We are officially back in Canada! In Camrose, to be specific. We got back on Wednesday, January 27th. We have been so busy with things since then, so I apologize for not updating this post, and I also apologize for the confusing matter it is now. :)
We are busy with last minute 'figuring things out', (mostly financial-wise) and then we have a presentation to do on our time in Mongolia on Friday. Its been a little stressful with it all, but that's life!
I hope you enjoyed our blogs, and it is bitter-sweet to be ending it all. It was fun to be in Mongolia and writing blogs! But its also good to be back in Canada. We learned a lot about appreciating what we had and thanking God for all our blessings! We are SO blessed!! The lifestyle is very different from here, and some of us responded to it positively, and for some of us, the experience was not so good. But I think I can safely say that we all learned quite a bit from the experience.
But if you want to hear more, you will have to come to our presentation on Friday! Or ask any one of us for stories and such.
God Bless you all, and I hope you were blessed to read about Mongolia as we were blessed to be in Mongolia.
For maybe the last time, :)
Demara
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Today! (finally... :)
Thursday is today. The 21st. My birthday! Anika woke me up with a nice slice of chocolate cake from the nearest ‘mapket’, which is Russian/Mongolian for market, which is really just a little store. :) It was very good, and a great way to start off the day. Today, we made the pizza dough for the pizza that we are making for the YWAM staff. It will only be us and the staff eating it, because today was the graduation service for the 8 YWAM students. It was beautiful. They had it in the upstairs hallways of the base building. Which was interesting, and it really worked out well. It was ingenious! It was a kind of candlelight service, and it was so beautiful. Then we had supper and now we are hanging out! We got the tickets this morning for the bus ride back to UB, the capital city, on Saturday. We got seats near the back, so it may be a bumpy ride! We were hoping for seats in the middle, but apparently the people in the ticket-buying place were convinced that the sport of buying tickets is full-contact. It was kind of humorous, kind of frustrating. :) But it will be a fun ride, with the team, Shauna, Mega (a person of staff here at YWAM that is heading to Erdenet) and two students from the YWAM graduated crew heading home.
Tomorrow is our last day, and it will be sad to leave this place. For me this time in Bayankhongor was… incredible. This was the word I have been using to describe nearly everything since the time we stepped into the Edmonton airport. From then on, absolutely everything was a whole new experience!! The first time in an airport, the first time on a plane, the first time overseas, the first time in a foreign country (US does not count), etc. It is incredible! But also, a stretching time. We have been forced to do things that maybe aren’t the most comfortable, both mentally, spiritually and physically. But, I hope I can safely say for my team, we have had a positive experience here, as a whole. While learning to appreciate the small enjoyments, we could start to see God’s hand at work absolutely everywhere. It was incredible. :)
Well, I think I have maybe written enough... sorry for the novel! And especially sorry if it has scared anyone off from reading this… oops. Sometimes I tend to be long winded, and I apologize. I just get so excited!!
If we do not write tomorrow, I hope we will have time to write some in UB!
Talk to you later, folks! And GOD BLESS YOU, EVERYONE! :)
Love, Demara
Tomorrow is our last day, and it will be sad to leave this place. For me this time in Bayankhongor was… incredible. This was the word I have been using to describe nearly everything since the time we stepped into the Edmonton airport. From then on, absolutely everything was a whole new experience!! The first time in an airport, the first time on a plane, the first time overseas, the first time in a foreign country (US does not count), etc. It is incredible! But also, a stretching time. We have been forced to do things that maybe aren’t the most comfortable, both mentally, spiritually and physically. But, I hope I can safely say for my team, we have had a positive experience here, as a whole. While learning to appreciate the small enjoyments, we could start to see God’s hand at work absolutely everywhere. It was incredible. :)
Well, I think I have maybe written enough... sorry for the novel! And especially sorry if it has scared anyone off from reading this… oops. Sometimes I tend to be long winded, and I apologize. I just get so excited!!
If we do not write tomorrow, I hope we will have time to write some in UB!
Talk to you later, folks! And GOD BLESS YOU, EVERYONE! :)
Love, Demara
The Great Mongolian Gher And Super Hospitality Experience! (named by Demara, of course)
Hi big world out there, Andreas writing
Here in Mongolia is quite a bit going on right now. It has been a challenging time for me where we had to go out of our comfort zone (a couple times).
We had the opportunity to spend a night in a real Mongolian “Gher” (Mongolian house/tent) where you basically just have one room. This room is your kitchen, living room, bed room, change room and your hallway (room), (thankfully not your bathroom, therefore they have an out house, brrr). Our team split up into three groups (Demara by herself, Calvin and I, Anika and an YWAM stuff member) and we left on Tuesday night and stayed there until the next morning. It was very interesting to stay over night basally in someone’s master bedroom. For Calvin and I it created some awkward moments not only because communication problems like you can probably imagine, but also it is a tradition to serve the guests a special Mongolian drink which is a delicious sounding “salted milk tea”. Even though my team members don’t seem to have a big problem with it, believe me, I’m fighting hard with it. This tea is something the Mongolians seem to love, I wonder why. Anyway, let’s move on from this and tell you what you can find in a gher: Things like a TV, a fridge, and sometimes a computer is not unusual, there is a bed, some dressers and stuff and most important a stove to keep the gher warm. Calvin and I were sleeping on the floor, with a bunch of blankets on top and underneath, it was pretty warm, but pretty hard too. We got also introduced to the real gher live which includes stoking the fire, spitting wood, clearing the sidewalk around the gher, getting coal and getting water from the well. On the street, if you meet a dog that kind of seem scary, you better pick up a rock and get ready to throw it at him, just in case, because it is not uncommon to get bitten by it. (silly dogs, I always liked cats better…) So that was a need experience after all, but it would be difficult for me here, I guess. Thanks be to God for what he does here in Mongolia and for the things he has shown us. Sheep up and God bless, by Andreas
Here in Mongolia is quite a bit going on right now. It has been a challenging time for me where we had to go out of our comfort zone (a couple times).
