My Ike story

For the second time in my life, I was out of the country during a domestic crisis (I was in Honduras on 9/11). When Hurrican Ike hit home, I was in the Caribbean, in the country of Trinidad & Tobago. I had been there the week prior to the storm on a business trip, but ended up staying a couple extra days thanks to Mr. Ike and the closure of the Houston airport.

Although I was distracted by the events at home, I wanted to take advantage of my first Caribbean destination, so I toured around each island a little. Click here to see a few photos. I thoroughly enjoyed the locally famous shark sandwich, called "bake and shark," as well as "sea grapes" right off the trees on Tobago's beach. My driver and tour guide in Tobago, Clifford, was so friendly and gave me an informative tour of his little island in his Japanese SUV. This car spoke Japanese to him, but Clifford doesn't understand Japanese. It was awesome.


I stayed in one of the nicest hotels I've ever seen, the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain. It was brand new, and very contemporary. My shower was a frosted glass cube in the middle of my room. The outdoor pool on the 4th floor overlooked the ocean. I actually felt a little guilty being there while devastation was being wreaked back home! My overall impression of T&T was that it's very beautiful, but a little expensive and longer travel than some of the other touristy Caribbean islands. Not sure it would be top of my list to return to as a tourist.

Home (at an undisclosed location)

Thanks for the many prayers for my safe travel. I arrived back in Houston safely, on time, and with all bags, on Wednesday night. A far cry from my harrowing trip to Mongolia last May. My first inhalation of humid air was truly sweet! I'm starting to adjust, unpack and settle in.

I'm enjoying some quality time with my parents, and looking forward to going to church on Sunday. In the meantime, I've got a jillion things to do, including hosting 4 Mongolians next week who are coming to Texas for a 2-week trip. Right now I'm without a cell phone (which is kind of liberating), but all things in due time.

See you soon!

Going home

It's 10pm on my last night in Mongolia. My bags are packed and I'm ready to leave at 7am tomorrow morning. I said all my goodbyes today, to our staff and our kids. I'm familiar with the mixed emotion of bittersweet - I hate saying farewell to the kids, but I'm really excited about going home. I spent a little time reflecting tonight, and I scanned through my old blog posts. I'm amazed at how rich my experience has been.

Last April, I kicked off my blog with some expectations on my perspective changing. And although it's absolutely true that living in another country does change your perspective, I've recently been agonizing over whether I will succeed in making changes in my life back home. What purpose would this whole experience serve if I merely returned to the exact same way of life I had before? I know what things I want to change, and now I'm praying I will have the faith and determination to truly change them.

This past year has been a gift from God, and I'm happy to say that I feel like I accomplished my primary goals. I've seen spiritual growth in the women I've discipled, and I've spent lots of quality time with our kids. My first blog post last year included a group photo of our kids. It seems appropriate to end with another - and this time, I got to be the photographer. Thank you for taking this journey with me!

Countryside kindergartens

Our organization is all about children. Everything we do is based first and foremost on a foundation of caring for children. This past week I had the pleasure of visiting 4 little towns surrounding Darkhan where we support kindergartens for children who otherwise would not be able to pay to attend. We provide money to help support the teachers and feed the kids healthy meals. My sweet friend Norjin is our staff in charge of this ministry, and I got to accompany her as she made her rounds to the towns of Baruun Buren, Sant, Orkhon and Khotol. We were treated with overwhelming hospitality and gratitude, and I got to visit many of the kids in person. All of these children are from poor families, and the kindergarten meets critical needs for the family - the kids get education and nourishing food, and the parents are able to work during the day. This little group was prepared for our arrival, all decked out in Mongolian garb!

Cool kids

The weather was nice enough this week to play outside with the kids. I took the younger boys out to the field to play soccer on Wednesday. We practiced their English while walking - I've taught them a short conversation that includes 3 simple questions: "Hello, how are you?" "What's your name?" and, "How old are you?" They know most of the responses but sometimes get them mixed up or leave out words. Like, I will ask them: "How old are you?", and they might respond, "My name is ..." But I'm proud of how hard they try. They always make me laugh, too. I was standing near one of them (the one holding the ball) while he was playing soccer goalie, bored while the other boys were at the other end of the field. He just randomly started screeching like a crow for a couple of minutes. They are great entertainment.

By the way - as nice as it looks in this picture, today the snow is back on the ground in full force. I woke up this morning and thought "drats!" when I looked outside.

Where does the time go?

Hard to believe, but this is my last week in Mongolia. I'm flying home on April 2. After ten months and over 50 blog posts, my time is up. I've already started reminiscing, and I'm looking forward to sharing my experience in person with friends and family. April is going to be a busy month, preparing to go back to work in May. From the long list of things I've learned and loved here, I thought I would share my "Top 5 Favorite Things About Mongolia" (in no particular order):

• The famous hospitality of the Mongolian people. Mongolians are very friendly, and will open up their home to strangers, treating them like friends. I've lost count of how many gers I've visited, enjoying the unique company and foods served.
• The also-famous Mongolian sky. It feels like the sky is just bigger in Mongolia....you may laugh at that, but I've never seen better stars anywhere, and despite the cold winter, many days are sunny and blue. One night recently I saw Orion, absolutely clearly. I had never seen Orion before. It was amazing. Last summer I liked to lay outside on my back in the country and watch shooting stars, too many to even count.
• Traditional Mongolian music. Singing is in Mongolians' blood. Everyone sings. I love the traditional throat-singing, and listening to the traditional instruments like the horse-head guitar. Hip-hop is popular here too, but I just can't get into a Mongolian version of Snoop Dogg.
• The unspoiled vastness of the country. The size of the country (BIG) versus the population (small) makes Mongolia one of the greatest "wide open spaces" on the planet. It's no surprise that it's becoming a tourist hot-spot, especially for those who want to get far away and breathe some really fresh air for a little while. Fascinating fact: many dinosaur bones and dinosaur eggs have been dug up in Mongolia, and there's probably more to be found.
• It's American-friendly. I've traveled to over 15 countries, and in most of them I've met people with a chip on their shoulder toward Americans (valid or not). Not once have I ever heard a Mongolian hassle me about America.

Now, before you get excited, this is not my last blog post. I'm sure I'll have a few more things to share over the next week, and possibly shortly after my return. Stay tuned!

Special visit

Today was a great day. I visited one of the housemothers at her home after we finished bible study this morning. Her name is Lhagva, and she's been a widow for 8 years. Her husband died at the age of 40, and although she's quite resilient, she misses him. I've gotten to know Lhagva well over the last 10 months, and I wasn't going to leave Mongolia without going to her home. She surprised me when I found out that she lives in a ger, rather than an apartment. She does so by choice, and it's a very nice ger by Mongolian standards. She made us a nice meal of khuushuur, which are fried meat pies typically made for special occasions.

I got to look through her old photo albums, fascinated by the old black and white photos of her parents and deceased husband, most of them during Communist times. She has the best stories of her childhood, and we really enjoyed each others' company. Before I left, she blessed me with a couple of very special gifts. One is a wooden box made by her father (now deceased) from trees in her hometown. The other is a 1911 Mongolian/Manchu silver dollar that her father also gave her. It was hard for me to accept such a treasure from her, but she wanted to thank me for spending time with her and the staff over the last year. She told me that "many things have changed in her life" since I've been here. Primarily, God has become very real to her. I'm amazed and speechless at God's grace and thankful to know such a cool lady!