This is the first of several “catch-up” blogs that will be coming your way over the next week or so. This month, I’ve decided to fast from social media (Facebook/Instagram) so hopefully that will help carve out some space to tell some stories that have yet to be blogged about! First up, Mongolia!
Mongolia was one of those months where I felt like I closed my eyes for a few seconds and reopened them and our time had finished. Our time was restful and relaxing— a needed exhale after the heaviness of China. As a squad, we were pioneers for the World Race in Mongolia: the first squad to do ministry there. We entered the month at different places. Some were thrilled at the idea of being a pioneer and enjoying this first while some were nervous and worn out: feeling like we’re always pioneering something. I found myself erring more toward the second option. Being a pioneer is not something that comes naturally to me. I don’t especially enjoy the process of working out kinks or find a lot of excitement in the role of “first”. I much prefer to take something good to the next level of great. So the beginning of Mongolia brought a lot of uncertainty for me.
When we arrived by train to Ulaanbaatar, we were met by all of our ministry hosts at the station to help us get to the church where they’d prepared lunch. We were welcomed with open arms and immediately invited to be at home. We dug into delicious Mongolian barbecue and gathered in the church building to worship together and pray over the month. It was glorious.
Within the first week, our team and Team Evermore met our wonderful contact, moved into our lovely apartment, began ministry, held church at a National Park and said a difficult goodbye to a teammate and squadmate. It was a whirlwind. The next week was Naadaam, a huge celebration of the establishment of the Mongolian empire, which gave us time to enjoy the festivities and get some rest. Throughout the rest of the month, we were blessed with the opportunity to partner with many different ministries and help out in lots of different ways. We spent a couple of days helping with the construction of a church and worked the hardest that I’ve potentially ever worked in my life. We worked with a soup kitchen and helped prepare rooms for a pre-school. We worked with a soccer ministry and helped with renovations of their office space. We prayer walked and baked cookies to hand out.
As a team, we had some space to rest and enjoy one another. We lived in a two bedroom apartment with another team and were given the opportunity to get to know those girls too. We played countless games of Nerts and went on coffee dates and watched movies. We had hard conversations and good conversations and times of no conversation. We enjoyed delicious hamburgers at Papa Cafe and French Pressed Ethiopian Harrar with warm cinnamon rolls from UBean. We laughed a lot and danced a lot and told lots of stories. We were real and we had fun and gave ourselves grace and took a reprieve from the seriousness of the World Race and remembered to just live.
With just 3 months of the Race left, I’ve started to spend more time framing the stories. I’m remembering to celebrate and trying to put words to my experiences of each month. To me, Mongolia represented rest and reality. I’m so thankful for the wonderful ministry we were able to be a part of. I’m grateful for fantastic contacts who truly cared for us in so many ways. And, possibly most of all, I’m thankful for the way that my team did life together that month. For the grace that was shown and the space that was given and the way that we just felt like friends. I think we needed it and we took hold of it with both hands.
The month of August was spent on all girls/all guys teams. At the end of the month, we went to debrief in Hua Hin and had our final big team changes. (Stay tuned for the stories of both of those things!) So, Mongolia was my last month with Chasing the Deep and I’m so thankful for the way that we finished. I’ll always cherish my time as part of that team. I love you guys and will miss doing daily life with each and every one of you.
