The work has begun...

to our apartment. We have acquired the 1 room apartment next to ours so that Kiel & Esme can have their own rooms. We have felt that God has lead us to enrol Kiel in one of the private schools here in Улаанбаатар. He will need his own room for doing homework, plus felt that it was time to separate Kiel & Esme. They both are old enough now that a brother & sister need their own space. This will also allow Esme or Kiel to give their room for when other missionaries/Mongolian friends come from the countryside/other countries they will have a room & bed to sleep in.

The process of acquiring the other apartment had us buying a new door for the other apartment, hiring a crew of Mongolians to come in drill & cut the concrete, pound it out & take the pieces away. After they left Teresa & I spent 4 hours cleaning the dust. Today & tomorrow they will be finishing the holes (archways.) After seeing our concrete walls I am reassured what I already thought about that quality of the 1960/70's Russian buildings. They may look bad on the outside, but they are made like a rock.

Here is the 1st archway which opens up our apartment to the other apartment. Тереза бид 2 шини том өөр авсан.Тереза Эcми Кийл 3 шини гал торооны өөр монгол хэл бас гэрийн хэчээл сурж байна. (Teresa & I have taken the bedroom in this new apartment. Teresa, Kiel & Esme are using the new kitchen for Mongolian language lessons & home schooling.)

The 2nd archway opens up our little kitchen to our dinning room. This will give us more space in the kitchen for our older counter top that would not fit previously. Now our dinning room is more suited to the people (average 4-18 people) we enjoy hosting for a meal, time to talk & rest. these people are friends (foreign, Mongolian), missionaries visiting from other countries, YWAM missionary teams or other church teams from Russia, all over Europe, Canada & the US.

Last week was a really good week. Our Mongolian instructor while during my class spend a half an hour asking about the Bible & during class over the past month has been asking questions. Just now she is starting to trust me with very personal questions knowing that Teresa & I are safe to talk to. God is working because Teresa & I love & want to know Mongolians. After they know we genuinely care about them they feel safe & can continue to ask questions without feeling judged.God has taught us that God's timing is always longer than we think & lasting relationships are slow longterm investments.

Teresa spent an evening & an afternoon last week showing a group of Mongolians how to bake banana, chocolate & chocolate chip muffins for a new Christian cafe opening in the city. Most Mongolians do not have stoves only table top burners & do not know how to bake. Teresa taught our Mongolian home helper how to bake some simple recipes. She said that many of her friends want Teresa to show them how to bake. Teresa is thinking in the future that this many be another way to serve in our kitchen/dinning area.