Mayich's in Mongolia

Help Was There

2012-02-06T23:32:00.001-03:00

"Instead of asking why the help has not come, the person at prayer learns to look carefully at what is actually going on in his or hers life...and ask. Could this be the help he is providing?"

Eugene H. Peterson

God has given us an opportunity to rest & be refreshed as a family. I have also been able to spend time alone with God thinking deeper about him & life.

Reading, Pondering, Praying this Morning

2012-01-24T01:46:00.001-03:00

Love on the Line

"There is nothing I am less good at than love. I am far better in competition than in love. I am far better at responding to my instincts & ambitions to get ahead & make my mark than I am at figuring out how to love one another.I am schooled & trained in inquisitive skills, in getting my own way.And yet, I decide, every day, to set aside what I can do best & attempt what I do clumsily - open myself to the frustrations & failures of loving...

All that is hazardous work; I live on the edge of defeat all the time. I have never done any of those things to my (or anyone else's) satisfaction. The Psalm, though, is not about hazards but about help. The hazardous work of discipleship is not the subject of the psalm but only the setting. The subject is help..."

Eugene Peterson

Each morning when I get up I have to place most of me aside & ask God to give me his love for people. Some days are better than others, but I am still his work in progress. I know he loves me.

People from all over the world

2012-01-19T05:21:00.000-03:00

There is a group of ywam students here from Singapore learning about Mongolia & serving Mongolians where ever they can. Tonight we are preparing a meal for 20 people. It's always great to be able to connect with people to elsewhere in the world to learn, teach, to pray for, receive prayer from, encourage & be encouraged by them.

A lot of crazy stuff has happened over the past couple of weeks, but nothing tops this. Teresa got a call from 2 German engineers who were in cycling on their mountain bikes across Siberia. They got her number from workers in Siberia. The workers told the German guys that if they needed any help to call Teresa. They called when they arrived in Ulaanbaatar asking if they could stay to warm up & have a meal. Teresa made them some of her amazing Indian food & we talked about their trip across Europe, Kazakhstan, Siberia & into Mongolia.

Each evening they would find a flat place to setup their small tents to sleep. I told them that they were a little crazy & that while they were here they would not sleep outside in the smog & cold. I knew they needed one night in a warm place so I found that there was an empty apartment in our building. I told our building manager their story & asked if they could sleep in the empty apartment. I told her just charge me what it would cost. She then said "because it's you Matt, it's free." I graciously thanked her & got the key. The next day we shared a hug & sent them on their way. They were taking the train from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing, then cycling to Hong Kong, Laos, Vietnam & Thailand.

2012-01-04T10:19:00.000-03:00

The end of last week & the beginning of this week we were meeting with a Canadian family. They live in the countryside & in their town are the only foreigners. They have been very stressed lately with not being in Mongolia for a full year yet & not having other foreigners in their town. They came into the city to rest, get supplies & to get together with us. They have 5 children & our kids have been having a blast playing with them. Teresa & I have also enjoyed having them to our place, for food, conversation & getting to know each other. It's nice that people from the countryside see us & our home as a place where they can be encouraged, understood, have fun & enjoy friends.

This week students from a Lutheran College in Western Canada arrived to see & experience Mongolia. They will be here for the next 3 weeks travelling with us to see some of the ways we are serving Mongolians. They also will travel with some others serving here.

Today we went to one of the local hospices I regularly visit. They received a tour of the hospice & then we visited one of the patients. She is 54 years old & has stomach cancer. Her abdomen was very bloated due to the cancer. In spite of the pain she was in was eager to talk with us (me being the translator this time.) Her sister of 69 was with her to be company, to talk to & rub her feet/legs that were sore. We all had a great time talking, laughing & getting to know each other. After an hour unfortunately had to leave, but left with both the patient & here sister asking me to cook Україна холубтси (Ukrainian cabbage rolls) & bring them with me next week when we will see each other again.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2011-12-26T23:44:00.000-03:00

I hope that you all had a great Christmas & will have a happy New Year. I hope that many of you will continue to enjoy spending time with family & friends. Please do not forget the many people we know that find this time of year, painful, lonely or difficult. Reach out & show them love so they feel cared for.

"It's easy to show love to those who can give it back,

even difficult people can do that. But, to show love to

those who can't give it back is serving."

Happy New Year!

Sick...

2011-12-21T22:05:00.001-03:00

Hi everyone. Could you please pray for us. Teresa has had flu-like symptoms since August & has developed asthma. She is usually wheezy all the time. I have had a very bad head cold now for 3 weeks & can't seem to be able to get better. Thankfully the kids seem to be ok. Here are 2 pictures I took a couple of minutes ago:

This picture is looking out our front window.

This picture is looking out Kiel's bedroom window.

This is the (air pollution) smog that we live in all the time from October until April each year & we have lived in this for 3 years thus far. All of the foreign workers in this country leave at least twice a year for physiological & health reasons. Even Mongolians that can afford it leave at least once a year. One of the largest struggles with Mongolians in this country is depression. Leaving is not an option for us due to the cost & we are feeling it.

I am so thankful that our kids seem to be ok, but I can say that the poor air quality taking its toll on our bodies. It started this past summer that even in the summer you can see the layer of smog hovering over the city. Teresa has not really been able to sleep well since August & I have been struggling with sleep for over a month now. Please pray that our bodies will be able to heal. Kiel has asked if we will be still sick at Christmas & how that will be so hard. He said that Christmas will not be the same with Teresa & I sick & really tired.

We have read 2 world air quality studies that were done this Fall & both studies showed that Ulaanbaatar Mongolia (the city we live) is the 2nd worse, worse air polluted city in the world.

Learning Is Fun

2011-12-06T02:41:00.003-03:00

Teresa & Esme last week came home from their educational countryside trip. Esme learned how to ride Mongolian camels (2 humps), to dye different colours into camel wool, make felt from camel wool, create a felt hamburger, sandwiches on a tray & a strawberry purse. She had lots of opportunity to practice the Mongolian she is learning in her weekly language classes as she played with the younger Mongolian girls in Altai.

Teresa also had a great time learning the same things as Esme, but also got to create some new things for the Mongolian felt project to create. Some of the things Teresa created was a beautiful red felt stocking, an advent calendar, etc...

Teresa spent time with the Mongolian staff enabling her to practise Mongolian which sometimes can be a challenge. Altai Mongolian is very different from Ulaanbaatar Mongolian. It's always great when you get the chance to meet & spend time with Mongolians. She really enjoyed spending time with our foreign friends in the countryside. Many times our friends find it lonely being a 30 hour drive from the city or a 2 hour plane ride. They were so excited when Teresa brought them a block of cheese, fresh coffee & some other small gifts.

Last week I went to the hospice expecting my friends to have passed away, but was so excited to see that they were still alive with a new roommate. I went over to the lady that last time couldn't sit still because her pain was so great. I said, "hi" to here, but the funny thing was that she did not recognize me & introduced herself. This is the amazing thing. She looked as if she was pain free, alert, talking, walking as a normal person. The other older lady that was motionless on her bed & could only whisper last time was speaking more clearly. But, while I was talking to the new roommate started dancing all around the room. I was completely amazed & so excited!

Their new roommate was from the countryside, in her late thirties, had a 18 month old son with her husband in the countryside & was a Mongolian/English grammar teacher. We talked for a while & shared about our lives for some time. Then she asked me to pray for her. All of us (the 3 patients, a couple of nurses & myself) had a great time learning more about each other, laughing together singing songs together, eating & drinking Mongolian food/drink. I found out that the lady who was dancing was a circus juggler/performer for 30 years in the Mongolian circus. She told me that she has travelled all over Mongolia & Russia.

I have learned this though. All of the patients always ask me to pray for them & ask me to hold their hand or gently lay my hand on their shoulder as I pray. It seems so simple, yet can feel so hard to do. Many times we take it for granted & forget about it, but people in need know it, want it, don't forget about it & ask for it.

Gifts. What are they?

2011-11-21T00:56:00.002-03:00

Teresa & Esme are still in the countryside having a wonderful time. Esme is playing with the Mongolian girls close to the ger where she is staying, learning how to felt a purse, bookmarks & jewellery with Mongolian women. Teresa is having fun spending time with our friends (30 hour car ride) laughing, sharing, crying, encouraging & learning. Kiel & I are having a great time at home together. Kiel went to a sleepover & I went to my Indian (from India) friends home for his amazing curry over the weekend. Kiel & I are fixing, watching movies, playing, building lego, asking questions & sharing together (fun, scary, difficult, & life stuff.) We have been slowing down our lives for a few days just because we realize the gift we have been given.

As you have been reading our posts & the times I weekly spend at the hospice God has been really speaking to me today. I have been asked many times in the last few days, "Matt what do you want?" At 1st I could come up with a couple of things, but before answering would pause & (in my head) "Matt, what do you want?" then I realized that what I want can't really be bought. I want to spend time with our family & friends sharing a home cooked meal. I want to learn better Mongolian, which means spending more time being with & talking to Mongolians. I want to learn Russian so that I can talk more with the Russians I have befriended in our building. I could buy something (books, software, an instructor, etc...), but deep down when my old (60's) friend offers to teach me over coffee or the Russian kids ask me to sit outside the building an hour a week know that the relationship with him or the kids is worth far more than what money can buy.

I have to be honest that sitting with terminally ill Mongolians, old, young, children, men, women, in pain & feeling no pain has really challenged me in my life as to what I need & what I don't need. What in life matters. Deep down every week there is a part of me that doesn't want me to go to the hospice. This voice in my head saying, "you have to be busy with other things, what are you going to say, what are you going to do, why are you doing this to yourself, it's so depressing , there has to be something you could do that is easier." But deep down there is this voice that says, "Matt, you want to better your Mongolian, you want to spend more time with Mongolians, you want to visit & share life with more Mongolians. Then share it with these people that need it most, the dieing patients, the doctors, nurses & families."

I am scared most of the time I am there because I think I am inadequate & in many ways think I am. But when the patients & families say, "thank-you" even when all I did was sit next to them, talk or pray with when asked in my elementary Mongolian realize it's not about me. Here I have (Teresa & the kids too) realized that giving of ourselves is really hard & many times hurts, but when you see what you are able to give (love, kindness, peace, friendship & relationship) makes it a place where it's not only bearable, but a place where you love. Things (stuff) come & go, but it is the people you live with/around & the relationships you have with them that last for a lifetime.

As we prepare for the new things to come don't let your things (material, other) be a cover, mask, a gift that will allow you to not deepen your relationships with people you love or the people you know you need to reach out to & start a relationship with. Also please don't think you need to have something 1st before you reach out to someone, start a relationship with someone or repair/reconcile an important relationship with someone. All they need is you.

Show me life

2011-11-17T03:16:00.004-03:00

God said this morning, "Matt look at the beauty of this place." Then he gives me this song & says "ask for this Matt."

...Show me life

Bigger than I've known

I want to feel more then alive

Show me love

Beautiful & true

Change the old to new inside

Show me life...

Addison Road - Show me life.

Teresa & Esme are now in the Gobi Desert to learn, to play, encourage, & rest with friends (3 single women serving Mongolians) who live there. I can't help but think of Esme's education & Teresa's gift of encouragement. Esme will be living in a Mongolian ger, meeting with, talking to Mongolians in Mongolian (she is studying), eating their food & will be riding horses, camels & maybe a Yak. Teresa brought real cheese, coffee (both don't exist in the countryside), & some other small gifts. Teresa will play games, cook, laugh, cry & share life with these 3 ladies who live in Gobi. It can be very lonely & they said that coming to visit is worth more than gifts. It's a gift that Teresa & Esme are able to support & encourage these ladies in this way. Thank-you.

Kiel is in school right now & he is so excited that mum & Esme are having girlie time in the desert & that he & I are going to have a whole week of father son guy time. It is such a gift to have time together as we live life here.

I visited the hospice again this week. The nurses & doctors were so excited to see me again. The 1st thing I noticed was that all 4 of the clients/patients I met with, talked to & prayed with 2 weeks ago were gone. All 4 of them died. That is the hard reality of a hospice here. When you enter you know that you will not leave alive.

I met with 2 new clients & they both were in a lot of pain, 1 lady was moaning loudly & couldn't sit still because of the pain she was in. She was in her 40's & her husband was sitting at the end of the bed trying to comfort her. Her parents were sitting on another bed in the room. The family asked me to sit with Chimik & to please pray for her. To be honest it is the scariest thing when I am in this type of situation. You are with deeply hurting people & words are insufficient. Being with speaks more. When I finished praying Chimik's pain had subsided enough for her to lay still on her bed. The family thanked me & then I left to go see the other lady in great pain.

The other lady was laying motionless in her bed & could only whisper. I talked to her for a few minutes in Mongolian. She kept trying to talk to me in Russian, but I told her a few times she needed to talk in Mongolian. I only clearly understood 50% of what she was saying & the other 50% put together the words that I understood & got the main point of what she was saying. She asked me to pray for her & I did. She whispered "thank-you to me" & I told her that I would see her next week. But when I looked into her eyes I knew that she didn't think we would meet again.

Starting to get cold

2011-11-08T21:17:00.001-03:00

Last week was a great week, Teresa & Esme had a great week of school, Kiel auditioned for the school Christmas play & is the lead character & I went to a hospice in the city & was able to visit with 4 clients that are dieing of cancer.

Last week visiting the hospice was an experience that I am still talking about. I am still filled with joy when I think about the experience. I have learned that I have a gift when it comes to visiting people in crisis or dieing. I enjoy listening to people, hearing their story, what they are struggling with & what their dreams still are. Usually after I have heard people I share a little about me & my story. Sometimes all I do with people is to sit with them quietly & say nothing. They just need someone to "be with them" as they are in their place of grief, pain, suffering, preparation of what is to come. I have always deeply cared for people in these situations & feel like this is an area God wants me to focus on.

Many of my foreign friends have said to me (Teresa included) "that sounds so depressing." But I have learned that I am filled with joy when I am able to be with people who are in need, scared & lonely due to an illness or accident. Culturally Mongolians who are dieing, sick or injured are especially lonely because of their beliefs. If you talk, think or focus in anyway on death, people who are dieing, sickness, people who are sick or an accident then bad luck will be brought upon you, your family, your job or anything else that you hold dear. Anything you hold dear will be lost, become sick or die. Due to their beliefs many Mongolians suffer alone.

This week Teresa is continuing to study her leadership class with many of our foreign & Mongolian friends. This week they are focusing in on leadership & the Asian culture. Some of the topics are, dealing with conflict, mentoring, working with others & empowering others to leadership. Teresa really enjoys learning in a classroom setting with an instructor & fellow students from all over the world that have lived all over the world for many years.

This week I am at home teaching Esme & taking care of the stuff at home. I actually am really enjoying it. It's a nice change of pace & am able to spend more time with Esme.

Time with Friends

2011-10-31T00:16:00.001-03:00

Wow. I can't believe that 2 weeks have already flown by. These past 2 weeks have been very busy to the point where Teresa has been reminding me many things that I have forgotten & I have been doing the same for her. We have had 6 families over to our place for a meal & have been invited to many of our friends places also.

It has been good to get to know new people that have recently come to Mongolia. One family from Australia had never carved a pumpkin before. It is amazing that some things you just assume other countries do the same cultural things as you & to you're surprise find out that they don't. So Teresa, our kids & their kids carved a pumpkin. Their kids were amazed at how slimy the pumpkin insides were. They also couldn't understand that pumpkin seeds baked in the oven were good to eat. "But, Mrs. Teresa how do you get the slime off the seeds?" one of the kids asked. The funny thing was that 3 weeks ago I could only find orange squash & thought they would be our pumpkins, but our Mongolian friend told us that they had found pumpkins on the other side of the city. We were very excited & asked if they could buy us 3. One each for the kids & one for Teresa & I.

It has also been great to see old friends that have come for a visit. Our old ywam school leader, a Kiwi came for a 2 week visit to see friends all over the country. It's always a great time when he comes, to share about what's going on here, what's going on for him back home in the US, to encourage each other & to pray. It's one thing that all of our friends here agree on. One of the biggest ways to encourage is to come & visit if you can.

Kiel this past week had his Fall break, meaning that he had a week off of school. Esme was funny last week asking if she could have her Fall break also. We all had a great time having their friends over for a sleepover, them going to their friends for a sleepover, playing with friends here, there & everywhere. Deep down I now know that the kids having a week off (break from the routine) is so much more of a challenge when you still needs to keep your work routine. In spite of the craziness Teresa & I were able to have some special times with the kids together & alone. I love having the short, but very special times with our kids & the kids are so thankful we share them together.

Things on the home front have been good. The computer room at the community centre has been going well. The kids & adults of all ages have been using the room to research school projects, get their homework online, practice their typing skills, to read the books on the shelves & to sit quietly to finish their homework. It's also a great time to build new relationships & deepen existing relationships with the people that live in our community.

Our kid craft class is still going strong with 30 kids from our ger district coming. For us this craft class is a great family time. All 4 of us really, really like everything that goes on during craft class. Our kids really like getting to know the community kids (their names, ages, brothers & sisters), working together with them making the crafts, helping each other, laughing with them & talking to them in Mongolian & teaching them some English. Teresa & I like learning & doing all same things as our kids do with the Mongolian kids. Each week as we get in the car & start driving down the hill the community kids have big smiles & wave good bye.

Last week while very, very sick in bed had a friend call looking for a place his Mongolian NGO employee could temporally move to. She could no longer live with her extended family any longer. Both her sisters & brother had party/drinking problems. His NGO employee needed to move because life was too stressful living in the same yard (hasha) as her family. I was able to call our staff & offer her a spot on our (community centres) emergency hasha. This is a place we have close to the community centre for people/families that need temporary housing because they have lost their belongings or need to get out of difficult situations.

"...then feed them"

2011-10-14T21:13:00.001-03:00

Earlier in the week I was talking to an older Russian man that I usually talk to. He & his family live in our building as well as many other Russians. I told my Russian friend that I would be making холубтси (in Ukrainian) which are in my opinion totally different from голубтзи Russian Cabbage rolls. I told him that if I made some I would give him some. He was taken back & at 1st didn't believe i was serious. But when I told him I was, he shockingly said "Спасибо" (thank-you.)

Yesterday was the day. While I was homeschooling Esme started sauteing the onions & garlic, mixing the ground beef, & boiling the head of cabbage. Our Mongolian home helper always gets excited when I make холубтси (holubtsi) & Esme likes watching me too. 3 hours later & 40 холубтси later I was ready to place them in the oven for 2 hours. I them put my 2nd roaster in the oven to cook for another 2 hours.

