Reflections
Waiting for Ripples
Friday, October 28, 2011
Packing an Elk!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Why it is called . . . . . . . Hunting!
This past week we have learned why Hunting season is called HUNTING. Not shooting deer, or finding lots of game, but hunting. Last year when we hunted we had 3 deer hanging within the first 3 days of the season. It was great. This year, we hunted, and hunted, and . . . . you get the picture. No deer. It has been funny to observe ourselves, as we have hiked many miles with our rifles slung over our shoulders. We have all crashed early, only to get up and try again. It began to seem like we were hitting repeat every day. It was always - up the next draw or over the next little ridge. We were hunting for meat, not a trophy, just meat - trophy would be nice though. We looked very carefully at many dead sagebrush plants that had suddenly morphed to become at least one trophy size buck. With our Binoculars for crying out loud! It seems that they do this only during deer season. Will see if the strange phenomenon continues during elk season. We all enjoyed our time though, and so did the deer. They are hiding behind their sagebrush laughing at us!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Visitors Perceptions
One of our team that we took to Mongolia wrote the following thoughts about our time there. As she was looking at it from new eyes to Mongolia, I thought I would add it to show the interesting thoughts she had. Enjoy!
For someone who loves to write, and loves to talk, I’ve been finding it really difficult to talk about or write about my experiences in Mongolia. I’m not sure why. I think part of it is because I realize that no matter how much I say, I will never convey all the details properly. That being said, here we go:
We traveled on 3 planes for a combined total of 21 hours from Salt Lake City to Ulan Bataar (UB), the capital city of Mongolia. We arrived late at night and made a very scary and bumpy ride from the airport to The Oasis guesthouse where we’d be living in gers (round felt tents) for the duration of our stay. The gers were actually quite nice…they had electricity and ours even had an outlet! We did, however, have to stroll inside to use the facilities. A MUCH nicer option that using the squatty potty behind the gers. Squatties were like an old fashioned outhouse minus the seat. So, yep, a shack with a hole in the floor! Didn’t feel compelled to give that a go….I walked the whole 30 feet to the inside bathroom every time! The beds were firm…wooden slats with a blanket on top. It made sleeping soundly a challenge, as did the chorus of wild dogs barking at all hours. Eh, who needs sleep? Our first few days in UB were a flurry of activity! We exchanged money, tried to get acclimated to our new time zone, and met some of the people we’d be working with/for. Two days later, we got busy!! We would get up and have breakfast (coffee, tea, bread, and jam) before heading to the bus stop across the street. Mind you, that sounds like a simple enough task…until you’ve seen the drivers in UB! Scary doesn’t even scratch the surface. Two days in country and we knew crossing a street required skill, agility, and prayer!! It was like a human game of Frogger. By God’s grace, all 12 of us made it every time! So, when the bus we needed would screech to a halt in front of us, we’d hop on as quickly as 12 people can hop anywhere. We’d find a spot, hang on for dear life, pray some more, and zoom off to the Home School Co-op where we were teaching VBS. We decided that bus drivers are taught: This is the gas. This is the brake. Press firmly! That concludes your bus drivers lesson! Of the four days we taught, we arrived on time ONCE…and we left anywhere from 30 to 65 minutes prior to our start time. Everyone graciously reminded us, “You’re on Mongolian time now.” Which, I finally realized is similar to when the cable guy says, “I’ll be there between 9 and noon”, and actually gets there at 2. I surrendered my need to control shortly after arriving…turns out, I function pretty well without it! VBS in UB was for the children of the Missionaries serving/living in the city. We had about 30 kids at this VBS. It was just like it is here…games, Bible story, mission lesson, music, craft…nothing out of the ordinary, but to the parents of this group of kids, you’d think we’d given them the moon! They were so grateful to have someone do something for their kids. Some of the children, as old as 11, had never been to a VBS. Mind you, some of them have been all around the world…serving, but never being served. It was a real treat to provide something they enjoyed so much! At the end of the VBS day, we’d head upstairs to Joel’s. He’s an English rugby player in UB coaching their rugby team. He also happens to be a fabulous cook! So, we’d have lunch at Joel’s every afternoon. We were grateful to have BBQ chicken, burritos, even pizza! And, I’m happy to report, Coke products were plentiful so we didn’t have to sacrifice soda. Our afternoons were spent on Mission projects. The guys would head over to a shelter for abused girls where they built a mudroom on to their existing house to provide an extra layer of insulation. The guys dug trenches, made and poured concrete, and got the mudroom almost complete. They