We had the opportunity to spend a night in a real Mongolian “Gher” (Mongolian house/tent) where you basically just have one room. This room is your kitchen, living room, bed room, change room and your hallway (room), (thankfully not your bathroom, therefore they have an out house, brrr). Our team split up into three groups (Demara by herself, Calvin and I, Anika and an YWAM stuff member) and we left on Tuesday night and stayed there until the next morning. It was very interesting to stay over night basally in someone’s master bedroom. For Calvin and I it created some awkward moments not only because communication problems like you can probably imagine, but also it is a tradition to serve the guests a special Mongolian drink which is a delicious sounding “salted milk tea”. Even though my team members don’t seem to have a big problem with it, believe me, I’m fighting hard with it. This tea is something the Mongolians seem to love, I wonder why. Anyway, let’s move on from this and tell you what you can find in a gher: Things like a TV, a fridge, and sometimes a computer is not unusual, there is a bed, some dressers and stuff and most important a stove to keep the gher warm. Calvin and I were sleeping on the floor, with a bunch of blankets on top and underneath, it was pretty warm, but pretty hard too. We got also introduced to the real gher live which includes stoking the fire, spitting wood, clearing the sidewalk around the gher, getting coal and getting water from the well. On the street, if you meet a dog that kind of seem scary, you better pick up a rock and get ready to throw it at him, just in case, because it is not uncommon to get bitten by it. (silly dogs, I always liked cats better…) So that was a need experience after all, but it would be difficult for me here, I guess. Thanks be to God for what he does here in Mongolia and for the things he has shown us. Sheep up and God bless, by Andreas
Fluffy the camel has... two humps!
Hello, friends!
Sorry for not writing for a bit.. Life here has just been so full!
So, Anika wrote last on Saturday, January 16. That seems like a lifetime ago! On Sunday, we had the privilege of talking at some church services here in Bayankhongor. The first one we went to was held in a gher, like a house church. There were maybe 10-20 people in attendance.. Probably could not have fit many more! Andreas and I were the preachers. (They insist that if we share what God has laid on our hearts, we are preaching, although I do not feel like a preacher. :) They mostly consisted of our testimonies. I also gave a short “bible study” on encouragement.)It was fun. They are very responsive, always lots of ‘amens’, which is always encouraging. From there, we went to a ‘youth’ service that ‘started’ at 1:00. The reason for the ‘ ’ around ‘youth’, is that we were expecting people maybe our age or even a little bit younger. I think all who came were under 14. :) Which was awesome to see, because you don’t often see kids away from their parents, worshiping God totally on their own accord. It was very fun. The reason for the ‘ ’ around ‘started’ was because time is not important in Mongolia. (a hot-climate culture) The service actually started probably around 2:00, but who was watching the clock? :) At the service, Ankia shared on 1 Tim 4:12, and following. (the “don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young..etc etc etc..” passage) It was very good, and they loved her. As always. :) When it came to the part about training/teaching, she related it to training a dog to play fetch. (She made sure to mention that dogs are actually pets in Canada, instead of enemies. :) ) She had Andreas be her ‘dog’ and ‘taught’ him how to sit, stay, roll over and fetch. He missed the ‘treat’ a couple times, but then caught it on the third time, (third time’s the charm!) making a good example about how to teach.
From there, we went to our friends’, Jep and Shauna. (…his name is actually Jeff, but all the Mongolians call him Jep, because the letter ‘f’ is not in their alphabet, so they have a very hard time pronouncing his name right. It has kind of stuck on our team… or at least a few of us.) We hung out there for a while, having a late lunch/early supper, making sure to be back at the YWAM base for English class at 6:00.
Monday we got to ride camels!! Yay! …or camel, singular, I guess. Her name (we named her) is Fluffy. Because she is. We just thought it was logical. Okay, so maybe it was mostly me, but I thought it was ingenius. :) She was a 3-year old female camel, and we got to ride her. It was awesome, let me tell you! If you even get the chance… don’t do it in Canada because that is lame. Do it somewhere where they are actually used. Like Mongolia! We took a 1 ½ hour (45 minutes to Ulzii, a small town on the way, then 45 minutes out searching in the mountains for this herder.) ‘porgon’ ride out to see this particular herder and camel. A ‘porgon’ is a Russian van, and it is pretty spectacular.. They are all over here, because they can literally go ANYWHERE. Believe me, we have proved this. :) The ride is a little bumpy, but imagine it as the best carnival ride you can think of, and you are good to go. Apparently, it didn’t work for Andreas and Calvin, especially Calvin as he ended up ‘blowing chunks’ (as he calls it) anyways… oops. :) But riding the camel was fun! When they run… maybe not so fun for the boys. But for us girls it was just dandy! After we were finished taking turns riding her, we thanked the herder profusely, (“Bayarlai, Bayarlai!” ...spelling may or may not be correct...pronounced “Bayarsh-lah!” …kind of…) and then headed off to go find a male camel, because they, apparently, are bigger and meaner! So we rounded this one small mountain, and BAM! There are like 30 camels just sittin’ there, watching us. It was awesome! Brown, black, light brown, white, all kinds of colors… okay, maybe not ALL kinds. That would be sweet! Yes, they have bright neon green camels in Mongolia. :) After the Great Camel Experience, we went and had the Great Mongolian Hospitality Experience in the little town called Ulzii. We had buutz and watched Sumo wrestling. There is a picture of it below. And that was all for Monday!
