Spring?

Mongolians declare it is spring the week after their Tsagaan Sar holiday which was Feb. 14 this year. Last Tues, Mar. 30, we had a blizzard. Liz asked several passersby if it was still spring that day. Everyone agreed it had become winter again. It still looks like winter to us. Ice everywhere, snowing once in a while, warm gear a necessity. But we have seen mud puddles a couple of times and a few ice cycles. Birds are singing and many locals have exchanged shoes for their knee hi boots.

Functional "plumbing" repairs

When the urinal is broken what do you do? In the US, the custodian puts a sign up or tapes plastic across the urinal. In Mongolia, they just add a bucket!

Erik Gets a Dad

I, Liz, attended my first Mongolian wedding yesterday. It was special to see my little friend Erik get a new dad. Erik & I played together 3 days a week last fall until he and his mom moved to their own ger in December. The couple met at church and have formed a beautiful family. I was greeted warmly by this little boy tho we haven't seen each other for a few months. He sat on my lap while we visited. "My mom is wearing a very fancy dress. She looks so beautiful. Soon you'll get to see her . . ." He delighted in helping me take pix of her and loved zooming in on her face to relish her beauty, his mom, the bride.

40-hours of Prayer for Mongolia

"40-hours of Prayer for Mongolia" was the inspiration of Alissa Van Dam, JCS English teacher at the Mongolian Technical College. She shared her idea with other JCSers and a small group made a plan.

They wrote "prayer information sheets" about Mongolian social, spiritual and legal issues. JCS staff and volunteers translated the information into Mongolia, English and German and posted it on the JCS webpage at: http://40hours.jcsintl.org/.

Promotional information was translated into additional languages; Indonesian, Korean and Dutch. We hope that people will volunteer to translate the material into Chinese, Russian and many more languages.

Individuals, small groups, schools and churches around the world have participated in the 40-hours of Prayer for Mongolia. These prayer sheets can be used anytime; devotions, missions conferences, preparation for a mission trip, etc. We hope to make this an annual emphasis.

Let us know if you use this information and where you are from. Thanks.

Driving a car like riding a horse

Mongolians say, "Mongolians drive like they ride horses; anywhere." Here, the saying is true, "If you don't like my driving, stay off the sidewalk."

Boots

A few years ago Jim bought some Mongolian boots at the market in UB. He often wore them when we were sharing about Mongolia in the USA. People always asked if such boots are commonly worn. Probably not the most popular with the younger generation. But we have seen people of every age wearing them, from the tiniest to the oldest of folk.

Meat Steamer

We noticed this ger suddenly appear last week. The next day a sign was hanging over the door saying a steaming service could be had inside. After walking past 2x/day for a week, we decided to visit. Jim took pix while Liz interviewed the workers. Bring your own meat, pay about $12 and save yourself the fuss. The skin is left on the tail fat. The fur is singed off. This will be the tastiest part of the final product (according to Mongolians). The meat will be put in a very tall soup pot or a rectangular vat. Both are large enough to hold an entire sheep carcass. Just a few inches of water is placed inside and the top is sealed with fabric, string and metal lid. It becomes a kind of pressure cooker and will finish steaming in about 2 hours. The vats sit on top of a normal ger stove that is fueled with a combination of coal and wood. If you bring your own pan, you can take home the drippings to be enjoyed as a hot drink. Your fat tail sheep or hunk of beef will be ready to place on your holiday table.

Nomads face Crisis

This winter has been cold and inconvenient for us.
It has been tragic for many. Millions of animals have died.
For a video news report, Google the following:

"Mongolia: Nomads Face Hunger Crisis utube"

Want a Job?

These students are chipping ice off the sidewalk.
All kinds of groups have gathered here and there
to attempt to rid the city of ice.
They earn about 75 cents an hour.
Today it snowed like crazy,
so they'll have to start again next week.

Count the Gers?

How many gers/yurts can you find?
This is one of the views out our living room window.
Do you see any gers/yurts on the hillside?
I counted 14 that are pretty clear when the pix is large.
Click on the photo to see a larger view.