Hi everyone, sorry for not posting in such a long time. Things got really busy this past 10 days. Thank-you for your prayers. Teresa's birth mother's mom (Marg) is now home. She has healed enough that she can use a walker to move around, however going to the bathroom & back to bed is the most she can do. This still is amazing considering that she was suppose to not live through the car accident she was in. She has a hospital bed in the living room as she can no longer climb stairs. Please continue to pray for her as the shock of returning home totally different then when she left 3 months ago.
Thank-you for lifting up the Монгол хүн (Mongolian people) as they are cleaning up & trying to move on from the flash floods a month a ago. Please continue to pray for them as I have heard from other Mongolians that relief will only come to those who had their гэр (ger's) totally destroyed. Teresa & I were talking to one of my language teachers & he told me that another language teacher lost her ger in the flood. Well she totally did not lose her ger, but everything inside had sever water damage. Also the felt walls of the ger were soaked with the dirty (some cases) sewage water. The local government has requested warm clothing, blankets & medicine to help the people affected. If you/your ministry would like to help please contact JCS International: JourneyWithUs@jcsintl.org They will be able to instruct you from there. Unfortunately we are not able to process funds/articles to help this cause.
Language is going well, with lots of шийн үг (new words) to learn. I have just started the 5th of 8 tenses in the Монгол Хэл (Mongolian language) & it is going very well. My instructor told me that this by no means I am close to understanding Mongolian. I am only on chapter 9 of 16 in book #1 & there are three Mongolian language books. Teresa's classes are going great at home. Teresa's instructor enjoys coming to the apt. & Teresa finds learning much better at the kitchen table.
You all are going to laugh at this one (especially my brothers.) Yesterday I played in a football tournament (for you Canadians, soccer) for the first time. It was also the first time i played football. I was on the Mongolian pastoral team & our opponents were two teams from South Korea. We had full uniforms & we played 2 games with 30 minute halves. I played midfield & almost died. I had a breakaway, but was not able to score. It was a lot of fun & I was able to connect/network with many of the local Mongolian pastors. I guess they thought I can get better because they invited me to play with them each Sunday evening. That still didn't prevent me from coughing up a lung & my whole body from aching afterwards. Oh, there was a TV station televising the game.
This week we will be going on our annual JCS retreat (another organization we are part of.) Many "others" are part of JCS from Christian organizations. It is great because we are able to fellowship with "others" & learn more as to what "projects" they are doing all over the country. There will be about one hundred "others" including our/their children from all over the country.