Tuesday was The Great Mongolian Gher And Super Hospitality Experience! Which Andreas will write about below. :)
Sorry for not writing for a bit.. Life here has just been so full!
So, Anika wrote last on Saturday, January 16. That seems like a lifetime ago! On Sunday, we had the privilege of talking at some church services here in Bayankhongor. The first one we went to was held in a gher, like a house church. There were maybe 10-20 people in attendance.. Probably could not have fit many more! Andreas and I were the preachers. (They insist that if we share what God has laid on our hearts, we are preaching, although I do not feel like a preacher. :) They mostly consisted of our testimonies. I also gave a short “bible study” on encouragement.)It was fun. They are very responsive, always lots of ‘amens’, which is always encouraging. From there, we went to a ‘youth’ service that ‘started’ at 1:00. The reason for the ‘ ’ around ‘youth’, is that we were expecting people maybe our age or even a little bit younger. I think all who came were under 14. :) Which was awesome to see, because you don’t often see kids away from their parents, worshiping God totally on their own accord. It was very fun. The reason for the ‘ ’ around ‘started’ was because time is not important in Mongolia. (a hot-climate culture) The service actually started probably around 2:00, but who was watching the clock? :) At the service, Ankia shared on 1 Tim 4:12, and following. (the “don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young..etc etc etc..” passage) It was very good, and they loved her. As always. :) When it came to the part about training/teaching, she related it to training a dog to play fetch. (She made sure to mention that dogs are actually pets in Canada, instead of enemies. :) ) She had Andreas be her ‘dog’ and ‘taught’ him how to sit, stay, roll over and fetch. He missed the ‘treat’ a couple times, but then caught it on the third time, (third time’s the charm!) making a good example about how to teach.
From there, we went to our friends’, Jep and Shauna. (…his name is actually Jeff, but all the Mongolians call him Jep, because the letter ‘f’ is not in their alphabet, so they have a very hard time pronouncing his name right. It has kind of stuck on our team… or at least a few of us.) We hung out there for a while, having a late lunch/early supper, making sure to be back at the YWAM base for English class at 6:00.
Monday we got to ride camels!! Yay! …or camel, singular, I guess. Her name (we named her) is Fluffy. Because she is. We just thought it was logical. Okay, so maybe it was mostly me, but I thought it was ingenius. :) She was a 3-year old female camel, and we got to ride her. It was awesome, let me tell you! If you even get the chance… don’t do it in Canada because that is lame. Do it somewhere where they are actually used. Like Mongolia! We took a 1 ½ hour (45 minutes to Ulzii, a small town on the way, then 45 minutes out searching in the mountains for this herder.) ‘porgon’ ride out to see this particular herder and camel. A ‘porgon’ is a Russian van, and it is pretty spectacular.. They are all over here, because they can literally go ANYWHERE. Believe me, we have proved this. :) The ride is a little bumpy, but imagine it as the best carnival ride you can think of, and you are good to go. Apparently, it didn’t work for Andreas and Calvin, especially Calvin as he ended up ‘blowing chunks’ (as he calls it) anyways… oops. :) But riding the camel was fun! When they run… maybe not so fun for the boys. But for us girls it was just dandy! After we were finished taking turns riding her, we thanked the herder profusely, (“Bayarlai, Bayarlai!” ...spelling may or may not be correct...pronounced “Bayarsh-lah!” …kind of…) and then headed off to go find a male camel, because they, apparently, are bigger and meaner! So we rounded this one small mountain, and BAM! There are like 30 camels just sittin’ there, watching us. It was awesome! Brown, black, light brown, white, all kinds of colors… okay, maybe not ALL kinds. That would be sweet! Yes, they have bright neon green camels in Mongolia. :) After the Great Camel Experience, we went and had the Great Mongolian Hospitality Experience in the little town called Ulzii. We had buutz and watched Sumo wrestling. There is a picture of it below. And that was all for Monday!
Tuesday was The Great Mongolian Gher And Super Hospitality Experience! Which Andreas will write about below. :)
Monday, January 18, 2010
PICTURES!
The team drinking salted milk tea in a family's home. (gher) There was Sumo wrestling on TV, it is very big deal here in Mongolia! I quote one of the men in the gher - "We may not be smart like you Americans, but we are strong. We can fight!"
PICTURES!
Meat shop at the market in Bayanhonger!
Playing over-under-over-under at one of the youth events.
Andreas and Calvin with their group for English class in the YWAM cafeteria.
Andreas' little helper during meal times!
