Happy Woman's Day! Here in Mongolia we do not celebrate mother's day, but we do celebrate Woman's Day. Today is the day that Mongolians say thank-you to the close women in their lives (wives, daughters, close female friends.) Today was a nice day off.
Last week was extremely busy with a lot of highs & lows. For myself the week started with me being extremely frustrated with my Mongolian language. I am doing well reading & writing in Mongolian, but last week my speaking was difficult. It was like my mouth was not working. I knew the more complicated things I wanted to say in my head perfectly & correctly. But the minute I tried to use my mouth it was a mess. I was so frustrated that I spent most of last Wednesday afternoon & evening in deep prayer expressing my frustration, reading scripture & in silence listening to God's response to my situation. God gave me the answer, not the answer I was thinking, but was in perfect peace for the latter part of the week. I am finding that God is bringing people to me for life coaching. For the past few months I have been life coaching people here in Mongolia (Mongolians & other foreign missionaries) as well as coaching people in Canada & Europe using msn/skype. I finished the week coaching to some people who were/are going through a lot of stress & needed some help.
The kids had a good week. Their classes with Teresa went well & are moving forward in their learning. They have been amazing together & are the best of friends. They encourage each other in their school work & in other things. They both are excited for one of their good friends to return from Hong Kong Friday of this week.
I can truly say that Kiel is like me in that he enjoys eating & enjoys eating foreign food. We went to friends (married couple) for supper last week for North East Indian cuisine. They are YWAMer's from India & Holland. The food was really good & really hot, we all liked it, but Kiel loved it. Teresa asked Kiel earlier that day what he might want to do later in life. His response was a chief. I could see Kiel doing that. He is very creative, pays attention to detail, enjoys eating & loves foreign food. I think a chief would include all of these things, however we just encourage him to continue to discover what God has for him. God will reveal it to him in His time.
Esme is so artistic, colouring 2-5 pages each day & making crafts for people everyday. Esme is like her mother. She deeply cares for people & wants to give them what she can to make them feel special & loved. If we are going to someones home during the week Esme will plan in her mind what she will make for them, spend a day or two making it & will make sure that she gives it when we go. People are amazed & feel blessed by her colouring pages or crafts. Kiel, Teresa & I continually encourage Esme in her gifts & can't wait to see what she what she will do later in life.
This past weekend we, missionaries from many other organizations part of JCS International had a 40 hours of prayer for Mongolia. From Friday to Sunday we were praying for many different needs & things here in Mongolia. Teresa was part of the worship team leading the services on Friday night & Sunday morning. God, during that time really spoke to her & used her to speak to us (all the missionaries present) during the sharing time on Sunday morning. Teresa is a very wise woman. Her wisdom goes beyond her years because can sense the Holy Spirit's leading in many situations.
To end the Sunday service there was a map of Mongolia taped on the floor & we all joined hands standing on the taped map & prayed for Mongolia. Then we laid our hands on the person next to us & prayed for them in our native tongue. Kiel & Esme were prayed for by other missionaries & I was blessed seeing that. In that minute God spoke to me, "Matt, your children are mine, you love them, I love them & other missionaries here do also. They are mine & I will use them." Kiel & Esme after the service said that it was the best service they had been to in their lives.