When both roasters were both finished I took 6 large холубтси wrapped them in foil & went to my Russian friends apartment. They were not home so I made all of my Mongolian friends so happy & gave them each a large холубтси. They usually are so happy when I make Українська (Ukrainian) food. Finally I went back to my Russian friends apartment door. He was not home, but told his wife that I promised her husband these cabbage rolls & here they were still hot. The biggest smile came over her face that I had never seen before in the 3 yrs living here. It was as if she was a little girl that had been given a special gift, that kind of a smile. I usually never see her smiling.

Words do not need to be spoken because in a smile so many things are communicated that words cannot describe. "...feed my sheep."

Deep down yesterday was such a powerful day. All I used was my heart, my hands & my smile.

Two International Studies

2011-10-05T00:35:00.000-03:00

Last week 2 international studies published reports of the World's cleanest & most polluted cities in the world. The cool thing is that many Canadian cities were in the top 10. Now here is the funniest part of the studies. Ulaanbaatar Mongolia (here we live) ranked the worst, 2nd worst air polluted city in the world. Here is an example of the air quality when it's warm outside:

Here is an example when it's cool outside (this morning):

Both of these pictures are the same just different times.

Many people would never live here just on this basis alone. But when you feel you are suppose to be here helping & serving Mongolians this is just one of the risks you have to take. This place feels like home to us as polluted as it is. It is home.

Great couple of Weeks

2011-10-04T22:22:00.017-03:00

These past couple of weeks have been great. A friend, Canadian & art teacher from ASU asked if she could have a art/craft class once a week at the centre. We were excited about the opportunity for the kids living in the ger district around the community centre & of course said yes. The cool thing was that it was her 1st time visiting the ger district after living in the city for over a year. Here are a couple of pictures from our 1st art class:

We had 18 kids from the community come ranging from 2 years old to 14. It was awesome! I had a great opportunity to chat with the kids in Mongolian of course. After craft class we all played games outside in the community centres yard. I really like opportunities like this because our kids really like spending time with & playing together with the Mongolian community kids. I am not a fan of foreign kids being segregated from local kids because their is so much lost like learning a new culture, a new language, sharing good values & having friends from a different country.

The craft class teacher shared how cool the 1st class was & recruited a 2nd Canadian teacher to help this past weekend. This past week was a fun family time with all the community kids because all 4 of us went to talk, create & play with the kids. It was funny because I went on to the street & saw some kids walking down the street & told them (in Mongolian) that there was a craft class going on & they needed to come. They said "oh, big brother, just wait" & ran down the street. They came back 15 minutes later with 7 of their friends to join the craft class. I was so excited.

Two weeks ago during one of our staff meetings our Mongolian accountant told us about a poor Mongolian family that only had a Mongolian summer ger. Her fear was that they would be extremely cold, would probably get sick or worse could freeze this winter only having a summer ger. We had a church kids program in Canada give us a donation this fall & really felt that Teresa & I were to use this money to winterize this families ger. It was so awesome because to buy the wood floor, the felt to winterize the ger, the fuel for the truck, & the food (small amount of groceries) we broght for them to eat was almost the exact amount the kids program raised for us.

The family is very special to me because the young girl of 7 years is being raised by her grandparents because her mother died when she was younger. They are doing what they can to raise their granddaughter, but due to their age can't do much because they look in their late 60's. The young girl is very bright & has already received 3 gold medals for, reading, writing & mathematical skills. These are the people we like to invest in.

The Mongolian ger they bought 3rd hand & is old, but is a good quality one. It was so awesome to bless this family with a gift that will keep them warm this winter. The grandfather was quietly shedding tears, the grandmother was quietly shedding tears with a huge smile on her face & the granddaughter had a huge smile on her face & quietly said to me in Mongolian, "баярлалаa" which means "thank-you." They were in total disbelief that there were kids in Canada that cared enough for them to give money so they could have a warm home this winter & a small amount of food.

This for me makes all the challenges of living here melt away. Just helping the everyday poor Mongolian family & their children/grandchildren.

If you watch the slideshow on the left you will be able to see the process of winterizing a Mongolia ger.

Cool time a week ago

2011-09-25T09:00:00.000-03:00

A week ago Friday was a very special day for both Teresa & I.

Last Friday I was asked to attend my female Mongolian language instructor's father-in-laws Buddhist funeral. This was very special for be because 1 year earlier my Mongolian instructor's father passed away. I was asked to go to the morgue & the reception, but was not allowed to attend the Buddhist funeral. This time I was asked to attend everything, present at the morgue, at the funeral in the countryside & attend the reception.

I was asked to take two Mongolian gentlemen with me in my vehicle. One of them was a good friend of Bat (my language teacher's husband) & was a government official. The government official was wonderful because everything thing that happened he would explain to me what was going on & why Mongolians or the Lama would do what he was doing. It was an awesome learning experience for me.

The thing that is edged into my mind was when Bat was reading the account of his father & started crying because he was going to miss his father. We all were standing close together surrounding the open casket, crying for the loss of their father, father-in-law, brother, husband & dear friend. When everyone opened their tear filled eyes & saw me quietly crying with them they gave me a look of respect. They saw that I deeply care for them & their people.

There was one practice that everyone did after I watched them dig the hole, say our good-byes, cry together, lower the casket, cover the casket with dirt & cement the headstone in the ground that I did not feel comfortable with. The government official motioned to/invited me to participate in the last practice. I motioned to him that I didn't feel comfortable & he respectively motioned to me that "it was ok."

During the reception he introduced me to many people he knew, telling them that a was a really good guy & loved Mongolians. After eating our meal Bat gave me gifts & deeply thanked me for coming knowing that I am usually busy working at the community centre.

Teresa & Esme had a great day too. Three kids from the orphanage came to our place to hang out. This time it was awesome as Teresa put it because our home helper was there to help Teresa with her Mongolian. All 6 of them played games, laughed, taught each other both English & Mongolian as well as cooking a meal together. Teresa, Esme & our home helper were so happy that the kids came again & wanted to hang out at our place. The kids were at our place for 6 hours & Teresa felt that they were really able this time to communicate. It gets Teresa & I so excited when we are able to be there for people & really build relationship with them, at our home & elsewhere.

Some ways we are serving Mongolians

2011-09-15T12:32:00.006-03:00

Last night the real feel temperature got down to -14 Celsius & our apartment went down to 15 inside. This morning the real feel was -7.5 Celsius & I hope we get to the high of 8 Celsius.

I want to share with you all in a little more detail how we have been serving Mongolians & others recently. The last 2 weeks I have been helping our community centre's director build a house for a Mongolian family in the ger district close to the community centre. Here is a picture of the house all 4 of them live in now, personally I like it. I know many of you cannot believe what I'm saying, but when you go inside there is everything a family would need & it's comfortable. The biggest problem with their home now is that there is no isolation. The walls are totally made or brick & cement. The steel roof also lets out a lot of heat too.

The owner has a good job as a cook for an Indian restaurant here & was starting an addition to the home they are living in. Our director came over for a visit one day & saw what he was doing (adding another home with no isolation) & said that he could build a nice little home that would be warm (isolated well approx. R-20) with him & the community centre staff. He is paying for as much of the home as he can with his salary. God has really taught me that many times excess material things prevents real deep relationship with people. I have to be careful because I can hide myself behind my stuff & prevent real relationship from happening.

As I mentioned in an earlier post that Teresa served at the orphanage camp for a week in the summer. Well one of the orphanage girls (age 16) has come to hang out with Teresa a couple of times thus far. This is when Mongolian conversation can be a real struggle as she visited the house for 6 hours. Teresa said it was really hard because she doesn't know any English, but in spite of that her, Teresa & Esme made cookies, played some card games & talked a little. Another time she joined Teresa & Esme as they went to the market to buy Esme's birthday gift. It was funny because she is 16, but always wanted to hold Teresa's hand when they were out. Teresa & I realized that she really knows that verbal communication is not really what she needs. She just wants someone who loves her to be with her, to hold her (doesn't get a loving touch) & to have something to do with someone, like a big sister (Teresa.) It's a real gift just to let these kids know we love them & care about them.

Teresa is also helping at Kiel's school again once a week. She really wants to help Mongolian & foreign students with learning disabilities this year. There really is not any help for these students & many of them get frustrated, discouraged & have low self-esteems. Teresa wants to help these students with their English & other learning so that they can feel encouraged & will have good self-esteems.

My main responsibility at the community centre is being their IT person & this service keeps me busy. At the community centre we have a small library/computer room. The room is about 7 meters long & 4 meters wide. In this room we have a bookshelf with Mongolian & English books, a large couch, 4 desktop computers, a kitchen table with 4 chairs & a whiteboard. You all have provided many of the parts for these computers as I had to fix them all up so they would be ready for our ger district students to use for school projects & homework. You all have also provided the homemade wooden kitchen table with 4 chairs & the whiteboard for the older (high school, university) students to work on projects together. Many of these students live in a Mongolian ger & do not have the space to work or have access to the internet at home.

About half of each week I monitor the library to help the community kids with the computers, using the internet, talk to them & possibly play a board game or two. It's been a great way for me to build relationship with these kids. In Mongolian they all call me "big brother" which I like a lot.

Already when I walk up the hill in the ger district & pass by the kids Mongolian ger's they all run out to meet me with smiles on their faces. They also pet my arms & face like I am an animal & call me by my nick name (hairy animal) because Mongolians don't have any body/facial hair & well, I have been blessed with it. Many of them have never felt arm/facial hair & think it's cool. They always have big smiles on their faces when they are with me & call me their big brother. I really love meeting them each week to talk about what they are doing, what their week has been, how things are at home, to encourage them in what they still have to do & to play with them sometimes.

Some of the other ways we are serving is networking people who normally wold not have contact with many people in the ger district. A friend of ours (Canadian) who is an art teacher working here wanted to offer art/craft classes to kids in the ger district. I have organized it so that she can use the community centre to serve the kids & teach them fun crafts. I will also be meeting with a businessman next week to show him around the city, the ger district, community centre & host him for a home cooked meal at our place. We were introduced via an email by a Canadian businessman friend & supporter of ours.

Each week we have two home groups for expats we lead. One is always at our place & the other is sometimes at our place & sometimes at other homes. We share a meal, laugh, encourage, share our thoughts & pray.

Please pray for us & my Mongolian best friend. This morning I started Mongolian language classes with him again for 3 hrs. once a week. I need a translator because my Mongolian will take years to be at the level it needs to be when I visit more adults, students, children & families in the ger district. Many of these people are suffering in some way & we at the community centre offer them help, just enough to help them get back on their feet as we say. The visits are to find out how they are doing. We not only provide them with some physical needs, but also whole person needs. We care about all of the people we are helping.

My Mongolian best friend has a really good job with an Embassy in the city. I told him that I have started praying for someone & could you please pray too. I told him that I would like him, but know he has an awesome job already. This man is amazing, when we are together we are like 2 brothers. He has known me since we came & was my Mongolian language teacher. He knows that I want to continue to know & learn more Mongolian. He has a heart for his people, families & children, more then I. He knows how to push me with my language & challenges me with cultural things. He comes for meals from time to time, Teresa & the kids love him. For a short time he was Teresa's Mongolian language instructor & has helped Teresa with many Mongolian things already. Please pray & time will tell.

This time of year is also very hard because there are 1 month old puppies & kittens (strays) all around here. You walk by them & they come running up to you wining, meowing & howling. You know that most of them will probably die this winter of the cold or of starvation. Here is a little puppy that was jumping on my leg this morning. I didn't take him home. You have to get thick skin when you live in a place like this. We have already rescued 2 kittens, which now are very big cats.

Winter is here!

2011-09-13T19:41:00.001-03:00

This morning is warmer than most these past two weeks. It's 2 Celsius. Last Monday is was 29 Celsius & then that night the seasonal shift happened & last Tuesday morning is was -4 Celsius. Here is a picture of our 1st snowfall.

Please pray for many people tonight. The forecast with windchill tonight is suppose to be -15 Celsius. Central heating is not suppose to turn on until the 15th. Due to the many deaths last year of private coal miners & the air pollution issues in the city coal is not really available yet this year. Also the price has gone up a lot, making it difficult for many to buy coal. This is a big concern for many people living in the Ger District this year who have totally relied on coal as their heat source in the fall, winter & spring. It's normal each winter to hear from Mongolians that people they knew froze in the night.

I will post again this week giving more details of last & this week.

Some things are back to normal

2011-09-06T21:32:00.000-03:00

Hi everyone. i know that a couple of posts ago I said that I would share what happened in August & then many things happened. I am sorry for making this even shorter than I planned, but here is it. In the 1st week & a half we went to the countryside for a retreat. During the retreat we slept in a Mongolian ger & were together with many of our friends from all over Mongolia. We had guest speakers (husband/wife team) that served in Brazil with their children for many years & are now living in New Zealand. While we, the adults were in our sessions the kids had a program that was taught by an American team.

It really was a great time, but due to the extraordinary amount of rain this year there were a lot more insects this year sleeping in the ger. One night at about 3am Teresa jumped out of bed & said "Matt. Something just bit my foot." when I shined on her bed we both saw the biggest Locust we had ever seen. It was 8cm long & it's body was 2cm think. Here is a picture I took during the day.

The week after we packed up our bags & went camping for a week in the countryside, knowing that it would be our last chance before school started & winter came. We of course had some friends come along. One is Canadian teacher here & the other is Australian that is an MK currently studying Mongolian having grown up in different countries & served in a different country before coming here. They both are part of our small group of friends.

Here is a picture of our here we stayed. The day I took this picture it was 35 degrees Celsius. When I look at this picture it is still amazing to think that in 3 months this exact same place will be -35 degrees Celsius.

Mongolia is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It is a gift to be able to live here.

Kiel is back to school & is enjoying being in grade 4. Went we came back this year all of us were curious as to if we had made a difference at Kiel's school. Well as soon as we went back we knew that we did. All of the foreign, Mongolian teachers, staff & students were so excited to see us. They all stopped to talk & ask Kiel about his summer. Teresa & I had parents, teachers & students (both foreign & Mongolian) excited to see us & wanted to hear the details of our summer. They all said that they were looking forward to seeing us this year.

Esme had an awesome birthday, with 9 of her friends. I think it's awesome when I look at her friends & where they are from (Mongolia, Australia, South Korea, Canada, United States, Switzerland, UK & more.) Here is a picture of the homemade ice cream cake that Teresa is becoming famous for. Russian ice cream is the most amazing thing in the world. There is something about ice cream made with 100% cream that makes a difference.

Home schooling is going really well this year. Esme did not forget the things she learned last year & Teresa has a very busy schedule this year. Teresa, Angela, Naomi & me will be teaching her this year & some of her home schooling will be with 2 of her Korean/Australian friends. Esme this year will also be taking a Mongolian language class each week. Teresa & I are so excited that soon all four of us will be able to communicate in Mongolian together. It will be so awesome when we return to Canada & all four of us can speak in a language that others will not.

Please Pray

2011-08-30T10:02:00.000-03:00

Am really sad, in shock & have already cried a lot. I just found out that one of my Mongolian friends (died of bone cancer) who I used to visit from time to time passed away. Her Mongolian name was Flower Цэцэг. I will miss her because God allowed her to have a special place in my heart. I will miss talking (Mongolian, a little Ukrainian & Russian), laughing, praying & the hug at the end of our visits. I am happy for her because she is no longer in pain & she is in a better place.

Here is a picture when we were together last laughing during a family meal. She was in a great deal of pain this day, but still was full of joy.She will be dearly missed.

Please pray for her family & her 2 young children she left behind.

Tired of traffic

2011-08-30T06:31:00.001-03:00

Hi everyone I will post the details of the last 3 weeks in the next couple of days.

For the second day in a row I have spend 3 hours sitting in traffic.The struggle is that I'm going to have to do the same for the next 3 days. I can tell you all that God really works on my character when I am sitting in traffic because Mongolians generally drive like they are sitting on a horse riding in a field. They create their own lanes, drive on the opposite side of the road & cut you off at will looking at you like it was your fault. All I can say Би аймаар тайван бол Монгол цагдаа байдаг (I am so at peace when there is a Mongolian police officer there.) They take the chaos & bring order. The only thing is between the intersections the chaos returns. People laugh, but there are times when I kiss the wall in our doorway saying, "I made it alive & only gained a couple grey hairs in the process. Thank-you, thank-you."

I hope you all will enjoy your day & enjoy the fact that people drive differently where you are. If they typically drive the same way where you live I will pray for your safety.

The Team is gone

2011-08-02T00:52:00.000-03:00

Sunday morning the Hong Kong team left to rest & prepare themselves to work on Monday. The past 10 days was totally crazy, but I have to say the kids in the ger district close to the community centre had so much fun, playing games, making crafts, acting in skits & singing songs. During the afternoons the Hong Kong team visited the poor Mongolian families on our food distribution program & helped a man by buying supplies, digging holes to place posts for a hasha (fence) car door & a gate for people to come in to his yard in another ger district.

This week Teresa is in the countryside with the orphanage kids our centre staff spends time with during the year. She is with the staff from the centre & a new team of people from Hong Kong. I am with the kids at home this week & am really enjoying it because last week I only saw them in the mornings at breakfast for an hour before having to leave.

For Me last week was awesome getting to know the people from Hong Kong & working with them. All of them many times during last week told Teresa & I how amazing our kids are. They have such amazing servant hearts. They always wanted to help the team, the Mongolian kids & were always taking care of each other. They said that you usually never see this with the kids in Hong Kong. They asked if our kids could teach the kids in Hong Hong how to serve & care for others. That was such an encouragement for Teresa & I as we are doing our best to raise our kids to love God & to love & respect others.

Please pray that Teresa has a good week. Please pray for me as I have been having migraine headaches starting yesterday & again today. My neck is tense, my vision is blurry in one eye, from time to time feel dizzy & my head is pounding. Last week was awesome, but I think it's taken a toll on my body & need to rest this week.

Time with the Team

2011-07-26T12:56:00.000-03:00

Hi everyone. I am sorry to say that I do not have the time this week to post much detail. We have a group of 16 Hong Kong Chinese business men & women here helping at the community centre. They are visiting some of the families we help with our food, vitamin & clothing distribution & playing games, making crafts with the kids from the ger district. This week I have been/will be with the team 9/9:30am-10:30/11pm each day.

It is awesome to spend this time with them all, learning about what they do in Hong Hong, getting to know them persoanlly, sharing our life/work here in Mongolia with them, leading them, listening to their stories & helping them.

