in korea visiting my dear friends from college, virginia and sally. these two girls treated me like a princess and were so good to listen to my stories about my first semester in mongolia. they shared their lives with me as well. i think that if i didn't know i'm supposed to be here in mongolia, i would seriously consider applying for a job at the school where they work. :)


after spending a few days in korea, i went to bangkok where i stayed with another good friend from college. louisa and i did some sightseeing in bangkok and then went to the beach for two nights. the #1 experience on my bangkok dream list had been a visit to "the oriental" hotel since i've read about it in travel+leisure magazine for years. i wanted to be able to say that i had sat on the hotel's terrace overlooking the chao praya river while the sun was setting. louisa was kind enough to indulge me in my fantasy, and we enjoyed delicious fruit smoothies there one evening.


louisa and i also spent two fabulous days at the beach south of bangkok. we pretty much had the beach to ourselves as we weren't in a major tourist spot. it was the most peaceful part of my vacation, and i could have stayed there for several more days.


after bangkok i made my way to chiang mai for about a week and a half before our teacher's conference. the highlight of my time there was a visit from my sweet friend and former roommate crissy. we explored parts of chiang mai on foot and rented a motorbike to explore the mountains outside the city with more speed. :) one day we went to a monastery on top of the mountain and then went on further to a hmong village. another day we got up in time to see the sunrise and then found a coffee plantation in time for a morning cup just when we needed a boost for the rest of the day. some of the places we discovered on the motorbike were dreamier than any that i could have imagined. this is a monk's retreat we found in the hills above the hmong village.


crissy and me in our helmets. pretty sweet, huh? haha


crissy and i said goodbye on the day the conference started, and i spent the next week enjoying the company of over 500 other teachers who are serving with elic. it was awesome to sing together and hear from the Word. we heard reports of what the Father is doing in countries across asia, and it was encouraging to be reminded of Who called me to mongolia. He used the time spent at the conference to show me some surprising things about myself. most importantly he brought healing to brokenness i had been holding on to for a long time. i have returned to mongolia feeling more like myself and closer in my relationship with him than i have in years. HE IS GOOD!

so i guess that seems like a lot of explaining when i meant to just sum up. hehe. i hope you enjoyed the brief glimpse at my vacation. if you want to see more pictures you can check out some albums i have on facebook. :)
~amanda

new year's eve

new year's eve was a lot of fun here in ub. first my teammates and i enjoyed tacos (with home made flour tortillas) and a few episodes of "the office". then andrea, gillian, and i met up with some other people and went to the main square in town to watch fireworks and experience some of the mongolian mayhem.
here we are on the outskirts of the main square. gillian and i are holding remains of fireworks someone set off earlier. once we got closer to the center of the square it seemed that we were the only three people without our own fireworks. mayhem indeed!

the blur you see on the left side of this picture is the breath of the person who was taking it. just to give you some idea of how cold it was.

there's an outdoor ice skating rink at the south end of the square where a good number of people were skating their way into 2008.

ice skating and skating with words

saturday night some friends and i went ice skating in our neighborhood. there are ice skating rinks set up all over the city, and it's about 80 cents to rent skates and use the ice for an hour. i learned yesterday that it isn't really possible to stay on the ice for a full hour without having my face get nearly covered with a thin layer of ice. there are little shacks by the rinks where a person gets skates and should also come in to warm up every 20 minutes or so. i've learned my lesson and will definitely take advantage of the little wood stove next time i go skating. my goal is to go once a week for the rest of the winter.

this morning i had to tell a friend that i won't be attending her cell group. the day and location of her meeting don't really work for my schedule. not to mention that she speaks no english, and i don't speak enough mongolian to really be a fully functioning member of her group. at first she seemed ok with it but then she started lecturing me. this was rather difficult for me to take on several levels. i felt like a person who was trying to ice skate for the first time and couldn't seem to find her balance. thankfully i was able to talk with another friend about the situation and was assured that i am free to make my own decisions and she shouldn't have been pressuring me. even so, i don't know how much of my sense of being out of balance was solely based on language and how much of it is just different personalities and cultures.

