News, Info, Photos and Blogs From the Land of Blue Sky
This is a Mosque being built right up the road from where we live. There is a growing number of Kazakh people moving into Ulaanbaatar. Many are coming from the western Mongolian provinces of Hovd and Bayan Ulgii.
Then there’s also Avon.
This city is a growing metropolis of change and contrast.
Finally able to get the grill fired up and working well. last evening. 11th story steaks are looking nice from above (and tasted better). Be jealous.
Today’s Friday photo is in celebration of our apartment finally being painted. Renee’ once again did a beautiful job choosing colors and we’re now finalizing decorations (She should have been an interior designer). I love this view from our bedroom/office window. The black and white filter kind of makes it look like 1957 … but that’s Ulaanbaatar. We live here.
Today’s Friday Photo consists of a few interesting shots from this past week’s Field Forum – a yearly gathering of all staff for fellowship, strategic planning, prayer and encouragement. Apart from having some significant time growing together, as a team, we had some fun times as well – the highlight of which may have been a bon-fire with s’mores and grooving to some random dance tunes.
Last week I was a church leadership camp, so I considered letting some shots from there be this week’s Friday Photo.
Girls receiving a “Picture the Nations” book on behalf of their Grandmother
However, I’ve decided to talk about this camp in a separate post. So I am making this week’s official “Friday Photo” to be a shot of the New York City skyline, which now graces my Cori’s bedroom wall. Renee’ did all the math and the geometry. I painted. We are all somewhat pleased with the end result.
Cori’s Wall
This week I’ve had the wonderful problem of not being able to decide with photo should be the Friday photo “Pick of the week”. I mean, it’s been a more than interesting week … at least photographically speaking!
For starters, I upgraded all of the computers in the house to OS X Lion. That was cool.
There is also a short term team here from Crown College. It’s been a fun week connecting with them and seeing how God is at work in young people.
This was supposed to be a picture of a camel. I’m not even going to start…
We (the Crown Team and I) took a prayer walk to the Gandan Monastery. These are the resident pigeons.
But my pick of the week is called “Broken Vision”. This is a smashed bottle of vodka on a cairn. The name on the bottle “Haraa” means ”vision” … and I find that this photo is somewhat metaphorical of this culture. Please pray.
We’ve had a lot of rain in the city since returning to Ulaanbaatar. This greens the mountains but floods the streets. It’s also made for some spectacular vistas of the skies. This is the view from our window as one of these summer storms was moving in.
The heavens declare the glory of God …
We’re back in Ulaanbaatar, and Friday Photos are back on RememberMongolia.org! This is a shot from the balcony of our 11th floor apartment, taken two nights ago. It’s 10:30 PM and the streets all around us are gridlocked for some reason that remains a mystery to us. Traffic over the past year has become worse than it ever was. I’ve made a personal commitment to avoid driving in the city altogether between 1 and 8 PM. However, on this particular night it wouldn’t have mattered.
We’re in the throughs of unpacking and getting our apartment set up. I am glad that we’re above the fray on this particular night. It’s good to have an 11th floor view. It’s even better that we now have an elevator…
The Ulaanbaatar HS co-op recently produced “You Can’t Take It With You”, written by George Kaufman and Moss Hart. It was a complete family affair, as Jonathan and Cori had significant roles in the performance (Paul Sycamore and Alice Sycamore, respectively) and Renee’ and I directed the performance. It ended up being a pretty big deal and went really well! It was a lot of work … but also a lot of fun. The entire cast did great! Jonathan and Cori were naturals.
Here are a few shots taken at the dress rehearsal. Check back for YouTube links in the near future…
The October newsletter is here and ready to download! You may download a regular copy to read on your computer, or you may download a hi-resolution copy to print and distribute at your church or prayer group. Please download and freely distribute! Thanks for your prayers and support!
We’ve moved the Grain of Wheat Open Mic night to every Saturday night now. This – along with the warmer weather – has made for a great turnout the past couple of weeks. Here’s a photo from last week’s event, along with a video for your viewing pleasure! Happy Friday!