Tomorrow we will been having the team plus others totalling 25 over to our home for supper & to relax. Please pray for Teresa & the kids as she prepares the meal while I am leading the team around the city.

Fun Busy

2011-07-24T05:00:00.000-03:00

Friday night we all were at the community centre & had a debrief to talk about the last week of camp. Listening to the Hong Kong team's (22 business men & women) stories about how the orphanage kids deeply touched their hearts was so awesome. Many of them said, with tears in their eyes "the kids showed us what love & caring for others really is."

The orphanage kids love & care for each other as if they were a big family. The Hong Kong team shared things that deeply touched them when a young boy lost his flip flop. Some Hong Kong team members did think about it & just said they would buy a new pair for him, but they had no vehicle, were 1 hours drive to the newest small town & the director said to buy the boy new flip flops would be unfair unless they bought all 80 kids new flip flops. The word spread very fast in the camp that a flip flop was lost. the boys orphanage family (other kids) & his friends stopped what they were doing to help. They searched through the entire camp & eventually found his flip flop.

The boy was so excited that his friends found his flip flop & thanked the Hong Kong teammate for "thinking" he would find it. But, she said sadly the whole time the kids were looking for his flip flop I was doubting to myself "they will never find it." This boy had more faith & believed they would find his flip flop more than I, the adult.

Teresa the kids & I spent the the day having fun & resting with the team. It's hard to believe that this morning most of them left to go back to Hong Kong so that tomorrow they can return to their office jobs in Hong Kong. But, the cool thing is that another group of business men & women will be coming tonight to spend a week out at camp & at the centre playing games, making crafts & loving these Mongolian kids.

Went to the Countryside

2011-07-21T05:46:00.004-03:00

Yesterday some staff of the community Centre (myself included) drove to the countryside to visit the orphanage kids at their summer camp. This was a 1st for me & 3rd time for our director, but for the rest of the Mongolian staff this has been going on for 8 years every summer. Each year for 3 weeks 48-50 people (Chinese) from Hong Kong come to Mongolia to teach crafts, play games, eat meals together & hang out to show the kids they care.

The Mongolian kids from the government orphanage get so excited when summer is approaching because they cannot wait for the teams from China to arrive when they are at their camp in the countryside. Most of the kids from the government orphanage (80-130 kids) are sent out to their camp each summer (June-August.) Their camp was an old Communist kids camp that was given to them after Communism left Mongolia. They really enjoy the time with the people from Hong Kong because the program is full & they are busy learning, playing & building friendships through Mongolian translators.

The camp small buildings are run down & are need of repair, but it doesn't bother the kids/us or stop the kids/us from having fun. One challenge for the Chinese at the camp is not having water to bathe while at the camp. They only have a small basin to wash/wipe themselves clean every couple of days.

During the school year the kids return to the orphanage (building) to live & go to school. During the school year we also go to visit them just to see how they are doing, if they have any needs we can help with & to take them on special outings around the city every once in a while. These outings give the kids a break, a chance to get out & to have fun like in May when the older kids & I went for a "long" hike. Visiting the kids is an awesome time because I get to know them & they can teach me more Mongolian too.

Just so you know most of the kids were sent to the orphanage because their parents did not want them or were sent because their parents could not afford to feed/provide for them. Although most of them were brought because their parents did not want them. Sad, but true. A recent statistic from Unicef here in Mongolia said that 20% of Mongolian kids are malnourished.

Next week while a new team from Hong Kong will be with the orphanage kids at camp, another Hong Kong team will be here in the city working with us as we offer summer activities (crafts & games) to kids, families in the Ger district. I am really looking forward to next week as it will allow me to really get to know the kids & families in the ger districts.

Thunder, lightning, rain & hail

2011-07-09T10:15:00.000-03:00

Please pray there isn't any major damage. This morning was in the mid to high 30's (Celsius) & this afternoon crazy thunderstorms came in. We had hail & flash flooding. Tonight the mountains are thunder cloud covered, thunder & lighting can be seen & herd. Please pray that there will not be any major flash flooding this evening. Two years ago we saw the damage of over 500 gers washed away some with children inside. It's hard because Mongolia is an arid desert & this weather is to be expected during the rainy season, but it's still difficult.

This week is Naadam here in Mongolia. It's the 3 days where Mongolian's celebrate their life, heritage, culture & national sports click here. Most of the sporting evens have finished in the countryside & now everyone has come to the city Ulaanbaatar (Упаанбаатар) for the big celebration to begin. Personally I think the whole country is in town because it took Teresa, the kids & I 4 hours to get across town & back because of all the traffic.

Thank-you all for praying for my friend, Tsetseg (Цэцэг.) She has regained enough strength to return home. She still is in a lot of pain, but has incredible joy knowing she is still alive to spend time with her children, brothers, sisters & parents.

Prayer

2011-07-05T22:41:00.001-03:00

Please pray for Tseseg (flower) the lady on my last post. I found out yesterday that she is back in hospital because she cannot move because her pain is so great. It is amazing to me becuase last week I could not sleep. I was waking up every night at 2, 3, & 4am feeling that I needed to pray for someone. Then yesterday to find out that Tseseg was in hospital in severe pain. I am hoping that I will be able to visit her in hospital next week.

Great past few days

2011-06-22T02:47:00.001-03:00

Last Thursday some of the staff from the community centre packed up some food & headed to the countryside. For a special treat we were going to visit a lady (who has bone cancer), her 2 children (ages 6 & 10) & the rest of her family.

When we drove into the families хашаа (fence) all their family was so excited to see us.

Here' s what it looks like inside her summer home & there she is laying on her bed.

This Lady has touched my heart. I really enjoy visiting her. Years ago she had breast cancer & at the time her husband found it too difficult. He then left her their 2 children. She survived the breast cancer & last year discovered that the cancer was not gone, but in remission & moved to her bones. The cancer has now spread to most of her bones meaning she's in constant pain & not able to move on her own. Every month when we get together we laugh, tell stories, encourage each other & sometimes cry. We always talk in Mongolian, sometimes she'll talk in Russian & I'll talk in what little Ukrainian I know.

I also brought our little BBQ & made kabab's for everyone. I will not show the pictures, but I got to try for the 1st time cow intestine salad & sliced horse intestine. I really liked the үхэрын гэдэс салат, cow intestine salad, but didn't like the моьрын гэдэс, horse intestine. we had хуушуур fried mutton dumpling, сүүтэй цай boiled salted milk tea, монгол бяслаг Mongolian cheese.

It was so nice to get to see her children & the rest of her family. The day was really hot & 6 hours later we went home. Needless to say I was so full from all the food we ate that I did not eat supper.

Kiel finished school on Friday & he was really sad that he was having a break for the summer. This year of school was awesome. He loved his teacher, got to make a lot of Mongolian friends which was what Teresa & I had prayed for.

warm weather

2011-06-13T00:41:00.004-03:00

Last week was a good week. We had a couple of days that were really, really stressful, but later on in the week things calmed down.

A YWAM team is here from France for the next 2 months helping out with people all over the country that have work projects for Mongolians. Last Wednesday we had all 8 of them over for supper & to relax (of course we had some extra people that came with them.) Many of them were challenged by the difficulty of life here compared to France. We encouraged them by saying it is difficult compared to home, but when you live here you make due with what is here. There is a team member (a guy) who looks Korean (Parents are) but has lived most of his life in South Africa, Canada & France. His passport is Korean, but has only spent a few years in Korea. He also speaks African es, French, Korean & English. Most of the students on the team speak at least 3-5 languages. Wow, I think it's so amazing & cool to be European or Asian because most that I know can speak 3-6 languages.

Over the weekend we all went to the countryside with our dear friend's Joan & Daniel. They are leaving Mongolia again for Thailand. They have been our neighbours since we arrived & we love them very much. We all got into the van (the community centre lets me borrow) & headed to the river for a nice bbq next to the river. We all relaxed & enjoyed each others company before they leave this week.

They 1st arrived in Mongolia with their 3 daughters back in 1998, a few years later went to Thailand, then returned to Mongolia & are now returning again to Thailand. Now their daughters are entering university, in the middle of a degree & a university graduate. They told us that raising their daughters in Mongolia was so good & all three of the girls have told us Mongolia has forever changed them in a good way. They have told us that there are big challenges whatever country you go to. Thailand is a challenge for them because they both do not like the sun (suntanning) nor the heat (summer 45 Celsius + humidity.)

The Mongolian countryside is so beautiful, but is so short (only 3 months until snow & -15 Celsius.)

We are praying for many things. We are praying for the cost of Kiel's schooling & if there could be the possibility of Esme to attend also. These decisions very difficult for Teresa & I as we want the kids to receive the social, academic & developmental growth that comes with being in a school. The school that Kiel attends teaches Canadian curriculum & gives their students Canadian accredited certificates.

Kiel's classes end this week & he is really sad that classes will be ending. He really likes school & all of his friends except for 5 of them are Mongolian. This is what Teresa & I wanted. We know many foreign families that have been living in Mongolia for over 10 years & their children don't know any Mongolian nor have any Mongolian friends. In my opinion this is totally missing the point.

Also the community centre will be selling their van (let us use on a daily basis) at the end of the month meaning we will have to go back to walking/using taxi's. We are ok with this, but it does increase the amount of time it takes to get places & to serve people. Other foreigners have asked us if we want to buy their vehicle as they are leaving Mongolia, but we don't have the means to purchase anything now. We are praying & waiting.

So Sore

2011-06-05T09:50:00.001-03:00

Today, a friend & I took a group of middle school & high school students living in a government orphanage nearby (21 of us in total) to hiking the National park behind Zaisan. It took us 5 hours to hike up the mountain & back down again. Hiking at elevations between 1400-1700 metres above sea level was hard, but the students were very fast & hard to keep up with. I have to say it was awesome once we reached the top. However, the Mongolian students were encouraging me more than I was encouraging them.

Before we left for our hike I received a tour of the orphanage. It was nice to be introduced to some of the many children/youth living at the orphanage & see most of them. Some are learning English, but most are studying very hard in school so that they will be employable once they have finished high school & university. I am really looking forward to seeing them again on other outings.

Oh! The best thing is that yesterday & today has been the 1st time in over a month we have "hot" water. For the past 5.5 weeks all we have had is cool water. You know the kind of bath/shower you have to physic yourself up to get into because it's going to be cold. Man my sore legs & feet are going to love it.

Need a Recharge.

2011-06-01T22:17:00.002-03:00

I hope everyone had a great day yesterday. Here in Mongolia it was Woman's/children's day & to celebrate there are concerts, games, bikes, scooters, & go carts in Sookhbaatar Square. Over a Million people were downtown enjoying the day with their families. For Mongolians Women's & Children's Day is like Mothers Day & every child's birthday put together into one day. You can see mother's/wife's walking around with flowers, chocolates & other small gifts. If you walk into stores you will see most people in the kids/toy section buying their children/grandchild small gifts. We (including Aunt Jenna) all walked downtown ate at a restaurant & took the kids to a couple of stores to let them buy something small with their saved allowance money.

Last week we had 2 days of rain & now the fields are green & all the trees are full of green leaves. The weather is warm & sunny & you can hear the birds chirping when you open the windows every morning. It's still cool in the mornings only 10 Celsius, but warms up to 25 Celsius most afternoons.

This morning I am taking time to pray. I have been working now for 10 days strait without a chance to just take a short rest. Each morning I pray for 5-10 minutes, but still I'm feeling drained. I will take 3 hours this morning just to rest & pray before I go to the community centre. This afternoon we will have our monthly food distribution to families in need living in the ger district. It's only small (a bag of rice, bag of flour, a bottle of vegetable oil & a bag of powered milk) but its enough to know they have something at home to eat.

A Long Week

2011-05-25T20:02:00.002-03:00

Hi Everyone. This week thus far has been great. Sunday night an ASU teacher asked me if we could offer 4 hour tours of the ger district for student as an opportunity for them to learn what it's like for 70% of Mongolians living in Ulaanbaatar. It was last minute, but said they would come Tuesday to Friday with 2-3 teachers & 60 students (Mongolian, Korean, Japanese) from grade 7-12. I saw the opportunity & said yes. Monday at the centre we all came together to plan & delegate who would do what. I bought the supplies we needed & in my mind knew what the students needed to learn (be aware of) while on the tour.

I told everyone that these students are very wealthy & many of the people we are helping that are now extremely poor were extremely rich. But because of one parents death or a serious accident lost everything & now are poor. The students need to know that live is unpredictable & life can change over night & to not take what they have (their material things, their loved ones & their life) for granted. All can be lost in a blink of an eye.

We have been encouraging them that when they see someone in need, they all have a story & that many of them have had suffered great loss. These poor are not just lazy like many people want to think as an excuse not to help (I think.) We have been encouraging them to help in small ways to make a difference because things could change & they could be asking people to help them.

I feel these tours have been a success because ASU students have a community service component (40 hours) & currently they do not have an NGO to co-ordinate it. The teachers asked if they could use us as their NGO to co-ordinate their community service. I told them that we would like to be their NGO to work with & we could start talking about the details in the next week or two.

Also it has been exciting because Teresa & Esme has been part of our team leading & teaching the students. Kiel has been in the countryside learning about Mongolian culture & life with his Mongolian classmates & his Mongolian friends. I am very happy that Kiel now has more Mongolian friends than foreigners.

Here is a picture of one of our preschool students at our community centre in the ger district:

This weekend Kiel & I have to go on 2 river outdoor trips. Please pray that I am able to rest as I will not have a day off for a while.

A great time

2011-05-20T05:23:00.000-03:00

Yesterday morning myself plus 2 other women met with the Mongolian lady dieing of cancer. It was an amazing time. Before we went up her stairwell I was told a little bit of her story. She is a mother of 10 children, 8 of them are grown, 2 are already married & 2 still live at home. She is highly educated, fluent in Russian & had a great job for many years. Years ago she had breast cancer, at that time her husband left her & their children. She survived breast cancer & tried her best to raise her children. A couple of years ago started feeling pain & found out that her cancer had moved to her bones. Not able to receive treatment, lost her job & what money she had has used to pay for the pain medication to live each day. She has spent most of her money for the medication & trying to continue living.

When we arrived the 1st thing we did was to take the flour, rice, milk powder & oil into the kitchen for her. Her sister welcomed us at the door & told us that over the last couple of days she has been is so much pain that she is not able to get out of bed. We walk into the bedroom which has her bed & her 2 remaining children's bunk bed. She was laying on her bed under the blankets with a large bottle of medication next to her. She has a smile on her face happy to see us & welcomes us to sit on the floor next to the bed. Her sister came in, poured us a small glass of Aloe juice & gave us some boave (Mongolian sweet bread.)

She was excited to see me (someone new) & wanted to learn more about me. As I shared about myself, our family & our family back home of Canada I noticed her pain, but the joy in her heart was so strong. She asked me about Mongolia, the food & other things. I told her that I loved Mongolian food & the Mongolian people. I told her about my Ukrainian & Croatian family heritage & then she started talking to me in Russian. We talked about how we liked that Russian people & a little bit about the Ukraine. We talked about funny stories about Mongolia & did a lot of laughing. When our time was finished I was sad we had to leave, but said we would visit in a weeks time.

She asked if the next time I could make some Ukrainian cabbage rolls for her to try as she had never eaten them before. She said that she would make me some Mongolian food because I like it so much. Just before we left she asked if we could come back to visit more because of her pain she cannot leave home. Yesterday I was so excited. This is one of the things a love doing. Just visiting the poor, sick & lonely to talk, share & be their friend because I care for them deeply.

Spring Has Come

2011-05-18T00:03:00.001-03:00

Over the weekend Kiel & I with his ASU outdoor education class went on a countryside climbing trip. There were 21 Mongolian students, plus Kiel & 4 leaders. We hiked up three quarters of the Mountain & the other quarter attached our harnesses, clips & secured our ropes & rock climbed the rest. It was an awesome time, climbing, camping, playing games with the students, working with the leaders & building relationships with everyone.

Here is the mountain we climbed:

Please continue to pray for our community centre teammates & their family. Their mother, mother-in-law, grandmother has stage 4 cancer in her bones & is in extreme pain. They all have returned to the US to be with family during this difficult time. Some family members will return to Mongolia in late June while the others will return in July or August.

In the meantime the other staff of the centre have to fill the gap to keep things running while they are gone. Next week we will open the little library/computer room to the kids/adults living in the ger district. This room will have a large table, some chairs & a white board for students to sit together while working on homework. We have a large bookshelf full of English & Mongolian books for people to come in, sit on the new couch & read. There are 4 desktop PC's which I have spent many many hours programing for the people of the community to use for homework, research, checking email, chatting with friends & taking computer classes. "But, not for playing games." There are lots of PC gaming centres here for that activity. This is another great way we are going to help serve the community & build relationships with them.

I have been teaching an introductory PC Microsoft Office 2007 class to Nurses & doctors in a clinic located in one of the ger districts. When I met with the head doctor the 1st time she told me that for 2 years they were hoping someone could volunteer teach them a computer class & some English because their little clinic could not afford to pay someone to come. I usually teach once a week at the clinic to my 9 students, all female made up of 3 doctors & 6 nurses. They are so thankful that I am teaching them because they are trying to use computers to keep track of everything required to run their little clinic.

Tomorrow I will be visiting at her home a Mongolian woman who cannot work because she is sick with cancer. Along with visiting her to see how she is doing we will bring a small monthly supply of food (rice, flower, oil & milk) so that she can rest somewhat knowing she has a little food to get her through the month.

This Friday is going to be a great day as Esme & I will be going to the homeschooling year end picnic. It'll be nice to see some of her friends, play games & enjoy the beautiful Mongolian outdoors.

Well it's Official...

2011-05-10T05:09:00.004-03:00

...Aunt Jenna has moved in. We have emptied out our school room so she could have her own room. Her lease ends this month, her Mongolian roommate moved to a different apartment with a Mongolian friend. Jenna tried many times to find another apartment, but wasn't able because as soon as they were available she would ask & they were taken. She Also has many "big" life changing decisions to make in the next few months & felt like she needed a family to live with. We are her family here & we love her so much. We are very happy that she will be living with us & after all she is our little adopted sister. We love her & want to help whenever we can.

Not even half her stuff

Our Mongolian friends laughed today as we were bringing her stuff up our stairwell. Pascal our Swiss friend lived with us for 3 weeks & last week went home & this week Jenna moves in. Our Mongolian friends laughed because we are becoming Mongolian with family & friends constantly coming & going. Staying for a visit or living with us for a short time. Before that, while we were in Thailand our Mongolian home helper, her husband & 2 sons lived in our apartment.

