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. :)