One of the families from our church was awesome and had all of the foreigners over for a BBQ the other day and made us traditional M*ngolian skewers and “horhuk”; goat meat, potatoes, and onions cooked with red hot rocks inside of a metal container over a fire.
We were excited because we found a masseuse in town but I have a tip for you; if a masseuse ever asks you if you want them to put suction cups on your back say “no”. You’ll end up looking like the big loser of a paintball game or like you just came out of the Matrix.
Kim and I went for a little hike the other day. Bella found a bone to gnaw on.
I’ve never seen a sky like the one over Mongolia. It’s always wild, like having a river overhead, and feels like it’s right on top of you. This isn’t the best picture ever - Kim’s are way better - but it gives you an idea.
It’s been over ten days since our last update. Sorry about that! It’s been extremely busy over here; oddly because there’s been a lot back home to take care of. Hopefully we’ll have some good news for you later this week!
I wanted to post a couple pictures from our last trip to UB for Kim’s close of service seminar and to say goodbye to a few friends.
In this picture are our good friends Johnny, Marina, & Amy; and Patrick, Aurelia, and April. Johnny and Marina were here for four years and brought Amy back with them for this past year after having her in Canada. Johnny co-taught the Bible study to the small group leaders with me every Tuesday night for the past year. He also endured the humilation with me of being spanked on the butt with a shovel by a huge M*ngolian ogre as we scrambled over a fence after trespassing onto a really nice soccer field to throw my football around. They’ve moved back to Canada where they’ll have baby #2 and Johnny is working for their missions organization and teaching at their Bible school.
Marina was one of Kim’s partners in crime in the kitchen and they traded recipes and generally made everyone around them, especially in our Bible study, much happier. Amy was one of the smartest and coolest kids we’ve ever hung around. We’re really gonna miss her gregariousness, laughter, and when she would sing songs that she made up at the top of her lungs and with her eyes closed.
As sad as saying goodbye was, we made it more tolerable having a great dinner together at our favorite restaurant in UB called Veranda.
This is from when we said goodbye to our friend Vick because he went back to the States for vacation and will be getting back after we leave. We had dinner at an Americanized M*ngolian BBQ place in the capital. It tasted straight out of a mall food court! :)
Vick and I taught English together to the missionaries at the YWAM base for the first year I was out here. I learned a lot about teaching English from him. And you can’t tell it from the picture, but he can play a mean game of basketball.
My beautiful wife and Bella. Thanks to Marielle for the picture.
I found Bella on my way to the market last weekend. She was sleeping in a hole in a wall left by a removed brick and sleeping so soundly that I thought she was dead. So, naturally, I woke her up and took her to the cafe where Kim was teaching photography that morning so that she could get some water and make some friends. That has turned into her sticking around our place for the past week. I’ve taught her to sit and, from the looks of the picture, while I’m at work Kim is taking that to the next level by teaching her to sit on shoulders like a four-legged parrot.