My good friend, the Mongolian security guard in our driveway laughed at me & said (in Mongolian of course,) "Matt do you have more friends/family moving in again?" I told him "yes we do." I share meals with & visit our building security guard in his little wooden shack weekly. He doesn't have people stopping by to talk most days & his job is lonely. He told one of our building owners that "Matt, he's a good guy & my friend." to be honest that filled me with joy. When we get together we just talk about life, family, how work is going & other normal things. Most times our visits are only 30 minutes long at one time, but he know I care for him.

Teresa's Mongolian friend told her today that her life is very stressful, but looks forward to meeting because she can relax & be herself. They have fun, laugh together, talk about family life, work & other things. It is always a great time when they meet.

We live by the Maritime principle, "the door is always open & the kettle is always on" for people we know. All four of us have a heart for people here both Mongolians & foreigners.

Prayer!

2011-05-07T06:12:00.001-03:00

Please pray for our teammate family. They just found out that their mother, mother-in-law, grandmother has advanced bone/spine cancer. They were asked to fly home as soon as possible & will be flying back to the US tomorrow if they can. Please pray for them as the prognosis is not good.

Spring Break

2011-04-24T18:53:00.000-03:00

This past week was a great one. I have been busy at the ger district community centre preparing our Mongolian/English library, programing computers in preparation for my Mongolian/English computer class & helped with a team of college students from Holland with their ger district tour. The centre offers ger district tours for teams that come to let them experience what life is like for the typical Mongolian family living in the ger district.

I also started helping out with our centres monthly food distribution. Each month the centre prepares food, milk, and vitamins to give to poorer local families living in the ger district. The usual process is a family member comes to the centre where there is an interview. During the interview the person shares with us their situation & why they need assistance. We have a few requirements which are, all of the children living with the family must be attending school, the parents must be seeking employment or keep their current employment, the family cannot continue to be abusive (some are not) to one another, they are not to lie about their story or family situation. If family members need medical care we ask that they see a physician (we will help them with transportation, medicine cost & talking to the physician if needed.) Each family knows that there is usually one scheduled visit with the family in their ger & if we have any concerns at all about the family we will have a surprise visit to ensure that the family is telling the truth, family members are safe & are adhering to the requirements we ask.

A Mongolian boy came to receive his families food last week. Their family is a mother one son & 2 younger daughters. The father left years ago & has not been part of the family at all. The mother is currently in hospital with heart problems & is trying to get the care she needs to return home. In the mean time the 15 year old son is the man of the household. During the day he is in school learning like most kids, but after school has all the responsibilities (a job to provide some family income) a father would have around the home & with his mother being in hospital also has to job of a mother to his sisters. When I met him for the 1st time this past week he was so thankful for the centres help, was not bitter or angry, but had a smile on his face & shared with us his dreams for university & a good career. He really touched my heart.

This week Teresa is in class from 9am to 5pm, not studying Mongolian, but a leadership class that many of our friends are studying with her. Kiel is on his spring break which means Esme is too. This week the kids & I are going to have fun during the days & have fun with mom in the evenings.

A New Visa

2011-04-20T21:23:00.000-03:00

Hi everyone. We are happy to say that I have a work visa & it came just in time. I got my work visa on Friday & my student visa expired on Monday morning.We knew that it would come, but had to wait for it.

This week has been full of its up & downs. We are happy to have our friend from Switzerland living with us & that means that we get to see Aunt Jenna more which is really great. Pascal yesterday helped fix some of our kitchen cupboards with supplies we bought in Thailand because you can't find them here. I had an extremely frustrating day Tuesday. There were a few Mongolians & foreigners that really made me frustrated, but once I somewhat calmed down God gave me a passage that helped & the Bee Gees.

²⁹Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift...^31-32Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God...forgave you.

After reading this I changed my attitude & turned on The Bee Gees greatest hits dics2. As I washed, dried & put the dishes away I sang & danced (scary to see, but fun) to the Bee Gees. It was what I needed to relax.

Teresa & the kids are doing well. Esme & Kiel are back to having fun with their friends, learning in school, Esme homeschooling. Teresa is helping a friend with her English & having fun. It's great because it allows her to prepare something & gives her a change to the normal things at home.

Praying for a visa

2011-04-12T23:52:00.001-03:00

Hi everyone. Since my last post last week Teresa, the kids & I again had to go to immigration for 6 hours to fill out more paperwork, pictures & more in hopes that tomorrow we will be able to get our visas. Please continue to pray.

This week has been very busy thus far.Sunday we hosted the YWAM foreigners & a short term team at our home. We, the YWAM foreigners came to talk/share about the service/job creation projects we are doing or are planning to do while living in Mongolia while the the students from other countries (Canada, US, Switzerland, etc...) could hear & see our projects.

Our great friend from Switzerland came this morning & will be living with us for a month. It's great that he is back & we have missed him since we last saw each other last summer.

Back from our Rest

2011-04-05T11:48:00.002-03:00

Hi everyone. We all got back from Thailand 1 week ago today. It was the best thing ever because we all were feeling burnt out before we left. We were able to have fun together as a family the kind of fun that we have never been able to have before. We rested, swam, went for walks, played pickup sticks, read books, laughed so hard it hurt with each other & watched dvd's together on the 2 single beds in our small room (all we could afford.) We all were so tired/stressed before leaving for Thailand, but God refreshed us as a family. Three days before we left Thailand all 4 of us were missing Mongolia, knowing it's home. It's challenging, but still its home.

Since we got back from Thailand we have been extremely busy trying to get my work visa. Tomorrow morning for the fourth time I will be going to the Labour Dept. & will hopefully will be going to Immigration for the third & final time since we got back from Thailand last week. Please continue to pray that I am able to get a work visa.

This weekend I will be picking a Canadian up at the airport. He will spend the day/over night with us & then he will be going to the countryside. Two weeks from now our great friend from Switzerland will be coming to live with us for 3 weeks. Last summer he was hear for a month & all 4 of us are excited he is coming. We really miss him.

A warm heart

2011-03-06T10:52:00.000-03:00

Both of the kids had their first sleepover last night & at lunch time Kiel & I took his Mongolian friend home. After dropping off his friend we were suppose to go get our hair cut. But we went to the hair dressers & they said they did not have any openings. When we were leaving a young man started walking next to us, extremely dirty, crippled & homeless asked us to some money in Mongolian. I told the man nicely in Mongolian that I was not going to give him any money.

Next to treat Kiel & to spend some time together alone (dad & son) we went into a restaurant to buy some lunch. After we ordered our food Kiel told me that he felt really bad for the young man. He asked me many questions about why & how that man was crippled (the kids see very, poor homeless people on a daily basis here.) I told Kiel that I did not know. He continued to tell me that he felt really bad for this man because he was poor, looked like he had no home & was in need. Kiel then asked me why did we not give this man any money because we had extra to give.

I told Kiel that some people it is ok to give money to, but others if you give them money many times they will spend it on alcohol or other things instead of things they really need. He said dad then how can we help this poor man because I really want to help him (every 10 minutes he would look out the window for the man.) Our meal came & the portion size was really big, much more than we really needed. After Kiel prayed for our meal I said to him what I always do if I see someone poor & in need close to a restaurant. I told Kiel that to help this man lets save half our our meal & place it into a container. Then after we leave the restaurant lets give it to the man as a gift because he is probably very hungry.

We walked out of the restaurant & the man was still sitting on the sidewalk waiting for people to walk by. Kiel was not scared of the man as we walked up to him & gave him our meal. The man was very happy, said thank-you in Mongolian & we walked to the van. Kiel didn't say anything about the man on our way home, but had a peaceful smile on his face.

Tonight after church (the same every week) we had 15 people around our table to share our home, our food & our friendship, to people that are new to Mongolia, need a friend & to people we have grown to love. During the meal Kiel stood behind me & just quietly hugged me. I leaned my head back & told him that I loved him. I asked him if he wanted to have some supper & he told me that he was not really hungry. I told him he should eat something so he went & got a small plate of rice & a glass of juice. He finished his meal & was satisfied. 20 minutes later Kiel hugged me again & told me that he was so happy that we were able to help the poor homeless man earlier in the day.

Kiel normally really enjoys eating foods of any kind, from any nation & usually eats too much. But, today after seeing the poor man in need gave what he had as a gift & I think realized that there are people in need & he didn't need to eat to excess this evening. These are the blessings & gifts that we (Teresa & I) are so thankful to God that our kids see & experience on a weekly basis when living in another country where there are many, many people in need.

Prayer

2011-02-27T12:31:00.000-03:00

Hi everyone. Could you please pray for us because right now all 4 of us feel burned out. This week has been extremely stressful, driving all over the city gathering all the paperwork that has to be filled out, going to immigration for 10 hours trying to speak/understand everything that needs to happen for our visa, struggles that friends are having at home, very saddening things & stressful things that have happened to our Mongolian friends here (at this point cannot share) & other things that are going to happen. We have also been affected by the temperature dropping again in the evenings to -31 to -25 & during the days to -20.

Please pray that things will come together, that we all will be able to sleep, that we will feel rested & refreshed for the new things God has for us. Everyone has said to all of us, "wow, you guys look exhausted."

Beautiful Day

2011-02-24T01:58:00.000-03:00

Woke up this morning to -31 Celsius. 6 months into winter & hopefully only 1 more to go. On my way home from class I laughed to myself. I laughed because its now -21 Celsius (noon) & I wanted to take my jacket off & just wear a sweater. We all are excited about the snow going & the brown Spring coming. Things are going well. Really want Spring to come though.

Answered Prayer

2011-02-03T21:05:00.001-03:00

It's awesome! Thank-you all for praying for our home helpers sister. Three days ago we all feared that she would die, but yesterday we received a message that she was well enough to be discharged for 2 days to celebrated Цагаан Сар (Mongolian New Year) with her family. We are so thankful. On Saturday she will return to hospital to have further tests to confirm that she has recovered & is ok.

Thank-you all.

Prayer Needed

2011-01-31T22:11:00.001-03:00

Our home helpers younger sister (28 years) had her 3rd child a month ago. During the the procedure (a cesarian) some infection got in. She started getting sick, then had 3 more surgeries (within 3 weeks) & the last one taking her (already dead) uterus out. She has been in the hospital for a month & we are very scared that she will die.

Please pray for her!!!

Presently her husband is daily going into the hospital & when not in the hospital trying, with the help of other family to take care of their other 2 daughters under the age of 6.

Cold & Difficult

2011-01-26T21:27:00.002-03:00

This morning the temperature is -37 Celsius. To many of you this is crazy cold, but for some (great Canadians from the Prairies) this is normal. However, this year the coal smog has been much, much worse compared to last year. Last year due to the 4.5 million herded animals dieing an extra 30,000 people moved into the ger districts. On these really cold days the coal smog is so think that you cannot see 5 meters (15 feet) in front of you.

Walking to school has been a little difficult this year. My eyes feel tired & sore when I get to class or my destination. Whenever I am walking in the smog I 1st pray that that smog will not affect my lungs & then continue to pray for the people of Mongolia. When Kiel leaves in the morning to walk to the school bus stop the smog is crazy thick like when I walk to school. Research says that walking in that smog is like smoking a pack of cigarettes per day. Many people (Mongolians included) ask us why? Why not go somewhere safe & healthy. When God has asked you to serve, you go serve & there is always a lot of risk. But you have to totally place your faith in him to care for you (all of you.) If it means frustration, difficulty, possible health problems, etc...it's ok because God is bigger. We love Mongolians & want to serve them, not because of what we will get, but know it is what he has asked & Mongolians can come to a better place.

Yesterday I watched a guy & girl with their glass bottle bags open the sewer cap & climb down. During the winter the hot water pipes keep the sewers warm so they don't freeze. It breaks my heart to see them because I know that there are 50,000 homeless men, women & children living in the sewers of the city during the winter months.

"If you utter what is precious,

and not what is worthless,

you shall serve as my mouth..."

Thank-you for being a part of us serving Mongolians.

excitement building

2011-01-23T18:20:00.001-03:00

I have to be completely honest when I say that I am really starting to get excited about finishing my Mongolian language classes & starting to serve Mongolians living in the Ger district. A lot of people have told me that they can't believe that I have studied for 2 years straight. Most people start their Mongolian language classes & after a year or 18 months of study, go back to their home country, Europe or a warmer Asian country for a month or 4 & then return to finish their classes. Teresa & I are the only ones that most people here have said have done the whole 2 years without leaving the country. The next thing they do is ask how we have done it without going crazy. We know why & are thankful.

I have been a little frustrated lately. I gave all the documentation needed so that I could get a Mongolian drivers license, but the person waited for 2 weeks. When I was on my way to meet him to pick up everything he decided to go into the office to try & get my license then. Well, you guessed it. He could not get my license because he waited until the last minute to apply. Please pray that I am able to get my drivers license this week because after getting it can start the process of applying for my work visa. Time is running short only weeks of Mongolian language classes left & some of you know when applying for a visa in a foreign country weeks is not a lot of time. Please pray that I am able to get my drivers license this week & am able to get my work visa with the Ger district community centre.

On the home front, Kiel is loving school & is slowly making friends. This month he has been so excited because he started swimming as part of his gym time. One thing that all of us miss, is water to go swimming. Coming from NS the joy is that you don't have to go to far to go swimming. Esme is doing really well with her schooling & has made 2 friends her age (5 & 7 year old.) All three girls get to play together at least 3 times per week. Teresa is doing well with her language part-time, really likes helping out at Kiel's school each week & is enjoying the other things she is doing. I am doing well. I still am studying Mongolian full-time, during the week am studying online PC certificate classes (to help my visa application), helping out two days a week teaching Esme home school & taking her to gym class as well as the other things.

I have to laugh because the kids said to me just last week. "Dad won't it be awesome when you have finished Mongolian classes & know everything about Mongolian & can say everything." I chuckled & told them both that 2 years of language study is not even close to knowing everything about a language, especially Mongolian. But it is enough to be able to communicate with them on a basic level so that I can help/serve them. Best of all Mongolians can teach me more about their language & culture to which I have grown to love.

A Winter Picnic in the Countryside

2011-01-15T22:55:00.001-03:00

Yesterday we packed a picnic, got on many, many layers of clothes & met up with our new friends, from the next building. Mark is Australian, Pilsoon is Korean. Their 2 daughters are Esme's good friends. We all piled into their Toyota landcruser & headed for the countryside.

On our way to the riverbank we made a couple new trails & arrived on the frozen riverbank. The kids took their sleds & skates, we took the firewood, food & hot drinks to enjoy. The 1st thing we did was make a small fire pit, then we went looking for small sticks to light the fire. The wood seemed dry, but was not the easy to start. The kids put their skates on, but -35 Celsius was too cold for their feet so instead they went sledding on the riverbank.

An hour after playing on the riverbank we took our picnic lunch out to eat. We laughed & laughed when eating our lunch. 10 minutes after making the hot chocolate it had completely froze in some of our cups & our sandwiches (they were in a plastic container, & in an isolated bag) completely froze. Here is how we defrosted them.

After lunch we couldn't feel our hands & feet because they were so cold, but held on for another hour because it was nice to be outside the city & were having so much fun. The Mongolian countryside is so beautiful.

Here is a picture of the dog (our new friend) that came out of nowhere chased us 2km to the riverbank (a ger nowhere in site), sat watching us eat, played with the kids & chased us 2km on the way back to the city.

The New Year has started

2011-01-14T12:04:00.000-03:00

I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas & a happy New Year. For us most of our friends went to other warmer countries or to their home country to celebrate this year. Not many people were around, but in some ways it was nice. we watched movies, played Barbie's & built Lego's together as a family. We also went to a couple of friends homes for a meal & enjoy their company. Now things are back to normal & our friends are returning from warmer places.

It is hard to believe that in 7 weeks our Mongolian language classes will end after 2 years of study. Many friends are asking me if I am ready to enter into full-time work speaking Mongolian most of the day. I have been responding with a very sure, yes. There comes a point where you have the basic/intermediate grammar, a vocabulary of more than 1500 words & have created/used all of the conversations you can think of in the classroom before it's time to finish. I think I have reached this point & am ready to start working.

Please pray that I will be able to get a work visa. I will be applying in the next two weeks with immigration to see if i can get a work visa with Flourishing Futures, a Ger district community centre. The centre is right next to the community corner store, & water pump house. The centre has many projects already in service. They have a Kindergarten, after school homework/tutoring classes, food/clothing distribution, football (soccer) camps, work with a govt orphanage, run summer camps for the ger district kids, & visit local people. I hopefully I will be teaching Mongolian/English computer classes to kids/adults, helping out with the other things the centre is already doing & have some ideas with things I would like to do to serve the people living in the ger district.

To prepare for my work visa I have been continuing my Mongolian language study full-time & whenever I have a few spare minutes have been taking online PC classes. I am hoping that this will help with the application process, but you never really know. Please pray for my visa. We are planning to leave the country to go to Thailand in March to finish (hopefully) the visa application process (usually takes 14 days to process out of country) & for a short vacation before returning to start working at the ger district centre.

Serving Others

2010-12-20T15:07:00.000-03:00

Last Friday morning it was really warm (-8 Celsius), Kiel went to school for only half a day to celebrate New Years with his classmates. Teresa went with Kiel as usual to help (TA in 8 classes, not Kiel's) other teachers as she does every Friday. Esme & I went to My Mongolian language school's New Years party. In preparation for the party Teresa made her amazing Christmas sweets & I made my famous Ukrainian cabbage rolls.

Just before we left our apartment & looked out the window & took a picture. Here is what I took:

As Esme & I walked down the street we talked, laughed, & told stories. When we crossed the street to walk down the hill to a main street to flag down a taxi (everyone is a taxi here) I took this picture:

Many of you may think this is fog, but it isn't. It's coal smog. The smog/smoke comes from the ger stoves as Mongolians use coal to heat & cook mainly in the evenings. The Ger districts surround the inner parts of the city & are still growing. Because it is not as cold (-8 to 30 Celsius) as it was last year (-25 to -49 Celsius) the freezing Siberian winds have not come to blow away Ulaanbaatar's coal smog thus leaving a blanket over the city usually from 5pm to 11am the next morning.

