Time

            Have you ever noticed that though time is consistent it often doesn’t feel that way?  There are always 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day.  We cannot decide that there will be more or less.  It is always the same!  However, there are days when 12 hours feel like 3 and others when 12 hours feel like 36.  But the seconds always tick by at the same speed. 

            We have been feeling the clock speed up over the past two weeks.  As is usual, it was not until the end of the semester that things got really crazy.  Actually, time has been moving very quickly since we returned from Thailand in February.  Our spring semester was quite short.  Because of end of year testing in the Mongolian schools, it is best for the teachers in our program to finish before they begin testing the first of May.  So we obliged and all three city teams were finished teaching by the first week of May. 

We were actually the last one to end, but that was partially because all of our students were in their first year and were not graduating. Therefore, we had our last class on May 7^th. Since the students had been reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe we decided to watch the new Disney version for our final listening seminar. There was popcorn and drinks, and we showed the movie via a projector. The students all seemed to enjoy it. We would have loved to discuss some of the deeper themes in both the movie and the book but, alas, the time escaped us. However, we hope that the book influenced their thinking as they read it and did homework on it. 

After the class, we all went to a nearby restaurant to eat lunch together.  We had food, fun, and photos!!!

 

 

  

There were many hurdles to jump this year, but we are so thankful for our group of students.  They all worked hard and stuck in with the program even during the busy and tough times.  As Jennifer and I move on to university teaching next year, we are sad to see our students go.  Since Craig and Sarah are moving to western Mongolia to start a business and we are transitioning to university teaching, all of our students will get new supervisors next year.  They were sad to hear this, but we hope that they will continue and graduate from the program in the spring.

           An event that need not go unmentioned is our fourth wedding anniversary.  Yep, we have been married for four years!  Since our anniversary is on the 4^th and our teammates’ is on the 5^th, for the past two years we have had a joint anniversary celebration dinner.  As both we and they got married four years ago, we have spent as many anniversaries together as we have apart.  Talk about team unity! 

Baring unforeseen problems, we plan on doing the same next year.  In similar form to last year we went to a restaurant called Millie’s.  It is geared toward westerners living in Mongolia and serves some delicious food.  The owner is a Cuban guy that has been living and working in UB for many years.  It is kind of ironic that the best hamburger I have ever eaten was made by a Cuban guy in Mongolia!

We ate hardy and then returned to Matt and Jess’ apartment for ice-cream.  We had a great anniversary and are so thankful for each other and the time that we have been blessed with!

           Things for next year continue to develop.  This past year there were three teacher training programs in the city.  Two of the programs had several students complete their second year of study and graduate.  Since our organization is diversifying, the remaining students from all three city programs will be combined into a single class that will meet in a central location to all of the students’ districts.  A few things will be changed for next year but overall it will remain similar to this year and previous.  However, at the same time, our curriculum coordinator will be piloting an in-school teacher training program, hopefully.  That is the idea anyway, but it is too soon to know if the proper support and response will be there for it.  Two or three others will be working in a high school to help retrain teachers and instruct the students.  Jennifer and I will be working for a university but are still not sure which one.  Only time will tell.

            Since our class finished on the 7^th life has been a dash to the finish line of this semester.  I mean we have literally been running!  Seven days is not a lot of time to have wrap-up meetings and get together with people before we leave.  Traveling has begun to sound restful.  Though time has been speeding by, we have been able to accomplish a lot and visit with a lot of folks before we and they head out.  It is sad to know that Craig and Sarah will not be living and working in UB next year.  We have really enjoyed having them as teammates and will miss them.  They at least will still be in Mongolia though.  Sadly, there are many others that will not be returning.  We have been able to see most and wish them well on the next adventures of their lives.  In addition to our teammates, we have met with a Mongolian friend in our building and a few Korean friends.  We have discovered that it is tough having to say goodbye about every four to five months.  During the summer, we spend three months in the States and then have to say goodbye to friends and family to travel to Mongolia.  We are in Mongolia for about five months and then have to say goodbye to our Mongolian friends to travel to Thailand.  We are in Thailand for a month with friends who live and work across Asia and then have to say goodbye to return to Mongolia.  We are in Mongolia for three to four months before we once again have to say goodbye and travel to the States to start the process all over again.  I don’t care who you are, that wares on the emotions.