One of the kinds of "boots" worn by sales people at the outdoor market. They have to stand around outside all day!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
We are here and you are there...welcome to some thoughts from "our world"
Newest and most exciting news of the day - They have dutch blitz in Mongolia!!! Except here it's called 'Ligretto', which isn't Mongolian at all! But they are good at it and speed/numbers/competition are universal so it works! "Go!" Is an easy word to learn too. Mongolian words are not so easy to learn we've discovered. Tonight we learned a common Mongolian worship song. Does learning languages ever take time! (Mind you this was just one song!) In their language there are sounds that you can't really explain or write down. They're just airy type sounds, that make a difference in the words. It's difficult. "No" isn't a word. It is just a sound like "ko". Trying to make the right sounds makes them laugh, at least someone gets amusement out of it! People that have learned Mongolian as well as others say this was the hardest to learn.
In our English class we are continuing to have good conversations. The way we go about our class now is by writing themes on pieces of paper, picking them at random and talking. We decided to switch things up and play a game the other day. To help them learn directional words (left, right, forward, backward, etc) we set up a "minefield" in the cafeteria. One person was blindfolded and the others had to lead the blindfolded person through the tables and chairs to the ping pong paddle. (There is no hidden meaning attached with this item, it was chosen at random.) They really had a lot of fun and we enjoyed watching them walk into walls and stuff.
Today we spent some time at the boxing club. It's an after school program funded by YWAM. It's quite the geto place situated in the basement of an apartment. Playing games with these kids wasn't quite the same as previous in the week at the youth event. I didn't know 'duck, duck, goose' could be such a wrestling, shirt grabbing, sweaty event! But when in a boxing ring, apparently anything goes! Some of those kids were small, but boy were they feisty! All you could do was sit there crossing your fingers hoping not to get picked, for then your doom was sealed. Yes, we were no match for the boxing club. Wimpy little Canadians! They introduced us to the first game which included protecting your ball and trying to get the other teams ball. That pretty much sums it up, besides the statement "anything goes." The losers punishment was push ups. Yep, get down and give me 20. We walked out of that building...glad for the memories.
Latest Discovery! So, we weren't sure exactly what kind of meat we were eating everyday. But we knew it fell under the animal selection of horse, sheep, goat, or cow. Apparently we were wrong. We've been eating Yak. (What they call a cow with a furry skirt!) Straight up cooked Yak, Yak fried rice, Yak-e-noodle soup, yikes, yak-e-dee yak please don't come back! We won't go into detail about foods reappearing. It is getting better. Although I've noticed at the speed of which we eat these days. Rice can go down pretty fast! Anyways, with food aside. (We have not allowed ourselves to talk about the food during meal times, it's a good challenge for us!)
We are speaking at 2 church services tomorrow. We didn't know when we came to Mongolia that we would be preachers! It's a little different mindset I guess. We were told to bring a message from the Word of God, therefore we are preaching. I pray that we will share with the people what God would like them to hear. We have prepared this time. "Winging it" in front of a congregation during Sunday service is a bit scary! We have been encouraged by the verses in 1 Timothy 4. "Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." We are young, but we are able. May God empower and use us! Our wonderful translator Otgo is getting to know us quite well. It is fun having her along with us. She will be with us tomorrow again for both services.
Well, I hope you have a Splendid Sunday! (Or whatever day you find yourself living as you let your eyes gaze upon this lovely page!)
From the current and tentative 'Mongolian preacher'/blogger
~Anika
In our English class we are continuing to have good conversations. The way we go about our class now is by writing themes on pieces of paper, picking them at random and talking. We decided to switch things up and play a game the other day. To help them learn directional words (left, right, forward, backward, etc) we set up a "minefield" in the cafeteria. One person was blindfolded and the others had to lead the blindfolded person through the tables and chairs to the ping pong paddle. (There is no hidden meaning attached with this item, it was chosen at random.) They really had a lot of fun and we enjoyed watching them walk into walls and stuff.
Today we spent some time at the boxing club. It's an after school program funded by YWAM. It's quite the geto place situated in the basement of an apartment. Playing games with these kids wasn't quite the same as previous in the week at the youth event. I didn't know 'duck, duck, goose' could be such a wrestling, shirt grabbing, sweaty event! But when in a boxing ring, apparently anything goes! Some of those kids were small, but boy were they feisty! All you could do was sit there crossing your fingers hoping not to get picked, for then your doom was sealed. Yes, we were no match for the boxing club. Wimpy little Canadians! They introduced us to the first game which included protecting your ball and trying to get the other teams ball. That pretty much sums it up, besides the statement "anything goes." The losers punishment was push ups. Yep, get down and give me 20. We walked out of that building...glad for the memories.
Latest Discovery! So, we weren't sure exactly what kind of meat we were eating everyday. But we knew it fell under the animal selection of horse, sheep, goat, or cow. Apparently we were wrong. We've been eating Yak. (What they call a cow with a furry skirt!) Straight up cooked Yak, Yak fried rice, Yak-e-noodle soup, yikes, yak-e-dee yak please don't come back! We won't go into detail about foods reappearing. It is getting better. Although I've noticed at the speed of which we eat these days. Rice can go down pretty fast! Anyways, with food aside. (We have not allowed ourselves to talk about the food during meal times, it's a good challenge for us!)