Lately I have heard many new foreigners complaining about many things over the past couple of months & the smog has been part of it. But as Esme & I were walking together last Friday I was thinking. I was thinking because in my mind serving others requires discomfort. Seemly many have come not willing to sacrifice or be in a place of personal discomfort. If they are personally comfortable then they are in a place to enjoy & gain experiences while being here. When I think about some of the challenging things we have faced living here I am amazed because they have all resulted in the most amazing experiences. God does help us through our struggles/discomfort & does amazing things with them.

I was also reminded when I was 13 years old & cut a short phrase out of a devotional I once had. It said, "Serving someone when it is convenient is not serving, it's helping. Serving is helping someone when it's not convenient." Please do not forget during this time of year that God served us & that we should serve others in response to his service.

2010-12-13T19:23:00.000-03:00

Last saturday we had our open house Christmas party & we had more people than we expected. The party was from 1-4pm, but our 1st person arrived at 9am (helped setup) & our last person left at 9:30pm (helped cleanup.) I wasn't counting because there were so many people, but Teresa figures that there were plus or minus 60 people. Our foreign & Mongolian friends (lots of Mongolian & foreign kids came to play too) came to eat great food, to talk, play games, relax, & get to know each other. Everyone said that they had such a great time & were thankful for making time to host a party.

This year Ulaanbaatar has changed. Last year you could not find anything that was really Christmas like & when you looked outside it was just a normal winters day. However, this year their are "New Years" trees everywhere, Coka Cola has brought a big red Santa Clause to downtown & some downtown buildings downtown have put up lights. I am amazed how fast things are changing here. But I have to be honest that I am not happy that the crazy Western Christmas commercialism is coming. Well, it is not Christmas because Mongolians do not celebrate Christmas, for them it is to celebrate New Years.

We all are excited for Saturday because it is when all four of us will be on our winter break. Although this break will be much different from last year. many of our friends are leaving (Thailand, China, Switzerland, India, US, UK, Canada, etc...) this year. In some ways I am really looking forward to only having a few friends around & most of our time being with just Teresa & the kids. We are taking in (I think) two friends this year. Both are going to be alone during winter break & will have no one to celebrate with. We asked if they wanted to have a family to celebrate with & if they did could come to our place this year. For some living overseas away from family & having friends leave is very difficult when you do not have a family of your own.

Can't Sleep

2010-12-07T13:59:00.000-03:00

It's 12:40am & I can't shut my mind off. Usually when I cannot sleep (not normal for me) I pray for people, situations & other things I know need prayer until I am in a place where I can fall asleep.

Things are going well here, The past few days Teresa has been doing her Christmas baking is preparation for the 3 Christmas parties we will be having at our home over the next couple of weeks. We had friends tell us that our gift of hospitality is such a blessing to so many people. 2 weeks ago we invited a Frenchman from Normandy who walked from France, through, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania & to Turkey. It took him 7 months to walk. He then flew to Iran & then to Kazakhstan. He then walked across the boarder to Mongolia & met some foreigners that drove him to Ulaanbaatar. Only after being in Ulaanbaatar for 2 weeks after church invited him home for a meal. He was so grateful to have a home cooked meal, although his English was very limited.

I will continue this post in the morning. Esme woke up from a bad dream & will tuck her in again.

Rough Day

2010-11-30T11:14:00.001-03:00

Today was a hard one. I started it at 4am with Esme not being able to sleep. I went into bed with her to see if that would help her fall back asleep, but she was totally wide awake. So we got up to see if watching a Franklin DVD would tire her out to go back to sleep. Nope, she was not falling asleep. So when 6:45 came woke Kiel up to start his day, make breakfast & get him out the door for school.

I then went to my best friend/instructor's home in the ger district for my Mongolian lesson. When I arrived to his home, entered his hasha (fence) & noticed that Bailie, his 6 month old puppy did not come running to lick me as usual. I went around to the door & it was opened. Bailie was inside the outer door, wining & looked very sick. I went into the house & met my friends mother at the door & asked (in Mongolian) what happened to Bailie. She said that she didn't know, but she had not eaten in 4 days. My Friend/instructor entered the room & I could tell he was hurting. The dog went to the vet twice, but the drugs had not worked. We sat down together & drank our tsutea tsea (Mongolian hot salty, milk tea) & 30 minutes later Bailie stopped wining. We opened the kitchen door & watched her die.

I asked my friend if he wanted to go out because I had to do one thing. He was happy to leave the house. It is really hard when you are with your best friend, watch someone he loved die & know that he wants to cry, but feel he can't. Please pray for my friend. He has experienced many loved ones dieing. His younger brother, father, many cousins, aunts, uncles, both his dogs & oldest sister. I can see in his eyes that having to deal with so many deaths has really affected him. Today I didn't say much to him, but as we walked downtown put my arm around him.

Most Mongolians have to deal with many people (family, friends) & their animals (pets, herds) dieing in their lives. For the most part everyday I get an e-mail or a text message from people asking me to pray for them or their family because there has been a death. Dealing with death & grief is a normal part of Mongolian life.

Mongolian belief’s we experience on a daily basis:

2010-11-27T09:12:00.000-03:00

1. Shake hands if you’ve stepped on someone’s foot

If you do not shake hands then this person will be your enemy. You've invaded their social space, not good.
This is the way to identify a Mongolian: if you inconspicuously touch their foot with yours, they will automatically turn around reach out their hand for a shake. I cannot overstate the fact that the underlying reason that Mongolians have a very large personal space.

2. Don’t stand on a threshold of a Mongolian home.

You just don't do it. It’s a rule that mostly applies for toddlers – they always linger around the threshold.

3. Don’t sleep with your feet directed to deity figures (Buddha Idol or Shaman icon/idol)

There is no way. Just don't do it.
By pointing your feet you are showing disgrace to our most revered part of the household.
Next time you are staying at a local’s place for the night, make sure to mirror the hosts' way of sleeping.

4. Get a haircut only on certain “good” days

Your soul lives in different parts of your body each month some days the soul is in the hair.

5. Whenever you open the door the man "must" go 1st before the woman

The reason is that bad things happen to the person that enters 1st. This should always be the man.

6. If you see a shooting star, say “That’s not mine!”

While the western culture interprets a shooting star as a make-a-wish opportunity, Mongolians take it as an omen of a death.
They say that each star is a person, and its shooting would mean its owners imminent death. Thus, it is only logical to be scared and say “That’s not mine!”

7. Kill spiders on sight

You never know what lady luck unfolds, my friend. Mongolians kill it for future riches.
From the 3 year-old toddlers to 70-year-old seniors, killing spider is a good way for good luck

8. If you see a dead animal, say “I didn’t kill you. Please don’t curse me!”

If you do not do this then the dead animal will curse you to death.

9. If you drop your keys, stomp on it three times.

If you do not, a burglar will break into your house

10. If a family member dies you cannot celebrate “White Month” Mongolian new years

The reason is that it is not good, bad luck for the family member that has already passed away or your family.

11. You cannot talk about or use the word “blood”

If you talk about or say the word then you will either be in a bad accident/die or a family member will have a bad accident/die.

12. You must polish your shoes before you enter someones home, work or a building

The first part of someones body that enters a place (your feet/shoes) determines if they are a "good" person or not.
If their shoes are dirty you are disrespecting the people inside & showing that you are not a person worthy of respect.

13. The list is very long with many more things

Happy Birthday Kiel

2010-11-16T18:31:00.000-03:00

Wow, it's hard to believe that 8 years ago today Kiel was born back home in Canada. A lot has changed since then, for example he is now 139cm tall & is wearing size 36 shoes. He is growing very fast. Every other morning after his shower he puts styling gel in his hair so that his hair is a particular way, sprays his Nivea mens deodorant because when he sweats he smells & depending on the day picks 1 of his 3 favourite clothing styles. I took a picture of him just over a month ago playing Wii with his bootcut jeans, t-shirt & his ball hat on & he looks like he could pass as a 10 or 11 year old. I couldn't believe it.

There is one thing I told him that will never change. It doesn't matter how old he is he will always be my little man. I love Kiel & Esme both like crazy. Deep within my heart I know & feel like they are a blessing from God.

I hope that winter is here to stay.

2010-11-09T21:41:00.001-03:00

I know that many of you are thinking I am crazy, but the truth is that I really like winter. I am looking out of my bedroom window & am watching the sunrise over the snow covered mountains on the other side of the valley. It's so beautiful.

Last week Kiel, Teresa &I had our fall break from school & because of that gave Esme the week off of home schooling also. Our lives have been very busy so for our break we just stayed home, read books, played games, built Lego, watched movies & made our meals all together as a family. We also had friends over, other "workers" in the country as well as a dear Kiwi friend Jeff (YWAM), who came from The States for a visit.

This week Teresa is taking a leadership course with many (15) other Mongolian & foreign "workers" from all over Mongolia. The leadership course is 4 weeks long, but they only have class once every 6 weeks. This way the students only need to take 1 week off from their work every 6 weeks instead of taking a full month. Her classes are daily from 9-5pm & is enjoying the what she is learning.

Esme & I are together for the week. I still have my Mongolian language classes full-time & thus far Esme has been so good, she sits in my class with colouring pages while I have class. Then we do all the daily er ins, prepare the meals & more. My Mongolian friends are joking with me. They have been calling me "эхнэр Matt" which means, wife Matt. I laugh & enjoy giving Teresa the opportunity to study/take classes again. I feel it is my turn as she placed aside things she wanted to do early in our married live together so that I could study & receive my Masters degree.

The small things make a difference

2010-11-01T09:32:00.001-03:00

I heard from a friend that in Canada, US, UK, Australia & New Zealand the divorce rate is 50% & close to being higher for "believers." In Russia it is 90% across the board.

Someone asked Teresa & I to read this.

MARRIAGE -

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly.

She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company.

She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane.

When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month's time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day.

She requested that every day for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife's divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outsidethe door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me.

On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy.

I drove to office.... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind...I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart.

Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead.

My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push thru with the divorce.-- At least, in the eyes of our son--- I'm a loving husband....

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

If you don't share this, nothing will happen to you.

If you do, you just might save a marriage.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

What does a Canadian look like overseas?

2010-10-25T05:03:00.002-03:00

They always wear an MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op) backpack.

Yesterday evening all of us went to the international church as usual & as soon as we sat down Kiel looked at me & I looked at Kiel. There was a lady we had never seen before sitting behind us with the same MEC backpack as mine. I knew she was Canadian because of the backpack & because I had never seen her before walk over to her & introduced myself. She was from Saskatchewan, but teaching at an international school in Beijing. I asked why she was in Mongolia & she responded, I'm stuck here. I immediately invited her to come to our place for supper after the service.

Teresa, Kiel, Esme & 2 of our good friends walked ahead of her & I. Teresa made her amazing chicken curry, daal (in the pressure cooker) & steamed rice for supper, with homemade banana muffins & cookies for desert. We had a great time getting to know her & sharing our story about coming to Mongolia. She shared with us that she was on a weeks vacation with a couple of her friends here in Mongolia. During that week lost her passport & has been stuck here for 3 weeks. She will hopefully be able to get a new passport tomorrow (Tuesday) & return to Beijing by the end of the week.

She told us that the invitation, company, home cooked meal was amazing & thanked us many times. Everyone here is beginning to know us & that "the kettle is always on." We enjoy helping people in need.

Cold outside, but warm inside

2010-10-23T05:47:00.000-03:00

As you know 2 week a ago we had Canadian thanksgiving at our place. Since then we have continued with many of the usual things we do (Mongolian language classes, home group studies, home schooling Esme, taking Esme to art & gym classes, helping Kiel with his homework each night, life coaching people here/online, Teresa meeting with her foreign friends to pray together) throughout the week.

Kiel's school offers after school lessons twice a week that most if not all students study. The lessons range from healthy cooking, sewing, dance, piano, Korean language, etc...& this year Kiel is studying the outdoor education class. This class is being taught by an outdoor specialist (British man) who has in the past hiked the Himalayan mountains many times. There are 3 helpers, 2 teachers one is Canadian, the other is American & the final helper is me. All of the students parents were formally asked to help, but I am the only one that has the time I guess. Anyway it is really cool because I wasn't going to attend because you all know that sometimes it's not cool when your parents are in your classes. But Kiel asked me to come because it would be a fun thing we could do together with him & his other classmates (grades 3-5 students.)

Last weekend Kiel's outdoor class went on their camping trip to the countryside. I was nervous about it because sleeping in a tent & the low temperatures were suppose to go down to -10 Celsius. Well they did & all of us were cold. Our bodies were warm in our sleeping bags, but my face was frozen because I pulled the string on my mummy bag & my eyes & nose were still exposed. When the sun started raising in the morning I noticed the complete inside of my tent had a layer of ice. When I went outside all of our tents also had a layer on ice on the outside as well. It was an awesome time because I was the only adult that knew Mongolian outside of the British leader's wife, who was Mongolian. The leader's wife & all of Kiel's classmates were so excited that I knew Mongolian. I had an amazing opportunity to really get to know some of the students parents, all of the students, the outdoor instructor, his wife, the school teachers & have a great time with my little man (Kiel.) I talked more Mongolian last weekend then I think I have ever talked in 2 days since coming 2 years ago.

It was a great time because the kids had to do everything, prepare meals, cook, wash dishes, set their tents up & take them down. We went on 2 hikes & 1 was hiking up a 300 meter mountain. The view from the top was breathtaking here's a look...

While we were gone to the countryside Teresa, Esme, aunt Jenna & Jeanine (middle school teacher at Kiel's school) had a girlie weekend at our apartment. They painted toenails, watched Barbie movies, talked, laughed, ate chips, Amazing Russian ice cream & shared their lives together in a relaxing way. They had a great time together.

Last week the coal smog came & our drafty windows let in the cold air. This morning to prepare for the cold tonight (-18 Celsius) I used foam strips to seal our windows. Winter is here to stay for the next 6 months & we have taken out all of our winter clothes, mittens, toques, jackets & scarves. I have to laugh, Teresa wants to take out all of our Christmas stuff to setup & start listen to Christmas music. Now that we are in Mongolia it gets colder much sooner so she wants to prepare for Christmas even earlier.

Beaituful sunny day in Упаанбаатар

2010-10-11T03:21:00.000-03:00

Yesterday we had 39 people come to our home for Canadian Thanksgiving to eat Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato, sweet potato casserole, carrots, rolls, coleslaw, gravy, pie, cake & Russian ice cream. We were sorry that one lady was not able to make it. It was a tight squeeze with that many people in our apartment, but everyone said that it was so amazing & they were so thankful that we were doing this for them (fellow Canadians.) Many were touched & the awesome thing was that I was greeted by many people at our apartment door:

"Hi. You must be Matt. We did not know who's house we were going to, but knew Canadian Thanksgiving was here. Please to meet you for the 1st time & thank-you for allowing us to come & celebrated with your family."

People came at 12 noon & left at 10pm last night. We were thankful that many of our guests helped wash all the plates, cups, spoons, forks, pots, pans, glasses for us as it would have been extremely difficult do wash alone. The cool thing was that after most of the Canadians had left we had a small group of Americans come to enjoy the leftovers.

Teresa, Esme, Kiel & I were/are really tired today. When the alarm went off this morning I begged that it was not not right. Kiel, Esme & Teresa slept in because they were so tired from yesterday. Mongolian language class this morning was so hard. All the Mongolian instructors/staff were laughing at me because nothing made sense & all I heard from them was "blah blah, blah blah & blah blah." The more I thought about Mongolian the harder & more often I yawned. They were laughing at me so hard & I was laughing with them because I couldn't believe how tired I was. I just got up from a 30 minute nap on Esme's bed in the sun & feel refreshed ready to continue on this beautiful, sunny, fall day in Упаанбаатар.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-10-09T11:05:00.000-03:00

I look out of our bedroom windows across the valley & the mountains are snow capped. The leaves have all fallen off the trees & the air has that bitter cold Siberian wind feel (-9 Celsius tonight.) Ah, winter is coming Canadians from the Prairies & North understand that -9 Celsius in the evening means winter has not come just yet, but will come soon.

Tomorrow we are hosting Canadian Thanksgiving at our apartment. They are coming from all over the city & we are expecting 40 people. In our 4 bedroom apartment we have 6 tables that can seat 38 people. The rest will have to be creative, but don't think they will mind. The coolest thing ever is that we found turkeys. We bought two 8kg turkeys we are cooking & friends are cooking a third 8kg turkey as well. The other families that are coming will be bringing a veggies to go with the meal or some drinks for us. We are so excited because some of these people are our friends & some we have not seen before. Some know & some don't know so it will be a great time for everyone.

Teresa last week went to the large "Sun Market" here in Ulaanbaatar & bought (very inexpensive) material & made/sewed beautiful fabric napkins & table runners. She also found some old fake Oak tree leaves that a missionary brought years ago & decorated our living room & dinning room. My wife is awesome. She can take inexpensive, new or old things & make our home look beautiful. There will be a table in every bedroom in our apartment except ours (Mom & Dad's.)

This week has been great, the kids are doing well in school & liking it a lot this year especially. My Mongolian instructors & everyone I met in a taxi, store cashier, people walking in the street told me that my Mongolian was amazing. They could not believe at how fast I am able to speak & how I speak as if I am a Mongolian. I am so thankful to God & thank him each day for being able to speak so well. I have also started studying a little Ukrainian on the side because they're many Russians that live in our building & want to be able to communicated with them also. Teresa is also doing awesome with her Mongolian & Has improved so much in the last month. She had a great talk with her instructor this week about our friend.

The fun thing about language is that everyone has great times, they finish & then for a time you can't think/talk well at all. That time came today as we have many things on our minds preparing for tomorrows turkey dinner. All you do is hope that the great times start lasting longer & the can't think times are shorter. I still have 6 months of language left & will be focusing on reading Mongolian Cyrillic. The spoken & written languages are totally different. Most foreigners say that they are 2 totally different languages. I want to try & bring my reading level close to my speaking level before I have totally finished studying full-time.

Winter is here

2010-09-27T20:13:00.001-03:00

Well, you all guest it. Our camping trip was a lot of fun & the full moon Saturday night was beautiful, but the cold air from Siberia came down. We had 60 km/h winds, the clouds came & snow/ice fell from the sky. We all were warm in our (friends) tent because our sleeping bags were rated for -8 Celsius. We only got cold when we had to get up & out of our sleeping bags. The temperature was (real feel) -15 Celsius & it felt that cold. All of our feet & fingers were very cold.

This year was the first time we slept in a tent & we agreed that next year when we do it again we are going back to a ger. The reason is that in a ger we each had our own beds & most important we can light a fire in the stove. It means that we will have to travel twice as far to get to the ger, but I think to be able to stay warm with a fire is worth the extra travel.