here's to skating all winter! hopefully i will skate more in the literal sense than in my communications with friends. :)

christmas pictures

this year was my second ever christmas away from my family. even so i was blessed to spend christmas with my friend melanie's family, and they are becoming more and more like family for me here. her kids are 3 of the most adorable kids i've ever seen, and their sweet playful personalities make them so much fun to spend time with. here are a few pictures for you to enjoy:

it's officially winter here

how can i be so sure that it is winter?

because my eyelashes froze on the way to school this morning!!!!!! as you can see my hair froze, too.

thanksgiving

i have so many reasons to be thankful this year. perhaps one of the biggest reasons is that i could spend the past two weeks with my family in kentucky. it was SUCH a blessing to celebrate my sister's wedding, thanksgiving, and early christmas with them. here are a few specific things i am thankful for from my trip to the states:

* lacey and john's wedding was on saturday the 17th. my flight arrived late on wednesday night the 14th, and i had been nervous about feeling the effects of the long plane ride and jet lag. before i left mongolia i asked several people to ask the Father to give me extra room on the way over, so i could stretch out a bit and hopefully get some rest. not only did he give me extra room on the way to kentucky, but he gave me extra room on the way back to mongolia as well! the extra 5 inches of "economy plus" make a huge difference. :)

*lacey and john's wedding day was beautiful. their relationship is a beautiful testimony of how the Father can bring two people together when their hearts are set on him. my sister was glowing all day, and i have rarely seen a groom who adores his bride more than my new brother loves my sister. :) here they are after the ceremony:


*our family has 5 girls and a baby brother. john's family has 5 boys and a baby sister. this made the choice of bridesmaids and groomsmen a no brainer. it was a joy to be in a wedding with my sisters. and i think there will never be a more beautiful and well-matched bridal party - if i do say so myself. you can decide for yourself though:


*our family lives about an hour north of nashville, tn. every year the opryland hotel there does an amazing christmas light display. it is a holiday season tradition for us to go and look at the lights. we were able to do it this year on the friday after thanksgiving. even though the lights are almost the same every year, i still love to see them. just like thanksgiving without turkey isn't quite thanksgiving, the christmas season without seeing the lights at the opryland hotel isn't quite christmas for me. i was so blessed to go with my family this year. here we are minus lacey and john. (they were probably on the beach in hawaii at the time we took this picture, so i doubt they really missed seeing the lights. hehe):

wha? wednesday? wedding?

can it really be that i am flying to america on wednesday and my younger sister is getting married on saturday??????
here are some things i'm looking forward to in the next 2 1/2 weeks - in no particular order.
*hugging my family
*kissing my family
*seeing lacey in her wedding dress and getting to be there for the big day
(ok those three are definitely the top things in the list, the rest are in no particular order)
*starbucks at the airport in beijing
*shopping in stores where there is more than one size of each piece of clothing
*zaxby's, pf chang's, and panera
*grass
*driving
*country music radio stations
*seeing extended family at the wedding
*barnes & noble
*slightly warmer weather
*THANKSGIVING DINNER WITH MY FAM (ok so this one should be one of the top of the list!)

now for a few things that i'll miss from mongolia.
*sunday morning fellowship and singing
*my kitten
*learning new ways to communicate everyday
*my teammates, fellow students, and teacher

fall back

mongolia chose not to do daylight savings time this year, so we didn't "fall back". however i'm suddenly wishing that i could fall back to about age 7. i remember my 7th birthday very clearly. i had a party in our yard and lots of my friends came. i wore a new dress and felt like a princess. all that mattered was making a good wish and blowing out the candles on my cake.

fast forward to my life today. i just had one of the most painful conversations of my life with a friend here. earlier today i was challenged to be "the bucket" in the Father's well. basically i need to realize that he has all the resources i need for life and ministry, and i am only able to scoop them up and use them for the good of those around me. a few hours ago i was wishing someone else was nearby with their bucket to pour it over me. what resources did i need? courage, grace, mercy, love, gentleness, patience, humility, forgiveness, and more love - because it is the best resource of all.

i am challenged to look for the people around me who need a good wash with the Father's resources.

peek-a-boo

muji disappeared on me this morning and this is where i found him.