were frustrated not to be able to finish, but were able to leave money and instructions for finishing off the last few touches. Meanwhile, the girls went to the home of another missionary who opens her home to short term missionaries. Her entryway had recently sustained some water damage, so we were there to chip away the old paint and repaint the area. It was a fairly small area, so the first day, all seven of us struggled to find a spot to work! We were certainly cozy!! After that, only 4 of us went at a time. After spending several hours at our respective projects, we’d meet up for dinner and then head to Papa Café (a cute little restaurant run by JCS (Joint Christian Services). We spent our evenings helping people practice their English. We’d chat with them, answer questions about America, play games….it was a lot of fun. By the time we were done at 8:30, we were pretty wiped out. One night, while I was teaching, Mary (the leader of our group…who lived in Mongolia for seven years) told me the rest of the team was heading back to the Oasis and Christy and I should just catch a cab when we were done. Ummm…hello?!? New to the country. Don’t speak Mongolian. Not sure I could even find the Oasis! (Panic would be the next new English word these folks were gonna learn!) My chivalrous hubby offered to stay behind with us and help us get home. (Again…new here…no Mongolian…) After nervously finishing up English class, we asked Jenna (the manager at Papa) to help us get a cab. Turns out, in Mongolia…a cab, by definition, is anyone willing to stop and give you a ride. Really?!?! So, that whole ‘never get in a car with a stranger’ thing, not so big in Mongolia?? Nope…get in!!! So, get in we did. A woman and her 4 year old son (and their Winnie the Pooh seat covers) drove us home. What little Mongolian I did know “isshay” (this way) and “tisshay” (that way, came in handy as the Oasis sign came into view. I pointed and said “tisshay, tisshay”, to which mom driver responded, “Left or Right?”. Needless to say, we got home safely!
So, after 4 days of this rather hectic schedule, we had a couple of down days, which we spent sightseeing. We went to Sukbatar Square and saw modern and traditional wedding parties being photographed in front of the capitol building, we shopped, we took tons of pictures, and we visited 3 pharmacies in search of allergy meds for Ryan and correctol for other nameless team members. Gotta tell ya, watching Mary speak Mongolian while using her hands to describe the issue…hilarious!!! It was the best game of charades I’ve ever seen! We also visited the Zak, an open air market full of treasures and trash depending on what you were looking for. I got some beautiful jewelry, a cashmere scarf for my mom, and Mikayla bought a beautiful dell, the traditional Mongolian dress. It was crowded and noisy, but an experience I wouldn’t want to have missed.
Our next adventure was to head to the countryside for the JCS retreat. This is an annual event where the missionaries from all over Mongolia come to rest, fellowship, and be fed (spiritual and physically!). While the adults met in their classes, we did another VBS for their kids. Again, their gratitude blew me away!! The kids and parents alike were so excited to have something fun for their kids to do. We had a very large ger to do all our activities. We’d rotate the kids between craft, Bible Story, missions, and Music, then they’d head outside for rec. We had about 20 kids at this VBS, though this time around, the teens were our biggest groups. And all but 2 of them were boys!! We had challenges here with an ever changing schedule, but at this point, flexibility had become the norm and we were becoming experts at punting! Healthwise, our team took a hit this week…4 of our members struggled with different issues which meant more punting! But, again, God blessed us with creativity and the willingness to step in to fill the gaps. It was a week of contrasts for me. Visiting with warm, loving people who left me in awe of their heart for Mongolia….while we stayed in cold, run-down Russian barracks that left me longing for our ger in UB! With another VBS complete, we loaded onto our bus to head back to the city. Did I mention that this ride was even more frightening than the bus rides in town? I was shocked to realize that was even possible! Again, we made it “home” safely! Funny how all of a sudden, the Oasis was ‘home” and we were so thankful to be back!
We had a few more days of down time, the guys did more work on the shelter, and we spent some nice time visiting with the other colorful folks staying at the Oasis. We also visited the Museum of Natural History in UB. 4 floors of badly taxidermed (is that a word?) animals. Seriously…you could count the staples! But, the gift shops were amazing and we found some really lovely souvenirs.
The food in Mongolia leaves a bit to be desired. LOTS of meat. Lots. of. meat. And we learned…don’t ask what it is, that only makes matters worse. Thankfully, we only ate authentic Mongolian food a handful of times…but I’m confident in saying, we ate sheep, goat, and horse meat. None of which would I recommend for your next family bbq! Living up to its name, the Oasis served a pretty Americanized menu. I’m sure we about ran them out of spaghetti and cheese sandwiches!