            By the time you are reading this, we will have already traveled back to the States.  We are looking forward to being back, but there is another type of stress that comes with that transition.  Please think of us during the summer months.  Our desire is to be refreshed and productive.  It may be a vacation from our work in Asia, but there is to be no vacation from life.  We hope to be an encouragement to others and challenge them and you to seek His will in your life every day.

The beauty of time is that as it passes it always brings something new, and there will be new stuff coming your way the first of June! 

Time at Terelj

As the school year is winding down, things have been pretty busy for all here in UB. So on April 27th we all took a break and escaped to the countryside for a day of festivities, fellowship, and food!!! Around 9 am, we boarded a tourist bus in the center of the city and headed east to the national park called Terelj.  The road was bumpy, but the fellowship with our teammates and two friends from afar was great.  The trip out didn’t seem to take too long at all! 

Terelj is a beautiful area of mountains, rolling hills, woods, and meandering streams. The weather was exceptional which made it more enjoyable to be outside. Though the wind blew rather consistently, it was warm, at least as long as the sun wasn’t hiding behind clouds. It took about two hours to make our way from UB to the ger camp that was our final destination.

In case you don’t remember, a ger is the traditional Mongolia nomadic dwelling.  It is the same thing as a yurt, a circular structure covered by a wool shell with a stove for heating.  Though you wouldn’t think it, they are actually quite warm in the winter as long as the stove remains lit.

Reservations for two gers had been made, so we had plenty of space to gather or escape the wind if need be.  Shortly after we arrived, we witnessed the preparation of sheep for traditional Hor Hog.  The meat was quite fresh.  We knew that because it was tied to a pole looking around when we walked up.

Mongolians do not believe in spilling a sheep’s blood on the ground when they kill it.  It has something to do with dishonoring the sheep that is giving its life for food and bringing bad luck.  Because of this belief, a sheep is killed, at least for Hor Hog, by slitting a small hole in its underside, reaching in with a hand, and pinching a major artery.

It may seem strange, but it actually appeared to be a rather human way of killing the animal.

We all stood around and observed as a Mongolian man killed and then swiftly skinned, gutted, and butchered the sheep.  Nothing is wasted! 

The wool is used, the innards are set aside to be cooked, and the blood is collected to make blood sausage, a delicacy that we sadly didn’t have the pleasure of trying.  (However, Jennifer and I were not heartbroken about that!)  The meat and bones were placed into a metal container with hot rocks to cook.

During our time at the camp, we actually had two Hor Hogs.  What a load of food!  Our first was cooked with potatoes, carrots, and cabbage while our second was only the meat.  The meat turned out to be pretty delicious for mutton! 

Our second go around, we had the innards to try.  I had to try some of the intestine.  That is an experience that I don’t plan on repeating any time soon (hopefully never).



A picture is worth a thousand words!!

            The kids had fun searching for Easter eggs that the adults had hidden all around the ger.  It was fun for the non-egg seekers to watch the young Americans and Mongolians scatter for their quarry.

            The camp was surrounded by awe inspiring mountains.  It was fun to walk around and take in all of the beauty.  There were eagles catching the updrafts and sweeping across the sky just above our heads.  There were cows wondering around the grounds and even eating some leftover Easter eggs that the kids had forgotten to take inside a ger.  There was even a group of Korean students who had a blast getting their pictures taken with us!

During the afternoon, some played volleyball while others went for a hike or took a nap.  It was fun to be away from everything and not have to worry about responsibilities that were going undone.

Before our supper, our country leader led us in a time of reflection concerning Easter.  We sang a few songs in both English and Mongolian and then had a time of uplifting together. 

  

Sadly, that was the last all team get-together that several of the people will be at, so we gathered around them and committed them into His hands.  We are saddened to see our team dwindling, but it was a joy to have Matthew and Pam, the two new additions to the team, with us.



Jennifer and Pam

             After eating more mutton (and a little bit of intestine) we got a group picture, cleaned up, and headed back to the city.  It was after 9:30 when we got back into town and around 10 when we got home making us two tired and worn out travelers.  We are so thankful for our team and the time that we had together in Terelj!

One Month

One more month exists before the completion of our second school year in Mongolia and our return to the United States for the summer.  I mean one month literaly.  We will board a plane on May 15th and arrive in the States on May 15th.  Talk about a long day!

