Have You Checked Out Yak Polo Lately?

It's been to the mountains and the seas.

It's been to bullfights in Ecuador and smelled the flowers in Holland.

It's been to market in Africa and Peru.

It's been on five continents, eleven countries and six states.

It's climbed walls with ropes and really old walls with crumbling bricks.

It's been with us and it's been with you.

Where can you take Yak Polo? Make sure the next time you pack a suitcase to include your Yak Polo shirt and send us a picture especially if you are going to Australia. If you don't have a Yak Polo shirt, you can contact us and we can make sure you get in touch with the right people!

Reunited

Summertime tends to see people coming and going in Ulaanbaatar.  Many of Jonathan and Cori's friends have been away to the various parts of the world they live and travel.  Tonight, our daughter is quite happy.  Two of her best friends here have come back to the city.  Her friend Honerah, with her family, was in the US for several weeks and her friend Jeanie, with her family, has been in China and Korea.  Tonight they are having a happy sleepover at our place - and as you can see are quite pleased to be reunited again.

Old Friends, New Friends And All In Between

Today's Photos are special to our family.  We are so glad to have friendships that span the globe now.  God indeed shows His grace and joy that is to come through those relationships that we have here - on this side of our real home. 

This is our former house-helper, Narah.  She is at church camp with her grandmother.  It was so good to see her again.  She is now working in Darhan as a radio news announcer! 

And below is our current house helper, Undraa - with Kathy Neu, a friend visiting with us from our home church in the US.  Undraa has become like family to us, and she and Kathy also became good friends as they worked together doing VBS and child care at our recent field forum.

Footwashing and Goat Innards Stew: CAMA Mongolia Church Leadership Camp 2007

True discipleship and servant leadership.  This was the theme of of the recent Church leadership conference for the C&MA churches in Mongolia. It was a fantastic (albeit unusually hot!) week of developing relationships with National Church Leaders.  I also had the privilege of working with colleague Pieter Theron in taking some first steps toward equipping and training this generation of church leaders Mongolia.  There is so much work to do here, and we have so far to go. 

One of the highlights of the week was a footwashing that took place at the river.  It was a practicum that came out of Pieter's teaching on servant leadership and John 13.  It was really a beautiful thing to watch, as God's people here learned what really means to love and to serve.  It reminded me of Michael Card's words - and it's my prayer that this church will learn them well:

The call is to community

The impoverished power that sets us all free

In humility we take the vow

And day after day, we take up the basin and the towel

 

Mongolia is usually not this hot.  Daytime temps peaked at over 100F this week.  However, once the sun went down, it quickly cooled off to the high 50's - which was such a relief.  One evening we had a real Mongolian BBQ (Not Ghengis Grill!) -which involved these two goats:

This pot:

 

This fire:

It was actually quite good and enjoyed by all.  Well, at least the meat part was quite good.  The Mongolians really like something called "5-Organ Stew".  This is a soup made with goat or sheep innards.  Not the best thing I've personally ever tasted ... but folks enjoyed it none-the-less. 

A Friend From Home

We are very happy to have Kathy Neu from our Home Church visiting with us this week!  She's made good friends with our dog Sadie, and has kept Cori company during all of Jonathan's Birthday celebrations.  She's also voluntarily help us with the dishes!  We'd like to keep her! Kathy will be with us through our field forum in August, where she will be helping with MK VBS.  It's great to have a friend from home visiting with us!