In all that we saw and all that we did, God was growing us. I really believe I learned that being in control isn’t always necessary. Mikayla learned a lot about gratitude and the things we take for granted. Ryan learned that he’s allergic to Mongolia so he needs to go somewhere else on his next mission trip. Did ya catch that? His NEXT mission trip? And Eric’s favorite part was the church services we attended at a local Mongolian church. We learned quickly that smiles and friendly greetings aren’t well received or reciprocated in UB (we reasoned that they possibly associate white people with Russians and that’s not a good thing)…until you enter the church. It was welcoming, open, accepting, a place where you could honestly feel love…kind of like our churches at home. It was a visual reminder of the difference God can make in someone’s life. And it convicted us to be praying and continually supporting the full time missionaries. They have a big job to do!
We traveled on 3 planes for a combined total of 21 hours from Salt Lake City to Ulan Bataar (UB), the capital city of Mongolia. We arrived late at night and made a very scary and bumpy ride from the airport to The Oasis guesthouse where we’d be living in gers (round felt tents) for the duration of our stay. The gers were actually quite nice…they had electricity and ours even had an outlet! We did, however, have to stroll inside to use the facilities. A MUCH nicer option that using the squatty potty behind the gers. Squatties were like an old fashioned outhouse minus the seat. So, yep, a shack with a hole in the floor! Didn’t feel compelled to give that a go….I walked the whole 30 feet to the inside bathroom every time! The beds were firm…wooden slats with a blanket on top. It made sleeping soundly a challenge, as did the chorus of wild dogs barking at all hours. Eh, who needs sleep? Our first few days in UB were a flurry of activity! We exchanged money, tried to get acclimated to our new time zone, and met some of the people we’d be working with/for. Two days later, we got busy!! We would get up and have breakfast (coffee, tea, bread, and jam) before heading to the bus stop across the street. Mind you, that sounds like a simple enough task…until you’ve seen the drivers in UB! Scary doesn’t even scratch the surface. Two days in country and we knew crossing a street required skill, agility, and prayer!! It was like a human game of Frogger. By God’s grace, all 12 of us made it every time! So, when the bus we needed would screech to a halt in front of us, we’d hop on as quickly as 12 people can hop anywhere. We’d find a spot, hang on for dear life, pray some more, and zoom off to the Home School Co-op where we were teaching VBS. We decided that bus drivers are taught: This is the gas. This is the brake. Press firmly! That concludes your bus drivers lesson! Of the four days we taught, we arrived on time ONCE…and we left anywhere from 30 to 65 minutes prior to our start time. Everyone graciously reminded us, “You’re on Mongolian time now.” Which, I finally realized is similar to when the cable guy says, “I’ll be there between 9 and noon”, and actually gets there at 2. I surrendered my need to control shortly after arriving…turns out, I function pretty well without it! VBS in UB was for the children of the Missionaries serving/living in the city. We had about 30 kids at this VBS. It was just like it is here…games, Bible story, mission lesson, music, craft…nothing out of the ordinary, but to the parents of this group of kids, you’d think we’d given them the moon! They were so grateful to have someone do something for their kids. Some of the children, as old as 11, had never been to a VBS. Mind you, some of them have been all around the world…serving, but never being served. It was a real treat to provide something they enjoyed so much! At the end of the VBS day, we’d head upstairs to Joel’s. He’s an English rugby player in UB coaching their rugby team. He also happens to be a fabulous cook! So, we’d have lunch at Joel’s every afternoon. We were grateful to have BBQ chicken, burritos, even pizza! And, I’m happy to report, Coke products were plentiful so we didn’t have to sacrifice soda. Our afternoons were spent on Mission projects. The guys would head over to a shelter for abused girls where they built a mudroom on to their existing house to provide an extra layer of insulation. The guys dug trenches, made and poured concrete, and got the mudroom almost complete. They were frustrated not to be able to finish, but were able to leave money and instructions for finishing off the last few touches. Meanwhile, the girls went to the home of another missionary who opens her home to short term missionaries. Her entryway had recently sustained some water damage, so we were there to chip away the old paint and repaint the area. It was a fairly small area, so the first day, all seven of us struggled to find a spot to work! We were certainly cozy!! After that, only 4 of us went at a time. After spending several hours at our respective projects, we’d meet up for dinner and then head to Papa Café (a cute little restaurant run by JCS (Joint Christian Services). We spent our evenings helping people practice their English. We’d chat with them, answer questions about America, play games….it was a lot of fun. By the time we were done at 8:30, we were pretty wiped out. One night, while I was teaching, Mary (the leader of our group…who lived in Mongolia for seven years) told me the rest of the team was heading back to the Oasis and Christy and I should just catch a cab when we were done. Ummm…hello?!? New to the country. Don’t speak Mongolian. Not sure I could even find the Oasis! (Panic would be the next new English word these folks were gonna learn!) My chivalrous hubby offered to stay behind with us and help us get home. (Again…new here…no Mongolian…) After nervously finishing up English class, we asked Jenna (the manager at Papa) to help us get a cab. Turns out, in Mongolia…a cab, by definition, is anyone willing to stop and give you a ride. Really?!?! So, that whole ‘never get in a car with a stranger’ thing, not so big in Mongolia?? Nope…get in!!! So, get in we did. A woman and her 4 year old son (and their Winnie the Pooh seat covers) drove us home. What little Mongolian I did know “isshay” (this way) and “tisshay” (that way, came in handy as the Oasis sign came into view. I pointed and said “tisshay, tisshay”, to which mom driver responded, “Left or Right?”. Needless to say, we got home safely!
