Recent Surprises

Since before Christmas I had made it a habit to be checking the post office for boxes that were coming in.  For a long time I was confounded, checking again and again without any success.  Last week we went to the post office and were surprised to find five boxes there as I mentioned previously.  But there was an aberrant package that I hadn't noticed previously.  As I was preparing to talk to my family and open my Christmas presents 'with' them I went to get my two packages.  As I carried them from my room I was wondering why there were two, I didn't remember two packages being sent.  I checked the post mark and was more than surprised to find that the one was postmarked January 7th.  It was only the 16th and I had gotten the packages two days before.  It turns out that it was my birthday package.  It took only one week to arrive while it took the other 6 to go the same distance.  To say the least we were shocked.

John

Kevin learns to read

It's tough being in Mongolia. Sometimes learning Mongolian fries your brain so much that it's hard to remember English. Still, I can't even imagine having to re-learn how to read English! Wow!

Watch the video while you can. It may be taken down soon. Oh, and no offense to the Terrells is intended. After all, I could read their card just fine.

Too Much of a Good Thing

We have been having a great problem of late. We are fast outgrowing (outgrown) our current church room. There is a core group that seems to be coming constantly. There seem to be a lot of visitors as well as friends of regular attendants as well. Every week we try to cram more and more chairs into our already crowded and overheated church room to accommodate more people. What a wonderful problem. Pray that God would provide a new building for our group to meet in.

John

Showers of Blessing (and snow)

I have been really blessed by Pastor and Mrs. Jaquith being here. Before coming I couldn't have told you how much I was going to miss hearing preaching in English. At the same time Mr. Patterson's parents have been here and we've gotten to get together with them on numerous occasions. On Thursday night we went out to the Altai Mongolian Grill for dinner, courtesy of Mr. Patterson, Senior. The food was really good and it was so much fun to watch the chefs cook the food right in front of me. A couple of time they even threw oil on the grill and lit it sending flames up to the ceiling. The Pattersons are just really friendly people and I'm glad to have met them. Last night a couple of families gathered together at the Muller's house for a little get together of sorts. There were 41 people in all; their little house was packed.

John

Mountain climbing

The young men went with my family about 40 miles out of town to Turtle Rock. While we were there the men decided to scale the utmost height. Here's a picture.

John & Kevin enjoyed the church picnic

Last Saturday, Kevin & John joined Faith Baptist Church for a picnic. John's frisbee was a real hit. The first picture is Kevin standing with Dawaajab, an unsaved man who accompanied us. The young men had a chance to witness to Dawaajab since he speaks some English. Later, John went into the river to rescue a ball that was being carried away. So he had to put his socks back on.

Field Trip

Today after class we went on a field trip to a restaurant and market to practice all the things that we have been learning. For less than $5 each Kevin and I got a Coke and 4 large Huushuur. I was full after only two but I tried one of my classmates Byyz. When I bit into it grease squirted out of two holes in the sides and left grease spots all over the table cloth. I was very glad that the holes were facing the away from me. When Kevin saw that he decided not to try them. The huushuur were greasy as well and I feel like I want a salad. We went to the market after lunch and did a little shopping. I don't really need anything so I just wandered around looking at all the knocked-off products. We walked through the meat market with carcasses of different animals hanging on poles. There were even tables with stacks of horse meat. At another stand I was surprised to find the front of a pigs head sitting on the table. (Kevin got a picture so keep your eyes open for that.) The market was very near our apartment so when we had finished Kevin and I left the group and walked back.
John