We are speaking at 2 church services tomorrow. We didn't know when we came to Mongolia that we would be preachers! It's a little different mindset I guess. We were told to bring a message from the Word of God, therefore we are preaching. I pray that we will share with the people what God would like them to hear. We have prepared this time. "Winging it" in front of a congregation during Sunday service is a bit scary! We have been encouraged by the verses in 1 Timothy 4. "Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." We are young, but we are able. May God empower and use us! Our wonderful translator Otgo is getting to know us quite well. It is fun having her along with us. She will be with us tomorrow again for both services.
Well, I hope you have a Splendid Sunday! (Or whatever day you find yourself living as you let your eyes gaze upon this lovely page!)
From the current and tentative 'Mongolian preacher'/blogger
~Anika
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Another day, another post, another reason to say Thank - you God!
Things are clippin' along well here in Bayanhonger!
Our English classes have been fun and we feel the "students" are benefiting. There are about 5 regulars that meet with us every day at 11:00 in the YWAM cafeteria. The best way they want to learn English, is through conversation. This is great! They enjoy talking about Canada and learning what it is like in our country. One lady asked us what foods we like to eat. The first thing that came to my mind was bread. She gave me a funny look and said "bread?" (Insinuating, "are you serious") In defensive to bread being our national food, I'm sorry, but what is Canada's traditional food? We have so many!
For the past two days we have done youth retreat events. Youth in Mongolia encompasses ages 13 to like 35! Seems strange to us, but they all have a great time together! It's great. We played games had a sing song (in Mongolian) and had a Bible Study time. We taught them the game "charades". Acting without words is very universal. This created a lot of laughter. Ever seen a Mongolian act out a camel? They are very serious about the fact that Mongolian camels have 2 humps unlike other breeds around the world!
For Bible Studies, the first day we shared our testimonies. Having a translator is great, it gives you time to think when you haven't really prepared! Our team was discussing where the line is between 'lack of preparation', and 'letting the Spirit lead.' Yesterday was more of a try at 'letting the Spirit lead, and today was a prepared Bible Study. Both days went really well. We decided that as long as the focus is on God, it won't turn out bad. We worry that maybe God won't show up, or the event will be bland. We've been surprised both times. We are getting it through our thick heads, there is no reason to doubt God!
Thanks for keeping up with us and for the prayers! If you could lift some prayers concerning Calvin, that would be great. He has been feeling a little sick lately and the food just doesn't want to stay down. Thank you, much appreciated!
Writing contently on a Mongolian keyboard, now signing off,
~Anika
Our English classes have been fun and we feel the "students" are benefiting. There are about 5 regulars that meet with us every day at 11:00 in the YWAM cafeteria. The best way they want to learn English, is through conversation. This is great! They enjoy talking about Canada and learning what it is like in our country. One lady asked us what foods we like to eat. The first thing that came to my mind was bread. She gave me a funny look and said "bread?" (Insinuating, "are you serious") In defensive to bread being our national food, I'm sorry, but what is Canada's traditional food? We have so many!
For the past two days we have done youth retreat events. Youth in Mongolia encompasses ages 13 to like 35! Seems strange to us, but they all have a great time together! It's great. We played games had a sing song (in Mongolian) and had a Bible Study time. We taught them the game "charades". Acting without words is very universal. This created a lot of laughter. Ever seen a Mongolian act out a camel? They are very serious about the fact that Mongolian camels have 2 humps unlike other breeds around the world!
For Bible Studies, the first day we shared our testimonies. Having a translator is great, it gives you time to think when you haven't really prepared! Our team was discussing where the line is between 'lack of preparation', and 'letting the Spirit lead.' Yesterday was more of a try at 'letting the Spirit lead, and today was a prepared Bible Study. Both days went really well. We decided that as long as the focus is on God, it won't turn out bad. We worry that maybe God won't show up, or the event will be bland. We've been surprised both times. We are getting it through our thick heads, there is no reason to doubt God!
Thanks for keeping up with us and for the prayers! If you could lift some prayers concerning Calvin, that would be great. He has been feeling a little sick lately and the food just doesn't want to stay down. Thank you, much appreciated!
Writing contently on a Mongolian keyboard, now signing off,
~Anika
Monday, January 11, 2010
The set of pictures below go in order starting at most recent.
1st photo: The gher church we attended. (Biggest church in Bayanhonger! 100 people can fit in there)
2: YWAM base
3: Bayanhonger airport
4: The Raisin Tea (it's look doesn't do the taste justice, it was good!)
5: Calvin trying Buutz (Which he really enjoyed!)
1st photo: The gher church we attended. (Biggest church in Bayanhonger! 100 people can fit in there)
2: YWAM base
3: Bayanhonger airport
4: The Raisin Tea (it's look doesn't do the taste justice, it was good!)
5: Calvin trying Buutz (Which he really enjoyed!)
Bayankhongor!!
Team Mongolia South now lives up to their name! Yes – we are finally at our destination, Bayankhongor. At this very moment I am situated in the YWAM building. This is where we eat , sleep, and try to shower! We are living here with the Mongolian staff. The students are away on their outreach program around Mongolia.
If I look out the window I see snow topped buildings, with smoke billowing from the roof, a few ghers and beautiful big mountains. This is a place where you can look out and actually see the cold. It’s hard to explain, I think maybe it’s because of the lighting. People are still out and about though. The streets are not empty! It’s not unusual to see a man or woman in traditional long coat type of dress with big leather boots walking down the road. What amazes me is lots of time people don’t cover their faces! Brr! Mongolians are tough! As we were walking to the ‘Big Market’ today we saw about 25 pool tables outside, and they were not empty! (It’s -30 C) There were by standers as well watching the tournament.