We are starting to get a little frustrated because for a week now we have lost/lose water (both hot & cold) from 10am to 11pm. It's a challenge because it has forced us to change our daily plans with the water schedule. In some ways it is funny. Those of you that know Teresa could just image her having to get up at 6am to get a hot shower before the hot water runs out. When push comes to shove we have to laugh at the no water situation because we would probably kill each other if we did not laugh at it.

Some days it is hard because God uses daily circumstance that are out of our control to force us to change our character so that we are more effective for him here. The really frustrating thing is that some days when I think I have had enough I don't know if it's because I am thick headed (have not learned what God is teaching me) or if the lesson has changed (God wants me to learn even more than I think) so my character becomes more like his. Either way some days are a real challenge here, but as long as we can laugh about it (in the end), enjoy the other great things here in Mongolia & help Mongolians in whatever ways we can things are good.

Fall is here

2010-09-24T05:27:00.000-03:00

Fall has come to Mongolia. About half of the leaves have fallen off of the trees, during the day our high temperatures range from 5-14 Celsius & our lows during the evening are between -5 to 1 Celsius. It a really nice time of year here. School is in session, people are back to work for the fall & you can comfortably walk around in a pair of jeans & a long sleeve shirt/fleece. Also with fall comes the coal smog as Mongolians in the Ger district need to heat their gers in the evening & night. But deep down it is a comforting feeling.

Please pray for the kids & I. We are going on one last camping overnight in the countryside. I just looked at the overnight low of -7 Celsius & with the windchill the real feel is going to be -17 Celsius. It makes me laugh though. Last year the exact same time the kids & I camped & we woke up Saturday morning to snow. It will be cold enough to snow, but hopefully it won't. Teresa is going to have a fun girlie night with her friends. Time to rest & have fun with her friends.

Enjoying the cooler weather

2010-09-15T04:20:00.002-03:00

The weather is changing & many of you will disagree, but I am happy that cooler weather has come. Sleeping at night is much more comfortable & the leaves are already changing colour. All 4 of us are in school, Teresa & I in Mongolian language, Esme home schooling & Kiel at a private school.

Teresa & I will officially finish Mongolian language classes in the Spring, however we both will continue to study possibly 1 day every 2 weeks. Esme is enjoying her new home school curriculum & Teresa is enjoying teaching her this year. Last year trying to teach both kids was much too stressful. Kiel really enjoying school with 21 of his 23 classmates being Mongolian. His teacher, Miss Bond received her B.Ed. from Acadia University & is originally from Ontario. Kiel as part of his curriculum has 2 Mongolian language classes a week & during lunchtime his classmates are allowed to speak Mongolian. We are excited & expecting his Mongolian to surpass ours in the next year or 2.

Since the summer we have been able to help many Mongolian Families. A Mongolian family of 4 living in a 1 bedroom apartment in our stairwell was broken into & had both their wooden doors smashed. I talked to 2 other families in our building & all 3 of us pooled money to buy/have put in a very nice, secure steel door for them. They were so grateful because they told me that they never could afford a more secure steel door.

Another family we have felt strongly led to help is our home helper's. Our home helper's husband has been trying to find work for the past 1.5 years & has had some work, but not steady long term work. The only income their family has been able to receive is from us as she cleans our home & helps us with our Mongolian language 2 days a week. They have started a very small beef business for foreigners, but still only have 10 steady customers. Our wooden windows needed to be repaired, sanded, painted, siliconed before the winter & asked him if he would do the work for us. He was so excited that I would offer him work & pay him knowing that I was quite able to do the work. He did a wonderful job. Many people have asked us when we bought our new windows & were shocked to find out that they were not new, but the old (original) windows. It was awesome because 2 other families asked him if he would do the same in their 3 apartments. Our home helper & her husband were so excited because it gave him 4 weeks of daily work.

Friends of ours here started an English language class & asked us to pass the word to people we knew. Teresa & I again felt led to pay for our helper's husband to take this class to become more employable. When I told him that our friends were teaching an English class soon & that we would pay for him to take/study the class he was so happy he started crying. He said that there was no way for him to take a class because of the cost, but wanted to so he could find a steady job. His is enjoying the class, finds it difficult, but is studying hard.

Please pray for us as my Mongolian language classes will be ending soon & will need to receive a work visa in the Spring. We have talked to a family we may work with & have a visa they could give to me. But, the Department of Labour here has to approve of the work I would like to do & only then can I receive a visa.

A Short Time 2 Rest

2010-08-26T07:20:00.002-03:00

Wow school starts in a weeks time & the summer has flown by. During the summer we as a family went camping for a week twice, once in July & the other time in August. The 1st time we camped close to the city by ourselves. The 2nd time we camped far from the city & with our extended family Aunt Jenna & Uncle Pascal. The river crossing (horses were swimming with us & all our gear on their backs) was the best, coolest part of the adventure.

In Mongolia camping is much different than in Canada. All you have to do is drive anywhere, find a place you like, make sure that it's not a special Buddhist prayer place & set up camp. There are no outhouses, no water or taps unless their is a river, designated sites, or anything. Just you nature & your stuff. Oh, don't forget the toilet paper. Things are always a fun crazy adventure here in Mongolia. The river we crossed to find our camping spot is a great example. You can see this in the slideshow on the right. The 2nd day before we were leaving it rained hard all day & when we woke up the next morning (day before we left) the river was 30cm higher. We all started to get a little concerned, but had fun even though the water was rising. We woke up the morning we were leaving & the water rose another 30cm & the river was now 1meter deep & 400meters wide.

When our taxi arrived in his Delica SUV van I had to yell across the river in Mongolian that the only way we could cross the river was by horse. God is good. A Mongolian language instructor that I knew was in her Ger close by with her husband & son. He told Sara that I was stuck & need to borrow her horses. It was so much fun. After that fun we all said to ourselves that we needed to buy good camping gear that can be carried while on horseback & all of us needed to take horse riding lessons.

Some of the other things we did this summer was have our annual JCS retreat which is a time for all kinds of missionary families from different organizations to come together from all over Mongolia to learn (guest speaker taught sessions each day), to pray, to play (both kids & adults), to eat & just talk together. We also befriended a short term mission family from Canada, the Farquhar's. Their children & ours played almost all day everyday while they were here. Teresa & I had a great time talking, shopping, showing them around & eating together. We were sad to see them leave yesterday morning, but are hoping they will return in the future for a visit. This summer many people stayed at our place when coming from the countryside. It's nice that people know our home is open if they need a place to stay.

A Christian Mongolian family in our stairwell (family of 4 living in a 1 room apt) was broken into & their front door destroyed. So we with some other friends here pooled our money to buy & have put in a brand new steal door for them. Teresa & I over the past couple of months have been doing a lot of individual & marital coaching (counseling) to other missionaries & local people here. We have been asked if we would be willing to coach (counsel) Mongolian families who's marriages are struggling. Please pray for this as many missionaries here have shared that this is an area we seriously need to consider & would be great for us to offer because of our past experiences.

Yesterday all 4 of us went to the private school (uses Canadian curriculum) Kiel will attend starting next week. We went to pay his tuition, get his school uniform & meet some of the teachers. We were able to meet 5 Christian teachers teaching at the school from (US, UK, Canada, New Zealand.) We all had a great time chatting & felt more comfortable knowing that Kiel already knew some of the teachers before his 1st day of classes.

Busy, busy, busy

2010-08-19T23:30:00.001-03:00

I am sorry we have not made a post in such a long time. I will make a very long post next week. We have been in the countryside most of this past 6 weeks. Now that we are home we have people staying with us from the countryside while having repair/cleaning people here. Our home is a little crazy, but God is good. To Mongolians (Christian & non-Christian) that know us they laugh & call our home "the Mayich internet guesthouse." In the midst of our craziness God is using us to help people here & overseas. Thankfully next week things will start to wind down before all 4 of us start classes in September.

Thank-you for your patience & your prayers

2010-08-02T20:54:00.000-03:00

We started last week with our friend Pascal coming back to Mongolia from Switzerland to see his girlfriend Aunt Jenna. Last winter Pascal was here for a short term missions trip & for 4 months he taught Mongolians carpentry. This trip is only a vacation & it is nice that he is back.

It was Aunt Jenna's birthday on Saturday. Happy Birthday!! For her birthday a small group of us, her friends (9 of us) piled into an SUV with charcoal bbq's & home made salads to the river for the morning/afternoon. We all had a great time.

Saturday evening we went to Kiel's baseball year finishing bbq & award ceremony. The baseball league is the Ulaanbaatar baseball league & is managed by a family that is part of Campus Crusade. There was so much food & a lot of people.

Teresa, Esme & I were so proud of Kiel when he went up to accept his "Coaches Choice Award." This award is given to the player who is a leader with good character & contributes to their team every game. Kiel, if it were not for us (mom & dad) telling him 15 minutes early is good would have been at the field every morning 30-45 minutes early. While he played he always encouraged his teammates to do their best & always encouraged the players on the teams he played against. Kiel says that it is more fun when everyone have fun.

Also this past week a Canadian family from Saskatchewan has come for a months mission trip. They had been reading our blog & we were emailing back & forth for 6 months before they arrived. Kiel & Esme were so excited they were coming, Canadian friends to play with. They have been playing everyday for hours since they have come & we are enjoying the time we are spending together. They are a great family.

Hot, hotter & hotest

2010-07-24T11:43:00.002-03:00

Last weekend Teresa the kids & I went on a 4 days camping trip in the countryside to get away from the heat, business of the city & just to spend time together as a family. You can see some of our pictures in the slideshow on the right side. I have to say that camping in Mongolia is nothing like camping in Canada. In Mongolia all you have to do is drive & when you see a place that you like you just stop, make sure it is not a special Buddhist prayer mountain/place & set up camp. Teresa, the kids & I wanted to be able to cool off so we decided to go close a freezing (10 degrees Celsius) mountain fed river. We called our friend that had an off road 4x4 van & off we went. To get to our spot we had to drive through the lower part of the river 3 times & 1 time almost got water in the doors of the van (water almost waist deep.)

The 1st night Aunt Jenna & Tuya camped with us which was lots of fun. However, because Mongolia is basically entirely arid - desert land (hot during the day & cold at night) the night temperature dropped down to 6 Celsius. Teresa & the kids were freezing. The second night was better. Two Mongolian families came to camp also right next to us. They blasted the "Back Street Boys" from 8pm that night until 2:30am. They stopped at 2:30am because I had enough & went over to them & told them they needed to turn the music off because we needed to sleep. The third night I was woken up to a Mongolian horse rider asking me if this was my campfire & tent while sitting on his horse.

I was talking to the Mongolian rider in Mongolian while in the tent & when I came out of our tent to continue the conversation he was so apologetic. Based on my Mongolian (while I was in the tent) he thought I was Mongolian. Next he asked if my wife was Mongolian. When I replied that my whole family was Canadian, he again apologized. He told me that his ger (home) was across the river because it was so late his horse would not let him cross. He then asked if there were other Mongolian families sleeping near by. I told him there were & he thanked me.

The reason why this Mongolian horse rider asked if the fire & tent were mine is a big part of their culture. If I was Mongolian or my wife was Mongolian I would have had to offer this man a place to sleep & a meal in the morning so that he could continue on his journey. Every Mongolian that lives in the countryside does (has to) many times a year. Some people they know, but many they don't know. It is even true for Mongolians that live in the city. If their family or a families friends friend needs a place to stay for a night or 3 weeks. They culturally must welcome them in & feed them.

Although we did not get really any sleep the days of resting, eating over the campfire, using the bathroom next to a tree (you have to use it like all the other animals around) & swimming in the river for hours was awesome. We came back with dirty clothes, smelling like campfire, tired, but relaxed from the fun we had as a family together. Oh, only in Mongolia does your tent pole snap from a cow. A herd of cows while we were swimming in the river decided to check out our camp & eat our campfire leftovers. In the process 1 cow tripped over a tent fly line & fell on our tent breaking a pole. We were laughing. The tent was only 2 days old & a cow broke it. Well we are Mongolian & just duct taped the pole back because it is not like we can take it back on apart of the cows doing. Life is crazy here from time to time & you learn to laugh at this stuff.

We have not had hot water for 12 days now which in not that bad considering that the temperatures this week have been 34, 36, 39, 40, 42, 41 Celsius in the city not at the airport (the internet temperature shows) which is out of the city. I boil 3 kettles of water & add some cold equaling 8 letres of water in the tub. The kids get washed 1st then me. Not bad 8 letres of water & 2/3 people can get cooled off & clean (body & hair washed.) We live in the land of crazy extremes -45 (without windchill) in the winter & +42 in the summer.

Some good news came this week by the president of JCS International asking if Teresa & I would be our home groups new leaders. She said that our family is loving, welcoming, hospitable & caring. Our responsibilities would include organizing/preparing our weekly "home group/study" meetings, welcome new short term/long term people, have them for meals, make them feel as comfortable as possible, show them around, help them find apt/other things they may need. We are excited because it is what we enjoy doing for others.

Busy, fun week

2010-07-15T10:38:00.000-03:00

Wow last week was fun, but we were feeling it today. Last week every evening we hosted missionaries (from the countryside, the city, friends, short term people, long term & missionary friends) for supper. They totalled 45 people all together not including ourselves. Some needed a change to rest from their very busy lives, some a good home cooked meal, some wanted to get to know us while others wanted to share (from the normal to very personal) more about themselves. Some shared filled with joy the things God is teaching/using them, others were/are struggling as they go through very difficult times. Some missionaries that came this week wanted counselling (personal, family, ministry, relational) from both Teresa & I. Everyone that came felt encouraged, supported & prayed for. Many people come for different reasons to "Matt, Teresa, Kiel & Esme's" but, they know they are always welcome & will feel loved.

Here is a picture of our dining room. Picture one table with 9 children around it, the other table with 6 adults, 5 more standing around & all of us eating together at one time.

God is working & we are serving his people.

Sorry made a mistake

2010-07-12T22:35:00.000-03:00

The habitat homes are only 5m x 5m. The last post I said they were much larger.

Cooler...ah!

2010-07-07T10:31:00.001-03:00

Habitat for Humanity was awesome. I was so excited when I got to the new site where all 30 small 5m x 5m homes had been started. We were all split up into groups & each had a home to build. The Mongolian family that would be receiving the home worked along side of us as we were building. My job for the day was to be a bricklayer. The Mongolian professional bricklayer gave me a 10 minute lesson & she asked if I could do it. I happily said "yes" & started. It was a hot day (32 degrees Celsius) & enjoyed working on my awesome farmers tan while working. It was really special all of the other volunteers (awesome to see because there was 200 from all over Asia, Europe & Canada/US) we were the only ones who did not need a translator because we could speak Mongolian. Our translator didn't need to translate so he helped us by mixing cement. We had so much fun talking/working with the professional bricklayer, the translator & the new owners family speaking in Mongolian. The work was hard, but the connection I felt with the professional bricklayer, the translator, the new owners family & the other volunteers made the work seem easier. Nine hours later I returned home tired, dirty, hungry for some real Mongolian food & to see Teresa & the kids.

I will post a couple of pictures as soon as I get them from friends who took some pictures.

Busy Few Days

2010-06-29T10:47:00.002-03:00

"They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people."
Acts 2:46b - 47a

Sunday afternoon we invited over a missionary family from another city here in Mongolia for our kids to play, to get to know them better & eat a meal together. We had a wonderful time getting to know them & their kids. The cool thing is that the husband from North Carolina had visited Halifax & spent some time in Wolfville a few years ago with another American friend. God's family of Christian believers is very small even on the other side of the planet. The Robinson Family have been living here in Mongolia for over 10 years serving the Mongolian people in a smaller city north close (approx 75km) to the Siberian border.

Monday most of the day we took care of the Robinson kids while mom & dad went to different embassies for visas. When the kids left we had our friends other missionaries over for supper. We talked with our friend Shawn who spent the last month in the countryside living with a Mongolian family in their Ger. He hate lots of sheep, goat & horse guts (days & days) along with dried meat because so many animals died during the winter. He also helped local missionaries give new animals to herders that lost all of their animals. Aunt Jenna also came because she needed to do her laundry & we love it when she comes over. If we do not see her everyday then all 4 of us feel like our day is not complete. We love Aunt Jenna so much.

Tonight we had more missionaries over for another meal. Our good friends the Krose's YWAMer's from India & Holland (Slovakia should have won against Holland last night, or I wanted them to win beens they are the closest to Ukraine & Croatia.) They also had with them friends from one of their home churches in Holland. They came to visit for 2 weeks to see what life is like here in Mongolia & how they are serving the people here. Teresa & I cooked a great meal together & enjoyed the time we shared with them all.

Tomorrow I will be gone all day with a team of missionaries (my friends) to build some small brick gers (homes) (10m x 10m) for Mongolians who cannot afford housing in a Ger district close to the city. We will be working with Habitat for Humanity Mongolia as it is their project & we are just helping them build the homes. I am looking forward to it, but know I will be tired by the end of the day. We are suppose to start building at 8am & finish close to 6pm.

Try to cool off

2010-06-26T13:22:00.001-03:00

After 5 days of the heat, another YWAM couple (our friends), the kids, Teresa & I headed off this afternoon to the countryside to enjoy our new little charcoal barbecue & some water to cool off. This morning (9am) our bedroom was 33.8 degrees Celsius & has been all week. The kids needed to cool off & it was the 1st time we went swimming here since we arrived. The last time we went swimming was back in Canada over a year ago. The kids this morning said to me when we were walking up the street, "Dad it is so hot. Can we go home? Kiel, Esme this is the joy of living in a desert" (practically the whole country of Mongolia.) You will see some of the pictures in the little slideshow on the right side of our blog. The river was freezing (5-10 degrees Celsius), but it was so nice to cool off. While swimming Kiel & Esme met 3 Mongolian boys. They talked, laughed, swam & roasted marshmallows together before we had to pack up & come home.

In some of the pictures many of you will notice that the roads are really rough. These roads were actually in really good shape for outside the city. They (the roads) are something that you really can't fathom when all you have are the roads in Canada/US in your mind. Every missionary/missionary family I know here has an SUV because you really need one. Many Mongolians only have small cars & you see/hear their cars scraping the dirt & large rocks as they drive by. As for now we do not see the need for a vehicle with 9 more months of Mongolian language & still praying/waiting to see where God wants us to serve once our language has finished.

