Hey everyone! I know it's been absolutely forever... not that too many people have noticed. lol. I see I have two whole comments since I posted a month ago.... So for future reference, if you love me, post a message.

Things have been going really well here in my little village in Mongolia. I am thrilled to be with my friends here again. I'm working in the kitchen, as seems to be a pattern in my life. ha ha. Katie and I are cooking with two Mongolian ladies, Baysa and Shurai. They're fabulous cooks and lots of fun to work with. We have to work through occasional glitches and misunderstandings, and I have to remind myself that I am a "guest" here and overlook frustrations and annoyances sometimes, but overall it's been wonderful. We also have a full-time translator, whose name is Uyanga. She's a 19 year old girl who attends the same church we've been going to. She's really sweet.

For those who don't know already, Mongolia is a developing country, and unlike anything most people have probably ever experienced. I love it here, even though it has it's incoveniences. For example, during our workday, the only, ahem, "facilities" available are two outhouses. lol. When in Rome... (in our living quarters we have indoor plumbing and electricity.) There have also been some issues with the pump that pumps water up to the kitchen, so for at least two weeks, and up until 2 days ago, we had to have water hauled up in pots and barrels from the well at least 200 feet away. Thankfully the guys that work with us are strong and very ready to help out. I love those guys!

Our main purpose in being here is to work with the Mongolian cooks to teach them about cooking Western style foods while providing tummy-safe (basic food safety) and familiar foods to the short-term mission teams that come to work during the Summer. Some meals we take turns cooking with the Mongolians, and some meals we cook together so we can teach them new things. There are SO many items not available here that we're so used to having at home, so it's an interesting experience adapting everything. lol. Thankfully I grew up cooking things from scratch. I never knew how grateful I'd be to Mama for teaching me to be so frugal and learn to use what we have instead of running to the grocery store. Now, we make bread at least once a day and sometimes more. Everything needs to be made from scratch, mostly due to lack of availability of convenient items. Everything from bbq sauce to salad dressings, to seasonings (what few are available) and everthing else we make. It's not bad, and Katie is a great cook, too, so it's fairly easy, even though it takes much longer than what it would at home. I'm just thrilled when I know that the team is happy with the food. I know that half of our goal has been met.

We occasionally have funny situations with the other cooks. They aren't familiar with what we know as the breakfast meal, and as hard as I've tried to teach them how we do things in America, they still haven't quite gotten the hang of it. Katie and I were taking an afternoon off last week, and so I asked them to make a breakfast meal for dinner, just for the practice. The did a really wonderful job making oven-baked french toast, fried sausage, and then we had semi-cooked hash browns and dill pickles. lol. I don't know why this meal is so hard to teach/learn. teehee. At least it makes for some good laughs.

Katie and I have also been able to go with another friend on staff and spend some time with some of the children from the children's center. That's really special. I got to manicures and pedicures for some of the girls last week, and the week before that, we went and played card games with some of the young teen boys. Shortly before that, we went and played games with the "mid boys" aged 9-13. I love those guys! We also got to go to a remote village (a 45 minute drive on dirt "roads" once we finally made it off of the paved road) called Sant. We did a reading glasses clinic there, as well as visiting some poor people in the area to visit and deliver some food packets. It was an amazing experience!

Today we went to the hospital to visit one of our friends who has been sick. We just found out late last night that he's been in the hospital for 5 days already and no one had told us! He's not doing so great and the doctors don't know what's wrong with him. When he went in, I think they thought it was somehow related to sunstroke. (It's been super hot here! In the hundreds, and these guys work out in the sun all day long.) Please pray for Boldoo. We're going to stop by and visit him again tomorrow when we go to town to do the week's kitchen shopping.

God is doing some amazing things in this country. It's really cool to be in a place that's still so early in developing into who they are becoming as a nation. It's awesome to see that there are some God-followers who are ready to do whatever it takes to go where He leads. I wish I could tell you some of the individual stories. Or some of the testimonies of some of the young men who grew up in the children's home and are on their way to becoming men that God uses to change the world. I wish you could all know these people! I don't take it lightly that the Lord has given me the gift of knowing these people and being here with them. I want to honor Him with my actions and attitudes and service.  May all the glory be His.

I have a super early morning with making breakfast for the team that's here right now, so I need to head to bed, but I'll try to post again soon. Remember, if you love me (or know me, or just happened to be passing through and find this blog) post me a message and say hey.

I'll try to post a link to pictures tomorrow...

As they say here, Bayershte! ( or goodbye!)