Hello from Baruun – Urt, Mongolia 🙂
It’s officially been two full weeks since landing in Mongolia & they have been INCREDIBLE beyond words. But in efforts of storytelling & praising the LORD & keeping you guys updated, I will give words my best shot 🙂
This month, my team & I are partnering with a ministry called Transformation Mongolia ~ Here is a little snippet of their heart:
‘”Loving People Changing Nations” – Our vision is to continue to plant
churches, currently we have 13 within the family of Transformational Mongolia. We seek to impact the entire Mongolian community through spiritual, musical, educational and sports based outreach initiatives.’
For more backstory, read my previous post ~ It has been so cool to go back & read that now and see how the LORD already so clearly answered prayers & exceeded all my hopes & thoughts for what this month was going to look like.
it can all be summed up in Enjoy Coffee Shop ~
Before arriving, we were told that the Church were somewhere in the process of opening a coffee shop – and I was giddy to say the least, again, read my past post!!!
But they are more than in process ~ they are OPEN and WONDERFUL and such a beautiful glimpse of the KINGDOM !! hallelujah
Guys, I have rarely rarely seen people so dedicated to the work of the gospel than my brothers & sisters here in Mongolia ~ living so intentionally to proclaim HIS name & love in all they do, placing such a high priority on family & discipleship, and living in real + intimate community, pushing one another up to Christ & out to their city!! it’s so so cool.
Every Saturday a group of the leaders go out to love on their city. (Evangelizing is illegal here unless you get special approval, which the Church applied for soo so long ago, but the govt. does not want to give them permission – PRAY FOR THIS) So they just go out & see who they can talk to & help with anything, from bringing in groceries to repairs around the house, prayerfully seeking ways to open doors to bring the Kingdom. AND GUYS, our first Sunday there, we got to celebrate 15 new people coming to church who heard the gospel for the first time the night before. WOW.
I am beyond thankful to be a part of all the ways the LORD is moving here in Mongolia & bringing His Kingdom to earth! Hallelujah!
Let me introduce you to some of my brothers + sisters here real quick ~
Joy & Enkbaayar ~ leaders in the church + mom & dad to two kiddos
a few things about them ~ #1, they are fiercely passionate about the LORD, you can see it in their eyes when they talk, #2, they dedicated to cultivating a culture of community & discipleship, constantly sitting down in the cafe with younger couples or their employees, with Bibles open, speaking life + wisdom, #3 they get things done !!! wow, they are so good at organization, delegation & empowerment ~ making everything around here run so smoothly in the midst of a chaotic + busy kitchen/cafe
long story short, I love them & have picked up so many nuggets of wisdom for both now & down the road when I open a cafe 🙂
Enkhtor & Esther ~ leaders in the church + new parents to the most precious 5 month old
a few things about them ~ Okay, I could brag about these two ALL day. Esther is sweet, joyful, so deeply caring, dedicated & simply lovely in all she is. I get the honor of working side by side with her in the Kitchen everyday & get to watch as she disciples Torocoo (I’ll introduce her in a minute) and helps her memorize scripture. She is so intentional in the way she loves + cares for everyone around. Enkhtor is the coolest. He is super passionate about God, family and discipling young men. He owns his own family radio station & talks about ways to strengthen marriage & parent kiddos & all the other good family things!! So, so, so good. ~ Pray over this radio station, that the LORD would bless it and use it to strengthen & encourage families, for the enemy so fiercely seeks to kill and destroy & separate marriage & families.