The time has passed quickly, perceptively more so than last year. I wouldn’t entirely contest that it has passed more quickly because of busyness. When we began the year we expected to be very busy throughout. However, we soon learned that teaching one day a week doesn’t take up a lot of time, especially when that three hours is split between three teachers. Granted, the student observations and grading homework has been time consuming, but we have not had a large number of students. Because we found extra time, we filled it with other things. Joshua devoted two days a week both last semester and this to graduate school work. Jennifer has acted on a committee or two and has been tutoring two people (more on that in the newsletter). Life itself takes considerably more time for us to live here than it does in the U.S. In short, we have stayed busy enough to cause the months to pass quickly at least in our perception. We are thankful for the time that we have had and for the experiences as well. This year has been unique. Last year had its set of challenges as we made Mongolia our home for the first time. This year has had a different set of challenges as we continued to live life day in and day out in Mongolia. We have been plunged into the teaching program that we were only told about last year. We realized our lack of experience and ability. We have felt our lack. It is in that lack that we have and continue to seek His sufficiency.

A Little Bit of April

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The process of ending out this year and preparing for next has been a long and painful process. As has already been mentioned, going into our time at Thailand, we lacked a desire to return to Mongolia next year. During our time there, we were guided to return for at least one more year. Our organization has been reeling with the outgoing of the former country director and incoming of a new one. Many things that had not been said finally came out and have facilitated the process of change and expansion. However, it is difficult to expand when the number of people is decreasing. Not only will the former director no longer be working with our organization, we are also losing several very valuable teachers. But we are assured that He is in control. This is another of the reasons that we have been spurned to remain faithful to the work here.

Currently, our organization focuses exclusively on the retraining of Mongolian English language teachers. This has been the case for well over a decade. With the change of location from the countryside to the city and the passage of time, it has been identified that what we are doing needs to be modified to fit our current situation. Training of teachers will continue, but what that looks like is still a mystery of sorts. Next year, there will be a team of teachers who will finish up the requirements of our current student class, but at the same time there will be a process of reworking that program to be more effective in the current and future eras of English teaching in Mongolia. However, this is potentially no longer going to be our sole focus. There have been many ideas on the table. Some doors have opened while others have closed or are nearing that point. One option is of placing our teachers in high schools to help train the English teachers of that particular school. Another option has been to work side-by-side with some of the Mongolian teachers to hopefully exemplify good communicative English teaching as well as build relationships. Yet another option is to place some of our teachers in a university to teach English as well as teacher training to some of the future English teachers of this country. It is still uncertain at this point what we as an organization will be doing next year.

Despite the ambiguity there are two things that we know for sure. First, Joshua will once again be a team leader. This is nothing new, but the team of which he is leading will likely be far different than this year. Our preference would be to teach university. This is what we came to do and feel most confident in doing. This is in no way assured at this point though it is the direction that we have been asked and feel most led to go. Much still rests on the direction of our organizational leadership and opportunities.

Second, we will remain in the apartment that we have been living in this year. This is big for both of us. Not more than a month ago, it was announced that practically all remaining teachers would have to move next year because of the reorganization of teams. That would make three moves in three years for us, something that neither of us liked the thought of. Despite that, we were willing to move should that be deemed absolutely necessary. However, after a large amount of reasonable protest, our director has been moved to allow us to continue living where we have already put down roots and begun to build relationships. We are very thankful for this.

We all realize that though change is both good and necessary it is uncomfortable. We are seeking His guidance and wisdom concerning what we will do and where we will be next year. More details will come as we learn them ourselves. But for the time being we would like you to join us in seeking wisdom and guidance and peace of mind concerning our work for next year.

Blessings to you and your family until you hear from us again!

Spring

After spending a month in balmy northern Thailand, it was not a lot of fun returning to the frozen north of UB, Mongolia. We were happy to get home after having been gone for a month, but the sub freezing temperatures became a little much. While much of the US was already seeing flowers and green of all kinds, we were still tramping through snow, ice, and slush.

Finally, that is all past. About a week ago, the temperatures finally soared above freezing. This may sound a little surprising, but it feels quite warm here once the temp hits the mid 30s. That may be for one of two reasons. One, it has been well below zero for three to four months. After so long at those temps, even freezing feels warm. Two, Mongolia is dry as a bone. Maybe it is a little of both. Whatever the case, we are happy to be able to shed the winter coat and clothes and begin working our way into the spring clothes (pretty much the same as winter just in fewer layers).