Yesterday morning we arrived in Bayankhongor on a 30ish passenger plane. The airport is very tiny!
We were in time for church, so we went to church in a gher! (A gher is like a round tent) It was actually quite warm. There was a wood fireplace in the middle. It was amazing to finally really take part in the culture. The Church service was much like ours, except in Mongolian. The congregation was very open in the worship, and we sensed and where impacted by a great authenticity. As a team we discussed how a lot of us go to church because our parents do. Christianity has been in Mongolia for about 20 years. So far from the people we’ve talked to don’t go to church because their parents did. There are no denominations in Mongolia (except recently in UB, the capital city). Laura our wonderful host (works here in the YWAM building) said once a Mongolian lady in the office once asked her what the word denominations meant. (They don’t have this word in Mongolian) This lady was quite good at English and heard Laura talk about denominations. Laura described what denominations were to her and the lady said something like “Now, why would you want to do that? We all believe in the same God!” I hope this continues to be true in Mongolia. We were introduced at church; Laura translated for us, and sang a song. A CLBI favorite - ‘God is our Shepherd.’ They seemed to appreciate the song even though only a few could understand the words!
This morning we did our first “English class.” It was lots of fun. Basically we split up into groups and talked to the staff and few other people from the city. They are eager to learn better English. Today our class entailed getting to know one another. It was as awkward as we thought. It is challenge to speak slowly, and have patience. But it is exciting to know that they really appreciate us taking time with them. Tomorrow we plan to do a Bible study because the staff want to expand their vocabulary, especially with Bible stuff.
Food! So far we have not experienced too much grease. When we were in UB we went out for “tea” and had buutz. Mutton balls and grease (oil?) with a dough shell. They were actually quite tasty. Calvin really enjoyed them and ordered a second helping! We also had raisin juice. Boiled water with different kinds of raisins, so sweet and yummy! (Kind looks like floating poop though) Today for lunch actually we had sushi! Didn’t expect that.. They eat a lot of mutton here. It’s not baaaad.. (haha, yes that was supposed to be a funny! : P)
Well, so long (or in Mongolian- bayartai! Which means good bye) Till another opportune blogging moment… from your keeping warm, trying to speak Mongolian (and getting laughed at), member of team Bayankhongor blogger,
Anika
If I look out the window I see snow topped buildings, with smoke billowing from the roof, a few ghers and beautiful big mountains. This is a place where you can look out and actually see the cold. It’s hard to explain, I think maybe it’s because of the lighting. People are still out and about though. The streets are not empty! It’s not unusual to see a man or woman in traditional long coat type of dress with big leather boots walking down the road. What amazes me is lots of time people don’t cover their faces! Brr! Mongolians are tough! As we were walking to the ‘Big Market’ today we saw about 25 pool tables outside, and they were not empty! (It’s -30 C) There were by standers as well watching the tournament.
Yesterday morning we arrived in Bayankhongor on a 30ish passenger plane. The airport is very tiny!
We were in time for church, so we went to church in a gher! (A gher is like a round tent) It was actually quite warm. There was a wood fireplace in the middle. It was amazing to finally really take part in the culture. The Church service was much like ours, except in Mongolian. The congregation was very open in the worship, and we sensed and where impacted by a great authenticity. As a team we discussed how a lot of us go to church because our parents do. Christianity has been in Mongolia for about 20 years. So far from the people we’ve talked to don’t go to church because their parents did. There are no denominations in Mongolia (except recently in UB, the capital city). Laura our wonderful host (works here in the YWAM building) said once a Mongolian lady in the office once asked her what the word denominations meant. (They don’t have this word in Mongolian) This lady was quite good at English and heard Laura talk about denominations. Laura described what denominations were to her and the lady said something like “Now, why would you want to do that? We all believe in the same God!” I hope this continues to be true in Mongolia. We were introduced at church; Laura translated for us, and sang a song. A CLBI favorite - ‘God is our Shepherd.’ They seemed to appreciate the song even though only a few could understand the words!
This morning we did our first “English class.” It was lots of fun. Basically we split up into groups and talked to the staff and few other people from the city. They are eager to learn better English. Today our class entailed getting to know one another. It was as awkward as we thought. It is challenge to speak slowly, and have patience. But it is exciting to know that they really appreciate us taking time with them. Tomorrow we plan to do a Bible study because the staff want to expand their vocabulary, especially with Bible stuff.
Food! So far we have not experienced too much grease. When we were in UB we went out for “tea” and had buutz. Mutton balls and grease (oil?) with a dough shell. They were actually quite tasty. Calvin really enjoyed them and ordered a second helping! We also had raisin juice. Boiled water with different kinds of raisins, so sweet and yummy! (Kind looks like floating poop though) Today for lunch actually we had sushi! Didn’t expect that.. They eat a lot of mutton here. It’s not baaaad.. (haha, yes that was supposed to be a funny! : P)
Well, so long (or in Mongolian- bayartai! Which means good bye) Till another opportune blogging moment… from your keeping warm, trying to speak Mongolian (and getting laughed at), member of team Bayankhongor blogger,
Anika
Saturday, January 9, 2010
..and hello from Ulaanbaatar!
