Thanksgiving this year we invited other American JCS people over for what we thought would be a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Well as you can see in the picture what we thought was a turkey when we bought it turned out to be a duck, eyes and all. So we had stuffed duck, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, and green beans. Not quite a traditional meal but pretty close. It was nice to talk about everyone's family traditions and share what we were thankful for this past year.
I (Jeff) had the opportunity to travel with some of our church friends to a missions conference. This conference is focused on Mongolian Christians doing mission work outside of Mongolia. We heard from a missionary dong work in Kazakhstan, northern China, and with the Boriat people in Russia.
While the conference was good I probably only understood 20-30 percent of it. The main reason I went was to get to know our new Church friends a little better. We took a 12 hour train ride eating Kimchee noodles at 1 am and returned in a crammed mini-bus. It was fun when they were joking with each other and some would give me a simpler explanation so that I could understand what was going on.
I was encouraged that some of the ladies that went are now motivated to action in their Christian life. Pray that they won't be stuck doing "church" activities but will reach out to those around them with the love and gospel of Jesus Christ.
Winter has arrived to Mongolia. We received a 1/2 inch snow last week that looked really nice that morning. Now it is all mixed in with the dust and dirt it looks like normal.
Shauna was able to take a trip to Uli-astai in October for 2 weeks and help another JCS family with some home schooling. She had a really good time and was very happy to get out of Ulaanbaatar for a few weeks. It got her thinking about the house we are planning on building in Byon-Hunger in a few years. Drew (the husband) is a very good carpenter so I have to remind her that our house will probably not be finished quite as nice. (Quite is probably not the best word maybe "not even close" is better.) She is now 4 months plus pregnant, the morning sickness is over and she is just barely showing. She was excited to buy some maternity pants and her mother is sending a whole outfit from the US.
This is Caleb Sophie and Leah who Shauna was able to teach a bit.
I am now redrawing the house plans with Shauna's input. I am also keeping busy getting ready for our time in the US. We are emailing pastors and scheduling our time. My parents commented the other day that we will be home for 6 months and they will only see us for a few days. It was a little bit of an exaggeration but not a lot. We will be very busy speaking and traveling. The baby is due on May 1st so we are taking vacation time around then to keep our sanity.
Here are a few pictures of Midnight, our cutest dog with the most personality of any of our other dogs Shauna and I have ever had growing up. She is part poodle and part Mongolian street dog. We got her 2 weeks after being here in Mongolia and is very much a part of our life here.
Young Midnight with her stuffed kitty
Hairy Midnight when we couldn't see her eyes
Here she is waiting for me to throw the ball
One great experience we have had here in Mongolia is true Mongolian Barbeque!! Not the western-Chinese version in the states. Although we have 2 restaurants in the Capital that are like the ones in the US. But of course they were started by foreigners. I’m pretty sure one is here just to advertise that they have a location in Mongolia.
True Mongolian barbeque is called khor-khug. It is one of the only Mongolian meals that the men control. It starts with a very alive sheep, that is then killed and gutted. The women get the illustrious job of cleaning out the intestines and cutting up the vegetables. No part of the animal is wasted, and just to make sure there are normally a few dogs around looking to clean up any scraps. Yes all the preparation is done on the grass in the shade. As you can see in the pictures below. While some men are preparing the meat others start a fire and make sure there are plenty of hand sized rocks in the fire. After the intestines are stuffed with stomach and blood and the meat cut up in large chunks, water and salt are added to a large metal can. Then the men add the hot rocks, meat, and veggies in layers and the lid is closed and clamped down air tight. It is then left alone for a few hours. The tricky part is the very end when you have to take the lid off of what becomes a large pressure cooker. We were making 3 pots of it on this day and 2 of them exploded, as the men were taking the lid off, sending meat, steaming hot water and rocks shooting up in the air. If there are still rocks in the pot the tradition is to pass around the hot rocks and toss them like a hot potato between your hands. I must say that the meat is very tasty, just keep away from the intestines.