The only nasty thing about the warm up is the wind and dust.  All winter, the ground has been frozen.  It is windy but only makes things a little colder.  After the warm-up, the wind which blows pretty regularly out of the west picks up a lot of dust on its way into the city.  Because the city is located between two mountain ranges, one north and one south, the wind and dust is channeled right through the city.  Whereas two months ago the city was shrouded in smoke from the coal burning gers, it is now covered with a swirling cover of dust which varies in density.  We have found it quite important to keep our mouths shut if we are walking outside while the wind is blowing.  It is also quite surprising how quickly we get zapped of energy when we are outside in the wind.



The wind through an open window can even frustrate computer work.

When we were young, we learned that spring is a time of new birth, a time of refreshment after winter.  Mongolians see spring a little differently.  Traditionally, Mongolian people believed spring to be the worst season of all.  At first, that seems a little shocking but makes sense after hearing the reason.  The Mongolian winter is long and harsh.  Aside from a handful of other places on the earth, Mongolia is one of the harshest environments and has one of the fiercest winters.  Mongolians are a hearty people who have over a long period of time learned how to adapt to and live through such winters.  It is amazing to think that many Mongolians still live all year long in a felt covered tent.  Winter is harsh and rough on both people and animals, so by the time spring comes, everyone and everything is simply worn out.  We can attest to this fact.  Though we don’t exert a lot of energy during the winter time, the season still drains us.  Spring, though much warmer, is a very unpredictable time of year.  One day might be warm and the next might bring snow.  This kind of dramatic change can wreak havoc on an already worn out system.  For this reason, it is common for many animals that survived the winter to die in the spring.  Therefore, it is traditionally viewed as the hardest though not harshest season.  In the city, it is a little different.  People feel the drain of winter but not so much the ill effects that those in the country often experience.

Spring time signals two things for us.  First, it brings birthdays!  There are several team member birthdays in the spring but especially in April.  One of them is Jennifer’s.  Her birthday came on the 3^rd while Jessica’s, one of our teammates in the Han Uul district, came on the 4^th.  In celebration of Jennifer’s birthday, we had our team over for peach cobbler and ice cream after our morning gathering at fellowship. 

We had a good time “partying” together.

On Jessica’s birthday, we had our weekly team meeting at her and Matt’s house.  She fixed us lunch, but Sarah brought the cake and Jennifer made some delicious whole wheat rolls to go with lunch.  That evening, we had dinner at the house of our fellowship leader, so Jennifer made another cake to take for that.  The rest of us have simply enjoyed partaking in the birthday festivities!

 Speaking of visiting our fellowship leader’s house, that was a fun time.  Come to find out, their family moved in December into an apartment building just across the street from our apartment building.  We just now found that out.  They have been wanting to invite us over for dinner (we had them over to our house early last semester), but there had not been a convenient time for all of our schedules and their’s.  Sunday, they invited us over for Monday dinner, and that time worked for all of us.  Their oldest daughter speaks very good English as that has been her degree focus in university.  Their older son also speaks decent English.  The rest only speak Mongolian.  The six of us foreigners brought our combined Mongolian brain together and were able to have a unique but fun conversation.  For dinner, we had a yummy soup, rice, fried egg, and some kimchi (?).  It was all very delicious.  For dessert, we ate the yummy chocolate cake that Jennifer brought.  After dinner, the family pulled out photo albums (a very Mongolian thing to do with visitors), and we enjoyed looking through them and joking about past funny hair styles and lengths.  Some of the pictures were of the younger children playing Asian instruments.  In honor of the birthday girls, the father asked the younger daughter to play a piece on a dulcimer type instrument.  That was quite a treat!!

Second, spring signals that we will be returning to the States very soon. May is a very busy month for school teachers in Mongolia. The entire month is nothing but rounds of tests for Mongolian students. For three weeks straight, the teachers are swamped with giving and grading tests. Because of this, our program has sought to finish of the courses that we teach by no later than the first of May to free up some time in the teacher’s schedules. Therefore, our final class of the year will be on May 7th. Because everyone is finishing by the first of May, we have been given permission to leave on or after May 15th. Though we would like to experience some of the Mongolian summer, we want to maximize our time in the States, so we will be returning to the US on May 15th. Our plans for the summer are still a little unclear, but we know for sure that we will be in Wheaton, Illinois at Wheaton College for the month of July. During the time before that, we will be visiting with family and friends while seeking rest, refreshment, and fellowship. We know that the summer will once again pass quickly.


We apologize that this post has been later than usual. Life has been both busy and stressful over the past month. Thank you to all who read this and lift us up. We would be able to do nothing apart from His graciousness and your generosity.