So, as you may have guessed by the title, we have made it safely to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia! We flew in about 11:00 Friday evening. Our contact in Ulaanbaatar, Sam, who is a member of JCS (Joint Christian Services) , picked us up from the airport, and everything went very smoothly. Again, thank you God. We stayed overnight at another JCS member's house. Their names are Spencer and Pat from Tennesse. They are awesome! And very hospitipal, and awesome accents.. Wonderful! :)
We woke up this morning and went to Sam's house. We saw the other team off to Erdenet, they took a taxi for the 4 hours drive. Then we spent the day walking around Ulaanbaatar, and getting oriented with the culture. It was a great cultural experience! It was absolutely wonderful. :)
But we have to sign off, as we have to wake up at 5:00 tomorrow morning to catch the plane for Bayanhongor. Talk to you later!!
God Bless,
Demara
We woke up this morning and went to Sam's house. We saw the other team off to Erdenet, they took a taxi for the 4 hours drive. Then we spent the day walking around Ulaanbaatar, and getting oriented with the culture. It was a great cultural experience! It was absolutely wonderful. :)
But we have to sign off, as we have to wake up at 5:00 tomorrow morning to catch the plane for Bayanhongor. Talk to you later!!
God Bless,
Demara
Pictures from our two day stint in Beijing China!!
A few photos of the joint team Mongolia's!
The one to our left is the team estatic and exciting getting onto the first flight in Edmonton. Demara's and Calvin's first flight!
The rest of the pictures are in Beijing! The Great Wall tour lasted all day, was amazing! There is so much wall! It was like stepping into a picture from a text book.
We experienced a bit of life on the streets in Beijing - as in we walked down the streets near our hostel. The one picture with the red booths and lamps is an outdoor food market. They were calling at us as we were walking by trying to sell us food. One choice - a roasted snake on a stick!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Hello From Beijing!
"So, we arrived safe and sound in the Beijing airport! After we took off in Edmonton, and had a quick layover in Vancouver, we were in the air making our way to Beijing. It was an amazing trip!! I thanked God MANY times for our continued safety and just for the spectacular-ness of it all!!! Here is a riddle for all of you. We left the Vancouver airport at 12:40 pm on Tuesday. We arrived in China at 3:40 pm on Wednesday. But we were only in the air for 10 hours. ... How does that work?! Time change is crazy. On the way back, I have a feeling it will be even better. :)
We met up with our contact in Beijing (she had a sign that said "Alana Book", the Mongolia North team captain) and drove to the Peking Youth Hostel. During that trip, we had our first experience of the frustration of the language barrier. We could not understand her at all, and she does not know any English. But everything worked out okay in the end. As it always does. Thanks God!!
We arrived at the Peking Youth Hostel, and oh my, it is amazing. I will take lots of pictures, and you all make sure that I show them to you, because it is so beautiful. I still can't believe we are in China!! Amazing. My favorite part is that there is a ladder that you can go all the way to the roof, and you can see over lots of Beijing. Me and Nathan (another Mongolia North team member) went up there, and it was the most beautiful thing i have ever seen. Honestly.
We got checked in, and went to bed. Many of us were very tired due to Jet lag, but thanks to God, we haven't been hit by it too hard. I don't feel tired at all! And i easily woke up, on my own, at 5:30 this morning. Sick, i know. :)
We woke up the morning after we arrived at 6:00 and we were in the tour van by 6:30 am, on our way to the Great Wall of China. WOW!!!!! really, i cannot sya enough. But don't worry, everyone, I took lots of pictures. But still, I don't think they will do it justice. You'll just have to go! All in all, it was a very amazing day, and my favorite part was this: we got to zipline off of the Great Wall of China. At the Samatai Great Wall, they have it set up that you have to walk up, but when you get to the top, there is an option of ziplining down. AWESOME! :) Jessi (the final Mongolia North team member) and I went together, and it was spectacular.
After we got back to the hostel, it was about 5:30 pm. Anika, Alanna, Nathan and I went out for supper with a couple guys we met at the hostel and went to the Great Wall with, Benjamin from Germany, and Dina from Australia. Very cool guys. We got back to the Hostel at about 9:00 and went straight to bed, exhausted from the long day. But, at the same time, i was so invigorated and found it quite hard to sleep. What a spectacular day! How do you expect me to sleep after such a day! But eventually I feel asleep, only to wake up at 5:30 this morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. :)
Today, we are soon off to Tianaman Square and the Forbidden City. This afternoon, at 4:00 pm or so, we will leave this beautiful Hostel and make our way to the airport to depart for UlaanBaatar, Mongolia. I really don't know what to expect, but I am STOKED. :) So I am signing off, as we have to eat breakfast and then go. We will right you all the next time we have a chance!!
Love you all, and God's blessings from Beijing! :)
(I apologize for all the ":)" smiley faces. I tend to that a lot when I am excited, and believe me, I am excited. :) ..there I go again.)
Talk to you later!! And spread the word about this blog.
God Bless,
Demara"
We met up with our contact in Beijing (she had a sign that said "Alana Book", the Mongolia North team captain) and drove to the Peking Youth Hostel. During that trip, we had our first experience of the frustration of the language barrier. We could not understand her at all, and she does not know any English. But everything worked out okay in the end. As it always does. Thanks God!!
