OneLittleMoosey's Xanga

Zaya is with Jesus

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:26:19 GMT

My Mongolian friend, Zaya, went to be with Jesus this past weekend. She was 37. Kind and friendly with smile almost always on her face, she was the first person I met when I arrived in Mongolia. Zaya always made sure we were taken care of during travels in and out of the capitol city of UB, where she lived. We will miss her, but it's good to know we'll see her again someday. Bayershte Zaya. Bi chamaig sanah bolno.

More Pictures

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:51:00 GMT

I have a new little nephew! His name is Zachary James and he was born on November 4th. He is precious!

My sister and her family. Including the latest addition.

I went out to visit and help my sister out. Here I am helping Jacob make some cinnamon rolls. He's a good cook!

Sisters

My boys.

And two months later...

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:04:48 GMT

Somehow life was flying by too fast for me to stop and write on here. Or maybe I just didn't have anything interesting to say. lol, hard telling. Oh well, pictures are much more interesting anyway. Here's a little photo blog of my last couple of months.

Katie and I spoke to a group about our time Mongolia.

I catered a retreat up in the Northwoods of Michigan. A beautful place and a wonderful kitchen team is a fabulous combination!

Hanging out with friends is pretty good, too.

I'll try to post more pics in the next couple of days...

Huushuur

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:56:05 GMT

Today I made Huushuur. The favorite food of most Mongolians I know. It's basically a fried meat "pie." Yummy stuff. I also made some of the salads we were used to eating over there. Made me miss all my dear Mongolian friends aimaar much!

Today

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 01:13:18 GMT

Yester day I got to meet up with some friends at the Creation museum in Kentucky! Very cool museum. Even better with a bunch of friends! Here are a few pictures.

It was wonderful to see Claire!

and Rodrigo!

and Mario!

and Gabby and Grace!
...and lots of other friends, too!

And even more pictures...

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:02:09 GMT

I finally got these uploaded onto my Facebook, so here's a link!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68906&l=6d95b&id=569370309
And more at
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69078&l=a43e6&id=569370309

More Pictures...

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:01:55 GMT

Ok, so once again, it's taking me too long to update. I'll try to do it soon, but in the mean time, here's a link to some more pictures from the Summer.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49981&id=534813085&page=3#/album.php?aid=49981&id=534813085

Pictures from Mongolia!

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:03:24 GMT

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44412&l=b461d&id=534813085

Here is a link to some pictures from the last few weeks. Sorry I haven't really been able to post much. I hope to give an update soon. The most exciting thing is that we found out yesterday afternoon that we're going to be taking a trip to the Gobi Dessert! We had to get permission for some of the Mongolian guys to go with us first, and their leader just told us yesterday that they can go. We're so excited! We'll be leaving on Sunday morning and get back the middle of the week. It's going to be amazing!

Sain Bainuu

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:05:23 GMT

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!)

In Seoul and on my way...

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:13:43 GMT

We just got here to Seoul, South Korea. It was a good flight, but sooo long. I think it was 13 hours. I hope I'll be able to update from Mongolia, but we won't have a phone line in our little place in the village. I think there's an internet cafe though... with dial up. lol. I might not be able to post pictures, but I'll do my best. It's been a very full week, but it was really great seeing all my family last week in Colorado. Here are a few pictures...

Gotta board. Here are a couple pics from the flooding a couple weeks ago in our area

and from the reunion

sisters

jeeping

me with a niece and two of my little nephews

Have a great Summer!