This morning Bonnie, the dog we were sitting went home & she was so excited to be going home. There was a Mongolian family staying at Bonnie's apartment that has cared for her many times in the past. They were excited to see/have her again. Bonnie was a good dog, but not the dog for us. Although it was a great learning experience for us. Dogs that live in an apartment are much more work & difficult to care for verses dogs in a home with a yard & fence. We have determined that we are happy with our two cats (Mittens & Fluffy) & the daily freedom that comes with our cute & lovable kitties.

Nice & Warm

2010-06-24T05:05:00.000-03:00

Today is awesome! I was talking with one of the engineers for the new apartment building going up next to ours & they had a laser thermometer. I loved what I saw. She pointed the laser thermometer at the concrete driveway in the sun & the reading was 49 degrees Celsius. I am laughing because Mongolians can't handle the heat of their summers, but I am loving it. It sure beats the -52 degrees Celsius we had on Christmas Eve. I will never complain about the heat as long as God wants us here.

Teresa & I both have one Mongolian language class each before we are able to rest for the summer. We can't wait. Although Teresa & I both will be meeting with our instructors over the summer. Teresa's instructor (& mine 3 days a week) have told us both that we are her best friends. This means so much to us because her family are not Christians, but want to safely continue to ask questions & slowly discover who Jesus is when we spend time toether. We love them for who they are now & maybe sometime in the future will want to know Jesus personally.

My male instructor (a Ger pastor & language instructor) & I went out today & we were arm in arm. We are best friends & I have to say that I never thought that God would give me such a close Mongolian friend so soon. In Mongolia when you see 2 girls, 2 women, 2 boys or 2 men arm in arm or hand in hand it shows that they good friends & most Mongolians only have 1 or 2 friends close enough that they would walk hand in hand or arm in arm with. Westerners find this extremely difficult because in our culture it means something totally different. However, many of you that know me, know that Ukrainian culture (what I essentially grew up in) was/is very embracing (can't think of another word to describe it.) It makes me laugh because I am very comfortable with it, but Teresa & my other American good friend Erik both said they are "definitely not" comfortable to be arm in arm or hand in hand with a friend.

2010-06-19T18:25:00.001-03:00

Over these past couple of weeks in many ways things are normal. I don't know how to really describe it. Teresa the kids & I have been placing our focus on summer, finishing language & trying to relax. I have not felt God over these past few weeks moving/working in a great tangible way, but then again the old saying at home is "no news is good news." I think this is a good saying right now for us because God is always working in our lives, yet we sometimes don't see or feel what/how he is working. Many times it is after he has finished a little work or has changed us that we can look back & see that we have changed or were used by God in situations. That way God receives praise for the situation & for changing us to be better used by him in the future.

For now we have finished as much as we can right now with the archways in our apartment. Although, I have to laugh because the kids & Aunt Jenna said that since we have made the changes we all spend more time in our bedroom then in the living room. Teresa, the kids, aunt Jenna & I may start in other areas of our apartment, but will all end up in our room. One person at the desk on the computer & the other 4 on our bed talking, reading stories, all or a combination of us on our bed playing boardgames, laughing, tickling the kids or lately the kids holding me down & tickling my feet & neck. I think it is funny because we normally are in either our room doing these things & end up in the kitchen to eat or start in the kitchen eating a good meal & end up in our room after eating.

Kiel has started baseball again this year & of course enjoys it. The manager of the league told him that he will probably win a medal this year because his first 3 times at bat hit the ball well & one of them was a home run. Esme is an awesome little sister. She wants to leave with Kiel in the mornings to go to baseball with him to make sure he is ok, watch him play & cheer her big brother on. Please pray for them both. Kiel & Esme have lost their friends to the countryside. Kiel & Esme's good friend, Derek moved last week because his family with 2 other Mongolian families have started a clean water project. Esme lost her only Mongolian friend to the country side also.

Mongolian culture is when school is finished, families pack up & move to the country. Many Mongolians do not like living in the city or in an apartment (if they can afford one.) They like living in a Mongolian Ger (everything inside 1 room) & outside nothing but, wide open field/mountains as far as you can see. Here in Ulaanbaatar I think 1/3 of the city packs up for the summer & leaves for the countryside. It is funny because some Mongolians will sit on a public bus for 3 hours to come into the city to work so that in the summer they can enjoy the life their ancestors did years ago.

10 years ago...

2010-06-18T03:38:00.001-03:00

...yesterday a beautiful woman named Teresa & I were married. It seems like a lifetime ago, but can say it has been a great 10 years. We have lots of crazy downs & lots of awesome ups. But with us both working hard on our relationship our great times far exceed our bad/hard times. I would not change being married to Teresa for the world. I love her beyond what words can describe.

Ready for a Break

2010-06-15T05:19:00.001-03:00

Hi everyone. I will in the next couple of days place a post that will cover the last week & a half of updates & things we are looking forward to in the week to come. As for right now I can say that all four of us are very tired & are looking forward to Mongolian language class finishing next week so that for us summer can start. Things have been very busy here trying to finish things so that we can have a rest. I mentioned in a previous post that Teresa & I have been in Mongolian language studies for 15 months now & I can say that our brains need a rest from class. Many of you who know more than 1 language & have lived in a country where a different language is spoken can understand the need for a rest from formal language learning. We need the relaxed informal language learning that comes with just having the time to talk to normal everyday people on the street or in our case our apartment neighbours that sit on the benches in the front yard of our building.

Please pray for a good sleep tonight. Teresa, Esme & I are just very tired & need a good rest. Kiel has a fever, head ache & his ears are starting to ache. Even though we are tired & a little weak things are going well. This is home & we really, really like living in Mongolia. Thank-you for your prayers.

The work has begun...

2010-06-05T04:31:00.002-03:00

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.

Returned Home

2010-05-30T09:41:00.000-03:00

Thank-you so very much for praying for Alexia. He returned home at 4am this morning. He did not end his life. During the middle of the night he left, hopefully did a lot of thinking & decided to come home. Please continue to pray for him that he will be able to get the help he needs here.

My friend is also doing better today. Please continue to pray for him after being here for 17 years he is struggling with purpose (a transition time) as to what/where God is leading him to serve now here in Mongolia.

Prayer

2010-05-29T12:25:00.000-03:00

Please pray for Alexia, a Russian man who wanted to end his life this evening. I received a call to go to the stadium next to our building because a friend needed help so this man would not end his life. Please pray for my friend who was shaken up by the situation of trying to keep this man from ending his life.

Not The Day We Expected

2010-05-25T10:55:00.000-03:00

Today was a beautiful day Teresa & the kids had a good day in school while I was off to the Ger District for my Mongolian language class with my instructor & his family (drinking breakfast & talking together.) I came home to eat some lunch, the kids ran outside to play while Teresa & I talked about some things. All of a sudden Kiel came up to ask if I would play with them & I said I would be out to play in a few minutes. He came back 20 minutes later telling me I had to come out FAST, they (Kiel Esme & Derek) found something really cool. I got my shoes on & went down the stairwell. I went outside & saw Esme holding a 5 week old stray kitten.

She with her brother asked if we could keep the kitten. I said mummy & I would talk about it. Mittens likes Fluffy & the vet said she is perfectly healthy. For a week now Esme has been asking & praying for a kitty of her own. I (adult) never thought God would answer her prayer, but today he did. God shows our children that he loves them & answers their prayers even if it means getting another kitty for us.

Also I am the oldest of 4 boys & have never had a sister. I have not yet learned how to say no to your daughter when she is in tears asking if she can "please have a kitty for herself." When you know she has been praying for one for a week.

Bonnie (the dog) will be returning to her owners when they return from England in August so we will be back down to 2 cats which i think is ok. But we are finished with animals.

Family Fun

2010-05-16T19:05:00.003-03:00

Times flies when you are having fun we all say & this was true for us this past week. We started our restful week playing in the yard out front of our building, going for walks & catching up on some Spring cleaning that we never had time for earlier. Later in the week we hired a friend to drive us 40 minutes outside of the city for a family day hike & ended the week with playing a new fun board game called Pictureka.

When the Kids & I were in the front of the building throwing our Canadian Frizbee to each other so many Mongolian kids, women & men watched us. Some were amazed, some laughed, while others had no expression on their face. The reason is that in Mongolian culture parents do not play with their children. Children play (games, sports, etc...) with children & adults play with adults (games, sports, etc...) There are very distinctive lines between child & adult things. Men/fathers especially do not play with their children of for that matter other children (their friends children, families children.) When I am playing with the kids, teaching them games/activities & especially encouraging them that they are doing a good job many Mongolians are confused. Mongolian parents "never" encourage their children in anything. They always ask "what happened" when they did not win or get a perfect score in school. Culturally, the reason is that a Mongolians "worst" fear is childhood pride. If their children are proud then bad things will come on the family. So they never encourage their children.

It always amazes me when 2 weeks ago we were still having temperatures of -10 Celsius & this week our average temperatures were from 17-28 Celsius. On that note I was so happy that on Friday our central heating turned off for the spring & summer. Our apartment during the 1st part of the week was 32 Celsius at night & we couldn't open the windows because spring in Mongolia is full of dust/sand storms with wind speeds of 50-100km/h.

On Thursday we packed our backpacks & headed out of the city (the 1st time in 9 months) to enjoy the outdoors together as a family. We had our Mongolian friend drive us to a place that looked good on the side of the road & had him pick us up 5 hours later. We packed a frizbee, ball, food, a newspaper (for a fire) & the most important toilet paper. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip:

All in all I think we hiked, mountain climbed 10-12km.

Teresa, Kiel & I visited the private school that we would like to send Kiel to next year. We got a tour, talked with the schools principle (from Toronto) & got to meet both grade 3 teachers (both from Ontario & one of them received her B.Ed from Acadia University.) More than 50% of the teachers are Canadian & they use the Ontario Provincial School Board Curriculum. Also during the tour we learned that computer, gym (swimming lessons during the winter), art & music classes are all part of their daily learning. Kiel was also excited that they offer cooking classes as an after school program.

The children we got to meet, his potential classmates were extremely friendly & asked him many questions. As of right now Kiel would be the only non-Mongolian in the entire 3rd grade, which is awesome given the fact that earlier in the week Kiel told me that he did not have any Mongolian friends & it bothered him. Here is another opportunity for the Gospel as we will be able to befriend more Mongolian families.

Having a short Rest

2010-05-10T10:34:00.000-03:00

I can't believe that the week has already gone. We are hoping that this week slows down just a little as we are having a rest this week.

Please continue to pray for our language instructor as she is still grieving the loss of her father. Also please pray for friends here who three weeks ago flew to the US for Jim's mother passing away (is still in the US) & today Liz's mother passed away (she flew back to Mongolia only a week ago) & will be returning to the US again tomorrow.

Later on in the week we (all 4 of us) will be going to the countryside for a picnic, hike & fun playing in the fields for a day. It is so easy when you are home for everyone to be distracted (the kids included) doing other things & not having quiet, restful, non-distracting family fun together.

As the week progresses I will update you all.

Warm Weather Is Here

2010-05-02T06:48:00.000-03:00

Teresa & I want to thank those people who were praying for us this past week. Teresa & I started the week very stressed & tired because the week started with temperatures of -10 Celsius, strong winds & snow. Seven full months of winter & we had enough. We are also having fun with our new family member for the next 4 months, Bonnie the dog. She is a partially trained, 4 yr. old mutt that weights around 10-12 kg. The past couple of weeks have been a little stressful because Mittens (our Mongolian cat) really was not happy that a dog has joined the family. After a few good fights where Mittens came out on top they are peacefully living together.

Tuesday was a day that I like to remember because it is how Teresa, the kids & I like our home to be. Throughout the day we had 20 people in our home at different times (Mongolians, Americans, Indians (from India of course), Dutch, Singaporean, Canadians, British.) Mongolians have joked with us that our home is the "Mayich Internet Cafe", but after Tuesday we can add shower house also. Friends of ours had just returned from home, in Europe & needed a shower because their apartment shower was being repaired. We taught (school), entertained, gave counsel, fed (other missionaries), studied (Mongolian), related (hung out), played & lead a bible study all in one day. It was very tiring, but we were happy because God is using us & our home.

Later in the week the temperatures have risen to what we would call at home as a normal Spring, +10 +15 Celsius. The kids are so excited & have been going outside to play in our buildings small field, playground & sandbox 3-4 times a day. Although Spring in Mongolia is very windy. Mongolians think it is the worst season because of the dust & sand storms that blow up in an instant. It could be perfectly calm, beautiful sunny day & out of nowhere winds of 30-70 km/h full of dust & sand blow through. I laugh because I have been caught in a couple of them thus far this Spring & have kept my mouth closed during, but when it's finished feel the sand in between my teeth & on my tongue. When the kids get a bath after coming in the water changes from a clear bluish colour to a charcoal grey/black.If you are on the surrounding mountians you can see the wall (0-150 meter) wall of brown sand/dust storm slowly moving into the city. Many start in the Gobi Desert, end in Northern China & can move as far as North Korea (Mongolians have said.) They can be (have been in) bad ones where you cannot see 3 meters in front of you because there is so much sand/dust.

Here during a light sand/dust storm & after it has passed:

We ended the week waking up to a text message that our (non-Christian) language instructors father had passed away. Please pray for her family. Teresa & my best friend/other Mongolian instructor (a Christian) will be going to the hospital/morgue at 1st, then I will be going to the cemetery for the 4 hour funeral lead by a Buddhist lama. Please pray for me as this will be my 1st funeral of this type & that I will be sensitive to the Spirits leading while there. God is working in & through us with this family knowing our relationship is going to be long term. She has told me that Teresa & I are her friends & she cares for Kiel & Esme as if they were her own.

Family Night

2010-04-22T10:21:00.000-03:00

We finished our 1st family night. Kiel & Esme asked us if we could adopt a family tradition from our friends & fellow missionary family, The Mill's. The Mill's have been a missionary family for more than 15 years & have 5 children. They started family night years ago to bring their family together each week when most of the time they are all doing things in different places doing different things.

Family night is when all of us after supper come together & watch a movie. With no distractions & a special treat to eat we sit together, watch, laugh, roll our eyes (Teresa watching funny cartoons) & talk (when the movie is done.) It is awesome because Kiel & Esme told us that this is non-negotiable & we (Teresa & I) were to pick a night for this to happen. Thursday evening is the time we have set aside & we are so happy that the kids value our time together & asked that we do this each week. God gives children his desire for family time, together in relationship & as parents sometimes all we have to do is honour these simple, but meaningful requests.

Oh, here is the movie we watched together:

Celebrating 50 years of YWAM

2010-04-17T09:44:00.000-03:00

To celebrate the 50th year of YWAM Loren & Darlene Cunningham (Loren the co-founder of YWAM) are travelling to 50 countries where YWAM (Youth With A Mission) has made a large impact. This weekend they are here in Mongolia. All of the YWAM people in Mongolia have come to Ulaanbaatar to see, listen & learn from the co-founder of our organization.

Teresa is one of the the English language reporters for the event. Please pray for her as she is excited, but very nervous because she is sleeping in a room with people (Mongolians) she does not know & do not speak English. The other thing (I think funny) is in true YWAM style the place where the event is taking place has "NO" water, heat & electricity. In the evening here it still drops down to -10 Celsius. I am staying home with the kids because there is nothing planed for the children & the majority of foreign YWAMers in the country are single or married without children. Our favourite sitter Miss. Vickie & Aunt Jenna will be looking after the kids during the day so I can go for one day sit in on a couple of sessions. The kids are so excited to have the girls come over that they want me to go see mom.

The kids also had a highlight today. We did a test run with Bonnie & Mittens for the day. Bonnie is another missionary families dog that we will be looking after for the next 4 months. Bonnie's family has to return to the UK as a family member in the UK is very sick. The family member (Graham's father) has been allowed to leave the hospital as he is expected to pass on in the next couple of weeks. Please pray for them & with the volcano in Iceland they may have difficulty returning home. Please pray that they will be able to return home before Graham's Father passes away.

Here is a picture of Loren & Darlene Cunningham & a brief description of Loren:

"Loren Cunningham is the Co-founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), an ever-expanding global "family of ministries," born in 1960, which has reached into every nation.

Loren has personally gone to every sovereign nation on earth, all dependent countries, and more than 150 territories and islands, for the sake of the Gospel. This has given him valuable insights into global trends and uniquely prepares him to share God's strategies for world evangelism. His wisdom, experience, leadership understanding and call to build bridges of unity within the body of Christ have caused him to be sought out by leaders of nations and organizations worldwide. He speaks publicly in 30 to 40 nations a year, and has spoken to live audiences from a few to more than a million people gathered in one location."

Some of his books:

Making Jesus Lord: The Dynamic Power of Laying Down Your Rights
Is That Really You, God?: Hearing the Voice of God
Daring to Live on the Edge: The Adventure of Faith and Finances
Loren Cunningham: Into All the World

Here is a link to some of his other books (click here.)

Please continue to pray for the items in the prayer list. I will update them as soon as I receive word concerning the surgeries, JCS & my visa.

It has been 1 year already!

2010-04-11T05:24:00.000-03:00

To start please pray for the new requests I have posted on our prayer list (right side of the blog.)

April 9th 2009 we landed in Mongolia & April 9th 2010 has come & gone. In some ways it is hard to believe that we have been living here for a year & in other ways it seems we have been here for 10 years.

These past couple of weeks have been very busy. The Easter weekend was a great time for us. It started with us having language classes as normal on good Friday. I talked to one of my language instructors as well as some other Mongolians & they had no idea what good Friday was. I had the privilege of leading communion during JCS's good Friday service in the evening. The service was amazing & God spoke to me in a great way.

Saturday we went over to the Mill's apartment to paint Ukrainian Easter eggs. We all had fun painting eggs together, talking about Ukrainian traditions before Christianity came to the Ukraine & how they kept some of those traditions after Christianity was established (some Christians are encouraging Mongolians to leave all their traditions saying they are not of God which is discouraging.) We also talked about the Ukrainian traditions we grew up with & how much fun they were. It was quite funny because the kids only lasted one egg & during the end our our time it was only the Mill's teenage children & the adults left still painting their eggs.

Sunday morning the kids woke up to some new Spring clothes, a Kinder egg hunt (the only chocolate eggs you can find here) & a small gift. After church (4-6pm here) we invited 3 single missionaries up for supper. We all enjoyed a great home cooked meal, put the kids into bed & finished visiting together. Monday started with Esme coming to my Mongolian language class for the first hour & a half. While on break I took Esme over to a new friends place to play, Then I returned to finish my language class as normal. Teresa cooked a home made roast chicken dinner. She was able to find a small 2 kg frozen chicken to cook. She made homemade stuffing (thank-you family for sending the spices we needed), sweet potato casserole, mashed potato's, boiled carrots & gravy. We invited our very special Aunt Jenna as well as our friends Ian & Elizabeth. It was a great meal, the kids had fun & so did we.

