First Week

This past week has been full of new experiences as we have been acclimating to life in Mongolia. A lot of our time has been spent with the country director learning about the culture and what we will be doing in it. There are many new cultural things that we are going to have to get used to, such as handing things with either the right hand only or both hands as well as recieving things the same way. We have had to get used to crossing streets with a lot of traffic. Here in Mongolia pedestrians don't really have the right-of-way, so you just have to look for a hole and run. Actually, it is not too bad. We just get behind some of the locals and go when they go. There is the great concept of size. If the group of people is bigger than the vehicle coming then the car will stop. It is, however, dangerous for any size group to cross in front of an oncoming bus. We are being challenged to walk in faith.
We have seen a lot of the city, and have learned how to get practically anywhere from our apartment. We have not yet tried out public transportation, so most of our travel has been by foot.
The weather has been great since we got here. It has rained several days, something that is unusual for Mongolia. The rain has cooled the air. In the mornings it is cold enough to see your breath, but the days have been in the 70s or so with no humidity. It is a far cry from the current weather in middle TN or north AL I am sure. When it is not raining, the sky has a brilliant blue color.
We have also had to get used to going up stairs. That may sound like a simple thing to do, but we are over five thousand feet above sea-level. At that altitude the oxygen is a little thinner than we were used to.
This week we also went to a Mongolian culture show. Traditional dances were performed, local instruments were played, and native songs were sung. They played the horse-head fiddle and performed throat singing. It was a wonderful display of the rich cultural heritage that Mongolia has, but it also highlighted their need for the Father. We are excited to be here! Next week we have a few days of training with the rest of our team. We begin our formal language training a week from this Monday.
I would add more pictures, but we only have a very slow connection speed and a limited amount of time. I will post lots of pictures after we get hooked up to faster and more abundant internet.

Small Steps, Long Walks

Our mode of transportation before coming to Mongolia was our beautiful Mustang. In the past few months we rolled the odometer on that baby driving all over the place. Here our primary mode of transportation are two pairs of tennis shoes. Since we landed Sunday we have walked a lot. Not that I am complaining by any means. Walking is a great way to get around plus a wonderful form of exercise that most Americans have almost forgotten about. The last few days we have been shown more around town. The girls were clued in on the good grocery stores and markets while the guys were shown the "Home Depot" district of UB. Besides going out with some of our new friends here, we have also taken it upon ourselves to get out and explore a little on our own. It has been a lot of fun. The Mongolian culture and language are very different from our own. It is easy to feel very different even scared because of this. With such great barriers before us it is not always the big things that excite us. The past few days the small steps have been encouraging. Learning our way around our part of town, eating at resturants without anybody to translate, and learning a few words that can be recalled later are all just a few of the small victories that can help carry us through this time of transition. We are encouraged by the quality of our living space and the new friends that we have already made. It is going to take a lot of time for us to become more at home in our new home, so we must rely on our Father for humility and patience. Something we learned in our preperations to get here was that there is joy in the journey. Every stage of transition, growth, or travel has its own unique characteristics and pleasures. Our goal is to make the best of and enjoy every moment of our learning experience.

Mongolian Evening

We are finally here! After over a year of planing, working, and waiting we have arived in the country of Mongolia. We boarded a plane in Nashville, TN 6 pm Friday evening. About 27 hours later we landed at the Chengis Khan airport (yes, it really is Chengis not Ghengis). Local time was 10 am Sunday (9 pm CST Saturday night). Our flights were good, and we were able to rest some. Our bags did not make it with us, but all four came in today without issue. As you can imagine, we were both tired but going to bed was not an option for several hours. Since we are now 13 hours ahead of the time zone we were used to, we want to get used to our time here as soon as possible. We met our team leaders, and they showed us to our apartment and the area around our new home. UB is a bustling city. The sounds of urbin life surround our apartment. Many of you may have thought that we were stepping off the face of the planet, but in reallity we have done nothing of the sort. There are many ammenities availible within easy walking distance of our apartment. In fact, we have already visited a major supermarket and purchased a few things. Things are made a bit more difficult by the fact that neither of us know any Mongolian. However, we will begin our study of the language in a short amount of time. Right now we are just trying to adjust to our new environment.

We are very thankful for what has been provided. Our apartment is very nice! It has three rooms, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. In fact, it is actually bigger than the one we left in TN. We have a nice clothes washer and plenty of furniture for having guests over.

As we are settling in we can't help but think of all those who have made it possible for us to be here. We have been blessed with such great friends and supporters! Most of all we have such a wonderful Father who has brought us to this point.

So as not to make this a novel, I will end for now. Updates on our adventure will be added as often as possible, so keep checking for new posts!

Up, Up, and Away!!

It is hard to believe that tomorrow we will get on a plane and fly to the other side of the planet. Many people I know talk about going to Outer Mongolia as the furthest place in the world to go. In fact, one cannot travel much farther from the US than to Mongolia. But the reality is that we will be the outsiders. We are going to be learners. Our systems are going to be overloaded with information that we are not yet familier with. With all this having been said, we are excited about leaving. It is hard saying "goodbye" to our family, but we are excited about the new friends we will make during the next 10 months. Many of you reading this may still be thinking that we are nuts. We are confident that this is what we need to do! Keep us in your thoughts. We will keep you all updated once we get there.

Visiting Family

We are having a good time with family in MO. It has been nice to visit before heading to Mongolia. We have also had a ton of great food!! Just trying to get in as much of the good American comfort foods that we are used to. We will be driving to IL on Thursday to visit more family. Planning on stopping in St. Louis on the way. Go Cardinals!! Unfortunately, they are not in town or else we would try to catch a ball game while there.