Shepherd field trip

In June, when the first American team was here, we did something very special with our girls. Inspired by my friend Nita DeBorde and Psalm 23, we visited a Mongolian herdsman, or shepherd, with his flock of 250 sheep and goats. The idea was to do some practical teaching about God as our shepherd by learning about the role of a real shepherd. Although Mongolia's livestock-to-people ratio is about 13 to 1, most of our girls are from the city and are not that familiar with countryside life.

Our herdsman was named Batchulan, and he was like a sweet old grandpa. He told the girls many things about his work, and they asked a lot of questions. A couple of them even got to practice herding his nearby flock. One of my favorite things that Batchulan said was that he knew every single one of the animals, even from behind them, so that if one was missing he would immediately know it. What a beautiful picture of how intimately God knows each one of us!

After Batchulan finished speaking, the Americans in the group briefly taught through Psalm 23, and then we ate lunch on the grass. It was a perfect day - sunny, but not too hot. The girls had a great time, and we all learned a lot about a shepherd's daily life. Thanks to Nita for inspiring something so valuable, even though you didn't realize it!