The rest of the week was great for the kids. They had a good couple of weeks of home schooling & a good gym class. However, Kiel has been very board. He needs to be challenged more, is very social & only has one friend that lives close to us. In a couple of months Kiel's friend with his family will be going to the US & then returning/moving to the countryside (12 hours away.) Teresa & I have been praying & God has said for us to do what we think Kiel needs & He would take care of the extra support we need. Please pray for this. We will be looking at the information & making plans for him to attend a private school here in Ulaanbaatar that uses Canadian curriculum.

Mongolian language classes for both Teresa & I have been going well. Please continue to pray for us. We have learned that when it comes to language study you are your own worst enemy. Many times when you have an encouraging Mongolian conversation you talk to someone else 5 minutes later, don't understand a word & can't think of the words needed for the conversation. Satan uses discouragement to try to stop you from learning & talking to locals (building relationships.)

Teresa has been helping (giving ideas) to some missionaries that are starting a student cafe & others are moving to a new office. I have been working on PC's. I just finished building another desktop PC for a Mongolian family (non-Christian family we have a good relationship with) that could not afford one, working on a couple of missionaries PC's that have been giving them problems as well as repairing some wireless networks that were tampered with. I find doing a PC fun, but will have to stop taking anymore because this week was very tiring.

God has been giving me (Matt) His heart for the poor & dieing in Ulaanbaatar. These are the people I would like to serve after my language classes are finished. Please pray for this.

Thank-you all for your support (prayers/giving) & patience as we learn Mongolian for these first 2 years here.

beautiful warm weather.

2010-03-29T10:40:00.001-03:00

Wow it feels good to see the thermometer go above the freezing mark this year. It is so exciting to not need all kinds of layered clothing to walk outside. Although, this morning Kiel was so funny. I told him that it was 3 degrees Celsius outside, he then ran into his room, got half dressed, stuck his head out the door & said "dad I can wear shorts today right?" Talk about excitement, wow. I have to admit it, but I would consider it for myself because it has been such a long time since I got to wear mine outside.

My birthday meal was great sharing with some missionary friends/families & my Mongolian best friend. The weekend we took it easy building Lego for hours & hours. It was fun to do, all 4 of us hovering around the Lego pile building things & try to help each other find specific pieces. We did not have any hot water for the entire weekend. So we boiled a couple of pots & all had a bath (with the cup) in the tub. The funny thing (seriously funny, because if not you will go nuts) is that we woke up this morning to hot water, but no power. I cooked breakfast & boiled water for coffee on our butane camp stove in the dinning room. Then Teresa & I ran into the shower & got our hot showers. It felt really good, than 30 minutes later our power came on, but no water came out of our taps/toilet. It is 10pm & the water still is not on & no one knows why.

Mongolian classes are going well, but I am struggling sitting in a classroom. I have this desire to start doing, but all the missionaries here with 5-18 yrs living experience in Mongolian keep reminding me that they wished they could change one thing. They wished they would have studied Mongolian for the full two years like they were suppose to, but didn't because they were anxious about doing.

Teresa & I both are continuing to pray for Kiel's schooling. There is a private school here in Ulaanbaatar that uses the Ontario Provincial Public School curriculum & has many activities to offer, but there is a financial cost. Please continue to pray for our Mongolian instructor she is asking a lot of questions about Jesus & really enjoys spending time in our home teaching Teresa & me at language school.

March 26th My Birthday.

2010-03-25T21:55:00.000-03:00

It is hard to believe that I'm 33 today. It is beautiful outside today. It's -14 degrees Celsius, the sun is shinning, it is clear, the sky is a beautiful blue & the mountains are snow capped.

I am going to my Mongolian langauge class today, although my instructor asked me, why? The reason is if I do not go to class, she is not paid. Class is going to be fun though. We are going to watch (I'm bringing to class) disc 1 of the 1st season of "The Jetsons." I will have to translate one show, 25 minutes today. Sounds like fun eh? Actually I am really looking forward to it.I still can't believe that I am starting to understand Mongolian & think in Mongolian also.

Everyone enjoy your day/night

A note from Teresa...

2010-03-24T09:32:00.001-03:00

Hi all! This is my first blog post. I normally leave the blog up to Matt but since this is mostly my news I thought it only fair to write the post! I wanted to share with you some the things going on here in Mongolia in my life. As most of you already know I have been teaching the kids school here at home in the mornings and doing my language training a few afternoons a week. We are also taking the kids to some activities at the Home School Co-op two afternoons a week, and on Fridays I do the family shopping. It's so funny for me to even say that, since at home in Canada shopping never made it onto a schedule! Things are very different here though! We also have a small group meeting every Tues. evening and church of course...Needless to say a fairly busy week.

What I really wanted to share with you is about some of the relationships that I have had the opportunity to develop here. Our home helper Oyuka comes to the house 3 mornings a week and I have really enjoyed getting to know her and her family. Her husband has been looking for work for a little more than a year and what we are able to pay them, is what they have been living on. They have two beautiful boys that love dinky cars! (Kiel has given them a lot of the ones that we brought with us just because he knows how much they enjoy them.) I have had the privilege of helping Oyuka and her husband get a small business off the ground in the last few weeks. They are now selling beef and doing a great job! I am so pleased for them and would ask that you would keep them and this new budding business in your prayers!

We have also been able to assist two other families with the help of the Ladies at Colby Drive Bible Chapel who so generously knitted sweaters, and other winter gear, as well as provided some much loved stuffed animals and baby dolls! We were able to give a single mom and her daughter some much needed clothing and food. Esme passed on her clothes that she had out grown and was very generous in passing on her favourite back pack too! They live in the stairwell of one of the apartment buildings and their only income comes from cleaning the stairwell. They live in a space that is about 5X5 feet. The mother was so thankful because she said that her daughter was ostracized at school because of her old and dirty clothes and now she would have something nice to wear! It's amazing how something so small can make such a difference in a little girls life!

The other family that we were able to help was a family with two little boys. They each got a beautiful sweater and a nice new hat. Kiel passed on some of his toys and clothes for the boys too. We supplied the family with the money they needed to get some food because their cupboards were bare. Can you believe that for about $70 this family will eat well for a few months? We will be able to distribute more things as the days and weeks go by, as there is no lack of need.

We are getting to a place now that we are needing to make some big decisions for the future. We need to decide if we are to stay in Ulaanbaatar or move to the country side. We are trying to discern the direction that God has for us here and what types of ministries we are to be involved in. We need to make decisions about a possible change of schooling situation for the kids, especially Kiel as we are thinking about sending him to an English speaking private school here in UB in September. We have many things that need to be decided on and we would ask for your prayers as we make these decisions. Thanks so much for all your prayer support thus far! We know that it is making a huge difference here in our lives!

Tired & in need of prayer

2010-03-22T21:26:00.000-03:00

Hi everyone sorry for not posting in such a long time. Things have been very busy here with me (Matt) having a test last week, missionaries leaving to return to their home countries & new ones coming (serving them a meal & helping them get settled.)

Please pray for Teresa as she will be writing her Mongolian test tomorrow. Also please pray for the kids & I. we are feeling the effects of 6 full months of winter. Teresa is doing well, much better then we are. We are getting out & walking a lot but, feeling tired when we normally would not.

I will place another post later on today with updated prayer requests & 2 Mongolian families that we (the kids especially) were able to bless. Thank-you all for your prayers & financial support.

At a Funeral

2010-03-14T22:05:00.001-03:00

Teresa is at a funeral for a Mongolian lady who passed away last Friday night. She was ill, in a wheelchair & was a prostitute 2 years ago. A friend & YWAMer here in Mongolia is has been working with prostitutes here (helping them know that there is something better for them, they don't need to sell their bodies & give them work skills) for 8 years & has seen a lot of set backs. However their have been many women that have left the streets & know Jesus. This lady was one of them, but she still struggled with many things. Please pray for John & his team had been helping her for many years. Also pray for her family that they all would know that Jesus loves them & they will know him soon.

All 4 of us were used

2010-03-08T09:41:00.002-03:00

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.

Spring is here, but it is not good for everyone

2010-02-28T21:12:00.000-03:00

Hi everyone spring is here in Mongolia. The temperatures have risen to (-30 to -10 Celsius) & many of you would be happy for us & the Mongolians for the temperatures. However, this means that we will be getting more snow. Mongolian farmers have already lost over 1.5 million herding animals (horse, camel, sheep, goat) this year due to the cold/snow & the warmer temperatures will mean more will die. It may be more convent for us, but there is not enough money for the government to offer aid to the farmers. This is a case where convenience comes at a greater cost than personal comfort. Please pray for Mongolian herders this spring.

Back to Normal

2010-02-23T00:43:00.000-03:00

The Mongolian New Year (White Month - Цаган Сар) is finished & thought it was good I have to say that I have happy it is finished. Бид 4 4-н айл очсон. Translated, the 4 of us visited 4 families. Teresa & the kids did very well. Teresa in total ate 4 бууз, Kiel ate 4 also, Esme ate 8 бууз & I ate 38 бууз plus 14 хуушуур. Needless to say every Mongolian I meet asks me how many бууз I ate & can't believe it. Here is a picture of the traditional Монгол Цаган table. This is how every Mongolians table is set up that you see during Цаган Сар.

Here is the table with all of the traditional foods, drink plus some things that they added (the candy.)

Here is the Traditional mutton, horse or camel meat on the table which everyone is to eat. This is what I think is awesome. Look how lean the meat is. It's a good thing I like fat as much as I do.

Here is the суутай цай which is the boiled (horse, sheep, camel, cows) milk with lots of salt & tea (Mongolian leaves, flowers, bark together.) Teresa, Kiel, Esme & I really like it. we each had 2-4 cups each home we went to.

Here are бууз (buutz.) They are really fatty ground or finely chopped mutton meat with onion, garlic & salt. They are wrapped with flour dough & then streamed over boiling water. This is the main Цаган Сар food. Each Mongolian family will make 1,500-3,000 for Цаган Сар. All family members will visit each home during the 4 days of Цаган Сар. My best friend here had over 100 people in their home & they have to feed all of them, well. It is fun, but stressful at the same time when there are so many people moving through your home & the cost of food when most live on less then $2/day.

Here is the Mongolian Цаган Сар cake. It is not really cake, but stacked flat loaves of bread. At the top their is a traditional flat loaf with Mongolian traditional symbols on it & then the sun dried yogurt pellets, sugar cubes, white nuts & yellow congealed milk fat (very top.) Everyone can eat the things on the top. However, you have to touch the side loaves 1st before taking something off the top. Also the side loaves cannot be eaten until Цаган Сар has finished. They are fun to eat because they are totally dried out & as hard as a rock.

I will say that we have been eating as many fruit & vegetables as well as drinking fruit juice as we can now that Цаган Сар is finished. We want to clean some of the fat out of our bodies. Although I want to say that many of you may be grossed out by the amount of fatty foods Mongolians eat. "However, when you (Mongolians) only eat one meal a day your body needs the fat to burn as energy." We all eat more than 3 meals a day & can't do this.

Амар Сайн уу? Мэнд ээ. Амар Сайн уу?

2010-02-12T13:53:00.000-03:00

Happy New Year to all! Sunday is Mongolian new year where the whole country stops to celebrate the new year. The first day of Цагаан Сар, meaning White Month (Sunday) is family day where all families come together to celebrate new years together. Teresa, the kids & I are touched because we have been invited to one of our instructor's home & our other instructor's parents home for family day. We feel blessed by these invitations & will enjoy the cultural experience together with their families. The music video above shows some of the traditions & foods of Цагаан Сар.

Some of the foods & drinks of Цагаан Сар are бууз (horse, mutton or goat steamed dumplings) сүүтэй цай (hot horse, sheep, goat, camel or cows milk salted, mixed with wild plant leaves & sticks like loose tea) яаманий мах (goat meat on the bone in large pieces full of fat) гэдэс (cooked animal organs) нийслэлийн салат (capital salad similar to potato salad, but with other things that many of you may not like) тамхины сав (sniffing tobacco) торт (sweet cakes) толх (breads) ааруул (sun dried yogurt.) I have to say that all of these things I like to eat.

Here is a picture of my box of ааруул (sun dried yogurt.) мэттенс бид хөёр ааруул идэх дуртэй. Mittens & me really like to eat ааруул. It is very sour & dry. Teresa & the kids care not to eat it because it is sour tasting.

Just so you know our cat is a real Mongolian cat. He may look domesticated, but deep down we don't think he is domesticated.

I have added new prayer requests to our list at the bottom right. Please read them & pray for the concerns.

Things back to normal

2010-02-06T09:07:00.003-03:00

It is so nice that Teresa is back with her new visa. Thank-you all for praying for her as she received her visa, had a time to rest, was able to buy some things we needed & cannot buy here. Refreshed Teresa will now be able to last the next 4 months of winter. While she was away in Bangkok she realized how different it is from Mongolia. Plants, trees & bushes of all shades of green are everywhere. She went from -35 Celsius to +35 Celsius. There is no winter & in Mongolia we have 8 months of winter. The food was full of flavour. Also shopping malls & markets filled with fresh spices, nuts, vegetables & fruit. The streets are clean, new clean taxis take you from place to place, the buildings old & new are clean & beautiful. In spite of all these differences which many of you would think are going against Mongolia we are happy here. God has given us his heart for the Mongolian people & love it here. Places like Bangkok are nice to visit to rest & refresh, but Mongolia is our home.

Our language is going well. On a regular basis Teresa & I are told by local Mongolians that our language is really good & they can understand us well. This is very encouraging as we both have many days when Mongolians ask us questions or want to have a conversation together to get to know us better & why we have come. However, most of these conversations end with us having to say "би ойлгүй байна" which means I don't understand or the Mongolians saying they don't understand us.I just have to keep telling myself & Teresa the same that we have only been studying this language for 9 months now & have a little over a year still left.

Please pray for the less fortunate here. last night we had a blizzard with blowing snow, 100km/h winds & temperatures of -47 Celsius. This morning when we woke up there were windows blown out of apartment buildings, trees were blown over, signs were ripped & roofs damaged.

Mongolian new year starts Friday through Tuesday. I am going to be eating a lot of food that all of you would be sick looking at & drinking milk tea from any of these animals (2 hump camel, horse, goat, sheep, cow.) God has blessed me with the gift of really, really, liking Mongolian food as well as their milk tea. This will be another opportunity as we will be invited into homes where members will see the love of Jesus in us by our love for them.

Please pray for our children. Kiel & Esme love each other dearly & others are amazed as to how close of friends they really are, but they both will be losing their 6th friend their age in June. Their last 2 friends close to their ages (a little younger) will be going back the the US for the summer. Teresa & I have already started praying that more families will be coming soon that they can befriend. This is a hard reality for missionaries, but is the time when families really need to come together to help each other during the transition of people coming & going. We have talked to & seen amazing missionary kids that have done well with the transitional life & have talked to them so we know what helped them become the beautiful people they are.

Tired, but praising Jesus.

2010-01-29T21:32:00.002-03:00

Hi everyone please pray for me as I am extremely tired. While Teresa is away I have been trying to teach our kids during the mornings, afternoons taking them to their extra curricular activities, making the meals (pre-made box meals do not exist here everything from scratch) & during the other afternoons or in the evenings after the kids are in bed having 3 hour Mongolian language classes (Tuesday 9pm-12am.) I am extremely exhausted & can't wait to Teresa to return. That is why I am so thankful that Teresa will be able to return next Wednesday with her new Mongolian visa. We thank-you all for praying that she would get her visa.

I took this picture outside my bedroom window this morning because it is beautiful. The only down side to this picture is that it is not fog in the picture, but coal smog.

Happy Birthday "Sweetheart"

2010-01-24T09:11:00.000-03:00

Teresa is on her way. 6am this morning we all hopped into our Mongolian taxi drivers van & headed for the airport. After the kids & I returned home she messaged me saying that she was on the plane on her way to Seoul. Please pray that she makes it to Thailand this evening (Sunday morning for most of you.) Tomorrow her visa paperwork will be sent to Thailand & Wednesday it then can start being processed. Please pray that the paperwork can be processed quickly as Teresa will only be there for 4 business days before having to return (praying with a visa.)

For the next 10 days the kids & I will be on our own. My Mongolian classes will be a challenge as my mornings will be spent teaching the kids instead of learning Mongolian. Some of my classes are going to be "creative." My instructors, the kids & I will be going to the different museums in the city for my classes. I am looking forward to them as би Монголоор яидэх ёстэй. (I will only be speaking in Mongolian.) Pray that the kids & I will enjoy our "kid daddy time" together.

Please continue to pray for the Mongolian people as the cold weather continues. Many people have run out of their first load of heading coal & need to buy another porter load of coal to stay warm until the temperatures warm up here in May. Also pray for the people in the countryside as 5000 animals have already been lost & many people have lost legs, arms, feet, toes & fingers due to freezing. Heavy snow & freezing temperatures (-30 to -50 Celsius) in Western Mongolia will mean many more animals & body parts will be lost.

Please continue to pray for the 1000's of people in Haiti. Our friends & fellow YWAMer's (Dominican & American) are in the city of Saint Marc doing well & leading YWAM relief efforts to Port-Au-Prince.

Fun Week

2010-01-20T04:43:00.002-03:00

Last Saturday we hosted for breakfast a YWAM team from a Russian base. They are here in Mongolia doing many service projects & speaking in churches. The unofficial team leader is a Ukrainian lady & the other members are also from the Ukraine, Russia, Finland, & the US. It was great to feed them, get to know them, & share our lives with them. Many of them were interested in our story as to how God called "asked" us to come to Mongolia. They will be leaving in two weeks to finish their outreach in China for a week, then returning to their base in Russia.

Also a Canadian team from Western Canada will be returning from the countryside this weekend. They have been in 2 different locations serving the people. I am looking forward to talk with them to find out what their experience has been & what God has taught them through their experiences.

Teresa is flying to Bangkok this Sunday morning. Pray that she arrives their safely & is able to enjoy her time there. Also pray that she will be able to receive her new Mongolian visa & return home as planned.

Prayer List

2010-01-12T20:25:00.002-03:00

I have added a prayer list to our blog. It is located on the lower right side of our blog. It is just under our site visitor counter. Please pray there are a number of urgent things on this list.