Happy & Buca ~ the cutest couple & managers of the coffee shop
a few things about them ~ two with deep hearts for the LORD, for worship & for cultivating a peaceful + delightful environment within the cafe. They work hard & do things with such excellence. They love + serve all those around them & are truly incredible leaders. They also make reaaaaal good coffee & their teaching me too 🙂 I love them & am so happy to be their friends & work alongside them everyday ~ wow
Torocoo ~ my sweet friend & stellar chef at Enjoy
a few things about her ~ she is sweet + sassy + caring + super funny. We have SO much fun together everyday in the kitchen chopping veggies, rolling noodles, and singing + dancing 🙂 I love getting to work alongside her each day ~ our friendship is so simple & sweet! I love her!
and one last intro ~ my incredible, incredible team 🙂 I LOVE THEM
from left to right ~ Gabi, Jen, Jordan, Trina, Kaysha, Hailey & then me 🙂
lastly, here is a little snippet of what life looks like here in Mongolia and all the LORD in doing!!
When we got here, Joy sat us down to talk about what we love/are good at to see where we can best come alongside them. I got to share my heart for small business/hospitality and they were SO excited!! – they asked me to work in the cafe everyday, helping wherever is needed & learning along the way. They are thrilled to be able to teach me & help build this dream/calling the LORD placed on my heart! It also works well for them because they desperately need more hands in the kitchen! So in the morning, I spend time helping Esther or Torocoo with prep – lots + lots of chopping veggies and even more of rolling dough for noodles. Truly, my hands are swollen/bruised from rolling so much lol ~ but guys, I AM THRIVING. This is my space & element.
The LORD has confirmed & encouraged so much of the heart and dreams he placed within me while being here ~ John + I’s dream is to open a cafe + hostel & so many heart pieces & parts play into that, and I’ve have talked about them a bit in previous posts, but I want to highlight two John & I have prayed over/desire, I see so clearly in Enjoy ~
- family running through its veins ~ Something I love about Enjoy is how its family all around, whether that be the sweet, sweet community of brothers + sisters in the LORD, or husband + wife partners & all the kiddos running around. I LOVE IT. When John and I picture our business, we so want it to be a family team effort ~ together for the work of the gospel – hallelujah!
- discipleship focused ~ from dawn to dusk, Joy + Enkbaayar + Esther + Enkthor are so intentional in meeting with people of their church and community on the patio of the café every single day, discipling, loving, and doing life together. In the kitchen, they disciple their employees. They constantly work with intentional passion to advance Father’s kingdom ~ it’s so cool. And its such a priority when John & I think about opening a business – how can we cultivate an environment for employees to thrive? how can we be intentional in pouring into + loving + encouraging + championing them towards Christ? And I see that done SO WELL here!!
All that to say ~ the LORD is so cool & writes such good stories & so beautifully ordained our team being here. I am so thankful ~ hallelujah
We’re also running an English camp for these first 2 weeks, Monday – Friday! We have had 60+ people show up everyday from ages 5 years old to 65. It’s super cool to bring them into the church space, give hosts opportunities to build connections & also gift a tangible skill, as they are so eager & excited to learn! We also get to teach english to the cafe employees & church leaders as we work alongside them each day – it is SO fun!! They are so eager to learn and get so giddy when they remember things!
So in summary, it’s safe to say I’m loving it here. Truly, it’s incredible to see how the LORD so purposefully placed our team here.
Thank you LORD.
WOW
prayer requests ~
- for the government to give the church a permit to openly share the gospel!!!!
- for continued connections with the people who come into the cafe & to english class ~ the LORD is doing something really cool with one guy in particular who keeps coming in the cafe, but I’ll share more in an upcoming post 🙂
- WOMAN’s EVENT this weekend ~ One of my teammates shared her testimony at church this past Sunday and it truly touched a lot of the women’s hearts. Even before then, a few of us had been feeling the LORD move us to pray about hosting a Beauty for Ashes event (focused on teachings, activities and discussion that draw women to find healing + hope + identity + worth in the LORD ) and the women leaders at the church have been wanting to do a women’s event too ~ so the LORD put all the puzzle pieces together and its happening Friday night!
That is all for now 🙂 Thank you all for being so supportive + encouraging & partnering with me so that I may do the work of the gospel here in Mongolia & the countries to come!!!