We arrived at the Peking Youth Hostel, and oh my, it is amazing. I will take lots of pictures, and you all make sure that I show them to you, because it is so beautiful. I still can't believe we are in China!! Amazing. My favorite part is that there is a ladder that you can go all the way to the roof, and you can see over lots of Beijing. Me and Nathan (another Mongolia North team member) went up there, and it was the most beautiful thing i have ever seen. Honestly.
We got checked in, and went to bed. Many of us were very tired due to Jet lag, but thanks to God, we haven't been hit by it too hard. I don't feel tired at all! And i easily woke up, on my own, at 5:30 this morning. Sick, i know. :)
We woke up the morning after we arrived at 6:00 and we were in the tour van by 6:30 am, on our way to the Great Wall of China. WOW!!!!! really, i cannot sya enough. But don't worry, everyone, I took lots of pictures. But still, I don't think they will do it justice. You'll just have to go! All in all, it was a very amazing day, and my favorite part was this: we got to zipline off of the Great Wall of China. At the Samatai Great Wall, they have it set up that you have to walk up, but when you get to the top, there is an option of ziplining down. AWESOME! :) Jessi (the final Mongolia North team member) and I went together, and it was spectacular.
After we got back to the hostel, it was about 5:30 pm. Anika, Alanna, Nathan and I went out for supper with a couple guys we met at the hostel and went to the Great Wall with, Benjamin from Germany, and Dina from Australia. Very cool guys. We got back to the Hostel at about 9:00 and went straight to bed, exhausted from the long day. But, at the same time, i was so invigorated and found it quite hard to sleep. What a spectacular day! How do you expect me to sleep after such a day! But eventually I feel asleep, only to wake up at 5:30 this morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. :)
Today, we are soon off to Tianaman Square and the Forbidden City. This afternoon, at 4:00 pm or so, we will leave this beautiful Hostel and make our way to the airport to depart for UlaanBaatar, Mongolia. I really don't know what to expect, but I am STOKED. :) So I am signing off, as we have to eat breakfast and then go. We will right you all the next time we have a chance!!
Love you all, and God's blessings from Beijing! :)
(I apologize for all the ":)" smiley faces. I tend to that a lot when I am excited, and believe me, I am excited. :) ..there I go again.)
Talk to you later!! And spread the word about this blog.
God Bless,
Demara"
Monday, January 4, 2010
The Journey Begins!!
Hello Friends, family, and fellow internet users interested in the CLBI team going to MONGOLIA!!
Twas the night before departure and all through the school,
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse... JUST KIDDING! There is anticipation, excitement and nervousness stalking around this school like never before. Tomorrow morning at 3:30 am the remaining four teams (Mongolia North/South, India, and Kenya) are leaving (to the Edmonton airport) to finally embark on the journy ahead. The general hubub in the dorms consists of something like this - student running to anothers' room - "Have you packed yet?" Other student "Naw! Are you kidding me, it's only 7:00 we're not leaving till 3:30, got lots of time!" But, that time is running short! We continue to bustle, mostly aimlessly, wondering what we can do to prepare more... Maybe, we should try to sleep?
Most of us on the Mongolia teams are wearing a lot of winter clothing on our flight. Less to pack. If you happen to hear on the news about students found in an airport, fainted from heat exhaustion, you'll know who they are! At least we won't lose each other - "Now.. where did he go? Ah, there's that puffy coat, fur hooded, winter boat clad, teammate!"
It seems like our team is in high spirits as we approach the time of departure. I hope this continues! We will fly to Vancouver then to Bejing. We will arrive in Bejing on the 6th and stay two nights there at a hostel.
Well, I must pull myself to proceed in more productive endeavours, at the moment. But, please keep us in your prayers! We really apprecaite it!
Have a great day, wherever you are at this time. Thank you for reading, come again!
From your excited, Mongolia bound, curiously apprehensive, blogger,
~Anika Nottveit
Twas the night before departure and all through the school,
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse... JUST KIDDING! There is anticipation, excitement and nervousness stalking around this school like never before. Tomorrow morning at 3:30 am the remaining four teams (Mongolia North/South, India, and Kenya) are leaving (to the Edmonton airport) to finally embark on the journy ahead. The general hubub in the dorms consists of something like this - student running to anothers' room - "Have you packed yet?" Other student "Naw! Are you kidding me, it's only 7:00 we're not leaving till 3:30, got lots of time!" But, that time is running short! We continue to bustle, mostly aimlessly, wondering what we can do to prepare more... Maybe, we should try to sleep?
Most of us on the Mongolia teams are wearing a lot of winter clothing on our flight. Less to pack. If you happen to hear on the news about students found in an airport, fainted from heat exhaustion, you'll know who they are! At least we won't lose each other - "Now.. where did he go? Ah, there's that puffy coat, fur hooded, winter boat clad, teammate!"
It seems like our team is in high spirits as we approach the time of departure. I hope this continues! We will fly to Vancouver then to Bejing. We will arrive in Bejing on the 6th and stay two nights there at a hostel.
Well, I must pull myself to proceed in more productive endeavours, at the moment. But, please keep us in your prayers! We really apprecaite it!
Have a great day, wherever you are at this time. Thank you for reading, come again!
From your excited, Mongolia bound, curiously apprehensive, blogger,
~Anika Nottveit
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