Nick Bogardus

Giving Thanks In Mongolia

In the spirit of David Letterman and High Fidelity, I’ll make a list. Here are the top 10 things I’m thankful for in Mongolia.


10. The ability to be a minority and an outsider. Don’t get me wrong, this is actually one of the harder parts of living in M*ngolia. A lot of people here don’t like foreigners and they’ll go out of their way to yell at you, bump into you, laugh at you, sometimes start fights with you, and generally let you know how much you’re not cared for. It doesn’t come close to the magnitude of their struggle, but I think it’s given me a whole new appreciation for what minorities in America have to go through to integrate and assimilate into our culture.

9. The chance to be friends with a people and a culture so foreign to my own. If I had never come here, I probably would’ve gone through my life never knowing a Mongolian or anything about their culture other than Chingiss Khan came from here. I’m thankful that we have friends out here that, when I think about it, will be really hard to say goodbye to. But that’s a good thing because that just means they’re substantial and that we’ve learned and given to each other. The flipside of the negative aspects of #10 are the positive experiences with the warm, curious, giving, and welcoming M*ngolians we’ve met.

Also, the chance to live in a culture so opposite of our own - one with a foundation of Communism, socialism, Buddhism, and atheism - has been eye-opening and something I could’ve never seen or experienced had I not actually lived in a developing country that’s landlocked between Russia and China.

8. The ability to miss so much. I kid you not I dream about the ocean and surfing at least once a week. We miss the smallest things out here. For example, we realized that we haven’t even seen lettuce since we left in February. Lettuce. I haven’t felt a hug from my parents, grandparents, or friends in close to a year. You don’t realize how much you can miss those little things and how much they really mean.

7. The ability to not miss so much. At the same time as I miss a lot of things, being here and having to live a simpler lifestyle has helped me see how many things in life are just filler, just distraction.

6. The ability to have Christian community at all. So many Christians around the world don’t have the luxury of being able to go to church or meet with other Christians. Because of persecution or geographic isolation, many Christians have to meet secretly, infrequently, or not at all. Worse yet, in so many nations where that ability is a right people don’t meet, don’t go to church, and don’t support the church for reasons of lethargic and selfish convenience. Again, I’d never have the experience if we didn’t live here but having consistent fellowship with Mongolian, Swedish, Canadian, Dutch, and French Christians has really opened my eyes to the necessity of Christian community. I’m incredibly thankful that God brought us to a place that, even though itself is unbelievably isolated, none of us really are. None of us are alone.

5. The ability to see American culture in new ways. It would be so easy to be cynical, to condemn the hysterical consumerism and materialism we live in. But I’m not going to do that. I will say that I’m thankful to be able to step outside of our culture and look in, and I’m anxious to see how that really plays out when we move back home.

I’ve traveled a lot in my life but I’d never seen just how far American culture permeates around the globe. The paved highway that connects our city (the second biggest in the country) to the capital was built just four years ago. Until four years ago, if people wanted to go to Ulaanbaatar their options were a horrific and nauseating ride in a Russian jeep with 15 other people over the bare M*ngolian steppe, or an overnight train that was something out of a Western movie. Despite that, the youth here are totally saturated in hip hop, the NBA, and pop stars.

4. The ability to see Christianity in new ways. Again, wouldn’t it be so easy to be cynical about our Americanized Christianity? But I’m not. I’m thankful to be here and to experience my faith lived out in a totally different context. If I said “different context” back home people might think denominationally; “charismatic”, “presbyterian”, or “southern baptist”. But to experience Christianity in a society so radically different from my own has been completely altering.

I don’t know the language very well at all out here. I can get by when I go shopping but that’s about it. So, I can’t really sing along during worship. Even so, what I like to do is close my eyes and just listen to a completely foreign people sing in a completely foreign tongue, praising God. I imagine that’s what heaven will sound like - in fact that’s exactly what Revelation describes. I guess I just get a sneak preview.

3. The encouragement of family & friends. I’ve never been good at asking for help but in so many things we’ve been utterly dependent on people back home. My parents have helped out with more than I could have ever asked and if it weren’t for them I probably wouldn’t legally be allowed to come back home. :) Our family and friends have been so great about sending emails and packages to encourage us and brighten our spirits when the days are hard out here. We’re supremely grateful for such loving families and friends. Kim and I are constantly saying to each other, “We are so lucky.”


2. The ability to see my wife in new ways. I get to see Kim operate in circumstances that are completely extraordinary to those we’d have if we were at home. Though she humbly denies it and downplays it, her M*ngolian is fantastic. The M*ngolians are always complimenting her language and they are so appreciative that she learned their language so well.

She’s gone through some really hard situations job-wise here; from a director who thought he was some bizarre combination of Stalin and Trump to a school who ran out of money and didn’t have any students so they left her all alone in a room all day doing nothing. God got her through that and put her in the place she wanted to be all along; doing a number on her through the process. It’s awesome to see how much she grew from just that one set of circumstances.

She created and implemented a photography curriculum with her friend Rachel, giving the M*ngolian children something they’d never had before and doing something no other PC volunteer had done.

Since she is a foreigner AND a girl, she has two strikes going against her and that creates for some very difficult situations for her. She gets disrespected a lot and has to bear with a lot of crap, but she does it, for the most part, with grace. (There are sometimes when she just has to stick up for herself though) :)

Most of all, she has stepped outside of herself to really connect with her students and form wonderful relationships with them. Their parents tell her how thankful they are that she is their child’s teacher and the kids absolutely adore and look up to her. She is only able to do that because she is so tenaciously compassionate and has made amazing efforts to cross cultures. I’m really thankful I’ve gotten to see and be a part of all of that.


1. The ability to see God in new ways. I’ve had the hymn “Great Is They Faithfulness” stuck in my head for a few weeks. All that we’ve needed, His hand has provided. When we’ve needed it the most, in His most humorous timing, He has provided cheer, strength, and hope. More than ever in my life, I feel like I’ve actually begun to get a glimpse of who God is, how He doesn’t change, and how, because of that, His promises are sure. I am just so eternally grateful that He has been so faithful to a little clay pot like me.

There is no way right now to see how this experience will play out in Kim and my lives together but, one thing I am sure of is that He is good and He is faithful.

I’m just curious, how have you seen God’s faithfulness in your life in the past year?