So, after 4 days of this rather hectic schedule, we had a couple of down days, which we spent sightseeing. We went to Sukbatar Square and saw modern and traditional wedding parties being photographed in front of the capitol building, we shopped, we took tons of pictures, and we visited 3 pharmacies in search of allergy meds for Ryan and correctol for other nameless team members. Gotta tell ya, watching Mary speak Mongolian while using her hands to describe the issue…hilarious!!! It was the best game of charades I’ve ever seen! We also visited the Zak, an open air market full of treasures and trash depending on what you were looking for. I got some beautiful jewelry, a cashmere scarf for my mom, and Mikayla bought a beautiful dell, the traditional Mongolian dress. It was crowded and noisy, but an experience I wouldn’t want to have missed.
Our next adventure was to head to the countryside for the JCS retreat. This is an annual event where the missionaries from all over Mongolia come to rest, fellowship, and be fed (spiritual and physically!). While the adults met in their classes, we did another VBS for their kids. Again, their gratitude blew me away!! The kids and parents alike were so excited to have something fun for their kids to do. We had a very large ger to do all our activities. We’d rotate the kids between craft, Bible Story, missions, and Music, then they’d head outside for rec. We had about 20 kids at this VBS, though this time around, the teens were our biggest groups. And all but 2 of them were boys!! We had challenges here with an ever changing schedule, but at this point, flexibility had become the norm and we were becoming experts at punting! Healthwise, our team took a hit this week…4 of our members struggled with different issues which meant more punting! But, again, God blessed us with creativity and the willingness to step in to fill the gaps. It was a week of contrasts for me. Visiting with warm, loving people who left me in awe of their heart for Mongolia….while we stayed in cold, run-down Russian barracks that left me longing for our ger in UB! With another VBS complete, we loaded onto our bus to head back to the city. Did I mention that this ride was even more frightening than the bus rides in town? I was shocked to realize that was even possible! Again, we made it “home” safely! Funny how all of a sudden, the Oasis was ‘home” and we were so thankful to be back!
We had a few more days of down time, the guys did more work on the shelter, and we spent some nice time visiting with the other colorful folks staying at the Oasis. We also visited the Museum of Natural History in UB. 4 floors of badly taxidermed (is that a word?) animals. Seriously…you could count the staples! But, the gift shops were amazing and we found some really lovely souvenirs.
The food in Mongolia leaves a bit to be desired. LOTS of meat. Lots. of. meat. And we learned…don’t ask what it is, that only makes matters worse. Thankfully, we only ate authentic Mongolian food a handful of times…but I’m confident in saying, we ate sheep, goat, and horse meat. None of which would I recommend for your next family bbq! Living up to its name, the Oasis served a pretty Americanized menu. I’m sure we about ran them out of spaghetti and cheese sandwiches!
In all that we saw and all that we did, God was growing us. I really believe I learned that being in control isn’t always necessary. Mikayla learned a lot about gratitude and the things we take for granted. Ryan learned that he’s allergic to Mongolia so he needs to go somewhere else on his next mission trip. Did ya catch that? His NEXT mission trip? And Eric’s favorite part was the church services we attended at a local Mongolian church. We learned quickly that smiles and friendly greetings aren’t well received or reciprocated in UB (we reasoned that they possibly associate white people with Russians and that’s not a good thing)…until you enter the church. It was welcoming, open, accepting, a place where you could honestly feel love…kind of like our churches at home. It was a visual reminder of the difference God can make in someone’s life. And it convicted us to be praying and continually supporting the full time missionaries. They have a big job to do!
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